Fights

An NBA game turned into an MMA match Wednesday ... 'cause during a bench-clearing brawl, Ben Simmons put Karl-Anthony Towns in a chokehold -- AND KAT TAPPED!!!

The insane scene all went down in the third quarter of the Sixers-Timberwolves game ... when Anthony Towns got pissed over Joel Embiid's aggressive defense.

The two big men pushed and shoved ... and ultimately, EVERYBODY jumped into the fracas!!

At one point -- after Embiid and KAT were separated -- Simmons ended up on the ground on top of Anthony Towns ... and 76ers star began choking KAT out!!!

Karl quickly tapped ... and Simmons let go -- and the whole altercation was crazy/hilarious.

Maybe the best part of the entire skirmish? After Embiid was ejected ... he played it up to the crowd -- AND ANTHONY TOWNS' MOM BEGAN FLIPPING HIM OFF!!!

Cooler heads ultimately prevailed on the court -- the Sixers ended up winning, 117-95 -- but the battle continued to rage on on social media afterward.

"Great team win!!!" Embiid said. "I was raised around lions and a cat pulled on me tonight lmao @jimmybutler I missed being part of the 3rd stringers... I got his mom giving middle fingers. That’s some SERIOUS REAL ESTATE #FightNight #IAintNoBitch"

Didn't take long for KAT to fire back ... "I aIN’t nO BiTcH RaiSeD ARoUnD LiOnS #BitchTalk." He also tagged the location as, "All Bark & No Bite"

Amazing.

UFC star Jorge Masvidal says fighting in front of President Trump will be a "humbling" experience ... telling TMZ Sports he's honored to put on a show in front of POTUS!!!

As we previously reported ... a TON of star power will be watching Masvidal take on Nate Diaz for the "Bad Mother F**ker" belt at MSG on Saturday -- from The Rock to Robert Kraft to yes, the President of the United States of America!!!

Masvidal says politics aside, it's a once in a lifetime moment at UFC 244 ... and he's going to make the best of it, saying some fighters who love Trump will never even get this opportunity.

"Not every fighter can say, 'Hey, the president is showing up to my fight', you know? So, that's humbling in itself."

Of course, with Masvidal being from Miami, we had to ask about Dwayne Johnson being there as well ... and he says the whole event is such a big deal, he can't even think about all of the hype until AFTER the fight.

KSI is eating like the Notorious leading up to his rematch with Logan Paul ... hiring Conor McGregor's personal chef to cook his meals leading up to the fight!!

The 26-year-old British internet superstar gave an inside look into his insane training program for the Nov. 9 bout ... revealing he hired combat sports superchef Eric Triliegi to help him get in fighting shape.

"When it comes to cooking, we needed to upgrade the nutrition," KSI said on DAZN's "40 Days: Behind-The-Scenes With KSI" docuseries.

"We needed something more performance-based and that's why we decided to get Eric in."

As we previously reported, KSI says he's spent $300k of his own money on boxing training and other fight preparation expenses ... dude's taking this extremely seriously.

Chef Eric -- who's worked with pro fighters like McGregor, Anthony Pettis and Miesha Tate -- gave a breakdown on the diet he's cookin' up for KSI ... and it doesn't hurt that the food looks BOMB.

"Our main goal is to give fighters food that enhances performance. If we're not doing that, then why are we even here feeding them?"

Logan also kept the cameras rolling for his 'Countdown to Fight Night' docuseries with DAZN ... which shows the intense training he's been putting into the rematch. There's a cool moment where he puts on the 10 oz. gloves for the first time.

"This shouldn't be allowed. I swear to God, this shouldn't be allowed," Logan said ... saying the 2 oz. glove difference from the 12 oz. gloves they rocked in the first fight will give him a huge advantage.

Logan also had Elvis Grant Phillips -- founder of Grant Boxing Worldwide -- over to his mansion to try on a sick pair of silk-lined gloves, which Elvis says is a first of its kind.

"I feel like I am holding a gun in my hand."

Huge news from Saudi Arabia ... where WWE just announced its very first WOMEN'S wrestling match in the country -- and it will all go down THIS WEEK!!!

Saudi officials had previously blocked WWE from holding a women's match -- but Triple H had noted the country was going through a "significant cultural shift" and was hopeful things would change.

Now, Triple H has gotten his wish ... with WWE commentator Michael Cole making the announcement from Riyadh on Wednesday morning.

"I am so proud to announce that tomorrow at WWE Crown Jewel we host the first ever WWE women's match in Saudi Arabia."

So, who's getting the ring? Lacey Evans vs. Natalya ... two superstars with a storied history.

And, get this, Evans is a real-life veteran of the U.S. Marines who served for 5 years -- and her WWE finishing move is called, "The Women's Right."

Evans spoke out about the match saying, "When I signed up for WWE my goal was to really impact the world and the people that I can, and we're doing it one day at a time."

One thing the world will definitely be watching when "Crown Jewel" goes down on Thursday -- the ring attire.

During a women's match in Abu Dhabi back in 2017, the women wore outfits that covered most of their bodies. Guessing they will go with a similar look this time around.

It'sssss TIME ... for President Donald Trump to attend a UFC fight in person!

That's exactly what's happening on Saturday -- POTUS will be in the house at Madison Square Garden for UFC 244, featuring a massive fight between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal.

Trump has been a longtime supporter of the UFC and Dana White -- in fact, White has publicly credited Trump for being a key figure in turning the MMA promotion into the juggernaut it is today.

Now, Trump has reportedly made time in his schedule to see Diaz and Masvidal fight for the coveted "Bad Mother F**ker" belt when they clash on Nov. 2.

And, get this ... the celebrity guest list that night is insane -- Dana White previously told us Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will be on hand to present the winner with the 'BMF' belt.

New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft -- whose also close with Trump -- will be in the house as well. The Patriots play the Ravens in Baltimore the next day.

President Trump's sons, Don Jr. and Eric, attended a UFC fight in New Jersey earlier this year -- when Trump supporter Colby Covington defeated Robbie Lawler.

Donald Trump called Colby after the fight to personally congratulate him.

As for UFC 244, you better believe Secret Service will be swarming that night.

And, it'll be VERY interesting to hear what the always outspoken Nate Diaz has to say if he gets the mic after the fight!

Blueface's concert suddenly turned into a massive brawl ... and the show ended early when the rapper hopped off the stage and stuck his nose in the middle of the fight!!!

Check out this video from Blueface's gig Monday night at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz, CA ... he was performing "Shotta Flow" when a bunch of people off to the side of the stage started arguing, and then swinging on each other.

Punches were flying -- and almost everyone was pushing and shoving -- when Blueface stopped mid-song, he jumped offstage and headed straight for the center of the melee.

One of the rapper's security guards thought wiser of it, and quickly hauled him away, but the fans kept brawling. It's pretty crazy ... at one point during the fight, a guy picks up a trash can and tosses it at his opponents!

Cooler heads eventually prevailed, with the help of security, but folks who were there tell us Blueface bounced and the concert got shut down early.

Cops were called and they arrived after the fight had ended. No word from police yet on any potential arrests or injuries.

Hulk Hogan says he's been forced to change planes in Iceland after things went horribly wrong during the landing ... with his plane taking serious damage to the tires and brakes.

Hogan was on his way to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday with fellow WWE legend Jimmy Hart for the upcoming 'Crown Jewel' PPV event, when things hit a snag.

"Just had a really hard landing," Hulk said from the tarmac ... "blew out the tires and brakes have melted."

Hogan says the plane was grounded due to "all that crazy stuff happening" -- but says a friend of his from Minnesota who stopped at the same airport offered seats on his plane to get them to Riyadh.

We're working on trying to find out exactly what went wrong -- but as far as we know, Hulk and the rest of his passengers are expected to make it to Saudi Arabia in time for the event.

Scary stuff.

Hulk isn't wrestling at 'Crown Jewel' -- but he's selected a 5-man team to take on another 5 superstars hand-picked by Ric Flair.

Some of the stars on Team Hogan include Roman Reigns, Rusev and Mustafa Ali. Team Flair includes Randy Orton, Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre.

Did Floyd Mayweather just diss one of the richest guys on the planet? Seems that way.

Mayweather was walking into Craig's in L.A. on Monday night when our camera guy asked about the challenge made by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, a Chinese billionaire who wants to fight Floyd.

Ma made a video with Manny Pacquiao this week ... both guys called out Floyd. Manny wants a rematch and 55-year-old Ma says he's down for an exhibition scrap with TBE.

"I am ready. Any time, any place, Manny's team is ready," said Ma, who's been working out with Team Pacquiao.

The bad news for Jack ... Floyd says he's never heard of the guy!

"Who?!" Floyd said ... "I don't even know who he is!"

Yeesh. That's gotta hurt Ma's ego, right?

Floyd also responded to Manny Pacquiao's latest call for a rematch by mocking the way Manny called him out.

There have been rumblings Floyd is considering a rematch with the Filipino superstar ... but so far, nothing's in stone.

The guy who threw down NASCAR superstar Denny Hamlin during a brawl with Joey Logano on Sunday was just suspended 1 race by the league ... officials announced Monday.

If ya missed it ... Hamlin and Logano really got into it at Martinsville Speedway over the weekend -- carrying some on-track drama onto pit road.

The two stars were discussing their in-race driving ... when all of a sudden Logano gave a hard shove to Hamlin's shoulder.

That's when Denny went after Joey ... and all hell broke loose -- with both of the drivers' pit crews hopping into the melee.

But, before Denny could get his hands on Logano ... one of Joey's pit crewmember grabbed Denny by the neck and threw him to the ground!!!

Denny was pissed ... but the brawl was quickly calmed down by NASCAR officials.

On Monday, the league handed down punishment for the fight ... banning Logano's pit crew member -- tire technician Dave Nichols Jr. -- for one race for his role in grabbing Hamlin.

As for the rest of the guys involved in the fracas, seems NASCAR has let them all off with a warning.

Douglas Lima says he ain't just the best welterweight in Bellator ... he's the best freakin' welterweight MMA fighter on planet Earth.

Yes ... ya listening, Kamaru Usman? 'Cause Lima says (in the most respectful way ever) he knows for sure he'd beat you!!!

TMZ Sports talked to the 31-year-old Lima -- who's got a record of 32-7 with wins over beasts like Michael "Venom" Page and Paul Daley -- 2 days after his Bellator Grand Prix title win over Rory McDonald.

The prize? The welterweight belt and a million bucks.

We'll get to the money later ... but first, we asked Lima where he stacks up when it comes to the badass welterweight fighters in the UFC.

Flat out, Douglas says he's the best ... and he's tired of people shading him and his skills 'cause he isn't in Dana White's promotion.

"I know real MMA fans, they recognize, they know I'm up there with those guys. They know I can beat, I can fight any of them. But, most of them it's like, 'Man, you're not in the UFC, you're a nobody.'"

Lima continued ... "Man, I hate that. That's people who doesn't understand the sport. It's not the name UFC or Bellator or ONE FC. There's killers everywhere."

Usman is the current champ ... so we point-blank asked Lima what'd happen if they fought.

"I'd beat him. I'd probably KO him. He's a great wrestler for sure, he wrestles a lot. But man, at any point in that fight if I connect, I can put him away. I don't even think about that, I just know I can beat him, I can beat anybody at this weight class.

"I'm not talking bad about the guy. He's a champion there. He's doing his thing. But, I just know it, man. If one day something like this happens, I definitely believe in myself to go over there and kill it."

Now, bout that milli ... the check hasn't hit Douglas' account just yet, but when it does -- he's got some pretty cool plans for the dough.

Andy Ruiz sprang into action after seeing an elderly man struggling to push his stalled car over the weekend -- hopping out of his ride to lend a heavyweight hand!!!

The boxing superstar was cruising with his childhood buddy, Alexander Martinez, in his pricey Lamborghini Urus when he spotted a guy struggling to move his Land Rover in the street.

That's when Martinez says Ruiz jumped into action ... telling The Sun, "Andy noticed he was trying to push the car himself and we pulled over and he got out with Anthony Garnica, a fellow fighter."

You can see in the video what happens next ... the two fighters get the stranded car through the intersection and to safety in a hurry -- and it's pretty awesome footage.

Both dudes struggle to keep their jeans up (seriously, guys, get a belt!!!) while pushing the car ... all while Martinez jokes about this being part of Ruiz's training for Anthony Joshua!!!

"They pushed the car and got back in," Martinez said of the deed. "The guy had no idea who he [Ruiz] was which was cool."

Seems like nobody was injured in the whole ordeal ... and it looks like the man's car is going to be fine after some minor repairs.

Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone says Conor McGregor has NOT signed the official UFC contract to fight on Jan. 18 ... and now he's putting the pressure on Conor to get the deal done.

Of course, 31-year-old Conor announced his UFC comeback last week during a media event in Russia ... saying he'll fight on Jan. 18 but wouldn't reveal his opponent.

36-year-old Cowboy tells us both his team and Conor's team have been in contact with the UFC, but they're still trying to "figure it out."

"I think it's gonna happen this time," Cowboy tells TMZ Sports ... "I really do. Conor's really serious about making a comeback."

Cowboy says he knows Conor vs. Cowboy is the fight "everyone wants to see" and says he's "pumped" at the idea of sharing the Octagon with the Irish superstar.

"It's gonna be a fun fight! He's a great fighter. I'm not taking anything away from him by any means, he's got a lot of punching power ... and it should be a good time!"

In fact, Cowboy had a message for McGregor -- "Sign the damn deal man, let's get this done!"

Oh, we also asked if Cowboy has tried Conor's Proper 12 whiskey ... and ya gotta hear his review!

"Supernatural" star Jared Padalecki was arrested at a club he tends to frequent quite often -- which makes this story all the more ghastly.

Jared -- who plays Sam Winchester on the show, opposite Jensen Ackles -- was busted by cops early Sunday morning in Austin, TX outside of a lounge called Stereotype. Per his booking sheet, he's facing two counts of assault and one count of public intoxication.

Based on video TMZ obtained in the moments leading up to Jared's arrest ... you can see why. The guy was getting physical on the sidewalk, and cops had to get involved.

Eyewitnesses on the scene tell us that at first, Jared allegedly struck a bartender in the face from inside the establishment ... and that a friend tried calming him down outside, but got put into a headlock after a standoff, which you can see here in the footage.

We're also told he got into it with the general manager of the place, and allegedly struck him in the face as well. Eventually, Jared was restrained by police ... but not before pulling out what we're told was a wad of cash, and allegedly flashing it to the officers.

As for Jared's connection to Stereotype -- it's a bit hazy, but he's definitely a regular and might even be an investor too. Local reports suggest he straight-up owns the joint -- he and Jensen own respective businesses in Austin aside from this, BTW -- and we could probably buy that, considering he was there opening night last year, and drops in a lot.

Machine Gun Kelly seemed quite pissed during one of his concerts after his guitar wasn't working, and he took it out on one of his stagehands ... for which he's now apologized.

The Cleveland rapper was performing Friday night at the Credit Union 1 Pavilion in Chicago, where at one point while he and his band were rocking out to MGK's "Hollywood Whore" ... an equipment malfunction occurred, and Kelly kinda lost his s*** up there.

TMZ got video of the meltdown moment, where MGK realizes his guitar isn't working at a part of the song where it's supposed to (his guitar solo, it seems), and he rushes over to the backstage area to see what's going on ... confronting a frantic stagehand.

He seems to make some sort of physical contact with the guy before rushing back to the other side of the stage, with the stagehand following close behind with a mic stand.

Once they're on the left side again, Machine Gun Kelly appears to shove his guitar into the stagehand's chest, clearly frustrated with him as the guy scurries off back to the right again.

The song continues to play as MGK awkwardly stands in the back, not having played a lick of guitar through most of the ending of the track ... and things ended even more poorly as Kelly appeared to lurk over to the stagehand who appeared upset and flustered.

MGK climbs a box behind the main stage and stares the dude down from above, and then LEAPS down and follows him back stage as the guy tries to get away. Bad look, right?

Seems like Kelly himself realized just how nasty he'd acted, and took to Twitter after the show to address it. He wrote, "tonight the frustrations from my personal life came out on the stage. sorry to my fans and my band. i’ll get help after tour is over."

How's this for AWKWARD -- undefeated boxing phenom Shakur Stevenson is fighting his GF's brother on Saturday night ... and he's vowing to bust that dude up!!!

Don't get it twisted, Shakur's opponent is no bum -- he's undefeated 23-0 Joet Gonzalez -- and they're fighting for the WBO featherweight championship!!!

So, how does 22-year-old Shakur feel about trying to knock out his girlfriend's sibling? NOT BOTHERED AT ALL!!!

"He's bothered by the situation," Shakur says. "He's the one who hates me. I don't really hate him."

We asked Shakur if he was going to take it easier on Joet because of the family connection -- and man, he straight up laughed in our faces.

"Hell no! F**k no! I'm not taking it easy at all!!!"

In fact, Shakur says ... "Saturday night I've got something that's gonna make him more mad!"

By the way, Shakur has been dominant in the ring ... and has HIGH HOPES for his pro career -- even calling out Vasyl Lomachenko, widely considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on Earth.

"Lomachenko. Lomachenko. Lomachenko is my dream fight."

Shakur says the guys have been in the ring together a lot ... 'cause he sparred with Vasyl back in 2017.

The dream could become reality very soon ... as in like the next 2 years, according to Shakur.

"I actually respect Lomachenko, he's one of the people that I think are one of the best in boxing. He's one of the people that I want to take their spot."

One-handed MMA stud Nick Newell says he's trying like hell to prove he's more than just an awesome story ... telling TMZ Sports he's gunning for star status at Bellator 232 Saturday!!!

Newell -- who was born without a left hand -- has had an unreal career despite his disability ... going 16-2 in pro fights with already one Bellator win under his belt.

But, Nick says he wants much more than that ... and tells us he's going to prove he's among the fighting elite against Manny Muro this weekend.

"I really feel like I’m peaking," Newell says.

"I'm ready to make my way amongst the elite ... so it all starts with me winning this fight and I'm happy to show people things I’ve been saying for years."

Newell last fought back in August against Corey Browning -- winning the tilt by submission ... and he tells us he's actually feeling better heading into THIS fight than that one.

"I'm super relaxed," Newell says. "I'm super comfortable. There's nothing that can happen out there that I haven’t seen already."