PFL Chairman Donn Davis believes the recent bitterness with Kayla Harrison is just a misunderstanding.

Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist judoka, began her MMA career in the PFL, fighting for the promotion for five years and winning two lightweight tournaments and becoming the face of the organization. But earlier this year, Harrison finally left her longtime promotion to jump over to the UFC.

Earlier this month, Harrison made her sophomore outing in her new promotion, fighting Ketlen Vieira at UFC 307, but prior to her fight, Davis made headlines by saying that he didn’t like that Harrison “ran from” potential fights with Cris Cyborg and Larissa Pacheco. Harrison, of course, took offense and even Pacheco wasn’t pleased with Davis’s remarks. But the PFL Chairman says the entire thing is a big misunderstanding.

“What I said had immense respect and immense context, but when it gets cut down in social media, was taken completely out of context,” Davis told MMA Fighting. “So I’ll try to re-put it in context again, but I’m sure it will re-get cut out of context.

“To repeat, I only said three things. One, we’re immensely proud that we developed her from scratch. She was one of my favorite fighters and I think she’s one of the greatest fighters of all time in the women’s divisions. So first of all, Dana never says that.

“Number two, we made her an offer to be extremely high paid and to spend her whole career here, and to do anything she wanted. I have a huge amount of respect and basically offered her a blank check and a blank ticket, not just economically but post her career. Dana never says that. That’s because we wanted her.

“And number three, we offered her bigger fights here than she has at the UFC. Cyborg, bigger fight. Pacheco, bigger fight. They’re bigger than the two fights she just had. Nobody would disagree with that. So why is she at the UFC? That’s what I said.

“So those are the three things I said. Those are all respectful, factual, and pretty straightforward. So why did she go to the UFC? I don’t know. I don’t understand. I think it has to be there is a brand there that validates her and our brand isn’t that big yet. So that’s it. But nothing but very factual respect and very factual desire that I wish on fan’s behalf that we could have given the biggest fight in the world.”

For her part, Harrison has been very clear about why she wanted to come to the UFC, stating that she wants to win the title and cement her legacy in MMA. But Davis clearly believes Harrison could have done so in the PFL.

“Now that Cyborg has clearly cemented her stature as the GOAT, everybody wants to see Kayla vs. Cyborg,” Davis said. “It’s a bigger fight than Kayla will ever have unless Nunes comes out of retirement, and the person who stopped that is Kayla.

“It doesn’t make me any money putting on that fight, but I wanted to put it on for fans. I’ve been trying for five years and I couldn’t get Cyborg here. Then I bought the whole company to get Cyborg here, and then Kayla leaves! So I don’t understand it and that’s all I’ve expressed.”

Ultimately though, Davis recognizes that however he intended his comments to come out, they were received very differently. And while Davis doesn’t believe he said anything untoward, he also admits that if he could go back, he probably wouldn’t have said anything at all.

“How I talked about this is not even close to how Dana White talks about fighters. This is not remotely how he’s talked about Francis… And two, I probably should have said nothing, but I was trying to explain the situation. If I had to do it over again, my mistake. No good has come from it.

“I have no desire to do anything negative about Kayla. I have no desire to have a bunch of click bait that’s negative on the PFL. So my mistake saying anything, trying to put this in context. My sole goal was truly to give fans the biggest fight in female history, Cyborg vs. Kayla. I spent — like Ahab on the great white whale — so much energy chasing this fight, to have it go through my grasp, kills me. It kills me.”

Finally! It’s UFC 308 fight week, which features a highly anticipated championship fight between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway.

This UFC featherweight title fight has a lot at stake given the two fighters’ trajectories, with Topuria being undefeated and coming off a wild knockout victory over Alexander Volkanovski, and Holloway already having legendary status and coming off a 2024 Knockout of the Year candidate over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300. UFC 308 also hosts several other key bouts outside the main event, including a middleweight clash between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev, the return of Shara Magomedov, and more.

Can Topuria be the first ever to knockout Holloway, or will Holloway reclaim his title? Should the winner of Whittaker vs. Chimaev get the next title shot at 185 pounds?

MMA Junkie’s Brian “Goze” Garcia, Dan Tom, Mike Bohn, Danny Segura, and host “Gorgeous” George preview the upcoming UFC pay-per-view this Saturday in Abu Dhabi.

Watch their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s complete episode of “Spinning Back Clique” below on YouTube.

Francis Ngannou, as has been the case since he left the UFC, has options.

“The Predator” made a successful return to MMA and a successful PFL debut with a first-round knockout of Renan Ferreira this past Saturday at the Battle of the Giants event in Saudi Arabia. That performance came in the wake of two massive boxing matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, making Ngannou one of the most intriguing names in all of combat sports.

What’s next for Ngannou is anyone’s guess, but one name throwing his hat into the ring is Glory Kickboxing heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven.

“I’ve been thinking about a crossover for quite some time now, so I love the idea,” Verhoeven said when Ngannou was suggested to him on The Ariel Helwani Show. “It’s a new challenge. Not that I’m done with challenges within Glory, but I’ve got an amazing win streak and title defense streak and earlier this year we won an amazing tournament but I’m open to new challenges. When we’re talking about the baddest on the planet, let’s find out who it is.”

Verhoeven has been one of the most dominant kickboxers of the past decade, having won 20 straight fights dating back to 2015, including 11 defenses of his Glory title. The 35-year-old Dutchman is currently scheduled for a championship rematch against Levi Rigters on Dec. 7.

Should Verhoeven be successful, he’ll be on the hunt for another marquee matchup and Ngannou more than fits the bill. They could meet under kickboxing or MMA rules, but Verhoeven has another suggestion in mind.

“There’s so many different flavors,” Verhoeven said. “It could be a home and away fight, a kickboxing and an MMA fight, which most likely ends up maybe 1-1. But a boxing match, that’s interesting, because that’s a way for both of us even though he’s been doing two boxing fights in the last year, but still it’s different and I’ve been boxing for quite some years as well. Not on a professional level, not in a ring, but been training with [Tyson Fury’s uncle] Peter Fury for years and years and he says, ‘You’re ready for it. Let any top-level boxer challenge you and let’s show what we got.’”

Verhoeven and Ngannou are familiar with each other, having spent time training together in the U.S., but both appear to be open to the potential matchup. In a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Ngannou smiled when the fight was suggested and said, “Send me the deal.”

A crossover fight built around mutual respect might not seem like box office gold at first glance, but Verhoeven thinks it’s a fight fans need to see.

“What I would like to say to [PFL] is just, hey, when we’re talking about baddest on the planet and we’re talking about crossover fights: This thing must happen,” Verhoeven said. “This must happen. It has to happen because we’ve been seeing throughout the last few years the most crazy fights and I think this is one of them that needs to be added to the list. So let’s make it happen.”

Challenge. Max Holloway wants Ilia Topuria to earn his “BMF” point-down moment.

Undefeated. Does Khamzat Chimaev’s invincible mindset give him the edge over Robert Whittaker?

Boast. Ilia Topuria doesn’t just think he can beat Islam Makhachev: He wants to make him submit.

Poetry. Conor McGregor didn’t mince words with his description of PFL champion Johnny Eblen’s latest title defense.

Apology. BKFC star Mike Perry comments on his recent DUI arrest and confrontation with police.

Rematch. Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury brought the antics to the faceoff ahead of their December rematch.

UFC 308 Timeline.

UFC 308 media day brought to you by MMA Fighting’s José Youngs.

PFL boss Donn Davis addresses the people.

All love.

Catch up on the latest and greatest Invicta FC prospects.

Usyk vs. Fury 2 press conference.

No Bets Barred. Jed Meshew brings you the best bets for UFC 308.

Francis Ngannou.

BMF at work.

Fingers crossed.

Why, indeed.

BKFC video game?

Patchy Mix in grappling action this Saturday!

Tom Lawlor looking out for fighters.

Jake Hadley.

Ngannou vs. Verhoeven? That’s not bad, right?

While I think we’d all agree that seeing Ngannou stick with MMA would be great, especially if Donn Davis is able to work out deals with other promoters to set up something like, Ngannou vs. Malykhin or Ngannou vs. Reug Reug or (let me dream) Ngannou vs. Pudzianowski, we can also get a little more creative. Ngannou adding a kickboxing champion to his résumé. I’m down for it.

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and like us on Facebook.

What’s better than watching baseball? Watching baseball and winning money!

You can partake in the best of both worlds while watching the MLB World Series this weekend with our free-to-play FOX Super 6 game.

How do you play? Enter the MLB Playoff Super 6 contest by predicting the correct answers to six questions before the games start for your chance at weekly cash prizes. 

All you have to do is finish in the top six to win a prize.

It really is that simple, and again, it’s free.

And if you need a little help before heading to the app to make your picks, we have you covered this week.

Read below for our thoughts on the playoffs, which can be seen on FOX and the FOX Sports app. 

Let’s dive into the questions and predictions below.

1. Which player will hit the MOST HOME RUNS in the World Series?

Shohei Ohtani, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts

No player has hit more home runs in the postseason than Stanton with five. What’s even more impressive is that he’s hit those five in just nine games, compared to Betts who hit four and Ohtani who hit three— both playing 11 games each. Judge led all players in the regular season with 58, but has managed just two in the playoffs. This could be the series where he gets it going, but for now we like Stanton to continue his stellar play.

Prediction: Giancarlo Stanton

2. Which pitcher will have the MOST STRIKEOUTS in the World Series?

Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rondon, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty

Rondon leads the postseason with 22 strikeouts, but he’s yet to face a lineup that has the offensive firepower of the Dodgers. Los Angeles is batting .251 as a team in the playoffs and launched 20 homers— the latter being seven more than the team with the next-most. For that reason, Flaherty seems like the appropriate pick here. He only has eight strikeouts this postseason, but averaged 6.93 strikeouts per game in the regular season— the ninth most of all pitchers with at least 20 games pitched this year.

Prediction: Jack Flaherty

3. Order these players by TOTAL BASES in GAME 4 of the World Series (highest to lowest):

Mookie Betts, Giancarlo Stanton, Juan Soto, Tommy Edman

Betts is second in the postseason in total bases at 29, and can get it done in so many different ways. He’s batting .295 in the playoffs and is one of five players with four home runs, and is also tied for the most doubles hit with four. Game 4 will take place in New York, so Stanton or Soto are smart picks here too, but it’s tough to pick against the 2018 AL MVP and two-time World Series champion.

Prediction: Mookie Betts

4. Which trio of players includes the 2024 World Series MVP?

Betts/T. Hernandez/Edman OR Judge/Soto/Stanton OR Ohtani/Freeman/Muncy OR None (another Dodger or Yankee wins MVP)

One of the three stars for the Yankees will surely win MVP, so long as the Yankees win it all. It’s going to be a close series, but New York has the offensive firepower to match Los Angeles along with a slightly better pitching staff.  

Prediction: Judge/Soto/Stanton

5. Which player will have the MOST RBI in the World Series?

Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, Aaron Judge

Ohtani has 10 RBI this postseason and recorded over 100 RBI in the regular season for the first time since 2021. He also leads the playoffs with six hits with runners in scoring position. The Dodgers will need him to continue this pace throughout the series.

Prediction: Shohei Ohtani

6. Who will win GAME 4 of the World Series?

Dodgers OR Yankees

This is the first time in a full season since 2013 that the two teams with the best records in each league will meet in the World Series. Additionally, there will be five former MVPs playing in this series (Ohtani, Betts, Freeman, Judge, Stanton) with another on the IL (Kershaw) for the first time in World Series history. This is truly anyone’s matchup to win, but with the first two games taking place in Los Angeles— the Yankees will have to take advantage of playing in New York in Games 3 and 4. 

Prediction: Yankees

Tiebreaker: What will be the final score?

Prediction: Yankees 3, Dodgers 2

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Threave manager Danny Dunglinson cannot hide his admiration for his player.

“It’s horrific what him and his family are going through,” Dunglinson said of the midfielder. “He’s only 19, so trying to get your head round what he’s going through is very hard.

“Seeing him on the pitch, you can’t quite believe he is experiencing what he’s experiencing. I don’t think he’s missed a training session.

“During games, he’s never once looked out of place or looked like he’s struggling. If anything, he looks like he’s getting better, which is staggering.”

Watson considers himself “lucky” to have scored in the first-round win, having promised Dunglinson that he would.

“The reaction when he scored was brilliant,” Dunglinson said. “The cheer was that extra bit louder, even though it was the last goal in a 6-1 win in the last minute.

“I think it meant a lot to his team-mates as well.”

Watson’s mother Amanda Woods said “there’s just no words” for the ordeal her son and their family are enduring.

“He’s an amazing human being and he copes with it all very well,” she said. “Which means I’ll cope with it well too.

“He is still playing his football. He’s a very driven and strong-minded young man and always has been.

“I would swap places in a heartbeat. There’s no question about it. We’ve got to keep each other going.

“Charlie’s never failed to make us proud of him. We’re so proud of him for everything and Friday’s just yet another.”

If you are affected by any of the issues in this article, visit BBC Action Line