TMZ Sports - Page 50

Jermell Charlo says he's down to fight Conor McGregor for his next big scrap ... and tells TMZ Sports it can be boxing OR MMA!!!

"We always on standby," Charlo says ... "Especially for an MMA fight. Why not?!"

Of course ... Conor's next opponent IS up in the air after he got mauled by Khabib in October -- and Charlo's also lookin' for a fight after he takes on Tony Harrison Saturday night.

So, could it happen? Maybe ... especially 'cause Charlo seems down to sweeten the pot by steppin' out of the ring and into the Octagon.

"It's wherever he want to fight. Conor's a grown man. He knows what to do. And, he knows who to call!"

DC Young Fly says he's down with Maroon 5 and Travis Scott performing at halftime of the Super Bowl ... but he still feels the NFL made a huge mistake by passing over Atlanta rappers.

The 'Wild 'N Out' star isn't going full Jay-Z -- trying to talk Travis out of performing -- but he supports Colin Kaepernick and thinks the NFL is slapping ATL in the face by snubbing its hip-hop scene ... and he warns a TON of people are gonna raise hell when the big game comes to town.

We broke the story ... the "SICKO MODE" rapper will join M5 at the big show. Travis' new gig is drawing praise and scorn.

DC makes it clear his beef is not with Travis ... he suggests two music icons should join the show and ease tensions in Hotlanta. Hint: think gospel.

UFC star Aljamain Sterling says the haircut incident with high school wrestler Andrew Johnson is "so f*cked up" ... but he was so impressed with the kid, he wants to train him personally.

"It's so messed up on so many levels," Sterling tells TMZ Sports ... "I felt bad."

Sterling says he's spent a lot of time coaching high school wrestling and has NEVER seen a situation where an athlete was forced to cut his hair.

In fact, Sterling says if he was the coach that day, he would have pulled his team out of the gym in protest and forfeited the rest of the match.

"We're not gonna stand for no sh*t like this," Sterling says.

The good news ... Sterling trains with other huge UFC stars like Al Iaquinta and Chris Weidman with the Serra-Longo fight team in Long Island, NY -- not too far from Johnson's high school in New Jersey.

Everybody in New England, chill ... 'cause Tom Brady is NOT in decline and the Patriots are STILL the favorites to win the Super Bowl -- so says Asante Samuel.

Of course, the ex-Pats corner is biased ... dude played with TB12 and Bill Belichick for five seasons -- but he says Tom's been just too good for too long to write him off now.

"It's never the end of a dynasty as long as they've got TB," Samuel tells TMZ Sports ... "TB is the man!"

There ain't a lot of NFL experts that would agree right now ... New England's lost two in a row and is in danger of not having a playoff bye for the first time since 2009.

But, Samuel says it's gonna be all right ... 'cause No. 12 is still under center.

"Tom has never let me down as a fan of him. And, I would imagine he's never let any other fans down. So, you just keep believing in him."

In fact ... Samuel is so confident in the G.O.A.T. -- he tells us he's still putting his money on New England to win the Super Bowl in February!!!

Michael Rapaport has no business suing anyone for saying he has herpes ... because he himself has said it ... according to the countersuit Barstool Sports just filed against the actor.

Barstool is firing back at Rapaport's September lawsuit against them, saying it's impossible to defame the guy because his reputation's already "so badly tarnished that it cannot be harmed any further." In the docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, Barstool points out Michael commented on a 2015 photo of himself, saying, it "looks like" I have "a herpe."

Of course, the Barstool guys included the photo as an exhibit in their lawsuit.

For the record, Michael said in his lawsuit he "does not suffer from herpes."

Barstool Prez Dave Portnoy told us back in September, Rapaport "claims to be the king of trash talk and then cries when people respond in kind." Now, he's included tons of examples of that in the docs. For example, Barstool calls out Michael for calling a sports show host a "twinkie-eating f**k boy" and a producer for the show a "Long Island Jew."

In the suit, they also include social media posts where MR caught flak for racist comments about 'Real Housewives' star Kenya Moore ... and sexist comments about Fox News host Laura Ingraham. According to the docs, he also called a female sports reporter a "rail thin, no ass ... looking to get piped at an R. Kelly concert ... backstage and at the hotel."

You get their point ... Rapaport's no choir boy, and has said enough vile things to make him defamation-proof.

And, Barstool insists it did NOT breach his contract by firing him -- quite the opposite. In docs, they say his contract included a clause that allowed for his firing if he put Barstool in "public disrepute" with his public comments ... including several about Barstool staffers.

Barstool is suing Rapaport to get back the $400k it paid him.

Sorry, Nick Foles ... even though you've got the Philly train back on track (again) -- Carson Wentz is STILL the Eagles' future ... so says Ron Jaworski.

The legendary Eagles quarterback says there is no QB controversy in his mind ... telling us despite Foles rescuing Philly yet again this season -- Carson's still the man.

"Carson Wentz is the Eagles' future," Jaws tells TMZ Sports.

In fact ... Ron says he believes the team thinks so highly of Wentz -- they'll let Foles walk in the offseason to another team.

"I believe his next opportunity will be somewhere else, not in Philadelphia," Jaworski says.

Don't get it twisted ... Ron LOVES Nick, saying what the QB has done for the Eagles is "legendary" -- and he even wore a St. Nick tie in the QB's honor!!

Middleweight mauler Jermall Charlo says the big fight he wants next is Canelo Alvarez ... because when it comes down to it Canelo is bigger and better than Gennady Golovkin.

Most agree that Jermall is on the cusp of superstardom ... but he needs one huge fight to catapult him from a boxing star to a household name.

A win over GGG or Canelo would probably do the trick ... but when we talked to JC in NYC, he said he wants one guy -- the better guy -- much more than the other.

"Canelo seems to be the better fighter right? He won the fight right? He beat him right? So I wanna fight the 28-year-old so-called stud."

Not everyone agrees with Charlo BTW ... there are many people who think GGG won BOTH fights, and was robbed each time by judges who favored the younger, more popular fighter.

In any case, Charlo has some work to do before he gets his shot at Canelo, squaring off against Matt Korobov in Brooklyn this Saturday, but is DESPERATE for a bigger fight.

Farrah Abraham backed down from a fight in the ring, but now she's going to have to duke it out in court with the promoter who claims she screwed him over ... and took his money.

As we reported ... Farrah refused to fight in a charity celeb boxing match in Atlantic City in November, because she claimed she was promised a bunch of freebies including travel and hotel rooms, but the promoter, Damon Feldman, didn't deliver.

Feldman's throwing the first legal punch though ... claiming Abraham took cash upfront, signed a contract and falsely promoted she was fighting in the match. He's suing for $12,000.

The boxing promoter also recently threatened to take legal action against Farrah for defamation for talking trash about the event after she backed out, but there's no mention of that in the legal docs.

You may recall ... Farrah was replaced in the bout by "Mob Wives" star Natalie DiDonato, but she already has another challenger threatening to beat her ass.

Farrah's manager, David Weintraub, tells us, "We are truly wishing Damon the best with his frivolous lawsuit. Everyone must realize this guy broke his own contract with us & runs this 'so called' business out of his studio apartment and doing 'basement style event fights' that no one watches."

He continues, "He should work a little harder to pay for travel/accommodations for the talent and team and then perhaps the talent will actually come. Get ready for the counter suit from Farrah."

Yankees star CC Sabathia underwent heart surgery earlier this month ... but New York GM Brian Cashman says, thankfully, the pitcher is expected to be okay.

"We are thankful that CC was smart enough to convey his symptoms to our medical staff ... We are also encouraged that the procedure CC underwent was performed as planned."

Sabathia reportedly needed an angioplasty -- a procedure where docs unblocked an artery in the former ace's heart -- after experiencing acid reflux, heartburn and other symptoms.

It's good news for the pitcher that he caught the signs early ... 'cause The Athletic reports Sabathia could have been in danger of suffering a heart attack if his blockage had gone undiscovered.

Cashman says the team expects Sabathia to make a full recovery and report in time for the team's 2019 spring training in Tampa.

UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley is FIRED UP over the high school wrestling ref who made a black kid cut his dreadlocks before a match ... and he's calling for NJ officials to FIRE HIS ASS.

Before dominating the UFC, Tyron was an All-American wrestler at the Univ. of Missouri ... and before that, he was a FORCE in the high school wrestling community.

Tyron tells TMZ Sports ... the ref, Alan Maloney, should have been fired years ago when he reportedly made a racist comment to an African-American man back in 2016.

Woodley's bigger issue is he's sick of people with a history of racist behavior being allowed to have positions of authority. And, that includes police officers.

As for the recent incident with high school wrestler Andrew Johnson, Tyron thinks the way the high school wrestling community handles hair maintenance ... specifically with black athletes ... is ridiculous.

Forget Santa Claus ... Mike Evans is the real Christmas MVP -- at least, that's the case in Tampa Bay, 'cause the WR's gifts to his Bucs teammates caused everyone to lose their minds!!!

The NFL superstar got his squad their own custom Bird scooters for the holidays -- complete with every player's last name AND number ... and yeah, it was a hit in the locker room.

"This is what you call an ultimate teammate!! You feel me?!" offensive lineman Donovan Smith screamed.

"This is what you call an ultimate teammate!! My boy, Money Mike, baby!! Where you at, Mike?!?!"

Evans was mobbed by his teammates ... who couldn't wait to give the receiver some skin as a thanks for the electric wheels.

"Appreciate it, Mike!!" added rookie D-lineman Vita Vea.

We know what you're thinking -- 53 players on a roster and around $500 a scooter -- but don't worry about it ... Evans is in the middle of a 5-year, $82.5 MILLION contract!!!

A shocking recording of the Rachael Ostovich domestic violence incident has surfaced -- in which her MMA fighter husband allegedly screams, "I'm going to f**king murder you."

A neighbor used a cell phone to record the scene on Nov. 27 -- when Arnold Berdon allegedly brutalized Ostovich during an argument at their home in Hawaii.

The footage is mostly dark -- but you can definitely hear voices.

In the video, obtained by Hawaii News Now, you can hear a male voice make several threats ... including, "I’m going to murder you. I’m going to f**king murder you."'

At the end of the 9-minute video, you can see a nude female jump off the lanai and try to escape.

We broke the story ... Berdon was arrested and charged with 2nd-degree assault.

Ostovich suffered serious injuries to her face, head and body -- and pulled out of her January fight against Paige VanZant.

Ostovich later got a second opinion from another doctor who cleared her to fight -- so it's now back on.

Bill Belichick says Josh Gordon's departure from the Patriots is "an unfortunate situation" ... and the coach is hoping his troubled wideout is able to handle his issues going forward.

"Personally, I wish him the very best as we all do on this team," Bill told reporters Friday.

Gordon announced Thursday he was stepping away from the Pats to focus on his mental health ... just minutes before the NFL announced he violated the league's substance abuse policy once again.

Belichick declined to get into specifics of Gordon's problems with media members -- callin' it, "a private matter" -- but repeated he hopes the WR gets the help he needs.

"I hope that he's able to deal with it successfully," Belichick said.

As for if the Pats will continue to help Josh while he's away from the team ... Bill said, "We're going to get ready for Buffalo and play Buffalo on Sunday."

The Patriots traded for Gordon earlier in the season after the Cleveland Browns decided to cut bait. Over the years, Gordon had been suspended multiple times for substance abuse issues.

But, the final straw for Cleveland was when Gordon suffered an injury in Sept. while shooting a promotional video.

This is ridiculous ...

A black high school wrestler was told by a white referee that he needed to cut off his dreadlocks or forfeit an important match ... and the whole incident was captured on video.

Andrew Johnson was about to compete for Buena Regional High School in New Jersey -- and was wearing a cover over his dreadlocks ... when referee Alan Maloney stepped in.

Maloney told Johnson his hair cover was not sufficient and gave him 2 choices -- chop off the locks or lose the match.

Johnson reluctantly chose the haircut -- but you can see he's visibly upset.

Johnson destroyed his opponent -- but he's clearly devastated about the hair cut ... even when the ref raises his hand in victory.

His teammates tried to console him but Johnson wasn't really having it.

Now, it's been revealed the ref has a history of racist behavior -- using a racial slur toward a black man during a social gathering in 2016 ... and getting his ass kicked in the process.

The offended party (an African American man) was so pissed, he slammed Maloney to the ground following the slur.

Maloney later apologized for the incident and the body that oversees high school wrestling in New Jersey ordered him to complete a sensitivity training class.

Karrueche Tran says Travis Scott is making a HUGE MISTAKE by doing the Super Bowl halftime show with Maroon 5 ... and now she's hoping and praying he back out ASAP.

"I just don't think it's a good idea," Tran told us outside Hyde on the Sunset Strip ... "I'm really hoping it's not gonna happen."

Seems Tran -- who's dating ex-NFL star Victor Cruz -- is unhappy with the way the league is treating players like Colin Kaepernick. She also seems to be unhappy with the way the league is handling violence toward women.

Amy Schumer has called for celebrities to boycott the NFL and the halftime show -- and Tran clearly agrees.

When asked if the NFL can do anything to help change her mind, Tran suggested there wasn't enough time ... since the Super Bowl is only 2 months away.

8:22 AM PT -- McGregor’s spokesperson Karen Kessler tells TMZ Sports …"This complaint is a routine but sad attempt to grab publicity in a case that should have been resolved months ago. We are pleased that Chiesa’s quick recovery allows him to continue fighting."

UFC fighter Michael Chiesa claims Conor McGregor's steel dolly attack was a publicity stunt intended to hype his fight with Khabib ... and now he wants ALL of Conor's UFC 229 profits.

Long story short ... Chiesa (who was injured in the bus attack) claims NY law bars people from profiting from criminal activity and requires them to turn over ill-gotten gains to their victims. It's called the Son of Sam law.

In new court docs filed by Chiesa, the UFC fighter argues the April 5 dolly incident drove up interest in UFC 229 and boosted sales of Conor's Proper 12 whiskey brand, so all profits should be handed over.

It's not a small number -- Conor publicly stated he expected to make $50 MILLION for the Oct. 6 fight against Khabib ... plus MILLIONS more from the sales of Proper 12.

Here's how Chiesa spells it out in his lawsuit ...

"By his own admission, [McGregor] engaged in the aforementioned conduct and acts with the premeditated intent and purpose of inflicting severe personal injuries and/or murdering Nurmagomedov, and sought to promote his brand and profit from his criminal activity."

He also cited Conor's UFC 229 press conference ... when McGregor reflected on the bus incident and said Khabib would be "dead" if he had stepped off that bus that day.

Chiesa was a passenger on the bus and suffered cuts to his face when he was struck by shattered glass.

Chiesa claims he was unable to compete in his scheduled fight against Anthony Pettis at UFC 223 that weekend -- and lost an even BIGGER opportunity to fight Khabib when Max Holloway pulled out of the main event.

In his docs, Chiesa claims the UFC had reached out to him about filling in for Holloway in the title match at UFC 223, but Chiesa says his injuries prevented him from taking the fight.

Chiesa says he suffered from depression following the ordeal -- and claims his inability to fight at UFC 223 hurt his overall standing in the UFC.

Chiesa claims Conor deliberately created "havoc, mayhem and injury" that resulted in his injuries.