Blog

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 249 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Jussier Formiga will lock horns with Alex Perez in a flyweight contest at UFC 250.

Combate was first to report the matchup. UFC 250 takes place on June 6 and includes a women’s featherweight championship bout between Amanda Nunes and Felicia Spencer. A venue for the event has not been confirmed. The main card will air on pay-per-view via ESPN+ following prelims that will likely air on ESPN and ESPN+.

Formiga will look to halt a two-bout skid after falling to Brandon Moreno by decision at UFC Fight Night 170 and to Joseph Benavidez by TKO at UFC on ESPN 3. Prior to that, the 34-year-old Brazilian had compiled a four-fight Octagon winning streak that included triumphs over Sergio Pettis and Deiveson Figueiredo.

Perez, meanwhile, has been victorious in five of his first six promotional appearances. Most recently, th…

Time is supposed to heal all wounds, but it seems that Lauren Murphy still holds a grudge toward Eddie Alvarez.

Murphy took part in “The Ultimate Fighter 26” in 2017, starting as a member of Team Alvarez. The show pitted the former two-time Bellator lightweight champion and former UFC lightweight champion against former WSOF lightweight champion Justin Gaethje. That season exclusively featured the women's flyweight division, and the UFC crowned the promotion's inaugural 125-pound champion in the season's finale.

In a recent interview with MMAFighting, the former Invicta FC bantamweight champion said that Alvarez was “really degrading” toward all the women on the reality series, bringing forward some examples of his behavior on the show.

“He came to the house one night ... 16 women living in a mansion,” she said. “And he came to the house with a friend of his that wasn’t even a coach on the show – just a random guy that…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqY99rUynWE&w=560&h=315]

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 249 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will be transitioning from Jacksonville to Sin City within a couple weeks’ time, according to UFC president Dana White.

White told Sports Illustrated in a recent interview that UFC Fight Night 173 will take place in Las Vegas. The May 23 card, which will likely be headlined by a welterweight bout between Tyron Woodley and Gilbert Burns, did not previously have a venue. The promotion will hold cards at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 9, 13 and 16.

“While everybody was f—-ing lying out by the pool, hanging out and doing whatever the f—k they're doing in quarantine, we were in here f—-ing grinding, man,” White said. “Fighting crazy wars every day to put on this first event. We pulled it off. …

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 249 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

A welterweight clash between Tyron Woodley and Gilbert Burns is likely to be the UFC Fight Night 173 main event.

UFC president Dana White confirmed that the promotion is targeting the matchup on ”UFC Unfiltered” podcast.

“Before I came into this interview, I got a text from Woodley that said, ‘I’m looking for [UFC matchmaker] Sean [Shelby]. I want to sign this contract right now. I want this fight on the 23rd.’ That’s what Woodley just told me before this interview, so we’ll see what happens,” White said. “… Burns is the opponent we’re looking at.”

UFC Fight Night 173 takes place on May 23 at an undisclosed location. The card will likely air on ESPN and ESPN+. Thus far, the event also includes a light heavyweight clash between Jamahal Hill and Klidson Abreu and a strawweight tilt pitting Mackenzie Dern against Ha…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 249 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Amanda Nunes is expected to defend her featherweight title against Felicia Spencer at a UFC event on June 6.

ESPN was first to report the booking. The location for the event has yet to be determined. The promotion on Monday formally announced the postponement of UFC 251 in Perth, Australia, on June 6 due to “state and national restrictions on public gathering and travel” caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

It is currently unclear if Nunes vs. Spencer will serve as the main event for the June 6 card, which will most likely be held in the United States and could serve as the promotion’s next pay-per-view following UFC 249. A bantamweight clash pitting Cody Garbrandt against Raphael Assuncao is also in the works for the event.

Nunes was initially scheduled to face Spencer at UFC 249, but the two-division champion pu…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 249 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Heavyweight title contender Cheick Kongo will continue to compete under the Bellator MMA banner for the foreseeable future.

The California-based promotion recently signed Kongo to a new, multi-fight contract. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sherdog.com confirmed the news with a promotion official following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com.

In his most recent appearance, Kongo challenged for heavyweight gold at Bellator 226, where his fight with Ryan Bader ended in a no contest at the 3:52 mark of Round 1 due to an accidental eye poke. Prior to that, the 44-year-old Frenchman had won eight straight bouts in Bellator competition. It is unclear if Kongo is in line for a rematch, as Bader was next scheduled to defend his light heavyweight belt before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Kongo signed with Bellator …

We’re bringing sports back w/ the best pro-athletes on the planet for our new season of @NBCTitanGames!My TITAN PROS are Olympic gold medalists, @NFL legends, @UFC champions & more. Join us MEMORIAL DAY for an EPIC 2 HOUR PREMIERE! 8PM on @NBC! #SportsAreBack @SevenBucksProd pic.twitter.com/lBpNZ2PPKd

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) May 4, 2020

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 249 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

It looks like Tyron Woodley will have a full slate this month.

The former UFC welterweight champion will compete on “The Titan Games,” a physical competition series hosted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Season 2 will premiere on May 25 on NBC at 8 p.m. ET. The show will feature a number of athletes, including former NFL players Joe Thomas and Victor Cruz, Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Hannah Teter, multi-division world champion boxer Clares…

Matt Mitrione didn’t go into “The Ultimate Fighter 10” with high expectations.

After a solid collegiate football career with the Purdue Boilermakers that saw him start 35 consecutive games on the defensive line, Mitrione had an abbreviated tenure in the NFL that included nine games with the New York Giants and brief stints with the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings before washing out of the league in 2005.

Shortly thereafter, “Meathead” was in the process of launching a sports nutrition company when he was contacted by Philadelphia Phillies star Jayson Werth regarding an appearance on an amateur mixed martial arts show. Up to that point, Mitrione’s only experience in combat sports was a sort of Toughman-style competition during his redshirt year at Purdue. That experience taught him, as he told Big Blue View in 2017, that “I really had no desire to get punched in the face for a living.”

However, Werth was a proponent of his product, so he agreed to fight.…

The surgery to repair a torn ACL in Kevin Lee’s left knee was apparently a success.

The UFC lightweight competitor provided an update on the procedure on his Instagram account on Sunday. Lee recently claimed that he suffered the injury doing something that “wasn’t totally out of the ordinary,” but he would not reveal its specific cause.

“Thanks to everybody who reached out and been checking on me,” Lee wrote on Instagram. “Surgery went great, when I recover I’m gonna be 10 [times] stronger. That’s where my energy is going to [right now]. The universe finally sat my ass down.”

Lee is expected to be sidelined a minimum of six months. “The Motown Phenom” last appeared at UFC Fight Night 170 on March 14, when he was submitted by Charles Oliveira 28 seconds into the third round of the card’s main event. The former interim title challenger has lost four of his last six Octagon appearances, a stretch that includes a one-bout stint at 170 pounds.

Credit: Elena Katretskaya/Sherdog.com

A light heavyweight showdown between Klidson Abreu and Jamahal Hill has been agreed upon for UFC Fight Night 173 on May 23.

MMAFighting.com was first to report the matchup. The promotion will hold events on May 9, 13 and 16 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, but it has not been confirmed if that will also be the venue for UFC Fight Night 173.

Abreu, 27, was scheduled to face Gadzhimurad Antigulov at UFC Kazakhstan on June 13 before the coronavirus outbreak. The Brazilian is 1-2 in the Las Vegas-based promotion and is coming off a split-decision setback against Shamil Gamzatov at UFC Fight Night 163. He owns a 15-4 career mark and has finished all but one of his victories inside the distance.

Hill earned a UFC contract with a stoppage of Alexander Poppeck on Dana White’s Contender Series last July before outpointing Darko Stosic in his Octagon debut on Jan. 25. The 28-year-old known as “Sweet Dreams” i…

It turns out that Dana White didn’t quite reveal the full card for UFC Fight Night 171 this past Friday.

The May 13 event is now complete with a 10-bout bill that includes a newly-added heavyweight tilt pitting Chase Sherman against Isaac Villanueva. MMAjunkie.com was first to report the booking. UFC Fight Night 171 takes place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, and is headlined by a light heavyweight clash between Anthony Smith and Glover Teixeira. The card is expected to air on ESPN and ESPN+.

Sherman went 2-5 during his initial stint with the UFC from 2016 to 2018. Since then, “The Vanilla Gorilla” has gone undefeated on the regional scene and also captured the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship heavyweight strap.

Villanueva, the Fury FC light heavyweight champion, will make his Octagon debut on the strength of a four-bout winning streak that includes finishes of former UFC competitors Roger Narvaez and Rashad Coulter. The Houston nati…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TilfRenRRUg&w=560&h=315] The next two Ultimate Fighting Championship events following UFC 249 have now been made official, per UFC President Dana White.

On Friday, White appeared on ESPN, where he confirmed the full listing of events for May 13 and 16. Both cards will take place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, and they each will be broadcast on ESPN while closed to the public. During his interview, he also explained that the intention is to place Tyron Woodley as the headliner of the upcoming May 23 event. That card does not have any fights booked on it, nor does it have a location set, and White admitted that the promotion wanted to get through this surge of events before looking at the ones to come.

UFC Fight Night 171 is a rare card airing on a Wednesday, and it will be headlined on May 13 by a light heavyweight battle between former title challengers Anthony Smith (33-14) and Glover Teixeira (30-…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVjXuqBRzL4&w=560&h=315] Ultimate Fighting Championship hall of famer Chuck Liddell has decided to come clean about his ailment leading up to his 2018 match with Tito Ortiz.

Liddell spoke to Sherdog.com, where he discussed a major neck injury that resulted in surgery to fuse his vertebrae together. Shortly after facing Ortiz, he had a procedure done.

“The Iceman” returned from over a 10-year layoff to face Ortiz for the third time at Golden Boy MMA: Liddell vs. Ortiz 3. The two met on November 2018, where Ortiz exacted revenge by knocking out the 48-year-old in the opening round. The two previously squared off at UFC 47 in 2004 and UFC 66 in 2006, and Liddell scored knockouts in both bouts. They have since been featured in an ESPN “30 for 30” documentary about their rivalry.

“Right after the fight, I had my neck fused from C3-C4,” he explained. “But I guess…I didn’t really know that I had a problem and I was that pigheaded.”

<…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has a plan in place for its upcoming events, and it has shared some details with fighters.

First reported by MMA Junkie on Thursday night, the promotion put together some changes in standard operating procedure for its fight cards. Three events on May 9, 13 and 16 will all go down at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, starting with UFC 249 on May 9.

In an email sent out to fighters and their camps for these events, the promotion was quick to admit that “things will be different from our typical fight week.” For starters, the only people allowed at the venue will be the fighters, their specifically licensed cornermen, authorized UFC staff members and commission officials.

When arriving to the hotel in Jacksonville, the fighters and their corners will be subject to a battery of medical screenings and tests. The specifics of the tests were not yet provided, and it is unclear whether the fighters will be tested fo…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksfw5gKwWNw&w=560&h=315] Count the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champ among those that won’t risk fighting during the coronavirus pandemic.

In an interview with The Score on Thursday, Stipe Miocic explained that he would not be competing any time soon, and had other issues to attend to including his family and as a firefighter in his home in Cleveland.

“There’s no way,” said Miocic. “I mean, if I can’t get a full camp, there’s no reason to fight.”

When asked about training, he was frank about how the coronavirus has affected life for him, saying, “Nah, I mean honestly I haven’t been [training], the gym’s been closed [and] we don’t have a lot of stuff at our house, so it’s not really I can do a lot.”

He also explained that the condition of his eye has improved, as the champ has been sidelined due to an eye injury sustained when he faced Daniel Cormier. Miocic was poked in the eye multiple times, and required su…

Big news is coming for the Global Association of Mixed Martial Arts members.

On Thursday morning, GAMMA has announced via press release that it has added 25 additional member federations. The association now counts a total of 80 member federations.

”During these unprecedented times, where the global health crisis has forced lockdowns in many countries, the cancellation of sporting events, and disruption of athlete training schedules, GAMMA remains focused in its goal of supporting mixed martial arts, particularly the amateur sport, to develop mixed martial arts all across the globe. GAMMA is highly-committed to providing promising mixed martial arts athletes a global platform to showcase their skills and talents,” said GAMMA president Alexander Engelhardt in a press release.

“We are delighted to announce that we now have the full support of 80 member federations who have joined our cause. We continue to invite other great nations and mixed martial arts athletes from all…

Don’t count the Professional Fighters League out quite yet, as the organization is still picking up key free agents.

On Wednesday, featherweight Tyler Diamond (11-1) posted on his Instagram account that he had officially signed with PFL. Although the promotion has currently nixed its 2020 season, Diamond is excited for the opportunity to come in the following year.

He wrote:

“I signed with a promotion back in early March, but never got to announce it due to the Corona Virus. I’m super happy to say I signed with @pflmma. [Unfortunately] because of Covid-19, they had to move back this [year’s] season to begin next spring.

“As disheartening as it is, I’m happy that I’m with a top-notch promotion that recognizes my talent & the exciting style of fighting I bring to the table. I’m going to utilize this time to expand opportunities & continue to get better.”

The Team Alpha Male standout Diamond has lost once in his career, in his Ultimate Fighting Cham…

Three new bouts have been added to the growing UFC Fight Night 172 card on May 16.

First reported by Combate, the fights are as follows: Don’Tale Mayes vs. Rodrigo Nascimento Ferreira at heavyweight; Cortney Casey vs. Mara Romero Borella at flyweight and Giga Chikadze vs. Mike Davis at featherweight.

UFC Fight Night 172 takes place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena and is headlined by a heavyweight tilt pitting Alistair Overeem against Walt Harris. The card is expected to air on ESPN and ESPN+.

After earning a promotional contract on Season 3 of Dana White’s Contender Series, Mayes suffered a third-round submission loss to Ciryl Gane in his Octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 162 last October. Ferreira will enter his first UFC foray with a 7-0 mark that includes a first-round tapout of Michal Martinek on the Contender Series last July.

Casey has lost three of her lost four in the Las Vegas-based promotion, including a unanimous decision setback against Cynthia…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSo2ovzc6A0&w=560&h=315]

Five times the Ultimate Fighting Championship has booked a fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, and each time the bout has fallen through.

While a litany of injuries — most notably one that resulted from Ferguson tripping on a television production wire — sabotaged the majority of those proposed bouts, a global pandemic caused the cancellation of their recently scheduled clash at UFC 249. With Nurmagomedov currently stranded in Russia due to travel restrictions designed to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, Ferguson is now slated to square off against Justin Gaethje in the headliner of a revamped UFC 249 card in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 9.

If Ferguson wins, he would conceivably set up a future date with Nurmagomedov, who is currently observing the Muslim holiday Ramadan and has hinted at a September UFC return.

During an “Ask Me Anything” Wednesday on Reddit, UFC president Dana White…

Ray Borg will square off against Ricky Simon in a bantamweight tilt at UFC Fight Night 171.

Borg confirmed the bout on social media following an initial report from The Sports Daily. UFC Fight Night 171 takes place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 13 and is headlined by a light heavyweight bout between Anthony Smith and Glover Teixeira. The card is expected to air on ESPN and ESPN+.

Borg, who was scheduled to face Marlon Vera at UFC 249 before the event was postponed, will return to bantamweight after another failed weight cut to 125 pounds. Paired with Rogerio Bontorin at UFC Fight Night 167, “The Tazmexican Devil tipped the scales at 128 pounds before earning a unanimous decision triumph over his Brazilian foe. It was the third occasion in which Borg has failed to make weight for a flyweight contest.

After rattling off eight consecutive wins — including three in the UFC — from February 2017 to February 2019, Simon suffered a 46…

UFC lightweight competitor Kevin Lee likely won’t be back in the Octagon until late 2020 at best.

“The Motown Phenom” revealed to ESPN that he will undergo surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee on Thursday. Lee is expected to be out a minimum of six months as a result of the injury. The former interim title challenger is taking an optimistic approach to his recovery.

"It used to mean being out a year," Lee told ESPN. "They've gotten better with the technology and the [physical therapy], so it might even be sooner. I don't know.”

Lee last appeared at UFC Fight Night 170, where he was submitted by Charles Oliveira 28 seconds into the third round of the card’s main event. The 27-year-old claims the injury didn’t occur while fighting, though he wouldn’t offer any specifics beyond that.

“[I] was not even doing something that was totally out of the ordinary,” Lee said during a recent appearance on "The Luke Thomas Show” on SiriusXM. “I’m not going to say …

Two more contests have been targeted for UFC Fight Night 172, as Marlon Vera will face Yadong Song at bantamweight, while Kevin Holland will square off against Anthony Hernandez at middleweight.

MMAFighting.com was first to report Vera vs. Song, while MMAjunkie.com initially brought word of Holland vs. Hernandez. UFC Fight Night 173 takes place at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 16 and is headlined by a heavyweight tilt between Alistair Overeem and Walt Harris.

Vera enters the matchup with Song on a five-bout winning streak, including a third-round TKO of Andre Ewell in his most recent appearance at UFC Fight Night 161 last October. China’s Song is unbeaten in his last eight professional bouts – including five in the UFC – but is coming off a majority draw against Cody Stamann at UFC on ESPN 7 on Dec. 7.

An alum of Dana White’s Contender Series, Holland saw a three-fight winning streak come to an end at UFC on ESPN 6, where he was …

Matt Mitrione was among the first group of fighters to be directly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Ultimate Fighter 10” veteran agreed to replace Josh Barnett on short notice at Bellator 241, where he was scheduled to square off against Ronny Markes in a featured bout on March 13. Mitrione, like everyone else on the card, weighed in one day prior to the event as the promotion planned to proceed with fights in an empty venue at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. However, as the serious nature of the COVID-19 outbreak began to take hold, Bellator elected to cancel the event entirely on the day it was scheduled to take place.

Mitrione believes the organization made the best decision possible in light of difficult circumstances.

“It wasn’t really that complicated. Things happen. We’re adults and we have to deal with them,” Mitrione told Sherdog.com. “There were a lot more questions than answers at that time regarding the pandemic and Wuhan and e…

A middleweight clash pitting Karl Roberson against Marvin Vettori has been added to the UFC Fight Night 171 lineup.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the booking. Roberson and Vettori were originally slated to meet on April 25 before the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of that card. UFC Fight Night 171 takes place on May 13 at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, and is headlined by a light heavyweight duel between Anthony Smith and Glover Teixeira.

Roberson has been victorious in three of his last four UFC appearances. Most recently, the Dana White’s Contender Series alum submitted Roman Kopylov in the in the third stanza at UFC Fight Night 163 this past November.

Vettori, meanwhile, is coming off back-to-back decision triumphs against Cezar Ferreira and Andrew Sanchez in 2019. The Italian competitor is 4-2-1 in the Las Vegas-based promotion and 14-4-1 as a professional overall.