MMA

7:50 AM ET Brett Okamoto Close ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Marc Raimondi Anderson Silva stands alone among middleweights in the history of mixed martial arts. You can carve that into granite. If one were to mimic the sculptural design of Mount Rushmore,

10:56 PM ET The UFC’s first Fight Night card on the road since 2020 has its new main event. Curtis Blaydes will meet Chris Daukaus in the heavyweight contender headliner of UFC Columbus on March 26 in Ohio, sources confirmed Thursday with ESPN. MMA journalist Ariel Helwani was the first to report the news. ESPN

10:37 AM ET Yoel Romero will look to pick up his first Bellator win when he takes on MMA veteran Melvin Manhoef in the co-main event on May 6 in Paris, the promotion announced Thursday. The bout will be contested at light heavyweight. Romero is a former UFC title challenger. The main event will feature

8:36 PM ET Just over two months out from his rematch with Israel Adesanya, Robert Whittaker is pounding away on the pads during a striking session at his sprawling new gym in Sydney’s south western suburbs. With the mercury already nudging 30 degrees Celsius outside, a gigantic ceiling fan is doing its best to disperse

3:15 PM ET HOUSTON — Israel Adesanya, one of the UFC’s top stars, has signed a new “lucrative” contract with the promotion, his Paradigm Sports Management team announced Wednesday. At the UFC 271 media day Wednesday, Adesanya described the contract as a “f—ing big deal,” and he said he believes he’s now the second-highest-paid active

3:54 PM ET There aren’t too many more outrageous characters in the UFC than Tai Tuivasa. In a sport that has its fair share of the unusual, extreme, exciting and often downright jaw-dropping, Tuivasa has carved out a profile as one of the most popular athletes in the UFC. At the heart of it, of

7:55 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Former UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes revealed to ESPN on Monday she dealt with injuries to both of her knees during the buildup to her shocking submission loss to Julianna Peña at the end of last year. Nunes (21-5) said she didn’t want to use the injuries as an

9:03 PM ET The best MMA fighter in the world went under the knife Monday. UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman had surgery to repair a ligament in his hand, Usman’s manager Ali Abdelaziz of Dominance MMA confirmed to ESPN. UFC president Dana White posted a gruesome photo of the operation on social media. Abdelaziz said

Feb 6, 2022 There are a number of bigger names competing at UFC 271 in Houston (Saturday, 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV), but no name is more intriguing than the one which will appear in the opening fight of the night. While the MMA world waits in earnest for the rematch between Israel Adesanya

7:49 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim After Derrick Lewis and Tai Tuivasa finish flinging menacing leather in each other’s direction on Saturday night in Houston, in the co-main event of UFC 271, it will be time for the real show. That’s not a reference to the main event between UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and former

10:44 PM ET The controversial Sean Strickland continues his rise in the UFC’s middleweight division. Strickland defeated Jack Hermansson via split decision (49-46, 47-48, 49-46) Saturday in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. Strickland used his jab to keep Hermansson at bay the entire fight. Hermansson did not succeed on any

12:33 PM ET Max Holloway has been medically cleared to resume training and has offered to serve as a backup for the featherweight division’s next title fight, sources close to Holloway told ESPN. The former champion received medical clearance on Thursday, sources said. Holloway, of Waianae, Hawai’i, was briefly scheduled to challenge Alexander Volkanovski for

7:12 PM ET The rivalry between Julianna Peña and Amanda Nunes is just getting started. Peña, the UFC women’s bantamweight champion, and Nunes, the woman whom Peña beat for the title, will coach against one another on the 30th season of The Ultimate Fighter reality series, it was announced Friday. Peña and Nunes will then

1:38 PM ET Two title fights are now official for UFC 273. Alexander Volkanovski will defend his UFC featherweight title against Chan Sung Jung, “The Korean Zombie,” in the main event of the pay-per-view card April 9 in Jacksonville, Florida, UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell confirmed to ESPN on Friday. The co-main event will

8:36 AM ET Brett Okamoto Close ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Marc Raimondi Conor McGregor is the biggest star in combat sports. Francis Ngannou is the baddest man on the planet. Nate Diaz is one of the UFC’s most beloved needle movers. Every

7:39 PM ET Australian fighter Tai Tuivasa said his heavyweight bout with Derrick Lewis is a fantastic opportunity, even if he agreed to the UFC 271 showdown against the American while “pissed.” Riding a four-fight win streak after a bumper 2021 that saw him defeat Harry Hunsucker, Greg Hardy and Augusto Sakai, Tuivasa has solidified

3:39 PM ET Associated Press CONCORD, N.C. — UFC president Dana White has struck a partnership deal with the Pitbull-owned NASCAR team Trackhouse Racing, starting this week at the exhibition Clash in Los Angeles. White’s Howler Head Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey will serve as primary sponsor of Ross Chastain‘s No. 1 Chevrolet in Sunday’s race

6:54 PM ET Kevin Holland called an online troll’s bluff by choking him out in a grappling match. Holland, the loquacious UFC fighter nicknamed “Big Mouth,” said he had been getting messages from a guy on social media for months with the man, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner, claiming he could submit Holland. So Holland took