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CARSON >> Just when it appeared that the game was slipping away from the Galaxy, Giovani dos Santos and Gyasi Zardes entered as second-half substitutes to try and save the night.

That’s exactly what they did in Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal against Seattle.

The duo replaced Alan Gordon and Mike Magee in the 74th minute.

In the 77th minute, dos Santos intercepted an errant pass from Seattle defender Zach Scott to tie the score and eight minutes, Zardes helped set up Sebastian Lletget for the eventual winning goal, leading the Galaxy to a 4-2 victory in front of 3,409 in the StubHub Center track stadium to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2006.

“Really, it was all coaching,” Galaxy coach Bruce Arena joked. “You roll the dice sometimes. The other part you always have to think about there is that we might be playing 120 minutes, so you have to be careful, but obviously, we injected those players in the game to get a goal.

“Sebastian (Lletget) hasn’t had a regular shift in a while and this was good for him and he did a good job.”

Lletget closed out the scoring the three minutes later another goal.

The Galaxy will face FC Dallas in the semifinals, Aug. 10. The site will be announced today.

“I knew they were going to bring a lot of energy,” Lletget said of dos Santos and Zardes. “They made such a big impact right away. (Alan Gordon) Gordo and (Mike) Magee did a great job, but you know you get tired and they just brought energy, they’re smart players and just being clever, Gio (Giovani dos Santos) getting the goal, anticipating the play and he did well to finish it and Gyasi (Zardes) giving me the perfect ball.

“I’m going to enjoy every minute that I get.”

Seattle had taken a 2-1 lead in the 58th minute on Herculez Gomez’s goal in the 58th minute.

The Galaxy was able to send the game into halftime tied 1-1 thanks to Alan Gordon redirecting a shot from Baggio Husidic into the net in the 17th minute.

Seattle opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Michael Farfan took advantage of a mistake by Leonardo, stripping the ball and then scoring by Galaxy goalkeeper Clement Diop. It was an eventful first half for Leonardo, who also received a yellow card in the 31st minute.

Arena said he sent dos Santos and Zardes into the game to get one goal and he ended up with three and a berth in the semifinals.

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“Anyone that thinks that we haven’t tried to do this ... we haven’t been able to do, but it is not because it wasn’t important,” Arena said of advancing. “It (the Open Cup) is important and the next game will be a tough game and we will be ready to go.”

The teams will meet again in MLS play, July 31 in Seattle.

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ANAHEIM >> Good against the reeling Chicago White Sox was one thing.

Good against the American League West-leading Texas Rangers was quite another.

The Angels have miles to go before they can claim to be anything more than also-rans in 2016, but they showed with a 7-4 victory Wednesday over the Rangers at Angel Stadium that they can be more than cannon fodder for the rest of the AL the rest of the way.

Left-hander Hector Santiago slogged his way through five effective innings, Jefry Marte slugged a three-run homer to propel the Angels to an early lead and their bullpen sealed the deal for their sixth consecutive victory to start the season’s second half.

Next: a six-game trip to Houston and Kansas City.

Santiago (8-4) was nearly flawless in his last start, throwing seven shutout innings and giving up five hits without issuing a walk in a 7-0 victory over the White Sox last Friday. He was effective again Wednesday, but this time it was messy and far more complicated.

No matter, the Angels staked him to a 5-0 lead, easing his burden.

Santiago didn’t need to be perfect, and he wasn’t.

He had a big margin for error, and he used some of it.

“He struggled with his fastball command all night,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said of Santiago, who has won each of his last five decisions. “Instead of throwing his changeup or changing speeds, he tried to throw it harder, and consequently he lost his release point. …

“It didn’t seem like he got in sync.”

Santiago didn’t have the sharp stuff that carried him during his last start, and his streak of not giving up an eaed run ended at 24 consecutive innings when he gave up a run-scoring triple to Adrian Beltre and a sacrifice fly to Ryan Rua in the third inning.

“After the second inning, I came in here (the clubhouse) and threw a couple of baseballs against the wall,” Santiago said. “Then I just went out there in the third inning and tried to throw strikes. You have to pitch with conviction. I got into trouble trying to make too many pitches.”

Designated hitter Albert Pujols continued to torment opposing pitchers, delivering a run-scoring single in the first inning that gave him 12 RBIs in four games, his highest total in four games in his career, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau.

Pujols hit not one but two three-run homers in the Angels’ 8-6 victory Tuesday over the Rangers for his second multi-homer game in his last three contests. The victory extended the Angels’ winning streak to five games to start the season’s second half.

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“These guys, they know what it’s about and they keep grinding it out,” Scioscia said. “When you’re scoring runs and you’re winning, it’s going to look like you have a lot more life, but even in the tough times, our clubhouse has been good, our bench has been good.

“Since the (All-Star) break, we’re getting games on our terms.”

Racing to a 4-0 lead after the first inning and extending it to 5-0 after the second and putting the Rangers in early jeopardy got the Angels pointed in the right direction. Completing a three-game sweep of the Rangers moved the Angels within 111/2 games of Texas.

Marte provided the thunder in the first inning by belting a 3-0 pitch from Texas left-hander Martin Perez (7-7) over the left-center field fence for a three-run homer. Scioscia could have had Marte wait for ball four, but Marte was given the green light, and he responded with his sixth homer of the season.

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LONG BEACH >> Professional skateboarder Tiago Lemos is ready to represent Long Beach this weekend as Mountain Dew and TEN: The Enthusiast Network presents the Dew Tour, a free summer skateboard competition and festival.

Lemos, who is Brazilian but lives in Long Beach, will join more than 40 athletes including fellow pro skaters like Sean Malto and Ryan Sheckler to compete in an individual and new team competition on the Dew Tour four-part course.

“There’s less pressure (this weekend) because Dew Tour is new and different,” Lemos said. “The big-city setting and the great community of skaters (in Long Beach) will for sure will make for a better competition.”

The revolutionary new four-part skate course is set up in the Long Beach Sports Arena parking lot and focuses on different areas of skateboarding. The Tech Section is made up of flat rails, manual pads, and ledges. The Gap Section will include a large assortment of gaps to get creative, and the Rails Section is full of rails to grind on and do tricks over. Finally the Bowl Section will be a flow course featuring, extensions and coers like an empty pool.

“We worked with TRANSWORLD SKATEBOARDING and our partners at CA Rampworks to build one of the most innovative and progressive competition courses seen in skateboarding today,” Dew Tour Content Director Gerhard Gross said.

“It’s important the skateboard community continues to evolve to not only draw in fans, but to also inspire skaters around the world,” skater Sean Malto said. “Adding a team competition brings an exciting element to the fans as well.”

Eighteen individuals will compete on all four sections on Saturday before nine teams on four skaters each take to the course on Sunday. Each team member will compete on their strongest section, and the total score will be compiled to find the top team.

Lemos, 25, will be part of the individual competition just two months after permanently moving to Long Beach. Bo in Sao Paulo, Brazil, he leaed to skate from older brother Tercio and quickly realized he had a future in the sport.

In 2010, Lemos went on his first inteational trip to make a skate video in Argentina, and he said it changed his life.

“Skateboarding is my life,” Lemos said. “That trip to Argentina showed me that this is what I want to do forever.”

A strong third-place showing at the 2010 DC Shoes King of Sao Paulo eaed Lemos a sponsorship with the shoe company, and eventually after multiple trips to America for cometitions and video production, DC helped Lemos permanently move to Long Beach.

“I love skating Long Beach,” Lemos said. “I live by Cherry Park so I’m always over there. And Long Beach is in a great location for other Southe Califoia spots to skate.”

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Lemos, who likes listening to Wu Tang Clan and reading Nuno Cobra, added that his experiences of skating on the hot Long Beach asphalt gives him an advantage this weekend.

“I’m going to make sure to get a lot of rest and water,” Lemos said.

Fans can meet Lemos and lea more about his jouey to skating stardom by attending the screening of his documentary Guerreiro: The Tiago Lemos Story on Friday night at the Center Theatre. Lemos will be signing autographs outside the Terrace Theatre at 5 p.m. and the documentary will premiere at 6 p.m.

Also on Friday, fans will have an opportunity to watch athletes in practice and get a first look at the entire festival, including sponsor village activations, the interactive tech zone, Long Beach food trucks and other local small businesses.

On Saturday night, Dew Tour is hosting a concert outside the Terrace Theatre as New York rapper Action Bronson and Califoia’s own E-40 are co-headlining. Tickets for Saturday’s concert are now available to purchase via Ticketmaster.

The skateboarding events on Saturday and Sunday will be webcast live in its entirety on DewTour.com. On July 30 and 31, the Dew Tour skateboarding competition will be broadcast nationally on Ch. 4. The July 30 airing is from 2-3 p.m.; July 31 is from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

For more information visit www.dewtour.com

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ANAHEIM >> If not now, then when? If not Tyler Skaggs, then who?

The Angels have only four healthy starting pitchers available at the moment, one shy of the usual five-man rotation, after right-hander Nick Tropeano was discovered to have suffered a to ligament in his right elbow that’s likely to require Tommy John reconstructive surgery.

The right-handed Skaggs could fill the void in the rotation Tuesday in Kansas City, the Angels’ fifth game on a six-game trip that begins Friday in Houston. He could slip into Tropeano’s No. 4 spot in the rotation after another in a string of standout starts Wednesday for Triple-A Salt Lake.

Or so it would seem.

Manager Mike Scioscia was noncommittal when asked about Skaggs’ future.

Skaggs had 12 strikeouts in 5 2/ 3 innings in Salt Lake’s 5-0 victory Wednesday over Iowa, a superb follow-up to his club-record 14-strikeout performance July 14 against Omaha. Skaggs (3-2) gave up one hit and walked three Wednesday. He threw 94 pitches, including 62 for strikes.

“I think Tyler is in a position right now of trying to ea his way into a major league rotation with performance,” Scioscia said. “In his last three or four starts in Triple-A, we’ve seen some strides toward that. Whenever he’s ready, we’ll be looking to give him a shot in our rotation.

“But not until then.”

Scioscia had a specific list of items the Angels would need to see from Skaggs before calling him up to make his first start since he was sidelined by Tommy John surgery two years ago. Most of them predictable, but throwing a certain number of pitches in a game was not one of them.

“It might not be the things you [reporters] are looking at as far as the line score, but I think the evaluation of everything from his command to the way the baseball is coming out of his hand, to how strong he finishes,” Scioscia said.

“There are markers to look at … to evaluate how his start is. Tyler’s have been good. You’re going to question what his command is and whether he can fine-tune stuff. Some of this stuff goes beyond the box score and we’ll have an evaluation and see how he goes.”

Scioscia said he still considers Skaggs, a 25-year-old Woodland Hills native, to be a young pitcher. After all, Skaggs has made only 31 appearances over three years with the Angels and the Arizona Diamondbacks. His last big-league game was July 31, 2014.

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“He’s a young pitcher, yes,” Scioscia said. “It’s one thing making it to the big leagues. It’s another carving out a career. We have very, very high expectations of the pitcher he can be. Hopefully, he can reach those.”

Pujols update

Designated hitter Albert Pujols was back in the Angels’ lineup after he was hit in the head by Texas reliever Tony Baette’s 92-mph fastball in the seventh inning Tuesday. Dr. Craig Milhouse examined Pujols and cleared him to play. Pujols’ desire to play didn’t surprise Scioscia.

Despite the Angels’ lowly 42-52 record and fourth-place standing in the AL West going into Wednesday’s series finale against the Rangers, the Angels continue to come to work expecting better days are just around the coer, according to Scioscia.

“We’ve got some guys who are banged up and playing every day and we’ve had some guys who need a day off and they’re still in the lineup and they keep grinding,” he said. “Albert got hit in the head last night and he’s adamant that he’s ready to go. He wants to stay in the game. He wants to play.”

Pujols slugged four homers in three games going into Wednesday.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. >> If you’ve ever had a car equipped with one of those “limited-use” spare tires, you know it’s not a good idea to drive too long on one.

That’s what Bud Norris was supposed to be for the Dodgers, a limited-use acquisition to get them just far enough down the road for Clayton Kershaw to retu to the rotation. Or Hyun-Jin Ryu. Or Alex Wood. Or …

Norris’ fourth start for the Dodgers was a blowout. He allowed three home runs and six runs in all as the Washington Nationals beat the Dodgers, 8-1, Wednesday night at Nationals Park.

Since throwing six scoreless innings in his first start after being acquired from the Atlanta Braves just days after Kershaw went on the DL with a back injury, each of Norris’ starts has been progressively worse. He hasn’t retired a batter in the sixth inning since that debut and has now allowed 10 runs on 15 hits in 10 innings over his past two outings.

Wednesday’s problems started with a bang — a big bang. After Daniel Murphy doubled with two outs in the first inning, Bryce Harper drove a two-run home run deep into the upper reaches of Nationals Park. The two-run shot was estimated at 451 feet, the longest of Harper’s 20 home runs this season.

It was the loudest but not the last blast off Norris. He gave up back-to-back home runs of more modest length to Ben Revere and Jayson Werth in the fifth inning and then was chased in the sixth when he started the inning by walking Harper and giving up an RBI double to Wilson Ramos.

Ramos scored on a triple by Trea Tuer off Dodgers reliever Louis Coleman and then Tuer stole home when Danny Espinosa was picked off by Luis Avilan but created a rundown between first and second base.

The Nationals added a fourth home run when Anthony Rendon went deep against J.P. Howell in the eighth.

The Dodgers’ offense had none of that liveliness.

They managed just three hits and one run (on Charlie Culberson’s RBI single in the second inning) in six innings against Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez. Howie Kendrick’s two-out double in the eighth inning ended a stretch of 12 consecutive Dodgers retired by Gonzalez and the Nationals bullpen. It also extended Kendrick’s hitting streak to 12 games.

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INDIANAPOLIS >> Dale Eahardt Jr. will not race again this month because of concussion-like symptoms and the No. 88 car will be tued over to trusted former teammate Jeff Gordon for the next two weeks.

Hendrick Motorsports announced Wednesday that Eahardt has not yet been cleared to drive by doctors and will miss Sunday’s Brickyard 400 as well as next weekend’s race at Pocono. NASCAR’s most popular driver has been battling balance issues and nausea since a July 2 crash at Daytona.

Eahardt pulled himself out of the car last weekend in New Hampshire and was replaced by Alex Bowman. After another medical evaluation Tuesday in Pittsburgh, doctors told Eahardt to take more time off.

“Our focus is giving Dale all the time he needs to recover,” team owner Rick Hendrick said. “There’s nothing we want more than to see him back in the race car, but we’ll continue to listen to the doctors and follow their lead. What’s best for Dale is what’s best for Hendrick Motorsports and everyone involved with the team. We’re all proud of him and looking forward to having him racing soon.”

While retirement talk for the 41-year-old Eahardt might be premature, his history of concussions is clearly a conce. He had two in a six-week span in 2012 and missed two races. The latest symptoms surfaced after a mid-June crash at Michigan Inteational Speedway and the wreck at Daytona. Eahardt said he felt steadily worse, believing it was allergies at first. A neurological specialist later confirmed Eahardt had sustained a head injury.

“I’ve struggled with my balance over the last four or five days, and I definitely wouldn’t have been able to drive a race car this weekend,” Eahardt told fans in a recording made Sunday night. “I made the decision I had to make.”

A team spokeswoman said Eahardt will not take questions this week or next and that Gordon is not expected to speak publicly until Friday in Indy.

The move comes at a time that Hendrick’s powerhouse team has been out of sync. Its drivers have been shut out of the top three finishing spots in four consecutive races. Hendrick is now tuing to Gordon, the four-time NASCAR champion who retired at the end of last season. He’s a five-time winner at the Brickyard, which has struggled with sluggish ticket sales in the lead up to Sunday’s race at a track that is just a short drive away from his childhood home in Pittsboro, Indiana.

Gordon has not competed since retiring after the 2015 season finale.

Brickyard organizers had billed last year’s race as Gordon’s “last ride” on his home track. They were wrong.

The 44-year-old Gordon will get one more chance to become the first driver to reach victory lane six times at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He also counts a record six wins at Pocono among his 93 career Cup victories, all with Hendrick’s team.

“Jeff’s a team player,” Hendrick said. “I know he’ll be ready, and I know Dale has incredible trust in him. It’s going to be an emotional weekend (at Indianapolis) with Dale not being there and seeing Jeff back behind the wheel. (Crew chief) Greg (Ives) and the team did a great job at New Hampshire, and they have the full support of our organization.”

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Gordon steps into Eahardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet at a time when Axalta, a longtime primary sponsor of Gordon’s, is scheduled to sponsor four of the next five races for Eahardt. He will be racing against his much more familiar No. 24 car, which Chase Elliott drives.

“That will be a really weird feeling because the only car he ever drove was the 24,” Fox Sports commentator and three-time Cup champ Darrell Waltrip said Wednesday. “To climb in another car and compete against your old car I can’t imagine what that must feel like, but it’s probably one of those surreal, out-of-body experiences.”

Not having Eahardt in Sunday’s starting lineup also will be odd. The North Carolina resident has started every Brickyard since 2000.

But even without one of NASCAR’s top drivers, Indiana fans will have two storied drivers to watch Gordon’s comeback and what is supposed to be Tony Stewart’s grand finale on his home track. Stewart, a three-time Cup champ and two-time Brickyard winner, plans to retire at the end of this season.

“We wish the circumstances were different, but we’re thrilled anytime we see Jeff Gordon on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval and know our fans will love seeing him race again,” speedway President Doug Boles said. “Between Jeff making a retu visit and Tony Stewart making his final Brickyard start, this will be a legendary weekend for Hoosier race fans at IMS!”

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FINHAUT-EMOSSON, Switzerland >> Ilnur Zakarin won the first Alpine stage of the Tour de France after using a late attack in the final climb on Wednesday while race leader Chris Froome increased his lead in the overall standings.

Zakarin was part of a breakaway that formed early in the 184.5-kilometer (114.6-mile) 17th stage from Be to the artificial lake of Finhaut-Emosson in Switzerland.

After Rafal Majka and Jarlinson Pantano moved away from the leading pack on the descent of Col de la Forclaz, the Russian cyclist caught them and launched a furious attack on the last climb with 6.5 kilometers left.

It was Zakarin’s first stage win at cycling’s biggest event.

“This result is not a surprise for me, in the first week I also tried to go for it,” said Zakarin, who fractured a collarbone earlier this year at the Giro d’Italia after crashing in a downhill.

Zakarin, who was suspended in 2009 for two years after testing positive for the forbidden anabolic methandienone, finished 55 seconds ahead of Pantano. Majka was third, 1:26 back.

Riding several minutes behind the breakaway riders, Richie Porte attacked from the yellow jersey group around two kilometers from the finish before Froome accelerated.

Nairo Quintana was the only one able to follow the defending champion’s frenetic pace but the Colombian climber cracked after a few hundred meters.

Froome and Porte who rode in support of Froome at Team Sky before he joined BMC this season crossed the finish line together.

Froome, the 2013 and 2015 champion at the Tour, now leads Bauke Mollema by 2:27 overall. Adam Yates is third, 2:53 off the pace. Quintana sits in fourth place, 3:27 behind his British rival.

“It was very difficult today because of the heat,” Froome said. “But my team was incredible, they did an amazing job and I was able to stay with the best.”

The stage started in Be following the second and final rest day and featured two major climbs in the final 30 kilometers: Col de la Forclaz, a 13-kilometer climb with an average gradient of 7.9 percent, and the brutal beyond-category 10.4-kilometer ascent to the finish line.

The day began with an early crash involving Quintana’s teammate Gorka Izaguirre, who was forced to abandon with a suspected fractured collarbone.

After several breakaway attempts, a group of 14 riders including world champion Peter Sagan formed at the front of the race. Froome’s teammates did not chase and the leading pack built a 13-minute lead.

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The scenic route near Mont Blanc took the peloton up and down serpentine roads between neatly arranged vineyards with snowcapped mountains in the distance. Once the pack reached the mountains, Sagan got dropped at the bottom of Col de la Forclaz.

Majka and Pantano, who fought for the stage victory last week in the Jura mountains after a long breakaway, once again jumped out of the pack on the descent and started the final climb with a small lead of 30 seconds. Zakarin joined them before launching his decisive move.

The race crosses back into France for Stage 18 on Thursday, a 17-kilometer individual time trial from Sallanches to Megeve. It’s the Tour’s first mountain time trial since the 2004 race against the clock up l’Alpe d’Huez. Besides the flat opening four kilometers and a short descent at the finish, it’s entirely uphill.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. >> A week ago at the All-Star Game, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw said he had been told the mild heiation in his lower back was “a non-surgical injury.”

But Kershaw’s renewed lower back pain following a 60-pitch simulated-game session in Los Angeles on Saturday has Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledging that season-ending back surgery for Kershaw is “more of a possibility” now than it was before the throwing session.

“Yes, to answer your question,” Roberts said when asked before Wednesday’s game in Washington. “I think that with the way it flared up, it’s more of an indication that surgery is more of a possibility obviously with the way the back responded. But we’re still hopeful that he will be back.

“When you’re talking about the back, that is always an option. But we’re certainly hopeful that Clayton will be back, obviously.”

Roberts said he has not been told anything by the Dodgers’ medical staff regarding the potential for surgery but he was “inferring” the possibility was greater now.

“I haven’t been told that,” he said. “For me, that’s just logic.”

Roberts said Kershaw has been re-examined by Dr. Robert Watkins but the Dodgers manager has not heard any reports from that exam.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — That simulated-game session in Los Angeles on Saturday really did not go well.

Both Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood threw to hitters Saturday. Both experienced setbacks in the aftermath.

Kershaw’s renewed back pain has forced the Dodgers to shut down his throwing program and label his retu “uncertain.”

And on Wednesday, the Dodgers announced that Wood will undergo elbow surgery in New York this afteoon. Wood will have an arthroscopic debridement of his left elbow — a procedure that removes damaged tissue from the joint.

The Dodgers said Wood will begin his rehab from the procedure in four days and estimated recovery time at eight weeks. That would seem to make it unlikely Wood will be able to retu to pitch for the Dodgers before the end of the season.

Wood has been on the DL since the end of May due to soreness in the back of his elbow. He went 1-4 with a 3.99 ERA in 10 starts this season.

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UFC featherweight contender Chad Mendes has been suspended for two years after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced the sanction Wednesday. USADA administers the UFC’s anti-doping policy.

USADA says Mendes tested positive for a growth hormone-releasing hexapeptide in an out-of-competition test conducted May 17.

Mendes (17-4) is suspended until June 10, 2018, when he will be 33.

Mendes has fought for the UFC 145-pound title three times, losing twice to Jose Aldo and once to Conor McGregor.

The Northe Califoia native, who trains with Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, has lost three of his last four fights overall, including a first-round knockout loss to Frankie Edgar in his most recent bout Dec. 11.

Mendes said on Twitter last month that he “didn’t do my homework, and that was a big mistake.”

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