11:22 PM ET On June 24, 2017, 20-year-old Aaron Pico made his professional mixed martial arts debut at Madison Square Garden in New York. Going into the fight, a lightweight bout against journeyman Zach Freeman, Pico was considered perhaps the No. 1 MMA prospect in the world. Some outlets — ESPN included — speculated whether
MMA
1:02 PM ET Who is the best fighter regardless of weight class? See ESPN’s P4P rankings. Click here Check out my rankings within each MMA weight division by clicking on the links below. For a list of current UFC champions in all weight classes, click here. Note: Results are current, rankings as of June 11.
11:29 AM ET UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov shot down the possibility of a Conor McGregor rematch at a news conference in London on Wednesday morning. Nurmagomedov, who was promoting his upcoming fight with interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier, questioned why McGregor merited a second chance at the belt. “The last three years he has
11:40 PM ET Marc RaimondiESPN UFC women’s bantamweight Macy Chiasson lost her home in a fatal crane accident last weekend and is filing a lawsuit against the apartment complex owners and crane company. Chiasson, 27, was at her Dallas apartment Sunday when a crane working on an adjacent building collapsed onto her complex during a
4:01 PM ET The UFC is close to finalizing a strawweight title fight between Jessica Andrade and Weili Zhang to headline UFC Fight Night on Aug. 31 in mainland China, according to multiple sources. Contracts have not yet been signed, but the bout is nearly official, per sources. The event will take place in Shenzhen,
1:24 PM ET Marc RaimondiESPN Donald Cerrone says he got a relatively clean bill of health after a bloody war with Tony Ferguson last weekend. “Cowboy” wrote Tuesday on Instagram that he didn’t break any bones and did not have a broken or cracked orbital bone stemming from the UFC 238 war Saturday night in
10:53 PM ET Marc RaimondiESPN Mackenzie Dern, a top UFC prospect, gave birth Sunday, she announced Monday on social media. Dern and her boyfriend, professional surfer Wesley Santos, had a baby girl named Moa, she wrote. This is Dern’s first child. “A little late, stubborn, american/brazilian, beautiful, perfect, God’s gift and our family’s biggest pride!”
12:55 AM ET Marc RaimondiESPN CHICAGO — Valentina Shevchenko‘s first title defense ended in highlight-reel fashion. Shevchenko blasted challenger Jessica Eye with a left head kick at 26 seconds of the second round that knocked Eye out cold in the co-main event of UFC 238 on Saturday night at the United Center. Shevchenko successfully retained
8:43 AM ET It’s Monday, time for another edition of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, which airs live starting at 1 p.m. ET on Twitter and YouTube. After it ends, you can listen to the entire show via the ESPN podcast center. The UFC is off this weekend, but all eyes will be on Madison Square
4:15 PM ET [embedded content] CHICAGO — There were plenty of storylines going into Saturday’s UFC 238, and there might be even more of them to discuss coming out of the event. After looking terrible in the opening round of his bantamweight title fight against Marlon Moraes, flyweight champion Henry Cejudo delivered one of the