MMA

With Wladimir Klitschko calling it quits, there's another fighter who wants to step up and take on boxing superstar Anthony Joshua -- Stipe Miocic!

Wlad and Joshua had been working on a rematch after that great fight back in April -- but WK announced his retirement early Thursday morning ... so those plans are off.

But Stipe wants to take his place ... and with Conor McGregor fighting Floyd Mayweather, he clearly thinks there's a chance.

"Looks like your schedule is wide open," Stipe told Joshua on social media ... "No excuses, let's dance! #BaddestManOnThePlanet."

Stipe -- the UFC heavyweight champ -- is 6'4" and 240 lbs.

Joshua -- the unified heavyweight champ -- is 6'6" and 250 lbs.

Floyd Mayweather is expecting to make more than $300 MILLION from his fight with Conor McGregor ... which would break down to more than $8 MILLION per minute in the ring.

The boxer spelled it all out for Showtime's "All Access: Mayweather v. McGregor" -- explaining why no other professional athlete in the world is more bankable.

"I mean, am I the highest-paid athlete out there? And just coming back? We not talking about no contract. We not talking about no contract for no 4 years, or no contract for no 5 years. I can do it in 36 minutes. $300 (million) or better. In 36 minutes."

Not a bad deal.

As for Conor, the UFC fighter is expecting to rake in around $100 mil for the August 26 superfight -- but it'll be largest payday an MMA fighter has ever made ... so he's not complaining either.

Tyron Woodley says Georges St-Pierre is ducking him because he "doesn't want to come in and take the concussion" -- in other words, "HE'S SCARED."

Woodley called out GSP after his UFC 214 title defense against Demian Maia ... but Dana White shot the fight down, saying St-Pierre will face Michael Bisping instead.

Tyron says the politics have nothing to do with it -- it comes down to GSP being too afraid to get in the Octagon with TW because he's afraid of getting hurt.

Woodley says St-Pierre wants guys like Conor McGregor, Nick Diaz, and Bisping 'cause they can't deliver the same kind of blunt force trauma he can.

Seems the war between Tyron Woodley and Dana White has cooled off ... with the UFC president telling TMZ Sports they finally talked things out after blasting each other in the media.

It all started after UFC 214 -- White ripped Tyron's performance against Demian Maia. Woodley fired back demanding a public apology from White or else he would "start leaking some sh*t that people don't want to be out in the wind."

We reached out to White to see where things stand and he told us, "Woodley and I talked and he said he was just pissed and upset and didn't mean it."

We also spoke with Tyron who says, "We good."

While most women are ducking UFC superstar Cyborg Justino ... Tonya Evinger says she wants to fight her AGAIN!!!

Tonya was leaving The Dime in L.A. on Monday night -- just days after fighting Cyborg at UFC 214 on Saturday -- and seemed to be in pretty good spirits after her 3rd round K.O.

Evinger told us she's not guaranteed a rematch -- even though she fought Cyborg tougher than any other fighter before her -- but says she'd REALLY like another bite of the apple.

And why? Tonya says she knows what she can do better the 2nd time around.

Don't worry about Luke Rockhold dippin' his pen in the company ink ...

Despite nailing all sorts of hot women all over the world -- famous ones, wannabe famous ones, you name it -- the UFC star says he draws a hard line when it comes to banging female fighters.

"I appreciate what the girls do. It's sexy at times even," Rockhold says ... "It's just not my style."

So, what IS his style? Victoria's Secret models.

In fact, Rockhold hints that he's banging one on the down low right now ... and knowing this guy's history, we wouldn't put it past him.

Brown and yellow?

If Wiz Khalifa wants to get the actual crap beat out of him, UFC bad ass Felice Herrig says she's more than happy to do the honors ... if Wiz wants to test his MMA skills against a real fighter.

As we previously reported, Wiz has been doing some fight training in L.A. -- so, we asked Herrig to assess the rapper's skills.

She loves him as a rapper, but Herrig says he'd need to get a big ol' diaper if they ever stepped in the cage 'cause the fight would be a repeat of what she did to her opponent back in June.

BONUS -- Herrig also takes a shot at rapping the Eazy-E classic, "Gimme That Nutt" ... and let's just say she's a better fighter than a rapper.

With The Rock revealing that he considered a UFC career roughly 10 years ago, we wanted to know which WWE superstars have the chops to compete in a REAL mixed martial arts fight.

For the answer ... we went right to the Nature Boy Ric Flair -- who didn't even hesitate when he fired out one name, Kurt Angle.

He's probably right ... Angle famously won an Olympic gold medal for freestyle wrestling at the '96 Games after he took 1st place at the world wrestling championships in '95.

Accomplished wrestlers tend to do pretty damn well in the UFC ... Cormier, Lesnar, Jones and Velasquez to name a few.

Still, we were talking this out in the office and could all agree on one pro wrestler we woulda loved to see in the Octagon -- Andre the Giant.

Craziness behind the scenes at the UFC 214 weigh-in Friday morning -- when Jon Jones' NFL brother, Arthur Jones, got into a heated exchange with several members of Daniel Cormier's camp.

We spoke with Arthur who says 6 members of Cormier's team were running their mouths at him during the weigh-in ... so he started jawing back.

Don't worry, it didn't get violent ... but you can tell everyone hates each other.

As we previously reported, Arthur and D.C. traded insults following UFC 210 a few months ago -- they don't like each other either.

Arthur says Jon's sick of talking -- he's ready to fight.

Luke Rockhold says his boy, Daniel Cormier, WILL DEFEAT Jon Jones at UFC 214 this weekend -- but it'll be a war.

"I just think they beat the living crap out of each other for 5 rounds," Rockhold tells TMZ Sports ... "and I think we can come out on top."

Yeah, he's a little biased -- the two are extremely close and have been for years.

"Me and D.C. have been together from the beginning," Rockhold says ... "Living in my manager's house. I'm living in the garage and he's living in the shanty house in front in Gilroy, CA."

"Rags to riches. It's been a long road."

We also spoke with D.C.'s boxing coach Rosendo Sanchez who tells us the beef with Jon Jones couldn't be more real.

Before he hits the MMA gym, Wiz Khalifa hits the bong ... or the joint or the vaporizer or whatever else gets him high on weed.

The rapper/extreme pot enthusiast was leaving Warwick in Hollywood Wednesday night when we asked if he took a break from the green stuff when he gets in fight mode.

"I smoke every day," Wiz said ... "It's good for you."

As we previously reported, Wiz has been getting pretty serious about MMA training -- working with real deal UFC stars at Jay Glazer's Unbreakable Gym in L.A. for the past several months.

The cocaine insults were flying at the UFC 214 media event today -- with Jon Jones saying Daniel Cormier looks like a crackhead.

Cormier shot back -- "I can look like a crackhead, but I've never been a crackhead like you, though."

That was just the beginning ... Cormier accused Jones of being on steroids for most of his UFC career. Jones denied the allegations and flexed his 6-pack.

Wiz Khalifa's next big show could be in the Octagon because the superstar rapper -- who's known as a smoker, not a fighter -- has been busting his ass doing MMA training.

TMZ Sports got this video of Wiz hitting the mitts with FOX's Jay Glazer, and working on his kicks with UFC star Cat Zingano. Pretty clear from the video ... he's taking it seriously, and we hear he's been at it like this for about 3 months at Unbreakable Gym on Sunset.

What's most impressive about this workout sesh is Wiz was on vacay! He was in Napa for a wine tasting trip -- with his gf, Izabela Guedes, Michael Strahan and Glazer -- but brought his gear to do some training ... in between sipping cabs and zins.

Wine tasting and MMA? Just when ya think ya know a guy.

Chris Weidman knows it's do-or-die time when he fights Kelvin Gastelum this weekend ... and told us he's gonna shut up all the haters who say he's washed up.

Weidman's had a rough go as of late -- going from undefeated champion to losing his last 3 fights -- and some people are questioning whether he's still got it.

Chris told TMZ Sports those haters are in for a violent awakening ... 'cause he's about to put a hurtin' on Gastelum -- and prove the champ is BACK.

Alberto Del Rio is tappin' out on his day job as president of the MMA org. Combate Americas after an alleged domestic incident last week involving his WWE superstar fiancee Paige.

A rep for Combate -- a promotion featuring Latin fighters -- confirms to TMZ Sports that ADR is "stepping down" from the helm of the company.

We broke the story ... Alberto and Paige got into an altercation at an Orlando airport last Sunday. Police investigated, and have recommended that Paige face charges. Del Rio is still under investigation.

Alberto was appointed C.A. prez in October 2016 -- and once described himself as the Dana White of the company.

Now he's out of a job ... but won't have to hit the unemployment line. He's still employed by Global Force wrestling -- though he's currently suspended.

Snoop Dogg -- UFC broadcasting GOAT?

Here's video of Snoop going CRAZY for fighter Sean O'Malley on "Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series" ... after O'Malley 1-punch KOs his opponent.

Seriously ... Snoop absolutely loses his mind -- and it's amazing. His line right before the KO was epic too.

Dana rewarded S.O. with a UFC contract, but O'Malley's real prize came after the show ... when Snoop hooked him up with what looks like a victory blunt!!

FYI, this is only the 2nd episode of Dana's new Fight Pass series -- which features "Snoopcast" every week.

Can't wait for episode 3.