UFC

Daniel Cormier says he's got ONE fight left in his MMA career -- and it ain't against Jon Jones -- he wants a rematch with Stipe Miocic.

"Next one will be the last one," Cormier said to Ariel Helwani ... "It has to be Stipe. No one else matters."

Of course, 40-year-old Cormier said he was pondering retirement after he lost to Miocic at UFC 241 in August ... explaining that he needed to talk things over with his family.

But now, DC says it's crystal clear ... he wants the trilogy fight with Stipe to try and win back the UFC heavyweight title -- and no matter what happens next, it's over after that.

"I love to compete and I don't want to finish like this."

Cormier says there's no fight date set in stone yet -- but he was open to Dec. 14 at UFC 245.

Cormier says he's not sure if Stipe has accepted the fight ... but he's laying all of his cards out on the table -- saying he will NOT fight anyone else, including Jon Jones.

As for Stipe, Cormier says he thinks Miocic might be dealing with some issues of his own ... but he wants to fight sooner rather than later.

Claressa Shields still has Amanda Nunes squarely in her sights, and has taken steps to make the fight a reality ... telling TMZ Sports she's met with an MMA coach and her manager talked to Dana White.

Shields -- who's only 24 years old -- is a beast. She holds belts in 2 weight classes, and is looking to make history as the fastest fighter to be a champion in 3 different divisions.

Vasyl Lomachenko accomplished the feat in only 12 fights ... if Claressa wins her October 5 fight with Ivana Habazin, the record is hers.

That's not the only history Shields wants to write ... when we talked to Claressa on Friday, she told us she's seriously considering taking up MMA ... with the end goal being a Nunes superfight.

"I'm really a hard worker, and I'm dedicated to the craft. I eat right, I don't drink, I don't smoke. When you have an athlete like that, and I'm young, I can really pretty much do anything right now," Shield says.

"It has been thoughts to actually start training. I've actually sat and talked with an MMA coach. Shit can get serious real quick."

In order to make this happen ... Dana White -- who previously told us he's open to the idea -- needs to be on board, and Claressa says her manager has already talked to the UFC honcho.

Shields isn't just gonna jump from the boxing ring into the Octagon and fight Nunes, she says she needs to develop her ground skills ... and take a few warm-up matches.

The UFC is creating a REAL custom "Baddest Mother F**ker" belt for the upcoming Nate Diaz vs. Jorge Masvidal fight ... and Dana White says it ain't cheap!!!

"I think it's gonna be like $50,000," White tells TMZ Sports.

Of course, the whole thing came about after Nate Diaz defeated Anthony Pettis in August and, during a post-fight interview, declared himself the 'BMF' champion of the world.

"We're fighting for the baddest mother f**ker in the game belt and that's mine," Diaz said after the Pettis fight ... "So, I'd like to defend it against Jorge Masvidal."

White liked the idea and the UFC is running with it -- in fact, White says Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has already agreed to present the belt to the winner of the fight on November 2 at UFC 244, which will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York City!!!

What do two fight legends talk about on the sidelines at an NFL game? FIGHTING!!

Check out Mike Tyson and UFC Hall of Famer "Sugar" Rashad Evans chopping it up right before the Jacksonville Jaguars took on the Tennessee Titans on Thursday ... clearly trading fight tips.

You can see Evans measuring Tyson -- and doing a half roll -- while asking Tyson to evaluate his moves.

Tyson coaches him up and gives him a few tips -- while playfully throwing some kicks in the mix, something he obviously couldn't do in the boxing ring.

40-year-old Evans was just inducted into the UFC HOF earlier this year -- but he's been hanging with Tyson a lot recently ... and you gotta wonder if there's another fight in his future.

What's interesting ... Tyson has said publicly he doesn't fight, train or lift weights any more because he's afraid of snapping back into that hyper-aggressive mindset that got him in trouble back in the day.

Instead, he smokes a ton of weed ... and honestly, he seems a lot more chill these days.

Nate Diaz says anyone who has a problem with the UFC creating a special "Baddest Mother F*cker" belt for his fight with Jorge Masvidal is a "bitch" and needs to "shut the f*ck up."

Nate essentially created the belt after his impressive victory over Anthony Pettis last month after a 3-year hiatus from fighting ... saying he and Jorge are the baddest in the game and should fight for a "BMF" title.

The UFC obliged and booked the fight -- they're even creating a special "BMF" belt just for Nov. 2 fight at UFC 244.

Some MMA fans and reporters have taken issue with the belt saying the UFC is making a mockery of the sport by creating meaningless WWE-style fake belts.

We asked Nate about those funless prudes and and clapped back with some savagery.

"If there's any hate or negativity towards it and if there's anybody who's hating on it, like some of these journalists in here, it's like 'cause none of you guys are no fighters, you're bitches, so shut the f*ck up."

Diaz added, "Tell me I ain't the best motherf*cker in the game and watch me fight the whole game."

Diaz also talked about Conor McGregor and the chances of a 3rd fight -- telling TMZ Sports it's probably gonna happen because they fight in the same bracket.

"Whatever is gonna happen is gonna happen. Time will tell."

Tyron Woodley wants a crack at Khabib Nurmagomedov ... sending a message to the UFC superstar -- "We can meet at a catch weight!"

Woodley says he's just about ready to return to the Octagon after dealing with a hand issue -- and he's on a mission to win back the UFC welterweight title.

... and when that happens, Tyron says he would LOVE to fight Khabib -- a guy he has tremendous respect for as an athlete.

"I want to fight Khabib," Tyron said on 'The Hollywood Beatdown' ... "He's dope as hell, he's super dope. I'm a fan of his."

Of course, Tyron fights at 170 and Khabib fights at 155 -- but Woodley says he's down to meet at 165 pounds ... "for the right bag."

Woodley says Khabib has struggled to make 155 in the past and thinks it's only a matter of time before the Dagestani superstar moves up ... so why not take a fight with Woodley?

Plus, Tyron says the style matchup is perfect -- "I got the best takedown defense in the history of the sport."

But, before that can happen, Tyron says he's gotta beat up Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington ... two fights he wants BAD.

There's more in this ep of 'The Beatdown' -- Tyron calls out Kobe Bryant for calling out a little girl on the NBA star's youth basketball team.

He also admonishes Antonio Brown's entourage ... saying SOMEONE close to the NFL star needs to step up and help get his life back on track.

Rap star Action Bronson is a hardcore UFC fan ... and he's got some advice for Dana White when it comes to Conor McGregor's next fight!

Here's the current situation in the UFC ...

Conor wants a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Khabib ain't down, saying he'd rather fight a more deserving opponent like Tony Ferguson or Georges St-Pierre.

Dustin Poirier recently lost to Khabib and says the only fight that makes sense is a rematch of the 2014 bout with Conor. Conor wants Dustin to beg him to make that fight happen.

Meanwhile, Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone is fighting Justin Gaethje on Saturday ... and there's rumblings that Conor could get the winner of that fight.

The UFC has previously tried to book Conor to fight both Cowboy and Justin ... but neither happened for various reasons.

Dana White has TRIED to book Khabib vs. Tony Ferguson on FOUR separate occasions ... but the fight always fell through, mostly due to injuries.

Khabib Nurmagomedov sat down with Vladimir Putin on Thursday -- and the President of Russia showered him with praise for another impressive UFC victory.

It all went down in Khabib's homeland of Dagestan (which is part of Russia) -- and the leader of Dagestan, Vladimir Vasilyev, was on hand to honor the 30-year-old for his UFC 242 victory over Dustin Poirier.

Putin is known for being a massive combat sports fan -- and he's been a huge supporter of Khabib for years.

In fact, when Khabib smashed Conor McGregor back in 2018, Putin summoned the Eagle for a little celebratory snack in a dinky room with a dinky food spread in the city of Ulyanovsk.

But, this time, the gang upgraded to a nicer meeting spot with big leather chairs and a fancy table -- where Putin praised Khabib's father, Abdulmanap, for raising a champion.

"I'll start with you: I want to congratulate you on the victory of your son. A well deserved victory and a challenging opponent ... He's a strong fighter."

Putin continued with Khabib ... "I congratulate you, a very good match, beautiful, honest. I looked, a good asphyxiation."

Putin called Khabib an "excellent athlete" and said the victory over Poirier was "convincing."

UFC superstar Tyron Woodley says his hand is just about healed up and he's ready to punch faces again -- telling TMZ Sports he expects to get back in the Octagon before the end of the year.

Woodley was supposed to fight Robbie Lawler on June 29 -- but had to pull out because his hand was still jacked up from a previous fight.

But, good news! Woodley says "I'm good now" -- and he's working with the UFC to line up his next opponent.

"They offered me a couple of fights the last couple days so you should see me in there pretty soon."

Tyron wouldn't name potential opponents -- but said he's still gunning to get a rematch with Kamaru Usman, who defeated him back in March to win the UFC welterweight belt.

"I want my belt back. That's the fight I want the most."

Besides Kamaru, the top names in Tyron's division are guys like Colby Covington, Jorge Masvidal and Leon Edwards ... which would all be great fights.

In the meantime, Tyron says he's training his ass off -- and gunning to work with legends like Georges St-Pierre and the Diaz Brothers.

"If I'm not gonna fight them ... why not train with them?"

Dana White says BJ Penn will never fight in the UFC again after brawling in the street in Hawaii -- advising the Hall of Famer that he needs to get his personal life in order.

"He wont fight again. That's it. That's a wrap" White told ESPN's Brett Okamoto.

TMZ Sports broke the stories ... 40-year-old Penn has been at the center of TWO street fights in Hawaii over the past few months. Most recently, he got knocked out in a slug fest outside the Lava Shack on the Big Island in a fight captured on video.

So, was the Lava Shack fight the last straw for Dana?

"It's not even that this was the last straw, it's ... I didn't love him continuing to fight anyway, but when you have the relationship that he and I have and he's getting me on the phone begging me for another fight, begging me for another opportunity, it's hard for me to turn him down."

"But, after what I saw on that video, BJ needs to ... he needs to focus on his personal life, get himself together before he worries about fighting again."

Penn is on a 7-fight losing streak in the UFC -- but Dana had said he would let Penn take one last fight against Nik Lentz later this year. Clearly, that's not happening now.

As for BJ, he claims he was NOT the aggressor in either Hawaii street fight -- and insists he was trying to DIFFUSE the situation outside the Lava Shack before things escalated.

"What I saw in that video was sad," White added ... "And, I love the kid and I hope he gets his life together."

BJ Penn says he tried to WALK AWAY from the man he fought outside of a bar in Hawaii last month -- but claims the other guy snapped and attacked, leaving BJ to defend himself.

The UFC Hall of Famer is finally speaking out about that crazy incident outside of the Lava Shack on the Big Island where footage published by TMZ Sports showed Penn in a fist fight with another man. Penn was knocked down in the fight but eventually got up and smothered the man.

So, what happened? Penn told his side of the story to TSN ...

"I’m at a concert going to meet a friend that I’ve known since we were really young kids and I’m over there and an acquaintance of mine, he gets mad about something, you know something was said or it was an old past thing and then he wants to fight about it," Penn says.

"I was like, 'No, no, I don’t want to fight, we’re friends, everything is cool.' He even walks outside and I’m thinking, this is silly I’m going to go get him, calm him down and get him to come back inside and enjoy the concert, we’ve got some other friends there."

"I walk outside to go give the guy a hug and then he hits me twice and I’m like, 'No, calm down!'  I try to give him another hug and he hits me a couple more times and he hits me again."

"Finally my adrenaline picked up because he was hitting me so much so I said, 'Go ahead and hit me again.'"

Penn continues ... "I thought the guy would eventually just say forget it BJ, whatever, walk away, but he hit me -- and he hit me good and knocked me down -- and then when I got back up he tried it again and I just had to defend myself and that’s what you see in the second video."

Penn claims the videos were "edited" to cut out moments where Penn was trying to hug the other man. TMZ Sports did not cut a single frame out of the clips. We posted what we were able to obtain in its entirety.

During the TSN interview, Penn also touched on the OTHER recent bar fight he got into outside of a strip club on Oahu in June, another incident captured on video.

"There was another video on TMZ of me holding somebody on the ground ... I’m in the middle of a custody case right now and from that last one I already got a lot of flak from the custody evaluator, from their lawyer of course, from my lawyer."

"The last thing I want to do is get into any type of trouble, my custody case, me seeing my kids depends on all this stuff and it’s just really strange how things just happen and you never see this kind of stuff, but here I am in a custody case and this happened twice."

Cris Cyborg has found a new home -- the MMA superstar has signed with Bellator after parting ways with UFC.

"Hey Cyborg Nation fans, I'm very excited to announce that I'm going to be partnering with Scott Coker and Viacom -- I'll be fighting Bellator," the fighting legend says.

"And, you guys know I have a lot of girls that want to fight at 145 pounds and this means you're going to have a lot of fights per year and I'm very happy about that."

The 34-year-old had clashed with UFC honcho Dana White earlier this year -- and White had said he was going to release Cyborg from her contract.

"I will not match any offers, she is free and clear to go to Bellator or any of these other organizations and fight," White said back in August ... adding, "We’re out of the Cyborg business."

Well, Bellator wasted no time snatching her up ... and it seems pretty obvious Cyborg -- who's 21-2 as a pro -- will get an immediate title shot against Julia Budd, the reigning featherweight champ.

Budd is 13-2 with her only 2 career losses coming from Ronda Rousey and Amanda Nunes.

Seems Cyborg has her eye on more after that, 'cause she says she's hoping to be one of the most decorated fighters EVER once she arrives in Bellator.

"My goal is going to be the only female fighter holding four different major tiles in the same division and I know with you guys I can do that. And, I just want to say, Cyborg Nation, Welcome to Bellator!"

Ex-UFC fighter Melvin Guillard knocked out a man on the street in Colorado while working as a bouncer for a popular bar ... and TMZ Sports has now obtained video of the violent punch.

Guillard was working for the Ginn Mill in Denver back on June 15, 2018 ... when a scuffle broke out inside of the bar.

You can see in the video, bouncers wrestle with a man to get him outside ... when suddenly, another male approaches the commotion.

That's when Guillard goes after the guy, pushing him back with one arm ... before socking the dude straight in the jaw.

The punch immediately crumpled the guy ... and he lay lifeless on the sidewalk for nearly 30 seconds before bystanders were able to help him up.

The guy suffered undisclosed injuries in the attack ... and pressed charges -- with cops ultimately arresting 36-year-old Guillard for felony assault.

Guillard fought the charges in court for a year ... but he just cut a deal with prosecutors this summer to have the case closed.

As part of the agreement, Guillard pled guilty to one count of assault in the second degree -- but was only hit with probation -- plus fines and fees -- for the crime.

Guillard had been out of the professional fight game while his case played out in the court system ... but he made his return to MMA action last month in the Bare Knuckle Fight Championship. He lost to Isaac Vallie-Flagg via technical knockout.

If Conor McGregor's keepin' it 100 about wanting a Frankie Edgar fight, he's got a willing dance partner, 'cause the UFC superstar from Jersey tells TMZ Sports he'll literally fight Conor at "any weight, any time."

Remember, last week The Notorious told ESPN's Ariel Helwani that he admired Frankie ... and was interested in a bout with the former 145 pound champ.

But, is Frankie -- who declared he was going down to 135 pounds after losing to Max Holloway -- down for that fight?

Hell yes!

"I'm game, he knows I'm game. I'm supposed to go down to bantamweight, but I will obviously delay that for the McGregor fight."

Edgar says Conor's interview actually made him optimistic the fight could finally happen ... after years of talk.

"It gave me hope that maybe I could get a fight with him. I've been trying to fight this guy for a really long time."

McGregor said he was targeting an Octagon comeback before the start of next year ... and Frankie says he wants to fight once more before 2020 rolls around.

So, what's Edgar's message to Conor?

"Hey, lets stop faking the funk, man. Don't just say it. Lets follow through on it and get it done. I'm game. Like I said, any weight, any time. We could really do it anywhere. That's a fight you get remembered for."

Daniel Cormier should NOT hang up the gloves just yet ... not before seeking vengeance in a trilogy fight against Jon Jones ... so says former UFC star Jimi Manuwa.

Earlier this week TMZ Sports talked to Jimi -- a former UFC light heavyweight bad ass who beat dudes like Ovince St. Preux, Corey Anderson, and Jan Blachowicz -- about DC's future in MMA.

Manuwa says DC isn't done and deserves another big time fight ... and the perfect opponent is Jon.

"I don't know if he should f**kin' go out on a loss like that, ya know? I feel he should maybe do 1 more with Jones."

Remember, Cormier just took a devastating L to Stipe Miocic ... and he admitted he's mulling retirement.

It's not only Daniel ... Khabib Nurmagomedov recently told us that he and DC's coaches and teammates also want him to retire.

But, Manuwa disagrees ... and says the 3rd time could be the charm when it comes to Jones.

We've never seen anything like this ... ever.

BJ Penn is getting a SERIOUS offer from the man he's supposed to fight in October -- with Nik Lentz telling TMZ Sports he wants Penn to come live and train with him to help get his life back on track.

Remember, Dana White said Penn's last ever UFC fight would be against Lentz later this year -- but after Penn was KO'd during a street fight in Hawaii, it seems the bout could be in jeopardy.

Lentz tells us he "needs" this fight to happen for the sake of his own family -- but also he cares about Penn and wants to help him get cleaned up.

"Clearly, there's something wrong here," Lentz says about Penn's recent altercations ... "You need to get your life together."

Lentz says he wants Penn to move out of Hawaii -- where he thinks Penn is running with the wrong crowd and it's dragging him down.

"There's people there that are not good for you."

Instead, Lentz says Penn should relocate to Florida -- where he can train at his gym and sleep in his home.

"I'm gonna teach you how to be a man because right now you're a monster" ... adding, "You can't be getting knocked out in front of the Lava House."

But, don't mistake Lentz's kindness for weakness -- Nik says he won't have mercy with Penn when they step into the Octagon.

"I'm going to help him more than he's ever been helped in his life," Lentz says ... "I'm gonna kick his ass for money at the same time, but I'm still gonna help him."