TMZ Sports - Page 50

Ryan Lochte has clearly been spinning out of control because after his drunken door kicking incident on the West Coast, he caused a bad car crash on the East Coast the very same day ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Lochte was driving in Gainesville, FL Thursday at around 9:45 PM when he rear ended a car.

Lochte had just landed in Gainsville after flying from Orange County, CA, where he drunkenly kicked in his hotel room door at around 3 AM. Cops were called, came to the hotel but no arrests were made. Lochte settled up with the hotel and smoothed things over.

As for the car crash, according to the police report, Lochte was driving his Porsche to his home when he realized he was about to hit the car in front of him and slammed on his brakes at the last minute ... to no avail.

The driver of the car Lochte hit was taken by ambulance to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Lochte was okay and cited for "careless driving." There's no mention of alcohol in the police report.

Lochte's lawyer, Jeff Ostrow, told TMZ Sports Friday, "Ryan has been battling alcohol addiction for many years and unfortunately it has become a destructive pattern for him." Ostrow says Lochte realizes he needs professional help and will seek it.

In case you were wondering whose side Drake's on for the UFC 229 Lightweight Championship bout between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov ... this video should clear it up.

The "In My Feelings" rapper seemed to appear on the stage out of nowhere during Conor and Khabib's public weigh-in Friday night in Vegas ... draped in an Irish flag.

After Conor flaunted his fighter bod for the cheering crowd, he got a hug from Drake before the ceremonial face-to-face with his opponent ... which got a little heated.

McGregor clearly violated Dana White's "no touching" rule before giving a high-kick in Khabib's direction. Khabib seemed unfazed. Both fighters made weight earlier Friday.

Saturday night can't come soon enough.

By the way ... even though it looked like Drake was just all of a sudden onstage supporting Conor, he actually walked in with him.

There must not have been any major Kentucky Basketball events for him to attend instead.

Conor McGregor's manager, Audie Attar, is going to make millions of bucks Saturday night ... as a 10 percenter!

We got Audie at a bar at the T-Mobile Arena in Vegas, and he scoffed at reports stating Conor is only raking in $3 mil from Saturday's Khabib fight. There are other reports that Conor's pulling in closer to $100 mil. Our intel is that it's somewhere in the middle.

Audie teases our photog with a Mayweather/McGregor 2 fight possibly in the future.

Terry Bradshaw says Pittsburgh REALLY crapped the bed when it came to Le'Veon Bell ... telling TMZ Sports the Steelers shoulda offered him WAY MORE MONEY!!!

The Steelers reportedly gave their All-Pro running back a three-year, $47 million deal -- and Bradshaw says it's no wonder why Bell spit on that offer.

"He's worth a lot. He's worth a lot more," Bradshaw tells us. "There's nobody like him in the NFL."

Don't worry too much, Steelers fans ... Terry says Pitt should still make the playoffs without the RB. But, even if they don't ... Terry tells us don't blame it on Le'Veon!!!

Colin Kaepernick's star power is bigger NOW than when he was playing football -- and he doesn't need the NFL's platform to be effective in his off-the-field mission ... so says T.I.

There are some people who believe without being on an NFL roster, people will lose interest in Kaepernick -- and he'll eventually become irrelevant and fade away.

But, not T.I. -- who appeared on "TMZ Live" and explained why Colin's more influential now than ever ... and suggested going back to the NFL might actually take his focus away from the social justice issues he's been tackling.

Greg Hardy's had a nice run to start his fighting career ... but it'll all come crashing down as soon as he stops "fighting bums" -- so says ex-UFC star Brendan Schaub.

We got the UFC fighter-turned-MMA analyst out at LAX ... and he pulled no punches when it came to breaking down Hardy's fight career -- both present and future.

"There's other guys I would market over Greg Hardy for a number of reasons," Schaub says.

"He's not young, he's fighting bums."

Brendan says he sees Greg's run -- which has already featured 3 devastating knockouts in 3 bouts -- coming to an end as soon as he gets to "those real killers in the UFC."

In fact ... Brendan tells us if Shawne Merriman and Hardy go toe-to-toe in a scrap that they both want -- Schaub says he's got "Lights Out" in the match.

If LeBron James ever decided to quit basketball and hit the cheerleading game ... here's what he'd look like ...

Meet Chris Ethridge ... a University of Louisville cheerleader -- who USA Cheer Team tells TMZ Sports is undoubtedly the LBJ of their squad.

So ... what makes him the G.O.A.T. on the cheer mat??

"Just work hard," Chris says. "Some natural talent, but be in the gym a lot. Work hard."

Still skeptical he's The Chosen One?? Check him out tossing a chick into the air and catching her with his LEFT HAND ...

Yeah, king status for sure.

BTW ... in case you were wondering who the Serena Williams of the squad is -- the team pointed her out to us too.

AND -- they also showed us a dude who can bench 405 pounds!!!!

Jake Paul says he's 100,000% positive his bro, Logan Paul, would wreck CM Punk in a real UFC fight -- and now he's firing back at Dana White, who's been trashing the idea all over town.

"Dana White's thinking small," Jake told us outside Craig's with his GF, Erika Costell.

Remember, after Logan fought KSI in a wildly successful pay-per-view fight on YouTube in August ... the social media star told us his goal is to fight in the UFC Octagon -- and he's dead serious.

Enter UFC honcho Dana White who immediately shot Logan down -- warning he'd get "hurt badly."

But, Jake says Logan's no punk bitch -- he's a real athlete with legit combat training.

"My brother's an athlete and has a wrestling background, 5th place at Ohio Division 1 state wrestling (in high school). Has boxed for a year now, will get another year of boxing under his belt before his next fight with KSI."

"Dana White, you might watch this, Dana. You're thinking small. I know you're about the money. Let my brother fight!!"

Marcellus Wiley says Eric Reid's collusion case against the NFL NEEDS to continue ... even though the embattled safety has been signed by a team, because the people deserve answers.

Reid is now a member of the Carolina Panthers, and some people wondered if he'd drop his part of the collusion case against the league now that he's back playing football.

We got Wiley out in Beverly Hills and asked him if Reid should consider playing nice with the league now that he's back, and Marcellus ain't having it.

"Eric Reid was a good enough safety to be signed before this. And, I just want to know to what extent and what degree did they try to collude or interrupt his services."

Marcellus' point seems to be clear ... that no matter if Eric and Colin Kaepernick get jobs again, the collusion case still needs to proceed, because we have to know if the league acted unfairly.

UFC's "Platinum" Mike Perry is so confident Conor McGregor will beat Khabib's ass on Saturday -- he went to a Vegas sportsbook and plunked down hundreds of dollars on the Irish superstar.

"I got Conor McGregor ... by very exciting knockout. He's gonna f*cking kill it," Perry told us.

And, he's backing it up with cold hard cash -- telling us he put a couple hundred dollars on a parlay that includes McGregor over Khabib.

We don't think there's anything wrong with a UFC fighter betting on another UFC fighter -- we just don't hear about it very often.

That's not the only money Perry is looking to make -- he wants a $50 MILLION fight of his own one day and tells TMZ Sports he's willing to step into the boxing ring to get it.

In fact, he's calling out Canelo Alvarez -- and he already has a plan to beat the boxing champ!

"Imma cheat. Imma elbow his ass!"

Khabib Nurmagomedov mauled and violently submitted Michael Johnson when they fought 2 years ago ... and now he's out for revenge -- as in, he wants a rematch.

Johnson -- who's beaten badasses like Tony Ferguson and Edson Barboza -- landed a few clean punches (and arguably stunned Khabib) back in 2016 ... but the fight was pure domination by Nurmagomedov.

So, logic dictates MJ steer wayyyyy clear of Khabib, right?

Wrong.

Johnson tells TMZ Sports he's dead serious about running the fight back ... and this time, Michael says, he'll win.

"When I fought [Khabib] I was a little too nervous about his wrestling and my feet weren't under me. I was throwing wild punches."

But, he's learned ... "I wouldn't be so keen on getting held, and things would be a lot different."

Conor McGregor's world domination continues.

If $50-100 million and an escort from Drake weren't enough, the UFC superstar now has an epic mural outside an Irish pub ... 5,000 miles from Dublin.

Jonas Never -- the street artist behind the (vandalized) LeBron James mural -- started the project earlier this week ... utilizing a brick wall outside O'Brien's Irish Pub in Santa Monica.

Jonas tells us the super realistic mural took him about 18 hours in total to paint over the course of 3 days.

The best part ... Jonas says Conor's biz partner got word of the painting and sent over several cases of the impossible-to-get Proper Twelve whiskey ... which they plan to crack open Saturday night during UFC 229.

Fat UFC paychecks for Conor McGregor mean fat UFC paychecks for Tyron Woodley ... at least that's what the welterweight champ is sayin'.

Check out Tyron when he learns Conor will make somewhere between $50 MILLION and $100 MILLION for his UFC 229 fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov ... it's music to Tyron's ears.

And why?

It's not just that high tide floats all boats -- Tyron says he truly believes he could be next in line to fight Conor (if Conor really wants a shot at the welterweight belt) which would mean BANK for Tyron.

"I see they're giving out big checks, I know my sh*t's gonna be nice the next time around," Tyron said on 'The Hollywood Beatdown.'

There's more ... Tyron breaks down the Machine Gun Kelly fight -- plus, tells us why he's giving props to Daniel Cormier.

And, ya gotta watch how fired up Tyron gets when he watches a special video message from Snoop Dogg!!!

WWE legend Jerry "The King" Lawler says he was inundated with hate mail after attending a Donald Trump rally in Mississippi on Tuesday ... but tells TMZ Sports his haters got it all wrong!

The 68-year-old WWE Hall of Famer was sitting right behind Trump as he went on a pro-Brett Kavanaugh speech on Oct. 2 ... the same event where he mocked Kavanaugh's accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.

When we spoke with Lawler at Comic-Con in New York, The King explained that he wasn't necessarily at the rally to support Trump in a political capacity ... but as a friend and former colleague.

"We were asked by some people to go to the rally, and I went and unbelievably received from some social media some actual hate mail just for going to the rally of Donald Trump."

"But, I want to tell everybody ... I wasn't going there to see the President, I was going to see a fellow WWE Hall of Famer ... that's all."

Ryan Lochte is now acknowledging that he has a "serious" alcohol problem after a booze-fueled incident at a Southern California hotel and he'll be seeking treatment, TMZ Sports has learned.

We've confirmed ... Lochte was involved in an incident at a hotel in Newport Beach on Thursday morning in which he drunkenly tried to kick in his own hotel room door around 3 AM.

Hotel security responded to the scene and cops were called. No arrests were made and Lochte smoothed things over with the hotel in regards to the damaged door.

But, now we've learned ... Lochte is realizing he's been battling an "alcohol addiction" and needs to address it before the problem gets worse.

"Ryan has been battling alcohol addiction for many years and unfortunately it has become a destructive pattern for him," Lochte's lawyer, Jeff Ostrow tells us.

"He has acknowledged that he needs professional assistance to overcome his problem and will be getting help immediately. "

"Ryan knows that conquering this disease now is a must for him to avoid making future poor decisions, to be the best husband and father he can be, and if he wants to achieve his goal to return to dominance in the pool in his 5th Olympics in Tokyo in 2020."

This incident is not the first time Lochte has gotten into trouble after a night of boozing -- he was arrested in Brazil back 2016 after a drunken incident at a local gas station.

The mother of Buffalo Bills cornerback Tre'Davious White was arrested for domestic violence last week after officials say she stabbed a man in the chest ... TMZ Sports has learned.

44-year-old LaShawnita Ruffins -- who famously walked the red carpet with her son at the 2017 NFL Draft -- was arrested on Sept. 29 in Northern Louisiana for aggravated battery and domestic violence.

Unclear if the alleged victim is Tre'Davious' father. We're working on the details.

Law enforcement tells us ... Ruffins' bail was set at $75,000. She posted it and was released the next day.

Tre'Davious White was a 1st-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft -- widely considered one of the best cornerbacks in college football during his time at LSU.

He had a pretty great rookie season for the Bills -- making the Pro Football Writers Association 2017 All-Rookie Team.