MMA

Khaos Williams -- rising UFC star -- says there's no (legit) controversy surrounding his UFC Fight Night KO win ... which some have argued was stopped early by the ref.

"I'm glad that he's alright, but he was asleep. It was a good stoppage. It was a good stoppage. Live to fight another day," Khaos tells TMZ Sports.

He added ... "Definitely wasn't no early stoppage."

27-year-old Williams floored Miguel Baeza in the 3rd round with a perfectly placed right hook to the chin, sending the fighter crumbling to the Octagon floor. Khaos jumped on top of Miguel, raining down a few heavy ground and pound shots before the fight was stopped.

Baeza immediately protested, and he wasn't the only one.

Even Henry Cejudo said the stoppage was early, writing on social media ... "These refs really have to get checked. If someone gets dropped it doesn't mean you call the fight off! Too many refs calling the fights early @danawhite"

FYI, Dana White said the stoppage was good.

As for what's next for the rising star, Khaos is now 13-2 (and controversy aside, just beat a guy who only has 2 career losses) ... and is looking to fight a ranked opponent.

And if/when he does, Williams tells us he'd LOVE for hip-hop star Meek Mill -- a guy he's admired for many years -- to be by his side as he walks in the Octagon.

"I feel like we are in grade school and Conor McGregor is following me around trying to pick up my sloppy seconds."

That's Justin Gaethje blasting The Notorious, telling TMZ Sports Conor McGregor is attempting to fight all the dudes he's already beaten, and the UFC star thinks it's pretty comical.

"I hate to say it because it's disrespectful to the opponents that I beat," Justin says.

"I fought Cowboy [Cerrone]. Then he wants to fight Cowboy. I just beat up Chandler. Now he wants to fight Chandler. He'll never say my name. And, Ferguson is on the list now too."

Of course, Gaethje -- the #2 ranked lightweight -- beat Chandler via unanimous decision at UFC 268 ... in one of the greatest fights of all time.

And, just last year, Justin beat Tony Ferguson by unanimous decision ... which earned him a title shot against Khabib.

Over the last few weeks, Conor expressed interest in fighting both men ... Chandler and Ferguson.

Someone the Irish superstar hasn't called out (lately, at least) ... is Justin.

So, we asked Gaethje -- who has previously made it clear he wanted to mess up McGregor -- if he was still interested in the fight.

"Do I want to make [Conor's] face look like Tony Ferguson and Michael Chandler's? Absolutely. Will he ever allow that? No! He has way too many smart people around this dude and he's not a dumbass."

"He might knock me out. Olivera might knock me out, Poirier might knock me out but they have to pray to God that they land that shot."

We also talked to Justin about his beef with Colby Covington (Gaethje trains with CC's rival, Kamaru Usman) ... and JG makes it known, he ain't looking for a fight in the Octagon with "Chaos."

Yair Rodriguez is literally willing to risk it all in his fight against UFC star Max Holloway ... telling TMZ Sports he's ready to die in the Octagon -- seriously.

"You gotta understand this sport is so dangerous and things can happen. You gotta accept that before you go in there," the 29-year-old, #3 ranked fighter says.

"El Pantera" is fighting the #1 ranked contender at UFC Fight Night Saturday night in Vegas ... and the winner will likely face champion Alex Volkanovski.

And, Yair knows how dangerous the sport can potentially be ... and he's okay with that.

"I just accept that it can happen," Rodriguez says.

"I'm fine with my family before the fight. I tell everybody that I love them. I try to get everything ready if anything happens. Hopefully, nothing like that happens to me or any of my co-workers."

As far as the fight ... Max vs. Yair -- who are both electric in the cage -- has the potential to be an awesome fight. Rodriguez even believes it could actually be better than Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler's UFC 268 scrap.

"I know we had pretty good fights last weekend, and I'm sure people excepting a show, so I'm expecting to bring fireworks Saturday."

Whether or not it tops Justin and Michael ... fans are all but guaranteed a kick-ass bout when these men step in the Octagon.

This is nuts.

MMA fighter Christian Lohsen of the Professional Fighters League just revealed he had to have a testicle removed after it ruptured during training this week ... and the crazy part??? He's already cracking jokes about it!!!

The 26-year-old out of Florida shared the cringeworthy news on Thursday ... saying, "So, last night was rough ... in a training accident I got my left testicle ruptured by a knee which led to it getting surgically removed."

Lohsen says the procedure went well and he's at home and recovering ... adding the loss will not result in loss of testosterone or ability to have kids.

While the incident sounds serious, Lohsen has maintained a sense of humor throughout the whole ordeal ... saying, "If I lose the other one however it's a different story, so from now on if you hit me in my last testicle we aren't friends ... lol."

The 9-2 fighter added a couple of clever hashtags ... saying, "#NoNutNovember #OneBallWonder #MMAIsADangerousGame #TookNoNutNovemberWayTooFar"

Lohsen has won 5 of his last 6 fights ... losing to J.J. Okanovich in the Dana White Contender Series in 2019.

UFC fighter Marlon "Chito" Vera isn't mincing his words, telling TMZ Sports he can "beat any-f***ing-body" ... and that very much includes interim champ, Petr Yan.

28-year-old Vera is coming off a 3rd round knockout win over UFC great Frankie Edgar at UFC 268 on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Chito is ranked 11th in the bantamweight division.

Speaking of the rankings ... Vera has big beef with his place on the list. He beat the #8 fighter, but only jumped up 2 spots.

"Whoever makes the rankings are a bunch of morons. They don't know s***. They're just as bad as the judges," Marlon tells us.

All the way at the top of those rankings are champ Aljamain Sterling and interim champ Yan.

28-year-old Yan beat contender Cory Sandhagen at UFC 267 ... and looked all but unbeatable.

But, Chito says he's absolutely certain he can beat the 16-2 fighter (and 1 of those losses is a DQ loss to Aljo for an illegal knee).

"We both walk people down. We both go forward. We both throw heat, and we both have a pretty good gas tank," Chito said of how he matches up against Petr.

He continued ... "If the UFC gives me that opportunity, I'm gonna come in hard. I'm gonna come ready. And I will say what I always say, I don't come in there just to barely win. I come in there to finish because I know I can do that. I would love to get that fight."

We asked ... can you beat Yan?

"100%. I don't have to fake any quote or anything, I know 100% I can beat him. I can beat any-f***ing-body."

Yan and Sterling will all but certainly fight sometime over the next few months to unify the belts ... and Vera will need at least another dub (he wants someone top 5) before he's in the title picture.

Wonder what a face looks like after getting punched 86 times by Justin Gaethje?! Look no further ... 'cause TMZ Sports has obtained video and photos of UFC badass Michael Chandler after his epic scrap with JG.

Chandler tells us he received 4 stitches inside his lip, 12 stitches above his right eye, and 6 stitches above his left eye ... for a grand total of 22, done by a doc at an NYC hospital.

If you missed the fight (what were you thinking?) ... it was absolutely insane. 32-year-old Gaethje -- the #1 ranked lightweight contender -- went at it for 25 straight minutes with 35-year-old Chandler, the #4 ranked 155 pounder.

Justin won the fight by unanimous decision ... but it was the fans who truly won -- 'cause both guys were beat the hell up.

Gaethje landed 116 total significant strikes ... while Chandler pieced up JG with 103 significant strikes.

Michael and Justin were both transported to the hospital after the UFC 268 fight.

Still think ya wanna be a fighter?!

Who will Conor McGregor fight when he returns to the Octagon after snapping his leg against Dustin Poirier???

Well, Max Holloway tells TMZ Sports it very well could be him ... 'cause he's on a "short list" to fight The Notorious.

We talked to Holloway -- the 29-year-old, #1 ranked featherweight contender -- just days before he's set to battle #3 ranked Yair Rodriguez ... in what in all likelihood will be a ridiculously awesome fight.

Question is, Blessed technically (it was controversial) lost to Alex Volkanovski twice ... so a win might not necessarily set him up for another crack at the current champ.

So, what's next? Here's what Max told us.

"I got 5 titles wins. 5 title fight wins. I want that 6 title fight win. And, if it can be Alex, then so be it. But, at the end of the day, UFC discussed with us a bunch of things, a bunch of possibilities. I got a win over the 155 champ in their division."

Then Holloway dropped this bit of news sure to get MMA fans juiced.

"I'm on a short list for Conor McGregor. Always on a short list for that fight. I'm the best boxer in the UFC."

Of course, it wouldn't be the first time the men have shared the cage. Back in August 2013, Holloway -- only 21-years-old at the time -- lost a unanimous decision to McGregor.

Fast forward ... Max is considered by most the greatest 145 lb. MMA fighter of all-time, and is coming off a historically dominating win over Calvin Kattar.

Meanwhile, 33-year-old Conor has lost 3 of his last 4 fights (Khabib L, "Cowboy" Cerrone W, Poirier L, Poirier L), and suffered a devastating leg injury against Dustin on July 10.

McGregor is likely to return to the cage in 2022 ... and Max, who's super focused on Rodriguez, knows it'll be huuuge fight.

"I think Conor, he's always talking about Nate [Diaz], always talking about Dustin [Poirier] now. But if you go call Hunter [Campbell] at the UFC, one of the guys here, and ask him who is the guy gonna sell pay-per-views at 45 or 55," Max said.

Holloway even has a venue in mind for the superfight.

Boxing star Rolando Romero -- accused of sexually assaulting multiple women -- is breaking his silence on the disturbing allegations, telling TMZ Sports the claims against him are straight BS, and he will clear his name.

We ran into the 26-year-old, 14-1 boxer leaving the MGM Grand in Las Vegas after Canelo Alvarez knocked out Caleb Plant ... and we asked him to address the allegations.

"If my lawyers not here, I'm not allowed to talk about that, but let's just say it like this, that's some bulls**t. Simple as that," Romero told us.

Rolando later added ... "I am innocent."

Of course, Rolly was scheduled to fight rival Gervonta "Tank" Davis on December 5 ... but was pulled from the Showtime PPV fight after the allegations came to light.

Romero was accused of sexually assaulting multiple women ... including a 24-year-old woman at his Las Vegas apartment in 2019.

He has not been charged criminally in any of the cases.

We also asked Romero if he still wishes to box Tank ... and again, he makes it clear he wants to scrap with Davis ASAP.

"No s**t I wanna fight [Tank]. I can see why none of his f***ing opponents say anything, because the second I say anything miraculously I'm not there anymore."

It was just a few weeks ago, after Wilder-Fury III, that we again got Rolly leaving the arena ... and he predicted a first-round knockout.

Canelo Alvarez says this fight is different than his previous 59 ... 'cause he's got legit bad blood with Caleb Plant, and he tells TMZ Sports he's gunning to really hurt his undefeated opponent.

We talked to the 31-year-old top pound-for-pound fighter in the world just days before his fight against the 29-year-old, 21-0 boxer ... and asked him if he had anger or animosity towards Plant after the men got into it at a recent media event.

“Yes, for sure it's more personal for me. But, I'm gonna use that in my favor. I'm gonna put all my skills, my experience to win this fight in a good way.”

We asked ... do you want to hurt him more after what went down?

"Yes, I'm gonna enjoy that,” Canelo responded.

We also asked how Alvarez predicted the fight would turn out.

"What I see is that it's gonna be difficult the first few rounds, then I'm gonna start doing my fight like always."

In case you missed it, Canelo and Caleb literally came to blows at a Beverly Hills promotional event in September ... with Alvarez opening up a substantial cut on Plants' face.

So yeah, the beef's real for Alvarez.

We also talked to Plant ... and we asked him a similar question.

Caleb tried to downplay the incident ... but eventually admitted he might want to put Canelo down just a bit more after the scrap in L.A.

Dana White believes Kamaru Usman will cement himself as the greatest welterweight of all time ... with one more win over Colby Covington.

TMZ Sports talked to the UFC honcho just days before UFC 268 ... headlined by Usman vs. Covington, a rematch of their incredible 2019 scrap -- a fight Kamaru won via 5th round knockout.

"Usman is in a place right now where he's the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. He's arguably right now the greatest welterweight of all time. He's already lapping guys, he's coming back and fighting guys for a second time," White said of Usman's legacy.

A few of the career attributes Dana listed ... undefeated in the UFC (14-0), won The Ultimate Fighter, longest win streak in welterweight history, least time on the bottom in UFC history, highest takedown defense in UFC history, to name a few.

And, Dana believes Usman could actually go down as the greatest MMA fighter ever.

"Colby Covington is a badass. He's very, very good. And, Usman beating him again will probably solidify him as the greatest welterweight ever, and yes, creeping up on G.O.A.T. status."

But, in order to do that, Kamaru must first beat Colby, the #1 contender, at UFC 268 Saturday night.

Canelo Alvarez vs. Kamaru Usman is the boxing match combat sports fans will NOT be seeing ... 'cause the world's top pound for pound pugilist tells TMZ Sports he just ain't interested in the fight.

"I don't see. It doesn't make sense for me. I want to make history in boxing, and I don't see anything right there," Canelo says.

Of course, 34-year-old Usman made news this week when he said he was interested in boxing 31-year-old Alvarez down the line ... something his manager Ali Abdelaziz has previously told us. Kamaru also talked to Joe Rogan about the possible fight last year.

"I think that's something that [would be] the biggest ever in history," Usman said of a fight with Canelo at UFC 268 media day.

"That's what I'm looking to do. That's something that scares me. That's something that gets me up in the morning. That's something that I might risk leaving my daughter for another 12 weeks for."

FYI, both men will be in action this Saturday night. Usman is rematching Colby Covington at UFC 268 (there first fight was legendary) ... and Alvarez is fighting undefeated boxer Caleb Plant. Alvarez and Plant literally came to blows at a media event a few weeks ago.

Now, this isn't Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather ... in that there isn't any trash talk or bad blood between the two top fighters.

In fact, the Nigerian Nightmare was very complimentary of the Mexican champ.

"He's a master of his craft," Usman said.

"[Canelo's] used to these boxers. He's used to the boxing speed and the boxing movements and things like that. We're different. Sometimes different can be good. What's wrong with giving him a different look? Of course, it's a tall tree to climb, but we saw what happened the last time I was the underdog."

As for the legacy that Alvarez is building ... we asked him if he believed he could do enough to one day go down as the greatest boxer of all-time.

"I don't know, we'll see. We'll look at my number, and we'll see."

Aljamain Sterling isn't lookin' to sit around much longer ... 'cause the polarizing champ tells TMZ Sports he informed the UFC he'll be ready to fight Petr Yan in January or February.

"I texted the matchmaker right after that fight happened and I said January or February. Let me know."

Of course, Sterling and Yan fought for the first time in March 2021 ... a fight that ended in controversy when the Russian fighter was disqualified after he blasted Aljo with an illegal knee in the 4th round. Aljamain was losing the fight at the time ... and looked out of gas.

However, the DQ meant Aljo was declared the winner -- making him the champion --  something that didn't sit right with some MMA fans who thought he faked the injury.

(FWIW, Aljamain clearly ate a hard illegal knee directly to the head.)

We also asked Sterling about Yan's perceived invincibility ... but Aljo says he's just a man, and Sandhagen proved it.

"I think Cory Sandhagen showed that the guy can bleed. Know what I mean? He went 5 rounds with a guy I dispatched in 88 seconds," Sterling says.

Of course, Aljo beat Sandhagen via rear-naked choke in the first round of their June 2020 fight.

Aljamain is doing a little MMA math to illustrate why he can beat Petr.

FYI, Sterling hasn't fought since the Yan fight. He's been recovering after having surgery for a herniated disc in his neck.

Kamaru Usman has ONLY lost 1 time in his historic MMA career ... and the only man to beat him, fighter Jose Caceres, says the Nigerian Nightmare can't, won't, lose to Colby Covington.

34-year-old Caceres faced Kamaru in 2013 ... beating the now champ via a rear-naked choke in the 1st round (it must be said -- this was Usman's 2nd pro fight).

Jose also happened to fight Covington ... losing to Colby, also in 2013, via unanimous decision.

But, even though he beat Usman and lost to Covington, Caceres says he knows who's gonna win when the men do battle again at UFC 268.

"That kid has the most chances of winning. I look at it like the human body. He's really developed like the anti-virus, the vaccine for Colby Covington. He kinda already knows how to beat him. He already experienced 5 rounds of him," Caceres says.

Of course, Kamaru and Colby fought in 2019 -- an amazing fight -- won by KU via 5th round TKO.

Now the men are about to scrap again ... and the question is, will Jose remain the only man to take down the Nigerian Nightmare??

UFC fans got some extra star power at the ceremonial face-off between Rose Namajunas and Zheng Weili … 'cause even Hollywood actress Halle Berry made sure to be in attendance to oversee the whole thing.

Berry -- an Academy Award winner -- stood in between the two fighters as they met face-to-face one final time before they throw down in the Octagon at UFC 268 … and judging from the looks of it, Halle was ready to get in on the action!!!

Of course, HB is in fighting shape -- she had been training for her new UFC flick "Bruised" … where she goes toe-to-toe with real-life fighter Valentina Shevchenko ... so it's not surprising she looks like she could actually scrap on Saturday’s card.

Berry looked pumped by the entire exchange ... as Joe Rogan announced both fighter’s names and weight.

Berry smiled as both fighters stared each other down intensely in front of the raucous crowd ... and for good measure, she even made sure to give a complimentary pat on the back to both women, flexing some of her muscles for the fans and photographers in the building.

Luckily, both fighters hit their strawweight mark ... meaning it's going down at MSG Saturday night.

The Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury fight just got a helluva lot more interesting -- ex-NBA star Deron Williams (yes, the dude who played for the Jazz) has been added to the undercard ... and he could be going up against none other than former NFL running back Frank Gore!!!

Williams -- the third overall pick to the Jazz in 2005 -- reportedly just signed on to follow in Nate Robinson's footsteps and make his boxing debut on December 18 in Tampa Bay.

While Williams doesn't have any fights under his belt, we're told he's actually nothing to scoff at -- Deron was a state champion on the mats in Texas. He won titles as an 8 and 12-year-old in 1993 and 1997.

UFC fighter Ryan Spann -- who trains with Williams at Fortis MMA -- said he even sparred with the guy and got his ass beat!!!

As for his opponent, Shams Charania says it could be Gore -- a 5-time Pro Bowler who played 16 years in the NFL.

Gore has put in some serious training off the field and has shown he's got some skills, so it could end up being quite the interesting matchup.

Nate Diaz vs. Khamzat Chimaev could be coming to an Octagon near you very soon ... 'cause Dana White tells TMZ Sports he's down to make the fight, and plans to talk to the Stockton fighter.

After 27-year-old Chimaev put on another DOMINATING performance, toying with, and then submitting Jingliang Li in the first round at UFC 267, "Borz" called out Nate, saying, “Let’s see who is the real gangster,”

We talked to White Monday afternoon and asked him if the UFC was interested in hashing out a deal for the mega-fight.

"100%," White says ... "We're gonna talk to Nate about it."

36-year-old Diaz -- one of the UFC's biggest stars -- last fought in June ... losing in a unanimous decision to Leon Edwards.

Despite taking the L, Nate nearly stopped the top 5 contender in the 5th round, before running out of time.

As far as the undefeated Chimaev (10-0), he's been nothing short of incredible in his 4 fights in the UFC.

"This guy is like nothing anybody has ever seen. When you think about it he's got more UFC wins than he's been hit inside the Octagon. Insane!"

We also talked to Dana about some of the other standouts from 267 ... including Islam Makhachev (who's next?) and Petr Yan (can any bantamweight beat him?).