MMA

9:06 PM ET Bellator has added a familiar name to its burgeoning bantamweight division. Kyoji Horiguchi, the former Bellator and current Rizin champion, has signed with Bellator, promotion president Scott Coker announced Thursday on Twitter. Horiguchi had been competing in Rizin in his native Japan since 2017. However, he lives in Florida, and travel to

4:15 PM ET Jarrah Al-Silawi, former welterweight champion of Brave CF in the Middle East, has signed an exclusive contract with the Professional Fighters League. Al-Silawi informed ESPN of his move on Thursday. The Jordanian welterweight will not compete in the 2021 season, obviously, as that is set to wrap up on Oct. 27. However,

8:00 AM ET The UFC is down to 13 live events remaining in 2021 (not including Dana White’s Contender Series). As of now, the schedule consists of one more trip to Fight Island for UFC 267, the promotion’s first visit to New York since 2019 and a consistent lineup of events in Las Vegas to

8:09 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim Two UFC weight classes have champions who are not the consensus top fighters within their own divisions. Another is headed by a champion whom some would argue is second to the standard-bearer in a second-fiddle fight promotion. Whatever happened to champions reigning supreme? Sure, there are a few dominant champs

12:11 PM ET UFC middleweight Darren Till went into his main event bout against Derek Brunson this past weekend with a torn ACL in his right knee, his head coach confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday. According to Till’s head coach, Colin Heron, Till (18-4-1) completely tore his ACL approximately nine weeks before the fight. The

11:00 PM ET The UFC awarded another five contracts on Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday, a night highlighted by two sub-minute knockouts. Welterweight Josh Quinlan (6-0) and flyweight C.J. Vergara (9-2) stole the show at the Apex in Las Vegas in the second consecutive week that the UFC elected to award contacts to five

Aug 30, 2021 In 2017, the UFC launched Dana White’s Contender Series in order to find talent to add to its roster. Through four seasons, the promotion has awarded 117 fighter contracts, including a record 37 last season. Here we go again. Season 5 begins on Tuesday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas,

12:19 PM ET HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Jorge Masvidal‘s immediate goal is very simple. He wants a fight next that will put him in a position to challenge again for the UFC welterweight title. The UFC superstar’s future plans are a bit more complex. And both Jake Paul and Logan Paul are in his crosshairs.

7:14 AM ET UFC fans love to be in the know. We’re here to help. Derek Brunson shined this weekend against Darren Till, but despite Brunson’s incredible run and dominant finish over a legitimate contender, a title shot may not be coming as quickly as Brunson hopes. Someone who is likely to get a title

7:02 PM ET Derek Brunson has fought just about anyone who is anyone in the UFC’s middleweight division. The one thing he had been searching for is that signature victory to push him into the title picture. On Saturday, he finally got that. Brunson stopped Darren Till via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2 minutes, 13

3:11 PM ET Darren Till has emerged as one of the most popular fighters in the UFC’s middleweight division. Now, he has his chance to go from wise-cracking fan favorite to legitimate title contender. Till meets Derek Brunson in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas. The card was

8:24 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a welterweight matchup between Michael Chiesa and Sean Brady in November, multiple sources told ESPN on Thursday. Contracts have not been signed, but both sides have agreed to the contest, sources said. The fight will take place at a UFC Fight Night event, likely in Las Vegas. Chiesa

5:39 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Oscar De La Hoya announced from a hospital bed that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and won’t be able to fight former UFC champion Vitor Belfort on Sept. 11 in a Triller Fight Club PPV. The Hall of Fame boxer was set to compete for the first since a

7:00 AM ET The next two months are going to have a drastic impact on what happens in the UFC’s middleweight division in 2022. Right now, Israel Adesanya (21-1) remains the undisputed king of the division, and maintaining that spot is the only goal he has in the foreseeable future. Adesanya had plans to take

7:12 PM ET Miesha Tate is back in the main event. The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion — and one of the most popular women’s MMA fighters ever — will headline a UFC Fight Night against Ketlen Vieira on Oct. 16 in Las Vegas, the UFC announced Thursday. ESPN has Vieira ranked No. 8 in

11:50 AM ET For the first time in her already decorated MMA career, Zhang Weili will be doing her training camp in the United States. Zhang, the former UFC women’s strawweight champion, will be arriving later this month in Arizona to train at Fight Ready in Scottsdale, her coach Pedro Jordao told ESPN. Zhang, who

7:51 AM ET Derek Brunson smiles and looks off into the distance. He’s thinking about all of the world-class opponents he has competed against during his nine-year career. In just his third UFC fight, Brunson took on 2000 Olympic wrestling silver medalist Yoel Romero. Half of his 10 most recent fights have come against opponents

10:30 PM ET LAS VEGAS — UFC president Dana White will inevitably be faced with some difficult decisions this year on Contender Series. But the first fight of the season sure didn’t present him with one. Light heavyweight prospect A.J. Fletcher (9-0) made White’s job easy on Tuesday, as he knocked out Leonardo Damiani (10-3)