MMA

8:53 PM ET Khasan Magomedsharipov, the younger brother of UFC featherweight contender Zabit Magomedsharipov, has signed an exclusive contract with Bellator MMA. Khasan’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, confirmed the signing to ESPN on Wednesday, following an initial report by MMAJunkie.com. Bellator has not yet announced the signing, or indicated when Khasan will make his promotional debut.

2:10 PM ET UFC 258 has lost a key main-card fight. A scheduled bantamweight contender bout Saturday between Pedro Munhoz and Jimmie Rivera has been canceled due to a coronavirus-related issue, the UFC announced Wednesday. Sources said the promotion is attempting to rebook the matchup as soon as later this month. In its place, Andre

Feb 8, 2021 Kamaru Usman defends his welterweight championship against former training partner Gilbert Burns in the main event of UFC 258 on Saturday night in Las Vegas. The title fight, which takes place at the UFC’s Apex facility, will be on pay-per-view, which fans can purchase here. The five-fight PPV main card begins at

3:00 PM ET Khabib Nurmagomedov is still the UFC’s undefeated lightweight champion, although even he believes the belt should belong to Dustin Poirier. Speaking to Match TV, Nurmagomedov (29-0) said he believes Poirier “deserves” to be the UFC’s 155-pound champion, following his knockout victory over Conor McGregor last month. Before the fight, UFC president Dana

12:24 PM ET UFC light heavyweight Anthony Smith has agreed to take on Jimmy Crute on April 24, after Crute’s originally scheduled opponent withdrew due to injury. Crute (12-1) was scheduled to face Johnny Walker on March 27, but Walker was forced to withdraw from the bout this week due to injury. Smith (34-16) immediately

7:56 AM ET Nate Diaz wants to stay active in 2021, and he has two opponents at the top of his wish list. Diaz, one of the most popular fighters in the UFC, told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani in a video interview published Tuesday that he wants to fight top lightweight contenders Dustin Poirier or Charles

7:26 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim When UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and his challenger, Gilbert Burns, step into the Octagon on Saturday night, they will be kicking off an unprecedented run of title bouts. From this weekend’s UFC 258 event through UFC 260 six weeks later, there will be six fights in which a belt

11:46 PM ET Alexander Volkov has had some impressive performances throughout his MMA career. His knockouts of Stefan Struve and Fabricio Werdum come to mind. His most recent win over Walt Harris, as well. Of course, his Bellator run was pretty great, too. But he’s never looked this good. He’s never looked so dominant. His

10:30 PM ET Cory Sandhagen made a statement on Saturday night in Las Vegas, knocking out veteran Frankie Edgar with a memorable strike that will be seen on highlight reels for many years to come. Sandhagen’s flying knee landed flush on Edgar’s chin, sending him to the canvas and knocking him out. Sandhagen has now

4:54 PM ET The flying knee landed flush on the chin, just the second strike to connect for Cory Sandhagen. That was all that was necessary. Sandhagen stiffened Frankie Edgar with the knee, then watched the former UFC lightweight champion slowly fall to the canvas face-first, unconscious. Referee Keith Peterson immediately jumped in to wave

11:22 PM ET Alexander Volkov has been on the cusp of ascending into the heavyweight elite for several years. He has been missing only that one big, signature finish. He got it Saturday night. Volkov took out legend Alistair Overeem via TKO at 2 minutes, 6 seconds of the second round in the main event

2:28 PM ET A fighter hoping to make his UFC debut this weekend will have to wait. Askar Askar was not medically cleared to compete Saturday night at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas, the promotion announced. His scheduled bout with Cody Stamann has been canceled. Askar took the fight earlier this week on short

4:54 PM ET A pair of UFC veterans will attempt to take another step forward in their respective championship pursuits Saturday night as former champion Frankie Edgar and heavyweight legend Alistair Overeem will bring almost 100 fights worth of experience into the Octagon. Overeem (47-18) will face Alexander Volkov (32-8) in a five-round, heavyweight main

8:30 AM ET You can find tape of Alistair Overeem‘s professional MMA debut online if you want to see it — although don’t expect to watch it in high definition. It was Oct. 24, 1999. Overeem was 19 years old, and he fought a very muscular older opponent by the name of Ricardo Fyeet, aka

8:38 PM ET UFC women’s bantamweight fighter Marion Reneau tested positive for the coronavirus and her bout with Macy Chiasson is now off the UFC Fight Night card Saturday in Las Vegas, Reneau announced Thursday on Instagram. Reneau wrote that the bout will be postponed to Feb. 27. Sources confirmed to ESPN that the fight

9:49 PM ET Two of the biggest fan favorites in UFC history — and a pair of former teammates — will fight this spring. UFC veterans Donald Cerrone and Diego Sanchez have verbally agreed to a May 8 contest, sources confirmed to ESPN on Thursday. The bout will be contested at welterweight, sources said. While

7:41 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim Here comes Frankie Edgar again. UFC cageside announcers have made that pronouncement on many fight nights through the years as Edgar went on the attack, or battled back, or rose above expectations. Edgar has shown, as much as anyone in mixed martial arts, that when you’re perpetually in motion, you

1:53 PM ET The UFC has moved a highly anticipated heavyweight matchup between Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Ciryl Gane into a main event slot on Feb. 27, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday. The heavyweight fight was originally targeted for a card on March 13. However, the UFC changed it to a five-round headliner at