MMA

Elon Musk says he isn't the one holding up a battle of the billionaires with Mark Zuckerberg ... claiming Tuesday the Meta honcho is actually the one who turned down a potential fight at Italy's Colosseum.

The Tesla exec took to X just minutes ago to explain his side of the situation ... saying after the two men had initially agreed to fight, Rome offered up one of the Seven Wonders of the World for the guys to scrap in.

But, according to Elon, Zuck just flat-out didn't want to do it.

"Zuck declined," Musk said emphatically.

That's when he said he offered to fight in Zuckerberg's backyard Octagon instead.

"I suggested his home as 'safe space,'" Musk said. "Tragically, he was ahem 'traveling.'"

Zuck, meanwhile, has offered up a completely different version of the situation, saying on Threads earlier this week that he was moving on from the battle ... because he didn't believe Musk was serious at all about the fight.

"I offered a real date," the 39-year-old said. "Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity. Elon won't confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead."

He continued, "If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me. Otherwise, time to move on. I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously."

Mark Zuckerberg is hellbent on taking a fight in the UFC -- NOT with Elon Musk, but possibly with an actual UFC fighter -- and now, Dana White is more than insinuating it could actually go down!

As you know, Zuck's moved on from a fight with Elon, saying last Friday, " ... I'll share details on my next fight when I'm ready." So, he's got some plan for his "next fight."

He went on to say, "I want to do it in a way that puts a spotlight on the elite athletes at the top of their game," adding, "You do that by working with professional orgs like the UFC or ONE to pull this off well."

Zuck said Monday, "I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously."

So, who are the "elite athletes" and "people who take the sport seriously?" It seems unlikely there's another Elon out there -- billionaire vs. billionaire -- and it doesn't make a lot of sense Zuck would involve the UFC for some amateur fight with a rando.

We know Zuck's been in communication with UFC Prez Dana White for well over a month and probably a lot longer, and Dana has 500 fighters on his roster who would love this kind of attention -- fighting M.Z.

Now there's no way Zuck would fight a UFC vet, but what about a fighter who just joined the org?

We contacted Dana with our connect-the-dots theory, and here's what he told us ... "I have said since day 1 Mark is a very serious guy. He loves the sport and is training hard. I believe he is serious about fighting in the UFC."

Notice Dana said "fighting IN the UFC." That more than suggests he'd be fighting someone on the INside, not the outside.

CMFTR + SAG-AFTRA!

AEW star CM Punk showed big-time support for the striking actors, rockin' a Screen Actors Guild t-shirt to the ring on AEW Collision over the weekend.

Punk's shirt read ... "SAG-AFTRA ON STRIKE"

The "Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists" is an American labor union representing over 150K people working in the entertainment industry, including actors (from Tom Hanks to bit actors). They've been on strike since July 14.

After making the in-ring statement, CM Punk, government name Phil Brooks, has been receiving some hate online.

Punk shared a screenshot on Instagram where a fan sent him a message ... "You have become what you hate"

The wrestling superstar responded ... "I have become what I hate? A guild/union member who stands in solidarity with fellow members fighting for what's right. Bitch, I have become what I LOVE."

Punk isn't the only wrestling star who has the backs of the actors on strike. WWE Superstar Seth Rollins recently professed his support during a conversation we had with him at LAX.

You can't lose with Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler, Justin Gaethje, or Nate Diaz ... BUT, given a choice of the three opponents, UFC legend Chuck Liddell knows the fight he'd like to see.

Nate Diaz vs. The Notorious III!

TMZ Sports caught up with Liddell at LAX this week ... and asked him about Conor's next fight.

"All those would be an interesting fight but I think Nate Diaz, run it back to do it one more time. That'd be fun to watch."

Of course, McGregor's supposed to fight Chandler, who is coaching opposite him on "The Ultimate Fighter." Though, after Gaethje's win over Dustin Poirier a few weeks ago, Conor went at Justin on social media.

Then there's Nate ... who just lost a boxing match to Jake Paul. The guys have obviously fought twice in the past, with each man winning one. They've always said they want to complete the trilogy, which would arguably be the biggest in the promotion's history.

"It will be fun. I think it will be real competitive, I think it's a good one to come back to."

Out of the three options, Chuck makes it clear he wants Conor and Nate. As for how it'll go, The Iceman thinks it'll be a close fight.

Speaking of Diaz and Paul, we also asked Liddell if he bought what Jake was selling ... when he said he could beat Nate with 8-9 months of MMA training.

Chuck isn't so sure.

"That tells me [Jake] just doesn't understand the difference. He has no clue what the difference between MMA and boxing."

Liddell explained some of the challenges when going from boxing to mixed martial arts.

"It's funny [Paul] usually fights two weight classes below him, he likes to pick guys that are a lot smaller than him but Nate's a good jiu-jitsu guy, he's a good grappler and he knows how to fight MMA," Chuck told us.

"There's a different stance, everything changes. You add kicks, you gotta change your stance, you can't stand in boxing stance. I hit you so, it hurts so bad in the first round, you got one round to knock me out."

Mark Zuckerberg is tired of waiting for Elon Musk to get ready to rumble, so he's moving on -- so says the Facebook founder himself.

The techie billionaire announced Sunday he was throwing in the towel on the planning process, saying it was clear to him that EM wasn't serious about duking it out ... evidenced, at least in Mark's eyes, in all the excuses Elon has offered to postpone this thing.

MZ writes, "I think we can all agree Elon isn't serious and it's time to move on. I offered a real date. Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity. Elon won't confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead."

The backyard thing is new news -- and pretty eyebrow-raising if true. Mark adds, "If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me. Otherwise, time to move on. I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously."

Mark has kinda been teasing this move for a while now ... consistently refuting Elon's characterization of things, and alleging that the Twitter honcho was stonewalling on purpose.

In fact, it wasn't too long ago that Mark said he wasn't holding his breath for Elon -- and despite EM trying to hype up the fight just this past week (by mentioning the prospect of Italy as a venue), it sounds like Mark's throwing cold water on the whole thing ... calling BS.

It was a cool would-be event while it lasted, we suppose ... and time will tell if Mark pulling the plug like this will force Elon to actually commit -- but if he doesn't, it might be over.

Take a hard look at Aljamain Sterling when he fights Sean O'Malley at UFC 292 'cause it could be the last time Aljo competes in the bantamweight division ... the UFC champ tells us he wants to move up and dethrone featherweight champ Alex Volkanovski.

Whether or not it is his last scrap at 135 lbs., 34-year-old Sterling seemed to indicate he may not be around the Octagon much longer.

"I think [it could be my last at 135]. I think I go out there, dominate O'Malley the way I think I'm gonna dominate him, send that naked mole rat back to wherever he's from, the hole he crawled out of," Sterling told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weekdays on FS1).

The bantamweight king continued ... "We set our sights on Volkanovski. Go up to 145, cause some terror there. Win the belt, become champ-champ, and then from there, possibly defend the belt one or two times and maybe that's all she wrote for the MMA career."

Of course, in order to be double champ, Aljamain must defeat Suga on August 19 in Boston ... a fight that's been talked about for years.

"It's cool to be going to Dana White's backyard and bringing in a good show. We're the headliners. We get to end the night, try to end the night on a good night, on a high night, and it's an opportunity for me to really make more history, get another bag, and rob the bank."

"I'm looking forward to robbing the bank vs. Sean O'Malley and showing Mr. High Fructose Corn Syrup why there's levels to this game."

If Sterling does ultimately retire from MMA in the near future, we asked him what he do as his second act.

"Maybe I start boxing after," Aljo said, laughing.

Jake Paul can train nonstop for the rest of his life, but there's no way he'll come close to beating Nate Diaz in an MMA fight -- so says former UFC champ Rafael dos Anjos, who tells TMZ Sports The Problem Child will NEVER beat the MMA legend in his own sport!

We caught up with RDA ahead of his big matchup against Vicente Luque at UFC Fight Night on Saturday ... and considering dos Anjos once beat Nate in the Octagon, we had to ask about Jake calling out Diaz for a rematch in the PFL SmartCage.

Of course, Jake previously said on Logan's "Impaulsive" podcast he'd be able to handle Nate in an MMA fight if he had eight or nine months of training under his belt.

But dos Anjos thinks Jake needs to be brought back down to earth.

"Nate is a fighter," dos Anjos said. "He got good jiu-jitsu, he has that mentality, the fighter mentality. It's a real fight. When you go to the ground and elbows and knees -- it's a different game."

"I think Jake Paul can train as much as he wants, he don't beat Nate Diaz in an MMA fight."

As for his fight with Luque, RDA said he's expecting a war ... and doesn't see it being left up to the judges.

We also spoke with Luque about the matchup ... and he said it's an honor to go up against dos Anjos because he's a bona fide legend in the sport.

Claressa Shields resigned with PFL ... and as the boxing superstar prepares to get back in the MMA cage, she says she's getting some tips from the one and only Conor McGregor.

"Conor McGregor inboxed me," Shields told TMZ Sports.

"Conor actually gave me some of the best advice today actually. He was just like 'Don't take away from your boxing. You need to get comfortable being on your back and comfortable with your wrestling.'"

Shields, who signed a multiyear deal with the MMA promotion this week, went 1-1 in the cage under the PFL banner in 2021. In the ring, she is regarded as one of, if not the best female boxer in the world.

Any struggles Claressa has had in MMA resulted from being taken down ... and that's something she intends to work on with The Notorious, himself.

"That's an honor and that's a privilege for me, so thank you to Conor McGregor for that, and I look forward to working with him some."

Claressa says McGregor's not the only one who reached out ... and as she's "reconstructing [her] whole team," Shields says she's also been in contact with Cris Cyborg.

"[Cyborg's] one of the toughest and roughest female combat fighters in the world and she reached out. I may do some work with her. I don't know."

As for when she plans to get back in the cage, Claressa says ... "I know it'll be next year, I don't know if it's February, March, or a little bit after that. I just really wanna hone my skills."

We also talked to Shields about Jake Paul (who coincidentally) is also signed to PFL. But, if you thought that'd mean Claressa wasn't coming for "The Problem Child," you're mistaken.

Shields says she is down to fight Paul ... and she's sure she'll beat him.

"I would really fight Jake Paul in a fight, honestly, and I would win. He knows that. He knows that."

Elon Musk says the fight with Mark Zuckerberg is officially on -- he announced Friday the billionaire brawl is all set to go down at "an epic location" ... though he added the two won't face off for a while, 'cause he needs minor surgery first.

Musk made the revelations in a series of early morning tweets ... explaining he and Zuck have just finalized a bunch of the details about their upcoming tilt.

First, the Tesla honcho said the fight will no longer be put on by Dana White and the UFC -- saying it all will now "be managed by my and Zuck's foundations."

He also said after recent talks with the Prime Minister of Italy and the Minister of Culture ... they've agreed the match will happen on Italian soil. It's unclear, however, if that means Rome's Colosseum -- as has been rumored for months now -- or somewhere else.

When it comes to how fans will watch the action, he said it will be live-streamed on X and Meta ... and "everything in camera frame will be ancient Rome, so nothing modern at all."

Finally, Musk tweeted all of the profits from the fight will go to veterans.

"Everything done will pay respect to the past and present of Italy," Musk added.

The fight night date is still unknown ... though Musk said he'll need a bit more time to prepare, 'cause he's undergoing surgery soon to fix an issue with his shoulder blade.

"Recovery will only take a few months," he insisted.

Logan Paul is firing back at the critics of his ultra-popular Prime Energy drink ... saying he and his partners have done nothing wrong when it comes to the beverage -- while insisting its sister product is actually way better for consumers than Gatorade.

The WWE Superstar joined Harvey and Charles on "TMZ Live" to give the 411 on his drinks straight from the horse's mouth ... and he brought along a bevvy of props to make sure his points were heard.

You'll recall ... Paul's energy drink came under fire earlier this year after United States Senator Chuck Schumer questioned whether it should be allowed due to its high caffeine content, but, the Maverick took aim at the critique Wednesday -- saying the bashing just makes no sense.

Paul said at 200 MG of caffeine per can, his Prime Energy drink actually features the same amount as Celsius and Gatorade's Fast Twitch. He also said it comes in with 100 MG less caffeine than Bang's similar energy drink.

As for the allegations that he and his team have been targeting teens with the beverage ... he said that, too, was just simply not true.

While he did say most of the advertising his company does is through social media -- he said those under the age of 18 make up only a small portion of his social media following. He also reiterated that his Prime Energy drinks say specifically on their labels that they're for those 18-years-and-older.

When it comes to the energy drink's sister product -- Prime Hydration -- Paul spoke glowingly about that beverage too ... touting its low sugar content.

"One 20-ounce bottle of Gatorade has 34 grams of sugar in it," he said. "To put that into perspective, one bottle of Prime only has two grams of sugar in it."

If Logan Paul needed any more motivation to kick Dillon Danis' ass in October, he has it now -- the Bellator fighter went full savage mode by posting a fake nude image of The Maverick's fiancée, Nina Agdal, on social media ... just days after their fight was announced.

Danis has been on a tear on X all week -- he started posting pics of Nina with her past boyfriends, Leonardo DiCaprio and Reid Heidenry ... before going a bit too far in trying to get under Logan's skin.

Danis shared a NSFW edited pic of a topless Nina to his page on Wednesday ... and while Agdal has posed nude in the past, he was immediately met with backlash as it was a clear attempt to humiliate his opponent.

"dude this is f***ed up," influencer Alissa Violet replied. "are you ok??"

"way too far. she has literally nothing to do with this. just beat him in the ring god d***."

Danis responded by bringing up Violet's history with both Paul brothers ... doubling down on his decision to bring Agdal into the beef.

Dana White revealed he recently had a meeting with Italian officials about holding the Mark Zuckerberg vs. Elon Musk fight at the historic Colosseum in Rome.

The UFC honcho provided the update during his appearance on Mike Tyson's "Hotboxin'" podcast this week ... saying he did, in fact, talk to the folks in Italy about bringing the billionaire brawl to one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

"I actually did have a meeting with the Minister of Culture's team in Italy to actually hold that fight in the Colosseum if it would happen," White said. "We're talking."

TMZ Sports broke the story back in June -- sources told us administrators in charge of the landmark location initially reached out to Zuckerberg, who then connected them with Dana's people.

The Ministry of Culture's Office claimed at the time there had been "no formal contact" between the two sides ... but we were told there were conversations that occurred, and now White is confirming it himself.

As for the fight, White believes it can rake in more than a billion dollars in revenue ... saying it's an event everyone in the world wants to see.

"Think about how big that fight is -- two of the richest, most powerful guys in the f***ing world are gonna fight on the biggest stage ever," Dana said.

"Who the f*** doesn't wanna see that fight?? ... That's the kind of fight your f***ing grandmother would watch that fight."

Errol Spence and his face are back to normal after suffering his first career loss against Terence Crawford ... 'cause the boxing star is looking good while partying it up in Ibiza!!

The 28-1 welterweight was spotted at the O Beach day club in Spain recently ... and fans who noticed Spence took a couple of pictures with the Big Fish, who appeared to be in great spirits.

It's awesome to see, considering Spence was left beaten and bloodied after taking a bunch of shots just 11 days ago.

Spence is in Spain with his longtime girlfriend Ashra Ortiz ... who shared some words of encouragement after the fight.

"You’re a soldier fr & you never quit. You got the heart of a lion & because of that your name will forever hold weight," Ortiz said on Instagram.

"They gone be talking about Errol Spence Jr. 30 years from now and that’s what makes you stand out, you are one of the greats."

Conor McGregor spared no expense for Dee Devlin's birthday this week ... putting on an epic boat party for his fiancée, while showering her with designer gifts.

The UFC superstar shared pics of his surprise bash for his lover on Tuesday -- one day before Devlin, who's pregnant with the couple's fourth child, officially turns 36 -- and you can see, the guy went absolutely all out.

McGregor strung up a ton of balloons -- some pink, some gold -- in a room on their yacht ... and then he forked over handbags and shoes that cost several thousand dollars each.

One of the gifts was a super rare Chanel purse ... which the fighter said had significant meaning to him, 'cause it represented his big feelings for her.

"Baby my love for you is as deep as the ocean!" McGregor said of the presents and the party. "Here is the limited edition ocean @chanelofficial bag, among other things you love!"

"I love you baby," he added, "happy birthday ❤️"

The lovebombing didn't stop there ... 'cause the couple and their kids eventually hit one of the boat's decks for a big cake!!

The two have been nearly inseparable since McGregor was accused of sexual misconduct at an NBA game back in June -- she traveled to New York to give him some TLC just after the allegations surfaced ... before they jetted off to France earlier this month for a vacation.

Dillon Danis first ... Le'Veon Bell next?!

If Bell had things his way, that's exactly how Logan Paul's upcoming fight schedule would work out ... 'cause the former NFL star-turned-boxer says he wants all the smoke with The Maverick in the ring soon.

Bell made his intentions known with a fiery tweet on Tuesday afternoon -- just hours after Paul revealed he's going to fight Danis on Oct. 14.

"lol you really can’t duck me forever @LoganPaul," Bell wrote. ".. at some point you're gonna have to see me in that boxing ring."

Bell -- who first stepped into the celebrity fighting world following the 2021 NFL season -- has previously had his sights set on Logan's little brother, Jake ... calling out the 26-year-old multiple times over the past couple years.

But, seems he's now turned his attention squarely toward Paul -- adding in a separate tweet that he'd "be ready" if the Danis fight falls through.

Of course, Bell's going to have to get in a long line to be Paul's next opponent ... a bunch of fighters have already requested a taste of the WWE Superstar, including Tyron Woodley, who told TMZ Sports last week he's ready for the older Paul brother after two fights with Jake.

Logan Paul is getting back in the boxing ring -- the Maverick is slated to go up against MMA fighter Dillon Danis in October.

The WWE Superstar and internet superstar announced the big news on Tuesday ... saying, "OCTOBER 14 I return to boxing after fighting Floyd Mayweather over 2 years ago."

"I doubt this little parasite will show up but if he does I’m going to erase him from existence."

Paul's hesitation is warranted -- Conor McGregor's buddy was supposed to fight KSI in January ... but backed out due to being "underprepared," according to Misfits Boxing's Mams Taylor.

Paul -- 0-1 as a professional -- most recently went up against TBE in Miami back in June 2021, an exhibition fight that did not have a winner declared.

This will be Danis' boxing debut ... but he holds a 2-0 record in Bellator.

Conor seems pretty stoked for his friend's combat comeback ... saying, "Dillon Danis Returns!"

Danis' involvement is pretty interesting ... considering KSI is on the same card, fighting Tommy Fury.

KSI told us Danis was banned from Misfits Boxing after pulling out of their fight ... saying he would "slap him in the face for all the disrespect he gave me."

It's gotta be a bummer for Tyron Woodley, who recently told us he wanted to throw his name into consideration to be Logan's opponent.