TMZ Sports - Page 50

Zion Clark, the former all-American wrestler born without legs, tells TMZ Sports that Conor McGregor's praise after his MMA debut victory was a surreal feeling ... while still trying to remain levelheaded because he knows there's room for improvement.

"It’s a good feeling," Clark said when he joined the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs daily on FS1), adding ... "I'm trying to stay humble about it because there’s a lot of work for me to do with my team and my coaches."

"But coming from Conor, it’s an honor to have his kudos and have his respect for the level of skill that I have and to have someone prove that this is legit. I’m really excited about it."

It was after the fight that McGregor took to social media, writing ... "Absolutely fascinating to hear about this man’s debut and now see it. Lighting entry on the low single. Wow! You should not connect to him in any shape or form. Frames only. Frame to strike. Fascinating! Congrats and so much respect to that man Zion Clark! MMA is the best sport!"

Clark's truly one of the most inspiring people in the world. He was born with caudal regression syndrome, a birth disorder that impairs lower body growth. Despite whatever perceived disadvantages he's faced, Zion's accomplished so much.

And, his incredible work ethic is part of the reason why he's been so successful ... and that's carrying over to MMA. Even though he won, Zion said ... "I definitely have things I can work on."

ZC also told us he's forged a relationship with Mike Tyson ... saying he recently got to meet "Uncle Mike" and "pick his brain." In fact, Clark says the boxing outfit he wore into the cage for his MMA debut was made for him by Iron Mike.

"It really meant a lot to wear that going in," Zion said, "because I was representing something bigger than myself."

Clark, who was a wrestling star at Kent State, says he releasing a memoir on his incredible life (so far) in 2023 called "Work with What You Got," which tells the story of Zion's life, highlighting his amazing journey from being born without legs, to bouncing around from home to home in the foster system, to becoming one of the greatest and most impressive athletes in the world.

The woman who accused Gervonta Davis of assault is doing an about-face ... now claiming the star boxer "did not harm me or our daughter," saying the frantic 911 call she made was "unnecessary."

Vanessa Posso, mom to Tank's daughter, took to social media on Friday and seemingly did a complete 180, writing ... "These past days have been hurtful and extremely exhausting for all parties involved."

"I pride myself on being extremely private; this situation was the last thing I wanted to be made public. The state of our relationship has been in a fragile space, and Gervonta and I were both at fault for the argument."

Posso continued ... "Today, we have sought the help necessary to move forward with our lives. I am confident that we will succeed within our co-parenting dynamic with the counseling provided to us."

As we previously reported, 28-year-old Davis was arrested and booked in Broward County (Florida) on Tuesday on a battery domestic violence charge.

According to court docs, police say Davis "did actually and intentionally touch and strike" the woman "against her will" and "did intentionally cause bodily harm to her."

Law enforcement authorities also said Gervonta struck his accuser on the right side of her head with "a closed hand type of slap," causing the woman to suffer a facial injury and an abrasion on the inside of her upper lip.

However, the 27-0 (25 KO) boxer adamantly denied the accusations against him from the start, saying ... "I NEVER PUT MY HANDS ON MY CHILD MOTHER NOR MY F***ING DAUGHTER ARE YOU F***ING CRAZY!!" -- while insisting the whole ordeal was nothing more than a money grab by his accuser.

In fact, Davis contends the only reason the woman -- who claimed she was in fear for her life -- called the police in the first place was because she was pissed he wouldn't let her use his truck.

Pele was paid $120K by a major sneaker company to bend down at midfield and tie his shoe before a 1970 World Cup match ... giving birth to a bitter feud between Puma and Adidas!

Pele's death has unearthed all kinds of stories about the soccer legend, who died Thursday at the age of 82, following a lengthy battle with colon cancer ... including when the greatest player ever was paid the equivalent of $1 million (in 2022 w/ inflation) to tie a Puma soccer cleat, according to Joe Pompliano, who told the story.

It all started in 1924 when Adolf and Rudolf Dassler started a shoe company, Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. The shoemaker was successful, and Jesse Owens even wore their brand during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where Owens dominated in front of Hitler, winning 4 gold medals.

But, by 1948, the brothers had a falling out and decided to go their own way ... each starting a sneaker company of their own. Adolf created Adidas and Rudolf, Puma. The brothers swore to never do business with one another.

Things changed in the late 60s when the brothers buried the hatchet and began communicating again, all in the interest of self-preservation. Adolf and Rudolf made a "Pele pact," an agreement that both companies would stay away from Pele, the biggest sports star in the world, fearing a sponsorship negotiation could bankrupt both companies.

Unfortunately for Adidas, Puma didn't exactly abide by the pact. Prior to a World Cup quarterfinal match in 1970 between Peru and Pele's Brazil, Puma paid the soccer superstar $120K to walk toward midfield just before the start of the game, bend down, and tie his Puma shoe.

Of course, Puma wanted to capture the moment on video ... so to ensure they didn't miss the moment, the shoewear company reportedly went as far as to pay the cameraman!

Brazil beat Peru ... and ended up winning the entire World Cup. It was Pele's record third.

The Pele-Puma partnership didn't come to an end with the '70 WC ... the deal was a smash success for everyone involved.

Rulon Gardner won gold in wrestling in arguably the biggest upset in Olympics history ... and now the American hero, who's 51 years old, tells TMZ Sports he's making a comeback, and the goal is the Summer Games!

"I still wanna give more back to the sport, the sport that I love and that's wrestling. When you have a goal like wrestling it makes you get into shape so I've lost a substantial amount of weight, getting healthy again, getting back after it, and now it's getting on the mat," Gardner said.

"Every day it hurts like heck but it's so fun to be able to get out there and throw with these young kids. It's crazy 'cause I'm wrestling kids half my age."

If you don't know Rulon's story ... he won a gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling during the 2000 Games in Sydney. But, that doesn't even begin to tell the story ... 'cause Gardner beat the most dominant and feared wrestler of all time, 6'3", 286 lb. Aleksandr Karelin.

"The Russian Bear" was thought to be unbeatable. He'd won the previous 3 gold medals. He hadn't lost a match since entering the international competition in 1988. For crying out loud, he hadn't given up a single point in 6 years. To this day he's regarded by most as the greatest amateur wrestler ever.

But, somehow, someway ... David slayed Goliath. And now, Rulon wants to do something perhaps equally hard -- compete at a world-class level in his 50s.

The journey started as a way for Rulon to lose weight ... and he tells us he's down about 150 lbs. An incredible achievement, but not his goal.

"Our goal is to go out there and show we can still compete with the top-level wrestlers of the world. I know I can compete with the guys in the U.S., the question is do I have what it takes in my 50s to get back to the Olympic games?"

If he can complete the comeback, we asked Rulon where the achievement would rank in the history of Olympic competition.

"Dara Torres, she did it a few years ago as a swimmer in her 40s and nobody has ever thought about doing it in your 50s and especially a combat sport. It's not easy on the body. Your talking about getting hit in the head, you're talking about getting hit in the body, shoulder, and knees. There's just so many body parts."

"Last year, I started throwing people and I'm like oh my gosh, I was throwing guys and my body is saying, 'what are you doing?' It still says that but it's like getting back on the bike and it feels normal again."

Christmas came early for Travis Etienne ... the Jacksonville Jaguars running back copped himself a necklace of his own custom logo ahead of the holidays -- made with 60 carats of diamonds!!!

TMZ Sports is told the former Clemson star wanted to turn his personal symbol into a wearable piece ... so he hit up his go-to guy Ari The Jeweler for the job.

After one month of crafting the new bling, Ari delivered -- right before Christmas!!!

The massive chain and pendant feature Etienne's initials with his jersey number layered on top -- an exact replication of his clothing brand emblem.

Of course, Etienne has a knack for fashion -- he spends a lot of time working on his clothing brand ... which has everything from T-shirts, hats and activewear.

We're told the heavy piece is filled with VVS diamonds and 450 grams of white rose gold.

Unsure what TE put up for the iced-out set ... but we're told something like this would usually cost $100K+.

FYI -- the 23-year-old was drafted by the Jags in 2021, and signed a 4-year deal worth almost $13 million. In other words, he's good for it.

Retired NBA player Drew Gooden says the narrative that LeBron James led a bunch of nobodies to an Eastern Conference title in 2007 isn't entirely wrong ... admitting the King's supporting cast was the "least talented group" he's ever taken to the Finals.

TMZ Sports spoke with LBJ's old teammate at LAX recently ... and the veteran big man, who was a part of that '07 Cavs squad, says he understands why people criticize LBJ's teammates from that season, but he thinks they're missing the bigger picture.

"I think they might be halfway right on that one," said Gooden. "The reason why, I ain't gon' say scrubs, but you know what, I just want that to glorify how raw and talented LeBron James was at that age."

"You gotta give that man props, especially at that age, for doing what he did," he continued.

Remember, the Cavs won 50 games in 2006-07 ... with help from LBJ, Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Larry Hughes and Eric Snow as their core nucleus.

After defeating their archrival, the Detroit Pistons, in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavs punched their ticket to the NBA Finals, where Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker awaited them.

LeBron, who was only 22 and playing in his first NBA Finals, got swept by the Spurs ... a series many don't hold against the King when objectively evaluating his career, given the massive talent and experience disparity.

LeBron went on to reach the Finals four more times for the Cavs after winning 2 rings with the Miami Heat ... and secured Cleveland its first title in franchise history in 2016.

Gooden, who retired from the league in 2016, says even to this day, NBA fans will bring up his name whenever they're discussing how mediocre LeBron's teammates were that year.

Controversial and provocative influencer Andrew Tate and his brother have been arrested in Romania on human sex-trafficking allegations ... according to a report.

The publication Libertatea reports the two have been brought in on kidnapping and rape charges -- though the specifics of the allegations are not yet known. A video circulating on social media from a Romanian news outlet shows both Tate and his brother being led out of a building in handcuffs by police and into a waiting vehicle.

Tate became the a huge focus on Twitter earlier this week after he tweeted at environmental activist Greta Thunberg, mocking her efforts by listing off his collection of cars.

Thunberg responded with a burn of her own, writing, "yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com" and Twitter went wild.

What's more ... Tate then created a video response to Thunberg's tweet which featured pizza boxes from Jerry's Pizza -- a company with locations in Romania -- there's speculations the pizza boxes helped Romanian authorities track Tate down.

The person who concocted, recruited and ultimately turned on scores of parents who tried bribing their children's way into good colleges is about to get sentenced, and prosecutors say he's the worst of all and should be sentenced to 6 years.

Rick Singer will be formally sentenced next week, and TMZ has obtained a copy of document prosecutors just filed, saying Singer "was the architect of a massive, decades-long scheme to use fraud and bribery to secure admission of high school students to elite colleges and universities across the country."

Prosecutors say Singer profited from the scheme more than anyone and therefore deserves a much harsher sentence than the parents, coaches and others received.

As for comparisons ... more than 50 parents, coaches and associates of Singer's received sentences ranging from probation to 30 months.

Lori Loughlin received 2 months, and Felicity Huffman 14 days.

Prosecutors want an additional 36 months of supervised release, and restitution to the IRS in the amount of $10,668,841. They want millions more in other penalties.

Here's the thing ... 6 years ain't so bad, because the max was 65 years behind bars.

As for why the relatively light sentence ... Singer cooperated and was the key to convicting the parents and others. The docs refer to Singer making hundreds of recorded calls at the government's direction. He wore a wire as well to nail the targets. Prosecutors say if it wasn't for Singer, most of the parents who were convicted would have gotten off.

Brazilian soccer legend Pelé -- arguably the greatest football player ever -- has died.

The three-time World Cup winner passed away at a hospital in Sao Paulo surrounded by loved ones following a lengthy battle with cancer.

Pelé was initially diagnosed with the disease in 2021, and had been in and out of medical facilities over the past year to help him fight it. But, sadly, his condition worsened recently ... forcing him to spend the last two months in a hospital bed.

Pelé was able to watch the 2022 World Cup in his final days ... and even penned a congratulations post on his social media page to Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe after the epic Argentina vs. France final last weekend.

He had also written an emotional note to Neymar after a huge performance for Brazil earlier in the famed tournament.

Pelé joined Brazil's national team when he was just 16 years old ... and won his first-ever World Cup at age 17 in 1958. He went on to lead Brazil to two more titles in the event, winning it all in 1962 and 1970.

He's widely regarded as one of the best goal scorers ever -- with Cristiano Ronaldo previously calling him "the greatest player in football history."

He was 82.

Customers at a Texas Waffle House were treated to their own private WrestleMania over the holiday -- as fists and chairs flew between customers and some employees.

The video is insane, starting with some type of verbal argument between a female customer and restaurant staffer. The employee is seen throwing a plate from behind the counter and then all hell breaks loose -- with the customer jumping up on the counter and falling on employees.

From there, punches are thrown -- including several from one of the employees that connect with the original customer's head.

Finally, things seem to get under control, but only for a few seconds.

In what's probably the most insane part of the video, the employee catches a chair thrown by one of the customers in midair.

Sorry, Broncos fans ... Peyton Manning says he doesn't have much interest in coaching Russell Wilson -- or anyone else, for that matter -- explaining this week he doesn't want to be in a headset on the sidelines, despite the open job in Denver.

Manning didn't mince too many words when asked this week about the possibility of potentially taking over for the fired Nathaniel Hackett in the Mile High City ... repeating "I don't think so" twice.

Of course, Manning doesn't have any coaching experience at the college or NFL level ... but that didn't stop his former team, the Indianapolis Colts, from hiring his former center, Jeff Saturday, earlier this year.

Peyton, though, didn't appear to have any real desire to follow in his pal's footsteps ... even if his old Denver squad could use him.

As we reported, the Broncos fired Hackett on Monday -- following a tumultuous 4-11 start to his Denver tenure. Many had hoped Manning, known as one of the most cerebral players in NFL history, could come in and save the day.

Clearly, however, they'll now have to look elsewhere.

As for Manning's current gig -- one of the hosts of the ultra-popular "ManningCast" -- he said his dream guest after getting Barack Obama on the air is now Deion Sanders.

UFC fighter Angela Hill's grandfather and wife claimed they were abducted in one of the most famous UFO encounters ever, and now Barack Obama and his production company are making a Netflix movie on the notorious incident.

And, Angela tells us she wants to be a part of the project!

If you're not familiar, Barney and Betty Hill claimed they were both abducted by extraterrestrials in a rural area of New Hampshire in mid-September 1961. The incident called the "Hill Abduction," was the first widely publicized abduction.

The Hills said they were driving when they witnessed a flying saucer-type object with humanoid figures inside, watching them ... which eventually shot some sort of light at their vehicle. They came to two hours later, 35 miles away from their last known location and with little recollection of anything that occurred.

Now, Barack and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground Productions is reportedly creating a movie titled "White Mountain" that's based on the encounter.

We asked Hill, who posted on social media earlier in the week about her desire to be a part of the project, if any reps for the former president or anyone else had reached out.

"No, no. I just put it out there because it's not the first thing I've heard," Angela said, adding, "Ever since they released those documents, the UFO documents that they were hiding for so long, ever since that, I think it was about two years ago, I've been seeing a lot of Barney and Betty Hill stuff in production."

37-year-old Hill added ... "It sucks when you see something being produced and it's already greenlit, it's ready to go and you're like man I really wish my family was part of it because we've pretty much been written out of that part of the story. I think it's one of the parts that make it more interesting."

Details outside of the Obama's involvement and name of the project are not yet known.

We also asked Hill what she'd say to the people behind the movie.

The Jewish Federation of L.A. is fighting antisemitism with billboards all over the city ... and the org.'s CCO believes it can help thwart the proliferation of hate.

Rob Goldenberg joined us on "TMZ Live," telling us all about his org.'s new campaign -- focusing on harmony and love, while looking to shut down hate toward Jewish people.

He underscores the negativity's ramped up in recent years, and believes now's the time to bring positivity into the equation.

FYI -- the Federation's billboards use ancient Jewish texts as inspirational messages ... and with L.A. having the 2nd largest Jewish population outside of Israel, they've partnered with Outfront Media to spread the word.

Mark Jackson is champing at the bit for another shot at coaching -- the former player/TV analyst tells TMZ Sports that if teams are interested in hiring him, all they have to do is call!!

"I got my phone on," Jackson said when we spoke with him at LAX recently. "I'm more than available. They know how to find me."

"I look forward to that day."

Jackson's last stint as an NBA head coach was with the Warriors in 2014 ... where he spent three seasons with the team before he was replaced by Steve Kerr.

The Warriors improved each season with Jackson at the helm ... winning 121 games in the regular season and nine games in the postseason.

But, the Warriors opted to go a different direction and brought in Kerr as the team's next head coach ... which paved the way for Jackson to reunite with Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen as an ESPN broadcaster.

Mark has become a famous face and voice in the broadcast booth ... calling some of the NBA's biggest games over the years. However, Jackson's name is always mentioned whenever a coaching vacancy arises because of his success with the Dubs.

Gervonta Davis is breaking his silence on his domestic violence arrest ... calling the allegations "bulls***" -- while insisting, "I am not a monster."

The star boxer wrote out a lengthy statement on his Instagram page Wednesday afternoon -- shortly after he was released from jail -- saying the battery claims made against him by a woman on Tuesday were flat-out, not true.

Davis said adamantly, "I NEVER PUT MY HANDS ON MY CHILD MOTHER NOR MY F***ING DAUGHTER ARE YOU F***ING CRAZY!!"

He added, "IM NOT A MONSTER."

Davis included a picture of what he says is his family watching "Frozen" -- and said in his statement the photo was snapped just "moments" before he and the mother of his child got into an argument.

Davis went on to say the entire ordeal was a money grab by his accuser.

As we previously reported, Davis was arrested in Parkland, FL on Tuesday at around 2:50 PM after cops say he hit a woman in the face, causing her an abrasion on the inside of her upper lip.

In a 911 call, obtained by TMZ Sports, the woman can be heard telling cops she thought the fighter was "going to kill" her. Davis alleged Wednesday she had only made the call "BECUZ I WOULDNT GIVE HER MY TRUCK!"

The woman who accused Gervonta Davis of domestic violence on Tuesday repeatedly pleaded with officers for help after dialing 911 ... at one point screaming at the operator, "He's going to kill me!"

In the call, obtained by TMZ Sports, an unidentified woman begged for assistance over and over again following an alleged altercation with the star boxer at a home in Parkland, FL at around 1:25 PM.

As the operator attempted to gain more information about what was happening ... the woman could hardly compose herself, screaming for help numerous times.

"I need help, please!" she said in the call. "I'm trying to go home. I have my baby in the car, and he attacked me in front of the kid. And, now he's messing up my tires!"

A few moments later, she can be heard saying, "Please, help me! He's going to kill me!"

The call disconnected, but she was able to call back again -- telling the operator on the second go-around, "I need to go home, I'm in danger right now!"

In a separate 911 call, a woman can also be heard requesting assistance for the alleged victim ... noting in her call that the woman claimed Davis had spit at her.

As we previously reported, cops say Davis had struck the woman in the face with a "closed hand type slap" in the incident -- causing a small abrasion to the inside of her upper lip.

Davis was arrested at around 2:50 PM ... and booked on a domestic violence battery charge. Jail records show he stayed behind bars overnight, but was eventually released on Wednesday afternoon.