There was a bump in the road last week, but the UFC 244 main event is full steam ahead, with Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz set to compete for a BMF belt created by the UFC for this very occasion, Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. The main card begins at 10 p.m. ET on pay-per-view, which fans can purchase here. The prelims are on ESPN2 at 8 p.m., with the early prelims on ESPN+ at 6:15.
Masvidal (34-13) is coming off a five-second knockout of Ben Askren in July, the fastest KO in UFC history.
Diaz (20-11) ended a three-year absence from the sport with August's unanimous-decision win over former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis.
The UFC 244 main card also includes a co-main event between Kelvin Gastelum and Darren Till, with the latter making his middleweight debut. There also are several other appealing bouts, even beyond the main card. The feature prelim is a meeting of top light heavyweights Corey Anderson (No. 6 in the ESPN rankings at 205 pounds) and Johnny Walker, winner of nine in a row, with eight finishes. The top fight on the early prelims pits Katlyn Chookagian (ESPN's No. 3 at strawweight) against Jennifer Maia (No. 7).
Watch the prelims on ESPN2: Download the ESPN App | WatchESPN | TV
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Don't have ESPN+ for the early prelims? Get it here.
There's also FightCenter, which offers live updates for UFC 243 and every UFC card.
UFC 244 schedule
PPV (via ESPN+), 10 p.m. ET
Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz | Welterweight
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Darren Till | Middleweight
Stephen Thompson vs. Vicente Luque | Welterweight
Derrick Lewis vs. Blagoy Ivanov | Heavyweight
Kevin Lee vs. Gregor Gillespie | Lightweight
ESPN2, 8 p.m.
Corey Anderson vs. Johnny Walker | Light heavyweight
Shane Burgos vs. Makwan Amirkhani | Men's featherweight
Brad Tavares vs. Edmen Shahbazyan | Middleweight
Andrei Arlovski vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik | Heavyweight
ESPN+, 6:15 p.m.
Jennifer Maia vs. Katlyn Chookagian | Women's flyweight
Lyman Good vs. Chance Rencountre | Welterweight
Julio Arce vs. Hakeem Dawodu | Men's featherweight