Sports

10:53 AM ET UFC lightweights Beneil Dariush and Islam Makhachev have agreed to meet on Feb 26, manager Ali Abdelaziz told ESPN. The 155-pound, five-round contest will headline a UFC Fight Night, said Abdelaziz, who managers both fighters. The promotion has not yet announced a location for that event. “I don’t like it when two

2:11 PM ET After months of feuding, trading jobs during interviews and on social media, then seemingly making up at the Ryder Cup — there was even a bro hug! — until that unraveled earlier this week, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka are finally taking this rivalry to the golf course. Today, in the latest

7:32 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Teofimo Lopez bounced off the ropes, thrusting his entire body into each side of the ring, before stopping in the center and doing a backflip. Then he lay down on the mat and added a few snow angels for good measure. Lopez had plenty to be exuberant about on that

5:21 PM ET Associated Press MADRID — Former NBA player Marc Gasol will play for Girona, the club he founded in the second division of Spanish basketball, he announced Thursday. The 36-year-old Gasol said he will play until the end of the season before deciding whether to retire. Gasol is the owner and president of

6:30 AM ET ESPN staff Rivalry Week is here! And while most of what makes this week great is the history, passion and petty in-fighting built over the past century, this year’s games also have plenty at stake on the field, too. Whether it’s fighting for a New Year’s Six bowl, a spot in a

7:00 AM ET ESPN staff The Week 12 NFL schedule for the 2021 season begins with three Thanksgiving Day matchups, and we’ve got you covered with what you need to know. Our NFL Nation reporters bring us the biggest keys to every game, a bold prediction for each matchup and, of course, final score picks.

7:00 AM ET As we approach American Thanksgiving weekend — and a triple-header of matchups on ABC, ESPN+ and Hulu — we’ve also traversed another week of the 2021-22 NHL schedule. And for the second straight week, we’ve got a new No. 1 team atop the ESPN NHL Power Rankings. Moreover, now that teams are

3:56 PM ET Wander Franco‘s 12-year contract extension with the Tampa Bay Rays that guarantees him $182 million and could pay a maximum of $223 million is shocking in only one regard: that the Rays would make that kind of financial outlay, even to a burgeoning superstar like Franco. It is not just the largest

4:30 AM ET Manchester United failed to take their first opportunity to hire Mauricio Pochettino as manager, but they can’t afford to miss their second chance following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s departure on Sunday. It will require ambition and a readiness to pay whatever it will take to get him, but sources have told ESPN that

8:52 PM GMT Kathleen McNamee TWICKENHAM, London — There is an argument to be made that England’s dramatic 27-26 win over South Africa at Twickenham on Saturday was Eddie Jones’ greatest masterclass. Much has been made of this England side since the summer, but no longer will fans be able to jibe this team as

9:30 PM ET Ketlen Vieira defeated Miesha Tate via unanimous decision in a five-round main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas. It was Tate’s second appearance since returning from a nearly five-year layoff, as she was retired from 2016 to 2021. Two takeaways from this one for me. First off, Tate

5:48 PM ET Mike Coppinger Ben Baby Close ESPN Staff Writer ESPN Staff Writer Previously a college football writer for The Dallas Morning News University of North Texas graduate Terence Crawford defends his WBO welterweight title against Shawn Porter on Saturday in the main event of a Top Rank on ESPN+ PPV card at Michelob

10:36 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Earlier this month, tennis player Peng Shuai accused Zhang Gaoli, a former high-ranking Chinese government official, of sexual assault. Peng wrote, in a lengthy social media post, that Zhang had forced her to have sex despite repeated refusals. The post was removed within 20 minutes from her verified account on

11:02 AM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR will return practice and qualifying to its weekend schedule for all three national series in 2022 after the on-track activity had been mostly scrapped the past two seasons amid the coronavirus pandemic. NASCAR traditionally hosted three-day weekends for its races but dropped all qualifying and practice

7:00 AM ET FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — When New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones arrives on the sideline during games, he always sits in the same spot on the bench, shoulder-to-shoulder next to the same person. It’s Mac and McDaniels: The even-keeled, deep-breathing first-round pick from the University of Alabama and his offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels,

7:33 AM ET Bobby Marks The NBA season is a month old, and already we’re seeing the impact of the biggest moves of the offseason. After a run to the NBA Finals, Chris Paul re-signed in Phoenix and has the Suns near the top of the West again. Kyle Lowry went from Toronto to Miami

9:12 PM ET The Big 12 on Wednesday issued a public reprimand of the Texas Tech radio announcers for their call of Saturday’s 41-38 win over Iowa State. Play-by-play host Brian Jensen and analyst John Harris were critical of the officials during the game, going so far as to list off individual names. As a

3:02 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Serena Williams is still haunted by her experience at Indian Wells in 2001 and the mental anguish that she says she endured when returning to the event in 2015 after a lengthy boycott. “Even when I went back 14 years later, it was very traumatizing,” Williams said in an interview

8:22 AM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson will represent the United States in the upcoming international Race of Champions, an event he won with Jeff Gordon in 2002. Johnson will compete in the event scheduled Feb. 4-6 in Pite Havsbad, Sweden for the “Champion of Champions” title in the

7:00 AM ET With the one-month mark in the rearview mirror — with the requisite awards presented to their winners — teams are certainly beginning to show tendencies that are more than just early-season trends. For this week’s power rankings — which saw a new No. 1 — we identify that key tendency for all