“I’m so excited to announce that I’m going to be racing full-time next year in the NASCAR Truck Series,” actor Frankie Muniz said in a video posted by Ford Performance. “I can’t wait. I’m so excited to be full-time. We’re going to have so much fun next year. I can’t wait for you to watch.”

Muniz will pilot the No. 33 Reaume Brothers Racing Ford full-time in the NASCAR Truck Series next year, having made his Truck debut with the team a few months ago.

The popular American actor gained notoriety for his role in the sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle,” earning an Emmy Award nomination and two Golden Globe Award nominations. He has since appeared in numerous films and television shows.

The 38-year-old has always had an interest in racing and tried to enter the open-wheel world in the mid-2000s. He spent three years in the Champ Car Atlantic Series, placing as high as fourth and ending the 2009 season ninth in the championship.

In 2023, he entered the stock car world with a full-time ride in the ARCA Menards Series. He ended his rookie season fourth in the championship standings, scoring one top-five and 11 top-tens in 20 starts, with his best result at Michigan where he finished fifth.

This year, he made his debut in both the NASCAR Truck and Xfinity Series. Driving the No. 35 Joey Gase Motorsports Ford Mustang, he competed at Daytona, Portland, and Phoenix. Unfortunately, he failed to qualify for the race at Portland and failed to make it to the finish of the other two races — Daytona due to a crash, and Phoenix due to a mechanical issue. His best result came at Phoenix where he finished 30th.

He did not hide his frustrations as misfortune continued to follow him in his NASCAR exploits, sounding completely dejected after the Portland DNQ. But his love for the sport is apparent as he keeps coming back for more.

Frankie Muniz, Joey Gase Motorsports, Ford Performance Ford Mustang

Photo by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images

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In the Truck Series, he made two starts — both with Reaume — piloting the No. 22 truck with a best result of 29th at Kansas. Muniz has also reappeared in the ARCA Menards Series, earning his 12th career top-ten at Talladega when he finished ninth.

Muniz has remained busy outside of the stock car world as well, competing in the Mustang Challenge Series at COTA during the summer, finishing tenth in class and 12th overall.

OLEKSANDR USYK rocked up to the press conference to launch his rematch with Tyson Fury looking like a lethal hitman.

The gap-toothed boxing legend shaved his head and moustache to reveal his frightening new look.

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Usyk was suited and booted in all black with a red tie and leather gloves – as fans likened him to a deadly Agent 47 from the Hitman video game.

One said: “The Hitman.”

Another added: “Oleksandr Usyk just walked into the Tyson Fury press conference as Agent 47 from Hitman.”

One joked: “Is he filming the new hitman game.”

Another said: “Unified Heavyweight Champion or Agent 47?”

Usyk, 37, became the first four-belt undisputed champion in heavyweight history following victory over Fury, 36, in May.

But he was forced to vacate the IBF belt to proceed with the December 21 rematch.

Now Fury attempts to avenge his only ever loss following the 12-round classic seven months prior.

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He said: “We did the fight in May, a great fight, I know people keep going on about it but it’s in the past now, we’ve got to move on.

“I have to be a little bit more focused and smart to get the victory.

“My rematches with people, I always end up knocking them out, so I’m envisaging something similar against Usyk.

“All I can do is train well, eat well, go to bed early, listen to the people around me and the rest is in god’s hands.”

Conor McGregor—in no uncertain terms—is not a fan of Johnny Eblen.

During this past Saturday’s PFL Battle of the Giants event, McGregor spent much of his time on social media roasting the action on the main card. With the exception of the main event, which saw Francis Ngannou score an impressive knockout in his MMA return, four of the top five fights on the lineup went to the scorecards and one fight in particular drew McGregor’s ire.

Eblen successfully defended his middleweight title in a rematch with Fabian Edwards, but the five-round decision victory had McGregor mocking the champion’s workmanlike effort. On Tuesday, Eblen tweeted a critique of McGregor, which the UFC star has since responded to.

“Conor went from ‘The face of the fight game’ to ‘The disgrace of the fight game,’ Eblen wrote on social media. “He embodies literally everything I don’t want to be as a man or as a human. What an embarrassment. It’s giving Icarus.”

To that, McGregor responded, “Bro the fight was absolute poo, that’s it.”

Eblen currently sports a 16-0 record and has made a name for himself as the best middleweight in the world outside of the UFC. He entered Battle of the Giants holding the No. 5 spot at 185 pounds in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings.

His criticism of McGregor stems from the former two-division champion’s lack of success and inactivity in recent years. “Notorious” has just one win in the past eight years, with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Dustin Poirier, and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. all handing him defeats.

McGregor has had plenty of time to engage in public feuds as he awaits his first fight since July 2021, when he broke his leg in a fight against Poirier at UFC 264. The 36-year-old was to make his comeback against rival Michael Chandler at UFC this past June, but was forced to withdraw due to injury.

It was part of a 20-minute exchange that was typical of the kind of magnetism Mourinho still holds.

In praising United for keeping faith with current manager Erik ten Hag during the present difficult spell, Mourinho managed to refer back to his own dismissal in December 2018 after two and a half seasons in charge.

“I wish the best to Man United since the moment I left,” he said.

“I left with a good feeling to the club and with a good feeling to the fans. If things are not going amazingly well for them it’s not something that makes me happy.

“It doesn’t make sense for me to be thinking about what happened and what didn’t happen.

“What happened for sure, because it’s very objective, is they keep faith in the coach, they support the coach, the coach is staying season after season and that means stability, it means trust, and they are giving him conditions to keep developing his job. That was different in relation to me.”

Mourinho said he was unaware he has never previously lost a home game against United.

He pointed out his previous encounters with them were with big clubs and said Fenerbahce would require the help of 35,000 home supporters in the stadium to stand any chance of victory.

“We are going to try and we can do it, but there is a gap,” Mourinho said.

Mourinho also offered his view on Sir Alex Ferguson, who will lose his ambassadorial role at United at the end of the season.

The pair have got on ever since Mourinho arrived at Chelsea in 2004 and despite his own experience at Old Trafford, it is clear Mourinho’s affection for the 82-year-old remains.

“He is amazing, incredible,” said Mourinho. “When my Netflix documentary comes out, you will know why I have so much respect.

“I don’t know the situation, it doesn’t matter why or what. He has the love and respect of every Man United fan around the world. That is more important than the ambassadorial role or money he doesn’t need.”

Mourinho is already encountering some criticism, with Fenerbahce eight points adrift of old rivals Galatasaray in the Turkish league table.

He said he would take the advice of local journalists before finalising his line-up for the United game.

However, after two spells with Chelsea, plus his time with United and Tottenham, it appears the 61-year-old is not finished with the Premier League just yet.

“Sooner or later they [Manchester United] will succeed,” he said. “Hopefully it is sooner, hopefully before one day I go back to the Premier League and they become my opponent.

“At this moment they are just my opponents for one match.”

England centre Henry Slade will play for Exeter this weekend in a bid to prove his fitness ahead of the autumn opener against New Zealand on 2 November.

The 31-year-old had shoulder surgery over the summer and has yet to feature for his club this season.

But he will fly back early from England’s training camp in Girona to prepare to face Harlequins in the Premiership on Sunday.

“He wanted some rugby, we wanted him to get some rugby, so he’s going to get some rugby,” said senior England assistant Richard Wigglesworth.

Slade, who has been capped 65 times, established himself as one of Steve Borthwick’s key players over the past year, having been a shock omission from the Rugby World Cup squad.

He has started all of England’s eight Test matches in 2024, partnering Ollie Lawrence in midfield for the last six.

That centre combination now looks likely to face the All Blacks provided Slade is able to pick up some match sharpness with the Chiefs.

“We’ll see what he looks like in training today [Wednesday], does he get through everything and is he really happy,” Wigglesworth told BBC Sport.

“Same the next couple of days for Exeter, then he plays and we will make a decision Monday or Tuesday.

“It’s missing one training session for us versus going and playing some minutes for Exeter.”

Meanwhile, Sale fly-half George Ford is nearing a return to full training after a quad injury and remains in contention for next weekend.

“George is at the last stage of his rehabilitation,” Wigglesworth added. “He is probably ahead of schedule and is in a fair bit of rugby this week.”

UFC 308 fight week began with one more fight than it has now.

The bantamweight bout between Said Nurmagomedov and Daniel Santos has been canceled, the promotion confirmed Wednesday. The card will continue with 13 bouts, which take place at Etihad Arena on Yas Island.

Santos (12-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) was “removed” from the bout according to the UFC, though no specific reason for the removal was cited. It’s Santos’ second-straight withdrawal.

Though he hasn’t competed since June 2023, Santos currently rides a two-fight winning streak consisting of victories over John Castaneda and Johnny Munoz.

Nurmagomedov (18-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) has not competed since October 2023 when he bounced back into the win column with a 73-second submission victory over Muin Gafurov.

With the removal, the UFC 308 fight card includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 2 p.m. ET)

• Champ Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway – for featherweight title
• Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker
• Dan Ige vs. Lerone Murphy
• Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic
• Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 10 a.m. ET)

• Rafael dos Anjos vs. Geoff Neal
• Myktybek Orolbai vs. Mateusz Rebecki
• Said Nurmagomedov vs. Daniel Santos
• Brunno Ferreira vs. Abus Magomedov
• Chris Barnett vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
• Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo
• Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Carlos Leal
• Ibo Aslan vs. Raffael Cerqueira
• Ismail Naurdiev vs. Bruno Silva

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