MMA

Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterOct 3, 2023, 11:56 AM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez will be a licensed corner for Bellator MMA lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov at Bellator 300 on Saturday in San Diego. California State Athletic Commission

Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterOct 3, 2023, 05:09 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is scheduled to defend his title against a familiar foe at UFC 294 on Oct. 21, and would like to challenge for the welterweight strap

Jeff Wagenheim, ESPNOct 2, 2023, 12:05 PM ET Bellator 300 was to be headlined by an unprecedented four championship bouts. Now it’s down to three. Linton Vassell, who was to challenge heavyweight champion Ryan Bader at Saturday’s event in San Diego, withdrew from the fight because of illness, a Bellator official confirmed Monday. The fight

Oct 2, 2023, 09:20 AM ET The final quarter of the year is upon us. Things have been hectic — and newsworthy — in the sport of MMA in 2023. From a business perspective, the UFC has merged with WWE to form the publicly traded company TKO, under Endeavor. In the cage, UFC titles have

Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff WriterSep 30, 2023, 12:33 AM ET Angela Lee, one of ONE Championship’s top stars for years, will retire and vacate her ONE women’s 115-pound MMA title, she announced Friday night during the ONE Fight Night 14 broadcast in Singapore. Lee’s announcement had a significant effect on the ONE Fight Night 14

Sep 29, 2023, 07:57 AM ET Back in October 2019, Stipe Miocic was the UFC heavyweight champion. Jon Jones ruled at light heavyweight. Israel Adesanya was the newly crowned king of middleweights. And, well, let’s just cut to the chase and say that all 12 of the fight promotion’s weight classes had champions who do

Sep 27, 2023, 09:00 AM ET There have been eight UFC title changes this year, if you include championships being vacated due to retirement or injury. Undoubtedly, 2023 has been marked by fluidity and perhaps a passing of the torch to the next generation. With all the fluctuations, it’s an excellent time to look at

Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff WriterSep 26, 2023, 05:39 PM ET Rafael Fiziev suffered a torn left ACL during the UFC Fight Night main event Saturday in Las Vegas, the lightweight contender said on Instagram. Fiziev threw a kick with his right leg in the second round of the fight with Mateusz Gamrot and went down

Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterSep 25, 2023, 02:21 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office will not pursue criminal charges against former UFC star Nate Diaz related to his involvement in a street brawl earlier this year on Bourbon

Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterSep 25, 2023, 10:06 AM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun After seventeen consecutive weekends with fights, the UFC will be dark for the first time since May. In fact, it’s a quiet weekend across every major MMA promotion, outside of

Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff WriterSep 24, 2023, 10:11 PM ET Deiveson Figueiredo will make his long-awaited move up to bantamweight before the end of the year. The former two-time UFC bantamweight champion will face Rob Font in a contender bout at UFC Fight Night on Dec. 2, sources told ESPN on Sunday, confirming a report

Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff WriterSep 24, 2023, 07:29 PM ET Israel Adesanya, the former UFC middleweight champion, pleaded guilty in court Monday morning to drunk driving in his home country of New Zealand, his team told ESPN on Sunday. The incident happened Aug. 19. Adesanya was driving with 87 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters

Jeff Wagenheim, ESPNSep 23, 2023, 07:04 PM ET The storyline going into Bellator 299 centered upon Fabian Edwards and his attempt to join his brother Leon as a world champion. The storyline in the wake of Saturday’s fight card in Dublin is that his opponent, Johnny Eblen, remains undefeated and is still Bellator middleweight champ.

Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff WriterSep 24, 2023, 02:51 AM ET Up-and-comer Ian Garry will face exciting veteran Vicente Luque at UFC 296 on Dec. 16 in Las Vegas, UFC president Dana White announced early Sunday on social media. Both fighters have been teammates at Kill Cliff FC, and each is trying to get into the

Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff WriterSep 23, 2023, 09:54 PM ET Things were just starting to heat up between two of the most exciting lightweight fighters in the world when the bout came to an abrupt halt Saturday at UFC Fight Night. Rafael Fiziev threw a roundhouse kick with his right leg to the body of

Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterSep 22, 2023, 09:25 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun The UFC has added a pair of marquee fights to its final pay-per-view event of 2023. English lightweight Paddy Pimblett (20-3) will make his first appearance of the year opposite

Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff WriterSep 22, 2023, 05:47 PM ET The UFC’s middleweight hierarchy will get some clarity before the close of the year. Jared Cannonier and Roman Dolidze have verbally agreed to a contender bout at UFC Fight Night on Dec. 2, sources told ESPN on Friday. The location of the event has not

Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff WriterSep 22, 2023, 01:36 PM ET Chris Leben, a popular retired former pro MMA fighter, will make his Nevada debut as a judge Saturday on the UFC Fight Night card, sources told ESPN on Friday. Leben, who fought in the UFC from 2005 to 2013, has been a pro referee and