Mar 5, 2019 Jeff Wagenheim Louis Taylor had a better New Year’s Eve than you did. Even though he had to go to work while you maybe went to a party, Taylor was the one who ended the night in the most joyful of celebrations. He was on the job for barely half a minute,
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ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Ariel Helwani and Jeff Wagenheim provide their top-10 picks, and their votes produce our consensus men’s and women’s pound-for-pound lists. (You can find Okamoto’s division-by-division rankings here.) Note: Rankings were updated April 16. Men’s pound-for-pound rankings 1. Jon Jones Record: 24-1, 1 NCWeight class: Light heavyweightLast: W (UD) Anthony Smith, March 2Next:
10:07 AM ET It has been over a year since Frankie Edgar risked his guaranteed featherweight title shot against Max Holloway in a last-minute fight against Brian Ortega at UFC 222. Edgar (23-6-1) was scheduled to face Holloway in March 2018, but Holloway was forced to withdraw because of injury. Rather than wait for the
5:37 PM ET Former UFC bantamweight contender Leslie Smith has signed an exclusive deal to compete in Bellator MMA. Smith, 36, confirmed the signing to ESPN on Tuesday, following an initial report by Yahoo! Sports. She does not have a date for her next fight but said she intends to compete in the 145-pound featherweight
Apr 17, 2019 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 April 16.
1:04 AM ET MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. — It’s about midnight at McCann’s Pub & Grill, and Aljamain Sterling has the energy of an overhyped toddler. Above him, playing on a quartet of television screens, Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya pummel each other through the fourth round of their UFC interim middleweight championship fight as Saturday lurches
8:10 AM ET The latest episode of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show (1 p.m. ET Monday, live on Twitter) featured a former champion breaking down PED use in the sport, two top middleweights trading shots at each other and an Olympic gold medalist wrestler discussing a possible transition into fighting. Here’s what you might have missed:
3:45 PM ET Israel Adesanya won the UFC’s interim middleweight belt on Saturday after an epic back-and-forth battle with Kelvin Gastelum. Jon Jones, however, wasn’t impressed. He took to social media in a series of now-deleted tweets discrediting Adesanya’s victory and shooting down any shot the 29-year-old has against him in a potential fight. “You
6:59 PM ET Dustin Poirier‘s eight-year journey to a UFC title shot ended in gold at UFC 236 this past weekend, as he defeated a pound-for-pound great in Max Holloway. The UFC is now on ESPN and ESPN+. Subscribe to ESPN+ to get: exclusive live UFC events, weigh-ins and more; Ariel and the Bad Guy;
6:51 PM ET ATLANTA — Khalil Rountree Jr. dominated Eryk Anders in every facet on Saturday at UFC 236, cruising to a unanimous decision win (30-26 on all three judges scorecards). From the start, Rountree attacked Anders with hard inside leg kicks that had his opponent’s thigh a bright red after the first round. Rountree