Sunderland are only in their third year back in the Championship, having suffered double relegation to end up in League One in 2018.

For four years, the Wearsiders battled it out in the third division of the EFL before finally achieving promotion with a play-off win against Wycombe Wanderers at Wembley in 2022.

Yet their return to the second tier has not proven easy.

While they did manage to secure a play-off spot in their first year back, they lost out in the semi-finals to Luton Town, and then found themselves drifting backwards in the table the following year.

Midfielder Neil, who was part of the Sunderland squad in League One, has spoken about how Le Bris has shed the naivety of the team to form them into promotion-contenders.

“He has definitely brought new ideas, new ways of playing, especially in possession,” Neil told 72+: The EFL Podcast.

“I feel like the way we are playing now is a lot more structured. Everybody knows their roles in and out of possession.”

There’s no longer the ‘pass to the attacking players and hope for the best’ kind of mindset that seemed prevalent in the club’s recent past.

Le Bris’ style of play hinges on his midfield talent – Rigg, Bellingham and Neil – to create triangles of space on the pitch and build into an attack rather than a gung-ho approach.

Bellingham in particular seems to have found his footing under Le Bris’ guidance.

Last season, the Birmingham youth product was utilised as both a midfielder and a second striker but seemed to run out of steam as the season progressed.

Le Bris appears to have settled his role in the midfield, allowing his combination play with Rigg and Neil to help slow the tempo of the game while still taking advantage of his physical power in attack.

It’s effective.

Sunderland have scored the most goals of any Championship side with 18 this season, conceding just eight.

There are a lot of different metrics to measure the success or failure of a combat sports promotion but perhaps one of the biggest indicators comes down to ticket sales. For BKFC, that might be the most telling sign that the bare-knuckle outfit has surpassed almost every other competitor out there.

With a debut card scheduled in Spain on Saturday, BKFC is embarking on a massive stretch of events that likely culminates with the organization going to Philadelphia for the first time ever in December. While organizations like the UFC proudly tout the live gate after an event, ticket sales for other promotions are rarely ever talked about.

BKFC founder and president David Feldman has a feeling he knows why.

“The UFC sells tickets,” Feldman explained when speaking to MMA Fighting. “The big, big boxing matches, they sell tickets. The smaller ones, the mid-ones don’t. The mid-MMA companies, they’re not selling tickets. Obviously the smaller [MMA promotions] are, they’re selling 1,000 tickets. Not really selling.”

When to BKFC, Feldman proudly talks about the promotion’s ticket sales because those numbers of steadily increased ever since the first show launched back in 2018.

There have been a number of sellouts over the years with BKFC 63 in Sturgis, S.D. setting a new record with 15,000 in attendance for a card headlined by strawweight women’s champion Britain Hart.

Feldman admits BKFC’s ability to sell tickets has become one of his proudest achievements, especially when it comes to drumming up more interest in potential investors looking to bet on a combat sports promotion.

“It’s actually my pitch to investors,” Feldman said. “I go ‘listen, we’re actually one of the only promotions in the world that sells tickets.’

“We just sold 5,400 tickets this past weekend. We’re projected to sell 6,700 tickets in Spain and then Denver, we’ll probably do 4,000 tickets there and then we’re doing Poland in December, Montana, All these shows coming up, they should really be a minimum of 4,000 tickets sold. Actually sold and that’s a big deal right now in combat sports because they’re not all sold. A lot of them are papered up.”

“Papered up” means tickets being given away for free to fill an arena, which happens quite often in combat sports.

Feldman admits there was definitely a time when BKFC gave away more tickets than the organization sold but that’s just not the case any longer.

“I won’t lie to you — I might have lied to you five years ago and said we sold 3,000 tickets when we only sold 1,000,” Feldman said. “But now we’re actually selling all our tickets.

“We might give away three or four percent of our tickets right now but we’re selling it all.”

With ticket sales on the rise, a new broadcast deal in place with DAZN and Conor McGregor on board as a co-owner now, Feldman expects 2024 to be the biggest year yet for BKFC and he’s anticipating an even bigger 2025.

“We thought we were out of business 10 different times and we just found a way to make it happen and make it work,” Feldman said. “I don’t see any end in sight. I think we got a really great shot right now of knocking on the No. 1’s door.”

Paul addressed what led up to the plan that he never attempted. His parents divorced when he was 7 and older brother Logan was 9, and it was “by all accounts an ugly split,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. His boorish behavior got him sued by his landlord and fired by Disney. And in late 2017, Logan visited “suicide forest” in Japan, filmed a suicide victim and posted the footage on YouTube.

“I got lumped into all my brother’s hate,” Jake Paul said. “It was like, ‘(Expletive) the Pauls. (Expletive) both of those people.’ It was bad. The suicide forest thing basically ruined my career and income. I lost probably $30 million in deals. There was one $15 million deal for retail products that fell apart. They were able to get out of it because of a morality clause.”

It led to problematic behavior, Jake Paul said.

“Basically, life hit me in the face, and it was like, ‘Who are you? What have you been doing the past couple of years?’ ” he said. “It led to drinking and drugs and Los Angeles and going to parties and just that whole entire world. I got sucked up into it really quickly.”

Jake Paul continued: “And so there I am: No money, kind of hating myself, the whole world hates me. I’m drinking. I’m depressed and not having a good relationship with either of my parents or Logan. …I just felt wrong in life and by all the cards I had been dealt. It was (expletive up). I just tried to do good my whole life and here I am with what felt like nothing”

And, no, Paul said he did not go through with his catastrophic plan.

“I was not going to let them win,” he said. “I was like, ‘I’m going to fight. This is what every social media hater wants is to wake up and see Jake Paul killed himself.’ ”

Paul, who embarked on a pro boxing careeer in 2020, said the sport saved his life. He is 10-1 with seven knockouts and also co-founded Most Valuable Promotions, which manages a stable of fighters that include Amanda Serrano, a multiple-time world champion.

“It’s purpose, routine, health, community — all the things I needed,” he said. “Since 2020, it’s been boxing’s number one and everything else comes after that. I never really liked YouTube. I was just good at it.”

Sep 15, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Boxer and influencer Jake Paul before the game between the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints at AT&T Stadium. (Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images)

***

Jake Paul: Fan of Donald Trump

Jake Paul is an ardent supporter of Donald Trump and said he fears what will happen if Trump loses to Vice President Kamala Harris on Nov. 5 in the general election.

“I think America will fall, the borders will open, tens of millions of illegal criminals and people from other countries will pour in,” he said. “And I think freedom of speech will probably be taken away from us in a secret, tricky way that we can’t track technically.”

***

Jake Paul says father physically abused him

Paul said his dad physically abused him and his brother, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and that the abuse lasted from childhood until the brothers left for Los Angeles in their late teens.

“He was punching us, slapping us, throwing us down the stairs, throwing things at us, mental abuse, manipulation,” said Jake Paul, who later explained, “say he’s on the phone, and my brother and I were whispering to each other. And he’s like, ‘Quit (expletive) whispering!’ and whips something at my head. There’s punishment and then there’s abuse. He just took his anger out on us. He’s going through a divorce, losing everything — and we were the closest people to him.”

This story was originally published by USA TODAY Sports.

For more on the fight, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Paul vs. Tyson.

LAS VEGAS – Three months ago, Brad Tavares was all set to throw leather with Junyong Park. Then he got off the scale and picked up his phone.

The way Tavares recalled it Wednesday, his manager called not long after he made weight for a middleweight fight with Park on July 20. The commission didn’t clear Park because of a staph infection. And while that seems flukey and forgivable, Tavares might be a little bit salty that he and Park only just now are about to fight in their rebooking.

And that, Tavares (20-9 MMA, 15-9 UFC) thinks, is on Park (17-6 MMA, 7-3 UFC) for not being down with an originally offered Aug. 10 rebooking.

“I wanted to keep the fight, obviously,” Tavares said at media day for UFC Fight Night 244, the new home of their fight, which will be the co-main event at the UFC Apex. “I went through an entire training camp preparing for this specific opponent. I don’t want that to go to waste. … Now we’re going to go through a full camp again. I didn’t understand (Park not agreeing to August) but it is what it is, I guess – God’s plan.

“… But obviously I was frustrated with it. I was pretty irritated with it.”

Tavares speculated that Park had something else going on in his life that would’ve made the first offered rebooking a nuisance. But regardless of the reason, annoyance or irritation isn’t likely to help the longtime Hawaiian fighter Saturday.

Park is about a 2-1 favorite at the betting window. He had a four-fight winning streak that included three straight rear-naked choke finishes snapped by a split-call loss to Andre Muniz this past December.

“He’s very well-rounded and puts MMA together,” Tavares said. “I don’t think he’s a specialist or an expert anywhere, and obviously he doesn’t have the kickboxing or boxing accolades, the wrestling or even the jiu-jitsu. But he does put them all together well. He’s a very complete MMA fighter.

“I think his biggest attribute is his toughness, just how tough he is. I’ve watched him in fights where you think, ‘OK, this this guy is done,’ and he pulls it out – very similar to (middleweight champion) Dricus (Du Plessis). But I don’t think he’s nowhere near as dangerous as Dricus.”

At the end of the day, though, maybe Park could be forgiven the whole rebooking date thing with Tavares if he agreed to a standup fight in the co-feature. Tavares fears, though, that Park will want to head to the canvas.

“I would hope (he wants to trade punches), but honestly I think that he’s going to want to go to the ground where he feels like he has his best advantage,” he said. “But if it ends up being a kickboxing (fight), I’ll take that all day.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 244.

Conor McGregor has some marquee matchups in mind for his return.

Earlier this year, McGregor was supposed to make his long-awaited return to the octagon in a welterweight fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303. Unfortunately, a few weeks before the event, McGregor suffered a toe injury which forced him to withdraw from the fight and fans were once again left wondering when and if the boisterous superstar would ever return.

Fortunately for fans, McGregor remains undeterred. Since withdrawing from UFC 303, the former two-division UFC champion has maintained that he will be back soon, on Tuesday McGregor spoke with The Schmo about how things are progressing on that front.

“We’re looking for the date,” McGregor said. “Hopefully, I’d like to square it away with Michael Chandler. I’d like to get Chandler in. We’ve had our beef, it’s not settled. He has a match scheduled. I’d like to fight, maybe before that or before he’s recovered so there’s a few names in the line at the minute. There’s a few names being discussed.”

Chandler does in fact have a booking. After spending nearly two years on the shelf waiting for a fight with McGregor, following the UFC 303 incident, Chandler finally opted to accept another fight, a rematch with Charles Oliveira at UFC 309.

Given that, and the fact that UFC CEO Dana White appears to be targeting an early 2025 return for McGregor, Chandler’s availability is very much up in the air at the moment. Fortunately for McGregor, there are no shortage of big names who would be more than willing to welcome him back to the cage, but “Notorious” has his sights set on two in particular: old foes Dustin Poirier and Nate Diaz.

“Both of them. Both,” McGregor said. “It’s a must, for sure. The Dustin one is not settled, it’s 1-1-1. And the Diaz one is also 1-1. Two big blockbuster matches and I’m excited to get them locked in.”

Poirier and McGregor have shared a trilogy of bouts over a seven year period. McGregor first defeated Poirier by knockout at UFC 178 down at featherweight, but Poirier avenged his loss with a knockout of his own at UFC 257 up at 155 pounds. Poirier then won their third bout at UFC 264 when McGregor shattered his leg, though “Notorious” disputes this result because of the injury.

Diaz is possibly McGregor’s biggest rival, the man who first defeated the Irish superstar in the UFC, stepping in on 10 days’ notice to score the upset at UFC 196. The two rematched five months later at UFC 202 with McGregor winning a majority decision in one of the best fights of the year. Diaz left the UFC in 2022 to pursue interests in boxing, though he’s recently been rumored to possibly be coming back to the promotion.