MMA

7:44 AM ET Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main card featured close calls throughout, with a pair of split decisions and a majority decision in the last five fights of the night. The judges had a tough job, but did they get the biggest fight of the night — the high-stakes bantamweight clash between TJ Dillashaw

12:17 AM ET Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event between TJ Dillashaw and Cory Sandhagen lived up to the lofty expectations surrounding one of the most anticipated fights of the year. Dillashaw emerged victorious by split decision, potentially setting himself up for a future shot to reclaim a title he never lost inside the cage.

10:20 PM ET Any questions about TJ Dillashaw‘s standing in the bantamweight division after a long layoff have been answered — emphatically. Dillashaw, the former two-time UFC bantamweight champion, defeated Sandhagen via split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47) in a bloody, back-and-forth fight Saturday in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. Sandhagen

3:38 PM ET Marc Raimondi Mike Coppinger Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw has had several huge moments throughout his career, but Saturday’s Fight Night main event against Cory Sandhagen might be the biggest fight of his career — at least in terms of perception. Dillashaw (16-4) returns to competition for the first time in

8:00 AM ET All things considered, Saturday’s main event between TJ Dillashaw and Cory Sandhagen is the best UFC Fight Night headliner so far this year. For me, there are only two others that even come close in terms of significance, stylistic matchup and prefight narrative: Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum in April and Max

2:44 AM ET An important women’s bantamweight fight is off this weekend’s UFC card. The scheduled co-main event bout between Aspen Ladd and Macy Chiasson has been canceled because of an undisclosed Chiasson injury, UFC officials told ESPN on Thursday. The Saturday event in Las Vegas will go on with 11 fights. 1 Related ESPN

9:21 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Logan Paul and Anderson Silva aren’t boxers by trade, but they could meet in the ring. The YouTube star and UFC legend are discussing a boxing match that would take place later this year, Paul’s manager, Jeff Levin, told ESPN. Paul, 26, competed in an exhibition boxing event with Hall

7:34 AM ET TJ Dillashaw began 2019 as UFC men’s bantamweight champion and one of the highest-ranked pound-for-pound fighters in the world. The year quickly took an unforeseen turn. Dillashaw challenged flyweight champion Henry Cejudo that January, in an effort to become the first UFC champion to go down in weight to capture a second

8:12 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim The PFL appears poised to put Kayla Harrison to a test in 2022, in order to see what kind of star it has on its hands. Harrison first faces tests this summer and fall in the 2021 playoffs, of course, but it would be a shocker if those hurdles slow

5:26 PM ET LOS ANGELES — Brandon Moreno is not sure who will be his first challenger. But he believes the man whom he took the belt from might need to do more to deserve a shot. Moreno, the new UFC flyweight champion, said Tuesday at a media lunch that he knows Deiveson Figueiredo wants

11:45 AM ET The PFL has announced its official playoffs schedule, which consists of three events in August. The events will take place on Aug. 13, 19 and 27. All of the cards will be held at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida and air on ESPN platforms. The first event features

8:17 AM ET Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card proved a few things — most notably, that Islam Makhachev is dangerously effective, as advertised, and that Miesha Tate seems ready to step right back into the thick of it in the women’s bantamweight division despite five years out of the Octagon. But is Makhachev, fresh off

Armed with a new four-fight deal and a freshly-cut mullet, Australian Jimmy Crute has put the disappointment of a controversial TKO stoppage behind him and is reinvigorated about his prospects in the UFC’s light heavyweight division. For a brief moment earlier this year, when he struggled to process the pain of a doctor stoppage against

1:01 AM ET All eyes were on Islam Makhachev on Saturday night. Heading into his first UFC main event, those surrounding the fight game talked up the Dagestani star and pupil of Khabib Nurmagomedov. He answered all questions and thoroughly dominated Thiago Moises before ultimately submitting him in the fourth round. The top of the

1:06 AM ET Islam Makhachev‘s toughest task moving forward might be finding someone willing to fight him. Makhachev completely dominated Thiago Moises in the UFC Fight Night main event Saturday in Las Vegas. Moises mounted almost no offense at all and Makhachev was able to finish him with a submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:38 of

12:20 AM ET LAS VEGAS — Miesha Tate is back — and she just might actually be better than ever. Competing for the first time since 2016, Tate (19-7) dominated Marion Reneau in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas. The former champion, and mother of two, finished Reneau (9-8-1)

6:36 PM ET Brett Okamoto Close ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Marc Raimondi Is there a new era upon us in the UFC’s lightweight division? That’s the question ahead of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night, which will feature Islam Makhachev in his first-ever main

12:11 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Juliana Velasquez retained her rare status as an undefeated MMA champion on Friday night, using a sharp jab and strong footwork to fend off Denise Kielholtz and successfully defend her flyweight title by split decision in the main event of Bellator 262 at Mohegan Sun Arena. Velasquez