TMZ Sports - Page 50

File under: Awww.

If you think you were pumped on Ronda Rousey's surprise Royal Rumble appearance ... peep this video of Travis Browne and her two stepchildren -- who had ZERO clue she had joined the company!!

Travis was PUMPED as soon as he heard Rousey's music hit ... but it took the boys, Kaleo and Keawe, a few seconds to figure out what was up.

Once they do ... their reaction is priceless.

It's official ... Ronda Rousey is a WWE superstar!

The UFC legend flew back from shooting a movie in Colombia to make a surprise (not really a surprise) appearance at the end of the Royal Rumble in Philly on Sunday night ... and the crowd went wild.

Rousey didn't participate in the 30 woman tourney -- but entered the ring after the Rumble to a wild ovation and pointed to a Wrestlemania sign. Clearly the plan is to have her in either the main event or a very prominent match during the biggest WWE event of the year in April.

As TMZ Sports previously reported, Rousey had been in talks with WWE for a while -- with Triple H flying in to meet her in California earlier this month to seal the deal.

Obviously, he got the deal done -- we're told she's a full time WWE superstar now.

Rousey told ESPN the deal is for several years -- and she passed on other opportunities that could have paid more because she realized wrestling in the WWE would make her the happiest.

"This is my life now."

GET 'EM, ROUSEY!!!

Liz Carmouche -- the UFC's first openly lesbian fighter -- says public perception has come a long way since she came out ... and the UFC is finally ready to accept a gay male athlete.

"I do actually believe that a man could come out as openly gay and he could rise to the top," Liz told TMZ Sports.

You might remember ... Liz broke the glass ceiling back in 2013, when she fought Ronda Rousey in the UFC's inaugural women's title fight.

Back then, Carmouche had serious doubts about a man following in her footsteps ... but says she feels differently now after experiencing how LGBTQ fighters are treated in MMA gyms like her own (San Diego Combat Academy).

Liz -- who recently partnered with HempMeds -- also told us why she thinks the UFC's at a place where it can let its fighters smoke weed ... even though she's way more of an advocate for CBD oil.

Oscar De La Hoya has set the over/under for how long Floyd Mayweather would last in a UFC fight ... and Floyd's not gonna like it.

We got Oscar heading into Staples Center for a Lakers game the other day and asked him how his former boxing rival would fare in MMA.

De La Hoya's prediction -- "Tapped out in 10 seconds."

Ouch.

FYI, Floyd says he probably ain't gonna test his skills inside the Octagon ... but money talks, so don't rule it out.

Speaking of money fights, Oscar updated us on his quest to do business with Dana White ... a couple weeks after TMZ Sports got his initial pitch.

MLB legend Frank Thomas -- also known by his intimidating nickname from his playing days -- is making damn sure nobody else tries to take it from him ... at least for merchandise.

The Hall of Fame first baseman -- known as "The Big Hurt" for crushing baseballs throughout his career -- has the term 'Big Hurt' trademarked for t-shirts, sport shirts and baseball caps ... according to legal docs obtained by TMZ.

Thomas filed the paperwork a few years after hanging up his cleats, and has had 'Big Hurt' for his own since May 2015.

Frank's been a busy businessman since retirement, too -- he founded a record label, opened a Chicago brewpub, put out a cookbook, joined "MLB on FOX" as an analyst and became a spokesman for Nugenix.

Paige VanZant just got engaged to her MMA fighter boyfriend ... and her last name ain't gonna change all that much.

The UFC figther posted a photo Sunday of her guy, Austin Vanderford, getting on one knee to propose, with the caption ... "I said yes!!!"

The couple's been going out since at least this past summer, when she posted a photo of the two of them together in August with the caption "Mine."

Mine, indeed. Congrats to the future VanZant-derfords!

Nick Saban will do what it takes to get a top recruit to come play football at Alabama ... even if it means putting on his dancing shoes.

The Crimson Tide head coach went out Saturday night to pay a visit to Eddie Smith -- a three-star high school cornerback out of Slidell, Louisiana. What might've started out as a convo about committing to 'Bama eventually turned into a boogie fest.

Saban was recorded doing the Electric Slide in the family's living room. He also apparently got in on a little number called the Wobble -- with which he seemed a bit less familiar.

Jay-Z thinks it was a huge setback for race relations when Donald Sterling was booted as owner of the Los Angeles Clippers because of his racist comments ... because it sends racists the wrong message.

Jay appeared on Van Jones' news CNN show Saturday night and explained his thoughts ... that when Sterling was thrown out of the franchise, it sent a message to racists to just continue that hateful thoughts, comments and actions on the QT.

Jay-Z said, "Once you do that (boot him from the franchise), all the other closet racists just run back in the hole. You haven't fixed anything. What you've done was spray perfume on a trash can."

The mogul also took aim at Trump in an interesting way, saying even if the African American community is benefiting economically now, saying, "Treat me really bad and pay me well. It's not going to lead to happiness ... Everyone's going to be sick."

Zion Williamson is gonna be great at Duke ... but we gotta pump the breaks on hailing him as the next LeBron -- so says Grant Hill.

We got the Duke legend at LAX a couple days after Zion committed to the Blue Devils ... and Grant was pumped on Coach K locking down yet another elite prospect.

"I hope the rims are ready in Cameron," Hill told TMZ Sports.

But Grant says that even though Zion's got the tools to be a king -- athleticism, size, explosiveness -- expecting him to become THE King is too much, especially this early (remember O.J. Mayo??).

Fair enough, but the kid definitely passes the eye test ...

Terrell Owens has some savage Super Bowl advice for the Eagles before his former team squares off with Tom Brady and the Patriots.

"Don't ever think you got 'em beat -- gotta put your foot on the throat," Owens told TMZ Sports.

T.O. knows what he's talking about ... the 6-time Pro Bowler balled out against the Pats at Super Bowl 39, but the Eagles let the game slip away after a back-and-forth battle.

So, when their big day arrives ... Owens -- who played his Super Bowl on a broken leg -- says they gotta go in with the mentality to kill or be killed.

Trevor Hoffman says it's about damn time Curt Schilling joins him in the Hall of Fame, telling TMZ Sports voters should focus on his baseball skills ... and not his mouth.

We spoke with the 2018 inductee (congrats, btw) about Schilling missing the cut for the 6th year in a row ... and Hoffy says Curt's more than deserving of baseball's highest honor.

Curt's got 4 more attempts to get voted into the Hall ... and Hoffman sends his fellow pitcher an encouraging message.

Cristiano Ronaldo is a certified G -- so says Alexi Lalas ... who's slamming the soccer superstar's "pretty boy" rep after witnessing his badassery this past weekend.

"Anytime there's an athlete that bleeds and plays through it ... they get a little street cred," Alexi told TMZ Sports.

You remember the carnage -- Ronaldo dove in for the header in Real Madrid's match against Deportivo ... scoring a goal, but taking a cleat to the dome in the process.

The collision left Cristiano a bloody mess ... and scrambling for a mirror to check on his moneymaker.

A lot of fans were poking fun at Ronaldo for the mirror-check, but Lalas says CR7 completing the header says way more about him than anything else.

Deep breaths, people. One more week 'til we can enjoy the unofficial national holiday that is Super Bowl LII ... but until then, enjoy these pics of famous fanatics reppin' their favorite teams on the sidelines.

'SNL' star Jay Pharoah knows how to get them likes on the 'Gram ... posing with a bunch of L.A. Rams cheerleaders. No surprise where you'll find Ludacris and Ciara, but ya might be surprised where the "Pitch Perfect" cast ended up one particular Sunday.

WARNING: THIS POST IS FULL OF BLASPHEMY.

IBF Welterweight Errol Spence -- one of the most feared boxers on Earth -- is about to do what no fighter has ever done before ... straight HATE on the best movie of all time, "Rocky."

Most people think Spence is up next to be the Floyd Mayweather-type, huge deal boxing star, so when we got him out in NYC, we wanted to get to know the slugger a little better.

We asked Spence what he thought the worst boxing movie of all time was, and he opted to let films like "Grudge Match," and "Play It To The Bone" off the hook and indict the holy grail of sports films.

"I didn't like Rocky, it was too fake. The dude got hit like a million times in one round and he's still going. It was just fake to me, I didn't really like it."

Sean McVay had a GREAT first season with the Rams.

He's having an even better off-season.

The 32-year-old wonder coach flew to Hawaii for a little R&R with his insanely smokin' hot girlfriend Veronika Khomyn ... and the vacation photos are excellent.

Seems the two are just blowing off some steam in Maui after a long NFL season -- and it's well deserved. McVay led the Rams to an 11-5 record, 1st in the NFC West.

As for Veronika ... she's 28, she's from Ukraine and she met McVay when he was just a lowly tight end coach for the Washington Redskins back in the day.

Good move ... on both their parts!

Remember the unstoppable, unbeatable force that was Mike Tyson in 1986?

If you don't, first check out the video below ... we'll wait. Terrifying right? Well, current heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder tells TMZ Sports he'd kick the hell outta that guy, and he totally means it.

Wilder is currently the scariest heavyweight alive, so when we got him at the Showtime boxing Upfronts earlier this week we thought we'd ask him how he'd fare against the scariest ever ... Tyson.

His answer? He obviously thinks he could take him, telling our guy no man in the history of boxing could ever beat him.

This is normally the point where we offer our unsolicited opinion, but we're gonna sit this one out.