MMA

2:22 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim NEW YORK — A pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter steps into the cage with the second-best fighter in his weight class and makes him look second rate. That was the narrative early on in the UFC 268 main event, as welterweight champion Kamaru Usman bloodied Colby Covington in the first round

5:42 PM ET NEW YORK – Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington went back and forth Thursday during a heated news conference, fueled by a crowd starved for conflict. Usman shoved Covington during the staredown, sending the fans to another level of raucousness. There has not been a major MMA show in New York City in

7:47 AM ET NEW YORK — To say the UFC is ending 2021 with a bang is an understatement. The UFC has two pay-per-view events left, and each could be considered the best card of the year. But for my money, nothing beats the UFC 268 main card this Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Two

9:41 AM ET NEW YORK — One of the most anticipated title rematches in UFC history is official, as Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington both weighed in successfully Friday morning. Usman, who was first to the scale, weighed in at 169 pounds, and Covington was 169.4 pounds. Usman will defend his UFC welterweight title against

8:00 AM ET SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — It’s a Saturday morning in October and Zhang Weili is in MMA gloves and her workout gear, walking to the mat at Fight Ready MMA & Fitness. A YouTube video with the sound of fans loudly booing at a sporting event is being broadcast over the gym’s speakers. Coaches

7:37 AM ET Morgan Mularski DENVER — Trevor Wittman starts off every morning reciting five things for which he’s grateful. Then he repeats the mantra “externalize the internal champion,” a saying he lives by and aims to instill in others. Wittman encourages those in his life to embrace their inner being and passions. Wittman has

4:09 PM ET NEW YORK — Justin Gaethje expects to get the nod for a title shot if he takes care of business this weekend. And he’s hoping that opportunity will come against an old rival. Gaethje fights Michael Chandler at UFC 268 on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. With a victory, Gaethje said he

7:30 AM ET Kamaru Usman will defend his welterweight championship in a rematch with Colby Covington on Saturday in the main event of UFC 268. That fight is just one of two title bouts on the card at Madison Square Garden in New York. In the co-main event, Rose Namajunas will defend her strawweight belt

7:48 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN On Saturday, we’re set to see arguably the biggest fight night of the year. Canelo Alvarez, the No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world, looks to become an undisputed world champion for the first time in his career as he faces Caleb Plant in a super middleweight unification fight at

7:42 AM ET HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Colby Covington didn’t talk — publicly — for nearly two months after his failed UFC welterweight title bid against Kamaru Usman at UFC 245 in December 2019. From the outside, it was easy to assume reasons why. Covington (16-2), who will challenge Usman for the second time at UFC

8:00 AM ET Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman defends his UFC title against Colby Covington, in a rematch of their tremendous 2019 fight, which Usman won by fifth-round TKO. The bout on Saturday headlines a packed UFC 268 card that also includes another title rematch, a must-see lightweight fight and an opportunity for a few fighters

3:35 PM ET Glover Teixeira finally did it. At 42, the perennial light heavyweight contender defeated Jan Blachowicz by second round submission via rear naked choke in the main event of UFC 267 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Saturday. Teixeira became the 14th undisputed UFC champion in the division and the oldest first-time

5:45 PM ET Glover Teixeira got a UFC light heavyweight title shot seven years ago and lost, like most everyone else does, to Jon Jones. At that point, Teixeira was already 34 years old and most wrote him off. He had his nice UFC run, many thought, and that would be it. Instead, Teixeira got

5:17 PM ET ABU DHABI — Petr Yan might not be the official champion of the UFC’s bantamweight division — but it sure feels like the weight class belongs to him. Yan (16-2) claimed the interim bantamweight title at UFC 267 on Saturday by defeating Cory Sandhagen (14-4) via unanimous decision. The 135-pound title fight

1:48 PM ET ABU DHABI — In a rare move, UFC removed a referee from its UFC 267 event Saturday, immediately following his performance in a preliminary welterweight bout. The promotion pulled referee Vyacheslav Kiselev from the event after he declined to stop the welterweight bout between Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos and Benoit Saint-Denis. Zaleski

Oct 30, 2021 ABU DHABI — UFC 267 was stacked with some of the biggest names in the sport. The headlining title fights resulted in successes for the 42-year-old Glover Teixeira and Petr Yan who wrapped gold around their waists, but the standout moments happened earlier on the main card with Khamzat Chimaev and Islam

10:25 AM ET ABU DHABI — The UFC has two title fights on tap as it returns to Abu Dhabi for a second event in 2021. Light heavyweight champ Jan Blachowicz (28-8), of Poland, will seek to defend his belt against Brazil’s Glover Teixeira (32-7). Blachowicz won the title in September 2020 with a knockout

12:44 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Kayla Harrison‘s dominance of the PFL continues. For the second consecutive season, Harrison has captured the PFL lightweight championship. She did so with ease Wednesday at the Hard Rock Live; she attempted 90 strikes and landed all but five of them en route to an armbar submission