Sports

12:18 PM ET Former NFL defensive end and UFC heavyweight Greg Hardy has signed an agreement to bare-knuckle box. Hardy, 33, has signed a multifight deal with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, the promotion announced Wednesday. It is Hardy’s first move in combat sports since the UFC opted not to re-sign him after a three-year run.

7:43 AM ET BROOKLINE, Mass. — We interrupt the ongoing drama of who has left the PGA Tour — and who might still be going to the LIV Golf Invitational Series — for the 122nd U.S. Open, the third major championship of the season. With two golf worlds colliding at The Country Club this week,

7:38 AM ET Timothy Bradley Jr. Artur Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr. meet on Saturday to unify three of the four major light heavyweight titles in the main event of a Top Rank card at the Hulu Theater inside Madison Square Garden in New York (ESPN/ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET, with prelims on ESPN+ at 6:30

7:51 AM ET Serena Williams strongly hinted at a return to tennis this month at Wimbledon in a social media post Tuesday. Williams, 40, hasn’t competed since injuring her right leg last year at Wimbledon and did not appear on the women’s singles entry list released last Friday by the grass-court Grand Slam. But Williams

8:00 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO — The highlights of the Stephen Curry 3-pointers, Robert Williams’ blocked shots and, now, Andrew Wiggins‘ dunks, continue to run as the premier moments in the 2022 NBA Finals. Celtics coach Ime Udoka keeps trying to tell everyone they’re missing the point. The Golden State Warriors are one win from

6:00 AM ET EAST LANSING, Mich. — After a practice this spring, Michigan State coach Mel Tucker sat in the lounge area of his office, which overlooks Spartan Stadium and the school’s athletic campus. Four months earlier, Tucker had agreed to a 10-year, $95 million contract with Michigan State. The deal made headlines around college

6:00 AM ET NFL NationESPN Mandatory three-day minicamp kicks off for 17 teams this week after 12 others held theirs last week. The Miami Dolphins had their session two weeks ago, and the Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals aren’t holding one this year. Many players have taken part in voluntary organized team activities, but the

10:49 AM BST Castleford Tigers hooker Jacques O’Neill has been released from his contract in order to appear on ITV reality show Love Island. O’Neill made his debut for the Super League club in 2019 and has played 29 time since, despite being hampered by a persistent hamstring injury which caused him to miss the

10:45 PM ET TAMPA BAY — The Tampa Bay Lightning have eliminated the New York Rangers and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for the third straight season, with the Colorado Avalanche rested and ready for Game 1 (Wednesday, 8 ET, ESPN). Here are five things we learned about the Lightning so far in their

3:00 PM ET And you thought the intentional walk had gone the way of Blockbuster, the iPod and those titanium-infused Phiten necklaces that stabilized the body’s energy flow. You were wrong! Turns out, the intentional walk is still part of the game — and, courtesy of Joe Maddon and now Tony La Russa, it gifted

7:07 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Mo Donegal finished first and filly Nest was second, giving trainer Todd Pletcher a 1-2 finish at the Belmont Stakes on Saturday for his sixth victory in the Triple Crown race. Donegal rounded the 1 1/2-mile track in 2 minutes, 28.28 seconds, ahead of Nest and Skippylongstocking.

7:56 PM ET Associated Press SONOMA, Calif. — Kyle Larson can’t be beaten lately in qualifying at Sonoma Raceway, and he hopes his recent superiority leads to a similar stretch of dominance in the race. Larson will start on the pole for the fifth straight time in the NASCAR Cup Series race at his home

11:51 PM ET The United States men overcame a slow start with the help of four goals from Jesus Ferreira to earn a comfortable 5-0 win over Grenada on Friday night in its CONCACAF Nations League opener at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas. Neither Christian Pulisic nor Tyler Adams dressed for the game against 170th-ranked

8:13 PM ET Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship has put together one of the most unique fight bookings of the year. Bellator star Michael “Venom” Page will take on former UFC veteran Mike Perry at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 27 on Aug. 20 in London, the promotion announced Thursday. Page, a karate specialist, will remain with

11:45 AM ET ESPN Sports Betting The 154th running of the Belmont Stakes features plenty of intriguing storylines. While the Triple Crown won’t be on the line, three of the top six finishers, including Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike, will be part of the eight-horse field. Post time for the race is set for approximately

8:00 AM ET Pete ThamelESPN NORMAN, Okla. — Perhaps no image better encapsulates the eye-popping intensity of Brent Venables than the pictures of Clemson’s get back coach struggling to tug the school’s longtime defensive coordinator back to the sideline. It’s fitting that in his first season as a head coach at Oklahoma, Venables’ go-to “Good

7:58 AM ET Naoya Inoue scored an impressive second-round TKO victory over Nonito Donaire in their rematch of the ESPN 2019 fight of the year and solidified his spot as the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Inoue (23-0, 20 KOs), 29, of Japan, received more votes than ever before from our 16-member panel,

4:30 PM ET HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, ENGLAND — Several years ago, Phil Mickelson began wearing aviator sunglasses so frequently they started to feel like a part of his personality. He wore them initially, he said, for medical reasons during a two-week skin treatment on his face meant to kill hidden cancer cells, a preventative therapy he

4:48 PM ET Associated Press Lisa Lazarus walked around the backstretch at Belmont Park nine days before the final leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown, selling as much as observing. The CEO of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority talked with trainers, riders and other horsemen about the sport’s federally mandated new governing body that

4:20 PM ET Kendra AndrewsESPN Draymond Green entered Game 2 of the NBA Finals with a very clear mindset: bring force. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I’m going on about my summer and we lost the NBA Finals because we couldn’t meet force with force,” Green said ahead of practice in