Conor McGregor—in no uncertain terms—is not a fan of Johnny Eblen.

During this past Saturday’s PFL Battle of the Giants event, McGregor spent much of his time on social media roasting the action on the main card. With the exception of the main event, which saw Francis Ngannou score an impressive knockout in his MMA return, four of the top five fights on the lineup went to the scorecards and one fight in particular drew McGregor’s ire.

Eblen successfully defended his middleweight title in a rematch with Fabian Edwards, but the five-round decision victory had McGregor mocking the champion’s workmanlike effort. On Tuesday, Eblen tweeted a critique of McGregor, which the UFC star has since responded to.

“Conor went from ‘The face of the fight game’ to ‘The disgrace of the fight game,’ Eblen wrote on social media. “He embodies literally everything I don’t want to be as a man or as a human. What an embarrassment. It’s giving Icarus.”

To that, McGregor responded, “Bro the fight was absolute poo, that’s it.”

Eblen currently sports a 16-0 record and has made a name for himself as the best middleweight in the world outside of the UFC. He entered Battle of the Giants holding the No. 5 spot at 185 pounds in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings.

His criticism of McGregor stems from the former two-division champion’s lack of success and inactivity in recent years. “Notorious” has just one win in the past eight years, with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Dustin Poirier, and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. all handing him defeats.

McGregor has had plenty of time to engage in public feuds as he awaits his first fight since July 2021, when he broke his leg in a fight against Poirier at UFC 264. The 36-year-old was to make his comeback against rival Michael Chandler at UFC this past June, but was forced to withdraw due to injury.

It was part of a 20-minute exchange that was typical of the kind of magnetism Mourinho still holds.

In praising United for keeping faith with current manager Erik ten Hag during the present difficult spell, Mourinho managed to refer back to his own dismissal in December 2018 after two and a half seasons in charge.

“I wish the best to Man United since the moment I left,” he said.

“I left with a good feeling to the club and with a good feeling to the fans. If things are not going amazingly well for them it’s not something that makes me happy.

“It doesn’t make sense for me to be thinking about what happened and what didn’t happen.

“What happened for sure, because it’s very objective, is they keep faith in the coach, they support the coach, the coach is staying season after season and that means stability, it means trust, and they are giving him conditions to keep developing his job. That was different in relation to me.”

Mourinho said he was unaware he has never previously lost a home game against United.

He pointed out his previous encounters with them were with big clubs and said Fenerbahce would require the help of 35,000 home supporters in the stadium to stand any chance of victory.

“We are going to try and we can do it, but there is a gap,” Mourinho said.

Mourinho also offered his view on Sir Alex Ferguson, who will lose his ambassadorial role at United at the end of the season.

The pair have got on ever since Mourinho arrived at Chelsea in 2004 and despite his own experience at Old Trafford, it is clear Mourinho’s affection for the 82-year-old remains.

“He is amazing, incredible,” said Mourinho. “When my Netflix documentary comes out, you will know why I have so much respect.

“I don’t know the situation, it doesn’t matter why or what. He has the love and respect of every Man United fan around the world. That is more important than the ambassadorial role or money he doesn’t need.”

Mourinho is already encountering some criticism, with Fenerbahce eight points adrift of old rivals Galatasaray in the Turkish league table.

He said he would take the advice of local journalists before finalising his line-up for the United game.

However, after two spells with Chelsea, plus his time with United and Tottenham, it appears the 61-year-old is not finished with the Premier League just yet.

“Sooner or later they [Manchester United] will succeed,” he said. “Hopefully it is sooner, hopefully before one day I go back to the Premier League and they become my opponent.

“At this moment they are just my opponents for one match.”

UFC 308 fight week began with one more fight than it has now.

The bantamweight bout between Said Nurmagomedov and Daniel Santos has been canceled, the promotion confirmed Wednesday. The card will continue with 13 bouts, which take place at Etihad Arena on Yas Island.

Santos (12-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) was “removed” from the bout according to the UFC, though no specific reason for the removal was cited. It’s Santos’ second-straight withdrawal.

Though he hasn’t competed since June 2023, Santos currently rides a two-fight winning streak consisting of victories over John Castaneda and Johnny Munoz.

Nurmagomedov (18-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) has not competed since October 2023 when he bounced back into the win column with a 73-second submission victory over Muin Gafurov.

With the removal, the UFC 308 fight card includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 2 p.m. ET)

• Champ Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway – for featherweight title
• Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker
• Dan Ige vs. Lerone Murphy
• Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic
• Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 10 a.m. ET)

• Rafael dos Anjos vs. Geoff Neal
• Myktybek Orolbai vs. Mateusz Rebecki
• Said Nurmagomedov vs. Daniel Santos
• Brunno Ferreira vs. Abus Magomedov
• Chris Barnett vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
• Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo
• Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Carlos Leal
• Ibo Aslan vs. Raffael Cerqueira
• Ismail Naurdiev vs. Bruno Silva

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

ABU DHABI – Aleksandar Rakic relishes the opportunity to fight Magomed Ankalaev.

Rakic (14-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) takes on Ankalaev (19-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC 308 main card at Etihad Arena (pay-per-view, ESPN+).

Rakic is aware of what’s at stake with a win. Many think Ankalaev is the rightful No. 1 contender who was passed up by Khalil Rountree for a shot at light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira at UFC 307.

“What makes me really happy is that the UFC gave me Ankalaev, and I honestly believe that if I didn’t put a good fight at UFC 300 – it doesn’t matter the result, I would never get that fight,” Rakic told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s UFC 308 media day.

“When I got the fight against Ankalaev, the name, I immediately said yes because he’s No. 2 ranked behind Jiri Prochazka, who lost twice to Pereira, so this is the best matchup for me. Stylistically it’s going to be a better matchup for me than Jiri Prochazka.”

Although Rakic is coming off back-to-back losses to Jan Blachowicz and Jiri Prochazka, Chael Sonnen thinks Rakic is a dangerous fight for Ankalaev. According to DraftKings, Rakic is a +285 underdog, and the 32-year-old is ready to play spoiler.

“It’s time to remind the fans, the people, and the UFC who ‘The Rocket’ is back in the days,” Rakic said. “I’m ready to crash the party on Saturday and to mix things up.”

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

PFL founder and chairman Donn Davis joins a special town hall with the MMA Fighting community.

Following Saturday’s PFL Battle of the Giants event in Saudi Arabia — which saw Francis Ngannou close the show with a ferocious first-round knockout of Renan Ferreira — joins MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck as he answers question live from the viewers.

Join the show live Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT. You can begin submitting your questions in the video link above.

He hasn’t found the end zone much, but otherwise, Raiders first-round pick Brock Bowers is on course to have the best season ever for a rookie tight end.

Bowers, the 13th overall pick in this year’s draft, leads all NFL tight ends in catches (47) and yards (477), though he has only one touchdown in his first seven NFL games. Those prolific numbers put him on pace to shatter the league’s rookie tight end records. He’s in line to get 1,158 receiving yards, breaking Mike Ditka’s record of 1,076, set way back in 1960, and he’s on pace for 114 catches, which would obliterate the rookie record of 86 set last year by the Lions‘ Sam LaPorta.

The high volume of passes headed Bowers’ way makes him a rare tight end who is truly his offense’s No. 1 target, especially since the Raiders traded receiver Davante Adams to the Jets. Across the league, only three other tight ends are leading their teams in catches and receptions: the 49ers‘ George Kittle, the Patriots‘ Hunter Henry and the Cardinals‘ Trey McBride.

Bowers isn’t just leading all NFL tight ends in catches and receiving yards, he has 102 more yards and 13 more catches than Kittle, who is second in both. He’s in great shape to make the Pro Bowl as a rookie — and would be the third rookie tight end in four years to do so, following LaPorta last year and Atlanta’s Kyle Pitts in 2021. What’s wild is there was just one rookie tight end who made the Pro Bowl in the 30 years before that — the Giants‘ Jeremy Shockey in 2002.

Besides Bowers, the 2024 class of rookie tight ends is incredibly unremarkable. The rest of them combined have 544 yards, barely more than Bowers has himself. They collectively have three touchdown catches, well down from the past two years, when rookie tight ends had 26 touchdown catches each season.

More killer Bs: Beanie Bishop Jr. picks A-Rod twice

The jewel of this year’s undrafted rookies is easily Steelers nickel corner Beanie Bishop, who has already played 294 defensive snaps for Pittsburgh, more than double any other undrafted player in the league. On Sunday, Bishop did more than just play — he made plays, getting a pair of interceptions off Aaron Rodgers in the Steelers’ prime-time win over the Jets.

“He’s a Hall of Fame quarterback,” Bishop said after the game. “Got a lot of respect for that guy and just to be able to get not one but two of them off of him is crazy.”

Bishop is another case of NFL teams putting too much value on size. He’s just 5-foot-9 and 180 and is 24 as a rookie, which can drop a player on draft boards. He had a long path to the NFL, with four years at Western Kentucky, one at Minnesota, then a breakout 2023 at West Virginia, getting a team-best four interceptions and leading the nation in passes defended. The Steelers got him for just a $25,000 signing bonus, which is small even by undrafted standards.

How rare is it to pick off Rodgers twice in a game? It’s happened just four other times in his 20-year NFL career. The Saints‘ Jason David did it in 2008, the Bills‘ Bacarri Rambo in 2014, the Giants’ Janoris Jenkins in 2016 and the Lions’ Kerby Joseph in 2022.

The statistical oddity of the week is that two undrafted rookies — Bishop and the Rams‘ Jaylen McCollough — each had two interceptions on the same day. That’s a first in NFL history. If you include first-year players, it’s happened once before, in 1960, when the Boston Patriots’ Gino Cappelletti and the New York Titans’ Fred Julian both did it on Oct. 16. McCollough is now tied for the rookie lead with three interceptions for the year, putting him even with Texans safety Calen Bullock.

History of 1-2 rookie QB showdown

Jayden Daniels‘ health status due to a rib injury could jeopardize a much-awaited showdown of the draft’s top two picks as Daniels and the Bears‘ Caleb Williams are scheduled to meet on Sunday.

These 1-2 showdowns aren’t always indicative of future success. A year ago, Bryce Young and the Panthers beat C.J. Stroud and the Texans in a Week 7 meeting, with Young throwing for 235 yards and a touchdown and Stroud throwing for 140. In 2021, Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars lost to Zach Wilson and the Jets in another 1-2 meeting, with Wilson rushing for 91 yards and a score and throwing for 102 and another score.

Most lopsided such head-to-head rookie game in recent years? In 2015, the Bucs‘ Jameis Winston and the Titans‘ Marcus Mariota opened their careers against each other. Mariota went 13-for-15 with four touchdowns in a 42-14 rout that was 35-7 at halftime, while Winston had two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Rookie tidbits

In the first six weeks of this season, no team got more than 287 offensive and defensive snaps from rookies in a game, but in Week 7, four teams had at least that many. The Saints had 317, Rams had 312, the Giants had 292 and the Chargers had 287. … This year’s rookie running back class has shown flashes, but it’s telling that the top two rookie rushers in Week 7 were quarterbacks: Denver’s Bo Nix (75) and Daniels (50). And Daniels played only 10 snaps before his injury. … Undrafted rookie with the most offensive snaps? Saints receiver Mason Tipton, a Yale grad who has 85 receiving yards on the season. … It’s not as telling as sacks, but in terms of official quarterback hits, the leading rookie is the Rams’ Jared Verse, with nine. Second is the Bucs’ Chris Braswell, a second-round pick who has six on the season.

Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

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