MMA

Floyd Mayweather is heading to Minnesota where he's set to meet with Showtime honcho Stephen Espinoza ... and the two will DEFINITELY be talking about a possible MMA fight.

"It will be a topic of conversation," Stephen told TMZ Sports ... acknowledging Floyd's recent videos from inside an MMA cage are VERY interesting.

"There's a chance ... whatever he puts his mind to, he sort of wills into happening. [Floyd] willed the McGregor fight into happening. So, if he sets his mind to it, it'll happen."

And how much money would it take to lure Floyd back?

"He's not an 8-figure guy anymore. He's a 9-figure guy," says Espinoza, the president of Showtime Sports and event programming.

Bottom line -- if Floyd wants an MMA fight, sounds like Showtime is 100% behind him.

Listen up Gisele -- legendary boxer Bernard Hopkins has some advice on how to deal with those unruly Philly fans when you get to Minnesota ... and it's basically not to be Gisele.

We got Hopkins -- a Philly legend -- out at LAX and asked him how the notoriously outspoken Mrs. Bündchen should handle herself Super Bowl weekend around his Eagles people.

NOTE: Eagles fans are freakin' crazy, having actually assaulted Santa Claus on one occasion.

B-Hop had a very simple idea for Gisele, utilizing a skill she's used to ... playing dress-up.

"You got to camouflage yourself so you won't be noticed. Cause Philly, no matter where we go we make that Philly."

UFC star Eddie Alvarez is a diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan.

His boss, Dana White, lives and breathes New England Patriots.

So, when we asked Eddie how he's getting along with Dana during Super Bowl week ... he had a 2-fingered response.

It's hilarious.

Of course, they're just kidding around -- but Eddie says they both agreed to suspend the friendship "until Philly wins."

In serious news ... since Eddie famously fought Conor McGregor -- we asked for his take on a possible Conor vs. Floyd MMA match.

Eddie makes it clear he thinks Floyd would get the beating of his life -- and even his 12-year-old son could get Mayweather to tap inside of an octagon.

11:39 AM PT -- Sources connected to Floyd tell us ... Floyd rented out the entire Syndicate MMA gym in Las Vegas on Monday for a private workout session.

As far as the MMA training goes, we've spoken to multiple people and everyone is being VERY tight-lipped about what Floyd was working on inside the gym.

We obviously know he spent some time in the cage -- but no one will say if Floyd was doing actual MMA training or just getting his usual boxing workout in with a change of scenery.

FYI, a ton of legit pro MMA fighters train at Syndicate, including UFC Hall of Famer Forrest Griffin, Jessica-Rose Clark, Mike Pyle and Julian Marquez.

11:28 AM PT -- Conor has seen the video and offered up some thoughts ...

"Hahahaha very good. Keep up the good work my son. Yours sincerely, Senior."

Well, here's Conor McGregor's dream come true ... Floyd Mayweather stepped into an MMA cage in what appears to be another attempt to bait the UFC star into another fight.

Floyd posted the footage on social media Tuesday -- one day after he took a shot at Conor for his #MCM ... which Floyd dubbed, "Mayweather Crushes McGregor."

Both Conor and Floyd made a killing off their superfight in 2017 -- but McGregor says he wants his next fight to be in the octagon.

So, how would that go? Oscar De La Hoya just told us the other day Floyd wouldn't last 10 seconds with The Notorious.

But we'd all probably pay to see it anyway ... and Floyd knows it.

As if us average bros need more reasons to be jealous of Chris Pratt ... here he is lockin' up with UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture at Jay Glazer's MMA gym -- and holding his own!

So, why didn't Couture ragdoll the "Guardians" star like an MMA wannabe?

1) Pratt was actually a stud wrestler back in the day, and 2) Pratt says Couture took it "very easy" on him.

Fun fact: this was actually a reunion! Chris says Randy coached him at a college wrestling camp 21 years ago, and he still remembers it like it was yesterday.

"He invited teenage me to come up and demonstrate the three throws we’d learned that day ... it was such an honor."

MMA Fighter Sergio da Silva just pled not guilty to robbing a NYC bank over the summer ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Officials say Silva -- who fought at Bellator 180 -- busted into a CitiBank in Queens on August 24 claiming to have a gun, and threatening to shoot whoever didn't cooperate.

Cops say Silva got away with around $50k in cash.

Silva was arrested, and charged with 2 felony robbery charges ... including 1st degree robbery while displaying a firearm.

SdS's attorney, David Fish, tells us, "We intend to show at trial that he’s not guilty of what he’s alleged to have committed. The allegations are very serious. I think Sergio has a lot of confidence in that the truth will come out at trial."

Silva, who was present in the NYC court, pled not guilty to both charges. He's due back in court in April.

Paige VanZant just got engaged to her MMA fighter boyfriend ... and her last name ain't gonna change all that much.

The UFC figther posted a photo Sunday of her guy, Austin Vanderford, getting on one knee to propose, with the caption ... "I said yes!!!"

The couple's been going out since at least this past summer, when she posted a photo of the two of them together in August with the caption "Mine."

Mine, indeed. Congrats to the future VanZant-derfords!

Daniel Cormier says he's excited to get a crack at Stipe Miocic -- "the greatest heavyweight champion of all time" -- and says the huge payday ain't bad either!

D.C. joined the guys on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs tonight on FS1) and explained why the fight against Stipe at UFC 226 in July is an opportunity he just couldn't pass up.

Cormier says Dana White first approached him as he was leaving the octagon after beating Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 220 this past weekend ... and used his powers of persuasion (aka his checkbook) to get the deal done!

D.C. -- the reigning light heavyweight champ -- says he conferred with his good friend, Cain Velasquez, before accepting the fight because he didn't want Cain to feel like he was cutting him in line for a shot at the heavyweight belt.

And if Cormier beats Stipe ... D.C. says it would put him in the conversation about the best fighters of all time.

Greg Hardy will take a pro MMA fight in February and take the field for Jim Jones' arena league football team in March.

And that's why Jim says Greg could be the modern-day Bo Jackson -- a "beast" in TWO pro sports.

As we previously reported, Greg is pursuing a career as a pro MMA fighter -- he beat the hell out of his first 2 opponents.

But he also wants to play pro football again -- and with Jim owning the Richmond Roughriders in the American Arena League, the rap star saw a great opportunity to get the ex-NFL star back in the field.

"That man is a BEAST," Jones said on the "TMZ Sports" TV show ... "He's not one of the regular players. He's one of the best in his craft."

Dana White isn't wasting time ... telling TMZ Sports he's calling up Nate Diaz TONIGHT to make him an offer to return to the octagon.

White joined the guys on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs tonight on FS1) -- and we asked about Nate's Instagram post where he called himself "The Real Champ" and vowed to return to fighting in "May or June."

"I'll tell ya what," White said ... "I’ll call him today and make him an offer."

"I will make Nate Diaz an offer to fight today."

White says he's not sure who he'd match Diaz up against -- "I gotta look at the rankings and see where everybody is."

What about a 3rd fight with Conor McGregor? Dana isn't ruling it out ... but says that fight ain't the priority for Conor.

"I think people would rather see Conor come back and either fight Tony [Ferguson] or Khabib [Nurmagomedov] -- whoever wins -- and the Nate Diaz fight isn’t going anywhere. We can do that thing any time."

What about Nate vs. Tyron Woodley? Dana says he has other plans for the welterweight champ.

UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic SMASHED Francis Ngannou at UFC 220 -- but you wouldn't know it by looking at his mug the day after the fight.

Stipe posted a thank-you video to his fans ... and the shiner he was rockin' after the scrap had grown into the size of a damn golf ball. His left ear looks like it got mangled, too.

Francis, meanwhile, barely had a scratch on him ... even though he got worked from bell to bell.

Doubt Stipe cares, though -- dude's the UFC heavyweight G.O.A.T. now.

Chael Sonnen strolled in to the TMZ newsroom ...

With a poem to make everyone look like buffoons.

No, not us, his Bellator competition ...

Who he says he'll knock out, what a shocking admission!

That's right, Chael says he'll put Rampage to sleep ...

Putting Jackson's lights out, leaving him in a heap.

Sonnen's not scared of the others either, you see ...

The heavyweights in his tourney are kinda crappy, says he.

Russia's Fedor couldn't win if Putin came through with a tank ...

And Roy Nelson's too fat, you can take that to the bank.

So when Chael sweeps the field and out-fights 'em all ...

Tyron Woodley says things got thiiiis close to REAL violence with Conor McGregor when the Irish superstar called him a "bitch" behind the scenes ... but Tyron set him straight real quick.

The UFC welterweight champ told the whole story on "The Hollywood Beatdown" -- explaining how things went from 0 to 100 real quick at UFC 205 in Nov. 2016 ... with Conor ultimately backing down.

There's a lot more ... Tyron calls B.S. on President Trump's physical exam numbers -- saying there's no way in hell POTUS is really 6'4", 239 lbs ... but he's got a plan to help him cut the fat.

Tyron's also weighing in on Logan Paul ... telling us if the YouTube star really deserves a 2nd chance after his suicide forest videos stunt.

WWE Raw women's champ Alexa Bliss ain't sweatin' Ronda Rousey -- in fact, she's got a message for the UFC legend ... "I'm not worried."

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Ronda recently had dinner with Triple H and it seems like a deal to bring her to the WWE is imminent.

So, when we saw Bliss at LAX, we had to ask if she was scared Ronda would be coming for her belt.

"Please, I'm a fighting champion," Bliss said ... "I'm not worried about anybody taking my belt."

As for the rumors Rousey could make her debut in the first ever women's Royal Rumble match -- Alexa addresses those, too.

UFC champ Tyron Woodley recently told Joe Rogan he doesn't really like fighting, "I'm just good at it."

Yeah, that's not true. He LOVES it.

Especially when he's smashing dudes out of consciousness.

Woodley clarified his comments on "The Hollywood Beatdown" ... waxing poetically about why there's no better feeling in the world than knocking an opponent out cold.

Make sure to check the full ep. when it drops on Friday (subscribe to the TMZ Sports YouTube page) -- when Tyron talks about how his beef with Conor McGregor got very real.

Meantime, here's a video of Woodley doing what he does best ... destroying people.

UFC legend Anderson Silva says he's NOT the greatest MMA fighter of all time -- telling TMZ Sports that honor goes to Demetrious Johnson.

In his prime, Silva had 17 consecutive wins -- with 10 consecutive title defenses -- leading Dana White to call him the "Tom Brady of the UFC." The dude was a machine.

But, that was before Johnson went on his MMA run ... ripping off 13 consecutive victories over guys like Ray Borg, Henry Cejudo and Joseph Benavidez.

DJ's the reigning flyweight champ -- and last year, broke Silva's record for most consecutive UFC title defenses.