TMZ Sports - Page 50

O.J. Simpson says he had such a tough battle with COVID last year, he was worried he was going to die ... explaining the virus made it nearly impossible for him to catch his breath.

The former NFL superstar went in-depth with The Athletic about his 2020 battle with coronavirus ... saying things at one point got so dire, death crossed his mind.

"When I had COVID, I almost couldn't get out of bed," Simpson said in a lengthy interview. "I made it to my balcony, trying to breathe. I couldn't catch my breath."

Simpson said his symptoms were so bad, he actually spoke with his children about final arrangements.

"I felt vulnerable," 74-year-old Simpson said, "and for the first time thought I might be near the end."

Simpson was able to recover ... and said he's grateful for it, explaining he's loving his life out of prison in Las Vegas.

Simpson said he golfs "four or five days a week" now, and bragged about how he's still treated like a celebrity.

"People want to buy me drinks," he said. "I'm always taking pictures with people. Ladies hug me."

"People truly care for me," he continued. "You don’t know who truly cares about you until you've gone through some serious stuff, and I've gone through serious stuff."

"The media won’t say it, but that is my life. I'm living a good life now."

Simpson, though, did say his life now includes far less trips to Los Angeles.

He explained he's troubled by being in the city because he's concerned Nicole Brown Simpson's killer could still be there.

Simone Biles was treated like royalty after making her return from Tokyo ... with tons of fans lining up to get a glimpse of the Olympics superstar in Texas!!

24-year-old Biles touched down in Houston on Thursday ... and was immediately greeted by her biggest supporters at the airport, as well as her beloved French bulldog.

The party continued in parade form ... with the 4-time gold medalist cruising through the streets in a turquoise Range Rover convertible -- naturally, the fans went nuts.

USA Gymnastics teammate Jordan Chiles was also part of the festivities ... popping out of the sunroof of a minivan and giving all the fans a wave.

Once the hype settled down, Biles decided to check out Houston Texans training camp Friday ... of course, we're assuming her eyes were laser-focused on #36 -- her NFL player boyfriend, Jonathan Owens.

Owens previously talked about his boo at Texans practice ... saying he was proud of the way she handled herself and offered advice every day while she was in Japan.

Despite Simone's controversial time in Tokyo, the folks in the Houston area showed nothing but love for their local hero.

Derrick Lewis might hit like a ton of bricks, but UFC star Ciryl Gane says The Black Beast is NOT the most dangerous guy he's stepped in a cage with, telling TMZ Sports that honor belongs to Alexander Volkov.

We talked to 31-year-old Gane -- a perfect 9-0 in the cage (including 6-0 in the Octagon) -- about his UFC 265 main event fight with Lewis for the UFC's Interim Heavyweight Title ... and asked if this was the riskiest fight of his career.

"No, I don't think so. I think Volkov was more dangerous than him. Yeah, I think Volkov was more well-rounded at first, Volkov was taller, heavier, and more technical than him," Gane says.

If you're not familiar, 32-year-old Volkov is a problem in the Octagon. He's 6'7", and has has beat some of the best competition in MMA, from Alistair Overeem to Fabricio Werdum.

But, Lewis is also incredibly dangerous ... and has scary power. He's got 20 knockouts on his record ... and the last time he was in the Octagon, he put Curtis Blaydes to sleep.

Of course, a win would set Gane up for a scrap with Heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou ... but that fight will have to wait a few months 'cause Gane's expecting a baby!!

"I think I'm gonna rest a little bit. I don't know if you know, but I’m waiting for a second daughter."

Conor McGregor ain't letting gnarly leg surgery keep him away from a good meal ... the UFC star hit an L.A. hotspot for dinner Thursday night, and vowed to TMZ Sports afterward, he's on his way to a big recovery!

The 33-year-old -- who broke his leg during his fight with Dustin Poirier on July 10 -- was in great spirits while crutching around Craig's in West Hollywood.

You can see in the footage, he was moving pretty well despite having major surgery less than a month ago ... getting around a mob of people and into a car without much assistance at all.

As for the recovery the process, McGregor said it's all "doing good, doing good."

"Three weeks, three days -- it's been good," said Conor, who was feeling so well he even signed some autographs for fans. "It's been good."

McGregor also promised to make an epic comeback from the brutal leg procedure ... telling us, "It's going to be some recovery. It's going to be some recovery!"

As we previously reported, McGregor went under the knife for nearly 4 hours last month and needed a rod, plate and screws to fix the damage he suffered during his fight with Poirier.

But, McGregor has looked great in the days since the operation ... hanging with Justin Bieber, getting in lift sessions at the gym and now crushing some good food at one of L.A.'s best eateries.

Jake Paul vs. Manny Pacquiao is a fight you will NOT see ... 'cause the Filipino legend tells us he's laser-focused on bolstering his legacy -- and a fight with the YouTube star doesn't help.

... but he didn't slam the door on Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather II.

TMZ Sports talked to the 42-year-old boxing great while he was training at Wild Card Boxing in Los Angeles ... and we asked Manny if he had any interest in boxing Jake.

"No, I will not. I will not. I want to fight the best to add on to my legacy."

Of course, 24-year-old Paul -- who's fighting ex-UFC champ Tyron Woodley later this month -- previously told us he had his sights set on ... the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world, CANELO ALVAREZ.

But, Pacquiao ain't interested ... but Jake shouldn't take it as a shot at his skills in the squared circle.

"I’m not underestimating Paul, but he’s, he doesn’t have a lot of experience of boxing. So, in that point, he’s already, disadvantage for him to fight in boxing."

FYI, Manny -- who's coming off wins against stars Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman -- has a huge fight against 31-year-old boxing champ Errol Spence on August 21 ... and clearly isn't slowing down despite his advanced age for a fighter.

We asked Pacquiao if he wanted a rematch with Floyd Mayweather ... so he could avenge his 2015 loss against Money.

Manny says he's down to do it (even though Mayweather's retired) ... adding Floyd is invited to the Spence fight.

Vanessa Bryant has settled a lawsuit filed by her mother, TMZ Sports has learned.

Sofia Laine had claimed she worked as a nanny for Vanessa and Kobe for nearly 20 years and said she was owed $200,000 ... computed at a rate of $96 an hour.

She also claimed Kobe promised to take care of her for the rest of her life. She says after Kobe died, Vanessa kicked her out of the home Kobe had allegedly bought for her.

Vanessa called the lawsuit "frivolous, disgraceful and unimaginably hurtful." She went on ... "My husband never promised my mother anything, and he would be so disappointed in her behavior and lack of empathy."

As for getting money for working as a nanny, Vanessa said, "I have supported her for nearly 20 years, and was never my or Kobe's personal assistant, nor was she a nanny."

Vanessa went on ... "In reality, she only occasionally babysat my older girls when they were toddlers," adding, "As of ten years ago, our kids were full-time students and athletes and I didn't have another child until 2016."

Khabib is breaking his silence on Conor McGregor's ugly comments about the undefeated fighter's deceased father ... saying "The Notorious" flat-out has a bad heart.

Nurmagomedov joined "Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson" (and Henry Cejudo) ... when the topic turned to McGregor's now-deleted Tweet about Khabib's late dad, Abdulmanap.

"When [Conor] talked about this, only evil can talk about your father, wife, kids, religion. If you’re normal human, you’re never going to talk about this stuff," Khabib told the combat legends.

"For me, I think he post this tweet while drunk too much or something. Then the next day, he always delete these tweets. When he become normal life he says, ‘Oh, look what I did.’ Then he delete. This is my opinion what he do all the time."

In case you missed it (Conor deleted the message not long after posting), McGregor tweeted ... “Covid is good and father is evil?”

That was presumably in response to Khabib tweeting "Good always defeats evil" after Dustin Poirier beat McGregor in their trilogy fight last month.

Nurmagomedov had more to say about Conor, digging into his past mistakes ... including when he socked a man in a Dublin bar for turning down a drink of his Proper 12 whiskey.

“When someone is not with us, he is not even alive, this shows you what you have inside, this shows, like, how dirty you are. When you are one of the best in the world, and you come and you punch someone like 70 years old, like an old man, this shows your heart."

Bottom line, Khabib says he doesn't understand why someone close to McGregor doesn't speak up ... and tell him he's out of line.

"When you have parents and you have kids, how can you show yourself like this? I don’t understand why [Conor's] close people don’t tell him, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’”

The Juventus FC Women's Twitter decided to send out a picture of a player wearing a cone on her head and making a wildly racist gesture on Thursday ... and now, the team is apologizing.

The Italian club's social media team kept the post live on their Twitter account for roughly 25 minutes before it got taken down ... but it received more than 7,500 negative replies before it was deleted.

The team released a statement on the disgusting tweet shortly after ... saying, "We sincerely apologise that our tweet, which was not meant to cause controversy or have any racial undertones, may have offended anyone."

"Juventus has always been against racism and discrimination. #DifferencesMakeTheDifference."

No word on why the team -- which was founded in 2017 -- decided to post a super racist pic out of the blue on a random Thursday ... but the screenshots will certainly last forever.

It's not the first time the club has been at the center of controversy -- back in 2019, men's player Moise Kean was on the receiving end of racist abuse from fans.

LeBron James is back on the movie scene -- this time, it's behind the camera ... producing a new flick about Native American basketball!!

SpringHill Company -- LBJ and Maverick Carter's production business -- will be teaming up with director Sydney Freeland to make the sports drama for Netflix called 'Rez Ball.'

The movie is about the Chuska Warriors -- a Native American high school basketball team in New Mexico that has to step it up to win a championship after losing their star players, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

FYI, Rez Ball is actually short for Reservation Basketball ... which is a different form of hoops that is played by Native Americans in Arizona, New Mexico and other states.

No word on the casting but the filming will take place in NM and is scheduled to be released in 2022 or early 2023.

Freeland -- who is known for her 2014 film, "Drunktown's Finest" -- is stoked to work on this project ... saying, "basketball on the Rez is like high school football in West Texas."

"What we want to do is bring people into our world, to tell a story about the people and places we know, and what better way to do that than through a sports movie?"

"We are so excited with the team we’ve assembled and can’t wait to bring this to the screen.”

James just finished acting and co-producing 'Space Jam: A New Legacy' that blew up the box office, making $31.7 million opening weekend.

A boxing super-fight between Blueface and Tekashi 6ix9ine is NEVER gonna happen ... so says Blueface himself, who tells TMZ Sports the controversial rapper is simply too chicken to step in the ring with him.

Remember, the "Thotiana" MC showed he's got some hands after taking down TikToker Kane Trujillo -- and a spectator who invaded the ring -- at BKFC 19 last month.

When we ran into Blueface at The Highlight Room this week, we had to ask if his rival Tekashi could be his next big opponent ... and the guy shut that idea down FAST.

"He ain’t gonna take that, bro." Blueface tells us. "He wouldn’t take that if his mom was on her deathbed and it was her last breath and she said, 'Tekashi just fight Blueface and they’ll give me a new heart.'"

"He still wouldn’t do it."

Of course, there's quite a bit of history between the two -- Blueface recently called Tekashi a "snitch" for allegedly getting his Instagram account deleted ... as a result of their back-and-forth over the LA native's tattoo shoutout to his favorite jeweler.

Long story short, Tekashi accused Blueface of owing NYC Luxury money due to the ink ... something the tattoo artist flat-out denied.

So, if 6ix9ine's out, who will it be?? We asked if Blueface would take a fight with Jake Paul ... and he doesn't shut it down, saying, "It doesn't matter who it is, bro."

Something tells us Tekashi's gonna get wind of this and want to respond.

Trevor Bauer says he has proof his accuser admitted in writing that at least one of their sexual encounters was "consensual."

The L.A. Dodgers star made the claims in a new court filing this week ... saying he and his reps have obtained text messages between his accuser and her cousin that show she admitted that at least one night of Bauer's rough sexual acts were consensual.

In the text message exchange ... which Bauer claims went down on May 16 -- the morning after the second of their two sexual encounters -- the Dodgers star says the woman was having a conversation with her cousin about having sex with the pitcher.

"How you doing there dude," Bauer claims the cousin asked.

"Dude. Not good," the woman allegedly responded.

When asked what happened, in the document Bauer says the woman showed her cousin a picture of her bruised and swollen face, adding, "He felt so bad. I literally had no idea it was gonna be that bad!? Like im ok but holy sh*t!?!?"

Bauer says the cousin responded, "Ok ok I thought he actually got violent. As long as it was consensual I don't have to kill him."

The woman, according to Bauer, said, "It was consensual but like didnt expect two black eyes!? Like he def took it too far dont you think lol."

In the docs, Bauer and his attorneys claim the messages help prove the MLB player did not sexually assault the woman.

The accuser's attorney, though, is calling B.S. on it all ... with Bryan Freedman saying in a statement to the L.A. Times, "Mr. Bauer’s defense team is deliberately twisting the tone of text messages exchanged with an assault victim within hours of her being attacked to try to minimize the long-lasting impact on her physical and mental well-being to this day.”

Freedman continued, "[She] did not consent to be punched in her face, punched in her head, punched in her buttocks or repeatedly punched in her vagina."

Police have said they are investigating Bauer -- who's currently on administrative leave from the Dodgers.

Further court hearings, meanwhile, to determine if a permanent restraining order against Bauer should be put in place are slated to continue later this month.

Huge news in the soccer world -- superstar Lionel Messi will NOT be returning to FC Barcelona ... the team announced Thursday.

The 34-year-old is now free to sign with the club of his choice ... and will undoubtedly come with a massive price tag.

The team released a statement ... saying both sides agreed to make a deal, but due to "financial and structural obstacles (Spanish Liga regulations)," there was no way to make it happen.

"As a result of this situation, Messi shall not be staying on at FC Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of the player and the club will ultimately not be fulfilled."

Messi is one of the greatest soccer players ever -- he's won the Ballon d'Or a record 6 times -- and has spent his entire pro career with Barcelona.

The club added ... "FC Barcelona wholeheartedly expresses its gratitude to the player for his contribution to the aggrandisement of the club and wishes him all the very best for the future in his personal and professional life."

Messi was #2 on Forbes' highest-paid athletes list this year ... and in 2020, became the second player to ever have $1 billion in career earnings, behind Cristiano Ronaldo.

Adrian Griffin -- Toronto Raptors assistant coach and ex-NBA player -- is firing back at his ex-wife, suing for libel after she accused the hoops coach of domestic violence on social media.

47-year-old Griffin filed a defamation suit in New York ... blasting ex, Audrey Sterling, as a bitter woman, hell-bent on destroying his life and career by any means necessary.

As we previously reported, Sterling accused Griffin of getting physical with her while she was pregnant, accusing Adrian of choking her, throwing her against the wall, and dragging her across the lawn. She also claimed he wasn't taking care of their kids.

But, the ex-Seton Hall star is adamant that's straight-up BS intended to keep Griffin from getting an NBA head coaching gig.

"These were all lies, completely fabricated to take advantage of the current online climate where a woman’s unsupported accusation would be inherently believed, no matter how false or far-fetched," Griffin's attorney wrote in the lawsuit.

"In today’s lost cancel culture, where angry mobs patrol the bowels of social media ready to pounce, an accusation, with or without evidence, is the equivalent of a conviction. Sterling knew her accusations to be false. She made them anyway, and persisted in making them, until her thirst for blood was quenched."

AG's lawyer went as far as to call the ploy a "Twitter jihad" where his client had a choice ... "either pay off his ex-wife to end her campaign of lies, or see his career destroyed."

FYI, Adrian and Audrey were married in 1996 ... and have 4 children together. They divorced in 2015.

Since they split, Griffin's attorney says "[Audrey] has harbored an extreme hatred towards [Adrian], in addition to an undying thirst to sabotage [his] career, ruin [his] life, in general, and make [his] miserable as often as possible."

Griffin is considered one of the best players in Seton Hall history ... and played 9 years in the NBA. He's been an assistant coach since 2008 ... working with teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, OKC Thunder.

He joined the Toronto Raptors in 2018 ... and is still currently on the coaching staff.

The New England Patriots are helping 30,000 kids of military families prepare for the next school year ... with the team doing a huge giveaway with backpacks stuffed with supplies!!

Of course, coach Bill Belichick would be the first to admit preparation is a key element of winning ... so naturally, the team is making sure kids throughout the area will have all the tools to succeed in the classroom this fall.

Josh Kraft, the president of Kraft Family Philanthropies is pumped to give back to his community.

"With the support of our fans, 30,000 students will be well-equipped for the upcoming school year," he said.

The founder of the Massachusetts Military Support Fund, Don Cox, explained the importance to help children in the area ... especially those in military fams.

"Military children often face moving multiple times and changing schools or having a parent deploy. We are proud to partner with the Patriots, Revolution, Operation Homefront and Dollar Tree Stores to provide military children with the basic tools needed to participate in school."

"It is just one small way to show them they are supported by the community."

Donald Trump just unloaded on Megan Rapinoe and the USWNT ... calling them "leftist maniacs" who cost the United States a gold medal at the Olympics.

The former President went off Thursday morning ... stunningly claiming the women's team's kneeling protests and political comments were the reasons they didn't win gold in Tokyo this summer.

"If our soccer team, headed by a radical group of Leftist Maniacs, wasn’t woke, they would have won the Gold Medal instead of the Bronze," Trump said.

"Woke means you lose, everything that is woke goes bad, and our soccer team certainly has."

Trump's rant didn't stop there ... he went on to say the team's protestors should be kicked off the squad, and then criticized Rapinoe for her political statements and her play.

"They should replace the wokesters with Patriots and start winning again," he said.

"The woman with the purple hair played terribly and spends too much time thinking about Radical Left politics and not doing her job!"

As we previously reported, several members of the USWNT took knees prior to the kickoff of the Olympic games this summer ... a continuing effort by the squad to raise awareness for injustice across the globe.

Several members from other national squads also took part in the kneeling protests during the Games as well.

"Completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw!!!"

That's legendary track star Carl Lewis going OFF on the U.S. men's relay team for the sloppy performance that disqualified them from the Tokyo Olympic finals ... holding nothing back after their not so good performance.

The 4x100-meter team had trouble with the baton exchange on Thursday ... with sprinter Ronnie Baker grabbing Fred Kerley's uniform the first time ... and on the second exchange, Baker missed.

The third was the charm -- Baker shoved the baton into Kerley's hands -- but Lewis was clearly not happy with their performance.

"The USA team did everything wrong in the men's relay," Lewis said.

"The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership."

Team USA finished in 6th place and fell short of making the Finals, ruining their chances at a gold medal -- something the 4x100m relay team hasn't won since 2000.

Lewis -- who won 8 Olympic gold medals and 10 World Championships during his 16-year career -- set records in the 4x100m and many more ... so the guy knows his stuff.

"It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw."