Fights

UFC's newest star Michael Chandler says he's taking his job as "alternate" for the Khabib vs. Gaethje fight very seriously ... and he'll be ready to step in if either fighter can't go on Saturday.

As we previously reported, several Khabib fights have been scrapped at the last minute to due unforeseen circumstances ... from bad weight cuts to freak injuries.

So, Dana White has a backup plan for UFC 254 -- flying out Michael Chandler, one of the best lightweights in the world, to stay ready in case something happens to either Justin or Khabib before that bell rings.

"Of course I don't want bad luck to befall Khabib or Gaethje because I respect them a ton," Chandler tells TMZ Sports ... "but they needed someone to be here as an insurance policy, as a backup plan in case somebody did fall off the card. So, I've said I have to be ready."

Chandler is on Fight Island and preparing himself as if he'll fight on Saturday night -- everything from conditioning to the weight cut.

"At this point, I still don't know if whether I'm weighing in and then waiting for Khabib and Gaethje to make weight," Chandler says.

"I don't know if I'm gonna go to the arena, warm-up, get my hands wrapped until Khabib and Gaethje actually step into that cage and that cage door's locked and Bruce Buffer's announcing them."

Chandler admits it's frustrating training for a fight that might not happen -- but "I signed on the dotted line saying I'd be the alternate, I am the alternate until I'm needed no more."

"All I can do is do my job."

After UFC 254, Chandler says he's hoping to sign a contract to fight Tony Ferguson -- and if he wins that, it would put him in a great spot for a potential title shot with Khabib or Justin.

We also asked Chandler to make a fight prediction for Saturday -- and he's taking Khabib over Gaethje.

"You gotta bet on the guy who is undefeated."

But, Chandler says Gaethje is a dangerous man -- and he's got a real shot at upsetting the champ.

If you're gonna steal from Paige VanZant's Jeep -- at least have enough common courtesy to shut the door when you're done!!!

... especially in the middle of a rainstorm!

The MMA fighter says someone tried to ransack her vehicle Tuesday night -- but didn't shut the driver's side door when they finished ... and now the inside of her car is soaked!

"Listen, if you’re going to break in to my car -- please shut the door," Paige said.

The Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship star says she didn't leave anything of value in her car -- so no big loss. But, it sucks when someone breaks into your car -- you feel violated.

The good news for Paige ... karma caught up with her while picking up coffee later that day -- when someone picked up her check in a random act of kindness.

TikTok star Bryce Hall can't seem to go out to eat anywhere in L.A. without getting into a fight ... this time, he and his crew were involved in an ugly brawl at a Mexican restaurant, but Bryce says it wasn't his fault.

The violence broke out Monday at Cinco Mexican restaurant near LAX, and video shows Bryce and his boys in a huge scuffle with staffers on the outdoor patio.

Sources with direct knowledge of the incident tell TMZ ... Bryce and his buddies were hanging out on the patio before playing golf at a nearby course, and things took a turn for the worse when a server told Bryce and co. to stop vaping.

It's illegal to vape at restaurants in L.A. but we're told Bryce and his boys refused to quit and Bryce allegedly blew smoke in a staffer's face when asked to stop.

Sources say Bryce and his friends were asked to leave and given the check. When their server went inside to run Bryce's credit card, all hell broke loose.

One source says it was Bryce and his buddies who jumped an employee, with Bryce throwing the first punch and continuing to brawl until other staffers broke it up.

Now, Bryce tells us he was vaping, but says he was cordial when the manager asked him to leave. He claims the trouble started when he had to ask to get his credit card back more than 10 times ... and the manager allegedly told him, "No, get the f*** off the property."

Bryce alleges the manager grabbed him and tried to drag him away, sparking the bigger all-out brawl. He claims he only put the guy in a headlock while defending one of his friends. In the end, Bryce says the manager kicked him in the nuts.

One employee claims to have suffered a potentially broken hand and bruised face in the scuffle ... and named Bryce as his attacker in a police report. We're told he wants to press charges.

Bryce and his friends had already left by the time cops arrived. Bryce claims he has witnesses and video to back up his version of events.

As we reported ... Bryce was also throwing haymakers outside Mel's Diner on Sunset last month.

Sorry, Loma -- kiss your hopes for a rematch goodbye!

... because Teofimo Lopez tells TMZ Sports he has no interest in running it back with Vasyl Lomachenko after kicking his ass on Saturday.

"For what? F*ck him," Lopez tells us ... "I won fair and square."

He certainly did -- Lopez dominated the first half of the fight and ended things with a stellar 12th round, despite a furious comeback attempt from Loma.

After the fight, Lopez says Loma and his camp weren't exactly gracious in defeat.

"I went up to him and I said good fight. I grabbed his father, I said safe travels … pretty much saying goodbye to them because I knew I won."

"But he didn’t want to give me back that same gesture -- instead he just started laughing like, 'What am I doing here?' So, I was like whatever, I did my part. The fighting's done, I whooped your ass … you cut me, head-butted me and sh*t but it's fine."

Lopez says Loma blew off the post-fight press conference and refused to talk with media -- telling us, "That just shows what kind of champion he really is."

So, what's next for the 23-year-old champion?

"I'm the king now," Lopez said ... "I've always been the king. I was just the underground king. Now, I've been crowned."

We asked Teofimo if he has any interest in fighting rising stars like Ryan Garcia and others now that he's in the driver's seat -- and ya gotta hear his answer.

Listen up, Daniel Cormier -- The Miz is handing out some free advice about making the switch to WWE ... telling TMZ Sports the retired UFC champ better be ready to work his ass off!!!

Remember, the MMA legend is a HUGE pro wrestling fan ... and recently revealed he is in talks with Vince McMahon to possibly join the org. as a commentator.

We spoke to The Miz about the potential road ahead for DC ... and he ain't sugarcoating anything.

"It's very difficult," he tells us. "Not many people are able to do it. Not many people can be as successful as Ronda Rousey was, which she came in and really did a tremendous job just acclimating to our style of professional wrestling."

Of course, DC said his role with WWE would be on the mic ... but let's be real. This dude *has* to get in the ring at some point, right?!

Miz says it'll be "fantastic" if DC follows Ronda's success into WWE ... but makes it clear he wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't work out, saying, "some people just can't get it."

"Honestly, it's one of the hardest jobs I've ever seen in entertainment because it's life, it's in your face, it's athleticism, it's entertainment."

"You have to have all these different realms and bring them all into one."

As for WWE, there's clear interest on their side as well -- honcho Triple H has praised DC in the past ... and even told us, "we'd love to do something with him if the time is right."

Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje is tracking to be the biggest fight in UFC history ... bigger than any Conor McGregor fight ... so says Dana White.

We just spoke with the UFC honcho who tells us the data he's looked at shows massive interest in UFC 254 -- and he's expecting to break the 2.4 million PPV buys that Conor vs. Khabib did in 2018.

"Yeah, it's trending bigger than that right now," Dana says.

White says the data doesn't always hold up -- but right now, he's pretty confident.

For the record, 2.4 million buys at $65 a pop is $156 MILLION in PPV money alone ... so yeah, this is a big deal.

We also asked Dana about Khabib's comments to ESPN on Tuesday morning -- when the Dagestani said he's very interested in a fight with UFC legend Georges St-Pierre after he gets through Justin.

White says he's interested in exploring a possible deal -- but he's not making any promises.

"I'd be interested in talking about it. Just because that's what Khabib wants doesn't mean that fight can be made. I mean there's just so many things that have to come into play for that fight to happen."

As for Conor McGregor ... Dana tells us the contract to fight Dustin Poirier in January is NOT officially done at this point, but he's expecting it to happen soon.

"No, the deals not signed yet but in the history of dealing with Conor McGregor, Conor McGregor has never come out publicly and said 'I accept this fight' and not fought," White says ... "I expect the fight to go on."

Conor has said he wants the fight to take place at AT&T Stadium in Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys. Jerry Jones has said he's open to hosting a McGregor fight.

So, we asked Dana if there's a realistic chance that could happen.

White says the UFC has been trying to book a fight there for years but it just hasn't come to fruition -- and it definitely won't until Texas allows full capacity for fans.

"Glee" star Amber Riley says she nearly beat the crap out of a Trump supporter who blocked her car, and then spit on it ... before cooler heads prevailed.

The actress is pissed about what recently happened to her while on her way to a store. Amber says she was driving into the parking lot when an older white man in a MAGA hat jumped in front of her car and "takes his Trump hat off and uses it as some kind of badge as if I need to stop."

She says she blew it off at first, telling the guy to move it along but what really got her riled up was when he spit on her car. Amber fumed ... "In 2020, he saw a Black woman, decided he was gonna punk me and the mother f**ker spit on my car. I don't have words for this."

As for why she didn't shoot video of the altercation, Amber says she's not one of those people to take out her phone and record a racist to make him famous. You gotta see her alternate plan, 'cause it's awesome to hear it in her words.

Let's just say it involves beating his ass. Amber says, "If I would have found him in the store, I would have been in jail right now."

The actress mentioned she was FaceTiming Selena Gomez's kidney donor, Francia Raisa, when she herself was recently tormented by Trump supporters on the 405 freeway.

Amber says she doesn't care who anyone supports but, "I care about you keeping your hands to yourself, I care about you keeping your comments to yourself and I care about you keeping your bodily fluids to yourself."

"I think [Teofimo Lopez] is the future in the lightweight division and there’s a lot of great fights out there for him -- including our very own Ryan Garcia, which would be a massive, massive fight."

That's Oscar De La Hoya already trying to line up a fight between Teofimo Lopez and Ryan Garcia ... explaining it would be an instant classic that would be HUGE for the sport.

Oscar tells TMZ Sports he was incredibly impressed with Teo's victory this weekend over Vasyl Lomachenko -- a fighter many considered the best pound-for-pound boxer on the planet.

"If you saw the fight, Lomachenko came in strong toward the end, but it was too late," Oscar says ... "Teofimo looked amazing. He stepped it up. He showed his true colors."

Of course, Oscar is one of the top promoters in boxing and reps Ryan Garcia -- one of the top young fighters in the game.

Garcia is 22. Teo is 23 ... and Oscar says a clash between these two young superstars seems inevitable and would be amazing!

"That’ll be like Fernando Vargas vs. De La Hoya all over again, bro … I mean that's a classic!"

Garcia is 20-0 with 17 knockouts -- though he's gearing up for a big fight in December against Luke Campbell, a guy who went the distance with Loma in 2019.

Garcia fights at lightweight -- and Lopez just became the unified lightweight world champion. So, the weight class wouldn't be an issue.

Look, Teofimo has said he wants big fights -- and if Garcia gets through Campbell ... Garcia would be a very attractive opponent.

"I think both guys are skilled, amazing fighters. That will be a classic," Oscar says.

Meanwhile, Oscar is keeping busy by raising money for the Oscar De La Hoya Foundation, which contributes to schools and hospitals in East L.A.

A Halloween-themed amusement park became a hellish scene full of monsters ... engaged in an all-out brawl after a woman refused to get off a ride.

The chaos begins with a ride operator at one of the Halloween Town locations in Las Vegas telling a woman who's yelling at him she's gotta get off ... and he's not starting the ride until she does.

The woman -- wearing a blue shirt, sitting next to a child, and called Christina by friends -- doesn't budge, and instead lets expletives fly. It's unclear what actually led to her beef with the ride operator, but he holds strong ... telling everyone the woman's holding up the ride because she's "acting like a damn animal."

Her response arguably ventures into racist territory when she says he looks like an animal, and then she calls security on him as he's trying to get everyone off the ride -- and then tempers flared.

It escalates quickly, and soon there's a scuffle involving several women, a few men, and multiple carnival employees who can't seem to get it under control. It's wild, it's ugly and, yes ... there were plenty of kids there to view the carnage.

Just your classic family trip to the pumpkin patch ... in a horror movie, anyway.

Boxing star Otto Wallin says if Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder III ain't happening, he'll step in and rematch the Gypsy King ... 'cause he already whooped him once!!

The HIGHLY anticipated trilogy fight was *supposed* to go down this year, but Fury says Wilder keeps changing the date ... so TF's moving on.

But fear not, Fury fanatics -- 29-year-old Wallin says he's been training like a maniac ... and he tells TMZ Sports he's more than ready.

"He doesn't have to look any further," Wallin tells us. "To be fair, look at our fight and then look at his other fights."

"You can see that I did a much better job than anybody has, and I landed more punches than (Wladimir) Klitschko and Wilder even together."

Remember, Fury-Wilder I was a draw ... but Tyson dominated Deontay in their February 2020 rematch -- TKO the Bronze Bomber in the 7th round.

Wallin actually believes his September 2019 fight with Tyson should've been stopped after he badly cut Fury's eye early in the fight.

"I deserve a rematch. Especially for the cuts. I should have been the winner that night."

Wallin says he thinks Fury would be down for the rematch ... but believes Tyson's people might stop the fight from going down 'cause they know Wallin can win.

As for whether Otto would be ready to rock in December -- the initial date for Fury vs. Wilder III -- that ain't a problem ... 'cause he was already hoping to fight before 2021!

She beats some ass. She shakes some ass. And, Hollywood is taking notice.

MMA rising star Valerie Loureda says her career has exploded over the past few months due to a combination of violence and sex appeal ... and she's loving every second of it.

Loureda blew up on social media back in August by obliterating Tara Graff at Bellator 243, which earned her a multi-fight contract with Bellator. She's now 3-0 as a pro, with 2 knockouts.

Loureda celebrated her new contract with a twerk video that also went viral ... and her popularity has been skyrocketing ever since.

Now, Loureda says Hollywood has come calling -- with talent agents knocking down her door and TV producers offering up a reality show.

22-year-old Loureda says she's flattered by the interest -- and wants to get involved in entertainment at some point -- but for now, her focus is on fighting.

"Several talent agents have reached out to me to try to get me to enter entertainment, and film different things, and honestly I love all of that and that’s my goal at the end of my career," Valerie tells us.

"But, right now, I'm really focused on fighting and winning fights comes first. But, yeah for sure, that’s a dream for me."

The big question ... when is Valerie getting back in the cage?

Loureda says she's currently recovering from an eye injury -- but she's hoping to fight again in 2020. Bellator is still working on an opponent.

In the meantime, Valerie continues to be a hit on social media. Here's one reason why ...

Joaquin Buckley's incredible spinning back kick KO has made it to the White House -- President Trump was so impressed, he called Dana White to rave about it!

Buckley's insane takedown of Impa Kasanganay at UFC Fight Night 179 has exploded after being hailed by many as the greatest knockout in MMA history.

In fact, Kanye West used the KO footage as the backdrop for his new song, "NAH NAH NAH" ... which has already been viewed by millions of people.

When we spoke with Buckley, he was STOKED to get love from Yeezus -- suggesting they could collaborate on a project together down the line ... even though Joaquin doesn't rap!

"Hey, I can learn how [to rap] though! I can write it down real quick. I can come up with a couple of things!!"

As for President Trump, Joaquin says he got a call from UFC president Dana White after the KO telling him his good friend POTUS personally called him up to tell him how impressed he was with the epic finish.

And yeah, Joaquin says he's flattered by the compliment from the Commander In Chief.

"He's the world leader at the end of the day. If anything, that's good to have a person like that on your side."

And get this, 26-year-old Buckley is still NOT a full-time MMA fighter -- he has a job at Walgreen's ... though he admits he might have to cut back his hours to focus on fighting now!

"I'm still employed by Walgreens. I gotta talk to my boss right now because I was supposed to head back on Monday!"

Buckley says he loves the Walgreen's job, but his fighting career is exploding right now and he knows he'll have to commit full-time in order to compete at the highest level.

The good news ... Buckley says his boss and co-workers are 100% supportive.

"They're just happy for me. I told 'em where I come from, they know my background, they know my story -- and just to see where I'm at now, everybody's proud of me."

Buckley is 11-3 as a pro and is now scheduled to take on Jordan Wright at UFC 255 next month!

Don't mess with city bus drivers ... they're fed up, and a mouthy, unruly passenger learned that the hard way when he got a fist to the face.

This video of the bare-knuckle boxing match shows the driver, who's wearing a face mask, telling the passenger to back up behind the yellow line. The passenger's apparently pissed about the driver threatening to kick him off the bus ... though we don't know why.

After a few moments of yelling back and forth and tension building ... the driver momentarily turns his back, the passenger shoves him and then it was on! Both men started swinging, but the driver landed several blows ... at least one to the guy's face because he was bleeding badly, and went down to the ground.

As if he got a standing 8 count, the passenger got back on his feet, but clearly didn't want any more smoke. The driver picked up a phone, we're guessing to call cops.

It's unclear when or where this all went down but the video's going viral. We're trying to find out if any arrests were made, but the takeaway here is ... don't test public bus drivers.

Drake's legal team is calling BS on injuries a man claims he suffered in a beatdown, because as they put it ... the guy wasn't too depressed or injured to appear on a reality TV show.

As you might recall, Bennett Sipes claimed he suffered a concussion, back injury, physical injury and depression after a March 2018 fight at Delilah nightclub with Drake, Odell Beckham and others. Sipes filed a lawsuit over the fight, but Drake's attorneys filed docs pointing out Sipes not only appeared on "Love Island" recently ... they also claim he attended music festivals and did backflips off rope swings while on vacay in Mexico.

As they say in the docs, obtained by TMZ, Sipes "appeared anything but depressed."

The legal docs include a declaration from Sipes' ex-GF, Sommer Ray Beaty, saying he started working with her after the brawl. She claims he carried her camera equipment without difficulty. She also claims Sipes seemed fine after his visible injuries healed -- and they traveled together to Mexico, Maryland, Colorado, England, France, Italy and Japan. She claims they also attended Coachella, Stagecoach and Rolling Loud Festival.

Drake's team also says Sipes deleted a bunch of text messages with Beaty ... which they say is a big no-no while the lawsuit was pending. They suspect the messages could have shed some light on Sipes' alleged injuries or the incident itself.

TMZ broke the story ... Sipes sued Drake, OBJ and Kourtney Kardashian's ex, Younes Bendjima, back in January 2019 claiming Younes attacked him along with members of Drake and OBJ's entourage. Sipes' ex said in her declaration both Drake and OBJ were standing at the back of the group and "appeared to simply be observing what was happening and following the group out of curiosity. Neither of them seemed to be instructing others or encouraging others to do anything at all."

Sipes had alleged Drake made a "throat slash" gesture and that's what triggered his crew to beat Sipes to a pulp. But, Sipes' ex contradicts that ... claiming she did not see any "throat slash" gesture "nor did I observe Drake encourage anything at all."

Conor McGregor's wish is evidently Jerry Jones' command ... the Cowboys owner says he's now "very open" to hosting the Notorious' next fight at his palace in Dallas!

"I'm a real admirer of his," Jerry said of McGregor on 105.3 "The Fan" on Friday. "He's one of the neatest individuals I think I've met. Period."

Conor said Wednesday he's accepted a UFC fight with Dustin Poirier for Jan. 23 ... and in his announcement, McGregor said he wanted the scrap to take place at AT&T Stadium.

And, when Jerry was asked about the possibility of making that happen ... the 78-year-old said he was more than down to try to make it work.

"[Conor] is special," Jerry said. "It would be quite a day for AT&T Stadium to have him."

Of course, the UFC has yet to officially cross the T's and dot the I's on the fight ... so selecting a location for the possible tilt is still a ways away.

But, if a deal is eventually made ... it could pave the way for thousands of fans to watch the fight in person.

Jerry's been operating Cowboys home games with roughly 25,000 people in attendance all season.

As for how Jones knows Conor so well ... you'll recall, he played host to the fighter at a Dallas game back in 2018 -- and everyone LOVED the guy there!!

So, do we officially have a fight AND a location now???

Boxing star Teofimo Lopez says his feud with Vasyl Lomachenko is real and nasty -- and he'll have "bad intentions" when they step in the ring this weekend.

"This is just how I feel man, this definitely is personal to me -- it's a whole different mindset for me," Lopez tells TMZ Sports.

Lopez (15-0) vs. Loma (14-1) is one of the biggest fights of the year -- two superstars clashing at the height of their powers Saturday at The Bubble at the MGM Grand in Vegas.

23-year-old Lopez is the IBF lightweight champ. 32-year-old Loma is the WBC, WBA and WBO lightweight champ. All of the belts are on the line this weekend.

Lopez knows he's the betting underdog but tells us he likes it that way and advises anyone who knows anything about boxing to bet the house on him.

"If you know boxing, bet on Teofimo to win -- you making money, everybody goes home happy."

The beef between the two camps goes back years -- lots of trash talk -- and Lopez says he's been itching to settle things with violence.

"You can see it in my eyes, I don’t fear you -- and I don’t have no type of respect towards you … just be ready for a fight."

Lopez even took a shot at Loma for the quality of the opponents he's faced recently ... saying he hasn't taken on a real challenger in years.

"I don’t think you’ve had a real fight in a long time -- so let's see what you can do."