Sports

12:49 PM ET UFC welterweight contender Leon Edwards says he wasn’t surprised by Jorge Masvidal‘s recent withdrawal from their scheduled fight at UFC 269 next month, and he has now turned his entire focus to a title fight against Kamaru Usman in 2022. Edwards, of England, told ESPN he’d heard some concerning things about Masvidal’s

7:58 AM 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 championship against Shawn Porter on Saturday (ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET), and Crawford, ESPN’s No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter, has a

6:57 PM ET Associated Press PHOENIX — Phil Mickelson birdied three of the final holes Sunday to win the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship, and Bernhard Langer held on to win his sixth PGA Tour Champions season points title. Mickelson shot a 6-under 65 at Phoenix Country Club, getting up-and-down from short of the par-5

3:17 PM ET Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The head of the women’s professional tennis tour called for a full investigation of sexual assault allegations made by a two-time Grand Slam doubles champion from China against a former top government official in that country. Earlier this month, Peng Shuai, a former No. 1-ranked doubles

9:41 PM GMT There was barely any danger of the Wallabies’ hoodoo ending at Twickenham on Saturday. If Australia losing to Eddie Jones’ England felt familiar before, the visitors will leave London thinking it is almost grimly inevitable. As victories go, this was straightforward for England in a slippery match where errors from both sides

9:37 PM ET Philadelphia 76ers top assistant coach Dave Joerger is leaving the team for several weeks to undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatments for a form of “head and neck” cancer, Joerger told ESPN. Joerger, 47, has undergone treatments while coaching for the past two weeks — missing only one road game — but the

7:00 AM ET ESPN staff The Week 10 NFL schedule for the 2021 season is stacked with great matchups, and we’ve got you covered with what you need to know heading into the weekend. Our NFL Nation reporters bring us the biggest keys to every game, a bold prediction for each matchup and, of course,

6:00 AM ET All but four teams are on the outside looking in at the College Football Playoff right now. Fortunately for them, the clock has not run out. There’s a path for many teams to break through — though for some it’s much less likely to happen than for others. Still, a path is

9:00 AM ET When the Buffalo Sabres finally traded Jack Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights last week, it didn’t just mark the end of the NHL’s most contentious standoff — it marked the end of an era. The Sabres literally ruined themselves for the chance to draft Jack Eichel in 2015. (Or Connor McDavid

4:44 PM ET ESPN News Services CARLSBAD, Calif. — Baseball’s most influential agent said the sport was the victim of a “competitive cancer” caused by teams unloading veterans to accumulate draft picks, and that the Atlanta Braves‘ World Series title was a direct result of tanking. In an outdoor news conference in front of a

2:00 PM ET Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. — All samples collected from horses competing in the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar have tested clear. The Kenneth L. Maddy Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory at UC Davis announced the results Thursday. All horses competing in the world championships last weekend were tested for total carbon dioxide levels

9:48 AM ET Associated Press The nascent Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority on Thursday released a draft of proposed anti-doping and medication control rules designed to bring uniformity to a sport that has operated for years under patchwork regulations in 38 racing states. Since July, HISA has been working with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to

5:00 AM ET The two-week international break might mean a pause for clubs, but it’s all systems go around the globe with World Cup qualifying and every continent is approaching the end of the road to Qatar 2022. Only three teams — including hosts Qatar, who qualify automatically — have already punched their tickets to

1:55 AM GMT Wallabies scrum-half Nic White has dubbed Eddie Jones the “king of mind games” ahead of Saturday’s clash at Twickenham, after the England coach wasted little time whipping up a pre-match sideshow on multiple fronts to start the week. It has already been a busy week for Jones, after he referenced US Open

9:30 AM ET Going into his UFC 268 main event against Colby Covington, welterweight champion Kamaru Usman already was No. 1 in the ESPN men’s pound-for-pound rankings. There was no room for upward movement. However, Usman’s strong performance at Madison Square Garden did earn him the backing of the last holdout on our voting panel.

7:58 AM ET It was an eventful week in the world of boxing. Canelo Alvarez claimed the vast majority of headlines as he became the undisputed super middleweight champion of the world by knocking out Caleb Plant on Saturday. So naturally, attention immediately turned toward what’s next for boxing’s pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter. In the

7:11 PM ET Associated Press AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Larson won. That was the expected result of NASCAR’s season-ending championship race, right? Larson closed his comeback season in NASCAR with his first championship Sunday, where he capped his return from a nearly yearlong suspension with a title-winning victory at Phoenix Raceway. “I can’t believe it,”

11:58 PM ET It is notoriously difficult to see a truly great race car driver ever show us a lot of real, raw emotion. Not anger. We’ve all seen that plenty. Not celebratory joy. That’s what we see most, when the driver who has just pulled into Victory Lane finally shows us their face after

6:29 PM ET Associated Press PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Viktor Hovland won again on the PGA Tour, this time without a clutch finish. The Norwegian star was too dominant to give anyone else a chance Sunday in the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. Hovland seized control with three birdies on the front nine,

1:59 PM ET Associated Press MIAMI — The NBA told its players, coaches and referees Sunday that they should receive booster shots against the coronavirus, with particular urgency for those who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The league and the National Basketball Players Association — working jointly based on guidance from the league’s