MMA

9:46 PM ET Former two-division boxing champ Antonio Tarver will return to the ring to fight former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir on April 17, sources confirmed with ESPN on Thursday. Tarver, 52, will box Mir, 41, on the undercard of a pay-per-view event headlined by a boxing match between former MMA champion Ben Askren

2:47 PM ET Gabriel Tan It may seem remarkable that at just 16 years old Victoria Lee is preparing to make her professional mixed martial arts debut at ONE Championship’s Fists of Fury on Friday. It is perhaps less surprising considering who her two older siblings are: ONE world champions Angela Lee (atomweight) and Christian

8:44 AM ET The UFC flyweight title rematch between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno is scheduled for June 12, sources told ESPN on Thursday. A location for the event, which is expected to be UFC 263, isn’t set yet. In December, Figueiredo (20-1-1) and Moreno (18-5-2) fought to an exhilarating draw that was considered one

11:39 AM ET UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko will defend her title against former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade at UFC 261, UFC president Dana White told ESPN. The 125-pound title fight will take place at the April 24 pay-per-view event, for which the UFC has not yet finalized a location. It will mark Shevchenko’s fifth

10:05 AM ET Former MMA super prospect Sage Northcutt is returning to action in April. Northcutt will face Shinya Aoki on April 28 at ONE on TNT IV, ONE officials told ESPN. Northcutt also confirmed the news on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. The fight will be contested in the promotion’s lightweight division, which is 170

1:00 PM ET Deciding who should be next to challenge UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman is perhaps the hottest topic in MMA, and it involves some of the biggest names in the sport. Usman dispatched Gilbert Burns via third-round TKO at UFC 258 on Feb. 13, and he immediately called out Jorge Masvidal as his

11:00 AM ET The PFL’s 2021 season will kick off April 23 and feature one of its most prized offseason signings in former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. Pettis (24-10) will meet Clay Collard (18-8) in the main event of PFL 1, president Ray Sefo told ESPN. The fight will take place at a location

11:34 AM ET Editor’s note: The first women’s fight in UFC history was on Feb. 23, 2013, when Ronda Rousey faced Liz Carmouche. This story has been updated after originally being published in December 2019. Amanda Nunes was driving around Miami with her then-girlfriend, Nina Ansaroff, looking for a bar. They had just watched teammates

5:18 PM ET Deciding who should be next to challenge UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman is perhaps the hottest topic in MMA, and it involves some of the biggest names in the sport. Usman dispatched Gilbert Burns via second-round TKO at UFC 258 on Feb. 13, and he immediately called out Jorge Masvidal as his

5:30 PM ET Travis Fulton, a record-holding mixed martial arts veteran, is facing federal child pornography charges. Fulton was indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday on three counts: sexual exploitation of a child, possession of child pornography and receipt of child pornography, per the indictment obtained by ESPN. The federal case is being tried

2:20 PM ET The UFC has elected not to release Ottman Azaitar after all following a bizarre set of circumstances involving the undefeated lightweight last month on Fight Island. UFC president Dana White told ESPN he has decided to give Azaitar a “second chance” in the promotion. This development comes less than one month after

8:04 AM ET Ariel Helwani: It’s time to focus the attention on Derrick Lewis One of the big storylines heading into Saturday night’s main event was what should Curtis Blaydes do if he beats Derrick Lewis? Ordinarily, a victory like that — which would have been his fifth in a row — over a quality

12:14 AM ET Ariel Helwani: It’s time to focus the attention on Derrick Lewis One of the big storylines heading into Saturday night’s main event was what should Curtis Blaydes do if he beats Derrick Lewis? Ordinarily, a victory like that — which would have been his fifth in a row — over a quality

11:34 PM ET Curtis Blaydes made no apologies about his strategy coming into a huge heavyweight fight with Derrick Lewis. Blaydes was going to use his dominant wrestling early and often. He told anyone who would listen. Maybe it was a decoy. But Blaydes should have stuck to his original game plan, as Lewis crushed

6:47 PM ET Chas Skelly stood in the Octagon and waited for his opponent, Jamall Emmers, to make his entrance. But Emmers never came out. The UFC Fight Night bout between Skelly and Emmers was cancelled Saturday when Emmers was unable to compete after suffering back spasms backstage, according to the UFC broadcast. Skelly was

4:05 PM ET A fight has fallen off this weekend’s UFC card just hours before the first bell. Luis Peña and Drakkar Klose were scheduled to meet in a lightweight bout Saturday in Las Vegas. But the bout has been pulled from the event due to COVID-19 protocols, the UFC confirmed with ESPN. Promotion officials

4:39 PM ET Two of the best heavyweights in the world will clash with title implications on the line. Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis meet Saturday in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. The bout was initially scheduled for back on Nov. 28, but Blaydes tested positive for COVID-19 and the

8:59 PM ET Former UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm will seek her third consecutive win when she faces Julianna Pena in a non-title bout in May, UFC officials said Friday. The 135-pound contest will take place on a UFC Fight Night event on May 8. The UFC has not yet announced an official location for