MMA

Dana White says there's a lot of "goofy s***" that makes rounds in the MMA world ... and the biggest case of "goofy s***" at the moment?? Conor McGregor fighting Jorge Masvidal at the White House.

The chatter picked up this week ... with Gamebred even claiming the chances were "not looking bad" that he'd get a shot at Notorious at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. later this year.

That's news to Dana ... who would probably know if that matchup was a possibility.

Some guys have plenty of confidence in their old friends ... can you guess who this former professional wrestler is?

We ran into this dude while he was signing autographs and asked him if he had any advice for his old pal John Cena as he prepared to leave the ring behind ... but he was confident his buddy had a pretty bright future outside of wrestling.

In just a few months, the UFC will bring the show to the most famous house in the world -- the White House -- and while the card is still a mystery ... the promotion's longtime commentator, Jon Anik, is telling us who he wants to see scrap at 1600 Penn.!

"I think you probably got to do the Heavyweight Championship," Anik told TMZ Sports this week in NYC. "We got to see Tom Aspinall versus Ciryl Gane again."

Of course, the men met at UFC 321 in October ... but the fight was stopped and ruled a no-contest after an inadvertent eye poke.

In the co-main event, Jon threw out another rematch ... which would pit Merab Dvalishvili against the man who just took his belt in December, Petr Yan.

Kayla Harrison is breaking her silence after a serious neck injury made her pull out of her huge co-main event fight against Amanda Nunes at UFC 324 ... posting a video from her NYC hospital bed after undergoing surgery, fighting back tears, and declaring, "I'll be back soon."

Harrison shared the video with her followers on Thursday morning, and it's crystal clear how much of a toll the situation has taken on her ... torpedoing one of the most anticipated fights in the history of women's MMA.

"I'm sorry to Amanda," Kayla said. "I was really looking forward to it."

Turns out maybe there is art in Mixed Martial Arts ... 'cause nearly 10 years after Meryl Streep famously called out the sport during the Golden Globes ... the UFC was front and center at the same show to hype up its Paramount deal!!

Brian Ortega and current women’s strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern made a brief appearance during Sunday night’s 83rd Golden Globes on CBS, which now owns the U.S. broadcast rights to the MMA organization for the next seven years.

A quick refresher on why this is quite notable -- while Streep was accepting an award at the 2017 show, she gave a speech calling out President Donald Trump. When making a comment about diversity in Hollywood, she said, “If we kick [outsiders and foreigners] out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts -- which are not the arts."

A wrestling match between a top-15 UFC heavyweight and a man with no legs? It might sound like a crazy concept ... but it's gonna be reality when Zion Clark looks to take down Valter Walker next month in Miami ... and Clark tells TMZ Sports he's gonna choke Walker out "like a boss!"

We chopped it up with Clark -- who was born without legs -- and, he is confident as ever heading into his showdown with Walker, the brother of UFC light heavyweight Johnny Walker.

Despite the clear advantage for Walker ... Clark is making it clear he's not one to be taken lightly.

UFC middleweight contender Brendan Allen is back in the gym gearing up for what hopefully will be a productive 2026 ... and while he has his sights set on former champ Dricus Du Plessis -- he tells TMZ Sports he's getting mixed signals from the Australian!!

We caught up with Allen a few months after he defeated Reinier de Ridder in Vancouver, and he told us he's hopeful a showdown with Du Plessis will be made sometime in the New Year.

But while that's his desire ... he's not so sure it's what the 31-year-old wants.

Ilia Topuria -- the current UFC lightweight champion -- announced he'll be stepping away from fighting “temporarily” as he deals with issues in his personal life ... claiming he is being extorted with "false allegations of domestic abuse unless financial demands were met."

The 28-year-old shared the news in a lengthy message posted to his Instagram, saying it was not a decision he took lightly.

"However, when circumstances arise that threaten your personal integrity, your family, and your reputation, there comes a point where you must address them directly," Topuria said.

Merab Dvalishvili began his UFC career with two consecutive losses before winning an astounding 14 straight fights (and counting), putting him among the very best MMA fighters ever ... a fairy tale The Machine describes as the "American Dream."

"This is unbelievable," Dvalishvili told TMZ Sports ahead of his UFC 323 main event fight against Petr Yan.

"I am the American Dream. Now, when I see other Georgians also willing to come here to America, they think they can do like I do, but it's very hard. It's not only hard work, you have to get lucky, too, and I'm lucky. I'm lucky."

Dillon Danis claims he's still feeling it after his brawl at UFC 322 ... to the point where he won't be able to attend his deposition in his Nina Agdal case next week.

According to court documents, obtained by TMZ Sports, the MMA fighter says he is currently in California "seeking medical treatment" for a head injury he sustained at MSG after throwing hands with several members of Islam Makhachev's team on Nov. 15.

As a result, the fighter's lawyer says Danis won't be around to get grilled by Agdal's lawyers next Tuesday in New Jersey.

The brawl prompted New York City Mayor Eric Adams to call for an investigation, saying the actions were unacceptable.

MMA Fighter Isaac Johnson has died after being injured during a match near Chicago Friday night.

NBC 5 Chicago reports Johnson collapsed after suffering an injury during his fight against Mario Aleksandrovski at Cicero Stadium.

An ambulance was called to the stadium at 8:38 PM local time to transport “an injured fighter” to the hospital ... and Johnson passed away a few hours later, just after midnight.

UFC legends Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva are set to throw down on the main card of Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua next month in Miami ... and Woodley tells TMZ Sports that while he has respect for The Spider, the plan is to "hurt him" good in the ring.

We chopped it up with the former UFC welterweight champion after it was announced he would be stepping in to replace Chris Weidman against Silva ... and he told us that even though George St-Pierre was his number one dream fight, this is the next best opportunity.

"When this opportunity came about, you know, this is how a legend is made," Woodley said. "People talk about legacy, legacy, legacy, but they play it safe all the time. And I'm not playing it safe."

There's a huge log jam at the top of the UFC welterweight division, with no less than five fighters in the mix for a title fight against champ Islam Makhachev ... a complicated situation that Ian Machado Garry says will be settled after he kicks Belal Muhammad's ass!

TMZ Sports spoke to the 28-year-old, 6th-ranked challenger ahead of his Fight Night co-main event scrap with 37-year-old Muhammad ... and we asked about the weight class.

"It's the most exciting division in the UFC right now. It's probably the most exciting a division has ever been, full stop. It's an exciting time for my division, and I'm at the forefront of it," Garry told us.

"I spoke to [President Trump] about it. He said he'd put in a good word for me, and I think that will probably go a long way."

That's what Bo Nickal told TMZ Sports this week -- just days before the UFC star is set to return to the Octagon following his first defeat in an otherwise blemish-free MMA career -- when asked about next year's highly anticipated fights at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

"I would love to be on that card. It would be a big honor for me. Something that would be very special," the 29-year-old told us, adding, "take care of business, one thing at a time, but it's looking good for the White House card."

Kamaru Usman has an idea of how he wants his legendary UFC career to come to a close ... and he let TMZ Sports in on the blueprint -- and it all starts with the winner of this weekend's UFC 322 main event!

We chopped it up with the 38-year-old former welterweight champion ahead of the promotion's return to Madison Square Garden in NYC on Saturday, and Usman says he's got an eye on the title scrap between champ Jack Della Maddalena and Islam Makhachev, who surrendered his lightweight belt to go for gold in the 170 lb. division.

"I think [the fight is] a toss-up, but I do think Islam has the grappling edge when it goes down to the ground," Usman said. "I think he's just done it longer. We'll see what happens. But of course, I'm looking to get in there and potentially test myself against the winner."