• Freedom 250 staged on White House South Lawn

• Invitation-only event cost an estimated $60m in all

• Gaethje won title on night marred by Obama smear

The UFC staging its Freedom 250 card on the South Lawn of the White House in June led to losses of around $30m (roughly £22m), the company’s owners announced.

US president Donald Trump, a longtime fan of the UFC, and vice-president JD Vance were in attendance for the event which marked celebrations for 250 years of American independence.

• Larry Berg officially introduced to media and MLS staff

• Berg to take over for Don Garber on 1 January 2027

MLS will have a new commissioner starting in 2027, but don’t expect the league to adopt the promotion and relegation system seen in league systems throughout the world anytime soon.

Larry Berg, a co-owner of MLS club Los Angeles FC and the league’s incoming boss, said in his introductory press conference on Tuesday that he doesn’t think that the long-mooted idea of bringing “pro/rel” to the North American league is “appropriate”.

• Two-time Pro Bowler expected to get $51m guaranteed

• Average value surpasses that of Eagles’ Saquon Barkley

The Atlanta Falcons have agreed to a three-year contract extension with Bijan Robinson through the 2030 season that makes the fourth-year player the highest-paid running back in NFL history.

Robinson reposted the NFL’s Instagram post detailing the extension on Tuesday morning, writing “God this is for you! Blessings. Love this team and this city!”

• Fall opponents also include Peru and Chile

• Matches set for 26 September to 6 October

• First games since Pochettino agreed to return

The US men’s national team will kick off the next World Cup cycle with four matches over 11 days on home soil.

The friendlies include games against Peru, Chile, Mexico and Canada in US cities that didn’t host World Cup action this summer.

Ukrainian aerial- and sea-drone attacks have turned Russia's busiest seaport into a place cargo ships increasingly refuse to sail, choking both imports from China and exports of grain and oil, according to The Moscow Times. Logistics and trade executives describe a route to Novorossiysk grown too risky to use, and a Russian grain-industry group warns the Black Sea export corridors could shut down entirely. The strikes that once spared container ships have now reached them too.

The China route importers are told to skip

"On the China–Novorossiysk route everything is now difficult, the delays are huge," one importer told The Moscow Times. 

Freight forwarders now tell clients to avoid the route outright, three colleagues said. Aerial drones and unmanned boats make the approaches too unpredictable. Earlier strikes fell mostly on grain carriers and oil tankers. Ukrainian drones hit a container ship carrying imports in late July. Then, overnight on 1 August, a sea drone sank the FESCO vessel Yanina about 130 miles offshore. The crew got out. The cargo did not.

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Ukraine hits 201 Russian shadow fleet ships in three weeks. Commander says Crimea’s supply route is now blocked indefinitely

Sailings drop as the campaign widens

Large-ship sailings from Novorossiysk fell 38% in July, the Moscow Times says, citing ship-tracking data, with tanker runs down by half. 

"But now the situation will get worse, because container ships have also become a target," a logistics manager told the publication. 

This is one edge of a wider Ukrainian drone campaign against Russian shipping, codenamed MoLoChKa. The name is an acronym for "Moscow will fall through Crimea." Its own public scoreboard counts 206 vessels hit in July by the Unmanned Systems Forces (SBS) alone, with another logged in August. The SBS have mostly burned the small tankers and support ships that keep Russia's sanctioned shadow fleet moving.

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Ukrainian drones slash Kerch ferry crossing capacity by 75%, as daily strikes continue on Russian vessels and occupation energy infrastructure

What Russia stands to lose

Novorossiysk carries every fifth ton of Russia's seaborne exports: Urals oil, Kazakh crude, wheat for Egypt, and fertilizer for Asia and Africa. 

Attacks across the Azov–Black Sea region could cost Russia up to 30–35 million tons of wheat exports this season, a grain-exporters' union estimated. That would gut a harvest analysts expected to top 44-45 million tons. 

"Systematic attacks that began in July could soon lead to the complete blocking of the export corridors of the Black Sea basin," the union said. 

Ukraine's drones had already cut into Russia's seaborne grain trade this summer, and repeated hits on the port's main oil terminal have dented crude loadings. Russia keeps pouring money into the port, building a new terminal worth 120.7 billion rubles (about $1.5 billion), even as ships stay away, The Moscow Times said.