Alex Pereira is a scary human being – even if he’s wearing a bunny costume.

The UFC light heavyweight champion was a guest on a Podpah YouTube show recently and challenged to land a body punch on Brazilian comedian Diogo Defante.

Pereira landed a few short punches as a test, and settled to use “50 percent” of his power. Defante went down in pain.

“Poatan” is taking the rest of the year off after defending his UFC title three times in 2024, knocking out Jamahal Hill, Jiri Prochazka and Khalil Rountree between April and October, and is targeting a return to action in the first quarter of 2025.

The popular Brazilian fighter, a former two-division champion in kickboxing and former UFC middleweight titleholder, is expected to defend his belt next against Russian talent Magomed Ankalaev, who recently defeated Aleksandar Rakic via decision at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi to extend his unbeaten streak to 13 bouts.

A Football Association suspension meant Mendy, who was on a basic salary of £6m a year, was unable to fulfil his contractual obligations when not in custody.

Judge Dunlop said: “I found that Mr Mendy was ‘ready and willing’ to work during the non-custody periods, and was prevented from doing so by impediments (the FA suspension and bail conditions) which were unavoidable or involuntary on his part.”

She said the amount Mendy will receive will be calculated between the two parties or at a future hearing if they cannot agree.

City have declined to comment.

Mendy was remanded in custody for five months before being released on bail in January 2022. The case went to trial for the first time in August 2022.

In January 2023 Mendy was cleared of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

He was then cleared of raping a woman and attempting to rape another in July 2023 at a retrial.

Mendy, who left City when his contract expired, now plays for French side Lorient.

In the submissions detailed in the judgement, Mendy’s lawyer argued that City had “a binary choice – to follow the dismissal procedure (which would, if a dismissal resulted, have freed Mr Mendy to contract with another club) or to keep him under contract and continue paying him”.

The hearing was told how on 15 occasions Mendy held or attended parties in breach of Covid-19 regulations or bail conditions, or both.

City’s lawyers argued that the suspension, being in custody and his bail terms “clearly amounted to a full impediment to Mr Mendy being able to perform his contract” and that the impediments were a result of his “culpable behaviour”.

The judgement read: “Mr Mendy’s position is that he is an innocent man whose career has been ruined, and life blighted, by false sexual allegations and that the football club which brought him to this country effectively abandoned him in his hour of need.

“Manchester City’s position is that Mr Mendy largely brought his troubles upon himself and ignored sensible advice and warning after warning in his self-destructive pursuit of his chosen lifestyle.

“Both these narratives have validity, and there is no one cause of the chain of events which unfolded in this case.

“The question of whether Mr Mendy deserves to be paid, however, is one for the commentators and comments sections. The only question for me is whether Manchester City was legally entitled to withhold that pay.”

Mendy’s legal team said City’s then chief football operations officer Omar Berrada had said he would be paid his salary if found not guilty.

Berrada denied the claim and Judge Dunlop said any “assurances about backpay” were “irrelevant”.

Mendy, who joined City from Monaco in a £52m deal in 2017, won the Premier League in 2018, 2019 and 2021.

His final appearance for City was on 15 August 2021.

A BRAZILIAN football star has seen red after an X-rated scissor kick went badly wrong.

Criciuma striker Felipe Vizeu was sent off in his team’s 2-0 loss to Internacional in Serie A last night.

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Vizeu led the line for relegation-threatened Criciuma as they travelled to Porto Alegre in Brazil’s top flight.

The 27-year-old was searching for an equaliser after Alan Patrick put the hosts ahead on the stroke of half-time.

A cross sat up nicely for Vizeu, who was chasing a third goal in as many games.

He opted to go for an audacious scissor kick, thrashing hard at the ball with his left boot.

Internacional defender Agustin Rogel read the danger, putting his head in harm’s way to direct the ball away.

Vizeu caught Rogel square in the face, sending him crashing to the turf.

Referee Felipe Fernandes de Lima immediately brandished the red card, to the horror of the Criciuma striker and his teammates.

One fan gasped in response to the footage: “Nothing but face! Yikes, that must have hurt.”

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Another argued: “The attacker was clearly making an attempt on the ball and didn’t mean it and the defender just caught a full force kick in the face.

While a third laughed: “This looks like a FIFA glitch.”

And a fourth added: “If the defender weren’t there probably would be a Puskas award contender.”

Criciuma are based in Santa Catarina and were promoted to the top flight from Serie B last season.

Vizeu joined the club in the summer of 2023 but has spent a large portion of his career in Europe.

The Brazilian has played for Udinese in Italy, as well as Sheriff Tiraspol in Moldova and Japan’s Yokohama FC.

Anatoly Malykhin and Reug Reug will get the chance to fight each other on Friday, but they nearly had their heavyweight championship fight two days early.

Malykhin and Reug Reug headline Friday’s ONE 169 event at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

On Wednesday, the three-division ONE champion and the challenger got physical, and as things seemed to calm down, they engaged in a standing clinch and needed to be separated by a slew of security on stage. Check out the video below, courtesy of Nicolas Atkin.

Malykhin also is the promotion’s light heavyweight and middleweight champion, compiling a 14-0 overall record with a perfect 6-0 run in ONE. “Spartak” puts the heavyweight title on the line for the first time since stopping ex-UFC fighter Arjan Bhullar at ONE Friday Nights 22 in June 2023.

Reug Reug is 6-1 in the sport, and is set to compete in his first MMA bout since defeating Marcus Buchecha at ONE Fight Night 13 in August 2023.

Ducati test rider Michele Pirro will be drafted in at VR46 for the final round of the 2024 MotoGP season at Barcelona, Motorsport.com has learned.

Pirro will be riding one of VR46’s GP23 bikes in the Barcelona GP on 15-17 November, with Fabio di Giannantonio again absent from racing after getting surgery done on his left shoulder last Wednesday.

Although Andrea Iannone impressed VR46 in the Malaysian GP last weekend after returning to MotoGP at the express wish of team owner Valentino Rossi, the one-time grand prix winner will not be racing in Spain next week.

The decision was taken by Ducati in conjunction with VR46 and will be formally communicated to the public next week.

Iannone, who had been out of action since his 2019 campaign with Aprilia after receiving a four-year doping ban, finished 17th less than a minute behind race winner Francesco Bagnaia‘s factory Ducati.

One of the conditions required for Iannone to compete again in the last race was not to look out of place at Sepang, a goal he more than achieved with his quick adaptation to the GP23.

Andrea Iannone, VR46 Racing Team

Photo by: Asif Zubairi

However, Ducati has decided to lean on the reliable Pirro in Barcelona after taking technical and development aspects into consideration.

Unlike this season where Ducati is fielding four GP24 bikes between its official team and Pramac, the Borgo Panigale marque will be down to just three factory-spec bikes in 2025. These will be raced by Bagnaia, new works team rider Marc Marquez and di Giannatonio at VR46.

The pre-season test in Barcelona, where Pirro will again be on duty at VR46, is therefore crucial for Ducati to get the final details for the 2025 bike right as MotoGP enters a two-year engine freeze phase.

Ducati’s current cushion over other manufacturers is so big that no one doubts the development freeze will be an advantage for them in the long-run.

However, the fact that Marquez does not have much experience on the current GP24 – having ridden a one-year-old bike at Gresini in 2024 – has led general manager Gigi Dall’Igna to conclude that Pirro’s presence at the test is vital for the marque.

At the moment, it is not certain whether three GP25 bikes will be shipped to Spain as is planned, or if only two will be available due to a production issue.

In any case, Ducati wants to have Pirro, who plays a major role in the development of the bike, at full capacity in Barcelona to help Bagnaia and Marquez fine-tune the bike by providing more data.

Pirro is already testing the GP25 on Wednesday and Thursday this week at Jerez. After these two days of running, the bike will be packed up and sent to Barcelona for the first official 2025 test on 19 November.

United host Greek champions PAOK on Thursday, looking for their first win in this season’s Europa League.

Leny Yoro, a £52m signing from Lille last summer, participated in full training on Wednesday after fracturing his foot in August.

The Frenchman is yet to make his competitive debut for the club.

“He’s been managed very well after his injury in pre-season, obviously we knew it was going to be a long one,” said Van Nistelrooy.

“It’s a big moment for him as it’s the first time that he’s been back in full training.

“We will bring him back partially over the coming weeks and look to get him on board as soon as possible.”

Midfielders Christian Eriksen, Mason Mount and Antony were also in training following recent absences.