Tag: Charlie Ward

Florida State legend Charlie Ward shares advice for Travis Hunter, 2024 Heisman candidates

Heisman Award winner Charlie Ward talked about his advice for Travis Hunter and the 2024 Heisman candidates w/ @EdEastonJr

This week, Touchdown Wire’s Ed Easton Jr. spoke to Florida State Seminoles and Heisman Award winner Charlie Ward.

In his interview with Easton Jr., Ward discussed his support for ‘The Wuerffel Foundation at the Pickle Bowl: Heisman Edition event at Life Time Pickleball NYC. He also shared advice to this year’s Heisman winner, Travis Hunter, and the candidates before the 2024 ceremony.

“I’m sure there’s some nerves, or there will be, but more importantly, at this moment, they’re enjoying the game,” said Ward. “Very similar to me. When I was here almost 35 years ago, the memories still are there. My family members who are still with us talk about it.

“We have pictures. So for them to be able to be here, whether you win or lose, the memories will always be there, but the winner definitely will change and be more recognizable. It will change you. It won’t change who you are but will change your name and the opportunities you’ll be provided, so that’s a great blessing.”

Ward joined fellow Heisman award winners Tim Tebow, Cam Newton, Eric Crouch, and Johnny Rodgers, with pickleball pros Ryan Sherry and Kate Fahey for the event curated by Danny Wuerffel’s ‘The Wuerffel Foundation’.

The mission is to counsel and mentor community leaders in under-resourced neighborhoods across the United States and help facilitate introductions to philanthropically-minded supporters.

Colorado’s Travis Hunter beat out Ashton Jeanty, Dillon Gabriel, and Cam Ward to be named the 90th Heisman Trophy winner. He will continue a legacy that many, including Charlie, carry today. Hunter is expected to be a highly sought-after prospect in the 2025 NFL draft.

The following links provide more information on Pickle Bowl and The Wuerffel Foundation.

Florida State announces plans to retire Jameis Winston’s college jersey

Florida State announced plans to retire Jameis Winston’s college jersey at Saturday’s game versus North Alabama:

Now this is cool: Florida State announced plans to retire Jameis Winston’s college jersey at Saturday’s game versus North Alabama, recognizing the New Orleans Saints quarterback for his accomplishments in Tallahassee. Winston led the school to a 14-0 record and a Rose Bowl win back in 2013, setting the stage for a College Football Playoff run in his 2014 sophomore season.

Winston only played two years at Florida State, but he left with the fourth-most career passing yards (7,964) and second-most touchdown passes (65) in school history, plus a 26-1 record.

And now, a decade since he turned pro, Winston will see the jersey he wore honored in an exclusive group. He’s just the eleventh player to earn this recognition at Florida State, joining the likes of Fred Biletnikoff, Derrick Brooks, Terrell Buckley, Warrick Dunn, Marvin Jones, Deion Sanders, Ron Sellers, Ron Simmons, Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke.

Good for him. Winston’s jersey will be retired in a ceremony at the end of the first quarter in Saturday’s home game at Doak S. Campbell Stadium. It’s also senior night, and kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CT with television coverage on The CW network.

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Bellator 299 video: Gregory Babene submits Charlie Ward in wild one-minute fight

Gregory Babene vs. Charlie Ward didn’t last long, but it sure was one heck of a ride on the Bellator 299 preliminary card.

Well, [autotag]Gregory Babene[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Charlie Ward[/autotag] didn’t last long, but it sure was one heck of a ride on the Bellator 299 preliminary card.

The two middleweights went toe to toe from the very start until one went down Saturday at 3Arena in Dublin. Ward (10-7 MMA, 7-4 BMMA) came out aggressively pressing and throwing big shots on Babene (23-11 MMA, 5-0 BMMA), but in one of the sequences he got caught and wobbled. Instead of recovering, Ward doubled down and went after Babene, who knocked him down with a left hook.

From there, Babene began grappling with Ward, and after a few scrambles, Babene was able to tap him with a guillotine choke. The whole fight lasted 62 seconds.

You can watch the replay of the finish below:

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 299.

UFC veterans in MMA, kickboxing, muay Thai and bareknuckle boxing action Sept. 22-23

Check out which veterans of the UFC are competing in combat sports across the globe this weekend.

This week, the UFC remains in Las Vegas for UFC Fight Night 228.

The event takes place at the UFC Apex and features a lightweight bout between [autotag]Rafael Fiziev[/autotag] and [autotag]Mateusz Gamrot[/autotag].

Elsewhere, many other combat sports events are taking place that feature a number of familiar names that have competed under the UFC banner.

Check out which veterans of the global MMA leader are competing in MMA, kickboxing, muay Thai and bareknuckle boxing this week from Sept. 22-23.

Check out the names and details about their bouts below.

Upcoming event information from Tapology.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (June 26-July 2)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by a promotion from June 26-July 2.

Bellator 299 adds four fights with European fan favorites to Dublin lineup

The lineup for Bellator’s fall return to Ireland continues to build with the addition of four new matchups.

The lineup for Bellator’s fall return to Ireland continues to build with the addition of four new matchups.

Dublin’s own [autotag]Peter Queally[/autotag] (13-8-1 MMA, 2-4 BMMA) will return to fight in front of his home fans in a welterweight bout against Italy’s [autotag]Daniele Miceli[/autotag] (10-5 MMA, 0-1 BMMA). Promotion officials announced the new booking Monday for Bellator 299, which takes place Sept. 23 at 3Arena in Dublin. The main card will air on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

In addition, Bellator officials announced the inclusion of featherweight fights between unbeaten Irishman [autotag]Ciaran Clarke[/autotag] (7-0 MMA, 7-0 BMMA) and [autotag]Przemyslaw Gorny[/autotag] (5-3 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) and [autotag]Darragh Kelly[/autotag] (4-0 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) vs. [autotag]Jelle Zeegers[/autotag] (2-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), plus [autotag]Charlie Ward[/autotag] (10-6 MMA, 7-3 BMMA) vs. [autotag]Gregory Babene[/autotag] (22-11 MMA, 4-0 BMMA).

Queally will attempt to snap a three-fight skid. After a May 2021 win over Patricky Freire in Connecticut due to a doctors stoppage, the pair rematched later that year for the vacant lightweight title. But when they ran it back, Freire knocked out Queally in the second round and started his current skid ahead of losses to Benson Henderson and Bryce Logan.

Miceli got back in the win column this past November with a first-round submission win in France. After a loss in his lone Bellator fight in 2016, he has bounced around the European regional circuit.

Clarke is one of Bellator’s homegrown prospects. The 28-year-old Irishman is unbeaten in his pro career and has racked up three rear-naked choke wins in his first seven fights, all for Bellator. Gorny will make his Bellator debut on the strength of three straight wins, including two straight stoppages in 2022.

Kelly has three of his first four pro wins by stoppage, including a D’Arce choke finish of Andre Ferreira at a Clan Wars event earlier this month. Zeegers, from the Netherlands, will be making his Bellator debut.

The 42-year-old Ward will try to get back on track after back-to-back decision losses to Fabian Edwards and, most recently, Mike Shipman in February at Bellator 291. Prior to that, the longtime fighter had won seven of eight under the Bellator banner. France’s Babene is a perfect 4-0 for Bellator, including a first-round knockout of Shipman at Bellator 280 in 2022.

With the additions, the Bellator 299 lineup in Dublin now includes:

MAIN CARD (Showtime, 4 p.m. ET)

  • Champ Johnny Eblen vs. Fabian Edwards – for middleweight title
  • Pedro Carvalho vs. Aaron Pico
  • Sara Collins vs. Sinead Kavanagh
  • Mads Burnell vs. Daniel Weichel

PRELIMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie/YouTube, 11 a.m. ET)

  • Daniele Miceli vs. Peter Queally
  • Gregory Babene vs. Charlie Ward
  • Ciaran Clarke vs. Przemyslaw Gorny
  • Kenny Mokhonoana vs. Josh O’Connor
  • Luke Trainer vs. Laurynas Urbonavicius
  • Brian Moore vs. Otto Rodrigues
  • Darragh Kelly vs. Jelle Zeegers
  • Roman Debienne vs. Nicolo Solli
  • Mark Ewen vs. Noah Gugnon
  • Chiara Penco vs. Mackenzie Stiller

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator Dublin.

Bellator 291 post-event facts: Yaroslav Amosov’s incredible streak hits 27 fights

The longest active winning streak in MMA still belongs to Yaroslav Amosov after a dominant win to defend gold at Bellator 291.

Bellator returned to 3Arena in Dublin on Saturday with Bellator 291, and with 18 fights on the docket, it played out as one of the longest events in company history.

The card closed on a high note, however, when Ukraine welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov (27-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) retuned to competition with a dominant unanimous decision win over Logan Storley (14-2 MMA, 9-2 BMMA) to move to 2-0 in their head-to-head series.

Amosov is proving to be one of the best in the world at 170 pounds, and his flawless record is there to back up that notion. For more on the numbers behind his fight, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from Bellator 291.

UFC veterans in MMA, boxing and bareknuckle action Feb. 24-25

Check out which veterans of the UFC are in MMA and boxing action this weekend across the globe.

The UFC is back in Las Vegas for UFC Fight Night 220. The event takes place at the UFC Apex, with a light heavyweight tilt between Nikita Krylov and Ryan Spann.

Elsewhere, many other MMA events are taking place that feature familiar names that have competed under the UFC banner.

These 14 veterans of the global MMA leader are competing in MMA boxing this week from Feb. 24-25.

Check out the names and details about their bouts below.

Upcoming event information from Tapology.

Bellator 291 pre-event facts: Yaroslav Amosov’s streak best among major MMA champions

Check out all the facts and figures about Bellator 291, where champ Yaroslav Amosov returns to put his 26-fight winning streak in the line.

The second Bellator offering of the year lands on Saturday with Bellator 291, which takes place at 3Arena in Dublin, with a main card set to air on Showtime following prelims streamed on MMA Junkie.

The promotion’s undisputed welterweight champion will be decided in the main event. Current titleholder [autotag]Yaroslav Amosov[/autotag] (26-0 MMA, 7-0 BMMA) will return from a layoff that included fighting in the war for his native Ukraine to take on interim champ [autotag]Logan Storley[/autotag] (14-1 MMA, 9-1 BMMA). The pair fought once before as contenders, with Amosov taking a split decision at Bellator 252 in November 2020.

For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts about Bellator 291.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Nov. 28-Dec. 4)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from Nov. 28-Dec. 4.