Fights

UFC star Nina Nunes just gave birth 6 months ago ... but tells TMZ Sports she CAN'T WAIT to get back in the Octagon and fight on Saturday!

Nina -- formally known as Nina Ansaroff -- had a baby back in September with her longtime partner Amanda Nunes, who happens to be one of the greatest combat sports athletes of all time!

Nina ain't too shabby herself -- she's the #5 ranked UFC strawweight -- and she's taking on fellow mom Mackenzie Dern on "UFC on ABC 2" on April 10.

Mackenzie made headlines herself back in 2019 when she fought Amanda Ribas just 4 months after giving birth ... and gave a pretty inspiring performance, despite losing the fight.

Nunes tells us she has tremendous respect for Dern ... and hopes the fight will show people you can be a mom and also kick ass as a pro fighter!

Nunes admits her delivery wasn't exactly smooth -- she had some serious medical issues that left her in rough shape.

But, as soon as she was cleared to work out, she got ripped in weeks -- just look at the photos! Amazing!

As for Dern, she tells TMZ Sports the respect with Nunes is mutual -- "The babies make us better athletes, better fighters, more motivated, more professional."

Both women tell us they're expecting a war -- but it's not personal ... and they expect to take pictures with their babies together after the fight!

Jake Paul's brutal knockout of ex-NBA star Nate Robinson is now being sold as an NFT -- and the asking price is $10 MILLION!!!

Triller, the company behind the fight, is also behind the sale of the 1-of-1 NFT -- but there's a pretty significant twist here.

In addition to owning the digital collectible from the Nov. 28, 2020 event -- the buyer will also get a custom 1-of-1 NFT featuring the last 30 seconds of the April 17 boxing match between Jake Paul and Ben Askren.

So, if the fight ends with a bang, that moment will be memorialized in a collectible non-fungible token.

The token is available through the new Triller NFT Marketplace -- which the company says is "based on peer-reviewed, audited Ethereum blockchain infrastructure."

NFTs are all the rage in digital collectibles at the moment -- with some tokens selling for more than $50 MILLION!!

If you're still not clear on what an NFT is -- think of it as a digital baseball card that's built on blockchain technology to ensure authenticity.

Just like a baseball card, people can buy, sell or trade NFTs -- but they don't own the copyright to the actual art itself.

Make sense? Okay great.

Athletes and entertainers from all over the world have been jumping on the NFT train -- Rob Gronkowski, Tom Brady, Snoop and more have issued their own NFT collections, some have sold for a fortune.

Sakura Kokumai was minding her own business while training in a park when she was accosted by a stranger ... in the latest disturbing example of anti-Asian sentiment in America.

The U.S Olympic karate athlete says she was at a park in Orange, CA last week when the angry man began yelling at her out of nowhere ... so she recorded it.

The man makes several threats and hurls insults at Sakura before finally getting in his car to leave, but not before she says she heard him drop some racial slurs as well.

She describes the incident as horrible, adding ... "I don’t know which was worse, a stranger yelling and threatening to hurt me for no reason or people around me who witnessed everything and not doing a thing."

Sakura says toward the end of his rant, a woman finally did ask if she was okay.

The Olympic athlete says she decided to share her experience as a reminder this is happening all over the country ... and we need to take better care of each other.

She also told reporters ... "I was aware about the anti-Asian hate that was going on. You see it almost every day on the news. But, I didn’t think it would happen to me at a park I usually go to train."

"Listen, Conor McGregor is the biggest piece of s**t scumbag in the sport."

That's Kamaru Usman's manager, Ali Abdelaziz, going off about Conor McGregor after the UFC superstar accused Usman of stealing his signature catchphrases.

Here's the quick backstory ... Usman (the reigning UFC welterweight champ) is promoting his big UFC 261 fight with Jorge Masvidal and told ESPN, "It’s green panty night when you fight me."

It's a nod to Conor's famous "red panty night" comment he made at a press conference back in 2015 -- a line that's become one of Conor's most famous moments.

“I can make you rich,” McGregor told Rafael dos Anjos at the UFC 197 news conference -- explaining, "I change your bum life; you fight, it’s a celebration. When you sign to fight me, it’s a celebration. You ring back home, you ring your wife, ‘Baby, we’ve done it. We’re rich, baby. Conor McGregor made us rich, break out the red panties. We’re rich, baby.'"

So, when Conor saw Usman using a similar line (replacing red with green because of the color of the Nigerian flag), McGregor called him out on social media.

"Am I tripping or is this jackass always at this? Everything I say," Conor tweeted.

Well, Usman's manager saw the tweet and decided to respond -- aggressively.

"Kamaru Usman is a great father, great husband, he's not a jackass. If you have a problem with him, fight the man. But we know Conor doesn’t have the balls."

"He's not enough of a man to fight anything like Kamaru . He’s not enough of a man to even look him in his face."

Ali added, "The Internet creates a lot of heroes. Everybody can talk s**t. But realistically, if you put these two guys in a cage, in a street fight, in the trunk of a car, in a jail cell ,... you know who’s gonna be whose daddy."

"Kamaru Usman will be Conor's daddy every day of the week."

Abdelaziz also broke down why he's 100% convinced Usman will DESTROY Masvidal when they step into the octagon on April 24 in Jacksonville, Florida.

MMA fighter Johnny Case admitted to police he performed a "leg sweep" on his ex-girlfriend during an altercation last week -- but insists he was merely defending himself against another trained fighter.

It's all spelled out in the police report, obtained by TMZ Sports ... which shows the ex-girlfriend called the Las Vegas Metro Police Dept. on April 1 to report a domestic violence incident.

The woman -- who is a professional fighter -- told cops she was hanging out with Case in her apartment when he told her he wanted to have sex.

The woman says she rejected his advances and told him to leave -- and that's when he "became angry" and got physical with her.

The woman told cops Case pushed her -- so she pushed him back -- and that's when Case picked her up and threw her on the ground, causing scratches on her elbow which were visible by officers.

The woman claims Case continued the attack ... kicking her in the inner-thigh and spitting on her while she was on the ground.

In the police report, responding officers noted a red mark on the woman's leg, which resembled a foot.

Officers later tracked down Case and got his side of the story ... and it's radically different.

Case told cops ... the woman got angry for "personal reasons" (which he wouldn't elaborate about) and attacked him first -- striking him numerous times.

Case admits he picked up the woman to throw her -- but insisted it was the only way to stop her attack.

Case told cops he left the apartment and went to his truck ... but she continued the assault -- throwing closed-fist punches and elbows to his face, which resulted in cuts to his lower lip and eyebrow.

According to the police report, Case said he "leg swept" the woman so she would fall and "would no longer be able to attack him."

At that point, Case says he got back in his truck and left.

After speaking with both parties, cops determined Case was the primary aggressor -- partly because he's a trained martial artist. He was booked for alleged domestic battery.

It's unclear if the officers knew the woman is also a pro fighter.

We reached out to Case and the woman involved in the incident -- but no comment from either side.

The big man who was violently KO'ed in a heated fight at Walmart is NOT ex-NFL player Bruce Campbell ... the former Raiders O-lineman confirmed to TMZ Sports.

"No, that was not me," Campbell said. "No, I did not get my jaw broken."

But, the former NFL player -- a 4th round pick in the 2010 Draft -- says he concerned the damage to his reputation may already be done.

Here's what we know ... on Sunday, footage of a violent brawl in an unidentified Walmart went viral, with tons of people claiming the main combatant is Campbell, who left the NFL in 2014.

The story was retweeted by some journalists and picked up by multiple websites which identified the main person in the fight as Campbell.

But, we spoke with Campbell on Monday morning and the 32-year-old told us he was definitely NOT involved in the melee ... and has no knowledge about the incident captured on video.

"As you can see right now, I'm just enjoying fatherhood," Campbell told us while playing with his kids.

The 32-year-old explained he's been busy living his post-NFL life -- focusing on his family and coaching high school football ... and he's happy.

But, Campbell admits he's upset that he was misidentified and he's concerned the whole ordeal could cost him a future job.

"That definitely hurts my potential at getting a coaching job anywhere," Campbell says ... explaining that anyone Googles him could incorrectly think he's violent.

Campbell says he's been bombarded with messages online and received a ton of calls from people checking in on him.

But the main takeaway, it's NOT him!

As for the incident. We don't know where or when it took place. We do know the big dude in the video got absolutely destroyed in the store by a much smaller man.

The video is wild ... it all picks up with a large man screaming at another guy and challenging him to "do something, motherf*****!"

It's unclear what the dudes were arguing over ... but when the little guy did indeed decide to "do something," it did NOT end up well for the bigger man.

The big guy got rocked in the face REPEATEDLY ... and at one point, he appeared to eat a punch so hard, he was out cold.

The fight was eventually broken up ... no word on if either guy suffered significant injuries or if any arrests were made.

As for Campbell ... he was a superstar at Maryland -- and is famous for tearing up the NFL Combine as a draft prospect in 2010.

He measured in a 6'6", 314 pounds, ran a 4.85 40-yard dash and bench pressed 225 pounds 34 times.

Francis Ngannou's Hit List:

- Stipe Miocic ✅

- Jon Jones

- TYSON FURY ?!

That's exactly right ... the newly crowned UFC champ tells TMZ Sports he's DEAD SERIOUS about boxing Fury -- the man many pugilism experts believe is the greatest heavyweight alive.

Why boxing? Why Fury? Here's the deal.

Before UFC 260, Stipe told us he was very interested in boxing 32-year-old Fury or 31-year-old Anthony Joshua.

Welp, his title defense didn't go as planned (lost via 2nd rd. KO) ... so, while Francis is taking things from Miocic -- we asked if he wanted to take Stipe's place vs. the Gypsy King.

"Absolutely. I'm open to that. Remember boxing was my primary dream and I still have the fire, the dream inside me and I believe at some point, I'm gonna make a step."

Of course, UFC honcho Dana White is currently working on a massive fight between Jones and Ngannou ... and Fury is set to take on Joshua later this year -- so any boxing match between the 2 giants would have to be in the future.

We also asked Francis about 54-year-old Mike Tyson ... who is looking to find an opponent after talks with forever rival Evander Holyfield fell apart at the negotiating table.

And not even 6'4", 263 pound Francis Ngannou wants a piece of "Iron" Mike ... despite a 20 year age difference!

"I don't want to fight Mike Tyson but I would like to fight another heavyweight boxer as such as Tyson Fury."

There was another vicious attack against an Asian person in New York City ... this time in Central Park.

It happened last Saturday, at around 1 in the afternoon. A 38-year-old Asian man was approached by someone who punched him in the face and fled, according to the NYPD.

The injuries were serious enough that the man went to nearby Mount Sinai Hospital.

The victim had been enjoying the day with his wife and son when the attack occurred.

The victim told cops the attacker first came up to his family and started whispering something in his wife's ear that was sexual in nature. As his family tried to move away from the guy, he got in the victim's face. The victim said, "Hey, let's practice social distance, you don't have a mask on ..." The attacker then said, "You got a mask. That's an advantage."  Then came the hate, as the attacker added, "You guys always have the advantage." And, that's when the attacker punched the victim.

This kind of hatred is out of control against Asians all across the country. As we reported, a woman was viciously attacked around the same time in NYC by a man who is now under arrest for a hate crime.

MMA fighter Johnny Case -- who once fought on a Conor McGregor undercard -- was arrested in Las Vegas on Thursday for domestic battery, TMZ Sports has learned.

The 31-year-old fighter is still in custody in Clark County, Nevada according to online records.

Details surrounding his arrest have not been released -- but we're told the alleged victim is a female MMA fighter.

Case -- who goes by the nickname "Johnny Hollywood" -- is currently signed with the PFL (Professional Fighters League) and has a fight scheduled for the end of the month.

Case is 27-7-1 as a pro fighter and has had stints with some of the top MMA organizations in the world ... including the UFC, where he fought from 2014 to 2017.

In fact, Case fought Frankie Perez on the undercard of the Conor McGregor vs. Dennis Siver card back in 2015 ... and he won.

We reached out to Case's camp for comment but so far nothing.

"I said, 'Wait a second, where the f*** is his finger?' They were all like, 'I don't know.'"

That's how one witness described seeing an MMA fighter LOSE A FINGER mid-match Thursday night ... and, yeah, the injury was just as horrific as it sounds.

During Khetag Pliev's bout with Devin Goodale at Cage Fury Fighting Championship in Philadelphia, officials had to stop the fight when they noticed Pliev was missing a freakin' finger.

The images were INSANE ... video of 37-year-old Pliev in his corner showed the ring finger on his left hand had been completely severed at some point during his match.

The problem? For several minutes, nobody could find the missing digit!

Event promoter Rob Haydak told ESPN there was a mad scramble to try to help locate it ... with the PA announcer even having to ask fans in the 2300 Arena stands if they'd seen it!

"It was a surreal moment," Haydak said.

Eventually, Pliev's finger was found tucked away in his glove -- where it had been the entire time -- but, here's the crazy part ... Pliev did NOT immediately go to the hospital to have it reattached!!!

Haydak says Pliev actually begged to continue the match ... and even though officials wouldn't let him, he still stayed in the ring for the post-fight announcement, where Goodale was rewarded with a TKO decision.

"It was crazy," Haydak said. "He didn't even flinch. He was getting ready to do the [official] decision and I was like, 'Uh, guys, get him out of the cage and go put his finger back on.'"

Pliev -- who did ultimately go to the emergency room to have his finger attached -- says he believes he suffered the injury after Goodale had grabbed at his glove early in the fight.

"In the second round, he caught my glove with one hand and held it," Pliev said. "I felt my finger snapped. He kept pulling my glove and my finger snapped. We kept fighting."

"When the second round was finished, I see my [bone] was out in the open. I wanted to keep fighting, because I felt like I had this guy. But, the doctor saw that and stopped the fight. "

Pliev -- a wrestler who competed for Canada in the 2012 Olympics -- came into the fight with a 5-1 record. He said he plans on appealing Thursday night's fight result.

Quavo is speaking out for the first time since TMZ posted video of an elevator altercation between him and Saweetie -- and he wants to make one thing clear -- he's never physically abused his former gf.

Quavo tells us, "We had an unfortunate situation almost a year ago that we both learned and moved on from. I haven’t physically abused Saweetie and have real gratitude for what we did share overall."

The unfortunate situation Quavo's referring to is a video TMZ obtained inside an apartment complex elevator. The scene starts with Saweetie appearing to take a swing at Quavo during a struggle for control of a video game console.

At one point, Quavo grabs Saweetie by the arm, swinging her into the elevator, and the two fall to the floor. Saweetie stays on the ground -- apparently injured -- after Quavo gets up. Once the door opens, Quavo gets out and makes sure the door stays open while Saweetie limps out.

Quavo's statement comes just hours after Saweetie told us, "This unfortunate incident happened a year ago, while we have reconciled since then and moved past this particular disagreement, there were simply too many other hurdles to overcome in our relationship and we have both since moved on."

"I think everybody thought was an April Fools' joke, but it was deadly serious."

That's CM Punk telling TMZ Sports what it was like to be ringside when MMA fighter Khetag Pliev had his FINGER RIPPED OFF in the middle of a match ... and it's one of the craziest stories ever!

Punk was calling the fight with his broadcast partner, John Morgan, at the Cage Fury Fighting Championship event in Philadelphia when the incident went down -- and says the most important thing was trying to stay focused.

"I wanted to make sure that I know that what I was seeing was correct," Punk says.

The scene inside the arena was wild -- especially since nobody could find Pliev's detached finger in the moments after the injury.

People were scouring the area with flashlights before ultimately discovering the severed digit in Pliev's fight glove.

Despite the chaos, Punk stayed relatively calm and continued to call the action like a true pro for the rest of the night.

"A lot of people are giving us props like, 'Congratulations, you didn't throw up!' ... but I was kind of right at home in the thick of it, calling it on the fly, as it happened. There's nothing better than live television."

Saweetie has broken her silence two days after TMZ posted video showing her and her then-boyfriend, Quavo, in an altercation inside an elevator.

Saweetie tells us, "This unfortunate incident happened a year ago, while we have reconciled since then and moved past this particular disagreement, there were simply too many other hurdles to overcome in our relationship and we have both since moved on."

As for the other hurdles ... when the two split last month, Saweetie accused Quavo, very publicly, of cheating. Quavo replied to the allegations with a tweet that read, "I had love for you and disappointed you did all that. You are not the woman I thought you were. I wish you nothing but the best."

TMZ broke the story ... the surveillance video, from inside an apartment complex elevator shows the former couple in a struggle over a box containing a video game console. Saweetie appears to take a swipe at Quavo first before he grabs her by the arm, knocking her against the back elevator wall and both hitting the floor.