MMA

Brian Ortega suffered an apparent shoulder injury against Yair Rodriguez in the first round of their main event bout at UFC Long Island. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC) Yair Rodriguez was landing clean, hard punches and had just connected on a front kick. Brian Ortega had just taken Rodriguez down, where he wanted the fight

9:05 AM ET The UFC is amid a busy summer schedule, coming off International Fight Week two weeks ago. Next up is UFC on ABC this weekend (Saturday, main card on ABC/ESPN+ at 2 p.m. ET, prelims on ESPN/ESPN+ at 11 a.m.), with a big-time main event between Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez. From there,

“I should be on a postage stamp, because that’s the only way I’ll ever get licked,” Muhammad Ali once said. Peter Villegas, the chairman of the California State Athletic Commission, joined the board of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky, in February. An avowed Ali fan, he’d even named his daughter, Alisandra, or Ali,

There has been a lot of reporting this week that Yair Rodriguez will fight for the UFC’s featherweight title next if he gets past Brian Ortega on Saturday in the main event of UFC on ABC 3 in Elmont, New York. Now, that could well happen, but Rodriguez admits he was promised no such thing,

Getty Images Jiri Prochazka vs. Glover Teixeira might just get a sequel. The fighters put forth an all-time classic at UFC 275 in June and the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion is ready to move forward with a rematch. Prochazka defeated Teixeira to capture the 205-pound belt in a thrilling back-and-forth contest. Looking ahead at the

11:34 AM ET Few would dispute that UFC men’s featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and former champ Max Holloway are the two best 145-pounders in MMA. Right behind them? We might find out on Saturday afternoon, when Brian Ortega meets Yair Rodriguez in a matinee main event of UFC Fight Night in Elmont, New York. Ortega

Rafael Fiziev earned his sixth straight win in the UFC Saturday with a late knockout of Rafael dos Anjos at UFC Vegas 58 in Las Vegas. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC) LAS VEGAS — The list of contenders in the lightweight division keeps growing. The latest to establish himself as a bona fide contender is

Getty Images UFC Fight Night will serve as a proving ground to determine which Rafael is ready to make a run at the lightweight elite. Former UFC champion Rafael dos Anjos and three-time Kyrgyzstan Muay Thai champion Rafael Fiziev headline the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday, July 9. Dos Anjos (31-13) has looked

Jul 6, 2022 Shortly after former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos dropped the belt in 2016, he moved up to welterweight, where he had an up-and-down run against the iron of the 170-pound division. He won three in a row to earn a shot at an interim championship, but a loss in that fight

Twelve fights are lined up for UFC Vegas 58 this Saturday night, but we have all been anxiously awaiting the main event since February. Finally, after two previously scheduled bouts were scrapped, Top 10 lightweights Rafael Fiziev and Rafael dos Anjos are set to square off in the Octagon for the main event. Let’s hope

LAS VEGAS — The second time Rafael dos Anjos has prepared to fight Rafael Fiziev has been a lot simpler for the former UFC lightweight champion. Visa issues delayed one potential fight between them, and then a positive COVID-19 result by Fiziev forced the cancellation of another. But dos Anjos has spent an entire training

Getty Images LAS VEGAS — Nate Diaz is still without a contracted UFC fight, but he did manage to do a little damage in Sin City over the weekend. Diaz was briefly interviewed backstage at the T-Mobile Arena during UFC 276 on Saturday night. The interaction between Diaz and the interviewer escalated when Diaz got

3:03 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Pedro Munhoz suffered a right corneal abrasion from an accidental eye poke by Sean O’Malley at UFC 276 on Saturday night, Munhoz told ESPN on Sunday. Munhoz said he was taken to the hospital after the fight, which ended in a no-contest in the second round when he could

Throughout his UFC career, middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has gained fame for more than living up to his “The Last Stylebender” nickname, most notably via choreographed dances on his walkouts. UFC 276 may end up being remembered as his masterpiece. Ahead of a fight against title challenger Jared Cannonier at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, Adesanya

LAS VEGAS — Jared Cannonier mostly kept his hands to himself on Saturday in the main event of UFC 276 in his middleweight title fight against Israel Adesanya at T-Mobile Arena. And that earned him a one-sided loss and the enmity of the sell-out crowd of 19,649. Adesanya is a counter striker and Cannonier didn’t

Getty Images The biggest MMA event of the year is nearly here. UFC returns home to Las Vegas for its annual International Fight Week with a loaded schedule on tap. It all concludes on Saturday night with UFC 276 taking place at the T-Mobile Arena. Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya gets the top billing this year

Alex Volkanovski stayed in the U.S. for an extra week after he successfully defended his UFC featherweight title by stopping “The Korean Zombie,” Chan Sung Jung on April 9, in Jacksonville, Florida. Volkanovski is one of the greatest fighters in the world, but isn’t yet a household name despite extraordinary performances since joining the UFC

12:35 AM ET Teammates, friends — champions. Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski are the headline events at UFC 276 Saturday in Las Vegas on Saturday (10 p.m. on ESPN+ PPV, Sunday afternoon AEST), the duo defending their middleweight and featherweight crowns against Jared Cannonier and Max Holloway respectively. It is also a huge night for