TMZ Sports - Page 50

UFC Light Heavyweight champ Jon "Bones" Jones just pled guilty to DUI -- after his boozy arrest last week in upstate New York.

TMZ broke the story, the 24-year-old was popped in Binghamton May 19th after crashing his Bentley into a pole, totaling the car.

Jones posted an apologetic message on his Facebook after the arrest, writing, "I screwed up, big time." The message was subsequently deleted (shocker).

A rep for the Broome County D.A.'s office tells TMZ, Jones refused a breathalyzer at the time of his arrest, but admitted he had been drinking.

Authorities will perform an autopsy on Johnny Tapia today -- two days after the former boxing champ was mysteriously found dead in his home ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us the New Mexico Medical Examiner's Office has scheduled the autopsy ... which will include toxicology testing to determine an exact cause of death.

As we previously reported, the five time champ's body was found by a family member on Sunday evening. Police have said there was nothing suspicious about the death.

In an odd bit of foreshadowing, Justin Bieber hung out with Mike Tyson and got some boxing tips from the legendary fighter just days before his alleged run-in with a paparazzo.

Check out the Biebs working the heavy bag with Tyson. They posed for a pic with another guy, which Tyson tweeted with the caption, "Me, @john and @justinbieber before we started training JB"

As TMZ first reported, Bieber is now a suspect in a criminal battery after Bieber allegedly got into it with a photog in Calabasas. Cops were called to the scene -- Bieber and GF Selena Gomez had already split -- and the photog was transported to a nearby hospital and later released.

Witnesses say the pap incited Bieber and got tips from a lawyer at the scene about calling an ambulance and filing a police report.

Kind of.

Boxer Johnny Tapia was found dead Sunday in New Mexico, this according to local police.

Family members say Albuquerque police were summoned to Tapia's house at 7:45 PM Sunday by a family member who discovered the body.

Cops say the death does not appear suspicious, but an official cause has not been determined.

Tapia is a 5-time world champ. His life was marked by tragedy. Tapia's dad was murdered while his mom was pregnant with him. And when Tapia was 8, his mother was kidnapped, raped and hanged.

Tapia was admitted to the hospital in 2007 in critical condition from a cocaine OD. The day after he was admitted, his brother-in-law and nephew were killed in a car accident on their way to visit him.

Detroit Lions defensive tackle Nick Fairley was arrested early this morning for driving under the influence and attempting to elude police ... TMZ has learned.

Fairley was popped in Mobile, AL just after 1:00 AM. In addition to the DUI and eluding charges, Fairley was ticketed for reckless driving, no proof of insurance and having an open container.

Fairley is from the area, having gone to Williamson High School and he attended Auburn University.

Retired NFL star Jamal Lewis -- who helped the Baltimore Ravens win the Super Bowl in 2001 -- has filed for bankruptcy, claiming he's a financial train wreck ... and can't pay his eight-figure debt.

Jamal filed the Chapter 11 papers in Atlanta -- according to the docs, he's got $14,455,854 in assets but he's racked up a whopping $10,566,764.18 in debts.

Among his creditors -- Bank Of America has a lien for $947,876, Benz has one for 113k, Chrysler for 15k ... and the list goes on.

As for his assets -- Jamal's got five homes, a bunch of expensive cars, a $500,000 401(k), and 50% ownership in Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark in Columbus, OH (worth about $6 mil).

According to the docs, Jamal is self-employed and earns approximately $35,000 a month.

Super, ridiculously, incredibly, amazingly hot UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste was arrested early this morning for allegations of domestic violence ... TMZ has learned.

According to the website for the Clark County Detention Center, the unbelievably hot Celeste was taken into custody at 7:30 AM and held on $3,000 bond. She is still behind bars.

If Celeste does not post bond within 48 hours, her fine self will go before a judge.

In addition to her work with UFC, Celeste has modeled for Maxim, FHM, Sports Illustrated and Playboy.

7:00 PM PT -- Arianny has been released.

NBA legend Allen Iverson is calling BS on his estranged wife, who's trying to score a restraining order against him -- insisting he NEVER harassed her or her family.

Iverson just filed new legal docs in Fulton County, GA -- asking a judge to throw out Tawanna Iverson's bid for a protective order.

TMZ broke the story ... Tawanna claims Allen "has engaged in increasingly contemptuous, threatening, and disturbing behavior" over the last few months ... and she's afraid things will get worse. Them's strong words.

Chris Jericho can kiss the beauty of Brazil goodbye -- no more bikinis, beaches ... bikinis. All things the WWE star shoulda thought about before treating the Brazilian flag like a used tissue.

New York Knicks star J.R. Smith was arrested in South Beach last night ... after cops discovered the 26-year-old was a wanted man.

According to reports, Smith was pulled over on a routine traffic stop ... when the officers noticed an active warrant out for Smith's arrest stemming from his failure to address a ticket for driving without a valid license.

Smith was booked into Miami-Dade County jail shortly before midnight. He was released a short time later on bond.

Charlie Sheen tells TMZ ... he is NOT the mystery buyer who dropped $230k on Lawrence Taylor's Super Bowl ring ... despite widespread media reports to the contrary.

LT had gifted the Super Bowl XXV ring to his son TJ ... who decided to put the ring up for auction without asking his father for permission first. It sold for $230,401 ... and LT's agent told various media outlets he believed Sheen was the buyer.

According to Sheen ... LT's agent was wrong.

“As much as I would be honored to own such an important artifact, I had nothing to do with the acquisition" ... Sheen tells us.

It's not a crazy rumor ... considering Sheen is a bigtime sports memorabilia collector who already owns Babe Ruth's 1927 World Series ring.

No word if the REAL buyer plans to reveal his or her identity any time soon.

A WWE event in Brazil came to a screeching halt Thursday evening ... when local law enforcement stopped a live match and threatened to arrest Chris Jericho for desecrating the Brazilian flag.

It all went down during a match between Jericho and C.M. Punk -- who was proudly waving the flag in the ring. Jericho took the flag away, crumpled it up and kicked the flag out of the ring ... and that's when police stepped in and put a stop to the event.

We're told Jericho was informed that desecrating the national flag is a crime in Brazil ... punishable by incarceration.

Cops gave Jericho an option -- apologize to the arena ... or go to jail. Chris chose the former ... grabbing the mic and telling the crowd he immediately regretted his actions. Cops allowed the event to continue.

Sources connected to the WWE tell TMZ ... the flag stunt was NOT planned or approved by WWE officials.

The WWE has just released an official statement saying, "Chris Jericho has been suspended indefinitely due to an irresponsible act of denigrating the Brazilian flag at a WWE event in Sao Paulo on May 24. The WWE has apologized to the citizens and the government of Brazil for this incident."

Orlando Magic superstar Dwight Howard says he had NOTHING to do with the team's decision to fire head coach Stan Van Gundy ... telling TMZ, "I hate to see anyone lose their job."

Howard -- who's still rehabbing from back surgery in L.A. -- was out in Beverly Hills this morning when we asked how he felt about his coach's recent termination.

"Me and Stan ... we had our ups and downs ... but for the most part we had one goal ... to win a championship in Orlando, but we fell short."

When asked about speculation that he had a role in the decision to can Stan, Howard told us, "I'm glad [Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins] confirmed I had nothing to do with it."

Howard is also concerned about an interview scheduled to air on ESPN tomorrow night -- telling us it was shot back in April ... and insists the content is "old and inaccurate."

Though Howard didn't say which part of the interview he was referring to specifically ... he did warn, "A lot of stuff has changed since then."

It's been 18 years since Al Cowlings chauffeured O.J. Simpson in that wild low-speed car chase through L.A. -- but a new mystery is now surrounding the former NFL player ... specifically ... WHAT CAR IS AL DRIVING NOW?!?!?!?

A couple hints -- it's white ... it's a Ford ... and it's not not not not not a Bronco.

Former UCLA basketball stud Reeves Nelson says a Sports Illustrated writer slammed him with a defamatory article that claimed he ran amok on campus, and even peed on a player's bed ... and now TMZ has learned he's set to sue for $10 million.

If you don't remember ... Nelson was a 6'8'' stud at UCLA from 2009 - 2011, and by far the best player on the squad -- but was booted from the team in December 2011 after a second suspension for disciplinary issues ... including missing a team flight.

The March 5, 2012 issue of Sports Illustrated featured an article penned by George Dohrmann which claimed UCLA Coach Ben Howland let Nelson get away with everything but murder because he was "producing" on the court.

According to Nelson's lawsuit, the article claimed he was not punished after fighting with multiple teammates and intentionally injuring them during practice. The S.I. article also claims Nelson "urinated on [a teammate's] bed and clothes" -- purely as revenge for the player allegedly squealing about a New Year's Eve party.

But Nelson's high-powered entertainment lawyer Keith Fink says they can prove Dohrmann "recklessly and negligently failed to investigate the claims in the article." The lawsuit includes declarations from 18 UCLA players and ex-players who deny every allegation about Nelson.

In fact, former teammate Tyler Honeycutt says, "Nelson did not pile my clothes on my bed, and he certainly did not urinate on my clothes." According to the suit, most of the players say Dohrmann never contacted them -- and the 2 who were contacted denied the allegations.

The lawsuit further claims the S.I. writer has a longstanding beef with UCLA because he "publicly attacked UCLA's Baron Davis for driving a black 1991 Chevy Blazer, which Dohrmann publicly claimed had been purchased in violation of NCAA rules." NCAA investigators later shot down those allegations.