12:55 AM ET LAS VEGAS — When this week started, Nate Diaz‘s opponent was the dominant rising star Khamzat Chimaev — a little parting gift from the UFC as Diaz heads out the door. On Saturday night, with Tony Ferguson as the opponent after a bizarre, unprecedented several days, Diaz will leave the promotion as

10:17 AM ET Nate Diaz has received an enormous amount of support heading into the final fight of his UFC contract on Saturday, including from his old rival, Conor McGregor. McGregor took the time to congratulate Diaz on fulfilling his contract on Saturday, via his personal social media. The two fought twice in 2016, splitting

Dec 9, 2020 Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2020. Tony Ferguson has his own way of working out, and it’s never the easy way. Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images UFC lightweight star Tony Ferguson isn’t someone who’s confined by conventional norms. He has been known to wear dress clothes, sunglasses and fighting gloves while

6:15 PM ET LAS VEGAS — The UFC has completely shuffled the top three fights on its UFC 279 card one day before the scheduled pay-per-view event, UFC president Dana White told SportsCenter in a live Instagram video Friday. Nate Diaz now will face Tony Ferguson in the main event of the Saturday show at

2:26 PM ET LAS VEGAS — The UFC 279 scheduled main event is in jeopardy after participant Khamzat Chimaev missed weight by 7.5 pounds Friday morning at the UFC Apex. Chimaev and Nate Diaz were contracted for a welterweight bout to headline UFC 279 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. The nontitle welterweight limit is

8:10 AM ET STOCKTON, Calif. — GILBERT MELENDEZ, NATE Diaz‘s longtime teammate, was in Stockton with some of his students from El Niño Training Center in South San Francisco for a night training session at Nick Diaz Academy on Aug. 24. Melendez and crew arrived first at the “Trap House” — the name given by

8:40 PM ET LAS VEGAS — The UFC 279 news conference was canceled Thursday at MGM Grand Garden Arena after several altercations broke out backstage among fighters on the card and their teams. UFC president Dana White attempted to keep the news conference going by bringing up the six fighters separately in twos, per fight.

2:46 PM ET Former UFC title challenger Thiago Santos has signed an exclusive deal with the PFL, promotion president Ray Sefo told ESPN on Thursday. Santos, 38, will make his PFL debut in 2023 when he competes in the promotion’s season format with a tournament championship purse of $1 million. Santos will fight in the

2:38 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a massive lightweight matchup between Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler for UFC 281 on November 12. Contracts have not been signed but will be issued to all parties on Tuesday, UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell told ESPN. The 155-pound bout will take place on the pay-per-view card

4:12 PM ET A women’s flyweight bout between Alexa Grasso and Viviane Araujo will be the new headliner for a UFC Fight Night event on Oct. 15 in Las Vegas after a middleweight matchup between Jared Cannonier and Sean Strickland fell through due to injury, the promotion announced Wednesday. Nate Diaz returns to take on