JHON DURAN is the blockbusting strike sensation who steams through defences like a runaway train.

Yet when he was a kid, that unstoppable incendiary style once threatened to derail his own dreams of glory.

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Duran, 20, has been Aston Villa’s star of the season so far, capped by a stunning winner in the club’s 1-0 Champions League victory against Bayern Munich.

Although nine of his ten appearances have come off the bench, his six goals top Villa’s scoring charts and made him a Holte End hero.

The Colombian’s pace and power makes him impossible to knock off the ball.

But in his early days at Envigado FC back home, that heart for a battle and refusal to back down once brought more cards than a casino croupier.

Youth coach Wilberth Perea, the man Duran sees as a second father, knew he was a special talent.

Perea, whose assistant was Colombian legend James Rodriguez’s father, revealed: “He first got my attention at 11 and always had an overwhelming personality.

“Jhon had such a strong character who didn’t back down from anyone and was afraid of no one.

“He had the heart and soul of a child but when competing was totally different. He always played at the limit, no matter the cost.

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“He’s doing it against the best defenders in England but even as a young player, against older and more experienced ones who played dirty, he didn’t care.

“Even then he was like a runaway train. Jhon just crushed them without giving them a chance and his style of play meant he got so many cards.”

Fining the up-and-coming Duran was no option as the kid from the humble background had little money.

The solution came with punishing laps of the pitch — plus a series of rockets from his coach that often reduced him to tears.

Perea added: “We couldn’t impose fines, so made him run round the athletics track at the stadium, that’s why he has an explosive capacity and such a long sprint trajectory.

“There were many moments in the Under-15 locker room I had to show such a temper at times it made him cry.

“His mother and father, Saturnina and Regino, are humble people and I knew how hard it had been for them to support their family. I told Jhon, ‘You have to give your parents a better life. Please don’t waste the chance’. It touched his pride and, at times, he didn’t like it.”

Yet he knuckled down and, when he signed pro, the club gave him a place to live where he could bring his parents.

Skipping school

There were still hiccups along the way, though — like skipping school so often that Perea would make regular trips just to check he had turned up.

He joked: “I would make surprise visits to school and if Jhon wasn’t there, I’d furiously go round to his house and he’d be in bed listening to reggae!

“Sometimes I felt like grabbing him by the ears and throwing him out of the window. The school janitor used to laugh and said I was the student, not Jhon.”

Duran is passing every footballing test with honours this season.

After a stuttering start to life at Villa, who signed him from MLS side Chicago Fire for an initial £14.75million last term, his career has exploded.

And when he hit that stunning lobbed winner against Bayern, Perea admitted it left him sobbing with pride.

He said: “I called Saturnina and we were both crying. All those days he said he was fed up and wanted to throw in the towel, now he’s scoring against the best teams in the world.”

Who are these famous footballers?

Alex Pereira tends to handle his business inside the cage, rather than settling the score with trash talk, but it was nearly impossible for the UFC light heavyweight champion to ignore some recent comments made about him.

Ever since he knocked out Jamahal Hill in just over three minutes in the UFC 300 main event, Pereira has heard chirping from his past opponent and that hasn’t slowed down much lately. Just seconds after Pereira demolished Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307, Hill reacted by yawning at the performance and later added that he was “not impressed” by the Brazilian’s latest win.

From the sound of things, Pereira is getting bored with the constant verbal jabs coming from Hill, who hasn’t fought since he got finished back in April.

“I’m going to be real honest with you, if that performance with Khalil was shit, where does Jamahal rank — the performance I had against him?” Pereira told Uncrowned. “If that fight was crap, so imagine the fight [against Jamahal].

“How can he say that? I’m going to be honest, I’m not going to further talk about Jamahal. I’m on a different level.”

While it’s pretty obvious that Hill still has some work to do before he could potentially call for a rematch, Pereira plans to stay busy as he looks ahead at a new year in 2025.

As champion, Pereira doesn’t feel like he has to call his shot regarding what’s next and that’s the way he likes it.

“I don’t have nobody in my mind,” Pereira said. “The organization came with Khalil last time and it was a surprise for me, too. I don’t really choose opponents.”

Pereira might not want to name anybody but all signs are pointing towards an eventual showdown against Magomed Ankalaev — if the Russian can get through Aleksandar Rakic next week at UFC 308.

Ankalaev has been very vocal about his desire to dethrone Pereira, especially after he effectively got passed over for the title shot that went to Rountree.

With his fight just days away, Ankalaev’s manager Ali Abdelaziz previously told MMA Fighting that as long as he takes care of business at UFC 308, then a fight against Pereira would be next.

For his part, Pereira isn’t in the business of turning down fights, although he’s getting a little fed up hearing from Ankalaev and his team so that might change his mind on how to approache these next negotiations.

“Some people say Ankalaev [is next] but I’m going to be honest with you, him and his manager have been talking a lot of crap saying that I don’t want to fight, this and that,” Pereira said. “But the reality is the organization doesn’t want him to fight because he’s boring. People don’t like to watch him fight. He’s not a guy that sells pay-per-views.

“Honestly, that’s disrespectful that they’re trying to put it on me. Because it’s not up to me, it’s up to the organization. The organization doesn’t want to make the fight. But now because they keep saying that, keep disrespecting, maybe I’ll make it a little bit even harder for them to fight [me].”

Obviously no matter what, Pereira has plenty of options available to him, especially after he stepped up and headlined three separate pay-per-view cards for the UFC in 2024.

Pereira admitted after his win over Rountree in October that he was dealing with a multitude of issues including some health problems that nearly made him pull out of the fight.

With his body needing some rest and putting together a very busy schedule in 2024, Pereira is ready for a little break now, right?

“Ideally, I would fight around June, it would be ideal, but maybe I’d like to fight around March even,” Pereira said. “But honestly I would fight in December right now. But the problem is these two fights [at UFC 303 and UFC 308] happen [so close together] and we had a lot of other appearances, a lot of trips, a lot of business to do.

“We had to push them after these two fights, it was scheduled before. The guys who organized it understood, but we have some obligations to do. I feel around March is a good date [to fight again].”

Nottingham Forest defender Nat Johnson is named in a first squad since qualifying for Euro 2022, while Birmingham City’s Ellie Mason, London City Lionesses’ Connie Scofield and Rangers midfielder Megan Bell return from injury.

There is also a change to Oxtoby’s goalkeeping options as Lauren Perry is ruled out with an ACL injury and she is replaced by Cliftonville goalkeeper Rachael Norney.

Winger Caragh Hamilton and midfielder Nadene Caldwell will also miss the two matches through injury, as will Hearts strikers Kerry Beattie.

It had been hoped Northern Ireland’s record goalscorer Rachel Furness would be fit to return for the first time in 12 months but she is also injured.

The 36-year-old, who has scored 38 goals in 95 caps, has been a regular for Newcastle United since moving to the Championship side in the summer.

The first leg takes place on Friday, 25 October (18:00 BST) before the return leg at Windsor Park on Tuesday, 29 October (19:00).

If Northern Ireland beat Croatia in the two-legged tie, they will face either Norway or Albania for a spot at next year’s tournament in Switzerland.

Northern Ireland qualified for the play-off by finishing second in Group B3, with three wins from six matches.

Croatia were third in Group B4, behind Wales and Ukraine, and if Northern Ireland progress they will face Norway or Albania for a place at the Euro 2025 finals.

LAS VEGAS – MMA Junkie is on scene and reporting live from Friday’s official UFC Fight Night 245 (ESPN+) fighter weigh-ins at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, which kick off at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).

Among those weighing in are middleweight contenders Anthony Hernandez (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) and Michel Pereira (31-11 MMA, 9-2 UFC), who meet in the main event, and Rob Font (20-8 MMA, 10-7 UFC) and Kyler Phillips (12-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC), who fight in the bantamweight co-feature.

The full UFC Fight Night 245 weigh-in results include:

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

• Anthony Hernandez () vs. Michel Pereira ()
• Rob Font () vs. Kyler Phillips ()
• Charles Johnson () vs. Su Mudaerji ()
• Jake Hadley () vs. Cameron Smotherman ()
• Darren Elkins () vs. Daniel Pineda ()

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

• Asu Almabayev () vs. Matheus Nicolau ()
• Brad Katona () vs. Jean Matsumoto ()
• Joselyne Edwards () vs. Tamires Vidal ()
• Jessica Penne () vs. Elise Reed ()
• Alice Ardelean () vs. Melissa Martinez ()
• Robelis Despaigne () vs. Austen Lane ()

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 245.

CHELSEA have trademarked a new crest and have staked their claim as “London’s true club”.

The new badge, which will NOT replace the current one, features the iconic blue lion above the letters “LDN”.

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The emblem has been released to celebrate the Blues’ 120th anniversary in March.

Reports from the Daily Mail claim the logo will be seen on club branding in the coming months.

Designers Uncommon Creative Studio called it a “new icon designed to show Chelsea as London’s true club.”

They added: “This new visual identity will continue to come to life across the club, stadium and players throughout the season. Stay tuned.”

Chelsea applied to trademark the crest back in August, with other parties given two months to oppose the ruling.

But none of their capital rivals like Tottenham, Arsenal or West Ham objected – despite the Hammers having the word “London” on their badge already.

The emblem is now registered to Chelsea for at least the next ten years.

Fans were split on the design, with one saying: “It’s beautiful.”

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Another added: “I hope they don’t use LDN underneath, use CFC.”

A third commented: “I’m all for the Lion crest. It’s clean and modern but the ‘LDN‘ underneath it feels very franchisey.”

Meanwhile, the club has also applied to trademark the words “Chels” and “The Chels”.

A decision from the UK Intellectual Property Office on those is due next month.