TMZ Sports - Page 50

Ric Flair claims he was supposed to pocket $25,000 for the ESPN "30 for 30" special on his life -- but his manager stole the money ... and now he's out for legal justice.

Nature Boy is suing Legacy Talent and Entertainment -- the management company he used from 2009 until October 2017.

Flair says he had a feeling something fishy was going down behind the scenes so he hired a lawyer to investigate his finances ... and realized he was missing huge amounts of cash.

Among the missing money ... Flair says he learned Legacy Talent had received $25,000 from First Row Films, the production company behind Flair's "30 for 30" special. Flair claims he was never informed of the payment nor was given his cut.

He also noticed a $12,000 royalty advance from Jake's Fireworks -- a company he signed an endorsement deal with earlier this year.

Flair says he reached out to Legacy to find out why he never got the money and was told they were using the funds to pay legal bills. Flair is calling BS, saying he never authorized Legacy to do that.

Toldja it was an A-List affair!!!

Kim Kardashian has arrived in New Orleans for the Serena Williams wedding extravaganza -- and she's already got one outfit change under her belt.

Kim slipped into a tight black dress after her plane landed Thursday afternoon -- we're guessing she was heading straight from the airport to the ceremony.

We're told Kanye didn't make the trip. Unclear why.

The wedding is set to begin in the next few hours -- and we're told there will be a bunch of HUGE stars in attendance when Serena trades I Dos with Alexis Ohanian.

Venus Williams is the latest celebrity burglary victim -- her Florida home was raided by scumbags who made off with $400,000 in property ... all while she was playing in the U.S. Open.

The Palm Beach Gardens PD confirmed ... Venus' home was broken into sometime between Sept. 1 and 5.

Unclear how the burglars got into the property -- and what items were taken.

Williams was in New York playing in the U.S. Open at the time of the incident. She advanced all the way to the semi-finals only to return home and learn about the burglary.

The story was first reported by WPEC-TV.

Tony Gonzalez says he was never sexually harassed in an NFL locker room ... but he's glad all the Hollywood scandals are putting athletes on notice.

"Stuff has changed. You gotta be more careful, and it's a good thing," Tony told TMZ Sports.

Gonzalez told us he's only experienced "guys in the shower messing around" ... and says all his former teammates knew not to cross that line.

But even though the future Hall of Famer didn't have to deal with any inappropriate hazing himself, he's fully behind the cultural shift in acting and in sports.

Ferdie Pacheco, the corner man who fixed up Muhammad Ali for years in the ring, has died.

Pacheco, known as the "Fight Doctor," died Thursday at his home in Miami ... according to his wife and daughter.

He met Ali in Miami during the '60s, when he trained with Angelo Dundee. Pacheco began working with them and stayed on as Ali's ringside doctor through his prime years as heavyweight champion.

Pacheco went on to become a two-time Emmy-winning TV boxing analyst. He was portrayed by Paul Rodriguez in the 2001 "Ali" biopic.

He's survived by his wife, 4 children and 2 grandchildren.

Pacheco was 89.

Larry King is straight-up PISSED his guy, Clayton Kershaw, didn't win the Cy Young Award this season ... saying the Dodgers ace had way better numbers than Max Scherzer.

The Dodgers superfan was leaving Craig's in L.A. when he sounded off about the Washington Nats star winning the National League's best pitcher award over Kershaw ... and King says the stats speak for themselves.

FYI -- Scherzer posted a 16-6 record with a 2.51 ERA and 268 strikeouts, while Kershaw went 18-4 with a 2.31 ERA and 202 Ks.

Tyron Woodley says a showdown with Nate Diaz at UFC 219 is "50% complete" -- and the only thing that's holding it up is "scared" Nate Diaz.

"All you gotta say is 'Yes,'" Tyron said in a message to Nate on "The Hollywood Beatdown" show ... "Put the ink to the paper and we done."

Tyron says he's ready and training for the Dec. 30 fight in Vegas ... and says he honestly believes Nate is scared to fight him.

"Guys in our sport bump their gums quite a bit and they get you to think they're these huge tough guys ... they're these gangsters that they'll fight anybody, anytime."

"And then when you get in front of a person like me ... the crickets start to come out. They don't really wanna fight."

Tyron says it happened with Michael Bisping, Georges St-Pierre, Conor McGregor and Nick Diaz.

"Now it's happening with baby brother [Nate] so I guess it's in the bloodline."

How did it feel to jam the rock down Lonzo Ball's throat??

Ben Simmons wouldn't say ... but his smirk told us everything we needed to know.

TMZ Sports got Ben hitting Delilah and Warwick with 76ers bro Robert Covington after they took out Lonzo's Lakers at Staples -- why not celebrate, right?!

Simmons straight up dominated their matchup ... so when we asked about his dunk that sent 'Zo to the shadow realm, Ben reacted pretty much how you'd expect.

B.S. seems to love the club scene -- and so far, it hasn't impacted his play. He was out early Wednesday morning and still killed it later that day.

FYI, we bumped into a couple of the 76ers assistants on gameday ... and they didn't seem to mind.

L.A. fans might just have an ace in the hole to get Giancarlo Stanton in Dodger Blue -- his rumored GF, singer Lexy Panterra.

There are big-time rumors that the Dodgers are eyeing Stanton via trade, and when we got Panterra out at Warwick we asked her what she thought of the idea of the slugger in Tinseltown.

"I think that'd be a great idea. He'd be closer!!!"

Remember, it was just last week Panterra performed at Stanton's surprise B-day party at Hyde -- and just a couple of months ago the duo did a super sexy damn-near-naked music video together.

So it's clear what the Dodgers need to do to get Stanton to come to L.A. -- bombard him with THIS VIDEO until he realizes just what he's missing being gone half the year.

Justin Bieber got an awesome body check from his gf, Selena Gomez, during a hockey time-out when she planted a serious kiss on him.

The reunited couple hooked up Wednesday night in L.A. at Justin's weekly hockey game. We've known they were back on for weeks, but the public kisses are like a sealing of the deal.

Selena went to hockey night a couple weeks ago, but no PDA that time around. We'd say the re-coupling -- which, as we told you was initiated by Bieber months ago -- is going well. Very well.

TMZ Sports has obtained the video at the center of the Jarvis Landry domestic violence investigation -- which shows the Miami Dolphins WR pushed his baby mama while their 4-month-old child was in the back seat.

Landry's rep tells TMZ Sports the contact was not a push but rather "incidental contact" during an argument. Nothing more.

The footage was captured by a surveillance camera on April 1 -- showing Landry confronting the woman in the parking lot of his Florida apartment complex.

You can see Landry initially push the woman -- she falls back into her car. Landry then snaps his arm at her and it LOOKS like he was trying to slap her.

The video was blurred by police -- but cops say in the raw version it's clear Landry did NOT slap the woman and was only trying to snatch a cell phone from her.

The woman had initially told police after the incident that Landry battered her. Landry initially told cops he never battered her and claimed she had "hit my body" and got back in the car.

But the video clearly contradicts that.

The woman later changed her story -- telling investigators she was just emotional from having a kid and insisted she "exaggerated" the facts during the initial call with police.

UFC star Fabricio Werdum attacked another UFC fighter with a boomerang in Australia.

Seriously -- we're not making this up.

It all went down at the UFC fighters' hotel in Sydney ... when rising welterweight star Colby Covington allegedly called Werdum a "filthy Brazilian" in the lobby.

FYI, Covington hurled a similar insult at a Brazilian crowd after his last fight in Sao Paulo ... and Fabricio's one of the UFC's biggest Brazilian stars.

So, Werdum did what any angry Australian tourist would do -- he took it outside and UNCORKED HIS DAMN BOOMERANG!!!

Later on, Covington recorded himself going on a racist and homophobic rant against the former heavyweight champ ... where he claimed Fabricio also punched him in the face.

"Look at you, f**king f**got," Colby said. "F**k Brazil. F**k Fabricio Werdum ... and they wonder why they get talked to like that -- 'cause they’re a bunch of animals."

But Werdum says he didn't punch Covington ... claiming Colby got physical first by throwing a kick.

The countdown is on for Serena Williams -- her wedding is TONIGHT in New Orleans ... and her wedding dress has arrived just in time!

Photogs captured a bunch of pre-wedding deliveries on Wednesday -- including a woman carrying what appears to be a wedding dress bag.

To be honest, there could be anything in there ... how the hell do we know ... but the self-proclaimed wedding and dress experts in our office are adamant that's a wedding dress bag. So, there you have it.

Besides that ... decorations, gifts and other important things were delivered on Wednesday.

We're told the guest list for the Thursday night wedding is insane -- we're talking a crazy amount of A-Listers.

9:25 AM PT -- Serena's BFF, Caroline Wozniacki, is already in town. The tennis star attended the rehearsal dinner at Meril restaurant in New Orleans with her NBA star fiance, David Lee, on Wednesday night.

Donald Trump is only HALF satisfied with the UCLA basketball players he helped get out of China -- telling the guys they should've also thanked the President of China during the news conference.

After LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley confessed to shoplifting in Hangzhou and thanked Trump for getting them back to the U.S., POTUS tweeted at the Bruin players.

"To the three UCLA basketball players I say: You're welcome, go out and give a big Thank You to President Xi Jinping of China who made your release possible and, HAVE A GREAT LIFE!"

He added, "Be careful, there are many pitfalls on the long and winding road of life!"

As we previously reported, Trump -- along with President Xi and Alibaba billionaire Jack Ma -- were all involved in resolving the international incident.

The players have been suspended indefinitely.

Terrell Owens says he'd take Carson Wentz over Donovan McNabb -- and he doesn't give a damn what his former quarterback thinks about it.

We got T.O. out in Beverly Grove ... and asked the former Eagles wideout to pick between the Eagles superstar QBs.

It was a tough call for Terrell, but ultimately -- "I'd probably go with Carson Wentz."

But T.O. says he ain't dissin' Donovan ... Wentz is just that good.

"Look at what he's done, and what is this -- year two? The upside for him is through the roof. He's definitely making his case for (MVP)," Owens told TMZ Sports.

And if the truth hurts -- that's McNabb's problem.

"So what? If he is, it is what it is."

LaVar Ball tells TMZ Sports he expects to have an encounter with President Trump now that he's back in the U.S. ... and he expects it to go well.

"We're gonna run into each other. We'll be good," LaVar said after touching down at LAX Wednesday night with his youngest son, LaMelo.

The Big Baller was clearly being careful with his words -- and for good reason -- since his son LiAngelo is still in the middle of an international incident after shoplifting in China.

It seems LaVar is confident everything is going to be okay ... and he's using the media attention to put a spotlight on his favorite thing in the world -- Big Baller Brand!!!