I have been watching the Super bowl for nearly twenty years, but today’s Super bowl is unique in so many ways; six talented players of Nigerian descent are taking part in this tournament.

It feels good to know that Chido Awuzie’s father hails from my hometown, Mbaise, in Imo State, Nigeria. His uncle Tony Uwakwe was the President of the Mbaise Association of New York.

 Never in the history of the Super Bowl did we see six players of Nigerian descent in both team roosters; the presence of these talented players makes it hard for me to put my money where my mouth is. 

 The Bengals parades five Nigerian-American players:-

1 Chidobe Awuzie

2. C.J. Uzomah 3. Joseph Ossai 4. Hakeem Adeniji

5. Larry Ogunjobi

6 Ogbonnia Okoronkwo Plays for the Rams of LA.

Overall, however today’s game goes, these talented players will make history—I will be blogging live. Join me

Houston-Texas. Israel Mobolaji Temitayo Odunayo Oluwafemi Owolabi Adesanya; born in Lagos, Nigeria, defeated Robert Whittaker at the UFC 271 in Houston, Texas. Sports pundits now believe his reign of dominance has just began. He is unstoppable. The 32-year-old Adesanya, alias ‘The Last Stylebender’ is a mixed martial artist, kickboxer, and former boxer with multiple championships in all three disciplines.

It was a unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 271 to defend his middleweight title and push his record over his rival to a perfect 2-0.  The two fought for 25 minutes and a unanimous decision was awarded to Adesanya, as he scored 48–47, 48–47, and 49–46 on the three judges’ scorecards.

During the post-match press briefing, Robert Whittaker, who lost for the second time to Isreal said –“I thought I did enough, I thought I did enough,” Whittaker told MMA Junkie at the post-fight press conference. “Breaking it down, I think I lost the first round. I put myself together and I beat him to every punch. I got takedowns. I thought I did enough.

“But it is what it is. That’s how work goes in the office. I’m going to go back evolve some more, get better, and fine tune the things that I’ve been working on, and come back a better man. Honestly, though, Izzy was my biggest obstacle, my biggest hurdle. He beat me in a good fashion the first time. I’ve been working and angling myself to evolve and to get better and I’ve done that. You can see it in this fight how far I’ve come. To the point that I think I beat him.

So, I’m excited. I’m excited for the future. The ceiling is nowhere in sight. There is no ceiling for me.”

 Adesanya and Whittaker are the two best 185-pound fighters in the world. Although the gap between them may have narrowed slightly since UFC 243, the gulf between Whittaker and whoever qualifies as No. 3 on any given day has only widened.

 A very big congratulation to a fellow Naija man.

NEW YORK( TNC)-Colin Kaepernick’s girlfriend, Nessa Diab, chastised the NFL on Friday for listing the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback as “retired” on the league’s official website.

Diab also tagged commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFLPA on Twitter for “lying” about Kaepernick’s status.

The league’s website changed the “retired” tag to “UFA,” undrafted free agent, later Friday.

Kaepernick hasn’t played in the NFL since 2016 when he was 29. He completed 59.2 percent of his passes that season for the 49ers, tallying 2,241 yards with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions in 12 games. He quarterbacked the 49ers to the Super Bowl after the 2012 season, where they lost to the Baltimore Ravens, 34-31.

Kaepernick hasn’t found a job since opting for free agency in 2016 as attention around the quarterback shifted from his football status to his protests against social injustice and police brutality.

Mikel Arteta enters the record list of former players becoming coaches in their clubs as he signs a three-and-a-half-year coaching contract at Arsenal on Friday.

The 37-year-old Spaniard, who played more than 100 games for the Gunners between 2011-16, signed a three-and-a-half-year contract and ended a three-year stay as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City.

Arteta, who will be officially presented to the press later on Friday at 1700 GMT, replaces compatriot Unai Emery, who was sacked last month.

The former midfielder, who will sit in the stands for Saturday’s match against another of his old clubs Everton, faces a massive challenge, with Arsenal having won just once in 12 games — beating West Ham under interim manager Freddie Ljungberg. 

“This is a huge honour. Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world,” Arteta said in a statement.

“We need to be competing for the top trophies in the game, and that’s been made very clear to me in my discussions with Stan and Josh Kroenke (owner and club director, respectively) and the senior people from the club.

“We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that, but I am confident we’ll do it.

“I’m realistic enough to know it won’t happen overnight, but the current squad has plenty of talent, and there is a great pipeline of young players coming through from the academy.”

Head of football Raul Sanllehi said the club had interviewed other candidates before opting to pursue Arteta.

“We met several top-class candidates, and Mikel stood out to every single one of us as the perfect person for us,” he said in a club statement.

“Mikel understands Arsenal Football Club and what it means to our fans around the world. We look forward to him getting down to work and bringing the best out of our squad as we work to get our season back on track.”