9:24 PM ET Mark. O. Madsen, the first Danish wrestler to medal at an Olympics since 1948, had plenty of reasons to stick with the wrestling path he’d be on most of his life. Like … so many reasons. The 35-year-old, who took silver in Rio in 2016, is a three-time Olympian in Greco-Roman wrestling.
MMA
7:47 PM ET It took Mark O. Madsen just 18 months of training mixed martial arts full time to earn a UFC contract — and it took him just 72 seconds to earn his first win in the promotion. Madsen (9-0) easily took down Danilo Belluardo (12-5) in the opening minute of their lightweight bout
7:47 PM ET Jack Hermansson takes on Jared Cannonier later today in the middleweight main event of UFC Fight Night in Copenhagen. It is the promotion’s first visit to Denmark. All six previous UFC fight cards in Scandinavia have been in Stockholm, Sweden. Hermansson (20-4) is a Swede but now is based in Oslo, Norway.
7:44 PM ET Cris Cyborg will fight for a title in her Bellator debut. Cyborg, the former UFC women’s featherweight champion, will challenge Bellator women’s featherweight champ Julia Budd on Jan. 25 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, sources confirmed with ESPN on Friday. The Los Angeles Times was the first to report the news.
7:12 PM ET Holly Holm is out of UFC 243. The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion was forced to withdraw from her Oct. 5 fight against Raquel Pennington due to an undisclosed injury, sources told ESPN. It’s unclear at this time whether Pennington will remain on the card. The injury will prevent Holm from returning
Sep 25, 2019 There can only be one dark horse of the UFC’s middleweight division. This weekend’s UFC Fight Night main event will determine who it will be. Surging 185-pounders Jack Hermansson (20-4) and Jared Cannonier (12-4) are scheduled to meet Saturday at Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark. The event will air on ESPN+ beginning
8:30 PM ET Mauricio “Shogun” Rua isn’t done yet. The former UFC light heavyweight champion will meet Sam Alvey on Nov. 16 in UFC Fight Night in Sao Paulo, Brazil, sources told ESPN. Rua (26-11), 37, has won four of his past five fights. He hasn’t competed since his December 2018 TKO win over Tyson
1:11 PM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN Mixed martial arts fighter Katy Collins, who competed in Bellator as well as other promotions, died Wednesday at age 32 after suffering a brain aneurysm last week, her coach announced on social media. “The fight is over. You never stopped fighting, and we never gave up on you,” JT Tilley,
6:12 PM ET A featherweight grudge match between Yair Rodriguez and Jeremy Stephens is being re-booked as the co-main event at UFC Fight Night on Oct. 18 in Boston, UFC president Dana White said Wednesday. The 145-pound bout is not yet finalized, but both sides want the rematch. UFC Fight Night is scheduled to take
10:59 AM ET UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic is “highly unlikely” to compete again in 2019, after suffering an eye injury in his last fight against Daniel Cormier in August. Miocic (19-3) reclaimed his heavyweight title by knocking out Cormier in the fourth round of their title fight rematch at UFC 241. The UFC has