MMA

Chael Sonnen just gave Jon Jones fans a classic good news/bad news situation ...

Good news? Jones is returning to the mat as part of Chael's Submission Underground event next month ... an all-grappling combat contest Jones is actually allowed to compete in, despite his yearlong drug suspension.

Bad news? Jon is up against his old UFC foe -- and former Olympic wrestler -- Dan Henderson ... during a bout on FloGrappling.com which according to Sonnen could mean Jones seriously gets embarrassed in the all-grappling format.

Beware, Bellator fighters ... Kevin "Baby Slice" Ferguson says you guys have NO HOPE of hurting him in the ring ... 'cause he's taken more punishment than you can dish out ... from his father, Kimbo Slice.

Ferguson is set to make his long-awaited debut at Bellator 165 this Saturday against Aaron Hamilton ... and told TMZ Sports there's a reason why he's not at all nervous about his first big fight.

"I used to spar with my dad all the time ... he used to sit me down with body shots."

BTW -- Kimbo Slice was 245 pounds, Baby Slice weighs in at 170 ... so yeah, brutal.

Floyd Mayweather ain't letting himself go in retirement -- his bodyguards say the dude is still in INSANE shape and could fight RIGHT NOW if he wanted to.

TMZ Sports spoke with Floyd's muscle -- Greg and Jizzy -- at the Money Team record label launch party in New York ... when they told us why they're convinced Floyd could fight 'til he's 60 YEARS OLD.

Nick Diaz was inside 1 Oak nightclub when Conor McGregor went off on Floyd Mayweather Tuesday night -- and had this 2 word reaction -- "F*** you."

Diaz began Snapchatting himself during Conor's rant -- and said, "I was already the 2-weight world champion, bitch."

Then he threw up a middle finger and said, "F*** you."

Jerry Rice is no dummy ... and knows when you're caught in a Ronda Rousey-style armbar at an MMA gym -- YOU TAP IMMEDIATELY!!!

The NFL legend teamed up with Bellator, Spike and Veterans Operation Wellness to do some MMA training with U.S. Army veterans at the Smash Gym in Northern California on Tuesday ... and actually looked pretty good.

At one point, he squared off with J.T. Roswell -- who's fighting at Bellator 165 on Saturday -- and even though he got his hands near Roswell's face, things changed quickly ... and it was tap city.

We're told Rice was a quick learner and the fighters were impressed with how quickly he picked up on techniques.

Dana White ain't taking too kindly to Floyd Mayweather's shots at Conor McGregor -- blasting the boxing legend as one of the most boring fighters ever ... who needs to RESPECT the Irish stud.

Here's the FULL 5-minute shot with Floyd Mayweather -- where he blasts Conor McGregor over and over again ... and claims to be the biggest name in MMA.

It all went down on Monday -- when Floyd told our guy comparing Conor to him was "disrespectful" -- because he's an elephant and McGregor is an ant.

There's a lot more in the full clip ... including the part where Floyd accuses Conor of "piggybacking off my name."

Conor McGregor has a message for Floyd Mayweather -- if you wanna talk smack, "SAY IT TO MY FACE!"

We just shot the UFC superstar on the streets of NYC -- where he's still getting all sorts of love from fans -- and told him about the comments Mayweather made about him Monday.

McGregor called full B.S. on Floyd's claim that he didn't watch UFC 205 -- and then Conor straight-up called him out.

Floyd Mayweather is sick of the Conor McGregor comparisons -- saying it's "total disrespect" because the UFC star is an ant and Floyd is an elephant.

Seriously.

Ronda Rousey made an angry charge onto the UFC stage to stare down her UFC 207 opponent Amanda Nunes ... and then stormed right off ... blowing off the customary interview with Joe Rogan.

Dana White tried to hold Ronda onstage so Rogan could get off some questions -- but Rousey was having none of it ... and pulled away to bolt.

Nunes stayed onstage and vowed to beat Rousey's ass when they get in the Octagon in December.

By the way, Ronda's hair looked dope.

UPDATE -- Ronda continued to storm past media after she left the stage.

Conor McGregor and Eddie Alvarez just went toe-to-toe for EVEN MORE smack talking at the UFC 205 weigh-ins ... jawing at each other while Dana White pulled them apart.

Conor took more shots at Eddie -- claiming the fight will be just another day at the office ... "I do this every week."

Eddie vowed to silence the crowd ... and promised to shut Conor up for good.

An NYPD cop was literally SHAKING IN HER BOOTS when she came face-to-face with Conor McGregor this week -- but she wasn't scared ... she was insanely starstruck!

The UFC superstar is in New York gearing up for UFC 205 on Nov. 12th -- and came face-to-face with an officer who told Conor she was Irish ... and he was her hero.

What ensued was some serious fangirling ... with the cop claiming, "Besides my kids being born this is one of the best days of my life."

Ronda Rousey just got verbally annihilated by a female fighting goddess -- ex-boxing champ Christy Martin who ripped Ronda for being a bad role model, a bad champion and an idiot.

48-year-old Martin -- one of the greatest female boxers of all time -- went off on Rousey to FightHype.com ... saying she wishes she was 10 years younger so she could teach the UFC superstar a lesson.

Check out why Christy thinks Ronda will never set foot in the Octagon again ... despite having a scheduled fight in December.

Greg Hardy has been training his ass off as an MMA fighter -- linking up with one of the top gyms in the country where he's been living and sleeping while working under the tutelage of an ex-UFCer.

TMZ Sports has learned ... the 28-year-old ex-NFL star has been training with American Top Team in Florida -- which Dana White once hailed as one of the top 5 MMA teams in the country.

We spoke with one of Hardy's trainers, Mike Brown -- a former UFC fighter who actually fought and BEAT Urijah Faber TWICE in his MMA career.

Brown says Hardy has been living at the training facility -- "He's staying in the dorms we have upstairs. It's for guys who are really in intensive training."

While at ATT, Hardy has been working out with legit MMA studs like King Mo -- who seems to have taken a liking to the ex-Pro Bowler.

So, how does Hardy look?

"He seems to have the drive and desire," Brown says ... noting that Hardy has been taking classes in multiple disciplines to hone his skills.

"He took boxing last night, jiu-jitsu today. He was training with Steve Mocco, our wrestling coach, who was in the Olympics."

As far as taking a pro fight, Brown says there's a shot he could debut in 2017 taking a low-level pro fight or an amateur fight. Stay tuned ...

He's been a bodybuilding champion, a movie star, and the governor of California ... but Chael Sonnen still thinks Arnold Schwarzenegger missed his calling ... as a dominant MMA fighter.

We got Chael out in L.A. and asked how he thought Arnold would do in MMA ... being that CS had just told us he's expecting his 'Celebrity Apprentice' boss to be at his big fight in Inglewood next year.

Check out the clip -- it's clear Chael LOVES him some Arnold ... saying that the guy's never failed at anything ... and he thinks that would carry over into the combat arena.

Brooke Hogan says she's recruiting the BEST female athletes in the world to join her new female pro wrestling league -- and she's got her sights set on Ronda Rousey.