MMA

11:05 AM ET One week after being released by the UFC, Aspen Ladd has a new home with the PFL. Ladd (9-3) has signed on to compete in PFL’s 2023 regular season as a featherweight, she and the promotion announced Tuesday. The PFL’s season format has not previously included a female featherweight division, only lightweight.

10:19 PM ET The first-ever quadrilogy fight in UFC history will take place early next year in South America. Deiveson Figueiredo will defend his flyweight belt against former champion and current interim champ Brandon Moreno at UFC 283 on Jan. 21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN on Monday. Figueiredo, who

9:00 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN Followers of MMA need no introduction to Anderson Silva. But for those combat sports fans who follow just boxing as well as those social media mavens drawn to boxing merely by the presence of YouTube personality Jake Paul, there is much to know about Silva, who will face Paul in

10:27 PM ET Jeff Wagenheim Yan Xiaonan put on a show for the fans — make that fan, singular — in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas. Yan got the better of Mackenzie Dern in standup fighting and survived relentless grappling threats by her multiple-time jiu-jitsu world champion opponent

1:31 AM ET What were the biggest moments of Bellator 286? Jeff Wagenheim and Marc Raimondi offer up their takeaways from an action-packed event in Long Beach. AJ McKee will be just fine at lightweight, has options Coming off the first loss of his career and moving up to debut in a new weight class,

1:06 AM ET LONG BEACH, Calif. — Patricio “Pitbull” Freire‘s stranglehold on the Bellator featherweight division will continue. Freire beat Adam Borics via one-sided unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 50-45) in the main event of Bellator 286 on Saturday night at Long Beach Arena. “Pitbull” retained his 145-pound belt with the victory and now has a

2:05 AM ET Jingnan Xiong nearly finished Angela Lee several times in a dominant first round and then did enough the rest of the way to earn a unanimous-decision victory Saturday in the main event of a ONE Championship card in Singapore. With the victory, Xiong retained her ONE women’s 125-pound title and went to

11:31 PM ET Antonio Inoki, a combat sports trailblazer, influential politician and larger-than-life figure in his native Japan, died Friday at the age of 79. The announcement was made by New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the promotion he founded. The cause of Inoki’s death was not released, but he had fallen ill in recent years and was

Sep 29, 2022 Dana White’s Contender Series has become a staple for the promotion in ushering rising talent into the Octagon. With fighters like Sean O’Malley, Alex Perez, Taila Santos and Marina Rodriguez all making their UFC debuts on the show, there is fair reason to believe that those who get a shot at a

8:22 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN It’s not easy being No. 2. You’re habitually overlooked, an afterthought, banished to the background. But every so often, the orchestra’s second fiddle gets to step under the bright lights at center stage and show their stuff. This autumn brings several opportunities for Bellator MMA to take more of the

Sep 28, 2022 The UFC has closed off Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card at its Apex facility in Las Vegas to the public as well as the media. The company declined to provide a reason for the closure at the time of the announcement earlier this week, but UFC president Dana White said Tuesday that

7:02 PM ET The UFC has booked a featherweight main event between two undefeated contenders in Bryce Mitchell and Movsar Evloev for its UFC Fight Night on Nov. 5 in Las Vegas, UFC officials told ESPN. The promotion has not announced a location for that event, but it’s expected to take place in Las Vegas

12:50 PM ET Less than two days after earning a UFC contract, mixed martial arts prospect Bo Nickal has already booked his Octagon debut. The UFC is finalizing a middleweight bout between Nickal (3-0) and Jamie Pickett (13-8) for UFC 282 on Dec. 10 in Las Vegas, officials told ESPN on Thursday. Nickal earned a

Sep 28, 2022 Kayla Harrison looks to threepeat as the PFL women’s lightweight champion as she takes on Larissa Pacheco in the main event of the 2022 PFL Championship at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on Friday, Nov. 25, in New York. The fight card, which will feature 12 fights, including six $1 million

9:31 AM ET UFC women’s strawweight contenders Mackenzie Dern and Yan Xiaonan look to shake up the rankings as they go head-to-head at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas on Saturday (7 p.m. ET on ESPN+, with prelims at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN+). Dern, ranked No. 6 in ESPN’s divisional rankings, earned a split

1:38 AM ET The UFC already has its first headlining bout of next year booked. Perennial UFC middleweight contender Kelvin Gastelum will take on up-and-comer Nassourdine Imavov in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Jan. 14, sources confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday. The card is likely to take place at the UFC Apex

10:36 AM ET The PFL revealed an official date and location for its 2022 Championship Finals on Wednesday, as well as an intent to enter the pay-per-view business for the first time in company history. The 2022 PFL World Championships, which the promotion has dubbed ‘MMA’s Richest Night,’ will take place on Nov. 25 inside

Sep 27, 2022 Former UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm is unlikely to fight again this year, but is eyeing a return in early 2023 — and she has an ideal opponent in mind. Holm, 40, told ESPN she is recovering from a surgery she underwent following a split decision loss to Ketlen Vieira in May.