UFC

Gilbert Burns wants to be UFC champion and he's willing to fight Leon Edwards and Jorge Masvidal -- 2 of the baddest dudes in the welterweight division -- all in order to earn a rematch with 170 lb.-king, Kamaru Usman.

TMZ Sports talked to 34-year-old Burns fresh off a convincing, unanimous decision win over Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson at UFC 264 ... and "Durinho" is open to scrapping with any of the high-ranked welterweights.

"I want the one that will get me a clear way to the title. If that’s Leon Edwards, that’s the one I want. If I need two more fights, give me Masvidal now then give me Leon Edwards later."

Remember, Burns and Usman -- who used to be training partners in Florida -- fought in February 2021 ... and Usman won via 3rd round TKO.

At the end of the day, who Gilbert fights first ain't all that important ... 'cause he says he ultimately wants smoke with all the best guys in the division.

"Every top opponent I want to face. I still have a dream battle against Colby [Covington]. I still want a rematch with Kamaru. I want to beat Masvidal. I want to beat Nate Diaz. I want to beat Leon Edwards. I want to beat every single guy, especially a tough one in that division."

FYI, Burns is the #2 ranked welterweight. Edwards is #3 and Masvidal -- who's coming off a loss to Usman -- is ranked 7th ... but is one of the UFC's biggest stars.

Miesha Tate says her UFC return isn't about money or fame ... it's about regaining her championship belt, and showing her kids women can be good moms and kick ass!!

TMZ Sports talked to 34-year-old Tate -- who hasn't been in the Octagon under the bright lights of the UFC since November 2016 ... when she lost to Raquel Pennington.

FYI, that happened to be UFC 205 -- the Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez card -- one of the fights that made The Notorious a global superstar.

1,708 days later, Tate is taking on 44-year-old Marion Reneau as the co-main event at UFC Fight Night ... and we asked the UFC star what she wanted to accomplish this 2nd time around.

"This is not just a cash grab, it’s not just a fight. I want to be a champion again."

In fact, Tate -- who beat Holly Holm for the bantamweight title in 2016 -- tells us the layoff actually made her a BETTER fighter.

"Much better. I’m not gonna lie, much better. But, I have to prove that, so just let me glow up and then I can prove it to you guys."

And, Miesha says the comeback isn't only about her ... it's also about showing her kids that women can be great moms AND also have a badass and super-successful career.

"I love my kids more than anything, but at the same time, I want to show them that just because you become a mother, you know mothers get lost a lot of times in our world. It’s ok for the dad to do and be, but the mom just kinda just be the mom," Tate says.

Conor McGregor was released from a Los Angeles hospital ... just days after surgeons used a rod, plate and screws to fix The Notorious' broken leg.

TMZ Sports talked to Dana White ... who updated us on McGregor's status.

"I think they just released him right now from the hospital about 10, 15 minutes ago."

Remember, Conor cracked his tibia AND fibula during the last 10 seconds of the 1st round of his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier.

We broke the story ... McGregor underwent successful 3.5-hour surgery at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles Sunday afternoon.

Doctors surgically placed an intramedullary rod in the tibia ... and attached a plate and screws to the fibula.

After the surgery, Conor made a video message addressing his fans, saying, "Everything went perfect. I'm feeling tremendous" ... adding after 6 weeks on crutches "we begin to build back."

Count the UFC prez as a believer ... 'cause Dana told us he expects McGregor to return to the Octagon.

"He'll be back in a year."

As for Conor's immediate plans ... White says the UFC superstar will spend some time recovering in SoCal.

"He'll be in L.A. for a little while. I don't know if he's gonna fly home, or what he's gonna do."

FYI, today is Conor's 33rd birthday ... and being released from the hospital ain't too bad a present.

Dana White says it was a "massive f*** up" by the UFC for NOT showing former President Donald Trump during the Conor McGregor fight card.

The UFC prez tells TMZ Sports the flub was a mix of his production team dropping the ball, a technical issue, and the unpredictability of live television.

The way Dana explains it ... there was a plan in place to show Trump sitting near the Octagon. Cameras were supposed to pan from some big-name celebrities to the former Prez ... but things didn't go according to script.

“We were getting ready to show him right between the co-main and main events, I think you remember that we showed OBJ. We showed OBJ, then it was supposed to go to David Spade, 2 Chainz, and then the president, and we had some kinda glitch in the truck. Then the Conor fight ended up ending in the 2nd round so we never got a chance."

White continued ... "Let me tell you what, massive f*** up by my production team, but ya know, it’s live TV and these things happen.”

We obtained video of DT arriving at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas midway through the main card ... and you see Trump being greeted by Dana and getting a nice ovation from the packed crowd.

But, Trump was never seen on the broadcast ... leading some to speculate there was something nefarious going on with the ESPN broadcast.

Dana says that's NOT the case ... telling us any former president deserves to be shown on TV, regardless of political affiliation.

Forget Conor McGregor-Dustin Poirier 4 ... there's another UFC star who has unfinished business with "The Diamond" -- former champ, Max Holloway.

TMZ Sports talked to 29-year-old Holloway as he was leaving the T-Mobile Arena after UFC 264 ... and we asked the greatest 145-pounder in UFC history whether he's interested in scrapping with Dustin for a third time.

"That’d be good fun. That’d be good fun. Watch out mother Russia," Holloway tells us.

So, will it happen?? Max says that's on Dana White and the UFC match makers.

"I mean that’s up to the UFC. That’s up to the UFC."

Remember, Dustin beat Max twice. He submitted MH via armbar in 2012 -- when both were young fighters. They rematched in 2019 ... and Poirier won by unanimous decision. Dustin started the 2nd fight very strong ... but Max came on late -- in what was a great fight.

We also got Max's thoughts on Conor's gruesome leg injury ... and at the time, Holloway was unsure if McGregor would ever step foot in the Octagon again.

Floyd Mayweather is reveling in Conor McGregor's downfall ... trolling the UFC star on social media and laughing about the fighter's broken leg.

Floyd took to Instagram on Monday to rub the salt in Conor's wounds ... posting a photoshopped pic that showed a sitting-down McGregor whose foot was turned sideways.

"Y’all got it twisted!" Floyd said, we're sure with pun intended. "I like how his shoes fit. Now, do the stanky leg."

Floyd has been basking in McGregor's loss ever since The Notorious snapped his leg in his match with Dustin Poirier on Saturday night in Vegas ... claiming he won more than $35,000 betting against Conor.

"[Dustin Poirier], thanks for getting me paid," Floyd said just minutes after the match.

Of course, the barbs are just the latest in a long-going feud between Floyd and Conor ... as the two have proven over and over again they REALLY don't like each other.

In fact, it was just a few weeks ago that Conor was throwing repeated jabs at Floyd for his whole drama with Logan and Jake Paul.

Kris Moutinho ate 230 significant strikes, but won over MMA fans across the world with his unreal toughness ... and for it got a $75K bonus -- life changing money for the UFC fighter.

TMZ Sports talked to 28-year-old Moutinho -- whose UFC 264 scrap with "Suga" Sean O'Malley was stopped with only 27 seconds left in the 3rd and final round -- about his Fight of the Night bonus ... and how the windfall of cash will change his life.

"I’m extremely happy, man. It’s another step to taking care of my family and putting money into the right avenues to be able to take care of my family, and never have to work another job and just do this again. Do this. The thing I love for the rest of my life," Moutinho says.

In fact, Kris says he's never gotten so much money before ... and admitted he doesn't know how to manage the nearly 6-figure sum -- or what to do with it.

"I gotta figure out what I even got to do with it. I’m not like, I’m not built like this bro. I don’t know what all this is. What, how to pay taxes on this, and how to do that. I’m just trying not to end up broke cause of it, you know what I mean?"

So, the bank account is right ... but how does Moutinho feel physically after taking such a beating??

"Great" ... and what else would you expect from Kris?

"I feel great man, I feel great. Pride’s a little sore from losing, man, because a loss is still a loss. I don’t care how great everybody says the fight is. Man, I still lost, and it still hurts. That’s the only thing. The face, it doesn’t really bother me. I can take pain, I can take blunt force, or I wouldn’t do this, you know?"

And Moutinho -- who has a 9-5 record as a pro -- wants everyone to know his UFC career won't just be one-and-done ... and he would even be down for a rematch with Suga down the road.

"There’s no person I’m afraid of on this earth. It doesn’t matter what [O'Malley] did to me. Punches are so miniscule to the amount of pain I’m willing to endure in my life. This is nothing to me."

Kris continued ... "The only thing I fear on this planet is God, and Sean O’Malley isn’t him. Sean O’Malley isn’t him. It is what it is. He beat me. He beat me up a little bit. Hey next time I’m gonna, for my next fight I’m going to improve. I’m going to fix all these little flaws and you’re gonna see a different person when I step in that cage."

Here's the Donald Trump entrance you did NOT see on TV ... with the former POTUS arriving at the arena for Conor McGregor's UFC 264 fight -- and getting a huge ovation from the packed crowd.

TMZ Sports obtained video of DT arriving at T-Mobile Arena midway through the main card ... and being greeted by his longtime friend, UFC prez Dana White.

As Trump and White begin walking towards the arena floor, Donald sees Jorge Masvidal ... and the 2 men exchanged a bro hug.

Remember, Masvidal campaigned for Trump during the 2020 election cycle ... and they clearly have a pretty tight friendship.

When Trump finally emerged from the tunnel and was spotted by the 20K+ crowd -- there were some jeers -- but the response sounds overwhelmingly positive.

Last week, Dana told us that Trump would NOT be sitting in a luxury box ... he'd be right behind the UFC honcho, Octagon side.

However, the ESPN cameras didn't show Trump ... even though they showed a bunch of other A-list celebs (Kourtney Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Dave Chappelle and more) who were in the house.

Of course, internet conspiracy theorists have been having a field day ... speculating why Trump wasn't shown during the broadcast.

Bottom line ... #45 was there, and seemed to get a whole lotta love from the UFC crowd.

Could a Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier rematch actually happen?? Diamond tells TMZ Sports ... "anything is possible."

We talked to the 32-year-old UFC star as he was leaving T-Mobile Arena following his trilogy fight victory over McGregor ... and we asked if Dustin was interested in a 4th fight.

"Anything is possible. I just have to get with my family, and see what's next."

Of course, Conor -- who underwent a successful 3.5-hour surgery yesterday to repair his broken leg -- is facing a long and arduous rehab process... and that must happen before a 4th fight is made.

Speaking of Conor's injury... we also asked Poirier if he felt bad for McGregor.

"You never wanna see someone injured like that. The recovery is gonna be hard and losing."

But Conor is adamant his fighting career is nowhere near done ... he says he will be back -- and sooner rather than later.

Does Dana White have interest in a 4th fight? 'Cause without the UFC honcho on board, it ain't happening.

White was asked about the possibility of a rematch Saturday night ... and Dana certainly didn't say no.

"Dustin Poirier will fight for the title and when Conor is healed and ready to go, we'll do the rematch."

Conor McGregor just underwent a successful 3.5-hour surgery in Los Angeles ... where doctors inserted a rod in his tibia and his fibula was fixed with plates and screws, sources tell TMZ Sports.

McGregor -- who suffered the gruesome lower leg injury during his fight with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 -- was transported to Cedars-Sinai hospital in L.A. where he underwent the procedure this afternoon.

Sources tell us Conor had an intramedullary rod inserted in the tibia ... along with a small plate and screws attached to the fibula.

The surgery went "very well," according to our sources ... and the early prognosis for McGregor looks promising.

Dr. Ellatrache -- head of Sports Trauma at Cedars -- and trauma orthopedic surgeon Milton Little performed the procedure.

We're told Conor is expected to remain in the hospital until Tuesday or Wednesday.

Conor McGregor had Proper 12 whiskey ... and now UFC superstar Nate Diaz has a limited edition, 14k gold chain -- available for his diehard fans to cop.

36-year-old Diaz just dropped the 24 inch cuban link chain and pendant through his company -- Represent -- and they're sick.

Nate showed us his (slightly bigger) version of the piece when we ran into him at a meet and greet at the Las Vegas Fight Shop, Friday night.

The Italian 14-karat gold piece costs $1,200 and contains 12 grams of gold ... and only 209 were produced.

The significance of 209? That's the area code for Stockton, CA -- Nate's hometown.

Diaz's partner tells us all of the pieces -- which were handcrafted in the US -- come with a certificate of authenticity ... and are numbered 1 through 209.

Addison Rae is either UFC's newest live event reporter, or she's trolling hard -- or perhaps both ... because she's touting what seems to be a new on-camera gig, which has got a lot of journalism student advocates pissed.

The TikTok star posted photos of herself at what seems to be a UFC event -- perhaps a teaser to Saturday's UFC 264, where McGregor and Poirier are set to face off -- but it's unclear where or for what exactly. In any event, Addison made it seem like she'd been hired.

As she posed all dolled up on the red carpet with a UFC tarp behind her, she wrote ... "I studied broadcast journalism in college for 3 whole months to prepare for this moment."

Definitely a tongue-in-cheek caption, we're sure ... or so it seems. Addison appears to be poking fun at the fact that she dropped out of LSU -- where she's said to have been studying journalism -- to pursue her social media career (which was obviously a good idea).

Although she thought it was funny ... a lot of people online didn't. Twitter users piled on top of her (digitally) for what they perceived as an unjust and unwarranted HR move on UFC's part ... assuming she's actually on their payroll. They suggested Addison was undeserving, as opposed to a journo student who slaved away for 4 years for an actual degree.

One guy wrote, "Should we hire someone who busted their butt through college, and genuinely loves UFC and is hungry for an opportunity in journalism?? Nah, let’s hire Addison Rae because she’s popular for 'throwing it back' on tik tok." Funny stuff, no doubt.

With that said, we gotta wonder ... are people are overreacting here??? Yes, while it may seem AR has little to no experience in the field, and perhaps isn't as skilled or trained as others who've studied this at the university level -- the truth is, UFC probably doesn't care.

At the end of the day, the company is in the entertainment biz -- and if bringing Addison on as a host helps 'em get eyeballs and sell PPV purchases for their product ... they're gonna do it!!! And, besides ... a hosting job like this really doesn't take much schooling anyway. 🤷🏽‍♂️

This is even better than snatching Floyd Mayweather's cap -- Jake Paul says he dropped $100k for a chain and pendant depicting Conor McGregor out cold, and it comes with a big warning.

Jake has been hurling insults for months at the UFC legend, trying to get him to agree to a boxing match -- but on the day Conor's returning to the Octagon to fight Dustin Poirier in Vegas ... JP's decided on this big-ticket troll ... his Sleepy McGregor chain.

The piece -- which he flaunted off with its designer, Benny The Jeweler -- shows McGregor unconscious, right after Poirier's 2nd round TKO back in January.

As trolls go, this one's pretty epic.

Jake says, "McGregor you better win tonight, otherwise we're not gonna be able to fight, because if you lose your career is over. And, that $50 million offer I gave you won't be on the table anymore."

So far, Conor's largely ignored Jake's efforts to get under his skin ... except to dismiss him and his brother, Logan, as "dingbats." However, this chain might do the trick, especially if Conor sees the video.

JP taunts him one last time, saying ... "Don't go sleepy sleepy! Goodnight, McGregor."

Here's the thing ... Jake tweeted this week that  "Conor has lost 'it'" ... but, he obviously recognizes he still has something -- the keys to a HUGE payday.

Remember, Jake's basically had 2 boxing matches -- only one against a pro fighter, albeit MMA's Ben Askren -- so he knows fighting a major professional draw like Conor is the fastest way to score the most money.

Arguably, McGregor would be more likely to accept JP's offer IF he loses tonight at UFC 264. If he wins, he'll probably be more focused on getting a UFC title shot than an exhibition boxing match ... even one that pays well.

One thing's for sure, Jake will be watching tonight ... and most likely with Sleepy McGregor around his neck.

Conor McGregor's manager says the Nate Diaz trilogy fight WILL happen soon ... but first, Conor has his sights set on Charles Oliveira and the UFC lightweight belt.

TMZ Sports caught up with Audie Attar -- McGregor's longtime rep and biz partner -- at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas ... and we asked who Conor will fight next if he gets a dub vs. Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.

"I think it'll be the title fight against Charles Oliveira. Oliveria is here, he's gonna be present at the fight, waiting to see who he's gonna fight next."

We also asked Audie about the fight just about every MMA fan wants to see ... the rubber match with Nate Diaz.

Of course, Diaz submitted McGregor in their first fight in March 2016. Later that year, Conor bounced back and beat Nate via decision at UFC 202.

The third fight has arguably been the most anticipated fight in the entire sport ... a matchup that Audie says will certainly go down.

"The trilogy fight is gonna happen. Conor publicly said it has to happen. And, I know both fighters intend to make it happen. I think it's just gonna happen in the near future, just not next, immediately."

Attar added ... "He wants the belt next."

We also asked Attar about a future Jake Paul fight ... a fight he says Conor and his team aren't even considering.

Stephen Thompson's beaten Jorge Masvidal and a bunch of other killers in the Octagon, but hasn't fought for a title in over 4 years ... a wait that "Wonderboy" says will soon be coming to an end.

Very, very soon.

TMZ Sports talked to the 38-year-old, #4 ranked UFC welterweight just days before he fights 34-year-old Gilbert Burns at UFC 264 ... and asked if a dub will earn him a title shot.

"I think so. I mean, fighting a guy and beating a guy who just fought for the title. He's the number 2 ranked guy in the division, are you kidding me?! I think that would be great!"

Of course, Burns lost to champion Kamaru Usman back in February ... via a 3rd round TKO.

Wonderboy says he accepts he's at the tail end of his career ... and feels like this is his last chance to become UFC champ.

"I'm 38 years old, I got a small window to kinda do what I wanna do with this and I do it because I love to fight, man."

Wonderboy says he's had big wins -- and some bad losses -- and feels like he doesn't have anything to lose in the Octagon.

"I've been knocked out, I've lost. it's not that bad, bro! It's really not. I can just go out there and fight now, you know, to the best of my ability."

Dana White says former President Donald Trump won't be able to hide from the spotlight at UFC 264, because he'll be right next to the Octagon ... where fans can loudly cheer and jeer him.

The UFC honcho joined us Friday on "TMZ Live" to pump up Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier's third fight ... and, in the process, he settled a debate about where Trump will sit Saturday night in Vegas.

It's the first major sporting event Trump's attending since leaving the White House -- and with all that's happened since he lost the election, it's a good bet (even in Vegas) the ex-prez will hear plenty of boos.

Dana, a longtime Trump supporter, says his pal isn't one to shy away from any heckling.

As Dana tells us ... Trump "don't care, he's not that guy, he's not hiding in a box somewhere, that's not his style." Instead, he says Trump will sit right behind him.

No doubt he'll be flanked on all sides by Secret Service, and Dana says agents have been sweeping T-Mobile Arena for a few days now to ensure Trump's safety.

Presidential sideshows aside ... the fight itself should be awesome. McGregor and Poirier have been talking tons of smack leading up to Saturday's showdown, and Dana even took a knee to the ribs during Thursday's press conference.