ABU DHABI – Magomed Ankalaev is confident what’s at stake for him Saturday at UFC 308.

At Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Ankalaev (19-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) takes on Aleksandar Rakic (14-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) in a fight he says will guarantee him a title shot with a victory.

“It’s up to the UFC (what’s next),” Ankalaev told MMA Junkie and other reporters Wednesday. “I was pretty much told that, with this win, I’m next in line for the title. That’s what I hope is going to happen. But if, for some reason, I don’t get the title shot, and somebody else is put in front of me, then I’m going to have to get there, and I’m going to have to crush that person in order to get to the title shot.”

Ankalaev, 32, is a fighter many followers of the UFC thought should’ve been the most recent challenge for light heavyweight titleholder Alex Pereira. However, the promotion elected to book Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree, whom he defeated by fourth-round knockout Oct. 5 at UFC 307.

With the narrative largely revolving around Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC), Ankalaev is sick of talking about the champion.

“To be honest, I don’t want to keep talking about Pereira, but people keep asking me questions about Pereira,” Ankalaev said. “If they ask me, then I have to answer. But really I’m focused on my fight. I’m worried about the opponent in front of me. I’m out there. I’m looking to win, something like that.”

If the two eventually face off, Ankalaev sees a clear difference in one skill set category that would set him apart from Pereira.

“It’s not like he’s that tough, but the fact is he is well rounded,” Ankalaev said. “He does have striking. He does have the ground game. When it comes to the champion, he just has the strikes and we know those strikes. We haven’t seen him wrestle ever.”

Ankalaev indicated he’ll be seeking a finish against Rakic, but said he doesn’t think his potential title shot will be contingent on whether the fight goes 15 seconds or 15 minutes.

“It wasn’t a condition that it was a finish and a title (shot),” Anakalev said. “I was just told by Dana that it has to be a good fight. I have to show myself well, and then I’ll get a title shot.”

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

After beating Real Madrid on match week two, Jonathan David scores a brace to help Lille secure a 3-1 upset against Atletico Madrid on match week three of the Champions League.

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UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili would prefer a full training camp to fight Umar Nurmagomedov.

Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) claimed the 135-pound title when he defeated Sean O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) by unanimous decision at UFC 306 in September. No. 1 contender Nurmagomedov has been pestering him about a fight date, but Dvalishvili said he’s willing to fight him in March – when Nurmagomedov can’t compete due to Ramadan.

But what rubbed Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) and many others wrong was Dvalishvili offering O’Malley a rematch in November. Dvalishvili explains the reasoning behind his callout.

“I already fought him, and it’s easy to come back because we’re both in the same situation,” Dvalishvili told MMA Junkie on rematching O’Malley. “We both fought on Sept. 14, and we would both step back on the same day. But when somebody else has been ready for me, preparing for me, that’s a different story.

“With O’Malley, it’s easy because we’re both in the same situation. That’s why I told him we could do a quick turnaround for November. That shouldn’t be a problem because I was ready to fight O’Malley or ‘Chito’ Vera three weeks after I beat Henry Cejudo, but to fight somebody new, somebody with a different style. Yeah, I need time. I need two or three months.”

Dvalishvili revealed that the UFC mentioned December for his first title defense against Nurmagomedov, but he told them it was too early. He’s willing to compromise and fight early next year but is a little bothered about the criticism – considering that he just became champion a little over a month ago.

“I think February I’ll be ready,” Dvalishvili said. “I would like to fight February, so that’s it, and I want to fight three times next year. I want to be busy, but I just became champion, and I don’t understand why they want me to – I just want to relax.”

Robert Whittaker won’t walk into the cage Saturday expecting Khamzat Chimaev to gas out early in their five-round middleweight clash in the co-main event of UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi.

Chimaev was victorious in all seven of his octagon appearances so far with five dominant finishes, but has clearly slowed down in both fights that went the distance, against Gilbert Burns and a last-minute replacement Kamaru Usman. Whittaker, however, is 9-1 in fights that have gone the distance since moving up to middleweight in 2014.

“I am expecting him to come out hard and aggressive from the first second to the last, and I have prepared accordingly for that,” Whittaker said during the UFC 308 media day. “I’ve prepared for the hardest fight of my life, to start extremely hard, like sprinting for the first five to 10 minutes, but also drag it out to five minutes. I’m ready to sprint for 25 minutes if so. I’m coming in for war.”

“He’s had such success with his really hard starting fighting approach,” he added. “Regardless whether he gassed or not, he still won those fights pretty handily, and then it was due to the amount of dominance he had in those first rounds. I’m expecting the best version of himself. I’m expecting a guy that comes out hard and a guy that will last. I’m prepared for it. I’ve trained for it. I’m not going to train thinking that if I get out of the first round it’s game over. I’m preparing for the best version he can offer me, a super soldier. I’ve done that.”

The UFC opted to book Whittaker vs. Chimaev as a five-rounder even with no belt attached, and the former 185-pound champion said he was not the one making the request.

“Why would I do that? Five rounds is so much harder than three rounds,” Whittaker said with a laugh. “I know I’ve had a lot of them, but they’re not fun. It kind of just worked out this way. But I don’t know. I’m in the fight game. If you want me to fight for three rounds, five rounds, 10 rounds, I’m going to train for it, prepare for it, and I’ll turn up.”

Whittaker doesn’t not rule out finishing Chimaev early, though, like he’s done to Ikram Aliskerov, who stepped in as a replacement for the Chechen fighter back in June.

“I look to go into this fight hunting, much like I planned to last fight,” Whittaker said. “I look to do again this fight. I’m the hunter in this fight. I’m the predator and I’m gonna be looking for him.”

Whittaker hopes to re-insert himself in the title conversation with a victory Saturday, his third since losing to future champion Dricus Du Plessis. The UFC is set to return to Australia on February 8, and the New Zealander could be part of the card.

“Since the Dricus loss I had a bit of a wake up call,” Whittaker said. “I made some changes. Inside, outside the gym. We just sat down and we ripped in. We worked hard, we worked harder than ever, and you can see the results of that work show itself in every fight this year. Every fight I’ve gotten better. I’ve started to back myself more, the confidence I take in the victories that I’ve had. I’m coming into this fight, all cylinders firing.”

ABU DHABI – Lerone Murphy admits he felt “superhuman” coming out of his most recent performance, a five-round unanimous decision win over Edson Barboza.

On UFC 308 fight week, Murphy’s vibes remain high as he looks to carry that momentum into his main card bout Saturday vs. Dan Ige at Etihad Arena on Yas Island.

“(My last fight was) massive, massive for confidence and experience,” Murphy told MMA Junkie and other reporters Wednesday. “I feel like that’s leveled me up going into the trenches. The last two rounds are different.”

Murphy (14-0-1 MMA, 6-0-1 UFC) recognizes the challenge Ige (18-8 MMA, 10-7 UFC) brings and sees the opportunity as the perfect next step. Should he defeat Ige as he expects, Murphy believes top 10-ranked opposition will be next.

“He’s a solid opponent,” Murphy said. “He’s been in the top 15 for like four or five years now. You’ve got to be good to keep your position there. It’s a big test for me , and I believe after a win over Dan Ige, it’s top 10 straight from there. … That’s disrespectful (to call him a gatekeeper). I don’t think there’s any such thing as a gatekeeper. If you’re in the top 15, you’re in the elite of the world. It’s as simple as that.”

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

Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and the Los Angeles Dodgers will face off against Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series. One could argue that this matchup, which marks the 12th time that the Dodgers and Yankees meet in the World Series, couldn’t be more epic for MLB.

For starters, it’s a matchup between two of the largest sports markets and cities on the planet, involving two teams that both used to play in New York City, as the Los Angeles Dodgers were the Brooklyn Dodgers until moving West ahead of the 1958 season. Meanwhile, there are stars galore on both teams, with MVPs and other MVP- and Cy Young-caliber players.

Here’s the 2024 World Series by the numbers, from both present and historical lenses.

1: After becoming the sixth player in MLB history to post a 40-40 season (40 home runs, 40 stolen bases) in August, Ohtani became the first player to post a 50-50 season in September in what was his debut season with the Dodgers.

2: When Game 1 of the 2024 Fall Classic begins on Friday night (8:08 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app), both Soto and Betts will have appeared in the World Series for multiple teams; Soto won the World Series with the Washington Nationals in 2019, while Betts won the World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2018 and again with the Dodgers in 2020.

3: Judge hit 58 home runs this season, marking the third time in the 2022 AL MVP’s nine-year MLB career that he surpassed 50 long balls in a single season.

3.3: In their nine postseason games this year, the Yankees have surrendered just 3.3 runs per game.

6.4: In their 11 postseason games this year, the Dodgers have scored 6.4 runs per game.

10: A combined 10 players from both rosters were put on their respective league’s All-Star Game roster this season, the Dodgers having seven and the Yankees having three.

11: The Yankees and Dodgers have previously faced off in the Fall Classic 11 times, seven times with the Dodgers in Brooklyn and four times with them in Los Angeles. New York went 6-1 when the Dodgers were in Brooklyn, and the teams have split since the move to Los Angeles (2-2).

[Related: A look back at 11 previous Yankees-Dodgers World Series matchups]

12: This is the 12th time that the Yankees and Dodgers have met in the World Series, but their two cities also combine for a population of roughly 12 million this year.

15: While the Yankees have a professional-record 27 championships, this is the first time that they’ve appeared in the World Series in 15 years (2009). Staying on the 15 front, Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre managed both teams, as he won four World Series across his 12-year stint with the Yankees (1996-2007) and then managed the Dodgers from 2008-10.

16: Managers Dave Roberts (Dodgers) and Aaron Boone (Yankees) are among the most tenured coaches in the sport, combining for 16 consecutive seasons managing their respective clubs.

18: A roughly 18-mile drive separated Ebbets Field, the former home of the Dodgers in Flatbush, from Yankee Stadium, the home of the Yankees. Furthermore, there were three MLB teams in New York prior to the Dodgers’ departure, as the New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants) played in the Polo Grounds on the Upper East Side of Manhattan — which was a mere 15-minute walk from Yankee Stadium over the Harlem River, prior to moving to San Francisco in 1958. 

22: While Roberts and Boone are now each primarily viewed as skippers, they played a combined 22 seasons in the big leagues and each produced some of the most exciting moments in MLB postseason history. 

With the Red Sox down 3-0 to the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS, Roberts pinch ran in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 4 with the team trailing 4-3 and stole second base. He later scored, and the Red Sox went on to win in the 12th inning. Boston later became the first team to overcome a 3-0 series deficit and went on to win the World Series for the first time in 86 years. On the other hand, Boone, a midseason acquisition, hit a walk-off home run for the Yankees to lead off the bottom of the 11th inning in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS against the Red Sox, which sent New York to the World Series.

2024 World Series: Yankees vs. Dodgers Preview

23: Los Angeles and New York are Nos. 1 and 2 in America in number of professional teams, combining for 23.

27: The Yankees have won a professional sporting-record 27 championships. Moreover, their general manager, Brian Cashman, has held his current position for 27 years.

34: The two teams combine for 34 World Series, with the Yankees having 27, compared to the Dodgers’ seven.

41: If one chooses to drive cross-country without somehow not having to stop for gas, a Big Gulp or sleep, it’s a roughly 41-hour drive from Yankee Stadium or the former site of Ebbets Field to Dodger Stadium.

43: While the Yankees and Dodgers have crossed passed in the World Series 11 times, they haven’t done so in 43 years, with the Dodgers winning the 1981 World Series in six games.

66: The Yankees and Dodgers combine for 66 league pennants, with the former boasting 41 and the latter boasting 25.

67: The Dodgers’ last season in Brooklyn was 1957, marking 67 years since they called New York City home.

100: The two clubs combine for a whopping 100 Hall of Famers, with the Dodgers boasting 53 and the Yankees boasting 47.

112: Potentially poised to win their respective league MVP awards, Judge and Ohtani hit a combined 112 home runs this season (Judge had 58, and Ohtani had 54).

.500: Since the turn of the 21st century, the Yankees and Dodgers are 11-11 (.500) against each other in the regular season.

$1,300: Interested in buying a ticket to the 2024 World Series to witness history? If so, that’s great! Interested in forking over in excess of $1,300 to see a game in Dodger Stadium or Yankee Stadium? Well, that’s what it currently costs to get a seat in either house from several ticket vendors.

21,800: The Dodgers and Yankees combine for 21,800 wins, with the former having 11,022 and the latter having 10,778.

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