Meet the Fijian teen chasing his rugby sevens dreams in New Zealand

"I was 10 when I came from Fiji to New Zealand. I didn't know how to speak English properly" - Jona Mataiciwa

Red Bull’s new mini-series ‘On The Rise’, profiles three of the six MVPs from the 2019 Red Bull Ignite7 tournament, all of whom earnt themselves a trial spot for the national rugby sevens development squads.

First up is proud Fijian Jona Mataiciwa who is based in Whanganui.  Red Bull talks with them about the sacrifices they have had to make to support their children’s dreams of becoming international rugby sevens representatives and other challenges along the way, including migrating from the Pacific Islands with young children.

Jona began playing competitive rugby soon after his family's move from Fiji, aged only 10.  Last year he helped lead his St. Kenitgren's team to the 1A final last year, with the side narrowly missing out against Hastings Boys High in the nationals.…more

It's fight week here in Auckland, New Zealand with the main event fighter, Dan Hooker and his teammates Brad Riddell and Kai Kara-France.

The fighters go through a traditional Maori welcoming, finishing up training at City Kickboxing and getting their Reebok fight gear.

Tyson is flying solo with Tai Tuivasa away but Mate Ma'a Tonga & Cronulla Sharks star Andrew Fifita comes through to have a chat.

They talk injury, rehab, NRL pre-season, visiting Tonga & meeting the King after beating Australia in the test last year and Andrew sheds some light on the drama with the MMT board last year.

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The boys also sat down with fight legend Mark Hunt and UFC BMF Jorge Masvidal - check out their chat below.

Simone Johnson, daughter of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Dany Garcia has reported to the WWE Performance Centre to begin training, and is on her way to becoming WWE’s first fourth-generation Superstar.

Simone wrote on her social media accounts: 

"For the little girl who fell in love with wrestling & was determined to make this dream a reality - this is for you. I’m beyond thankful for this opportunity & ready to get after it. Let’s do this."

Simone's father Dwayne shared this message on his instagram 

Her mother Dany Garcia shared this touching tribute to her daughter earlier today on Twitter.

Simone will look to carry on the legacy of the Johnson-Maivia family, a lineage that includes her great grand-father WWE Hall of Famer, High Chief Peter Maivia, her grand father WWE Hall of Famer, Soul man Rocky Johnson, her father Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson as well as the legendary Anoa'i family.

With her signing, Simone is in the position to become WWE's first ever, 4th Generation wrestling super star!  

Samoan NFL great Troy Polamalu, who played Safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2003 - 2014 has been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Polamalu’s “combination of speed, anticipation and toughness” made the eight-time Pro Bowler one of the best at his position in NFL history. Polamalu was named a first-team All-Pro four times and the NFL’s MVP in 2010 and won two Super Bowl rings. Many football pundits argue that he revolutionized the safety position. For a dozen years, Polamalu was the public face of the Steelers’ franchise because of his stellar performance and his television commercials for Head & Shoulders shampoo.

Check out the announcement of the Hall of Fame Class of 2020 at the 9th annual NFL Honors in Miami in the video above and check out his unreal NFL career highlights in the video below.

“For every story like mine, and in New Zealand there’s not many, trust me there’s a thousand fighters that have been before me whose names aren’t in the record books.”

Lani and Ben sit down with City Kickboxing co-founder and Head Coach Eugene Bareman.  Bareman is fresh off an epic 2019 in which he was named MMA Coach of the Year by multiple news outlets thanks to his and his team’s work with UFC champions Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanovski, as well as top-tier fighters Dan Hooker, Kai Kara-France and Brad Riddell.

He talks about why he left rugby for fighting, how difficult it was in the early years of starting up the gym, how passion got them through the hard times and defending home soil at the upcoming UFC Auckland.

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via the Snacks & Chats podcast 

Towards the end of last year a video of Samoan security worker Summer Tapasa-Sataraka (who stopped a thief from walking out of Best Buy Hawai'i with merchandise), went viral and caught the attention of UFC CEO Dana White.

He shared the video of Summer and announced he would fly her to Las Vegas for the weekend as his guest to watch UFC 246 fight night, give her rock star treatment and also tweeted that he wants her to work for him.

True to his word he had Summer front and centre stage with him at the UFC 246 weigh-ins yesterday and told her to take his place where he usually stands in the face-off.  (Video above) 

Summer told reporters after the weigh-ins "That was unexpected. Thanks a lot, Dana.

The Polynesian Football Hall of Fame announced that Baltimore Ravens Offensive Lineman, Ronnie Stanley has been selected as the 2019 recipient of the Polynesian Pro Football Player of the Year Award presented by Hawaiian Airlines.

The Polynesian Pro Football Player of the Year Award recognizes the most outstanding professional football player of Polynesian Ancestry. Seattle Seahawks Offensive Guard Mike Iupati was selected as the inaugural recipient in 2015, Tennessee Titans Quarterback Marcus Mariota was selected as the recipient in 2016, and Pittsburgh Steelers Wide Receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster was selected as the recipient in 2017 and 2018.

The 6-foot-6, 315-pound Stanley is of Tongan descent - his Mum Juli is Tongan and was born in Tonga.  He is in his fourth season out of the University of Notre Dame. This year, Stanley helped lead the Baltimore Ravens to a 14-2 regular season record.  He has given up no sacks and only 5 QB hurries throughout the season while leading the Ravens to the #1 ranked offense in the National Football League.…more

It's official, young Samoan Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has declared himself for the NFL draft.

Tua Tagovailoa came to Alabama as a 5-star recruit & ended his true Freshman season leading the Crimson Tide to a National Championship. He came up short as a Sophomore & was having arguably his best season in 2019, but suffered a season-ending hip injury. Throughout his career, Tua was one of the best players in all of college football. He throws a beautiful deep ball & is arguably the best at throwing slants. Overall, he might be the best QB Alabama has ever had. 

The NFL draft is scheduled to be held from April 23–25, 2020 in Paradise, Nevada.

Former Blues and Junior All Blacks player Nick Williams was reduced to tears after his Welsh rugby club, the Cardiff Blues surprised him by flying out his Mother from New Zealand to spend time with him and his family over the Christmas break.

Nick has played for Cardiff for the last 12 years and his Mother has never seen him play live for the club.  This upcoming season will be his final season at the club.

Nick is the older brother of Manu Samoa player Tim Nanai-Williams and cousin to Toronto Wolfpacks latest signing Sonny Bill Williams