Israel Adesanya can join an elite group of ‘champ champs’ if he beats Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259… so which other fighters have ruled over two weight classes at the same time and how did they do it? Israel Adesanya is going for light-heavyweight belt to go with middleweight title  He wants to become two-weight champion to add to his […]

Israel Adesanya has enjoyed a meteoric rise since making his debut just three years ago at UFC 221, but where are the other fighters from that card now… and can you guess which future champion competed alongside the Last Stylebender? 185-pound king Israel Adesanya headlines UFC 259 as he bids to make history   The middleweight champion could clinch the light […]

Conor McGregor is eager to step back into the Octagon as soon as possible to complete his trilogy with Dustin Poirier, according to UFC president Dana White. Poirier stopped McGregor in the second round of the pair’s lightweight bout in January, over six years after the Irishman defeated the American in the first round of their featherweight contest. And almost […]

MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun In the 27-year history of the UFC, only seven fighters have won championships in multiple weight classes — and only four of those have held both titles simultaneously. Such is the rare air UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya (20-0) is hoping to reach Saturday, when he […]

Amanda Nunes will defend her featherweight title at UFC 259 on Saturday, marking her first competition since she and her wife Nina Ansaroff — a UFC strawweight — gave birth to their daughter, Raegan Ann Nunes, on Sept. 24, 2020. Nunes, who is also the bantamweight champ and considered the women’s MMA GOAT, will face Megan Anderson in Las Vegas. […]

As Petr Yan prepared for his Zoom interview, the UFC bantamweight champion kept getting up and moving around until he found the right spot. The background he finally settled on — sun-drenched palm trees and sparkling ocean water — could not have been more different from the surroundings planned for him just a few months earlier. Yan was scheduled to […]

‘You just have to do it’: Khabib Nurmagomedov reveals Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s inspirational voice message that spurred UFC star onto to defeat Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 Khabib Nurmagomedov was sent a message by Zlatan Ibrahimovic last year The AC Milan striker sent him the voice note before his fight with Justin Gaethje  The 32-year-old retired from UFC after defending his […]

Ariel Helwani is an MMA reporter at ESPN. Follow him on Twitter at @arielhelwani. The UFC has released two of its most popular heavyweight fighters. Alistair Overeem and Junior Dos Santos were recently informed by the promotion that they were being released, sources confirmed with ESPN on Wednesday night. Dos Santos posted about his release on his Instagram account earlier […]

MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun DOROTA JURKOWSKA WAS sitting in her home in Warsaw, Poland, in the middle of the night on April 8, 2017, her face illuminated by the glow of a computer screen. She was nervous, nearly to the point of feeling ill, and wouldn’t sleep at all until […]

Paulo Costa jokes ‘sober Costa’ is still undefeated as Brazilian pokes fun at rivals who raged he was ‘making excuses’ after he claimed he was DRUNK in humiliating UFC 253 loss to Israel Adesanya Paulo Costa has poked fun at his unusual excuse in defeat to Israel Adesanya  The Brazilian lost his undefeated record in a one-sided loss at UFC […]