4:35 PM ET Chinese UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili successfully traveled from her home country to Thailand last weekend, according to sources close to the situation. Zhang (20-1) is scheduled to make her first 115-pound title defense against Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248 on March 7 in Las Vegas. She normally trains out of Beijing,

4:48 PM ET HOUSTON — Jon Jones‘ fight strategy isn’t limited to what happens inside the Octagon. The UFC light heavyweight champion revealed during media day for UFC 247 that there was a game plan behind picking Dominick Reyes for Saturday’s title defense. Jones previously had said he picked Reyes because he and his coaches

7:00 AM ET IN THE SUMMER of 2017, at a cramped desk parked in a cluttered office, Dominick Reyes pulls up a video of one of the biggest MMA stars on the planet and starts to dream. Maybe that’ll be him soon. All around him is the detritus of academia. His office, for all intents

8:21 AM ET I want to be clear about something right off the bat: I think a lot of people are sleeping on Dominick Reyes this weekend. I think of Jon Jones‘ past three opponents (Alexander Gustafsson, Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos), Reyes has the best shot to unseat Jones. In fact, I’m getting a

11:33 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim Jon Jones was just 23 years old when he became light heavyweight champion in 2011, making him the youngest belt holder in UFC history. He looked unbeatable and the sky was the limit, it seemed. But it has been a bumpy road for “Jonny Bones” ever since, with a mixture

7:41 AM ET ESPN’s MMA Insiders The year has already gotten off to a bang. A couple of the biggest stars in the sport — Conor McGregor and Cris Cyborg — have already made headlines with huge TKO stoppages. The next few months don’t slow down at all, with Jon Jones, Israel Adesanya and Khabib

7:25 AM ET Katlyn Chookagian will board the shuttle at her Houston hotel on Saturday en route to the Toyota Center for UFC 247. At some point during the ride she will likely turn to her coaches and crack a joke. “I’m always like, maybe the bus will get in a car accident on the

3:48 PM ET Bellator’s next show in Ireland will go on without its biggest draw. James Gallagher is out of his scheduled main event with Cal Ellenor at Bellator 240 on Feb. 22 due to an undisclosed injury, the promotion said on Tuesday. The new main event at 3Arena will be a women’s featherweight bout

7:27 PM ET When Dominick Reyes woke up Monday morning, he was greeted by Jon Jones. It wasn’t a physical presence, but it was impactful nonetheless. Jones posted a series of tweets criticizing Reyes’ athletic background, the opponents he’s beaten and even his small-town roots. “I woke up to it,” Reyes said Monday on Ariel

4:49 PM ET UFC light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith said Monday he was ready to have his left index finger amputated in order to keep fighting. Scar tissue that built up after two surgeries prevented him closing his hand following his win over Alexander Gustaffson on June 1, 2019. “We were going to amputate my