MMA

Ronda Rousey became the first female fighter EVER inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on Thursday -- and proudly told the crowd, "We have changed what it means to fight like a girl."

She's the UFC's first-ever women's champion and defended her belt SIX TIMES during her historic run from 2012 to 2015 ... and, during her speech, thanked the fans for their support.

"Because of you, I am the first woman standing up here accepting this incredible honor," Rousey said ... "May I be the first of many."

"I look around and think, together we built this. This division. This sport. This revolution."

"Together, we have redefined what it means to be strong, to be sexy. We have changed what it means to fight like a girl."

Remember, back in 2011 ... Dana White famously told TMZ Sports he would never sign a woman to a UFC contract -- but, Ronda was so dominant and interesting, she essentially forced his hand to create a women's division.

Now, the women's division -- filled with stars like Amanda Nunes, Cris Cyborg, Holly Holm and others -- is thriving ... and they credit Ronda for opening the door.

3:56 PM PT -- A rep for the UFC tells TMZ Sports ... Cormier insists he's "fine" and will be okay to fight on Saturday.

Daniel Cormier slipped and fell while leaving the UFC 226 news conference in Vegas moments ago ... and it looked like he came up limping.

Cormier was getting up from the table after promoting Saturday's fight against Stipe Miocic when he slipped and hit the ground. You can see his championship belt go flying.

Cormier eventually got up and gingerly walked off stage. He returned to the stage minutes later to square off and pose with Stipe.

We're making calls right now to check on DC's health ... stay tuned.

Daniel Cormier says there's a secret about Jon Jones everyone should know ... HE LOVES DANIEL CORMIER!

"He may not like to admit it, but he's my fan," Cormier tells TMZ Sports ... "He enjoys watching me compete. He does!"

DC says there's not a doubt in his mind JJ will be tuning in when he fights Stipe Miocic at UFC 226 on Saturday because, despite all the trash talk over the years ... "he likes watching me."

Cormier has a secret, too ... and it has to do with Jon Jones -- admitting he'll use JJ when he's playing the UFC video game because his character is "the best guy in the game."

At the end of the day, Cormier hates Jones -- but he hates losing in video games even more!

Cormier says he's also aware that he's a heavy underdog going into the Stipe fight ... but has some advice for gamblers out there -- the smart money is on DC, and he explains why!

Chuck Liddell says he's not just taking the Tito Ortiz fight because he's missing the sport -- telling TMZ Sports he wouldn't have signed on if he wasn't getting a fat ass paycheck.

We broke the story ... the 48-year-old legend hooked up with Oscar De La Hoya to return to MMA for the first time since 2010. Chuck and Tito finally signed their deals last week and Liddell is excited.

"I never get tired of hitting that guy," Chuck told us outside of Sushi Nishi in Calabasas ... "He never stops running his mouth. I really don't like him."

Chuck has scored the W in both of his previous fights with Tito -- and says he's going for the knockout this time around too.

As for the money, Chuck says he's getting paid handsomely -- and the size of his check was a huge factor in his decision to come out of retirement.

Nick Diaz is finally breaking his silence on that domestic violence arrest back in May -- telling TMZ Sports, "I was framed."

The UFC star and his camp had been radio silent about the May 24 incident ever since Nick was arrested for allegedly choking a woman and slamming her to the ground at a Las Vegas home.

He was charged with felony domestic battery by strangulation and faces up to 5 years in prison if convicted.

So, when we saw Nick leaving Tocaya Organica in Los Angeles, we asked if he had a message for his fans. He cracked a smile and said, "I was framed."

Diaz also talked about his fighting career -- telling us he wants to get back in the Octagon next year -- with his sights set on fighting Georges St-Pierre.

"I win if he don't cheat," Diaz said ... "If he don't miss weight like he did last time."

UFC legend Matt Serra claims some drunk a-hole was threatening the servers at a Vegas cafe on July 4 ... so, he took action -- AND TOOK THE GUY DOWN!

Serra was chllin' at the Grand Cafe at Red Rock Casino -- the night before he's set to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame -- when he saw the alleged a-hole being a jerk to staff.

The former welterweight champ subdued the patron -- while the guy continued to yell at Serra, "I'm gonna f*ck you up."

Spoiler: he did NOT "f*ck" Serra up.

Security rushed to the scene and took over.

UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic wasn't always a stone cold bad ass -- he's man enough to admit the first time he got punched in the face ... he ran home crying.

Of course, Stipe was only 10 years old at the time ... but Stipe says he's GRATEFUL to the guy who clocked him in the mouth, because it made him into the wrecking machine he is today.

In fact, Stipe has a message to the guy -- "Thank you for making me tougher."

Now, Stipe is one of the most dangerous men on the planet ... he's defending the UFC heavyweight title at UFC 226 on Saturday against Daniel Cormier.

And DC hits a lot harder than that kid from his childhood!

50 Cent is a man of his word ... especially when the word is "lawsuit," 'cause he's going after a hip-hop blog for using his photo in a post he calls "fake news."

He's filed suit against HipHopDX for its post about Fiddy allegedly selling his catchphrase, "Get the strap," to Bellator MMA. We'll get back to the catchphrase, but the rapper's real issue is with the photo the blog used.

According to the suit, obtained by TMZ, the pic -- showing 50 Cent with Bellator execs -- was taken on June 25 by a guy named Christopher Conrad. 50 says Conrad gave him rights to the photo on June 28. His point ... at no point did HipHopDX have rights to publish the pic.

The site posted an article on June 27, calling out 50 Cent for claiming he sold "Get the strap" to the MMA league for $1 million. That same day, 50 said, "This s**t is fake news Justin Ivey (the writer), you better go fact check. Matter of fact I'm gonna sue you and this website for using my picture."

Brian Ortega isn't just puttin' a hurtin' on other UFC fighters ... he'll also choke out a TMZ staffer.

The UFC superstar joined the guys on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weeknights on FS1) -- where one of our producers (Lucas) asked Ortega if he could be a human crash test dummy for a live demonstration of a rear naked choke.

Ortega obliged ... and the office went nuts!!

Don't worry, Lucas is alive (he's actually proud of himself!)

Make sure to check out the entire segment on FS1 where Ortega has some words for his UFC 226 opponent, Max Holloway.

The two square off in Vegas on July 7. Ortega is undefeated 14-0 but Max hasn't lost a fight since 2013.

UFC star Rose Namajunas says she was downright OFFENDED by Conor McGregor's pathetic attempt to apologize for that whole bus attack thing ... because he only reached out over Instagram.

Remember, Rose was on the bus at Barclays Center when Conor and his goons went berserk -- and Dana White told us she nearly broke her hand in the chaos.

Now, Rose is explaining what happened in the aftermath -- saying, "I did get an Instagram message from him, but I don't really know if that was really him."

"To me, that doesn't seem like the type of, it just didn't seem like a sincere apology from an actual person," Rose said on Ariel Helwani's MMA Show on ESPN.

"To me, I didn't really, I guess, consider it a real apology."

So, what did the IG message say?

"It said, 'I'm sorry for what happened' ... but then he immediately went on to like justifying what he did and stuff like that and the reasons why he did it."

"That to me was like, it really doesn't matter. I don't care what beef he's got with who. That's none of my business, I don't need to know that information. Do you know what I mean? That doesn't do anything for me."

"So there was an apology and I'm a pretty cool person and I always accept apologies, but to me, I'm like a personal person, I like face to face. That's how I like to handle things. I feel like anything can be worked out, you just gotta talk through it as adults."

Conor McGregor is inching closer to finalizing a fight with UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018 because he's hemorrhaging cash in a bad way ... so says Khabib's manager.

"Conor's running out of money," Ali Abdelaziz tells TMZ Sports ... "This is why he agreed to fight Khabib."

Interesting statement considering McGregor is said to have made close to $100 mil for the Mayweather fight.

"It's okay," Ali says ... "We're gonna contribute of him making some money, but at the end of the day we owe him an ass whooping. He needs to get his ass whooped from Khabib."

Of course, the beef here is real -- when Conor attacked that bus at Barclays Center, he was targeting Khabib for allegedly disrespecting one of McGregor's friends in the days before UFC 223.

"He thinks he's a gangster," Ali says ... "I don't think he is. But, when you think you're a gangster, you're going to get treated like a gangster. And gangster, they end in jail or get beat up."

Ali tells TMZ Sports the two sides have 3 potential fight dates in mind -- all landing in the 2018.

There is one problem, one of the dates is Nov. 3 at Madison Square Garden -- but Ali doesn't think Conor can get licensed to fight in NY after the bus attack.

Which leaves us with UFC 229 on Oct. 6 and UFC 232 on Dec. 29 -- both in Vegas.

Get your popcorn ready.

The shots just keep on coming between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones ... now, the UFC rivals are getting SUPER personal in new public attacks on each other.

"Jon, you’re a bitch!" Cormier tweeted ... "You’re one now always been one."

"Sit back and watch me be great, you steroid cheat."

Don't worry, it gets a lot worse ... but first, some context.

The two have hated each other (in real life) for years -- but Cormier touched a nerve last week during a conversation about who's in the running for the G.O.A.T. in UFC.

Cormier suggested he should be considered. Jones mocked him for that. Cormier says he ignored Jones because the guy is suspended for PEDs and doesn't have a "platform" to join the debate.

Jones responded by saying, "I don’t have a platform DC? That just sounds dumb."

He continued by bringing Cormier's WIFE into the conversation.

"Even after years of suspension I have just as much if not more of a platform than you. Every win you get goes on my resume, You know who you dream about at night. I’m sure your wife knows too."

Cormier didn't like that and fired back on Twitter -- "Let’s not talk about wives man. Come on, I’m sure with all the shit you’ve done I could get a conversation from your wife. I mean from your girlfriend ,baby mama?"

Look, we've spoken with multiple people connected to both of these guys who tell us it ain't an act to promote a fight -- they hate each other's guts to death.

And since JJ is suspended without a return date firmed up, it's unclear whether the two will ever fight in the Octagon ever again.

Seems like Nate Diaz is itching for a fight ... because he got in the middle of ANOTHER brawl at an MMA event and TMZ Sports has the video.

It all went down Friday night in the crowd of the Fight to Win Pro 77 event at the Hyatt hotel in Sacramento -- where we're told Nate was supporting some of his MMA students, who were competing in the all-grappling event.

In the video, you can see several people in the melee -- and Nate appears to wind up and throw a punch at one of the men being separated.

Witnesses tell us no one was arrested -- Nate got his crew and left.

It's the second time Nate's been in a fight in the stands of MMA event this year -- back in May, Diaz got into it with UFC fighter Clay Guida at a Combate Americas event in Sacramento.

Demetrious Johnson vs. T.J. Dillashaw is the blockbuster fight everyone wants to see ... so why the hell hasn't it been made?

'Cause Mighty Mouse knows T.J. can beat his ass -- and he's scared ... according to Dillashaw.

The reigning UFC bantamweight champ joined the guys on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (weeknights on FS1) and was asked if he thought DJ was ducking him.

His answer ... "I do believe so."

"He's comfortable fighting the guys he's fighting. I think I bring a real threat to the table that he's not willing to accept."

Let that sink in ... Dillashaw is saying Mighty Mouse -- the top pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC who hasn't lost in almost 7 years -- is shook.

U.S. Olympic legend Kayla Harrison -- who won gold in judo in '12 and '16 -- is finally making her MMA debut this week ... and says she's ready to wreck shop.

Kayla is a beast -- and she tells TMZ Sports it was hard to even lock down an opponent because people are scared to fight her.

The good news ... Brittney Elkin has stepped up and will fight Kayla at the PFL event in Chicago on Thursday, and Kayla tells us she can't wait to scrap.

"I have 500 judo matches under my belt," Kayla said ... "I have some experience -- just not with a locked cage behind me."

So, how will she handle taking a live punch to the face for the first time?

"I'm kind of a bull. It's gonna take a lot more than 1 punch to take me down."

Nate Diaz is a daddy!!!

The 33-year-old UFC superstar and his longtime girlfriend, Misty Brown, welcomed a healthy baby girl at a California hospital on June 6 ... according to public birth records obtained by TMZ Sports.

Nate and Misty -- both from Stockton, CA -- have been together for years. They've been posting photos of each other online ... dating back to 2012.

We're told the baby is happy and healthy, and the families are stoked.

We reached out to Nate's camp for comment -- but a call to the fighter's rep was not returned.