Head coach Warren Gatland says he is trying to work out where he will fit the “best back in Wales” into his side for November’s autumn internationals.

That is what Gatland has labelled Ben Thomas, with the Cardiff centre having started at fly-half for Wales’ two summer international defeats in Australia in July.

Gatland has recalled Gloucester fly-half Gareth Anscombe, alongside fellow specialist number 10 Sam Costelow, in his 35-man squad.

Wales begin against Fiji on Sunday, 10 November at Principality Stadium, before playing Australia (17 November) and South Africa (23 November) in Cardiff.

“I think Ben’s been the best back in Wales,” said Gatland. “You look at the way he’s been playing and some of his statistics.

“We’ve got options, that’s why we’ve got two specialist 10s in terms of Anscombe and Costelow.

“We’ve tried Ben there and he can cover us, but it’s whether we look at him as an option or in his 12 position, where he’s played exceptionally well.”

UFC 308: Make your predictions for Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway
We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC 308 event in Abu Dhabi.

MMA Junkie reader predictions: Make your picks for UFC 308

We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC 308 event in Abu Dhabi.

Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Thursday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).

Those reader consensus picks will be part of the main card staff predictions we release ahead of UFC 308 (ESPN+), which takes place Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Make your picks below.

Ismail Naurdiev vs. Bruno Silva

Records: Naurdiev (23-7 MMA, 2-2 UFC), Silva (23-11 MMA, 4-5 UFC)
Past five: Naurdiev 3-2, Silva 3-2
Division: Middleweight
Rankings: None
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Naurdiev -120, Silva +100

What’s your pick for Ismail Naurdiev vs. Bruno Silva?

SuperSurvey.com

Ibo Aslan vs. Raffael Cerqueira

Records: Aslan (13-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), Cerqueira (11-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC)
Past five: Aslan 5-0, Cerqueira 5-0
Division: Light heavyweight
Rankings: None
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Aslan -120, Cerqueira +100

SuperSurvey

Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Carlos Leal

Records: Fakhretdinov (22-1-1 MMA, 4-0-1 UFC), Leal (21-5 MMA, 0-0 UFC)
Past five: Fakhretdinov 4-0-1, Leal 4-1
Division: Welterweight
Rankings: None
Odds (as of 10.21.24): N/A

Supersurvey

Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo

Records: Basharat (12-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC), Hugo (25-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC)
Past five: Basharat 5-0, Hugo 5-0
Division: Bantamweight
Rankings: None
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Basharat -550, Hugo +375

SuperSurvey

Chris Barnett vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu

Records: Barnett (23-8 MMA, 2-2 UFC), Nzechukwu (12-5 MMA, 6-5 UFC)
Past five: Barnett 3-2, Nzechukwu 3-2
Division: Heavyweight
Rankings: None
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Barnett +400, Nzechukwu -550

SuperSurvey.com

Brunno Ferreira vs. Abus Magomedov

Records: Ferreira (12-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC), Magomedov (26-6-1 MMA, 2-2 UFC)
Past five: Ferreira 4-1, A. Magomedov 3-2
Division: Middleweight
Rankings: None
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Ferreira +125, Magomedov -150

SuperSurvey

Myktybek Orolbai vs. Mateusz Rebecki

Records: Orolbai (13-1-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC), Rebecki (19-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC)
Past five: Orolbai 5-0, Rebecki 4-1
Division: Lightweight
Rankings: None
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Orolbai -280, Rebecki +230

Supersurvey

Rafael dos Anjos vs. Geoff Neal

Records: Dos Anjos (32-16 MMA, 21-14 UFC), Neal (15-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC)
Past five: Dos Anjos 2-3, Neal 2-3
Division: Welterweight
Rankings: Neal honorable mention
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Dos Anjos +235, Neal -290

Super Survey Maker

Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan

Records: Magomedov (14-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC), Petrosyan (9-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC)
Past five: Magomedov 5-0, Petrosyan 3-2
Division: Middleweight
Rankings: Magomedov honorable mention
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Magomedov -175, Petrosyan +145

SuperSurvey.com

Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic

Records: Ankalaev (19-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC), Rakic (14-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC)
Past five: Ankalaev 4-0-1, Rakic 2-3
Division: Light heavyweight
Rankings: Ankalaev No. 4, Rakic No. 11
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Ankalaev -390, Rakic +290

Supersurvey

Dan Ige vs. Lerone Murphy

Records: Ige (18-8 MMA, 10-7 UFC), Murphy (14-0-1 MMA, 6-0-1 UFC)
Past five: Ige 3-2, Murphy 5-0
Division: Featherweight
Rankings: Murphy No. 14, Ige honorable mention
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Ige +165, Murphy -195

Super Survey

Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker

Records: Chimaev (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC), Whittaker (27-7 MMA, 17-5 UFC)
Past five: Chimaev 5-0, Whittaker 3-2
Division: Middleweight
Rankings: Whittaker No. 4, Chimaev No. 10
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Chimaev -220, Whittaker +180

SuperSurvey.com

Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway

Records: Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC), Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC)
Past five: Topuria 5-0, Holloway 4-1
Division: Featherweight
Rankings: Topuria No. 1, No. 4 pound-for-pound; Holloway No. 3, honorable mention pound-for-pound
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Topuria -245, Holloway +200

Supersurvey

UFC 308 fight card (as of Oct. 21, 1 p.m. ET)

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 2 p.m. ET)

• Champ Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway – for featherweight title
• Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker
• Dan Ige vs. Lerone Murphy
• Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic
• Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 10 a.m. ET)

• Rafael dos Anjos vs. Geoff Neal
• Myktybek Orolbai vs. Mateusz Rebecki
• Said Nurmagomedov vs. TBA
• Brunno Ferreira vs. Abus Magomedov
• Chris Barnett vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
• Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo
• Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Carlos Leal
• Ibo Aslan vs. Raffael Cerqueira
• Ismail Naurdiev vs. Bruno Silva

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

ITALY legend Francesco Totti has teased a potential return to professional football.

The 48-year-old retired from the game back in 2017 after spending his entire career with Roma.

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He scored 307 goals and provided 207 assists in 785 appearances for the Serie A giants.

The ex-playmaker is now considered one of the greatest Italian footballers of all time.

But despite calling time on his career seven years ago, Totti has not completely ruled out a return to the beautiful game.

In fact, he is keeping the door wide open.

Speaking at a recent event, Totti revealed: “Some Serie A teams have contacted me.

“I admit that they made me think a little, a little crazy. It would be difficult, but in life you never say never.

“There are players who have played many years after the end of their career.

“It also depends on where you play, with all due respect, but if I were to return to Serie A I would have to train really well.”

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According to Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport, Totti also recently said: “Given the current level of Serie A, I could easily make an impact on the field.”

However, he would not entertain a move to Roma‘s rivals, Lazio.

The Italian continued: “Lazio? I wouldn’t have even considered it.

“I’d be ready in two to three months. I’m still playing at 48. Half an hour, twenty minutes. If I had to do something crazy, I’d do it in Italy, not abroad, but it’s crazy.

“When you turn the page you never know what awaits you. It wasn’t my choice, but in that moment it has to be experienced differently from the context.

“Maybe that’s also why I’ve had that thing inside me. It’s true that there’s a beginning and an end to everything.”

Kamaru Usman is teasing the release of his interview with Belal Muhammad, as long as the UFC champion holds up his end of the bargain.

Muhammad, on his own podcast, recently said that an appearance on Usman and Henry Cejudo’s Pound 4 Pound show went off the rails and that he “verbally broke down Usman” before Usman “tried to get physical.”

According to Usman, Muhammad was one of several guests on that episode, which was recorded in Las Vegas, and he wanted to show respect to the current welterweight titleholder by having him on. He didn’t explain exactly what Muhammad meant by his comments, but said there are plans to release the footage if Muhammad still holds the belt after he fights Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 on Dec. 7.

“In typical Belal fashion, of course, Belal did Belal,” Usman said on his podcast. “So the interview didn’t go as planned. It wasn’t that great of an interview anyways, it wasn’t even that long, but it went the way that it went. That was the biggest moment of his life because that’s all that he seems to want to talk about. I haven’t mentioned it all, because it wasn’t that eventful, but that’s all he seems to want to talk about all the time.

“We hear you, fans, and we will definitely drop the interview if we get really, really low on content, I mean, why not? To be honest, it’s the biggest moment of his life, that’s why he talks about it every second. And if we do drop the interview, it will be the second-biggest moment of his life because it gives him relevance, it gives him a little bit of clout. ‘Look, I was able to maybe tangle with the champ a little bit,’ which wasn’t that eventful. But if he’s able to get through Shavkat Rakhmonov, and we run super, super low on content, why not?”

MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin recently spoke to Muhammad, who said he enjoyed meeting Usman face to face, though he didn’t reveal exactly what went down between them.

“I love anybody that I’m going to get a rise out of because you can tell he takes it personally,” Muhammad said. “He takes everything personally. You’re a champion and you lost your belt, now you’re on a losing streak, now you’ve got that guy that’s better than you, the guy that has the belt, the guy that’s in your division on top and he’s on your podcast that you invited him to.

“Some people, their egos are too big. They can’t sit there and be a professional about it. I think with him, it’s like he’s so used to going back and forth with Colby [Covington], who’s not really good at talking. He’s just stupid, he’s not clever with anything. So when you’ve got somebody that’s intelligent that can treat you and make you look dumb, it’s like, ‘Dang, he got the belt and he got me with words?’ I need to do something to change the rhythm of this whole thing.”

Muhammad and Usman are no strangers to conflict, with Muhammad naming Usman as a potential challenger after defeating Leon Edwards for the welterweight title at UFC 304. Though Usman has lost three straight—including a pair of title fight losses to Edwards—he was a decorated champion in his own right, having successfully defended the 170-pound belt five consecutive times.

However, the UFC eventually announced that the undefeated Rakhmonov would be Muhammad’s first challenger, and it’s a matchup that has Usman intrigued—and ready to face the winner.

“It’s a tremendous fight and I guess rightfully so that’s the fight to make because Shavkat’s a new face,” Usman said. “A guy that’s 18-0, 18 finishes, and has really done the work that you need him to do with the opponents that you put in front of him. So that fight makes sense. We’ve been waiting just for an announcement, just so we can get some movement in that welterweight division and now it seems like we’re finally going to be able to get some clarity.

“As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve got my eye on them. Either one of them, I’ve got my eye on them. Because at some point, either one of them is going to have to come have a conversation with me and I won’t be doing the talking. I’ll be doing the talking in a different way.”

As far as Muhammad is concerned, he still looks forward to the possibility of fighting Usman in the future.

“I hope he does go out there and he fights one of these guys and gets a win because he is a big name in the division, he is a former champion that people look up to and think he’s one of the best to ever do it at welterweight,” Muhammad told MMA Fighting. “For sure, I love fights with build-up like that where I can go back and forth with somebody, making fun of them. There is something there, right?”

Regarding the podcast controversy, Muhammad added, “I think Usman buried it in his backyard or something like that. Somebody needs to dig it up and post it, I don’t know where they’re going with it.”

Lando Norris labelled his United States Grand Prix weekend a “momentum killer” for his Formula 1 title hopes after losing ground to Max Verstappen.

The McLaren driver had gone into the Austin event 52 points behind his Red Bull rival and well aware that, with time running out, he needed to start cutting the deficit dramatically.

But rather than continuing to close down the margin, Norris actually lost five more points after being classified behind Verstappen in both the sprint and the grand prix.

His efforts on Sunday though were not helped by a controversial five-second penalty for overtaking off the track that dropped him from third on the road ahead of Verstappen to behind his rival.

Asked how much the weekend had impacted his title prospect, Norris said: “I mean, quite a bit. It’s a momentum killer.

“But we came in here with our mind open, not expecting to dominate or just win or anything. The fact that Ferrari was so quick showed they’re just as competitive.

“Even if I had come around Turn 1 in first, I would never have finished first or second and only could have finished third.

“The one guy I needed to beat was Max, and that’s the guy I didn’t beat. So, it was an unsuccessful weekend all in all.

“But we gave it a good shot. I tried. It wasn’t good enough, and we have work to do, and I’ve work to do on myself.”

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

While McLaren’s form in the United States was not as good as it has been in recent race weekends, team boss Andrea Stella said he was not surprised that things were more difficult this time out.

He said that the contrast in pace, between dominating in Singapore in the last race and being on the back foot a little in Austin, was down to track characteristics.

“Compared to Singapore here, there’s quite a lot more low-speed braking into low-speed corners, plus wind, and we know that in these conditions, not necessarily our car performs at the best.

“It is not as good as in some medium speed corners, low wind conditions, which we had in Singapore, we had in Zandvoort, and we had in Hungary.

“We know that these three venues that I’ve just mentioned do suit our car, but here I would have expected this event to be the most difficult of the remaining six events.”

Stella also thinks it important to understand that Ferrari’s dominant form in Austin was not a big shock, because analysis of recent races shows that perhaps the Italian squad had not maximised its chances before.

“They have been quick over the previous races pretty consistently,” he added. “If anything, they have not been capable of maximising their potential.

“In Baku, Leclerc, in fairness, was definitely in condition to win the race. In Singapore, we were expecting Leclerc to be competitive for pole position and the same in the race. So, we are not surprised that Ferrari is so close.

“I think the next circuits should be more suitable to the characteristics of our car. We also have to keep developing the car.

“Here, we took some developments to the front of the car, but they were nothing too large in terms of potential lap time impact. We have a couple more things that are coming in the next two races, and we will see if we are in a condition to alter the competitiveness of the car.”

Additional reporting by Alex Kalinauckas