MMA

5:00 PM ET UFC 261 is just over two weeks away, yet the fact Jorge Masvidal knows he’ll be in the main event on April 24 against welterweight champ Kamaru Usman puts Masvidal in a better place than he was the last time they fought. Masvidal was a late replacement to challenge Usman at UFC

7:47 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim When Ryan Bader lost his Bellator MMA light heavyweight championship to Vadim Nemkov last August, he felt sorrow and deep disappointment. The first emotion comes with the territory of losing your place at the top of the mountain. The second emotion was self-directed letdown. On his way to a second-round

10:49 PM ET Two of the UFC’s top female flyweight prospects, Maycee Barber and Miranda Maverick, have agreed to square off July 24, UFC president Dana White told ESPN. The 125-pound fight will consist of three rounds and take place on UFC Fight Night at a location to be announced. 1 Related Barber (8-2) is

4:28 PM ET UFC bantamweight Aspen Ladd will return to competition against Macy Chiasson on July 24, multiple sources told ESPN. Ladd (9-1) has not fought since she defeated Yana Kunitskaya in December 2019, due to a torn ACL last June. The 26-year-old has long been considered one of the best prospects in female mixed

8:18 AM ET Roman ModrowskiESPN.com Editor’s note: This was originally published on April 6, 2020. The Ericsson Globe arena in Stockholm was empty, save for a few fighters shadow boxing and getting a feel for the Octagon in the middle of the floor. Suddenly, one of the fighters scaled a side of the cage and

4:49 PM ET UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski said Monday that he’s feeling “much better” after a harrowing battle with COVID-19, which included being diagnosed with pneumonia and hospitalized after scans showed the infection spread throughout his lungs. The illness forced Volkanovski to postpone his March 27 title defense against Brian Ortega. “I’m a UFC

7:47 AM ET Nate Diaz surprised many in the MMA world by agreeing to face Leon Edwards in the co-main event of UFC 262 on May 15 in Houston. While Diaz’s most recent fight was in November 2019, and he’s currently a heavy underdog — +330 at Caesars by William Hill — Diaz is one

12:20 AM ET The UFC is finalizing a welterweight bout between Demian Maia and Belal Muhammad for a pay-per-view event on June 12, multiple sources told ESPN. Contracts have not been signed, however, verbal agreements are in place, sources said. The bout will take place at UFC 263 at a location to be announced. Maia

10:05 PM ET Cris Cyborg will put her Bellator women’s featherweight title on the line against Leslie Smith on May 21, the promotion announced Friday night during the Bellator 255 broadcast. Cyborg beat Smith in 2016 in what was Cyborg’s UFC debut. Cyborg (23-2, 1 NC) is one of the best female fighters of all

11:05 AM ET A featherweight bout between Chan Sung Jung and Dan Ige will headline a UFC Fight Night event on June 19, multiple sources told ESPN. Contracts have not been signed, but the UFC is working on finalizing the 145-pound contest. The promotion has not announced an official location for the event. Ige (15-3)

11:04 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a welterweight showdown between two former title challengers in Gilbert Burns and Stephen Thompson on July 10, UFC president Dana White said Friday night. Contracts have not been signed, according to sources, but both sides have verbally agreed to the 170-pound matchup. The bout will take place at

1:10 PM ET The UFC is close to finalizing a heavyweight bout between Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov to headline an event in June, multiple sources told ESPN. Both sides have agreed to the heavyweight matchup, which will headline UFC Fight Night on June 26 at a location to be announced. Gane (8-0), of France,

12:10 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim Two-division champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire showed off what makes him the best fighter in Bellator and perhaps the top featherweight in all of MMA on Friday night. Freire, a 33-year-old from Brazil, handed Emmanuel Sanchez his first stoppage loss with a technical submission by guillotine choke in Round 1 to

6:43 PM ET Earlier this week, as the proposed Conor McGregor–Dustin Poirier trilogy fight continued to trend in the right direction, I wrote a caption on social media that said: “For all the marbles.” Well, the caption rubbed some people the wrong way. How could I say this one is for all the marbles when

2:13 PM ET Dustin Poirier has officially signed his contract to fight Conor McGregor at UFC 264 on July 10, according to multiple sources. McGregor, sources say, had already agreed to the fight weeks ago. He made it clear following his loss to Poirier earlier this year that he wanted to run it back with

7:37 AM ET HENRY CEJUDO WAS in front of his television on Aug. 26, 2016, watching a Bellator MMA card headlined by a bout between Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. It was four months after Cejudo’s first career loss, which came in a UFC title fight against flyweight champ Demetrious

12:21 AM ET MMA fighter Khetag Pliev had to have a finger surgically reattached after it was severed during the second round of a fight Thursday night in Philadelphia. The fight, which was part of an event put on by Cage Fury Fighting Championship and aired on UFC Fight Pass, was stopped when the referee

11:23 AM ET The PFL will take a firmer stance against athletes missing weight during its 2021 season. A fighter who is overweight on the scale at weigh-ins will be deducted one point in the standings in the PFL’s season structure, promotion officials told ESPN on Thursday. In previous seasons, a fighter who missed weight