Francis Ngannou thinks the moment could be too big for Renan Ferreira.

Ngannou (17-3) takes on Ferreira (13-3) in the PFL: Battle of the Giants main event on Oct. 19 at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (ESPN+ pay-per-view, DAZN).

Former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou certainly marks the most notable name Ferreira has ever faced, which “The Predator” expects to get to him.

“This has two effects: It can be a lot of pressure for him, or it can really get him in his space,” Ngannou told MMA Junkie. “Usually when people manage the hype, they either overdo it, or handle it properly. It has two effects, he’s excited and he knows this is his ticket for the first class. So yes, (it might be too much).”

Despite Ngannou’s devastating knockout threat, two-time PFL heavyweight champion Ferreira will have both a height and reach advantage. The Brazilian looked amped in their first face-off where he pounded Ngannou’s chest, but Ngannou was unfazed.

“I think it was him being excited for the fight, because regardless, this is a big fight, a massive fight for him,” Ngannou said. “For him, this is his first time at that level. I think he’s being a little excited before getting in the cage for the fight. He’s getting a little pump up in adrenaline that might drop down really quick when we’re going to fight.”

PFL CEO Peter Murray said the plan is to have the winner defend the super fights belt, which Ngannou is open to.

“I still have a couple MMA fights, so obviously it will be good to be the defender (of the title rather) than the challenger,” Ngannou said. “I think there is a lot of people (to defend against), even on the PFL roster – right now or someone that is coming up.

“I remember last year when this contract was signed, Renan Ferreira wasn’t even in the picture, and I was telling people, ‘Watch out for this guy.’ Now he managed to prove to people that he is the guy. He fought like four or five times and won. If I wasn’t in his way, he would’ve continued. But unfortunately, I’m in his way.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL: Battle of the Giants.

Chelsea remain interested in Victor Osimhen, Liverpool prepare for life without Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Manchester United consider re-signing Alvaro Fernandez.

Galatasaray have no plans to make 25-year-old Nigeria forward Victor Osimhen’s loan move from Napoli permanent, but Chelsea remain interested. (Teamtalk), external

Napoli director Mauro Meluso has confirmed that Osimhen is free to leave the club for the right price in January. (Metro), external

Liverpool have identified Bayer Leverkusen’s Dutch 23-year-old Jeremie Frimpong, Monaco’s Brazilian 23-year-old Vanderson and Fiorentina’s Italian 20-year-old Michael Kayode as potential targets should they lose right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold. (Caught Offside), external

However, Liverpool are making some progress in their contract negotiations with England international Alexander-Arnold, 26. (Football Insider), external

Italy midfielder Jorginho, 32, is concentrating on his Arsenal future despite being linked with a move to Saudi Arabia. (Caught Offside), external

Manchester United are weighing up whether to activate the buy-back clause in 21-year-old Spanish defender Alvaro Fernandez’s contract with Benfica. (O Jogo – in Portuguese), external

Former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was spoken of as the most likely successor to Erik ten Hag when Manchester United’s football hierarchy met earlier this week. (Independent), external

Manchester City could move for Sporting Lisbon‘s Sweden striker Viktor Gyokeres, 26, if Barcelona are able to lure 24-year-old Norway forward Erling Haaland from Etihad Stadium. (Football 365), external

Newcastle lead the race to sign Bournemouth’s Ghana forward Antoine Semenyo, 24, amid competition from Premier League rivals. (Teamtalk), external

Liverpool are desperate to agree a new contract with Netherlands centre-back Virgil van Dijk amid growing speculation over the 33-year-old’s long-term future. (Football Insider), external

The Reds are continuing to assess transfer targets to bolster Arne Slot’s central defence, having made the position a priority for next summer, with Sevilla’s French 24-year-old Loic Bade and Sporting’s Portugal international Goncalo Inacio, 23, among the candidates. (Caught Offside), external

Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has rejected talks over taking the Denmark job because he is in negotiations with a major club over a head coach role. (Tipsbladet – in Danish), external

Wolves are considering a move for Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin, should they decide to sack Gary O’Neil. (Sun), external

West Ham have opened talks over a new deal with 18-year-old English goalkeeper Fin Herrick. (Football Insider), external

Torino could move for Napoli‘s Argentine forward Giovanni Simeone, 29, following 33-year-old Colombian Duvan Zapata’s knee injury. (Tuttosport – in Italian), external

Senegal midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate, 34, is one of a small number of free agents Leeds United are considering signing. (Yorkshire Evening Post), external

Belal Muhammad is preparing for his first title defense with the reigning UFC welterweight champion most likely returning in December.

That’s according to his manager Ali Abdelaziz, who confirmed that Muhammad is training and ready to fight before the end of the year.

“Belal is ready to go in December,” Abdelaziz told MMA Fighting. “No problem. We’re ready to go, but the UFC has to announce. I can’t be announcing a fight on your podcast. Most likely you’re going to see for sure Belal in December. Against who, where, when, this is a Dana White question.

“It can be Shavkat [Rakhmonov]. It can be [Kamaru] Usman. It can be whatever the UFC wants. I said if you’re the champ, you have to defend the title against [whoever] they’re going to give you. It doesn’t matter who.”

If December happens, Muhammad would almost certainly fight at UFC 310, which is scheduled on Dec. 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

As far as potential opponents, Muhammad has seemingly singled out undefeated contender Shavkat Rakhmonov as his most likely challenge, although he’s definitely engaged in a war of words with former champion Kamaru Usman as well.

Abdelaziz actually manages both Muhammad and Usman and he expects that fight to happen at some point in the future, but it’s just unclear if that’s the one that happens next.

“Kamaru is one of my best friends, my brother, Belal is my brother, I love both of these guys,” Abdelaziz said. “At the end of the day, two alpha males. Kamaru hold this crown for a long time, Belal has earned the crown. He’s the king now. Kamaru believes he can still be the king. I think these guys don’t respect each other too much, to be honest with you.

“You can pretty much see these guys fight in the future for sure. I think one of the biggest fights in the welterweight division is Kamaru vs. Belal. It’s not even close. Nobody even close. Belal needs big names to certify himself as one of the greatest welterweights of all time. He needs Kamaru Usman. Kamaru is the king of the welterweight division. Dana White says he’s the greatest of all-time. When these two guys fight, it will be one of the biggest fights in the welterweight division at the time.”

For his part, Abdelaziz promises that he’s not going to get involved in the war of words between two of his fighters. He’s been here before. Abdelaziz says his only job is making sure the fighters stay healthy, they get everything they need from him, and both end up with bigger bank accounts when it’s all over.

“They will fight,” Abdelaziz said. “At the end of the day, they’re two grown men. They both want the same thing. I’m in the middle of this and my job is when they both fight I’m going to make sure they make a whole bunch of money and they got everything they need.

“Look, Marlon Moraes fought Henry Cejudo. Kamaru fought Gilbert [Burns]. Justin Gaethje fought Khabib [Nurmagomedov], all for the title, and I stay neutral. I will remain the same.”

Whether it’s Rakhmonov or Usman, Abdelaziz says that Muhammad isn’t going to back down from any challenges thrown his way. He waited so long to get his title shot that his manager believes Muhammad is very anxious to begin his championship reign.

“Belal will fight anybody, too, don’t get it twisted,” Abdelaziz said. “Belal is not afraid of any man on this planet. He’s the champ for a reason. Kamaru also is not afraid of anybody. I’m sure Shavkat is not afraid of anybody. When you come to these top five guys, nobody can say these guys are afraid or ducking anybody.

“The guy who’s been ducking people for years and he never fights is Colby Covington. He only fights when it’s convenient for him. That’s the only guy I can say ducks people. Not anybody else.”

Just a little over a year into his UFC career, Diego Lopes has experienced a run matched by few.

Lopes (26-6 MMA, 5-1 UFC) finds himself sitting at No. 3 on the UFC official rankings, one of the most popular fighters on the roster, and serving as the official backup for the upcoming main event featherweight title fight pitting Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway at UFC 308. This opportunity has Lopes over the moon, and he can’t help but be in awe of how things have played out in his career.

“It excites me a ton, it really does,” Lopes told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “If something comes up, and I fight for the belt and win, my life would be a movie. It would be insane.

“Just four years ago, I went to Abu Dhabi in October because Irene was fighting Holly Holm, and I remember Jason House came up to me and said he wanted to work with me. ‘Hey, I want to help you. I want to work with you. I have faith in you that you can be champion one day.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t want to work with anyone.’ He kept insisting and insisting until I said yes. And now, four years later, after signing with him, after telling me he believed I could be champion, four years later and I’m going to Abu Dhabi in October to be the backup for a title fight. It’s just something incredible.”

Getting the backup for UFC 308 was an easy ask for Lopes, who’s on a five-fight winning streak. His most recent victory came last month against former title challenger Brian Ortega.

“After the fight, we expressed our desire to be the backup, but we ever demanded it, we simply just told them, ‘Hey, if you guys are in need of a backup, I’m available, and ready,” Lopes explained. “If not, I’d like to fight in December against Volka (Alexander Volkanovski), if he’s available. So that was it. A few weeks went by, and the UFC sent us an e-mail saying we’ll be the backup and that’s it. It was a lot easier than I expected.”

Lopes is taking his backup role seriously, especially after what he went through at UFC 303 in June. The Brazilian filled in the card on short notice to fight Ortega. However, due to health complications, Ortega withdrew from the card just a few hours before their scheduled bout. In just hours’ notice, Dan Ige filled in and fought Lopes.

With that experience in hand, Lopes will remain ready to fight Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) or Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC) until he sees them both step into the octagon on Oct. 26.

“I’m doing everything as if I were fighting on the card,” Lopes said. “I spoke to my nutritionist, and I told him, I don’t know how other backups do it, but I’m not just planning to make the weight, and that’s it. I’m really doing everything as if I were fighting. I’m going to Abu Dhabi next week, and I’m taking six people with me. I’m paying them everything, and I’m doing the adequate preparation as if I were fighting that night. I plan on making the weight well and being in shape. I’m not just going to weigh in to pocket a paycheck. No, I’m doing everything as if I were fighting.

“Even the day of the fight, until I see both guys inside the octagon, that’s when I’m tuning off the switch. Something that had never happened, which was a fight falling through two hours before it happened with me. So after that, I can expect just anything, so I’ll be ready.”

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

The instinct to compete under unideal circumstances is apparently a family trait after Aline Pereira agreed to push forward with Friday’s Karate Combat 50 fight despite some weigh-in antics from her opponent.

Pereira, who is the younger sister of UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, will now fight Dee Begley at a 134-pound catchweight after the bout was originally scheduled for 125 pounds.

Prior to official weigh-ins on Friday in Salt Lake City, which hosts the UFC Fight Pass-streamed event at Salt Palace Convention Center, Begley’s team requested the bout be shifted to a 130-pound catchweight. Pereira’s team agreed, but when Begley stepped on the scale, she registered four pounds over the catchweight limit.

Some drama unfolded in the weigh-in room, with Begley and her team engaging in a small argument with Pereira’s coach, Plinio Cruz.

Ultimately a decision was made for the fight to proceed, with Begley getting a 40 percent fine of her purse.

Karate Combat president Asim Zaidi said after the weigh-in session that Begley’s future with Karate Combat will be reassessed as a result.

“It’s not a professional thing to do,” Zaidi said. This can’t happen at Karate Combat. If we’re a professional league. If we’re trying to advertise ourselves as one of the greatest combat sports leagues in the sport, one of the greatest striking leagues in the world, we can’t accept people missing weight like this. I don’t know if we’re going to see Dee Begley come back. … This is a bit much.”

Watch the video above for behind-the-scenes footage of how everything went down at Karate Combat 50 weigh-ins.

Northern Ireland striker Callum Marshall says he expects Saturday’s Nations League game with Belarus to “be like Covid again”.

The game will be played in western Hungary and behind closed doors because of current Uefa restrictions on Belarus.

The 19-year-old, who is on loan at Huddersfield Town from West Ham, says it is far from ideal playing without supporters.

“Nobody wants to play behind closed doors as a footballer, especially when you have fans like Northern Ireland,” Marshall told BBC Sport NI.

“Everyone wants to see the away fans and hear them.”

Northern Ireland defeated Luxembourg in their Nations League opener in Belfast but lost their last match away to Bulgaria.

Michael O’Neill’s side travel to Zalaegerszeg to face Belarus, who drew with Bulgaria and defeated Luxembourg in their opening matches.

“It’s out of our hands,” Marshall added on the game being played behind closed doors.

“Both teams will be playing away from home, so we can’t use that as an excuse.

“It will be like Covid again with no atmosphere. It’ll be harder to get up for the occasion, but I’m sure we will.”