2:09 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim NEW YORK — When Rory MacDonald was Rory MacDonald, a jiu-jitsu specialist like Neiman Gracie would not have stood a chance with him in a standup cage fight. But there they were, on their feet for the entirety of the first round of Friday’s welterweight championship main event of Bellator
MMA
12:44 AM ET NEW YORK — Bellator’s bantamweight championship officially belongs to Japan. Kyoji Horiguchi (28-2) claimed Bellator’s 135-pound title in a unanimous decision win over Darrion Caldwell (12-3) in a cross-promotion bout during Bellator 222 on Friday night at Madison Square Garden. It was Horiguchi’s second win over Caldwell in seven months, as part
12:43 AM ET NEW YORK — For more than 20 years, Chael Sonnen prided himself as a mixed martial artist who would “always make the walk.” On Friday, he did so for the final time. Sonnen, 42, retired in the Bellator MMA cage on Friday following a second-round TKO loss to former UFC champion Lyoto
Jun 7, 2019 As the Professional Fighters League kicked off its light heavyweight and heavyweight seasons at PFL 3 in Uniondale, New York, on Thursday night, we learned that one division is stacked with intriguing talent while the other seems wide open as it looks for a star or two to emerge. The 205-pounders impressed
Jun 7, 2019 PFL 3 had a handful of standout performances, but after a lot of early finishes at PFL 1 and PFL 2, a long stretch of decisions in a row surprised some people. To break down the fallout from the final wave of first fights — in the heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions
Jun 10, 2019 The latest episode of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show featured a two-division champion talking about his possible next opponent, a Bellator fighter describing a lucrative offer to join the WWE and two top contenders making their case for a title shot. Here’s what you might have missed: Waterson says she’s next in line
12:44 PM ET After years of displaying an almost superhuman ability to both withstand and dish out pain, Rory MacDonald experienced an identity crisis in his last fight. Somewhere in the middle of a five-round draw against Jon Fitch in April, MacDonald started to wonder if he still wanted to do what he was doing.
7:22 PM ET Brett Okamoto Close ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Marc Raimondi UFC San Antonio finally has its main event, according to UFC president Dana White. Rafael dos Anjos will meet Leon Edwards in the welterweight headliner of the July 20 card,
11:19 PM ET If there was one lasting image from UFC 238 this past Saturday, chances are it was when women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko put Jessica Eye to sleep with a vicious head kick. The scene was frightening, really. Eye, the No. 1 contender, was out cold for several minutes as she was being
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