MMA

7:00 PM ET Former UFC champion Israel Adesanya was arrested Wednesday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York for possession of “metal knuckles,” a spokesperson for the Port Authority Police Department confirmed with ESPN. The time of the arrest was 1:57 p.m., per police. According to Adesanya’s manager, Tim Simpson, the UFC star

1:54 PM ET The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) set a new precedent in its monthly meeting Wednesday. The commission suspended UFC heavyweight fighter Ilir Latifi for three months for not disclosing an illness to commission doctors before his fight Oct. 1 in Las Vegas. Latifi beat Aleksei Oleinik via unanimous decision on the UFC

9:19 AM ET NEW YORK — A well-known MMA coach was sitting up against a locker room wall earlier this year with his fighter and other coaches as the fighter warmed up in preparation for his UFC bout later that evening. There were other fighters and teams in the room as well, a common occurrence

Nov 13, 2022 Just hours after a superfight was booked for the UFC 284 main event, another title fight has been added. Yair Rodriguez will fight Josh Emmett for the interim UFC featherweight title in the co-main event of the Feb. 11 card in Perth, Australia, the UFC announced Saturday night. The UFC is making

Nov 13, 2022 NEW YORK — Zhang Weili became China’s first UFC champion in 2019, when she took the strawweight title from Jessica Andrade. On Saturday, she also became China’s second UFC champion. Zhang (23-3) reclaimed her 115-pound championship by submitting Carla Esparza (19-7) in the second round of their strawweight title fight, which co-headlined

1:36 AM ET Alex Pereira defeated Israel Adesanya by fifth-round TKO in the main event of UFC 281 to become the new middleweight champion Saturday night at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Adesanya hurt Pereira at the end of Round 1 and then dominated the ground game in the third before Pereira took over in

1:44 AM ET What can we take away from a thrilling slate of title fights and marquee matchups at UFC 281? Jeff Wagenheim, Marc Raimondi and Brett Okamoto offer their thoughts from a highlight-packed event in New York. NEW YORK — Why are we surprised? Alex Pereira had shown us it could be done long

1:00 AM ET NEW YORK — Alex Pereira had Israel Adesanya‘s number in kickboxing. He has it in MMA too. Pereira, the only man to ever knock out Adesanya, stopped him again via TKO at 2 minutes, 1 second of the fifth and final round Saturday night in the main event of UFC 281 at

5:00 PM ET UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will officially move up in weight to challenge lightweight champion Islam Makhachev for a second title at UFC 284 on Feb. 11 in a fight that could determine the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. UFC officials announced the lightweight title fight Saturday. UFC 284 will

9:30 AM ET Eddie Maisonet III Few athletes are as kind and polite as Georges St-Pierre. St-Pierre, a UFC Hall of Famer and two-division champion at welterweight and middleweight, is regarded as an icon in MMA. Few were surprised with the news that the bona fide bilingual superstar from Montreal was crossing over into the

7:59 AM ET ISRAEL ADESANYA SAT DOWN for an interview with Sporting News Australia two years ago, ahead of his UFC middleweight title defense against Yoel Romero at UFC 248. In that video, published March 3, 2020, Adesanya, wearing a red windbreaker with the collar up and sporting a mid-high-fade haircut, was asked about his

10:24 AM ET NEW YORK — A superfight between two UFC champions is “close,” according to Alexander Volkanovski. The featherweight champion told ESPN that a bout against lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is nearing completion for UFC 284 on Feb. 12 in Perth, Australia. Volkanovski, who hails from Australia, was called into the Octagon after Makhachev

9:14 PM ET NEW YORK — UFC fan favorite Marlon “Chito” Vera is going to look a bit different in his next fight. On Wednesday night, Vera got a new tattoo on the back of his head — a black panther-like cat with green eyes, yellow paws, some red shading around its body and red

4:18 PM ET PFL featherweight Shane Burgos has been forced out of his scheduled bout against Marlon Moraes on Nov. 25 because of an injury, according to promotional officials. Burgos (15-3) was scheduled to face Moraes (23-10-1) in a featured bout on PFL’s inaugural pay-per-view event in New York. Moraes will remain on the card

7:47 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN BETHEL, Conn. — “It’s difficult here,” says Alex Pereira. He is shirtless and his torso is covered with sweat as he sits on a bench in front of an open window, a welcome autumn breeze cooling off the gym. “It’s very difficult.” Pereira is not complaining. It’s a little challenging

6:47 PM ET Cain Velasquez was granted $1 million bail Tuesday after eight months in custody. The former UFC heavyweight champion is being charged with attempted murder and 10 other gun-related charges in Santa Clara County (Calif.). Velasquez is being accused of chasing down a man, Harry Goularte, in his vehicle and shooting at him.

7:15 AM ET Frankie Edgar (Editor’s note: This story was written with the assistance of ESPN’s Jeff Wagenheim) I remember the first time I ever saw a prizefight. It was sometime in the 1980s, and I was a young kid. I went to my next-door neighbor’s house with my old man to watch Mike Tyson.

9:05 AM ET The UFC will visit Madison Square Garden for the sixth time in the promotion’s history on Saturday (main card on ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m. ET, prelims on ESPNews/ESPN+ at 8 p.m.) with a middleweight championship bout between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira. New York City has grown accustomed to the UFC