7:51 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim MMA is doing pretty well for a sport less than three decades old. From the UFC to Bellator to the PFL and beyond, the fight game has grown from a shady niche to the spotlit mainstream, drawing in new fans by the day. A few fighters have broken through to
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Charles Oliveira believes that it is the start of the new era in the lightweight division. After winning the vacant UFC lightweight championship belt by defeating Michael Chandler at UFC 262 in Houston, Oliveira returned to his home country of Brazil to celebrate with his hometown. The new lightweight king does not believe that former
Don’t worry, nothing has happened to Conor McGregor or Dustin Poirier. Yet. With the UFC doing another big sold out arena show in Las Vegas for their July 10th UFC 264 event, it only makes sense that they’d want a little something prepared just in case a worst case scenario develops and one of their
By Nolan King and Ken Hathaway | May 27, 2021 8:20 pm ET LAS VEGAS – “The Ultimate Fighter” is finally back for its 29th season. For the first time since 2018, the reality series is set to stream new episodes with teams coached by UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and upcoming title challenger Brian
2:09 PM ET Former UFC champion Jon Jones has enlisted veteran boxing promoter Richard Schaefer as a representative, he announced via social media on Wednesday. Jones, 33, is one of the most dominant fighters in UFC history, although he has not fought since February 2020. A former light heavyweight champion, Jones vacated his UFC title
Carla Esparza is hopeful that the UFC will grant her a title shot. The former strawweight champion is waiting anxiously to be the next challenger to the newly crowned two-time UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas after dominating Yan Xiaonan in her most recent fight at UFC Vegas 27. Despite absolutely mauling Xiaonan in the fight
Welcome to Midnight Mania! Featherweight fireworks will join the usual red, white, and blue variety in July. Per ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight kingpin, Max Holloway, will return to cage opposite high-flying kickboxer, Yair Rodriguez, on July 17, 2021 at UFC Fight Night 191. Currently, the event’s location has yet to
By Nolan King | May 26, 2021 9:35 pm Makwan Amirkhani has a new opponent for UFC Fight Night 189. With Nate Landwehr out due to injury, “Mr. Finland” Amirkhani (16-5 MMA, 6-3 UFC) will now face off against promotional newcomer and Dana White’s Contender Series alum Kamuela Kirk in a featherweight fight. Two people
7:31 AM ET With a rare off week on the UFC calendar, it’s a good moment to take a step back and look at the biggest stories across several key divisions, with each having its own questions surrounding the championship and the greater title picture. The heavyweight division is seemingly headed toward a rematch of
Jon Jones and Chael P. Sonnen are at it yet again. Our saga begins with Jon Jones teasing the world of a big announcement forthcoming. I’m about to give birth to something big, something out of the ordinary. — BONY (@JonnyBones) May 24, 2021 “I’m about to give birth to something big, something out of
The official Bellator MMA rankings were updated following the Bellator 259: “Cyborg vs Smith 2” event, which went down last Fri. night (May 14, 2021) from inside Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. In the main event of the evening, Cris Cyborg went up 2-0 on Leslie Smith by earning a knockout win over “The
By Nolan King | May 26, 2021 6:20 pm The lineup for Dana White’s Contender Series, Season 5 is slowly coming to form. Contracts are going out and fighters are putting their names on the dotted lines. The upcoming installment has a different flare than recent years, with a large percentage of the roster coming
1:33 PM ET Aaron Pico has his next fight queued up. The top MMA prospect will fight Aiden Lee at Bellator 260 on June 11 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, sources told ESPN on Tuesday. That card will be headlined by a welterweight title fight between champion Douglas Lima and challenger Yaroslav Amosov. Pico
Jon Jones dropped a bombshell Tuesday night about when we might see him compete again. For months, Jon Jones has argued that the one thing preventing him from making the move up to the UFC’s heavyweight division is his current salary. Jones has made it clear that he would like to fight Francis Ngannou when
Welcome to Midnight Mania! Chael Sonnen sure knows how to keep his name in the headlines. It’s been just about two years since Sonnen retired following a loss to Lyoto Machida, but that has done little to quell his ability to feud with Jon Jones, one of the best active (sorta) fighters alive. Once again,
Pound For Pound Rankings Already considered one of the greatest fighters of all-time, Jones said he wants to turn his attention to heavyweight and says he has no intention of returning to 205 pounds. With back-to-back knockout victories, Kamaru Usman is proving himself to be even more dangerous than was previously known and is starting
7:29 AM ET The Ultimate Fighter was an instrumental force during the UFC’s explosion of popularity in the early 2000s — shining a spotlight on fighters like Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock, who coached a variety of MMA hopefuls in a season-long competition in which all of the competitors were housed
Derrick Lewis is convinced his potential rematch with Francis Ngannou will be better than their first fight. Lewis is set to take on the newly crowned UFC heavyweight champion, Ngannou in the summer according to the UFC president Dana White. This will be the second time they face each other after their first bout ended