Sports

4:26 PM ET Sam Marsden Alex Kirkland Sunday brings the 247th official edition of El Clasico, the eternal rivalry between LaLiga giants Barcelona and Real Madrid (10:15 a.m. ET; stream LIVE on ESPN+). Though it’s still too early to look at single games within the context of the overall title race — each side has

Sep 25, 2020 Editor’s note: This story was originally posted ahead of Paulo Costa’s fight against Israel Adesanya. Costa lost that fight and will make his first appearance since that bout against Marvin Vettori on Oct. 23. In February 2012, a 20-year-old realtor from Contagem, Brazil, made a quiet professional debut in mixed martial arts

4:57 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN The snakebitten lightweight championship fight between Teofimo Lopez and George Kambosos is now set for Nov. 27 at New York’s Hulu Theater at MSG, multiple sources told ESPN on Wednesday, a bout that will be streamed on DAZN. This is the ninth new date for the fight, which was originally

12:38 AM BST Liam Napier Bankruptcy, COVID and a World Cup qualifying loss to Uruguay does not conspire to cultivate a healthy launchpad for one of the toughest challenges in world rugby. The All Blacks’ arrival in Washington D.C. this week, ahead of their money-spinning Test at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Football Team

6:22 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Monday that he would have “preferred” that the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association come to an agreement on a vaccine mandate, in part to avoid it becoming an “adversarial” issue for the league’s players, as it has for Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving.

6:50 AM ET Alaina GetzenbergESPN BUFFALO, N.Y. — Steve Christie doesn’t turn off blowout football games as early as he used to. Even when some leads seem insurmountable, the former Buffalo Bills kicker will leave the TV on and see how it ends. He’s seen too much, experienced the adulation that comes from winning the

11:42 AM ET Associated Press LEXINGTON, Ky. — Bob Baffert can enter horses in the Breeders’ Cup next month at Del Mar, but the event’s all-time money-leading trainer has to meet certain conditions, including stricter out-of-competition testing of his horses and greater security at his barn. The conditions are the result of a review by

8:03 PM ET Associated Press INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Paula Badosa edged Victoria Azarenka 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-6 (2) on Sunday to win the BNP Paribas Open in her debut in the Southern California desert, where the tournament returned after a 2 1/2-year absence because of the coronavirus. She joined Bianca Andreescu in 2019 and

8:25 PM ET Associated Press LAS VEGAS — Rory McIlroy capped a big weekend in Las Vegas on Sunday by surging past Rickie Fowler and holding off Collin Morikawa to win the CJ Cup at Summit for his 20th PGA Tour title. McIlroy seized control with a 35-foot eagle putt from just off the green

1:20 PM ET Ed Orgeron and LSU have reached an agreement that he will not return as coach of the Tigers next season, sources told ESPN, confirming a report by Sports Illustrated. He is expected to finish out the remainder of the 2021 season as the team’s coach. LSU’s assistant coaches had not been told

2:18 AM ET Cody Bellinger produced a hit against an opposing left-handed pitcher only 12% of the time this season. But in the ninth inning on Saturday night, against the closer for a team that won its division, Bellinger came up with the line-drive single that would place the go-ahead run in scoring position. It

2:36 PM ET Austin LindbergESPN FC There is less than a month remaining in the 2021 Major League Soccer season. Already teams are locking up their places in the postseason (hello, New England Revolution and Seattle Sounders), and one team knows it’ll be watching from home (sorry, FC Cincinnati). The top seven from each of

3:36 PM ET Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is not currently allowed inside the confines of his longtime mixed martial arts gym following an arrest last month in Las Vegas. Jackson Wink MMA spokesperson James Hallinan wrote in a statement to ESPN that Jones is “temporarily suspended” from the Albuquerque, New Mexico, gym

8:15 AM ET The New York Islanders are going to win the 2022 Stanley Cup. “Please God, no,” wrote reader “Hockey Island,” whose Twitter profile includes an image of the team’s previous four championship banners from the 1980s. People like Mr. Island understand that my predicting the Stanley Cup winner is usually the kiss of

7:50 AM ET Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury delivered yet another in a long line of great performances to retain his WBC belt, stopping Deontay Wilder in their trilogy fight in Las Vegas. Fury got up from the canvas twice in Round 4, won five of the next six rounds on all three judges’ scorecards and

4:54 PM ET Associated Press BURLINGTON, N.C. — JR Smith stepped into a hornets nest in his first college golf tournament, and it had nothing to do with his high score. The 36-year-old two-time NBA champion was literally stung by hornets while completing his round Tuesday for North Carolina A&T on the second day of