MMA

9:00 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a middleweight contest between former champion Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa to headline UFC Fight Night on April 17, officials confirmed to ESPN on Monday. The 185-pound contest will take place at a location to be determined. Whittaker (22-5) lost the middleweight championship to Israel Adesanya in October

6:09 AM ET The UFC is working to finalize a welterweight matchup between former champion Tyron Woodley and Vicente Luque at UFC 260 on March 27, per multiple sources. Contracts have not been signed, but the promotion is close to officially booking the 170-pound contest. The UFC has not officially announced a location for the

7:27 AM ET After the events of UFC 257, a lot of attention is rightfully being paid to the lightweight division and the state of play at the top. Dustin Poirier staked his claim to a title shot with his victory over Conor McGregor, while Michael Chandler made a statement of his own in his

12:44 AM ET Dustin Poirier pulled off a stunner Saturday night, scoring a TKO victory over Conor McGregor in the second round in the main event of UFC 257. The finish came at 2 minutes, 32 seconds. The fight, a non-title bout contested at 155 pounds, took place inside Etihad Arena on Yas Island in

8:10 PM ET The UFC heavyweight championship will be on the line on March 27. A rematch between champion Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou will headline UFC 260, sources told ESPN. The co-main event will feature UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski against Brian Ortega, according to sources. The date and location for UFC 260 have

2:19 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim The bad news for Conor McGregor fans is that he was knocked out by Dustin Poirier in the second round of their UFC 257 main event in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, early Sunday morning. The good news for fans of the Irish superstar? Their man immediately recognized he had

1:19 AM ET Al Iaquinta was wrong after all. In October, before the Dustin Poirier–Conor McGregor rematch was officially finalized, Iaquinta told me he thought Poirier had already lost the fight. “What is that guy doing?” Iaquinta said. “What is he, Conor’s fan? It’s so cringy. Conor’s like, ‘I’ll fly you over, and I’ll donate

9:52 AM ET Conor McGregor still has a Khabib Nurmagomedov rematch on his mind, though he acknowledges that the chances of it happening have greatly diminished. The former UFC double champion said Thursday at the UFC 257 news conference that he considers there to be a great deal of unfinished business between himself and Nurmagomedov.

7:43 AM ET ABU DHABI, U.A.E. — When Conor McGregor is involved, there is always potential for hyperbole. When you have a star that big, everything tends to dial up a notch — including any comments related to him or an upcoming fight. But allow me to say, I have genuinely looked forward to this

1:30 PM ET UFC cut undefeated lightweight Ottman Azaitar from its active roster Friday, just one day before he was scheduled to face Matt Frevola at UFC 257 on Fight Island in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. Azaitar (13-0), an exciting German-Moroccan lightweight with 10 career knockouts, was pulled from UFC 257 after committing a “violation

6:57 AM ET When Conor McGregor arrived at “Fight Island” on a massive yacht for his UFC 257 main event against Dustin Poirier, it was yet another illustration of a career that has reached unprecedented heights for an MMA fighter. It wasn’t always this way. McGregor’s coach, John Kavanagh, remembers a time in 2013 when

6:25 AM ET ABU DHABI — A non-title UFC lightweight rematch between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier is official for UFC 257 on Saturday, as both fighters successfully made weight during Friday’s weigh-in. McGregor (22-4), a former undisputed champion at lightweight, weighed-in at 155 pounds. Poirier (26-6), who won an interim lightweight champion in 2019,

7:09 PM ET Conor McGregor went into last year with the desire to fight at least three times before the calendar turned to 2021. Now, the former UFC double champion has even more ambitious goals: seven fights in the next 18 months, he said Thursday on Stephen A’s World. “The truth is the fight game

1:42 PM ET One of the greatest MMA fighters ever is currently hospitalized in Russia after testing positive for COVID-19. Fedor Emelianenko, the former PRIDE FC heavyweight champion and long considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, revealed the news Thursday morning. Sources close to Emelianenko confirmed he is still in a Russian hospital.

6:50 AM ET THE ONLY TIME Dustin Poirier wanted to fight an opponent outside of the cage was the week of UFC 178. Poirier remembers standing behind a curtain at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas in September 2014, waiting to get on the scale. He recalls seeing a few scuffles in the

9:10 AM ET A few big bets have already shown up on Conor McGregor and his odds are on the move ahead of Saturday’s UFC 257 main event that’s expected to draw significant betting interest at sportsbooks. McGregor is a consensus -315 favorite over Dustin Poirier and attracting the bulk of the action, including a

1:42 PM ET Michael Chiesa meets Neil Magny in the welterweight main event of a midweek matinee UFC Fight Night on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The fights will be broadcast on both ESPN and ESPN+, with the main card starting at noon ET and the prelims at 9 a.m. ET. Chiesa (17-4)

12:54 PM ET A woman has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against UFC superstar Conor McGregor for alleged personal injury, her lawyer confirmed Tuesday with ESPN. Dave Coleman, the attorney for the woman, said the suit, over events that allegedly took place in 2018, was filed Monday in the High Court in Dublin, Ireland. In addition,