MMA

1:19 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim A Bellator star was born Saturday night. And another walked off into the sunset. Juan Archuleta, who has toiled mostly under the radar during a run of success that extends back half a decade, scored his highest-profile victory in the main event of Bellator 246, defeating previously unbeaten Patchy Mix

12:42 AM ET Saturday’s Michelle Waterson vs. Angela Hill bout wasn’t originally scheduled to be the Fight Night main event, but a positive COVID test scrapped the original headliner and pushed the strawweight fight to the top spot. And it delivered. The veterans put on a five-round slugfest that saw Waterson earn a split-decision win

4:20 PM ET Ottman Azaitar has put the UFC’s lightweight division on notice, with a pair of first-round finishes in his first two fights. Azaitar (13-0) stunned 33-year-old veteran Khama Worthy (16-7) with a TKO finish just 93 seconds into their 155-pound contest on Saturday. The bout co-headlined UFC Fight Night, inside the UFC’s Apex

4:20 PM ET Angela Hill will continue to make history Saturday night. Hill will become the first Black American woman to headline a UFC card when she faces Michelle Waterson in the Fight Night main event in Las Vegas. Hill already was the first Black American woman to sign with the UFC, which she did

1:12 AM ET Phil Davis defeated Lyoto Machida in a light heavyweight rematch via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) on Friday night in the main event of Bellator 245 at Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun. The victory put Davis on the short list of potential first title defenses for new Bellator 205-pound champion Vadim Nemkov. The most

12:43 PM ET The UFC’s main event this weekend is official now that strawweights Michelle Waterson and Angela Hill made weight Friday morning. Waterson weighed in at 115 pounds and Hill was 115.5. The two will meet in the UFC Fight Night headliner Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Hill is the first

2:44 PM ET Cris Cyborg is back, and her first Bellator title defense will ring in the promotion’s debut on a new network. Cyborg will put her Bellator women’s featherweight title on the line against Arlene Blencowe on Oct. 15 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, promotion officials announced Friday. The card will air in

7:24 AM ET Angela Hill is still quite certain she did enough to beat Claudia Gadelha in a controversial split-decision loss to the former strawweight title challenger in May. But afterward, Hill trained as though she had lost — and therein lies the silver lining. Hill (12-8, 7-8 in the UFC) will face Michelle Waterson

5:18 PM ET Next month’s highly anticipated fight between Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson isn’t happening anymore, according to Poirier. “UFC and I didn’t come to terms,” Poirier told ESPN. “I will not be fighting on Oct. 24.” Poirier recently traveled from his home in Lafayette, Louisiana, to South Florida to begin his training camp

12:56 PM ET Bellator is back with a doubleheader this weekend — two cards on two straight nights at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Bellator 245 is Friday night, headlined by a rematch between former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and former Bellator light heavyweight champion Phil Davis. In the co-main event, former

7:26 PM ET In 2014, UFC strawweight Angela Hill became the first Black American woman to sign with the promotion, and on Saturday, she’ll become the first to headline a card when she faces Michelle Waterson in a Fight Night main event. Hill’s fight was originally scheduled to be the co-main event until Glover Teixeira

9:07 AM ET The recipe for making it to the top of the sport is no secret: Win your fights. But that doesn’t always get a fighter where he or she wants to be, because there can be a traffic jam ahead in the rankings. Sometimes you just have to wait for others to fall

10:28 AM ET Francis Ngannou has taken over the No. 2 spot in ESPN’s heavyweight rankings, thanks to the recent retirement of former UFC champion Daniel Cormier. At light heavyweight, Dominick Reyes has grabbed the second spot after the August defeat of ex-Bellator champ Ryan Bader. Those represent the highest level of flux in the

10:45 PM ET The UFC signed another four prospects on Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday, including a man who’s been flirting with a UFC appearance for more than four years. UFC president Dana White awarded contracts to middleweights Phil Hawes (8-2) and Aliaskhab Khizriev (13-0), bantamweight Drako Rodriguez (7-1) and light heavyweight Tafon Nchukwi

9:27 AM ET The wheels kept turning last week as Dana White’s Contender Series continued to be one of the most important parts of the pandemic-mired year for the UFC. Last Tuesday, three DWCS winners were awarded UFC contracts and two others — plus one of the losing fighters — received an invitation back to

5:44 PM ET One of the best featherweight fighters in MMA over the past decade is calling it a career. Ricardo Lamas, 38, announced Monday on MMA Junkie Radio that he is retiring from mixed martial arts after 12 years as a pro. The former UFC title challenger said after his unanimous-decision win over Bill

5:31 PM ET UFC welterweight Leon Edwards has had an even more frustrating 2020 than some of his peers, but says he is still “100%” committed to taking a fight this year. Edwards (18-3), of England, was supposed to headline UFC Fight Night opposite former champion Tyron Woodley in March, inside London’s 02 Arena. The

11:01 AM ET Is Nick Diaz ready to return to the Octagon for his first UFC fight in over five years? His manager told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani that Diaz is “100 percent” committed to fighting again, and the plan is for an early 2021 return. The manager, Kevin Mubenga, even provided a video of a