MMA

7:49 AM ET Glover Teixeira boarded a plane from New York to his home country of Brazil on July 5, 2008. Later that night, Forrest Griffin defeated Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to win the UFC light heavyweight title. When Teixeira heard that result, he made a mental note: Griffin would be the one he’d be challenging

3:33 AM ET ABU DHABI — Two UFC championship fights are now official for Saturday’s UFC 267 event on Fight Island, as all four athletes successfully made weight on Friday. Light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz (28-8) and No. 1 contender Glover Teixeira (32-7) each weighed in at 205 pounds. Former bantamweight champion Petr Yan (15-2)

5:25 PM ET A celebrity Italian DJ and television presenter says he took his allegations that Conor McGregor punched him in the face to police. Francesco Facchinetti confirmed with ESPN in an interview Thursday that he filed a complaint with Italian law enforcement several days after he claims he was struck by McGregor, the UFC

7:40 AM ET FOUR YEARS AGO Majdi Shammas was on the second floor of Allstars Training Center, the martial arts facility he owns in Stockholm, when he heard a disturbance downstairs. It sounded like someone was fighting. And not the kind of fighting that goes on in Shammas’ gym seven days a week. No, it

1:29 AM ET Marc Raimondi Mike Coppinger Kayla Harrison can be biggest women’s star in MMA since Ronda Rousey Harrison, the charismatic, trash-talking, one-woman wrecking crew, who coincidentally happens to be Rousey’s former teammate with USA Judo, won her second $1 million PFL championship Wednesday night, beating Taylor Guardado via armbar submission 4 minutes into

4:10 PM ET HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — After a full season of PFL fights in six divisions, and a playoff win for each fighter remaining, 12 fighters will walk into the cage Wednesday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida with a chance to be a champion. Only six will end the

7:40 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim Six championship fights. Six life-changing $1 million paydays. The PFL closes out its 2021 season Wednesday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel Casino in Hollywood, Florida (4:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2/ESPN+), with the PFL World Championships hosting the high-stakes finals in a half-dozen weight

5:42 PM ET Former UFC fighter Mike Perry, known for action-packed UFC fights, issues outside the cage and having his girlfriend work his corner, has signed a deal with Bare Knuckle FC (BKFC), the promotion announced Tuesday. Perry’s manager Malki Kawa of First Round Management said Perry’s UFC contract expired with his April loss to

8:00 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim “And new!” might be the most thrilling two words in mixed martial arts. They alert everyone within reach of a very loud voice that there has been a change in the power structure. There’s a fresh coat of paint. There’s ascension accompanied by the potential for memorable greatness. Even if

5:51 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a middleweight bout between “The Ultimate Fighter” winner Bryan Battle and Tresean Gore, sources confirmed to ESPN on Monday. The 185-pound bout will take place at a UFC Fight Night on Feb. 5. The UFC has not announced an official venue for that event. MMAJunkie.com first reported the

7:53 AM ET The past 18 months have been life-altering for Kayla Harrison, one of the most promising fighters in women’s MMA. Harrison took her niece and nephew, Kyla and Emery, into her home when her stepfather, Bob Nichols, died in May 2020. At that time, the biggest breakout fighter in the Professional Fighters League

7:54 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim Khamzat Chimaev will compete in his fourth UFC fight on Saturday at UFC 267 (10:30 a.m. ET on ESPN+). He is 3-0 inside the Octagon, 9-0 overall in his MMA career. He has finished every opponent, six of them in the first round. He has never seen a Round 3.

1:34 PM ET LAS VEGAS — One of the most interesting fight weeks of 2021 will come to its conclusion tonight, as Paulo Costa takes on Marvin Vettori in a light heavyweight bout at UFC Fight Night inside the Apex. This fight, of course, was supposed to take place at 185 pounds and have a

7:23 PM ET LAS VEGAS — It was a weird week, to say the least, but Saturday’s five-round main event between Marvin Vettori and Paulo Costa delivered as expected. Vettori (18-4-1) handed Costa (13-2) his second consecutive defeat, scoring a unanimous decision victory in a light heavyweight matchup at UFC Fight Night inside the Apex.

12:57 PM ET LAS VEGAS — A three-day saga surrounding Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event between Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori is finally over, as both fighters made weight for a five-round light heavyweight matchup. This fight was originally scheduled to take place at middleweight, the division in which Costa and Vettori are both

8:00 AM ET UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya released a YouTube video last weekend in which he broke down Saturday’s main event fight between his “children” Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori. On its face, Costa vs. Vettori is an outstanding main event featuring two of the UFC’s top middleweights. Costa and Vettori are ranked Nos.

12:34 AM ET The game of musical weights continues for this weekend’s UFC main event. Paulo Costa vs. Marvin Vettori will now, as of Thursday night, take place at 205 pounds — the light heavyweight division, UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell confirmed with ESPN on Thursday night. The fight is scheduled for Saturday night

8:00 AM ET There was a time when an appearance by Fedor Emelianenko was as big as it got in mixed martial arts. From mid-2000, when the Russian first competed as a pro, through the end of 2009, Emelianenko fought 32 times and lost only once, by a dubious doctor’s stoppage. During one stretch, mostly