TMZ Sports - Page 50

The child Dikembe Mutombo flew to the U.S. to remove a massive tumor from his face has sadly died after he suffered a "rare and unpredictable genetic reaction to anesthesia" during surgery ... TMZ has learned.

8-year-old Matadi Sela Petit from the Democratic Republic of Congo died Friday night after complications from his delicate surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. ... according to The Dikembe Mutombo Foundation.

The foundation says ... "We are devastated by the loss of Matadi and our heart goes out to his father, his mother and the rest of his family, and all his old and new friends."

We broke the story ... Matadi went into cardiac arrest during his surgery and was transferred to the ICU, but we didn't know why his operation wasn't completed. Now we know it was due to his bad reaction to the anesthesia, but despite the best efforts of his medical staff ... he was never able to recover.

Matadi's operation was led by Dr. Ryan Osborne from Cedars-Sinai. Dr. Osborne volunteered his services, after being inspired by the good work of Mutumbo. The family had been staying at the Ronald McDonald House since arriving in Los Angeles last week.

As we showed you ... the former NBA star flew Matadi to the U.S. a week ago for free surgery in hopes of removing the life-threatening, massive tumor on his face. We captured their meeting at LAX.

Mutombo told us the boy had been shunned in society -- pulled out of school and secluded to his home -- because of his condition, so he wanted to help him out.

His foundation says Matadi was "was a pioneer, and his memory will inspire us to continue to develop efforts and partnerships to improve the lives of the children of the Democratic Republic of the Congo."

He was 8 years old.

Logan Paul hates everything about the wrestling story out of New Jersey, where a white referee forced a black high school wrestler to cut his dreadlocks before his match ... and says that ref should be out of a job for good.

We asked the YouTube star for his thoughts on the incident as he leaving The Cheesecake Factory in Beverly Hills Friday, and he summed it up pretty good, saying ... "That's f***ed!"

Paul was a stud wrestler himself back in H.S., and tells us he was never asked to cut his hair, so he thinks it's ridiculous Andrew Johnson was put in that position ... and feels badly for him.

As we reported ... NJ state athletic officials are investigating the ref, Alan Maloney, and he will not be working any matches while they do so. Maloney had previously been disciplined for making a racist comment in 2016, and obviously many believe what he did to Johnson was racially motivated.

Al Sharpton is calling out Travis Scott for agreeing to perform at the Super Bowl ... in fact, he's calling him a hypocrite.

We got the Reverend Friday in a rainy NYC, and he couldn't be stronger ... he says Travis is betraying the NFL boycott by drawing people to the game by his presence with Maroon 5 during the halftime show.

Sharpton feels strongly that people need to turn their backs on the NFL for what they did to Colin Kaepernick and others who expressed themselves by taking a knee to protest injustice.

The white referee who ordered a black high school wrestler to either cut his hair or forfeit the match is now being investigated by NJ state athletic officials, TMZ Sports has learned.

And, while the investigation is active, sources tell us the referee will NOT be working any matches.

The incident involves Buena Regional High School athlete Andrew Johnson -- who was seen on video getting his dreadlocks chopped off before a match this week.

In the footage, Johnson looks distraught. People are furious, claiming the ultimatum was racially motivated since the ref, Alan Maloney, has previously been disciplined for making a racist comment in 2016.

The way it's being explained to us ... Maloney has not been formally suspended or disciplined for the Johnson incident, but officials feel it's best to keep him off the mat while they gather information.

A source connected to Maloney tells us his position is that he was merely enforcing a rule about hair maintenance -- and insists race was not a factor.

Meanwhile, we spoke with a rep for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association -- which oversees high school sports in NJ -- a who gave us the following statement.

"The NJSIAA has been in direct contact with school officials and is now awaiting official incident reports. A report also has been requested from the referee involved. In addition – and as per its formal sportsmanship policy – the NJSIAA has provided initial information to the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights and will continue to send updates as they become available."

"At this point, the NJSIAA is working to determine the exact nature of the incident and whether an infraction occurred."

"As a precautionary measure, given the degree of attention being focused on this matter, the NJSIAA will recommend to chapter officials that the referee in question not be assigned to any event until this matter has been reviewed more thoroughly in order to avoid potential distractions for the competing wrestlers."

LeBron James railed on the NFL, saying the owners are a bunch of white guys who treat their players with extreme disrespect.

LeBron made the comments on his HBO show, "The Shop," contrasting the football league with the NBA. James said, "In the NFL they got a bunch of old white men owning teams and they got that slave mentality ... and it's a little like, 'This is my team. You do what the f*** I tell y'all to do. Or we get rid of y'all.'"

The Lakers star is clearly referring in part to Colin Kaepernick allegedly getting blackballed by NFL owners who were outraged by the kneeling movement the QB triggered.

Jermell Charlo says he's down to fight Conor McGregor for his next big scrap ... and tells TMZ Sports it can be boxing OR MMA!!!

"We always on standby," Charlo says ... "Especially for an MMA fight. Why not?!"

Of course ... Conor's next opponent IS up in the air after he got mauled by Khabib in October -- and Charlo's also lookin' for a fight after he takes on Tony Harrison Saturday night.

So, could it happen? Maybe ... especially 'cause Charlo seems down to sweeten the pot by steppin' out of the ring and into the Octagon.

"It's wherever he want to fight. Conor's a grown man. He knows what to do. And, he knows who to call!"

DC Young Fly says he's down with Maroon 5 and Travis Scott performing at halftime of the Super Bowl ... but he still feels the NFL made a huge mistake by passing over Atlanta rappers.

The 'Wild 'N Out' star isn't going full Jay-Z -- trying to talk Travis out of performing -- but he supports Colin Kaepernick and thinks the NFL is slapping ATL in the face by snubbing its hip-hop scene ... and he warns a TON of people are gonna raise hell when the big game comes to town.

We broke the story ... the "SICKO MODE" rapper will join M5 at the big show. Travis' new gig is drawing praise and scorn.

DC makes it clear his beef is not with Travis ... he suggests two music icons should join the show and ease tensions in Hotlanta. Hint: think gospel.

UFC star Aljamain Sterling says the haircut incident with high school wrestler Andrew Johnson is "so f*cked up" ... but he was so impressed with the kid, he wants to train him personally.

"It's so messed up on so many levels," Sterling tells TMZ Sports ... "I felt bad."

Sterling says he's spent a lot of time coaching high school wrestling and has NEVER seen a situation where an athlete was forced to cut his hair.

In fact, Sterling says if he was the coach that day, he would have pulled his team out of the gym in protest and forfeited the rest of the match.

"We're not gonna stand for no sh*t like this," Sterling says.

The good news ... Sterling trains with other huge UFC stars like Al Iaquinta and Chris Weidman with the Serra-Longo fight team in Long Island, NY -- not too far from Johnson's high school in New Jersey.

Everybody in New England, chill ... 'cause Tom Brady is NOT in decline and the Patriots are STILL the favorites to win the Super Bowl -- so says Asante Samuel.

Of course, the ex-Pats corner is biased ... dude played with TB12 and Bill Belichick for five seasons -- but he says Tom's been just too good for too long to write him off now.

"It's never the end of a dynasty as long as they've got TB," Samuel tells TMZ Sports ... "TB is the man!"

There ain't a lot of NFL experts that would agree right now ... New England's lost two in a row and is in danger of not having a playoff bye for the first time since 2009.

But, Samuel says it's gonna be all right ... 'cause No. 12 is still under center.

"Tom has never let me down as a fan of him. And, I would imagine he's never let any other fans down. So, you just keep believing in him."

In fact ... Samuel is so confident in the G.O.A.T. -- he tells us he's still putting his money on New England to win the Super Bowl in February!!!

Michael Rapaport has no business suing anyone for saying he has herpes ... because he himself has said it ... according to the countersuit Barstool Sports just filed against the actor.

Barstool is firing back at Rapaport's September lawsuit against them, saying it's impossible to defame the guy because his reputation's already "so badly tarnished that it cannot be harmed any further." In the docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, Barstool points out Michael commented on a 2015 photo of himself, saying, it "looks like" I have "a herpe."

Of course, the Barstool guys included the photo as an exhibit in their lawsuit.

For the record, Michael said in his lawsuit he "does not suffer from herpes."

Barstool Prez Dave Portnoy told us back in September, Rapaport "claims to be the king of trash talk and then cries when people respond in kind." Now, he's included tons of examples of that in the docs. For example, Barstool calls out Michael for calling a sports show host a "twinkie-eating f**k boy" and a producer for the show a "Long Island Jew."

In the suit, they also include social media posts where MR caught flak for racist comments about 'Real Housewives' star Kenya Moore ... and sexist comments about Fox News host Laura Ingraham. According to the docs, he also called a female sports reporter a "rail thin, no ass ... looking to get piped at an R. Kelly concert ... backstage and at the hotel."

You get their point ... Rapaport's no choir boy, and has said enough vile things to make him defamation-proof.

And, Barstool insists it did NOT breach his contract by firing him -- quite the opposite. In docs, they say his contract included a clause that allowed for his firing if he put Barstool in "public disrepute" with his public comments ... including several about Barstool staffers.

Barstool is suing Rapaport to get back the $400k it paid him.

Sorry, Nick Foles ... even though you've got the Philly train back on track (again) -- Carson Wentz is STILL the Eagles' future ... so says Ron Jaworski.

The legendary Eagles quarterback says there is no QB controversy in his mind ... telling us despite Foles rescuing Philly yet again this season -- Carson's still the man.

"Carson Wentz is the Eagles' future," Jaws tells TMZ Sports.

In fact ... Ron says he believes the team thinks so highly of Wentz -- they'll let Foles walk in the offseason to another team.

"I believe his next opportunity will be somewhere else, not in Philadelphia," Jaworski says.

Don't get it twisted ... Ron LOVES Nick, saying what the QB has done for the Eagles is "legendary" -- and he even wore a St. Nick tie in the QB's honor!!

Middleweight mauler Jermall Charlo says the big fight he wants next is Canelo Alvarez ... because when it comes down to it Canelo is bigger and better than Gennady Golovkin.

Most agree that Jermall is on the cusp of superstardom ... but he needs one huge fight to catapult him from a boxing star to a household name.

A win over GGG or Canelo would probably do the trick ... but when we talked to JC in NYC, he said he wants one guy -- the better guy -- much more than the other.

"Canelo seems to be the better fighter right? He won the fight right? He beat him right? So I wanna fight the 28-year-old so-called stud."

Not everyone agrees with Charlo BTW ... there are many people who think GGG won BOTH fights, and was robbed each time by judges who favored the younger, more popular fighter.

In any case, Charlo has some work to do before he gets his shot at Canelo, squaring off against Matt Korobov in Brooklyn this Saturday, but is DESPERATE for a bigger fight.

Farrah Abraham backed down from a fight in the ring, but now she's going to have to duke it out in court with the promoter who claims she screwed him over ... and took his money.

As we reported ... Farrah refused to fight in a charity celeb boxing match in Atlantic City in November, because she claimed she was promised a bunch of freebies including travel and hotel rooms, but the promoter, Damon Feldman, didn't deliver.

Feldman's throwing the first legal punch though ... claiming Abraham took cash upfront, signed a contract and falsely promoted she was fighting in the match. He's suing for $12,000.

The boxing promoter also recently threatened to take legal action against Farrah for defamation for talking trash about the event after she backed out, but there's no mention of that in the legal docs.

You may recall ... Farrah was replaced in the bout by "Mob Wives" star Natalie DiDonato, but she already has another challenger threatening to beat her ass.

Farrah's manager, David Weintraub, tells us, "We are truly wishing Damon the best with his frivolous lawsuit. Everyone must realize this guy broke his own contract with us & runs this 'so called' business out of his studio apartment and doing 'basement style event fights' that no one watches."

He continues, "He should work a little harder to pay for travel/accommodations for the talent and team and then perhaps the talent will actually come. Get ready for the counter suit from Farrah."

Yankees star CC Sabathia underwent heart surgery earlier this month ... but New York GM Brian Cashman says, thankfully, the pitcher is expected to be okay.

"We are thankful that CC was smart enough to convey his symptoms to our medical staff ... We are also encouraged that the procedure CC underwent was performed as planned."

Sabathia reportedly needed an angioplasty -- a procedure where docs unblocked an artery in the former ace's heart -- after experiencing acid reflux, heartburn and other symptoms.

It's good news for the pitcher that he caught the signs early ... 'cause The Athletic reports Sabathia could have been in danger of suffering a heart attack if his blockage had gone undiscovered.

Cashman says the team expects Sabathia to make a full recovery and report in time for the team's 2019 spring training in Tampa.

UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley is FIRED UP over the high school wrestling ref who made a black kid cut his dreadlocks before a match ... and he's calling for NJ officials to FIRE HIS ASS.

Before dominating the UFC, Tyron was an All-American wrestler at the Univ. of Missouri ... and before that, he was a FORCE in the high school wrestling community.

Tyron tells TMZ Sports ... the ref, Alan Maloney, should have been fired years ago when he reportedly made a racist comment to an African-American man back in 2016.

Woodley's bigger issue is he's sick of people with a history of racist behavior being allowed to have positions of authority. And, that includes police officers.

As for the recent incident with high school wrestler Andrew Johnson, Tyron thinks the way the high school wrestling community handles hair maintenance ... specifically with black athletes ... is ridiculous.

Forget Santa Claus ... Mike Evans is the real Christmas MVP -- at least, that's the case in Tampa Bay, 'cause the WR's gifts to his Bucs teammates caused everyone to lose their minds!!!

The NFL superstar got his squad their own custom Bird scooters for the holidays -- complete with every player's last name AND number ... and yeah, it was a hit in the locker room.

"This is what you call an ultimate teammate!! You feel me?!" offensive lineman Donovan Smith screamed.

"This is what you call an ultimate teammate!! My boy, Money Mike, baby!! Where you at, Mike?!?!"

Evans was mobbed by his teammates ... who couldn't wait to give the receiver some skin as a thanks for the electric wheels.

"Appreciate it, Mike!!" added rookie D-lineman Vita Vea.

We know what you're thinking -- 53 players on a roster and around $500 a scooter -- but don't worry about it ... Evans is in the middle of a 5-year, $82.5 MILLION contract!!!