1:46 AM ET ESPN’s panel of Ariel Helwani, Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi and Jeff Wagenheim breaks down the biggest stories coming out of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night, including Marvin Vettori‘s thrilling unanimous-decision win over Jack Hermansson, and whether the type of violent slam Jordan Leavitt executed to beat Matt Wiman should remain legal. Marvin Vettori
MMA
4:35 PM ET Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz is returning to action in March. Cruz (22-3), 35, has agreed to fight up-and-comer Casey Kenney (16-2-1) at UFC 259 on March 6, sources told ESPN. MMAJunkie.com first reported the news. 2 Related The fight will mark Cruz’s first nontitle bout in more than six years.
Dec 3, 2020 Jack Hermansson will face Marvin Vettori in the middleweight main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday at the promotion’s Apex facility in Las Vegas. The fights will be broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPN+, with the main card starting at 10 p.m. ET, preceded by prelims at 7 p.m. Vettori is Hermansson’s
9:03 PM ET Yoel Romero‘s UFC run has come to an end Romero and the promotion have parted ways, his manager, Malki Kawa, confirmed to ESPN on Friday. Romero had three fights left on his deal, sources said. “While we didn’t expect Romero’s time in the UFC to end like this,” Kawa told ESPN, “we
1:54 PM ET The greatest MMA flyweight fighter ever will look to add another belt to his collection. Demetrious Johnson will get his long-awaited shot at the ONE Championship flyweight title against champion Adriano Moraes on Feb. 24, Asia’s ONE announced Friday. The current plan is for the card to be in Singapore, though that
8:32 AM ET UFC president Dana White has been saying it a lot in recent weeks, and it’s worth repeating here: Just get through 2020. It’s safe to say the UFC has done a tremendous job operating within a pandemic this year, and it’s nearly across the 2020 finish line with three events to go.
8:10 PM ET Jake Paul is already one of the most talked-about boxers in the world, even with only two pro fights. The polarizing YouTube and social media star is coming off a second-round knockout Saturday of Nate Robinson, the former NBA player, on the very successful Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. undercard. Now?
1:00 PM ET Yair Rodriguez is in hot water with the UFC’s anti-doping partner, though he has not tested positive for any banned substance. The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has suspended Rodriguez, a popular featherweight fighter, for six months due to a whereabouts violation, USADA announced Thursday. Rodriguez is ineligible to compete until March
9:52 PM ET Khabib Nurmagomedov plans on keeping busy in retirement. And one of his planned tasks? Helping to get mixed martial arts into the Olympics. The current UFC lightweight champion, who announced his retirement in October, said at a press conference Tuesday in Uzbekistan that he is already working behind the scenes in an
8:22 PM ET Former UFC champion TJ Dillashaw surrendered his 135-pound title in 2019 due to a two-year doping suspension, not a loss. Now that the suspension is nearly over, he believes he should get an immediate shot at regaining the belt he never actually lost in competition. Dillashaw (16-4) was suspended by the United