MMA

8:00 AM ET Since it first opened its doors in 1999, Staples Center has played host to seven NBA Finals, five WNBA Finals, four UFC pay-per-view cards, two Stanley Cup Finals and countless championship boxing matches. It was the home of the Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament for a decade and has seen multiple All-Star games

2:08 AM ET UFC Hall of Famer Rashad Evans is returning from retirement — and now his opponent is set. Evans, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, will face Gabriel Checco on the Eagle FC United States debut card Jan. 28 in Miami, sources told ESPN on Wednesday night. Eagle FC is the MMA promotion

9:00 AM ET This has been one of my annual columns for ESPN for a while now, and it’s always fun to look back at the previous year’s list to see which prospective fights, if any, came to fruition. So, before getting into the MMA fights I want to see in 2022, let’s take a

2:22 PM ET Mixed martial arts fighter Jordan Young died Saturday at age 27, ESPN confirmed Tuesday with the Broward County (Florida) Office of Medical Examiner and Trauma Services. Young, a 6-foot-4 light heavyweight, had most recently fought with PFL. His cause and manner of death are pending, per a medical examiner spokesperson. PFL and

Dec 18, 2021 LAS VEGAS — UFC president Dana White doesn’t know if anything will ever again stress him out in the mixed martial arts business. Not after what he went through in 2020. But this 2021 calendar year was a good one for the UFC, and a lot of that success can be attributed

4:41 PM ET LAS VEGAS — The UFC’s 2021 will wrap up with a heavyweight main event, as Derrick Lewis will meet Chris Daukaus during UFC Fight Night at the Apex on Saturday. It’s a redemption spot for Lewis (25-8), who is coming off a knockout loss to Ciryl Gane in August for the interim

8:00 AM ET We have reached the finish line of another remarkable year for the UFC. According to Dana White, 2021 was the most lucrative year in the history of the company. Saturday’s UFC Fight Night inside the Apex will be tasked with putting a bow on this very memorable year. And as we all

11:18 AM ET Former UFC champion Jon Jones has taken a plea deal in his domestic battery case in Nevada and will serve no jail time, according to online court records. Jones pleaded nolo contendere to a lesser charge, misdemeanor destroying the property of another, in Las Vegas Justice Court on Tuesday, stemming from a

1:13 PM ET The UFC is rescheduling a highly ranked middleweight contest between Jared Cannonier and Derek Brunson to UFC 271 on Feb. 12, multiple sources told ESPN. The 185-pound bout was originally scheduled to.. take place at UFC 270 on Jan. 22, however the promotion wanted to have it on the same card as

12:27 PM ET As an active fighter, Khabib Nurmagomedov was one of the most influential figures in mixed martial arts. It appears he will continue to be one in his retirement. Nurmagomedov, 33, announced on Wednesday that his MMA promotion, Eagle FC, has signed former UFC lightweight Kevin Lee to an exclusive contract. Nurmagomedov also

8:19 AM ET Valentina Shevchenko moved up a spot to No. 1 in the women’s rankings following the upset loss of Amanda Nunes. Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC Valentina Shevchenko has not fought since September, but the UFC women’s flyweight champion nonetheless has moved to the No. 1 spot in the latest ESPN pound-for-pound rankings. That’s because the

Aug 6, 2021 Editor’s note: This story originally was published in August, ahead of Derrick Lewis’s interim title bout with Ciryl Gane. Lewis lost that one and is back this Saturday, facing Chris Daukaus. It was Oct. 6, 2018, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Derrick Lewis was losing badly, on the verge of one

8:00 AM ET There’s always some fluidity in the MMA rankings, but often that movement happens at a glacier’s pace. In this latest update of the ESPN divisional rankings, however, there are two brand-new No. 1s and also the return of a former champion. Leading the way is Julianna Peña, who moves up from No.

2:03 PM ET Ryan Bader is returning to the Bellator heavyweight division — where he holds the title — for the first time in more than two years. Bader will face interim champion Valentin Moldavsky in a heavyweight title unification fight in the main event of a Bellator card Jan. 29 in Phoenix, the promotion

3:46 PM ET Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s MMA promotion Eagle FC will host its first-ever U.S. event on Jan. 28, and there has been a change to the main event. The event, Eagle FC 44, was originally supposed to feature Tyrone Spong (2-0) against Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva (19-13) in a three-round heavyweight main event. Eagle FC officials

8:00 AM ET LAS VEGAS — Julianna Peña’s face was blank, and emotionless. She was on her knees and reached over to hug Amanda Nunes. A Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) inspector came over and pointed Peña to her corner, where a ringside physician tended to Peña’s bruised left eye. Peña had just beaten the

1:53 AM ET Charles Oliveira had something to prove on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Sure, he was already the UFC lightweight champion, but many still doubted his status, opting to believe that Dustin Poirier was the best lightweight in the world. No longer. With a third-round submission victory over Poirier, Oliveira secured his place

12:43 AM ET Charles Oliveira has retained his UFC lightweight title, submitting Dustin Poirier by rear-naked choke in Round 3 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The stoppage came at 1 minute, 2 seconds. Oliveira (32-8, 1 NC), 32, was making the first defense of the vacant title he won when he