#ufc

#ufc

At the Kennedy Center Honors this month, Trump told reporters that eight or nine championship fights would be held outside the White House in June of next year. The biggest fights they've ever had, he said. Every one is a championship fight. And every one's a legendary type of fight. He claimed an arena that can hold 5,000 to 6,000 people will be built outside the White House, and UFC head Dana White is holding back on certain events to have them be part of the celebration.

I'm like this guy got this, this guy got that and this is why. The conversation's over, and I'm starting to leave, and he grabs me by my shirt and pushes me back in my office and I said 'dude, get your f*cking hands off me.' I could see in this guy's face and in his eyes and the way he's acting who this guy really f*cking is.

"It makes all the sense in the world, right? We live together, we train together, we work together. Everything is there. There's also an inspiration to one being here at the same time as the other, one feeds off of the other and it helps a lot," he said.

"[IC360] reached out and told us there was some unusual action going on with that fight and [asked] did we know anything," White told TMZ. "We didn't. We called the fighter and his lawyer and said, 'what's going on? Are you injured? Do you owe anybody money, has anybody approached you?' The kid said, 'absolutely not, I'm going to kill this guy.' "The fight plays out, first-round finish -- literally, the first thing we did was call the FBI. I met the FBI twice [Tuesday]."

"Like many professional sports organizations, UFC works with an independent betting integrity service to monitor wagering activity on our events," a UFC spokesperson told ESPN in a statement. "Our betting integrity partner, IC360, monitors wagering on every UFC event and is conducting a thorough review of the facts surrounding the Dulgarian vs. del Valle bout on Saturday, November 1. We take these allegations very seriously, and along with the health and safety of our fighters, nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport."

Women's bantamweight Melissa Croden, who recently won her promotional debut at UFC Vancouver, is stepping in to face Luana Santos at UFC Vegas 112, set for the Apex on December 13, 2025. Santos was originally booked to take on Darya Zheleznyakova next month, with Croden initially penciled in to replace Darya in the fight on November 8. However, per a report by Eurosport, the fight will shift to UFC Vegas 112, the final event of the year for the UFC, and of the ESPN era.

"I got a lot of ideas of how I can be in the future. To develop a little more in the Octagon, to be better and to prepare myself better to be ready to counter strike and always strike back when something happens," Cortes-Acosta told reporters on Wednesday. Cortes-Acosta (14-2) has spent most of his UFC career competing inside the APEX, and "Salsa Boy" says the familiar setting feels like home.

Two of the UFC's biggest stars publicly called out each other on Saturday in the immediate aftermath of a very disappointing UFC heavyweight title fight between Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane. Jones is a former heavyweight champion who retired earlier this year rather than accept a fight against Aspinall, while Pereira is the current light heavyweight champion with a list of potential contenders in his own weight class.

"This is bulls---, the fight was just getting going," Aspinall said. "Complete bulls----. I'm pissed off. I can hardly open my eye."

Jandiroba has battled adversity to get to this point, including dropping her UFC debut and a 3-3 start in the promotion. "To dream of something is great, but to finally get to do it is even better. We've been on this journey for a long, long time. On Saturday, we're gonna be able to finally do it. It was a long road, but now I'm finally here, and I'm here to take the belt on Saturday."

The UFC plans on closing out 2025 with a bang. Six titles will be on the line over the final two months of the year. In the main event of UFC 321 from Abu Dhabi on Saturday (2 p.m. ET on ESPN PPV, prelims at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN+), Tom Aspinall will finally move on from the Jon Jones saga and defend his undisputed heavyweight championship for the first time against former interim titleholder Ciryl Gane.

Polastri seemed to have hurt Kowalkiewicz with a right hand and a kick to the body. That saw her looking to turn up the pressure, but not for long as Kowalkiewicz quickly recovered. They settled back in, exchanging, with Kowalkiewicz firing a spinning back fist that missed, and motioning for a takedown only to pull up short on it. A moment later, Polastri would clinch up, firing knee after knee.