Dallas Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey was notably absent from the team’s practice on Wednesday.

The reason why showed up on the team’s injury report, even though Aubrey did not have an injury.

He had jury duty.

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Aubrey has been selected to a 12-person jury presiding over a felony trial in a court in Tarrant County. That’s the county just west of Dallas that includes Fort Worth and Arlington, where the Cowboys play their home games at AT&T Stadium. 

It’s unknown how Aubrey’s participation in the trial will affect his avaliability in the coming days as the Cowboys gear up to play the San Francisco 49ers on the road Sunday night. 

Aubrey, who the Cowboys signed in 2023 after he had a star turn for the USFL’s Birmingham Stallions the previous spring, has remained excellent in his second year in the NFL. He has made 17 of his 19 field goal attempts this season, including a 65-yarder in Week 3 that caused NFL on FOX analyst Tom Brady to compare him to Steph Curry. That 65-yard kick is the longest made field goal among all NFL kickers this season and just one yard shy of Ravens kicker Justin Tucker’s NFL-record 66-yarder in 2021.

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Alexander Volkanovski hopes he can get the opportunity to rematch Ilia Topuria at UFC 312.

But first featherweight champion Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) has to get past Max Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 308 (pay-per-view, ESPN+) headliner at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Volkanovski says the UFC promised him a title fight next, and if Topuria is victorious, “The Great” will look to avenge his loss against the man who dethroned him. After more than a year off, Volkanovski is eager to return at UFC 312, which takes place Feb. 8 in Sydney.

”Perfect world is Ilia in Sydney,” Volkanovski told MMA Junkie. “But my head’s telling me if Ilia wins, he’s not fighting probably straight away, and he’s not fighting in Sydney definitely. Max would fight in Sydney, but he’ll probably do BMF and probably fight featherweight a bit later. So, while that’s happening maybe I dance for an interim or something.

“So again, it’s just – the only reason why I bring that up is just because I want to fight soon. … I’ve waited long enough, I’ve rested, did what I had to do, but now ready to get back in there. So, perfect world would be Ilia in February but in Sydney, but I just don’t know if that’s likely.”

Volkanovski’s inkling was correct. Topuria said if the pair do end up running things back, it will be on his home turf.

“That’s never going to happen,” Topuria said during Wednesday’s UFC 308 media day. “I’m the champion, and if you want to fight for the title again, it has to be in Madrid instead of fighting in Australia in front of your people. Why I would give you that advantage?”

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

ABU DHABI – Magomed Ankalaev is confident what’s at stake for him Saturday at UFC 308.

At Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Ankalaev (19-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) takes on Aleksandar Rakic (14-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) in a fight he says will guarantee him a title shot with a victory.

“It’s up to the UFC (what’s next),” Ankalaev told MMA Junkie and other reporters Wednesday. “I was pretty much told that, with this win, I’m next in line for the title. That’s what I hope is going to happen. But if, for some reason, I don’t get the title shot, and somebody else is put in front of me, then I’m going to have to get there, and I’m going to have to crush that person in order to get to the title shot.”

Ankalaev, 32, is a fighter many followers of the UFC thought should’ve been the most recent challenge for light heavyweight titleholder Alex Pereira. However, the promotion elected to book Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree, whom he defeated by fourth-round knockout Oct. 5 at UFC 307.

With the narrative largely revolving around Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC), Ankalaev is sick of talking about the champion.

“To be honest, I don’t want to keep talking about Pereira, but people keep asking me questions about Pereira,” Ankalaev said. “If they ask me, then I have to answer. But really I’m focused on my fight. I’m worried about the opponent in front of me. I’m out there. I’m looking to win, something like that.”

If the two eventually face off, Ankalaev sees a clear difference in one skill set category that would set him apart from Pereira.

“It’s not like he’s that tough, but the fact is he is well rounded,” Ankalaev said. “He does have striking. He does have the ground game. When it comes to the champion, he just has the strikes and we know those strikes. We haven’t seen him wrestle ever.”

Ankalaev indicated he’ll be seeking a finish against Rakic, but said he doesn’t think his potential title shot will be contingent on whether the fight goes 15 seconds or 15 minutes.

“It wasn’t a condition that it was a finish and a title (shot),” Anakalev said. “I was just told by Dana that it has to be a good fight. I have to show myself well, and then I’ll get a title shot.”

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

After beating Real Madrid on match week two, Jonathan David scores a brace to help Lille secure a 3-1 upset against Atletico Madrid on match week three of the Champions League.

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UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili would prefer a full training camp to fight Umar Nurmagomedov.

Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) claimed the 135-pound title when he defeated Sean O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) by unanimous decision at UFC 306 in September. No. 1 contender Nurmagomedov has been pestering him about a fight date, but Dvalishvili said he’s willing to fight him in March – when Nurmagomedov can’t compete due to Ramadan.

But what rubbed Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) and many others wrong was Dvalishvili offering O’Malley a rematch in November. Dvalishvili explains the reasoning behind his callout.

“I already fought him, and it’s easy to come back because we’re both in the same situation,” Dvalishvili told MMA Junkie on rematching O’Malley. “We both fought on Sept. 14, and we would both step back on the same day. But when somebody else has been ready for me, preparing for me, that’s a different story.

“With O’Malley, it’s easy because we’re both in the same situation. That’s why I told him we could do a quick turnaround for November. That shouldn’t be a problem because I was ready to fight O’Malley or ‘Chito’ Vera three weeks after I beat Henry Cejudo, but to fight somebody new, somebody with a different style. Yeah, I need time. I need two or three months.”

Dvalishvili revealed that the UFC mentioned December for his first title defense against Nurmagomedov, but he told them it was too early. He’s willing to compromise and fight early next year but is a little bothered about the criticism – considering that he just became champion a little over a month ago.

“I think February I’ll be ready,” Dvalishvili said. “I would like to fight February, so that’s it, and I want to fight three times next year. I want to be busy, but I just became champion, and I don’t understand why they want me to – I just want to relax.”

Robert Whittaker won’t walk into the cage Saturday expecting Khamzat Chimaev to gas out early in their five-round middleweight clash in the co-main event of UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi.

Chimaev was victorious in all seven of his octagon appearances so far with five dominant finishes, but has clearly slowed down in both fights that went the distance, against Gilbert Burns and a last-minute replacement Kamaru Usman. Whittaker, however, is 9-1 in fights that have gone the distance since moving up to middleweight in 2014.

“I am expecting him to come out hard and aggressive from the first second to the last, and I have prepared accordingly for that,” Whittaker said during the UFC 308 media day. “I’ve prepared for the hardest fight of my life, to start extremely hard, like sprinting for the first five to 10 minutes, but also drag it out to five minutes. I’m ready to sprint for 25 minutes if so. I’m coming in for war.”

“He’s had such success with his really hard starting fighting approach,” he added. “Regardless whether he gassed or not, he still won those fights pretty handily, and then it was due to the amount of dominance he had in those first rounds. I’m expecting the best version of himself. I’m expecting a guy that comes out hard and a guy that will last. I’m prepared for it. I’ve trained for it. I’m not going to train thinking that if I get out of the first round it’s game over. I’m preparing for the best version he can offer me, a super soldier. I’ve done that.”

The UFC opted to book Whittaker vs. Chimaev as a five-rounder even with no belt attached, and the former 185-pound champion said he was not the one making the request.

“Why would I do that? Five rounds is so much harder than three rounds,” Whittaker said with a laugh. “I know I’ve had a lot of them, but they’re not fun. It kind of just worked out this way. But I don’t know. I’m in the fight game. If you want me to fight for three rounds, five rounds, 10 rounds, I’m going to train for it, prepare for it, and I’ll turn up.”

Whittaker doesn’t not rule out finishing Chimaev early, though, like he’s done to Ikram Aliskerov, who stepped in as a replacement for the Chechen fighter back in June.

“I look to go into this fight hunting, much like I planned to last fight,” Whittaker said. “I look to do again this fight. I’m the hunter in this fight. I’m the predator and I’m gonna be looking for him.”

Whittaker hopes to re-insert himself in the title conversation with a victory Saturday, his third since losing to future champion Dricus Du Plessis. The UFC is set to return to Australia on February 8, and the New Zealander could be part of the card.

“Since the Dricus loss I had a bit of a wake up call,” Whittaker said. “I made some changes. Inside, outside the gym. We just sat down and we ripped in. We worked hard, we worked harder than ever, and you can see the results of that work show itself in every fight this year. Every fight I’ve gotten better. I’ve started to back myself more, the confidence I take in the victories that I’ve had. I’m coming into this fight, all cylinders firing.”