SALT LAKE CITY – Ryan Spann said he intended to stay away from the guillotine choke at UFC 307. But when the opportunity presented itself, he couldn’t help but indulge.

“I was trying to stay away from it because we both have a move that we’re good at,” Spann told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference Saturday. “His move is supposed to be the counter to my move. So we ended up seeing who had the better move, I suppose.”

Spann (22-10 MMA, 8-5 UFC) submitted longtime UFC veteran Ovince Saint Preux (27-18 MMA, 15-13 UFC) with his signature high-elbow guillotine choke at 1:35 of Round 1 at Delta Center.

Despite the fight’s brevity, Spann said he felt there were some obvious mistakes he made.

“I felt, at times, in there, while moving, that I was a little sloppy. I didn’t do things conducive to what we’ve been working on every day at Fortis. I want to fix that and clean that up. … I felt it when I did it. There were a couple times I looked over like, ‘Hey, I know. My bad.’”

Now that a three-fight skid is snapped and he’s back in the win column, Spann is excited to try to build off that momentum in his return. But until his manager and coach Sayif Saud gets the offer from UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard, Spann will be enjoying life as a dad.

“I just want to get back to work,” Spann said. “I’m blessed with the opportunity to be able to do this and provide for my family. So we’re just going to get back to work. My son is starting and has always started football. Because I’ve been so busy with this, I’ve had to miss out on some things. Now, I can focus on him while doing my work at the same time.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.

THE best candidate for the Manchester United manager’s job has been identified.

But top options Gareth Southgate and Graham Potter would both be WORSE than current boss Erik ten Hag.

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Dutchman Ten Hag is clinging on to his position as Old Trafford chief after going five matches without a win.

And now data gurus Carteret Analytics have crunched the numbers and worked out who would be the ideal fit to take the reins at United.

And it is Ruben Amorim who comes out at the top of the pile.

Ironically, the Sporting Lisbon boss was a target for arch rivals Liverpool when they replaced Jurgen Klopp before settling on Arne Slot.

But now, if United’s chiefs look at the numbers, he could be approached for the potential vacancy at Old Trafford.

Amorim was handed a top score when the numbers were crunched.

The data analysts show Amorim scoring extremely highly for ‘Strategic Intelligence’, a measure that looks at a manager’s ability to set their team up for victory. He also scored incredibly high for his ability to transform matches during games.

Those attributes put him clear of Zinedine Zidane in second with the ex-Real Madrid boss pipping Simone Inzaghi on the podium.

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Thomas Tuchel has already been linked with replacing Ten Hag and the German comes up as the fourth best candidate for Manchester United in the data.

Kieran McKenna – the Ipswich boss who was previously a coach at United – is fifth, just narrowly edging out Ten Hag’s current No2 Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Interestingly, Ten Hag is said to be the seventh-best fit for the Red Devils.

That places him directly above free agent Southgate, who is admired by the Ineos bosses and is available after quitting from his role as England gaffer following the Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain.

Southgate scored particularly poorly in the ‘Tactical Command’ measure. This looks at a manager’s ability to transform a match during the game – something many England fans who felt he was too often tactically outwitted will concur with.

Former Brighton and Chelsea boss Potter, still out of work and now starting life as a pundit, is next in ninth.

Middlesbrough’s Michael Carrick, Roberto De Zerbi of Marseille and finally Brentford boss Thomas Frank complete the list of the 12 managers who were looked at.

Carteret Analytics, quantitative analysis experts who have built a series of algorithms that utilise a huge amount of raw data, looked at a number of areas.

Objective achievement, strategic intelligence, tactical command, attacking coefficient, shot creation and conversion, possession and formations over the past six seasons were all taken into consideration.

When Ten Hag was first employed by Manchester United, their analysis correctly warned fans of the Red Devils not to expect all out attacking play, and that rather than have a specific style, he adapted his tactics match-by-match.

Their latest number crunching now indicates where Manchester United should turn next.

Amorim came out strongly across the board, particularly in strategic intelligence, tactical command, attacking coefficient and shot conversion.

That relates to his ability to set up his teams to win matches and make transformations within games to impact results.

His high attacking coefficient would tap into the United “attack, attack, attack” mantra.

Incredibly, Ten Hag does not outperform Amorim in any one of the metrics that were analysed.

Zidane presents the best option of the gaffers currently without a job while McKenna and Van Nistelrooy both have Old Trafford connections.

And although Inzaghi is third on the list and largely beats Ten Hag in most areas, he does play a far more defensive style of football that may not be popular with the United hierarchy and fans.

Amorin’s preferred 3-4-3 formation would be a shake-up from the 4-2-3-1 under Ten Hag.

With the Manchester United hierarchy meeting this week to discuss their options, the data suggests they could improve on Ten Hag, but they must be careful because things could get even worse.

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Alex Pereira’s remarkable run in the UFC continued with a fourth-round knockout of Khalil Rountree in the main event of UFC 307 to retain the light heavyweight championship. “Poatan” has many options in front of him, and while he says he plans to remain at 205 to defend his belt, is that what ultimately happens for one of the UFC’s biggest stars?

On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what could be next for Pereira and Rountree following their thrilling headliner on Saturday night in Salt Lake City. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for new women’s bantamweight champ Julianna Peña and Raquel Pennington after their co-main event ended with a controversial split decision, Mario Bautista following his split decision victory against Jose Aldo, Roman Dolidze after his injury TKO win over Kevin Holland, along with fellow main card winner Kayla Harrison, and more.

Watch the UFC 307 edition of On To the Next One in the video above. Audio-only versions of the podcast can be found below, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

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Goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell and centre-back Daniel Ballard have been ruled out of Northern Ireland’s Nations League games against Belarus and Bulgaria.

Birmingham City keeper Peacock-Farrell has a shoulder problem with Sunderland’s Ballard unavailable because of an ankle ailment.

Both players have returned to their clubs for treatment from Northern Ireland’s base this week of Stockport County’s training ground at Carrington in Greater Manchester.

Manager Michael O’Neill has opted not to call up any replacements at this stage.

Another couple of Northern Ireland players are understood to be carrying knocks but are expected to be available for both games.

Northern Ireland will train at Carrington until Thursday when they travel to Hungary for Saturday’s game against Belarus at the neutral venue of Zalaegerszeg.

O’Neill’s side will then face Bulgaria at Windsor Park three days later.

“We have a longer lead-in time to this game (against Belarus) than for previous games so we’ve got to make the most of the time we have here,” said the Northern Ireland boss.

Northern Ireland began their Nations League campaign last month with a 2-0 victory over Luxembourg in Belfast but then lost 1-0 to Bulgaria in Plovdiv.

O’Neill’s side sit third in Group 3 of League C Group – a point behind Belarus and Bulgaria.

SALT LAKE CITY – Alex Pereira still hopes to compete at heavyweight some day.

Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) retained his light heavyweight title in Saturday’s UFC 307 headliner at Delta Center when he brutally finished Khalil Rountree by Round 4 TKO.

Prior to beating Rountree for his third title defense in seven months, Pereira expressed interest in dropping back down to middleweight to challenge Dricus Du Plessis. But with his training partner Sean Strickland looking for his title-fight rematch with Du Plessis, “Poatan” has now changed his tune.

“We saw that Dricus is going to be fighting Sean Strickland. (Strickland) is a training partner of mine,” Pereira told Joe Rogan in his post-fight octagon interview (h/t UFC). “I don’t want to get in his way. I can move up to heavyweight, but this division is great. I feel great with this weight cut, and this is where I’m at.”

That doesn’t mean Pereira doesn’t have heavyweight in his sights. He may plan on staying at light heavyweight for the time being, but he hopes to eventually make the move up.

“I’ve called for (heavyweight) before, and Dana came in there and was very happy, and he said he was going to take care of me,” Pereira told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter at the UFC 307 post-fight press conference. “I think that if the UFC wants to please me, I think maybe a fight at heavyweight one day would be something that would really please me.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.