Shavkat Rakhmonov has his sight set on a title shot. Ben Askren successfully receives double lung transplant.

Mixed Martial Arts

Ben Askren has successfully received his double lung transplant after falling ill with severe pneumonia. Askren says he “only died four times” – see the full update from Askren. 

Dustin Poirier offered to fight UFC Lightweight champion Ilia Topuria when Topuria moved up to Lightweight.

UFC to host their first event in Qatar on November 22, 2025 – a Fight Night card at the ABHA Arena in Doha, Qatar. Headliner TBD. 

Charles Oliveira says Ilia Topuria is the hardest hitter he’s ever fought.

“Ilia is definitely the hardest hitter. He’s the one who hit me the hardest, there’s no denying it. I’ve never been knocked out before. I’ve been knocked down by punches but this time I got knocked out. It was something new for me.”

Charles Oliveira is interested in a bout with Max Holloway in November 2025.

“[Max] will fight in July, I fought in June. I think November would be the time. It would be a great fight – he said he would fight too so why not?”

Shavkat Rakhmonov has his sight set on a UFC Welterweight title for his next bout.

“The situation is difficult. I’m waiting to see who will fight for the title. Perhaps we’ll go straight to the title. I’m waiting. I don’t want to waste my energy on intermediate fights.”

UFC Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski’s family wanted him to retire after winning at UFC 314.

“Straight after the fight, my whole family is just like ‘why didn’t you just put the gloves down in the middle of the octagon straight away?’ They all wanted me to retire.”

Boxing

Jake Paul met with Turki Alalshikh in New York City. 

Lennox Lewis is taking Daniel Dubois over Oleksandr Usyk in their rematch on July 19, 2025 at Wembley Stadium to become boxing’s undisputed heavyweight champion.

Culture

Apple has announced that Sabih Khan will become the new Chief Operating Officer (COO), replacing Jeff Williams later this month as part of a planned succession with Williams set to retire at the end of the year. Williams, who played a major role in launching key Apple products like the iPhone and Apple Watch had been seen as a potential successor to CEO Tim Cook. Khan, a 30-year Apple veteran and current VP of operations has overseen the company’s vast global supply chain and now steps into the COO role amid geopolitical trade tensions. Until his retirement Williams will continue overseeing Apple’s health initiatives and design team, the latter of which will report directly to Tim Cook after Williams departs.

Emirates has partnered with Crypto.com to enable cryptocurrency payments for its services, aiming to meet the evolving preferences of tech-savvy and younger travelers. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to integrate Crypto.com Pay into Emirates’ payment systems, with implementation expected to begin next year. Emirates emphasized that the integration will prioritize security and regulatory compliance. The signing ceremony was attended by key executives from both organizations, including Emirates' Adnan Kazim and Crypto.com's Mohammed Al Hakim.

The United States' gross national debt surged by $367 billion to a record $36.6 trillion after Donald Trump approved the ‘One, Big, Beautiful Bill’ which raised the debt ceiling by $5 trillion.

A Turkish court has blocked access to certain content from Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s company xAI, after it allegedly insulted President Erdogan, Ataturk, and religious values. That prompted the Ankara public prosecutor to file for restrictions under Turkey’s internet law, and a criminal court approved the request, directing the telecommunications authority to enforce the ban. The move highlights growing concerns over political bias, hate speech, and misinformation in AI systems. Grok had previously faced criticism for generating content containing antisemitic tropes and praise for Adolf Hitler.

Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X (formerly Twitter) since 2023, has stepped down. MrBeast says he’ll take on the role. 

Nvidia has become the first public company to reach a $4 trillion market cap, driven by surging demand for AI technologies. Its shares hit a record high of $164 marking a strong rebound from earlier concerns over competition from China's DeepSeek. Nvidia reached $1 trillion in value just a year ago, outpacing the growth of Apple and Microsoft, both now valued above $3 trillion. Microsoft, currently the second-largest U.S. company, has a market cap of $3.75 trillion.