MMA

11:27 PM ET The fourth season of Dana White’s Contender Series came to a conclusion Tuesday, and saw the UFC add four more athletes to its active roster. Men’s flyweight JP Buys (9-2), strawweight Gloria de Paula (5-2), lightweight Tucker Lutz (11-1) and women’s flyweight Victoria Leonardo (8-2) all signed with the UFC following their

12:35 PM ET Chris Weidman and Uriah Hall are going to run it back more than 10 years after their first meeting. Weidman vs. Hall 2 has been verbally agreed to for UFC 258 on Feb. 13, 2021, multiple sources told ESPN. The fight hasn’t been signed yet, sources said. The duo first met in

8:05 AM ET The UFC men’s flyweight division was all but an afterthought. As recently as last summer, many MMA fans, fighters and media members thought the UFC was going to move on from the weight class. At the time, it seemed improbable that a flyweight bout would headline a major event. Yet that will

2:15 PM ET Jimmy Crute considers himself lucky. By the age of 12 he already knew what he wanted to do in life. The problem was he originally didn’t think he was very good at it. Now 24, Crute (12-1) looks like a future title contender in the UFC’s light heavyweight division, and he is

7:13 AM ET There are prospects who flash their potential by conquering opponents in their own age bracket, and there are those who prove they can handle foes of greater experience and are ready to challenge the elite of their division. ESPN’s second annual list of the top 25 MMA fighters under the age of

11:45 AM ET Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum has signed an exclusive contract to compete in the Professional Fighters League in 2021. Werdum (24-9-1) broke the news to ESPN on Monday. Widely considered one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, Werdum fought out his UFC contract in July, with a submission victory over

11:10 PM ET ESPN’s panel of Ariel Helwani, Marc Raimondi and Jeff Wagenheim breaks down the biggest stories coming out of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card, including a look at Rafael dos Anjos‘ split-decision win over Paul Felder and what it means. Helwani: Let’s make something very clear right off the bat: No one actually

10:26 PM ET Rafael dos Anjos is back in championship form. The former UFC lightweight titleholder returned to his longtime division Saturday and was brilliant in beating Paul Felder via split decision (47-48, 50-45, 50-45) in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. Dos Anjos showed a well-rounded game, doing damage on

1:56 PM ET The UFC is down a fight on Saturday’s card. Eryk Anders is out of a scheduled bout against Antonio Arroyo at UFC Fight Night: Felder vs. dos Anjos in Las Vegas, Anders announced on social media. 1 Related Anders wrote that his withdrawal is “due to issues concerned with my health.” The

4:23 PM ET UFC is finalizing a middleweight bout between Kelvin Gastelum and Ian Heinisch in January, sources told ESPN. Both sides have agreed to the 185-pound matchup, which will take place at UFC Fight Night on Jan. 30. UFC has not announced a location for the event or a main event. Gastelum (16-6) hinted

4:15 PM ET The two youngest women on the UFC roster put on quite the show. In a back-and-forth, exciting fight, Cory McKenna beat Kay Hansen via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in a women’s strawweight contest on the UFC Fight Night: Felder vs. dos Anjos main card Saturday in Las Vegas. Both landed hard

8:45 PM ET Nothing like a ranked UFC lightweight accepting a five-round fight … against a former champion … on five days’ notice … to stir up the MMA community. The reaction to Paul Felder (17-5) stepping into Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event against Rafael dos Anjos (29-13) on short notice has been genuinely

12:30 PM ET Paul Felder didn’t even know he’d be fighting this weekend as of Monday morning. That day, he weighed more than 170 pounds. The popular UFC lightweight accepted the UFC Fight Night main event against Rafael dos Anjos this weekend on just five days’ notice later Monday. And Friday, Felder had no issues

1:21 PM ET UFC is finalizing a light heavyweight matchup between former title challenger Thiago Santos and Aleksandar Rakic on March 6, sources told ESPN. The promotion has not officially announced an event on the date of March 6, nor given a location. Sources said the 205-pound matchup will consist of three rounds and not

7:48 AM ET Paul Felder was home with his family on Sunday night in Philadelphia. It was around 7:30 p.m., and while scrolling through social media, Felder saw a report that Islam Makhachev was out of his UFC Fight Night main event with Rafael dos Anjos, a bout scheduled for the following weekend. That was

9:36 PM ET Patricio Freire already has the best résumé of any fighter in Bellator history. Now he’s trying to add the title of Grand Prix champion to his already prodigious legacy. “Pitbull” stopped Pedro Carvalho by knockout at 2 minutes, 10 seconds of the first round to retain the Bellator featherweight title Thursday night

4:40 PM ET A heavyweight fight between Alistair Overeem and Alexander Volkov is set to headline UFC Fight Night on Feb. 6, UFC president Dana White told ESPN on Thursday. Overeem and Volkov are the Nos. 5 and 6-ranked heavyweights, respectively, according to the UFC’s official rankings. The UFC has not yet announced a location

8:46 AM ET Scott Coker woke up March 13 in a hotel room at Mohegan Sun Casino & Resort in Uncasville, Connecticut. Later that night, the Bellator president would be promoting a card featuring the start of the anticipated Bellator Featherweight World Grand Prix quarterfinals. That morning, though, he got a phone call from members