MMA

6:43 AM ET The women’s bantamweight division in the UFC has been in need of new blood for some time now — but no one would have guessed Miesha Tate would be the one to fill the void. But that’s what it feels like going into Saturday’s UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas, where Tate

1:08 PM ET Jeff Wagenheim It is champion vs. champion, with a twist. When unbeaten Juliana Velasquez makes the first defense of her Bellator MMA flyweight title on Friday, she will be facing a fellow Bellator flyweight champ — but one who reigns in a different fight discipline. Denise Kielholtz, the challenger in the main

1:04 PM ET Conor McGregor said he went into last weekend’s MMA trilogy against Dustin Poirier with “multiple stress fractures” in his left leg — the same leg that broke in the final seconds of the opening round. McGregor (22-6) lost to Poirier at UFC 264 on Saturday in Las Vegas. The official result was

6:57 AM ET LAS VEGAS — Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s late father, Abdulmanap, had a plan for the end of his son’s career. Abdulmanap wanted Khabib to retire with a 30-0 record, which has become common knowledge in the MMA world, but what is less known is that Abdulmanap’s plan also included Islam Makhachev. When Nurmagomedov abruptly

7:23 PM ET Nick Diaz is officially returning to the UFC. According to his longtime attorney, Ross Goodman, Diaz, 37, signed a bout agreement Tuesday to face Robbie Lawler in UFC 266 on Sept. 25 in Las Vegas. Lawler has not signed his agreement yet, sources told ESPN, but wants the fight, and is expected

9:41 PM ET The UFC’s September pay-per-view event — UFC 266 on Sept. 25 in Las Vegas — will officially feature two title fights, UFC president Dana White told ESPN. Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will face Brian Ortega in the main event of UFC 266 inside T-Mobile Arena. In the co-main event, women’s flyweight champion

7:47 PM ET LOS ANGELES — Jake Paul had a custom gold chain made with the likeness of Conor McGregor after he was knocked out by Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 in January. The chain, which Paul dubbed “Sleepy McGregor,” will now be changing owners — to Poirier, who plans to auction it off for

8:00 AM ET Dustin Poirier had a pretty good weekend. He beat up Conor McGregor for the second time in six months in Saturday’s UFC 264 main event in Las Vegas, and beyond the big bump in his bank account that came with a night in the cage with the biggest star in MMA, Poirier

11:00 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Retired UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov does not believe Conor McGregor will ever return to the top of mixed martial arts, and believes the sport should stop supporting his former rival after Saturday’s loss to Dustin Poirier. Nurmagomedov, who retired from MMA in 2020, defeated McGregor in a title

4:36 PM ET LAS VEGAS — The UFC has lost the opening fight on perhaps its biggest pay-per-view event of the year. A middleweight fight between Hu Yaozong and Alen Amedovski was canceled Saturday afternoon due to COVID-19 protocol issues in Amedovski’s camp, UFC officials told ESPN. The UFC 264 card, which takes place Saturday

7:41 AM ET The UFC 264 main event only lasted one round, but Dustin Poirier did plenty in his victory over Conor McGregor to prove he deserves the first title shot at Charles Oliveira. Is Poirier already the best lightweight in the world? As for McGregor, the misstep that caused a serious leg injury brought

11:44 PM ET Greg Hardy thought he had Tai Tuivasa hurt. And maybe he did. But he didn’t have him hurt enough. Hardy, 32, suffered the second knockout loss of his career, as Tuivasa, of Sydney, put him down with a counter left hook just 67 seconds into their heavyweight fight at UFC 264 in

11:13 PM ET A day after suffering a gruesome leg injury in his loss to Dustin Poirier in UFC 264 in Las Vegas, Conor McGregor underwent successful surgery, he and his management team said on Sunday night. “Conor is in recovery after 3 hours of surgery. The surgery was successful repairing fractures of his tibia

2:21 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim Conor McGregor was sitting and leaning against the cage, chest heaving. His face was bruised, blood streaming from his left ear. He was a beaten man. “Doctor’s stoppage! Doctor’s stoppage!” he yelled toward the center of the cage, trying to make a face-saving insistence that the cageside doctor had ended

1:55 AM ET Marc Raimondi Phil Murphy The UFC utilizes the cards that feature Conor McGregor as a way to shine the spotlight on some of the rising stars. Tai Tuivasa capitalized on the moment with a huge knockout of Greg Hardy and during the early prelims, Dricus Du Plessis scored a memorable second-round knockout

12:43 AM ET LAS VEGAS — Dustin Poirier now owns two victories over the biggest star in the history of mixed martial arts. This one, though, didn’t end in the cleanest way. Poirier hit Conor McGregor with a combination at the end of the first round of Saturday night’s highly anticipated UFC 264 main event.

5:19 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor will meet for a third time Saturday in the main event of UFC 264 at T-Mobile Arena, and a capacity crowd will be on hand for a Las Vegas card for the first time since March 7, 2020. Poirier stopped McGregor at UFC 257

7:30 AM ET LAS VEGAS — Let’s start off by establishing one thing: This isn’t Conor McGregor‘s last chance at UFC championship relevance. Let’s say he were to lose to Dustin Poirier — for the second time in six months — at UFC 264 on Saturday inside T-Mobile Arena. He would definitely be in “the