TMZ Sports - Page 50

Daniel Cormier has a new opponent for UFC 200 and it's Anderson Silva ... TMZ Sports has confirmed.

After news broke Wednesday night that Jon Jones failed his drug test and was pulled from the July 9th event, Dana White and company snapped into action and booked Silva to step in and take on Cormier.

They will be fighting as light heavyweights. It will be a 3-round fight, but will NOT be a title fight.

Jon Jones is causing major headaches outside the UFC -- a Las Vegas hotspot is also scrambling to clean up a financial and marketing mess.

The jock strap that protected the manhood of boxing legend Joe Frazier 45 years ago when he beat the GOAT, Muhammad Ali, is about to hit the auction block ... TMZ Sports has learned.

The jock dates back to Ali-Frazier I in 1971 ... known as, "The Fight of the Century," one of America's most historic sporting events. Frazier -- who, like Ali, was undefeated -- won by unanimous decision.

Frazier gave the jock to his buddy the night of the fight ... who held onto it for almost 40 years before selling it to a memorabilia dealer in 2009.

The collector hooked up with Goldin Auctions ... who will now be auctioning off the super rare item starting July 11th. Starting bid is $5K.

FYI -- a Nolan Ryan jock strap worn by the Hall of Famer during his 7th no-hitter reportedly once sold for $25k.

Best part about this jock? It's NEVER BEEN WASHED!!

Happy bidding!

The final 3 candidates to replace Jon Jones at UFC 200 are Gegard Mousasi, Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson -- but there are problems with all 3, especially Henderson ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Our sources say Henderson is a front-runner to fight Michael Bisping for his middleweight title, and that bout is coming up soon -- so moving him to take on Daniel Cormier could screw a potential Bisping match.

Mousasi is already on UFC 200's undercard against Diego Santos. So, moving Gegard would create another hole for Saturday night.

As for Silva -- well, he's old.

We're told the Nevada Athletic Commission requires any fighter over 35 to undergo extensive medical testing and there might not be enough time to get it done for 41-year-old Silva. Plus, as we first reported ... he's also recovering from a recent surgery.

He's impersonated every huge NBA star ... but if you think Bdot just ACTS like a hoops star you're wrong ... TMZ Sports has video of the comedy star THROWING ONE DOWN in an L.A. hoops game.

It went down during a game in the prestigious L.A. Athletic Club league (where some of the best players in Tinseltown hoop) when Bdot got airborne for a one-handed tomahawk jam off a lob pass.

Check out the clip -- We're not sure if he actually thought he was Russell Westbrook ... but he sure did look like him.

Kinda.

UFC brawler Sage Northcutt claims the Octagon ain't the only place he wants to become a superstar ... saying he wants to take his talent to the big screen ... and mix it up with Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Northcutt sat down with TMZ Sports and was asked what he likes to do when he's not caving in faces ... and that's when he told us he is a budding thespian.

"I've done commercials before ... maybe some action movies in the future."

The question then became who he'd wanna co-star with if he gets his shot on the big screen, and Sage didn't hesitate to answer ... saying he'd love to work with JCVD.

We're seeing buddy cop movie all over this one.

FYI -- Sage will step into the Octagon with Enrique Martin at UFC 200 this Saturday in Vegas.

Anderson Silva is boasting he's the one who was picked to replace Jon Jones in the UFC 200 fight against Daniel Cormier, but our UFC sources say no decision has been made.

We're told there are 3 contenders for the spot and Silva is indeed one of them. But UFC honchos are still meeting and they haven't picked anyone at the time of this post.

We're told there's a complication for Silva ... he just had gallbladder surgery and there are questions about his physical fight-worthiness for a match in just 48 hours.

BTW, further proof nothing is official, the picture Silva posted is just the UFC 200 meme generator .... which anyone can use.

Look who's also "in the running" ...

We'll let you know when the decision's really in ... stay tuned.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Louis Murphy was so drunk and confused about why he was locked in a museum, he called 911 and he's now made the Hall of Fame ... for 911 calls.

In the call obtained by TMZ Sports, the wide receiver tells the dispatcher he was a groomsman at his friend's wedding at the Flagler Museum -- but "got kinda drunk," and accidentally fell asleep in a garden and got locked inside.

29-year-old Murphy said he cut his hand while trying to break through a door to freedom. You'd think a guy who uses his hands for a living would be pissed about that, but no ... Murph was more upset his friends were somewhere partying without him.

He was clearly still wasted. Just listen. So good.

Museum security found him and cops showed up around 1:15 AM, but agreed no criminal charges would be pressed because Murphy agreed to pay for the door repair costs.

Ciara and Russell Wilson are putting an end to any speculation about what went down in their hotel suite.

Orlando Bloom and surfing legend Laird Hamilton played a little game of get in the hole, but this one was more exciting than golf.

The competitive juices were flowing Thursday in Malibu with a little Cornhole action. Check out the pics ... they got caught up in some friendly competition.

Conor McGregor's mouth is already in prime condition as proven by the shots he took at Nate Diaz during the UFC 202 news conference.

They came together in Las Vegas and Conor had plenty to say about his preparation for their August 20 rematch. In typical McGregor fashion he said he'd been sparring for a "tall, lanky, ugly Mexican southpaw.

Of course, both fighters commented about Jon Jones getting 86'd from this weekend's UFC 200. Nate kept it brief, and pretty shocking, saying ... "Everybody's on steroids."

Check out the video ... Conor was more sympathetic to Jones -- but also boasted he could step in for him and fight Daniel Cormier, if called upon.

Dana White says Jon Jones' latest public failure won't cost his ex-UFC 200 opponent Daniel Cormier any cash ... saying DC will fight on Saturday's card ... for the same money.

White called into Colin Cowherd's show 'The Herd' and opened up about his EXTREME disappointment at Jon Jones' positive test, while also answering one HUGE question for UFC fans.

"Cormier will fight this weekend."

More good news for DC? He doesn't have to take a haircut on his bottom line for the bout ... when asked if Daniel would make the same money for the Jonesless brawl, White simply said "yes."

Lakers rookie Brandon Ingram ain't ruling out the entertainment industry ... so says his dad, who tells TMZ Sports his son is open to listening to pitches, as long as it doesn't affect his basketball career.

We talked to Donald Ingram -- father of the #2 overall pick -- about the different opportunities available to a young star athlete in Tinseltown.

His response ... they're not ruling anything out. But breathe easy, Lakers fans ... Ingram made it CRYSTAL CLEAR that his 18-year-old son's main focus is his NBA career.

“Playing in a market like this, he will have the opportunities to have outside work in entertainment," Ingram told us, "If Brandon has downtime and it doesn’t affect his game, he will take those opportunities into consideration."

Donald says Brandon is more likely to start off small ... possibly doing, "a couple commercials here and there."

"The fame and everything else will come with time. Right now, it’s all about putting in work."

Russell Wilson looks like his wedding night with Ciara was everything he dreamed of and more.

The newlyweds couldn't possibly have looked more drained on their way out of their hotel following their wedding in Liverpool.

They famously said they planned to be celibate until marriage. Check out the gallery -- everything about them says ... worth the wait.

Iggy Azalea now thinks Nick Young can share the blame for their breakup ... with a particular type of person.

We got Iggy at LAX after her flight from Australia -- hours after her epic one finger salute -- and when she was asked what's next, she had a very interesting response.

Now we know what she's looking for in a man. It's also clear she's pissed about Nick's situation -- being a father -- and thinks that's ultimately what opened the door for that other situation. Y'know ... Keonna.

Jon Jones wept openly while insisting he never knowingly cheated by taking performance-enhancing drugs, and vowed to return to the UFC.

Surprisingly, Jones opened his news conference by apologizing to Daniel Cormier for ruining their long-awaited rematch that was supposed to go down Saturday at UFC 200.

Jones says he "can't even pronounce" the drug the UFC says showed up in a blood test he took in June. He would not say the drug by name, but said he has no idea how it ended up in his system.

Jones says he will "go through the process" and try to find out what caused the dirty test. He admitted to taking a few supplements, but said he didn't think they were performance-enhancing.

At one point, he got so emotional, he walked out of the room. He returned several minutes later, but then couldn't hold back tears when he was asked if he'd spoken to Cormier.