TMZ Sports - Page 50

Khabib Nurmagomedov's father -- who trained the UFC star for most of his life -- is reportedly fighting for this life in a Russian military hospital ... where he's said to be in a medically-induced coma.

Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov is VERY close with his superstar son -- they've traveled together to meet Vladimir Putin on multiple occasions following Khabib's high profile victories in the UFC.

But, the 57-year-old Dagestani reportedly fell ill at the end of April after coming down with pneumonia ... and things have gone from bad to worse.

Multiple reports say Abdulmanap was initially treated in Dagestan -- but was later flown to Moscow in early May where he is now under the care of specialists.

UFC fighter Islam Makhachev -- who's close with Khabib -- confirmed the situation ... saying, "[Abdulmanap] is in Moscow. He is in critical condition."

UFC president Dana White has also issued a statement.

"Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov is a true martial artist who lives a life of pride, honor and respect," White said.

"He instilled those same values in his son, world champion Khabib, at an early age and was always in his corner throughout his career."

"I know how close Khabib is with his father and I’m saddened to hear about his current state. My thoughts are with Abdulmanap and the Nurmagomedov family as he continues to fight."

We've reached out to Khabib's camp for comment -- but so far, no word back.

Did you know Barry Zito had a hell of a curveball AND an amazing voice?!?!

It's true ... the former World Series champ sang his face off all season on "The Masked Singer" -- with his voice even making Nicole Sherzinger cry before he was eliminated from the show Wednesday!!

The 42-year-old sang a rendition of Tim McGraw's "Humble And Kind" under the guise of The Rhino ... and it was so good, the Pussycat Dolls star was moved to tears.

Check out the footage ... Zito's twangy sound really had Nicole wiping away the waterworks!!

But, as it turns out, even that wasn't enough to save the former Cy Young winner from elimination ... he was booted from the show just short of making next week's finale.

Of course, it was a valiant effort from the ex-San Francisco Giant ... he finished in fourth place, and the judges praised him for being super authentic throughout the competition!!

BTW, Zito's been doing the music thing for a while -- and told us back in 2017 why he hopes to add a Grammy to his trophy case one day.

Also, don't feel too bad for Barry about the exit -- it's pretty much the only L Zito is taking in 2020 ... he just had a new baby, and his family is cute as hell!!

UFC stud Anthony Smith didn't just lose his fight Wednesday -- he lost his teeth -- spittin' chiclets during his war with Glover Teixeira.

31-year-old Smith started off strong -- but 40-year-old Glover asserted his dominance in the later rounds ... beating up Smith so badly, he was literally knocking out Anthony's teeth.

At one point, you could see Smith trying to grab a tooth off the Octagon mat to hand to the referee.

"I couldn’t keep my mouthpiece in place due to the missing tooth,” Smith told ESPN's Ariel Helwani after the fight.

"I looked down and it was on the canvas. So, I grabbed it and handed it to him."

The refs eventually stopped the fight in the 5th round after Smith had taken major damage.

Smith was later diagnosed with several major injuries including a broken nose, fractured eye socket and a gash under his right eye.

He also lost TWO teeth during the scrap -- one front tooth and another one from the back of his mouth.

During the broadcast, you could hear Smith telling his corner, "My teeth are falling out."

Many people -- including Daniel Cormier (who was calling the fight) -- went after Smith's corner for not throwing in the towel.

"I would have stopped the fight, corner could have saved their guy from getting finished," DC said.

Bad news for Conor McGregor ... Justin Gaethje will NOT agree to fight the Irishman before he gets his title shot with Khabib Nurmagomedov, this according to Justin's manager.

Conor has been trying to bait Gaethje into a big-time showdown on Fight Island in July -- calling out Justin on social media and threatening to kill him.

But, we spoke with Gaethje's rep, Ali Abdelaziz, who tells us the trash talk strategy just won't work -- Justin's already focusing on fighting Khabib next ... and there's absolutely NO SHOT at changing his mind.

"Khabib will never -- NEVER -- pass Justin Gaethje for Conor. Even if he made more money," Ali says.

"Justin Gaethje has so much integrity, he will never tell the UFC, 'Oh, I'm gonna fight Conor, forget about Khabib.' [Justin] wants to be a champion."

What's interesting ... Ali also represents Khabib -- so it's an easy fight for everyone (including the UFC) to make once the contracts are drawn up.

Plus, with UFC president Dana White recently saying he'd like to see Justin take on Khabib on Fight Island in June, it all but sinks Conor's plans.

Ali also tells TMZ Sports ... Khabib also has ZERO interest in fighting Conor because he feels McGregor has not earned the opportunity for a rematch.

"If [Conor] thinks he's gonna sit out and fight the winner [of Gaethje vs. Khabib] ... NO."

"Especially, if Khabib wins. Khabib said no. [Conor] needs more wins."

Ali added, "The UFC is not boxing. The best will fight the best and at this point [Justin and Khabib are] the two best guys."

That doesn't mean Justin isn't down to fight Conor down the road ... but for right now, he's got his eyes on the prize.

There's more ... we also asked Ali about Tony Ferguson -- who's beefed with "El Cucuy" over the years -- and Gaethje's manager says it's time for Ferguson to stop fighting.

"I believe, no disrespect to nobody, when you take this ass whooping that Tony Ferguson took, he's never gonna be the same."

Abdelaziz says Tony has a wife and kids ... and needs to stay healthy for them.

"This guy has a family. I don't want to see him drinking soup from a straw."

"If he was my guy, I'd be like, 'Yo, you gotta retire.'"

Vince McMahon claims ex-XFL commissioner Oliver Luck "abandoned" his duties when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March ... and that's one of the main reasons Vince fired him, according to court documents.

Remember, Oliver Luck sued Vince McMahon back in April, claiming he was wrongfully terminated from his role as the commish and CEO of the XFL on April 9.

In his initial court docs, Luck redacted many of the details behind his allegations.

But now, Vince's attorney has filed his own court docs spelling out the reasons McMahon axed Luck. The details have now been made public.

First, McMahon claims Luck "effectively abandoned his responsibilities" on March 13 by shutting down the XFL offices in Connecticut ... and instead, working from home in Indiana.

McMahon claims Luck failed to "devote substantially all of his business time to his XFL duties as required by the contract."

Second, McMahon claims Luck approved signing ex-NFL receiver Antonio Callaway without first getting approval from Vince.

By the way, Callaway had previously been suspended by the NFL for violating the league's substance-abuse policy. McMahon claims he ordered Luck to cut Callaway immediately -- but Luck refused.

Luck's argument, according to court docs, is that Callaway didn't violate the XFL's personal conduct policy.

Third, McMahon claims Luck misused an XFL-issued iPhone -- using the phone for personal reasons when it was supposed to be exclusively used for work.

For his part, Luck claims McMahon's allegations are bogus and he's digging in his heels on the argument he was wrongfully terminated.

As for the COVID-19 allegation, Luck claims he simply couldn't return to Connecticut because the state had implemented a stay-at-home order on March 20, and he adhered by the mandate.

Luck claims he did everything he could to continue doing his job while sheltering-in-place.

Luck is demanding $23.8 million in salary and damages. He had signed a 5-year contract in 2018 with a $5 million annual salary and a $2 million bonus.

Sorry, Rams ... Eric Dickerson hates the new uniforms just as much as the new logos -- saying Wednesday the redesigned L.A. helmets look "horrible" and "terrible."

"It looks almost like a Chargers logo," the Rams legend said on AM570's "Lunchtime with Roggin And Rodney." "It looks like two bananas is what it looks like."

ED went in on the shoulder stripes as well as the lines on the pants ... and called the whole new look straight-up "soft."

"This is football," Dickerson said. "This ain't nothing to do with surfing. This ain't nothing to do with waves. This is football. This is a man's sport. And, to me, it just looks soft."

ED added, "It don't look football. It don't look hard."

The Rams unveiled several new uniform options for the 2020 season Wednesday ... showing off new blue, grey (or as they call it, "bone") and yellow kits that they appeared to be proud as hell of.

Of course, it should come as no surprise Dickerson crapped all over that party ... considering the dude MURDERED their logo unveiling a few weeks ago.

Remember, ED famously said the new Ram looked like a penis!!

Dickerson says he's voiced his concerns to team brass ... but he says there's just nothing they're willing to do about it now.

Robert Kraft is offering up one his most prized possessions to help raise money for COVID-19 relief ... putting his 283-diamond, Super Bowl LI championship ring on the auction block!!

The New England Patriots owner made the announcement Sunday ... accepting Michael Rubin's All In Challenge with one of the most enticing packages we've seen yet.

The bling is one of the biggest championship rings ever created ... weighing 5.1 carats and featuring 10-karat white gold and nearly 300 diamonds.

Of course, the jewelry has a very special meaning as well ... the Patriots earned it by completing the greatest Super Bowl comeback ever, beating the Falcons in 2017 after going down 28-3.

"We were down 28-3 and had a .04 chance of winning, 99.6 percent chance to lose," Kraft said. "And we came back, and we won."

"And I thought about what's going on at this time and wanted to give something of extreme value in support of our health care workers. So I thought it would be good to give this ring, our fifth Super Bowl win because it showed how we came back."

Kraft says he'll hand-deliver the ring to the auction's highest bidder in his personal trophy room ... and says if the winner is out of state, he'll send the team jet to pick them up!

That's not all ... RK says the trip will come with a personal tour of the Pats facilities -- and maybe even a few meals with the 78-year-old!!

Opening bid started at $75,000 ... but it's already reached $330k -- and could break a million by the time it ends later this month!!

Props for yet another awesome charitable move from Kraft during the coronavirus pandemic.

NFL superstar Von Miller is opening up about his battle with coronavirus ... saying he was so scared of the illness in its early stages -- the thought of dying entered his head.

"I wouldn’t say that I thought I was going to die or anything like that," Miller told the Washington Post this week, "but it did cross my mind a little bit."

The Denver Broncos pass rusher was diagnosed with COVID-19 back on April 16 ... and other than speaking about a cough and general malaise, Miller didn't publicly seem too concerned about the virus' effects on him.

But, in a new interview with the Washington Post ... Von says he was far more worried about his symptoms than he initially led on.

"I got asthma, but it was past the asthma attack -- like my lungs were constricting," Miller said. "My asthma nebulizer helped, but it still didn’t feel like it was supposed to."

"That was the most frightening part. Just going to sleep knowing that my oxygen level could drop and I could wake up and have to go to the hospital."

Miller claims he also lost his appetite and sense of smell and taste due to coronavirus ... adding, "The first four, five days I was honestly nervous."

Fortunately for Von, the 31-year-old was able to fight off the virus ... testing negative for COVID just a few days ago.

Boxing superstar Ryan Garcia tells TMZ Sports he's gunning for a 2-fight deal with Henry Cejudo -- one boxing, one MMA -- and he's ready to scrap on the 4th of July.

Garcia and Cejudo have been talking A LOT of trash to each other ever since the UFC superstar's surprise retirement after his victory over Dominick Cruz on Saturday night.

Cejudo called the undefeated 21-year-old boxer an "Oscar De La Hoya wannabe" ... and threatened, "I’d make you bend the knee in your own sport."

When we spoke with Garcia, King Ryan told us he's sick of talking -- he wants to fight already.

"Chicken Little, he got very disrespectful in my honest opinion," Garcia said.

"I came at him in a respectful way but he came at me in a disrespectful way so, in that regards, that needs to be handled."

"I haven't found an opponent for July 4th but I feel like we can make that happen if he really wants that work."

And, get this, Garcia says he has a secret weapon to help him lock up a deal with Cejudo -- TOM BRADY!!

"I'll hit up Tom," Ryan says ... "Me and him are cool. He's a partial owner of the UFC. I feel like he's a fan of both sports and I think he's a fan of both of us. I know he follows me and I know that that's gonna cause interest in him so I feel like I can hit him up and be like 'Lets make this happens' so I might do that today."

As for how the 2-fight deal would work, Ryan explained it to us this way ...

"First, we gotta have it in the boxing ring cause he called me out ... Once I knock him out, as a man I'll respect him enough and be like 'Aight, I'll hop into your thing now.'"

"There's no way he'll KO me in the Octagon. The only thing he'll ever do to me is submit me ... and I'm cool with that."

Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson do NOT have another bun in the oven, despite lots of speculation otherwise ... TMZ has learned.

While rumors and reports started swirling Wednesday morning saying Khloe was pregnant with the NBA star's child, our sources tell us that's not the case.

Sources close to Khloe tell TMZ ... she is NOT pregnant and the rumor mill started simply because eagle-eyed fans noticed she was posting a lot of pink flowers recently, which they mistook as a sign of another daughter on the horizon.

Fans also noted a lot of the photos and videos Khloe's been posting on social media are from the waist up or throwback pics ... but we're told it's not a sign she's actually expecting.

As you know ... Khloe and Tristan have one child together already, True Thompson, who recently celebrated her 2nd birthday.

Sounds like things are good between Khloe and TT, even though they don't live under the same roof ... our sources say they've been seeing each other from time to time during Cali's stay-at-home order because of their daughter, and the family celebrated Mother's Day together.

Khloe's still a mother of one ... and that's not changing any time soon.

COVID-19 fighters just got a super-charged lift from Ferrari ... the exotic sports car company announced it's built ventilators to help battle coronavirus!!

The guys who make the sweet vehicles say in just 5 weeks ... they designed and manufactured "reliable, versatile" and "easy to use and assemble" ventilators that are ready to be rolled out to hospitals soon.

Of course ... the machines weren't built with super parts from the legendary whips -- Ferrari execs say the ventilators needed to be constructed with normie equipment to make it easier to mass-produce.

Disappointing, we know ... but still -- AMAZING gesture!!!

Ferrari said in a statement Wednesday they partnered with the Italian Institute of Technology (ITT) to make the pieces ... which have been touted by Italian docs as "effective, advanced and performs well, while also being safe and durable."

Ferrari says the name of the equipment is FI5 ... F for Ferrari, I for ITT and 5 for "the number of weeks required to produce a fully functioning prototype, starting from a clean sheet of paper."

#BALLER!!!

It's been a year since LeSean McCoy ruined the ending to the insanely anticipated "Avengers: Endgame" movie ... and the NFL star is FINALLY apologizing for the huge mistake.

Of course, Shady infamously tweeted out "RIP my dog TONEY STARK" on April 26, 2019 -- before most people were able to check out the Marvel flick for themselves ... and instantly became Public Enemy No. 1 on social media.

BTW -- for those who haven't seen the flick, Iron Man dies at the end of "Avengers: Endgame." You've had a year to watch it. It's not our problem anymore.

McCoy was asked about the epic spoiler on "Good Morning Football" Wednesday ... and it's safe to say the dude will never live it down.

"That was the worst decision of my life, okay?"

"I didn't know like, the reaction of the people. I didn't know that. If I knew that, I would've never tweeted that. I didn't know that people really got into them cartoons like that." (yes, he called them "cartoons").

Shady says people STILL ask him why on earth he'd ruin the superhero saga while out in public ... but he's learned from his mistakes and will keep all spoilers in his drafts from now on.

"I apologize. It was terrible. It was a bad decision."

Huge news for NFL running back Mark Walton -- prosecutors have dropped the aggravated battery charge stemming from an alleged violent incident in Florida with his pregnant girlfriend.

"The case was dismissed," Walton's attorney, Michael A. Gottlieb, tells TMZ Sports.

When asked why prosecutors decided to drop the charge, he told us, "The only thing I'm going to say is after months of talking with prosecutors, this was the most appropriate way to resolve this case."

As we previously reported, the 23-year-old -- who played for the Miami Dolphins before the incident -- was facing 15 years in prison after allegedly attacking his pregnant girlfriend around 4 AM in November 2019.

The woman called 911 and told the operator straight-up -- "My boyfriend beat me up."

When cops arrived, the woman told officers Walton pushed her against a wall and punched her several times in the face and head, even though he KNEW she was 5 weeks pregnant.

A responding officer reported the woman had swelling on her left eye.

Walton was ultimately arrested and booked for aggravated battery against a pregnant person -- a 2nd-degree felony which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

But, during a hearing (over Zoom) on Wednesday, prosecutors formally dropped the case against Walton, Gottlieb says.

Walton isn't entirely out of the woods ... NFL Network's Ian Rapoport says the NFL is still investigating and he could be subject to league discipline if he signs with another team.

Michael Jordan's motivational name-calling wouldn't have worked with Udonis Haslem -- the Miami Heat star says he would've straight FOUGHT Jordan if he was ever called a "bitch."

"If I’m one of them people Mike talking to like that, I might put hands on Mike," Haslem said Tuesday during an IG Live with Richard Jefferson.

"I might put hands on Mike."

"And, I love Mike to death. Mike the greatest of all time. But, you can’t call me the b-word and the h-word."

"Nah, all right Mike. We gonna have to square off."

Of course, MJ let the expletives fly in an attempt to motivate his Chicago Bulls teammates in the '90s ... which was showcased in the most recent episodes of ESPN's "The Last Dance."

One of the targets of MJ's trash talk was ex-Bulls teammate Scott Burrell -- but when we spoke with SB this week, he said he's not mad about it at all!

"I loved it! I loved the way he pushed me, I loved the way he motivated me," Burrell said.

"I think Michael had different techniques maybe some people didn't think were great leadership qualities."

One person who did fight back -- Steve Kerr -- who famously punched MJ in the chest during a heated practice, only to get socked right back in his eye.

MJ later said he felt bad about beating up "the littlest guy on the f*cking court."

Haslem, on the other hand, is not a small guy -- he's 6'8", 235 pounds.