UFC

UFC fighter Irwin Rivera has been arrested for 2 counts of attempted murder ... according to a jail official.

31-year-old Rivera is a UFC bantamweight (135 lbs.) fighter who first fought with the promotion in May 2020. Rivera is 1-2 in the UFC ... and 10-6 as a professional.

Rivera was booked into the Main Detention Center in West Palm Beach, FL around noon on Thursday, per jail online booking information.

The UFC issued a statement on Rivera's arrest, saying ... “UFC is aware of the recent incident involving Irwin Rivera and subsequently received information from his management that he has been exhibiting behavior consistent with mental health issues.”

The statement continues ... “The allegations are extremely troubling and the organization is currently gathering additional information. The investigation is ongoing and any potential next steps including disciplinary action or medical attention will be determined upon the conclusion."

"Furthermore, UFC has informed Rivera’s management that he will not be offered a bout at this time.”

Before his arrest, Rivera was originally scheduled to fight at UFC Fight Night in March.

UFC fighter Mike Perry is on the mend after slicing himself open during a bizarre incident late Sunday night -- posting footage showing doctors stitching up his wound.

The 29-year-old initially posted video showing him lying in a pool of blood Sunday next to a shattered glass door. It appears as if Perry opened a massive gash while trying to smash through the glass.

While on the ground, Perry says to himself, "F*ck am I supposed to do about this?"

Fans on social media expressed concern for the fighter who seems to be in a downward spiral -- following allegations of domestic abuse and a separate violent incident at a steak restaurant back in July.

But, early Monday morning, Perry posted video from what appears to be a hospital room -- showing a doctor treating the wound on his lower right leg.

A few hours later, Perry posted more footage showing himself walking his dog -- so, all better?

Perry has fought in the UFC since 2016 and has flashed real potential -- earning multiple fight of the night and performance of the night bonuses along the way.

But, losses to guys like Cowboy Cerrone, Geoff Neal and most recently Tim Means (in Nov.) have kept him from reaching that next level.

MMA star Anthony Pettis says that he's 100 percent down to fight Jake Paul ... and he's willing to do it in the boxing ring -- a place where he has no experience.

But, Jake does -- he's 2-0 as a professional boxer.

TMZ Sports talked to the 33-year-old fighter before his unanimous decision UFC Fight Night win over Alex Morono in Vegas ... and Pettis was crystal clear -- he wants to box before he retires, and Jake Paul would make for a helluva opponent.

"Bro, I would love to box. I haven't boxed yet, so I'm 0-0. Boxing is something I grew up watching my whole life. That's why I got into fighting, honestly. Watching Chavez, De La Hoya, Mayweather, all these guys up and coming."

Of course, Paul knocked former NBA star Nate Robinson out cold over a month ago. There's been debate about how good JP actually is in the squared circle ... but Pettis believes Jake has skills.

"I think he's definitely getting better. He prepared for a boxing match. You could tell he was in boxing shape, he was in a stance at least. It's going to be interesting to see how far he can go with it."

Even if it's not against Jake Paul, Pettis -- a former UFC champ with wins over guys like "Cowboy" Cerrone and "Wonderboy" Thompson -- says he's gonna give boxing a shot before he retires from fighting.

"Man, I'm only 33, and I've been doing this MMA thing for so long. 12 years with Zuffa. So as a pro, I think I've been like 14 years. It's a crazy life I live. I'd love to go in there and try something new," Pettis tells us.

Bottom line ... "I definitely think before I retire boxing will be something I do."

Khabib Nurmagomedov is adamant he's retired, but there's one guy his manager says could entice the UFC superstar to step back in the Octagon ... a fight with Georges St-Pierre!!

TMZ Sports talked to Ali Abdelaziz ... and we straight-up asked Nurmagomedov's longtime manager and friend if he believes Khabib will fight in 2021.

"Honestly, I think if Georges St-Pierre is serious about coming back to fight, I could see it happening, that would get Khabib up."

The issue ... St-Pierre is 39-years-old and hasn't fought since beating Michael Bisping in 2017. In fact, GSP has only fought since the end of 2013.

Khabib's father, Abdulmanap -- who passed away from COVID-19 complications in July -- always wanted his son to fight GSP.

If not GSP, are there any other fights Abdelaziz believes would intrigue Khabib enough to return ... say like a HUGE money fight against Conor McGregor?

Very unlikely, according to Ali.

"I think financially it’s a huge fight. But, we know Khabib, it’s hard to persuade him financially."

Abdelaziz tells us Khabib and Dana White are planning to sit down for dinner in Vegas sometime soon ... and discuss Khabib's fighting future.

And like Ali says, "Dana is really good at getting people to do things."

So ... Khabib vs. GSP, 2021??

Jake Paul says fighting UFC superstar Amanda Nunes would be a complete "waste of time" ... telling TMZ Sports he wants a better-known opponent to generate more hype.

Remember, Jake recently called out Dana White to set up a fight with Conor McGregor ...  and the UFC honcho responded by telling us he'd consider letting Nunes "knock his ass out."

Nunes responded by saying she's down to scrap ... so naturally, we asked Jake if he'd entertain the idea.

"Nah, I wouldn't fight her," Jake says. "Waste of time. No one knows who she is."

Worth noting -- Nunes has more than a million followers on Instagram and several major endorsement deals ... but we take it Paul's comment is related to his fan base.

Of course, Jake acknowledges Nunes is one of the best fighters in combat sports ... but says he's looking for 2 things in his next opponent that the Lioness lacks.

"There's not a lot of hype there. Plus, there's no history."

"I wanna knock out Dilon because we've been talkin' s**t back and forth for 2 years, I've hooked up with his girlfriend, he's all butt-hurt about it, there's history there."

Paul even pulled up on Danis last week -- throwing water balloons and toilet paper at him in a drive-by.

Paul adds Danis might help him get closer to his goal of securing his dream fight with Conor ... "So, why would I waste my time doing some bulls**t like [boxing Nunes?]"

While Jake may not want to fight Nunes for those reasons, boxing star Devin Haney also spoke to us against the idea recently ... saying, "men should fight men."

You've seen Conor McGregor's dolly-throwing attack on Khabib Nurmagomedov ... but have you seen it in GINGERBREAD FORM?!?!

Thanks to UFC fighter Angela Hill, the infamous moment in MMA history has taken a delicious turn ... and we gotta admit, it's impressive as hell!!!

Remember, Conor and his buddies went crazy at Barclays Center in Brooklyn in April 2018 ... throwing objects at the bus filled with fighters, including Khabib, Michael Chiesa and Rose Namajunas.

Hill and her husband, Adam, decided to pay tribute to the wild moment with their gingerbread house this year ... creating the scene complete with a bus, a dolly-wielding Conor, an angry Dana White, Khabib and Artem Lobov.

The thing is incredible ... and even detailed down to each fighter's face.

"Adam drew all the faces but Conor and the whole thing is made from gingerbread, icing, chocolate for the dolly and candy!," Angela said on Instagram.

As for how long it took to make the masterpiece ... it sounds like a REALLY long time.

"Adam and I spent longer than I’d like to admit making this beautiful #gingerbreadhouse highlighting an important moment in mma history."

Logan Paul is going NUCLEAR on Canelo Alvarez ... saying the champ has no room to call him "disrespectful" to boxing after testing positive for a banned substance.

LP is responding to Canelo's recent comments to TMZ Sports ... where the 30-year-old fighter said it's a "lack of respect" for pros to fight YouTubers like the Paul Bros -- claiming it's more about money than the love of the sport.

The social media superstar addressed Alvarez's comments on Monday ... and he didn't hold back.

“I think he’s the guy that got caught using steroids twice," Paul said on the Night Shift Gaming stream. "We want to talk about disrespecting boxing, talk about a guy who didn’t play by the rules."

Of course, Canelo was hit with a 6-month suspension after testing positive for Clenbuterol in 2018 ... which the fighter blamed on tainted meat.

Regardless of the explanation, Paul says it takes away Canelo's right to talk down on his own boxing endeavors.

"To say we’re disrespecting the sport, I feel disrespected especially as it’s coming from a guy who quite literally disrespected and spit on the ethics of the sport. Yeah, it upsets me."

Paul says Canelo's pissed that he has an upcoming fight with Floyd Mayweather ... when that's the only loss on the top pound-for-pound fighter's record.

"F**k you. Suck a d**k," Paul added. "I think he’s salty because I get a chance to beat Mayweather and he lost to him. That’s his one loss."

Logan -- who admits he idolizes Canelo and considers him one of the greatest fighters of all time -- defends his boxing pursuits ... saying he trains like a maniac and isn't half-assing anything.

UFC fighter Rob Font brutally knocked out Marlon Moraes, and now the 135 lb. striker has his sights set on former champ, T.J. Dillashaw -- along with a warning -- "I hit hard."

Font tore his ACL during a fight last December (he still won) and has been out of the fight game for a year, but needed less than 4 minutes to smash 32-year-old Moraes ... the 3rd ranked UFC bantamweight.

So, after the super-impressive performance, who's next?

“In a perfect world, the belt, fighting for the belt. But it’s looking like I’m going to need at least 1 more. A big name like TJ Dillashaw. Cody Garbrandt is out there. Cory Sandhagen, Frankie Edgar’s booked, I wouldn’t mind filling in if God forbid anything happened with that fight. But in a perfect world, I get a title shot.”

Font was ranked 11th before his impressive win, and will certainly jump up in the rankings ... but he'll still need a win or 2 before fighting for a title.

Enter Dillashaw, whose 2-year performance-enhancing drug suspension is about to come to an end.

TJ is a former champ, and was one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world before he was popped by USADA ... but Font believes he's "the guy to welcome him back to the division."

“I get my range, with my accuracy, my heavy hands, and I’m putting any of these guys away. I’m excited," Font says.

"Big options after this, but I wouldn’t mind gettin in there with TJ, ex-champ. I honestly don’t even care about the whole PED situation. That’s in the past.”

It's clear Font's gunning to dethrone the biggest names in the division ... but does he believe it's his time to takeover?

Jake Paul says his $50 MILLION fight offer to Conor McGregor is "real as f*ck" -- and he's got the "proof of funds" email from the bank to prove it.

Paul says he's backed by bona fide commercial real estate billionaires -- and he's got an email from a Senior VP at Signature Bank in NY which shows the benefactors' money is legit and ready to be deployed.

The problem ... Jake says Conor has been radio silent since he made the fight offer.

"We're talking to his team," Paul said ... "[Conor] looked at my DM on Instagram. But, we're talking to his team."

Paul continued, "When we sent them the proof of funds they like put their tail between their ass … they’re like. 'This little crazy kid ain't playing.'"

Remember, Paul initially called out Conor after knocking out ex-NBA star Nate Robinson on the undercard of the Mike Tyson fight.

Since then, Jake's brother, Logan Paul, has secured an exhibition boxing match with Floyd Mayweather.

There’s at least 1 person who isn't convinced Khamzat Chimaev is a killer in the Octagon ... UFC title contender Stephen Thompson.

TMZ Sports talked to 37-year-old Wonderboy -- who was recently floated as a possible opponent for 26-year-old Chimaev -- and Thompson made it crystal clear Khamzat simply doesn't deserve all the praise ... at least not yet.

"There's a lot of hype around [Khamzat] at this point. He's won three fights, he's had one fight at welterweight, he's ranked #15 right now, he's gonna be fighting a guy who ranked higher than me."

FYI, Chimaev -- who has been hit a grand total of 3 TIMES in his 3 UFC fights -- is fighting #3 ranked Leon Edwards (the fight was scheduled for this weekend, but Edwards got COVID, so it's being rescheduled.)

Thompson -- the #5 ranked welterweight -- continued ... "It's definitely a big jump for him and a test for Khamzat. So, at this point, I'm not really sold yet. I just haven't seen enough and on paper. Leon Edwards wins this all day, so I'm going for my man Edwards."

Edwards is 18-3 and has won 8 fights in a row ... with dubs over guys like Rafael dos Anjos and Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. But Thompson says if Chimaev can take LE out ... then it'll make him a believer.

"[Khamzat] may go out there and prove us all wrong, ya never know. He'll be the real deal. I will say he's the real deal if he goes out there and just does work, but at this point, I haven't seen enough."

Speaking of big time fights, Thompson has a scrap Saturday night in Vegas against 30-year-old striker, Geoff Neal -- aka "Handz of Steel" -- who's 5-0 since signing with the UFC.

UFC rising star Khaos Williams wants to give his boss an early holiday gift -- by beating the dog snot out of Jake Paul.

Williams -- who won his first 2 fights in the UFC in a combined 57 seconds -- says he's seen Paul attack Dana White in the media ... and feels strongly that someone needs to check him, stat.

"Look, Dana ... I can handle you light work if you need me to and I won't let you down."

As we previously reported, Jake trashed Dana for refusing to allow Conor McGregor to fight the YouTube star. White told TMZ Sports Conor is wayyyyy too far out of Jake's league.

But Khaos, whose star is unquestionably on the rise, says he's all the way down for a scrap ... and guarantees a violent victory.

"Man, I box before anything. I'm in the gym with ex-WBC world champions, people that's going to the Olympic tryouts, undefeated boxers day in and day out. I do this for real!"

"I know for a fact, I will knock him out!"

But, Khaos has another opponent he's gotta focus on first -- he's taking on Michel Pereira at UFC Fight Night in Vegas on Saturday in a matchup some say could be a candidate for fight of the year!

FYI, Pereira is known for dropping some unusual strikes during his fights -- but Khaos says he'll be ready.

"If he come in there doing backflips and all of that stuff, it's a wrap! I'm gonna catch him! All it takes is one shot. We gonna test that chin out!"

"At some point, the student has to kill the master."

Shaquille O'Neal gave an AWESOME (and violent!) pump-up speech to rising UFC star Gillian Robertson ahead of her scrap this weekend ... and yeah, someone tell her opponent to watch out!!!

Shaq's pep talk all went down at his mansion in Atlanta ... when famous MMA coach Din Thomas reintroduced the Big Diesel to 25-year-old Robertson before her tilt with Taila Santos in Vegas on Saturday.

O'Neal was asked to give her some advice -- after all, Robertson is considered by some to be an underdog in the fight and is still trying to make her way up the women's flyweight division -- and the NBA legend sure delivered.

Shaq talked about how he had to take down guys like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and David Robinson when he first got into the league ... and then he brought violent karate movies into the speech!

"All the karate movies were the same," Shaq said. "At some point, the student has to kill the master. So, right now, you're the student. You're ranked No. 12. So, you've got 11 masters to kill."

"And then when you get to the top, you've got more work to do. Now, you got to stay at the top."

Shaq then left Gillian with this ... "You got to want it. You got to want it. If you want to be the best, say it. Mean it. And just go for it. And don't hold back."

"If you've got to break some cheeks and break some jaws, do it."

Two UFC fighters are teaming up -- FOR LIFE -- because Thiago Santos proposed to Yana Kunitskaya ... and she said, 'Da!'

(Side note: She's Russian).

Thiago -- AKA The Sledgehammer -- popped the question to his longtime GF earlier this week, using a ring he got from celeb jeweler Boodaddy Diamonds.

We're told the ring is 18k rose gold with a diamond halo. The center stone is a 2-carat round pink sapphire.

The two have reportedly been dating for a few years -- but Thiago decided it was time to level up -- so he took Beyonce's advice and put a ring on it!

Thiago is the #2 ranked light heavyweight in the UFC (remember, he fought Jon Jones for the title in 2019).

Yana is the #8 ranked women's bantamweight fighter who's coming off a unanimous decision victory over Julija Stoliarenko back in August.

The two have been training together throughout the COVID pandemic -- and while we've all heard stories about the lockdowns wreaking havoc on relationships, it seems to have brought Thiago and Yana even closer together.

Don't worry ... Brandon Moreno's nuts are okay!!

This, after the UFC star took a ferocious kick to the gonads from Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 256 -- a shot that was so powerful Moreno was dry heaving in the Octagon.

It's been 4 days since that insane fight between Moreno and Figueiredo -- an instant classic that was judged a majority draw -- and you can see the bruises all over Moreno's face.

So, we had to ask ... how his "twins" were doing after that ferocious low blow, and Brandon filled us in.

“In that moment, it was very painful. Was very, very painful because he throws a really, really hard direct to there. I don't say it was intentional, but man it was a nasty kick directly to my balls," Moreno says.

"I think this the first time when a referee told me if I wanted to rest a little bit, my first time saying, 'Yes, please I need this moment.'"

Naturally, one of the first things Moreno's wife, Shirley, asked about after the fight was her husband's junk.

"My wife asked me the same, 'Hey, you fine?' Like, 'Yeah baby, no problem.'"

There's more ... Moreno says he doesn't feel any sympathy for Figueiredo after learning his opponent was hospitalized until 2 AM on fight day with a bad stomach infection.

"Before the fight, I don't know anything about [Deiveson] being sick. He was in the hospital, but man, in this world of Martial Arts, that is very normal. I had like two fights in the company, I was very sick to my stomach, but I never said nothing because it's my problem."

In fact, Moreno thinks Deiveson is using the medical situation as an excuse for not winning the fight.

Kevin Holland blasted Jacare Souza's face until he was unconscious ... and now the UFC star says he's coming for Israel Adesanya and all the top middleweight fighters ... starting with Derek Brunson.

TMZ Sports talked to the 28-year-old fighter after his 5th (yes, 5th!!) UFC win of 2020, and the 6'3", 185 lb. striker tells us there's no time for R&R ... he wants to get right back in the Octagon, ASAP, with #7 ranked Brunson.

“I know a lot of people don’t know the name, but Derek Brunson. That's who I want to smack,” Holland tells us.

Why the beef??

"[Derek] said something about slamming me on my head 1 time. I was like, 'Oh, okay. That's how you think we play.' That may be how you play with other wrestlers, but I’m a striker. Know what I mean?," Holland says.

"You think you’re gonna slam me on my head, that’s alright. I think I'm gonna punch you in the head a couple times. I can take a slam. He can’t really take too many punches.”

FYI, Brunson is on a 3-fight win streak ... and recently handed up-and-coming star Edmen Shahbazyan his first loss.

Holland tells us his plan is to beat Brunson, then take out ALL the high-ranked guys in the division ... before ultimately snatching Adesanya's belt.

“So, if I beat Derek Brunson, I’d be number 6. Then I gotta go through 5, 4, 3, 2, champ. Then that’s 6 fights in a year. That’s a good year. Then no one can say [I] didn’t fight tough competition.”

We also asked Holland about 26-year-old phenom, Khamzat Chimaev ... who Kevin called out after beating Souza at UFC 256 on Saturday.

How the hell did Tony Ferguson survive that NASTY arm bar from Charles Oliveira on Saturday night at UFC 256????

Simple ... Tony says it's a combination of crazy genetics and mental fortitude.

The UFC star opened up about his jacked up arm on social media late Monday -- saying it's not as bad as it looked.

"My Arm Is Aright," Ferguson posted on IG ... "The Armbar Was Really Tight."

"The Thought Of My Son ArmandAnthony’s Ability To Be Double Jointed In His Elbow During That Sequence & My Mental Capacity To Endure Pain Got Me Through It. # Breathe # MentalTUFness."

There have been rumblings that Ferguson could consider wrapping up his MMA career after 2 bad losses in a row ... but T-Ferg says he ain't going nowhere.

"We Are Far From Being Retired," Tony said ... while dropping a middle finger emoji to his haters.

"I Can’t Wait Til We Compete In Front Of A Big Loud Crowd Again, It’s Not The Same Without You All."

In the meantime, Ferguson says he's working on healing up his arm -- with a focus on increased blood circulation.

He even underwent some cupping therapy to help out.