MMA

8:00 AM ET The UFC is down to 13 live events remaining in 2021 (not including Dana White’s Contender Series). As of now, the schedule consists of one more trip to Fight Island for UFC 267, the promotion’s first visit to New York since 2019 and a consistent lineup of events in Las Vegas to

Week 2 of Dana White’s Contender Series (2021) took place on Tuesday in Las Vegas, and we’re grading the winners from the four-fight card, which streamed on ESPN+ from the UFC Apex. With a simple but digestible format that has had the MMA fanbase responding, this series has shown to have legs in multiple ways

7:14 AM ET UFC fans love to be in the know. We’re here to help. Derek Brunson shined this weekend against Darren Till, but despite Brunson’s incredible run and dominant finish over a legitimate contender, a title shot may not be coming as quickly as Brunson hopes. Someone who is likely to get a title

LAS VEGAS — Darren Till spent most of the first two rounds in his main event bout Saturday at Apex against Derek Brunson flat on his back, trying to fend off fists and elbows from a very determined opponent. Before the fight, Till had boasted that Brunson wouldn’t be able to take him down and

Getty Images Derek Brunson’s late career surge is showing no signs of coming to an end anytime soon.   The 37-year-old middleweight contender, a betting underdog entering Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event in Las Vegas, recorded his fifth straight victory in an impressive third-round submission of former 170-pound title challenger Darren Till.   Brunson

LAS VEGAS — A huge, toothy grin creases Darren Till’s face, which is how you’ll usually see him unless you look at the photoshopped images he posts on social media or see him when he fights. Other than those two times — OK, and when he’s cutting weight — Till’s face is almost always got

Combate Global is putting on another exciting fight card in Miami on Friday night. There are seven bouts on the Combate Global fight card, headlined by Ricky Bandejas (14-5) vs. Kevin Cordero (11-2). Bandejas is coming off an impressive Combate debut on Aug. 6 in which he notched a unanimous decision win over Terry Bartholomew,

7:51 AM ET Derek Brunson smiles and looks off into the distance. He’s thinking about all of the world-class opponents he has competed against during his nine-year career. In just his third UFC fight, Brunson took on 2000 Olympic wrestling silver medalist Yoel Romero. Half of his 10 most recent fights have come against opponents

The UFC on Monday hired a former fighter to do cageside analysis. The fighter is knowledgeable, articulate, engaging and smooth on the air. It was a no-brainer and, in most cases, no big deal. This, though, was a huge deal and will have far-reaching consequences for others similarly positioned (of which there are many). That’s

LAS VEGAS — It’s hard to know what to make of Darren Till. The UFC middleweight has lost three of his last four and was finished in two of them. His only win in that period was a split decision over Kelvin Gastelum. And yet, Till is still ranked seventh in the deep welterweight division.

1:47 AM ET Giga Chikadze was out to prove a point in his first UFC main event. Facing one of the legends of the sport in Edson Barboza on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Chikadze displayed his striking prowess and stopped Barboza in the third round after a flurry of punches. The former kickboxing star

LAS VEGAS — Fighting Giga Chikadze has to be like fighting an octopus armed with a bunch of nightsticks and a baseball bat or two. The UFC featherweight is a whirlwind of action, using every limb to cause pain and create damage on his opponent. His bout with Edson Barboza on Saturday in the main

Getty Images A single loss can be a major setback in a deep and competitive division. On Saturday night, Edson Barboza and Giga Chikadze will look to avoid that fate when they clash in the featherweight main event of UFC Fight Night from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Barboza is looking to pick up

LAS VEGAS — A lot of athletes believe that reaching the UFC is the end of the journey. For Edson Barboza, it was just the beginning. For all that Barboza has accomplished in more than 12 years as a professional mixed martial arts fighter with 25 UFC bouts to his ledger, Barboza said he feels

LAS VEGAS — The one blow that very few fighters in the history of organized combat sports have been able to withstand has been a perfectly delivered shot to the liver. Sometimes, it doesn’t appear to the naked eye that the blow was all that serious, but a fighter who takes one goes down and

8:02 AM ET It’s been 26 months since Brendan Loughnane fought in the UFC’s Contender Series in Las Vegas. But even two years later, that night continues to define his career. Loughnane (21-3) faces Movlid Khaybulaev (17-0-1) in a PFL featherweight semifinal on Friday in Hollywood, Florida. The 31-year-old is riding a seven-fight win streak

Bellator MMA At this past Friday’s Bellator 265, Cheick Kongo seemed just moments away from his first stoppage loss since 2013 before he turned everything around in dramatic fashion. Kongo managed a come-from-behind TKO win over Sergei Kharitonov in the main event from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Kongo was badly hurt in Round 1 of

Jared Cannonier is back in the win column. In the UFC on ESPN 29 main event Saturday, Cannonier (14-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC) defeated Kelvin Gastelum (17-8 MMA, 11-8 UFC) via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47). The middleweight bout took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.