Fights

Jon Jones choked out Ryan Bader in 2011, but the Bellator champ-champ wants another crack at the UFC legend ... admitting he just wasn't the complete fighter he is now.

TMZ Sports talked to Bellator's 37-year-old light heavyweight and heavyweight champ -- who's taking on Vadim Nemkov at Bellator 244 Friday night -- about his history with Jones ... and Bader made it very clear he's got revenge on his mind.

"I would love to have that [Jon Jones] fight. It'd be a big fight," Bader says.

"Hell yeah, I would love to do some sort of cross-promotion with him or any of the guys over there."

Remember, Jones submitted Bader via a guillotine choke during the 2nd-round of their UFC 126 fight nearly a decade ago.

RB admits he was a 1 trick pony back then ... but that ain't the case anymore.

"We fought way back in 2011 and whatnot. I had no idea what I was doing back then besides wrestling. Mentality, skill set, physicality, it's all 100% different."

Proof?

Bader hasn't lost since 2016, has 2 belts, and has wins over Fedor Emelianenko, Ovince St. Preux, and Rashad Evans.

As exciting as the thought is of a UFC-Bellator cross-promotion featuring 2 elite fighters ... the reality is, it probably ain't gonna happen.

However, former top 5 ranked UFC light heavyweight Corey Anderson just signed with Bellator ... and he's in Bader's division.

So, does Ryan think Anderson's worthy of jumping the line and getting an immediate crack at his title??

Roy Jones Jr. is NOT pulling the plug on his scheduled fight with Mike Tyson ... but there is some truth to rumors of tension behind the scenes.

Here's what we know ... Roy wasn't happy when Tyson's camp agreed to push back the date of the fight from Sept. 12 to Nov. 28.

Roy already had begun training and was on a strict timeline to prepare himself. So, when the date changed ... we're told he was frustrated and vented his issues to Tyson's camp and the people organizing the fight.

We're told there were other minor issues ... but it all boils down to this -- Roy wants to be treated like an equal partner in the fight and after he laid out his concerns, we're told he was happy with the way they were addressed and agreed to proceed with the fight on Nov. 28.

In fact, Roy even posted an IG video this week saying straight up, he'll be ready and looking for a real deal victory over Tyson when they clash.

One thing that's bothered both fighters is the insinuation from the California State Athletic Commission that the fight will be more of a playful show than a violent fight.

Sources from both Tyson's camp and Roy's camp tell us both men are approaching the event like they would any other fight in their respective careers.

Tyson and Roy have said to TMZ Sports on camera the goal is a knockout ... and they will be COMPETING once the bell rings.

Oscar De La Hoya says he's coming back!!!

The 47-year-old former champ insists he's gearing up for a return to boxing -- and will begin training very soon.

"The rumors are true, and I'm going to start sparring in the next few weeks," De La Hoya told ESPN's Steve Kim.

Oscar hasn't had a pro fight since December 2008, when he lost to Manny Pacquiao.

"Look, it's been a long time, yes," De La Hoya said ... "But actually my jab feels faster than ever."

"I have to make sure that my conditioning is perfect, my health is good. And, that's going to take place in the next few weeks. So we'll see."

De La Hoya has not revealed any potential opponents yet -- but insists the fight will not be an exhibition for entertainment, he's looking to add a "W" to his long and storied pro boxing record.

Oscar finished with a 39-6 record when he hung up the gloves 12 years ago ... but famously defeated guys like Arturo Gatti, Hector Camacho, Julio Cesar Chavez and Pernell Whitaker.

After his fighting career, Oscar became a successful promoter -- repping stars like Canelo Alvarez and Ryan Garcia under his Golden Boy Promotions banner.

Stick. Move. Destroy!!!

That's how we'd sum up Mike Tyson's Tuesday training session -- when the 54-year-old exploded on some mitts while working on a ridiculous 5-punch combo.

And yeah ... IT'S AWESOME!

The man taking the punishment is Mike's trainer Rafael Cordeiro -- who's leading the boxing legend through a grueling 5-day-a-week training regimen for his Nov. 28 showdown with Roy Jones Jr.

As we previously reported, Mike and Roy will headline a pretty stacked card featuring some pretty interesting fights ... including Nate Robinson vs. Jake Paul and Badou Jack vs. Blake McKernan.

Also, Viddal Riley -- the fighter who trained KSI for his fights with Logan Paul -- will take on ex-UFC fighter Rashad Coulter.

The event will air on the Triller app and via Pay-Per-View. It's also the first in a series of events for Tyson's new Legends Only League, founded by Mike, Sophie Watts, Johnny Ryan Jr. and Eros Innovations -- which will feature some of the greatest athletes of all time getting back into competition.

The California State Athletic Commission had cautioned fans that the Tyson vs. Jones fight was going to be more of a show than a real fight ... but both Mike and Roy have said the goal is to take each other out.

"This is search and destroy and I’m looking forward to recapturing my glory," Mike told us earlier this month.

Khabib Nurmagomedov says he wants to fight Georges St-Pierre in April ... and claims the UFC is trying to make it happen.

"Regarding Georges St-Pierre, that fight really inspires me," Khabib said during a media event in Russia.

"It was my father’s dream fight. But time passes, Georges St-Pierre will be 40 next year. I think he has to decide whether we’ll fight or not."

As we previously reported, Khabib's father, Abdulmanap, died from COVID-19 complications back in July.

But, Khabib says he wants to make his dad's dream come true -- saying "I want that fight."

"If I beat [Justin Gaethje] in October, then fight St-Pierre in April before Ramadan, that would be ideal."

The issue -- 39-year-old GSP has repeatedly said he's retired. Though he admitted back in July he would consider another fight if Dana White had the right offer.

Dana must've been listening ... because Khabib says White is down to make it happen.

"Dana told me after this fight they’ll talk to St-Pierre. If he agrees, we’ll fight. Both I and the UFC want that to happen."

GSP was called out by reigning UFC welterweight champ Kamaru Usman recently -- but told TMZ Sports, "I think for me it's better if I stay retired ... It's not worth it for me."

George told us he feels extremely grateful to leave the fight game with all of his faculties and wouldn't want to compromise that.

Daniel Cormier just penned a goodbye to the UFC ... thanking all his fans and coworkers in a heartfelt note -- and it's pretty freakin' emotional.

The 41-year-old had said in the buildup to UFC 252 that it would be his final match ... and in a statement Monday -- 2 days after he dropped his second straight bout to Stipe Miocic -- he appeared to officially hang up his gloves.

"Thank you all for the love and support," DC wrote. "Not what I wanted or expected but it is what it is. Congrats to @stipemiocic on a fantastic fight, was an honor and pleasure to share the octagon with you for 50 minutes. Boy did we give 'em a show everytime.

"To my team: I love you all to death, you've made so many sacrifices. I hope I made you guys proud. Salina and the kids: thank you for being my motivation. To all the fans: I love you so much. You guys push me to try and be great."

Cormier continued, "To @danawhite and the @ufc: I have loved every minute. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. Been a helluva ride, huh?"

If Cormier is, in fact, done ... it's been an unreal career -- the guy went 22-3 in his UFC career and was the first fighter to ever successfully defend championships in 2 separate weight classes.

London Bridge might be falling down, but so is this man after getting his clock cleaned for spewing racist crap in public.

Check out this one-hitter-quitter that went down over the weekend on a train in the London Underground metro system, where this white guy was mouthing off to three Black youths ... for no apparent reason. He starts out as simply bigoted, but eventually turns full racist.

Watch ... the man's going off about this being "my home" in an incoherent tirade. He's arguing with the one guys off-screen, who's asking what his name is and where he's getting off. Soon, the instigator brings up race, saying with derision ... "You're black."

People around him ask what that has to do with anything, and he shooshes them ... firing back, "This is popular." You can tell he's getting a kick out of riling everyone up too.

The video then cuts to the three Black dudes getting off at their stop, and as they pass the white man -- who's got his fists balled up, ready to fight -- one the young'ns swings on him and connects with his jaw, sending the guy flying back and landing hard on the ground.

UFC honcho Dana White has anointed Stipe Miocic the greatest MMA heavyweight of all time after scoring a victory over Daniel Cormier Saturday night, but it was a real shot in the eye.

Daniel was rendered blind in one eye -- hopefully just temporarily -- after Stipe poked him in the eye in the third round of their UFC 252 rematch. Stipe won by decision, making him a 2-1 victor in their trilogy of fights.

The referee didn't see the poke, but it was squarely caught on camera, and it's pretty gruesome. You see Stipe's finger go right in DC's left eye.

As for the injury ... it's reportedly a tear in his eye, although the extent of the injury has not been disclosed.

DC made it clear after the fight, he couldn't see anything out of his left eye.

Stipe was ahead in rounds 1 and 2, and the eye poke came in round 3 of the 5-round fight, but Dana White says the decision is legit ... “They both got poked in the eye. That eye was hurt before the poke. We got a big group text that goes out and I was like ‘There’s something wrong with Cormier’s eye.’ And then he got poked after that. That didn’t help. But they both got poked. You can’t use that as an excuse.”

Jake Paul says you can bet your mortgage on him knocking out Nate Robinson early in their celeb boxing match ... which might explain him messing with Big Macs without worry.

The YouTube star was leaving BOA in L.A. Friday night when he dished on how he thinks his undercard fight with the ex-NBA star will go in November -- spoiler alert, the dude's very confident, so much so ... he says putting your own house on the line would be worth it.

Check it out ... Jake tells us he's guaranteeing a FIRST-ROUND knockout, regardless of how much time Nate has to train. Remember, their match was originally scheduled for September, but reportedly got pushed back to the late fall ... which he seems to confirm here.

In any case, Jake's got a word of advice for people criticizing his pre-fight diet -- namely, the fact he's been spotted at McDonald's lately and getting weird stares. His suggestion ... sshhh, 'cause he says he can eat anything he wants because of how fast he'll get a K.O.

Like we said, Jake is super confident -- dare we say, cocky as hell??? Sure, that's probably accurate, 'cause he says he can basically slow walk this fight ... running ain't necessary.

The anger and violence that has gripped America was full throttle Friday, when Trump supporters got into a huge fight with Black Lives Matters protesters.

The massive brawl went down in the San Fernando Valley, where Trump supporters were holding signs that read, "All Lives Matter" as they screamed, "America, America!"

It started out verbal, but quickly turned physical, as various people got pummeled on the ground.

The protest was organized by Latinos for Trump. They say they are supporting churches that were blocked by the government from having indoor services. There were around 60 Trump protesters, but they were clearly outnumbered by the BLM supporters.

The fight went down outside an In-n-Out drive-thru ... 4 people were injured.

Yep, Stipe Miocic has seen that footage of Daniel Cormier training with Steven Seagal back in the day ... but he ain't worried about it!

The footage was shot back in 2015 when Cormier was getting ready to fight Jon Jones at UFC 182.

Seagal -- who considers himself a martial arts expert -- hit it off with Cormier and offered to share some of his secret fight moves ... but only if UFC turned off the cameras.

Cormier and UFC obliged, and now -- in theory -- he's been trained up in the ways of the guy from "Under Siege."

So, when we spoke with Stipe this week as he preps to headline UFC 252 on Saturday -- we had to ask if he was concerned that Cormier could unleash some of that "Hard to Kill" knowledge on him during their final fight?

Spoiler Alert: Stipe ain't worried ... but he was complimentary of the actor.

"Seagal's a savage. Ya gotta look out for that guy."

There's more ... Stipe also told us why he's not planning to retire any time soon and why he doesn't feel bad sending Cormier into retirement with an "L."

Bellator star Corey Anderson says he literally feared for his life after a super scary medical incident ... which ultimately lead to him leaving the UFC.

Remember, the 30-year-old MMA star "blacked out and collapsed" on February 21 while outdoors scouting land ... smashing his face on the gravel road.

Corey was rushed to the hospital ... where 1 doctor told him something was wrong with his heart.

Anderson -- one of the most feared fighters in the world with wins over guys like Johnny Walker and Glover Teixeira -- admits he was literally afraid he was going to die.

"It was a scary process. You don't know if one, is your heart gonna be okay, two, every night you go to sleep, is my heart gonna stop in the middle of the night?"

Shortly after the incident, Anderson -- a top 5 UFC light heavyweight at the time -- asked Dana White to release him from his contract (which DW did) ... before ultimately signing with Bellator.

Long story short, Corey said his decision was financially motivated -- he thinks Bellator will be more lucrative for him in the long run, so he signed on the dotted line.

We asked Corey who his first Bellator opponent will be -- but they're still working out those details

Heavyweight boxer Otto Wallin -- the man who took Tyson Fury to the brink in 2019 -- says he's fully recovered from his battle with COVID and can't wait to fight again on Saturday.

Remember, Wallin is the guy who bloodied Fury badly during their Sept. 2019 bout -- opening 2 huge gashes on the champ's face. He ultimately lost by unanimous decision, but gained a ton of respect in the boxing world.

Wallin later contracted COVID-19 in March -- but tells TMZ Sports he beat the virus pretty quickly and got back to training hard in a matter of weeks.

"I was out for maybe a week and a half, 2 weeks when I had it," Wallin says ... "But then we started training. Took it slow because we didn't know if it would affect me but we haven't noticed anything and we stepped it up from there."

"Now we've had a few months with good training. I feel like I've improved since the Fury fight so hopefully, that will come out."

Wallin steps back into the ring on Saturday to fight Travis Kauffman -- and another impressive performance could put him back in the mix for a rematch with Fury ... or a shot at other top fighters like Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua.

"I already showed Fury I'm very good ... I'm not too far off from those guys."

Kauffman ain't exactly rolling over -- he's been talking a bunch of trash too.

"If I don’t beat Otto Wallin, I’m retiring," Kauffman told BoxingScene.com.

"And, here’s why: I have a lot more experience and I have a lot more ability than Otto Wallin has. His claim to fame is truly losing to Tyson Fury."

And, in the blue corner ... the next president of the Philippines?!

Manny Pacquiao's trainer says that might just be the boxing legend's next introduction ... 'cause Freddie Roach says PacMan's gunning to be the president of his home country after 2 more fights!!

"Manny would like to fight a couple of more times and then run for the presidency of his country," Roach told BoxingScene.com this week.

"The first fighter to ever do that and it will be another part of his history and I think he will be really good at."

Of course, Manny is no stranger to politics ... the 41-year-old has been a senator in the Philippines since 2016 -- and has often been credited for helping bring charity and awareness to the country.

Roach says Pacquiao wants to do even more than that in the political realm ... and joked he wants to run Manny's campaign!!

But, Roach says Pacquiao's eyeing some HUGE fights first ... saying Mikey Garcia and Terence Crawford are on a shortlist for PacMan's next opponents.

Roach also says a possible superfight with Gennady Golovkin ain't being ruled out yet either.

Though Freddie's dream last fight for Manny? "What he would like best is [Floyd] Mayweather one more time."

MMA fighter Valerie Loureda was so stoked to sign a contract extension with Bellator, she made a twerk video to celebrate ... and it's pretty damn good!

The 5'4" flyweight is coming off a wild violent knock out victory over Tara Graff at Bellator 243 on Friday ... and has now revealed that she was rewarded with an exclusive multi-fight extension.

Obviously, the 22-year-old fighter was excited -- and danced out her emotions to the new Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion track, "WAP."

There's A LOT of booty shaking and various displays of flexibility. All in all, impressive stuff.

"Just signed an exclusive multi-year, multi-fight extension with @bellatormma," Loureda said ... "not going anywhere."

Loureda -- from Miami -- is 3-0 as a pro and building a solid following. In fact, her post-fight victory dance was viewed more than 11 million times on social media!

And get this, her manager, Abe Kawa, revealed Loureda was involved in a car accident just days before her fight -- and still was able to focus and dominate.

LET'S GET READY TO RRRRRRRRRRONA!!!

Jake Paul's Calabasas mansion turned into packed boxing venue Wednesday night -- with dozens of people blowing off COVID safety measures to watch two people throw down.

First off, YES -- this is the same house that was raided by the FBI just last week.

Second, unclear if Jake was at the home during the boxing match -- but there are a TON of people crowding around the ring and it only seems like a few people are wearing masks.

You'll note the combatants, breathing super hard and sweating in arm's length of the spectators ... a major NO-NO considering we're still in the middle of a pandemic!!

This would never fly on UFC's Fight Island.

The scene was wild -- the fighters were going after each other full speed, without headgear and without refs.

What's interesting ... Jake and his ex-GF were spotted out in Calabasas earlier in the day wearing masks and being safe.

Weird he's not implementing the same safety measures in his own home.

As we previously reported, Jake is training for his own boxing match against ex-NBA star Nate Robinson on the undercard of the big Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. fight On November 28.