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Onwards and upwards we go pic.twitter.com/qKgochlT3t

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) July 12, 2021

Conor McGregor expects to make a relatively swift recovery after undergoing surgery to repair a broken leg suffered in the UFC 264 headliner on Saturday night.

According to TMZ Sports, McGregor had a successful three-and-a-half hour procedure performed by Dr. Neal Ellatrache, the head team physician for the Los Angeles Dodger and the Los Angeles Rams, and trauma orthopedic surgeon Milton Little in Los Angeles where an intramedullary rod was inserted into his tibia and a small plate and screws were attached to the fibula.

McGregor suffered a broken leg when he stepped awkwardly after missing a punch against Dustin Poirier in their trilogy bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The bout was then waved off by a cageside doctor before the second round.

McGregor tweeted that he expects to be on crutches for six weeks after the proced…

While UFC 264 was garnering most of the attention in Las Vegas, Khabib Nurmagomedov was adding another award to his trophy case on the East Coast.

Nurmagomedov captured the ESPY for Best MMA Fighter during an award ceremony hosted by ESPN at The Rooftop at Pier 17 at the Seaport in New York City on Saturday. The event honors the best athletes, moments and events in sports over the course of the past year.

The former UFC lightweight champion was selected for the ESPY Award over Francis Ngannou, Amanda Nunes and Rose Namajunas.

“The Eagle” fought just once in 2020, submitting Justin Gaethje via triangle choke in the second round at UFC 254 this past October. Nurmagomedov then announced his retirement, ending an accomplished MMA career with a 29-0 career mark.

Before Conor McGregor rose to prominence, Ronda Rousey was arguably the UFC’s biggest crossover star.

After McGregor suffered a disappointing doctor stoppage loss to Dustin Poirier in the UFC 264 main event on Saturday night, the former two-division champion delivered some controversial post-fight comments that included more death threats to Poirier and lewd remarks toward his opponent’s wife, Jolie Poirier.

“There was no check,” McGregor said. “Not one of them was checked. Your wife is in my DMs. Hey baby, hit me back up on chat later on. We’ll be at the after party, the Wynn nightclub, baby … you little hoe. F*ck him.”

While McGregor’s lack of class in defeat drew criticism from throughout the MMA community, Rousey, for one, was not in that corner.

“I’m amazed that as soon as you hit the ground you were already promoting the next fight,” Rousey wrote on Twitter. “I [definitely] wouldn’t have had the mind to do that. The other fighters, [UFC] and media are lucky…

Conor McGregor’s fight-ending injury at UFC 264 may have been caused in part by a pre-existing injury.

According to SBG Ireland head trainer John Kavanagh, McGregor suffered an ankle injury during camp that could have played a role in the apparent break that ended his trilogy with Dustin Poirier after one round.

“A little bit of that ankle injury has been aggravated during camp,” Kavanagh said during an Instagram Q&A (transcription via MMAjunkie.com). “We got a scan on it. Did that have a small part to play in weakening it? I don’t know. We were (with a doctor) a couple weeks ago to get a scan on the ankle. … There might’ve been something in there. It would seem unusual that a young, healthy, fit man could wrap his foot around an elbow and without there being something (wrong) there before. You can play those guessing games all day long.”

Poirier, meanwhile, claimed in his post-fight interview that the injury occurred due to a checked kick earlier in the f…

Although Dustin Poirier might have been well on his way to a second victory over Conor McGregor regardless, the lasting memory of their trilogy bout at UFC 264 will be the leg injury that ended the Irish superstar’s night.

“The storyline is, oh, Conor broke his ankle instead of Dustin looked good,” UFC president Dana White said at the UFC 264 post-fight press conference.

“It sucks,” White said. “It’s brutal. It’s not the way you want to see fights end. Dustin Poirier will fight for the title, and when Conor is healed and ready to go, you do the rematch, I guess. I don’t know.”

Poirier defeated McGregor decisively in their rematch at UFC 257 and had referee Herb Dean taking a close look at the proceedings with his ground-and-pound barrage late in Round 1 on Saturday, but the nature of the ending makes White believe a fourth bout is necessary.

“The fight didn’t get finished,” he said. “You can’t have a fight finish that way, so we’ll see how this whole thing plays…

Khabib Nurmagomedov has spent time in the Octagon with both of the main components of the UFC 264 headliner, but the former lightweight champion had a clear rooting interest on Saturday night.

The trilogy bout between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor ended abruptly when the Irish star suffered an injury while throwing a punch in the waning seconds of Round 1. With McGregor’s leg twisted at an awkward angle, the fight was waved off before the second round, giving Poirier an anticlimactic technical knockout victory. To add insult to injury, McGregor had to be taken from the Octagon on a stretcher.

“Good always defeats evil,” Nurmagomedov wrote on Twitter. “Very happy for [Dustin Poirier]. I hope you will get your belt [by the] end of the year.”

Nurmagomedov and McGregor have never been the best of friends. The Dagestani thought that the SBG Ireland representative crossed the line with his trash talk leading up to their UFC 229 bout, and after Nurmagomedov submit…

Travis Fulton, who amassed more than 300 fights during his mixed martial arts career, was found dead on Saturday morning at Linn County Jail in Iowa.

According to a release from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, Fulton is believed to have committed suicide by hanging himself. Fulton, 44, was discovered by staff members in his cell block around 4 a.m. local time and was transported to Mercy Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 5 a.m.

Fulton was indicted in February by a federal grand jury on charges of sexual exploitation of a child, possession of child porn and receipt of child porn. According to court records, Fulton allegedly attempted to engage a minor in sexual conduct with hopes of taking photos of the encounter this past November. Additionally, Fulton is accused of possessing a flash drive with pornographic images of a child under 12 years of age between November 2018 and November 2020.

According to a report from The Gazette, Fulton on Friday …

Tai Tuivasa needed to put in just 67 seconds of work to pad his bank account by an extra $75,000.

The Australian received a “Performance of the Night” bonus at UFC 264 for his first round knockout of Greg Hardy in a featured heavyweight affair. After a couple Hardy right hands put Tuivasa on wobbly legs, he responded with a massive left hook that dropped the ex-NFL star. A few follow-up punches on the canvas sealed Tuivasa’s victory.

Elsewhere, Sean O'Malley and Kris Moutinho captured “Fight of the Night” honors and $75,000 apiece for their main card bantamweight scrap. While O’Malley was largely masterful in a dominant third-round TKO victory, Moutinho undoubtedly raised his profile with a game performance on short notice before the fight was halted.

Finally, Dricus Du Plessis garnered the evening’s other $75,000 “Performance of the Night” check by virtue of a second-round knockout of Trevin Giles in a preliminary middleweight encounter. The former KSW champ f…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 264 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. The Dustin Poirier-Conor McGregor trilogy ended in perhaps the most anticlimactic fashion possible. Poirier captured the rubber match against his Irish rival when McGregor suffered what appeared to be a broken left leg or ankle after a missing a punch and stepping back awkwardly in the final seconds of the opening round of the UFC 264 headliner at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. With McGregor’s leg clearly contorted at a gruesome angle, the lightweight bout was waved off at the 5:00 mark of Round 1.

“He fractured it on one of the checks at the beginning of the fight, then it broke on a punch, for sure,” Poirier said. “I pointed at him at the beginning of the fight, that's when I checked a kick, that's when it cracked.”

For the most part, Round 1 belonged to Poirier (28-6, 20-5, 1 NC UFC). McGregor began w…

Sherdog's live UFC 264 coverage will begin Saturday at 6:15 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below.

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 264 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Round 1 The bout was canceled on Saturday afternoon due to COVID-19 protocols for Amedovski's team. The news was first reported by ESPN. Round 1 Tonight’s the night, and it’s going to happen again and again. Has to happen. Nice night. Las Vegas is a great town. UFC 264 is in full force inside of the jam-packed T-Mobile Arena, with 12 fights at our disposal leading to the big kabosh in the main event. We begin in the flyweight division, as two men in dire need of a win come to blows when Kazakhstan’s Zhumagulov (13-5, 0-2 UFC) takes on former featherweight Rivera (10-5, 0-3 UFC). Referee Chris Tognoni is on top of the action in what could be a fast-paced affair, and th…

Bringing the in RD 1 @MaxPainGriffin #UFC264 pic.twitter.com/6RBEaOMHs5

— UFC (@ufc) July 11, 2021

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 264 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Max Griffin finally has a centerpiece victory to call his own.

The former Tachi Palace Fights champion captured a hard-fought three-round verdict over former interim welterweight king Carlos Condit in the featured bout of the UFC 264 prelims at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Griffin (18-8, 6-6 UFC) secured scorecards of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 for his third consecutive triumph within the Octagon.

“I used to look up to him; I still do. He’s one of the best in the world, a legend. I tried to get the finish, but much respect to that man,” Griffin said.

Griffin set the tone for his victory with a dominant first round, as he attacked Condit (32-14, 9-10 UFC) with sting…

Bellator MMA has parted ways with a total of 18 fighters, including former featherweight champion Daniel Straus, light heavyweight king Liam McGeary and once highly-touted prospect Tywan Claxton.

Other notables no longer on the roster include Alessio Sakara, Heather Hardy, Bec Rawlings, Tyree Fortune and John Teixeira. Sherdog.com confirmed the news with a promotion official following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com. Not all fighters mentioned were released by Bellator; some simply didn’t have their contracts renewed or are potentially pursuing other opportunities.

The following athletes are also not on the California-based promotion’s roster: Khonry Gracie, Amanda Bell, Chuck Campbell, Demarques Jackson, Dominic Mazzotta, Olga Rubin, Kirill Sidelnikov, Mike Jasper, Steve MacDonald and Ryan Spillane.

Straus is a two-time 145-pound title holder with Bellator. He initially claimed the belt with a five-round verdict over Pat Curran at Bellator 106 in November…

UFC is finalizing a light heavyweight bout between Jimmy Crute and Jamahal Hill for the UFC Fight Night event on Oct. 2, multiple sources told @bokamotoESPN. pic.twitter.com/Ww86HW4vzd

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 9, 2021 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. It appears that Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweights Jamahal Hill and Jimmy Crute will both be able to fight again soon after going down mid-fight with bad injuries. On Friday, ESPN broke the news that Crute (12-2) and Hill (8-1, 1 NC) will tangle on the Oct. 2 UFC Fight Night card. Crute first posted about his new four-fight contract as well as his next match, which is set to be against Hill, on Thursday. The pairing will be less than four months removed from Hill suffering a horrific arm injury from an armbar, but “Sweet Dreams” has been cleared to compete again. Crute su…

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. A potential Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweight title eliminator is on tap for a Fight Night main event in October. ESPN announced on Friday that Marina Rodriguez (14-1-2) will headline the UFC Fight Night card on Oct. 9 against Mackenzie Dern (11-1). The event, which will go down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, may place the winner in prime position for a future title shot.

Rodriguez’ first UFC main event went her way when she won a decision over Michelle Waterson in May. Rodriguez is riding a two-fight win streak since her first career defeat, which came against Carla Esparza a year ago. In January, the Brazilian smashed fellow countrywoman Amanda Ribas in the second round to earn her first stoppage inside the Octagon. Rodriguez is the only woman in UFC history to fight to a draw on two separate occasions, doing so aga…

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. Submission specialist Preston Parsons is about to join the ranks of the Ultimate Fighting Championship on short notice. Welterweight Daniel Rodriguez (14-2) announced on an Instagram story on Wednesday that his opponent Abubakar Nurmagomedov was forced out of their July 17 contest. On Thursday night, MMA Island was the first to report that Nurmagomedov’s replacement would be the newcomer Parsons (9-2). The promotion confirmed this booking on Friday, with the 170-pound bout taking place on UFC on ESPN 26 inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Parsons makes his way to the UFC with a 100 percent career submission rate, and his two defeats also came by stoppage. No pro fight for the Jacksonville Beach, Fla., resident has ever gone past the 4:26 mark of the second frame, win or lose. Four tapouts on Combat Night Pro events from 2019 to…

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. With 11 Cage Warriors Fighting Championship victories under his belt, Paddy Pimblett is set to make his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut in September. On Friday, Combate first broke the story that Pimblett (16-3) would be stepping inside the Octagon on Sept. 4 against Luigi Vendramini (9-2). The UFC Fight Night card slated for London does not yet have a venue established, although this lightweight bout has been booked for this event. News of Pimblett’s debut came from the fighter on his Instagram page on Thursday, and the matchup was confirmed by other outlets on Friday.

Former bantamweight Pimblett has largely impressed since his shift up to the lightweight division in 2018, starting with a flying triangle choke on Alexis Savvidis in his first fight at 155 pounds. An unsuccessful attempt for the Cage Warriors lightweig…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCZ3gk-el9M&w=640&h=360] Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 264 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor have a score to settle on what could be the biggest Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view of the year. Both fighters in the main event of UFC 264 had no issue making weight. In fact, all but one competitor on the 13-fight card hit their proper marks. Irene Aldana came in 3.5 pounds heavy for her bantamweight bout against Yana Kunitskaya, and she has been fined 30 percent of her purse. The bout will otherwise proceed as scheduled.

Coming off the biggest victory of his career, Poirier (27-6, 1 NC) will look to go two up in the trilogy against "Notorious." The Louisiana native was able to finish McGregor off with punches in Round 2 of their meeting earlier this year, which avenged a previous defeat to the Irishman in 2014. "The…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTQHgLHDiRM&w=560&h=315] 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 bursting out of the gate with three quick stoppage wins, hot Ultimate Fighting Championship commodity Khamzat Chimaev will be coming back to the Octagon following a lengthy layoff. According to a report from betting site Octagon.bet on Friday, and subsequently confirmed by multiple outlets, the UFC is booking Chimaev (9-0) for October against Jingliang Li (18-6). The two welterweights will collide at UFC 267, which is slated to go down on Oct. 30 at an undisclosed venue in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. This will be Chimaev’s first appearance since a knockout win in September 2020, as the Russian out of Sweden contracted COVID-19.

The future was bright for 27-year-old Chimaev, who debuted in the promotion in July 2020 and went on to rattle off three speedy…

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. Carlos Felipe has made life easier for Ultimate Fighting Championship matchmakers, getting his requested pairing in October. After Felipe (11-1) defeated Jake Collier in June by split verdict, the Brazilian called out Andrei Arlovski (31-20, 2 NC) in the post-fight press conference. The promotion has granted his request, as Felipe and Arlovski will throw down at an upcoming UFC Fight Night card on Oct. 16 inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Felipe announced the news of this pairing on an interview with Canal Encarada on Wednesday, and he subsequently confirmed the heavyweight tilt on his Instagram.

“I have a request for the matchmakers,” Felipe asked at the UFC 263 post-fight press conference. “Put me with Andrei Arlovski. This is the fight to make. I have all the respect for Andrei Arlovski, but I think his time has already passed.…

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. Due to an injury replacement, Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight Matt Schnell now finds himself in a matchup against a top-ranked foe. ESPN Deportes first reported the news on Wednesday night that Askar Askarov (14-0-1) has been forced out of his pairing with Alex Perez (24-6) due to a broken hand. The two flyweights were set to dance at UFC on ESPN 27 on July 31, but as a result, Matt Schnell (15-6) will be entering and the bout will be shifted to the UFC Fight Night event on Aug. 28. Perez and Schnell were originally slated to meet at UFC 262, but the scrap fell through and Schnell stayed on the card in a losing effort.

Schnell, who has lost two of his last three to Alexandre Pantoja and Rogerio Bontorin dating back to late 2019, will be taking on the sixth-ranked flyweight Perez on relatively short notice. As mentioned…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

A strawweight tilt pitting Amanda Ribas against Virna Jandiroba has been added to the UFC 267 bill.

Combate was first to report the matchup. UFC 267 will take place on Oct. 30 in Abu Dhabi and is expected to be headlined by a light heavyweight championshp bout between Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira.

Ribas kicked off her promotional tenure with four consecutive triumphs before falling to Marina Rodriguez via second-round TKO in her most recent outing at UFC 257. She was twice booked to face Angela Hill but both times the fight fell through due to COVID-19 issues for the Brazilian. The 27-year-old Marcelo Ribas Team product is 10-2 over the course of her professional career, with seven triumphs coming inside the distance.

Jandiroba has won three of her last four Octagon appearances. Most recently, she stopped Kanako Murata via second-round TKO at UFC on ESPN 25 on June 19. The former Invicta FC title holder also owns subm…

Nick Diaz’s long-awaited Octagon return is close to becoming a reality.

The promotion is targeting a welterweight clash between Diaz and Robbie Lawler for the UFC 266 co-main event on Sept. 25. UFC president Dana White initially revealed the booking to TSN. Verbal agreements have been issued for the bout, but contracts have yet to be signed.

Lawler and Diaz initially squared off at UFC 47, with Lawler losing via knockout at the 1:31 mark of Round 2.

Diaz hasn’t competed since January 2015, when he lost a five-round decision to Anderson Silva in the UFC 183 headliner — though the official result was overturned to a no contest after “The Spider” failed a drug test. Since that bout, Diaz has flirted with a comeback on multiple occasions, but nothing has come to fruition as of yet. A former Strikeforce champion, Diaz hasn’t won a fight since taking a unanimous decision over B.J. Penn at UFC 137 on Oct. 29, 2011. The 37-year-old Stockton, Calif., native won 11 strai…

Breaking: https://t.co/GUi7KSNP3n (@CryptoCom) becomes first-ever global official fight kit partner & first cryptocurrency platform of @UFC.

More information here :https://t.co/t955WC9WyD

— UFC News (@UFCNews) July 7, 2021 The Ultimate Fighting Championship is partnering with Crypto.com, which will allow the crypto platform to place its branding on UFC fight kits.

According to a report from Sportico, the deal is for 10 years and $175 million – the largest sponsorship ever for the Las Vegas-based promotion. In addition to having the Crypto.com logo on UFC apparel worn by fighters and their corners, the company will also get prominent placement on the Octagon during pay-per-view events and Dana White’s Contender Series cards. Crypto.com “will also be integrated into UFC content on both linear and digital platforms, including live broadcasts, pay-per-views, and UFC-owned social media channels,” per a release.

“This is a partnership …

How about that! NSAC no longer sanctioning for marijuana. Crazy that in my tenure with UFC I've seen NSAC try to suspend Nick Diaz for life for marijuana, to this. Big credit to Exec Director Bob Bennett for spearheading this change. Just don't show up to fight impaired!

— Jeff Novitzky (@JeffNovitzkyUFC) July 7, 2021

Fighters competing in Nevada will no longer be punished for testing positive for marijuana.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission voted unanimously on Wednesday to remove marijuana from the list of banned substances in the state. As a result, fighters will no longer face sanctions for a positive test.

“We should be always at the forefront of these issues, and I believe it’s warranted and merited since it is legal in this state,” NSAC chairman Stephen Cloobeck said. “I think we need to jump forward being the leader as we’ve always been.”

The new rule will take effect immediately, but fighters previously facing punishment …