TMZ Sports - Page 50

Cris Cyborg is a living, breathing MMA legend who paved the way for women in mixed martial arts ... but her next fight, well it ain't gonna be in the cage, 'cause she wants to box!!

TMZ Sports talked to the 34-year-old Bellator featherweight champ -- the only fighter in history to hold titles in 4 major MMA promotions (UFC, Bellator, Strikeforce & Invicta FC) -- and when we asked Justino who she planned to beat up next, her answer was surprising.

"I'm training a lot in boxing now. I was thinking about maybe I do my next fight in boxing," Cyborg tells us.

Over her 15-year professional fighting career, Justino has NEVER competed in a boxing match ... but that doesn't mean she's looking for an easy opponent.

"Me and Cecilia Braekhus always talk back and forth. But, you know, I'm training," Cyborg says.

"I think everyone is gonna be a very good match for me. It's gonna be a great fight. I like to challenge myself. I never look for the easy way. I like to train hard, and make the best fight for my career, for my fans."

Braekhus is a BEAST!! She's 36-0 and is hands down one of the scariest women in the world ... but Cyborg isn't intimidated.

"I always compete in everything, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, MMA, jiu-jitsu, grappling. But, I never got the opportunity [to fight] Muay Thai, I never got the opportunity to fight box. For me, it's gonna be an honor to fight her."

For the record, Cyborg says Bellator boss Scott Coker is cool with her move to pugilism ... and Cris says this move doesn't mean she's done fighting MMA.

But, before anyone beats each other up, the world has to beat coronavirus ... and Cyborg's doing her part to keep people healthy and fit by leading online workout classes during the quarantine.

Lose weight AND learn to beat somebody's ass ... all from the comfort of your living room.

Matt Patricia, listen up ... Cliff Avril says if you want to keep your job as Detroit Lions coach -- PASS ON TUA TAGOVAILOA!!

Don't get it twisted ... the ex-Lions star tells TMZ Sports he thinks Tua's got a bright future -- but he says because of the Bama QB's hip injury, he won't be able to help Detroit this season.

And, considering Patricia NEEDS wins in 2020 to extend his tenure in the Motor City ... Avril's advising him to stick with Matt Stafford and draft someone who can help right away.

"If we don't start winning some ball games, do I want to go off a young player who is coming out of college that has been injured or do I keep the veteran player that I have, and surround him with other great players?" Avril says.

"I would do that personally. I would leave Stafford there and surround him with some good players."

Of course, Cliff says Stafford -- who he played with early in his career -- can still sling it ... so the choice between the two shouldn't be a terribly difficult one for Patricia when the Lions are on the clock at No. 3 overall next month.

"I've played against him, I've been on his team, I've broken down film -- the man can throw the ball," Avril says of Stafford. "He can still put it out there. He can still play some football."

Fantasy baseball nerds, get your rankings out ... Oakland A's legend Dave Stewart tells TMZ Sports rookie Jesus Luzardo is going to have such a huge year, he's a Cy Young dark horse!!

"Luzardo, I think coming into this season obviously is the odds-on favorite to win the Rookie Of the Year," Stewart says. "And, I don't hesitate to take it a little bit further -- I wouldn't be surprised to see him as a Cy Young candidate."

If you haven't heard of Luzardo yet ... you probably should have, because the 22-year-old is arguably the top pitching prospect in baseball and appears poised for a monster first full season in the MLB.

In fact, in just 8.1 innings of spring training ball last month, before the MLB suspended play due to coronavirus ... Luzardo struck out 13 while walking 1 and only giving up 1 earned run.

When we asked Stewart about the kid ... he couldn't have loved the prospect's game more -- but says another rookie on the A's staff is going to impress as well!

"What's a shame is you've got also A.J. Puk," Stewart says. "So, you've got Puk and Luzardo, and they're going to be competing with each other for that Rookie of the Year."

Leave it to Jeff Lowe to let the cats out of the bag -- there's a bonus episode of 'Tiger King' coming to Netflix.

Joe Exotic's ex-business partner spilled the tea -- yet again -- during a cameo video message for Dodgers star Justin Turner. Jeff and his wife, Lauren, say they heard Justin was a big fan of the docuseries. They gave him a good ribbing about that, and then dropped the bombshell.

Jeff says Netflix producers will be shooting at his home on Sunday, and the footage will be used for a new episode dropping next week.

Makes sense Netflix would strike while the iron's piping hot. The series is Netflix's #1 show right now, and there are endless loose ends to address.

For instance, Jeff was raided by the feds last year ... something mentioned at the end of 'Tiger King,' but with no further detail. Only makes sense, the guy who snitched on Joe Exotic had to be the one to blab about the new episode.

Astros ace Justin Verlander is about to be donating a boatload of money for the next couple months to coronavirus charities -- and a lot of people have radically differing thoughts on it.

The pitcher and his wife, Kate Upton, took to IG Saturday to announce ... in light of the MLB continuing to pay its players for at least the next couple months -- per Justin himself -- he says he and Kate have decided to donate those funds toward COVID-19 relief efforts.

They say they'll choose different charities each week for each check, and announce them on their pages. There are tons to choose from these days, so no shortage of good orgs.

Now, time for some math ... 'cause Justin's donations are going to be staggering based on the numbers of his most recent contract with the 'Stros. He got signed to a 2-year, $66 million extension recently (good through the '20 and '21 seasons) and if you break that down -- it's about $634k a week. If he donates for two months ... $5 mil, more or less.

Probably more.

As for how folks received this very gesture ... a truly mixed bag, with lots of people responding drastically different depending on whose feed you check. If you hop on over to Justin's IG page, it seems to be nothing but love in his comments. Not so on Twitter ...

Vanessa Bryant just told the world how proud she is of Kobe, who has been honored as the next Basketball Hall of Fame inductee.

Vanessa sat with daughter Natalia as she fought back tears, saying how proud she was of Kobe's posthumous accomplishment.

Kobe will be inducted as part of the class of 2020, and Vanessa says it's the pinnacle of her late husband's storied NBA career, that spanned 20 years with the Lakers.

Vanessa says, "It's an incredible accomplishment and honor, and we're extremely proud of him. Obviously, we wish he was here with us to celebrate, but it's definitely the peak of his NBA career and every accomplishment that he had as an athlete was a stepping stone to be here."

WWE legend Mark Henry believes WrestleMania 36 will be the most-watched U.S. sporting event EVER ... telling TMZ Sports the 2-night show could get 200 MILLION VIEWERS!!!

"What can WrestleMania do, two days?! Livestreaming and watching a network?! That could be 200 MILLION people watching," Henry says.

Let that sink in.

To compare, the most-watched Super Bowl is XLIX, which reportedly attracted 114 million. The only other U.S. TV event to beat that was the moon landing with an estimated 125-150 million tuning in.

Of course, there have been major changes to this year's WrestleMania due to the coronavirus pandemic ... with Vince McMahon's org. electing to keep fans home and splitting the Rob Gronkowski-hosted event into 2 nights.

We spoke with Henry about the different approach this year ... and he thinks this could be a monumental moment in sports history.

"I think 20 years from now, we'll talk about this moment in history and it will be like 'hey man, the only thing that was on television during that time was pro wrestling,'" Henry tells us.

Henry points out the massively successful IG Live DJ set by D-Nice that helped people from Drake to Michelle Obama to Rihanna pass the time in quarantine ... and thinks WrestleMania can fill a similar void for people in desperate need of sports content.

FYI -- the most-watched WrestleMania is 33 ... which was reportedly seen by 1.95 million people. So yeah, Henry thinks this will SHATTER that record.

Remember, he says this year could get 200 MILLION.

Warren Moon tells TMZ Sports he can't figure out how in the hell the Texans sent DeAndre Hopkins packing last month ... saying, "You just don't trade away your best players like that."

"I was really shocked," Moon said of the Cardinals-Texans swap. "Because you just don't trade one of the best receivers in football."

If you missed it ... Bill O'Brien committed an all-time blunder jettisoning Hopkins and a 4th-round pick to Arizona for David Johnson, a 2nd-rounder and future 4th a couple weeks ago.

The move was universally panned on social media ... and when we spoke with Moon on Wednesday -- he says he's with the majority of the football world on this one.

"A guy who's been a perennial All-Pro the last three or four years," Moon says. "Still productive. He still has two or three years left on his contract. So, I'm tryna figure out why?"

In fact, Warren says he believes the trade was so one-sided ... even O'Brien's own quarterback, superstar Deshaun Watson, has to be pissed over the move!

"I'm sure behind-the-scenes, he's very disappointed that he had a weapon like that taken away from him," Moon says.

Terrell Davis says he's hyped that his former team, the Denver Broncos, signed Melvin Gordon ... telling TMZ Sports Gordon is a talented running back -- and BIG!

The L.A. Chargers clearly didn't think so ... they let the 215-pound RB go after 5 seasons -- giving the Broncos the opportunity to sign the 26-year-old to a 2-year deal worth $16 MIL last month.

"When you can get a guy as talented as Melvin, ya know you always would like to add that to your backfield," the former Broncos champ says.

And, the Broncos already have a pretty decent running core with Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman ... but Davis tells us they were still lacking a dominant guy.

"They got three real good running backs and Melvin's big," Davis tells us. "I think he provides that big physical back that the Broncos didn't have and as well, he can catch."

"They seem like they're gonna be an offense that's gonna use the backs a lot more in the passing game."

Davis says there's a bonus to signing Gordon as well ... it will take the pressure off their young QB, Drew Lock.

"Well, what you would ask somebody like Melvin is to be able to take some of the load off the quarterback, so it's not just every down. It can't be predicted," Davis says.