Fights

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship star Luis Palomino has an idea for his next opponent ... Hall of Fame boxer Floyd Mayweather.

TMZ Sports spoke with the former MMA fighter ... who tells us he's tired of BKFC guys seemingly ducking him -- and his sights are now set on boxing the 50-0 legend.

"I've called out several names in the BKFC and crickets," Palomino said. "I called out Chad Mendes in three consecutive fights when they signed him, and I heard nothing."

"I'm looking for the big money fight," Luis continued. "My biggest one that I have in mind, and I think it makes perfect sense, will be Mayweather."

Luis tells us it would be a great business move if the two men -- considered the greatest in their respective sports -- collided, adding he's willing to fight Floyd in "his world."

"I'll put the gloves on," Luis said. "And I will represent Bare Knuckle, boxing with the gloves on, but I'm representing the dark side. I like to call it the dark side."

Luis respects Mayweather's legacy -- but says it's time for the former champ to fight someone who can legitimately hold their own against him inside the ring.

"The last [fight] that he did, he's having fun in there, but there's no type of competition," Luis said. "I know that being the champion he is, he still needs that."

Controversial L.A. councilman Kevin de León got into a knockdown, drag-out fight with an activist ... while attending a Christmas tree lighting and toy giveaway event, of all places.

The video starts as de León is slamming Jason Reedy down onto a table, and the 2 of them continued wrestling into a hallway ... as people around them tried to break it up. Reedy is an organizer for a tenant rights group, and apparently has beef with de León.

After the fight ended -- with no serious injuries -- de León claimed it all started with Reedy headbutting him. He said the "self-proclaimed activists" assaulted him during the "community holiday event to the dismay of a multitude of families and children who were there to celebrate a Christmas tree lighting and to receive toys and food."

The incident's not all that shocking -- de León has been under fire since a leaked recording of him and other council members making racist remarks came out in October. Two of the council members resigned, but de León refused to step down and, instead, issued an apology.

After Friday's scuffle, Reedy's attorney told the LA Times, de León is “a disgrace.”

Dana White may just have his next big superstar ... 'cause as long as Paddy Pimblett keeps on stacking W's, the UFC honcho believes "The Baddy" could reach Conor McGregor-like status!

"He has that 'it' factor that I always talk about and you know, and obviously he's undefeated here in the UFC. If he can keep winning these key fights, this kid will be a massive superstar," White told TMZ Sports.

"The other thing is too and you know about this, the thing with his dog going to the bathroom was so unbelievably viral, it was insane. There's things that go viral on the Internet but you guys did like a 10-minute piece on that thing on TMZ and other outlets did. It was everywhere! It was really big in America, so stuff like that doesn't hurt, either."

27-year-old Pimblett -- 3-0 in the UFC (19-3 overall) -- is fighting Jared Gordon as part of the co-main event at UFC 282 ... where Paddy will look to extend his UFC unbeaten streak.

As for the comparisons to McGregor ... here's what Dana had to say.

"It's never an insult when somebody compares you to a great or one of the biggest names in the sport. I think that [Israel Adesanya] didn't like it because he doesn't like Jon Jones and Jon Jones doesn't like him. I think that's why he didn't, but it's never an insult. It's a compliment."

We also asked White about all other things 282-related (fight's going down Saturday night from Las Vegas) ... including the UFC president's feelings on Jiri Prochazka's injury, and his relinquishing of the light heavyweight title.

Dana also weighs in on former champ Glover Teixeira -- who was supposed to fight Jiri -- instead opting NOT to fight a new opponent on the card.

White actually believes it was a smart strategic move on the part of the 43-year-old fighter.

Bottom line ... with or without Prochazka and Texeira, Dana believes it's a kickass card.

Klay Thompson believes Draymond Green's attack on teammate Jordan Poole will eventually be nothing but a "blip on the story" ... saying the team will be farther away from the incident the more they win.

Klay spoke about the October practice altercation in an interview with ESPN's Malika Andrews this week ... saying he wasn't too concerned about the impact it would have on the team's chemistry as long as they handled business on the court.

"It's unfortunate it got leaked, but those guys are all brothers, Jordan and Draymond," Klay said. "I knew, with time, like the old adage, time heals all wounds. I know winning and just having fun cures all."

"We're playing that brand of Warriors basketball again and once we continue to do so, I think it will just be a blip on the story."

It wasn't all gravy for the Dubs, though -- they were slow out the gate, going 3-7 to start the season ... and many wondered if the practice incident had anything to do with it.

But they've turned things around recently ... and are currently .500 and looking much better.

Klay also spoke about what his dad -- ex-NBAer Mychal Thompson -- thought of the altercation ... saying, "He tried to downplay it."

"I mean, he played in the '80s. They were fighting each other every other game. I've seen Larry Bird have to fight off three 76ers once. Dr. J and him choking each other. He's from a different generation."

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship star Tai Emery is giving fans two big reasons to check out her fight ... telling TMZ Sports she might show her boobs in the ring again -- even if it means she gets fined!!

Emery -- whose OnlyFans page exploded in popularity when she went viral for flashing the crowd following her impressive BKFC debut -- spoke with TMZ Sports ahead of her next fight against Po Denman in Thailand ... and she says there's a chance she frees the nipple again on Saturday.

"If there's gonna be salute of t***ies back to me, guess what, guys -- you will just enable me to just flash even more," she says.

Emery, who charges $10 a month for fans to access her content, saw a 6,150% increase in revenue after pulling the stunt the first time ... but claims she was told she will be punished if it happens in Thailand.

"I will be in trouble," Emery said. "I will be fined. The last I heard was half a million to a million baht (Thailand currency), so I don't know what that conversion is in U.S. dollars, but yeah, I have 100% been warned and told it's a no-no."

FYI -- 500,000 baht equals about $14,405 ... so it's nothing to scoff at. But, Emery says she ain't making any promises.

"It's fine, but I can't control myself in moments like that. Everything else just takes over."

Despite the newfound attention, Emery, who has a modeling background, says she's always going to be herself ... and is focused on the task at hand, defeating Denman.

"This is something anyone's career has been building to ... and I really truly believe my personality and my talents and athleticism," Tai said, "like this is the fit for me."

All the Internet superstars who think they got hands need to get in line ... 'cause ex-NFL star Adam "Pacman" Jones says he's down to fight "any YouTuber" after his Rough N' Rowdy match on Friday!!

The former All-Pro has taken his talents to the boxing ring after 12 seasons in the league ... and he tells TMZ Sports he's looking to stick with the sport for years to come.

Of course, he's got a big rematch with the undefeated Bobby Laing at Barstool Sports' amateur event in Providence ... and Pacman says if he comes away with the win, he'll give "Lights Out" a trilogy fight out of respect for the guy.

But, don't get it twisted -- Jones won't let the admiration get in the way once the bell rings ... as he plans to make up for his split decision loss back in August 2021 by correcting his mistakes this time around.

"My message to Bobby, you've been ducking me like a motherf***er," Jones said. "I'm coming to turn the lights out."

But, after Pacman's done with Laing, he says he wants to get into more fights ... and he's looking to take on anyone who wants the smoke.

"I love this celebrity boxing," Jones tells us. "It's a lot of celebrities that think they can box -- I'm one of them. I would like someone to call me out. I ain't hard to find. I think I'm pretty good."

Jones has called out ex-NFL guys like Steve Smith and Chad Ochocinco in the past ... but as of right now, it doesn't sound like either guy is willing to enter the ring with him.

When we brought up the surge in influencers getting into boxers, Jones made it clear he's down for any challenge.

"Any YouTuber you name, I'll take him."

Barstool personality Grace "The Mick" O'Malley is also on Friday's RNR card ... and she talked to us about giving up drinking alcohol for five weeks leading up to her bout with the "Cajun Punisher," as well as the grueling training she went through to prepare for her debut.

As for her prediction for Friday ... O'Malley is expecting her hand raised at the end of the bout.

"It's a definite dub. It's gonna be a dub, it's going to be a good fight, though," O'Malley said.

Tekashi 6ix9ine has been spending a ton of time in the boxing gym recently ... but those looking to see him settle his many beefs in the ring are SOL -- 'cause TMZ Sports is told the rapper is NOT interested in taking a celebrity fight.

The New York rapper hit up the Black Box Gym in Dubai earlier this week ... getting in a workout with 17-3 Iranian boxer Mohammad Ali Bayat Farid.

You can see the 26-year-old look throwing a couple of right hooks at Farid's mitts and working some defensive moves ... all while wearing Crocs.

Despite Tekashi's effort to improve his skills, it's not for any particular reason aside from staying in shape -- even though one would think he could be gearing up for a bout after his recent brawl with DJ Lucasdirty in Dubai.

Tekashi tells us he has "nothing brewing in the boxing world" ... and he's just doing his best to keep off the pounds.

A few years back, Tekashi felt some type of way about being fat-shamed online and vowed to make a change.

"I've been gaining a lot of weight and a lot of people have been calling me fat," Tekashi said in 2018. "They're drawing pictures of me. Instead of drawing me like the regular Tekashi, they're drawing me like fat Tekashi."

"I've been making a lot of money and haven't been caring about my physical appearance. So I want my fans to, like, join me."

Young Nudy is looking to do serious bodily harm to whoever's stealing his unreleased tracks and putting them on the Internet ... and, frankly, he has the beating all planned out.

Nudy hopped onto Instagram fuming with rage after learning a whopping 172 of his songs were placed onto a popular illegal music download site.

Previously unreleased songs from other Atlanta-based rap stars -- Future, 21 Savage, Young Thug, Gunna -- also hit the platform, but it's Nudy who's springing into action ... promising to take his sweet time sniffing out the culprit.

Nudy denied being friendly like other rappers, and says when he finds the hack, he won't hesitate to pull up to deliver a royal ass whooping!!! Sounds like he means it, too.

Video showing a deadly shoot-out between New Mexico State basketball player Mike Peake and a student from a rival school has been released ... and it's terrifying.

The surveillance footage, put out by New Mexico State Police on Tuesday, was captured on Nov. 19 on the University of New Mexico's main campus at around 3 AM.

According to cops, Peake -- a 21-year-old Aggies forward who was in town for NMSU's basketball game against UNM -- was "lured" to the area by a 17-year-old girl and several other male UNM students ... who were allegedly trying to beat him up over an incident that had happened at the UNM-NMSU football game in October.

The video, obtained by KOB 4, shows Peake initially had a gun pointed at him ... while another man ran in and hit him in the leg with a baseball bat.

As Peake turned to sprint away from his attackers, the clip shows he pulled out a firearm -- and began shooting. Cops say he and 19-year-old Brandon Travis traded gunfire ... before Travis was eventually struck and killed.

According to police, Peake was also hit by gunfire during the altercation. He's since undergone multiple surgeries, but is expected to recover.

NMSU announced earlier this week Peake -- who had started two Aggies games this season -- has been suspended from the school's basketball team indefinitely over the altercation.

Jewish UFC fighter Natan Levy says he's getting more hate -- but also a ton of support -- since calling out Kanye West for his repeated antisemitism.

Levy, who was raised in Herzliya, Israel, met with the media on Saturday in Orlando after beating Genaro Valdez by unanimous decision and issued a stern warning to Ye.

“Kanye West, if you’ve got a problem with me or my people, come see me, bro.”

On Monday, 31-year-old Levy talked to TMZ Sports about the reaction to his remarks.

"My interview, most of the comments are antisemitic. Most of the comments say, 'Hey, look, actually I think Kanye is right,'" Natan told us.

Levy says that's nothing new ... but the sheer amount of messages he's received since going at Kanye has increased.

"I'm always getting a lot of hate just for being who and what I am, which I'm fine with. It's not fun, but, right now I'm getting more."

But, it's not all bad.

"I'm also getting a lot of love. There is also a lot of positive out there. I'm getting a lot of love. A lot of reinforcement. I'm getting a lot of friends, a lot of people who speak up. Post the video and share it and saying 'stop the hate.'"

Of course, West's antisemitism has become almost routine. He's gone as far as to praise Hitler and the Nazis on Alex Jones' show last week. He's also hung out with white nationalist Nick Fuentes.

"Just think about how many Jewish kids will get bullied because of [Kanye's] comments. How many Jewish people will get attacked. The hate speech, it does turn into violence."

Natan says while Ye's behavior is incredibly dangerous for reasons he just stated, he's not the only one ... but Levy's had enough of turning the other cheek.

Samuel Eto'o, former Cameroon soccer star and current national team president, was involved in a violent altercation outside the World Cup stadium Monday night, where he appeared to kick a man in the face, sending him to the pavement.

The incident was captured on video by a witness ... and appears to show Eto'o, a former Barcelona star, walking away from Stadium 974 in Doha, Qatar, surrounded by fans who are attempting to take selfies. Everything was going smoothly -- and then it wasn't.

For a reason that isn't yet clear, one of the guys clearly pissed Eto'o off, prompting the soccer exec to start chasing the guy, while SE's people try and hold him back.

Despite a few trying to keep the peace, Eto'o gets loose and appears to deliver a kick to the man's face, sending him crashing to the pavement.

On Tuesday, Samuel apologized on social media for "losing my temper" ... but blamed the fan for antagonizing him.

Eto'o's Cameroon squad was eliminated from the WC last week during the group stage ... but he stuck around, and had just gotten done watching Brazil beat South Korea, 4-1, when the fight occurred.

Punches were thrown, lots of them, in Monday night's TCU-George Washington women's basketball game ... a wild fistfight erupted, resulting in eight players being ejected.

It all went down at the Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, TX ... TCU forward Bella Cravens got pissed after GW guard Essence Brown pulled her hair while trying to take the ball away.

It's unclear if Brown acted with intent, but that didn't matter to Cravens ... who immediately went after Brown, sparking the WWE-style showdown on the court.

In the clip, the two women come face-to-face, and Cravens pushes Brown ... that's when things escalated, with punches being thrown from both parties.

Women from both teams tried to separate the two, but in the midst of that, a player from TCU pushes Brown in the back, and she appears to lose her balance.

TCU's head coach Raegan Pebley address the incident, saying, "We never want to be a part of anything like that. We don't ever want to be a part of anything like that."

"Whenever something like that happens right in front of a bench as opposed to the other sideline or the middle of the floor, it's super vulnerable."

Pebley said she thought the officials -- who ejected eight players, including Cravens and Brown -- did a good job of managing the chaos in that moment and throughout the game.

The combat sports world welcomed back Cain Velasquez with open arms on Saturday night ... loudly cheering on the ex-UFC star in his first event since his February arrest.

The action all went down in Tempe, AZ ... where a masked Velasquez participated in a three-on-three wrestling match at Lucha Libre AAA -- and won.

The 40-year-old looked sharp -- an impressive feat, considering he was locked behind bars for nearly nine months this year -- throwing around bodies and eventually hitting a crazy finishing move to win it for his team.

Velasquez was exceptionally well received by the audience, getting standing ovations and rounds of applause throughout the night.

The former UFC champ grabbed the mic at one point during the festivities and addressed the crowd ... saying it was "a dream come true" to be back in the squared circle.

"I truly appreciate it all, what you guys have always done, supporting me, my family," he said. "Thank you, guys!"

Velasquez is currently out of jail on $1 million bond. A judge last month allowed him to participate in the weekend event, requiring that he return to California on Sunday.

AEW star Saraya says she always had dreams and aspirations of competing in the ring again after suffering a career-threatening neck injury in 2016 -- but admits she never expected it would happen.

"I wasn't expecting to wrestle at all," Saraya told Mojo during a recent interview on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs daily on FS1).

"That wasn't in the back of my head. I always wanted to go back into wrestling, but with Edge and Stone Cold, they waited years before even trying to think about getting back in the ring."

The 30-year-old former WWE Superstar says she received the green light to compete in the squared circle from a renowned doctor in L.A., paving the way for her to return to in-ring competition after a five-year hiatus.

"Halloween, I went in there, and the doctor was straight-up like, 'Let's get you an X-ray,'" Saraya said. "He checked the X-ray and was like, 'These are pretty good, but you can't trust the X-rays. You have to go in with the MRIs and the CT to triple-check.'"

Saraya says she told AEW exec Tony Khan she was interested in competing during the negotiation process with the promotion ... in addition to being an on-screen personality, which she was relegated to in her waning years with WWE after the injury.

Saraya admits when she first debuted in AEW, she was concerned the fans wouldn't be as receptive to her since they were familiar with her character, Paige, in WWE, but she was pleasantly surprised with how much support she received.

"That was the biggest pop I ever got in my whole career," Saraya said. "I was like, 'Oh, my gosh! And I'm Saraya. And I'm trending for the first time in my career as Saraya,'" she continued.

Chrisean Rock appears to have admitted to hitting Blueface ... which left him with two black eyes that she proudly showed off to their followers.

The volatile couple were both featured on a recent IG Live stream from Blueface's account, during which he said Chrisean was "10-1" but had not yet taken "his belt." While it's unclear what exactly he's referring to, Chrisean seemed to suggest it was about their fights.

She showed off a photo of Blueface from her phone -- flashing it to his own phone so the IG Live crowd could see it -- and it looks to show the rapper with a couple of shiners.

Chrisean is definitely trying to one-up Blue here, saying he looks like a raccoon there. BF, meanwhile, laughs it off ... noting he took it like a "snack" (champ?) and that he didn't even hit her back, as if that's something to be commended.

He goes on to say that if he hit her like that, she'd go to sleep ... and kinda gives himself a pat on the back for not retaliating. In the end, he tries to kiss and make up, but Chrisean isn't having it -- making for a super awkward interaction and a lot of tension.

It's more of the same from these two, frankly -- an apparently toxic relationship that seems to include violence ... allegedly from both sides.

Remember, it wasn't too long ago that Chrisean showed off what she claimed were injuries at the hands of Blueface -- only to take it back completely some 24 hours later. Their apparent nonstop ups and downs certainly seem to be laced with mutual combat, which we've seen on camera time and again.

Nick Fuentes found out the hard way he's not welcome in Los Angeles ... 'cuz the white nationalist just got in a food fight with a couple at a famed In-N-Out Burger.

Check out the video, obtained by TMZ, showing Nick holding a large cup ... without warning he pitches it across the Hollywood restaurant early Saturday morning. Liquid from the cup showers everyone in its path ... and the doused diners look at Nick in utter shock.

Another video captured the moment Fuentes left the joint before the situation escalated ... as he's walking out, one patron mocks him for supposedly misidentifying himself, shouting, "F--k Nick Fuentes. You racist!!"

Eyewitnesses tell TMZ ... Fuentes and a friend were eating when a couple approached them and got into a dispute. It's unclear what the beef was about ... but, as you know, Nick has been in the news lately with Kanye West spreading antisemitic hate everywhere they go ... so just use your imagination.

Anyway, the couple got so pissed they threw ketchup-filled paper cups at Fuentes, splashing him with the condiment. The man and women then turned to walk out ... that's when Nick lost it, tossing his drink at them.

We're told the drink missed the couple. Nick left with his friend about 5 minutes later.