MMA

7:58 AM ET As UFC nears the end of its calendar year, there are still so many unanswered questions, especially among two weight classes that some of the promotion’s top fighters call home. Leon Edwards‘ fifth-round KO vs. Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 in August was a major shake-up for the welterweight division. What direction

11:13 PM ET Cris Cyborg won her first boxing match Sunday night. The legendary women’s MMA fighter crossed over into the ring and beat boxing journeywoman Simone Silva via decision at Fight Music Show in Cyborg’s hometown of Curitiba, Brazil. The bout went all eight rounds. It remains unclear whether it will count as a

6:36 PM ET Popular UFC lightweight Bobby Green said in an Instagram video Friday night that he was forced out of a scheduled fight at UFC 276 due to a positive drug test. Green said — as he was in training camp for the scheduled July 2 bout against fellow veteran fighter Jim Miller —

11:07 AM ET Mohamed Itoumaine was refereeing at a Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament last month in Wolverhampton, England. To his surprise, one of the participants was Tom Hardy, a big-time Hollywood actor with credits from Mad Max: Fury Road to Venom to the Batman franchise. He also starred in the MMA movie “Warrior” in 2011. Hardy,

9:06 AM ET Conor McGregor has not stepped into the Octagon in 14 months, yet hardly a day goes by without his name being brought up in an MMA conversation. As the starry Irishman’s return from a broken leg draws nearer, there is speculation about who might be next to step under the brightest of

10:50 PM ET The UFC is bringing in a fighter who is just shy of his 18th birthday. Raul Rosas Jr. became the youngest fighter to sign with the UFC on Tuesday night, following a unanimous decision win over Mando Gutierrez on Dana White’s Contender Series. White, impressed by Rosas’ performance, offered the teen a

11:16 PM ET Eddie Alvarez and ONE Championship have agreed upon his release, the decorated MMA fighter wrote Tuesday night on Twitter. Alvarez, a former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion, wrote that he left ONE “amicably” and is “officially a free agent.” Alvarez signed with ONE as a free agent from the UFC in October

Sep 20, 2022 The fight between Cody Garbrandt, the former UFC bantamweight champion, and Rani Yahya, a Brazilian veteran who is 5-1-1 in his past seven bouts, on the Oct. 1 UFC Fight Night: Mackenzie Dern vs. Xiaonan Yan card has been postponed after injuries to both fighters. Yahya reportedly suffered a neck injury last

12:03 PM ET The Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva boxing undercard will feature an unorthodox matchup. UFC and Bellator MMA veteran Chris Avila will compete against YouTube star Doctor Mike in a four-round, professional boxing match Oct. 29 in Glendale, Arizona, officials told ESPN. The contracted weight will be 185 pounds, and the pair will

11:00 AM ET Jose Aldo‘s legacy is rich with championships. He reigned with the UFC featherweight belt through a record seven title defenses, and before that, he was the WEC champ. But for the man known as the King of Rio, a notable accomplishment was that he made moments come alive for fans and fellow

6:23 PM ET One of MMA’s all-time greats is calling it a career. Former longtime UFC and WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, 36, has retired from the UFC, his team told ESPN on Sunday. The promotion also announced Aldo’s retirement in a tweet Sunday evening that read in part, “Congratulations @JoseAldoJunior on a legendary run.”

10:51 PM ET What were the biggest moments from this UFC Fight Night? What’s next for one of the bantamweight division’s top contenders? Jeff Wagenheim, Marc Raimondi and Brett Okamoto offer their takeaways from UFC’s return Saturday night’s fight card. Cory Sandhagen made 14 takedown attempts and was unsuccessful on every one of them until

10:26 PM ET UFC bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen picked up a much-needed victory over Song Yadong at UFC Fight Night on Saturday at the Apex facility in Las Vegas. Sandhagen (15-4) won for the first time since February 2021, earning a TKO when Yadong (19-7-1) was unable to continue due to a cut over his

8:52 AM ET The UFC is back at its Apex facility in Las Vegas this weekend, with a bantamweight main event between Cory Sandhagen and Song Yadong. In addition to the headliner, 33-year-old Chidi Njokuani will make his third UFC appearance against Gregory Rodrigues. Njokuani is far from a beginner in mixed martial arts. He

12:46 PM ET The UFC has rebooked a middleweight main event between Jared Cannonier and Sean Strickland for Dec. 17. The 185-pound contest was originally supposed to headline a UFC Fight Night on Oct. 15 in Las Vegas, but Strickland was forced to pull out of that date because of finger surgery. UFC officials confirmed

10:32 AM ET The Professional Fighters League has signed 24-year-old Biaggio Ali Walsh, grandson of Muhammad Ali, to an amateur contract to compete in its tournament finals event in November. Ali Walsh is a former collegiate football player at the University of California, with an amateur MMA record of 1-1. He currently lives and trains

8:11 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a featherweight main event between Calvin Kattar and Arnold Allen for a UFC Fight Night on Oct. 29, UFC president Dana White told ESPN on Wednesday. Bout agreements have not been signed, but the 145-pound contest is close to being official, sources told ESPN. The UFC Fight Night

7:50 AM ET FOR MAJDI SHAMMAS, the early morning hours of Friday, Sept. 9 in Las Vegas were a manager’s worst nightmare. At approximately 4 a.m. local time, Shammas knew his fighter, Khamzat Chimaev, would not make weight for a UFC 279 main event against Nate Diaz. Chimaev and his team had done all they