MMA

12:28 AM ET A major bantamweight contender fight is heading to Las Vegas. Former UFC champion Petr Yan and the rising Merab Dvalishvili have verbally agreed to a main event on the UFC Fight Night card on March 11 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday night. Bout agreements have not

7:02 PM ET Francis Ngannou said he asked for a lot of things from the UFC during a long contract negotiation period. But the former UFC heavyweight champion said he ultimately decided that what the UFC was offering didn’t afford him enough freedom. In an interview Tuesday on “The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani,” Ngannou

9:22 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN If Brazil isn’t the birthplace of the UFC, it is at least the playground for the promotion’s formative years. The inaugural event in 1993 took place in Denver, and the company’s first 15 fight cards all happened in the United States. It took the UFC nearly five years before finally

5:40 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a strawweight battle between Michelle Waterson-Gomez and Luana Pinheiro for April, sources told ESPN on Monday. The contest will take place on April 8 at an event that is expected to be UFC 287 on pay-per-view. The UFC has not announced an official date or location for that

5:38 PM ET Muhammad Mokaev, one of the UFC’s top prospects, will take on promotional newcomer Jafel Filho later this year in London. The 125-pound bout will take place at UFC 286 on March 18 at O2 Arena, UFC officials told ESPN. It will mark Mokaev’s fourth appearance in the UFC, three of which have

7:27 AM ET Brett Okamoto Close Brett Okamoto ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Mike Coppinger After more than a year of unsuccessful negotiations with the fight promotion, Francis Ngannou is officially no longer the UFC heavyweight champion. Ngannou (17-3) fought out his UFC

10:51 PM ET Jon Jones, arguably the greatest fighter of all time, will fight Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight championship at UFC 285 on March 4, UFC president Dana White said Saturday. The announcement came after the UFC was unable to come to terms with its now former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. It will mark

12:15 AM ET A welterweight title trilogy bout between Leon Edwards and former champion Kamaru Usman will take place in the main event of UFC 286 on March 18 in London, UFC president Dana White said Saturday night. Edwards won the title by knocking out Usman in the fifth round of their UFC 278 main

Jan 14, 2023 LAS VEGAS — The UFC finished its event schedule in 2022 on a Sean Strickland loss, and now it has started its event schedule in 2023 on a Sean Strickland win. Strickland (26-5) defeated France’s Nassourdine Imavov (12-4) by unanimous decision in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday. It

12:38 AM ET Jon Jones has been talking for years about fighting at heavyweight. For much of his dominant reign as UFC light heavyweight champion, he had one eye fixed on the big boys. Even during the week leading up to his 205-pound title defense against Dominick Reyes in February 2020, Jones seemed more focused