MMA

Ronda Rousey's coach is trying his best to stay positive in the wake of her crushing defeat at UFC 207 ... and tells TMZ Sports he's tuning out the hate.

Warning to Cody Garbrandt ... YOU HAVE AN ASS KICKING COMING ... at least that's what MMA star Phil Davis thinks ... telling TMZ Sports his training partner, Dominick Cruz, is gonna slap Cody around.

Garbrandt and Cruz are set to face off at UFC 207 ... and the two men have been throwing verbal darts at each other since the bout was announced ... calling each other every name in the book.

We got Davis out at LAX, and the Bellator star delivers bad news to Team Garbrandt ... saying Cody has a ZERO PERCENT chance to beat Cruz, who he says has been DOMINATING during training.

Ronda Rousey just faced off with Amanda Nunes at the UFC 207 weigh-ins ... and it was INTENSE!

Nunes -- nicknamed "The Lioness" -- showed up in lion mask and looked VERY easy going about the whole fight.

Ronda flashed a smile for a quick second before returning to angry mode.

But the big story was the confrontation between Cody Garbrandt and Dominick Cruz -- when they yelled and pushed at each other during the showdown.

UFC stud Louis Smolka says he ain't backing out of his UFC 207 fight with Ray Borg ... even though his opponent is more than 3 POUNDS overweight.

It's a big deal ... especially between two flyweight fighters (125 pounders) ... but Smolka says he's a fighter and fighters fight.

The silver lining for Smolka ... he says he finally gets to be the good guy for a change.

Ronda Rousey looks READY TO GO ... showing off her ripped physique at the official UFC 207 weigh-in Thursday morning ... where she hit the media with the silent treatment.

Ronda didn't say a single word as she hit the scale before her championship fight with Amanda Nunes ... and weighed in a perfect 135 pounds.

She looks ripped. She looks strong. She looks ready.

[H/T Damon Martin for the pic]

UFC rising star Cody "No Love" Garbrandt says he's lucky to be alive after being stabbed in a crazy bar fight before his UFC career ... saying he was forced to fight after a guy pulled a knife on him.

Garbrandt was telling Champions.co why he's tough enough to face Dominick Cruz at UFC 207 on Friday -- and recalled the bar fight he was wrangled into in a back country bar in Ohio a few years ago.

You gotta hear Cody tell the story ... it's crazy.

Ronda Rousey says she's laser-focused on crushing Amanda Nunes on Friday at UFC 207 ... and doesn't care about ANYTHING else ... the money, the media or her image.

We got video from the UFC of Ronda talking about her mindset going into the fight -- and she spells the whole thing out.

"I don't care about how this pay-per-view does. I don't care about how much money I make. I don't care about interviews and I don't care how I look," Ronda said.

"All I care about is winning my belt back on Friday night and that's it."

Wanna get high out of Nick Diaz's face?

Well, now you can because the UFC legend is now a marijuana pipe ... and he's stoked!

Nick hit up a head shop in Stockton, CA on Monday and found that artsy toner pipe designers had used his face -- and his brother Nate Diaz's face -- as the inspiration for some new glass.

He also found "Diaz Brothers" rolling papers.

Diaz was so excited he busted out his vaporizer and hit it right there in the shop.

Nick had previously said he considers himself the #1 stoner athlete in the world -- so, this is kind of like an honor.

Dana White tells TMZ Sports he's still on great terms with Brock Lesnar -- despite the UFC 200 PED drama -- but believes his days in the Octagon are probably over.

"I think his career is winding down but he's a freak of nature. Who knows ... maybe he'll give me a call and say he wants to do it again but I think he's ready to ride off into the sunset."

FYI, Brock is 39 years old and before UFC 200 he hadn't fought in the Octagon since 2011 when he lost to Alistair Overeem.

There's more ... we also asked Dana about another WWE superstar, CM Punk, and whether he would return to try to redeem himself after his disastrous debut earlier this year.

It's obvious Dana likes and respects CM ... but it doesn't seem like we'll see Punk back in the Octagon in the very near future.

Urijah Faber says he's just not into fighting anymore ... and his decision to call it quits in the MMA is 100% final ... meaning he ain't coming back ... EVER.

Faber announced his plans to retire in October ... saying last Saturday's UFC on Fox 22 fight would be his last.

He then waffled a little bit to TMZ Sports ... saying he wasn't sure someone wouldn't "piss him off" and bring him back to the Octagon.

But when we talked to him earlier this week -- AFTER the fight -- he made it clear, he can't go through the whole thing again ... and wants to concentrate on other things in his life.

The barrage of smack talk between UFC fighters Cody Garbrandt and Dominick Cruz continues ... with Cruz telling TMZ Sports the only thing emptier than Cody's threats are his head ... 'cause he's dumb.

These two are scheduled to meet up at UFC 207 December 30th ... and have been destroying each other in the media, with the most recent shot coming from Garbrandt about Cruz's new beard.

Well, Cruz checked in with the guys on the "TMZ Sports" TV show ... and UNLOADED on Cody ... saying his insults are coming from a very small place ... his brain.

Be sure to watch "TMZ Sports" weeknights on FS1.

Dana White just sent a violent warning to Floyd Mayweather -- Conor McGregor will "kick [your] head into another planet and then he'll murder every one of [your] security guards."

Now this means war!!!

Amanda Nunes says Ronda Rousey UNFOLLOWED her on Instagram -- and made it so Amanda can't see what's going on her social media page ... which means she was BLOCKED!!!

It's a fight between two pretty boys ... and Mickey Gall says he's got the edge over his opponent, Sage Northcutt, in both looks AND talent.

Gall and Northcutt will face off at UFC on FOX 22 on Saturday ... and when we got Mickey out in NYC he joked that he's gonna get revenge for all fruit affected by Sage's "Apple Challenge."

Anyone betting on Ronda Rousey to beat Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 should be shakin' in their boots ... so says former UFC star Chuck Liddell.

TMZ Sports got the Iceman at LAX Wednesday and he painted a worrisome pic of Rousey -- who hasn't fought in more than a year.

UFC star Paige VanZant says a super fight between her and Ronda Rousey is DEFINITELY a possibility ... as long as Rousey is willing to shed some serious pounds to make it happen.

The two ladies haven't exactly been cool with each other ... being locked in a yearlong feud that started when Ronda got pissed that Paige congratulated Holly Holm on kicking Rousey's ass.

Seems like that beef has cooled off lately ... but when we got Paige out in L.A. Monday she said she's definitely down to feud with Ronda in the Octagon ... as long as it's at a fair weight.

FYI -- Paige fights at 115, Ronda fights at 135 ... according to VanZant, the magic number here is in the middle ... at 125.

It's not an impossible scenario. Rousey has a massive fight coming up against Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 ... but if she gets past that test, a fight with Paige -- one of the biggest names in the sport -- could be huge.