MMA

4:13 PM ET Marcus Marinelli was leaning against the Octagon at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, on Aug. 17, 2019. His fighter, Stipe Miocic, was inside the cage, challenging Daniel Cormier for the UFC heavyweight title. In the fourth round, with Cormier ahead on all the scorecards, Miocic landed a big body shot, followed by

7:48 AM ET Marcus Marinelli was leaning against the Octagon at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, on Aug. 17, 2019. His fighter, Stipe Miocic, was inside the cage, challenging Daniel Cormier for the UFC heavyweight title. In the fourth round, with Cormier ahead on all the scorecards, Miocic landed a big body shot, followed by

10:50 AM ET Luke Rockhold has decided against calling it a career. The former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion told ESPN on Sunday he has decided to resume his MMA fighting career. This comes after he said in October that it was “very” possible he’d never fight again. “Because I felt like it,” Rockhold replied

2:18 PM ET UFC welterweight Geoff Neal is resting at his home in Dallas, following a recent health scare that forced him into an intensive care unit for seven days. Neal (13-2) was scheduled to face Neil Magny at UFC Fight Night on Aug. 29, but he announced his sudden withdrawal on social media on

7:29 AM ET The main event of UFC 252 is considered one of the most critical fights in the promotion’s history, with heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic defending against former two-division champ Daniel Cormier on Saturday in Las Vegas. Cormier ended Miocic’s record run of three straight heavyweight title defenses in their first meeting in 2018,

11:18 PM ET Former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler has agreed to replace surging contender Geoff Neal in a bout against Neil Magny later this month, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN. Neal (13-2) was scheduled to face Magny (23-7) at UFC Fight Night on Aug. 29, but announced on social media on Sunday he had

12:24 AM ET Derrick Lewis found himself flat on his back late in the first round, deep in the grasp of submission specialist Aleksei Oleinik. Lewis survived the choke attempts, but he admitted that getting to the second round on Saturday night was dicey. “I couldn’t breathe at all,” Lewis said in the postfight interview.

12:00 AM ET Derrick Lewis is the UFC’s new heavyweight knockout king. “The Black Beast” stopped Aleksei Oleinik via TKO at :21 of the second round Saturday in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. With the stoppage, Lewis earned his record 11th UFC heavyweight KO/TKO, breaking a tie with former champions

5:05 PM ET The past few years have been unkind to Ray Borg. And now he no longer has an MMA contract on top of it all. The UFC has released Borg, a former title challenger, promotion officials confirmed Friday with ESPN. The news was first reported by MMA Fighting. A request for comment from

Aug 13, 2019 Editor’s note: This story was originally posted ahead of UFC 241 where Stipe Miocic defeated Daniel Cormier by TKO to reclaim the UFC heavyweight title. He faces Cormier at third time at UFC 252 on Aug. 15. VALLEY VIEW, OHIO — Stipe Miocic gets out of his Dodge Rebel pickup, opens the

5:14 PM ET One of the most popular fighters in the heavyweight division has a chance to get closer to another title shot. Derrick Lewis meets Aleksei Oleinik in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas in a battle of two streaking contenders. The bout will take place at the

12:40 AM ET For a mixed martial arts fighter, there’s no better way to go into free agency than with a big knockout. And that’s exactly what Michael Chandler did. In the final fight on his Bellator contract, Chandler stopped former UFC champ Benson Henderson with a left-hand KO at 2:09 of the first round

12:22 PM ET UFC has booked a pair of flyweight championship fights for its UFC 255 pay-per-view event on Nov. 21, UFC president Dana White told ESPN on Friday. Men’s flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo will take on former bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt, and women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko will seek her fourth title defense against

1:27 PM ET One week before the UFC’s heavyweight title trilogy will be decided, a new divisional contender will emerge. And that fight is now official. Derrick Lewis (265 pounds) and Aleksei Oleinik (227) both weighed in successfully Friday morning in Las Vegas. The two men will meet in the UFC Fight Night headliner Saturday

7:08 AM ET It is not uncommon for a UFC Fight Night’s main event to eclipse all that is scheduled to come before on that evening, at least in the anticipation for the fights. That is not the case for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night headliner inside the promotion’s Apex facility in Las Vegas. Now, that’s

7:03 PM ET UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov does not intend to travel to the U.S. to prepare for his title unification bout against Justin Gaethje on Oct. 24, citing concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. Nurmagomedov (28-0), who lives in Dagestan, has held all of his fight camps at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose,

Aug 3, 2020 For the second straight week, ONE Championship has fortified its heavyweight division. The Asian MMA promotion signed former Greco-Roman wrestling world champion Amir Aliakbari to a contract Monday, Aliakbari’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, told ESPN. The plan is for Aliakbari to debut in ONE at the end of October, Abdelaziz said. Aliakbari (10-1)

9:02 AM ET Let’s make something clear right off the bat: Considering the times we are living in, this has been a phenomenal year for the UFC. Before the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 started incredibly strong. There was the return of Conor McGregor in January, a razor-thin fight between Jon Jones and Dominick Reyes in February,