The UFC is back in Abu Dhabi for UFC 308, and the popular “Embedded” fight week video series is here to document what’s happening behind the scenes.
UFC 308 (pay-per-view, ESPN+) takes place Saturday at Etihad Arena on Yas Island.
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In the headliner, featherweight champion Ilia Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) puts his title on the line for the first time when he takes on former champ Max Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC). In the co-feature, Khamzat Chimaev (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) meets former champ Robert Whittaker (27-7 MMA, 17-5 UFC) to determine the next top contender at middleweight.
The sixth and final episode of “Embedded” follows the featured fighters while they get ready for fight week. Here is the UFC’s description of the episode from YouTube:
Khamzat Chimaev sheds the last few pounds ahead of UFC 308 official weigh-ins; Athletes step on the scale to make their UFC 308 bouts official; Crowds gather to see final face-offs between fighters at the UFC 308 Ceremonial weigh-ins.
Previous UFC 308 ‘Embedded’ episodes:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
The UFC 308 start time, fight card, and TV schedule for the Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway event at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday is below.
The fight card is broken into two different parts and airs on multiple mediums. This post helps explain which fights are airing where and at which times.
The event kicks off with an eight-fight preliminary card 10 a.m. ET on ESPN+ and YouTube, headlined by a welterweight bout between Geoff Neal and Rafael dos Anjos.
The card then heads to ESPN+ pay-per-view at 2 p.m. ET. A featherweight contest between UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria and former UFC champion Max Holloway will headline this portion of the card.
Benteke feels he is moving into a different phase of his career.
It is why, despite DC United’s relatively poor form, he has no regrets about extending his stay at the club having initially joined part-way through the 2022 season when Wayne Rooney was in charge.
Benteke does not crave attention the way he once did. Away from the field, he is quite happy to live a “normal” life. Relative anonymity in Washington is something he embraces.
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“When you are younger you want people to stop you in the street,” he said. “You want to have your picture taken or to sign autographs because you feel you are ‘that guy’, who is playing for a Premier League team, the most popular league in the world. This is something you want.
“But when you get older, you know it is your job and it’s what you have to do, to score goals and win games.
“In the US you can train and as soon as your session is done, you can have a normal life, walking to the park, going to the mall, meet up without having to hide or feeling uncomfortable, just to be a normal guy.
“This year will be my second Christmas. To be around my family and your kids is something you appreciate. When you play at the highest level, for a Premier League team, sometimes you can have Christmas morning at home but then you have to go.”
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Benteke still keeps across events in Europe and is delighted at how Villa have performed in this season’s Champions League.
“A huge club,” the striker calls them. “With Liverpool it is more expected but Villa was my first team in England. The love is different. They haven’t been in the Champions League for a while so to see them playing well at Villa Park on a Tuesday or Wednesday is something nice.”
Benteke, who has featured in two European Championships, has not played for Belgium since 2022. He was not selected for Euro 2024 and although the next World Cup is being played in his current home, it feels unlikely he will be involved then either.
He makes it clear the lack of involvement is not of his making.
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“I am still playing in a very good league and I am still a professional so why should I retire from the national team?” he said.
“I am not obsessed about it and I am not putting any type of pressure or focus on it. But as long as I am playing, I will leave the door open. That is just common sense for me.
“It’s the day I retire from my club that will mean it is also the end for the national team.”
LOS ANGELES — Yankees–Dodgers is a World Series matchup made in history, so it’s fitting that Game 1 was an instant classic. Here are four takeaways from the Dodgers’ 6-3 win in 10 innings.
In a swing reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s iconic blast in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, Freddie Freeman, unable to play in the last game of the NLCS due to his injured ankle, conjured memories of Gibson’s blast with a walk-off home run in the first game of the 2024 World Series.
Freeman missed both Games 4 and 6 of the NLCS because the issues with his injured ankle, which he had dealt with all postseason, was starting to leak into his swing. In the days leading up to Game 1, however, he said there was no doubt he’d be in the lineup. He had just six hits this October, all singles, prior to Friday night.
He delivered his first extra-base hit of the postseason with a surprising triple off Gerrit Cole in the first, then saved the best for last. With the Dodgers down to their last out in the 10th inning, Freeman delivered the lasting blast in a Game 1 thriller with a grand slam off Nestor Cortes.
It was clear from Jack Flaherty’s first pitch, a 96.4 mph fastball out of the gate to Gleyber Torres, that this start would be different for the local kid pitching for his hometown team.
Coming off seven scoreless innings in Game 1 of the NLCS, Flaherty didn’t have it his last time out. The Mets tagged him for eight runs in three innings in Game 5. He walked four, didn’t record a strikeout, and perhaps most troublingly saw his fastball velocity descend to 91.4 mph, which he usually attributes to a timing issue.
With a week off to rest and figure out any mechanical tweaks needed, he figured it out.
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At least, until another local product unloaded.
Friday night was setting up for a dream outing for Flaherty, who once dominated the fields of Sherman Oaks Little League. Through five innings, he had bested last year’s American League Cy Young winner, leading 1-0 while going toe-to-toe against Cole.
And then came one gigantic swing from a different Sherman Oaks legend.
Giancarlo Stanton, as he so often has at the stadium he used to attend growing up, authored his own homecoming party.
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In 25 career regular-season games at Dodger Stadium, Stanton had a 1.086 OPS. He once hit a ball out of the stadium. Two years ago, he obliterated a 457-foot home run into the left-field pavilion, where he used to sit as a kid hoping to get balls thrown to him from any player roaming the outfield, to earn All-Star Game MVP honors.”
“That Cali air, man,” Stanton quipped before the start of the World Series. “Grew up with it.”
On Friday, there wasn’t any ballpark in the major leagues that would have contained his game-changing shot. Once again, he was the one sending a souvenir to a fan in left field when he tagged a Flaherty curveball 116.6 mph off the bat 412 feet into the sky for a go-ahead two-run shot. There was no doubt about it, as the Yankees slugger continued a torrid October stretch. He has now homered in four straight playoff games and leads all players this postseason with six.
3. With all the focus centered on two patient, powerful offenses, Game 1 was a pitchers’ duel
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Flaherty’s fastball wouldn’t sit at 96 mph all night, but even somewhere between 93-94 mph would represent a marked improvement from where it was and plenty to give the Dodgers an opportunity against Cole.
More importantly, he commanded it well, which made his curveball — which got 12 swings and misses — all the more effective against a patient Yankees lineup until Stanton’s blast.
That was all the support Cole needed to depart with a lead after six innings.
It did not appear, from the start, that it would go that way.
Shohei Ohtani crushed the first pitch he saw from Cole 373 feet and 106 mph off the bat, but it died in center field. One batter later, Mookie Betts sent a deep drive that was tracked down at the warning track. Then came the unlikeliest of triples as Freeman, whose right ankle was too hurt to play on in the NLCS clincher, booked it around the bases with some assistance in left field from Alex Verdugo. The Dodgers couldn’t bring Freeman home, but it appeared they were seeing Cole well.
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Then the Yankees veteran ace, in his 21st career playoff start, locked in.
Cole retired the next 11 Dodgers batters until another triple, this one off the bat of October sensation Kiké Hernández, who legged it to third after Juan Soto tried to make the catch instead of play the ball off the wall. A sacrifice fly from Will Smith plated the first run of the night. That’s all the Dodgers would scratch across against Cole. After allowing four free passes his last time out in the ALCS, he was not as forgiving against the hardest lineup he has faced this October. He has now allowed two runs or fewer in 14 of his 21 career postseason starts.
The defense behind him, however, continued to offer costly gifts to the opposition.
Cole departed with a lead after Stanton’s sixth-inning blast that lasted until the eighth inning, when Ohtani sent a changeup from Tommy Kahnle off the right-field wall. He should have been held to a double, but Torres misplayed Soto’s throw to second base, allowing Ohtani to take third. The Dodgers, who didn’t have a hit with a runner in scoring position until Freeman’s blast, didn’t need one to score their second run of the night on a game-tying sac fly by Betts.
Verdugo, however, would make up for his earlier gaffe with an incredible grab that sent him head-over-heels into the stands with a crucial play against Ohtani in the 10th to bring the Yankees within an out of victory.
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4. Watch your fingers
Torres nearly won the game in the ninth inning with a two-out drive off Michael Kopech that reached the seats … with some help.
The ball was caught by a Dodgers fan, who reached over the wall to make the play. Upon review, fan interference was ruled and Torres returned to second base. The Dodgers then elected to walk Juan Soto, who had reached twice on the night, to get to Aaron Judge with Blake Treinen set to come in. The Dodgers’ decision paid off, as Treinen got an inning-ending popout from Judge, who finished 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
Only recently has the hurt from that near miss started to fade. Nine of the squad that faced Hungary also started against Ireland and felt the weight of the nation’s disappointment particularly deeply.
Now there is an unbelievably heavy expectation to, at least, reach the final play-off stage.
Martinez Losa is steadfast in his belief Scotland have developed since their last play-off heartache.
They were outmuscled in a particularly strong League A group last year but rediscovered their groove and grit in the recent unbeaten League B campaign.
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Against Hungary, a fellow League B side, they faced an aggressive and powerful attack, the kind they would face at major tournaments.
The head coach, though, said Scotland are “stable” and “competitive”.
“I think we have shown the team that we are competitive,” he said. “We keep concentration and don’t make mistakes in key moments.
“We are a very stable team. We’re not afraid to defend properly and be concentrated.
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“We had some good moments of football, but when you play away from home, it’s not simple.
“Although the score is tight, just 1-0, we didn’t concede and we know there’s no way we’re going to lose the game at home in Scotland.”
As Martinez Losa and his players fly back home to ready themselves for Tuesday’s second leg, there may be a few raised eyebrows greeting them given his dismissal of Hungary’s chances of a comeback.
MMA Fighting has UFC 308 results of the Topuria vs. Holloway fight card, live blogs for the entire main card, and more from the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday afternoon.
In the main event, UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria will make his first title defense against former UFC champion Max Holloway. Topuria (15-0) has never tasted defeat in his pro career, while Holloway (26-7) has won four of his past five fights.
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