RITCHIE EDHOUSE admitted it was a “dream come true” as he became a shock winner of the European Championship. 

The World No 39 crushed Jermaine Wattimena 11-3 to win his first major title in Dortmund on Sunday night.

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‘Madhouse’, 41, rattled off NINE legs in succession, three ton-plus finishes and wrapped it up in style with two double 18s.

Basildon-born Edhouse was a 250-1 outsider and picked up £120,000 – having only had £153,000 on his ranking after two years of prize money.

He had never previously been beyond the last 32 in any major tournament. 

He said: “It’s just a dream come true, I don’t know what to say. 

“I just wanted to get a couple of rounds under my belt and see what happened. 

“The missus kicks my butt all the time. It’s a step up and confidence breeds confidence and hungry. 

“It’s a busy time and the confidence will be up so we’ll see what happens.”

Earlier Edhouse had beaten Gary Anderson 10-5 in the quarters and then Luke Woodhouse 11-5 to reach the final. 

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Meanwhile, Luke Humphries’ quarter-final conqueror Wattimena was philosophical after falling at the last hurdle in the finest tournament display of his career.

The Dutchman led 2-0 and 3-2 before his finishing fell apart.

He said: “The better player won at this moment.

“On the stage we are enemies but after that we are good friends.

“I’m really happy with this result. I’m proud.”

Wattimena had pipped fellow Dutchman Danny Noppert in a 11-10 semi-final thriller.

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ABU DHABI – Magomed Ankalaev has been on the cusp of greatness in the UFC, and the road back, he’s finding, sometimes has unexpected bumps.

There haven’t been bumps for Ankalaev (20-1-1 MMA, 11-1-1 UFC) that involve losses. Saturday, he outworked Aleksandar Rakic (14-5 MMA, 6-4 UFC) at UFC 308 and stayed on track at light heavyweight.

It’s been nearly two years since Ankalaev fought Jan Blachowicz for the then-vacant light heavyweight title. They fought to a draw, and the belt stayed without an owner. Ankalaev fought Johnny Walker 10 months after that and had to deal with a no contest.

But he knocked him out when they ran it back earlier this year, and his win over Rakic, UFC CEO Dana White said, likely makes him next for 205-pound champ Alex Pereira. But Ankalaev thinks the UFC might be trying to keep its busiest titleholder safe.

“Let’s do it: Alex, stop running away from me. … I have heard that he wants to fight during Ramadan. We are not fighting in Ramadan. Otherwise, after Ramadan or before Ramadan, if he says yes, we will fight him.”

There has been talk that Pereira, a former middleweight champion, as well, could move to heavyweight to go after a historic third belt. If that happens before a potential fight with Ankalaev, he thinks it might speak volumes.

“I think he’s being protected,” Ankalaev said. “I’m not sure why the UFC is doing it. I think they’re protecting him. We know that he’s an exciting fighter. We know that he fights in the standup. He’s a great striker. So I think that they’re just saving him, protecting him.”

Ankalaev hasn’t lost since his UFC debt in early 2018 – a submission to Paul Craig that remains the lone loss of his career. Over a nine-month stretch ahead of his vacant title fight with Blachowicz, he had three straight wins over former title challengers Volkan Oezdemir, Thiago Santos and Anthony Smith.

“I don’t care who I fight in this division. I’ve already fought all the top fighters,” Ankalaev said. “If Pereira goes to heavyweight, I don’t care. I’ll fight anyone who is in the UFC. Whoever UFC puts in front of me, that’s who will fight for the title.”

But if some way, somehow, it’s Pereira, Ankalaev thinks the belt is coming home with him.

“It’s MMA, so of course I can strike with him,” he said. “I can wrestle with him. I don’t really think that this is going to be that much of a hard fight for me. I think I’ve had harder fights in the division.”

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

Ritchie ‘Madhouse’ Edhouse secured the biggest win of his career with an 11-3 defeat of Jermaine Wattimena to take the European Championship title.

The tournament featured 28 of the world’s top 32 players, but a series of shocks saw two outsiders in the final.

England’s world number 39 Edhouse seized his chance with a convincing victory over 40th-ranked Dutchman Wattimena in Dortmund.

“Confidence breeds confidence and I’m now hungry for more,” said Edhouse, 41, after collecting the £120,000 first prize and his first major title.

Edhouse defeated two-time world champion Gary Anderson 10-5 in the quarter-finals while Wattimena stunned world number one Luke Humphries 10-4.

Rated a 250-1 outsider by bookmakers before the tournament, it was another shock victor after Mike de Decker won the World Grand Prix two weeks ago.

Edhouse trailed 3-2 in the final but rattled off nine successive legs and his average of 90.55 proved enough as victory was sealed with a 144 checkout.

Derek Brunson will return to Brazil for a grappling match with Rodolfo Vieira in the main event of ADXC 7, the company announced Friday. The event will take place Nov. 17 in Rio de Janeiro.

Brunson is a veteran of 33 MMA bouts with 24 wins, five of those coming by way of submission. His final UFC victory was a rear-naked choke against Darren Till in 2023. Now under contract with the PFL, the jiu-jitsu black belt fought once in Brazil, defeating Lyoto Machida by first-round knockout in Sao Paulo back in 2017.

Vieira is a decorated jiu-jitsu player with five IBJJF world championships and one ADCC gold medal won throughout his legendary career. Vieira collected nine of his 10 MMA wins by way of submission, tapping his past two opponents in the UFC with arm-triangle chokes.

ADXC 7 will also feature former K-1 HERO’s lightweight champion Gesias Cavalcante, a veteran of 37 MMA fights and multiple grappling matches, taking on Piter Frank, who submitted Rafael Domingos at the UFC Fight Pass Invitational 7 this past May.

Check the current line-up below.

Carlos Sainz claimed his second victory of 2024 at the Mexican Grand Prix with a commanding drive, as Lando Norris finished second and Max Verstappen sixth after a 20-second penalty.

The Spaniard reclaimed the lead he’d lost into the opening corner and never conceded it thereafter; he built an unassailable lead which soaked up the potential of any threat from Norris in the closing stages once the McLaren driver cleared Charles Leclerc.

Sainz kept the lead through the pitstop phases and, despite occasional attempts from Leclerc to eat into an ever-growing lead, the Williams-bound driver returned the favour to continue his break-building efforts out in front.

Sainz had lost the lead to Verstappen off the line as the Red Bull driver arrived at Turn 1 first, and forced the Ferrari driver to take to the grass with his preservation of the racing line.

But the racing action was soon nullified after a first-corner clash between Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda brought out the safety car; Albon was pinched between Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, and the former two ended up coalescing in the braking zone for Turn 1.

Tsunoda ended up going straight into the wall, while Albon also pulled over to retire with front-left tyre damage.

On the restart, Sainz spent two laps sat in Verstappen’s wheel-tracks before gathering enough pace to mount an overtake into Turn 1 with DRS and then covered off a potential switchback into the following corners.

This put Verstappen in Norris’ clutches, and the McLaren’s bid to pass around the outside into Turn 4 was once again met with Verstappen taking him off the road.

Like Austin, Norris had laid claim to the position, but Verstappen then lunged down the inside at Turn 7 and took both drivers off once more – and got ahead of Norris off the road. Both incidents resulted in 10-second penalties for Verstappen, which sent him further down the order and took him out of the lead fight. Leclerc capitalised on the skirmish between the two championship leaders, bursting into second place.

The Monegasque couldn’t challenge his team-mate, however, and after the pit phase Sainz’s lead had grown to over eight seconds. Leclerc attempted to cut this down, although both Ferraris were employing lift and coast tactics to gather the requisite cooling.

Sainz stabilised at over five seconds, but Leclerc’s tyres then started to run out of life and he started to fall into Norris’ orbit – when the Briton closed into DRS range at the end of lap 62, Leclerc subsequently drifted wide out of the Peraltada and almost hit the wall.

Leclerc saved the snap of oversteer, but couldn’t stop Norris from breaking past. Norris subsequently started to catch Sainz, but could only get to within 4.7 seconds at the flag.

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MANCHESTER UNITED coach Darren Fletcher exploded at VAR with an X-rated rant after VAR intervened to award West Ham a controversial penalty.

Erik ten Hag‘s side lost 2-1 in dramatic circumstances on Sunday afternoon as a stoppage-time spot kick was given to The Hammers for a collision involving Matthijs de Ligt and Danny Ings.

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Referee David Coote did not give the penalty, but he was then instructed to go to the monitor.

After consulting the pitchside screen, he pointed to the spot and Jarrod Bowen dispatched to earn Julen Lopetegui’s men a valuable three points.

The Premier League released a statement on the decision by claiming there was “sufficient contact” to award the penalty.

But Man Utd coach Fletcher, 40, clearly did not agree.

According to The Athletic, he was sat in the stands with Man Utd analysts and could be heard slamming the referee’s call.

He is reported to have said: “One week it’s a high threshold, next week it’s not, f***ing joke.”

The comment comes just days after he was charged with misconduct by the FA for “acting in an improper or confrontational manner” during Man Utd’s clash with Brentford.

The former Red Devils midfielder protested the decision to allow Ethan Pinnock’s goal to stand.

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And the FA released a statement which read: “Darren Fletcher has been charged with misconduct following Manchester United’s fixture against Brentford on Saturday, October 20, in the Premier League.

“It’s alleged that the coach acted in an improper and/or confrontational manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words towards the fourth official and the referee and/or assistant referees.

“Darren Fletcher has until Tuesday, October 29, to respond.”

Man Utd’s defeat to West Ham leaves them languishing in 14th in the Premier League table with just 11 points from nine matches.

They are already seven points adrift of the Champions League places.