4:26 PM ET When Nicco Montaño enters the Octagon at UFC 228 for the co-main event against Valentina Shevchenko, she’ll do so as the inaugural women’s flyweight champion. But her first title defense is notable for another reason: she’s a massive betting underdog, despite possessing the belt. It’s an unusual position for the betting market
MMA
11:21 AM ET LAS VEGAS — It’s the final week of Darren Till‘s first UFC championship fight camp, and there’s an interesting dynamic playing out between two opposites. Outside the cage, there is a sophisticated, round-the-clock effort taking place to make Till as small as possible. Or, to be more accurate, as light as possible.
4:29 PM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas is traumatized by April’s bus attack in Brooklyn by Conor McGregor, according to her coach, and “still doesn’t leave her house.” Trevor Wittman, head trainer at Grudge Training Center in Colorado, said during an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Tuesday that Namajunas —
6:35 PM ET Sage Northcutt says his challenge to face social media star Logan Paul in either a boxing or mixed martial arts fight was anything but a joke. “Any fighter fighting in the UFC would take the opportunity to take a fight against a YouTuber and stand to make several million dollars,” Northcutt, now
2:25 PM ET Hall of Fame boxer Oscar De La Hoya provided insight on his recent move to promoting mixed martial arts, telling ESPN’s Ariel Helwani on Tuesday that low fighter pay “makes me sick to my stomach.” De La Hoya says he wants “to make sure the fighters are treated fairly, making sure they
3:13 PM ET LAS VEGAS — The state of Nevada dropped a pending criminal case against UFC welterweight Nick Diaz on Thursday morning, according to Diaz’s attorney, Ross Goodman. Diaz, of Stockton, California, had faced three felony charges and a misdemeanor charge stemming from an alleged domestic violence incident in May. In a statement to
1:30 PM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN They’re back. America’s favorite bickering businessmen, Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather, are stalking each other once again on social media, puffing out their cyber-chests and throwing barbs back and forth — just as they started doing, out of nowhere, a couple of years ago. Back then, serious fans of boxing
7:11 PM ET Mixed martial arts legends and longtime rivals Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz will officially meet for the third time on Nov. 24 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, according to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya. Golden Boy signed Liddell, 48, and Ortiz, 43, to promotional agreements in July. The
12:10 PM ET Former UFC champion Anthony Pettis acknowledged on Monday that it took “a couple years” to get over his unanimous decision loss to Rafael dos Anjos in 2015 when he gave up the lightweight belt. He mentally surrendered the confidence that had made him the division’s top fighter, and it played out in
5:33 PM ET UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley says he will fight Darren Till at UFC 228, even if his opponent does not make weight ahead of the title bout on Sept. 8. “I’m chasing greatness,” Woodley told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani on Monday. “If he doesn’t make weight, he takes away for me the opportunity