MMA

ESPN Staff Dec 7, 2024, 05:00 PM ET Open Extended Reactions UFC men’s flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja goes for his third title defense, as he takes on former two-time Rizin bantamweight champion Kai Asakura in the main event at UFC 310 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Pantoja, who beat Brandon Moreno at UFC 290

Andreas Hale, ESPNDec 6, 2024, 09:20 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Dakota Ditcheva, who has been discussed as the best women’s fighter in the world to not compete in the UFC following her dominant PFL title win last week, revealed Friday that the UFC has made a play to acquire her through a potential trade.

Jeff Wagenheim Dec 6, 2024, 07:40 AM ET Open Extended Reactions The UFC 310 main event is a mystery story, one that will play out in a narrative genre that’s not so much whodunit as who-is-it. Saturday’s fight pits a low-profile champion from a lower-profile weight class, men’s flyweight Alexandre Pantoja, against a challenger many

Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterDec 5, 2024, 06:54 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions Conor McGregor, who was recently found liable in a sexual assault case in Ireland, was ordered by a Dublin judge on Thursday to cover the complainant’s legal

Andreas Hale, ESPNDec 4, 2024, 08:47 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Islam Makhachev will look to defend his belt and teammate Umar Nurmagomedov will challenge for a world title in the first UFC pay-per-view card of 2025. Makhachev, the UFC’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, will put his lightweight title on the line against the No.

Dec 4, 2024, 07:48 AM ET Open Extended Reactions 2024 will mark the sixth year ESPN has orchestrated a list of the 25 best MMA fighters in the world under the age of 25. The list’s purpose is twofold: Highlight the young stars serving as the faces of the sport and project the prospects who

Andreas Hale, ESPNDec 3, 2024, 09:34 PM ET Open Extended Reactions UFC interim heavyweight titleholder Tom Aspinall has one thing on his mind: becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion. To do that he will likely have to face Jon Jones to unify the titles in a highly anticipated clash between arguably the greatest mixed martial artist

Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterNov 29, 2024, 05:01 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions Dakota Ditcheva had more than her fair share of haters over the course of the 2024 PFL season — and she left them all unsatisfied in the

Nov 26, 2024, 05:30 PM ET Open Extended Reactions The 2024 PFL season concludes on Friday afternoon in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with playoff finals in each of the six weight classes. All of the PFL World Championship fights at King Saud University Stadium will be on ESPN+, starting at 1 p.m. ET. Among the 12

Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterNov 26, 2024, 07:46 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Conor McGregor will no longer be the face of Irish whiskey brand Proper No. 12 after he was found liable in a sexual assault case last week in Dublin. Proper

Andreas Hale, ESPNNov 23, 2024, 09:26 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Former light heavyweight champions Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill are set to clash on Jan. 18 at UFC 311 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The UFC announced the matchup during the UFC Macau postfight show. Prochazka and Hill are looking to get

Jeff Wagenheim, ESPNNov 23, 2024, 10:22 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Had Saturday’s UFC main event between Petr Yan and Deiveson Figueiredo taken place four years ago, It would have been a champion-vs.-champion superfight. Yan and Figueiredo won UFC titles within a week of each other in July 2020, Yan at bantamweight and Figueiredo 10

Associated Press Nov 22, 2024, 12:11 PM ET A civil jury in Ireland on Friday found that mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor sexually assaulted a woman in a hotel penthouse after a night of heavy partying. The Dublin jury awarded the woman nearly 250,000 Euros ($257,000) for her lawsuit that claimed McGregor “brutally raped

Andreas Hale, ESPNNov 22, 2024, 07:52 AM ET Open Extended Reactions In April, the UFC announced that it would debut a new glove for fighters that would offer more mobility and flexibility while reducing eye pokes and hand injuries. The new gloves, coined “3Eight/5Eight” (the 3Eight glove is for three-round fights, and the 5Eight gold

Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterNov 20, 2024, 09:19 AM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov will defend his title against Paul Hughes on Jan. 25 in Dubai. The fight marks the first event of a new, multiyear

Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterNov 17, 2024, 07:24 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions Two staples atop the MMA pound-for-pound list used UFC 309 to remind the sporting world why they’ve been among the best for so long. In the main

Nov 17, 2024, 02:40 AM ET Open Extended Reactions A 12-fight card at UFC 309 in New York City was headlined by a heavyweight clash between current champion Jon Jones and former champion Stipe Miocic. Jones and Charles Oliveira emerged as big winners from the night, but what do their victories mean for the bigger

Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterNov 17, 2024, 01:26 AM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions NEW YORK — Jon Jones looked exceptional as ever Saturday, as he knocked out Stipe Miocic with a spinning back kick in the third round of their