Fights

Chris Johnson was charged with battery for allegedly choking a valet in April ... and now TMZ Sports has the surveillance video of the alleged violent altercation.

Here's the deal ... Johnson was charged with misdemeanor battery after officials in Hillsborough County, Florida say the NFL star roughed up a nightclub valet.

According to court docs, Johnson "became angry at the businesses valet" and "intentionally touched and struck the victim" by "placing him in a choke hold and punching him in the face causing minor injuries" April 9 at The Lodge.

The video quality ain't the best ... but you see a man who appears to be Johnson attempt to grab something from the valet ... before the men leave the frame and are lost in a crowd.

We spoke to Matt Powell -- the alleged victim's attorney -- who tells us Johnson didn't have his valet ticket, and got pissed when his client asked him to prove the Porsche he was trying to take was his vehicle.

Powell says Johnson grabbed the keys before choking his client while an unidentified person punched him in the face -- injuring his face, neck and back.

We also obtained a video taken shortly after the alleged incident, where the victim appears bloodied and beaten ... and says he was scared for his life.

"I thought I was gonna die."

KSI is gonna wanna see this ...

Here's Logan Paul beating the dog snot out of his sparring partner during a recent training session -- and ending it all with a CLEAN knockdown shot to the face!!!

TMZ Sports got our hands on the footage of a recent workout for Paul's August 25 boxing match against KSI ... a fight that some say could get more viewers than Mayweather vs. McGregor.

The YouTube star is clearly taking the fight seriously ... he's been training like a maniac and looks pretty solid in this video.

Check out the footwork, the power and the speed ... it's genuinely impressive for an amateur.

Sources tell us Paul has been training in Los Angeles -- and we know his brother, Jake Paul (who's also fighting on the card) -- has been reaching out to pro fighters to get him ready.

FYI, Paul and KSI are both MASSIVE social media stars -- and are fighting to show the world they're no punks.

In fact, KSI -- who has over 18 MILLION followers on YouTube -- already fought earlier this year against Joe Weller and beat his ass.

He's been doing some training at Floyd Mayweather's TMT gym in Vegas.

Dana White says he believes Brock Lesnar's contract with WWE is up at the end of the summer ... and he KNOWS Brock wants to take another UFC fight.

In fact, White says the opponent he's gunning to match up with ... is Jon Jones.

"Jon Jones is very interested in Brock Lesnar and Brock is very interested in Jon Jones," White tells TMZ Sports.

The issue ... Jones is currently suspended for failing a drug test surrounding his 2017 fight against Daniel Cormier.

The suspension is provisional until USADA makes an official ruling -- and it seems that could happen pretty soon.

"I'll end up figuring that out in the next month," White says ... "I don't know how that's gonna play out. That's up to USADA."

If it doesn't work out with Jones, there's another big name who could face Lesnar -- Dana says that too could be a really fun fight.

21 Savage quickly went from being empty-handed to locked and loaded with a gun this weekend after a fight broke out at a pool party he attended in Georgia.

Savage was partying it up Saturday at an annual rager in the Atlanta area called Big Ass Pool Party, when a large group of people crashed the event through the back.

Eyewitnesses tell us Sav appeared uneasy at the unexpected entrance, and that all hell broke loose when a person from the other camp said hi to a girl in Savage's circle, upsetting his side. We're told someone from the crashers' crew pulled out a gun when confronted, which led to Savage arming himself too. It appears he received a revolver from a friend.

Andre Berto isn't into the idea of a 48-year-old Chuck Liddell taking on a 43-year-old Tito Ortiz, telling TMZ Sports both men are at the age where they need to ride off into the MMA sunset.

Lidell & Ortiz are reportedly in deep talks for a bout this year as part of Oscar De La Hoya's new Golden Boy MMA promotion, which would be the 3rd fight between the two men.

We got Berto at LAX and he told our guy he's not a fan of geriatric brawling ... advising both guys to cool it before they break a hip.

"I been watching Tito, I been watching Chuck for years, man. With us fighters we need to understand, we have that beast in us for a certain period of time, and we need to know when to ease out and tap into some other things."

Berto also talked about the Internet wanting a Mike Tyson comeback ... it's true ... a Tyson highlight vid went viral now people wanna see Tyson vs Joshua ... with Mike at 51.

Andre is obviously against it ... but after watching the highlights video, we're not sure we'd count Mike out.

Omar Gooding went ballistic on a guy who called him out for allegedly treating a restaurant employee poorly because his pizza was taking too long ... according to witnesses on the scene.

Cuba's bro went on an angry and homophobic tirade around 3 AM at a food court/bar area of Rio in Vegas, and in the vid -- obtained by TMZ -- he's seen challenging the man, who claims to be a cop, to arrest him.

The "Family Time" actor drops some very anti-family friendly F-bombs and shouts the other homophobic F-word twice -- and also calls him the offensive term "retard" -- while security shows up to diffuse the situation.

We're told Gooding was getting pizza, but began degrading the worker for taking too long with his order. That's when the man with the hat stepped in and told Omar to calm down ... which set him off.

Omar tells us ... it was late and his food was late, so "who wouldn't be a little impatient?" He says apologies were handed out from all sides, including from the guy who tried to be peacemaker, and "by no means am I a hater or homophobic." Omar adds ... "My apologies for the offensive language, but that does not define who I am ... we calmly communicated, worked it out and all was forgiven."

Greg Hardy is a changed man -- and has earned a 2nd chance to have a career as a pro athlete ... so says Dana White.

Of course, there have been plenty of critics who don't believe Hardy -- who was previously arrested for domestic violence -- deserves a chance to fight in Dana White's Contender series, including Jay Glazer.

For the record, Hardy was initially convicted -- but appealed the decision, and the verdict was later overturned after the alleged victim stopped cooperating with authorities.

White says Hardy has made mistakes in life -- including issues with drugs and alcohol -- but says he's confident Hardy has sobered up and turned his life around.

The former NFL star has racked up 3 impressive victories in his first 3 MMA fights -- and White believes the guy has real potential.

Hardy will be fighting Austen Lane on June 12 -- and if he wins, it's possible White could award him with a UFC contract.

Anthony Bourdain wasn't just a legendary chef ... he was the most influential celebrity Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner -- who helped introduce the martial art to the masses -- so says the guy whose family founded BJJ.

TMZ Sports talked to Rener Gracie -- whose grandfather, Helio Gracie, created Gracie Jiu-Jitsu a.k.a. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu -- about Bourdain's impact on his family's sport.

FYI -- Rener's coached Ronda Rousey and UFC star Brian Ortega ... and occasionally hit the mats with A.B. (check out their training sesh below from 2014).

Bourdain wasn't the only celeb to train ... Ashton Kutcher, Vince Vaughn, Ed O'Neill, Kelly Slater, Guy Ritchie, and Keanu Reeves practice BJJ -- but according to Gracie, Anthony was the most important.

"I think that Anthony Bourdain, A, because of his enthusiasm and his ease of communication, and B, because of his age, is responsible for more people doing Jiu-Jitsu and beginning Jiu-Jitsu, than probably any other celebrity ever who's not a professional fighter."

Rener goes on to say Bourdain's passing leaves a void that might never be filled.

Mike "The Truth" Jackson says he's already got his victory party planned if he beats CM Punk at UFC 225 this weekend ... FOOD AND HOT CHICKS!

"I'm knocking him out, man," Jackson tells TMZ Sports ... "I'm knocking him out."

Jackson knows Punk will be the fan favorite when they step in the Octagon since it's all going down in Punk's hometown of Chicago ... but Mike says all the fans in the world can't save CM.

"These people can't fight for him. He can't tag them in."

Afterward, Jackson says he ain't about to hit the clubs -- he wants some delicious Chicago-style pizza to go along with his W.

Ronnie from 'Jersey Shore' got into a heated argument with his baby mama over their child and their dead dog ... and it ended with his baby mama allegedly spitting on him ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us Ronnie's baby mama, Jen Harley, called cops on him Thursday night to report their argument at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, but when they showed up around 10 PM she was nowhere to be found.

Cops say they interviewed multiple witnesses and Ronnie, and were told Jen punched him in the head, and spit on him ... then took off. We're told she is now the suspect of a battery.

Ronnie told police they'd been arguing since Wednesday when he found their dog dead at the bottom of their pool. Ronnie and Jen live in the Vegas area. Our "Jersey Shore" sources say they'd also been bickering about who was taking care of their daughter, and things came to a head at Planet Hollywood.

As we reported ... Ronnie nearly came to blows with a guy in Vegas Wednesday at the Flamingo. He's currently shooting season 2 of "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation."

CM Punk says he would LOVE to get back in the cage with Mickey Gall ever since he got destroyed in their tilt two years ago ... but Gall says Punk's a liar -- telling TMZ Sports, "HE DON'T WANT THAT!!"

Gall is convinced Punk's been talking about running it back knowin' damn well the UFC won't let the former WWE star back in the Octagon with him and let him get his ass kicked AGAIN.

"I think he's a liar. I think he's a liar. I don't think he actually wants that," Mickey told us.

"I don't think they'll let that happen to him again."

BUT ... Gall says there is a scenario where he WOULD give Punk a rematch -- and it involves CM's bout with Mike Jackson at UFC 225 this weekend.

Dana White says he has nothing but respect for CM Punk for having "the balls" to get back in the Octagon after his first UFC fight ... and can't wait to see what he's got on Saturday night.

Punk will face off against Mike "The Truth" Jackson at UFC 225 -- and White says he's been hearing positive things about Punk from his training camp.

"What comes out of his camp is everyone respects this guy and how hard he works and the commitment he's made to become a mixed martial artist."

White also says Punk's self-described spectacularly bad debut may have been the result of "UFC jitters" and he expects to see a different guy this time around. "

As for Punk's fighting future, White says he won't rule out a 3rd fight ... especially if Punk wins.

We also asked White about a possible Conor McGregor vs. Khabib fight -- and White told us there are still some hurdles Conor has to get through before that fight can be made.

6:50 PM PT -- The Biebs' manager, Scooter Braun, says ... Cannon's claim is "completely false and a fabrication from a man who tried to push for money for the last several years." Braun says he's disgusted Tobias is bringing race into the situation and denies Justin said anything racist.

He adds ... "This is a smear tactic to get money and it’s gross ... and we won't be scared or blackmailed."

11:23 AM PT -- According to the lawsuit -- obtained by TMZ -- Tobias claims he suffered injuries to his head, neck and back ... also saying he lost consciousness during the fight. Cannon accuses Bieber of using "racial epithets" during the fight, but doesn't specifically mention what Bieber said.

Justin Bieber is being sued by the man he got into an all-out street brawl with in Cleveland after Game 3 of the 2016 NBA Finals.

Tobias Cannon just filed the lawsuit in L.A. against the Biebs, detailing the fight and holding the singer accountable for his injuries.

TMZ broke the story ... the Biebs got into the massive scuffle with Tobias -- a MUCH bigger guy -- outside his hotel in downtown Cleveland. You can see in the video Justin gets into what appears to be a heated confrontation before Tobias, rocking a Cavaliers shirt, throws a light blow to Justin's head.

Bieber responded with a right hook and then all hell broke loose.

Ronnie from 'Jersey Shore' came THIS close to an all-out brawl on the second day of filming season 2 in Vegas.

The incident went down Wednesday at a pool party at the Flamingo ... where Ronnie had to be restrained from going after some loudmouth. You can see from the start of this video Ronnie was charging at the guy, but both were restrained by the massive security team present. It's unclear what triggered the confrontation.

You can also see several cameras are rolling ... so the guess here is MTV cameras captured it for the show. Check it out ... the man Ronnie's beefing with keeps shouting something about Gucci and hustling.

CM Punk says he's got a "gift" for his fans when he walks into the Octagon on Saturday -- telling TMZ Sports ... "I'm sharp and I'm ready and I'm focused."

Punk will make his long awaited return to the Octagon at UFC 225 against Mike "The Truth" Jackson ... it's CM's first fight since he lost his UFC debut against Mickey Gall in Sept. 2016.

"I lost pretty spectacularly in my last fight but I learned so much," Punk tells TMZ Sports.

One of those lessons ... Punk says he needs to control his emotions and take his time when the bell rings -- "not try to hurry up and just enjoy being in there."

UFC champ Tyron Woodley previously told us Punk has been busting his ass like a maniac in the gym ever since his first fight ... sometimes working out 3 or 4 times a day.

Punk says he's "hyper-focused" on getting a win ... but that's not the only measure of success. The most important thing is to grow and get better as a fighter.

And if he wins ... Punk says he'd be down for a rematch with Gall -- but don't get it twisted, he's laser-focused on Jackson.

There's more ... Punk also says he's had a "real hard emotional couple of weeks" -- a reference to the WWE doctor who sued him over negative comments Punk made back in 2014.

Ex-WWE superstar Brian Christopher Lawler -- who famously wrestled as Grandmaster Sexay in the tag team Too Cool with Scotty 2 Hotty -- was arrested in Memphis after allegedly running from a hotel bill.

46-year-old Lawler -- the son of Jerry "The King" Lawler -- was allegedly staying at a Hampton Inn in downtown Memphis ... when he tried to flee the place without paying.

Cops found Lawler a short time later and arrested him for theft of services under $1,000. Lawler reportedly told cops he used a credit card that simply didn't have the funds to cover the $802 hotel bill.

Lawler has a history with cops ... he was arrested at least 3 times in 2009 -- once for disorderly conduct and another time for allegedly threatening a police officer.