TMZ Sports - Page 50

He said it ... not us.

Marlon Wayans says Jason Pierre-Paul's career could be about to EXPLODE ... 'cause according to Marlon, the NY Giants star should replace Michael Strahan as Kelly Ripa's co-host on 'Live'.

It's the question everyone is asking right now ... who's gonna step and replace MS now that he's moving on to the (much, much) greener pastures of "Good Morning America"?

We got Marlon leaving The Nice Guy out in West Hollywood and asked who he thought would be good for the gig ... and the funnyman got EXTREMELY FUNNY about the list of ex-NFL guys he thinks could hack it.

New name, same game ... here's Jonathan Manziel partying his face off at the hottest nightclub in Hollywood Tuesday night.

Dana White is calling BS on Conor McGregor's alleged "retirement" -- saying he's very confident McGregor will fight again in the UFC within the next year.

The UFC honcho just appeared on "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" on FS1 and said despite pulling Conor from UFC 200, he's "not mad" at the guy ... claiming, "The show will roll on."

And get this ... White said there is STILL A CHANCE Conor could save his spot on the card and battle it out with Nate Diaz at UFC 200 ... but there's a VERY small window of opportunity to fix the situation.

Shannon Sharpe says Johnny Manziel's attempt to change his image is a bunch of BS -- claiming he's sick of people believing all of the crap Manziel has been trying to feed the public for years.

The NFL Hall of Famer was out in L.A. when we asked about the statement Manziel issued Tuesday night ... in which he finally acknowledged he has "issues" and vowed to get back in the NFL.

Long story short ... Sharpe ain't buyin' it.

"How long are you gonna buy his story?" Sharpe asked ... "He's shown no remorse, he's shown no willingness to change his behavior ... but you believe it and that's the problem."

Even Serena Williams couldn't contain herself during a face-to-beautiful-face with Tom Brady today ... telling the QB he's her favorite EVER ... and she was so pumped, she needed a moment to recover.

The two met up during a quick photo shoot in NYC Wednesday -- no word on what it was for ... but clearly, Serena was smitten by the QB ... especially after Tom reciprocated the love.

Kelly Ripa did not show up for her TV show Wednesday ... and our ABC sources say this may just be the first in a string of absences.

Our sources tell us Kelly made the decision shortly after she was informed Strahan was bailing on her show to co-host "Good Morning America." We broke the story Kelly was told at 10:30 AM Tuesday, just as the announcement was being blasted out to the media ... and she was outraged.

We're told Kelly feels disrespected and humiliated that she wasn't given the courtesy of a heads-up. Our sources say she may not show for the foreseeable future.

Michael walked onstage Wednesday with Ana Gasteyer, and he made light of the move.

The 'Live' staff is furious at Disney and CEO Bob Iger's decision to keep them in the dark.

Stephen Hawking -- the most wicked smaht guy on the planet -- is now an official fan of the New England Patriots ... and he's got the custom jersey to prove it.

Conor McGregor's not just out of UFC 200 -- he's also out of Vin Diesel's new 'xXx' movie ... and according to UFC star Michael Bisping, his part's already been written out.

McGregor pulled out of the flick last month to focus on his rematch with Nate Diaz in July -- but now that Dana White yanked him from UFC 200 for refusing to participate in the promotional campaign, we were wondering if Conor would shift his focus back to Hollywood.

But according to Bisping -- who has a role in the movie -- it's too little, too late.

"His part got written out," Bisping said as he was leaving the set in Toronto.

It's too bad for Conor ... Bisping says he's having a blast shooting the film -- and if it's any good, it could be a huge career booster for him.

Racing legend Mario Andretti tells TMZ Sports ... he kinda agrees with Bernie Ecclestone when it comes to women in F1 racing -- "it's clearly more of a men's sport."

Ecclestone -- widely considered the most powerful man in racing -- made headlines this week when he said women are too weak to be successful F1 drivers ... and "wouldn't be taken seriously."

So, we called up Andretti -- one of the greatest drivers who's ever lived -- to get his take on the situation. Here's what he told us:

"Bernie doesn’t mince words. He says what he thinks. You could be more delicate about it, but Formula 1 has been in existence for what, 66 years, and we've only seen 5 women try and compete and none have really been successful."

"The bottom line is you can make assertions until the cows come home. Saying women can do it. Bottom line, they have to prove it. You can’t just come out of the woodwork and say ‘I want to be a F1 driver.’ You need to earn your way there."

"Will it happen one day? It’s impossible to predict, but I’d say probably yes. At the same time, someone else might say, if it was going to happen, why hasn’t it happened in 66 years?"

"I think it’s clearly more of a men’s sport. Could there be some women who are competitive? Like with tennis … could Serena Williams compete with men? I think yes, but could she win a major, I don’t know."

Nick Young came home to Iggy Azalea -- baggage and all.

The Lakers star returned to their pad Tuesday after a boys trip to Vegas ... so it looks like he's still living with Iggy at this point. After Iggy checked the mail, we're guessing there were at least 20 questions about his weekend.

Bad news love fans ... Usain Bolt didn't get his "Sleepless in Seattle" ending with Rihanna ... 'cause according to Bolt himself he got "no love" from the pop star after publicly laying his mack down.

Dana White says he's yanked Conor McGregor from UFC 200 -- claiming the Irish superstar refused to fly to Vegas to promote the event.

Johnny Manziel has finally acknowledged what we all know ... dude's got "issues" -- and says he's hoping to "take care" of them so he can play in the NFL in 2016.

After being dropped by his agent Drew Rosenhaus, Manziel issued a statement to USA Today Sports ... saying, "I’m hoping to take care of the issues in front of me right now so I can focus on what I have to do if I want to play in 2016."

He added, "I also continue to be thankful to those who really know me and support me."

Manziel's rep, Denise Michaels, also issued a statement saying, "So many people only have one image of Jonathan but, believe it or not, he takes all this very seriously."

Joe Rogan ain't buyin' Conor McGregor's retirement tweet ... saying there's no way McGregor will hang 'em up "unless he got f*cking head kicked today and knocked into oblivion."

Rogan -- who's been the color commentator for the UFC for nearly 20 years -- was on his "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast Tuesday when the news broke about Conor's tweet and Joe's reaction was about as honest as it gets.

Rogan made a couple of interesting points ... noting McGregor was ringside at an MMA fight in Dublin earlier this month, in which a fighter was beaten so badly, he died from his injuries ... and Conor may have been affected by what he saw.

He also noted McGregor came thiiiiis close to retiring from MMA right before he got his first deal with the UFC -- because some of his close friends were having health issues.

But all that aside, Rogan says he just doesn't believe the announcement is legit -- saying, "There's no way, he'd do it like this."

Well, UFC 200 has some problems ... as both headliners have apparently retired ... with Nate Diaz joining Conor McGregor on the beach.

Nate just tweeted, "I guess my work here is done I'm retiring too."

There's clearly some kind of a dispute going on ... but we're hoping it's nothing that can't be resolved.