TMZ Sports - Page 39

Fight night should be a breeze for Belal Muhammad ... 'cause the UFC welterweight champ says he regularly works out with dudes most dangerous than Jack Della Maddalena, his UFC 315 opp!

TMZ Sports spoke with the 36-year-old fighter ahead of Saturday's main event scrap ... and like a slugger on deck taking hacks with a donut on his bat, Belal says the actual fight will be easier than his time on the practice mats.

"When I look at the guys that I train with, I tell you, I'm training with the best striker in the world in Ignacio Bahamondes. And I strike with this guy every single day. Jack doesn't have striking that comes close to him. The grapplers that I train with, the guys that I'm sparring with every single day, they're better than Jack," Muhammad said.

The Catholic Church has a new Pope, and not only is Leo XIV the first American to occupy the position, he's also a Villanova alum ... and one former star hooper is hoping the Holy Father can find some time to return to campus for a basketball game!

TMZ Sports spoke with NCAA Tourney hero Kris Jenkins shortly after conclave ended ... and we asked him about the Pope's Nova roots.

"These East Lancaster bullies have been creeping out a lot these past couple days," Kris said. "They've been showing sightings in Boston, Massachusetts. Now we're making our way to the head of the Catholic Church."

Druski's not only fighting back against the woman accusing him of rape -- he also wants her attorneys held accountable for not vetting claims he says are provably false ... and he's going to court with receipts.

The comedian and actor filed docs Friday in federal court, calling out Ashley Parham's legal team, citing several documents that clearly refute her allegation he raped her in Northern California on March 23, 2018 ... along with Diddy, Odell Beckham Jr. and others.

However, in the docs, Druski says Parham filed a police report accusing a guy named Shane Pearce and an anonymous white man of raping her on March 23, 2018. The report apparently makes no mention of any other alleged attackers, and Druski says the document was "easily obtainable from the public record."

Tar Heels fans lighting the torches and sharpening the pitch forks betters stand down ... Antonio Gates tells TMZ Sports no matter what happens at UNC this season, Jordon Hudson should not be labeled a villain.

Of course, there appear to be many in Carolina blue who are already angling to make Bill Belichick's 24-year-old girlfriend a scapegoat following a recent rash of negative headlines about her ... but when we got Gates out at LAX on Friday, he told us the haters should back off.

While he didn't necessarily love that Carolina's new head coach is intermingling so much of his personal life with his professional one -- he made it clear, Jordon will have zero impact on UNC's win-loss record in 2025.

It's safe to say John Cena didn't give any of his "Peacemaker" costars a heads up about his hair transplant ... 'cause TMZ broke the news to Frank Grillo this week -- and he couldn't have been more floored by the reveal.

We chopped it up with Rick Flag Sr. out at LAX ... and while we chatted a bit about the new season of the hit Max show dropping later this year (skip the first 30 seconds of the clip if you haven't watched S1 yet), the topic of the WWE Superstar's recent life-changing decision made Grillo stop in his tracks.

In fact, the "Purge" franchise star didn't fully believe our camera guy was spitting facts ... so he said he was gonna reserve comment until he knew for sure we weren't pulling a month-delayed April Fool's prank on him.

Darby Allin executed what is being considered the highest elevation kickflip EVER ... but unfortunately it won't go down in the history books -- 'cause Guinness World Records tells TMZ Sports it doesn't have any plans on recognizing the attempt.

Here's the lowdown -- the AEW star is currently a month into his journey of climbing the world's tallest mountain (29,031-foot peak) ... and after stopping off at Everest Camp 2, he decided to kill some time by doing a kickflip.

While it's all on video, we asked the professionals if the attempt would be accepted as the official world record.

Antonio Brown's allegiance to Kanye West is unwavering ... 'cause the Super Bowl champ says despite the artist going full Nazi, he has nothing but love for him.

The seven-time Pro Bowler doubled down on his support for the controversial musician this week ... stating not only has his opinion remained unchanged, they have more content slated to drop soon.

"Love to Ye, man," AB said outside Craig's in West Hollywood while rocking his iced-out Donda chain.

The cause of death of John Elway's longtime agent and friend Jeff Sperbeck has been officially ruled as blunt head trauma, TMZ Sports has learned.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Office told us Friday the Coroner’s Bureau made the determination just days after Sperbeck's April 30 passing ... adding the death has also been ruled an accident.

A final report in the case is expected to be released once toxicology results return.

Most Valuable Prospects 12 is slated to go down on Friday ... and TMZ Sports has already done the heavy lifting for anyone wanting to track down the promotion's newest ring girl -- her name is Marissa Ayers, and we talked to her ahead of her big debut!!

We chopped it up with the MVP newbie and fellow models Delia Sylvain and Rapha Milagres ahead of fight night in Orlando ... and the rookie opened up on how she ended up in the family.

It turns out Rapha played a role in getting the Georgia native and Alabama student on board ... and after a few convos, she was handed her sparkly blue outfit and got to work as an MVP event model.

Draymond Green believes he's unfairly being made out to be an "angry Black man" ... saying in a heated post-game interview he's sick and tired of the narrative.

The four-time NBA champ expressed his frustrations to a reporter in the Target Center locker room on Thursday ... right after the Golden State Warriors fell in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It's unclear what initiated the conversation ... but Green did receive a technical foul in the loss after he struck Wolves center Naz Reid in the head -- his fifth of the postseason.

After a public campaign to unretire jersey numbers worn by several New York Giants greats ... the team's 2025 first-round draft pick, Abdul Carter, has settled on a number -- 51!!!

The G-Men announced the jersey numbers Friday morning ahead of rookie minicamp, which Azeez Ojulari last wore before he departed in free agency.

While it's just a number ... it was a long road to get to this moment. After being drafted, AC was hopeful Lawrence Taylor would give him his blessing to take down number 56 from the rafters.

Bill Belichick's girlfriend will still be allowed to hang with her man while he's at work ... UNC just called B.S. on a report Friday that stated Jordon Hudson had been banned from the Tar Heels' field and facilities.

In a statement the school wrote ... "While Jordon Hudson is not an employee at the University or Carolina Athletics, she is welcome to the Carolina Football facilities."

The report of a Hudson bar came from former ESPN personality Pablo Torre ... who said on his YouTube channel that multiple sources told him Bill's 24-year-old partner was persona non grata in Chapel Hill.

Before it was Pope Leo, it was "Let's go White Sox" for Robert Prevost ... as an unearthed photo shows the new pope cheered on the Pale Hose in person at a 2005 World Series game.

In the picture -- which was obtained by The Chicago Sun-Times shortly after Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV on Thursday -- you can see the new pontiff chatting on a phone at U.S. Cellular Field as some of his close friends posed for a picture inches away.

According to Sports Illustrated, the image was from either Game 1 or Game 2 of the Series against the Houston Astros. The Sox won both -- the first by a score of 5-3, and the next 7-6. They went on to win the whole shebang, four games to none.

L.A. Rams star Quentin Lake is passing along some advice to Shedeur Sanders ... and given how similar the guys' NFL draft experiences were -- Deion's son would be wise to listen up.

The 26-year-old defensive back delivered a pump-up speech of sorts to the Cleveland Browns rookie just ahead of his first-ever pro practice on Friday ... and Lake made it clear, Sanders can find success as a late-round pick with a famous dad, just as he once did.

Lake -- the son of former All-Pro Carnell Lake -- went in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft ... but he was able to go on to become a team captain and one of his squad's best players.

The Knicks have inspired belief and confidence in their fanbase after going up 2-0 on the Celtics ... but legendary film director and diehard backer Spike Lee believes there’s a more divine reason the New York fans can expect a title this season -- the new Pope!!

Apparently, Spike is all about Leo XIV because Robert Francis Prevost is a Villanova grad. Villanova -- the only Augustinian Catholic university in the United States -- is also the alma mater of three Knicks: Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges.

If you ask Spike -- a regular at Knicks games -- the 'Nova connection is a sign from God his squad is going to win it all this season.

Paul Pierce has finally clocked in for his day job at the Fox Studio Lot ... and he's adamant he walked the full 20 miles to get there.

The NBA legend told TMZ Sports as he was finishing up his trek that he paid off his bet to his "Speak" colleagues in full -- using no means of transportation other than his feet to get him from The Valley to West Los Angeles on Thursday.

He also said he doesn't regret making the wager -- which, of course, he placed on Wednesday afternoon when he believed his former Celtics team would beat the Knicks in Game 2 of their playoff series at TD Garden.