MMA

7:27 PM ET The UFC has closed off Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card at its Apex facility in Las Vegas to the public as well as the media. The company declined to provide a reason for the closure at the time of the announcement earlier this week, but UFC president Dana White said Tuesday that

10:36 AM ET The PFL revealed an official date and location for its 2022 Championship Finals on Wednesday, as well as an intent to enter the pay-per-view business for the first time in company history. The 2022 PFL World Championships, which the promotion has dubbed ‘MMA’s Richest Night,’ will take place on Nov. 25 inside

10:27 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Prepare yourselves for some Bo Nickal hype. Nickal, a three-time NCAA Division I national collegiate wrestling champion, starched another opponent on Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday night, submitting Donovan Beard with a triangle choke just 52 seconds into their middleweight bout. It was Nickal’s second win on the

11:54 AM ET Former UFC bantamweight title challenger Marlon Moraes has decided to come out of retirement, and will do so under a new multi-fight deal with PFL. In addition to the new deal, Moraes (23-10-1) has agreed to a featherweight matchup against Shane Burgos (15-3) on the promotion’s tournament finals card later this year.

8:51 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN Bo Nickal showed he belonged in the UFC seven weeks ago. Fighting on Dana White’s Contender Series on Aug. 9, he made quick work of an overmatched opponent, choking out Zachary Borrego in just 1 minute 2 seconds. For that stunning show of brutal efficiency, Nickal earned a stream of

7:58 AM ET As UFC nears the end of its calendar year, there are still so many unanswered questions, especially among two weight classes that some of the promotion’s top fighters call home. Leon Edwards‘ fifth-round KO vs. Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 in August was a major shake-up for the welterweight division. What direction

11:13 PM ET Cris Cyborg won her first boxing match Sunday night. The legendary women’s MMA fighter crossed over into the ring and beat boxing journeywoman Simone Silva via decision at Fight Music Show in Cyborg’s hometown of Curitiba, Brazil. The bout went all eight rounds. It remains unclear whether it will count as a

6:36 PM ET Popular UFC lightweight Bobby Green said in an Instagram video Friday night that he was forced out of a scheduled fight at UFC 276 due to a positive drug test. Green said — as he was in training camp for the scheduled July 2 bout against fellow veteran fighter Jim Miller —

11:07 AM ET Mohamed Itoumaine was refereeing at a Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament last month in Wolverhampton, England. To his surprise, one of the participants was Tom Hardy, a big-time Hollywood actor with credits from Mad Max: Fury Road to Venom to the Batman franchise. He also starred in the MMA movie “Warrior” in 2011. Hardy,

9:06 AM ET Conor McGregor has not stepped into the Octagon in 14 months, yet hardly a day goes by without his name being brought up in an MMA conversation. As the starry Irishman’s return from a broken leg draws nearer, there is speculation about who might be next to step under the brightest of

11:16 PM ET Eddie Alvarez and ONE Championship have agreed upon his release, the decorated MMA fighter wrote Tuesday night on Twitter. Alvarez, a former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion, wrote that he left ONE “amicably” and is “officially a free agent.” Alvarez signed with ONE as a free agent from the UFC in October

5:27 PM ET The fight between Cody Garbrandt, the former UFC bantamweight champion, and Rani Yahya, a Brazilian veteran who is 5-1-1 in his past seven bouts, on the Oct. 1 UFC Fight Night: Mackenzie Dern vs. Xiaonan Yan card has been postponed after injuries to both fighters. Yahya reportedly suffered a neck injury last

10:50 PM ET The UFC is bringing in a fighter who is just shy of his 18th birthday. Raul Rosas Jr. became the youngest fighter to sign with the UFC on Tuesday night, following a unanimous decision win over Mando Gutierrez on Dana White’s Contender Series. White, impressed by Rosas’ performance, offered the teen a

12:03 PM ET The Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva boxing undercard will feature an unorthodox matchup. UFC and Bellator MMA veteran Chris Avila will compete against YouTube star Doctor Mike in a four-round, professional boxing match Oct. 29 in Glendale, Arizona, officials told ESPN. The contracted weight will be 185 pounds, and the pair will

11:00 AM ET Jose Aldo‘s legacy is rich with championships. He reigned with the UFC featherweight belt through a record seven title defenses, and before that, he was the WEC champ. But for the man known as the King of Rio, a notable accomplishment was that he made moments come alive for fans and fellow

6:23 PM ET One of MMA’s all-time greats is calling it a career. Former longtime UFC and WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, 36, has retired from the UFC, his team told ESPN on Sunday. The promotion also announced Aldo’s retirement in a tweet Sunday evening that read in part, “Congratulations @JoseAldoJunior on a legendary run.”

10:51 PM ET What were the biggest moments from this UFC Fight Night? What’s next for one of the bantamweight division’s top contenders? Jeff Wagenheim, Marc Raimondi and Brett Okamoto offer their takeaways from UFC’s return Saturday night’s fight card. Cory Sandhagen made 14 takedown attempts and was unsuccessful on every one of them until

10:26 PM ET UFC bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen picked up a much-needed victory over Song Yadong at UFC Fight Night on Saturday at the Apex facility in Las Vegas. Sandhagen (15-4) won for the first time since February 2021, earning a TKO when Yadong (19-7-1) was unable to continue due to a cut over his