Laura Kaminski only embarked on her first season of senior management in the summer of 2023, but now she’s reached the top flight.

Kaminski took Crystal Palace to the Championship title last term, guiding them through a closely-fought battle at the top to earn their spot in the WSL.

It was a demanding title race, but Kaminski kept her cool. She said she never looked at the table and trusted that performances would pay off.

“I am a thorough believer that the performances will speak for themselves, and if you perform well each week, then the proof’s in the pudding.”

Kaminski, who was previously an assistant at Tottenham when they were promoted to the WSL, also spent five years with England’s under-19 team.

Life in the top division of English football will be a big change for Palace, but Kaminski said she hopes her team will relish it and show why they are here.

“They put themselves in a position where they all deserve to be there, so now go and show the world what you’re capable of doing at the top level, because there’s eyes all over it and you deserve to be seen,” she added.

The UFC will not finalise a comeback opponent for Conor McGregor until he can commit to a new fight date, says its president Dana White.

The Irishman was due to fight American Michael Chandler in June, but a toe injury forced him to withdraw.

Chandler, 38, has since been rebooked to fight Charles Oliveira in November, with many fans speculating as a result that McGregor would not be fit to fight in 2024.

UFC president White confirmed a new opponent for the 36-year-old has not been approached.

“It’s going to [be] determined when Conor comes back, who the opponent is,” White said during a Q&A with fans in Ireland.

McGregor has memorable UFC wins over Eddie Alvarez, Nate Diaz and Jose Aldo but has lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov, Diaz and twice to Poirier – his last fight was against the American in 2021.

Rishabh Pant marked his return to Test cricket with a century as India closed in on a comprehensive victory over Bangladesh in the first Test in Chennai.

Pant, playing his first Test since a serious car crash in December 2022, scored 109 from 128 balls in India’s second-innings total of 287-4 declared.

That set Bangladesh a massive target of 515 for victory and Ravichandran Ashwin, who scored a crucial century on day one, took three wickets to leave the Tigers 158-4.

Pant began the day 12 not out, his side 81-3, and put on 167 with Shubman Gill, who also scored a hundred with an unbeaten 119.

Left-hander Pant was dropped on 72 by Najmul Hossain Shanto but struck 13 fours and four sixes in making his sixth Test ton.

He scored all around the wicket but was particularly strong in powering three of his sixes down the ground off Bangladesh’s spinners.

The 26-year-old made his return to cricket in this year’s Indian Premier League and was part of the India squad that won the T20 World Cup in June.

He required reconstructive surgery on a ligament in his right knee following his crash in which he “dozed off” and lost control of his car. His vehicle flipped twice and also caught fire.

At the time, reports in India stated Pant also suffered injuries to his back and head.

On reaching three figures he calmly removed his helmet and looked to the skies in celebration.

It’ll be 679 days between UFC fights for Vince Morales, but he’s made it back.

Two-plus years, five fights and four finishes later, Morales (16-7 MMA, 3-5 UFC) has signed for a short-notice bout on Sept. 28 vs. Taylor Lapilus (20-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 243 in Paris.

“It’s a long time coming,” Morales told MMA Junkie on Friday. “I’m trying to take things in stride. I’m not really trying to push my narrative as I’m back, as much as I’m here now. I think it’s a different mindset and it’s a different skillset I’m going to be able to show that’s going to be turning heads a little bit differently than in the past.

“That’s because Vince Morales is a little more free now as a fighter. I’m just in there to fight fights, not to just win fights or not lose fights.”

Vince Morales hits a Peruvian Necktie to snatch the UFL bantamweight strap from Hunter Azure in the 3rd round. What a sub. BEAUTIFUL #UFL5 pic.twitter.com/VVWrhVAisJ

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) August 31, 2024

It’s a difficult feat to make the UFC. It’s even harder to make it twice, but Morales has done that. A modified Peruvian necktie submission over fellow UFC alum Hunter Azure pushed him over the finish line, attracting a call from matchmaker Sean Shelby.

Morales, 33, hopes to rebrand the specific sub-genre of Peruvian neckties “the Vinchuvian necktie,” something he thinks could be accomplished if he hits it in the UFC.

“A bunch of people sent me like four different variations that are all real similar,” Morales said. “There was the caveman necktie, the Gamburyan necktie, the Texas necktie, the Armenian necktie. It was a whole bunch of different things. Next thing, I was like, ‘I’m going to go look up and see who’s got them in competition.’ I found zero. I was like, ‘Cool, I get it. I call dibs.’ So I might have to hit it again in the UFC on a bigger stage.”

Flashy finishes aside, Morales knows he’s taking a step up – to a level he thinks is where he belongs. He’ll be the first to admit his eight-fight UFC tenure from 2018 to 2022 didn’t highlight his best abilities. He went 3-5 during that time.

But outside the promotion, he’s tweaked his mindset, which he pointed to as the main thing holding him back.

“(Being released from the UFC) didn’t really change the goals,” Morales said. “It just changed where I was doing them. I’m going out there to fight and beat people up. For now, I might have to be doing it elsewhere. But on the plus side, I can actually work some things in the gym in the fight. In the fights in the UFC, it’s hard to really develop, especially if you get in under 10 fights.

“We’re still kind of figuring out who we are and how we fight. I took that as opportunity to catch my breath and go work some things. I mixed in some wrestling. I tried to work some other areas in my game that I think needed to come out in the fight and not just the gym. The proof is in the pudding.”

Michael Chandler will finally re-enter the octagon later this year, and it won’t be his long-awaited match with Conor McGregor. Instead, he rematches Charles Oliveira in a five-round co-main event bout at UFC 309 on Nov. 16. The Brazilian won’t criticize him for staying on the sidelines so long waiting for “The Notorious”.

The UFC officially announced Chandler and McGregor as The Ultimate Fighter season 31 coaches back in February 2023, a show that only aired nearly four months later. Fast forward 16 months, and several cancelled plans in between, and Chandler is officially no longer fighting McGregor.

“It’s complicated because we’re not in his shoes and no one knows what was negotiated,” Oliveira said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “If he waited two years without getting paid anything, so that’s two years away. But do you think someone would wait [without getting paid]? They did TUF, so he definitely made some money there. Was he paid his show money when Conor pulled out [of UFC 303]? So, in reality, people talk and talk and talk, but no one knows what the reality is.

“I’m not here to criticize anyone. If he waited, that’s because it was good for him. I hope it was good for him because two years with no fights is a lot and Chandler has a family to provide to, and when you have a family to provide to, a small child, you have to make things happen, so I hope it went well for him.”

Although he won’t criticize Chandler for his decisions, Oliveira probably wouldn’t have done the same — especially knowing how much he loves to compete, and how much that time away can affect your performance when you return.

“I can speak only for myself, and I don’t feel the timing of the fight when I’m away for so long,” said Oliveira, who last entered the cage in April of 2024, losing a close split decision to Arman Tsarukyan. “I like to stay on rhythm and competing, you know? Of course, not taking one fight right after the other because this is MMA and we’re breaking each other every day, but I feel like it takes some time to find myself when I’m away for too long. Chandler hasn’t fought in two years, and I don’t know how he’s doing, if he was resting of not.”

Chandler has likely done more than one full camp preparing specifically for McGregor after seeing the fight pushed back multiple times, and Oliveira has a different fighting style. The duo battled for a vacant title back at UFC 262 in 2021, and Oliveira was dropped before coming back and finishing Chandler with punches early in round two.

“He’s still an explosive guy who walks forward,” Oliveira said of Chandler. “We know we have to stay focused like we’ve been in my last fights, not worrying about what my opponent can bring to the cage and more on what I can bring. We’ll watch our last fight, and his recent one, so we can impose the rhythm and do my game and put on a great fight. Like I said, he’s very explosive, very dangerous, and he hits hard, so we have to plan things out right to get there 100 percent for the fight.”

With Tsarukyan likely next for UFC gold against champion Islam Makhachev in early 2025, Oliveira said he hopes to position himself in line with a victory over Chandler, but knows a McGregor match-up could also be on the horizon. He, however, would rather embrace a chance to re-gain UFC gold rather that fight “The Notorious” next after UFC 309.

“Am I next in line if I beat McGregor? If that’s the plan, then I’m 100 percent in. But if you say, ‘No, you have to choose one of the two,’ I’m definitely going for the title,” Oliveira said. “If I have the opportunity to fight Conor and we make a lot of money, because he sells a lot and so do I — and we would definitely brow the roofs off with this pay-per-view —, not to mention the money off the purse, and I’m still next for the belt, I would definitely do it. Why not?”

“[My managers Diego Lima and Jorge Patino] know what my plan is, I want the fights that take me to the belt,” he continued. “I’ve been posting a lot these days, ‘waiting for the boss to call’, and the UFC definitely sees that. Diego and ‘Macaco’ came with the Chandler fight, and I’m definitely much closer to the title with a win over Chandler. I’ll just stay focused now. Chandler is super tough and deserves all the respect. He knows how much I respect and care for him, so it’s definitely going to be a great fight.”