Ronda Rousey took part in an in-ring segment at WrestleMania 31 back in March 2015. Rousey, the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion at the time, got physical with both Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, and the WWE teased that Rousey could, in the future, be involved in a tag team match alongside The Rock. 

That night, when all is said and done, may represent a shift in the relationship shared by the WWE and UFC.

News broke over the first full weekend of June that Brock Lesnar, currently signed to the WWE and a former champion in both the WWE and UFC, will return to the cage and fight at UFC 200. The WWE promoted that story on the company’s official website and via social media websites such as Twitter. 

The Lesnar news became more interesting on June 5 when Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com reported that the WWE reached out to current UFC fighter Paige VanZant about appearing at this year’s SummerSlam show that will take place in August. That initial report was later confirmed to Damon Martin of FOXSports.com. 

VanZant’s popularity outside of the cage skyrocketed during the spring of 2016. The 22-year-old finished as runner-up during the recent Dancing With the Stars competition. Dominic Patten of Deadline.com reported in May that VanZant will have a role in the upcoming Kickboxer: Retaliation. Patten also wrote that producers created a role specifically for VanZant after seeing her on the hit ABC television program. 

VanZant appearing at SummerSlam could be win-win for all involved. The WWE would be able to feature a beautiful young woman who also happens to be a legitimate fighter and a TV star. Any mainstream exposure is only a positive for a rising star such as VanZant, who is still signed with the UFC and who is currently eighth in the official UFC rankings for the women’s strawweight division.  

Make it so. 

We should get this sports prediction for 2016 out of the way right now: LeBron James is not leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers this summer. James is tied to the Cavs, to Cleveland and to northeast Ohio through and even after the end of his playing days. Leaving Cleveland after failing to bring a championship to the city a second time would do irreparable harm to his legacy, his reputation and maybe even his brand. 

Done and done.  

The 2015-16 edition of the Cavaliers produced a strange regular season. Head coach David Blatt was fired in January when the Cavs were 30-11 and winners of 11 of the team’s prior 13 contests (h/t Cleveland.com). Stories about James’ activities on Instagram were covered by Michael Pina of FOXSports.com and others. James told Howard Beck of Bleacher Report that he would “take a pay cut” if doing so allowed him to play alongside Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul for even a season or two. 

Something needs to change for the Cavs before October rolls around.

The infamous “Agent X” of Sportsnet.CA recently wrote about the tensions felt by those inside of the Cleveland locker room. Chris Mannix of The Vertical/Yahoo Sports believes that Love’s future in Cleveland may be on the line as the Cavs attempt to rally back against the Golden State Warriors after dropping the first two games of the NBA Finals. 

When the Cavaliers made the trade for Kevin Love before the start of the 2014-15 campaign, the club unofficially became the most win-now team in the NBA. Golden State having a record-breaking season doesn’t change that. Cleveland hasn’t stockpiled draft picks, nor have the Cavs been shy about spending money to hold onto talents such as Tristan Thompson.

Cleveland’s future is now. 

The “big three” of James, Love and Kyrie Irving was built to win a title. James and the Cleveland front office may feel that changes must be made if the Cavaliers are unable to complete a comeback in the current NBA Finals.

Acquiring assets for Love would be a start.  

Why would striker Jamie Vardy leave Leicester City? Leicester are the reigning kinds of English football. Vardy was a revelation for Leicester this past Premier League campaign to the point that he became an icon among Leicester supporters and earned a spot in the England national team for the upcoming European Championship. Why would Vardy depart the club before Leicester play a single Champions League game? 

The answer is simple. 

Vardy will never be as popular or as coveted as he is at this point of his career. The luster of Leicester winning the Premier League has not yet faded. Vardy’s heroics are still fresh on the minds of managers, executives and fans who would embrace him. A Vardy autobiography is set to be released before the end of the year (h/t DailyMail.co.uk), and a movie about Vardy’s rise to stardom could be in theaters next spring (h/t LeicesterMercury.co.uk). 

The time for Vardy to cash-in on his fame is now. 

Vardy does not have a bright long-term future of playing top-tier football ahead of him as do England striker Harry Kane and Leicester teammate Riyad Mahrez. The best could be to come for both of those players. Vardy, meanwhile, turned 29-years-old last January. It is not a stretch to suggest that this will be his one and only chance to make a move to a massive club and put pen to paper on the biggest contract of his career. 

Dominic Fifield of The Guardian has reported that Vardy will not choose between Leicester and Arsenal until after the upcoming European Championship. The decision is easy. Vardy has to go, because it could be his only chance to do so. 

The last few years in the career of current Denver Broncos QB Mark Sanchez weren’t easy. 

Sanchez’s tenure with the New York Jets came to a harsh and unexpected end in August 2013 when he suffered a shoulder injury during a preseason game against the New York Giants. One could argue that Sanchez shouldn’t have been on the field at that point of the exhibition contest, but what’s done is done. 

Sanchez joined the Philadelphia Eagles in the spring of 2014. The former “Sanchize,” Nick Foles and Sam Bradford all spent time as Philadelphia starting QB over the subsequent two seasons and as part of the Chip Kelly experiment that ended in December 2015 when Kelly was fired. Sanchez was traded to the Denver Broncos in March of 2016, but Denver then selected Memphis QB Paxton Lynch in the first round of this year’s draft. 

Woof. 

Jeff Legwood of ESPN.com claimed at the end of May that Sanchez will open the regular season as the starting QB of the Broncos, and also that the Broncos “like (Sanchez) more than you’d think.” ESPN Senior Writer John Clayton predicated on June 7 that Sanchez will win the starting gig. Let’s assume, then, that Sanchez will be under center for Week 1. 

Sanchez will not only start. Sanchez will win. 

Remember that the 2015 Broncos did not live and die on QB play. Peyton Manning was, to be honest, not good during his last regular season. Brock Osweiler was better than Manning for the most part, but he was eventually benched in favor of Manning before the start of the postseason. 

The Broncos may not repeat as champions, but that Denver roster is still filled with talent. Sanchez does not need to work miracles to guide the Broncos to a playoff berth. He merely needs to be Osweiler 2.0, a role Sanchez can play for a season or two until Lynch takes the keys to the offense. 

One has to wonder if current UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor regrets some decisions he made during the first five months of 2016. 

McGregor planned to move up in weight and challenge Rafael dos Anjos for the UFC Lightweight Championship in March. That opportunity vanished, however, after Dos Anjos picked up an injury in training. McGregor, thus, accepted a welterweight bout against Nate Diaz. Diaz submitted McGregor at UFC 196. 

Things got weird after McGregor was scheduled to meet Diaz for a rematch at UFC 200. McGregor no-showed a press conference and then took to Twitter to announce his retirement (h/t BloodElbow.com). UFC boss Dana White responded by removing McGregor from the UFC 200 card. All is well that ends well, though, as McGregor and Diaz are now scheduled to fight in a 170-pound rematch at UFC 202 this coming August. 

That’s great, but there is the matter of McGregor still holding the UFC Featherweight Championship. 

McGregor not only moved on from featherweight earlier this year. The current champion is, per words that White said during an ESPN appearance earlier this month (h/t MMAJunkie.com), “obsessed” with fighting Diaz at 170 pounds. McGregor’s featherweight responsibilities are clearly in his past.

This prediction goes one of three ways: McGregor relinquishes the title to pursue a championship at a higher weight class, the UFC strips McGregor of the title for holding the featherweight division hostage, or McGregor finds that moving back and forth in weight classes isn’t easy and he loses the belt to Jose Aldo or Frankie Edgar.  

Earlier in this piece, you read about the potential demise of the current Cleveland Cavaliers. Unless Cleveland defeats the Golden State Warriors four times out of five, the Cavaliers will not end the championship drought that has haunted Cleveland for over 50 years. 

The Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League are, as of the posting of this piece, a win away from hoisting the Calder Cup. That’s cool for the Monsters and for local hockey fans, but a minor league hockey title is only worth so much.

The Cleveland Browns, are, well, the Browns. The Browns aren’t anything of note anytime soon. 

We give you the Cleveland Indians: Cleveland’s best sports team of 2016. 

The Indians were plagued by slow starts throughout the first few years of Terry Francona’s tenure as club manager. Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com wrote about this last February. Hoynes also pointed out that the Indians had a winning percentage of .557 under Francona in games that took place after April from 2013 through 2015. 

Don’t look now, but the Indians possessed a winning percentage of .571 after 56 games this year. Cleveland’s 32-24 record was good for first place in the American League Central as of June 7. Assuming that the Indians win roughly 55.7 percent of the club’s remaining games, Cleveland will finish the campaign with a record of 91-71. 

That record would have been good for third-best among AL clubs last year. 

It won’t be easy for the Indians between now and October. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported on June 6 that the club is concerned outfielder Michael Brantley could miss “a significant amount of time” because of a lingering shoulder injury. Starting pitcher Danny Salazar reportedly already has a tired right shoulder (h/t Cleveland.com). 

That just means the Cleveland front office must pull the trigger on moves to give Francona the horse he needs for the stretch run. 

Numbers don’t lie, and neither does Cleveland’s current run that includes a sweep of division rivals and defending World Series champs the Kansas City Royals over the first weekend of the month. The Indians will give fans meaningful October baseball this year, and they will be the city’s best team for 2016. 

Just a few weeks after Leicester City clinched the Premier League crown for the 2015-16 campaign. Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri raised some eyes when he explained that his target for next season was to keep the club in the Premier League. From The Press Association/TheNational.ae: 

Chelsea and Manchester City have bolstered their cause by appointing high-profile managers Antonio Conte and Pep Guardiola respectively after disappointing 2015/16 campaigns while Jose Mourinho is close to taking charge at Manchester United.

Ranieri told the Mirror: “Next season will be another fantastic season, because Guardiola arrives, Conte and Jose. It will be a very tough and good season.

“Can we beat them? We can fight, but we’re underdogs. The fairytale happened once and we won. We want to defend our title, of course, but for us it’s very important to stay in the Premier League.

Your first thought may be to believe that Ranieri is merely attempting to keep his players grounded. Perhaps, however, Ranieri sees the writing on the wall. 

Peter Smith of SkySports.com explained on June 6 that Jamie Vardy may not be the only star player to leave Leicester during the summer. Current PFA Player of the Year Riyad Mahrez has been linked with big clubs such as Real Madrid, Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United (h/t Metro.co.uk). Darren Lewis of the Mirror Online claimed earlier this month that Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain could enter a bidding war for box-to-box midfielder N’golo Kante. 

Despite winning the Premier League and earning Champions League football, Leicester cannot pay the same wages offered by the biggest clubs in the world. That’s the reality of modern football. Leicester will acquire funds to replace any departing stars, but those players will require time to adapt to the club and to Ranieri’s tactics. 

It will be a process. 

Don’t predict gloom and doom for Leicester. Leicester deserve more respect following their outstanding and historic season. With that said, don’t expect Leicester to survive past the group stages of the Champions League or compete for a European spot next season.

A mid-table finish would be admirable for Leicester. 

The past 10 months were fun for Leicester supporters. As John Lennon once sang, though: The dream is over. 

UFC 200 should be the biggest show in company history. That event will showcase Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones meeting for a Light Heavyweight Championship unification match, Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes fighting over the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship, Frankie Edgar versus Jose Aldo and, last but not least, Brock Lesnar versus Mark Hunt. 

Lesnar headlined the UFC 100 show that is, per Dave Meltzer of MMAFighting.com, believed to be responsible for the most pay-per-view buys in UFC history. 

UFC’s summer will end with a bang on August 20 when Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz meet for their highly-anticipated rematch at UFC 202. 

Barring injuries and other unforeseen issues, UFC 200 and UFC 202 will both be humongous shows that generate a lot of money, mainstream attention and social media hits. There is also no guarantee that Ronda Rousey is re-entering the cage for a fight before the end of 2016 or even ever again. 

So why not sell the company this fall? 

ESPN Senior Writer Darren Rovell reported in May that UFC owners were in “advanced talks” regarding the sale of the promotion. Rovell also pointed out that UFC president Dana White denied that claim while speaking on “The Dan Patrick Show” after Rovell’s original story went public. Per Rovell, the winning bid for UFC could be between “$3.5 billion and $4 billion.” 

Forbes.com offers the following information on the current owners of UFC:

In 2001, Lorenzo Fertitta and his older brother Frank, with high school pal Dana White, paid $2 million for a nearly bankrupt company that organized mixed martial arts fights. 

According to Damon Martin of FOXSports.com, the Fertitta brothers own 81 percent of UFC. Dana White owns 9 percent of the company, and Flash Entertainment owns the rest. 

Each would make fortunes upon the sale of the UFC.

Turning an investment of $2 million into a company worth over $3 billion is enough reason to sell. Add in that White told Jim Rome last month that the Fertittas “will own an NFL team” in the future (h/t FOXSports.com), and the UFC being sold before the end of the year makes even more sense. 

We save the biggest, and maybe the gutsiest, prediction for last. 

Jacksonville Jaguars QB Blake Bortles tossed 35 touchdowns during the 2015 NFL regular season (h/t Pro-Football-Reference.com). That number was matched by two-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Eli Manning, 2015 NFL MVP Cam Newton and accomplished veteran Carson Palmer. Only New England Patriots superstar Tom Brady had more passing TDs last season. 

Brady finished the campaign with 36 TDs. 

Bortles is about to begin only his third ever NFL preseason. The 24-year-old is not yet in his physical prime, and he is already ahead of where Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and other proven QBs were at similar stages of their careers. We have no reason to believe Bortles will not continue to improve over the next several seasons. 

Bortles is not a one-man show in the Jacksonville offense. Wide receivers Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns have emerged as a top offensive duos in their first two NFL seasons. The Jaguars have a powerful pair in the backfield in T.J. Yeldon and Chris Ivory. 

Bortles is far from a finished product. He has to consistently complete more than 58 percent of his attempts, and Bortles cannot afford to average over an interception per start. Achieving those goals could make Bortles a sleeper MVP candidate. 

It is likely that Bortles and the Jaguars are still a couple of years away from contending for any significant NFL hardware. Anybody could pick Newton, Brady or some other proven star to win NFL MVP. Why not take a shot on Bortles before training camps open? 

Your wallet and your bank account may thank you.