4:54 PM ET UFC president Dana White has said Francis Ngannou is next for a heavyweight title shot — and former longtime light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will not hop over him for an opportunity in a new division. For the most part, UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic agrees with that assessment. Miocic defeated Ngannou
MMA
5:48 PM ET Does the future of the UFC’s women’s featherweight division depend on Megan Anderson upsetting champion Amanda Nunes? And does Anderson have much of a chance? Those are two questions that surfaced from this past Friday’s news that the fight is being targeted for December. And what about Fedor Emelianenko protege Vadim Nemkov
5:45 PM ET Marc Raimondi Brett Okamoto Close ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Frankie Edgar was supposed to fight Pedro Munhoz at UFC 251 on July 11. The bout fell through when Munhoz tested positive for COVID-19 hours before he was set to
12:04 AM ET It was a night of upsets and comebacks, but most of all, Saturday’s UFC Fight Night was a showcase for a 38-year-old veteran who proved he’s not done yet. Frankie Edgar pulled out a split-decision win over Pedro Munhoz in his bantamweight debut. Should he have dropped to bantamweight sooner as many
11:29 PM ET Frankie Edgar is shopworn. He has been in too many wars, and he’s too old. Moving down to bantamweight 15 years into his career? A last-gasp move. Those were some of the storylines coming into the UFC Fight Night main event Saturday night in Las Vegas. Like he has so many times
Aug 22, 2020 UFC light heavyweight Ovince Saint Preux was forced to withdraw from Saturday’s Fight Night co-main event, his manager confirmed to ESPN’s Marc Raimondi, because of a positive COVID-19 test. “He battled Covid previously and presented both + and – tests this week,” Saint Preux’s management company, Knockout Representation, wrote on social media
Aug 18, 2020 Frankie Edgar, a former UFC lightweight champion who has competed at featherweight for the past several years, will make his bantamweight debut against Pedro Munhoz in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday at the promotion’s Apex facility in Las Vegas. The main card is on ESPN and ESPN+, starting
12:49 AM ET Ryan Bader had a chance to potentially be considered the best MMA light heavyweight on the planet this weekend. With Jon Jones announcing his departure from the division four days ago, all eyes were on Bader to see whether he could continue his hot streak, retain his title and cement his legacy
5:52 PM ET For the third time in the last four years, UFC dual-weight champion Amanda Nunes will defend one of her titles in December. Nunes (20-4) will face featherweight contender Megan Anderson (10-4) on Dec. 12 at a location to be determined, per multiple sources. The 145-pound contest will take place on a pay-per-view
8:35 AM ET It took more than 13 years, but Frankie Edgar has finally lost his battle with the people who want him to cut weight. My opinion: No one has fought the good fight against weight cutting as much (or as well) as Edgar. In a sport in which the majority of athletes cut
1:16 AM ET The two men fighting for the UFC middleweight title next month got into a heated verbal exchange Thursday night. Israel Adesanya, the division’s champion, and challenger Paulo Costa fired pointed barbs during a satellite interview with Michael Eaves on SportsCenter. At one point a fiery Costa even unbuttoned his shirt to show
11:41 AM ET Frankie Edgar called Clint Wattenberg in late June with some questions. It was about two weeks before Edgar’s scheduled bantamweight debut. In more than a decade with the UFC, the former lightweight champion had never really cut weight before. He never needed to. Unlike most high-level MMA fighters, Edgar always walked around
12:53 AM ET Anderson Silva, one of the greatest legends in mixed martial arts, has booked his next fight. Silva, 45, has agreed to meet Uriah Hall in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Oct. 31, according to UFC president Dana White. The event will take place at a location to be determined.
7:43 PM ET Dominick Reyes has a theory as to why Jon Jones is moving up to heavyweight from light heavyweight, the division Jones lorded over for nearly a decade in the UFC. The contenders at light heavyweight have simply gotten “too good” for Jones to keep up with, Reyes told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani in
3:06 PM ET Bellator MMA is planning to host two shows in two days in September at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, according to sources. The first event will take place Sept. 11 and showcase a rematch between light heavyweights Lyoto Machida (26-9) and Phil Davis (21-5). That event will also feature the promotional
9:33 AM ET UFC president Dana White said he’s open to Jon Jones‘ first fight at heavyweight being for the title, but that wouldn’t happen before Francis Ngannou gets his shot at champion Stipe Miocic. “[Jones is] the longtime light heavyweight champion. In my opinion he’s the greatest of all time, and if he wants
12:21 AM ET Longtime champion Jon Jones announced Monday that he’d be vacating the UFC light heavyweight title. One day later, there is a resolution on what will happen next with that prestigious belt. A bout between top contenders Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz was already set for UFC 253 on Sept. 26, as reported
6:02 PM ET A highly anticipated featherweight bout between Brian Ortega and Chan Sung Jung will headline UFC Fight Night on Oct. 17 at a location to be determined, multiple sources told ESPN. The 145-pound contest was originally supposed to take place in December in Jung’s native South Korea, but Ortega was forced to withdraw