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Saudi Arabia to Host PFL 'Battle of the Giants' Championship in October

 The event will take place on October, 19 at Mayadeen Hall in Riyadh - SPA
 The event will take place on October, 19 at Mayadeen Hall in Riyadh - SPA
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Saudi Arabia to Host PFL 'Battle of the Giants' Championship in October

 The event will take place on October, 19 at Mayadeen Hall in Riyadh - SPA
 The event will take place on October, 19 at Mayadeen Hall in Riyadh - SPA

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will host the most prominent event in mixed martial arts, Battle of the Giants, which will bring together Brazilian champion Renan Ferreira and his Cameroonian rival Francis Ngannou for the Professional Fighters League (PFL) heavyweight championship title, SPA reported.

The event will take place on October, 19 at Mayadeen Hall in Riyadh, and it will be under the supervision of the Saudi Ministry of Sports and the organization of the Saudi Mixed Martial Arts Federation in cooperation with the World Martial Arts Association.
"I am happy to return to Saudi Arabia and be in Riyadh, which has a special place in my heart. The Saudi public welcomed me enthusiastically last time, so I am looking forward to performing in front of them and winning this great fight," Ngannou told a news conference in Washington, D.C.
Ferreira, the current PFL heavyweight champion, said, "I am very excited to be in the Kingdom for the first time, and I want to be part of the development of this sport there, by participating in this match in which I will definitely give all my best to achieve a historic victory that adds to my previous successes."
The fight will be preceded by another outstanding one on the women’s side in which MMA great Cris Cyborg will face champion Larissa Pacheco in another highly anticipated and exciting competition between two champions.

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Paralympics Tickets Popular with Parisians who Snubbed Olympics

FILE PHOTO: Paris 2024 Paralympics - Paris, France - August 18, 2024 Workers work to convert the Eiffel Tower Stadium from the beach volleyball venue to the Paralympic blind football venue for the coming Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Paris 2024 Paralympics - Paris, France - August 18, 2024 Workers work to convert the Eiffel Tower Stadium from the beach volleyball venue to the Paralympic blind football venue for the coming Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor/File Photo
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Paralympics Tickets Popular with Parisians who Snubbed Olympics

FILE PHOTO: Paris 2024 Paralympics - Paris, France - August 18, 2024 Workers work to convert the Eiffel Tower Stadium from the beach volleyball venue to the Paralympic blind football venue for the coming Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Paris 2024 Paralympics - Paris, France - August 18, 2024 Workers work to convert the Eiffel Tower Stadium from the beach volleyball venue to the Paralympic blind football venue for the coming Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor/File Photo

Parisians are the main buyers of tickets for the Paralympic Games, organizers said, rushing to grab a second opportunity to see competitions in some of the Games' spectacular venues, after many chose to snub the Olympics or missed out on tickets.
In July, Parisians had left the city in droves ahead of the Olympics, with entire neighborhoods turned eerily quiet as residents decamped as they feared the disturbance and traffic problems many thought the Games would bring, Reuters reported.
But the Games turned out to be a global success. The Paralympics will allow them to see Olympic sports in the same venues, including at the feet of the Eiffel Tower or in the gardens of the Versailles castle outside Paris.
Organizers said that of the more than 1.75 million tickets already sold ahead of the Aug. 28 start of the Paralympics, 92% came from French buyers, with buyers from the Ile-de-France region around Paris taking the lion's share of 73%.
Parisian Mathieu Bucella is set to boost these numbers a little further.
"I'm seriously thinking about it because I'm a bit annoyed that I didn't think of getting tickets for the (Olympic) Games, so this is my second chance," he said.
Organizers said several sessions were nearly sold out already, notably wheelchair fencing and para taekwondo in Grand Palais, para track cycling in Saint Quentin, para equestrian in Chateau de Versailles and blind football at Champ de Mars.
"We were watching the Olympic Games on TV, but after that you get that gut feeling that you want to come and see everything with your own eyes," Mexican tourist Arlet Haro said.
US tourist Asad Rahman said he was glad to have come to Paris for the Paralympics.
"Things are a little bit more open than what we heard with the Olympics, where they closed off some areas. So, it works out, as a tourist," he said by the Eiffel Tower, where workers were converting the beach volleyball pitch into a blind football pitch.
Heavy security during the Olympics made movement across the city center difficult as many key thoroughfares were blocked.
The Paralympics will run until Sept.8.