TMZ Sports - Page 50

Wyoming born wrestler Rulon Gardner inspired the world in 2000 when he traveled to Sydney, Australia to represent Team USA as a heavy-weight Greco-Roman wrestler to compete (and defeat) the unstoppable Russian Aleksandr Karelin in the finals and to take home the gold medal in one of the greatest moments in Olympics history!

That Olympic victory wasn't the most challenging part of Rulon's life ... he also battled through frostbite and hypothermia after a snowmobile accident in 2002 and an airplane crash into a lake in Utah in 2007.

Gardner continues to inspire the world ... but as a motivational speaker!

WWE Superstar Roman Reigns knows exactly how to prep for a huge match against John Cena at SummerSlam -- hitting the beach with his smokin' hot wife in Miami!!!

Of course, the wrestling legend called out RR just last week ... saying he's coming for the Universal championship belt next month.

But, Roman doesn't seem too fazed -- ditching his shirt and soaking up the sun with his wife of 7 years, Galina Becker on Monday.

Just take a look at the pics -- the couple looks absolutely stunning ... with Roman showing off his tatted bod and Galina rocking a fun patterned one-piece.

SummerSlam is set to go down Saturday, August 21 at Allegiant Stadium ... and it's gonna be HUGE.

Cena -- a 16-time champ -- last competed at WrestleMania 36 in March 2020 ... where he lost to WWE Superstar Bray Wyatt.

Reigns ain't impressed by Cena's return, though ... saying, "He came out here, the same music, the same entrance, the same run to the ring, the same outfit, the same promo, the same insults."

"If I wanted that, all I had to do was search online for 2005 John Cena. It's the same thing, over and over and over. It's like missionary position every single night."

Deshaun Watson is open to settling with the 20-plus women accusing him of sexual misconduct -- but only if confidentiality agreements are NOT involved ... this, according to the NFL superstar's attorney.

The Texans QB's lawyer, Rusty Hardin, gave an update on his client's legal battle to ESPN on Monday ... saying he's not opposed to hashing out a financial settlement with accusers -- but any deal HAS to remain public.

"I do not want anybody to be saying that this guy paid off women to stay quiet and so, if there ever was a settlement of any kind, it would have to be public and therefore both sides, [Watson] and the women, would be able to say to the world at large whatever they wanted," Hardin said.

As for the accusers, lawyer Tony Buzbee has previously made it clear there will not be any settlements ... saying, it's "not happening."

Hardin also says 10 women have filed criminal complaints with police ... adding 2 of those women are not involved in the civil case.

The drama in Green Bay is close to coming to an end ... Aaron Rodgers and the Packers are reportedly nearing a deal to get the QB to play this season -- though he still could be traded in less than a year.

NFL insider Adam Schefter reported Monday the Packers have made several "concessions" to please the QB ... and are thiiiissssssss close to getting him to rejoin the team this season.

But, Schefter notes one of the concessions the team has made to Rodgers is if the quarterback is still unhappy with his situation after the season ... it will trade him.

In addition to that guarantee, according to the report ... the team has agreed to, among other things, void his 2023 contract year and put "mechanisms" in place to assuage his concerns with the franchise.

Rodgers is apparently happy with the new conditions ... and is now expected to head to Green Bay to report for training camp this week.

As we previously reported, Rodgers had been feuding with the Packers for months ... reportedly upset over his contract situation and some of the team's personnel moves.

In fact, just a few weeks ago, the 37-year-old MVP -- who sat out of all Packers offseason workouts -- wouldn't even commit to playing for the team this season.

Seems, though, Rodgers is poised to get in one more run with Green Bay ... even if it's just for a few more months.

A fan at a Seattle Mariners game left the ballpark this weekend with a gnarly gash on his forehead ... after he took two HUGE punches to the face during a fight in the stands.

The wild scene was all captured on video during the Mariners' game Friday night against the Oakland A's ... when two fans got into an argument that turned violent.

In the footage, you can see the two were quarreling ... when the man in a Mariners jersey suddenly unloaded a massive right to the other guy's face.

The force of the blow was so vicious, it knocked off the guy's hat and sunglasses.

The fighting, though, didn't stop there ... 'cause just a few seconds later, the same man unloaded a second right that connected flush with the other guy's face again.

Somehow, the dude was not knocked down nor knocked out ... though he posted on social media Saturday revealing the two punches left him with a bloody wound above his eye.

Fortunately, he didn't seem to have too serious of injuries ... saying on his Twitter page, "I’m fine btw! Ate them up."

We've reached out to law enforcement to see if any arrests were made, but so far, no word back yet.

An Olympic gymnast made a powerful statement during her floor routine this weekend ... by getting on one knee and holding up her fist as a tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement.

18-year-old Luciana Alvarado is the first Costa Rican gymnast to EVER qualify for the Olympics ... and used her platform to shine a light on the fight for equality.

Of course, the International Olympic Committee is allowing athletes to demonstrate at the 2020 Games in Tokyo ... as long as it's not at a medal ceremony or during competition.

Alvarado found of a loophole by including the gesture into her performance ... saying she wanted to send a message of "the importance of everyone treated with respect and dignity and everyone having the same rights."

Alvarado says it's special to use her stage to show those fighting for equality that she stands in solidarity with them.

"Because we’re all the same," Alvarado said, according to the AP. "And we’re all beautiful and amazing."

Canelo Alvarez is widely considered the greatest pound-for-pound boxer on the planet ... and Jake Paul thinks he can beat him in a boxing match -- saying he's "very confident" he'd come out on top!!

Remember, the YouTuber-turned-fighter previously told TMZ Sports he was eyeing a future bout with the Mexican superstar ... in an attempt to becoming "the most disruptive boxer in the history of the sport."

But, Paul doesn't just think he'll enter the ring with the guy -- Jake's now saying he thinks he can WIN.

"I'm very confident," Jake told Maxim. "He's a killer at 168 pounds, but people forget that I naturally walk around at about 205, so there's a big weight difference. There's a big height advantage."

Paul -- who's set to fight Tyron Woodley in Cleveland next month -- adds he's not impressed with Alvarez's recent opponents ... saying, "They've all been easy guys who just sort of fall on their ass."

There's a bit of history between the guys -- Canelo told us back in December 2020 the Paul bros were disrespectful to the sport, so there's already a good storyline to go with it.

JP says he understands the opportunity won't come without hard work -- he says he'll keep fighting tougher opponents and working on his craft every day -- but is confident Alvarez will eventually take the bait.

"At the end of the day, this is a business," he said. "If Canelo sees that, he's going to want to get in on the business."

If you needed further proof Brian Shaw is an absolute monster ... here's the four-time World's Strongest Man deadlifting a Camaro -- TEN TIMES!!!!

The 6-foot-8, 400ish-pound strongman threw down the heavy-lift as part of a challenge video ... and it's seriously the most impressive thing you'll see all week.

Shaw was dared to lift the ride by YouTube personality Mr. Beast -- who told him if he could do it, he'd get to keep the set of $34,000 wheels!

And, Brian lifted the thing -- which weighs in the area of 4,000 pounds -- so easily ... he decided to make it all a little harder, loading three people into the whip and then lifting it 10 consecutive times!

Check out the video ... Shaw puts the ride up and down with ease, hardly cracking a sweat!!

Of course, superhuman feats are nothing new for the 39-year-old powerlifter ... he's deadlifted over 1,000 pounds in competition plenty of times before.

Still -- a whole car ... for reps?!?

WARNING: This is NOT breakfast material ... so finish your eggs and toast now before we get into it.

Done?? Okay, good.

UFC star TJ Dillashaw is showing off the WILD cut he suffered during his return to the Octagon on Saturday ... and it's pretty damn gross.

Of course, TJ hadn't fought in more than 2 years after getting popped for PEDs in 2019 ... but showed no signs of ring rust after beating Cory Sandhagen in a split decision at UFC Fight Night on Saturday.

But, the former bantamweight champ didn't escape unscathed -- Dillashaw got a massive gash on his eyebrow that required quite the patch-up job.

The injury happened in the second round as Sandhagen punched TJ above his eye ... which immediately started to bleed.

Referee Herb Dean even had to intervene to let a doc check out Dillashaw's cut before resuming action.

Despite the gnarly sight, TJ was calm about the whole thing ... saying he's opened the same cut before, so it's no biggie.

Cleveland Indians pitcher Nick Wittgren says fans hurled homophobic insults at him and threatened to kill his family after he had a poor outing during a game over the weekend.

The comments that Wittgren says he received after he gave up five earned runs in the Indians' loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night were deeply disturbing.

In one of them, Wittgren says a fan wrote to him after Cleveland's 10-5 loss, "I know where you live. I will get you tonight and kill your family."

Wittgren says the fan continued, "I will get your home at midnight. I will shot your family and stab your necks."

The 30-year-old says another fan also called him "f****t" repeatedly.

"Sadly this is considered 'normal' in professional sports," Wittgren said of the vile comments. "It’s happened to 90% of players I know and basically after every bad outing a player has."

"But there is nothing normal about threatening someone and their families lives."

Wittgren's wife says she, too, received threats and heinous remarks over Nick's game ... saying in a statement on social media, "Y’all I get it, my husband had a bad day at work."

"But sending both of us very explicit death threats aimed at him, me, and our children is absolutely inexcusable."

The Indians say law enforcement has been contacted over the messages ... adding the team is investigating the threats as well.

"We continue to work through all available security channels in an ongoing attempt to identify individuals who engage in this type of behavior towards our team members and eliminate future instances," Indians officials said.

"Abusive and threatening language undermines the ability of social media platforms to create positive, healthy connections."

P!nk says she's proud of the Norwegian women's beach handball team for standing up against the "very sexist rules" about their uniforms ... and she's offering to pay their fines for the protest.

The singer-songwriter went even further with her support too ... by calling on the European Handball Federation to instead be "fined for sexism" for levying financial penalties last week against the women.

ICYMI ... the ladies from Norway made a statement on their sport's uniform double standards last week by wearing shorts during a game instead of the required bikini bottoms.

The team had reportedly been planning the protest for weeks -- as you can see, the men are not required to wear uniforms nearly as revealing as the women -- and it resulted in each player getting fined around $177 each.

Tyron Woodley should be VERY concerned about his upcoming fight against Jake Paul ... so says Gilbert Burns, who tells TMZ Sports he thinks Paul has a shot to destroy the MMA star.

The bout is set to go down in Cleveland at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Aug. 29 -- and it will be Paul's 4th boxing match -- and Woodley's first.

And, according to Burns, don't be surprised if the YouTuber is the one who walks away from the ring victorious.

"Jake Paul is really proving himself as a hard worker, a great boxer, heavy-handed," Burns said. "He's very big ... I don't see an easy fight for Tyron Woodley."

Burns knows a thing or two about that ... remember, the Brazilian MMA fighter beat Woodley pretty good in a UFC match back in May 2020 -- winning by unanimous decision.

Woodley went on to lose his next two fights after that ... and it's all got Burns really wondering if the fighter can pull out the win over Paul.

"I see the pressure's on Tyron Woodley," Burns says. "He has to win that fight. Otherwise, it's going to be a horrible way to recover from."

As for if Burns has any tips for Paul, Gilbert says the key to beating Woodley is pressure and the counter punch.

"The one thing that I learned for Tyron Woodley, he's very afraid to get tired," Burns says. "I think Jake's go-to stay calm, put pressure on him, watch out for that right hand, but at the same time when the overhand right comes, it opens a lot of things."

Burns continued, "I got to watch this one close, but I'm not that confident that Tyron Woodley's gonna pull that one-off."

A robot basketball player has made its debut at the Tokyo Olympics -- and it turns out, the thing is pretty damn good at shooting baskets ... almost scary good. Actually, just scary.

Check out this robot that Tokyo officials rolled out Sunday for what appears to be a halftime show during a basketball game there between Team USA and France ... which the U.S. ended up losing 83-76.

Besides that news, reporter Ann Killion captured the real headline-grabber ... and that would be this hunk of metal slowly and inartfully sinking shots from a fair distance -- including one basket it made from half-court!

Watch the clip ... the robot starts by swishing a 3-pointer, this after lining it up perfectly and eventually launching the ball straight through the net. Then, it heads down to the mid-court logo, where it does the same thing -- picking the ball up by itself, and then chucking it.

Sure enough, that ball goes through as well. Obviously, the robot can get buckets, and even though it's slow to the draw ... it's clearly quite accurate. Shoot, maybe Team USA shoulda recruited this thing to be one of their wingmen! They sure needed the help.

All jokes aside ... the fact this robot can actually make its way up and down the floor and put up shots on its own is pretty incredible. It's a testament to technology, but also ... perhaps a sign of what may come in the future. Who's to say they won't make a full-blown team of robots one day???

Considering what Boston Dynamics is doing with their robots and how far they've come in making them move seamlessly, like humans, something tells us that possibility is one that could come about. We certainly have the tech to do it -- but do we actually wanna???

Shaun Weiss, the goalie in the 'Mighty Ducks' movies, got all nostalgic celebrating his graduation from a drug court program ... chowing down at a diner that's special to him.

Just days after getting his certificate of completion from the D.A.'s Office in Yuba County, CA ... we're told Shaun and his good friend, Drew Gallagher, hit up the super-popular Brent's Deli in the San Fernando Valley.

Why there? Well, for starters the pastrami is to die for ... but also, we're told the deli's the first place Shaun went when he was released from jail in August 2017 during one of the worst points in his life.

Shaun's had several stints in jail after that, but in going back now, he wanted to reminisce on all the progress he's made ever since.

His pal Drew practically rolled out a red carpet ... showering Shaun with congratulatory balloons and a hearty meal of matzo ball soup.

TMZ broke the story ... The D.A.'s Office was super complimentary of Shaun for staying on the straight and narrow -- and that good behavior prompted prosecutors to dismiss the burglary case against him.

Besides getting sober, Shaun also got a new set of chompers.

Gervonta "Tank" Davis is a proud Baltimore native -- and the star boxer loves his city so much, he just got it tatted all across his upper back!!!

Of course, the Maryland city is where Davis started down his road to stardom ... learning to box there at just 7 years old.

And now, the 26-year-old champ is deciding to give a major salute back to his hometown ... hitting up his go-to guy, celeb tat artist Josh Levario, for some awesome B-more ink.

The tat came out HUGE ... with the word "BALTIMORE" spanning from Davis' left shoulder all the way to his right.

The piece also came out impressive as hell -- considering Levario (who also did Tank's movie icon tattoo) tells us it only took 3 hours to get done.

Gervonta has already been honored in the past by the city of Baltimore, with Mayor Jack Young once presenting him a key to the city.

Perhaps the new tat persuades Young to give him even more?!?

Cody Garbrandt is ALL IN on a fight with Brandon Moreno ... telling TMZ Sports he wants a tilt with the champ, and he's promising a knockout or a submission when it happens!!

"No Love" broke it all down for us outside the Roosevelt Hotel on Friday ... saying he's been eyeing a move from bantamweight to flyweight for a while.

And, he tells us a fight with Moreno -- who just called Cody out this week -- is the perfect opportunity to finally make that happen.

"I'll finally get to fight at my natural weight [of 125 pounds] where I think I can perform my best," says Garbrandt, who tells us he's already started the process of changing around his diet and workout routine.

"I feel like I'm a way better fighter than him."

Don't get it twisted, though ... Garbrandt respects the hell out of Moreno -- telling us he believes the dude is a legit champion.

But, if the fight does get made ... Cody says he sees it all ending with him on top via some kind of finish.

"I'll finish him for sure," Garbrandt says. "KO, submission. Whatever."