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Ryan Hall has struggled to get healthy, but things are finally looking up.

It’s been almost three years since Hall (9-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) last competed when he defeated Darrick Minner in December 2021. Since then, it’s been surgery after surgery after surgery for the jiu-jitsu ace.

“Basically, the most serious string of unfortunate health stuff that I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Hall told BJPenn.com. “I’ve had 21 general anesthesia surgeries since that fight. Sorry, 19, there were two prior. It’s just been kind of a bit of a journey. I got fallen on, tore my ACL, had to fix a plantar plate that was torn. Got fallen on again, and had to have a tightrope surgery, the one that Pat Mahomes and a couple of other people have had.

“The ACL got infected and had to have a couple of emergency septic arthritis. The tight rope, I was actually allergic to the hardware that they put in me somehow, so had to have that redone. It’s been interesting, but finally on the back end of it.”

Despite the health struggles, Hall never gave up on competing again. He’s targeting a return in the first half of 2025.

“Right before I fought Ilia Topuria in 2021, I got fallen on then I went 15 years completely bulletproof,” Hall said. “I ended up getting fallen on and tore my hip right prior to that fight pretty badly, and I didn’t really appreciate how badly it affected my ability to move and there was a lot of follow-on body issues from that. At that point, it was 17 years of combat sports. You spend all that time competing and training. … The big one recently was I had a torn shoulder. I had a 270 re-tear in my labrum. I tore my rotator cuff, big-old cyst in my shoulder that was causing weird nerve stuff, too.

“Getting that all fixed, as well, has been huge. It’s been interesting because more than half of the surgeries I’ve had were actually, ‘Oops, we screwed that one up, sorry, let’s run it back.’ I had six elbow surgeries and five knee surgeries. As a patient, you don’t have the ability to vet doctors and medical staff. … There was a period of time when I was in pretty substantial daily pain for a while, but being on the back side of that, I never lost hope that I’d have the opportunity to be back.”

Hall’s lone octagon loss came to current UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria. Being forced on the sidelines has been especially frustrating for the 39-year-old, since he used to struggle to get fights when he was active.

“I had long stretches of time where no one would fight me,” Hall said. “This is my third separate, two-plus year period during my time in the UFC with no fights. This one was on me so to speak because of injuries, but the other two, nobody would fight. Fight after fight, I’d get declined or fight after fight would fall through. Turns out, that your only loss is under really difficult circumstances.

“I had a bunch of injuries going into that fight, and he’s a great fighter anyway. The only fight you lost is to the current champ. Coming off of that, being able to get back in and beat a tough guy in Darrick Minner. I had actually just signed on to fight Pat Sabatini and that’s when I tore my ACL. …That was the beginning of this saga. It is frustrating because you sit and go what could be or what could have been.”

TOOTHLESS Arsenal were beaten by a superb Italian job in Milan as they lost 1-0 thanks to a controversial penalty.

After losing at the weekend, Mikel Arteta was hoping his team could bounce back with a win in the Champions League.

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They were adamant they should have had a penalty in the first half when Mikel Merino was seemingly punched in the head by Yann Sommer as the German cleared the ball away.

However, in first half injury time Merino was involved again at the end other end as he gave away a penalty when the ball struck his raised hand from close range.

That was converted by Hakan Calhanoglu, and Arteta rang the changes by introducing Gabriel Jesus at half-time.

But the Gunners seemed to have wet power at the San Siro as their attacking efforts fell flat, with many of their usual suspects in attack flattering to deceive.

David Raya – 6

Unfortunate with the penalty on an otherwise quiet night.

Passing was below par with on three out of nine long passes finding their mark.

Ben White – 7

Dependable as ever at right back.

Can’t be blamed for the defeat from a defensive standpoint.

William Saliba – 7

Marshalled defence well and produced some strong passes.

Three clearances and six duels won said everything about his performance.

Gabriel Magalhaes – 7

Had a slightly better time in duels than Saliba but was worse on the ball.

Booked.

Jurrien Timber – 7 (off Zinchenko 82 mins)

Had a good rapport with Martinelli down the left flank.

Dependable like the rest of the defence but undone by the controversial penalty call.

Mikel Merino – 5 (off for Jesus half-time)

Difficult to see what he brings to the midfield at the moment. Clearly Arteta likes his height and strength, but not on the same wavelength as team-mates tonight.

Unlucky to give away the penalty for handball after being clattered by Sommer earlier on in the evening.

Thomas Partey – 6

Should have been given more licence to roam forward in the second half, but didn’t look like he had the legs to do that job.

Bukayo Saka – 6

Captain for the night with Odegaard only fit for the bench.

Saka was always a threat, but all too often or not chose the wrong option to go inside or out.

Kai Havertz – 6 (off Odegaard 90 mins)

Couple of flashes of brilliance, including a beautiful curled effort at goal that forced Sommer to punch clear, but needed to be a stronger force up top.

Went off with a bloody head in injury time.

Leandro Trossard – 6 (off Nwaneri 82 mins)

Buzzed around and looked dangerous.

But just didn’t get the ball into enough dangerous positions.

Substitutes

Gabriel Jesus (on half-time for Merino) – 6

Didn’t offer much after coming on. Booked.

Oleksandr Zinchenko (on Timber) – 6

Tidy in possession but rarely moved the ball forward.

Ethan Nwaneri (on Trossard 82 mins) – 6

Skied a shot over the bar in injury time.

Martin Odegaard (on Havertz 90 mins) – N/A

Not enough time to make impact.

The UFC experienced a rare decrease in revenue for the third quarter in 2024 but TKO Group Holdings as a whole still earned a profit with a massive year ahead in 2025.

New financial disclosures were released on Wednesday with the UFC revenue dropping 11 percent — $42.6 million to $354.9 million — primarily due to one less pay-per-view and two less Fight Night events compared to the same time period in 2023. The revenue loss from media rights was $50.4 million but that was partially offset by an increase in sponsorship revenue, which was up $10.2 million.

Despite holding three fewer events during the third quarter in 2024 compared to 2024, the UFC still stayed almost dead even when it came to live event revenue due to an increase in overall ticket sales year over year.

While the UFC reported a loss in revenue for the quarter, TKO Group Holdings — the parent company for UFC and WWE — still increased overall revenue by 52 percent — $232.1 million to $681.2 million. That increase was thanks to WWE with $242.7 million in revenue.

“TKO’s solid third quarter results reflect continued strength across UFC and WWE, particularly in live events and brand partnerships,” TKO CEO Ari Emanuel said in a press release along with the financial results. “In light of this continued momentum, we now expect to deliver at the upper end of our full-year 2024 guidance range for both revenue and Adjusted EBITDA.

“Additionally, two weeks ago we announced the authorization of a robust capital return program and an agreement to acquire industry-leading sports assets that will power our profile, give us greater scale, strengthen our position in the sports marketplace, and accelerate returns for shareholders. Just over a year since UFC and WWE came together to form TKO, our conviction in this business is as strong as ever.”

The latest financial disclosure also noted the conclusion of one of two UFC antitrust lawsuits after a settlement was reached and preliminary approval was handed down by the courts. Under terms of the agreement, TKO is set to pay out $375 million to settle the first of the lawsuits with a $125 million payment already put into escrow in October with the remaining $250 million expected to be paid in 2025.

A second antitrust lawsuit against the UFC is still pending.

The next year is expected to be huge for TKO with WWE kicking off a massive 10 year, $5 billion deal to move its flagship series Monday Night Raw to Netflix while Smackdown goes to USA Network. WWE’s other program titled NXT already began airing on the CW in a separate deal that was previously closed.

Meanwhile, the UFC is expected to begin negotiations on a new TV deal in early 2025 as the current contract with ESPN comes to a close at the end of next year. Most experts believe the UFC is in for a huge increase in overall media rights, especially with the MMA promotion as the only major sports property up for grabs for potential TV or streaming partners for the next three years.

It’s possible that the UFC potentially triples its broadcast rights deal from the one struck with ESPN that was initially worth $1.5 billion over five years (an additional two years was eventually added along with ESPN taking over pay-per-view broadcasts for the UFC).

Lewis will lead a squad that has an average age of less than 23 years, which also happens to be the skipper’s age.

“We’ve picked three spinners as we feel going to that part of the world may potentially require playing all three of them,” added Joyce.

“And then on the batting side of things, I think we have a strong group that have shown they can get big scores in both formats.”

After a drawn T20 series, Ireland clinched a 2-1 victory over Sri Lanka in the one-day series.

A month later, they claimed one win in the three-match ODI series against a youthful England side, before a 1-1 draw in the subsequent T20 series.

Ireland will face Bangladesh in the one-day games in Mirpur on 27 November, 30 November and 2 December, before the action moves to Sylhet for the T20s which take place on 5, 7 and 9 December.

Bangladesh are eighth and ninth in the International Cricket Council’s ODI and T20 rankings, with the Irish rated in 11th and 10th spots in the white-ball formats.

Ireland ODI squad

Gaby Lewis (Phoenix, ,capt), Ava Canning (Leinster), Christina Coulter Reilly (Clontarf), Laura Delany (Leinster), Sarah Forbes (Pembroke), Amy Hunter (Instonians/Malahide), Arlene Kelly (Malahide), Aimee Maguire (The Hills), Jane Maguire (The Hills), Cara Murray (Waringstown/Clontarf), Leah Paul (Merrion), Orla Prendergast (Pembroke), Una Raymond-Hoey (Ringwood), Freya Sargent (Clontarf), Alice Tector (Phoenix).

T20 squad

Gaby Lewis, Ava Canning, Christina Coulter Reilly, Laura Delany, Sarah Forbes, Amy Hunter, Arlene Kelly, Aimee Maguire, Jane Maguire, Cara Murray, Leah Paul, Orla Prendergast, Una Raymond-Hoey, Freya Sargent , Rebecca Stokell (Merrion).