12:07 AM ET UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan was disqualified after catching a grounded Aljamain Sterling with an illegal knee to the head in the fourth round Saturday night at UFC 259 in Las Vegas. With the disqualification due to an intentional foul, Sterling was crowned the new champion. The fight was stopped at 4
1:24 AM ET LAS VEGAS — Israel Adesanya‘s meteoric rise to UFC superstardom hit an obstacle Saturday night — a large, Polish obstacle. Jan Blachowicz beat the previously undefeated Adesanya by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-45, 49-45) to retain his light heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 259. Adesanya, the UFC middleweight champion, was
6:00 AM ET Trey Flowers sat in a Zoom town hall last summer, in the middle of a session about voting rights and voter registration, when the Detroit Lions defensive end began to speak. One of three NFL players on the call, he knew he wanted to share the story he heard tens of times
8:01 AM ET For club executives, the question of whether to manipulate the service time of young players has been like the steroid quandary was for players in the 1990s. Teams have the option of making decisions based entirely in good faith. Some clubs have operated this way. Fernando Tatis Jr. was on the Padres’
12:14 PM ET PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce announced that he will return for an 11th season and has restructured his contract for 2021. Kelce has been contemplating retirement the past several offseasons but has decided to play for at least another year even though the Eagles are going through a transition
7:40 AM ET I’ve been studying the NFL draft since 1979, and I’ve seen a lot of quarterbacks. Some great, some terrible. Some first-round picks who made the Hall of Fame, and some top-10 picks who were complete busts. So when I was asked recently where Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence ranked among the highest-graded quarterbacks I’ve
5:34 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Saturday said the NBA will not require anyone to get a COVID-19 vaccine, however he believes “most players” will ultimately choose to do so. “We’re seeing this now, both in the actual numbers of people getting vaccinated in the United States and opinion polls, that
Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt shared the highest opening wicket stand against an under-prepared India to give South Africa an emphatic eight-wicket win in the first ODI of the five-match series, on Sunday. Asked to bat, India never got the momentum it needed and could only manage 177 for nine despite a fifty from skipper
4:31 AM ET Manchester City face Manchester United in the 185th Manchester derby on Sunday in a game that, less than two months ago, was shaping up to be a potential Premier League title decider. 2 Related United climbed to the top of the table with a 1-0 win at Burnley on Jan. 12, moving
1:42 AM ET UFC 259 featured some of the expected and some of the unexpected. Jan Blachowicz used his superior grappling in defeating Israel Adesanya to retain the light heavyweight title, and Amanda Nunes submitted Megan Anderson to retain her role as champ-champ. Some could have predicted those outcomes, and maybe some would’ve figured Aljamain
3:35 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim There was no new inductee into the UFC’s exclusive champ-champ club on Saturday night. That’s what this UFC 259 main event was all about, right? Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya‘s quest to add the light heavyweight belt to become the fifth fighter to rule two weight divisions simultaneously and push toward
3:09 AM ET Mark KriegelESPN On a March morning, in a suite at the Essex House, half a century ago, Muhammad Ali’s longtime friend and adviser Gene Kilroy received a call from the late Budd Schulberg, a writer whose contribution to the American canon includes “The Harder They Fall,” “On the Waterfront” and a line
11:59 AM ET Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson will have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety for a hit that sent Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo to the hospital on Friday night. While there are no “in-person” hearings due to COVID, Wilson was technically offered one on Saturday. While phone hearings typically
11:21 PM ET Associated Press ARCADIA, Calif. — Life Is Good won the $300,000 San Felipe Stakes by eight lengths Saturday for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, affirming the 3-year-old colt’s status as the West Coast’s top Kentucky Derby hopeful. Ridden by Hall of Famer Mike Smith, Life Is Good led all the way,
10:14 PM ET Associated Press BRANTFORD, Ontario — Walter Gretzky’s family thought the end was coming quickly in the middle of February. The father of hockey’s greatest player had suffered a serious hip injury and, after battling Parkinson’s disease and other health issues in recent years, his time — something Walter was always willing to
7:20 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Israel Adesanya, who headlines UFC 259 vs. Jan Blachowicz on Saturday, has become one of the most talked-about fighters in the world. “The Last Style Bender” says he is comfortable with the idea that he could one day transcend MMA, like a Conor McGregor or a Ronda Rousey. “It’s
A century opening stand by Martin Guptill and Devon Conway saw New Zealand clinch their Twenty20 series against Australia in Wellington on Sunday after the tourists faltered in the face of an experimental spin attack. Set a target of 143 for victory in the fifth and final match, New Zealand claimed victory by seven wickets
8:21 PM ET ESPN’s lead Bundesliga commentator Derek Rae hopes a thrilling Bayern Munich–Borussia Dortmund tussle, which he called for U.S. viewers on ABC and ESPN+ (U.S. fans can stream the replay of the match HERE), will open new eyes to German football. Here’s his instant reaction column. In the build up to the 104th