Mike Tyson appears ready to go for next month’s blockbuster return to the boxing ring against Jake Paul.

The former heavyweight champion faces Paul Nov. 15 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, headlining an event that streams on Netflix for subscribers. The bout was initially scheduled for July, but Tyson withdrew after suffering a medical emergency.

With a lot of questions about the 58-year-old Tyson’s age, and overall health, “Iron” made an attempt to thwart some of the negative press with a pad melting training session, which he posted on Instagram.

Tyson hasn’t competed in a pro boxing match in nearly 20 years, losing a technical knockout to Kevin McBride in June 2005 after not answering the bell in Round 7. Tyson returned for an exhibition bout with Roy Jones Jr. in November 2020, and fought to a no-decision after going the full eight, two-minute rounds.

After suffering his first loss to Tommy Fury in February 2023, Paul bounced back with four straight knockout victories. In his most recent outing, Paul stopped BKFC star Mike Perry in the sixth round in July.

Wojciech Szczesny is in line to make his Barcelona debut against Alaves in La Liga on Sunday – just over a month since he had announced his retirement.

Former Poland international Szczesny, 34, announced that he was hanging up his gloves after his contract with Juventus was terminated, but has now reversed that decision after Barca lost first-choice goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen to a serious knee injury in their 5-1 win against Villarreal last month.

“He is not going for the money at Barcelona, I can tell you that much,” Spanish football expert Guillem Balague said on the Euro Leagues podcast.

“They needed something after the injury to Marc-Andre ter Stegen. I get the impression he is coming to be the number one and play in the big games, and have an experience that will run until next summer.”

Barca go into the game looking to bounce back from their 4-2 defeat by Osasuna, as reigning champions Real Madrid look to do the same after their 36-match unbeaten run in all competitions ended against Lille in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side play Villarreal at the Bernabeu and trail Hansi Flick’s Barca side by three points.

“Defeat is an opportunity, if we take it and react well,” Ancelotti said.

“We are self-critical. There are times when you have to reconnect and you need to do it quickly.

“Sometimes a good run makes you think you’re invincible, but a defeat brings you back to reality. We are still not at our level, we have players who are not at their best.

Kylian Mbappe returned as a substitute at Lille after a thigh injury and the France striker may start this weekend, with Andriy Lunin set to deputise in goal again for the injured Thibaut Courtois.

Girona and Atletico Madrid also suffered Champions League defeats on Wednesday and both are in action on Sunday, against Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad respectively.

The UFC is back on Mountain Time for UFC 307, and the popular “Embedded” fight week video series is here to document what’s happening behind the scenes.

UFC 307 (pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+) takes place Saturday at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

In the headliner, light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) puts his title on the line against challenger Khalil Rountree (14-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC). In the co-feature, women’s bantamweight champ Raquel Pennington (16-9 MMA, 13-5 UFC) defends her title for the first time when she meets ex-champ Julianna Pena (12-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC). In addition, two-time Olympic gold medalist and former PFL champ Kayla Harrison (17-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) takes on Ketlen Vieira (14-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) as a huge favorite.

The fifth episode of “Embedded” follows the featured fighters while they get ready for fight week. Here is the UFC’s description of the episode from YouTube:

The athletes of UFC 307 make their media day rounds; Roman Dolidze takes a bath in a mountain river; Champ Alex Pereira and Khalil Rountree Jr. get ready to head to the UFC 307 Press Conference; The main card athletes of UFC 307 meet face to face at the press conference.

Previous UFC 307 ‘Embedded’ episodes

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.

It was unavoidable that Kayla Harrison would receive comparisons to Ronda Rousey when she first made her transition into MMA.

Both came from judo backgrounds with Rousey becoming the first woman from the United States to capture a medal at the Olympics only to be outdone by Harrison, who ended up with a pair of gold medals in back-to-back games. While Rousey’s contributions to the sport are almost immeasurable, especially given the fact that she played a part in Dana White actually bringing women to the UFC, Harrison may eventually surpass her again.

That’s according to Harrison’s longtime manager Ali Abdelaziz, who has been with her since before she was even fighting and now she stands on the precipice of potentially fighting for gold again if she gets through Ketlen Vieira at UFC 307.

“This is no disrespect to Ronda, she’s great, she opened the door for all of the women but Kayla, all the time, did things much better than her,” Abdelaziz told MMA Fighting. “[Ronda] won a bronze medal. Kayla won two gold medals. The way Kayla is going to beat people, I don’t think Ronda was ever going to beat people the way Kayla is going to do it.

“I’m talking about dominance. She doesn’t say much but she does a lot of damage. She inflicts a lot of pain.”

In her octagon debut, Harrison ran roughshod over former champion Holly Holm, submitting her with a rear-naked choke in the second round at UFC 300. Holm was the fighter that famously dethroned Rousey back in 2015 when Rousey was on top of the world and seemingly unbeatable.

Comparisons aside, Harrison is forging her own path in the UFC after she grew up competing in the PFL and through one fight thus far, her style has certainly translated between promotions.

Having witnessed other fighters on his roster like UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov and current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev dominate the competition, Abdelaziz believes that Harrison can do the same now that she’s in the UFC.

“She smothers people, she punishes them,” Abdelaziz said. “She creates a lot of damage, creates a lot of chaos and it’s exciting at the same time. Khabib was always exciting. Kayla is always exciting. Kayla has never been in a boring fight. That’s what Kayla does. She’s a world class athlete. She’s an A-plus, two-time Olympic champion and the way she dominates people, she makes you be like, ‘Why am I doing this?’

“She makes people rethink their careers. Anybody Kayla is going to fight, they are going to rethink their career. It doesn’t matter who. No disrespect to nobody. She’s the best. She’s the most dominant and Saturday night you’re going to see one more time why I keep saying that for the last 10 years.”

If Harrison gets through Vieira on Saturday, all signs point towards her getting a shot at the title against the winner of the UFC 307 main event between Raquel Pennington and Julianna Peña.

There’s a world where Harrison could have just slipped right into a title fight after her win against Holm in April but Abdelaziz understands why the UFC went in a different direction.

“It was talked [about Kayla getting a title shot] but I think the UFC previously they promised Julianna they would give her a title shot,” Abdelaziz revealed. “It was kind of promised and these guys, you like it or not, they give you their word, they always keep it. I respect their opinion. It’s OK. If Kayla believes she’s the best in the world, she has to smash everybody. I believe she is the best in the world. I believe Ketlen Vieira is a great fighter, a great test for Kayla. I think Saturday night, Kayla’s going to show why she’s the best female fighter on the planet in any division.

“[Kayla is next for the title], this is what [the UFC] said but in reality [crazy things] happen in the sport. Kayla needs to do what she has to do on Saturday night and I think 99.9 percent she is next. Undoubtedly, nobody can tell her she’s not.”

Whether it’s Pennington or Pena, none of that seems to matter much to Harrison and the same goes for her manager. No matter what he expects Harrison to have a title around her waist soon enough.

“If the champ wants to retire [rather than fight her], I understand,” Abdelaziz said. “I don’t want to fight Kayla, too.”

SALT LAKE CITY – Just the fourth women’s UFC title bout of 2024 is now approaching reality after bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington and former titleholder Julianna Pena made weight for the UFC 307 co-main event.

Peña was the third fighter to come to the scale Friday during the session at the UFC host hotel in Utah and was a half-pound under championship weight at 134.5 pounds. Pennington stepped on the scale at 135 pounds even about eight minutes into the session. Now the pair, who have been seeking a matchup since Season 18 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series in 2013, will have their chance to fight.

After winning the vacant belt left behind by Amanda Nunes in January, Pennington (16-8 MMA, 13-5 UFC) will attempt to make her first defense when she meets Peña (10-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC), who returns from a more than two-year layoff for the co-headlining bout of Saturday’s card at Delta Center (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+).

Watch the video above to see Pennington and Peña make weight for their UFC 307 title fight.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.

BBC Scotland will broadcast live television coverage of Threave Rovers against fellow Dumfries and Galloway side Stranraer in the second round of the Scottish Cup.

The match on Friday, 25 October will kick-off in Castle Douglas at 19:45 BST, with coverage beginning on BBC Scotland, iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app from 19:30.

West of Scotland League Third Division side Threave beat hosts Glenafton Athletic 4-2 in the preliminary round and thrashed visitors Vale of Leithen 6-1 in round one.

Stranraer enter at the second-round stage as one of the clubs in League 2.

There are 19 more ties scheduled for Saturday, 26 October, with the third round – featuring League 1 and Championship sides – taking place over the last weekend in November.