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EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada – UFC exec Dave Shaw revealed a roadblock stopping the UFC from returning to Ireland.

The UFC hasn’t hosted an event in Ireland since Conor McGregor knocked out Diego Brandao in July 2014 at UFC Fight Night 46 from 3Arena in Dublin. The attendance for that event was 9,500, and according to the 3Arena official website, the venue can host up to 13,000 fans.

UFC CEO Dana White attended Callum Walsh’s boxing match in September at 3Arena, but Shaw said the venue’s capacity isn’t sufficient for a UFC event.

“Great venue – but a small venue,” Shaw said after UFC Fight Night 246. “Could we take our show to that arena? It would be challenging. It’s not an insurmountable challenge – we’d be able to do it. But we’d be having a small event. It’s a small arena. It doesn’t have the space that we need necessarily.”

While Dublin could be a challenge, Shaw confirmed that the UFC plans on returning to the United Kingdom in 2025.

“Are there more plans? Yes,” Shaw said. “We’re going to be back in the U.K. next year. Whether that’s Dublin, (it’s) probably London for us next year, and then as we get through next year, which is the last year of our current media deal in the U.S., and we start to plan out what we want to do in 2026 and beyond in terms of the number of international events that we can have, the intention is to be able to go back to Europe more often.”

Check out Shaw’s full post-event news conference in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 246.

FANS couldn’t believe what they were hearing when they realised which unexpected superstar was on TNT Sports’ Champions League coverage.

Darren Fletcher and Ally McCoist were joined by music royalty in the gantry for their broadcast of Sporting Lisbon vs Manchester City.

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The pair were accompanied by Man City superfan and Oasis star Noel Gallagher.

Gallagher wasn’t only on the commentary team for TNT, but also down pitch-side ahead of kick off to discuss his beloved City’s form.

Supporters are used to seeing the Rock ‘N’ Roll Star in the crowd at City games, but his presence on the broadcast is Half the World Away from his usual Tuesday night.

Fans reacted to the unbelievable moment on social media.

One wrote: “So bizarre that Noel Gallagher is on co-commentary on TNT Sports tonight”.

While another added: “Noel Gallagher adding a lot to commentary tonight. So enthusiastic.”

A third posted: “Why is Noel Gallagher on punditry duty for TNT Sport?!”

And a fourth commented: “No way that’s Noel Gallagher on commentary. I thought it was just some random ex-City player”.

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Gallagher will have been looking down on a familiar sight when watching on the game.

That’s because the City players were wearing his handwriting on the back of their shirts for the occasion.

Their cup font has been designed by Gallagher with the 57-year-old writing out every player name and number to create the unique look.

The Oasis icon also helped design a kit for Man City, honouring the 30th anniversary of album ‘Definitely Maybe’.

The kit, dubbed ‘Definitely City’, will be worn for select European fixtures this season, and was donned by players in City’s Champions League opener against Inter Milan earlier in the campaign.

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Hiromitsu Miura has died at 43 years old.

On Tueday, Miura’s family released a statement on social media revealing that the former WEC welterweight title challenger passed away on Oct. 26 following a battle with acute leukemia.

“Hiromitsu Miura passed away suddenly on October 26, 2024 at the age of 43 after fighting acute leukemia since mid-September.

“We should have informed you of his death earlier, but we sincerely apologize for the delay in notifying you.

“The funeral was attended only by his immediate family.

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“We would like to express our sincere gratitude for the kindness you extended to the deceased during his lifetime.

“Sincerely, Miura Family.

Born in Ukiha, Fukuoka, Japan, Miura made his MMA debut in 2004 at 22 years old, competing as a middleweight. After going 7-3 to start his career, Miura signed with the WEC where he would eventually drop down to welterweight. Miura is best-known in MMA for his four-round war with Carlos Condit for the WEC welterweight title at WEC 35, that Condit won by stoppage.

After his time in WEC, Miura left MMA to pursue boxing where he won his first nine fights before challenging for the OPFB super middleweight title against Yuzo Kiyota. Miura lost that fight by TKO and then returned to MMA a few years later, spending the final years of his career competing in Pancrase where he won the welterweight title by beating Akihiro Murayama in 2016.

In Tuesday’s earlier match, Wimbledon champion Krejcikova faced little challenge from a below-par Pegula, who last year reached the tournament’s final.

In a performance devoid of any positive energy, Pegula struggled to cope with the Czech’s huge serves, including 11 aces, and hit just four winners in a match lasting little more than an hour.

US Open finalist Pegula, 30, had got off to the perfect start with a love hold in her first service game, amid a catalogue of Krejcikova unforced errors.

But after Krejcikova got the initial break midway through the first set, sixth seed Pegula’s body language began to sour and she gifted her opponent the opener with a sloppy return tapped into the net from close range.

Form did not improve for Pegula at the start of the second set as Krejcikova broke her serve at the first opportunity, though there was a brief reprieve for the American as she cancelled that out in the next game.

But any glimmer of hope for a Pegula comeback was extinguished as she double-faulted to give her opponent the break back, after which Krejcikova – whose performance was far from polished – coasted to a straightforward victory with a solitary break point her only hurdle.

“I’m really pleased with the way I played today. I felt I had to play my best tennis,” said eighth seed Krejcikova, who is ranked 13th in the world but qualified for the WTA Finals on account of being a 2024 Grand Slam champion.

“I had some very high parts of the season, especially winning the Wimbledon title. It was something that is really indescribable, and to be here right now is a huge privilege to be playing in the final eight.”

The WTA Finals are being held in Saudi Arabia for the first time – a move which has been criticised by some because of the country’s human rights record.

This year’s tournament has record prize money, with the singles champion set to collect about £4m.

In Wednesday’s final Purple Group round-robin matches, Sabalenka will take on Rybakina before Jasmine Paolini and Zheng Qinwen go head-to-head for a place in the semi-finals.

It’s UFC Fight Night 247 fight week, but the lineup has been hit with a change.

Days prior to the event, Nicolas Dalby is out of his welterweight bout vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, who now faces Zach Scroggin.

Two people with knowledge of the matchup informed MMA Junkie of the change Tuesday but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.

It’s unclear why Dalby (23-5-1 MMA, 7-4-1 UFC) withdrew from the bout.

Dos Santos (28-4-1 MMA, 10-4-1 UFC) looks to get in the win column for the first time in three appearances. After a draw vs. Rinat Fakhretdinov in November 2023, dos Santos lost by unanimous decision to Randy Brown in June.

Scroggin (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) is the Fighting Alliance Championship (FAC) welterweight champion. In seven pro fights, he has seven wins and five finishes.

MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)

• Neil Magny vs. Carlos Prates
• Cody Garbrandt vs. Miles Johns
• Denise Gomes vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
• Bernardo Sopaj vs. Ricky Turcios
• Reinier de Ridder vs. Gerald Meerschaert
• Luana Pinheiro vs. Gillian Robertson

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)

• Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Zach Scroggin
• Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Dusko Todorovic
• Charlie Radtke vs. Matthew Semelsberger
• Da’Mon Blackshear vs. Cody Stamann
• Melissa Mullins vs. Klaudia Sygula
• Gaston Bolanos vs. Cortavious Romious
• Tresean Gore vs. Antonio Trocoli

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 247.