Two years after quitting the MMA division for the Professional Fighters League (PFL), Francis Ngannou has declared that he wants to fight UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Ngannou, 38, has mostly boxed since leaving the UFC, but has only competed once in the PFL since signing with them in 2023.
Ngannou’s coach suggested a return to the UFC, so Jones called for a “super-fight,” to which the Cameroonian has since responded.
Ngannou said on social media, “You take care of the UFC, I take care of the PFL, and we’ll finally discover who the king of the heavyweight is.”
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Dana White claimed that he would never welcome Ngannou back after the UFC’s exit was an ugly one.
“It’s over, that’s over,” the message read. In 2023, White declared, “He’ll never be in the UFC again.”
When Ngannou’s coach Eric Nicksick suggested that the promotion would be the best match for his fighter, Ngannou’s coach sparked ferocious speculation.
Nicksick’s comments were quickly responded to by Jones, who has been a social media back and forth with Aspinall for weeks.
According to Jones, “I’m hearing Francis Ngannou is still interested, and we’re talking.”
“That’s a real super-fight,” he declared. Not just hype, but a clash of champions. I’ve defended my UFC belt for more than ten years while he held it. Two kings traveling through different roads.
Two real legacies collide, not just one legend facing a mouth that’s hot right now.
The UFC has a history of avoiding co-promotional competitions with rival MMA clubs.
However, PFL chief Donn Davis also responded to Ngannou’s request by suggesting a “winner-takes-all” agreement that would see the triumphant heavyweight and his promotional company monopolize all” event profits.
Jones is the reigning UFC two-weight champion. When Ngannou left the UFC, he was the current heavyweight champion.
Lamine Yamal, the star of Portugal, acknowledged Cristiano Ronaldo’s generation, but said Sunday’s Nations League final was more than just a match between the pair.
The Munich final was intended to be a showdown between Yamal, the most exciting young talent in world football, and veteran Ronaldo, 40, one of the biggest names in the game.
In Spain’s wild 5-4 semifinal victory over France, Ronaldo scored the winner to send Portugal past Germany in the final. Yamal was named man-of-the-match after scoring a brace in the victory.
However, Ronaldo claimed that Spain was “perhaps the best national team in the world” and that the focus on the two individuals was excessive.
There are two generations entering and leaving the stage, according to the statement. That’s fine if you want to see me as a member of another generation.
That is not how it works when Cristiano and someone else are at odds with one another. It’s a common practice for the media to try to hype up things, but it’s always a team versus another team. ”
Ronaldo told reporters, “You have been talking about Lamine a lot, and you are right to do it because he’s very talented,” but I want to talk about the team.
Nico Williams, excellent midfielders like Pedri, and their coach, Luis de la Fuente, are all very good, very strong, and very disciplined. ”
Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams of Spain celebrate scoring their nation’s third goal in the Nations League semifinal against France [Angelika Warmuth/Reuters].
In a friendly game that Ronaldo started 21 years ago, Portugal last defeated their Iberian neighbors.
Ronaldo jumped on the scene when he was just a few months old, much like Yamal.
Ronaldo, age 18, impressed so much for his hometown team Sporting that they decided to buy him and bring him to Old Trafford a week later in a 3-1 victory over Manchester United in a friendly in Lisbon.
Yamal has consistently impressed since he first started playing, winning a league and cup double with Barcelona this year after winning the Euro 2024 title in Germany last year.
The Portuguese veteran, who was only “three years older than my son,” requested that the teenager be allowed to grow and improve without being pressured.
The child has been doing very well, but I ask that you let him grow and not put pressure on him. We must allow him to develop in his own way and appreciate his talent for the betterment of football. ”
Yamal was described as being “only 17 but very mature for his age,” according to Spain’s coach Luis de la Fuente. Well-prepared, wise, and intelligent, he lives his life as if it were all normal, which we aspire to.
You would be surprised, shocked, and how calm he is, de la Fuente said, adding that the national side were “trying to walk alongside [Yamal] in his education.”
“He’s special. This would be a stressful environment for some people. He is calm, in charge, and masters the circumstance, but for him, it’s relaxed. ”
Ronaldo is praised by the coach as a “legend in football and an example of the values I like: effort, work rate, sacrifice, improvement, and never letting your guard down.
Portugal is led by a football player who will leave behind an unmistakable legacy. ”
The Nations League has already been won by Portugal and Spain. Portugal won the first tournament of its kind in 2019 while Spain are the current champions following their victory in 2023.
Spain has won 16 of its previous 18 games and drawn two of its. It has not lost a competitive game since March 2023.
Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal told reporters that while his team “does not believe we are better than anyone else,” they “know we can compete in every game.”
Thomas Tuchel criticised England’s “attitude” and felt they “played with fire” in a narrow 1-0 World Cup qualifying win away to Andorra.
The Three Lions laboured against the world’s 173rd-ranked side in Barcelona, squeezing out a third successive win through captain Harry Kane’s 50th-minute strike to top Group K.
Tuchel’s men were jeered off the pitch at half-time and again at the end, leaving the England manager “not happy” with the disappointing display.
“I was most worried in the last 20 minutes because I did not like the attitude that we ended the game with,” said the German.
“I didn’t like the lack of urgency and it did not match the occasion – it is still a World Cup qualifier. We will let them know [on Sunday] what we want from them.
“I think we lacked the seriousness and the urgency that is needed in a World Cup qualifier.
“I think we played with fire. I didn’t like the attitude in the end. I didn’t like the body language. It was not what the occasion needed.”
England dominated the ball with 83 per cent possession, but frustratingly could not break down Andorra’s well-organised defence and were mainly restricted to efforts from distance.
Kane slid home the winner from a Noni Madueke cross for his 72nd international goal, but the Three Lions had few clear-cut chances.
England next face Senegal in a friendly at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground on Tuesday and Tuchel expects a better performance.
“I think we started well in the first 20 or 25 minutes,” he added. “We created a lot of chances and half chances, and we lost completely the momentum and couldn’t get it back in the first half.
“Got a little bit [back] in the second half, but then ended up in a place that was not good enough in terms of urgency.
‘They looked bored’ – why were England below par?
There were some mitigating circumstances for England’s lethargic display.
The match came at the end of a long domestic campaign for many of the players and was also played in hot and humid conditions in Barcelona – this fixture played there because Andorra’s national stadium was unavailable after the recent Games of the Small States of Europe.
But those watching clearly expected England to put in a more convincing performance against a side they had beaten six times previously by an aggregate score of 25-0.
“It looked like some of the players were bored in the last half an hour,” former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland captain Roy Keane told ITV.
“Go and get some more goals and impress the manager who is still new to the job.”
Ex-England defender Lee Dixon added: “They will be getting pelters no doubt about that.
“When you are fourth [in the rankings] and they are 173rd you expect to beat them handsomely, but that wasn’t the case.”
Former Manchester City midfielder Michael Brown agreed the performance was poor, but the priority was to get the job done in the bid for qualification to next year’s finals.
“It was a big disappointment but they did the job and won the game,” he said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Henderson start was ‘well deserved’
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Tuchel made five changes from the England team that beat Latvia 3-0 at Wembley in March and played Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones at right-back and Reece James at left-back as he tried to make the most of England’s control of the ball.
And the 51-year-old handed a surprise start to Ajax midfielder Jordan Henderson, his first for his country since 17 November, 2023.
Declan Rice, one of England’s key players came off the bench in the 81st minute as Tuchel used the match to have a look at options within his squad.
“Declan [Rice] looked a little bit out of rhythm and I think Jordan [Henderson] deserved to play.” said the England boss. “And also for what Jordan brings to this group, well deserved.
“We started well and then lost the rhythm and precision and also the energy to be more decisive and score more goals.
‘Dangerous’ Madueke takes chance to shine
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Chelsea winger Madueke has had a bright start to his England career.
The 23-year-old registered an assist on his Three Lions debut against Finland last September, and his pass for Kane’s winner was his third in six international appearances.
England tried to use his pace to get behind the Andorra defence and Madueke was constantly positive on the ball, repeatedly trying to beat his man.
He created the most chances with four, and also had the most touches in the opposition box of any player (12).
“He was, over the course of the match, the most dangerous. I could feel his hunger to do what was the plan throughout the whole of the match.” said Tuchel.
“The message got across because we had a good 25 minutes, but then the energy and the determination weren’t there anymore. Then it looks like it does.”
Madueke started the match on the left wing to give England width, the opposite side to where he usually plays for Chelsea.
The final defeat by Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos to become Britain’s first French Open men’s doubles champions since 1933 saw Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski lose 6-0,6-7,5-7, 7-5, respectively, to 6-4,6-4.
The British pair’s first set was broken three times and ended up with a bagel, making the match’s worst start possible.
In the second, they recovered with renewed energy and greater resilience, preventing five break points before the tie-break.
The first mini-break was held by Spain’s Granollers and Argentine’s Zeballos, but Salisbury and Skupski immediately responded with a double mini-break before the set was finished.
As Liverpool earned their first break of the serve in the opening game, Momentum remained with Londoner Salisbury and Liverpool’s Skupski, who had only started the season.
However, Court Philippe Chatrier’s opponents immediately retaliated and broke with them.
After that, Salisbury and Skupski failed to convert a fourth opportunity to 3-3 and 5-5, respectively, and missed two break points.
Harry Kane spared woeful England’s blushes as his second-half strike sealed a lacklustre 1-0 win against minnows Andorra in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier in Barcelona.
Thomas Tuchel’s side were booed off by England fans in the RCDE Stadium after struggling to impress against a team ranked 173rd in the world.
Kane’s 72nd international goal ensured England avoided the ultimate embarrassment of failing to beat such lowly opposition.
Tuchel is the first England manager to win his first three competitive games without conceding a goal.
But given the paucity of opposition provided by Andorra, Latvia and Albania in the Group K qualifiers, that achievement rings a little hollow after this miserable display.
“I’m not happy with the performance. We completely lost the momentum and couldn’t get it back. We ended up in a place that was not good enough in terms of urgency,” Tuchel said.
“We can just admit it that it’s not what we expect from us. I was most worried in the last 20 minutes because I didn’t like the attitude we ended the game with.
“I didn’t like the lack of urgency. It did not match the occasion. It is still a World Cup qualifier.”
Tuchel had warned that England’s tired stars should not be expected to thrash Andorra after gruelling domestic seasons.
The German cited the motivational difficulties posed by the summer international break, just before nine of his players jet off to the Club World Cup in the United States.
His fears proved prescient as England laboured to establish any rhythm in a soporific match with the feel of a pre-season friendly.
It was a far cry from the pulsating drama produced by Spain and France in their recent Nations League semi-final, underlining the task facing Tuchel as he builds up to the 2026 World Cup.
Tuchel didn’t help England’s cause by fielding an experimental side.
Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones started at right-back and Chelsea right-back Reece James featured at left-back.
With Declan Rice rested, Ajax midfielder Jordan Henderson, 34, made his first England start since 2023, becoming the Three Lions’ oldest player since Frank Lampard 11 years ago.
Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka was left out after only completing one training session this week, leaving Noni Madueke, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer to line up behind striker Harry Kane.
READ ALSO: Ballon d’Or Should Go To Champions League Winner — Ronaldo
Bereft of ideas
England forward #18 Morgan Rogers, England’s midfielder #10 Jude Bellingham and England’s forward #09 Harry Kane vie with Andorra’s defender #15 Moises San Nicolas (C) and Andorra’s midfielder #19 Joel Guillen Garcia (5R) during the 2026 World Cup qualifiers Europe zone, 1st round group K football match between Andorra and England at RCDE Stadium in Cornella de Llobregat, on June 7, 2025. (Photo by MANAURE QUINTERO / AFP)
Chelsea winger Madueke impressed but Palmer and Rogers were underwhelming.
Andorra hadn’t scored an international goal for more than two years and they quickly settled into a defensive formation that allowed England to monopolise possession.
As Tuchel had predicted, England didn’t find it easy to prise open a massed Andorra defence featuring nine men behind the ball at all times.
Madueke’s drive from the edge of the area was pushed away by Andorra keeper Iker Alvarez.
Kane should have broken the deadlock with a close-range chance from Jones’ cut-back, but the England captain prodded wastefully wide.
Given Tuchel’s desire to see his player perform in the warm Catalan temperatures ahead of the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, it was instructive to see England struggle to find the energy and purpose required to make Andorra uncomfortable.
They moved the ball too slowly, and were reduced them to hopeful efforts from distance, with Jude Bellingham’s 25-yard shot comfortably saved by Alvarez.
England looked bereft of ideas and the fans were beginning to grumble.
Kane eased the mounting pressure when the Bayern Munich striker made the breakthrough five minutes after the interval.
After Kane’s initial shot was saved, Madueke alertly guided a low cross back into the six-yard box for the England captain to tap into the empty net.
It was a modest way to reach a milestone for Kane, who has a remarkable 450 career goals for club and country in 697 games.
England still couldn’t find any momentum and were nearly punished in the closing stages when Guillaume Lopez’s shot was blocked by Ezri Konsa.
Harry Kane spared woeful England’s blushes as his second-half strike sealed a lacklustre 1-0 win against minnows Andorra in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier in Barcelona.
Thomas Tuchel’s side were booed off by England fans in the RCDE Stadium after struggling to impress against a team ranked 173rd in the world.
Kane’s 72nd international goal ensured England avoided the ultimate embarrassment of failing to beat such lowly opposition.
Tuchel is the first England manager to win his first three competitive games without conceding a goal.
But given the paucity of opposition provided by Andorra, Latvia and Albania in the Group K qualifiers, that achievement rings a little hollow after this miserable display.
“I’m not happy with the performance. We completely lost the momentum and couldn’t get it back. We ended up in a place that was not good enough in terms of urgency,” Tuchel said.
“We can just admit it that it’s not what we expect from us. I was most worried in the last 20 minutes because I didn’t like the attitude we ended the game with.
“I didn’t like the lack of urgency. It did not match the occasion. It is still a World Cup qualifier.”
Tuchel had warned that England’s tired stars should not be expected to thrash Andorra after gruelling domestic seasons.
The German cited the motivational difficulties posed by the summer international break, just before nine of his players jet off to the Club World Cup in the United States.
His fears proved prescient as England laboured to establish any rhythm in a soporific match with the feel of a pre-season friendly.
It was a far cry from the pulsating drama produced by Spain and France in their recent Nations League semi-final, underlining the task facing Tuchel as he builds up to the 2026 World Cup.
Tuchel didn’t help England’s cause by fielding an experimental side.
Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones started at right-back and Chelsea right-back Reece James featured at left-back.
With Declan Rice rested, Ajax midfielder Jordan Henderson, 34, made his first England start since 2023, becoming the Three Lions’ oldest player since Frank Lampard 11 years ago.
Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka was left out after only completing one training session this week, leaving Noni Madueke, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer to line up behind striker Harry Kane.
READ ALSO: Ballon d’Or Should Go To Champions League Winner — Ronaldo
Bereft of ideas
England forward #18 Morgan Rogers, England’s midfielder #10 Jude Bellingham and England’s forward #09 Harry Kane vie with Andorra’s defender #15 Moises San Nicolas (C) and Andorra’s midfielder #19 Joel Guillen Garcia (5R) during the 2026 World Cup qualifiers Europe zone, 1st round group K football match between Andorra and England at RCDE Stadium in Cornella de Llobregat, on June 7, 2025. (Photo by MANAURE QUINTERO / AFP)
Chelsea winger Madueke impressed but Palmer and Rogers were underwhelming.
Andorra hadn’t scored an international goal for more than two years and they quickly settled into a defensive formation that allowed England to monopolise possession.
As Tuchel had predicted, England didn’t find it easy to prise open a massed Andorra defence featuring nine men behind the ball at all times.
Madueke’s drive from the edge of the area was pushed away by Andorra keeper Iker Alvarez.
Kane should have broken the deadlock with a close-range chance from Jones’ cut-back, but the England captain prodded wastefully wide.
Given Tuchel’s desire to see his player perform in the warm Catalan temperatures ahead of the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, it was instructive to see England struggle to find the energy and purpose required to make Andorra uncomfortable.
They moved the ball too slowly, and were reduced them to hopeful efforts from distance, with Jude Bellingham’s 25-yard shot comfortably saved by Alvarez.
England looked bereft of ideas and the fans were beginning to grumble.
Kane eased the mounting pressure when the Bayern Munich striker made the breakthrough five minutes after the interval.
After Kane’s initial shot was saved, Madueke alertly guided a low cross back into the six-yard box for the England captain to tap into the empty net.
It was a modest way to reach a milestone for Kane, who has a remarkable 450 career goals for club and country in 697 games.
England still couldn’t find any momentum and were nearly punished in the closing stages when Guillaume Lopez’s shot was blocked by Ezri Konsa.
