TO change, and to change for the better, are two different things.

And the Government’s plan to change football is more likely to create many more problems than it solves.

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I remain wholly unconvinced about the role of regulators, both in and out of football.

Just look at some of our leading industries and the way regulators have worked. Or not.

Water is the obvious one as our beaches and rivers have been transformed into a toxic dumping ground while the companies rake in millions in wages, bonuses and shareholder dividends — almost always of little or no benefit to the UK.

And don’t get me started on the trains. We have the most expensive railway network in the Western world, and best-paid train drivers, yet actually getting trains to run on time has been well-nigh impossible.

So, please, when politicians preach about how the Football Governance Bill introduced in the House of Lords this week will make everything rosy in football’s garden, don’t believe the hype.

There is no need for another layer of administration and regulation. And I’ll tell you why…

The Premier League has been one of this country’s major success stories of the past three decades.

It has taken a game which was crumbling and collapsing around our feet to the best and most-watched football league in the world. It is the global Big One.

There are critics who say the Premier League just looks after the hotshots, the Manchester Uniteds and Arsenals. Rubbish.

In the last three years the Premier League has given a world-leading £1.6billion to the EFL, National Leagues, grass-roots football and the women’s game. Nowhere else in the world can even get close to matching that.

The PL give nearly £8m on average to every EFL Championship club, £1.4m to each League One club and £900,000 to each League Two club.

Politicians tell you the regulator will make clubs more fan-friendly but it is already being done.

The Premier League instigated a Fan Engagement Standard, meaning there has to be a Fan Advisory Board at every single club.

An away ticket price cap was introduced years ago, which ensures supporters pay a maximum of £30 when they travel.

At the rate we’re going you’ll get about half a bathtub for that from our regulated water companies.

What happened to Bury and others like them was terribly sad but you cannot blame the Premier League for their financial mess.

Karren Brady

I’ll give you some other numbers. The Premier League annually hands over £4.2bn in tax to the Treasury and directly employs 90,000 people, a third of whom are in the North West, an area which sadly has pockets of high deprivation.

A total of 51 clubs have reached the Premier League, which surely underlines the fact that the financial distributions do broadly work.

And while going into administration is a worrying time for fans, the likes of Crystal Palace, Luton, Bournemouth, Southampton and Leeds all reset and got to the Premier League — with three of them still in it.

What happened to Bury and others like them was terribly sad but you cannot blame the Premier League for their financial mess.

I’ve heard it said, mainly by ill-informed politicians, that parachute payments are fundamentally wrong. Not so. They allow clubs to remain financially sustainable should they suffer relegation from the top flight.

The regulator will have to consider INCREASING parachute payments as that is the only way established relegated clubs can be more sustainable.

There are critics who say the Premier League just looks after the hotshots, the Manchester Uniteds and Arsenals. Rubbish.

Karren Brady

They give clubs the security to be able to invest in competitive squads, sign players and coaches on multi-year contracts and invest in world-class stadia and fan experience, with the knowledge that there will be some financial protection in the event of relegation.

When you are relegated you still have to pay all the staff, including the players, and have all the same overheads, so if you don’t have the parachute payment you are effectively bust.

The numbers are what makes the Premier League the world’s leading domestic club competition.

Over 15million fans go to games every year and internationally OUR Premier League is watched annually by 1.5bn supporters from 189 countries.

In every sense of the word it is a success, with not a regulator in sight.

The Bill will change the way football operates, impacting supporters and clubs.

A regulator that delivers stronger oversight of fan engagement and club heritage — and prevents breakaway leagues — is welcome.

But one that significantly impacts the competitive balance of the league is not.

Francis Ngannou laughed off what former boss Dana White had to say about him.

The former UFC heavyweight champion — who made the choice to leave the promotion and vacate the title in 2023 — and current PFL star was a big talking point during White’s post-fight scrum after Thursday’s Power Slap event. White was asked about Ngannou’s quick knockout win over Renan Ferreira at PFL Battle of the Giants, and it led to White ripping on PFL founder Donn Davis and saying he wanted to cut Ngannou years before.

“The Predator” reacted to White on Sirius XM Fight Nation.

“I think Dana’s trying to make things up to buy good faith in the position he has lost,” Ngannou said. “Dana has lost in this situation… and he cannot stand it. Bro, I won everything: I left. We’ve been apart almost two years and the guy is still out there, he can’t live without it, and hounding me. Regardless of what happened, I’m not about him.

“I went out there, did a fight, had a good fight for my son’s memory, but they guy can’t stand… I don’t know what his problem is. He can make everything up as he wants, that’s his problem. He needs to make peace with himself. …

“You could’ve just said, ‘We couldn’t find an agreement, or couldn’t come up with a deal, good luck to him. That’s it, good for him,’ and we continue our lives,” Ngannou continued. “What’s the problem here? But I think the problem is that he can’t handle this loss. I’m sure he’s been praying for my downfall, but I keep doing my thing and rising as soon as I left the UFC. In any senses, I’m more than what I was.”

“Freedom isn’t free, but remember that the benefits always outweigh the price. Don’t let the bully talk you out of it,” Ngannou said, responding on social media.

“Divert attention to the real matter by manipulating the narrative,” Ngannou wrote in a follow-up tweet.

White has claimed that Ngannou left the UFC to make more money fighting lesser competition, and that he left because he didn’t want to risk fighting Jon Jones.

“Francis is all about the money,” White said. “Francis left because he knew that if he fought Jon Jones and didn’t win, it would hurt his chances of making the money that he wanted to make. But realistically, his deal was bigger here. His deal was bigger here if he stayed in the UFC. … They can deny it all they want, why the f*ck would I lie? Why do I care? It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other.

“I was going to cut Francis when he lost two in a row. I was going to cut him. Somebody around here begged me not to do it. So it wouldn’t have mattered to me, one way or the other. There’s a much deeper story to this whole thing, and he would have made more money if he stayed in the UFC.”

Ngannou, as expected, completely disagrees, as he entered free agency after capturing the UFC heavyweight title with a brutal knockout of Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 in March 2021, and then a successful title defense against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 10 months later.

“Which money is he talking about? The money that he owes me?,” Ngannou said. “Remember, all of this ended with [them] saying, ‘Oh, we’ll backpay you from the money that we owe you for the Stipe [Miocic] and Ciryl Gane fight,’ all of that. They never back payed me.

“Now I have made more money than I have ever made in the UFC — I would say twice the money that I could have ever made in my entire UFC career if I had continued in the UFC. … But either way, if I had made less money, if I’m not making enough money that I could’ve made in the UFC, that’s my problem. Why is he so pissed about me not making that much money? Like, c’mon man, live your life.”

George Russell went quickest in a twice red-flagged opening practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix, as Alex Albon and Oliver Bearman collided at Turn 9.

Russell set a 1m17.998s on the soft-tyre runs to go three tenths faster than Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in a stop-start session, with the first interruption coming five minutes in to clear a sliver of debris sat ahead of Turn 1.

Both Albon and Bearman were involved in the second; the Williams driver was on a push lap and caught a slowing Bearman at Turn 9 and lifted off, which caused his car to snap – he clipped the Ferrari reserve driver and went straight on into the wall.

The second red flag produced a 14-minute delay, and practice resumed with 24 minutes left on the clock.

Sainz had led the way after the opening runs on the hard tyre ahead of the second pause and then continued to headline the session on the soft tyre as he set a 1m18.573s lap to kick off the first performance runs of the weekend.

Russell found almost six tenths over the Spaniard to go faster, breaking into the 1m17s in the process, although Sainz got closer with a follow-up 1m18.315s time to close the gap.

RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was third fastest in a jumbled order, 0.7 seconds off the pace, while Max Verstappen was a further tenth-and-a-half behind.

The Dutchman reported over the radio that he was suffering with a power unit issue, and slowly made his way back to the pits with over five minutes remaining and took no further part in the session.

Nico Hulkenberg was fifth fastest over Oscar Piastri, who contended that his McLaren felt ‘pretty terrible’ during his soft-tyre runs and subsequently put together a longer hard-tyre stint to gather further data.

Esteban Ocon was seventh, albeit a second off the pace, ahead of the closely-matched Valtteri Bottas, Liam Lawson, and Sergio Perez.

Future Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli enjoyed a longer FP1 session versus his Monza outing, taking Lewis Hamilton’s car to 12th in the order – a tenth behind Franco Colapinto.

Pato O’Ward drove Lando Norris’ car in his home FP1 session and was 13th fastest, while fellow stand-ins Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin), Robert Shwartzman (Sauber) and Bearman (Ferrari) propped up the order.

Steph Houghton was described as “one of the most inspirational England players of this generation” after the former Lionesses captain was honoured in a retirement ceremony at Wembley.

The 36-year-old was presented to the crowd before leading England out on to the pitch for Friday’s friendly against Germany.

Houghton won 121 England caps across 14 seasons and featured in three World Cups and two European Championships.

“To captain the side for as long as she did and through the times that she did, she really stepped up in the situation,” Nikita Parris, the 71-cap England forward, told BBC Sport.

“Right now we’re playing regular games at big stadiums like Wembley, but before this, people like Steph, Fara Williams and Jill Scott were going in and fighting for us to be on these stages.

“Without their hard work and sacrifice, we wouldn’t be able to play in stadiums like this in front of 90,000 people to win a home Euros.”

Parris, who has not been included in an England squad since November 2022, was part of BBC Radio 5 Live’s coverage team at Wembley.

She played with Houghton for Manchester City and England and praised the defensive stalwart for her leadership qualities.

“As a young player coming through, she gave me advice and put her arm around my shoulder but also gave me a kick up the backside when needed,” Parris said.

“We have been through ups and downs with the national team. Now everything is on the up – but then it wasn’t. Those were the players who showed their experience and what it takes to be an England international.”

Houghton retired at the end of last season and had not featured for her country since 2021.

She captained England to the bronze medal at the 2015 World Cup in Canada before runs to the semi-finals at Euro 2017 and the 2019 World Cup.

The UFC is back in the Middle East with the featherweight title on the line at the top of the lineup.

UFC 308 (ESPN+) takes place Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Get main card pick results from our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers, as well as additional analysis, below.

Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan

Records: Magomedov (14-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC), Petrosyan (9-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC)
Past five: Magomedov 5-0, Petrosyan 3-2
Division: Middleweight
Rankings: Magomedov honorable mention
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Magomedov -175, Petrosyan +145
Junkie pick results: Magomedov 11, Petrosyan 0

Dan Ige vs. Lerone Murphy

Records: Ige (18-8 MMA, 10-7 UFC), Murphy (14-0-1 MMA, 6-0-1 UFC)
Past five: Ige 3-2, Murphy 5-0
Division: Featherweight
Rankings: Murphy No. 14, Ige honorable mention
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Ige +165, Murphy -195
Junkie pick results: Murphy 9, Ige 2

Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic

Records: Ankalaev (19-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC), Rakic (14-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC)
Past five: Ankalaev 4-0-1, Rakic 2-3
Division: Light heavyweight
Rankings: Ankalaev No. 4, Rakic No. 11
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Ankalaev -390, Rakic +290
Junkie pick results: Ankalaev 11, Rakic 0

Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker

Records: Chimaev (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC), Whittaker (27-7 MMA, 17-5 UFC)
Past five: Chimaev 5-0, Whittaker 3-2
Division: Middleweight
Rankings: Whittaker No. 4, Chimaev No. 10
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Chimaev -220, Whittaker +180
Junkie pick results: Chimaev 6, Whittaker 5

Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway

Records: Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC), Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC)
Past five: Topuria 5-0, Holloway 4-1
Division: Featherweight
Rankings: Topuria No. 1, No. 4 pound-for-pound; Holloway No. 3, honorable mention pound-for-pound
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Topuria -245, Holloway +200
Junkie pick results: Holloway 6, Topuria 5

Preliminary card picks

Although they don’t count toward the standings, MMA Junkie staff members still pick the fights on the prelims. Here are the results:

• Ibo Aslan vs. Rafael Cerqueira: Aslan 7, Cerqueira 4
• Rafael dos Anjos vs. Geoff Neal: Neal 9, dos Anjos 2
• Myktybek Orolbai vs. Mateusz Rebecki: Orolbai 9, Rebecki 2
• Brunno Ferreira vs. Abus Magomedov: Ferreira 6, Magomedov 5
• Chris Barnett vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu: Nzechukwu 9, Barnett 2
• Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo: Basharat 11, Hugo 0
• Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Carlos Leal: Fakhretdinov 11, Leal 0
• Ismail Naurdiev vs. Bruno Silva: Naurdiev 8, Silva 3

Check out all the main card picks below.

(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)

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