MMA

5:02 PM ET NEW YORK — Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn didn’t rule out the possibility of a future fight between former boxing heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, he told ESPN on Thursday. Joshua has a fight against Jermaine Franklin on April 1, sources told ESPN’s Mike Coppinger, and

10:29 AM ET The PFL’s 2023 regular season will officially kick off in April, with a three-week series of events at Virgin Hotel in Las Vegas. The season encompasses six weight classes: heavyweight, light heavyweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight and women’s featherweight. The first round of season matchups will take place across three events scheduled on

8:30 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim Mixed martial arts is not what it used to be. In its early days, the sport was widely dismissed as a cringey toughman sideshow and relegated to the outcast fringe. For years, MMA was sustained by an obsessive and faithful fan base that mined fight clips from dingy corners of

3:22 PM ET Editor’s note: This story was originally published ahead of UFC 238. Blagoy Ivanov faces Marcin Tybura at UFC Fight Night on Feb. 4. SAN JOSE, Calif. — A bit shaky, Blagoy Ivanov stood in a doorway at Pirogov Hospital in Sofia, Bulgaria, on May 19, 2012. Camera flashes were going off. Questions

7:36 PM ET Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway will return to the Octagon against Arnold Allen in April, multiple sources told ESPN on Monday. Both sides have agreed to the 145-pound featherweight matchup, which is expected to headline UFC Fight Night on April 15. The UFC has not officially announced the contest or location

Jan 27, 2023 The UFC is getting into the name, image and likeness (NIL) business. The world’s biggest fight promotion has signed Bella Mir, daughter of former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, as its first-ever NIL ambassador, officials told ESPN on Friday. Bella Mir, 19, is a freshman at the University of Iowa and competes

12:34 PM ET Conor McGregor appeared to avoid injury after being struck by a car while riding his bike in Ireland. McGregor, 34, posted multiple videos of the aftermath of the accident to his social media on Friday. A breathless McGregor can be heard saying, “I could have been dead there,” as the driver of

6:12 PM ET Israel Adesanya will attempt to get his title back in a fourth fight against rival Alex Pereira this spring. Pereira will defend the middleweight championship against Adesanya in the co-main event of UFC 287 on April 8, UFC president Dana White announced Friday. Jorge Masvidal will return against Gilbert Burns in the

11:17 AM ET Ranked lightweights Dan Hooker and Jalin Turner will square off at UFC 285, both fighters confirmed on social media. Hooker announced the bout on “The MacLife” and Turner confirmed shortly after via Instagram. UFC 285 takes place on March 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Hooker (22-12) is coming off a

1:38 PM ET Conor McGregor has denied allegations that he attacked a woman on his yacht last summer in Ibiza. Ultima Hora, a newspaper in Spain, released a report Tuesday with allegations from an Irish woman that the UFC superstar punched her and threatened to drown her at a party in July on his boat.