Author: thaobh.leo@gmail.com

Austen Lane battles Iwo Baraniewski at UFC London on March 21st in a light heavyweight bout, and with this being Lane’s first cut to 205 pounds, when asked what motivated his move down from heavyweight, Lane said [via Bowks Talking Bouts], “With that comes a lot discipline in terms of my diet, in terms of my schedule, and my workload, man, but thankfully everything couldn’t be better right now… So what [it] stemmed [from] really is I had a pretty serious injury for a while that I was dealing with. After my last fight in Nashville, I had surgery on…

Why would the West underwrite the very system it has spent four years trying to contain? Yet that’s exactly what Russia has proposed, and what some leaders in Washington might be willing to entertain.In February 2026, Russia proposed an economic reintegration plan (the “Dmitriev package”) that it claims would be worth $14 trillion. The package includes sanctions relief, aeronautics contracts and restoration of access to dollar-based financial systems for Russia, preferential treatment for Western firms in the Russian market, and joint ventures in energy and mining. While the Russian wish list is fanciful at best, including points like a tunnel between Russia…

Less than a month after the repeal of Caesar Act sanctions, Syria’s transitional president Ahmad al Sharaa launched an offensive against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, triggering Arab tribal defections and a rapid loss of territory. The fallout has jeopardized Islamic State containment in northeast Syria by disrupting intelligence networks built by the Syrian Democratic Forces, widening security gaps, and degrading detention-and-camp control. The most acute consequence has been mass escapes from the al-Hol refugee camp, which held approximately 24,000 family members linked to the Islamic State. A recent U.S. intelligence assessment estimates that roughly 15,000–20,000 individuals are now at…

Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, has announced the completion of the first AH-1Z and UH-1Y aircraft to receive full upgrades to their structure and power delivery mechanisms under the US Marine Corps’ SPINE program. The program was recently renamed from Structural Improvement and Electrical Power Upgrade (SIEPU) to the Structural and Power Improvements for NextGen Effects (SPINE) program to emphasize the importance of this essential modernization effort and to highlight the increased survivability and lethality SPINE will enable throughout the lifetime of the H-1 fleet. The completed aircraft departed the Amarillo Assembly Center and are now…

At the UFC London weigh-ins, all 28 fighters on Saturday’s UFC fight card step on the scale Friday morning. Watch the UFC’s official live weigh-in stream above.In the main event, Movsar Evloev and Lerone Murphy have to weigh no more than 146 pounds for their featherweight non-title fight.Luke Riley and Michael Aswell can weigh no more than 146 pounds for the featherweight non-title bout in the co-main event.The UFC London official weigh-ins will be at 5 a.m. ET.Watch UFC London ceremonial weigh-in video at 2 p.m. ET.Check out UFC London weigh-in results below.Main Card (Paramount+ at 4 p.m. ET)Movsar Evloev…

Welcome to Midnight Mania!Let’s start the night off by taking a look back over the three biggest stories of Thursday, March 19, 2026.Anthony Pettis hasn’t fought since an August 2022 loss to Stevie Ray in PFL, but the MMA legend is back! He’ll take on Adil Boranbayev (23-13-1) in his home country of Kazakhstan on June 6.Movsar Evloev isn’t a serious finishing threat, but he’s not inactive either.It’s hard to imagine there could possibly be a conflict of egos between John and Tyson Fury. Impossible!I would prefer to see Robert Whittaker make his Light Heavyweight debut against somebody other than…

PACIFIC OCEAN – In a time-honored naval tradition, Carrier Strike Group 11 held a change of command ceremony aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) while underway in the Pacific Ocean, March 19. Rear Adm. Cassidy Norman relieved Rear Adm. Fred Goldhammer and assumed duties as Commander, Carrier Strike Group 11 in a ceremony attended by strike group leadership and crew. During the ceremony, Goldhammer thanked the crew for their hard work, dedication, and service to their country during his time as commander. “Today marks the end of my time in command of Carrier Strike Group 11, as well…

There’s no lift more satisfying than gripping and ripping a deadlift. It’s you versus the barbell, and you either move it or you don’t. It’s arguably the king of the gym because every muscle from head to toe works in unison to overcome gravity. It never tickles. It’s raw. It’s heavy, and it’s primal. Lifters at the top of their deadlift game are massive human beings. So, somewhere along the way, our eyes tell us that if you want to be big, you have to deadlift. But here’s an uncomfortable question to consider: Are we confusing brutal effort with optimal…

After a year of upheaval and uncertainty, federal employees are reporting diminished engagement in their jobs and declining views of political leadership. New survey results from the Partnership for Public Service show that during 2025, federal employee engagement scored 32 out of 100. Nearly 60% of survey respondents reported that their engagement at work has decreased since 2024. Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, blamed the decline on the Trump administration’s management of the federal workforce over the last year. He called the new survey results “deeply distressing.” “We have every red light blinking across…

Artist’s rendering of the future Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines. The 12 submarines of the Columbia class are a shipbuilding priority and will replace the Ohio-class submarines reaching maximum extended service life. Source: Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. US-based General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB) has been awarded a $15.4bn cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded contract for additional services for the US Navy’s future Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBN). The contract states that GDEB will provide lead yard support and sustainment, integrated enterprise plan initiatives for the class, and submarine industrial base supplier development enhancement efforts to support Columbia-class…