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.”

Conor McGregor is headed to court in Ireland after a judge there set a trial date over damages filed against the UFC superstar by a woman claiming he assaulted her.

On Thursday, Justice Alexander Owens set a trial date of Nov. 5 in the personal injury case against McGregor, which was actually filed all the way back in 2021. Details about the trial were first reported by the Irish Mirror.

A woman, who allegedly knows McGregor, filed the grievance with the courts and she’s seeking an unspecified amount in damages. A jury will eventually rule on the trial once proceedings kick off in November.

The hearing for the case was originally supposed to start in either June or July, but McGregor’s attorney’s asked for a delay due to his previously scheduled bout against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June. McGregor’s attorney argued that logistically it wasn’t feasible for the trial to start with McGregor preparing to fight, and it was also possible that the former two-division UFC champion could suffer injuries in the bout.

Despite the plaintiff’s attorney’s arguing against the delay, the judge granted the motion, although McGregor never ended up fighting after he suffered a broken toe in training.

While the judge granted the delay at the time, a trial date is now set for November.

The details behind the alleged assault from 2018 have not been made public due to privacy laws in Ireland, but the woman involved in the case also sued one of McGregor’s associates as well.

This might be as cold as it gets.

Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol had a tense staredown at Thursday’s pre-fight press conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, ahead of their undisputed light-heavyweight title fight. This is the first time since 2002 that all four major championship titles have been up for grabs in the four-belt era.

Both Beterbiev and Bivol didn’t break eye contact until they were instructed to face forward for the photo op. Below you can check out their intense staredown (via X):

BETERBIEV. BIVOL.

FOR THE THRONE.#BeterbievBivol | OCT 12 6PM ET | @ESPNPlus | #RiyadhSeason pic.twitter.com/LEkfSM5Wmi

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— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) October 10, 2024

For the first time in the modern era, all four light heavyweight belts will be on the line – WBO, WBA, IBF and WBC. Beterbiev holds the WBO, WBC and IBF titles, while Bivol brings the WBA belt into the contest. Both fighters are undefeated.

Bivol, 33, has three wins since his big 2022 title defense against boxing superstar Canelo Alvarez. His most recent victory came in June when he stopped Malik Zinad to retain his WBA title. Meanwhile, Beterbiev, 39, last fought in January, stopping Callum Smith.

Sunderland are only in their third year back in the Championship, having suffered double relegation to end up in League One in 2018.

For four years, the Wearsiders battled it out in the third division of the EFL before finally achieving promotion with a play-off win against Wycombe Wanderers at Wembley in 2022.

Yet their return to the second tier has not proven easy.

While they did manage to secure a play-off spot in their first year back, they lost out in the semi-finals to Luton Town, and then found themselves drifting backwards in the table the following year.

Midfielder Neil, who was part of the Sunderland squad in League One, has spoken about how Le Bris has shed the naivety of the team to form them into promotion-contenders.

“He has definitely brought new ideas, new ways of playing, especially in possession,” Neil told 72+: The EFL Podcast.

“I feel like the way we are playing now is a lot more structured. Everybody knows their roles in and out of possession.”

There’s no longer the ‘pass to the attacking players and hope for the best’ kind of mindset that seemed prevalent in the club’s recent past.

Le Bris’ style of play hinges on his midfield talent – Rigg, Bellingham and Neil – to create triangles of space on the pitch and build into an attack rather than a gung-ho approach.

Bellingham in particular seems to have found his footing under Le Bris’ guidance.

Last season, the Birmingham youth product was utilised as both a midfielder and a second striker but seemed to run out of steam as the season progressed.

Le Bris appears to have settled his role in the midfield, allowing his combination play with Rigg and Neil to help slow the tempo of the game while still taking advantage of his physical power in attack.

It’s effective.

Sunderland have scored the most goals of any Championship side with 18 this season, conceding just eight.

There are a lot of different metrics to measure the success or failure of a combat sports promotion but perhaps one of the biggest indicators comes down to ticket sales. For BKFC, that might be the most telling sign that the bare-knuckle outfit has surpassed almost every other competitor out there.

With a debut card scheduled in Spain on Saturday, BKFC is embarking on a massive stretch of events that likely culminates with the organization going to Philadelphia for the first time ever in December. While organizations like the UFC proudly tout the live gate after an event, ticket sales for other promotions are rarely ever talked about.

BKFC founder and president David Feldman has a feeling he knows why.

“The UFC sells tickets,” Feldman explained when speaking to MMA Fighting. “The big, big boxing matches, they sell tickets. The smaller ones, the mid-ones don’t. The mid-MMA companies, they’re not selling tickets. Obviously the smaller [MMA promotions] are, they’re selling 1,000 tickets. Not really selling.”

When to BKFC, Feldman proudly talks about the promotion’s ticket sales because those numbers of steadily increased ever since the first show launched back in 2018.

There have been a number of sellouts over the years with BKFC 63 in Sturgis, S.D. setting a new record with 15,000 in attendance for a card headlined by strawweight women’s champion Britain Hart.

Feldman admits BKFC’s ability to sell tickets has become one of his proudest achievements, especially when it comes to drumming up more interest in potential investors looking to bet on a combat sports promotion.

“It’s actually my pitch to investors,” Feldman said. “I go ‘listen, we’re actually one of the only promotions in the world that sells tickets.’

“We just sold 5,400 tickets this past weekend. We’re projected to sell 6,700 tickets in Spain and then Denver, we’ll probably do 4,000 tickets there and then we’re doing Poland in December, Montana, All these shows coming up, they should really be a minimum of 4,000 tickets sold. Actually sold and that’s a big deal right now in combat sports because they’re not all sold. A lot of them are papered up.”

“Papered up” means tickets being given away for free to fill an arena, which happens quite often in combat sports.

Feldman admits there was definitely a time when BKFC gave away more tickets than the organization sold but that’s just not the case any longer.

“I won’t lie to you — I might have lied to you five years ago and said we sold 3,000 tickets when we only sold 1,000,” Feldman said. “But now we’re actually selling all our tickets.

“We might give away three or four percent of our tickets right now but we’re selling it all.”

With ticket sales on the rise, a new broadcast deal in place with DAZN and Conor McGregor on board as a co-owner now, Feldman expects 2024 to be the biggest year yet for BKFC and he’s anticipating an even bigger 2025.

“We thought we were out of business 10 different times and we just found a way to make it happen and make it work,” Feldman said. “I don’t see any end in sight. I think we got a really great shot right now of knocking on the No. 1’s door.”

Paul addressed what led up to the plan that he never attempted. His parents divorced when he was 7 and older brother Logan was 9, and it was “by all accounts an ugly split,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. His boorish behavior got him sued by his landlord and fired by Disney. And in late 2017, Logan visited “suicide forest” in Japan, filmed a suicide victim and posted the footage on YouTube.

“I got lumped into all my brother’s hate,” Jake Paul said. “It was like, ‘(Expletive) the Pauls. (Expletive) both of those people.’ It was bad. The suicide forest thing basically ruined my career and income. I lost probably $30 million in deals. There was one $15 million deal for retail products that fell apart. They were able to get out of it because of a morality clause.”

It led to problematic behavior, Jake Paul said.

“Basically, life hit me in the face, and it was like, ‘Who are you? What have you been doing the past couple of years?’ ” he said. “It led to drinking and drugs and Los Angeles and going to parties and just that whole entire world. I got sucked up into it really quickly.”

Jake Paul continued: “And so there I am: No money, kind of hating myself, the whole world hates me. I’m drinking. I’m depressed and not having a good relationship with either of my parents or Logan. …I just felt wrong in life and by all the cards I had been dealt. It was (expletive up). I just tried to do good my whole life and here I am with what felt like nothing”

And, no, Paul said he did not go through with his catastrophic plan.

“I was not going to let them win,” he said. “I was like, ‘I’m going to fight. This is what every social media hater wants is to wake up and see Jake Paul killed himself.’ ”

Paul, who embarked on a pro boxing careeer in 2020, said the sport saved his life. He is 10-1 with seven knockouts and also co-founded Most Valuable Promotions, which manages a stable of fighters that include Amanda Serrano, a multiple-time world champion.

“It’s purpose, routine, health, community — all the things I needed,” he said. “Since 2020, it’s been boxing’s number one and everything else comes after that. I never really liked YouTube. I was just good at it.”

Sep 15, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Boxer and influencer Jake Paul before the game between the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints at AT&T Stadium. (Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images)

***

Jake Paul: Fan of Donald Trump

Jake Paul is an ardent supporter of Donald Trump and said he fears what will happen if Trump loses to Vice President Kamala Harris on Nov. 5 in the general election.

“I think America will fall, the borders will open, tens of millions of illegal criminals and people from other countries will pour in,” he said. “And I think freedom of speech will probably be taken away from us in a secret, tricky way that we can’t track technically.”

***

Jake Paul says father physically abused him

Paul said his dad physically abused him and his brother, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and that the abuse lasted from childhood until the brothers left for Los Angeles in their late teens.

“He was punching us, slapping us, throwing us down the stairs, throwing things at us, mental abuse, manipulation,” said Jake Paul, who later explained, “say he’s on the phone, and my brother and I were whispering to each other. And he’s like, ‘Quit (expletive) whispering!’ and whips something at my head. There’s punishment and then there’s abuse. He just took his anger out on us. He’s going through a divorce, losing everything — and we were the closest people to him.”

This story was originally published by USA TODAY Sports.

For more on the fight, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Paul vs. Tyson.