MMA

LAS VEGAS — A week after Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler left jaws agape with their fierce battle at Madison Square Garden that seemingly locked up the 2021 Fight of the Year, Max Holloway and Yair Rodriguez delivered another classic that was every bit as thrilling and entertaining as the fight some called the best

1:00 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Fresh off back-to-back numbered events the past two weeks, the UFC will roll right into a massive featherweight main event on Saturday inside the Apex. Former 145-pound champion Max Holloway (22-6) will take on Yair Rodriguez (13-2) at UFC Fight Night. For Holloway, 2021 will mark the first calendar

LAS VEGAS — Yair Rodriguez has shown everything required to be a star of the highest magnitude in the UFC, with the exception of one thing. And that one thing is pretty significant. Rodriguez hasn’t been able to make it to the post consistently, and as the old adage goes, out of sight, out of

USATSI UFC 269 has lost a big fight with news that an injury has knocked Jorge Masvidal out of his planned welterweight clash with Leon Edwards. UFC’s chief business officer Hunter Campbell told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto of the news. The fight has been more than two years in the making after a March 2019 backstage

LAS VEGAS — The UFC in particular and mixed martial arts in general is filled with men and women who share the ethos of Max Holloway: Anyone, anywhere, any time. It’s one of the reasons the sport is so great. The best frequently seek out the most difficult challenges, and the rankings mean something. Holloway,

9:30 AM ET Going into his UFC 268 main event against Colby Covington, welterweight champion Kamaru Usman already was No. 1 in the ESPN men’s pound-for-pound rankings. There was no room for upward movement. However, Usman’s strong performance at Madison Square Garden did earn him the backing of the last holdout on our voting panel.

Rivalries are what make sports so great, and while there can never really be a true rivalry between Kamaru Usman and Georges St-Pierre, their case is one for a lot of talk over a cold one. St-Pierre is the greatest welterweight of all time, or at least that’s what we heard over and over for

Throughout the build-up to their rematch for the welterweight title Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York, Colby Covington disdainfully referred to champion Kamaru Usman as “Marty Fakenewsman.” Well, this isn’t fake news: Usman is the best fighter in the world, and it’s not particularly close at this point. He survived a spirited upset

Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman attempted to keep the mood respectful with Colby Covington in the final news conference ahead of their meeting on Saturday in the main event of UFC 268. However, as most observers anticipated, the challenger was having none of it and instead worked the assembled crowd into a frenzy by unleashing a

8:00 AM ET SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — It’s a Saturday morning in October and Zhang Weili is in MMA gloves and her workout gear, walking to the mat at Fight Ready MMA & Fitness. A YouTube video with the sound of fans loudly booing at a sporting event is being broadcast over the gym’s speakers. Coaches

When welterweight champion Kamaru Usman was asked to describe teammate Justin Gaethje, the first words he could come up with were “mad man.” Gaethje fights as if he’s mad and raging at the world, but it’s a process to get an otherwise polite, thoughtful 32-year-old into the headspace he needs to be in to compete

Maybe a few years ago, Kamaru Usman would have gotten exorcised by the notion that just four fights into his UFC career, some credible people in MMA are saying publicly that Khamzat Chimaev is ready and qualified to challenge for the welterweight title that Usman will defend against Colby Covington on Saturday in the main

Getty Images It’s Fight Week in New York City once again. Nearly two years after the last UFC PPV event took place in the Big Apple because of COVID-19, the promotion returns to Madison Square Garden with a loaded fight card sure to delight fans who have missed out on all the action with UFC

8:00 AM ET Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman defends his UFC title against Colby Covington, in a rematch of their tremendous 2019 fight, which Usman won by fifth-round TKO. The bout on Saturday headlines a packed UFC 268 card that also includes another title rematch, a must-see lightweight fight and an opportunity for a few fighters

(R-L) Glover Teixeira of Brazil secures a rear choke submission against Jan Blachowicz of Poland in the UFC light heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 267 event at Etihad Arena on Oct. 30, 2021 in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC) Nothing came easy in his MMA career for

UFC action takes center stage at Etihad Arena on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi on Saturday as two title fights headline a stacked UFC 267 card.  In the main event, light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz (28-8) will face 42-year-old Glover Teixeira (32-7) and the two fighters will enter the Octagon with a combined 75 fights

Combate Global Fight Night is back in Miami with the latest installment of Combate Global. The promotion returns with eight fights on the main card on Friday night and some prospects worth paying attention to throughout. Levi Escobar and Daniel Sanchez link up in the main event at lightweight. Escobar is 2-0 so far in

12:44 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Kayla Harrison‘s dominance of the PFL continues. For the second consecutive season, Harrison has captured the PFL lightweight championship. She did so with ease Wednesday at the Hard Rock Live; she attempted 90 strikes and landed all but five of them en route to an armbar submission