MMA

1:13 PM ET The UFC is booking a heavyweight contest between Derrick Lewis and Tai Tuivasa for its pay-per-view event next month, officials confirmed to ESPN. Contracts have not been signed, but the promotion is close to finalizing the matchup for UFC 271 on Feb. 12 in Houston. Lewis (26-8) is a former two-time title

2:09 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a five-round main event between former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos and rising contender Rafael Fiziev for Feb. 19, multiple sources told ESPN. Contracts have not been signed, but both sides have agreed to the matchup. The 155-pound contest will headline the UFC Fight Night event in Las

4:17 PM ET Bellator has penned a deal with a controversial former college wrestling standout. Earlier this week, Bellator signed Pat Downey III, a former NCAA Division I All-American wrestler, to a contract, the promotion confirmed with ESPN on Friday. Downey, 29, has yet to make his MMA debut. He will compete in Bellator’s middleweight

7:49 AM ET Do you feel that? That, my friends, is the feeling of a brand new calendar year of MMA. A year in which anything seems possible. It’s time to dream big for 2022. We’ve got a fresh slate. The table is set for some incredible fights, breakthrough performances and stories that will go

6:13 PM ET Two long-standing championship rivalries will be settled at UFC 272 in March, UFC president Dana White told ESPN on Wednesday. Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will meet Max Holloway in a highly anticipated trilogy bout, while bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling will look to unify his title against interim champ Petr Yan. Contracts have

7:46 AM ET The next 12 months could be some of the most interesting in MMA history. Conor McGregor is set to return from a broken leg. Jon Jones, who hasn’t fought since February 2020, could finally get a heavyweight title shot. Kamaru Usman is closing in on Anderson Silva‘s record of 16 straight UFC

8:28 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim The shiny brass-and-leather belts worn by UFC champions do not merely signify achievement and ascendance. For the select few fighters who earn them, these esteemed titles can bestow an aura of invincibility. Yet nothing is forever. Among the 12 weight classes in the UFC, seven fighters now wear championship belts

4:38 PM ET The UFC has booked a flyweight matchup between Askar Askarov and Kai Kara-France to a UFC Fight Night on March 26, sources confirmed to ESPN on Monday. The 125-pound contest will likely produce the UFC’s next flyweight title challenger, although the promotion has not officially made that distinction. The UFC has also

8:00 AM ET Every year in every sport brings ups and downs, memorable performances, the emergence of new stars. In mixed martial arts, the leading fight promotion, the UFC, has eight weight classes for men and four for women and ran 43 fight cards in 2021, making plenty of room available onstage for athletes to

Dec 12, 2021 Jeff Wagenheim Julianna Peña believed. She might have been the only one. Peña entered Saturday night’s UFC 269 co-main event as a 6½-to-1 betting underdog against Amanda Nunes, and who could argue with that? She was up against the greatest fighter in the history of women’s MMA, and a two-division champion. Amanda

1:48 PM ET USADA, the UFC’s anti-doping partner, has suspended fighter Michel Prazeres four years because of a second doping violation, the agency announced Thursday. According to a USADA press release, Prazeres tested positive for multiple prohibited substances: anti-estrogen agent clomiphene, metabolites of the steroid oxandrolone and the exogenous administration of testosterone “and/or its precursors.”

2:08 AM ET UFC Hall of Famer Rashad Evans is returning from retirement — and now his opponent is set. Evans, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, will face Gabriel Checco on the Eagle FC United States debut card Jan. 28 in Miami, sources told ESPN on Wednesday night. Eagle FC is the MMA promotion

9:00 AM ET This has been one of my annual columns for ESPN for a while now, and it’s always fun to look back at the previous year’s list to see which prospective fights, if any, came to fruition. So, before getting into the MMA fights I want to see in 2022, let’s take a

2:22 PM ET Mixed martial arts fighter Jordan Young died Saturday at age 27, ESPN confirmed Tuesday with the Broward County (Florida) Office of Medical Examiner and Trauma Services. Young, a 6-foot-4 light heavyweight, had most recently fought with PFL. His cause and manner of death are pending, per a medical examiner spokesperson. PFL and

Dec 18, 2021 LAS VEGAS — UFC president Dana White doesn’t know if anything will ever again stress him out in the mixed martial arts business. Not after what he went through in 2020. But this 2021 calendar year was a good one for the UFC, and a lot of that success can be attributed

4:41 PM ET LAS VEGAS — The UFC’s 2021 will wrap up with a heavyweight main event, as Derrick Lewis will meet Chris Daukaus during UFC Fight Night at the Apex on Saturday. It’s a redemption spot for Lewis (25-8), who is coming off a knockout loss to Ciryl Gane in August for the interim

8:00 AM ET We have reached the finish line of another remarkable year for the UFC. According to Dana White, 2021 was the most lucrative year in the history of the company. Saturday’s UFC Fight Night inside the Apex will be tasked with putting a bow on this very memorable year. And as we all

3:26 PM ET TAMPA, Fla. — Jake Paul has already acted as a disruptor in boxing, becoming one of the most talked-about fighters in that sport this year out of nowhere. Now, he’s saying he could one day make the move to the cage. The YouTuber-turned-prizefighter said Thursday that there is a “100 percent” chance