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Ciryl Gane is your new interim UFC heavyweight champion, and he earned every ounce of that belt. At UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House, Gane dismantled Alex Pereira over five brutal rounds, forcing a mercy stoppage from Herb Dean at one minute twenty-seven of the final frame. Pereira came in chasing history, left with a loss, and now Tom Aspinall is reportedly changing his phone number.
Shifting to the ice, the Carolina Hurricanes are Stanley Cup champions, and backup goalie Brandon Bussi is the unlikely hero of the moment. Bussi stepped into the crease when it mattered most and delivered a shutout in the clinching game, cementing his name in franchise lore. Jaccob Slavin also joins a rare group of players who've won a Stanley Cup Final and Olympic gold in the same calendar year, alongside legends like Jonathan Toews and Steve Yzerman.
And on the diamond, the Tampa Bay Rays avoided a sweep in Anaheim in emphatic fashion. Locked in a three-three tie heading into the eighth, the Rays erupted for five runs including a pair of home runs to close it out eight to three. Junior Caminero made sure the Angels felt every bit of it.
That's your play-by-play. Sports Desk, back to the booth.
