UFC

If the MMA awards ever add a "best son" category, just give the damn trophy to Derek Brunson ... the UFC star just bought his mom a new car!

39-year-old Brunson, the 8th ranked UFC middleweight in the world, surprised his mom with a brand-spankin' new 2023 car ... and it's pretty awesome.

"Got Mom a 2023 Nissan Sentra one of my. Best purchase so far. We’re almost even from changing my stinky diapers 😂❤️" DB wrote on social media.

Of course, Brunson's been in Dana White's organization since 2012. In his first UFC fight, Derek beat Chris Leben by unanimous decision.

Brunson's long been one of the ten best 185 lb. fighters in the promotion ... and has wins over beasts like Darren Till, Kevin Holland, Edmen Shahbazyan, and Lyota Machida, amongst many others.

Derek lost his last scrap at UFC 285 against Dricus Du Plessis ... and there's talk it could've been his last time in the Octagon.

It's actually not the first time Derek's bought mom a new whip. Back in 2020, he talked about the sacrifices his mother made for him, and explained why he made the big purchase for her.

"In 2004 my mom went into her bank account she worked super hard for and purchased my first car. 2020 I went in my bank account I worked super hard for and purchased her a car. Life is such a cycle. Take care of those who take care of you! ❤️"

Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones ain't happening (at least no time soon), but there's another megafight seemingly on the horizon ... The Predator tells us he's currently discussing a two-fight deal with former heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder!

TMZ Sports talked to 36-year-old Ngannou -- a combat sports free agent after parting ways with the UFC in January -- and now the question is who does Francis fight, in what discipline, and where does it go down.

It's looking more and more like the answer to those questions are 37-year-old Wilder, boxing, and in Africa.

"We are looking into [Deontay Wilder] because he's available. He's ready for that. He's very excited about [a fight with me]. He wants it. So, we are looking into that. That's something I'm very excited about. We even discussed a potential one fight in Africa and one fight somewhere else. Why not even the two fights in Africa?", Francis told us.

Of course, Ngannou and Wilder are arguably the hardest/biggest punchers in all of combat sports.

12 of Francis' 17 wins came by knockout ... and his KO of Alistair Overeem may be the most brutal punch in recent UFC memory.

As for the Bronze Bomber, all but one of his 43 victories came by knockout.

Both guys clearly have the power to end the fight with a single shot ... but Francis tells us it's about more than simply throwing big power punches, and hoping one connects.

"I can knock everybody out. I have to be clear about something. To hit that person you have to get a clear shot which is more about technique and experience I don't have. So, I'm very aware of that aspect," Ngannou says.

"It's not like 'hit me, I hit you, and then we see who goes down.' It's a combat sport. Everybody trying not to get hit. I'm thinking more about the technique or the boxing side of it. The beauty of it. Then at the end, if you get an opportunity to connect then good. If not, I'm still expecting to win that fight in the decision so that's how I'm preparing myself."

There's much more ... we also talked to Francis about Jon Jones calling him a "big ole p***y," the possibility of signing to Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions, and Dana White telling us he believes Ngannou would've been easily handled just like Ciryl Gane was at UFC 285.

Talk about putting your money where your mouth is ... a fan just spent over $13K on a card that was signed and kissed by Paige VanZant!

The first edition card hit auction last week on eBay ... and after 102 bids, the 1-of-1 sold for exactly $13,200, and the Bare Knuckle FC boxer was hyped!

"Thank you to everyone who bid," the 28-year-old said on Monday via Instagram. "This was a really cool experience for me ♥"

The card is pretty sweet ... it features a photo of VanZant in her boxing gear with a pink lip print and she proves the kiss was from her lips by sharing a picture of her kissing the card.

She also signed it with her name and "XOXO".

The whole idea was to help launch her husband, Bellator star Austin Vanderford's new shop where you can buy, sell, and/or trade sports cards.

"Go bid while you can and take a look at everything he’s got for sale if your into football cards :) And follow @vanderford_cards for new listings," VanZant said.

Of course, if you follow the couple, you know they support each other in a big way ... ever since getting married in 2018.

"Oh the places we have been," VanZant said in a recent IG video of Austin. "And oh the places we will go. ❤️ @austinvanderford"

"I don't think fans wanna tune in to see me wrestle. They damn sure don't tune in to see me do Brazilian jiu-jitsu. So, why not cut the fat and get right to the meat and potatoes."

That's former UFC and Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez, 39 -- one of the greatest lightweight mixed martial artists in history -- on why he's decided to leave MMA for bare knuckle boxing.

Alvarez recently inked a deal with BKFC ... and will fight 37-year-old fellow former UFC star Chad Mendes on April 29.

The men have over 60 pro MMA fights combined (Eddie has 40), but Alvarez points out the sports are considerably different, including the fact that cuts are very prevalent.

"There's a lot of little subtleties that I learned when I went to the event myself. Usually you get cut about a minute or two into the fight, typically there's a cut that goes on and you have to learn and you gotta learn to fight with that," Eddie says.

And, cuts are a serious factor, according to Alvarez, who says seeing one's own blood can screw with a fighter's head.

"Some guys could be world champs, undefeated. Never seen their own blood and when they do, you get to see the bitch in them real quick. You need to see your own blood a few times," Eddie tells us, adding, "I'm very familiar with my own blood. I know what it tastes like, smells like, and oftentimes I don't feel like I'm in a fight until I'm cut."

The Underground King says there are more differences between the sport.

"There's even smaller margin for error. And it's a sprint, not a marathon. You need to be ready when that bell rings. There's no feeling out process."

Eddie and Chad aren't the only combat sports stars on the card. Former UFC champ Luke Rockhold is also boxing former UFC star "Platinum" Mike Perry the same night, and we spoke to the 38-year-old fighter.

"It's different, it's intriguing, and it's f****** scary. F****** crazy shit. I'm a f****** crazy man."

Aside from being a great fighter, Rockhold's also a model (he was previously the face of a Polo Ralph Lauren advertising campaign), so we asked him he if was concerned about his moneymaker getting damaged (see Eddie's comments above about the cuts).

"Do I seem like I'm worried about my face?" Luke joked, adding ... "Mike Perry should be worried about his face cause I plan on putting it right on his f****** nose!"

"I wanna make that nose a little more crooked."

MMA fans are clamoring for a Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou megafight ... but Dana White says there's nothing to see there, 'cause the new heavyweight champ would've demolished "The Predator" much like he did Ciryl Gane last weekend!

The UFC president joined Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs weeknights on FS1) ... when White was asked if he could foresee any situation where he'd welcome Ngannou back to the UFC and make the Francis-Jon fight.

"I'm not interested," Dana said.

"I tried to make that fight for two years. He didn't want the fight. Know what I mean? He didn't want the fight, and he left here without even having another deal in place. And, I know how the boxing world is, it's crazy, but Francis didn't want to [fight Jones]."

Don't be too disappointed ... White says Francis almost certainly would've been easy work for the G.O.A.T.

"Let me tell you what, I think, a lot of other people feel this way, I think that's exactly the way the fight would've gone if [Ngannou] was in there, too."

Of course, Jon made Ciryl look like light work at UFC 285 ... taking him down and forcing a tap out in a shade over 2 minutes.

Dana, using some MMA math, explained why Ngannou wouldn't have stood much of a chance.

"[Francis] and Ciryl had a five-round war, and if Ciryl doesn't go for that submission, Ciryl probably wins that fight. At the end of the 5th round there."

FYI, Ngannou won their UFC 270 scrap in January 2022 by unanimous decision, but it was a very close fight.

Dana then answered the original question -- can you see yourself making JJ vs. FN?

"No."

We also talked to White about the next big heavyweight matchup, Stipe Miocic vs. Jones. There's talk the fight will go down at UFC 290 on July 8 during International Fight Week, but Dana says nothing's set in stone, and there's not much time to get a deal done.

Dana also said he wouldn't be surprised if this is 35-year-old Jones' last fight.

"I wouldn't be shocked either if he fights Stipe and then retires."

We also talked to Dana about his upcoming Power Slap 1 event, going down Saturday night in Las Vegas. The card features four title fights ... including the two top-ranked heavyweights in the world.

White says he sees parallels between Power Slap/slap fighting and the UFC in its early days, when MMA was viewed as being brutal and too violent.

Dana also broke some news about the future of "Power Slap: Road To The Title," announcing they've signed a two-year deal. White says the next season will take place in Dubai.

Who's the greatest MMA fighter ever??

Demetrious Johnson, who's absolutely in the conversation, says it's an impossible question to answer because "we've all done amazing things in this sport of mixed martial arts." But, forced to answer, Mighty Mouse says it's the newly crowned heavyweight champ Jon Jones ... following his dismantling of Ciryl Gane at UFC 285.

"I've had the longest consecutive title defense, and I've also had 14 world title fight wins. I believe he's at 15 [straight] now. You look at GSP. I think he took four years off and he fought in 2013 against Johny Hendricks. Then he came back in 2017 and beat Michael Bisping, who was a champion. You look at Anderson Silva, we've all done amazing things in mixed martial arts."

The former longtime UFC champ turned ONE Championship champ told us he "always felt" Jon was the G.O.A.T., and actually believes he could've beaten 247 lb. Gane without gaining any weight.

"Jon Jones, what he did to Gane Saturday night, I mean, he took him down and choked him out. I truly believe he could've done that at 205 [lbs.]"

"The one thing that separates those guys from me, those guys have gone up and competed and won a world championship in a different weight class, where I haven't.

"Henry Cejudo's done it, Jon's done it, Randy Couture's done it, the list just goes on and on of all the guys who have done it, and that's one thing I haven't done."

Fighters like Couture, Georges St-Pierre, and Khabib have all retired, so they're done adding to their resumes. But, Mighty Mouse isn't. He's still very much fighting with ONE, and he's got a big fight coming up.

DJ's fighting Adriano Moraes on May 5 ... one of the best ONE matchups. The guys have fought twice previously, with each man winning once.

"He's the reason a lot of my nation was inspired to do MMA. He's the reason we all believed we could do it. He inspired me to follow my dream and be where I am now."

That's rising Irish UFC star Ian Garry gushing about the impact Conor McGregor's had on not just his career, but so many MMA fighters coming out of Ireland.

25-year-old Garry increased his record to 11-0 with a win over Kenan Song on Saturday at UFC 285 ... but it likely wasn't the most thrilling part of the night. After IG left the Octagon, the 6'2" welterweight fighter ran into "The Notorious" and shared a moment with the world's most famous MMA fighter.

"I wouldn't say spend time, but we crossed paths," Ian told us, before describing the interaction.

"For me to even hear some of the words that came out of [Conor's] mouth that he had to say about me was kind of breathtaking. It's like 'holy s**t, this is real?'"

Garry continued ... "I'm such a massive fan of Conor's I always have been, I always will be no matter what, and to have him beat my chest and tell me I'm a champion and that he's got me, that he's behind me, it's something that I'll never forget."

Of course, McGregor was watching the fights Octagon-side with Jake Gyllenhaal. The A-list actor and Conor are starring alongside each other in the new remake of "Road House."

As for his next move, Ian says because he didn't take any real damage during the Song fight, he wants to fight on the UFC 287 card (Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira II) on April 8 in Miami ... close to his Kill Cliff MMA gym in Deerfield, FL.

"I don't see any reason why I wouldn't be able to fight in 5 weeks. I'm uninjured, I took 1 shot in the fight. Other than that Im ready and raring to go again."

Against who? Garry doesn't care.

"There's a whole roster of welterweights that Sean Shelby can choose from. At the end of the day I don't really give a f**k who it is. Sean will send me an email. He'll have a name in that email. I'll sign it, send it back and say 'Yeah, cool.'"

Ari Emanuel will likely be on the hunt for some new security, at least temporarily, as a member of his security team shot himself in the leg while patrolling Ari's home.

Law enforcement sources tell us they got a call to Emanuel's Beverly Hills pad around 11 PM Sunday night for the shooting. We're told the security guard was either getting dressed in his vehicle for a shift, or adjusting his weapon holster when the gun went off ... striking him somewhere in the leg.

We're told the shooting itself did not happen on Ari's property.

Our sources say the security guard was transported to the hospital, though we don't know his condition. Cops believe the whole thing was totally accidental.

Worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Emanuel is the CEO of Endeavor, the entertainment and media agency that owns UFC.

Emanuel is one of the biggest names in entertainment business, earning him several tributes through the industry -- including Jeremy Piven's character, Ari Gold, on "Entourage."

Fans and MMA "experts" may believe Stipe Miocic has no chance against Jon Jones, but the man Bones Jones called the greatest UFC heavyweight ever says he's motivated by the underdog status, and has zero doubts he going defeat JJ!

40-year-old Miocic joined Babcock and Mojo on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs weeknights on FS1) where we asked him, you vs. Jon aside ... give us your scouting report of Jones, the heavyweight.

"He won, good for him. That's about it."

So, yeah ... color Stipe unimpressed with the heavier version of Jones.

"I don't really have much to say because it wasn't that long of a fight," Miocic added.

Of course, Jon only needed 2 minutes and 4 seconds to choke out Ciryl Gane, one of the most dangerous men in the world at UFC 285, winning the heavyweight title Stipe held for years.

The fight between Jon and Stipe is likely to go down in July, and Jones is already around a -370 favorite (put up $370 to profit $100). Add to that all the MMA fans who have said Miocic doesn't stand a chance in the Octagon with Jon. We asked SM if he was motivated by the doubters.

"Hell yeah it does [motivate me]. I love being the underdog, I love being told something not gonna happen because I'm the guy that puts a big dagger in that."

It seems some people may have forgotten what Miocic has accomplished in the Octagon. Stipe previously beat Daniel Cormier, twice. He also defeated Francis Nagannou, Junior dos Santos, Fabricio Werdum, Mark Hunt, and others.

Speaking of Cormier, his rivalry with Jones was one of the best (and realest) in UFC history. We asked Stipe if he's considered bringing D.C. into camp to help him train. Miocic didn't say no, but it's clear this is just another fight for the firefighter from Ohio.

"No, no, I mean maybe, I don't know. Right now, just gonna keep getting better and grinding away and make myself the best I can be."

As for retirement, we asked Stipe if the Jones bout could be the last of his illustrious Hall of Fame career.

"I don't know. We'll see. I think about retiring after every fight since my first one. We'll see. Right now just gonna keep getting better, getting stronger, make myself finally tuned ready for that fight in July."

Cannot! Wait! 👊

Mercedes Mone is putting the wrestling world on NOTICE ... telling TMZ Sports she'll fight any wrestler, anywhere, anytime -- saying, "I turn down to nobody."

We spoke to Mercedes -- formerly known as Sasha Banks in the WWE -- after she captured the IWGP championship in her New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) debut last month ... and she was hyped about performing in front of her family and friends.

"It was a moment I'm always going to remember," Mone said. "It's probably my second favorite moment of my career thus far and that's saying a lot because I've done so much in professional wrestling."

Mercedes said competing in front of a sold-out crowd at the San Jose Civic Center in California -- close to where she grew up -- was special ... adding working with her opponent, Kairi, who she defeated to become champ, was an incredible experience.

Mone told us now that she's the IWGP champ, she's got big plans. In addition to showing off her gold on red carpets, she also called out Japanese pro wrestler AZM ahead of her scheduled appearance at Sakura Genesis in Tokyo on April 8.

"I wanna see who's ready for Mercedes Mone," the champ said. "I'm always here for the check. I'm always here for the bag and whoever has the biggest bag is where I'm gonna go."

Jake Gyllenhaal has transformed himself into a chiseled mass of pure muscle for his new role as an MMA fighter in the remake of the 1989 classic film, "Road House."

Check out this video showing the 42-year-old actor shooting a scene for the movie at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Friday.

Taking on the reimagined role of Patrick Swayze's John Dalton, named Elwood in the new film, Jake dashed onto the stage for a weigh-in, tipping the scales at 184 pounds for his middleweight fight against champion Jack Harris, played by ex-MMA star Jay Hieron.

After showing off his incredible physique to the crowd, Jake stepped off the scale and shook the hand of UFC President Dana White, who was standing nearby.

Hieron then jumped on the scale and faced off with Jake as both men talked smack to each other. Jake then slapped Hieron across the face, prompting a shoving match as White stepped in to break it up.

Who's the greatest UFC fighter ever?? It's one of the most hotly contested debates amongst MMA fans, and now Dana White's weighing in!

Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Jon Jones are the names most often thrown out there (there's also Demetrious Johnson, Amanda Nunes, and a few others) ... and each one can surely stake their claim as the best.

But, with Jones about to return to the Octagon (first time in 1,121 days) against a bonafide beast in Ciryl Gane (11-1 pro record), and going up to heavyweight from the light heavyweight division which he dominated for a decade, Dana told Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs weekdays on FS1) earlier in the week that Bones is one win away from being the 🐐.

"There will be no arguments over who the G.O.A.T. is if he beats Ciryl Gane on Saturday," White said.

As for the other fighters ... they're all inactive in the UFC.

Silva is the former middleweight champion. He defeated everyone from Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Forrest Griffin, Dan Henderson, Rich Franklin and so many more. He held the UFC title for longer than anyone in the history of the promotion ... 2,457 days, defending his belt successfully 10 times.

GSP, a former 2x welterweight and 1x middleweight champ, had a professional record of 26-2, only losing to Matt Serra (2007) and Matt Hughes (2004). St-Pierre beat the likes of Michael Bisping, Johnny Hendricks, Nick Diaz, Jake Shields, Carlos Condit, Dan Hardy, B.J. Penn and just about every other fighter of his generation.

Khabib is the only of the fighters in the G.O.A.T. conversation to go undefeated, retiring with a 29-0 record. Nurmagomedov defeated Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, Edson Barboza, Michael Johnson, Rafael dos Anjos and Conor McGregor.

There's much more with Dana ... we talked to the UFC honcho about everything from Valentina Shevchenko's resume, to 3x NCAA wrestling champ Bo Nickal's UFC debut.

Jon Jones spent his entire career in the light heavyweight division, but, not anymore ... the UFC legend is now a heavyweight, and we're seeing JJ's physique for the first time!

35-year-old Jones posed for promotional photos on March 1 ahead of his UFC 285 fight with 32-year-old former interim champ Ciryl Gane ... and you can clearly see 6'4" Jon packed on some serious size.

Jones systematically bulked up, adding muscle over the last 2+ years. When his fight with Alexander Gustafsson was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame last fall, Jon told the crowd he weighed 255 lbs.

It's unclear how much he tips the scales at now, but Jon previously stated he was aiming to weigh 270 lbs. heading into fight week, before cutting a few pounds to make the heavyweight limit of 265 lbs.

FYI, Jones weighed 204 lbs. for his last fight against Dominick Reyes ... which he won by unanimous decision.

Of course, Jones is the greatest LHW (205 lb.) fighter to ever step foot in an MMA cage ... but, there's a reason weight classes exist. Size matters, despite what you've heard.

As for his opponent, Gane is a bonafide heavyweight. He's 6'5", and weighed 247 lbs. for his last fight against Tai Tuivasa.

If Jake Paul and Tommy Fury don't run it back, there's one guy who's already lining up to be TNT's next boxing opponent ... and it's none other than Logan Paul.

Logan expressed his wishes in a sit-down interview with the Problem Child on the "BS W/ Jake Paul" podcast (recorded the day after the Fury fight) ... and he admitted the result had him wanting to, as their mom put it, "kill that kid."

Logan initially asked Jake what he was planning to do in the ring following the loss ... and he made it clear he wants a rematch with Tyson's little bro.

But if Paul vs. Fury II doesn't work out ... Logan's ready to step in and avenge the family name.

"If you don't [have a rematch], I'd like to handle that," Logan told Jake. "That was like, my first instinct, obviously."

"He's my little brother. F*** that. Inflatable arm ass, motherf***er. F***."

Jake then joked that they could both avenge each other's losses if he were to go up against the Maverick's former nemesis, KSI ... and they could "start an Avenger movie."

But as of right now, it sounds like Tommy will grant Jake a rematch ... and the two will add another installment to their rivalry.

There's more in the interview -- Jake said he predicts the Tommy fight had more than half a MILLION Pay-Per-View buys ... which would explain his claim he made $30 million for one night of work.

Mike Perry says Jake Paul's trainer was livid he posted a fake "script" purporting to break down what'd happen during each round of Paul vs. Fury ... telling TMZ Sports he received an angry message in his DMs.

Once Perry shared the document titled "Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury Script - Revision #4 - Final" with his hundreds of thousands of followers, it went viral. The script indicated Jake would beat Tommy Fury by TKO in the 8th round of their fight.

Obviously, that's not what happened (Fury beat Paul via split decision). Still, the script played into the conspiracy theorists' narrative that Jake's fights aren't real, and that clearly ticked off his team. The timing didn't help, either. It was released just hours before the fight and caused a headache for all involved.

"It was an Instagram post I think my buddy sent me," Perry said, explaining how he wound up with the script.

"I tweeted it and it's probably my best tweet of all time, probably. It got a lot of attention. People talked a lot of trash on me for it. Whatever."

But, Mike says it wasn't just Jake's fans that were angry, but also people close to the Problem Child.

"Jake's coach wrote me and was upset about his reputation," Perry says, explaining how Paul's coach made the case they always treated the former UFC star with respect.

But, Mike doesn't see the situation the same way.

"Ya know I was thinking, well, Jake never cared about my reputation when he posted a video of what I said to him at practice, trying to coach him up and be a part of the team, and give him that work. And he put that [training footage] out there," Perry countered, referencing Jake's decision to post training footage where Paul got the best of Perry while sparring.

We asked Mike how he responded to Jake's trainer BJ Flores -- whom Perry implies was the coach who sent the message.

"I didn't really respond to his coach's messages. I didn't respond to it. I just kind of looked past it. It's part of the game."

FYI, Flores is Jake's head coach and was a respected boxer in his own right. In fact, BJ fought for a cruiserweight world title in 2016.

Despite the drama, MP says ... "I like BJ Flores," but clearly he has no regrets about posting the script.

"The script was hilarious, it was funny, I guess just a joke."

We also talked to Mike about his thoughts on the actual fight (he says he wasn't very impressed with either boxer), and whether he has any interest in fighting Jake and/or Tommy.

"I could beat either one of those guys. Maybe they're not ready for me, and someone of my experience," while making it clear he's open if fans want to see either bout.

All trash talk aside (and there's been a good deal of it), Ciryl Gane says he's a competitor and that's why he's so amped for his fight against the "G.O.A.T." Jon Jones.

"I love this sport. Yes, it's my job, but first I'm a competitor, When I lost my fight against Francis [Ngannou], I was really not happy," 32-year-old Gane told Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs weeknights on FS1), adding, "So yes, I'm gonna test myself with the G.O.A.T., and this is a pleasure for me."

"When you have a fight and you don't have any challenge, that's not exciting. Today I have a big challenge so I'm really excited about that."

Gane, 11-1, is coming off a KO victory over Tai Tuivasa in September, and will now fight 35-year-old Jones at UFC 285 this weekend. It'll be Jon's first fight in the heavyweight division, and his first time in an Octagon for a sanctioned fight in over 3 years (he last fought/beat Dominick Reyes on Feb. 8, 2020, at UFC 247).

We've seen Jon fight in a cage 28 times as a professional, but never as a man this big ... so we asked Ciryl how he believes the added weight will affect Jones.

"I think [Jon's] gonna be less faster than before. He's really normal. When my weight was around [220 to 231 lbs.], I was a little bit faster. So yes, for sure, 100% he's gonna be a little bit less but for a heavyweight, he's gonna have speed."

Jon's been critical of Ciryl's resume in the Octagon ... going at everything from the quality of his opponents to his wrestling ability. We asked Gane if he was bothered by Jones' comments.

"No [laughs]. No matter what he say, I'm not really on the game. I know there's guys sometimes that wanna get in your head but for me, it's not personal. I'm gonna do my performance. I'm gonna do my job, I'm gonna do my sport."