UFC

UFC superstar Joanna Jedrzejczyk says she's feeling "good" and recovering well after that 5-round WAR with Weili Zhang -- and tells TMZ Sports she's down for the rematch!

"I feel good, calm, quiet [and] surrounded by good people," Joanna says ... "People who love me so much, my family."

Of course, Joanna was hospitalized after her March 7th fight with Weili -- and even though she lost in a controversial split decision, JJ is in great spirits about her health and fighting future.

Joanna says that massive hematoma on her forehead is gone down in size -- and is also gravitating down her face.

Her face is still bruised, but Joanna says her team of top-flight doctors say she has no serious long-term injuries.

Joanna says she has surgery scheduled for next week to take care of some minor problems -- but nothing substantial.

"I had an ultrasound on my organs, X-ray. Everything is fine. I'm healthy."

Joanna also credits Dana White and the UFC for getting her set up with the best doctors available.

Conor McGregor is being hailed as a HERO by a foundation that helps the families of emergency responders who died in the line of duty ... claiming CM's $1 million donation will have a REAL impact on families in need.

The UFC star, along with Proper Twelve Whiskey company, officially wrote a $1 million check to the Tunnel To Towers Foundation ... which was founded by the brother of FDNY hero Stephen Siller, who was killed in the World Trade Center attack.

We spoke with Stephen's brother Frank Siller ... who tells us McGregor's gesture is nothing short of incredible.

"What we do as a foundation is that we relieve the mortgages of the first responders who died in the line of duty that have young kids left behind," Siller tells us.

"So, this will go to many, many houses, depending on what part of the country it is -- but that's what Conor wanted."

Siller even offered up an emotional personal message to McGregor ... and warning -- you might wanna get some tissues ready.

"Conor, you're gonna change the lives of many great heroes and the families left behind."

"You're telling them that people care, that America cares. And, that if somebody goes out there and gives their kids a kiss goodbye and doesn't come home, Conor McGregor is gonna make sure that those families are taken care of."

"Thank you and God bless you, Conor.

Great news for Stipe Miocic ... the UFC heavyweight champ says his injured eye is healing up really well ... and he expects to fight Daniel Cormier in just a few months!

"Eye is really good actually," Stipe told us in NYC while promoting his Fire Dept. Coffee brand ... "Getting healed up. Getting better every day. Getting back in the gym slowly."

Remember, 37-year-old Miocic suffered a torn retina in his August 2019 victory over Cormier -- and while both Stipe and DC are down to run it back, everyone's waiting on the eye to heal up first.

Stipe says he's still battling some issues with the eye -- he sometimes sees "spots" -- but overall, Miocic says the injury has "not really messed with my vision, so I'm happy about that."

As for the 3rd fight between the two heavyweight stars, Stipe says it's "looking like summer" ... since the UFC is already booked up with a bunch of sick PPV fights in April and May.

Stipe definitely ain't lacking confidence -- telling us when the guys do face-off, it'll "suck" for Cormier because "he's gonna lose again!"

Cormier beat Stipe the first time they fought back in 2018 -- but Miocic got his belt back when they clashed in the rematch at UFC 241.

DC says the rubber match with Stipe will be the last fight of his UFC career -- win or lose.

As for Stipe, seems he'll keep fighting as long as he's healthy. And, then it's likely to the UFC Hall of Fame for both guys.

Sean O'Malley beat the hell outta Jose Quinonez this weekend ... dropping him with a devastating head-kick that Suga compares to being SMASHED in the dome with a solid wood bat.

TMZ Sports talked to O'Malley -- fresh off a 1st round TKO at UFC 248 -- and the 25-year-old star walked us through the combination that left Quinonez in the fetal position on the Octagon floor.

"That head-kick ... that was a powerful and heavy head-kick! It's pretty much like if I had a baseball bat. I swung as hard as I could at him. Kind of lifted him off, threw him to the back of the cage."

The finish was super impressive ... not only did Sean land the heavy head-kick, he also crushed Jose with an uppercut ... before raining down a flurry of hammer fists -- before the fight was stopped.

It was O'Malley's first fight in over 2 years ... so while the MMA world mighta been shocked at how quick he took Quinonez out, Suga wasn't.

"I knew going into any of my fights, the 1st round finish is always an option. Especially that first five minutes. I mean, I feel superhuman in there. I'm so fast, I'm so accurate. I put on some size, ya know, so I'm just more powerful," Sean says.

"So, I knew a first-round finish, I knew that could happen and honestly I kinda saw it going like that."

That's not all, as we previously reported, O'Malley told us the post-fight celly was gonna include a lot of medicine (the green kind) ... and Suga, who says he hadn't smoked in 3 weeks, had a bad case of the munchies.

UFC star Valentina Shevchenko -- one of the top MMA fighters on the planet -- thinks the judges got it wrong ... and Joanna Jedrzejczyk should have gotten the decision over Weili Zhang.

"I don't believe [the judges got it right]," Shevchenko told us in NYC ... claiming Joanna landed "more clear strikes" than her opponent.

In fact, when you watch our clip with Valentina ... even though she's very respectful about Weili, it's pretty clear she wasn't super impressed with Zhang's performance.

We asked Valentina if she would be interested in dropping down a weight class to fight Zhang, but Shevchenko doesn't think Weili wants the smoke.

The long story short ... VS says if Weili struggled to beat Joanna, she'd get DESTROYED by Shevchenko, who beat up Joanna pretty decisively when they fought in 2018.

"She's a good fighter," Valentina says ... "but it's not enough for the high league competition."

As for Valentina, she's currently on a 5-fight win streak with victories over legit fighters like Katlyn Chookagian, Jessica Eye and Joanna.

Valentina's only losses in the UFC have come from Amanda Nunes, who's widely regarded as the greatest female fighter of all time.

TMZ Sports has obtained video moments after UFC star Brian Ortega allegedly slapped a Korean man at UFC 248 ... and you can hear Ortega say, "I told you I'd slap you like a bitch."

It all went down in the stands at T-Mobile Arena in Vegas on Saturday -- when 29-year-old Ortega approached Jay Park, a Korean musician who recently served as a translator for Korean UFC fighter Jung Chan Sung (known as "Korean Zombie").

Ortega was reportedly upset with Park over comments he made while translating for Korean Zombie during a recent appearance on "Ariel Helwani's MMA Show." Park had claimed Ortega "ducked" a fight with Zombie, which Ortega has adamantly denied.

Things came to a head on Saturday. At 4 seconds into our video, you can hear a slap sound -- followed by commotion and Brian bragging that he slapped Park.

Ortega was escorted out of the arena. Security checked in with Park, who appears to be okay.

After the incident, Park told media he filed a police report with local officials. Unclear if Ortega will be charged with a crime.

"Sugar" Sean O'Malley hasn't whooped ass in the Octagon in 2 years ... so how's he gonna celebrate his win Saturday night? POT & PIZZA!!!!

25-year-old O'Malley was one of the UFC's hottest young stars ... but hasn't fought since March 2018 (he flunked a drug test after taking a supplement that was laced with a banned substance).

Despite the layoff, Sugar tells TMZ Sports his fighting skills -- and ridiculous support from fight fans -- haven't diminished at all ... and he's ready to kick Jose Quinonez's ass at UFC 248.

"It just feels like another fight. 2 years off is not that big of a deal."

O'Malley continued ... "I don't think anything's really changed. I don't think much has changed as far as the attention I'm getting, as far as how excited the fans are."

Snoop Dogg's one of those fans -- remember his "O'MALLEY!! O'MALLEY!!" commentary during the Contender Series? Awesome.

And, once the fighting's done Saturday night ... "Sugar" Sean says it's time to get high!

"I'm gonna take a rip, I'm gonna hang out with my circle. I don't have an after-party planned. I'm just gonna celebrate with some medicine and some good food and that's about it."

His post-fight grub of choice?

"I always crave pizza. I think a lot of fighters do for whatever reason."

Now, that's a plan.

THE DISRESPECT IS REAL!!!!

Khabib Nurmagomedov straight up KICKED Tony Ferguson's interim UFC lightweight championship belt during an intense face-off Friday ... and it got VERY close to getting violent.

Khabib and Tony were doing a media event to promote their upcoming brawl at UFC 249 in April ... and the trash talk got VERY personal.

Tony trashed Khabib as a weak-minded, scared, fake brawler ... and Khabib fired back by calling Tony a "fake Mexican," since Tony was born and raised in California.

Tony was offended by the comments -- claiming he's a proud American AND a proud Mexican.

But, when it came time to square off for their face-to-face photo op, Tony laid his belt on the ground, seemingly challenging Khabib to do something ... and Khabib reacted by kicking the belt.

Tony eventually picked up the belt and accused Khabib of disrespecting the UFC -- claiming Khabib doesn't really care about the company.

Abdul Razak Alhassan -- a budding MMA star who scored a crazy knockout at UFC 228 in Sept. 2018 -- was just found not guilty in his sexual assault case ... TMZ Sports has confirmed.

Alhassan was facing two charges after he was accused of raping two women inside a Saginaw, Texas home back in March 2018.

The two alleged victims claim they were partying at a bar in Forth Worth (where Alhassan worked as a bouncer) ... when the UFC fighter brought them back to one of their homes and sexually assaulted them.

Alhassan maintained his innocence throughout the case ... and after a trial this week, a district attorney spokesperson confirmed to us a jury found the 34-year-old not guilty on both charges.

Alhassan's attorney, Brandon Barnett, told theScore's Nick Baldwin after the verdict... "Razak has been waiting for this day for two years. He's been ready to go to court and clear his name of these charges"

"We're thankful that we got a really good jury who saw the evidence for what it was."

Alhassan hasn't fought in the UFC since KO'ing Niko Price on Sept. 8, 2018. He's 10-1 in his UFC career.

Great news!!!

UFC's most dominant couple -- Amanda Nunes and Nina Ansaroff -- have announced Nina's pregnant and due in Sept.!!!!

"I wanna tell every single person on this planet that Raegan Ann Nunes will be here mid September," Amanda said on IG ... "I cannot wait to see her."

Nina -- the UFC's #5 ranked strawweight fighter -- added, "I am carrying and still plan on fighter after she is born."

The two have been together for years -- and when they came to the TMZ office back in December, they already had big baby plans!

"I’m taking a year off," Ansaroff told us ... but when she returns, Nina says she plans on moving up a weight class and competing in the 125-lb flyweight division.

"I’m gonna be training throughout my pregnancy. I’m gonna stay in shape. I’m not gonna, ya know, just like not do anything and jump in."

One of the people who reached out to congratulate the couple is Mackenzie Dern, the UFC fighter who returned to action just 4 months after having a baby.

Nunes and Andaroff told us they love the fact Dern got right back to work, but they feel no pressure to get back so quickly.

"[Colby Covington's] a prick. I don't care about this guy. He doesn't know how to act. He's not a real man."

That is UFC star Joanna Jedrzejczyk talking about Colby -- her American Top Team gym mate -- and it's crystal clear she hates his guts.

Earlier this week TMZ Sports talked to 32-year-old Jedrzejczyk -- who's fighting strawweight champ Weili Zhang at UFC 248 this weekend -- and asked about her inter-gym beef with the welterweight star.

"[Colby] was talking s**t about Dustin Poirier, Jorge Masvidal, who he was friends with. You can't do that, ya know?"

Joanna -- who got into an argument with Covington a few months back -- says the managers and coaches who run the ATT gym, and put in a helluva lot of work ... so fighters don't have to be best buds, but they do need to respect each other.

"We have so many athletes from all over the world, different cultures, different experiences. But, we are all working together, supporting each other. Sometimes you like someone more, sometimes less. But, show some respect to your teammate."

"Don't talk bad about your teammates. This is what Colby did and he's paying the price."

Despite the beef, Jedrzejczyk actually says she wishes CC luck ... before doling out this last dig when we asked if Colby needed a reality check.

"No, Usman already did that, and he humbled him. He's better."

Burn🔥

UFC superstar Henry Cejudo says he wants to pull a Royce Gracie -- and fight TWICE in the same night -- and he's dead serious.

Triple C -- the reigning UFC bantamweight and flyweight champ -- is set to take on Jose Aldo at UFC 250 in May ... but he wants Dana White to add another fight to his workload.

"I would like to get [Deiveson Figueiredo] and Jose Aldo on the same night. Co-main event and main event! Allow me to make history!"

FYI, Figueiredo just defeated Joseph Benavidez at UFC Norfolk -- but since Figueiredo didn't make weight for the fight, he was not awarded the vacant flyweight belt.

And, since the belt didn't change hands ... Cejudo is bragging that he's "the only fighter in human history to defend my belt on the couch!"

Cejudo thinks the whole situation was "unfortunate" since the missed weight kind of throws a wrench in the division ... but Henry says there's one way to fix the problem -- set up a fight!

FYI, way back in the day ... UFC would allow fighters to scrap multiple times on the same night. Royce Gracie famously fought THREE TIMES at UFC 1 back in 1993.

UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell -- one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time -- says he's finally "officially retired" from fighting ... for now.

The 50-year-old legend has been undecided about his fighting career for a while -- despite losing to Tito Ortiz in his last performance in Nov. 2018.

In fact, as recently as October 2019, Liddell told ESPN he was "undecided" about his future as a fighter.

But when we saw Liddell at LAX, he told us straight up, "I'm officially retired right now ... for now."

The former UFC lightweight champ had an amazing career -- with a 21-9 pro record ... including two historic wins over Tito Ortiz and two wins over Randy Couture.

Chuck was a pioneer in the world of MMA and is widely credited with helping to grow the UFC into the juggernaut it is today.

So, what's next for The Iceman?! Chuck says he's always been interested in the WWE ... and has tremendous respect for pro wrestlers ... "That would be a lot of fun!"

In the meantime, Liddell is still training like a maniac at Jay Glazer's Unbreakable Gym in West Hollywood where he works out with the likes of Wiz Khalifa and Demi Lovato!

UFC superstar Yoel Romero says he's not even close to retirement -- despite the fact he's about to turn 43 years old -- telling TMZ Sports he's got another 10 YEARS left in the tank!

The Cuban-born middleweight star is gearing up to fight Israel Adesanya at UFC 248 in Las Vegas on Saturday ... and Romero says he's laser-focused on winning Israel's belt.

There's no bad blood between these two ... Romero says he loves everybody, but he's ready to take care of business when they step in the Octagon on March 7.

As for his UFC future, Romero tells us he thinks he's good to go for another decade ... and made sure to show off his abs to let us know he means business!

We've done some digging and from what we've found, the oldest person to take a UFC fight is Randy Couture who was 47 years old when he battled Lyoto Machida at UFC 129 in 2011.

Couture lost that fight but had won a previous 3 matches. Randy was 46 years old when he defeated James Toney.

To our knowledge, it doesn't appear anyone over the age of 50 has ever competed in a UFC fight.

Dana White hates the idea of a costume party before a big fight -- which is why he won't allow UFC fighters to play dress-up like Deontay Wilder did at the Tyson Fury fight.

The UFC honcho thinks Deontay's decision to rock a 45-pound costume during his ring walk was ill-informed ... but says ya can't blame the whole loss on the outfit -- give credit to Fury!

"I think there's a lot to it. Fury looked awesome," White says ... "Fury fought a perfect fight. But, if you think about boxing and fights when fighters are getting ready, they're in the back. They're relaxing. Some guys sleep. Some guys just lay around and chill. Then you get up, you time it out, do your warm-up. Then you throw something on to stay warm. You don't put all this gear on and all this stuff. That's why I don't do any of that bulls**t in the UFC. I don't like it. I don't like any of that."

But, is the costume the reason Wilder lost? No.

"The reason he lost is 'cause Fury is a bad-ass boxer, and he fought the perfect fight that night and executed his game plan."

As for Fury, who has previously teased a possible MMA fight at some point in his career -- White says, "I'm interested in the future of Tyson Fury in all combat sports!"

"I'm excited to see him no matter where he goes. If he wants to fight in the UFC, I would love it. I'm excited to see what's next for him in boxing."

Khabib Nurmagomedov says he's down to fight Floyd Mayweather ... but The Eagle is floating the idea of a mixed boxing/MMA match!!

"Like maybe 11 rounds boxing, 1 round MMA," Khabib tells TMZ Sports.

Of course, Khabib and Floyd have flirted heavily with the idea of a fight for years ... with Nurmagomedov's manager, Ali Abdelaziz, telling us TBE has been "begging" for a scrap.

In fact, Ali says they even got a $100 MILLION offer from some powerful Saudis to put on the fight in the Middle East!!

But, talks haven't advanced between the two sides ... and when we asked Khabib about it this week -- he says it's because he straight-up doesn't want a boxing-only matchup.

"If he want to fight, come to UFC!" Khabib says. "This is real fight. You know, I'm not boxer. I'm not, like, just wrestler. I'm MMA fighter."

If the two somehow do agree to a bout ... Khabib is VERY confident he'll emerge victorious -- insisting 43-year-old Floyd is just too damn old.

"He almost like my father's age, you know?" Khabib says. "I don't understand how I'm going to punch his face."