MMA

8:22 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN It’s not easy being No. 2. You’re habitually overlooked, an afterthought, banished to the background. But every so often, the orchestra’s second fiddle gets to step under the bright lights at center stage and show their stuff. This autumn brings several opportunities for Bellator MMA to take more of the

Sep 29, 2022 Less than two days after earning a UFC contract, mixed martial arts prospect Bo Nickal has already booked his Octagon debut. The UFC is finalizing a middleweight bout between Nickal (3-0) and Jamie Pickett (13-8) for UFC 282 on Dec. 10 in Las Vegas, officials told ESPN on Thursday. Nickal earned a

Sep 29, 2022 Dana White’s Contender Series has become a staple for the promotion in ushering rising talent into the Octagon. With fighters like Sean O’Malley, Alex Perez, Taila Santos and Marina Rodriguez all making their UFC debuts on the show, there is fair reason to believe that those who get a shot at a

7:02 PM ET The UFC has booked a featherweight main event between two undefeated contenders in Bryce Mitchell and Movsar Evloev for its UFC Fight Night on Nov. 5 in Las Vegas, UFC officials told ESPN. The promotion has not announced a location for that event, but it’s expected to take place in Las Vegas

Sep 28, 2022 Kayla Harrison looks to threepeat as the PFL women’s lightweight champion as she takes on Larissa Pacheco in the main event of the 2022 PFL Championship at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on Friday, Nov. 25, in New York. The fight card, which will feature 12 fights, including six $1 million

9:31 AM ET UFC women’s strawweight contenders Mackenzie Dern and Yan Xiaonan look to shake up the rankings as they go head-to-head at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas on Saturday (7 p.m. ET on ESPN+, with prelims at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN+). Dern, ranked No. 6 in ESPN’s divisional rankings, earned a split

1:38 AM ET The UFC already has its first headlining bout of next year booked. Perennial UFC middleweight contender Kelvin Gastelum will take on up-and-comer Nassourdine Imavov in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Jan. 14, sources confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday. The card is likely to take place at the UFC Apex

7:27 PM ET The UFC has closed off Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card at its Apex facility in Las Vegas to the public as well as the media. The company declined to provide a reason for the closure at the time of the announcement earlier this week, but UFC president Dana White said Tuesday that

10:36 AM ET The PFL revealed an official date and location for its 2022 Championship Finals on Wednesday, as well as an intent to enter the pay-per-view business for the first time in company history. The 2022 PFL World Championships, which the promotion has dubbed ‘MMA’s Richest Night,’ will take place on Nov. 25 inside

10:27 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Prepare yourselves for some Bo Nickal hype. Nickal, a three-time NCAA Division I national collegiate wrestling champion, starched another opponent on Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday night, submitting Donovan Beard with a triangle choke just 52 seconds into their middleweight bout. It was Nickal’s second win on the

11:54 AM ET Former UFC bantamweight title challenger Marlon Moraes has decided to come out of retirement, and will do so under a new multi-fight deal with PFL. In addition to the new deal, Moraes (23-10-1) has agreed to a featherweight matchup against Shane Burgos (15-3) on the promotion’s tournament finals card later this year.

8:51 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN Bo Nickal showed he belonged in the UFC seven weeks ago. Fighting on Dana White’s Contender Series on Aug. 9, he made quick work of an overmatched opponent, choking out Zachary Borrego in just 1 minute 2 seconds. For that stunning show of brutal efficiency, Nickal earned a stream of

7:58 AM ET As UFC nears the end of its calendar year, there are still so many unanswered questions, especially among two weight classes that some of the promotion’s top fighters call home. Leon Edwards‘ fifth-round KO vs. Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 in August was a major shake-up for the welterweight division. What direction

11:13 PM ET Cris Cyborg won her first boxing match Sunday night. The legendary women’s MMA fighter crossed over into the ring and beat boxing journeywoman Simone Silva via decision at Fight Music Show in Cyborg’s hometown of Curitiba, Brazil. The bout went all eight rounds. It remains unclear whether it will count as a

6:36 PM ET Popular UFC lightweight Bobby Green said in an Instagram video Friday night that he was forced out of a scheduled fight at UFC 276 due to a positive drug test. Green said — as he was in training camp for the scheduled July 2 bout against fellow veteran fighter Jim Miller —

11:07 AM ET Mohamed Itoumaine was refereeing at a Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament last month in Wolverhampton, England. To his surprise, one of the participants was Tom Hardy, a big-time Hollywood actor with credits from Mad Max: Fury Road to Venom to the Batman franchise. He also starred in the MMA movie “Warrior” in 2011. Hardy,

9:06 AM ET Conor McGregor has not stepped into the Octagon in 14 months, yet hardly a day goes by without his name being brought up in an MMA conversation. As the starry Irishman’s return from a broken leg draws nearer, there is speculation about who might be next to step under the brightest of

10:50 PM ET The UFC is bringing in a fighter who is just shy of his 18th birthday. Raul Rosas Jr. became the youngest fighter to sign with the UFC on Tuesday night, following a unanimous decision win over Mando Gutierrez on Dana White’s Contender Series. White, impressed by Rosas’ performance, offered the teen a