MMA

9:19 AM ET MADRID — Brandon Moreno attended a VIP party on Friday, Sept. 2, at the Eiffel Tower. The invitation was made by Ari Emanuel, the CEO of UFC parent company Endeavor. Overlooking the City of Light, the UFC’s interim flyweight champion and his manager, Jason House, chatted with Emanuel hours before UFC Paris.

1:48 AM ET What can we take away from a unique main event at UFC 279 and victories from Nate Diaz and Khamzat Chimaev? Jeff Wagenheim, Marc Raimondi and Brett Okamoto offer up their thoughts from a highlight-packed event in Las Vegas. The implication behind the term “Plan B” is that it’s a lesser option

12:55 AM ET LAS VEGAS — When this week started, Nate Diaz‘s opponent was the dominant rising star Khamzat Chimaev — a little parting gift from the UFC as Diaz heads out the door. On Saturday night, with Tony Ferguson as the opponent after a bizarre, unprecedented several days, Diaz will leave the promotion as

12:16 AM ET LAS VEGAS — Khamzat Chimaev missed a major opportunity to take out one of the biggest stars in MMA history Saturday, but he picked up an easy victory at UFC 279. Chimaev (12-0) submitted Kevin Holland (23-8) with a D’Arce choke at 2:13 of the opening round inside T-Mobile Arena. It was

5:49 PM ET LAS VEGAS — When Friday ended, the UFC 279 main card was completely different than the one scheduled when the day began. In an unprecedented turn of events, the top three fights set for Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena were all altered by Friday evening, a chain reaction set off by once-headliner

10:17 AM ET Nate Diaz has received an enormous amount of support heading into the final fight of his UFC contract on Saturday, including from his old rival, Conor McGregor. McGregor took the time to congratulate Diaz on fulfilling his contract on Saturday, via his personal social media. The two fought twice in 2016, splitting

Dec 9, 2020 Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2020. Tony Ferguson has his own way of working out, and it’s never the easy way. Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images UFC lightweight star Tony Ferguson isn’t someone who’s confined by conventional norms. He has been known to wear dress clothes, sunglasses and fighting gloves while

6:15 PM ET LAS VEGAS — The UFC has completely shuffled the top three fights on its UFC 279 card one day before the scheduled pay-per-view event, UFC president Dana White told SportsCenter in a live Instagram video Friday. Nate Diaz now will face Tony Ferguson in the main event of the Saturday show at

8:10 AM ET STOCKTON, Calif. — GILBERT MELENDEZ, NATE Diaz‘s longtime teammate, was in Stockton with some of his students from El Niño Training Center in South San Francisco for a night training session at Nick Diaz Academy on Aug. 24. Melendez and crew arrived first at the “Trap House” — the name given by

8:40 PM ET LAS VEGAS — The UFC 279 news conference was canceled Thursday at MGM Grand Garden Arena after several altercations broke out backstage among fighters on the card and their teams. UFC president Dana White attempted to keep the news conference going by bringing up the six fighters separately in twos, per fight.

2:46 PM ET Former UFC title challenger Thiago Santos has signed an exclusive deal with the PFL, promotion president Ray Sefo told ESPN on Thursday. Santos, 38, will make his PFL debut in 2023 when he competes in the promotion’s season format with a tournament championship purse of $1 million. Santos will fight in the

2:38 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a massive lightweight matchup between Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler for UFC 281 on November 12. Contracts have not been signed but will be issued to all parties on Tuesday, UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell told ESPN. The 155-pound bout will take place on the pay-per-view card

4:12 PM ET A women’s flyweight bout between Alexa Grasso and Viviane Araujo will be the new headliner for a UFC Fight Night event on Oct. 15 in Las Vegas after a middleweight matchup between Jared Cannonier and Sean Strickland fell through because of injury, the promotion announced Wednesday. Nate Diaz returns to take on

8:31 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a middleweight contest between Darren Till and Dricus Du Plessis in December, multiple sources told ESPN. Contracts have not been signed, but both sides have agreed to a date and opponent. The 185-pound contest will take place at UFC 282 on Dec. 10 at T-Mobile Arena in Las

12:27 PM ET Jake Paul has found his next opponent — and he’s a combat sports luminary. The YouTuber-turned-prizefighter will meet former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in a boxing match Oct. 29 in Phoenix, Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions announced Tuesday. The bout will be contested at 187 pounds over eight three-minute rounds. Silva, 47,

9:02 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN Five of the last six UFC pay-per-view fight cards have been headlined by not just one championship bout but a pair of them. That’s a lot of gold and glory on the line. By contrast, UFC 279 will have not even a single title contest. What Saturday’s event in Las

7:09 PM ET What were the biggest moments at UFC Paris? Jeff Wagenheim, Brett Okamoto and Marc Raimondi offer up their takeaways from a highlight-packed event in France. For the first eight minutes of Saturday’s UFC main event in Paris, you could have fit the Arc de Triomphe in the space between Ciryl Gane and

1:52 PM ET PARIS — UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou told ESPN on Friday that the most realistic timetable for his return to competition is early 2023. Some reports had surfaced that the UFC was hoping that Ngannou, who had knee surgery to repair his right ACL and MCL in March, would be back by