MMA

12:54 AM ET MIAMI — Israel Adesanya didn’t just exorcise his demons. He put them to sleep. Alex Pereira beat Adesanya three times, twice in kickboxing and twice by knockout. On Saturday night, Adesanya returned the favor and got the albatross off from around his neck for good. Adesanya knocked out Pereira with several brutal

2:15 PM ET MIAMI — Alex Pereira defends his middleweight championship against Israel Adesanya in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 287, a rematch of their November fight in which Pereira took away the belt via knockout. The main card will be on ESPN+ pay-per-view starting at 10 p.m. ET, with prelims on ESPN, ESPN

12:51 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim It would be convenient to say Larissa Pacheco has a lighter lift this season. She won the PFL women’s lightweight 2022 season championship last November, earning the $1 million bonus the hard way with a stunning upset of previously undefeated Kayla Harrison, who had beaten her the first two times

4:27 PM ET The UFC is heading back to Canada for the first time in nearly four years. Vancouver will be the host to the UFC 289 pay-per-view event on June 10, the promotion announced Friday afternoon. No main event has been officially announced yet. The UFC has not visited Canada since before the COVID-19

7:49 AM ET MIAMI — IT’S A BALMY Monday evening at the newly renamed Kaseya Center downtown, and Jorge Masvidal is looking for a legal parking spot for his classic dark blue Lincoln Continental convertible. He takes a right off Biscayne Boulevard and stops on a relatively quiet side road. Masvidal thinks the car should

7:53 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN One after another, the shiny brass-and-leather belts and oversized $1 million checks had been handed out. The 2022 PFL’s season-ending night of glory last November in New York had seen five fighters earn championships in as many weight classes. All that was left of this jamboree was the evening’s sixth

7:50 PM ET MIAMI — Jorge Masvidal said he is not sure how his rival Colby Covington is set for the next UFC welterweight title shot given legal claims Covington has made in a criminal case against Masvidal. Masvidal is facing felony charges of aggravated battery and criminal mischief stemming from an alleged attack on

9:59 AM ET A heavyweight matchup between Jairzinho Rozenstruik and surging prospect Jailton Almeida will headline a UFC Fight Night on May 13, officials announced this week. The event is scheduled to take place at Spectrum Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. It will mark the UFC’s fourth trip to Charlotte and its first since January

8:43 AM ET Alex Pereira stood with his back to the fence inside the UFC’s Octagon at Madison Square Garden. It was right before the start of the fifth and final round of a title fight in front of a sellout crowd. Pereira looked across the cage at his opponent, then-UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya,

4:09 PM ET Marc Raimondi Mike Coppinger The combat sports landscape is about to undergo a seismic shift. Two of the biggest live event and broadcast promoters in the combat space, the UFC and WWE, will be merged into one company, an unprecedented and stunning business move. Endeavor, the UFC’s parent company, announced Monday it

9:24 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim There is no such thing as being down to your last chance in mixed martial arts. Just about everyone in the sport loses at some point, and even a multifight skid doesn’t necessarily deposit you at the end of the road. Unlike in boxing, where the zero in the “L”

7:31 AM ET Associated Press WWE and the company that runs Ultimate Fighting Championship will combine to create a $21.4 billion sports entertainment company. A new publicly traded company will be formed that houses the UFC and WWE brands. Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. will hold a 51% controlling interest in the new company once the

12:06 AM ET LAS VEGAS — The first event of PFL’s 2023 regular season sure looked a lot similar to 2022, as far as Brendan Loughnane and Rob Wilkinson are concerned. Loughnane (27-4) and Wilkinson (18-2) each won PFL titles in 2022, at featherweight and light heavyweight, respectively. On Saturday, they kicked off their quests

2:11 PM ET Former Bellator MMA champion Phil Davis and Corey Anderson will meet for the first time in June, promotion officials told ESPN on Thursday. The two will square off on the Bellator 297 main card on June 16 inside Wintrust Arena in Chicago. The event, which airs on Showtime, will feature a light

9:17 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN If you’ve ever watched an evening of PFL fights, you know the company runs its show differently from other mixed martial arts promotions. In a sport fueled by star power and talking a good game, the PFL’s season format shifts the focus to the nitty-gritty of fight results. Viral tweets

8:32 AM ET After the UFC’s March schedule gifted MMA fans with four straight weeks of exciting fight cards capped by stellar main events, including the much-anticipated return of Jon Jones, the promotion takes a one-week break this weekend. The UFC returns on April 8 will return with another can’t-miss main event as former UFC

6:44 PM ET UFC flyweight fighter Alex Perez said it was a seizure that forced him out of his 125-pound contender bout against Manel Kape at UFC San Antonio this past Saturday. On Sunday, Perez wrote on social media that he suffered a seizure while doing his prefight warmup, which is why he withdrew from

1:12 PM ET Jeff Wagenheim Mixed martial arts has had a small number of standout fighters who have won championships in two weight classes. Bellator MMA soon might have the first three-division champ in a major fight promotion. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, who reigns at featherweight and vacated the lightweight title in 2021, will go for