MMA

Brett OkamotoFeb 10, 2025, 09:00 AM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions Zhang Weili and Dricus Du Plessis made competing at the highest level of MMA look easy at UFC 312, as they turned the last two fights of the night into

Brett OkamotoFeb 9, 2025, 01:35 AM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions Dricus Du Plessis already had a win over Sean Strickland going into UFC 312. What he wanted was an exclamation point over him — and that’s what he got. Du

Open Extended Reactions Zhang Weili successfully retained her women’s strawweight championship by dominating previously unbeaten Tatiana Suarez with a unanimous decision win in the co-main event of UFC 312 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on Saturday. Fighting out of Beijing, Zhang (26-3) has demonstrated her dominance over the strawweight division during her second run

Feb 9, 2025, 02:20 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Dricus Du Plessis did it again, defeating Sean Strickland a second time, but this time he dominated to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 312 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on Saturday. Du Plessis is 9-0 in the UFC and hasn’t lost a fight since

Open Extended Reactions UFC pay-per-view action returns on Saturday night as middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis and strawweight champion Zhang Weili put their titles on the line at UFC 312. Du Plessis will face Sean Strickland in the main event, a rematch of their January 2024 title fight which Du Plessis won by split decision.

Sam BruceFeb 5, 2025, 05:49 PM ET Close Sam was brought up on long drives and the dusty fields of north-west New South Wales, where he developed his love of rugby from an early age. He joined ESPN after a five-year stint heading up Fox Sports Australia’s digital rugby coverage. Open Extended Reactions Alexander Volkanovski

Leonard Solms Close Jack of all sporting trades. Author of my 11-year-old self’s fantasy story about his road to FIFA World Cup glory. Perfecting the art of writing about people who do what I said I was going to do. Feb 6, 2025, 05:55 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Ahead of his UFC 312 rematch

Brett OkamotoFeb 6, 2025, 07:51 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions Dominick Cruz, one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time, announced his retirement from the sport on Thursday via social media. Cruz, 39, was scheduled for one final

Brett OkamotoFeb 5, 2025, 07:54 AM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions When Tatiana Suarez challenges Zhang Weili for the UFC strawweight championship Saturday, one thing she won’t lack is self-belief. Because if Suarez did not truly believe she was the best

Sam BruceFeb 4, 2025, 05:06 PM ET Close Sam was brought up on long drives and the dusty fields of north-west New South Wales, where he developed his love of rugby from an early age. He joined ESPN after a five-year stint heading up Fox Sports Australia’s digital rugby coverage. Open Extended Reactions The last

Brett OkamotoFeb 3, 2025, 09:00 AM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions In MMA, like other sports, a champion is continually facing pressure to succeed. External pressure from the organization, the media and especially fans. And self-imposed pressure to disprove doubters and

UFC featherweight Bryce Mitchell apologized Saturday for his comments defending Adolf Hitler on his podcast earlier this week. “I’m sorry I sounded offensive,” Mitchell posted on his Instagram account. “I definitely was not trying to offend anybody, but I know I did.” In the podcast, Mitchell said Hitler was “a good guy” who “fought for

Brett OkamotoFeb 1, 2025, 01:13 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Former WWE employee Janel Grant has officially identified Brock Lesnar in the federal lawsuit she filed against the company and former executive Vince McMahon in January 2024. In an amended complaint filed in

Brett OkamotoFeb 1, 2025, 03:39 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions Israel Adesanya‘s remarkable career in combat sports has come to a major crossroads, following his fourth defeat in five appearances on Saturday. Adesanya (24-5) suffered a TKO loss to Nassourdine

Jan 30, 2025, 04:45 PM ET UFC CEO Dana White has condemned comments made by featherweight fighter Bryce Mitchell on his podcast where he defended Adolf Hitler, denied the holocaust happened and took aim at both the LGBTQ+ and Jewish communities in a shocking rant. “I’ve heard a lot of dumb and ignorant s— said

Brett OkamotoJan 27, 2025, 09:15 AM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions Every sport loves itself a little bit of drama — a little bit of chaos. Mixed martial arts is certainly no exception. In fact, 2025 started with UFC lightweight Renato

Brett OkamotoJan 25, 2025, 04:50 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions Usman Nurmagomedov squeaked out a razor-thin decision over Paul Hughes on Saturday in Dubai — and there’s a good chance he’ll see the Irishman again in 2025. Nurmagomedov (19-0) defended

Brett OkamotoJan 24, 2025, 09:51 PM ET Close MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Open Extended Reactions Conor McGregor wanted to face Logan Paul in an exhibition boxing match in India this year but said the UFC would not grant him permission. In an interview this week