Leon Marchand beat Duncan Scott to win the men’s 200m individual medley at the short course World Cup event in Shanghai.

France’s Marchand claimed victory in the 100m in the same discipline on Friday in what was his first race since winning four gold medals at the Olympics in Paris during the summer.

He always looked in control after the halfway mark of the 200m and won in a World Cup record of one minute 50.30 seconds.

“It was a pretty good race and I’m happy with the time so it’s cool,” said Marchand.

Great Britain’s Scott, who won the 400m freestyle and was third in the 100m IM on Friday, was second in 1:51.08, with Switzerland’s Noe Ponti third in 1:51.78.

“It’s good fun racing those boys as it brings the best out of all of us but that was pretty tough,” said Scott.

Great Britain’s James Guy came fourth in the men’s 200m butterfly.

There will be two more World Cup events, which take place in South Korea from 24-26 October and Singapore from 31 October to 2 November, and they are qualifying competitions for the 2024 short course World Championships in Hungary in December.

UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad has dismissed Conor McGregor’s recent social media attack.

Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) recently acquired the UFC’s welterweight crown by dominating Leon Edwards at UFC 304. McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) fired verbal shots at Muhammad, criticizing his fighting style and drawing power, while vowing to become a three-division champion.

“I’d love to crush my left hook into Belal’s temple and take down the triple crown,” McGregor wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “I’d do it easily. And fast!

“To think this bum is now a UFC champion with zero knockdowns on his resume whatsoever is so bad. The UFC’s most abysmal zero revenue generating fighter in modern history.”

McGregor, who won titles in the UFC’s featherweight and lightweight divisions, has three times at 170 pounds in the UFC. Not only does Muhammad not see a path for a potential showdown in the octagon, he believes McGregor’s fighting career is over.

“I don’t think he fights again, ever,” Muhammad told MMA Junkie. “I think that he’s in that part of his life now where he’s starting to realize people are starting to forget about him. He loves that attention so much, so when he sees something happening in the UFC that’s getting headlines, he wants to take that attention.

“I get a fight announced and he wants to act like, ‘Oh, I’ll fight this guy,’ and he knows people are going to talk about it and speak about it. Even after big fights – watch after the Max Holloway fight against Ilia Topuria, he’s going to come up with a stupid speech.”

Muhammad is set for his first title defense less than five months after winning the title. He’ll take on undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov in the main event of UFC 310 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

McGregor hasn’t competed since breaking his lower leg in July 2021 at UFC 264 in a trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier. He has long been linked to a fight against Michael Chandler, but the fight continued to get pushed back further to the point Chandler decided to move on.

Recently, McGregor has appeared at BKFC events, the bareknuckle boxing promotion of which he is now a part-owner. In interviews, the Irishman claims he’s eager to return to action, but he and the UFC cannot seem to get on the same page.

McGregor has found a new potential opponent in Dan Hooker, who recently agreed to fight while at a BKFC event.

Muhammad thinks it’s all a part of McGregor’s plan to stay on people’s minds.

“He knows what he’s doing,” Muhammad said. “He knows he’s going to get people to speak about him and say, ‘Oh, maybe McGregor will come back in 2027. Maybe McGregor will come back in 2028.

“I think he needs to hit rehab first. Once he gets clear and clean, then he can get back in the gym and get back to working out.”

Daniel Ricciardo’s final Formula 1 race weekend could have been handled in a better way, his former RB team has admitted.

The Australian was dropped by RB after the Singapore Grand Prix in favour of Liam Lawson, as the squad wants to evaluate the New Zealander’s potential to see if he could be a candidate for Red Bull in 2025 or 2026.

But although the decision to make the driver switch was made well in advance of Singapore, the development was kept quite secret, with there being no confirmation from the team nor Ricciardo over the Marina Bay weekend that he was definitely leaving F1.

So when it became clear post-race that Ricciardo’s career was over, there was a backlash from fans who suggested that Red Bull had given the eight-time winner a disservice by not allowing him a proper send-off.

However, as Motorsport.com revealed, the reality was that Red Bull representatives had spoken to the Ricciardo camp ahead of the Singapore weekend to see if there was interest in him announcing the news before track action got underway, but it was decided not to go ahead with this plan.

Reflecting now on the events of the Singapore weekend, RB team boss Laurent Mekies says that in hindsight, it may well have been better to have done things differently.

“Yes, it was frustrating, and yes, it was not ideal to go through the weekend in that way,” said Mekies. “That is first of all for him, on a professional and on a personal matter, and for the whole team around him.”

Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01

Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images

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Mekies confirmed that talks took place before Singapore about how things should play out in public, but once it was decided to keep things secret then both team and driver had to play along with it.

“Daniel was aware,” he added. “We did have discussions before the weekend. For many different reasons, we chose together to go into that weekend without announcing. And from that point onwards, we had to deal with it.

“It’s a decision that, in hindsight, we may or may not do differently. But it’s something that we were, both the team and the drivers, on board to go through that now.”

However, although the way the weekend was handled was far from perfect, Mekies still thinks that the message got through to Ricciardo about how much he was loved and respected by fans and those in F1.

“I think in one way or another, we all found a way to express how much love there is from the sport to Daniel, from the fans to Daniel,” he added.

“I don’t know if it would have been better or worse [to announce it], certainly different, more traditional, but I can hopefully say that the amount of love and empathy we felt through that weekend was something outstanding and something that shows that he’s bigger than an F1 driver, he’s bigger than F1.”

ADAM AZIM is putting his undefeated record on the line once again TONIGHT as he takes on British rival Ohara Davies in a mouthwatering lightweight.

Assassin hasn’t looked back since stopping Franck Petitjean in round ten of their 2023 fight to become the new European light-welterweight champion.

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The Slough-born icon won and defended the European title in record timing as Azim went on to beat challenger Enock Poulsen three months later.

But Assassin could be coming up against his toughest challenge yet as he faces a former British and Commonwealth champion with a point to prove.

However, the wind will certainly be in the sails of Azim as Davies goes into this battle fresh from a TKO loss against Ismael Barroso.

Ironically, both men started their boxing journeys in East London’s iconic Peacock Gym with Azim looking up to Davies who is ten years older.

When is Azim vs Davies?

• Adam Azim vs Ohara Davies will take place tonight – Saturday, October 19.
• The undercard is scheduled to start at 7pm BST/2pm ET.
• Main event ring-walks will get underway at around 10pm BST/5pm ET.
• Copperbox Arena is the chosen venue for this huge fight and it can host approximately 7,500 spectators.

What TV channel is Azim vs Davies on and can it be live streamed?

• Adam Azim vs Ohara Davies will be broadcast LIVE on Sky Sports Box Main Event and Sky Sports Arena.
• Subscription members of NOW TV can also stream the entire action through a compatible mobile or tablet.
• Alternatively, SunSport will have round-by-round coverage on our live blog.

What is the undercard?

• Adam Azim vs. Ohara Davies; Super-lightweight
• Anthony Yarde vs. TBA; Light-heavyweight
• Dan Azeez vs. Lewis Edmonson for British light-heavyweight title
• Michael McKinson vs. Tulani Mbenge for IBO welterweigh title
• Shannon Courtenay vs. Catherine Tacone Ramos; Featherweight

What has been said?

Adam Azim admitted that he respects Ohara Davies whereas Davies is confident that he’ll be handing Azim his first loss.

Azim said: “I can’t wait to get back in the ring and back to what I do best,” said Azim. “It was a great honour to win and defend the European title but now I’m ready for my next challenge.

“I’ve known Ohara Davies for many years. I respect him and what he’s achieved in the sport but when we meet in the ring, he’s just another opponent and another step on my journey to the top.

“He’s a good fighter. I think our styles will make for an exciting fight but there’s only going to be one outcome. I’m ready to make a statement and show everybody that I’m ready for the biggest names in the division.”

Davies said: “I’m excited for this fight. I like Adam Azim. I’ve known him since he was very young and it’s amazing to see his success so far in boxing,

“I followed him in the amateurs, and I’ve always respected him. But he isn’t a kid anymore. He’s grown into a man with massive potential. And that’s why it’s a shame that I have to hand him his first defeat.

“No needle, no hate, I want us to go back to our families happy and healthy after the fight. But this is where it all changes for him. I’m sorry Adam. This is where it ends.”

The PFL Battle of the Giants start time and TV schedule for the Francis Ngannou vs. Renan Ferreira event at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday afternoon is below.

The fight card is broken into two different parts and airs on multiple mediums. This post helps explain which fights are airing where and at which times.

The event kicks off with a four-fight preliminary card 1:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+ and DAZN, headlined by a bantamweight bout between Raufeon Stots and Marcos Breno.

Raufeon Stots vs. Marcos Breno

Makkasharip Zaynukov vs. Dedrek Sanders

Ibragim Ibragimov vs. Nacho Campos

Tariq Ismail vs. Taha Bendaoud

The ESPN+ and DAZN pay-per-view begins at 4 p.m. ET and features three title fights. Former UFC champion Francis Ngannou and Renan Ferreira clash for the PFL Superfight Heavyweight Championship, while Larissa Pacheco and former UFC champion Cris Cyborg clash for the PFL Superfight Featherweight Championship. Johnny Eblen puts his Bellator middleweight belt on the line against Fabian Edwards on the main card as well.

Francis Ngannou vs. Renan Ferreira

Larissa Pacheco vs. Cris Cyborg

Johnny Eblen vs. Fabian Edwards

Husein Kadimagomaev vs. Zafar Mohsen

A.J. McKee vs. Paul Hughes