SIR BEN AINSLIE will target Mission Impossible as underdogs Britain try to win the America’s Cup for a first time.

But ahead of a gruelling 13-round clash with defending champions Emirates Team New Zealand, Britain’s greatest-ever yachtsman warned: “It’s like facing rugby’s All Blacks… when they get to decide the rules!”

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Ineos Britannia qualified for the America’s Cup — sport’s oldest international competition — following their success over Italian outfit Luna Rossa in the Louis Vuitton Cup in Barcelona.

The opening two races take place on the southern Spanish coast and the overall winner, before October 21, is the first to seven.

Britain have never won this historical sailing event before and their last appearance in the final was 60 years ago against the then invincible New York Yacht Club.

As the Defender Club, the well-rested New Zealanders have played a significant role in the rule-making and chose Catalonia rather than Auckland for financial reasons.

Four-time Olympic champion Ainslie, 47, is obsessed with bringing the ‘Auld Mug’ to the UK.

But he is also fully aware of the mammoth challenge ahead.

He told SunSport: “We are battle-hardened from racing against Luna Rossa but the Kiwis have had more time to prepare and make modifications.

“They’re more rested. They’re fresh. I’d always say they’re the big favourites here. This is their Cup.

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“It’s a bit like taking on the All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup when they get to decide the size of the pitch and the air pressure of the balls.

“It’s a hell of a challenge but whilst they’re favourites, I definitely think they’re beatable.

“The America’s Cup is perhaps the hardest thing to win in sport.

“The Defenders win the event and pretty much write the rules and regulations for the next event. They decide when and where it is, the class of the boat.

“If you have a really good team as a Defender, then it’s almost impossible to beat them. It’s seriously hard.”

About 150 people have been involved in this British-led project over the past few years — competing boats have tens of thousands of parts and components and race at speeds up to 100km/h.

They are bankrolled by petrochemicals billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is a minority owner of Manchester United.

And Mercedes F1 boffins were involved in the design of the six-tonne 23-metre (75-foot) foiling monohull — nicknamed Rita — that they hope will create sporting history.

Ainslie, who wakes at 5.30am most mornings for a pre-breakfast 30-minute run, beat the Kiwis in a famous comeback victory in 2013 when he lifted the Cup under San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge with Oracle Team USA.

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He said: “Our team are in a great place.

“When you get some momentum going, the team starts clicking and gelling.

“Every time we have gone out in the water, we have managed to get more performance out of the boat, the manoeuvres are slicker and the results have come.

“The America’s Cup is a hell of a slog. Particularly as the challenging team. You have to go through all the rounds.

“The quality of the fleet this time round has been the highest quality in recent times, if not ever.

“We have a much more competitive package than we have ever had as a British team.

“The support we have had back home has been phenomenal.

“Flights and hotels around here are packed this weekend with Brits coming over. That means the world to us.

“We’re a patriotic team. Britain have never won the America’s Cup — that’s why we are here, to right that wrong in our sporting history.”

UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier dismisses PFL and other organizations when it comes to their ability to build stars.

A former two-division UFC champion, Cormier believes the octagon is the only stage where a fighter can reach superstardom. The likes of Ben Askren, Michael Chandler, Michael Page, and most recently Kayla Harrison were able to catapult their popularity to the next level after signing with the UFC.

“The NBA does not exist without the best players in the world,” Cormier said on his “Funky and the Champ” show with Ben Askren. “There are 100 leagues around the world, but they never can hold a candle to what the NBA is, so the best come and play here. There’s one place to fight, one place, because guess what? There’s only one place that honestly – not even trying to be a UFC guy, there’s one where you reach superstardom.

“There’s one place where you fight the best in the world, where you maximize your visibility and earnings inside the octagon and outside the octagon. It’s the UFC. Every other organization tries and then eventually it starts to falter. I don’t understand why. The only one who has found success is Scott Coker. He’s the only guy who has found sustained success outside the UFC.”

Harrison is 2-0 in the UFC since parting ways with PFL. Founder Donn Davis accused Harrison of running away from big fights with Cris Cyborg and Larissa Pacheco, and Cormier thinks it’s an attempt from the PFL to use the UFC to promote their own fighters.

“Every year the gap widens, and not even a little bit. It widens by double,” Cormier said. “Every time the PFL uses that Kayla Harrison loss to promote someone on another card, that just tells you that they’re just throwing sh*t at the wall, hoping something sticks.”

Interim boss Lee Carsley will not change his attacking approach when England face Finland on Sunday despite the surprise defeat by Greece that dented his chances of landing the role permanently.

England had enjoyed an encouraging start to their Nations League campaign under Carsley, with wins over the Republic of Ireland and Finland before Thursday’s setback at Wembley.

Carsley’s experiment in fielding five attackers without an out-and-out striker backfired as Greece ran out 2-1 winners.

England will look to bounce back in Helsinki this weekend and Carsley insisted “nothing changes” in terms of his attacking approach.

“The way I want my teams to play, I want us to attack and when we had the players we have available, I wanted to try something different,” said Carsley, who has been put in temporary charge until November while the Football Association seeks a permanent successor following Gareth Southgate’s departure.

“Hindsight is perfect because it never happened.

“It wouldn’t stop me trying something different in the future because I have done OK being like this.

“I had 17, 18, 19 years as a player being defensive and just sitting in there and playing on the counter-attack.

“That is definitely not how I want to coach. Nothing changes in that respect.”

Eddie Hearn predicted a “generational fight” as Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol weighed in before their undisputed light-heavyweight bout in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

WBO, WBC and IBF champion Beterbiev came in at 12st 7lb, exactly on the limit, with WBA title holder Bivol weighing 12st 6lb.

“This is a generational fight between two ice-cold competitors,” said Matchroom’s Hearn, who promotes Bivol.

“Bivol already slayed the pound-for-pound king in [Saul ‘Canelo’] Alvarez and this is what he wants more than anything.

“I believe Dmitry Bivol will be the undisputed champion tomorrow night.”

The unbeaten pair meet in a historic bout on Saturday with all four light-heavyweight belts on the line for the first time.

Roy Jones Jr was the last undisputed champion in the division, earning that status in 1999 and reigning until 2002, but that was during the three-belt era.

A crowded stage saw the three promoters involved in the event – Hearn, Frank Warren and Ben Shalom – jostling for position and the priority middle spot between the two fighters facing off.

Heavyweights Frazer Clarke and Fabio Wardley provide the chief support when they meet in a rematch after they fought to a draw in March.

British heavyweight champion Wardley was a pound lighter than in their previous encounter, tipping the scales at 17st 4lb.

Clarke came in at 19st 5lb – up 5lb from seven months ago – which made him 29lb heavier than his opponent.

Conor McGregor got in on the action following a heated BKFC Spain face-off.

Lightweights Franco Tenaglia and Tony Soto clash in the main event of Saturday’s BKFC event in Marbella, Spain, with a vacant title on the line, but it’s McGregor who stole the headlines Friday. As Tenaglia and Soto nearly came to blows onstage at the ceremonial weigh-ins, “The Notorious” stepped in to break up the potential brawl.

Watch video of the incident below.

McGregor, the former two-division UFC champion who became part-owner of BKFC this past April, looked to be having the time of his life as he inserted himself in between the scrapping fighters, helping to quickly defuse the situation.

Seeing gold on the table, McGregor couldn’t help but raise the lightweight title over his head, cackling gleefully as he showed it off to those in attendance.

Saturday’s BKFC event airs live on DAZN from Marbella Arena in Marbella, Spain. Two other title fights are set to take place, with 165-pound champion Austin Trout defending against Rico Franco, and 175-pound champion David Mundell fighting Danny Christie.

Sidelined since July 2021, McGregor awaits his next UFC booking after an injury forced him to withdraw from a grudge match against Michael Chandler scheduled for UFC this past June.

LEE CARSLEY’S tactical experiment of playing no strikers backfired as Vangelis Pavlidis’ double secured an emotional shock win for Greece at Wembley.

Interim England boss Carsley played all three of our nation’s gifted No10s – Phil Foden, Jue Bellingham and Cole Palmer – in varying positions.

But it did not work and the Greeks took a deserved lead thanks to Pavlidis’ belting second-half finish.

The visitors then held up a shirt in celebration bearing the name Baldock – in reference to their team-mate George Baldock, whose passing at the age of just 31 on Wednesday rocked the world of football.

Bellingham looked to have ensured the points were shared with a thunderous strike with three minutes to go.

But there was still time for Pavlidis to expose some woeful defending deep into injury time by firing past Jordan Pickford.

Here are SunSport’s player ratings from a dire night for England under the arch.

Jordan Pickford: 4

Wandered into no-man’s-land territory outside his box early on and lost the ball, allowing Greek skipper Tasos Baksetas a free shot at goal – only to be saved by Levi Colwill’s last-gasp clearance. Did not instil confidence, despite his experience.

Trent Alexander-Arnold: 6

Some tasty passes – they are his speciality, after all – but not great at the back. He, John Stones and Cole Palmer were weak in their attempt to close down Vangelis Pavlidis before the Benfica man smashed home the opener.

John Stones: 5

Made captain for what was his 82nd cap, surpassing Rio Ferdinand’s haul. But it was a shaky display from his defence and Stones should have done better to stop Pavlidis.

Levi Colwill: 7

Greece would have been ahead far sooner were it not for Colwill’s athletic hack away to deny Bakasetas. Replays showed it would have crossed the line had the Chelsea man been a split second later with his incredible intervention.

Rico Lewis: 6

Tried to bomb up the left flank where he could but, just like Kieran Trippier at the Euros, was hamstrung by constantly having to cut back onto his favoured right foot.

Declan Rice: 6

Played as England’s only holding midfielder, as fans had been imploring Gareth Southgate to use him for years. It was not like he was overrun but his side did look vulnerable on the counter.

Phil Foden: 4

Spent most of the game pressing the Greek backline as a false nine without really getting on the ball and causing any damage. Ineffective. 

Cole Palmer: 6

Deployed in a deeper, central-midfield role which at least meant he saw plenty of the ball, though he blazed England’s best chance of the first half over the bar. Remarkably, his first competitive England start, despite being named on Tuesday as Three Lions player of the 2023-24 season. 

Bukayo Saka: 5

Struggled to get into the game and then was forced out of it, worryingly limping off early in the second half. The last thing Arsenal fans wanted to see.

Jude Bellingham: 7 STAR MAN

Played in a false nine position and had a belting early shot well saved. The system did not work but Bellingham still so nearly emerged as the saviour by banging in his first goal of the season for club and country.

Anthony Gordon: 5

Caused Greece few problems and his touch looked off it. Had a decent chance from Alexander-Arnold’s peach of a delivery but headed over.

SUBS: 

Noni Madueke (for Saka 52): Played out on the left, rather than his natural right, when coming on. Went down in the box deep into injury time but no penalty was given. 6

Ollie Watkins (for Gordon 60): Almost scored with his first touch when played through by Palmer, but smashed just over. 7

Dominic Solanke (for Foden 72): Grabbed an assist when laying the ball back to Bellingham who thumped in the leveller. 7

Manager Lee Carsley: 4

Seemed to gamble unnecessarily with this experimental system instead of playing it safe to add another win to boost his case to earn the job full-time. Carsley played without a natural centre-forward when winning the Under-21 Euros because he had to after Flo Balogun switched the USA and Rhian Brewster got injured, but here he did it by choice and it did not work. Bellingham looked to have saved his bacon – but then Pavlidis struck again.