Former Sheffield United defender George Baldock has died at the age of 31.

The England-born Greece international was found dead in the swimming pool of his house in Glyfada, southern Athens.

Baldock had joined Greek side Panathinaikos in the summer after seven years at the Blades.

Sheffield United expressed their shock at the news, saying: “The defender left the club in the summer after seven years at Bramall Lane and was extremely popular with supporters, staff and team-mates who pulled on a red and white shirt alongside him.

“The sincere condolences of everyone associated with Sheffield United are extended to George’s family and friends.”

Baldock had made four appearances for Panathinaikos and started in their goalless draw with Olympiakos on Sunday.

The Greek Super League said: “The entire Super League football family expresses its deep sorrow for the untimely loss of Panathinaikos and our national team footballer, George Baldock, and extends its deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.”

Baldock, who had been capped 12 times for Greece, started his career at MK Dons on 2009 and played more than 100 times for them.

He had loan spells with several clubs including Northampton and Oxford United, before joining Sheffield United in 2017.

He made 219 appearances in all competitions for the club, helping them to promotion to the Premier League in 2019 and again in 2023.

Baldock was born in Buckingham but qualified for Greece through his grandmother and was called up for the national team for the first time in May 2022 by manager Gus Poyet.

He made his debut for the country the following month in a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland at Windsor Park in Belfast.

The social media accounts of Panathinaikos and the Greece national team blackened their profile pictures on Wednesday evening.

Manchester United defender Harry Maguire, who started his career at Sheffield United, posted a picture of Baldock with a broken heart emoji and the letters RIP.

Northampton Town tweeted: “We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former loanee George Baldock at the tragically young age of 31. Sending our sincerest condolences to George’s family and friends.”

LAS VEGAS – Brandon Royval always seems to find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that was the case again one week prior to his UFC Fight Night 244 main event.

Ahead of Saturday’s flyweight headliner against Tatsuro Taira (16-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas (ESPN+), former title challenger Royval (16-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) attended UFC 307 in Salt Lake City to help corner his good friend and teammate Alexander Hernandez, who defeated Austin Hubbard by unanimous decision in a short-notice affair.

Following his victory, Hernandez revealed to reporters backstage that his day had been traumatic. He was taking a fight-morning walk with his team and they encountered a dangerous situation in the form of a fatal shooting. According to a Salt Lake City Police Department report, the suspect, since arrested and identified as 49-year-old Farshad Hassan-Puori, allegedly shot and killed 30-year-old Gage Barrow.

Royval was part of the group with Hernandez when the incident unfolded, and according to Hernandez, it was Royval who actually ran toward the danger and “chased down the shooter,” but to no avail.

A week later, Royval said he’s not overly keen to relive the experience. However, he admits it was a lot to endure, and he’s particularly proud of Hernandez for being able to compartmentalize and still go into the octagon and win at UFC 307 that same day.

“I don’t really care to talk about it too much because someone died, but at the end of the day, there was a shooting that happened in Utah,” Royval told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “It happened pretty much right in front of us. I guess the only thing that matters at the end of the day is we’ve seen some crazy sh*t. Alex had locked in. Won his fight. Kudos to him on that, and it’s a lot to deal with first thing in the morning. It was like 11 a.m. My boy had to report a couple hours later and pretty much anything that could go wrong on that walk, did go wrong.”

Considering he is a professional fighter, Royval isn’t exactly in the business of self-preservation. He said danger and drama seem to be routine occurrences in his life, and that’s the only explanation he could give about deciding to run toward the shooter and crime scene rather than flee for safety.

“I can’t really speak to anybody or speak to anybody else, but I felt like I’ve found myself in a lot of sh*tty situations, and I’ve been around a lot of sh*t that happens,” Royval said. “I feel like I’m a little bit of a sh*t magnet. So I’m not really unfamiliar with some weird sh*t like that. But not necessarily a shooting like that, but I did CPR like a week before on another dude in a car accident. So it’s been a crazy month. I would stay as far away from me as possible to be completely honest. It’s been a crazy month. I’ve been threatened by crackheads, done CPR, been in a car accident, and the f*cking shooting and seeing someone die. Anyways. Probably stay away from me this week.”

One person who won’t be able to stay away from Royval all week is Taira, because they will be locked in the octagon for five scheduled rounds with significant title stakes in the 125-pound division. Royval is ready for it and prepared for a grueling, brutal battle.

“When it’s fight time, we’re actually going to go for it,” Royval said. “You’re going to see two killers try to kill.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 244.

JOHN STONES believes Lee Carsley has got England playing like Manchester City.

The Three Lions star sees parallels with how interim boss Carsley and City chief Pep Guardiola set up their teams to play attacking football.

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England face Greece at a sold-out Wembley in the Nations League ON Thursday, with skipper Harry Kane a big doubt following injury.

It will be Carsley’s third game since replacing Gareth Southgate on a temporary basis.

And defender Stones said: “There are a lot of similarities between Lee and Pep in how they see the game and how they want us to play.

“We saw that last month when we played the two games and got we played the two games and got positive results.

“It’s been great for me with the likenesses of how we play.

“They do a lot of research on us as players, see how we play at our clubs and then try to bring that in.

“That makes it as easy as possible for us, as players, to gel together.”

Stones skippers the Three Lions from the start of a match for the first time on his 82nd cap.

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He said: “To be asked to captain England was everything I could have dreamed of as a kid.

“For my family to see me walk out as captain is going to be such a memorable moment.

“I was speechless when Lee asked me. It was just an incredible moment.

“To walk out with the armband is an honour I will cherish forever.”

England beat Ireland and Finland 2-0 last month and Stones feels the squad have got used to a new regime after Gareth Southgate and No 2 Steve Holland led them at four major finals.

Stones added: “We have bedded in now. I mentioned before how it was a strange feeling after being with Steve, Gareth, all the team.

“And I’ve not had many managers throughout my career.

“So it was a strange transition period with new faces and new challenges — and I think we have now settled in.

“It has been a seamless transition, which is just a credit to them and not easy to do.”

Striker Kane, 31, was unable to train properly this week after suffering groin and ankle issues playing for German giants Bayern Munich.

And Ollie Watkins looks set to start in his place, while Tottenham new-boy Dominic Solanke is likely to feature at some stage.

The Three Lions were hit by Morgan Gibbs-White, Ezri Konsa and Kobbie Mainoo pulling out of the squad after picking up injuries during last weekend’s Prem games.

Carsley called up Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones and Newcastle defender Tino Livramento.

At the back, Stones is set to partner Levi Colwill, while in-form Chelsea star Cole Palmer is also expected to start.

And Carsley explained: “Kane is nursing an injury — a small knock — and it’s something we won’t take a chance with.

“We are not ruling out Harry from being on the bench but he won’t start against Greece.

“Hopefully he will be in contention for Sunday in Finland, time will tell.

“It was a great chat to have with John on Tuesday night — to have the chance to ask him to captain the team.

“It’s a brilliant achievement and it’s something that he deserves, with the experience he has and his professionalism.

“He just shows a great example to the younger players.”

City winger Jack Grealish is unlikely to feature against Greece.

Carsley added: “Jack will be assessed later but he had a slight knock in training on Wednesday.

“We wouldn’t gamble with any of the players — it’s important we put them first.”

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Brandon Royval got an offer to face Kai Asakura at UFC 305 in Perth, but he ultimately turned it down.

Now, Royval will face Tatsuro Taira in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Vegas 98 fight card at the UFC APEX. “Raw Dawg” says the fight with the former RIZIN bantamweight champion excited him, but if he was going to make the 10,000-mile trek, it needed to be worth his while.

“They offered me that fight in Australia,” Royval told MMA Fighting. “I asked them for more money, I asked for a handful of stuff, and they said no. And then I asked them for one of any of those things, and they said no. And I was like, all right, well, then I’m not gonna go f*cking fight some dude, not in the UFC, for not much money, all the way across the [world] where I’m not getting any sleep. I’m not getting any of this, I’m not getting a guaranteed title shot, I’m not getting any more money.

“I got to bring my whole team out there if I’m going to go out there because I need to get my Arcadian rhythm in cycle. So it’s like I got to fly out my whole team and guys that look like Kai Asakura. So it was one of those [things where] financially [it] doesn’t make sense to me. And then it also, like, the risk doesn’t [exceed] the reward. If I go out there and lose, I just lost somebody without a ranking, and if I go out there and win, they’re not guaranteeing me a title shot or anything. So there was really no reward in that.”

The 32-year-old Royval is set to make his 10th octagon appearance, and does so in his second consecutive Fight Night headliner. In December Royval came up short in his first opportunity at UFC gold, losing a unanimous decision to Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 296. With his future unknown following the loss, Royval jumped on the opportunity to face past opponent Brandon Moreno on short notice in the main event of UFC Mexico City, and went on to get the victory via split decision.

With well over four years in the promotion, and being the UFC’s current top-ranked 125-pounder, Royval has learned, and understood, that when you’re in that position, the juice needs to be worth the squeeze — even for a fan-friendly fight against Asakura.

“Dude, I think of myself like, bro, I’m a prostitute for sure,” Royval explained. “I put my body on the line for money. But it’s at this point [that] I f*cking earned my No. 1 spot. I fought my ass off. I’m No. 1 in the world. So I’m an expensive prostitute. I’m not a cheap ass prostitute anymore. I’m not just selling my body to anybody who we’ll take it.

“I f*cking I got a price on me, and I’m not just f*cking anybody, you know what I’m saying? I still believe in my heart of hearts I’m the most exciting fighter in the flyweight division. Anytime my fights haven’t been exciting, It wasn’t because of me.”

Asakura signed with the UFC earlier this year following a stoppage win over former Bellator champ Juan Archuleta at RIZIN 45 this past New Year’s Eve. The 30-year-old has still yet to make his promotional debut.

Should he defeat Taira on Saturday, Royval would love to get his chance to avenge the loss to the champion. But if not, he would love to face Asakura, and maybe do so if the UFC returns to Japan in 2025.

“I don’t know, I really don’t know,” Royval said. “I want to fight for a belt. But that being said is like, if they’re not gonna give me a belt and it’s like, I think I have a win over the whole top five of the division, I don’t know what else you guys want, motherf*cker.

“But damn, yeah, I kinda wanna fight Kai Asakura in Japan. Japan is a dream. Kai Asakura is sick. That gets me out of bed, and I want to fight for a f*cking belt. If they want to hype Kai, then I want to take that.”

Bradley was offered the chance to shine by Klopp last season, and he says he is ready to take the next step under Slot, who replaced the German in the summer.

“They are two different people but I have really enjoyed working under the new gaffer,” he added.

“I’ve learnt a lot from him and it’s been really good. Long may that continue.

“I’m still young, I’m only 21. I know I’m not the complete player and I still have loads of places I can improve.

“As long as I keep working hard, in the gym and on the pitch every day, I can only get better and hopefully I’ll continue to do that.”

Bradley is ambitious, and that is something that is no secret. Despite Trent Alexander-Arnold being ahead of him in the pecking order at Anfield, he says his “ultimate aim” is to be a regular starter under Slot.

“I want to be playing week in, week out for Liverpool,” he said.

“I know I have a tough challenge ahead of me but I want to give my all every day and see where that takes me.”

LAS VEGAS – Dana White doubts Conor McGregor turned down Justin Gaethje multiple times.

According to Gaethje’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, McGregor has said no to fighting Gaethje on five different occasions in past years. McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) and Gaethje (25-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) have traded barbs in the past but never fought each other.

“He (McGregor) got offered this fight at least five times,” Abdelaziz told Submission Radio. “He never wanted to have to do anything with Justin Gaethje. He said the reason he didn’t want to fight Justin was because Justin talked bad to him on Twitter and Instagram before, and the history we have with him. He didn’t want to lose to our team, I guess.

“Even the UFC told me this. ‘Hey, leave him alone. Don’t talk with him. He doesn’t like to fight people who talk bad to him on the internet. I promise you. He likes to be the one to start the talk and you retaliate.’ Why do you think (Michael) Chandler’s being so nice to him? Why? Because he was being told not to talk bad to Conor.”

White was asked about those allegations, and based on his history with McGregor, the UFC CEO doesn’t think that’s something he would do. White recounted the time McGregor agreed to fight Chad Mendes on short notice after Jose Aldo pulled out of their UFC 189 fight due to a broken rib.

”I don’t know if that’s true,” White said Tuesday during the Dana White’s Contender Series 75 post-fight news conference at the UFC Apex. “I’ve said this many times, and I’ll say it again: I mean, we actually have video footage of Lorenzo and I walking into his house that he (McGregor) was renting here. He just woke up, telling him that the fight fell out, and he’s literally leaving going, ‘Well, I’m going to train, let me know who I’m fighting when I get back.’ We’ve never had those kind of issues with Conor McGregor ever.”

McGregor is yet to return since breaking his leg in a TKO loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021. He was booked to face Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June but withdrew due to a broken pinky toe. Chandler has since moved on and is scheduled to rematch Charles Oliveira in the UFC 309 co-main event on Nov. 16 in New York.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 75.