9:10 PM ET NEW YORK — After months of verbal jarring, physical altercations between teams and a smashed bus window, Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov finally stood face to face. McGregor, the brash Irishman who at one point held UFC titles in both the featherweight and lightweight divisions, and Nurmagomedov, the current lightweight champion, took

Sep 21, 2018 Conor McGregor has signed a new six-fight deal with the UFC, president Dana White told ESPN on Thursday. Terms were not disclosed, but White said the deal could make McGregor the most money in the sport, especially given his pay-per-view appeal. The six fights include the matchup with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC

5:58 AM ET UFC welterweight fighter Kamaru Usman was the alternate for the Tyron Woodley-Darren Till title bout at UFC 228 on September 9, but says he is unlikely to take up that second fiddle role again. While Usman agreed to be the standby fighter two weeks ago, as chronicled by ESPN’s Arash Markazi, the

8:12 PM ET UFC star Jon Jones could be eligible to return to competition by Oct. 28 — fifteen months after failing the second drug test of his illustrious career. The United States Anti-Doping Agency announced Wednesday it has suspended Jones for 15 months, for testing positive for metabolites of an anabolic steroid on July

2:11 PM ET The Professional Fighters League will add a new weight class to its regular season, playoff format in 2019 — and it will feature one of the most promising prospects in mixed martial arts. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison (2-0) has signed an exclusive deal with the PFL that will see her

8:19 AM ET When Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao announced they were fighting each other in 2015, many proclaimed it one of the best matchups in boxing history. It was anything but. Despite selling a record 4.6 million pay-per-view buys, the bout never lived up to the hype and ended in a decision win for

1:08 PM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN “Remember, I was supposed to fight him after he fought Ken Shamrock,” Chuck Liddell recounted on Monday, looking back with bemused fondness on his age-old rivalry with Tito Ortiz and its bitter beginnings. “After I fought Vitor Belfort, he jumped in the ring and said he was going to kick

3:55 AM ET Japanese MMA star Norifumi ‘Kid’ Yamamoto has died at the age of 41. Yamamoto, who was one of the sport’s most popular fighters in the mid-2000s, revealed in an Instagram post in August that he had been diagnosed with cancer. Krazybee, Yamamoto’s Tokyo gym, announced he had passed away on Tuesday Sept.

5:15 PM ET Former UFC champion Johny Hendricks and longtime Bellator welterweight Brennan Ward have agreed to meet in a bare-knuckle boxing match later this year. Both recently retired mixed martial artists have come to terms with the World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation. WBKFF vice president Paul Tyler confirmed the news to ESPN on Monday,

3:10 PM ET Former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is open to moving up to flyweight to compete for the belt, she told ESPN on Monday. The expected matchup would be against Valentina Shevchenko, who was set to face then-champion Nicco Montano on Sept. 8 before Montano withdrew with health issues the day before. The