MMA

8:24 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a welterweight matchup between Michael Chiesa and Sean Brady in November, multiple sources told ESPN on Thursday. Contracts have not been signed, but both sides have agreed to the contest, sources said. The fight will take place at a UFC Fight Night event, likely in Las Vegas. Chiesa

7:12 PM ET Miesha Tate is back in the main event. The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion — and one of the most popular women’s MMA fighters ever — will headline a UFC Fight Night against Ketlen Vieira on Oct. 16 in Las Vegas, the UFC announced Thursday. ESPN has Vieira ranked No. 8 in

11:50 AM ET For the first time in her already decorated MMA career, Zhang Weili will be doing her training camp in the United States. Zhang, the former UFC women’s strawweight champion, will be arriving later this month in Arizona to train at Fight Ready in Scottsdale, her coach Pedro Jordao told ESPN. Zhang, who

3:37 PM ET UFC lightweight Justin Gaethje has signed a contract extension that will keep him inside the Octagon, ahead of his upcoming fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 268 on Nov. 6. Gaethje (22-3) broke the news to ESPN during an interview Tuesday. The former interim champion had expressed some frustration with the UFC

7:51 AM ET Derek Brunson smiles and looks off into the distance. He’s thinking about all of the world-class opponents he has competed against during his nine-year career. In just his third UFC fight, Brunson took on 2000 Olympic wrestling silver medalist Yoel Romero. Half of his 10 most recent fights have come against opponents

10:30 PM ET LAS VEGAS — UFC president Dana White will inevitably be faced with some difficult decisions this year on Contender Series. But the first fight of the season sure didn’t present him with one. Light heavyweight prospect A.J. Fletcher (9-0) made White’s job easy on Tuesday, as he knocked out Leonardo Damiani (10-3)

Aug 30, 2021 In 2017, the UFC launched Dana White’s Contender Series in order to find talent to add to its roster. Through four seasons, the promotion has awarded 117 fighter contracts, including a record 37 last season. Here we go again. Season 5 begins on Tuesday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas,

7:16 AM ET The UFC will launch its fifth season of Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday night inside the Apex facility in Las Vegas. The show, which pits unsigned talent against one another in a one-night audition for a UFC contract, is not terribly old, but it’s already produced 117 additions to the UFC

3:59 PM ET The UFC has rebooked Amanda Nunes‘ bantamweight title defense against Julianna Pena for UFC 269 on Dec. 11, the promotion announced on Monday. Nunes (21-4) was supposed to face Pena (10-4) at UFC 265 earlier this month in Houston, but was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19. The UFC has

7:22 AM ET September’s UFC calendar kicks off with a key clash between middleweight contenders Derek Brunson and Darren Till. Brunson has won four straight fights since a 2018 loss to Israel Adesanya, and a win against Till could put him one fight away from his first championship opportunity in the UFC. Till already has

2:48 AM ET Jake Paul is 4-0 as a professional boxer after a split decision win over Tyron Woodley, the former UFC welterweight champion, at Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Sunday. It was a relatively convincing victory, despite one judge’s scorecard, but it was not a knockout like Paul’s previous three pro bouts. The fight

1:47 AM ET Giga Chikadze was out to prove a point in his first UFC main event. Facing one of the legends of the sport in Edson Barboza on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Chikadze displayed his striking prowess and stopped Barboza in the third round after a flurry of punches. The former kickboxing star

1:29 AM ET LAS VEGAS — Giga Chikadze has declared himself the No. 1 striker in the UFC. The man might have a case. Chikadze (14-2) improved his UFC record to 7-0 on Saturday, as he knocked out Edson Barboza with strikes at 1 minute, 44 seconds of the third round. The featherweight contest headlined

11:49 PM ET Andrew FeldmanESPN.com Close Andrew Feldman is ESPN.com’s Poker Editor. He is the host of the Poker Edge Podcast and co-host of ESPN Inside Deal. Andrew has covered the poker industry for ESPN since 2004. UFC 268 will be a night of title fight rematches at Madison Square Garden. On Saturday night’s UFC

6:59 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Edson Barboza feels like he’s close. The UFC’s No. 9-ranked featherweight has never fought for a championship but believes he is just two wins away from finally realizing that opportunity. He’s got a tough one ahead of him on Saturday, in the form of a five-round main event against

10:46 AM ET CLEVELAND — The highly anticipated boxing match between Jake Paul and Tyron Woodley is now official. Paul, the YouTuber-turned-prizefighter, weighed in at 190 pounds Saturday morning at the Intercontinental Hotel for the catchweight bout, which is scheduled for Sunday night. Former UFC welterweight champion Woodley weighed in at 189.5 pounds — the

6:37 PM ET Jeff Wagenheim Friday’s PFL featherweight semifinal between Brendan Loughnane and Movlid Khaybulaev isn’t a $1 million fight, but it has a championship feeling to it. Loughnane is anxious to sweep his infamous appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019, in which he won but didn’t close out the fight seeking a

3:34 PM ET The UFC is targeting a bantamweight matchup between Frankie Edgar and Marlon “Chito” Vera for UFC 268 on Nov. 6, multiple sources have told ESPN. Contracts have not been signed, but both sides have verbally agreed to the matchup. The pay-per-view event is expected to take place at New York’s Madison Square