Ronda Rousey will defend her Ultimate Fighting Championship belt on her home turf, Feb. 28 at Staples Center, the organization announced Wednesday.

Venice’s Rousey (10-0) will fight the No. 1-ranked bantamweight contender Cat Zingano (9-0) of Colorado, in the co-main event of the card.

Unbeaten middleweight champion Chris Weidman (12-0) will defend his belt for the third time in the main event against Brazil’s Vitor Belfort (24-10).

Rousey has dominated her past two fights, scoring technical knockouts of contenders Alexis Davis in 16 seconds and Sara McMann in 66 seconds. Nine of her 10 victories have ended in the first round.

“Ronda is a special athlete, but Cat Zingano looked outstanding in her last fight … she came in and put on an unbelievable performance and destroyed, reminding everyone why she’s the No. 1 contender,” UFC President Dana White told The Los Angeles Times.

Zingano beat Amanda Nunes by third-round TKO in September after a 2013 victory over Miesha Tate, who took...

Clippers Coach Doc Rivers isn't one to mince words. Throughout the preseason, he's repeatedly said that the San Antonio Spurs, the reigning NBA champions, are the best team in the league.

So when the Spurs played their season opener Tuesday, DeAndre Jordan said he was studying them.

 "It looked like they just had an All-Star break, and that's it," Jordan said of a team that hasn't played a game that's counted since mid-June.

"It looked like they were clicking, the ball was moving around, even being short-handed like they were" -- the Spurs were missing Kawhi Leonard and Tiago Splitter  -- "that doesn't really matter with a team like that. They all know each other, which is what we're trying to be."

The Clippers returned their starting lineup from last season, and are about to begin their second season with Rivers at the helm.

They are considered one of the top teams in the West, but they have something sorely missing -- championship experience. Or even NBA Finals experience. Or even...

If Jack Morris had his way, Madison Bumgarner would be starting Game 7 of the World Series.

"If you've got any inclination to throw Bumgarner, why not start him?" Morris said Wednesday, before Game 7 of the 2014 World Series.

Bumgarner, the ace of the San Francisco Giants, is expected to pitch in relief. Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said Tuesday he would resist the temptation to start Bumgarner on two days' rest.

Morris pitched a 10-inning shutout to win Game 7 of the 1991 World Series for the Minnesota Twins. He started Game 1, Game 4 and Game 7 of that series, the latter two on three days' rest.

He said Bumgarner has the durability and mechanical strength to have done the same thing, if the Giants had asked.

"If anybody is capable of 1, 4, and 7, it's Madison," Morris said.

How many innings does Morris believe Bumgarner could throw Wednesday?

"I think he can go 15," Morris said.

Morris said he respected Bochy for his loyalty to all of his pitchers, not just to Bumgarner, and for his...

When the Clippers play Oklahoma City in their NBA season opener Thursday, the Thunder will be without star small forward Kevin Durant, who is out with a broken bone in his foot. 

Chris Paul thinks Thunders guard Russell Westbrook will be just fine without his celebrated teammate.

"You could put him on the court with the Bad News Bears, and he's going to be ready to play," Paul said of Westbrook, a three-time All-Star. 

The teams played in the second round of the playoffs last season, with the Thunder eliminating the Clippers in six games. Clippers Coach Doc Rivers recently showed the team footage of its infamous Game 5, in which the Clippers blew a seven-point lead in the final 49.2 seconds.

"They're a team that beat us," Rivers said of the Thunder. "They're in our way, and we're in their way, and when you play those teams, that's what makes the games so good, because both teams know that."

With Durant out Thursday and expected to miss a possible total of 19 games, the Clippers have a...

Quarterback Tony Romo didn’t practice Wednesday because of his sore back, but the Dallas Cowboys aren’t ready to rule him out for Sunday’s game against Arizona.

Romo underwent a CT scan for the injury he suffered when he was kneed in the back by Keenan Robinson in Monday night’s loss to Washington, but Romo did not discuss what the exam revealed, though he did say that the latest trauma was unrelated to the disc injury he suffered last December that required surgery.

“It has nothing to do with back surgery or anything like that,” he said. “He caught me perfect. It’s something you have to deal with. It could have happened years ago and it would have been the same thing. It’s part of playing football.”

Sunday’s game pits the first-place teams in the NFC East and West, with the Cowboys at 6-2 and Cardinals at 6-1, their best record since 1974.

Dallas Coach Jason Garrett said Romo’s status was “a day-by-day thing.”

“Proclamations about the game right now I don’t think are in anybody’s best...