Former France captain Amandine Henry has retired from international football with immediate effect.

The 35-year-old midfielder won 109 caps, scoring 14 goals, and was recently in the France side who reached the quarter-finals at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“After many years of passion, challenges and unforgettable memories, it is time for me to turn the page,” she said on a post on X., external

Henry was France’s captain from 2017 to 2020 when she was dropped by then manager Corinne Diacre.

She was selected in France’s 2023 World Cup squad before withdrawing with a calf injury.

Henry finally returned to the France team in September 2023, after three years away, and often stood in for current Les Blues captain Wendie Renard.

Now with Mexican side Toluca, Henry won seven Champions League titles and 13 French league titles with Lyon, who she played for across two long spells between 2007 and 2023.

“Wearing the colours of my country these past years has been the honour of my life and has allowed me to experience extraordinary emotions,” Henry said.

LAS VEGAS – Ramazonbek Temirov beat CJ Vergara with a first-round TKO Saturday to close out the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 244 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Take a look inside the fight with Temirov, who was dominant in his UFC debut – and put the flyweight division on notice that he’s coming for a title shot.

Ramazonbek Temirov def. CJ Vergara

Result: Ramazonbek Temirov def. CJ Vergara via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:50
Updated records: Temirov (18-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC), Vergara (12-6-1 MMA, 3-4 UFC)
Key stats: Temirov has 10 straight wins and five straight first-round finishes.

Temirov on the fight’s key moment

“If it’s five rounds, I prepare for the five rounds. If it’s three rounds, I always prepare for the three rounds. We never know when the fight is going to be done, when we might finish the fight. But today, it happened. I finished him in the first round, and we’re happy.”

Temirov on title aspirations

“The UFC was my childhood dream, which just came true today. I’m so happy. After this, I will be only going forward and my goal is to be a champion of the flyweight division. I never thought I would be in the UFC, to be honest, but I was always dreaming to be in here and to be a champion. Today we’re here, and we’re chasing the dream.”

Temirov on what he wants next

“The next goal is, and the dream is definitely to become a flyweight champion. We will see how long it will take – maybe a year, maybe two years. Only God knows.”

To hear more from Temirov, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.

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

As Jorge Masvidal plots his comeback to the UFC, he’s got a lot of ideas on potential opponents. Don’t expect Conor McGregor to be one of them.

To be clear, that’s not from a lack of interest on Masvidal’s side. Prior to his retirement from MMA in 2023, the UFC’s first-ever “BMF” champion called for a showdown with McGregor numerous times. Now that he’s planning to return to action sometime in late 2024 or early 2025, Masvidal sees a lot of possibilities for his first fight back, but he highly doubts McGregor ever competes again after sitting out for the past three-plus years.

“We’ll see him at a bar and shit,” Masvidal responded to MMA Fighting when asked if we’ll see McGregor again. “Are you talking about in the cage? Like as an official or to be judges? You mean fighting? I don’t think so. I hope he proves me wrong but I don’t think so.”

McGregor has been teasing his comeback for well over a year already after he healed up from a devastating broken leg suffered in his trilogy fight against Masvidal’s longtime teammate and friend, Dustin Poirier.

Following his recovery, McGregor coached on The Ultimate Fighter opposite Michael Chandler with a fight originally expected between them sometime in 2023. Instead, a broken toe forced McGregor to withdraw from their scheduled meeting at UFC 303 this past June.

There were rumors swirling that perhaps McGregor could fight before the end of 2024 but UFC CEO Dana White nixed those plans and instead pointed towards 2025 for the Irish superstar to return. With each passing day more and more doubts are creeping in about whether or not McGregor will actually return and Masvidal knows with absolute certainty that he won’t be the opponent if that happens.

“Conor, under no circumstances, is fighting me,” Masvidal said. “He’s backed out of fighting Chandler — poor little Chandler, I don’t know how many times he let that dude eat dust. Imagine me?

“That guy is never fighting me. He can’t do enough cocaine to f*cking get [jacked] up to fight me.”

If McGregor remains absent from the UFC, Masvidal wouldn’t mind taking his place in the fight against Chandler, although he sees that as just one of many options open to him.

Chandler has been out of action for nearly two years in anticipation of fighting McGregor and Masvidal doubts that ever comes to fruition. If Chandler finally wants to return to action, Masvidal invites him to a fight where he should know without a shadow of a doubt that the opponent will show up.

“That wouldn’t be a bad fight to get my feet wet again with MMA,” Masvidal said about fighting Chandler. “Kind of an introductory course to MMA. I wouldn’t mind that fight. But there’s a lot of fights that I would take. I was just throwing that one out there.

“You can’t sit in silence forever. Let’s go. You want to throw down with one of the most f*cking electrifying motherf*ckers that ever touched the sport? Let’s f*cking go.”

Video Details

LAS VEGAS – UFC gold if the goal for Chidi Njokuani, but he understands several steps need to be taken before that can turn into reality.

The UFC veteran is now 2-0 since dropping to the welterweight division, as he defeated Jared Gooden in a unanimous decision in the main card of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 244. Now, Njokuani (24-10 MMA, 4-3 UFC) wants to test himself against the top 15 of the division in hopes to get closer to his ultimate goal.

“I’ll fight whoever, but I’m looking for somebody in the top 15 – maybe a bigger name, so I can start rising up in the rankings and getting my name out there a little more,” Njokuani said at the UFC Fight Night 244 post-fight press conference. “I’ll fight whoever. If a good opportunity comes by soon, I’ll take it. I’ll just go back with my management and see how they feel about everything.”

Njokuani, 35, has almost seen it all now 35 fights into his professional MMA career. Although some may dismiss his title chances, he believes there’s still time for him to get to a UFC title.

“It may sound crazy to a lot of people, but I’m shooting for that title shot,” Njokuani said. “I still believe I can get it.”

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

Ariana Grande, Celine Dion, and the UFC. What could they possibly have in common?

The funny folks at Saturday Night Live answered that question this weekend with a hilarious sketch in which Grande lampooned her fellow superstar singer’s recent promo for Sunday Night Football. This time, however, Grande’s version of Celine Dion employed her legendary vocals to honor another enduring American institution: The UFC.

Watch the sketch below, which also doubled as a sly advertisement for UFC 308 on Oct. 26.

Referencing Dion’s classic ballad It’s All Coming Back to Me Now (as Dion did in her NFL tribute), Grande paid homage to moments in UFC history that every fight fan would agree agree are unforgettable—for better or for worse.

“There was breaking of bones and there were knees to the balls,” Grande sang, before also poking fun at Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Mike Perry.

Even cageside commentators Daniel Cormier, Joe Rogan, and Jon Anik weren’t safe, as Grande cracked, “Dozens of commentators. All bald and in the shiniest of shirts.”

The most biting line of all might have been Grande noting the damage that MMA fighters take, saying, “It’s all coming back to me, though maybe not to them because of the concussions, no?”

After this, you’ll never look at Keith Hackney repeatedly punching Joe Son in the groin the same way again, that’s for sure.