2:24 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim When eight welterweights and four women’s lightweights walked into the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas for Night 1 of the 2019 Professional Fighters League playoffs on Friday, there were at least a handful of plausible possibilities for how the night could play out. The result, once everything played

12:57 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim One of the PFL’s biggest hooks, besides the $1 million first-place payday, was the fact that five of six divisions required fighters to win twice in one night of playoff action to clinch a spot in the finals. That requirement and the quirks of the PFL’s playoff format and rule

7:30 PM ET Jeff Wagenheim Three nights of fights over the next four weeks at the Mandalay Bay Events Center will lock in the six finals matchups in the PFL playoffs. Friday night’s action kicks it off as eight welterweight quarterfinalists and four women’s semifinalists vie for one of those coveted spots, with $1 million

9:47 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN Joanna Jedrzejczyk ended several days of speculation on Friday morning by making weight for Saturday night’s UFC strawweight main event against Michelle Waterson, who also hit the scale below the weight limit. Jedrzejczyk (15-3), who had reportedly told the UFC a week ago that she might not make the 116-pound

5:54 PM ET The leading mixed martial arts promoter is launching UFC Event Centre in partnership with IMG Arena, the first in-game wagering product from the UFC, UFC president Dana White announced Thursday night. “The UFC Event Centre and its official data feed will be a game changer for how UFC fans engage with our

4:40 PM ET UFC women’s strawweight contender Nina Ansaroff is hitting the pause button on her fighting career. Ansaroff will take one year off from the UFC in an attempt to have her first child with fiancée Amanda Nunes, she told ESPN. Nunes is the UFC women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion. “I’m not pregnant yet,

9:13 AM ET One of the best fights of the PFL’s 2019 regular season took place on July 11 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, involving welterweights Magomed Magomedkerimov and Chris Curtis. And good news: The rematch is scheduled to go down Friday at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Magomedkerimov (25-5), who is looking

6:37 PM ET Just over five years ago, Joanna Jedrzejczyk began a UFC journey that took her to the heights of fame and success, and to the depths of losing three title fights. She joined the promotion without fanfare, quickly won the women’s strawweight title and rounded into one of the most dominant champions in

9:54 AM ET Saturday’s UFC Fight Night Tampa main event — Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Michelle Waterson — is in jeopardy. According to multiple sources, Jedrzejczyk informed the UFC over a week ago that she would not be able to make the strawweight limit of 116 pounds. The UFC offered Waterson the opportunity to fight at

4:56 AM ET Bellator MMA is going to Japan with a nostalgic fight. Fedor Emelianenko, one of the best heavyweight fighters in MMA history, will take on fellow legend Quinton Jackson in the main event of Bellator’s Japanese debut Dec. 29 at Saitama Super Arena, it was announced Wednesday at a press conference in Tokyo.