Ghana will face Nigeria for a place at the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) after the West African rivals were paired together at the qualifying draw on Wednesday.

The sides also met ahead of the 2022 finals, with Ghana qualifying via a penalty shoot-out following a 2-2 draw on aggregate.

The 42 entrants for the 2024 tournament, which is for domestic-based players on the continent, have been split into six regional zones.

Five of the zones will provide three qualifiers each but the Cecafa region has been handed a fourth space because Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda will all be involved in the preliminaries despite qualifying automatically as joint hosts.

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) says the team “achieving the best result in the Cecafa qualifiers” will advance.

As a result the finals, which will be held from 1-28 February next year, will feature 19 teams – an increase on the 18-team 2022 edition.

The format of the tournament is yet to be announced.

The two rounds of regional qualifiers will take place on a home-and-away basis, with the second round ending on 27-29 December.

Two-time winners Morocco, 2011 champions Tunisia and 2014 winners Libya are the only entrants from the North African region, so are all guaranteed a place at the finals.

CHAN holders Senegal will face either Sierra Leone or Liberia in the second round of qualifying.

Caf has increased the prize money from the previous edition by 60%, with the winners of the 2024 finals set to receive $2m (£1.53m).

The staging of the 2024 CHAN finals in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda is being seen as a test event before the East African neighbours host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.

LAS VEGAS – It was Artem Vakhitov’s former kickboxing rival who talked Dana White into signing him to the UFC.

Vakhitov (3-1) earned a UFC contract Tuesday when he scored a first-round TKO of Islem Masraf (3-1) at Dana White’s Contender Series 75 from the UFC Apex. White admits he was initially hesitant to sign former two-time Glory light heavyweight champion Vakhitov, the last man to defeat Alex Pereira in kickboxing, but “Poatan” convinced him.

“That’s why I’m so late. I’ve been back there talking to Alex this whole time,” White told reporters, including MMA Junkie, during a Dana White’s Contender Series 75 post-fight news conference. “He said, ‘Obviously, a little more clinching than you would expect.’ You would expect the other guy to clinch with him, not him clinching. But he said, ‘This is what I think. I think he’s talented enough. I think he deserves to be here. He’s had, obviously, a ton of fights in his career.’

“Which is what I thought, too, going in. He said, ‘I think that the Contender Series, no matter where you’ve fought or what you’ve done, puts a different type of pressure on you, and you might not perform the way you normally would.’ He thinks that this is a tremendous amount of pressure. He said, ‘All I know is I’m glad I never had to go through the Contender Series.’”

Vakhitov and Pereira split their two kickboxing appearances. Pereira won the first fight by split decision and Vakhitov avenged his loss in their rematch by majority decision.

White acknowledges that many fighters have noticed the success that former kickboxers Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira have had in the UFC, and want to follow suit.

“What I actually think, like we were saying earlier, it’s fascinating how these guys that came out of this whole circuit with Israel and Alex, including them, are doing so well in the UFC,” White said. “It’s fascinating, so yeah, why not? I think it’s all of it. Obviously, those guys fought crazy fights that I’m sure they didn’t make any money. Joanna Jedrzejczyk and many others come over here, and it’s absolutely life changing for them.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 75.

Dricus du Plessis may not get his wish after all.

Du Plessis is the UFC’s first South African champion and even before he won the middleweight title, “Stillknocks” talked about bringing a UFC event to the continent. The talk only ramped up after claiming the title from Sean Strickland at UFC 297.

Everything reached a peak when ahead of du Plessis’s title defense against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305, UFC CEO Dana White promised that if the champion retained his title, the promotion would bring an event to South Africa next. Well, du Plessis did his job, submitting Adesanya in the fourth round of their fight, but he may not get what was promised.

“You know how bad I want this,” White told reporters after the most recent episode of Contender Series. “I’ve been trying to get this thing done. The arena situation there is tough. It’s tough to pull off. So that’s been the challenge with Africa as a whole. We’re trying to figure it out.

“The place that we would have to do it at is outdoors, and you know how I feel about that. So I’ve been trying to figure out the weather and one of the big things that I’ve been hearing out there is that wind is a big problem. We’ve done it a couple times, but anything that could affect the outcome of the fight makes me not even want to try. And it’s anything, from wind, rain, bugs, too much humidity. A lot of things can interfere with the fight.”

White has flirted with the idea of a UFC Africa card for years, dating back to the “Three African Kings” era when Adesanya, Francis Ngannou and Kamaru Usman all held UFC titles. The event never came to fruition though and now du Plessis is the promotion’s only African champion.

But while the future of UFC Africa remains in question for now, there’s one thing that is certain: du Plessis’s next opponent.

Despite a surge of new contenders in the middleweight division, and an upcoming bout between former champion Robert Whittaker and the highly popular Khamzat Chimaev set to take place at UFC 308, White confirmed that Strickland is next up for du Plessis, wherever the fight ends up happening.

“Yes, [Strickland is still next],” White said.

Du Plessis and Strickland fought for the middleweight title back at UFC 297 in January, with the South African winning a close split decision to take the belt. Since then, Strickland won a split decision over Paulo Costa to maintain his spot atop the middleweight rankings.

Guardiola, 53, and Begiristain, 60, have a long association, having played alongside each other for Barcelona and Spain.

Begiristain became director of football at Barcelona in 2003 and was influential in Guardiola being named the Spanish giants’ manager in 2008.

“When nobody else would take a risk on me, when maybe three per cent of the people at Barca believed in me, he was the one who insisted on my appointment to the first team,” Guardiola said previously., external

“None of this would have been possible without him.”

It is why Begiristain’s exit could be seen as the start of the break-up of the Catalan inspired success at City, which includes chief executive Ferran Soriano, who also used to work at Barcelona.

Begiristain left Barcelona in 2010 and took up the director of football role at Manchester City two years later, before being reunited with Guardiola in 2016.

Speaking in 2021 about Begiristain, Guardiola said of their relationship: “He is the most humble person I ever met. He never goes to the media. Always, the success is for the other ones. He is always behind the scenes.

“You don’t find these type of people in this world because their egos are always so high – and I put myself as an example [of that].

“He always gives the credit to the players, to the manager, for the chairman, and the chief executive.

“That’s why it’s a pleasure working with him because I can do my job completely free, accepting the good moments and the bad moments and sharing together.

“In the bad moments we are closer than ever and in good moments we celebrate together with a glass of wine.”

Conor McGregor is gearing up for a 2025 return to the UFC.

It’s been more three years since McGregor competed when he broke his leg in an injury TKO loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021. McGregor was scheduled to return against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 this past June, but he pulled out due to a broken pinky toe. McGregor has fought while injured before, but after such a long layoff, he wanted to be 100 percent healthy.

Having waited for almost two years to fight McGregor, Chandler finally decided to move on and will run things back with Charles Oliveira in the UFC 309 co-main event Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden. McGregor still hopes to face Chandler but said several names are currently in talks to fight him.

McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) didn’t name any fighters specifically but said a trilogy with Nate Diaz and a fourth fight with Poirier still interest him.

“We’re looking for the date,” McGregor told The Schmo. “I’d like to square it away with Michael Chandler. You know, I’d like to get Chandler in. We’ve had our beef. It’s not settled. He has a match scheduled. I would like to fight before he’s recovered. There’s a few names in the line at the minute. There’s a few names being discussed.”

Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) also hasn’t fully moved on from fighting McGregor. He recently told MMA Junkie Radio that “Conor McGregor is not my next opponent, but I am Conor McGregor’s next opponent.”

Whether or not things play out that way remains to be seen.

Dustin Poirier has quite the idea for his retirement fight.

Back in June, Poirier came up short in his bid for the lightweight title, losing to Islam Makhachev at UFC 302. In the buildup to the bout, there was rampant speculation that it could be the final fight of Poirier’s storied career, with “The Diamond” even saying that was possible. However, not long after UFC 302, Poirier walked that back, saying he definitely wasn’t ready to hang up the gloves just yet, and on Tuesday, the former interim lightweight champion confirmed that while speaking with MMA Today on Sirius XM.

“Realistically, I probably have five, six [fights left],” Poirier said. “But I’m not going to do that to my body. Here I’m about to have another nose surgery. What if I come back and crack it again? We’ve just got to see. It’s one fight at a time. But I definitely want to do one, and especially if there’s a possibility to come home and do it in Louisiana, that’s where I’d love to lay the gloves down.”

Poirier is set to have nose surgery soon which will keep him sidelined for a few months, but “The Diamond” confirmed he and the UFC have spoken about a card taking place in New Orleans sometime next year. If that ends up happening, it would obviously be a perfect opportunity for one final fight for the Louisiana native, and though it might be a pipe dream, there’s is a perfect opponent, or opponents, for his last dance: an old-school, one-night tournament for the “BMF” title.

“Now that excites me,” Poirier said. “Because that kind of stuff is for the dogs. That’s like old Pride days or Grand Prix. That’s a real ‘BMF.’ If you can fight a tournament in one night, multiple opponents, that’s the definition of ‘BMF.’

“That would be it,” Poirier added about retirement. “If they put that together and it was a one-night tournament, that would be it.”

The UFC has not put on a one-night tournament since UFC 23 in 1999, meaning it’s unlikely the promotion will actually do this, but if by some miracle it does, Poirier has the perfect lineup for who should join him in it.

“[Justin] Gaethje, [Dan] Hooker, and Max [Holloway], maybe. That’s a bloodbath. Do it on Friday the 13th.”

Poirier has substantial history with Gaethje, Hooker, and Holloway, having a pair of fights with both Gaethje and Holloway, as well as a Fight of the Night battle with Hooker in 2020. Gaethje and Holloway recently faced off at UFC 300, with Holloway stopping “The Highlight” with a last-second knockout to claim the “BMF” title. Holloway now challenges Ilia Topuria for the featherweight belt at UFC 308 later this month. Hooker, meanwhile, recently won a split decision over Mateusz Gamrot to move into the top-five of the UFC’s lightweight division.

And while such an idea is still a long way from taking place, it does at least have the seal of approval from UFC CEO Dana White, who responded to Poirier’s pitch after the most recent episode of Contender Series.

“Sounds fun,” White said. “Never thought about it but yeah, I love it.”

Tragic. A number of fighters wrote letters of support for the UFC antitrust lawsuit settlement, outlining urgent need for money.

Return of the GOAT. Dana White responded to Amanda Nunes teasing a possible return.

Hospital. Kayla Harrison reveals she had to go to the hospital ahead of UFC 307, responds to Julianna Peña dismissing her.

Tsk Tsk. Larissa Pacheco wasn’t a fan of PFL mocking Kayla Harrison ahead of UFC 307.

Jeopardy. Daniel Cormier claims Alex Pereira was close to withdrawing from UFC 307 due to injury.

Contender Series. Four fighters earned UFC contracts at Contender Series, including Alex Pereira’s kickboxing rival Artem Vakhitov.

Dana White Contender Series scrum.

Contender Series contract announcement.

UFC 307 Fight Motion.

Dustin Poirier got jokes.

Fighter vs. Writer

Raquel Pennington statement.

Khalil Rountree, ouch.

Jon Jones training with Gable Steveson.

Alex Pereira and Artem Vakhitov chopping things up after Contender Series.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Umar Nurmagomedov.

Sean O’Malley.

If you haven’t checked out the Contender Series stuff from last night, it’s worth your while. I don’t know if Artem Vakhitov will transition over to the UFC nearly as well as “Poatan” did, but anytime a guy who beat Pereira in kickboxing comes over, you’ve got to at least pay attention. Especially when Poatan himself gives that guy the seal of approval.

Also, and I cannot stress this enough, Poirier’s one-night tournament idea is the best idea in years. I need it to happen. Please, just one time let the UFC make this happen. We deserve it.

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.