UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier dismisses PFL and other organizations when it comes to their ability to build stars.

A former two-division UFC champion, Cormier believes the octagon is the only stage where a fighter can reach superstardom. The likes of Ben Askren, Michael Chandler, Michael Page, and most recently Kayla Harrison were able to catapult their popularity to the next level after signing with the UFC.

“The NBA does not exist without the best players in the world,” Cormier said on his “Funky and the Champ” show with Ben Askren. “There are 100 leagues around the world, but they never can hold a candle to what the NBA is, so the best come and play here. There’s one place to fight, one place, because guess what? There’s only one place that honestly – not even trying to be a UFC guy, there’s one where you reach superstardom.

“There’s one place where you fight the best in the world, where you maximize your visibility and earnings inside the octagon and outside the octagon. It’s the UFC. Every other organization tries and then eventually it starts to falter. I don’t understand why. The only one who has found success is Scott Coker. He’s the only guy who has found sustained success outside the UFC.”

Harrison is 2-0 in the UFC since parting ways with PFL. Founder Donn Davis accused Harrison of running away from big fights with Cris Cyborg and Larissa Pacheco, and Cormier thinks it’s an attempt from the PFL to use the UFC to promote their own fighters.

“Every year the gap widens, and not even a little bit. It widens by double,” Cormier said. “Every time the PFL uses that Kayla Harrison loss to promote someone on another card, that just tells you that they’re just throwing sh*t at the wall, hoping something sticks.”

Interim boss Lee Carsley will not change his attacking approach when England face Finland on Sunday despite the surprise defeat by Greece that dented his chances of landing the role permanently.

England had enjoyed an encouraging start to their Nations League campaign under Carsley, with wins over the Republic of Ireland and Finland before Thursday’s setback at Wembley.

Carsley’s experiment in fielding five attackers without an out-and-out striker backfired as Greece ran out 2-1 winners.

England will look to bounce back in Helsinki this weekend and Carsley insisted “nothing changes” in terms of his attacking approach.

“The way I want my teams to play, I want us to attack and when we had the players we have available, I wanted to try something different,” said Carsley, who has been put in temporary charge until November while the Football Association seeks a permanent successor following Gareth Southgate’s departure.

“Hindsight is perfect because it never happened.

“It wouldn’t stop me trying something different in the future because I have done OK being like this.

“I had 17, 18, 19 years as a player being defensive and just sitting in there and playing on the counter-attack.

“That is definitely not how I want to coach. Nothing changes in that respect.”

Conor McGregor got in on the action following a heated BKFC Spain face-off.

Lightweights Franco Tenaglia and Tony Soto clash in the main event of Saturday’s BKFC event in Marbella, Spain, with a vacant title on the line, but it’s McGregor who stole the headlines Friday. As Tenaglia and Soto nearly came to blows onstage at the ceremonial weigh-ins, “The Notorious” stepped in to break up the potential brawl.

Watch video of the incident below.

McGregor, the former two-division UFC champion who became part-owner of BKFC this past April, looked to be having the time of his life as he inserted himself in between the scrapping fighters, helping to quickly defuse the situation.

Seeing gold on the table, McGregor couldn’t help but raise the lightweight title over his head, cackling gleefully as he showed it off to those in attendance.

Saturday’s BKFC event airs live on DAZN from Marbella Arena in Marbella, Spain. Two other title fights are set to take place, with 165-pound champion Austin Trout defending against Rico Franco, and 175-pound champion David Mundell fighting Danny Christie.

Sidelined since July 2021, McGregor awaits his next UFC booking after an injury forced him to withdraw from a grudge match against Michael Chandler scheduled for UFC this past June.

Michael Bisping sees championship potential in Artem Vakhitov.

Vakhitov (3-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) earned a UFC contract when he finished Islem Masraf by first-round TKO Tuesday at Dana White’s Contender Series 75. UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira helped convince Dana White to sign his ex-kickboxing rival Vakhitov, and the UFC CEO obliged.

With Vakhitov and Pereira splitting their two Glory Kickboxing appearances, Vakhitov hopes to earn a trilogy bout with “Poatan” in the UFC, and Bisping thinks it’s possible.

“I think he could do it. I think he’s got the potential,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “He’s got to work on the takedown defense. He’s got to get used to the little gloves. He’s got to get used to people with offbeat rhythms, because MMA strikers are a bit different to polished kickboxers.

“But if he can do that, if he can do the work and apply himself, I think he could have a very, very bright future and we could see that fight at some point down the line.”

Bisping expects Vakhitov to be pushed by the UFC into a fast rise just like Pereira was. It took Pereira only three UFC wins to earn his first title shot, where he knocked out his other ex-kickboxing rival Israel Adesanya to claim the middleweight title at UFC 281.

“It’s going to be interesting to see who they match him up with first,” Bisping said. “But if he goes on, let’s say, a four- or five-fight streak, where he goes out and he knocks people out, then of course there’s a big fight on our hands, and I’m sure Alex Pereira the whole time is going to be willing him on because he wants to get him back. He wants to make money.”

Nottingham Forest issued the highly critical post on X about five minutes after full-time in that April match at Goodison Park – which left the club one point above the relegation zone at the time.

In a controversial game, Forest were upset by referee Anthony Taylor ignoring three penalty appeals, including when Everton’s Ashley Young handled in the closing moments of the opening half and then when the veteran tangled with Callum Hudson-Odoi as he raced in on goal.

The Key Match Incident Panel – an independent panel that reviews decisions after each round of Premier League fixtures – found Forest should have been awarded a penalty for Young’s challenge on Hudson-Odoi in the 55th minute.

Forest said they had “warned” the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOL) that “the VAR is a Luton fan but they didn’t change him”.

“Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept,” the club posted on X, external on 21 April.

“Our patience has been tested multiple times.”

Although they did not name the official, the VAR was Attwell.

Forest were charged by the FA, who sought a fine in excess of £1m over the club’s “egregious, direct and public attack”.

The written reasons for the ruling confirmed that Howard Webb, the chief refereeing officer of PGMOL, and Mark Clattenburg, then a referee analyst employed by Forest, did discuss the fact that Attwell was a Luton fan during a call on 19 April – two days before the match.

However, the commission says it was “common ground” between the parties that no representations or requests were made to change the VAR for the match.

Attwell gave a statement to the panel which described the “stress, distress, fear and embarrassment caused to him” as a result of the post.

The panel found the impact on the official had “plainly been very significant,” adding: “To Stuart Attwell, the harm has continued well beyond the short period contended for by NFFC.”

Everton’s win over Forest moved them five points clear of the relegation zone with a game in hand on Luton, with Forest in deep trouble, only a point ahead of the Hatters.

In the end, both Forest and Everton stayed up while Luton went down.

Clattenburg left his position at Forest on the day the club were charged by the FA, having been given a formal warning himself.

Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol are all set for their showdown Saturday evening.

Beterbiev (174.96) and Bivol (174.12) both made weight for the light heavyweight title unification showdown Friday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Beterbiev puts his WBC, IBF, and WBO light heavyweight titles on the line, while Bivol will put up his WBA belt in the main event.

“I was trying to reach my limits for preparation,” Bivol said.

Check out Beterbiev vs. Bivol weigh-in results below.

Main Event (ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET)

Artur Beterbiev (174.9) vs. Dmitry Bivol (174.12) — for the IBF, WBC, WBO and WBA light heavyweight titles

Undercard (DAZN at 12 p.m. ET)

Fabio Wardley (241.6) vs. Frazer Clarke (271.3)

Jai Opetaia (198.9) vs. Jack Massey (199.12) — for Opetaia’s IBF cruiserweight title

Chris Eubank Jr. (159.12) vs. Kamil Szeremeta (159.12)

Skye Nicolson (125.9) vs. Raven Chapman (125.9) — for Nicolson’s WBC featherweight title

Ben Whittaker (174.9) vs. Liam Cameron (174.6)

Mohammaed Alakel (131.6) vs. Jesus Gonzalez (131.6)

Marco Maric (152.6) vs. Christian Lopez Flores (151.9)