Francis Ngannou finally returns to MMA on Saturday when he clashes with Renan Ferreira in the main event of a pay-per-view event where the PFL is banking on the investment it made in him as the biggest free-agent signing in the history of the promotion.

But does Ngannou’s name pull enough weight to actually convince fans to plunk down $49.99 to watch the card? UFC legend Matt Brown has his doubts.

“He’s not that big of a star,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “We watched him fight Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury because of him fighting those guys. He’s not a Conor McGregor where we’re just going to watch him no matter who he fights. Even if Conor fought some lower level guy, there would be a drop off in pay-per-views, right? He’s got to have a ‘B’ side also that’s a ‘B’ side.

“Francis is fighting a ‘D’ side here. It’s not a ‘B’ side. It’s a ‘D’ side, and Francis just isn’t big enough of an ‘A’ side to draw. We don’t know how much he’s getting paid, but if it’s the amounts we would guess, it’s not going to cover his expense, I don’t think.”

Ngannou left the UFC as heavyweight champion but the promotion rarely reveals any specific details about pay-per-view sales surrounding any particular athlete.

That said based on reports made about Ngannou’s biggest fights in the UFC, he never headlined a card that drew massive sales with his name attached.

His boxing match against Fury reportedly did blockbuster numbers globally but failed to break through in the United States where costs were much higher. Add to that, Fury is a star in his own right as one of the top heavyweight boxers of the past 25 years.

It’s for all those reasons why Brown just can’t see Ngannou pulling a massive number for his PFL debut, especially without a big named opponent to help him sell the card.

“A lot of these promoters, they need to understand we’re all deeply entrenched in the world of MMA so they’re big stars to us,” Brown explained. “Particularly because we have massive respect for them. Like we have massive respect for Francis Ngannou, what he’s done and who he is. But if you’re a promoter selling a pay-per-view, I think you have to step back and look at the reality of what the mainstream view on a guy is.

“Like Conor crossed the bridge, he hit the mainstream. Ronda [Rousey] crossed the bridge. Randy Couture even crossed the bridge somewhat. Chuck Liddell somewhat. I love Francis Ngannou, all due respect, he ain’t crossed the bridge. I can’t go down to the bar right now, and talk to someone about Francis Ngannou, and they know who he is.”

Brown argues that in the boxing matches Ngannou benefitted from taking on two of the biggest names in the sport with Fury and Joshua. That’s no longer the case in PFL and now it’s all on Ngannou to sell the fight based solely on his own star power.

“How many people actually care?” Brown said. “We all watched Francis fight Tyson Fury. A lot of us watched him fight him fight Anthony Joshua. How many people are realistically going to buy a pay-per-view to watch him fight Renan Ferreira?”

Of course, Brown says he hopes that Ngannou finds all the success he can with the PFL, but he just doesn’t see enough evidence to believe that this endeavor is going to end up as a beneficial long term investment.

Perhaps the toughest part about this upcoming fight is that Brown absolutely sees a scenario where Ngannou suffers a brutal loss as well.

It’s been nearly three years since Ngannou last fought in MMA, and he’s coming off a devastating knockout to Anthony Joshua in boxing. It was the kind of knockout that could potentially change the way Ngannou is able to absorb damage moving forward.

And Ferreira may not have the biggest name, but he definitely packs a serious punch.

“Renan Ferreira, it’s still a high-risk fight,” Brown said. “That’s a gigantic son of a b*tch. He’s a gigantic guy. You don’t have to hit that hard when you’re 6-foot-8, 260, 265 pounds or whatever. It’s still a risky fight for Francis Ngannou. He’s coming off a knockout with Anthony Joshua. Sometimes that changes a fighter, and he’s coming back to MMA.”

While Ngannou seems resolved to stick with his MMA career for now, he’s already expressed interest in eventually returning to boxing.

Brown actually sees that as a more viable option for him than MMA right now where he’s putting himself into a high risk, low reward situation every time he competes.

“I’d like to see him get back to boxing,” Brown said. “Fight an up and comer or a journeyman. Fight someone you should beat. Like he fought two guys he absolutely shouldn’t have a chance against. He had a close fight with Tyson, a lot of people think that he maybe even won that fight. Now, you need to go do what boxers do. You’re 0-2, go fight a journeyman and build your way back up. Let’s see how good of a f*cking boxer you are.

“[Why are you] coming back to MMA? I don’t get the point of it. I don’t know if something contractual with PFL, or he’s just trying to get a payday. I just don’t really get what the point of it is.”

Listen to new episodes of The Fighter vs. The Writer every Tuesday with audio only versions of the podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeartRadio

Sudan have only featured once at the Afcon finals since 2013, and reaching the 2025 edition in Morocco would be all the more remarkable given the ongoing conflict in the country and the fact the side have been forced to hold their home qualifiers at neutral venues.

“It puts us on the brink of a historic qualification,” Sudanese journalist Abdul Musa told the BBC World Service.

“Everybody knows the situation back home, and it just shows that the togetherness, the chemistry within the team.”

Sudan will round off their Group F campaign with an away tie against Niger and a ‘home’ game against Angola next month.

Both matches are set to be at neutral venues as Niger do not have a stadium fit for international football.

“I think every African kid grew up watching the Africa Cup of Nations and wanting to be a part of it,” said former Bradford City and Grimsby Town man Eisa, who now plays in Thailand.

“Now that we’ve come so close to it, we still need to finish the business. But it’ll be a dream come true for me and for a lot of us.”

Dustin Poirier nearly had his fourth fight with Conor McGregor.

Poirier and McGregor have a well-storied history, most recently fighting at UFC 264 where McGregor shattered his leg in their trilogy fight. After that bout, McGregor lobbed vicious insults and Poirier and his family, turning their rivalry into a more bitter type of feud. And recently that feud nearly spilled over into the public.

“No. Dude, that was crazy,” Poirier told Ariel Helwani about nearly running into McGregor at a convention in Las Vegas. “I had just finished my signing for Celsius and I’m partnered with a seltzer water… so I was walking over to their booth to meet some people and Conor was behind me apparently. And my agent was walking behind me and he grabs me — Conor might have saw the back of my head, I don’t know. I didn’t see him.

“[My agent] grabs my shoulders and says, ‘Go this way, to the right, to the right.’ So we start walking to the right, I’m like, ‘The booth is right there!’ We’re walking to the right and once we get clear of everybody he’s like, ‘Dude, we almost had a big problem.’ That’s what that was.”

McGregor did see Poirier as a video of their near run-in made the rounds on social media, but did not try to stir up anything with the former interim lightweight champion. But Poirier believes that if they’d seen each other, instead of just passed by, things might have gotten dramatic.

“I don’t know, bro. We have such a long history,” Poirier said. “He said some foul things. You ever watch Family Guy? You know when Peter and the Chicken run into each other? They freaking go on this crazy fight, they’re falling down hills, they’re fighting for an hour — that’s what would have happened.

“Yeah, for sure [we would have fought]. Just everything we have over the past however many years since our first fight. So sure we would have.”

“It’s not cordial anymore,” Poirier continued. “The both of us, I believe both of us. Once my guy walked us away and told me what happened and why we had to make that right, I was like, ‘If we’d have made eye contact, if our eyes would have met, it would have been bad, probably.”

Of course there is a way for the two men to settle their differences: a fought fight in the octagon. McGregor was supposed to face Michael Chandler at UFC 303 until an injury forced him off the card. Now the former champ-champ has his eyes set on a 2025 return, and recently suggested Poirier as a possible opponent. “The Diamond” also recently said he intends to fight at least one time next year before hanging up the gloves for good, but doesn’t seem sold on the idea that McGregor is actually coming back.

“I don’t know if he’s ever going to fight again,” Poirier said. “… We’ll see. I don’t know. I was kind of thinking for sure he was at the beginning of his return against Chandler, then it kept getting drug on, and I don’t know.”

DWCS. Four more contracts were awarded on the final episode of Contender Series.

MMA Retirement. Donald Cerrone plans to end his retirement, fight two more times.

Dislike. Dana White is not a fan of “Cowboy” coming back.

Purpose. Francis Ngannou reveals why he’s going forward with PFL fight despite tragic loss of his son this year.

Lawsuits. Jake Paul sued Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing right back.

DUI. Mike Perry was arrested for DUI in his home state of Florida.

Rankings. Dana White sounds off on the UFC rankings again following UFC 307.

Dana White scrum.

Francis Ngannou and Renan Ferreira on PFL Fight Week.

Contender Series announcements.

Khamzat Chimaev vs. Kamaru Usman.

Sounds like we might have a fight.

Classy guy.

I completely forgot Corey Anderson was champion.

Shade.

Contender Series is officially in the books for 2024. Over 40 new UFC signees have joined the promotion in the past couple of months and quite a few of them look to be very promising. Look for my prospect breakdown from this season later this week.

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and like us on Facebook.

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German football expert Raphael Honigstein joins BBC Sport to discuss the attributes of new England head coach Thomas Tuchel.

Honigstein was speaking on The Football News Show on Tuesday, before Tuchel’s appointment was confirmed by the Football Association on Wednesday.

Watch The Football News Show on iPlayer