Francis Ngannou’s MMA return happens this Saturday as the PFL returns to pay-per-view for Battle of the Giants in Saudi Arabia. With the PFL needing to badly get some buzz, does Ngannou have to beat Renan Ferreira — not just for himself, but for the PFL as a whole?

On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses Saturday’s big fight card, how important it is that the card delivers as a whole, and what happens based on the result of the main event. Additionally, topics include Dana White once again ripping the UFC rankings panel after UFC 307, the promotion returning to the APEX this Saturday for UFC Vegas 99 headlined by Anthony Hernandez vs. Michel Pereira, Donald Cerrone announcing he’s ending his retirement with hopes of two more UFC bouts, UFC 310 fight announcements including Belal Muhammad vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov for the welterweight title, and more.

Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and UFC lightweight Grant Dawson.

Watch the show live at 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT in the video above.

If you missed the show live, you can still watch above, or listen to the podcast version, which can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods.

Poulsen had coached Odense BK to the Danish championship in 1989 and the domestic cup in 1991 before being asked to step in and help Zambia.

“Approximately three weeks after the disaster, I got calls from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Danish Football Association [to ask] if I could help over a period of six weeks in Denmark,” he told BBC Sport Africa last year, speaking to mark the 30th anniversary of the plane crash.

However, the scale of the task in front of him became apparent when the side arrived in Europe and started training.

“I could see this was going to be a big job,” said Poulsen.

“I felt the ability of the players was not really there, that they didn’t have any confidence. All quite understandable given they were in foreign country with strange food and accommodation, far away from families.

“The main thing is that the common language of football is so strong.”

Poulsen was asked to take charge of the 1994 World Cup qualifier against Morocco in Lusaka on 4 July 1993 as the Chipolopolo players took to the field for their first competitive encounter since the crash.

Kalusha Bwalya captained the side, having avoided the crash because he was due to make his own way to Senegal.

The 1988 African Footballer of the Year was on the scoresheet as Zambia came from behind to beat their North African opponents.

“That was fantastic, mission accomplished,” Poulsen said.

“The whole nation accepted our work. It took hours for us to leave the stadium as people ran alongside the bus, singing.

“After less than six weeks, a new national team was born.”

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Fabian Edwards gets a second crack at Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen, and isn’t putting too much into losing the first matchup.

At PFL: Battle of the Giants in Riyadh, Edwards (13-3) will look to avenge the loss to Eblen (15-0), which came at Bellator 299 last September. All it took was one win, and “The Assassin” now finds himself days away from another Bellator title shot.

“It feels right,” Edwards told MMA Junkie and other reporters at media day. “Some people say it’s too soon and all of that, but for me, it feels right. … “I just look at it as one fight doesn’t mean that’s how all the fights will play out. I look at it as a new fight, but I’ve felt him before.”

The loss to Eblen snapped a three-fight winning streak for Edwards. He immediately returned to the win column in his following outing against Aaron Jeffery, winning by unanimous decision.

Looking back on the first meeting, Edwards believes he was doing everything properly against Eblen until an ill-timed mistake left an opening. Ahead of the rematch, he studied the first fight and said he watched the finishing sequence “thousands” of times, which taught him an important lesson.

“The small details,” Edwards said when asked what is different going into the rematch. “That’s what this fighting game is, it’s the small details that make a difference. I look back at the last fight, it was a small mistake that made a difference, and I made sure I corrected those.”

The scorecards were all over the place in the first meeting with Eblen. One judge had both rounds for Eblen, another scored both for Edwards, while the third scored one round for either fighter.

This time around, whether it’s on the scorecards or by early stoppage, Edwards is confident he will leave Riyadh with the Bellator middleweight title.

“I get my hand raised by any means,” Edwards said. “I feel like the last fight, I was beating him. It wasn’t any areas that he was outclassing me at. But it’s MMA, it’s 4 oz. gloves, and you get yourself caught sometimes. That’s what I believe happened.”

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

Anthony Smith is at the stage of his career where he wants each fight to have meaning.

After making his MMA debut in October 2007 and competing nearly 60 times since, Smith (38-20 MMA, 13-10 UFC) has experienced almost everything a fighter can, including challenging for the UFC light heavyweight title against then-champ Jon Jones in March 2019.

At 36 and with four losses in his past six fights, though, signs point to things winding down for “Lionheart.” He’s not ready to declare a retirement plan, be it a number of fights or length of time. That’s because he still has fight left in him, and Smith can feel the fire burning strong when he gets specific fights.

That’s the case for his UFC 310 matchup with Dominick Reyes (13-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC), which takes place Dec. 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN+, ESPN2). It’s a fight Smith has been thinking about for some time and what he feels he wants and needs at this point in his career.

“I’ve always liked the Dominick Reyes fight,” Smith told MMA Junkie. “For no other reason than he’s one of the best guys in the world and one of those guys that I think a lot of people thought beat Jon Jones. He’s a name. It’s interesting to me, which is kind of where I’m at in my career right now. I just want to have some fun. I want to train really hard, I want to enjoy whatever I have left in my career, and I want fights with guys that I think matter. And Dominick Reyes matters to me.

“That’s a win. You look back at – as fun as the (Vitor) Petrino fight was, I won’t look back at that one. If I’m sitting around a camp fire with a cold beer in my hand, I’m not going to sit around and tell my friend and reminisce about the time I beat Petrino. That’s not the one that’s going to stand out. Alexander Gustafsson matters. ‘Shogun’ (Rua) mattered. Rashad Evans mattered. And Dominick Reyes matters. So that one is going to mean a lot to me.”

Smith and Reyes have both had their ups and downs in recent years. Smith is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Roman Dolidze in a short-notice fight at UFC 303 in June, while Reyes brings the momentum of a first-round TKO over Dustin Jacoby in June, which snapped his four-fight losing skid.

“The more I dig into it the more dangerous I find Dominick Reyes is, which is really fun for me,” Smith said. “I’m really excited. I don’t really give a sh*t about wins and losses and all that stuff right now. I just want to be the best version of myself that I can be and have as much fun preparing for this as I possibly can.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.

PFL co-founder Donn Davis continues to lay down the gauntlet to Dana White and the UFC.

Davis spoke to the media ahead of Saturday’s PFL: Battle of the Giants pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia, headlined by Francis Ngannou vs. Renan Ferreira. The outspoken Davis went on to explain why White is afraid of booking a PFL vs. UFC cross-promotional event.

“Yes, the UFC’s brand name is bigger, we recognize that, we’re the new guy,” Davis said. “We have to work harder. We’re in year five, they’re in year 30. But if push came to shove, and it was five fights — we pick five, they pick five — let me tell you, they wouldn’t do that. Because we’d win half, and they’d win half. … That’s why Dana, hashtag Dana scared, would never do that. He knows that and we know that.

“But be fans of all of us. We love all fighting, we root for all fighters. Watch them both.”

Davis has not been afraid to speak his mind when it comes to White, the UFC, and the strength of the PFL roster. In fact, Davis believes that the winner of Ngannou’s return to the MMA cage for the first time since making the choice to vacate the UFC heavyweight title and sign with PFL — no matter who wins — is the best in the world at the weight class.

Another gauntlet was laid down by Davis for current UFC heavyweight champ Jon Jones to face Ngannou, or the winner of this fight.

“This is the fight everyone wants to see,” Davis explained. “Whoever comes out of this fight is the No. 1 [heavyweight] in the world. So whoever wants to claim the No. 1 spot goes through the winner of this fight — not through the UFC, this fight. So whoever wants to claim that position better be calling us after Saturday, not calling them.

“We’ve said at PFL, we want to give fans what they want. … Francis Ngannou has said he’ll take on all comers. I think Jon Jones wants to cement his legacy. There’s only one obstacle to that fight, and we know who that is.”

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