RICHARLISON instantly found himself in the thick of the action as he returned from injury this afternoon.

The Brazilian, 27, rose from the bench to replace Dominic Solanke in the 81st minute of Tottenham‘s clash with West Ham.

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His last appearance had come in his side’s 4-0 win over Everton on August 24, having subsequently suffered with a calf issue.

Moments after the forward’s introduction, his team-mate Micky van de Ven found himself in an altercation with Mohammed Kudus.

Having taken exception to the Ghanaian’s challenge, Van de Ven confronted the West Ham star.

Kudus subsequently lost his cool, striking the Dutchman in the face.

Seeing his team-mate go down, Richarlison instantly rushed over to get involved.

As he reached Kudus, however, the Hammers winger turned round, inadvertently brutally catching his opponent in the face.

Richarlison was knocked to the ground, lying in a heap next to Van de Ven.

Kudus’ meltdown wasn’t over, as he subsequently struck Pape Matar Sarr in the face too.

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Incredibly, referee Andy Madley initially only showed Kudus a yellow card, while also booking Van de Ven.

But following a VAR check, the 24-year-old was given his marching orders.

In the first-half, Kudus had given West Ham the lead in the London derby.

The Hammers star swept Jarrod Bowen‘s 18th minute centre beyond Guglielmo Vicario to spark pandemonium among the visiting fans.

In-form Dejan Kulusevski levelled for Spurs on 36 minutes, before a nine-minute blitz prior to the hour mark saw Ange Postecoglou‘s side take a commanding lead.

Yves Bissouma gave Tottenham the lead on 52 minutes, before Alphonse Areola inadvertently turned in Son Heung-min‘s shot for a third.

The South Korean then marked his return from injury with a goal of his own, beating Jean-Clair Todibo before rifling past Areola.

Tottenham nearly made it five following Kudus’ red card, but in the end settled for a dominant 4-1 victory over their London rivals.

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Don’t hold your breath for an MMA return from Paige VanZant.

The former UFC star, who in recent years has been fighting for BKFC and Power Slap, doesn’t see herself returning to the sport that launched her profile, although she doesn’t rule it out 100 percent.

VanZant has put a lot of mileage on her body throughout her combat sports career. She still loves MMA but doesn’t want to risk her health any further.

“I don’t ever like to say I’m closing the door 100 percent, but I do see it would be hard for me to go back into MMA, not because I don’t love it or not because I don’t have a passion for it still, but like I said, I broke my arm five times in my life and four times in basically two years of competing,” VanZant told MMA Junkie Radio.

“I had two surgeries on it, and I still have a huge plate that runs the length of my entire forearm. So just going back to that place of risking breaking my arm again and having surgery again and getting set back, I can still have the thrill of competing, and I can still get that rush without putting my body at risk. One, I’m fine if I break my arm, it’s really just the mental fortitude, I don’t know if I can push through that again. It was a really, really rough few years.”

VanZant returns to competition at Power Slap 9 on Oct. 24 in Abu Dhabi. Although the athletes are taking defenseless blows to the head, there isn’t the wear and tear of grappling in competition or preparation – which VanZant appreciates.

VanZant is signed with Power Slap on a fight-by-fight basis. She doesn’t know how long she’ll continue, but for now, she says it has been a fun career chapter.

“My draw to Power Slap is that I had nothing going on, and I just came out of a boxing match, so I was like, ‘You know what, I’m already in shape,’” VanZant said. “They called and asked if I wanted to do Power Slap, and I was like, ‘Yeah, why not? It seems like a great opportunity. I didn’t know if I would want to do it again, it was a brand-new experience, and I absolutely loved it.”

McLaren’s decision not to introduce a new floor design for the United States Grand Prix was made to assess its other new components without “any confusion”.

The Woking team brought a revised front wing and front suspension package, in addition to a series of changes to its rear brake duct furniture and rear wing.

However, McLaren stopped short of introducing a new floor design that has been in progress at its base, electing not to spend the four-week gap between Singapore and Austin fast-tracking it.

Engineering technical director Neil Houldey revealed that the team needed to be completely sure that the in-development floor works before manufacturing it.

He added that the scope of updates that McLaren brought to Austin was quite small, but “should give us a little bit of performance opportunity” further down the line.

Lando Norris appeared to confirm this yesterday after sprint qualifying, noting that the car was “basically the same” as the Singapore spec. The Briton had been given the full set of upgrades for Austin, while Piastri was without the new front wing.

Houldey felt that it was important to judge the other updates in isolation, rather than putting everything together in one package.

“We brought a lot of small upgrades for this event. I don’t really want to go into too many details about what will appear at the next events, but there’ll be more coming, for sure,” Houldey explained.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Andreas Beil

“What we’ve been doing is just continue our development progress throughout the year and at the moment, it turns out, really, that what we want to do is bring something that we know works.

“So we’re not trying to deliver something early. We’re in a good position in the championship.

“But what we don’t want to do is bring any confusion into the team about the results of the components we’re bringing. So we’re waiting and bringing them when they’re ready.

“We want it on the car. We want the performance on the car as soon as we can possibly get it.”

Houldey denied that the limited practice available in a sprint weekend was a factor, reiterating that McLaren simply wanted to make sure any floor upgrades were worthy of being added to the car.

He felt that, although McLaren’s presence in the title battle adds scrutiny to its upgrade path, the team was dealing with it in the right way.

“We’re just ensuring that when we bring the parts, they’re the right ones, and they’re going to bring performance to the track,” Houldey continued.

“Aerodynamically, we already know the upgrades that we’re going to be bringing to the next couple of events. So they’re ready in that sense, but they’re very much in manufacture back at the factory.

“We just bring it to the event that we can get it to in the fastest possible way. So whether it’s a sprint or a standard event, doesn’t make a difference to us.

“From our perspective, we’re fully focused on our own technical development, and it’s important for us to just focus on where we are and what we bring to the races and not what other teams are doing.

“We’re learning what it’s like to be back at the front again. So for sure, the scrutiny that that brings is new to us, and I think we’re dealing with it in the right way.”

New Zealand retained the America’s Cup by beating Great Britain in the 37th edition of the event.

Ben Ainslie’s Ineos Britannia team were 6-2 behind going into Saturday’s racing and needed to win race nine to stay in the best-of-13 series in Barcelona.

However, despite some pressure from the British boat, Emirates Team New Zealand secured victory by 37 seconds to take an unassailable 7-2 lead.

New Zealand, who won the competition in 2017 and 2021, have become the first team to lift the Auld Mug on three consecutive occasions since the USA (1987-1992).

Great Britain, who have never won the trophy in the competition’s 173-year history, were appearing in their first final since 1964.

“Firstly, I’ve got to say a huge well done to Team New Zealand,” said British captain Ainslie.

“What an amazing campaign and team. In my view, they are the best team ever in the America’s Cup.

“To our team, I just can’t say enough thanks to everyone for all the effort they’ve put in over the years to get us this far.

“We had our moments in the finals but, at the end of the day, the better team won.”

He added: “This isn’t going to be the end of the journey for us. We set out 10 years ago to win the America’s Cup [and] we’re getting closer each time.

“The trick is to keep going and get it home next time.”

Michel Pereira and Anthony Hernandez might not be the first names that come to mind when you think “future title challenger,” but that’s exactly what the UFC Vegas 99 main event winner could be after Saturday.

“Demolidor”—currently holding on to the No. 15 spot at 185 pounds in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings—has evolved into a legitimate contender after beginning his UFC career as an oddity. Following a run at welterweight that was foiled more by the scale than his opposition, Pereira made the shrewd decision to move to middleweight where he’s racked up three straight finishes. He faces his toughest challenge in the division yet, though, with Hernandez having won five straight fights.

Since a disappointing knockout loss to Kevin Holland, Hernandez has racked up a series of strong performances, including a stunning submission of grappling ace Rodolfo Vieira, and a streak-busting win over Roman Kopylov in his most recent appearance. “Fluffy” has been saying all the right things about wanting to take on a champion someday and he’s working his way to that opportunity one win at a time.

Not only is Pereira vs. Hernandez unlikely to disappoint from an action standpoint, but we’ll also find out how close either man is to joining the middleweight elite.

In other main card action, Rob Font looks to snap a skid and the three-fight win streak of Kyler Phillips, Charles Johnson is out to prove he’s a player at 125 pounds as he fights Sumudaerji, Jake Hadley takes on short-notice replacement Cameron Smotherman, and Darren Elkins meets Daniel Pineda in a battle of featherweight veterans.

What: UFC Vegas 99

Where: UFC APEX in Las Vegas

When: Saturday, Oct. 19. The six-fight preliminary card begins at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN+, followed by a five-fight main card at 7 p.m. ET also on ESPN+.

(Numbers in parentheses indicate standing in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings)

Michel Pereira (15) vs. Anthony Hernandez

Michel Pereira’s plans for world domination are going swimmingly.

First, he dialed back his one-of-a-kind fighting style, going from full-on jazz odyssey every time he went out there to a more technical and, yes, winning approach.

Second, he saved himself an extra 15 pounds of weight cutting by moving to middleweight, which is where he belongs at this stage of his career. Dude is massive.

Third, and most importantly, bring back some of the craziness while still adhering to the more mature tactics that have put you on a career-best eight-fight win streak.

It’s almost too simple.

Anthony Hernandez has the style needed to ruin Pereira’s unlikely championship charge, with a deep reserve of wrestling and grappling techniques in his arsenal. He knows he has to take Pereira down to win, it’s just a matter of executing. We have seen Pereira fall prey to a wrestling-heavy attack before, but that was a bizarre fight against Tristan Connelly in which we clearly didn’t get the best version of “Demolidor,” so I wouldn’t use that as a strong point of comparison.

If Hernandez can take this fight to the championship rounds, Pereira’s cardio might not be up to snuff, so that’s another factor to consider. But I like Pereira’s chances of keeping the fight standing and scoring a knockout before Round 4.

Pick: Pereira

Rob Font (14) vs. Kyler Phillips

Saturday’s main event isn’t the only fight with title contender implications.

Kyler Phillips has been a sleeper at 135 pounds for some time now, his rise to the top only hindered by inactivity and a narrow decision loss. Otherwise, Phillips just needs more quality wins to continue building his résumé. Pedro Munhoz and Song Yadong were good ones, and Rob Font could be the most important victory yet.

That’s not to say Font is a walk-over for Phillips. If Font is a gatekeeper, he’s one of the best, as evidenced by his having gone five rounds with names like Jose Aldo, Cory Sandhagen, and Marlon Vera. All losses, but all fights in which Font’s opponent had to work hard to get by.

The same will be true of Phillips, who has to put forth a career-best effort to avoid losing momentum. Both of these fighters are outstanding technical strikers, with Phillips having the slight edge in activity, speed, and agility. He can’t let up for a second, because all it takes is a couple of mistakes for Font to steal rounds and cause Phillips’ night to end in disappointment.

Phillips keeps it together and wins a decision.

Pick: Phillips

Charles Johnson vs. Sumudaerji

Charles Johnson has shown some great hands during this unexpected three-fight win streak, but it’s his versatility that could be the difference against Sumudaerji. “The Tibetan Eagle” has proven susceptible to submissions throughout his career and if Johnson wants to make it four in a row, he should be sure to include takedowns in his game plan.

Sumudaerji is a threat on the feet and if he hurts Johnson early, it could be a long—or even worse, short—night for “InnerG.” The length of Sumudaerji is one of his strengths and if he controls distance, he’ll work his way to a decision win.

But his defensive shortcomings are too significant to ignore, so I’m actually picking Johnson to catch him on the feet sometime after the opening five minutes. From there, Johnson will find an opening to grapple, either wrestling Sumudaerji down or scrambling to take his back. A choke and a tap are soon to follow.

Pick: Johnson

Jake Hadley vs. Cameron Smotherman

If you’ve never seen Cameron Smotherman fight before, the strategy to foil him is pretty clear so far: Take this dude down.

That’s not to say that Smotherman isn’t capable on the ground—in fact, he’s difficult to attack even if put on his back—but you’re much better off wrestling with him there than trading shots on the feet. “The Baby-Faced Killer” is a speedy and accurate striker, always looking for an opening and a threat to finish for all 15 minutes. He could have Jake Hadley on skates early if Hadley isn’t careful.

Fortunately for Hadley, he’s got good hands, too, and Smotherman isn’t always the most defensively responsible fighter. Add in Hadley’s potential to take Smotherman down and he has a clear path to victory so long as he doesn’t freelance too much on the feet.

I have Hadley winning a decision after a tense three rounds, but Smotherman is an exciting addition to the roster and I look forward to his next fight when he has a full training camp.

Pick: Hadley

Darren Elkins vs. Daniel Pineda

Combined, Darren Elkins and Daniel Pineda have 41 UFC appearances and 86 pro bouts overall. To put it lightly, they’ve been through it.

It was only a matter of time until these two faced off and the only complaint one can have is that it’s taking place at the APEX as opposed to being witnessed live by thousands of appreciative fans. It’s just weird to think about how Elkins and Pineda clawed their way up from fighting in local bars to competing at packed venues and now back to an empty building.

Sigh.

None of that matters once the cage door shuts and these fighters rush headfirst into a scrap. How does one even begin to break this one down? It’s not as if Elkins and Pineda are devoid of technique, it’s just that they’re quick to throw it out the window once the poop hits the fan. And it definitely will.

I see the grappling game being dead even here, so they’re going to have to slug it out, and in that scenario I favor “The Damage.” He might not put Pineda down for the count, but he’ll do enough to win a decision in a bout that will likely see both warriors bloody and battered by the end.

Pick: Elkins

Preliminaries

Asu Almabayev (15) def. Matheus Nicolau (13)

Brad Katona def. Jean Matsumoto

Tamires Vidal def. Joselyne Edwards

Jessica Penne def. Elise Reed

Melissa Martinez def. Alice Ardelean

Robelis Despaigne def. Austen Lane