2:36 PM ET DENVER — There is a difference in Yair Rodriguez, as he heads into his first UFC fight in 18 months. How could there not? In May 2017, Rodriguez went flying into a featherweight matchup against Frankie Edgar with all the momentum in the world. He was 6-0 in the UFC, and had
MMA
1:15 AM ET UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw will move down in weight to challenge flyweight champion Henry Cejudo at UFC 233 on Jan. 26, according to multiple sources. The 125-pound title fight will take place inside Anaheim’s Honda Center. UFC is adding a women’s flyweight fight — Joanne Calderwood against Ariana Lipski — to
5:07 PM ET DENVER — Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone would probably fight on every single UFC card if he could — but there is something perfect about him fighting on this next one. The UFC will celebrate its 25th anniversary at UFC Fight Night on Saturday, inside Pepsi Center. The location of the event is nod
10:20 PM ET Twenty-five years ago today, combat sports changed forever. Eight individuals from different fighting disciplines met in a tournament at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver to see whose martial art was supreme. Called “The Ultimate Fighting Championship,” the event involved a sumo wrestler, a boxer, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and everyone in between.
12:56 PM ET The UFC has added an intriguing women’s flyweight fight to their pay-per-view event in January. Joanne Calderwood will meet former KSW champion Ariane Lipski on the Jan. 26 UFC 233 card in Anaheim, Calif., multiple sources told ESPN. Calderwood (12-3) is coming off a first-round submission win over Kalindra Faria in August.
3:53 PM ET A planned middleweight bout between rising star Paulo Costa and former title contender Yoel Romero is off again, sources told ESPN. The UFC had hoped to book the fight as the main event for its Jan. 19 card in Brooklyn, New York, but sources said the fight was recently canceled after Costa
4:41 PM ET DENVER — When 20-year-old strawweight Maycee Barber enters the cage for her UFC debut on Saturday, a timer on her phone back in the Pepsi Center locker room will continue to wind down. That “countdown,” as Barber refers to it, is constantly running on her home screen. She set it up about
12:04 PM ET Veteran welterweight Brennan Ward has pulled out of a bare-knuckle boxing match against former UFC champion Johny Hendricks on Friday in Wyoming, allegedly due to the promoter’s failure to honor his contract. Ward, 30, announced his withdrawal from the bout on social media on Wednesday. “To all my followers: WBKFF won’t honor
7:00 PM ET LOS ANGELES — Former NFL All-Pro linebacker Shawne Merriman has pulled out of his bare-knuckle boxing match against Mike Bourke, scheduled to take place this Friday in Casper, Wyoming. Merriman had agreed to compete in the inaugural World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation (WBKFF) show, but a contract dispute forced the three-time Pro
7:28 PM ET In the past two weeks, Ben Askren has called out nearly every welterweight on the UFC roster. Askren (18-0) signed with the UFC last month, and the promotion had no shortage of options when it came to booking his first fight. It ultimately chose to pair him with former champion Robbie Lawler