THERE IS NO special treatment at City Kickboxing, not even for the six UFC fighters mixed into this gym of some 350 members training at various levels of competence and interest. Not when two UFC championship belts, belonging to Adesanya and teammate Alexander Volkanovski, lie parallel on a table in the makeshift lobby area of
MMA
4:46 PM ET Jeff Wagenheim For the first time in nearly a decade, the UFC’s light heavyweight division is about to have a new king. Both Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz have earned this moment — their places at center stage under the spotlight, each poised to launch his era as champion — and yet
7:09 PM ET The UFC’s light heavyweight title will be up for grabs Saturday, and Jon Jones‘ only involvement will be on social media. Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz will vie for the title that Jones vacated in August, when he announced that he is moving to heavyweight. Reyes-Blachowicz will be the co-main event of
7:42 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim For the first time in nearly a decade, the UFC’s light heavyweight division is about to have a new king. Both Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz have earned this moment — their places at center stage under the spotlight, each poised to launch his era as champion — and yet
7:39 PM ET Former Bellator MMA champion Michael Chandler believes he’s deserving of a UFC lightweight title shot but says he’s willing to take a fight in order to prove it. Chandler (21-5) signed with the UFC this month, bringing a 10-year relationship with Bellator to an end. The 34-year-old was a former three-time lightweight
8:09 AM ET As the MMA world prepares for two championship fights at UFC 253 on Saturday, another storyline developed when the promotion signed former Bellator champ Michael Chandler and immediately put him in position to possibly debut with a title shot at UFC 254. Chandler will fill in if either champ Khabib Nurmagomedov or
8:05 AM ET Nicknames can be fun or serious, have little meaning or be deeply personal. They can be self-given, coined by a coach or a promotion or in some cases earned based on a performance. Oftentimes a nickname is more ubiquitous than a fighter’s actual name. Such is the way of combat sports, where
11:10 PM ET One of the biggest grudge matches in UFC history reached its epic conclusion on Saturday, with Colby Covington coming out on top of long-time rival and former teammate Tyron Woodley. In the co-main event, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone fought to the first draw of his career in his 53rd professional fight, against Niko
12:17 AM ET After three years of trash talk on social media, former teammates Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley finally met in the Octagon on Saturday night in the UFC Fight Night main event. But the scrap between the welterweights lacked any drama, with a dominant Covington stopping Woodley early in the fifth round. How
11:21 PM ET Colby Covington settled the score, won bragging rights over his biggest rival and perhaps earned another title shot. The UFC welterweight star defeated Tyron Woodley via TKO at 1 minute, 19 seconds of the fifth round Saturday night in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. The finish was
6:10 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley delivered a clear message Thursday during a UFC news conference at the company’s Apex facility. Woodley, who is from Ferguson, Missouri, responded with some variation of “Black Lives Matter” to all 10 questions he received from media members. The individual news conference was
3:29 PM ET Tyron Woodley has been in Colby Covington‘s crosshairs for years. The first time Covington started calling out Woodley was in June 2017 when Woodley was the UFC welterweight champion. The fight never came to fruition then or after several other tries over the past few years. On Saturday that changes. The elite
8:05 AM ET Does Tyron Woodley want to fight? It’s a question that has plagued the former welterweight champion — probably unfairly at times — for the better part of a decade. There were moments early in his UFC career — losses to Jake Shields and Rory MacDonald — in which Woodley simply did not
12:23 PM ET LAS VEGAS — The wait for Tyron Woodley vs. Colby Covington is nearly over. Woodley (19-5-1) and Covington (15-2) both successfully made weight on Friday for their highly anticipated welterweight bout at UFC Fight Night on Saturday. Each fighter weighed in at the maximum 171-pound limit. The fight will headline the event,
7:49 PM ET UFC light heavyweight Mike Rodriguez is appealing his loss last Saturday to Ed Herman, saying he was penalized for a low blow that never occurred. Herman defeated Rodriguez by third-round submission at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. Rodriguez’s team filed an appeal Friday with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, asking for
7:32 AM ET Marc Raimondi Brett Okamoto Close ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Colby Covington was holed up in a St. Louis hotel room. It was early 2014, and Covington was flown in to be part of Tyron Woodley‘s training camp for his
2:48 PM ET Despite Conor McGregor and the UFC’s insistence that the former two-division champion is retired from the fight game, both parties hinted at a potential comeback Thursday. “We’re actually working on some fun stuff for Conor at the beginning of next year,” UFC president Dana White told SportsCenter on Thursday. “He should be
6:29 PM ET UFC champion Israel Adesanya is making some history ahead of his middleweight title defense next weekend. The undefeated Adesanya has signed a multiyear deal with Puma, the company announced Thursday. He will be the face of Puma’s Oceania division but will also be a part of its global marketing plans, sources say.