List of All Articles with Tag 'fc'

Lionel Messi has slammed "lies" of a meeting with Barcelona president Joan Laporta during the Ballon d'Or ceremony.

FC Cincinnati triumphed 3-0 over New York Red Bulls in game one.

EuroLeague Week 4 Power Rankings: EuroLeague's Rivalry Week brought us some great games, Isaia Cordinier and Virtus Bologna are off to a 4-1 start to their EuroLeague season, Joan Pennaroya gets fired from Baskonia, and ALBA Berlin gets their first win.

Team Renegade, where UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards trains, has told The Independent that Ian Machado Garry was ‘refused entrance’ to the gym because he did not ‘add to the team’s culture’. The gym’s statement comes after Machado Garry told The Independent last week that he was not allowed back at Team Renegade, where he recently trained with Edwards, due to ‘doubts and insecurities’ in the welterweight champion and his coach. Team Renegade said: “Sometimes the coaches allow fighters to come in from the outside, but this is very much a privilege and not the norm. If the coaches feel it’s not adding to the team’s culture, a fighter is refused entrance. Ian Garry’s more nomadic approach to preparation has given him great results, but it’s not in line with what we are creating at Team Renegade. This has nothing to do with one specific fighter or a specific coach.” Machado Garry, who has trained at numerous gyms in various countries in recent times, is ranked 10th at welterweight in the UFC. The Irishman is unbeaten and will fight former teammate Vicente Luque at UFC 296 on 16 December – on the undercard of Edwards’s title defence against Colby Covington. Machado Garry, who turns 26 in November, said in an interview with The Independent on Friday (27 October): “Leon Edwards, his head coach asked me not to come back to Renegade; told me I’m not allowed to train there. “I have to word this correctly, because I don’t wanna be… Firstly, I wanna put out there that Ash and Tom, who run Renegade… I don’t wanna give any negatives without saying a positive. I don’t want any s*** with any gyms. The guys at Renegade… it was a great energy. Tom and Ash were very welcoming, lovely and nice to me. It was nothing to do with them. “Leon and his head coach had an issue with me training on the mats and recently have asked me not to train there, because, ‘Leon doesn’t want any insecurities or doubts on his own mats, within the gym,’ which I don’t fully understand. “I get that we’re both in the top 10 and you might see me as a threat, but I’m not a threat to you right now; I’m not fighting for the title right now. His coach said the words: ‘Ian is a threat, I cannot have Leon having any doubts or insecurities.’ “That makes me think someone is weak minded and can’t have another contender training on the mat. That’s why gym conflict is annoying. For me, why not have that other elite guy on the mat? Why not train with him? Why not have him push you? Why not learn and grow from each other? “It’s very irritating, because I’m a young fighter who wants to be the best in the world, who wants to train with the best in the world, and Renegade is the best gym in the UK. I went there to learn from the guys around Birmingham and who have essentially proven that it’s the best gym in the UK; I didn’t go there to train with Leon, I went there to train with that gym, because they’re amazing. Now I’m being stopped from going to a gym, because I might potentially fight Leon in 18 months. My attitude is: If that’s the case, why not have this conversation in six months? “I love the guys at Renegade. They’re really nice and welcoming, I rang them beforehand to make sure everything was good. Then, after the second day I was there, they were like: ‘Oh, we can’t have you back, Leon and some of his team don’t want this.’” Edwards won the welterweight title in August 2022 with a stunning head-kick knockout of Kamaru Usman, who had beaten the Jamaican-born Briton on points in 2015. Edwards, 32, then retained the title against Usman in a trilogy bout at UFC 286 in March. Edwards was a decision winner against the Nigerian-American in London. The Independent’s full interview with Machado Garry will be available to read later this week. Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More UFC’s Ian Garry: ‘Leon Edwards and his coach said I can’t train at their gym anymore’ Ngannou display against Fury the ‘biggest upset in boxing’, claims Hardy When will Conor McGregor return to the UFC? Ngannou display against Fury the ‘biggest upset in boxing’, claims Hardy When will Conor McGregor return to the UFC? The Independent’s pound-for-pound UFC rankings

Liverpool have won the EFL Cup once under Jurgen Klopp and they travel to AFC Bournemouth in the Round of 16 on Wednesday.

Lionel Messi has revealed that he'd like to return to Barcelona in the future following his record-breaking eighth Ballon d'Or triumph.

Seattle Sounders and FC Dallas clash in the first round of MLS Cup playoffs.

Aurelien Tchouameni denies Gavi was responsible for his foot injury during El Clasico.

Barcelona midfielder Ilkay Gundogan questions the reaction of his teammates to losing Saturday's El Clasico to arch-enemy Real Madrid.

Find out where the San Francisco 49ers stand in the NFC playoff race after their recent losing streak. Who is in and who is out?

The AFC Playoff picture is heating up after an eventful Week 8 in the NFL. Get the latest updates and standings.

Conor McGregor’s UFC return is edging closer. McGregor has not fought since suffering a broken leg in a loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021, but he returned to the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s (Usada) testing pool on 8 October. The end of that saga has also sparked the end of the UFC’s relationship with Usada, which said on 11 October that it would not renew its partnership with the UFC in January, claiming that the organisations’ relationship was made ‘untenable’ by McGregor’s situation. It was announced in February that McGregor, 35, would fight Michael Chandler this year, but McGregor remained absent from the Usada pool for months; in order to compete in the UFC, athletes must have been in the pool for six months while returning zero positive test results and at least two negatives. The UFC and McGregor hinted that he might be granted an exemption, something that Usada spoke out against in early October. “We can confirm that Conor McGregor has re-entered the Usada testing pool,” said Usada CEO Travis Tygart. “We have been clear and firm with the UFC that there should be no exception given by the UFC for McGregor [...] Unfortunately, we do not currently know whether the UFC will ultimately honor the six-month or longer requirement because, as of 1 January 2024, Usada will no longer be involved with the UFC Anti-Doping Program. “Despite a positive and productive meeting about a contract renewal in May 2023, the UFC did an about-face and informed Usada on Monday 9 October that it was going in a different direction. We are disappointed for UFC athletes, who are independent contractors who rely on our independent, gold-standard global program to protect their rights to a clean, safe, and fair Octagon. The UFC’s move imperils the immense progress made within the sport under Usada’s leadership. “The relationship between Usada and UFC became untenable given the statements made by UFC leaders and others questioning Usada’s principled stance that McGregor not be allowed to fight without being in the testing pool for at least six months.” If Usada were to renew its relationship with the UFC in January and McGregor were to honour its stipulations, that would put his earliest return date at some time in April – when UFC 300 is expected to take place. McGregor even told TNT Sports on 28 October, while present at Tyson Fury’s boxing match with Francis Ngannou, that April was being discussed with the UFC. However, the end of the UFC-Usada partnership in January theoretically means that McGregor can return any time after that, without having to concern himself with drug-testing rules. That could change now that the UFC has partnered with a different drug-testing organisation, Drug Free Sport, but that remains to be seen. UFC 298 is expected to take place in February, with UFC 299 likely to be staged in March. McGregor could therefore feature on either card, in theory, and some fans and pundits have argued that UFC 300 will conjure enough hype as it is – without needing McGregor to be involved. In other words: UFC 300 can be sold with other high-profile match-ups, while McGregor’s return sells itself; or: UFC 300 does not need McGregor, and the Irishman does not need UFC 300. McGregor is still expected to face Chandler, with the 37-year-old American having held out for the icon’s return despite its ongoing delay. Since the announcement of McGregor vs Chandler, McGregor has in fact talked up potential bouts with Justin Gaethje and old rival Nate Diaz, though the latter is no longer signed to the UFC. Furthermore, UFC president Dana White has insisted that Gaethje will not be next for McGregor. There is less certainty around the weight at which McGregor will return, however. After winning the featherweight title in 2015, McGregor collected the lightweight belt in 2016 to become the UFC’s first ever dual-weight champion, but he has also competed at welterweight three times, trading wins with Diaz in 2016 and stopping Donald Cerrone in 2020. While there is no expectation for McGregor to fight at featherweight again, and although Chandler typically fights at lightweight, McGregor has hinted that he could return at middleweight – having bulked up significantly while recovering from his broken leg. McGregor suffered that injury in his second straight defeat by Poirier, who knocked out the Irishman in January 2021. The pair, who contested those bouts at lightweight, previously clashed at featherweight in 2014, with McGregor knocking out the American. Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More Usada ends UFC partnership over ‘untenable’ Conor McGregor situation Kamaru Usman to face Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 after Paulo Costa withdraws Charles Oliveira replaced by Alexander Volkanovski in Islam Makhachev fight