MMA

9:02 AM ET The UFC men’s bantamweight division will assume center stage over the coming months, as eight of the top 10 contenders have fights booked, including champion Aljamain Sterling. The marquee 135-pound action begins this weekend with a five-round main event between former champion Dominick Cruz (24-3) and Marlon “Chito” Vera (21-7-1) in San

12:30 PM ET Uriah Hall, a former The Ultimate Fighter runner-up and UFC middleweight contender, has retired from mixed martial arts, he announced Wednesday on Instagram. “Although I did not achieve the rank of world champion I’ve acquired some of my greatest achievements from mixed martial arts and that was facing my fears and being

2:08 PM ET The PFL has made several last-minute changes to its 2022 semifinals matchups on Friday in Cardiff, Wales. Top-seeded welterweight Rory MacDonald (23-9-1) was supposed to face Magomed Umalatov (12-0), but will now meet Dilano Taylor (9-2) instead. Additionally, heavyweight Matheus Scheffel (16-8) will look to advance to the finals against late replacement

12:19 PM ET UFC flyweight Molly McCann will look to continue her breakout year in 2022, when she takes on Erin Blanchfield in November. The UFC has added a 125-pound contest between McCann (13-4) and Blanchfield (9-1) to its UFC 281 lineup on Nov. 12 in Madison Square Garden. Both flyweights announced the bout on

Aug 9, 2022 Henry Cejudo. Cody Garbrandt. Urijah Faber. Those are some top-shelf bantamweights, and Marlon Vera has a chance to join their exclusive club this weekend. The 135-pounders named above are the only three fighters who own victories over Dominick Cruz. All three of those losses came in title bouts for Cruz, who ruled

12:28 AM ET Cris Cyborg‘s next fight won’t be inside an MMA cage — it’ll be in a boxing ring. Cyborg, one of the best women’s MMA fighters of all time, said on her “The Catchup” YouTube show Monday that she is in the process of finalizing a contract for her professional boxing debut. Cyborg

11:11 PM ET One of the best prospects in all of MMA is on the cusp of a UFC contract. Bo Nickal, a former three-time NCAA Division I wrestling national champion, finished Zack Borrego via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:02 of the first round Tuesday night on Dana White’s Contender Series at the UFC Apex

1:24 PM ET Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis has broken bones in both hands and will require surgery, he wrote Monday on Instagram. The injuries were sustained in a unanimous decision loss to Stevie Ray in the PFL lightweight semifinals last Friday. Pettis wrote that his left hand and his right thumb are broken.

11:22 AM ET Bellator MMA has rebooked a featherweight matchup between Aaron Pico and Jeremy Kennedy in October, officials told ESPN on Tuesday. The 145-pound bout will take place at Bellator 286 on Oct. 1 in Long Beach, California. That event is headlined by a featherweight title fight between champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (33-5) and

9:35 AM ET Two of the more unheralded UFC weight classes had a chance to show out last month. In the main event of UFC 277 on July 30, Julianna Peña and Amanda Nunes had their rematch for the UFC women’s bantamweight title, following Peña’s huge upset over Nunes at UFC 269 last December. Former

1:29 AM ET All that was missing from Jamahal Hill‘s rise in the UFC was a signature win. He got it Saturday. Hill stopped former title challenger Thiago Santos via TKO at 2:31 of the fourth round in the main event of UFC Fight Night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Hill dropped Santos

4:04 PM ET UFC welterweight Josh Quinlan was pulled from his UFC Fight Night bout Saturday due to an atypical drug finding, the UFC announced. USADA, the UFC’s anti-doping partner, detected a trace amount of the long-term metabolite (or M3 metabolite) of the steroid dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT) in a Quinlan urine sample, the promotion said. The

9:51 PM ET NEW YORK — The PFL had high hopes for Anthony Pettis when it signed him to a multiyear deal in 2021. But for the second consecutive year, Pettis has failed to make it to the tournament finals. Pettis (25-14), a former UFC champion, dropped a unanimous decision to Stevie Ray in the

6:31 PM ET The UFC has its Madison Square Garden main event. Israel Adesanya will defend his UFC middleweight title against old rival Alex Pereira in the headliner of UFC 281 on Nov. 12 in New York, Adesanya announced Friday on SportsCenter. Pereira owns two wins over Adesanya in kickboxing, including one via knockout. ESPN

3:07 PM ET Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez pleaded not guilty Friday in an attempted murder case in Santa Clara (California) County, his attorney Mark Geragos told ESPN. Velasquez, 40, is being charged with attempted murder and 10 other gun-related charges stemming from an incident where he allegedly chased down a man, Harry Goularte

Aug 3, 2022 Ian ParkerESPN The PFL playoffs kick off this week, beginning with semifinals in the lightweight and light heavyweight divisions on Friday (ESPN and ESPN+, main card at 8 p.m. ET and prelims at 6 p.m.). The main event inside Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York will be a rematch

Aug 3, 2022 Three years ago, Thiago Santos was challenging for the UFC light heavyweight championship, giving Jon Jones all he could handle in a fight that went the champ’s way by split decision. At the time, Jamahal Hill was just five fights into his pro career and had not yet reached the UFC. On

7:30 AM ET Ryan Hockensmith Close Ryan Hockensmith is a Penn State graduate who joined ESPN in 2001. He is a survivor of bacterial meningitis, which caused him to have multiple amputation surgeries on his feet. He is a proud advocate for those with disabilities and addiction issues. He covers everything from the NFL and