Fights

The short guy who lost his s*** in the New York bagel shop last week is putting his viral fame to good use ... by getting in the ring and beating the crap outta other "celebs."

Chris Morgan just inked a deal Monday with fighting promoter Damon Feldman -- who's arranged for Chris to put on some boxing gloves and go toe-to-toe with someone later this year in Atlantic City. We got him out with his new crew ... and he seemed pretty excited.

Not as fired up as he was in Bagel Boss, of course, but stoked nonetheless. Chris tells us he's willing to take on anybody foolish enough to face him ... and needs minimal training.

He might wanna rethink that, considering he got railroaded by a much bigger guy in the store. If his opponent is even a few inches taller than him -- Chris might have a hard time.

As for the fight itself, we're told the bout is currently booked for September 7 at the Showboat Hotel. And, while no definitive opponent is set in stone quite yet ... he could face someone just as viral -- Antoine Dodson (the "hide yo kids, hide yo wife" guy).

Damon says Antoine is currently on the same card as Chris -- so it's possible they might square up at some point. Money-wise, we're told Chris stands to make anywhere from 5 to 6 figures ... depending on ticket sales and online streams.

The autopsy on Pernell Whitaker has been completed -- with officials saying the boxer died from "multiple blunt force injuries" in a car accident that has been labelled an "accident."

TMZ Sports broke the story ... the 55-year-old boxing legend was hit by a car while walking in Virginia Beach on Sunday night around 10 PM. Emergency responders raced to the scene and treated Whitaker but couldn't save him. 

The driver of the car was cooperative with police -- and we're told officials do NOT believe alcohol, drugs or speed was a factor in the incident. 

As one official put it, "It appears to just be a horrible accident."

Now, the Virginia’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is releasing the topline results of the autopsy -- telling us the obvious, "Multiple blunt force injuries."

No word on funeral arrangement at this point -- but we're told several fans have created a makeshift memorial at the spot where Whitaker died, leaving flowers and other items to honor the boxer. 

Dana White says Urijah Faber's comeback is REAL -- telling TMZ Sports the 40-year-old's victory this weekend was legitimately impressive ... and he ain't ruling out a fight with Henry Cejudo. 

Faber hadn't fought in 3 years when he came out of retirement to take on Ricky Simon on Saturday -- and Faber destroyed him in 46 seconds!

"He looked good man," White told TMZ Sports. 

"Obviously, not just who he beat but HOW he beat him and how he did it. He looked incredible."

Earlier this week, Faber told us he wants a shot at Henry Cejudo at Madison Square Garden in November -- but after talking with Dana, it seems Urijah might have to wait. 

White explained that Cejudo should defend his 125 pound title against Joe Benavidez BEFORE taking on Faber ... giving Henry a chance to avenge his last defeat (Joe beat Henry in 2016). 

Look, it's obvious Faber vs. Cejudo isn't White's priority -- but Dana clearly knows there's interest ... and that's good for Urijah. 

In the meantime, White says he's glad Cejudo -- who's the champ in TWO weight classes -- is willing to defend both of his titles. 

"I think that he's a guy who can carry both of them ... by both of them I mean both divisions."

We also spoke with White about Pernell Whitaker -- and how much he meant to the world of combat sports. 

UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber is so amped up after his victory over Ricky Simon this weekend -- he wants a shot at Henry Cejudo ... and he wants it THIS YEAR!!

"He's the best guy in the world and I want to fight him," the 40-year-old legend told TMZ Sports ... "It makes sense."

Faber says at his age, he doesn't want to be sitting out too long -- and says his dream situation would be to fight Cejudo at UFC 244 on November 2 at Madison Square Garden.

"I think Henry's injured at the moment, but the sooner the better!"

Urijah's right ... Henry is currently recovering from shoulder surgery and will likely be out the rest of the year -- but if Faber has to wait until early 2020, it sounds like he's down. 

Faber also tells us why he thinks fighting Cejudo would be a good matchup for him stylistically. 

And, if that fight doesn't come to fruition, there's another UFC star Faber would be down to scrap ... T.J. Dillashaw. 

Boxing legend Pernell Whitaker was killed Sunday night after he was hit by a car in Virginia Beach, TMZ Sports has learned. He was only 55. 

We're told officials received a call around 10:04 PM in response to an accident at the intersection of Northampton Boulevard and Baker Road.  

When cops arrived, they located the man who had been hit by a vehicle who was in really bad shape -- and our sources tell us that man was Pernell Whitaker. 

Emergency medical personnel at the scene tried to resuscitate Whitaker -- even performing CPR on him -- but unfortunately, Whitaker succumbed to his injuries and died. 

Cops are investigating. Unclear if the driver of the car was arrested but he did stay on the scene to speak with police. It's NOT a hit and run situation. 

By the way, we're told the area where Pernell was hit is NOT a popular nightlife area -- in other words, it's not like he was out partying. 

Whitaker (who's from Virginia) was a BEAST in the ring ... winning world titles at 4 different weights -- lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight and light middleweight. 

Sweet Pea was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2006 -- and is considered by many to be one of the greatest fighters of ALL TIME. 

He fought everyone from Oscar De La Hoya to Julio Cesar Chavez -- and even though he lost to Oscar and Julio was a draw ... many people believe he was ROBBED in both decisions because he clearly won the fights. 

His pro career began in 1984 and spanned all the way through 2001, with an amazing 40-4-1 record including 17 knockouts.

He also won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in L.A. 

From 1993 to 1997 he was considered the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Ring Magazine named him the Fight of the Year in 1989. 

Whitaker is survived by his 5 children. RIP

Ex-NFL star Michael Vick, who's also from Virginia, tweeted about Whitaker's passing -- saying, 'Sweet Pea' Whitaker was our hometown legend and the greatest of all time. My prayers are with his family and loved ones."

Magic Johnson added ... "Pernell 'Sweet Pea' Whitaker was in the class of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard as one of the most entertaining fighters in my lifetime. I’m praying for his family."

Every blockbuster fight needs a big-time promoter ... and Floyd Mayweather tells TMZ Sports he's the guy for Justin Bieber's potential fight against Tom Cruise!!

As we previously reported ... there have been serious talks about setting up a fight between the 25-year-old singer and the 57-year-old movie superstar after Biebs playfully tweeted about wanting a piece of TC last month. 

Dana White -- who was tagged in Bieber's initial post about the dream fight -- has said he'd be down to make it happen and predicts it would be the biggest fight in UFC history.

Enter Mayweather -- who says he wants NOTHING to do with training either celeb for the possible fight ... but wants EVERYTHING to do with the money involved.

"If they bring me in as a promoter, then I can talk about it. But until then, I gotta stay in my lane. Gotta stay in my business."

Remember, Mayweather used to be super tight with Justin Bieber -- he even let the pop star walk him to the ring for a few of his fights. Floyd even trained Bieber to box at one point.  

But, the two had a falling out back in 2017 ... and haven't really spoken since. 

Floyd didn't back Justin when we spoke with him ... but he didn't exactly praise him either. 

Rapper John Gabbana -- aka Boonk -- is on the mend after getting socked in the face, which left him with a busted jaw ... and some gnarly aftermath footage.

Just a warning ... some of these clips are very graphic (close-up shots of Boonk's broken mouth with teeth missing and whatnot). Boonk recorded himself going into surgery Saturday -- where he seemed to be in relatively good spirits surrounded by pals -- as well as some clips of him from Sunday, when he was apparently recovering from his operation. 

In the video from Saturday, you see Boonk with blood spatter all over his tank top and him holding a tube that he used to suck some of the blood from his mouth. Think a dentist's suction device, only bigger ... and bloodier. That's what we got here.

As for how exactly this happened ... Boonk was sucker punched in the face by a short dude.

It's unclear what led up to the assault, or where this even happened, but the seemingly mild blow left a major impact on Boonk's mug. On Instagram, he wrote ... "Broken jaw on both sides, surgery 7:30am. Pray for me, love you guys !! Gotta show them even when I’m down I’m still happy and oh if anyone ask.. I ran into a wall." 

We've been trying to get a hold of Boonk to get more info on what went down, and whether he's filed a police report or not. Considering the circumstances, he certainly could have.

In the meantime, it looks like he's got some love and affection to help him heal, courtesy of a lovely lady who's laying bedside with him. 

Ex-NFL QB Anthony Wright is lucky to be alive today ... a witness to his shooting last week says the former Baltimore Raven was "fading" quickly after he was shot in the back and chest.

It's all in new 911 audio obtained by TMZ Sports ... where a man says he saw Wright get shot "by a guy with a silver 9 millimeter" after an argument in North Carolina on July 1.

"He's breathing, but he's fading," the witness tells dispatch ... "He got shot right in the chest and in the back. Two shots."

Cops say the dispute that started the incident involved a custody situation with Wright's girlfriend's ex ... and led to the 43-year-old needing emergency surgery.

But, police said Wright was in stable condition after the operation ... and it's great news, considering the grim scene the witness painted to dispatch.

"He walked up to him and pointed the gun right at him then and ran off."

Police say they were able to arrest the alleged shooter, William "Willie" Moses Hooker Jr., a few days after the altercation ... and eventually hit him with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill charges.

Hooker is currently in a North Carolina jail under $1 MILLION bond.

Wright was a stud backup for years in the NFL ... playing for the Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and New York Giants.

UFC star Urijah Faber's comeback could be a short one -- like 1 fight -- IF he doesn't get a crack at champ-champ Henry Cejudo, the HOFer tells TMZ Sports.

40-year-old Faber walked away from fighting in December 2016 ... but recently inked a deal to fight Ricky Simon at UFC Fight Night 155 on Saturday -- almost 3 years after retiring.

The California Kid tells us he hasn't decided what he'll do after his fight -- meaning he could hang the gloves back up.

"The truth is, I'll make that decision later. I'm really enjoying this process at the moment. For me, 1 fight at a time," Faber tells us.

But, there's 1 big catch ... he'll absolutely without any doubt fight Cejudo.

"Fighting Henry Cejudo, Mr. Cringe himself," Urijah says ... "I'll fight that dude all day. Believe that."

Remember, Henry called out Urijah in the Octagon after winning the bantamweight title last month.... saying he had a hit list and Faber was on it.

"Styles make matchups. He's not gonna break me, that's absolutely sure. I'm not worried about getting out wrestled or out grappled. His pressure is what's won him fights. That's something I can handle. Pressure is all good with me."

The greatest female boxer in the world wants a piece of the greatest female UFC fighter in the world ... with Claressa Shields guaranteeing she'd KNOCK OUT Amanda Nunes!!!

"If we were to fight, I would win," Shields told us bluntly ... "In boxing, yeah, Amanda Nunes would go to sleep."

24-year-old Shields is a MONSTER in the ring -- she's 9-0 and the undisputed women's middleweight champion of the world! BEAST!!

Of course, Nunes ain't no punk -- she's widely considered the greatest female MMA fighter EVER ... after smashing everyone from Ronda Rousey to Cris Cyborg and Holly Holm. 

Sheilds says Nunes would obviously have the advantage if they stepped into the Octagon, but in a pure fistfight ... oh man, Sheilds says Nunes wouldn't stand a chance! 

So, could it happen? 

Don't rule it out ... Nunes prides herself on her striking ability and we've seen MMA fighters jump into the boxing ring before (McGregor vs. Mayweather anyone!?). 

In the meantime, Claressa says she REALLY wants a crack at welterweight champ Cecilia Braekhus, a 35-0 superstar who hails from Norway. 

UFC champ Kamaru Usman says he was genuinely "scared" for his UFC rival, Ben Askren -- saying that 5-second, knee-to-the-head knockout looked REALLY bad in person. 

Usman was in the crowd at UFC 239 in Vegas last weekend when Jorge Masvidal turned out Askren's lights with a ferocious flying knee ... and Kamaru admits, "I was kinda scared."

"Actually, I was kinda sad cause he was out for a long, long time," Kamaru says ... "He was out for about 5 to 7 minutes." 

"I was kinda scared cause he was stiff. I thought something might've happened."

Askren was rushed to a nearby hospital -- but tweeted later that night and says he's fine. 

Of course, Kamaru and Ben have a pretty nasty history ... Askren mocked Kamaru for months by calling him "Marty," the Americanized nickname he got during his college wrestling days. 

But, when push comes to shove, Kamaru says he doesn't wish terrible things on Askren -- you can tell there's some real respect there. 

As for Masvidal, who's been pushing for a shot at Kamaru's belt, Usman says the guy needs to "SLOW DOWN" ... though he seems open to the idea. 

Anderson Silva is one of the greatest fighters to ever live ... but the Spider says we ain't seen NOTHIN' yet ... telling TMZ Sports his son could be even better than him!!

Silva's 20-year-old son, Gabriel, just competed in his first Muay Thai fight last month and beat his opponent via 2nd-round TKO ... so we had to ask his dad how good his son could be.

"He has a great future inside the sport." Spider says ... adding it's too soon to decide whether he'll follow in his footsteps to be a UFC superstar.

We followed up by asking if Gabriel could be better than his daddy, and Silva said, "of course!!!"

Silva says they've sparred together in the past ... and his son has beaten him!!

Busta Rhymes apparently wasn't in the mood to mingle with a fan, and all hell broke loose when that fan got sour and used a homophobic slur while arguing with the rapper.

TMZ's obtained video that picks up in the middle of the heated confrontation that went down around 5 AM Wednesday in NYC. You can see the rapper arguing with a couple of men wearing construction crew reflective vests. Busta's being held back by friends and several NYPD cops. 

There's a lot of shouting going on and Busta gets right up in the grill of one of the construction dudes. Things quickly escalated when one of the guys appears to drop the f-word on Busta. You can see in the video ... Busta appears to retaliate by throwing a punch but misses. Cops step in between the man and Busta and that's where the video ends.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... one of the construction workers filed a harassment report around 10 PM later that night .... claiming Busta was the aggressive one before cops showed up and before action picks up in our video.

The man alleged Busta swung at him but made no contact, and told him "I will f*** you up" after saying hello to the rapper. The man said he felt threatened and dropped his phone because he was scared.

Our sources say cops didn't witness what the man alleged. We're told besides the harassment report, cops have washed their hands of this incident. There's no further investigation and the matter's considered closed.

Lately, it seems everyone wants a piece of Busta. As we reported, he got into a heated argument with another man who was pissed the rapper hit on his wife. 

There's something a little off about the enraged man who went viral for ranting about women on dating sites before getting attacked -- he has a pattern of noisy and disturbing altercations.

In case you missed it, this NY bagel shop video went viral Wednesday due to the guy tearing into women who ridicule him for his height. The added bonus of him challenging 2 larger men to fight before getting his ass kicked had all the makings of social media gold.

TMZ's learned the vid's just the latest in a series featuring the guy getting into arguments and altercations all around Long Island, usually because he claims he's been harassed for his height or slighted in some way.

The videos come from the YouTube channel of Chris Morgan, who is presumably the 5' tall man from the bagel shop, but unlike the viral vid ... they are selfie vids he's angrily narrating. In several of them, the people he is accosting and filming call him Chris.

In a 2-parter from May, the man is pissed off in a 7-Eleven because he says one of the employees asked him how tall he was. He shouts at the guy for a couple minutes before calling the cops to file a harassment charge, but as you can see ... the officer's mostly confused and irritated.

In another bizarre and disturbing vid from December, the man accuses a woman of cursing in front of her child and cutting in front of him to use the bathroom at a store. It looks like things get physical and she accuses him of putting his hands on her, and he yells that she slapped his phone.

The woman is referred to as a "ghetto hoodrat" in the video title, and he yelled at her ... "f**k you, bitch" and "you're a loser ghetto skank."

There are many more vids on the channel that include the guy using homophobic slurs (calling his neighbor the f-word after calling the cops on him), being racist (posting a vid of 2 Asian men talking and titling it "The Orient Express") and getting into fights with people who seem to know him ... including a Jets fan at a bar. There are also more examples of him being misogynistic.

Heavyweight boxing champ Andy Ruiz says he's already training for the rematch with Anthony Joshua ... and tells TMZ Sports he's calling the shots this time around!!

Of course, Ruiz was a late replacement who stepped in for Jarrell Miller when "Big Baby" failed a drug test -- with Andy only getting around 6 weeks of training before the June 1 fight. 

But this time around, Ruiz tells us he's working in a FULL training camp -- and he's going to be the one to decide WHERE the fight takes place. 

Ruiz tells us he'd like to throw down in Mexico -- where he recently met with President Lopez -- or go back to Madison Square Garden in NY. 

There's one place he won't go ... England, where Joshua is from. 

Bottom line ... "I'm the champion," Ruiz says -- "We're the A-Side."

As for whether he's spoken with Joshua, Ruiz tells us, "I haven't talked to him, but I'm pretty sure he's training hard for the rematch. And, so am I."

Floyd Mayweather is laughing at the idea of a rematch with Conor McGregor -- labeling the UFC star's camp as a bunch of "circus clowns" who "can't f*ck with Money May!"

As we previously reported, McGregor publicly stated that he wants another crack at Floyd because he knows what he did wrong in the first fight and he's convinced he can win the 2nd-time around.

So, when we saw Floyd out in L.A. this week, we asked if he was down for another scrap with the Irish superstar. 

Floyd and his crew immediately began bursting into laughter -- and that's when the trash talk began. 

"Boy, boy, boy, boy, boy ... these kids are some circus clowns," Mayweather said. 

"They cant f*ck with Money May."

"They gonna keep coming my way. At the end of the day, I keep laughing, I keep living, I keep going to the bank."

Remember, Floyd beat up Conor pretty badly when they clashed in 2017 -- ultimately winning by way of TKO in the 10th round. 

We asked Floyd -- who made more than $300 mil from the first McGregor fight -- if there was a number that would get him back in the ring ... but he essentially told us he doesn't need the money. 

There's more ... we asked Floyd if he's supporting Manny Pacquiao in his upcoming fight against Keith Thurman.