MMA

10:22 PM ET UFC lightweight Beneil Dariush told ESPN on Wednesday he will avoid surgery on his recently injured leg and should be able to return to action this summer. Dariush (21-4-1) was slated to face Islam Makhachev (22-1) in the main event of a UFC Fight Night on Feb. 26, but he was forced

8:55 PM ET One of the top women’s fighters in the world will be back in the cage before summer. A women’s flyweight title bout between champion Valentina Shevchenko and Taila Santos is being targeted for UFC 275 on June 11, sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday. MMA Fighting was the first to report the

8:59 AM ET STOCKHOLM, Sweden — UFC middleweight Darren Till has a new training partner in breakout star Khamzat Chimaev. He also has a new UFC contract. Till (18-4-1), of Liverpool, made headlines this week when he surfaced at Allstars Training Center alongside Chimaev (10-0). Till told ESPN he is still associated with his longtime

4:42 PM ET Editor’s note: This story contains details that may be disturbing for some readers. Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez was formally charged Wednesday with attempted premeditated murder and multiple gun assault charges in relation to a shooting Monday night in San Jose, California, according to a Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office

7:56 AM ET No one can match Kamaru Usman for the depth of his hard-won expertise on Colby Covington vs. Jorge Masvidal. The headliners for Saturday’s UFC 272 have each challenged Usman twice for his UFC welterweight championship. As Usman was winning all four of those fights, the champ piled up knowledge along the way.

12:40 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Renato Moicano will step in on just four days’ notice to fight Rafael dos Anjos in the co-main event of UFC 272 on Saturday here, sources told ESPN on Tuesday. The fight has been verbally agreed to and both sides are awaiting contracts. Dos Anjos, the former UFC lightweight

10:49 AM ET Cain Velasquez, the former UFC heavyweight champion, was arrested Monday on suspicion of attempted murder and booked into Santa Clara (California) County jail, the San Jose Police Department announced Tuesday morning. Velasquez is being held without bail, per online records. He has a court date set for Wednesday. The San Jose Police

Sep 3, 2019 Editor’s note: This story originally ran ahead of a UFC Fight Night main event bout between Justin Gaethje and Edson Barboza in March 2019. Gaethje won the fight via first-round TKO. Barboza faces Bryce Mitchell at UFC 272. Rafaello Oliveira could not continue. Midway through the second round of his fight with

3:28 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Saturday’s UFC 272 pay-per-view event has lost a highly anticipated co-main event between Rafael dos Anjos and Rafael Fiziev, as Fiziev has tested positive for COVID-19. Fiziev’s manager, Daniel Rubenstein, broke the news to MMA Hour on Monday, and Fiziev followed with an official statement from his social media.

8:00 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim “Family.” That was the only word in the Instagram post, followed by a couple of hashtags. There was also a photo of three UFC fighters in an embrace, identified in those hashtags as #FutureChampions. “Family” was an accurate encapsulation of the rapport between the athletes who were training together at

2:32 AM ET Bellator champion Yaroslav Amosov said Saturday he will stay in his native Ukraine and “defend this country as best I can” against Russia’s invasion. Amosov, Bellator’s welterweight title-holder, said in a video posted to Instagram that he took his family to a “safe zone,” but has now returned to Ukraine, where he

10:08 PM ET The knock on Islam Makhachev used to be that he lacked finishing instinct and was susceptible to getting caught. Adriano Martins knocked Makhachev out in Makhachev’s second UFC fight, back in 2015, at UFC 192. Makhachev quickly patched up some of those defensive holes, and he has not lost since fighting Martins,

9:49 PM ET No, it was not the signature win over a fellow contender like he and his team had hoped. But Islam Makhachev made a statement that was necessary to peg himself as the next UFC lightweight title contender. Makhachev dominated Bobby Green, finishing with a ground-and-pound TKO at 3 minutes, 23 seconds of

8:51 PM ET Glover Teixeira will have to wait a little longer for his first title defense. Originally scheduled for UFC 274, Teixeira will now face Jiri Prochazka in a UFC light heavyweight title fight at UFC 275 in June, sources confirmed Saturday with ESPN. Teixeira discussed the new date earlier Saturday in an interview

7:05 PM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN Gegard Mousasi extended his second reign as Bellator middleweight champion in style on Friday, stunning previously undefeated Austin Vanderford early with a 1-2 punch combination before taking the fight to the ground and finishing off a first-round TKO knockout in the main event of Bellator 275 in Dublin. Mousasi (49-7-2),

8:02 AM ET There is a saying mixed martial arts manager Jason House often turns to during conversations with the athletes he represents. “I always tell them, ‘It’s not about who’s good,'” House says. “‘It’s about who’s left.'” In a sport full of potential pitfalls, UFC lightweight Bobby Green (29-12-1) has always found a way

8:30 PM ET Robert Whittaker sees no ceiling on his MMA career despite the loss to Israel Adesanya at UFC 271, saying he left Houston believing he is the “best middleweight in the world.” And the Australian hopes to be back in the Octagon as soon as possible, eager to continue the journey to get

2:14 PM ET The Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation has medically suspended Adam Piccolotti for six months after the Bellator fighter posted an Instagram video of himself vomiting during his weight cut last week, director Mike Mazzulli said Wednesday. Piccolotti wrote on social media that he had thrown up “20-plus times” during the weight