MMA

Andreas Hale, ESPNJul 28, 2024, 01:35 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Belal Muhammad‘s nickname is “Remember the Name.” After Saturday night’s victory, they won’t forget it. Muhammad stunned Leon Edwards with an authoritative performance that mixed stifling grappling and much-improved striking to win the welterweight championship by unanimous decision Saturday in the main event of

Jul 27, 2024, 05:50 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Leon Edwards defends his UFC welterweight championship against Belal Muhammad in the main event of two-title-fight UFC 304 on Saturday in Manchester, England. The other championship bout also features an Englishman titleholder — Tom Aspinall defending his interim heavyweight belt against Curtis Blaydes. Edwards (22-3, 1

Andreas Hale, ESPNJul 26, 2024, 08:51 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Two title fights will headline UFC 306 at The Sphere in Las Vegas on Sept. 14 as Sean O’Malley will defend the bantamweight title against top contender Merab Dvalishvili and Alexa Grasso will put her women’s flyweight championship on the line in a trilogy

Mike Coppinger, ESPN Boxing InsiderJul 26, 2024, 09:24 PM ET Close Mike Coppinger has covered boxing since 2010 with roles at USA Today, Ring Magazine and The Athletic before he joined ESPN in 2021. You can follow him on Twitter: @MikeCoppinger Open Extended Reactions Two titans of the fight game, Canelo Alvarez and Dana White,

Jul 26, 2024, 09:19 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Merab Dvalishvili memorably stole Sean O’Malley‘s jacket at UFC 288 after his teammate Aljamain Sterling had defended his bantamweight title against Henry Cejudo. O’Malley was there to greet Sterling, as “Suga” was next in line to contest the belt. A few months later, O’Malley would dethrone

Andreas Hale Brett Okamoto Close Brett Okamoto ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Jul 26, 2024, 07:46 AM ET Open Extended Reactions LONG BEFORE THE country of England could claim multiple UFC champions, there was once a time when only one English mixed martial

Andreas Hale, ESPNJul 25, 2024, 03:49 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Stakes are high for the interim heavyweight title fight between champion Tom Aspinall and challenger Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in Manchester, England. UFC president Dana White said during Thursday news conference that the winner of that fight will face the winner of the

Jul 24, 2024, 07:51 AM ET Open Extended Reactions With two title fights, a raucous crowd and big stakes up and down a 14-fight card, UFC 304 looks to be full of drama in Manchester, England. (10 p.m. ET on ESPN PPV) Fellow Englishmen Leon Edwards and Tom Aspinall look to defend their titles —

Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterJul 23, 2024, 09:32 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions The Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports has officially removed one of the most unpopular rules in the sport of mixed martial arts. The ABC voted

Andreas Hale, ESPNJul 23, 2024, 12:44 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Patchy Mix will return to action to defend his Bellator bantamweight championship against Leandro Higo in the main event of Bellator Champions Series: Paris at the Adidas Arena when Bellator returns to Paris on Nov. 16. Mix (20-1) is looking to bounce back after

Jul 23, 2024, 07:53 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Mixed Martial Arts spent its early years being a male-dominated sport before women transcended the industry and broke down barriers in the 21st century. The ascent of women’s MMA peaked over the last decade when women were brought into the UFC in 2013 and were allowed

Jul 22, 2024, 07:36 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Practically all of the other sports whose athletes fill the ESPN 100 have long histories, much of which had to be set aside because this survey narrows its focus to just the 21st century’s greatest performers. For mixed martial arts, though, the past 25 years encompass

Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterJul 20, 2024, 11:06 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions Virna Jandiroba might have earned herself a UFC title shot Saturday night, and she looked extremely dangerous in doing so. The Brazilian strawweight submitted Amanda Lemos via

Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterJul 20, 2024, 10:01 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions Nick Diaz‘s return to the UFC Octagon has been postponed due to a “travel issue,” the promotion announced Saturday. Diaz (26-10) was slated to face Vicente Luque

Jul 19, 2024, 07:53 AM ET Open Extended Reactions We have spent the last week counting down our list of the top 100 athletes of the 21st century, but what about the next generation? If we were doing another list in 2050, which current athletes who didn’t make it this time around are likely to

Andreas Hale, ESPNJul 18, 2024, 02:19 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Conor McGregor, who announced earlier this year that he was a co-owner of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships, also is expressing interest in competing as a “player/manager” once his UFC contract expires. McGregor addressed his current contract situation at a news conference Thursday in Spain

Jul 18, 2024, 08:32 AM ET Open Extended Reactions We’re officially past the midway point of the 2024 calendar year, and the MMA world is plenty busy. The UFC is preparing for its next international fight card, UFC 304, in England. The PFL playoffs kick off in August and Bellator has two title fights scheduled

Associated Press Jul 17, 2024, 02:59 PM ET Open Extended Reactions ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a pair of misdemeanor charges stemming from a drug test at his New Mexico home in which he was accused of being hostile. Jones appeared seated next to his attorney as