TMZ Sports - Page 50

Horrible moment for rising WWE star Ridge Holland -- who appeared to suffer a very real, very painful injury during a match on live TV.

The 32-year-old ex-rugby player from England had just defeated Danny Burch during an "NXT" match — triggering a post-match brawl between Ridge and Burch’s pal, Oney Lorcan.

While Ridge was outside the ring, Lorcan launched a leaping attack — but Ridge’s left leg appeared to buckle while trying to catch Oney.

Ridge immediately collapsed and one of the refs working the match threw up an "X" arm gesture, typically the signal for a real injury.

The pro wrestler was loaded onto a stretcher and taken away -- but Ridge did give a thumbs up on the way out.

"It's hard to see something like this, it's a scary situation," announcer Vic Joseph said on-air.

Beth Phoenix added, "Terrible to watch the footage back. Always unfortunate when we have to see an injury here. Best of luck to Ridge Holland."

So far, no official word on Ridge's injury -- but WWE tweeted out after the match, "Wishing you a speedy recovery."

Ridge -- real name Luke Menzies -- began his pro wrestling career in 2016 and signed with WWE in 2018.

"I'm honest, I've never voted in my life. This is my first time voting."

That's Shaquille O'Neal dropping a Shaq-sized bombshell -- confessing he's NEVER voted in an election!

... UNTIL NOW!!

"I've never voted before, America," Shaq said this week on Wednesday on The Big Podcast ... "But, now I'm doing all these voting campaigns and ya know one thing I never like to do, is be a hypocrite."

Yep, the 48-year-old NBA legend says he felt weird pushing voting initiatives like his #MyStartingFive challenge -- which helps people register to vote for Election Day 2020 -- while sitting on the sidelines.

So, he decided to actually vote this year -- by absentee ballot!

"In other words America, I voted for the first time and it feels good."

Shaq's co-hosts were in complete shock -- especially after Shaq was virtually sitting next to his buddy President Barack Obama, at Game 1 of the NBA Finals -- who obviously didn't get Shaq's vote back in the day!

Conor McGregor says he's "accepted" a UFC offer to fight Dustin Poirier -- and now it's all about finalizing a date.

The Irishman tweeted out to Poirier Thursday -- saying, "Hello Dustin! I accepted the @UFC offer to fight you, but told them it must happen in 2020."

"I’m ready for Nov 21st, given that cards recent injury issues, as well as any of the December dates, the 12th and the 19th. I’ll also still donate the $500k to The Good Fight Foundation."

Our UFC sources tell us Conor was, in fact, offered the fight -- but it would be scheduled for January.

Obviously, Conor has made it clear he doesn't want to wait that long and he's trying to convince the UFC to fast-track it.

Look, the good news is there seems to be progress -- hopefully, everyone can come to an agreement soon.

Conor has been at the center of a LOT of drama lately -- from an alleged attempted sexual assault in Corsica (which he denies) to beefing with UFC boss Dana White.

McGregor also shaved off his trademark beard recently and has been training like a maniac.

Conor and Dustin have fought before -- they clashed at UFC 178 back in 2014 with McGregor getting the victory with a 1st-round knockout.

Poirier has long wanted a shot at redemption -- and now he could finally get that chance.

Colin Kaepernick is calling for the end of America's current policing system ... saying Wednesday, "In order to eradicate anti-Blackness, we must also abolish the police."

The ex-NFL star spelled out his wishes for the country in a pointed essay ... claiming the current U.S. police system has "roots in white supremacy and anti-Blackness."

Kaepernick says based on his research ... he believes the "central intent" of cops is to "surveil, terrorize, capture, and kill marginalized populations, specifically Black folks."

And, Kaep says the only way to stop that is to tear down the entire system.

The 32-year-old says simpler solutions -- like police reforms -- just flat-out don't work.

"F**k reform," Kapernick said, adding, "reforms have done nothing to stop the actions that force us to #SayTheirNames."

Kaepernick is also urging the end of the country's prison system ... saying it, too, has roots based in racism.

"Abolition is the only way to secure a future beyond anti-Black institutions of social control, violence, and premature death," Kaepernick said.

Colin says once the systems are dismantled ... he wants to see the funding "reinvested directly into communities to address mental health needs, homelessness and houselessness, access to education, and job creation as well as community-based methods of accountability."

LeBron James and the Lakers will honor Kobe Bryant while hoping to bring home the Larry O'Brien trophy on Friday ... with the team pulling out their "Black Mamba" jerseys for Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

The Kobe-inspired threads have been a good luck charm during the Lakers' quest for their 17th championship -- they're currently 4-0 this postseason while donning the black and gold.

While L.A. was initially planning to wear the BM jerseys for Games 2 and 7, Kobe's wife, Vanessa, revealed the Lakers will rep the legend while trying to close out the series.

"Mamba and Mambacita jerseys approved for game 5," Vanessa said on IG. "Let's go @lakers."

The Lakers -- who dedicated the season to Kobe and his daughter, Gianna, after their tragic deaths in January -- are currently up 3-1 on the Miami Heat ... and many believe they can close it out with a gentleman's sweep on Friday.

If L.A. is able to pull it off, it'll be an incredibly emotional moment for the franchise.

Boxing superstar Errol Spence has officially announced he's returning to the ring -- just one year after he almost died in a horrific late-night Ferrari crash.

Spence (26-0) confirmed he will face Danny Garcia (36-2) on Dec. 5 at AT&T Stadium in Dallas -- marking an incredible comeback from a terrible accident.

As we previously reported, Spence was hospitalized after he lost control of his Ferrari during a late-night drive in the Dallas area in Oct. 2019.

Cops say Spence's car went over the center median and flipped at least 5 times. Spence, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected from the car and suffered serious injuries.

The accident was captured on surveillance video -- and man, it's a miracle Spence wasn't killed.

Some thought there was a very real chance Spence would never fight again. But, he's proving the doubters wrong -- announcing on social media Thursday, "I'm back!"

Spence -- the unified welterweight champ -- is widely regarded as one of the best fighters in the sport with victories over guys like Shawn Porter, Mikey Garcia and Kell Brook.

It's also a huge fight for Garcia -- who's trying to re-establish himself as one of the best in the world after high-profile losses to Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter.

Tom Brady has his sights set on a Tampa Bay-area mansion -- a $7.5 million waterfront estate in a private community, TMZ Sports has learned.

We're told Brady is in the final stages of a deal and it's expected to close later this week. He'll become the proud new owner of a 5-bedroom modern crib in a gated community in Clearwater, Florida that was custom built in 2015.

Remember, Brady and his family had moved into Derek Jeter's mansion in the Tampa area back in April after TB12 signed with the Bucs.

But, since Jeter is selling the place for $29 mil -- and Brady can afford his own spot -- the QB went house hunting and has apparently decided to pull the trigger.

The new home -- listed by real estate agent Sophia Vasilaros -- is 8,548 square feet with 5 full baths and 3 half baths (8 toilets in all!) and it's right on the water with its own private dock.

Inside, the home has a private gym, theater room, billiard room, media center ... oh, and it also has an elevator!

And, if Tom's looking to expand, there's an empty lot next door that's also for sale.

Again, we're told it's not a done deal at this point but it's expected to wrap up real soon.

It's good to be rich.

Manny Machado lost his freakin' mind on the diamond Wednesday night -- going on an F-bomb-laced tirade ... and it's all 'cause a Dodgers pitcher celebrated a great defensive play.

Here's the deal ... in the 7th inning of Game 2 of San Diego's playoff series with L.A. -- Brusdar Graterol took the mound to try to help close things out for the Dodgers.

The problem? He let a fastball out over the middle of the plate that Fernando Tatis Jr. CRUSHED -- and it looked like a no-doubter, 2-run bomb that would give the Pads a 5-4 lead.

But, centerfielder Cody Bellinger saved the day ... robbing the HR with ease -- and Graterol went NUTS!!!

Brusdar threw his glove with joy, then tossed his hat, then fist-pumped ... and Machado (who had bat flipped the hell out of a homer earlier in the game) hated ALL. OF. IT.

The former Dodger melted down on the diamond, telling Graterol "F*ck you!" repeatedly, before adding, "I'll be waiting for you!"

Graterol soaked in the trash talk ... blowing the guy a kiss -- while the rest of his Dodgers teammates told Machado to sit down.

The next inning, Graterol went on to get Machado to ground out ... and the Dodgers eventually sweated out a 6-5 win to take a commanding 2-0 series lead.

Great theater.

Larsa Pippen is dating again, and it looks like she's bagged herself a young Netflix reality TV star ... who's also an Australian snack.

The estranged wife of NBA star Scottie Pippen hit up Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills Wednesday night with none other than Harry Jowsey from "Too Hot to Handle." They seemed pretty damn cozy ... snuggling up for selfies and leaving the joint together -- hence the dating rumors.

As you can see from the pics, they walked pretty close and appeared to be having a blast. Larsa explained their night out by saying this on social media -- "So, I decided I need dance lessons so I called my friend Harry." Harry chimed in with ... "We're going to be doing salsa lessons. Stay tuned."

Larsa and Harry also appeared to be at the restaurant with some friends. Either way, both are pretty much single and ready to mingle. Remember, Larsa split from Scottie in late 2018 and she most recently threw cold water on rumors she was banging NBA star, Ben Simmons. As for Harry ... some of his co-stars have gone on the record to say he was only dating fellow co-star Francesca Farago for clout.

For what it's worth ... Harry is half Larsa's age. So, good for her!

LeBron James laughed his ass off over the housefly that parked itself on Mike Pence's head Wednesday ... saying straight-up he believes it went down 'cause the vice president is "💩"

Bron was locked in on the Kamala Harris-Pence debate while his Lakers enjoyed an off day from the NBA Finals ... and when the L.A. superstar saw the bug land in the VP's hair, he didn't hold back.

"Ya'll know what flies favorite destination is right??!!" LBJ said. "Yup you guessed it."

LeBron added a bunch of crying face and poop emojis ... before finishing it all off with "FOH" -- an abbreviation "f*** outta here."

Of course, Bron has never been shy about his disdain from the current White House administration ... he's gone after Donald Trump on multiple occasions since DT took office in 2016.

Just 3 years ago, LeBron called #45 a "bum" over the president's comments on White House dis-invites for the then-NBA champs Golden State Warriors.

And, recently, he laughed off Trump's anti-NBA comments ... saying nobody in the basketball community would miss him as a fan.

MMA star Lance Palmer -- who famously won the PFL $1 Million tournament TWICE -- is upset the organization is not up and running yet and is now demanding they book him a fight or else he'll take legal action.

FYI, the Professional Fighters League has put all fights on hold due to the COVID pandemic -- and Palmer is really frustrated.

Palmer's issue ... the UFC and Bellator have returned to action and he thinks PFL should follow suit.

As of now, he's got nothing booked -- so he tapped his attorney, Harley Breite, so try and figure out a way to get him back in the cage.

Breite tells TMZ Sports they don't want to take legal action, but they will if they have to.

They'd much rather come to an amicable agreement -- whether it's booking a fight or releasing him from his contract so he can fight with another promotion.

If PFL refuses, Breite says a lawsuit is definitely a possibility.

"We're not going to sit back and wait for somebody to dictate the terms of when my client can do what he does for a living. He's a fighter! He must fight!"

Palmer hasn't seen action since Dec. 31, 2019 -- when he won the $1 million prize in a 5-round decision over Alex Gilpin in NYC.

We're told there are other fighters in the PFL who feel the same way -- they realize their window to make money as a pro MMA fighter is short and they need to get back to work already!

The UFC barely missed any time due to the pandemic -- and now, they're putting on fights every weekend in both Las Vegas and on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.

It's a good thing Vernon Davis retried when he did ... because the ex-NFL star says he probably would've sat out this season over COVID concerns.

Davis -- who spent 14 seasons in the league -- hung up his cleats for good back in February, right before COVID exploded into a giant problem in the U.S.

Now that he's seen the pandemic play out, Davis tells TMZ Sports he would be "totally concerned" if he was still on a team and expected to play on Sundays.

"I would be totally concerned because I worry about my family," Davis said ... while admitting, "I probably would have opted out."

The NFL is already dealing with some serious COVID problems involving multiple teams -- and there's concerns about a larger outbreak.

Davis says he hopes the league takes the COVID threat seriously -- and puts safety first.

As for football, we asked Davis about the QB situation with his former team in Washington -- since they just benched starter Dwayne Haskins for Kyle Allen.

Davis says he strongly believes Haskins has what it takes to be a star in the league -- and "being benched is just temporary."

We also asked about Alex Smith's comeback from that gnarly leg injury that almost ended his career -- and Davis told us straight-up AS is "the most resilient man I've ever met in my life."

The Travis County medical examiner has wrapped up its investigation into the death of pro gaming star Byron Bernstein -- aka "Reckful" -- and determined he died by suicide.

Bernstein's ex-girlfriend broke the news of his death on July 2 on social media. No details were released at the time. Officials in Travis County, Texas subsequently launched a probe to find out exactly what happened to the 31-year-old.

Now, the M.E. has released the findings of its investigation -- which say emergency responders raced to the scene of the incident and tried to resuscitate Bernstein, but to no avail. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officials say Bernstein had been under significant stress ... including dealing with money problems and a breakup with a former girlfriend.

The investigators also noted Bernstein had a history of depression, and had previously attempted suicide several years ago.

Bernstein was a legend in gaming, especially at "World of Warcraft" -- where he was the #1 ranked player in the world for 6 straight seasons.

He famously won the Major League Gaming "WOW" tourney back in 2010.

He later became a streaming sensation on Twitch -- where he amassed a following of more than 900,000. He also developed a big following on YouTube and Twitter.

Bernstein had talked publicly about his battle with depression in the past, saying it started when he was 14.

Just last year, Byron appeared on the HealthyGamerGG show to talk about his issues and revealed he was diagnosed with Bipolar Type 2 as a child. He also said his brother took his own life after a battle with depression years ago.

RIP.

Patrick Mahomes says he's sleeping in a completely different bedroom from his pregnant fiancee due to the Chiefs' COVID-19 scare ... because he understands the gravity of the situation.

"It's something I think about every day," the K.C. Chiefs star QB said. "You have to think about that with her being pregnant and kind of that high-risk category."

Mahomes and his fiancee, Brittany Matthews, just announced their pregnancy last month. It's their first child.

So, it must have been scary when Kansas City's practice squad quarterback, Jordan Ta'amu -- who shares the same meeting rooms with Mahomes -- tested positive for coronavirus Saturday.

And, Patrick says he was so worried about possibly having COVID and how that might affect Brit and the baby, he avoided her at all costs around their house.

"When I went home over the weekend, I slept in a different bedroom and stayed away from her as much as possible."

Mahomes said he eased back on those restrictions once his COVID tests came back negative ... but he added the safety of his fiancee and their baby is still ALWAYS on his mind.

"I just try to do my part just to kind of keep myself away from her and social distance whenever stuff like this arises," Mahomes said.

Of course, there's a chance Mahomes might now have to go through a similar arrangement with Matthews this week after the quarterback came in close contact with COVID-19-positive Patriots star Stephon Gilmore during their game Monday.

Cameras caught Gilmore and Mahomes dapping each other up after K.C. beat New England ... and Mahomes said Wednesday he's regretting the actions.

"It was a little bit of a mental lapse," Patrick said.

So far, Mahomes and the rest of his Chiefs teammates have tested negative despite the close contact.

This could be a huge problem ...

The Miami Dolphins have been granted permission from the governor of Florida to allow full capacity at Hard Rock Stadium.

You read that correctly. We're talking 65,000 seats. In the middle of a pandemic.

The green light comes by way of Gov. Ron DeSantis -- whose spokesperson told Andy Slater the team is now allowed to pack their stadium as part of statewide removal of COVID-19 stadium restrictions.

That doesn't mean the Dolphins will rush to allow 65,000 people to watch the team at their next home game ... Slater says the org. still plans on limiting the number of fans to 13,000 at the next home game on Oct. 25.

The news comes on the heels of an announcement from the Green Bay Packers -- which just pressed pause on the possibility of opening up Lambeau Field to fans any time soon.

"Due to the concerning increase of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the Green Bay area and across Wisconsin, the Green Bay Packers today announced that the organization has put an indefinite hold on hosting fans for games at Lambeau Field this season," the team said in a statement.

Plus, with NFL teams like the Tennessee Titans, New England Patriots, K.C. Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders dealing with possible COVID outbreaks among the players ... it just doesn't seem like the best time for a team to pack a stadium with people!!

Lindsey Vonn says she seriously considered switching sports from downhill ski racing to Formula 1 racing ... but claims a policy about pregnancy prevented it from happening.

The 35-year-old Olympic legend explained the whole thing on "In Depth with Graham Bensinger" ... saying she was specifically told she would need to make a 3-year commitment to NOT getting pregnant in order to get a shot as a pro driver.

"I was thinking about switching, going to Formula One. Like actually trying to be a racer, a driver. But, I couldn't because they wanted me to commit, what was it, 3 years? And, they're like you can't get pregnant, you can't do anything. I'm like hmm, I don't know if I really want to do that."

Vonn says the opportunity would have been with the Red Bull racing team -- and it's something she would have "loved to have done" ... but ultimately, she wasn't down to put off having a family.

BTW, Vonn is engaged to NHL star PK Subban -- and it's clear having kids is definitely on the table.

Lindsey is a huge fan of race car driving -- she's a natural behind the wheel. And, says if F1 didn't work out, jumping to NASCAR was also a possibility.

During the interview, which airs on TV this weekend, Vonn also mentions how much MONEY race car drivers make compared to skiers.

"Probably the salary of one racer is probably the total amount of money that ski racing has for their annual budget as a sport. [Lewis Hamilton] makes more money than all of ski racing combined!"