MMA

10:05 PM ET The UFC is targeting a flyweight bout between Joanne Calderwood and Alexa Grasso for a UFC Fight Night on Nov. 20, sources said Monday. The bout is not yet official but is in the process of being finalized, sources said. The UFC has not announced an event or location for the date,

7:30 AM ET Mike Coppinger Marc Raimondi If Derrick Lewis beats Ciryl Gane in the UFC 265 main event Saturday night in Houston to capture the interim heavyweight title, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him scan the crowd for a familiar face. And he wouldn’t necessarily be searching for heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou, who

1:44 PM ET Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will return to the Octagon in November. Rockhold (16-5) has agreed to face Sean Strickland (24-3) at UFC 268 on Nov. 6, multiple sources told ESPN. The UFC has not announced a location for the pay-per-view event, but the current target is New York City. The

Aug 4, 2021 After recently returning to Africa for the first time in nearly 30 years, UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman told ESPN that an MMA event on the continent could be even bigger than the legendary Rumble in the Jungle. Usman, who became the first UFC champion from Africa when he defeated Tyron Woodley

7:52 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim In 2019, the last time the Professional Fighters League staged their playoffs and crowned six $1 million winners, the champion of each division looked indomitable on their title runs. Now, after a lost 2020 season because of the COVID pandemic, the PFL is back with playoff semifinals set for three

10:02 PM ET The UFC is close to finalizing a middleweight main event between former title challengers Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori in October, multiple sources told ESPN. The 185-pound bout is expected to headline UFC Fight Night on Oct. 23. UFC officials have not announced an official location for the event. Costa (13-1) has

10:17 PM ET Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt is officially headed to a new weight class in 2021. Garbrandt (12-4) will take on New Zealand’s Kai Kara-France (22-9) in a non-title flyweight bout on Dec. 11, multiple sources told ESPN. The UFC has not yet announced an official event or location for that date,

11:28 PM ET The UFC has added a high-profile lightweight matchup between Rafael dos Anjos and Islam Makhachev to UFC 267. Both sides have agreed to the 155-pound contest, which will take place on Oct. 30. The UFC has not announced a venue for the event, but it is expected to take place in Abu

7:38 AM ET UFC 265 is set for Saturday and offers an interim heavyweight title clash as the headlining fight. Derrick Lewis faces Ciryl Gane in the main event, and if he’s able to win, Lewis would improve on one of the most impressive heavyweight resumes in UFC history. With so many big wins, including

12:47 AM ET INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Los Angeles, and the sport of mixed martial arts, has a new star athlete. The undefeated A.J. McKee submitted Patricio “Pitbull” Freire via guillotine choke at just 1 minute, 57 seconds of the first round to win the Bellator featherweight title Saturday night in the main event of Bellator

2:50 PM ET One of the biggest events in recent Bellator history is coming to the desert. The Bellator Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix semifinals will take place on the same card Oct. 16 at Footprint Center in Phoenix, sources told ESPN on Saturday. The event will be headlined by the semifinal bout between Bellator

2:33 PM ET The UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas has lost two more bouts at the last minute, according to promotional officials. The UFC announced on Saturday that a bantamweight matchup between Rani Yahya and Kyung Ho Kang and a welterweight clash between Niklas Stolze and Jared Gooden have both been removed from the

12:01 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim There’s nothing flashy about Sean Strickland, unless you’re counting the punches he relentlessly flashes into the face of his opponent. Strickland won his fifth fight in a row on Saturday night, overwhelming Uriah Hall with five rounds of aggression and nonstop punch output to win a lopsided unanimous decision in

5:34 PM ET The MMA world will feature elite action from Inglewood, California, and Las Vegas on Saturday night as Bellator and the UFC share the combat spotlight. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire will take on A.J. McKee at The Forum in one of the biggest bouts in Bellator history. The fight is the finale of the

7:38 PM ET The UFC is adding a lightweight matchup between Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler to its pay-per-view event in November, multiple sources told ESPN on Friday. Contracts have not been signed, but both parties have agreed to the 155-pound contest. The promotion has not officially announced a date or location for UFC 268,

Jul 27, 2021 Uriah Hall and Sean Strickland meet on Saturday in a clash of middleweights on winning streaks in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. The fights at the UFC Apex will be on ESPN and ESPN+, with the main card starting at 9 p.m. ET and the prelims at

4:14 PM ET The career trajectory of the first-ever UFC women’s flyweight champion continues to be an odd one. Nicco Montano missed weight Friday morning by seven pounds and her women’s bantamweight bout with Wu Yanan was pulled from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card, the promotion announced. The bout was contracted at a limit of

8:01 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim Uriah Hall has won four fights in a row. Sean Strickland has won four fights in a row. On Saturday night, they meet to determine whose momentum will be supercharged. Hall (17-9) has been at center stage under the bright lights before. This weekend’s middleweight fight at the Apex in