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Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 253 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. The divide between Israel Adesanya and his top challenger was far greater than anyone realized. “The Last Stylebender” retained the undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title with a scintillating stoppage of Paulo Costa in the UFC 253 headliner on Saturday at the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Costa (13-1, 5-1 UFC) met his end 3:59 into Round 2, the latest victim on Adesanya’s march to all-time greatness.

It was a blowout from start to finish. Adesanya (20-0, 9-0 UFC) wrecked the Brazilian’s lead leg with repeated kicks, frustrated him with quick movements and methodically dismantled him. He unleashed a multi-punch volley to the head and body in the second round, floored Costa with a compact left hook and closed the door on him with mounted ground-and-pound.

Blachowicz Fells Reyes, Strikes UF…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 253 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Sherdog's live UFC 253 “Adesanya vs. Costa” coverage begins Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Welcome back to “Fight Island,” with a card that will treat fans with a duo of title fights later on tonight. Before those championship affairs, we get things started in the light heavyweight division, as Ibragimov (8-3, 0-3 UFC) tries to keep his spot on the roster as he takes on the debuting Marques (9-2, 0-0 UFC). Referee Jason Herzog draws the first assignment of the evening, and there is no touch of gloves to begin the night! Both men come out cautiously with high guards, and Marques sneaks in a jab before shooting in low for a takedown. The Russian stuffs it with a guillotine choke, and he staves off a takedown by threatening with it. Marques drags…

THE EARTHQUAKE!

@BradQuakeRiddel erupts in the last two rounds for the UD!

[ #UFC253 | #InAbuDhabi | @VisitAbuDhabi ] pic.twitter.com/8fLF134oOg — UFC (@ufc) September 27, 2020

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 253 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Brad Riddell may not be a household name in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s lightweight division, but he appears to be moving in that direction.

The City Kickboxing standout weathered some early adversity, hit the accelerator and climbed another rung on the 155-pound ladder, as he took a unanimous decision from Alex da Silva Coelho in the featured UFC 253 prelim on Saturday at the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. All three judges scored it 29-28 for Riddell (9-1, 3-0 UFC), who now finds himself in possession of a six-fight winning streak.

Coelho (21-3, 1-2 UFC) secured two taked…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 253 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

There were no suprises when it came to bonus selections at UFC 253, as Israel Adesanya, Jan Blachowicz, Brandon Royval and Kai Kara France eached received an extra $50,000 for their work in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night.

Adesanya earned a “Performance of the Night” award for an impressive stoppage of Paulo Costa in the evening’s middleweight headliner. “The Last Stylebender” chopped away at his opponent’s legs early before flooring the Brazilian with a left hook and sealing his victory with ground-and-pound at the 3:59 mark of Round 2 to retain his 185-pound title.

Meanwhile, Blachowicz garnered the evening’s other “Performance of the Night” check for a second-round technical knockout of Dominick Reyes in a matchup for the vacant light heavyweight crown in the co-main event. The Polish veteran appeared to break Reyes’ n…

BIG takedown from Costello van Steenis on Fabian Edwards in round !

This tense main event is LIVE NOW on @channel5_tv. #BellatorMilan pic.twitter.com/DnlZVKGwMq

— Bellator Europe (@Bellator_Europe) September 26, 2020 Costello van Steenis knocked Fabian Edwards from the ranks of the unbeaten at Bellator Milan on Saturday at Allianz Cloud in Milan, Italy. It was Bellator’s first event in Europe since the COVID-19 outbreak.  

The middleweight contenders studied each other for the majority of the first stanza, but it looked like it was van Steenis (13-2) who deserved to take the round home, as he landed several brutal leg kicks on Edwards’ (9-1) lead leg. In the second frame, "The Spaniard" landed the first takedown of the match, dragging Edwards into a sticky situation thanks to an almost-closed guillotine choke attempt. In the last few seconds of Round 2, van Steenis landed several heavy shots of ground-and-pound that alm…

Mason 'The Dragon' Jones is THE MAN.

A TKO victory in the first round - he is now the double champ. DOUBLE DRAGON #CW116 pic.twitter.com/Pb2vev6E03

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) September 26, 2020 Mason Jones can now call himself a two-division champion in Cage Warriors.

The reigning lightweight king defeated Adam Proctor via technical knockout to claim the vacant 170-pound strap in the Cage Warriors 116 main event at BEC Arena in Manchester, England, on Saturday. Jones (10-0) brought a halt to the contest with a series of unanswered punches to the side of his opponent’s head 4:31 into Round 1.

“They look good on my shoulders,” Jones said of the belts. “Everyone knew I could do this. I knew I could get him out of there early, and I showed that.”

Jones ignored a visible size discrepancy to draw Proctor (12-2) into a fire fight. Although Proctor was able to sting the Welshman with long, rangy strikes on occasion, “The Dragon” l…

Conor McGregor says he is fighting Manny Pacquiao. PLEASE happen.

Opening odds @betonline_ag :

Pac-Man -1200Conor +700

Odds> https://t.co/Brb9nyMjEX

— Dave Mason (@DaveMasonBOL) September 25, 2020 Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Manny Pacquiao has predictably opened as a massive favorite over Ultimate Fighting Championship star Conor McGregor.

On Friday, McGregor (22-4 MMA, 0-1 Box) revealed that he was negotiating with the UFC and Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) to stage a boxing match towards the end of the year. Even though the matchup is far from official, betting lines have opened with McGregor as a huge underdog against his potential Filipino foe.

According to sportsbook betonline.ag, Pacquiao is a -1200 favorite against McGregor (+700) in their discussed bout. This same book has boxing lines of potential Flo…

A smooth transition to a submission victory for the champAll in two minutes #AndStill #CW115

Knockouts and submissions, whats next for Jack Cartwright? pic.twitter.com/Q8lp0xHlUM

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) September 25, 2020 It was a quick night at the office for the defending champion. The CW 115 card was headlined by the championship battle between Jack Cartwright (9-0) and Gerardo Fanny (9-2). It took just over two minutes for Cartwright to secure the victory, doing so with style points. The British fighter relocated the action to the floor as soon as the fight started, and after a few scrambles, he locked an arm-triangle choke that forced Fanny to tap. The win was Cartwright’s fifth by submission, and all five have come in the first round.

Precision and pressure, James Webb gets the W and is on the road back to the top

A first round submission #CW115 pic.twitter.com/jUn5fWJ5CS

— Cage Warriors (@…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. After calling out practically everyone in his division and a few others, Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight Marvin Vettori finally has a fight in the form of a previous opponent. The story first breaking from MMA Junkie on Friday, Vettori (15-4-1) confirmed on his Instagram page that he will be squaring off with Omari Akhmedov (20-5-1) at UFC 256. The two middleweights will come to blows for the second time on Dec. 12, and the expected venue for this pay-per-view card is at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. They first fought at UFC 219 in 2017, where the bout was scored a majority draw.

Vettori last competed in June, when he tapped Karl Roberson in the first round to settle their grudge match. The win put Vettori on a three-fight win streak, which tied the record for the longest win streak of any Italian fighter in UFC his…

Anyway all water under the bridge who gives a fook.I’m boxing Manny Pacquiao next in the Middle East.

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 25, 2020 Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Former Ultimate Fighting Championship two-division champ Conor McGregor has his sights set on boxing again. In a lengthy string of tweets from “Notorious” on Friday, McGregor posted several text messages sent back and forth between UFC President Dana White earlier this year. Among topics the Irishman discussed on Twitter included his intent on fighting UFC Hall of Famer Diego Sanchez, his disinterest in serving as an injury replacement and his desire to put on a blockbuster event. McGregor concluded his series of messages by putting the sport on notice that he was going to box again, and that his opponent of choice is all-time great Manny Pacquiao…

.@LFAfighting brings a #Bantamweight Showdown to #Kansas at #LFA92! @KevinWirthMMAvs.@AK_MMA94

Friday, October 2@HartmanArena#ParkCity, #Kansas#MMA#LFANation@UFCFightPass pic.twitter.com/CL5mLzXjyW

— LFA (@LFAfighting) September 25, 2020 The Legacy Fighting Alliance has announced the lineup of its first of three cards in October. The promotion made official in a press release on Friday that three events would take place on Oct. 2, Oct. 16 and Oct. 30 all at the Hartman Arena in Wichita, Kansas. The LFA recently ended a stretch of events in Sioux Falls, South Dakota earlier in September. It is unclear if the LFA will stay in Kansas after October, but these three will be held in the same arena in October. Each of the events will air on UFC Fight Pass at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on their respective dates.

LFA 92 will be topped by a sure-fire bantamweight thriller between Kevin Wirth (8-1) and Askar Askar (10-1). Since a split verdict loss a…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiIlguJ4I6I&w=560&h=315] Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 253 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Although a pair of bouts have been transformed into 150-pound catchweights, the weigh-ins for UFC 253 are official and the championship bouts are set. The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to "Fight Island" for its latest pay-per-view. UFC 253 is headlined by a middleweight title tilt as champion Israel Adesanya takes on rival Paulo Henrique Costa. The co-headliner will also put gold on the line, where the promotion will see a new light heavyweight king crowned.

While his last fight against Yoel Romero was a dud, Adesanya (19-0) will look to put on an exciting bout in his second title defense. Adesanya’s incredible rise to stardom saw him knockout Robert Whittaker and win clear decisions over Kelvin Gastelum and Anderson Silva along the way. “The Last Styleben…