7:42 PM ET The launch of ONE Championship’s women’s atomweight tournament will be on an all-women’s fight card. The four quarterfinal matchups of ONE’s women’s atomweight grand prix will take place May 28 in Singapore, officials told ESPN on Thursday. The event itself will be named ONE: Empower. In the main event, ONE women’s strawweight
MMA
8:44 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim Anthony Pettis has been a champion in two MMA promotions, most notably the most star-studded in the world, the UFC. He has defeated many of the greatest lightweights in the sport, including others who also have worn the gold. The man has been on the cover of a Wheaties box!
Mar 7, 2021 Aljamain Sterling became UFC bantamweight champion in a shocking way Saturday in Las Vegas as an illegal knee forced a stoppage to his fight against Petr Yan. With Sterling grounded, Yan held Sterling’s arms and kneed the challenger in the face, which is an illegal strike. The fight was paused and after
11:19 AM ET Brett Okamoto UFC welterweight Belal Muhammad‘s first appearance in a main event will have to come without his longtime coach and mentor Louis Taylor, due to Taylor’s positive COVID-19 test. Muhammad (18-3) is scheduled to face Leon Edwards (18-3) in a five-round headliner at UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas.
10:32 PM ET UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling says health is his primary focus following a championship win over Petr Yan last weekend in Las Vegas — but an immediate rematch against Yan is also on the horizon. “I was doped up on morphine in the hospital, and texted [UFC president Dana White] and said,
11:00 AM ET Legendary Brazilian heavyweight Fabricio Werdum will make his PFL debut against Renan Ferreira, PFL president Ray Sefo told ESPN. A former UFC champion, Werdum (24-9-1) will headline a PFL event May 6 in Atlantic City. The card will also feature 2019 PFL champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison against Mariana
8:30 AM ET Saturday night’s superfight at UFC 259 did not produce a double champion, but it did provide one of the fighters with a ticket to the ESPN pound-for-pound MMA rankings. Jan Blachowicz came away from the weekend still in possession of the UFC light heavyweight championship and as a new entrant in the
7:17 AM ET With four champions in action, UFC 259 was always going to have an outsized fallout compared to almost any other UFC card. And while Amanda Nunes continued to bolster her GOAT credentials with a thorough defeat of Megan Anderson, that’s as close as pre-show expectations for the three pay-per-view title fights came
2:52 PM ET Professional Fighters League has made a late addition to its 2021 return campaign. PFL signed former UFC veteran Antonio Carlos Junior to a contract this week, Carlos Junior’s manager Ali Abdelaziz told ESPN. Carlos Junior fought at middleweight in the UFC, but Abdelaziz said he would be competing as part of PFL’s
1:24 AM ET LAS VEGAS — Israel Adesanya‘s meteoric rise to UFC superstardom hit an obstacle Saturday night — a large, Polish obstacle. Jan Blachowicz beat the previously undefeated Adesanya by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-45, 49-45) to retain his light heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 259. Adesanya, the UFC middleweight champion, was