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Frankie Valli, 92, abruptly cancels remainder of Four Seasons farewell tour to focus on his health
Frankie Valli has canceled the remainder of his Four Seasons' farewell tour amid ongoing health concerns.
"I’m so sorry to disappoint the folks who have purchased tickets to my shows, but I have decided to take the rest of the year off from touring to focus on my health," the 92-year-old singer wrote on social media Friday. "I’m looking forward to getting healthy and seeing you all again soon. Thank you for all your good wishes."
Valli, the frontman and only original member still performing with the Four Seasons, launched the farewell tour, "The Last Encores," in October 2023.
Fans were quick to offer their support.
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"I am so glad that you are taking time to take care of yourself, wishing you and your wife some relaxation and some quiet time," one follower commented on Instagram. "Looking forward to seeing you next time."
"No need to apologize. You've given us some of the greatest songs ever written. Take care of yourself," another wrote.
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In 2024, Valli addressed fans after videos of his recent performances sparked concern among fans online.
"I know there has been a lot of stuff on the internet about me lately so I wanted to clear the air," the musician said in a statement, via People magazine. "I am blessed to be 90 years old and still be doing what I love to do and as long as I am able, and audiences want to come see me, I am going to be out there performing as I always. I absolutely love what I do. And I know we put on a great show because our fans are still coming out in force and the show still rocks."
"How do we do the show?! The Four Seasons sound was always about layering vocals and instruments," he explained. "We use our 60 years of experience so we sound like the records. I sing, I have singers who sing, great arrangements…. everything. I get a chuckle from the comments wondering if someone forcing me to go on stage. Nobody has ever made me do anything I didn’t want to do."
"I plan to be doing shows as long as I can, delivering that great Four Seasons sound. Like that line in ‘Jersey Boys,’ I’m like that bunny on TV, that just keeps going and going and going. Chasing the music."
Knicks star shares how Jeremy Lin's rise influenced team fandom: 'Second to none'
Jeremy Lin owned a few months of the NBA season in 2012 and gave New York Knicks fans a feeling they hadn’t experienced in quite a while – hope.
Even though Lin, Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire never produced a championship or NBA Finals appearance, it was still a pivotal moment for the team to get back to relevance after being out of the spotlight since 1999. This year’s iteration of the Knicks is doing the same.
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Karl-Anthony Towns, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and others have led New York back to its first NBA Finals appearance since the 1998-99 season with hopes of winning their first title since 1973.
Towns, who grew up in New Jersey, said Friday that Lin was the one who made him a Knicks fan. He was in high school as "Linsanity" took over basketball.
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"I truly want to give a shoutout to Jeremy Lin because he really made me a Knicks fan and had me at Modell’s," Towns said, via the New York Post. "It was crazy trying to find his jersey. I have so much love for Jeremy Lin, he’s one of my favorite Knicks of all time, one of my favorite players of all time.
"He made me so passionate about the Knicks. It’s crazy now that I’m in this position, in this chair, talking to you guys as a Knicks player. (They) showed me the other day Jeremy Lin on social [media], for him to even mention me was kind of crazy because the love I have for him and what he’s done for me and my Knicks fandom is second to none."
Towns added that his parents helped him gravitate toward Knicks fandom over the Brooklyn Nets.
Now, Towns will be four wins away from New York infamy.
DAVID MARCUS: Establishment Dems turn on Graham Platner, but it's way too late
The world learned this week that Graham Platner, the Maine Democrat all but set to win his party's Senate primary next month, has been sexting up to 12 women in the past few years while married. For Platner, this just added to his Cadillac Mountain of scandals.
You are likely familiar with the fact that the so-called oyster farmer has a Nazi tattoo that he covered up only after lying about knowing its meaning. He also has a long history off-color Reddit posts, including remarks blaming women for being raped.
What was most telling about these sordid new sexting revelations wasn’t that it exposed Platner as a creep. We already knew that. It was that the leak came from a fellow Democrat.
The party may be starting to realize they have created a Marxist monster they can’t control.
NEW WEBSITE PUTS PLATNER ON NOTICE BY AMPLIFYING SCANDALS: 'ONE RED FLAG AFTER ANOTHER'
Over the past several days, there has started to be what looks like an effort by establishment Democrats to tank socialist Platner’s campaign, even though his Democratic opponent, Gov. Janet Mills has dropped out and polls show the bearded blowhard leading incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the general election.
We have known for some time now that Platner is not exactly the poster child for impulse control, so why now? Why did a Democratic insider who had worked for him suddenly reveal secrets that Platner’s wife had originally flagged to the campaign?
One hint is that this opposition research drop, or in this case "same team" research drop, came just days after Rep. Jake Auchincloss D-Mass., called Platner’s shenanigans, including the Third Reich ink, "disqualifying."
DEMOCRAT CONGRESSMAN SLAMS GRAHAM PLATNER'S NAZI-LINKED TATTOO AS 'DISQUALIFYING'
While Auchincloss eventually walked it back a bit, saying that beating Collins and winning the Senate is a priority, this was quite an attack for what looked like a settled primary.
Of course, maverick Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman has been warning of Platner’s unfitness for office for months. On Saturday, he told me of the new scandal, in very millennial style.
"P-Hustle got his Swalwell-On sending sexually explicit texts to a dozen women as a newlywed," Fetterman wrote. "There’s never a slow comms day for Question Hound Democrats."
KNIVES OUT FOR FETTERMAN: MAVERICK SENATOR JOINS LONG LINE OF DEMS PUNISHED FOR BREAKING FROM LEFT
Question hound is the iconic meme in which a dog sits in a cafe on fire saying, "This is fine."
One thing we also saw last week was that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who like Platner, is a member of the Sen. Bernie Sanders I-Vt., merry band of communists, endorsed a Muslim socialist over veteran Democratic Bronx Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who Madman Mamdani had previously promised to back.
It sure seems like establishment Democrats are realizing that if they choose to coddle these communists, as so many have been doing, it won’t protect them from being primaried by progressive lunatics, and quite possibly losing, as Mills did.
DAVID MARCUS: RISE OF MARXISM IS A HYRDRA DEMOCRATS CREATED BUT CAN'T CONTROL
Platner’s backers in the party, many of them the same people who propelled Zohran to success, are circling the wagons around their guy. They say the leaking aide committed a terrible act of betrayal, and with a straight face, suggest Platner is the victim in all this.
There are two problems with this. One is that voters don’t care about internal campaign disputes. Nobody watches that much C-SPAN. The second is that, this time, after Democratic Socialists have swallowed so much of the party, the Establishment seems set to strike back.
Lines are being drawn in this battle for the soul of the party of Jefferson and Jackson. This week, emerging party star Rep. Ro Khana, D-Calif., will campaign with Platner, and so far, he is standing by his man, despite the latest allegations and near certainty of more dropping shoes.
DAVID MARCUS: HASAN PIKER, USEFUL IDIOT FASHIONISTAS WANT TO MAKE AMERICA INTO COMMIE CUBA
Platner also will have the support of communist podcaster Hasan Piker, who increasingly is the leading spokesman for the party. Let's be honest, who do you hear more from these days, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries or Piker?
There are rumors of plots afoot to replace Platner on the ballot by November, perhaps with Mills, but this seems like a pipe dream, an effort to save the seat for sanity that comes a day late and a dollar short.
Everywhere you look across the country, the far left is in the ascendancy in the Democratic Party. It finally looks like old-school Democrats are noticing, as their own political safety falls into the crosshairs of the Democratic Socialists.
Make no mistake, the communists are just a cycle or two from completely controlling the Democratic Party, if they don’t already. This is bad news for our nation, but sadly, this last-minute effort by the establishment to derail Platner seems doomed.
'Alaskan Bush People' star Matt Brown found dead in Washington state river at the age of 42
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 800-273-TALK (8255).
Matt Brown, who appeared in Discovery Channel's "Alaskan Bush People," has died. He was 42.
On Saturday, his brother, Bear Brown, took to social media to confirm Matt had been found dead after authorities had recovered a body from a Washington state river.
"They found a body in the river a few hours ago, and it was positively identified as being Matt," Bear said in a TikTok video.
Bear confirmed their brother Noah was the one to positively identify Matt.
GRANGER SMITH'S WIFE SHARES DETAILS OF HIS NEAR-SUICIDE ATTEMPT FOLLOWING SON'S DROWNING
"I would have never suspected he would have hurt himself, honestly. He struggled for a long time, as I've mentioned, and I worried he was going to end up, like, OD'd or something like that. I didn't think he would hurt himself."
"It does look as though the injury is self-inflicted," he continued. "Obviously, the coroner and stuff still has to look at him and stuff, but I thought that you guys should know that it is him."
According to Page Six, the Okanogan County Sheriff's Office deputies responded Wednesday after receiving a 911 call from a witness who reported seeing a man sitting in a shallow section of the river. The caller later reported hearing a sound and finding the man face down in the water before he was swept away by the current.
A firearm was reportedly recovered from the area where the man was last seen, according to the outlet.
In the TikTok video, Bear urged fans to be respectful of his family's privacy during this time.
"Please be respectful to the family, to my mom [Ami Brown] especially," he said. "Please don’t attack my mom. Mom cares very much for Matt and always has."
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Matt starred on "Alaskan Bush People" from 2014 to 2019, when he stepped away amid his addiction struggles.
During an interview with People in 2016, Matt opened up about his drinking, saying, "I could see myself spiraling."
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"I started drinking lightly and then it got to be more and more," he told the outlet. "That’s when I saw the problem around the corner, and I didn’t want to be one of those guys."
"There was a lot of anxiety. It took a couple days to work up the guts to tell my parents," he continued. "But their support was unbelievable. It instantly made me feel better and like I could be successful on this journey."
After completing 35 days of treatment, Matt told the outlet he had gained a new perspective on life.
"I learned a lot about myself in those 35 days. I’ve turned my weakness into a strength," he said. "In life, we all get lost every now and then and have to find our way back."
This is not the first time the Brown family has been hit by tragedy.
Billy Brown, patriarch of the Brown family, died in 2021 after suffering a seizure. He was 68.
"We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved patriarch Billy Brown passed away last night after suffering from a seizure," the family said, per the outlet. "He was our best friend — a wonderful and loving dad, granddad and husband and he will be dearly missed."
"He lived his life on his terms, off the grid and off the land and taught us to live like that as well," Bear wrote on Instagram at the time. "We plan to honor his legacy going forward, and to continue with his dream. We ask for privacy and prayers during this painful time. God Bless Everyone!"
Why NATO’s defense spending imbalance lasted for decades
This is part five of a series examining the challenges confronting the NATO alliance.
For more than three decades, the U.S. carried the largest share of NATO's military burden while many European allies spent far less on defense than Washington wanted.
The imbalance survived the Cold War, multiple U.S. administrations and repeated debates over burden sharing. Only in recent years — following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and renewed pressure from President Donald Trump — have many NATO members begun significantly increasing defense spending.
So why did the gap persist for so long?
Defense analysts say the answer lies in a combination of post-Cold War optimism, domestic political priorities and an American defense umbrella that convinced much of Europe it could safely spend less on defense without sacrificing its security.
GLOBAL SYSTEM TOOK ADVANTAGE OF AMERICA ON TRADE AND DEFENSE. THAT FREE RIDE IS OVER
"For much of the post–Cold War period, it is fair to say that Europeans underinvested in defense, partly because threats were low, and partly because a series of U.S. presidents did everything they could to convince Europeans that we would stay there forever," Barry Posen, a professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Fox News Digital.
The collapse of the Soviet Union reinforced that mindset.
With the primary threat NATO had been created to deter suddenly gone, governments across Europe moved to collect a so-called "peace dividend," redirecting resources toward domestic priorities and away from their militaries.
Between 1992 and 1999, defense spending among European NATO members fell 22%, helping establish a pattern of underinvestment that would persist for decades even as the United States maintained troops in Europe and continued serving as NATO's ultimate security backstop.
GERMANY UNVEILS NEW INCENTIVES TO BOOST MILITARY RECRUITMENT AMID GROWING RUSSIA THREAT
As defense spending declined, many European governments expanded or maintained social welfare systems that consumed a growing share of public budgets. Programs such as healthcare, pensions and higher education became deeply embedded in domestic politics, often making them harder to cut than military spending.
With the U.S. continuing to provide the bulk of NATO's military power, many governments faced little immediate pressure to reverse course. Critics of the alliance's spending imbalance argued that American taxpayers were effectively subsidizing Europe's security, allowing allies to devote a larger share of public resources to domestic priorities.
The result was what some defense analysts describe as a "moral hazard" problem: because the U.S. commitment to NATO was viewed as ironclad, allies could spend less on their own militaries without facing the full consequences of those decisions.
NATO CHIEF WARNS EUROPE CAN’T DEFEND ITSELF WITHOUT US AS TENSIONS RISE OVER GREENLAND
Over time, that dynamic became self-reinforcing. As European militaries shrank, many allies grew increasingly dependent on American capabilities ranging from logistics and intelligence to missile defense, strategic airlift and nuclear deterrence.
"We are still having a strong, conventional U.S. presence in Europe," NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said earlier in 2026, "and, of course, the nuclear umbrella as our ultimate guarantor."
American frustration over burden sharing is nearly as old as NATO itself.
In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned European allies that "the American well can run dry" and pressed them to assume a larger share of the alliance's defense burden. The issue resurfaced repeatedly over the following decades as successive administrations sought greater European contributions to collective defense.
The concern persisted long after the Cold War. In a blunt 2011 farewell speech in Brussels, then-War Secretary Robert Gates warned of a "dim if not dismal future" for NATO if European governments continued underinvesting in their militaries. Gates cautioned that there would be "dwindling appetite and patience" among American lawmakers and taxpayers to bear a disproportionate share of the alliance's defense costs.
Yet despite decades of warnings, the underlying incentives changed little.
Washington repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment to NATO and maintained a large military presence on the continent, reducing pressure on allies to rapidly increase defense spending.
"Every administration has been pushing allies to spend more money on their own defense," former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO Jim Townsend told Fox News Digital.
The issue gained renewed urgency after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, when NATO established a benchmark for members to spend at least 2% of GDP on defense. While spending gradually increased, progress remained uneven across the alliance.
"Nations slowly began going to that. But it's been slow," Townsend said.
For years, burden-sharing disputes followed a familiar pattern: American officials urged allies to spend more, European leaders promised improvements and NATO continued to rely heavily on American military power. What finally broke that cycle, Townsend said, was the combination of Russia's growing aggression and Trump's willingness to challenge assumptions that had shaped the alliance for decades.
"What really woke everyone up were two things," Townsend said. "One was the 2022 invasion by Putin the second time. And then the second was Trump."
Unlike previous presidents, Trump openly questioned whether the United States should defend allies that failed to meet defense spending commitments. During his first term and again during his return to office, Trump argued that NATO members were taking advantage of American taxpayers and suggested U.S. protection should not be unconditional.
Whether European leaders viewed Trump's approach as pressure, a warning or a negotiating tactic, it altered assumptions that had shaped the alliance since the end of the Cold War and accelerated a debate that had simmered for decades.
The shift culminated at NATO's summit in The Hague, where allies agreed to a new goal of spending 5% of GDP on defense and defense-related investments by 2035. The agreement marked a dramatic leap from NATO's long-standing 2% benchmark and reflected a growing consensus that the alliance faced a far more dangerous security environment than the one that emerged after the Soviet Union's collapse.
The agreement also signaled that many allies had come to the same conclusion American presidents had voiced for decades: the post-Cold War era of reduced military spending was over.
TRUMP PUSHED NATO TO SPEND BIG — NOW COMES THE HARDER QUESTION: CAN EUROPE ACTUALLY FIGHT?
But analysts caution that rebuilding military power is far more complicated than increasing budgets.
Europe remains dependent on the U.S. for capabilities ranging from air defense and logistics to intelligence and defense industrial capacity, Townsend said. Even as governments commit more money to defense, translating those investments into military readiness will take years.
John Byrne of Concerned Veterans for America said the challenge extends beyond equipment and spending levels.
"They don’t have the experience," Byrne told Fox News Digital, referring to the decades in which large multinational military commands were overwhelmingly led by American officers.
Running large coalition military operations requires years of institutional knowledge and leadership experience, he said — something that cannot be rebuilt overnight.
"You can buy equipment," Byrne said. "You can’t instantly buy command experience."
Man arrested in the early morning hours for going pants down and 'chimichanga out' near Florida Taco Bell
Going pants down, "chimichanga out" outside of a Taco Bell isn’t the sort of early morning antics that nine times out of 10 employees of the fast-food restaurant are going to find amusing. That doesn’t even take into account a possible strategy for making such an attempt.
Why would you ALLEGEDLY expose yourself near the side door of a Florida Taco Bell around 1 a.m. on a Thursday morning? And why would you do so when you’re in possession of a pet fish? If you’re not worried about yourself, have you no concern for what could become of your fish?
It's unlikely we ever get any answers to those questions. Here's what we do know thanks to the reporting of WFTV 9. Brandon Irizarry, 28, was arrested early Thursday morning on charges of having his pants pulled down outside of the local Taco Bell.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office described him as being "chimichanga out" when deputies arrived on the scene. They say he had multiple pairs of pants pulled down and that he didn’t appear to be aware that police were on the scene.
When he realized deputies were there, he attempted to cover himself up. By that time, deputies had seen enough. Irizarry was arrested, charged with unlawful exposure of sexual organs and transported to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility.
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"In Flagler County, if you can’t keep your business inside your pants, you’ll find yourself at the Green Roof Inn, swimming with different company than your fish," Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement about the arrest.
As for the fish, which was reportedly found swimming in a plastic container in Irizarry’s backpack, it was taken to the Flagler County Humane Society. The betta fish deputies named "Baja Blast" is "doing great" according to humane society staff.
The sheriff’s office, which had a good time with this one, issued a friendly reminder to locals by joking that their late-night Taco Bell runs should have a "a receipt, maybe some regret, but not a booking number."
This is a sheriff's office that cares about the community it serves. Keeping your chimichanga in your pants at Taco Bell is the moral of this story.
Trump expands Turkey ambassador's diplomatic role, adding Iraq, Syria amid Middle East tensions
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack is getting expanded duties from President Donald Trump to serve as special envoy to Syria and Iraq as the administration tries to forge lasting peace in the Middle East.
"I am pleased to announce that United States Ambassador to Türkiye, Tom Barrack, who has done an outstanding job, will be named Special Presidential Envoy to Syria and, likewise, Special Presidential Envoy to Iraq, as we advance our strategic cooperation with the Governments of Syria and Iraq, our relationship with them continues to grow," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Sunday.
Syria, a longtime Iranian terrorist proxy battleground, has moved to make peace with the Trump administration and Israel in recent years. It has largely been moved in that direction with the guidance of Turkey, the northern neighbor of Iraq and Syria.
"Tom will remain Ambassador to Türkiye, and operate with the full backing of the United States Department of State," Trump's post continued. "We greatly appreciate the work that Tom Barrack has done, and his continued willingness to serve our Country."
US AMBASSADOR BARRACK NAMED SPECIAL ENVOY TO SYRIA AMID SANCTIONS RELIEF PLAN
The announcement came as Washington remains locked in high-stakes negotiations with Iran and as Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards launched new attacks on separatist groups in northern Iraq, according to Reuters.
Barrack’s expanded assignment places him at the center of several overlapping pressure points in the region: the future of U.S. engagement with Syria, the stability of Iraq, Turkey's role as a regional power broker and the broader fallout from the U.S.-Iran conflict.
The move also follows earlier reporting that Barrack had already been playing a major role in Syria policy, including discussions involving Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the administration’s approach to Damascus.
TRUMP TENTATIVELY MAKING PEACE WITH IRAN, BUT POTENTIAL FUTURE STRIKES REMAIN AS LEVERAGE
Trump’s announcement landed during a tense weekend for U.S. diplomacy. The president has not announced a final decision on a proposed Iran agreement, and recent reports said he requested changes to a draft deal negotiated by his envoys, including tougher provisions related to Iran’s nuclear materials.
Trump said in a Fox News interview that he was "in no hurry" to finalize a deal with Tehran, while warning the U.S. could resume military action if negotiations fail. War Secretary Pete Hegseth also said the U.S. military remained poised to resume strikes against Iran.
The administration’s core peace demands have centered on preventing Iran from developing or acquiring nuclear weapons, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and securing terms that Trump has described as tougher than earlier proposals. The Strait of Hormuz remains a central point of contention because of its importance to global energy shipments.
The northern Iraq strikes underscored the risk that the conflict could continue to spill across borders even as diplomacy continues. Iranian forces have repeatedly targeted Kurdish opposition groups based in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, accusing them of threatening Iran’s security. Those attacks have placed additional pressure on Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government while complicating U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq.
Barrack, a longtime Trump ally and businessman, is now expected to help manage U.S. relationships with three countries that sit at the heart of the administration’s Middle East strategy.
Bryson DeChambeau admits to turning to AI to help fix his swing after struggles at LIV Golf Korea
Bryson DeChambeau may have finished third in LIV Golf's latest event in South Korea, but that doesn't mean he's pleased with his game.
DeChambeau, who won back-to-back LIV events in March, found himself one shot back of the lead after the opening two rounds in South Korea, but put together a disappointing third round at 1-over par. As is often the case for DeChambeau after what he deems to be a lackluster performance, it turned into a long night on the driving range searching for something.
The two-time U.S. Open champion has made it a habit of spending incredibly long hours on the practice tee surrounded by a handful of members on his support staff, which apparently has a new member nowadays, but one that isn't technically real.
Speaking with reporters after his final-round 65 on Sunday, DeChambeau said he spent quite a while the previous night speaking with artificial intelligence, trying to improve his swing.
"I spent some long hours on the range trying to figure some stuff out and I was talking to AI quite a bit last night trying to go through some different physics principles that makes the club turn over, having some alpha torque and gamma torque put in there," DeChambeau shared. "I was like, what makes that possibly do that, and was talking about just grip pressure and tension."
Late-night torque and grip talk with AI. Professional golf sure is something in the year 2026.
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DeChambeau went into a bit more detail about his chat with AI, explaining that, since he didn't figure out what to do with his swing on his own, the AI essentially served as a swing coach.
"I was slamming the club in the ground trying to figure out what to do. I was frustrated. Been trying everything in my body. I didn't actually figure it out on the range," DeChambeau continued. "I went back and started talking to Gemini and trying to figure out just what it could be to passively make the club turn over. Hands just felt like they were moving forward like this and I couldn't get the club to turn over. Even if I tried to stop it here, it still wouldn't turn over."
It's hard to say that DeChambeau's conversation with AI had any effect on his final round, but it's equally as difficult to say that it did any damage, given that his final-round 65 tied for the low score of the day.
DeChambeau has had a strong year on the LIV circuit with a pair of wins and two solo third-place finishes, but missed the cut at both the Masters and PGA Championship.
Ex-NFL star knocked out in MMA fight after coming into bout with weight advantage
Former NFL star Greg Hardy has faced his trials and tribulations in the cage as a fighter in mixed martial arts and he was on the receiving end of a knockout blow once again Saturday.
Hardy contended with Darko Stosic at Fight Nation Championship 31. It was supposed to be a heavyweight bout but Hardy reportedly missed weight by 25 pounds. He had a 52-pound weight advantage over Stosic, though it didn’t appear to matter as much.
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Stosic started the third round with a brutal left hook that knocked Hardy backward. The former Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers defensive end didn’t see Stosic’s windmill punch and it sent him to the mat. Stosic delivered one giant hammer fist to Hardy’s jaw and the referee came in and stopped the bout.
Stosic was given the knockout win.
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It was Hardy’s fourth MMA loss in his last five bouts. Each of those losses came via technical knockout or knockout. He lost his last two fights in UFC in the first round – one on July 10, 2021, against Tai Tuivasa and the other to Serghei Spivac on March 5, 2022.
He appeared on the Peak Fighting 50 card in January and defeated Philip Latu via unanimous decision. However, he had no answers for Stosic.
The Serbian star improved to 23-8 all time with 17 knockouts. He’s won six out of his last eight fights and is on a two-bout winning streak. He last defeated Oli Thompson at Fight Nation Championship 27.
Brat Pack icon Andrew McCarthy says drinking 'derailed my career entirely'
For Andrew McCarthy, fame didn’t cause his alcoholism — it only allowed him to "afford better vodka."
During the 1980s, the actor became one of the defining faces of the "Brat Pack," the influential group of young stars, including Molly Ringwald, Demi Moore and Rob Lowe, among others, that helped influence a generation of teen films. But during his rapid rise in Hollywood, McCarthy was also struggling with alcoholism, a battle that eventually led him to seek treatment in the ’90s.
In a recent appearance on Ted Danson’s "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" podcast, the 63-year-old reflected on the common misconception that his success fueled his addiction.
ROB LOWE EMBRACES BRAT PACK LABEL AFTER REVEALING NICKNAME WAS ‘DESIGNED TO BELITTLE’ FAMOUS GROUP
"People always go, ‘Oh, well, you were too young, successful. That was too much for you, so you drank,’" McCarthy told Danson. "I’m like, ‘No, I would have drunk anyway. I was just able to afford better vodka.’"
When Danson noted McCarthy was "certainly functional" in the early years, McCarthy said, "To a point."
"Those kind of movies, that was early on. I was just starting to drink in those movies, but I certainly think it derailed my career entirely. ... Because not only the drinking, but then the years it took to recover from the drinking.
"I was so clouded for years after and by then, that moment had passed, and I had no wherewithal what to do with that moment anyway. Had I not been drinking, not been a part of my life, I don't know that I had the wherewithal to sort of position myself [with] what's next and all that anyway."
WATCH: ACTOR ANDREW MCCARTHY REFLECTS ON 500-MILE JOURNEY WITH SON: LIFE-CHANGING FOR ME
McCarthy has credited the sitcom "Cheers," set in a fictional neighborhood bar, with playing an unexpected but meaningful role in helping him get sober.
"I owe you a great, great debt, which you don’t know," McCarthy told Danson, 78.
"In 1992, I was in an alcohol rehab in Minnesota, and I was all played out," he explained. "I was 29 years old, and I was just done. I made a mess of everything, and I was in this rehab. They were trying to get us all to bond as a unit. ... But none of us liked each other. We were all disparate people. There was no way this was going to be a unit."
"But one of the guys then discovered that at seven o’clock at night, ‘Cheers’ was on every night," McCarthy continued.
"... After the counselors all went home, we would gather around and watch ‘Cheers.’ And we would sit there and count people’s drinks and talk about how you made the drinks — he’s got a heavy hand, and he doesn’t. And so, we totally bonded over the alcoholic part of ‘Cheers.’ ... That changed my life, and I haven’t had a drink since. So, I owe you a great deal."
"Well done," Danson said.
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY SAYS HE TURNS INTO A ‘JUDGMENTAL D--K’ REWATCHING HIS MOVIES
McCarthy also recalled being interviewed by Alec Baldwin for his podcast "Here’s the Thing." During their sit-down, the actors discussed early fame.
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"He said, ‘Well, maybe you just didn’t want it,’" said McCarthy. "And that hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized my temperament is ill-suited for that kind of thing. I want to be treated special. ... But my temperament is not suited for that kind of public [attention]."
"... I think now I could deal with it a lot more than I have, but back then I had much more than I could deal with," he shared.
"And I think I recoiled from that, and that hung with me for years. And for years, after I stopped drinking, I sort of soldered success and drinking onto each other. And imagine one was like a rock, and there was a metal plate. I had this visual, this metal plate just stuck onto it. And it took me years to sort of have them separate because they had nothing to do with each other."
Back in 2021, McCarthy told Fox News Digital he didn’t blame his alcoholism on success.
"I think it took me several years to realize that I had a problem, then several years to do something about it," he admitted. "And those cries for help come very quietly at times. One day, I was in a hotel in Los Angeles. This was back in ’92. I was drunk in the morning. I just went, ‘I need help. This doesn’t work.’"
"Luckily, my drinking was so bad that I couldn’t pretend, ‘Oh, no, it’s fine. I got it under control. I’m managing this. It doesn’t get in the way of my work or my life,’" McCarthy said. "It was so all-consuming that I was lucky in that regard. I was just like, ‘This is out of control. I’m out of control. There’s only one thing I’m focusing on here, and it’s the wrong thing, and I need help.’ So, in that regard, I was quite lucky that I flamed out so intensely."
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Looking back, McCarthy said he would have approached Hollywood differently early in his career.
"I think Hollywood is very much a place of connections and relationships, and cultivating business relationships," he said. "And that’s one of the main keys to success. I understood that on an intellectual level. I was just never very good at it. And I can’t say that I’m particularly much better at it now, but it certainly would have benefited me to be more active in doing that. That would be the main thing."
When asked whether he watches his old films today, McCarthy laughed and replied, "I live with myself, I don’t need to watch myself."
"I have come a long way in my relationship [with those films], and I love them now in a very real kind of way," he said. "They’ve been kept so alive to me by people for so long that I’ve come to realize what they represent to a generation of people. That just feels wonderful. I loved the part in ‘St. Elmo’s Fire.’ I have great affection for ‘Pretty in Pink.’ I think ‘Mannequin’ is a delight. ‘Bernie’ is great. I have great affection for all those films. I don’t think that was always the case for me."