TMZ Sports - Page 50

Rihanna may have moved on to Lewis Hamilton (sorry, Matt Barnes) but her ex, Karim Benzema is displaying no lack of swag -- copping a RIDICULOUS $250k symbol of his love ... for soccer.

Benzema hooked up with celebrity jewelers Dave Bling and Will Da Boss of DWS Jewerly and Co. -- who tell us Karim wanted a show piece for a new home, so they just whipped up a little 1,250 carat, life-sized soccer ball!

The ball features 72,000 colored diamonds, and Bling says the piece will be "a definite conversation starter when company arrives" at the Real Madrid superstar's crib.

CC Sabathia lost his temper outside a Toronto nightclub because Blue Jays fans were ripping him for his pitching ability.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... the Yankees star's friends had to hold him back from a street brawl that erupted early Saturday morning after game 1 of the Yanks-Jays series. CC copped to making a bad decision and added, "They caught me at a bad time."

He also said the hecklers got "a little bit" personal with their jabs at his skills, but they didn't make it racial. He downplayed his involvement, saying ... "It was literally 25 seconds of me and then I was gone."

CC's biggest concern wasn't talking to Yankees brass about the fight ... but explaining it to his kid -- "That's the toughest part: 'Dad had a bad night. Made a bad decision. Sometimes these things happen.'"

Good thing Donald Trump hasn't ripped into Portuguese immigrants -- the country's greatest export ... Cristiano Ronaldo just dropped a fortune to live in Trump Tower.

The $18.5 mil purchase got the Real Madrid forward a 2,500 sq ft loft in the midtown skyscraper. Cristiano's pad used belong to Italian real estate mogul and Trump biz partner, Alessandro Proto.

The purchase has soccer rumor mill buzzing that CR is about to join one of the NY area MLS teams -- New York City FC or the Red Bulls.

The Patriots cheerleaders' cleavage looks way more impressive today -- the women got draped in serious Super Bowl ice last night ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Patriots sources tell us the cheer squad had a private ceremony Sunday at Gillette Stadium ... where they were presented with massive diamond-encrusted pendants, featuring 4 Lombardi trophies and the team logo.

The back of the pendant is engraved with the very inclusive message, "We are all Patriots."

Russell Wilson showed another Seattle team some love while showing off his girlfriend, Ciara, and his family having a great time together at a WNBA game.

Ciara and Russell went to a Seattle Storm game with his mother Tammy and his sister Anna ... who recently committed to Stanford, where she's going to play basketball

Ciara was repping her quarterback boo's signature #3 hat ... first comes his hat, next comes a marriage? Then they can finally get down to business.

1:30 PM PT -- Sabathia says he regrets making a "bad decision" by trying to get involved in the fight.

Yankees star CC Sabathia was leaving a Toronto nightclub when a massive fight broke out ... and several people had to hold him back from the action.

Nia Peeples is ditching her husband and she wants to keep the trailer they rode in on.

Nia filed for divorce from professional surfer Sam George, and in her docs she says the home on wheels is hers. Maybe that's a little misleading ... the "trailer" is actually a fancy Malibu mobile home which has an ocean view and is valued at $875,000.

The "Pretty Little Liars" star also wants to keep her 2005 Honda Element but she's ok with him keeping his pickup.

Diddy is opening up about getting banned from UCLA football practices -- in the wake of his scrap with a coach -- but he's not quite ready to talk kettlebells.

Diddy went on "The Breakfast Club" ... and insisted he simply went "to communicate" with strength training coach Sal Alosi. But you gotta see what happens when Charlamagne Tha God whipped out a kettlebell to, uh ... jog Diddy's memory.

Diddy claims, "It was just a miscommunication." As we reported ... his son, Justin Combs, is back practicing with the team, but Diddy admits he won't be on the sidelines anymore -- "As I know right now, I'm not allowed."

It would be tough for Jason Day to top winning half a grand slam -- until you take a closer look at his smoking hot wife.

Ellie Day was right by Jason's side to celebrate his PGA Championship victory in Wisconsin on Sunday ... just like the U.S. Open in June. We'll say this -- if she's gonna be there, we're all for Jason going on a serious win streak.

Even with their toddler son in some of the pics -- Ellie wins.

A woman hoisting the NBA Championship trophy is not a movie plot -- Kenneth Faried believes it can happen ... and soon, because there will be a female head coach.

The Denver Nuggets superstar was at JaVale McGee's Celebrity Softball game at UCLA this weekend ... where he openly said our photog was "crazy" for suggesting some NBA players might not be down with having a female head coach.

Check it out ... KF was more passionate than any other player we've gotten talking about Becky Hammons' success as an assistant coach with the Spurs -- and explains why he strongly believes she can be much more.

Dwayne Johnson would be nearly unrecognizable, if you met him back in his college days -- because he was more like 'The Wallflower' than "The Rock" ... according to his old teammate Finesse Mitchell.

The SNL alum -- who, yes, played football at Da U with Dwayne -- says DJ was overshadowed by much bigger personalities ... like Warren Sapp. We got Finesse at The Grove in L.A., and he said both guys were beasts on the field ... but when it comes being the life of the party -- it was no contest.

In fact, the way Finesse describes it ... NO ONE could've predicted Dwayne would be the Hollywood superstar he is today.

2:55 PM PT -- Rihanna, clearly a TMZ Sports fan, just shot Matt down via Instagram.

Matt Barnes is confounding ... he says the stories about him going on dates with Rihanna are all gossip, but then he says things could be going down the relationship road.

We got Matt out at the UCLA Softball Stadium Saturday when he said he and RiRi are just friends, but it could lead to something. Interesting, because it sure seems like she's dating Lewis Hamilton.

He went as far as saying it doesn't matter that he plays for Memphis, because she has a jet.

Our sources say Matt and Rihanna were out on 2 dates fairly recently.

Milwaukee Brewers 1st baseman David Denson announced he's gay -- the first Major League Baseball affiliated player to do so -- and he says his teammates are showing full support for him.

Lil Eazy-E got in Snoop Dogg's grill about UCLA football ... days before Snoop's son Cordell Broadus bailed -- but he says the Doggfather kept the whole thing on the QT.

We broke the news about Cordell quitting Bruins football to Lil E and he was shocked and heartbroken. Shocked because he was just "talking mess" about the USC-UCLA rivalry to Snoop at the "Straight Outta Compton" premiere last week.

Khloe Kardashian clearly didn't have Lamar Odom on her mind Friday night when she partied in Houston to celebrate James Harden's birthday.

The two were at Aristocratlifes Engineroom for Harden's upcoming 25th ... and we're told the two were VERY close through the whole event -- dancing together for several hours.

Harden celebrated with other NBA players Zach Randolph and Pat Beverley and there were posters congratulating him on his $200 million Adidas deal throughout the venue.

You might remember ... it was earlier this week where Khloe was allegedly ambushed by ex-hubby Lamar Odom outside of a Soul Cycle class.

One thing's for sure -- Khloe seems to have put Lamar behind her.

It's getting clearer by the day ... Lewis Hamilton is one lucky dude, because all signs point to a relationship with Rihanna.

The race car driver and Riri were partying at Griffin nightclub Friday, in NYC's Meatpacking District.

It seems it's all on the QT, because they arrived separately. But they've been at the same place in enough towns and countries lately to fuel rumors.

They were both at 1OAK in NYC Tuesday, and partying in Barbados last week.