DS Talk » the lap sweeps and the well-timed flicks off the toes.

NEW YORK -- Saturdays monumental UFC 205 event is down one fight, as a welterweight bout between Donald Cerrone and Kelvin Gastelum has been scrapped.Gastelum (12-2) revealed on social media on Friday he could not make the 171-pound weight limit and has pulled out.The news came after Cerrone (31-7) had already stepped on the scale and made weight.Gastelum, 25, has missed weight twice previously in his UFC career. UFC president Dana White temporarily forced him to move up to the 185-pound division last year but agreed to let him move back down after one fight.Its a heartbreaking situation for Cerrone, who has badly wanted to fight in New York since the card was first announced. He was originally supposed to fight Robbie Lawler, but Lawler withdrew last month.Sources said discussions already have taken place to book Cerrone to a welterweight fight against Matt Brown at UFC 206 in Toronto on Dec. 10.?Former welterweight title contender Thiago Alves also missed weight for his lightweight debut against Jim Miller. Alves weighed in at 162.6 pounds, 6.6 pounds over the limit. The fight will still go on, but Alves forfeits 20 percent of his purse.Lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez came in at 154.6 pounds for his title defense against featherweight champion Conor McGregor. McGregor weighed in at 154.4. This is McGregors UFC lightweight debut. His last two fights against Nate Diaz?took place at welterweight. Lyle Alzado Womens Jersey .Y. -- Paul Byron and Matt Stajan scored as the Calgary Flames started a five-game road trip with a 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. Clelin Ferrell Jersey . The 15th-ranked Canadian men lost the opening two games of their European tour: 19-15 to No. 17 Georgia and 21-20 to No. http://www.shoptheraidersonline.com/Elite-Fred-Biletnikoff-Raiders-Jersey/ . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Derek Carr Raiders Jersey . Anthony Davis had 31 points and 17 rebounds in his seventh straight game with more than 20 points, but that was only enough to keep the Pelicans competitive into the final minutes. Andrew Bogut had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Golden State, which rebounded from a loss a night earlier in Oklahoma City and snapped a two-game skid. Jim Plunkett Youth Jersey . -- Its been a long road back for Sean Bergenheim. Ross Taylor has not had it easy over the past few years. He lost the captaincy in a leadership switch so acrimonious it prompted newspaper tirades, radio-talkback swearing, and blazer bonfires. He was hit so hard in the gonads in 2015, he required surgery and a recovery period of two months. In between, he had seen his mentor battle cancer twice before tragically losing the fight. And just as Taylor finished up one of his worst batting tours, in India, Brendon McCullums book cast fresh aspersions on Taylor s leadership, and told of rifts that will probably never heal.He was down on his luck. Before this Pakistan series, Taylor was the sullen sitcom protagonist muttering at least things cant get any worse. But then peals of thunder rang out and galumphing raindrops began to fall. He was the cartoon character who had been beaten up on the city sidewalk before, from the 16th floor, a grand piano came whistling down.It was an eye problem. Taylor was in one of the worse form ruts of his career and, on top of it all, he had developed an eye problem. The bad-taste Twitter jokes almost wrote themselves. Would he need a seeing-eye dog at the crease? Would New Zealand Cricket issue the team-sheet in braille? If he was thrown a piece of fielding equipment to place behind the wicketkeeper, would he snatch the helmet and start racing around thinking hed pouched a catch at slip?When it was announced he would play in this Test despite the ailment, knives may have been sharpened in the media. Headlines with the phrase blind ambition may have been penciled in. Hot-takes ending with should have seen this coming were dreamt up and kept on mental standby.Yet, just as in 2012, when his captaincy was at its nadir following a Test in Galle, Taylors response to personal crisis was runs. In the first innings at Hamilton, he had hit four boundaries faster than you could say pterygium, the salvo leaving Pakistans early momentum punctured. He departed to an excellent in-ducker for 37, but was almost immediately fluent when he came to the crease in the second innings - shellacking short balls behind backward point, and cracking a few through the covers for good measure.Imran Khan would add to Taylors ailments by drawing blood with a lifter that hit his gllove in the 56th over and, before long, Wahab Riaz had made it his second-session mission to hit him there again.ddddddddddddA microcosm of Taylors larger plight began to play out. He was ducking bouncers like questions about his place in the team, he was diverting balls off his hip like suggestions his dealings with coach Mike Hesson had been forever soured. Occasionally, he would lean back, blast a ball behind point, and remind us all of his ferocious talent as a batsman. When he pulled a ball to the boundary the blinding 290 in Perth was brought to mind. When he shuffled forward to smother Azhar Alis spin, the lionhearted 104 in a Dubai draw was briefly remembered.Late in the day, with a part-time legspinner bowling, and quick runs to be had, he even resisted the old urge to dust off the old leg side heave. This was the shot that had made him IPL riches; it had even helped bring him a famous World Cup hundred against Pakistan. Taken instead were the more measured leg side options: the lap sweeps and the well-timed flicks off the toes. As he neared his hundred, talk of failing eyes had been forgotten - it was the power in his wrists, and the spring in his feet that entered the conversation. It was his decision-making that caused the flutter online.Leading into this game over three or four days, I was wondering if Id play this Test match, Taylor said after play. But Im very happy that I made that decision. There were definitely thoughts in my mind not to play. It was good to draw on experience - Ive been in that situation before - and put the team in a good position.However the Test ends on Tuesday, Taylor will begin to prepare for his surgery, which is scheduled for the following day. It is said be a straightforward procedure, which should take no more than six weeks to recover from.As he prepares for the layoff, he has reminded fans this New Zealand team is lucky to have him. And that though events seem to continually conspire to push him out completely, cricket is fortunate Taylor keeps fighting to stay.*The 104 in Dubai had come in a draw. The article had originally said it had come in a loss. ' ' '