📈 UFC 300, OJ Simpson Football Life, & Masters Recap

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Sports Visualized
April 15, 2024

Good Morning - This is Sports Visualized. We aim to present sports news with a focus on data and visuals, moving away from the typical hot takes of sports media. Let’s dive into round three, shall we?👇

In Edition 3.0:

  1. UFC 300 Fight of the Night

  2. OJ Simpson’s Football Life

  3. The Masters Sunday Recap

 🥊 UFC

Below in our stat tracker, you’ll find the results of UFC 300’s main card from Saturday night, but the fight of the night from the main card was between Max Holloway and Justin Gaethje for the BMF title. The fight almost went the full five rounds, and what is circling the internet is what happened in the final ten seconds. Holloway had the fight locked up, and would’ve won by unanimous decision, but Holloway invited Gaethje to the middle of the octagon to trade blows for the remaining 10 seconds.

Going shot for shot against each other, getting the crowd going, Holloway leveled Gaethje with a knock out blow that ended the fight at the 4:59 mark. Holloway risked losing the win by decision by being rewarded with a win decided by knock out. The fight lived up to the hype and Holloway definitely earned the “BMF” title.

🏈 OJ Simpson

With the news of OJ Simpson’s death this past week, and his personal story and history aside, it gets lost that Simpson had a football career that many can’t put together. Simpson won the Heisman Trophy at Running Back at USC before getting drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the first round of the 1969 AFL/NFL draft at the time.

He was:

  • Only player to rush for 2,000 yards in a 14 game season (17 now)

  • 6 time pro bowler

  • NFL MVP in 1973

  • First Ballot HOF in 1985

He retired after 2 seasons of playing for the San Francisco 49ers in 1978 & 1979, ending his football career.

🏌️‍♂️ The Masters

Scottie Scheffler wins his 2nd Green Jacket in 3 years.

Scheffler went into Sunday with the lead and had some pressure put on him by fellow Americans Max Homa and Collin Morikawa, and also the young Swedish golfer, Ludwig Aberg. The front nine consisted of lead changes and ties, but once the back nine hit and Amen Corner came into the picture, Scheffler took advantage. A few water balls by Morikawa and Aberg, a lost ball in the bushes by Homa, allowed Scottie to coast to a -11 under finish and a win at the 88th Masters.

The hype all weekend in the media surrounding Scheffler was the chance his wife would go into labor during the tournament and Scheffler would withdraw and leave. With that hanging over his head and clearly on his mind by his press conferences and interviews, Scheffler made it look easy with his iron and short game play. The #1 golfer in the world continues to plow through the competition.

Wager Watchlist

The race in the Eastern Conference of the NHL is coming down to the wire this week. Keep an eye on these teams and your bets (bet responsibly) as they are motivated to grab those final playoff sports.  This via bleacher report: 

The Islanders, Capitals, Red Wings and Penguins all hold an advantage over the Flyers in the race for the final two East playoff spots. The quartet of teams have two games remaining on their schedules, while the Flyers have one left on Tuesday against Washington. Detroit has a back-to-back on Monday and Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens. That is the easiest finish of the wild-card contenders. The Red Wings can only earn the second wild-card spot because they are an Atlantic Division team.
The Islanders and Penguins play each other on Wednesday. Before that, the Isles face the New Jersey Devils, while Pittsburgh hosts the Nashville Predators.
Washington hosts the Boston Bruins on Monday before its trip up I-95 to face Philadelphia.
If Detroit wins twice, it will eliminate the Flyers and Penguins because the Red Wings' maximum number of points is 91. Two Red Wings wins combined with one loss from Washington would eliminate the Capitals. The Islanders need one win to secure third place in the Metropolitan because none of their competitors in that race can reach the 92-point mark.

Stat Track

UFC 300 Recap - Main Card

In one of the most stacked cards in UFC History..here’s the results (via UFC.com): 

  1. Bo Nickal beat Cody Brundage by submission

  2. Arman Tsarukyan defeated Charles Oliveira by split decision

  3. Max Holloway knocked out Justin Gaethje 

  4. Zhang Wili won by unanimous decision against Yan Xiaonan

  5. In the main event of the night, Alex Pereira knocked out Jamahal Hill

- A little bias stat here since we are based out of Middle TN, but Forward for the Nashville Predators, Filip Forsberg, became the record holder for most goals in a single season with 47 (and counting with 1 game left in the Regular Season), in Preds franchise history. 

- Tiger Woods set the record at The Masters this past weekend with the most consecutive cuts made with 24 at Augusta National. Although he wasn’t in contention to win, Tiger continues to push through his injuries and age to break records as one of, if not the, best golfer of all time. 

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