David Onama needs a new opponent for next week’s UFC 309 after Lucas Almeida was forced off the card due to undisclosed reasons, multiple people with knowledge of the situation told MMA Fighting.

UFC 309 will take place at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, and the promotion is currently seeking a replacement to fight the Ugandan featherweight on just over a week’s notice.

Onama (12-2) hopes to keep the momentum going after back-to-back wins over Gabriel Santos — a bonus-winning second-round knockout in Jacksonville, Fla. — and Jonathan Pearce, a bout he missed weight for.

Almeida (15-3) was looking to compete for the first time since signing a new UFC contract following a decision victory over Timmy Cuamba this past June, rebounding from stoppage defeats to Pat Sabatini and Andre Fili.

UFC 309 will air live on pay-per-view and feature Jon Jones’ first defense of the heavyweight belt against former champion Stipe Miocic in the main event.

Mike Heck contributed to this story.

The Spurs game against United will be televised on Thursday, 19 December.

Arsenal are now exploring alternatives with European governing body Uefa for the Bayern tie. This includes moving the fixture to Meadow Park in Borehamwood, where they play the majority of their Women’s Super League matches.

However, Meadow Park’s facilities do not currently meet Uefa regulations so there would need to be some flexibility.

It is unclear where the ground fails to meet the regulations but Uefa’s rules state requirements on a range of things, including pitch heating and covers, grass height, floodlights, goalpost structures, pitch surrounding areas, artificial pitches and frequency of pitch watering.

There is no video assistant referee (VAR) or goalline technology requirements in the group stages of the Women’s Champions League.

It is an uncomfortable situation for Arsenal, given they have made a point of making Emirates Stadium the main home for their women’s team.

BBC Sport has contacted Uefa for a response.

Erin Blanchfield likes Manon Fiorot’s chances against UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko.

Fiorot (12-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) is expected to be Shevchenko’s next title challenger after going unbeaten in the octagon, including a win over Blanchfield in the UFC on ESPN 54 main event in March.

Having felt Fiorot’s strength and failing to take her down in their fight, Blanchfield (13-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) expects the French fighter’s size to pose problems for Shevchenko (24-4-1 MMA, 13-3-1 UFC).

“I think Manon could do very well,” Blanchfield told MMA Junkie. “I could even see her beating Valentina. I could see Valentina winning, but I think Manon can use her size. I think she’s a very big flyweight, and she knows how to use her range and like her length. I think Valentina is more like dynamic and has more skills.

“So, I’m curious how Valentina is going to deal with her size because I know in the past, let’s say with like Taila (Santos), I remember her complaining about how big Taila is, and I feel like Manon’s significantly bigger. So yeah, I think it’s a good matchup, and I’m curious to see how it goes.”

Since losing to Fiorot, Blanchfield rebounded with a five-round co-main event win over Rose Namajunas this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 246.

“I feel like I was able to utilize my striking better. That’s something obviously I had a lot of focus on after my last fight,” Blanchfield said of her win over Namajunas. “I feel like I was able to show a little bit of improvement there. Obviously there’s room for more, but it’s only been a couple of months.

“So, I feel like I was able to definitely show that to myself and win those championship rounds, too. I feel like that was a big thing. Even though losing those first two rounds, I was able to come back and sweep the scorecards on the rest of the rounds.”

One of the most influential athletic commission directors is on Jon Jones’ side.

At UFC Edmonton this past weekend, the MMA game changed as the new unified rules went into effect for the first time. Those rules updated the “grounded opponent” rule and also removed the previously banned “12 to 6 elbow” from the list of fouls. The small but significant changes are sure to impact the way fights unfold in the future, but it’s possible that one result from the past could also be altered: Jon Jones’ loss to Matt Hamill.

At The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale back in 2009, Jones suffered the only loss of his career thus far when he was disqualified by referee Steve Mazzagatti for illegal 12 to 6 elbows after Hamill was unable to continue. Following the announcement of the new rules, Jones made his case for overturning the result so he can have an undefeated record. And California State Athletic Commission Director Andy Foster agrees.

“The rule is what it was then. It’s different now,” Foster told Ariel Helwani on Tuesday. “It would be hard to go back. I’d be actually supportive of getting rid of that, but it’s not my decision. But I think it’s hard to go back with the rule being different than it is now.

“Yeah, [the result changed] to a no-contest,” Foster continued when asked. “ … I didn’t like the way it was enforced back then, but that’s 14 years ago. … We’re talking about 14 years later. At the time I thought there were other ways that you might could handle that situation other than just flat giving the guy a loss.”

At the time, Mazzagatti’s decision was extremely controversial as Jones was dominating the fight and Hamill was nearly out before the illegal blows occurred. And Foster agrees that Mazzagatti could have done differently.

“Disqualification should be the last resort a referee goes to,” Foster said. “That should be after you’ve used all the tools in your toolbox. We train these guys and we teach them, I know John McCarthy and the rest of the guys do, you’ve got a lot of things you can go to, a lot of things you can look at. Let’s do that before we disqualify people.

“Herb Dean is probably the gold standard of refereeing in the world right now. You’ll see him and he’ll methodically go through everything before — I don’t know if I’ve seen Herb disqualify somebody. … He’s very good at going through a lot of different things before you ever get to that.”

Unfortunately for Jones, Foster is not the one he has to convince becuase the fight took place in Las Vegas. And though Jones has plenty of support on this issue, even from some unlikely sources, for the time being it seems likely that instead this incident will live on in the lore of MMA: the only time Jones ever lost.

Video Details

Jon Anik doesn’t agree with Dana White, believing that Islam Makhachev should be No. 1 pound-for-pound over Jon Jones.

Lightweight champion Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) is ranked No. 1 pound-for-pound in the UFC rankings, which has caused White to melt down on more than one occasion. White argues that Jones is undeniably No. 1, even though he currently sits at No. 3 behind light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and Makhachev.

Anik agrees with the UFC rankings as he thinks Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) having not competed since claiming the vacant heavyweight title in March 2023 plays a big part.

“Islam Makhachev’s ability to find that takedown and find that submission in his last title defense against Dustin Poirier is about as good as it gets,” Anik told Kevin Iole. “For me, he was the guy going in, so I don’t know that he loses that perch for me. I have always put 155 pounds on a pedestal. I do believe 155 pounds is the deepest division.

“And part of the reason why Ilia Topuria is getting Fighter of the Year consideration, and rightfully so over Alex Pereira, is because of the depth of his division. But for me, it is Islam Makhachev every day of the week. Jon Jones is in the conversation, but inactivity, I think, largely takes him out of the discourse.”

If Jones retires, Anik OK with it

Jones is scheduled to defend his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) in the UFC 309 main event Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Both Jones and his coaches have hinted that he will retire after facing Miocic, and Anik thinks he shouldn’t get any flack if that does end up happening.

“If Jon Jones doesn’t fight Tom Aspinall after raising a 16th championship banner in Albuquerque, New Mexico in theory by beating Stipe Miocic, I don’t know that anybody would really judge him,” Anik said.

“Yes, the competitor that resides within Jon Jones, there could be no higher note upon which to go out than to beat either Tom Aspinall or Alex Pereira for Jon Jones, right? But the dude doesn’t need that high note. He’s the greatest of all time.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.