Boxing

Dana White says Conor McGregor's headin' back to the UFC ... but Carl Frampton thinks he should REALLY reconsider ... 'cause the boxing superstar says Conor would whoop Paulie Malignaggi in a fight.

We spoke with the Jackal -- who was so impressed with Conor's ability to go 10 rounds with Floyd Mayweather, he wants to see the Notorious take on his ex-sparring partner.

There was a mad scramble to protect Conor McGregor's genitals in the minutes before the Mayweather fight ... when he realized he left his protective cup at home!

Conor had just had his hands wrapped -- while still wearing his pimped out suit -- when he realized he was missing his custom jockstrap/cup combo and his mouthpiece.

He immediately remembered he left 'em both at his Vegas home and sent one of his team members racing out of the T-Mobile Arena to retrieve his junk protection, ASAP.

The good news ... the guy made it back with plenty of time to spare.

But why did Conor have a custom cup? We'll just refer you back to the weigh-in ...

Here's rap star Lil Uzi Vert proving his luv really is rage ... by beating the trash out of some dude in a private boxing sesh.

Conor McGregor is toasting whiskey to Floyd Mayweather -- saying he's a solid fighter who won their match "hands down."

Conor also says he thinks Floyd could hold his own in an MMA cage.

It's all part of a long statement Conor issued on the fight on Wednesday night, which also explained why he ran out of gas in the 10th round.

"Getting to 12 rounds alone in practice was always the challenge in this camp," Conor admitted.

"We started slowly getting to the 12 and decreasing the stress in the rounds the closer it got to 12. I think for the time we had, 10 weeks in camp, it had to be done this way."

"If I began with a loaded 12 rounds under much stress I would have only hit a brick wall and lost progress as a result and potentially not made the fight. A little more time and we could have made the 12 cleanly, while under more stress, and made it thru the later rounds in the actual fight."

As for Floyd's fighting skills, Conor says he has a new respect for The Best Ever.

"Congrats to Floyd on a well fought match. Very experienced and methodical in his work."

"His experience, his patience and his endurance won him this fight hands down. I always told him he was not a fighter but a boxer. But sharing the ring with him he is certainly a solid fighter."

"Strong in the clinch. Great understanding of frames and head position. He has some very strong tools he could bring into an MMA game for sure."

"Here is a toast of whiskey to everyone involved in this event and everyone who enjoyed it!"

Anthony Joshua just threatened Deontay Wilder ... and it all went down during a FaceTime call with 50 Cent.

Joshua -- the reigning WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight champ -- was chatting with the rapper on his phone when his friend asked 50 for a role on "Power."

That's when AJ chimes in, "I told him we're gonna f*ck up Deontay Wilder! We're comin' soon!"

Deontay -- the reigning WBC heavyweight champion -- has been calling out Joshua for a while ... hoping the two can clash in what would be a pretty epic heavyweight showdown.

Joshua is 19-0 -- and knocked out Wladimir Klitschko earlier this year. Wilder is 38-0 with 37 knockouts.

Paulie Malignaggi says he was NOT a plant sent by Floyd Mayweather to spy on Conor McGregor ... despite Floyd's claims.

Conor's former sparring partner appeared on "The Herd" on FS1 on Wednesday -- where Colin Cowherd asked him straight up about the pre-fight video in which Floyd bragged about using Paulie as a mole.

Long story short ... Paulie says the whole thing was a joke and Floyd never asked a single boxing-related question about Conor or his training camp.

Paulie says Floyd only said 1 thing about Conor during the meeting ... "I'm gonna knock his ass out."

Mike Tyson is finally giving Conor McGregor some credit as a boxer -- saying he truly gained some respect for the Irish superstar after watching the Mayweather fight.

Remember, Tyson gave a pretty brutal prediction back in July ... telling Pardon My Take, "McGregor is gonna get killed in boxing."

There's more ... "McConor put his dumbass in a position where he's gonna get knocked out because this guy's been doing this all his life since he was a baby."

Conor McGregor spent most of the time at his Mayweather fight after-party locked in a conversation with Irish soccer legend Robbie Keane.

So, when we saw Robbie in Bev Hills this week we had to ask -- what did you guys talk about?!

Keane wasn't down to spill all the tea -- but admitted they talked about "everything."

We asked about the nature of their friendship -- Keane said they're both from Dublin.

Bottom line -- Keane's a big fan and says Conor's "gonna do great things."

[h/t Chamatkar Sandhu]

Andre Berto says he wants to cross over from boxing to the UFC ... and he's 100% serious about it.

TMZ Sports spoke with Berto about Conor's return to the Octagon after losing to Floyd Mayweather ... and A.B. says he's gunning to follow his buddy back to MMA.

"Tell Dana (White) to call me. I'll go to the UFC. I wanna be the first fighter ever to be a world champion in boxing and then go get a world title."

Frankie Delgado isn't quite the famous face he used to be, and cops had to step in when the former reality star tried to get through VIP at the Mayweather/McGregor fight.

The incident went down when the ex-'Hills' star tried breezing past security Saturday night outside the VIP entrance to T-Mobile Arena. Our law enforcement sources tell us Frankie tried to walk in without showing credentials, and ignored security's objections.

Witnesses tell us he never used the words, but his attitude reeked of "You know who I am."

A Las Vegas PD Sergeant stepped in to stop Frankie while security sorted out the matter. The tense moment was captured in this photo, and despite how it looks ... everything worked out for Frankie.

Someone eventually confirmed he was on the list, and he watched the fight from VIP.

Fun fact: Frankie's still A-list at huge events! We underestimated "The Hills."

Add O'Shea Jackson Jr. (aka Ice Cube's son) to the short list of people NOT impressed by the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight ... in fact, he says it was a Titanic-level disaster.

The "Straight Outta Compton" star may have been a little biased -- remember, his dad's BIG3 had to MOVE venues because of the fight.

LeBron James says Conor McGregor was "tough as a motherf**ker" during the Mayweather fight -- and joked there's no way in hell he coulda gone 10 rounds with TBE.

TMZ Sports was right outside the T-Mobile Arena when we spotted Bron and Cavs teammate J.R. Smith breaking down the fight.

LeBron: "You gotta respect [McGregor]."

Smith: "The thing is he came out strong in the beginning of every round. He burnt himself out."

LeBron: "You gotta respect him though because he ain't no boxer. Tough as a motherf**ker though."

Smith's retort was hilarious -- "Sh*t, give me $30 million! I'd be tough too for 30 minutes!"

LeBron: "I'm dropping in the 1st round. I ain't lasting 10."

Conor McGregor was feeling so good the day after the Mayweather fight, he strolled into a Vegas pool party ... and turned up with a bunch of hot chicks in bikinis.

Conor was welcomed into Encore Beach Club by a crowd of loyal Irish fans -- who didn't seem to give one crap that he lost. They chanted and danced and boozed. Conor loved it.

But it was the OTHER McGregor who stole the show -- Conor's older sister, Erin, a former competitive bodybuilder who's also done some fitness modeling.

Erin and her baby daddy, Terry, turned up with the rest of the McGregor clan.

You would too, if your brother just made $100 million.

Sorry, fight fans -- Floyd Mayweather is "officially done" ... meaning there's not gonna be a rematch with Conor McGregor -- so says his kid.

We spoke to Koraun after the fight ... and he confirmed that Floyd's hangin' up his gloves.

"No chance. No chance. No rematch," Koraun told TMZ Sports, when we asked if he might come back for another HUGE payday.

"Officially done. He's 40, gotta realize that. He's an old man."

Floyd's son says his dad's got a business to take care of too ... so he's happy retiring at 50-0.

FYI, Mayweather said the McGregor fight was his last one "for sure."

Conor McGregor's next fight will be in the OCTAGON -- so says Dana White, who tells TMZ Sports the Irish superstar is 100% going back to the UFC to "do what we do."

We spoke with White minutes after Mayweather racked up victory #50 over Conor on Saturday -- and Dana said he couldn't be more proud of the 29-year-old fighting sensation.

"That kid went out there tonight, 0-0 in boxing ... and went 10 rounds with the best to ever do it."

White says he's not sure who Conor will fight next in the UFC -- but he's certain there will be no follow-up boxing match for Conor.

Dana's not worried about Conor going Hollywood either -- "I don't know about movies. He's a fighter, not a movie star."

A Stipe Miocic vs. Jon Jones superfight ain't on the table anymore ... but was it ever??

We spoke to the heavyweight champ on the heels of Jon's failed steroids test ... and Stipe says he hadn't heard of a potential matchup with Jones till Dana White mentioned it to reporters.

"I had no idea. I was like, 'That's news to me,'" Miocic told TMZ Sports.

Stipe's not ruling out a fight with Jones down the road -- but with JJ sidelined for who knows how long, he says he's looking to pull a Conor McGregor ... and fight heavyweight boxing champ Anthony Joshua!

Stipe would be a BIG underdog, just like Conor was against Floyd Mayweather ... but tells us he can hang with Joshua, no problem.

Dude was a Golden Gloves champ ... so never say never.