Sports briefs
Hall of Famer Little battling cancer
Pro Football Hall of Famer Floyd Little, who starred in the NFL for the Denver Broncos, has been diagnosed with cancer, according to a former Syracuse Orange teammate who has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for treatment costs.
Pat Killorin, a center for Syracuse in the mid-1960s, created the fundraiser last Sunday.
“Floyd was recently diagnosed with a treatable but aggressive form of cancer. No doubt it will be the toughest fight of his life,” Killorin wrote on the Friends of Floyd page.
Little, a three-time All-American at Syracuse from 1964-66, was selected sixth overall in the 1967 combined AFL-NFL draft by the Broncos. He spent his entire nine-year career with the franchise and rushed for 6,323 yards and 43 touchdowns.
The 77-year-old Little, a native of New Haven, Connecticut, led the NFL in rushing yards (1,133) and yards from scrimmage (1,388) in 1971. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010.
Former Bears safety Taylor dies
Roosevelt Taylor, a star safety on the Chicago Bears’ 1963 NFL championship team, has died. He was 82.
The team said he died Friday but did not provide details.
An All-Pro in 1963 when the Bears won the title, Taylor played his first nine NFL seasons with Chicago, 1961-69, appearing in every game. A ballhawk, he led the league in interceptions in 1963 with nine, also making the Pro Bowl.
Chicago was 11-1-2 in that championship season, winning all eight games in which Taylor made an interception.
Burns dominates UFC fight in Vegas
Gilbert Burns dominated former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley to win a unanimous decision on Saturday night in the mixed martial arts promotion’s return to Las Vegas.
Brazilian heavyweight Augusto Sakai employed some unpunished gamesmanship to eke out a split-decision victory over Bulgaria’s Blagoy Ivanov in the penultimate bout of the UFC’s first show in its hometown since the coronavirus pandemic began.
The event was held without fans at the UFC Apex, a small gym with broadcast facilities on the promotion’s corporate campus. The UFC used minimal personnel to stage the fight, and the promotion said everyone involved was subject to strict health and safety protocols.
The 33-year-old Burns (19-3) dominated on his feet and on the ground, finishing his first main-event bout with likely the biggest win of his career and his sixth consecutive victory since July 2018, including four straight since moving back up to welterweight.