7:28 AM ET In February 2012, a 20-year-old realtor from Contagem, Brazil, made a quiet professional debut in mixed martial arts inside a modest gymnasium in nearby Santa Luzia. His name: Paulo Henrique Costa. Costa’s skills were raw, but he took his opponent down and won via first-round TKO. A ring girl appeared and placed
MMA
2:34 PM ET The UFC is close to finalizing a light heavyweight matchup between Thiago Santos and Glover Teixeira in November, according to multiple sources. The 205-pound bout is expected to headline a UFC Fight Night on Nov. 7, most likely in Las Vegas. Once official, it will mark the third date this fight has
8:42 AM ET Rob Wilkinson was thirsty. He was hungry. Throat as dry as the Australian Outback, the UFC fighter could barely speak. The plan coming in for Wilkinson was to be heavier — about four or five pounds more than usual — so he could outmuscle debuting striker Israel Adesanya. What Wilkinson didn’t count
4:57 PM ET UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and other black athletes scheduled to compete at UFC 253 on Saturday spoke out about recent comments made by welterweight Colby Covington during a virtual media call on Wednesday. Covington, who is an avid supporter of President Donald Trump and visited him in the White House in
Feb 6, 2020 Editors’ note: This feature story was published in February 2020, just prior to UFC 247, at which Dominick Reyes made his first bid for the light heavyweight championship, challenging Jon Jones. IN THE SUMMER of 2017, at a cramped desk parked in a cluttered office, Dominick Reyes pulls up a video of
THERE IS NO special treatment at City Kickboxing, not even for the six UFC fighters mixed into this gym of some 350 members training at various levels of competence and interest. Not when two UFC championship belts, belonging to Adesanya and teammate Alexander Volkanovski, lie parallel on a table in the makeshift lobby area of
4:46 PM ET Jeff Wagenheim For the first time in nearly a decade, the UFC’s light heavyweight division is about to have a new king. Both Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz have earned this moment — their places at center stage under the spotlight, each poised to launch his era as champion — and yet
6:12 PM ET Interim UFC champion Justin Gaethje strongly believes he could have fought Conor McGregor this summer, but has no regrets about not pursuing it. Gaethje (22-2) is set to challenge undefeated lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov (28-0) at UFC 254 on Oct. 24 at “Fight Island” — Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. Immediately after Gaethje
7:09 PM ET The UFC’s light heavyweight title will be up for grabs Saturday, and Jon Jones‘ only involvement will be on social media. Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz will vie for the title that Jones vacated in August, when he announced that he is moving to heavyweight. Reyes-Blachowicz will be the co-main event of
7:39 PM ET Former Bellator MMA champion Michael Chandler believes he’s deserving of a UFC lightweight title shot but says he’s willing to take a fight in order to prove it. Chandler (21-5) signed with the UFC this month, bringing a 10-year relationship with Bellator to an end. The 34-year-old was a former three-time lightweight