LAS VEGAS – Three months ago, Brad Tavares was all set to throw leather with Junyong Park. Then he got off the scale and picked up his phone.

The way Tavares recalled it Wednesday, his manager called not long after he made weight for a middleweight fight with Park on July 20. The commission didn’t clear Park because of a staph infection. And while that seems flukey and forgivable, Tavares might be a little bit salty that he and Park only just now are about to fight in their rebooking.

And that, Tavares (20-9 MMA, 15-9 UFC) thinks, is on Park (17-6 MMA, 7-3 UFC) for not being down with an originally offered Aug. 10 rebooking.

“I wanted to keep the fight, obviously,” Tavares said at media day for UFC Fight Night 244, the new home of their fight, which will be the co-main event at the UFC Apex. “I went through an entire training camp preparing for this specific opponent. I don’t want that to go to waste. … Now we’re going to go through a full camp again. I didn’t understand (Park not agreeing to August) but it is what it is, I guess – God’s plan.

“… But obviously I was frustrated with it. I was pretty irritated with it.”

Tavares speculated that Park had something else going on in his life that would’ve made the first offered rebooking a nuisance. But regardless of the reason, annoyance or irritation isn’t likely to help the longtime Hawaiian fighter Saturday.

Park is about a 2-1 favorite at the betting window. He had a four-fight winning streak that included three straight rear-naked choke finishes snapped by a split-call loss to Andre Muniz this past December.

“He’s very well-rounded and puts MMA together,” Tavares said. “I don’t think he’s a specialist or an expert anywhere, and obviously he doesn’t have the kickboxing or boxing accolades, the wrestling or even the jiu-jitsu. But he does put them all together well. He’s a very complete MMA fighter.

“I think his biggest attribute is his toughness, just how tough he is. I’ve watched him in fights where you think, ‘OK, this this guy is done,’ and he pulls it out – very similar to (middleweight champion) Dricus (Du Plessis). But I don’t think he’s nowhere near as dangerous as Dricus.”

At the end of the day, though, maybe Park could be forgiven the whole rebooking date thing with Tavares if he agreed to a standup fight in the co-feature. Tavares fears, though, that Park will want to head to the canvas.

“I would hope (he wants to trade punches), but honestly I think that he’s going to want to go to the ground where he feels like he has his best advantage,” he said. “But if it ends up being a kickboxing (fight), I’ll take that all day.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 244.

Conor McGregor has some marquee matchups in mind for his return.

Earlier this year, McGregor was supposed to make his long-awaited return to the octagon in a welterweight fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303. Unfortunately, a few weeks before the event, McGregor suffered a toe injury which forced him to withdraw from the fight and fans were once again left wondering when and if the boisterous superstar would ever return.

Fortunately for fans, McGregor remains undeterred. Since withdrawing from UFC 303, the former two-division UFC champion has maintained that he will be back soon, on Tuesday McGregor spoke with The Schmo about how things are progressing on that front.

“We’re looking for the date,” McGregor said. “Hopefully, I’d like to square it away with Michael Chandler. I’d like to get Chandler in. We’ve had our beef, it’s not settled. He has a match scheduled. I’d like to fight, maybe before that or before he’s recovered so there’s a few names in the line at the minute. There’s a few names being discussed.”

Chandler does in fact have a booking. After spending nearly two years on the shelf waiting for a fight with McGregor, following the UFC 303 incident, Chandler finally opted to accept another fight, a rematch with Charles Oliveira at UFC 309.

Given that, and the fact that UFC CEO Dana White appears to be targeting an early 2025 return for McGregor, Chandler’s availability is very much up in the air at the moment. Fortunately for McGregor, there are no shortage of big names who would be more than willing to welcome him back to the cage, but “Notorious” has his sights set on two in particular: old foes Dustin Poirier and Nate Diaz.

“Both of them. Both,” McGregor said. “It’s a must, for sure. The Dustin one is not settled, it’s 1-1-1. And the Diaz one is also 1-1. Two big blockbuster matches and I’m excited to get them locked in.”

Poirier and McGregor have shared a trilogy of bouts over a seven year period. McGregor first defeated Poirier by knockout at UFC 178 down at featherweight, but Poirier avenged his loss with a knockout of his own at UFC 257 up at 155 pounds. Poirier then won their third bout at UFC 264 when McGregor shattered his leg, though “Notorious” disputes this result because of the injury.

Diaz is possibly McGregor’s biggest rival, the man who first defeated the Irish superstar in the UFC, stepping in on 10 days’ notice to score the upset at UFC 196. The two rematched five months later at UFC 202 with McGregor winning a majority decision in one of the best fights of the year. Diaz left the UFC in 2022 to pursue interests in boxing, though he’s recently been rumored to possibly be coming back to the promotion.

Former England manager Gareth Southgate says he will “not coach in the next year” and he is enjoying taking a break after dedicating the last 11 years of his life to England Under-21s and then the full side.

The 54-year-old resigned from the England job after defeat by Spain in the Euro 2024 final in July.

READ MORE: Southgate plans year out from management

Mario Bautista believes he shouldn’t be blamed entirely for his lackluster win over Jose Aldo at UFC 307.

Bautista (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) defeated Aldo by split decision in Saturday’s main card at Salt Lake City – a performance that was heavily criticized. Bautista found success on the feet early but resorted to grappling after he admittedly got rocked in Round 2.

Bautista was accused of stalling when he couldn’t get Aldo (32-9 MMA, 14-8 UFC) down, but the 31-year-old rising contender said UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili did the same thing when he fought Aldo. Dvalishvili went 0-16 in his takedown attempts vs. Aldo but won the fight by unanimous decision.

“Merab did the same thing. He probably held him against the cage longer than I did, and now look at him. He’s the champ,” Bautista told MMA Junkie Radio. “If we’re actually talking about Aldo, he almost did a similar thing against ‘Chito’ (Vera).

“He started losing that first round, and then he takes ‘Chito’ down and stays on his back for the whole second round and the whole third round, and no one gave crap to Aldo about it. Even me, I’m not going to give crap to Aldo. It’s more on ‘Chito.’ Oh, ‘Chito’ can’t get this guy off his back.’ So that’s the thing: It’s just like a little double standard for some of these Hall of Famers and fan favorites.”

Bautista said he was surprised that Aldo never tried to break free when he had his back stacked against the cage. He thinks it’s on him to get busy, too.

“I just wanted him to keep on working,” Bautista explained. “I just wanted him to break out of the clinch, use that energy to get out, and then just kind of stay stuck to him. Just keep him working, working. I just didn’t really think he was going to, I don’t know, I guess just stay on the wall?

“I thought he was going to get out because that takes up some energy. There are points where I felt – yeah, he was defending the takedown, and maybe he could have circled off, but he just kind of chose to stay there and kind of wait a little bit. Yeah, I was holding him against the cage, but at the same time, I think he did have opportunities to circle off. It’s just he chose not to.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.

About one in eight men in the UK will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, with a particular risk for those aged 50 or over.

“I was having to get up a few times in the middle of the night to use the toilet and had a weak stream,” Knight added.

“So when I was getting a blood test for something unrelated, I spoke with the nurse about doing a PSA test.

“I probably would have put it off otherwise, but I’m glad that I didn’t.

“Ironically, it has spread to my hip, which I’ve had a few problems with down the years, but I have been told that it’s manageable.

“If I hadn’t needed to have a blood test, then I probably would have waited and by then, it might have been too late.”

Symptoms can include struggling to urinate or emptying your bladder, a weak flow and needing to urinate more than usual.

More information is available at Prostate Cancer UK , externaland Macmillan Cancer Support., external

As a teenager, Knight kept a clean sheet on his debut against Rotherham in Division Three in 1978 and he went on to represent the club in all four divisions. He was awarded an MBE following his retirement.

Knight’s final appearance for the club came on 3 January 2000, in a 2-1 Division One defeat at Norwich, making him the only Blues player to have played across four decades.