MMA

6:59 PM ET Brandon Moreno will challenge Deiveson Figueiredo for the flyweight title in the main event of UFC 256 in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Moreno will be the first Mexican-born fighter to compete for a UFC title. A win wouldn’t just change the fortunes of the athlete, his wife and his children. It

7:51 AM ET I think I might have been wrong about Deiveson Figueiredo. Prior to UFC 255, which was a whopping three weeks ago, I said I didn’t know if Figueiredo was the guy to make people care about the flyweights, at least to a degree they haven’t before. I thought it was more likely

12:24 PM ET For the second time in three weeks, a pay-per-view main event for the UFC flyweight title is official. Flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo weighed in successfully Friday morning at 124.5 pounds and challenger Brandon Moreno was also 124.5 pounds. The bout will take place in the UFC 256 headliner Saturday night in Las

5:20 PM ET The lawyer for a well-known mixed martial arts coach says a video that triggered the coach’s sexual assault arrest actually shows he did not commit a crime. Rafael “Barata” de Freitas, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach for prominent UFC fighters such as Holly Holm and Michelle Waterson, pleaded not guilty to a charge

7:31 AM ET Marc Raimondi Eric Gomez The half-made piñata would be sitting on the floor of Pinatas Moreno in Tijuana, Mexico, and business owner Alfredo Moreno would not be happy. The job was not done, and his son’s other interest was probably to blame. Brandon Moreno started his mixed martial arts training when he

1:18 AM ET Bellator has a new flyweight queen. Juliana Velasquez beat Ilima-Lei Macfarlane via unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 48-47) to win the Bellator women’s flyweight title Thursday night in the main event of Bellator 254 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. Macfarlane had been the only women’s flyweight champion the promotion had ever known

4:01 PM ET UFC is targeting a lightweight matchup between Islam Makhachev and Drew Dober in early 2021, sources told ESPN. Contracts have not been signed and there is no official date, but March 6 is the leading option as of now. Both sides have already verbally agreed to the matchup. Makhachev (18-1) was scheduled

8:00 AM ET LAS VEGAS — Tony Ferguson believes he is a big reason the UFC resumed operations as quickly as it did in 2020, and he theorizes that everyone profited from that quick return — except for him. Ferguson (25-4) will face Charles Oliveira (29-8) at UFC 256 on Saturday, in his first appearance

10:00 AM ET Deiveson Figueiredo will make history Saturday when he puts his UFC men’s flyweight championship on the line for the second time in 21 days, the shortest span between title defenses ever in the promotion. But Figueiredo (20-1) has another fight in mind beyond this weekend’s UFC 256 main event against Brandon Moreno,

7:54 AM ET Anthony “Rumble” Johnson is headed to Bellator. In an unexpected move, the former two-time UFC title contender has agreed to terms with Bellator, sources told ESPN on Wednesday. Johnson, who has not fought in over three years, is expected to sign his deal imminently, sources said. Johnson recently mutually parted ways with

1:18 PM ET UFC 256 has lost two more fights because of coronavirus, but the event also has named a replacement fighter for a third bout that previously had been canceled because of COVID-19. Dwight Grant (10-3), who was to face middleweight Li Jingliang (17-6) in an early prelim on Saturday’s card in Las Vegas,

6:54 PM ET Claressa Shields has not wasted any time jumping into mixed martial arts training. ESPN’s top pound-for-pound women’s boxer signed with PFL to compete in MMA earlier this week. And on Friday, she arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to train at JacksonWink MMA with her friend Jon Jones, one of the best UFC

7:27 AM ET Jon Jones was in his Albuquerque, New Mexico, living room in front of a projection television on July 25. UFC Fight Night aired that evening, and Jones had a keen eye on the undercard as Alexander Gustafsson, one of Jones’ main light heavyweight rivals, was making his heavyweight debut against former champion

6:27 PM ET Popular women’s flyweight fighter Rachael Ostovich is the latest victim of UFC’s planned cuts, the promotion confirmed on Monday. UFC president Dana White said Saturday following UFC Fight Night that they would be making “serious cuts” — about 60 fighters would be released before the first of the year. The UFC released

5:58 PM ET PFL lightweight champion Kayla Harrison will get a second fight in 2020 after all, as she has booked a 155-pound contest against Jozette Cotton at Titan FC 66 on Dec. 17. Harrison (8-0) is still under exclusive contract with PFL, but was given permission to fight outside the organization because of the

8:01 AM ET Already a breakout star in 2020, UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo is looking to make a rather extraordinary statement on Saturday. Figueiredo will defend his title against top contender Brandon Moreno in the main event of UFC 256 in Las Vegas. That fight will go down as the fastest turnaround in history

4:16 PM ET A Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach who trains several well-known UFC fighters has been arrested and charged with third-degree criminal sexual penetration in New Mexico, per court records. Rafael “Barata” Freitas had a court appearance Saturday where the state filed a motion to keep him detained until trial, Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court public information

3:03 AM ET The UFC surprisingly released top middleweight contender Yoel Romero on Friday, but UFC president Dana White said that won’t be the only departure coming. At the news conference following Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night, White said the promotion would be cutting around 60 fighters before the end of the year. “We’re gonna