MMA

11:19 PM ET Welcome back to the strawweight division, Jessica Andrade. Andrade (23-9) submitted Amanda Lemos (11-2-1) via standing arm-triangle choke just 3:13 into their UFC Fight Night main event Saturday in Las Vegas. The early finish marked the first by standing arm-triangle choke in UFC history. It was also Andrade’s first appearance at 115

1:08 AM ET Liz Carmouche fought twice for a UFC title. In Strikeforce, she challenged for gold once. In each of those three opportunities, the women’s MMA pioneer came away emptyhanded. Carmouche was finally able to exorcise her championship demons Friday night. She rallied for a come-from-behind TKO victory at 4:47 of the fourth round

11:31 AM ET The UFC has announced it will stage an eight-man tournament across four men’s weight classes later this year, in the hope of signing new Asian talent. The “Road to the UFC” initiative will start on June 9 and June 10, and will take place at Singapore Indoor Stadium. The UFC is hosting

7:41 AM ET Cris Cyborg couldn’t help but smile as she heard her many accomplishments in MMA listed back to her. The Brazilian knockout artist has been a UFC champion, a Strikeforce champion and an Invicta FC champion. In 2020, she won the Bellator women’s featherweight title, making her the first fighter in mixed martial

6:28 PM ET Muhammad Mokaev, one of the UFC’s top prospects, has booked his second appearance in the Octagon. Mokaev, of Manchester, England, will meet Charles Johnson in a 125-pound contest on July 23 at a location to be determined, multiple sources told ESPN. The UFC has not officially announced an event on that date,

11:26 PM ET Robert Whittaker announced Wednesday night on social media that he is out of his scheduled UFC 275 fight against Marvin Vettori. Whittaker, the former UFC middleweight champion, wrote that he suffered an injury early in his training camp and won’t be healed in time for the bout, which was set for June

12:01 AM ET ARLINGTON, Texas — The 2022 PFL season is officially off and running. And for the second consecutive year, so is lightweight fan favorite Clay Collard. Collard (21-9) earned 3 points in the PFL lightweight standings on Wednesday, by defeating Jeremy Stephens (28-20) via unanimous decision. The 155-pound bout was incredibly entertaining, as

8:00 AM ET Ian ParkerESPN The Professional Fighters League makes its season debut on Wednesday night (6 ET on ESPN+) with some new faces and returning standouts. Lightweight Clay Collard will welcome Jeremy Stephens to the promotion in the main event. Eight lightweight fighters and 10 light heavyweights will be in action this week, highlighted

6:44 PM ET The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) has suspended UFC fighter Miles Johns six months due to a positive drug test, NSAC executive director Jeff Mullen confirmed Tuesday with ESPN. Mullen said he could not reveal the name of the substance, but it was mentioned in a hearing Tuesday morning in Las Vegas

8:08 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim PFL officials speak of Kayla Harrison with reverence, as though watching her perform is the most exhilarating experience in all of MMA. Who can blame them? Harrison is 12-0 and has mauled everyone in her path to becoming a two-time champion in the PFL women’s lightweight division. She is by

3:17 PM ET Corey Anderson climbed up on the cage to celebrate. His family was going crazy in the stands. Anderson had become the Bellator light heavyweight champion, a tournament champ and the recipient of $1 million. And then, quickly, it all came crashing down Friday night at Bellator 277 in San Jose, California. Anderson

6:11 PM ET After briefly considering retirement earlier this year, legendary heavyweight Fabricio Werdum still wants to compete in the PFL. A former UFC champion, Werdum, 44, signed with PFL in 2021, but has only made one appearance for the promotion thus far. And when the promotion announced its regular-season heavyweight matchups for April 28,

12:43 AM ET UFC welterweight Belal Muhammad improved his winning streak to seven on Saturday, as he out-pointed Vicente Luque via unanimous division at UFC Fight Night at Apex facility in Las Vegas. Judges awarded Muhammad (21-3) the win in the 170-pound bout via scores of 49-46, 49-46 and 49-47. Luque (21-8-1) entered the contest

12:55 AM ET “Pitbull” is not ready to pass the torch just yet. Patricio Freire, Bellator’s franchise fighter, gutted out a unanimous decision win (49-46, 48-47, 4-847) over previously undefeated prodigy AJ McKee to win back the featherweight title in the main event of Bellator 277 on Friday night in San Jose, California. McKee beat

1:54 PM ET A heavyweight matchup between Alexander Volkov and Jairzinho Rozenstruik will headline a UFC Fight Night card on June 4, UFC president Dana White said Friday. The UFC has not officially announced a location for the event, although the majority of Fight Night events in 2022 have taken place at the Apex facility

Apr 13, 2022 LAKEWOOD, Calif. — AJ McKee remembers being in Southern California gyms as a kid almost every day. His father, Antonio McKee, was one of the toughest fighters on the MMA regional scene, frequently training with some of the sport’s biggest stars — names such as Tito Ortiz, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Randy

3:29 PM ET Marlon Moraes, long one of the best bantamweight fighters in MMA, is retiring from the sport, his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, told ESPN on Wednesday. Moraes, 33, held the World Series of Fighting (WSOF) bantamweight title from 2014 to 2016 before signing with the UFC, racking up five title defenses in WSOF. “Magic”

7:29 AM ET A big victory resulted in a small (but significant) move for Alexander Volkanovski. The UFC men’s bantamweight champion had his way with Chan Sung Jung on Saturday in their UFC 273 title fight, outstriking the South Korean by 152-51 on his way to a one-sided fourth-round TKO. The win, Volkanovski’s 21st in