9:30 PM ET Ketlen Vieira defeated Miesha Tate via unanimous decision in a five-round main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas. It was Tate’s second appearance since returning from a nearly five-year layoff, as she was retired from 2016 to 2021. Two takeaways from this one for me. First off, Tate
MMA
9:22 PM ET Miesha Tate‘s highly anticipated comeback run has been upended. Ketlen Vieira defeated Tate, one of the most popular women’s fighters in MMA history, via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas. Vieira used her counter-punching and length to win the standup
7:56 AM ET UFC president Dana White is fond of saying there are no tune-up fights in the UFC — and for the most part, he’s right. There really aren’t many. But Miesha Tate did get one this year. Tate (19-7) returned from a nearly five-year layoff in July and picked up a dominant TKO
8:00 AM ET Miesha Tate reached out to UFC president Dana White in the summer of 2020. Tate and her husband, Johnny Nunez, had just had their second child, Daxton, and Tate was contemplating a comeback to the Octagon. At the time, Tate and Nunez were living in Singapore. Tate was working in an office
7:24 PM ET Australian Jack Della Maddalena says he’ll be targeting a “headline finish” when he fights Warlley Alves at UFC 270 in January next year. Della Maddalena (10-2), who earned his way onto the UFC roster after a unanimous decision win over Ange Loosa as part of Dana White’s Contender Series, is stoked to
5:31 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a light heavyweight fight between Thiago Santos and Magomed Ankalaev to headline an event in March, sources told ESPN on Monday. The 205-pound contest will serve as the main event of a UFC Fight Night on March 12. The UFC has not yet announced a location for the
12:49 PM ET UFC welterweight contender Leon Edwards says he wasn’t surprised by Jorge Masvidal‘s recent withdrawal from their scheduled fight at UFC 269 next month, and he has now turned his entire focus to a title fight against Kamaru Usman in 2022. Edwards, of England, told ESPN he’d heard some concerning things about Masvidal’s
7:20 PM ET Jeff Wagenheim The conventional thinking is that a fighter who has been defeated twice by the champion in his or her weight class is stuck in limbo, never to get a third glimpse of the belt unless it’s being worn by a different champion. That way of thinking does open up opportunities
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
7:17 PM ET Yair Rodriguez, blood coming from several cuts on his face, pointed his finger and planted it in Max Holloway‘s chest. Holloway, face swollen and bleeding from above his right eye, took his fist and patted it against Rodriguez’s face. Holloway’s legend continued Saturday with a unanimous-decision win (49-46, 48-47, 48-47) over Rodriguez