UFC

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.

How's this for a good day: MMA fighter kicks a dude in the head ... wins UFC contract ... gets a brand new nickname from Snoop Dogg.

That actually HAPPENED to Julian Marquez on Tuesday -- the greatest day of his life.

TMZ Sports spoke with Marquez after his brutal victory on "Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series" ... and he told us how Snoop personally invited him to kick it after the fight.

There's just one problem ... Marquez already has a pretty solid nickname, "The Cuban Missile Crisis" (badass, right?).

So, which nickname do you keep moving forward -- the old one or the Snoop one?

Decisions, decisions ...

Brendan Schaub is putting his dong on the line for Mayweather vs McGregor ... promising he'll DM the world his finest wiener pic if Conor doesn't go all 12 rounds with Floyd.

That's right -- the UFC fighter-turned-MMA analyst is so sick of fans countin' out the Irishman ... he's bettin' his manhood on McGregor's chin.

"I promise you Conor will not get knocked out," Schaub told Rob King on "The Kicker" ... "If anyone gets finished that night. It's Floyd."

King asked Brendan if he was willing to put a wager on it -- to which Schaub replied, "I will send you guys a d*ck pic if it doesn't go all 12 rounds."

A bet's a bet. No pulling out now ...

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.

UFC fans are hurtin' to see Jon Jones fight Brock Lesnar next ... but Dan Henderson is stompin' out the potential superfight.

Why? Hendo told TMZ Sports he's got ZERO interest in seeing Jones vs. Brock, "because it's not for anything, other than for fun."

In other words -- it'd all be for entertainment, a la Mayweather vs. McGregor ... not like the good ol' days when all dudes cared about was stackin' belts.

Henderson would know -- he's one of the most decorated champs in MMA history.

The legend did give Jon props for his comeback -- where Jones brutally KO'd Daniel Cormier to win back the light heavyweight championship ... and then put Lesnar on blast.

Daniel Cormier has a message for Jon Jones -- Congrats.

D.C. wasn't in the best shape to talk after his loss to Jones at UFC 214 and left the Octagon after only a brief statement with Joe Rogan.

But now, he's opening up ... and giving props to his biggest rival.

"Congratulations to Jon Jones and his team. They did a phenomenal job and got the victory."

Cormier also apologized to ref Big John McCarthy -- who called the fight in the 3rd round while Cormier was taking a flurry of uncontested shots to the head from Jones after a big head kick.

D.C. got into it with McCarthy after the stoppage in an emotional reaction to the loss.

"To Big John McCarthy, I would like to apologize for acting up with you. I am thankful for the time you gave me to try and defend myself and stay in the fight."

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.

The Mini Team.

Floyd Mayweather's tiny doppelganger has signed his contract and will go toe-to-toe with "Irishman Mini McGregor" ... and it's all thanks to Larry Flynt.

The night before the real Floyd and Conor face off in Vegas, these two guys will step in the ring at the Hustler Club just down the way.

We're told it will be a 3 round fight for the very, very lightweight championship of the world.

You may remember Mini Mayweather from his epic bout with Mini Pacquiao ... a fight that had more action than the real MayPac throwdown.

Hopefully this fight will live up to the hype ... hate to see it fall short.

Listen up McGregor ... one of the greatest warriors in the history of boxing is gonna give you the key to doing what some think is impossible ... beating Floyd Mayweather.

We got 4-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield out at the "Pat Cairo Annual Golf Outing and Dinner to Battle Cancer" on Long Island and talked with him about the biggest subject in sports, McGregor vs. Mayweather.

Holyfield won some of the biggest upsets of all time, so the question is, how does Conor do it?

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.