MMA

12:56 AM ET After just two fights in the UFC, Jiri Prochazka has captured the attention of the fighting world. The light heavyweight former Muay Thai kickboxer thoroughly dominated Dominick Reyes and ended Saturday’s Fight Night main event with a spinning back elbow KO to put an exclamation mark on a statement win. Reyes was

1:44 AM ET Jiri Prochazka has arrived. The native of the Republic of Georgia established himself as a legitimate UFC light heavyweight contender Saturday night by knocking out Dominick Reyes with a spinning elbow. It was the most impressive performance on a card with several ranked fighters competing. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Marc Raimondi and Jeff

12:53 AM ET A new star might have just been born in one of the UFC’s premier divisions. Jiri Prochazka knocked out Dominick Reyes with a spinning back elbow at 4 minutes, 29 seconds of the second round Saturday night in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. It was only the

6:24 PM ET Dominick Reyes is in a peculiar spot. He will enter Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event in Las Vegas on a two-fight losing streak, which lends a do-or-die significance to his light heavyweight bout with Jiri Prochazka. But that’s a harsh consequence for Reyes, considering who those losses came against. The first

12:20 AM ET Yoel Romero is out of the most anticipated first-round matchup in Bellator’s big 2021 tournament — and arguably one of the promotion’s biggest fights in recent memory. The former UFC middleweight title challenger didn’t clear pre-fight medical screening and is out of the Bellator Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix, promotion officials confirmed

7:00 AM ET Former All-Pro NFL running back Marshawn Lynch has joined the PFL as an investor and brand ambassador, the promotion announced Thursday. Lynch, whose fandom of MMA is well known, is the latest celebrity to partner with the league. He joins a list that includes comedian Kevin Hart and music artist Wiz Khalifa.

7:22 AM ET Going into Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event, it’s not unfair to say we don’t really know who Dominick Reyes or Jiri Prochazka are. When it comes to just name value alone, we do. Reyes (12-2) fought Jon Jones for the UFC’s light heavyweight championship 14 months ago — and many observers

1:42 AM ET Diego Sanchez, one of the longest-tenured athletes in UFC history, is officially no longer with the promotion. The UFC terminated Sanchez’s contract Tuesday, according to UFC president Dana White. Sanchez, 39, basically announced the split on Thursday, as he posted “Free at last” on his personal Instagram. Sanchez was scheduled to face

6:45 PM ET Jeff Wagenheim Rory MacDonald came within a round of being UFC welterweight champion. He later did win a Bellator championship. And on Thursday night, he will begin a quest to capture the PFL welterweight championship and the $1 million prize that comes with it — and it’ll take four fights to get

8:39 AM ET Rose Namajunas did not move very far, but her climb was tremendous. She entered last Saturday’s UFC 261 as the No. 2 strawweight in the ESPN divisional MMA rankings. Now she is just one spot higher at No. 1 — but she’s also once again a UFC champion, after knocking out Zhang

11:57 AM ET Endeavor Group Holdings, the media conglomerate and ownership company of UFC, launched an initial public offering Thursday. Executives Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell, as well as UFC president Dana White, were all in appearance in New York, where Endeavor stock began trading at $24 per share. “It’s official,” White wrote on Instagram.

8:32 PM ET The UFC has pulled a welterweight matchup between Donald Cerrone and Diego Sanchez from its event on May 8 and is seeking a new matchup for Cerrone on the same date, sources confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday. Sanchez (30-13) is off the UFC Fight Night event in Las Vegas, sources said. The

8:30 AM ET Kamaru Usman has risen to the top of the game, taking over the No. 1 spot in the ESPN pound-for-pound men’s MMA rankings. Usman (19-1) retained his UFC welterweight championship with a dazzling knockout of Jorge Masvidal on Saturday, his 18th consecutive victory and fourth title defense. He takes over the top

7:55 PM ET UFC middleweight Chris Weidman posted X-rays of his broken leg — pre- and post-surgery — on Tuesday as he made his way home following a gruesome injury at UFC 261 on Saturday. Weidman posted the images to his social media accounts, along with a video of him and his family flying from

3:03 PM ET Conor McGregor is no longer the majority owner of the whiskey brand he founded, but the UFC star has added to his growing fortune. Proximo Spirits, the company that owns Jose Cuervo and other alcohol brands, has acquired a majority stake in Proper No. Twelve Irish whiskey in a deal worth up

4:42 PM ET Conor McGregor has donated $500,000 to a Boys & Girls Club in Louisiana as an apparent resolution to an issue he had with rival Dustin Poirier. The hefty donation from McGregor’s team came in to the Boys & Girls Club of Acadiana on Monday, club president and CEO Missy Andrade told ESPN

8:39 PM ET Jorge Masvidal said Monday he feels “great” and is hoping to earn his way back to another title shot after losing via second-round knockout to welterweight champion Kamaru Usman on Saturday in the main event of UFC 261. Masvidal, 36, admitted there were brief moments when he thought about “retirement, or could

7:42 PM ET The beef between Daniel Cormier and Jake Paul seemed to come to a head last weekend during a face-to-face confrontation. But now, things have only escalated. Cormier, the former UFC double champion, and Paul, the polarizing YouTube-star-turned-boxer, have gone back and forth on social media since Paul knocked out Cormier’s friend Ben