Israel Adesanya didn’t expect to have his name called on Saturday night.

Following Shara Magomedov’s amazing double backfist knockout of Armen Petrosyan that kicked off the UFC 308 main card, Magomedov—popularly known as “Shara Bullet”—declared himself the best striker in the middleweight division and targeted Adesanya for his next fight.

In a reaction video posted to his YouTube, Adesanya evoked a pair of memes to react to the callout.

“Keep my name out your f*cking mouth,” Adesanya said with a laugh, bringing up the famous clip of Will Smith threatening Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony.

He then added, “What the f*ck did I do? What he say f*ck me, for?” a reference to rapper 50 Cent’s confused reaction to being verbally attacked by boxer Floyd Mayweather in 2014.

According to Magomedov, he has been pursuing a bout with Adesanya since the two were competitors on the Chinese kickboxing circuit. That might be news to Adesanya, who didn’t appear to acknowledge any prior history with the undefeated contender.

Adesanya, a two-time UFC champion, is coming off of a submission loss to rival Dricus du Plessis this past August. He was attempting to win the middleweight title a third time, but instead lost for the third time in four fights.

Watch Adesanya’s UFC 308 reaction video below.

ABU DHABI – UFC 308 marked a pair of fresh experiences for Kennedy Nzechukwu.

Nzechukwu (13-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC) made his divisional debut Saturday at heavyweight as he defeated Chris Barnett (23-9 MMA, 2-3 UFC) via first-round TKO at Etihad Arena on Yas Island.

The fight ended due in part to an injury to Barnett’s leg, but Nzcehukwu was still happy to simply get his feet wet in his new competitive frame.

“It was since my doctors told me that with my frame, my organs were going to hurt me in the long run,” Nzechukwu told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference. “I was vomiting every time during fight week. Just cutting that last 10 pounds was killing me. I walk around at 245. Just cutting that 40 pounds is too much. I use different nutritionists and it just wasn’t working. The last three days were hell, so we decided to go up in weight. It just felt better here.”

Nzechukwu, who previously needed to hit 206 pounds on the scale at light heavyweight, weighed in at 241 pounds at Friday’s weigh-ins. Nzechukwu said his focus was on strength training during this camp, which he did mostly with a new coach, Steven Wright, of War Room MMA in Forth Worth, Texas. Nzcheukwu’s longtime coach Sayif Saud, of Fortis MMA, also cornered him for Saturday’s fight.

“I just had to focus on my skill set,” Nzechukwu said. “Athleticism can only take you so far in this sport. So just upgrading. That’s when I moved to War Room. That’s my coach right there, Steven Wright. He’s been helping me. We’ve been making tremendous leaps and bounds. I’m just grateful for God.”

“… I just needed to upgrade. I needed someone who is nerdy about the striking game. Ask coach Steve and he just knows it. He’s been training and trains with a lot of different Dutch fighters, Thai fighters. He just has developed a lot of experience over the years. I just need to absorb all that.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

Toyota will fight for the World Rally Championship manufacturers’ crown at Rally Japan season decider without Kalle Rovanpera.

Rally Japan has released its entry list for next month’s (21-24 November) title decider confirming that Toyota will field three GR Yaris Rally1 entries.

Toyota’s bid to overhaul Hyundai and claim a fourth consecutive WRC manufacturers’ crown will be led by full-time drivers Elfyn Evans and home hero Takamoto Katsuta, while the third car will be piloted by eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier.

Two-time world champion Rovanpera will be absent from the Japanese team’s roster at its home event as the Finn has completed the half-season of events he was contracted to contest this year.

After claiming back-to-back world titles last year, the Finn opted to scale back to a partial campaign this year ahead of a full-time return in 2025. Rovanpera has contested seven of the 13 events this season, taking four wins in Kenya, Poland, Latvia and Chile to boost Toyota’s championship hopes.

Toyota will head to Japan facing a 15-point deficit to rivals Hyundai as the Korean marque aims to seal its first manufacturers’ crowns since 2020.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Hyundai will also field its customary three i20 N Rally1 entries driven by Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak, who will contest the drivers’ title, with the former holding a 25-point lead.

The third car will be driven by Andreas Mikkelsen in what will be his fifth event of the season.

M-Sport-Ford will field a pair of Puma Rally1 cars for Adrien Fourmaux and Gregoire Munster.

A total of 44 cars will tackle the event which will also decide the WRC2 title. Toyota’s Sami Pajari needed to finish first or second to beat current points leader Oliver Solberg to the crown.

World champion Auriol to make WRC return

Japan will also mark the return of 1994 world champion Didier Auriol, who will compete in a WRC event for the first time since the 2005 Monte Carlo Rally.

Auriol will drive a modified road-going Toyota GR Yaris prepared by Japanese team Fit-Easy Racing and will compete in the national class, driving alongside long-time co-driver Denis Giraudet.

The Frenchman’s WRC return arrives 30 years after he guided a Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 to the 1994 WRC title with co-driver Bernard Occelli.

As India head to Australia next month to look for a third straight Test series win away from home, the opening slot for Australia has been a widely discussed topic.

While India seem to have found a stable opening partnership in captain Rohit Sharma and the impressive Yashasvi Jaiswal, their Aussie counterparts still seem to be working it out. Former captain Steve Smith was recently promoted as an opener following the retirement of David Warner earlier this year. But, India’s recent tormentor Travis Head, too, seems to be in contention—Usman Khawaja, the settled opener at the moment, name-dropped Head in a recent interview.

Surprisingly, however, Warner recently said that he had reached out to coach Andrew McDonald, offering to come out of retirement to help Australia in the blockbuster series.

However, Australian captain Pat Cummins, recently on The Grade Cricketer podcast, closed that door in a hurry. Asked to look into the camera and send a message to Warner directly, the World Cup-winning captain cheekily told his former teammate that he was “very interested and taking it seriously”, but then added that he had had a conversation with Warner on the topic and had told the veteran: “Good luck with [Sydney] Thunder this year, mate. I look forward to your comments on Fox [Sports].”

Interestingly, Cricket Australia has lifted the lifetime ban on Warner as captain—a fallout of the infamous sandpaper incident in South Africa in 2018—which means he is eligible to captain Sydney Thunder in the next Big Bash League season.

Meanwhile, Smith recently said that he was “not fixated” on the opening spot and had asked McDonald to move him down the order. This was even before all-rounder Cameron Green’s lower back injury, which would have compelled Smith to return to the middle order.

Candidates such as Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris, Sam Konstas and Matthew Renshaw also seem to be in the fray for the opener’s slot.

Zambian football is in mourning after seven players from Chavuma Town Council FC were killed in a bus crash.

The country’s football association (Faz) expressed its “deep shock” at the accident, which occurred on Saturday while the squad was travelling to a third-tier league game in the north west of the country.

“We are in touch with the football, civil and law enforcement authorities in the province to furnish us with full details,” Faz president Andrew Kamanga said.

Twelve other people were injured in the accident, and five of those have been evacuated to the capital Lusaka for treatment.

The names of those killed and injured have not been released.

Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Patrice Motsepe said he and the governing body “hope and pray” that those injured will fully recover soon.

“I convey my personal and Caf’s deepest condolences,” Motsepe added in a statement.

“May God comfort and console the family, friends and colleagues of the deceased and the Football Association of Zambia.

“May the souls of the departed players rest in eternal peace.”

Artur de Almeida e Silva, the president of the council of Southern Africa’s regional FAs, said the loss of young lives in such a manner was “truly heartbreaking”.

“Football is a sport that unites us, bringing joy and pride to communities across our region,” he said in a letter to his counterpart at Faz.

“In this tragic moment, we share in your grief and offer our heartfelt sympathies to the families and friends who are mourning this immense loss.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are still receiving treatment for their injuries.”