12:35 PM ET Stephen Thompson and Anthony Pettis‘ main event fight on Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee, is now official, as both welterweights made weight. Neither competitor could weigh more than 171 pounds one day before their matchup. Thompson hit his mark at 170.5 pounds on Friday, and Pettis was at 171. Thompson, a two-time division
MMA
6:30 AM ET Australian heavyweight prospect Tai Tuivasa will face Blagoy Ivanov at UFC 238 this summer, the UFC confirmed to ESPN on Friday. The heavyweight bout is officially booked to UFC 238 on June 8 in Chicago. Tuivasa (8-1) is looking to rebound from the first loss of his career. He suffered a second-round
12:05 PM ET From an undefeated former UFC fighter to a pair of cousins competing in the same weight class to a featherweight who once won 21 bouts in a year, the Professional Fighters League on Thursday revealed more than two dozen additional participants for its 2019 season. Among the returnees from last season is
10:44 AM ET When Anthony Pettis challenged Benson Henderson for the UFC lightweight title in 2013, his coach, Duke Roufus, publicly compared him to Michael Jordan. Roufus’ comparison understandably drew some skepticism. Michael Jordan? As in, that Michael Jordan? At the time, Pettis was 26 years old and vying for his first UFC championship. Comparing
10:34 PM ET Holly Holm isn’t going anywhere. The former UFC bantamweight champion has signed a new six-fight contract with the promotion, her agent, Lenny Fresquez, told ESPN. Holm had two fights left on her previous deal. “I’m very happy with the deal,” Fresquez said. “We worked feverishly with the UFC to get this done.”
5:28 PM ET TJ Dillashaw relinquished his UFC bantamweight title championship on Wednesday after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and the New York State Athletic Commission informed him of an “adverse analytical finding” in a drug test dating back to his last fight in January in Brooklyn. The NYSAC issued him a one-year suspension and $10,000
4:43 PM ET Rafael dos Anjos will face Kevin Lee in a battle of top welterweights at UFC Fight Night: Rochester on May 18, sources confirmed to ESPN. The Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, New York, first reported the matchup. Dos Anjos is a former UFC lightweight champion who claimed the belt in 2015 in
12:02 PM ET Richard Mann Nearly six years after winning the UFC lightweight title, Anthony Pettis will move up to 170 pounds and face former welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Nashville (ESPN+, main card 8 p.m. ET). The two fighters share multiple stylistic quirks, which results in
10:40 AM ET Former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will move up to light heavyweight to fight Jan Błachowicz at UFC 239 on July 6 in Las Vegas, multiple sources tell ESPN. Rockhold, also the former Strikeforce middleweight champion, most recently fought for the interim UFC middleweight title against Yoel Romero in February 2018, losing by
9:51 AM ET TJ Dillashaw is no longer the UFC bantamweight champion. Dillashaw (16-4) announced Wednesday morning that he is “voluntarily relinquishing” the UFC’s 135-pound title after he was informed by the New York State Athletic Commission and the United States Anti-Doping Agency of an “adverse finding in a test taken for my last fight.”