Ben Askren knows what Francis Ngannou is going through.

Earlier this month, Ngannou made his PFL debut, knocking out Renan Ferreira at PFL Superfights: Battle of the Giants in his first MMA fight since leaving the UFC last year.

Ngannou’s return reignited discussion about his UFC exit, which in turn led UFC CEO Dana White to repeatedly bash his former heavyweight champion, saying Ngannou is “full of shit,” that left because he didn’t want to fight Jon Jones, and questioning Ngannou’s character. It was a full blown attack on Ngannou, one that Askren knows all too well.

“Dana spent years lying, saying I didn’t want to fight the best, I didn’t want challenges, I was running away, and that couldn’t have been further from the truth,” Askren said on his YouTube show with Daniel Cormier. “So, it sucked to have this guy – it’s essentially slander, saying things about me that I knew weren’t true. Dana has this part of his personality when he can’t get what he wants, and in that case, he didn’t offer me a contract, so he kind of got what he wanted.

“But then I think because I was continuing to have success and people were continuing to follow me, he wanted me off in a dark corner where everyone ignored me or something. But he’s done the same thing with [Cris] Cyborg, I believe Randy Couture had a similar experience, obviously now Francis. If I thought really hard I could probably think of some other ones. But there’s this weird part of Dana’s personality where, if he doesn’t get exactly what he wants, he just starts crapping on people. And because he has a big microphone and because he’s generally very truthful and generally correct, people just believe him.

“So I had to deal with many years of Dana telling lies about me that were very harmful to me, that he had no reason or basis for doing.”

Askren is a former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight champion and widely considered to be one of the best fighters outside of the UFC during his title runs. He ultimately did join the promotion in 2019 when ONE Championship traded him for Demetrious Johnson, and had a newfound positive relationship with White, who lauded Askren’s willingness to fight and promote himself.

Unfortunately, Askren’s UFC career was short-lived as he struggled to find the same level of success in the UFC, going just 1-2 in the promotion before retiring at the end of the year due to injuries. And now that he’s retired, Askren says he simply has no relationship with White.

“I don’t see Dana, ever,” Askren said. “I haven’t seen Dana since I finished fighting. I’m not in that world anymore. I don’t train very many fighters … I kind of just do my own thing.”

Tyler Reddick got into the “Championship 4” in dramatic fashion with his win at the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Entering the final lap, Reddick was in third place behind Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney, but Reddick went to the inside lane and got past Hamlin on Turn 2. He then throttled past Blaney on the outside on Turn 4 and held on to win.

Reddick explained his perspective on the thrilling win on Monday’s edition of “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour.”

“Things had to play out a certain way. Like, Denny and Blaney getting to racing really hurt their momentum on the corners [and] kept me close. That final lap, I was just hoping I was going to get clean air, and Blaney wasn’t able to cover the bottom. And Denny took such a great distance around the corner that I was able to slide up in front of them, and then Turn 3 happened. That whole last corner just kind of blows my mind,” Reddick told host Kevin Harvick. “I think Blaney was expecting something similar to what I attempted at Darlington with [Chris] Buescher. I think he was expecting me to really just overdrive entry and center and try to clear him in the middle. I think he went to cover that attack, and once I saw that, I saw my window, my opening. I didn’t lift until I got to his door. I didn’t know what was going to happen on the other side of it. I didn’t know if I was going to hit the wall or lose my momentum, but I knew if I wanted to have a shot at battling for the win, I had to at least get even with him.

“Then, my car stuck. It stuck really, really well. I wasn’t even as close to the wall in the middle of the corner and exit as I thought I would be, and I came off Turn 4, and it was just disbelief. I couldn’t believe what just happened.”

Reddick led 97 of 400 laps.

On the season, Reddick is fourth in total points (4,098), with three wins, 12 top-five finishes and 20 top-10 finishes. Christopher Bell, William Byron, Kyle Larson and Reddick are the four drivers in the “Championship 4.”

Reddick has the utmost conviction about the No. 45 team down the homestretch.

“Kind of the name of the game for us over the course of the regular season is just not defeating ourselves. If we have an issue arise, we find a way to put it in the past and move forward. A lot of our best races in the regular season were days where things going into Stage 2 or going into Stage 3, something goes wrong,” Reddick said. “We lose all of our track position, and we have to drive back through the field. We’ve been able to do that time and time again in the regular season. In the playoffs, it wasn’t necessarily going that way for us, but our body of work and the amount of times we’ve had those days and still gotten the finishes is still there.

“I have a high amount of belief in my team, and a regular-season championship shows that we’ve been capable of overcoming things. I knew that we were going to put what happened behind us and get ready for the next stop, the next restart.”

Prior to winning at Homestead, Reddick finished 35th in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The win marked his first top-10 finish in seven races (Sept. 8) and his first win in the NASCAR playoff.

Reddick is in his second season at 23XI Racing after winning two races in his first season with the team (2023). He spent the previous four seasons at Richard Childress Racing (2019-22).

Two races remain in the 2024 Cup Series season, with the XFINITY 500 at Martinsville Speedway this Sunday, followed by the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway the following week.

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EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada – It’s been a while since Amir Albazi was last in action.

Almost a year-and-a-half later, Albazi (17-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) will finally resume his career when he takes on former flyweight champion Brandon Moreno in the main event of  UFC Fight Night 246 on Saturday. The road back to fighting has been a rocky one. The Iraqi fighter had to undergo a pair of surgeries to address some serious health issues that put his UFC career in jeopardy.

“Before my Kai Kara-Fance fight, I was struggling with some health issues,” Albazi told MMA Junkie and other reporters Wednesday at UFC Fight Night 246 media day. “I didn’t really know what it was, but after my fight it showed that I had something called supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). That’s the medical name for it. It’s basically irregular heart beat. My heart rate would go up to 239, so I had to do a heart surgery.”

The problems for Albazi didn’t stop in the summer of 2023. After defeating Kai Kara-France, Albazi was scheduled to fight Moreno (21-8-2 MMA, 9-5-2 UFC) in Mexico City this past February. However, he had to pull out from the bout to address another health issue.

“After the heart surgery, I kept training for the fight against Brandon Moreno in Mexico City, and then my left arm literally stopped,” Albazi said. “I couldn’t lift my arm up, I couldn’t jab, I couldn’t do anything, but I still kept training. … After I got my first MRI, the first doctor said, ‘You shouldn’t be fighting anymore. Find a 9-to-5.’ I kept going to different doctors and when the UFC doctors found out, they literally pulled me out of the fight and I had to go straight into surgery. They told me (I was) one punch away from getting paralyzed. So after that surgery, here I am. It’s the longest break of my career.”

After having neck surgery, Albazi had to wait six months until he could begin training again. He now feels healthy and thankful to do what he loves once again.

“To be honest, it feels amazing, and I’m just grateful and happy to finally be back in another fight week,” Albazi said. “Also, I’m a main event, so this means a lot, and it’s a great opportunity for me to put my stamp back on this weight class and show people what I’m made of and show people what I can do in this division.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 246.

Nobody has figured out an answer for UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, but Aljamain Sterling believes he’s got one.

Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) retained his title in Saturday’s UFC 308 main event by becoming the first man to knock out Max Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC). Former bantamweight champion Sterling (24-4 MMA, 16-4 UFC) will look to emerge as No. 1 contender if he can bounce Movsar Evloev (18-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) from the ranks of the unbeaten at UFC 310 on Dec. 7.

Topuria’s power is a proven problem at 145 pounds, but “The Funkmaster” says he wouldn’t even bother standing with him.

“If I were to fight him, God willing I beat Movsar and I do get the crack, I do think I have a great style to neutralize his offense,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “Bro, most of these guys are striking with him. I ain’t doing that. We’re sitting here looking for our takedown, and we’re going to have to make it a grappling match.

“I’m trying to get the W. I’m not trying to get my head and my brain sent to the next dimension again. I’m good on that. But I think it’s cool that people were even mentioning that. I think that would be a crazy match for multiple reasons. … But I’ve got one other tough opponent in front of me, and then we’ll kind of go from there.”

Sterling has a few other fighters to contend with for a title shot. Diego Lopes weighed in as a backup for Topuria vs. Holloway at UFC 308, and former champion Alexander Volkanovski got Dana White’s approval for a rematch with Topuria next.

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

Caio Machado found himself on the wrong end of two close decisions in the UFC, and now feels he desperately needs a victory to stay on the company roster.

The Brazilian talent built his MMA career competing in Canadian soil until he beat Kevin Szaflarski at Dana White’s Contender Series to enter the UFC, and disagrees with the judges that had him losing decisions to Mick Parkin and Don’Tale Mayes inside the octagon.

Machado decided to cut down to 205 pounds for the first time following the setbacks, and expects to perform better — and have more punching power — to ultimately save his career when he faces Brendson Ribeiro at Saturday’s UFC Edmonton.

“I”m in a super complicated situation because of those two losses, and it’s a bit more frustrating because I disagree with both of them,” Machado said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “Decisions are complicated in MMA. But the focus now is to win, win or win. This is the fight of my life, my career is on the line. I cut weight, I’m feeling better, and I’m ready for this challenge.”

Machado moved to Canada almost a decade ago to pursue a career unrelated to fighting, and loved it so much he kept postponing his return home. Canada eventually became home for the 6’4” man, who got married and became a father. Now a Canadian citizen, Machado decided to move back to Brazil to find new training and be by his father, who was fighting cancer — and beat it.

“I’m thrilled to be fighting in Canada,” Machado said. “Even though it’s a fight between two Brazilians, I’ll be representing both Brazil and Canada. My last fights were at the APEX, so I’m anxious to fight in front of a crowd again, especially being the home guy. It’s going to be awesome. I’m super excited to go there and perform in front of my crowd. I had my entire MMA career in Canada until I got to the UFC, so it’s like home to me.”

Growing up in Nottingham, Anderson signed for Forest in 1974 and it was his experience under legendary manager Brian Clough that he reveres as a turning point in his career, and importantly, his attitude towards the hostility.

“He helped me in those times when things were hard,” Anderson said.

He recalled a Newcastle match where he was booed loudly when he went to warm-up pre-match.

He went back into the dressing room and told Clough he did not think he could play.

“He looked me in the face and he said, ‘you’re playing’,” Anderson said.

Clough then added: “You wouldn’t be here if you wasn’t good enough, you have the ability to play in this team and just go and show people what you can do.”

Anderson, now 68, retired in the mid 1990s after an illustrious career, which also included playing for Arsenal, Sheffield Wednesday, Barnsley and Manchester United – where he was Sir Alex Ferguson’s first signing.

He said the only black person he had seen on television playing football when he was growing up was Clyde Best, who played for West Ham.

As he and I spoke, my childhood memories of the pictures I sketched of Anderson playing came flooding back. I remember proudly sticking those drawings to my bedroom wall. My own grandparents were of the Windrush generation too.

To feel that personal connection with a black British sporting icon further confirmed to me that there truly was a unique essence within the Windrush generation, that resonated so deeply in their children.

As a child, drawing pictures of Anderson wasn’t a case of me wanting to be a footballer like him – it was quite simply that he looked like me.

And that, in its most simplest form, is the great power of representative inclusion and why football can be a true platform for wider positive and societal change.