Silva breaks leg, Weidman wins bout
MMA: Chris Weidman defended his UFC middleweight title when Anderson Silva apparently broke his left leg on a kick in the second round, ending UFC 168 with a horrific injury Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Weidman (11-0) quietly celebrated his victory while medical personnel tended to Silva (33-6), whose left shin bent grotesquely while landing a kick on Weidman’s left leg 1:16 into the round.
Weidman, who earned his belt with an upset victory over the long-reigning champion in July, also dominated the first round of the rematch.
Ronda Rousey retained her bantamweight title in the UFC’s year-end event, submitting Miesha Tate with a third-round arm bar. Rousey then walked away from her bitter rival’s offer of a post-fight handshake, earning ferocious boos from the MGM Grand Garden crowd.
Heat beat Blazers without James
NBA: Chris Bosh had a season-high 37 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds left, and Miami beat the Trail Blazers 108-107 in Portland, Ore. LeBron James sat out with injuries to his right groin and left ankle.
• Pacers defeat Nets: Paul George scored 24 points and Lance Stephenson added 23 to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 105-91 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in Indianapolis.
• Raptors thrash Knicks: Kyle Lowry had a season-best 32 points and 11 assists, Terrence Ross made a career-high seven 3-pointers on the way to 23 points and host Toronto beat short-handed New York 115-100.
• Hawks overcome Bobcats: Paul Millsap had a season-high 31 points, Lou Williams scored 10 of his season-best 28 in overtime and Atlanta rallied to beat visiting Charlotte 118-116.
• Grizzlies clobber Nuggets: Zach Randolph scored 20 points and Memphis got 62 points from its bench in a 120-99 home victory over Denver.
• Rockets rally past Pelicans: Dwight Howard had 24 points and 17 rebounds, and James Harden scored 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter of the Rockets’ 107-98 comeback win over New Orleans in Houston.
• Mavs tame Bulls: Monta Ellis had 22 points and Dallas took control early in coasting to a 105-83 road victory over Chicago.
• Clippers tame Jazz : Blake Griffin scored 40 points as the Clippers defeated Utah 98-90 in Los Angeles.
Ducks top Coyotes, extend streak
NHL: Saku Koivu scored two goals, including the winner 51 seconds into overtime, to lift the Ducks to their 10th straight victory, 3-2 over Phoenix in Anaheim, Calif.
• Blues break Blackhawks: Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrik Berglund scored 1:17 apart late in regulation to tie it and Kevin Shattenkirk netted the deciding goal in the fifth round of a shootout to lift St. Louis over visiting Chicago 6-5.
• Predators nip Kings Mike Fisher scored his second goal of the game with 26.4 seconds left to give the Predators a 3-2 victory against Los Angeles in Nashville, Tenn.
• Canadiens withstand Lightning: Lars Eller scored the lone shootout goal, Carey Price stopped all three shots he faced in the tiebreaker and Montreal beat the Lightning 2-1 at Tampa, Fla.
• Flyers dash Oilers: Michael Raffl scored the winner on his first career shootout attempt, and the Philadelphia Flyers overcame an early deficit to beat the Oilers 4-3 in Edmonton, Alberta.
U.S. women defeat Canada
Hockey: Hilary Knight scored the lone shootout goal and the United States women’s hockey team beat Canada 3-2 in a pre-Olympic exhibition game at St. Paul, Minn.
Kelli Stack and Alex Carpenter scored for the United States in regulation, and Meghan Acosta-Marciano and Marie-Philip Poulin countered for Canada.
• American Juniors thrash Slovakia:
Matt Grzelyck, Jack Eichel and Ryan Hartman each had a goal and an assist, leading the defending champion United States to a 6-3 victory over Slovakia at the world junior hockey tournament in Malmo, Sweden.
In another Group A game, the Czech Republic stunned Canada, 5-4 in a shootout.
In Group B action, Sweden beat Finland 4-2.
Syracuse wins battle of unbeatens
Men’s basketball: Trevor Cooney scored 21 points, Tyler Ennis had 20 and C.J. Fair added 17, rallying No. 2 Syracuse (12-0) to a 78-62 win over No. 8 Villanova (11-1) in a game between two of nine unbeaten teams left in Division I.
• Wildcats outlast Cardinals: Kentucky guards Andrew and Aaron Harrison combined for 28 points, including 11 during a critical second-half stretch with star Julius Randle sidelined by cramps, helping the No. 18 Wildcats (10-3) held on for a 73-66 win over No. 6 Louisville (11-2) 73-66 in Lexington Ky.
• Spartans roll to easy win: Keith Appling scored 16 of his career-high tying 27 points in the first half to help No. 5 Michigan State (11-1) beat New Orleans 101-48 in East Lansing, Mich.
Djokovic takes World Tennis Title
Tennis: Novak Djokovic maintained his unbeaten record in Abu Dhabi by beating David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2 to win his third straight World Tennis Championship title.
• Azarenka defeats Serena: Victoria Azarenka beat top-ranked Serena Williams 7-5, 6-3 in an exhibition match in between the world’s top two women’s players in Hua Hin, Thailand.
Lodwick secures place in Sochi
Skiing: Todd Lodwick earned a spot in his sixth Winter Olympics, winning the nordic combined competition at the U.S. trials in Park City, Utah. The 37-year-old Lodwick, who appeared in his first Olympics in 1994 at 17, won both the ski jumping portion of the event and the 10-kilometer cross country race.
• Fenninger wins giant slalom: Anna Fenninger of Austria won a women’s World Cup giant slalom in Lienz, Austria, for her fifth career victory. Fenninger was second after the first run but overtook leader Jessica Lindell-Vikarby of Sweden in the second to win in a combined time of 2 minutes, 17.00 seconds.