9:22 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN If Brazil isn’t the birthplace of the UFC, it is at least the playground for the promotion’s formative years. The inaugural event in 1993 took place in Denver, and the company’s first 15 fight cards all happened in the United States. It took the UFC nearly five years before finally
Francis Ngannou likely had a myriad of reasons behind his decision to exit the UFC and test free agency but being scared of tough competition wasn’t among them. While UFC president Dana White didn’t go as far as using a word like afraid when addressing Ngannou, he did state that in his opinion the defending
Winner of six of his last seven, Teixeira joined the ranks of Brazilians to wear UFC championship gold when he defeated Jan Blachowicz in October of 2021. And while he lost the belt in an epic war with Jiri Prochazka in June, Teixeira has the chance to regain the crown when he takes on Hill,
MMA fighter Ozzie Alvarez brutally ended Tyson Miller’s undefeated record to capture the welterweight title at Uriah Faber’s A1 Combat 7. Alvarez and Miller met on the main card of the event on Friday in Wheatland, California. 37-year-old Alvarez was chasing his second straight win after bouncing back from a five-fight losing streak. While the
Aljamain Sterling wants to fight Henry Cejudo next but understands if ‘Triple C’ decides to face Sean O’Malley instead. Sterling and Cejudo have been taking shots at each other for quite some time and both said they agreed to fight one another on March 4 at UFC 285. However, Sterling then revealed he had a
The UFC announced on Saturday that Francis Ngannou was being stripped of his heavyweight title and released by the promotion completely. And while we have heard UFC president Dana White’s take on the situation, we still haven’t heard Ngannou’s. That’s because the former heavyweight champ has been traveling in Africa. He’ll be joining our sister-site
Paddy Pimblett is headed for surgery UFC lightweight star Paddy Pimblett is headed for surgery in March for an injury he suffered in his UFC 282 win over Jared Gordon. “The Baddy” hoped to return at UFC 286 at the O2 Arena in London, but that will not be happening. He suffered an ankle injury
5:38 PM ET Muhammad Mokaev, one of the UFC’s top prospects, will take on promotional newcomer Jafel Filho later this year in London. The 125-pound bout will take place at UFC 286 on March 18 at O2 Arena, UFC officials told ESPN. It will mark Mokaev’s fourth appearance in the UFC, three of which have
The UFC’s first-quarter schedule continues to fill up as strawweights Michelle Waterson-Gomez and Luana Pinheiro are set to collide on April 8. MMA Fighting confirmed the news Monday following an initial report by UFC broadcast partner ESPN. The event on April 8 is expected to be UFC 287. Waterson-Gomez (18-10) is currently MMA Fighting’s No.
UFC 283 Meet & Greets Who: UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira When: Wednesday, January 18 at 1pm BRT Where: UFC Store – Barra Shopping Mall This event is free and open to the public. Fans will also be able to donate non-perishable food items in exchange for Ceremonial Weigh-ins’ tickets, benefiting local institutions. Who: Former UFC
With the fight week for UFC 283: Teixeira vs. Hill now officially upon us, the MMA News prediction crew is here to share their expert picks! The final pay-per-view of 2022 was designed to provide the world with a new UFC light heavyweight champion. However, the vacant title bout between former champion Jan Blachowicz and his
In the UFC’s first event of 2023, a light heavyweight bout headlined the card as Sean Strickland stepped up on short notice to take on Nassourdine Imavov. Strickland lost a split decision to Jared Cannonier in the final event of 2022 and decided to step up on a few days’ notice to try and get
Sean O’Malley only wanted to help. Cross-divisional beefs are nothing new in mixed martial arts (MMA). For the top Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight contender, O’Malley, he’s recently found himself bantering with Featherweight’s Bryce Mitchell. Things have taken a bit of a turn in regard to the hostility levels stemming from “inbred” comments hurled Mitchell’s
Israel Adesanya gets a face tattoo Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will have a slightly new look the next time he enters the octagon. “The Last Stylebender” posted a video to Twitter showing him getting some new ink on his face. “The old version of you must die before you come alive!,” Adesanya captioned
7:27 AM ET Brett Okamoto Close Brett Okamoto ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Mike Coppinger After more than a year of unsuccessful negotiations with the fight promotion, Francis Ngannou is officially no longer the UFC heavyweight champion. Ngannou (17-3) fought out his UFC
While the UFC’s return to action seemed to coincide with a return to normalcy for the MMA community following a chaotic start to 2023, that all changed very quickly before Saturday came to an end as UFC President Dana White announced that Francis Ngannou was no longer the UFC heavyweight champion — nor a UFC
Performance Of The Night Bonuses Performance Of The Night: Dan Ige Coming off three consecutive losses, Dan Ige got back into the winner’s circle in a big way with a 2nd-round knockout win over Damon Jackson in the co-main event. Ige came out faster than usual, pressing the action and landing a variety of punches
On Saturday night, the MMA leader returned for its first event of 2023, UFC Vegas 67. A new year is here, and that means a fresh schedule of fights and intriguing possibilities inside the cage. For the UFC, that started with a small crowd inside its home base of the Apex facility. While the headliner was initially scheduled to