MMA

Feb 11, 2023 Former UFC women’s strawweight champion Jessica Andrade will fill in for Taila Santos in the UFC Fight Night main event Feb. 18 in Las Vegas, the promotion announced Saturday. Andrade will face top prospect Erin Blanchfield in a women’s flyweight contender bout. Santos’ cornermen, including her husband, Pedro Barbosa, were denied visas

11:57 PM ET Yair Rodriguez is the UFC’s interim featherweight champion following a masterful finish over Josh Emmett at UFC 284. Rodriguez (15-3) submitted Emmett via triangle choke at 4 minutes, 19 seconds of the second round. The 145-pound bout co-headlined UFC 284, which took place on Sunday morning local time at RAC Arena. The

Feb 11, 2023 Jens Pulver will be inducted into the pioneer wing of the UFC Hall of Fame later this year, the promotion announced Saturday. Pulver, 48, became the UFC’s first lightweight champion in February 2001, when he defeated Caol Uno at UFC 30 in Atlantic City. Nicknamed “Lil Evil,” he went on to defend

1:39 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN Everything was different this time. Islam Makhachev successfully defended his UFC lightweight championship Saturday night in a performance that did not resemble the victory last October that earned him the belt. On this night, Makhachev mostly stood and traded punches to win his superfight against featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski in

12:48 AM ET The path to the UFC lightweight title has gone through Dagestan for some time. And now so does the road to the No. 1 pound-for-pound ranking, once again. In a classic back-and-forth battle, Islam Makhachev pulled out a unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) over Alexander Volkanovski to retain the lightweight title in

1:03 PM ET Amanda Serrano, the undisputed featherweight champion and No. 3 pound-for-pound boxer in the world, said Friday she is planning on making a return to mixed martial arts at some point in the future. Serrano, 34, has fought in mixed martial arts before, holding a 2-0-1 record in MMA and a 5-0 record

8:08 AM ET Alexander Volkanovski Alexander Volkanovski is ranked by ESPN as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He’s never lost in the UFC, compiling an impressive 12-0 record since his 2016 debut. The Australian has won 22 straight fights and owns four successful title defenses as the UFC featherweight champion. Yet, despite all

4:58 PM ET The Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC), the organization that oversees athletic commissions in North America and beyond, is going to be giving fighters a seat at the table for the first time. The ABC is starting an athlete’s voice committee, which will have seven retired fighters as members, to

8:14 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN When an athlete wins a championship, those watching from the stands tend to view the achievement as an arrival at the ultimate destination. Some champions themselves even see it that way. They’ve elevated themselves above the masses, and their reign on higher ground is what will define their legacy. But

12:11 PM ET Sean O’Malley, one of the UFC’s top rising stars, confirmed Friday on his YouTube page that he has signed an eight-fight contract extension with the promotion. The top bantamweight contender didn’t disclose financial details of the deal, but said he negotiated without a manager and felt the UFC gave him the compensation