MMA

4:15 PM ET The two youngest women on the UFC roster put on quite the show. In a back-and-forth, exciting fight, Cory McKenna beat Kay Hansen via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in a women’s strawweight contest on the UFC Fight Night: Felder vs. dos Anjos main card Saturday in Las Vegas. Both landed hard

8:45 PM ET Nothing like a ranked UFC lightweight accepting a five-round fight … against a former champion … on five days’ notice … to stir up the MMA community. The reaction to Paul Felder (17-5) stepping into Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event against Rafael dos Anjos (29-13) on short notice has been genuinely

7:48 AM ET Paul Felder was home with his family on Sunday night in Philadelphia. It was around 7:30 p.m., and while scrolling through social media, Felder saw a report that Islam Makhachev was out of his UFC Fight Night main event with Rafael dos Anjos, a bout scheduled for the following weekend. That was

12:30 PM ET Paul Felder didn’t even know he’d be fighting this weekend as of Monday morning. That day, he weighed more than 170 pounds. The popular UFC lightweight accepted the UFC Fight Night main event against Rafael dos Anjos this weekend on just five days’ notice later Monday. And Friday, Felder had no issues

12:57 AM ET One of the best bantamweight fighters in the world is making his return at the end of the year. Kyoji Horiguchi, the former Bellator and Rizin bantamweight champion, will fight current Rizin champ Kai Asakura in a rematch Dec. 31 at Rizin 26 in Saitama, Japan, the promotion announced Friday. Horiguchi has

9:36 PM ET Patricio Freire already has the best résumé of any fighter in Bellator history. Now he’s trying to add the title of Grand Prix champion to his already prodigious legacy. “Pitbull” stopped Pedro Carvalho by knockout at 2 minutes, 10 seconds of the first round to retain the Bellator featherweight title Thursday night

8:46 AM ET Scott Coker woke up March 13 in a hotel room at Mohegan Sun Casino & Resort in Uncasville, Connecticut. Later that night, the Bellator president would be promoting a card featuring the start of the anticipated Bellator Featherweight World Grand Prix quarterfinals. That morning, though, he got a phone call from members

2:01 PM ET Editor’s note: This piece originally ran June 17, 2019, and some content has been updated. Yoder will face Miranda Granger on Saturday night. SAN DIEGO — Ashley Yoder was a 20-year-old undergrad at Indiana University studying criminal justice. She had an internship at the Monroe County (Indiana) prosecutor’s office. Before that, she

4:08 PM ET A fight is off Saturday’s UFC card due to a positive test for coronavirus. A middleweight bout between Ian Heinisch and Brendan Allen at UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Teixeira has been canceled Saturday afternoon, the UFC announced. The scrapping of the bout is due to a positive COVID-19 test “involving” Heinisch,

11:51 PM ET The UFC added three new athletes to its active roster on Tuesday, including an undefeated Israeli featherweight who accepted a fight this week on just five days’ notice. UFC president Dana White signed featherweight Natan Levy, lightweight Nikolas Motta, and strawweight Luana Pinheiro to exclusive contracts on Tuesday, during Dana White’s Contender

1:41 PM ET Kayla Harrison is in for a change of scenery. At least temporarily. The PFL women’s lightweight champion will compete at Invicta FC 43 on Nov. 20 in Kansas City, Kansas, PFL announced Monday. The opponent will be Courtney King and Harrison will move down to featherweight — 145 pounds — to fight

1:03 PM ET The Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier rematch is inching closer to reality. Poirier has signed a bout agreement to fight in the Jan. 23 main event of UFC 257 versus McGregor, per multiple sources. The fight would take place at 155 pounds. McGregor, per sources, hasn’t signed a bout agreement yet, however,

9:28 AM ET It will be hard for Dana White’s Contender Series to top last week. In the eighth episode of the show’s fourth season, all four fights ended in KO/TKOs and every winner won a UFC contract. The athletes on Tuesday’s edition of DWCS will attempt to continue that run. With just one episode

5:38 PM ET Brett Okamoto Close ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Marc Raimondi The UFC has found a dance partner for former champion Rafael dos Anjos this weekend. Paul Felder, one of the most exciting fighters in the lightweight division, will step in

1:55 PM ET Two-weight UFC champion Amanda Nunes has withdrawn from her featherweight title defense against Megan Anderson next month for undisclosed reasons, according to multiple sources. Nunes (20-4) was scheduled to defend her 145-pound title against Anderson (10-4) in the main event of UFC 256 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. The UFC has

7:57 AM ET UFC fans are anxiously awaiting Conor McGregor‘s Octagon return, which is expected to be Jan. 23 vs. Dustin Poirier. But until bout agreements are signed, it’s not a done deal, and according to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, this fight is not yet a done deal. So what happens if it falls through? And

7:18 PM ET Islam Makhachev‘s first appearance in a UFC main event will have to wait, as the lightweight has withdrawn from Saturday’s headliner with an undisclosed injury. Makhachev (18-1) was scheduled to face former champion Rafael dos Anjos (29-13) at UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas but was forced to withdraw on

2:03 AM ET ESPN’s panel of Ariel Helwani, Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi and Jeff Wagenheim break down the biggest stories coming out of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card, including a look at Glover Teixeira‘s third-round submission of Thiago Santos and what it means. Eight or so days ago, if you would have asked me who