MMA

7:46 AM ET HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Brian Ortega was feeling good, like his career and his life had been elevated to the next level. It was December 2018, and Ortega was invited to a holiday party at the Los Angeles home of actor Robert Downey Jr. Sure, a few weeks earlier Ortega had lost

7:51 AM ET Any pay-per-view with two title fights is going to capture the attention of the sport, but on Saturday night at UFC 266, it’s the third fight on the card that has most fight fans talking. Nick Diaz will walk to the Octagon for his first fight since 2015 to face Robbie Lawler

1:01 AM ET Yoel Romero shook his head and wagged his finger like Dikembe Mutombo. Bellator in-cage announcer Michael C. Williams was reading the results of the Bellator 266 main event and one of the judges had Romero winning the bout. Romero did not agree with the judge, pointing to his opponent, Phil Davis, and

10:17 PM ET Anthony Smith said two years ago after a title loss to all-time great Jon Jones that maybe he’d never get another chance to beat Jones. But that was OK, Smith said, because he’d simply outlast Jones — and the rest of the UFC light heavyweight division. Those comments have aged pretty well.

6:15 PM ET “Gatekeeper” is something of a dirty word in combat sports. It means a fighter who is good enough to remain near the top of a division but not quite at the level of title contender. It’s a fighter who, if you can beat them, opens the door to the upper echelon of

4:38 PM ET Veteran MMA fighter Anthony Johnson has withdrawn from a Bellator MMA title fight against Vadim Nemkov on Oct. 16 due to illness, which appears to be a potentially serious ailment. Johnson, 37, was scheduled to challenge Nemkov for the light heavyweight championship, as part of Bellator’s ongoing tournament. He announced via social

8:07 AM ET Just one year ago, UFC light heavyweight Anthony Smith‘s career was in jeopardy. At least that’s surely how it felt. At this time in 2020, Smith (35-16) was coming off back-to-back losses to Glover Teixeira and Aleksandar Rakic. The losses came just three months apart, which was remarkable considering the amount of

6:35 PM ET Carlos Condit, one of the best MMA welterweights of the aughts and beyond, has retired from the UFC, his longtime manager, Malki Kawa of First Round Management, confirmed Thursday with ESPN. Nicknamed “The Natural Born Killer,” Condit was a former UFC interim welterweight champion and had been with the promotion for 12

4:54 PM ET Joseph Benavidez, one of the most influential lighter-weight fighters in MMA history, is hanging up the gloves. Benavidez told ESPN on Wednesday that he is retiring from the UFC after 10 years with the promotion and 15 years as a pro overall. News of Benavidez no longer being on the UFC roster

2:21 PM ET ONE Championship has put together an incredibly interesting styles clash for what is being described as the promotion’s biggest show ever. Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson will fight Muay Thai standout Rodtang in a “mixed special rules fight” at ONE X, the ONE Championship 10-year anniversary show Dec. 5 in Singapore,

9:57 PM ET UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno‘s first title defense will come against a very familiar foe — former champion Deiveson Figueiredo. Moreno (19-5-2) agreed on Wednesday to defend his 125-pound championship against Figueiredo (20-2-1) at UFC 269 on Dec. 11 at a site to be determined. Contracts for the matchup should be finalized

Nov 19, 2020 As Joaquin Buckley exited the Octagon on Oct. 10, the UFC middleweight had no idea what he had just accomplished. Not until he ran into a security guard in the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi did Buckley get some idea of the magnitude of the moment. “I got out of the cage,

7:54 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim Yoel Romero makes his Bellator debut on Saturday night, and when he steps inside the cage to meet former light heavyweight champion Phil Davis in the main event of Bellator 266 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, it will be a long-awaited unveiling of something special. Why is

7:08 PM ET Jake Paul is moving on from the idea of a rematch with Tyron Woodley because Woodley failed to live up to a tattoo bet the pair made after the first fight, Paul told ESPN on Monday. Paul and Woodley seemed to make a gentlemen’s agreement in the ring after Paul beat Woodley

1:00 PM ET UFC star Conor McGregor and singer Machine Gun Kelly got into an altercation Sunday night that nearly turned physical. McGregor and Kelly were both on the MTV Video Music Awards red carpet at Barclays Center in Brooklyn when things turned heated. McGregor could be seen in videos lunging at Kelly, who was

Sep 1, 2021 Casey O’Neill is starting to feel at home in the UFC. Having won her first two fights in the promotion, and being locked in a third against former teammate Antonina Shevchenko on Oct. 2 at the UFC Apex, O’Neill (7-0) has delivered on the self-belief she had before moving to Las Vegas

10:30 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Evander Holyfield, months shy of his 59th birthday, was stopped on his feet by former UFC champion Vitor Belfort in the opening round on Saturday night at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. The TKO came at 1 minute, 49 seconds. Belfort, 44, swarmed Holyfield from the

10:01 PM ET Anderson Silva is closer to 50 years old than he is 40. But the UFC great, somehow, is currently embarking on a relatively successful boxing run. Silva stopped fellow MMA legend Tito Ortiz via knockout at 1:21 of the first round Saturday night in Hollywood, Florida. Ortiz had Silva trapped in the