MMA

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

7:30 AM ET UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou captured the imagination — as well as the most prestigious prize — of the combat sports world when he dethroned Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 on Saturday. So it was no surprise that ESPN’s panel made Ngannou its overwhelming choice for the top spot of its latest

6:25 PM ET Endeavor, the powerhouse Hollywood talent agency, has agreed to own 100% of the UFC, according to a filing Wednesday with the Securities Exchange Commission. Endeavor acquired a majority stake of UFC parent company Zuffa from the Fertitta brothers in July 2016 when it was then known as WME-IMG. Currently, Endeavor owns 50.1%

9:05 AM ET UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou said he would like to fight twice more this year, and while he’s not sure what’s going on between the UFC and Jon Jones, he said he wants Jones first and then a rematch with Derrick Lewis. Ngannou dethroned Stipe Miocic, who’s considered the greatest heavyweight in

4:56 PM ET The Darren Till vs. Marvin Vettori main event on April 10 has been canceled after Till recently broke his collarbone during training. Till wrote in an Instagram post Tuesday that the injury happened Monday, explaining that “while drilling I fell and straight away I knew I’d broken something.” The UFC has offered

11:26 PM ET Nate Diaz is back. Diaz, one of the most popular fighters in MMA, will meet Leon Edwards at UFC 262 on May 15 in Houston, sources told ESPN. Both fighters have verbally agreed to the fight, though the contract is not signed yet. The fight will serve as a five-round co-main event

8:30 AM ET Jon Jones, who reigned as UFC light heavyweight champion for much of the past decade before vacating his belt in August to move up to heavyweight, is back at the top of the ESPN men’s pound-for-pound MMA rankings. Francis Ngannou, fresh off winning the heavyweight title on Saturday at UFC 260, has

4:56 AM ET British MMA fighter Paddy ‘the Baddy’ Pimblett (16-3) has signed for the UFC from Cage Warriors, and has already set his sights on a takeover of the organisation. Pimblett, who has fought at both featherweight and lightweight, joins the likes of Conor McGregor, Michael Bisping and Jack Shore who have all made

12:19 AM ET LAS VEGAS — From most feared to undisputed best, the Francis Ngannou era has begun. Ngannou knocked out Stipe Miocic to win the UFC heavyweight title Saturday night at the UFC Apex. The finish came at 52 seconds of the second round. Ngannou dropped Miocic with a left hand, and, after Miocic

10:06 AM ET The UFC is moving towards officially booking Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor 3 for later this year. According to multiple sources, the trilogy is “close” to being finalized for UFC 264 on July 10. It is not signed yet or fully agreed to, but there is optimism that it could be finalized

8:10 AM ET UFC 260 proved to be a changing of the guard in the heavyweight division. Francis Ngannou displayed enhanced fight skills beyond his already devastating knockout power as he dethroned Stipe Miocic with a thoroughly impressive all-around performance. But with that knockout behind him, and the UFC heavyweight championship belt around his waist,

1:43 AM ET ESPN’s panel of Ariel Helwani, Marc Raimondi and Phil Murphy breaks down the biggest stories coming out of UFC 260, including Stipe Miocic’s future after his second-round KO loss to Francis Ngannou, what questions are still left to be answered about Sean O’Malley, and if there’s a future in the UFC for

12:19 AM ET Francis Ngannou scored the biggest victory of his career with a KO victory over Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 260 on Saturday in Las Vegas to win the heavyweight title. Miocic (21-3, 15-3 UFC), who defeated Ngannou (15-4, 10-3 UFC) by unanimous decision in 2018, was overwhelmed by Ngannou’s

2:20 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim Francis Ngannou had just dropped UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic with a jab and had him trapped against the cage. The big man swarmed, a finish seemingly within his grasp. But Miocic escaped with urgency and moved toward the center of the Octagon, where the champion made his stand. Miocic

7:08 PM ET LAS VEGAS — The storyline going into Saturday’s UFC 260 main event at the Apex is how much has Francis Ngannou improved since he lost in his first bid to dethrone heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic three years ago. Miocic, though, wants to remind people that he hasn’t exactly rested on his laurels

7:01 AM ET Oftentimes, when a UFC champion has enjoyed the level of success that heavyweight Stipe Miocic has, the topic of motivation comes up. For instance, what keeps Miocic going, when he already has defended his title more times than any heavyweight in UFC history? What’s fueling that fire, when he already knows what