11:04 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a welterweight showdown between two former title challengers in Gilbert Burns and Stephen Thompson on July 10, UFC president Dana White said Friday night. Contracts have not been signed, according to sources, but both sides have verbally agreed to the 170-pound matchup. The bout will take place at
MMA
10:51 PM ET The Ultimate Fighter reality series has officially booked its next coaches, UFC president Dana White told ESPN on Friday night. UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and No. 1 contender Brian Ortega will coach the 29th season of TUF, which is expected to start filming later this month. It will air on ESPN+
1:10 PM ET The UFC is close to finalizing a heavyweight bout between Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov to headline an event in June, multiple sources told ESPN. Both sides have agreed to the heavyweight matchup, which will headline UFC Fight Night on June 26 at a location to be announced. Gane (8-0), of France,
10:05 PM ET Cris Cyborg will put her Bellator women’s featherweight title on the line against Leslie Smith on May 21, the promotion announced Friday night during the Bellator 255 broadcast. Cyborg beat Smith in 2016 in what was Cyborg’s UFC debut. Cyborg (23-2, 1 NC) is one of the best female fighters of all
12:10 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim Two-division champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire showed off what makes him the best fighter in Bellator and perhaps the top featherweight in all of MMA on Friday night. Freire, a 33-year-old from Brazil, handed Emmanuel Sanchez his first stoppage loss with a technical submission by guillotine choke in Round 1 to
6:43 PM ET Earlier this week, as the proposed Conor McGregor–Dustin Poirier trilogy fight continued to trend in the right direction, I wrote a caption on social media that said: “For all the marbles.” Well, the caption rubbed some people the wrong way. How could I say this one is for all the marbles when
7:37 AM ET HENRY CEJUDO WAS in front of his television on Aug. 26, 2016, watching a Bellator MMA card headlined by a bout between Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. It was four months after Cejudo’s first career loss, which came in a UFC title fight against flyweight champ Demetrious
12:21 AM ET MMA fighter Khetag Pliev had to have a finger surgically reattached after it was severed during the second round of a fight Thursday night in Philadelphia. The fight, which was part of an event put on by Cage Fury Fighting Championship and aired on UFC Fight Pass, was stopped when the referee
6:37 PM ET Middleweight contender Kevin Holland will step in and fight Marvin Vettori on short notice in the five-round main event of UFC Fight Night on April 10 in Las Vegas, sources told ESPN on Thursday. Vettori’s original opponent, Darren Till, withdrew Tuesday because of a broken collarbone. Holland just fought March 20, a
7:30 AM ET UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou captured the imagination — as well as the most prestigious prize — of the combat sports world when he dethroned Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 on Saturday. So it was no surprise that ESPN’s panel made Ngannou its overwhelming choice for the top spot of its latest