January was a very busy month in the sporting World. Here are some of the top MMA, GAA and Football headlines from the first month of 2016.
MMA.
The biggest story in the MMA world was the return of Dominick Cruz. The former UFC 135lbs champion had been sidelined for the best part of four years as a result of a number of recurring ACL injuries. Cruz returned to the Octagon in Boston on January 17th and defeated TJ Dillashaw to regain the belt that he never lost.
The month opened up in controversial circumstances following the welterweight title fight between champion Robbie Lawler and challenger Carlos Condit. In a fight which many fans and media members scored for the challenger Condit, he did not do enough in the eyes of the three people who mattered, the judges to take the welterweight belt back to Albuquerque.
The injury bug returned in January, its biggest victims was the main event of UFC 196 which was due to take place this Saturday between Fabricio Werdum and former champion Cain Velasquez. Velasquez was forced to withdraw with a back injury, with Stipe Miocic called up to replace him against Werdum. However less than 24 hours later, Werdum pulled out with an undisclosed injury of his own leaving the UFC with no choice but to move the event from a pay per view event to a UFC on Fox event.
GAA.
The return of the Allianz Football league saw current champions Dublin defeat their arch rivals Kerry under the floodlights in Croke Park. Cork also demolished 2015 All Ireland Semi-Finalists Mayo by nine points in their league opener. Cork now under the stewardship of Peadar Healy will be looking to go all the way after coming short at the final hurdle in the Allianz League final last year against Dublin.
The Dublin hurlers got off to a strong start to the year, winning their seventh Walsh Cup final against Wexford. The beat Wexford by a margin of ten points and also beat 2015 All Ireland Finalists Galway by nine points.
Football
Leicester City finished the month on top of the Premier League. A 3-nil victory over giant killers Stoke and back to back to back draws against Aston Villa, Spurs and Bournemouth means that Claudio Ranieri's men now look into the final three months of the season with a 3 point gap over their nearest rivals Manchester City. Arsenal were hot on the tails of Manchester City and Leicester coming into January but a 3-3 draw with Liverpool after a last minute Joe Allen equalizer along with a 1 nil defeat to Chelsea meant the Gunners now also trail Leicester City by three points.
Manchester City beat Everton over two legs to set up a day out at Wembley against Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool in the Carling Cup Final on the 28th of February. Now that is has been announced that Pep Guadiola will be joining Manchester City on July 1st, this will be Manuel Pellegrini's chance to capture some silverware before he departs at the end of the season to make way for Guadiola's arrival.