Jun 27, 2019 It’s the hottest ticket in town. The only problem is you can’t buy one yet. Trans-Tasman sports fans are eagerly awaiting the official announcement for the UFC middleweight title fight between Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya later this year, which ESPN understands is all but certain to take place in Melbourne in
MMA
11:26 PM ET LAS VEGAS — For the first time in three seasons, a Dana White’s Contender Series show saw all five fights go the distance Tuesday night at the UFC Apex center. Nevertheless, the promotion president still awarded contracts to two fighters. One of them was welterweight Miguel Baeza (7-0), who earned a unanimous
10:48 AM ET An important piece of mixed martial arts history took place on Sept. 30, 2010 — in Concho, Oklahoma, of all places. On that date, Valentina Shevchenko fought Liz Carmouche. Shevchenko is now UFC flyweight champion and arguably the best female fighter in the world, and Carmouche is a ranked UFC veteran who
8:31 AM ET Marc RaimondiESPN Alton Cunningham was a sophomore at his high school on the outskirts of Madison, Wisconsin, when a substitute teacher, Miss Miller, arrived to class. Cunningham, the class clown, wanted to pull a prank on her. Miss Miller asked Cunningham his name. He replied, “Marvin ‘The Bo-Man’ Beetster.” “Not Alton,” Cunningham
5:21 PM ET Marc RaimondiESPN Jon Jones will be officially licensed to compete at UFC 239 on Wednesday by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), commission executive director Bob Bennett told ESPN. Jones, who has been in an ongoing fight to clear his name of doping questions, will defend the UFC light heavyweight title against
11:46 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a welterweight bout between Colby Covington and Robbie Lawler to headline UFC Fight Night on Aug. 3 in Newark, New Jersey, according to UFC president Dana White. White informed ESPN of the 170-pound matchup on Monday. Additional sources confirmed both sides have agreed to the bout. UFC Fight
8:10 PM ET Marc RaimondiESPN A UFC Paris card might not be too far away. France made a major step toward the legalization of mixed martial arts Monday. Roxana Maracineanu, the French minister of sports, announced on Twitter the country will take applications from existing sports federations to be the one that organizes MMA in
2:45 PM ET Francis Ngannou has won eight times in the UFC, each time by stoppage, with his last four wins coming by first-round knockout. Junior Dos Santos has 15 KOs among his 21 professional victories, including in his last two outings. So big fists will be flying when these heavyweights clash in the main
8:41 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. Happy Monday, friends. While most sports not named baseball are pretty quiet right now,
12:17 AM ET Marc RaimondiESPN It was another newsmaking UFC fight card Saturday night in Greenville, South Carolina. “The Korean Zombie,” also known as Chan Sung Jung, bounced back from a heartbreaking loss. Randy Brown finished the always-durable Bryan Barberena. And Luis Peña dominated Matt Wiman, who was returning after a layoff of nearly four