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We’ll get to the bad stuff later in the day. When your football team looks as woefully unprepared as Missouri’s did on Saturday, there’s no choice but to talk about it. (Breaking: Mizzou is a heavy underdog against Auburn. Go figure.) But first, a palate cleanser. Here are some happy links for you before we dive back into the less happy things.
13 days
Karissa Schweizer: still Karissa Schweizer
Mizzou Cross Country senior Karissa Schweizer (Urbandale, Iowa) began her 2017 campaign right where she left off in 2016, winning the Commodore Classic on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn. The 2016 NCAA Cross Country National Champion set the Percy Warner Park course record with a time of 16:25.4 in the 5k race, besting the second-place finisher by more than a full minute (1:03.3).
Damn.
The women’s cross country team finished third in the Commodore Classic, while the men finished seventh.
Mizzou Soccer had a great weekend
After a brutally tough non-conference slate, the Tigers started conference play with a 3-1 home win over Georgia. The Dawgs aren’t very good, and Mizzou led 1-0 just seven minutes in, but they couldn’t find a second goal, and UGA tied it in the 65th minute. Not to fear! Allie Hess scored in the 85th minute, then Madison Lewis scored in the 89th to seal the deal.
On Sunday, Albany visited and got pushed around. Mizzou outshot the Great Danes 17-5, generated 11 corners to Albany’s one, and scored in the 34th (Lewis), 70th (Tess Rellihan), and 79th (Rellihan again) to win, 3-0.
Mizzou Volleyball looked like Mizzou Volleyball in Reno. Sort of. Okay, fine, they didn’t lose, at least.
Entering the weekend 4-6 (and without nearly the same schedule strength that Mizzou Soccer faced), the Fightin’ Kreklows swept Pepperdine on Friday, then laid the hammer down against Nevada after falling behind. They dropped two of the first three sets, the outscored the host Wolf Pack, 40-26, to pull away in five sets.
On Saturday, against a Sacramento State team that had given them trouble earlier in the season, Mizzou again dilly-dallied. They cruised in the first set, dropped the next two, then won 25-23 and 16-14 to again win in five. Nothing’s coming easy for this young team this year, but winning is better than losing. So I hear.
Ben Askren: “the single best welterweight on the planet”
Or so his boss, the ONE Championship CEO, says.
Ben Askren will contest his last fight when he meets Japanese submission specialist Shinya Aokiat ONE Championship Immortal Pursuit on Nov. 24, but the welterweight champion has suggested that a bout with a UFC welterweight champion could lure him out of retirement.
Adding fuel to the 33-year-old’s comments on this week’s edition of The MMA Hour, ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong claimed that he would be open to Askren facing a UFC champion, once Askren’s friend Tyron Woodley did not occupy the belt.
According to Sityodtong, a fight with a UFC champion would help Askren cement his legacy as “the best welterweight in history.”
“If you ask experts in the martial arts world – like myself who has been doing martial arts for over 30 years – the people who are in the know in America and around the world know that Ben Askren is the single best welterweight on the planet,” said Sityodtong on the ONE Championship Immortal Pursuit conference call on Wednesday.
“I would love to see UFC vs. ONE Championship welterweights go at it. Ben is also a great friend of the family and a good friend of mine as well. Anyone other than Tyron (Woodley), I would love to see that as Ben’s final match, against the UFC welterweight champion.