Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff WriterOct 31, 2023, 01:21 PM ET Open Extended Reactions A key lightweight contender fight will headline the UFC’s return to Texas. Veteran Beneil Dariush will face the up-and-coming Arman Tsarukyan in the UFC Austin main event Dec. 2, UFC CEO Dana White announced early Tuesday on social media. In the co-main…
Anthony Joshua wants a piece of Francis Ngannou next. That’s according to Joshua’s promoter, Matchroom Sport’s Eddie Hearn, who admitted Monday on The MMA Hour that Ngannou’s stunning performance against Tyson Fury has turned boxing’s heavyweight division on its head. With Fury now likely fighting Oleksandr Usyk in a title unification bout sometime in early…
“I can’t be too weird in my style like I was ‘til now,” Procházka said. “I have to be more precise, especially in a fight with Alex, and I’m happy to fight him. I’m happy to face Alex because it improved me, my style, and it sharpened my mind, my spirit and my body more…
Hit the showers, gramps. Former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic did not understand why the promotion opted to bench him in favor of Tom Aspinall vs. Sergei Pavlovich, who collide for the interim 265-pound title in the UFC 295 pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event on Nov. 11 in New York. Perhaps he’s too old and no…
Middleweights Cody Brundage and Zachary Breese will clash at the upcoming UFC Fight Night card in Austin, Texas, on Dec. 2. Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the matchup to MMA Fighting on Monday, with bout agreements issued in the fight. Breese makes his octagon debut after signing with the UFC following…
10 months later, Procházka, having already defeated the then-No. 7 ranked contender, would face former title challenger Dominick Reyes. Despite coming off two consecutive losses, Reyes competed in back-to-back title fights against Jon Jones and Jan Blachowicz. For Procházka, this was a big step up in competition, and a win would guarantee his name gets…
Welcome to Midnight Mania! I feel like Brad Pitt at the end of Seven, except I’m standing in the oilfield repeatedly yelling, “Who fumbled the bag?!?” In the immediate aftermath of the Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury super fight (watch highlights), the general consensus online was that UFC CEO Dana White made a mistake by…
Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterOct 30, 2023, 09:21 AM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions After this past weekend, Francis Ngannou might be the most interesting athlete in the world. There is nothing like Ngannou in sports right now. He left the…
Vince McMahon and Dana White have often drawn comparisons as two outspoken, powerful executives with similar personalities across combat sports and entertainment. At one point of time in the past, White claimed that McMahon actually wanted to fight him and the UFC CEO recently commented that their relationship was largely adversarial because they were both…
Tyson Fury was previously scheduled to face Oleksandr Usyk to unify the WBC, WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight titles on Dec. 23 in Riyadh; however, the fight has been called off, according to promoter Frank Warren. That’s because “The Gypsy King” spent 10 rounds getting knocked around by former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, a…
Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff WriterOct 29, 2023, 03:12 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions UFC middleweight Khamzat Chimaev suffered a torn ligament in his right hand during a victory over Kamaru Usman earlier this month in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates….
Francis Ngannou isn’t going to choose between boxing and MMA, he’s going to do both. Saturday evening, Ngannou delivered one of the most impressive combat sports performances of the past decade, going toe-to-to with undefeated heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in his boxing debut. Though Ngannou ultimately lost a contentious split decision on the judges’ scorecards,…
Added Chandler: “It’s very important for me to put smiles on as many kids’ faces as I can, and I’m happy that we were able to do that today. Given their circumstances, it’s not very often that they get the chance to tour a place like UFC, get their haircut, get some gifts, or have…
Khamzat Chimaev returned to action after a year away from the cage at UFC 294 and it was a classic performance … for the first five minutes, anyway. Chimaev ragdolled former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman through the first round, taking him down and threatening to submit him. The domination was so thorough that all three…
Francis Ngannou may have pushed boxing’s lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury to his absolute limit, but he still hasn’t fully won over the oddsmakers. Ngannou opened as a sizable betting underdog for a potential rematch against Fury following his controversial split decision loss on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. After closing as more than a…
Damage in UFC 5 is depicted in visceral detail with true-to-sport accuracy. More than 64,000 possible facial damage combinations, new fluid physics, and blood and sweat particle systems alter a fighter’s appearance throughout the fight. With the Real Impact System’s Authentic Damage feature, causing a cut to an opponent’s eye will diminish their striking and…
The world of boxing and MMA has been left reeling after Saturday night’s Battle of the Baddest in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Francis Ngannou and Tyson Fury fought for 10 hard rounds, with Fury winning via split decision (watch the highlights here). It wasn’t easy for Fury. “The Gypsy King” got knocked down in the third…
Marc Raimondi Brett Okamoto Close Brett Okamoto ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Oct 28, 2023, 03:16 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Tyson Fury kept his undefeated record intact, but the star of the show on Saturday night was Francis Ngannou. The MMA heavyweight,…
