12:40 AM ET Add yet another championship to the remarkable Nurmagomedov team and family. The undefeated Usman Nurmagomedov, cousin of all-time MMA great Khabib Nurmagomedov, beat Patricky “Pitbull” Freire via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-44, 50-44) to win the Bellator lightweight title Friday night in the co-main event of Bellator 288 in Chicago. Usman is only

12:06 PM ET Fedor Emelianenko, one of the most iconic mixed martial artists of all time, will make the final walk of his career in 2023. Emelianenko, 46, will challenge Bellator MMA heavyweight champion Ryan Bader for the title at Bellator 290 on Feb. 4. The event will take place inside the Kia Forum in

9:35 AM ET Khamzat Chimaev wants to fight the UFC’s newly crowned middleweight champion, Alex Pereira. UFC president Dana White has said he would like Chimaev to face welterweight contender Colby Covington. Why not both? Chimaev (12-0) told ESPN this week that he has asked UFC for a middleweight title fight against Pereira at UFC

Nov 18, 2022 The MMA calendar is at its home stretch for the year, with just four UFC events remaining in 2022, along with marquee fight cards in Bellator, ONE Championship and PFL. It would be easy to overlook these next seven weeks, considering we’re fresh off one of the best pay-per-view events of the

3:56 PM ET The Nevada State Athletic Commission is planning disciplinary action against MMA fighter Darrick Minner for failing to disclose an injury ahead of a Nov. 6 UFC bout that was flagged for suspicious betting. Jeff Mullen, executive director of the NSAC, told ESPN on Thursday that Minner will be on the agenda at

11:12 AM ET Corey Anderson got an unexpected text message last month. The sender was his friend and fellow Bellator MMA fighter Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. Anderson and Johnson had not spoken for a few months, but Rumble was known for checking in on his buddies when they were getting close to a fight. This particular

Nov 16, 2022 Popular heavyweight Derrick Lewis will be looking to get his career back on track when he faces well-rounded Serghei Spivac in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas. The fights at UFC Apex are on ESPN+, with the 4 p.m. ET main card preceded by prelims at

7:00 PM ET Former UFC champion Israel Adesanya was arrested Wednesday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York for possession of “metal knuckles,” a spokesperson for the Port Authority Police Department confirmed with ESPN. The time of the arrest was 1:57 p.m., per police. According to Adesanya’s manager, Tim Simpson, the UFC star

1:54 PM ET The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) set a new precedent in its monthly meeting Wednesday. The commission suspended UFC heavyweight fighter Ilir Latifi for three months for not disclosing an illness to commission doctors before his fight Oct. 1 in Las Vegas. Latifi beat Aleksei Oleinik via unanimous decision on the UFC

4:19 PM ET A dramatic appearance at Dana White’s Contender Series highlighted by a bout of appendicitis behind him, Australian Shannon Ross is among the latest fighters setting course for UFC 284 in Perth next year. Ross was on Tuesday [AEDT] confirmed to make his UFC debut proper in the Western Australia capital, the flyweight