MMA

UFC champ Tyron Woodley says he REALLY does believe the Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather fight will happen ... but if it doesn't, he's willing to step in for a fraction of the price!

Woodley joined the guys on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs Wednesday night on FS1) -- and was pretty strong about why he believes the two sides will hammer out a deal.

Still, Tyron has a message for Floyd -- I'LL DO IT FOR $5 MIL AND SOME WATCHES!

The younger brother of UFC star BJ Penn was arrested Tuesday after a crazy incident on an airplane in which he allegedly yelled, "I won't get off the plane without a fight."

Reagan Penn -- a former MMA fighter himself -- was on a Delta plane at LAX headed to Phoenix to see his big brother throw down at UFC Fight Night 103 when he got into it with flight crew over alcohol.

We're told Penn wanted booze before takeoff, crew refused to serve him and an argument ensued. He was eventually told to deboard the plane but he refused.

Cops were called but the standoff continued -- and he allegedly told officers, "I won't get off the plane without a fight."

A witness tells us Penn commented that his brother would "kick his ass" if he didn't make it to PHX for the fight.

Penn was "taken down" by at least two officers who handcuffed him and arrested for him trespassing. He was taken to a nearby station where he was booked.

Penn has since been released. No word if he made it to PHX yet.

Ronda Rousey is back on the grid ... kind of ... posting a quote on social media about bouncing back after hitting "rock bottom."

The UFC legend put up a J.K. Rowling quote that reads, "And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."

Rowling famously delivered the quote during a 2008 speech at Harvard while talking about how she wrote 'Harry Potter' while she was broke, jobless and recently divorced.

Rousey said she was a broken woman after the Holly Holm fight. She appeared to take the Amanda Nunes loss equally hard ... essentially going into hiding after UFC 207 to ponder her future.

Dana White says Meryl Streep is an "uppity 80-year-old lady" who was completely WRONG when she took a shot at MMA during the Golden Globes.

We spoke with the UFC honcho about Meryl's comments Sunday night -- when she was ripping Donald Trump's immigration plans and said if we kick out foreigners, "you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts."

White objects in a BIG WAY -- calling the dig at his sport "stupid" and "uneducated."

We also asked if he thought Meryl targeted MMA because Dana gave a speech for Trump at the Republican National Convention.

Ronda Rousey sucks at acting ... so says Chael Sonnen, who says if Ronda stops fighting, her Hollywood career is over.

Jon Jones says Ronda Rousey isn't some washed-up bum just because she lost ... she's still a beast and should STRONGLY consider fighting again.

We spoke with the UFC superstar moments ago who says it's easy to pinpoint where Ronda went wrong -- Holly Holm laid out the blueprint to beat her and she needs to evolve as a fighter.

As for her future, Jon says it's important for Ronda's legacy that she get back in the Octagon and do what she does best ... because she can still win.

Michael Rapaport just got counted out by UFC ref Herb Dean ... who says the actor should stay in his lane when talking MMA ... and not tell the veteran ref how to do a job Rapaport knows nothing about.

Rapaport went hard on Dean about how he handled the Rousey/Nunes ass kicking ... saying on FS1's "Undisputed" that Dean was too quick to stop the fight because of Ronda's "white girl privilege."

Translation -- Dean stopped the fight early to protect the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Rousey ... something he wouldn't have done for Nunes or any other non-white female fighter.

But Dean says that's a bunch of crap -- telling our guy MR doesn't have a CLUE what goes on in the Octagon and should keep his trap shut.

BTW, Dean was training at Fight Academy of Pasadena with former MMA star Savant "Black Superman" Young ... who gave us an exclusive demo of how Ronda could've avoided that ass kicking.

Amanda Nunes can't understand why so many people LOST to Ronda Rousey -- telling TMZ Sports the UFC star is incredibly overrated and the fight was WAY EASIER than she thought it was gonna be.

Nunes joined the guys on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs tonight on FS1) -- and said she's always thought Ronda was overhyped -- "I knew I could beat Ronda Rousey since I saw her first fight."

In fact, Nunes says she trained way harder to fight Miesha Tate ... who she also demolished.

There's A LOT more in the full interview which airs Wednesday on FS1.

Ronda Rousey is still off the grid following her crushing loss at UFC 207 ... but her MMA star boyfriend has finally emerged.

Travis Browne was spotted out at an L.A. park --- looking pretty relaxed while sitting on a park bench.

Seems he's finally cooled off ... because 1 day after Rousey lost, Browne attacked MMA fighter Michael "Venom" Page on Twitter for mocking Ronda after her loss.

Page had posted a video for a dance he made up called the "Rousey" -- in which he pretends to get punched in the face.

Travis didn't like it and challenged him to a fight.

Page didn't respond -- but Amanda Nunes did. She thought it was "funny."

Ronda Rousey's former training partner, Kayla Harrison -- who's still friends with the UFC superstar -- says Ronda is surrounded by some people who don't have her best interests at heart ... and she needs to ditch them ASAP.

FYI, Kayla is a 2-time Olympic gold medalist in judo -- and trained with Ronda on a daily basis for years. They're still friends and spoke on the phone just a few weeks ago.

Harrison says Ronda seemed to be in a great mental space before the fight and "expected her to come back with a vengeance."

But the one thing that concerns Kayla ... she believes there are people who have latched on to the UFC star "that maybe don't have Ronda's best interest at heart."

She didn't call anyone out by name -- but wants to remind Ronda that she still has TRUE FRIENDS and family members out there who care about her ... and those are the people she should surround herself with.

By the way, Harrison also tells TMZ Sports she's one step closer to fighting MMA ... and got the itch while announcing at the World Series of Fighting this past weekend.

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.