MMA

Forget Gatorade, Conor McGregor's road back to the UFC Octagon is apparently being fueled -- at least in part -- by beer!!

Check out footage TMZ Sports has obtained from the MMA star's sister's wedding earlier this month -- the 36-year-old nearly downed a whole pint of suds in a matter of seconds at Erin McGregor and Terry Kavanagh's ceremony out in Ireland.

Conor, of course, is currently trying to work his way back to the UFC following a three-year hiatus ... but it's clear he put a pause on his training regimen to celebrate his older sibling's nuptials in style.

Jared Cannonier may be outside what many consider a fighter's "prime years," but the 40-year-old isn't stressing Father Time ... telling TMZ Sports he's taking things one fight at a time, and still sees title shots in his future!

We caught up with the fifth-ranked UFC middleweight before his main event contest with 12th-ranked middleweight contender, Caio Borralho.

Cannonier -- who celebrated his 40th trip around the Sun in March -- says he isn't thinking about how much longer he plans on fighting.

Ronda Rousey is finally owning up to a mistake she made more than a decade ago ... formally apologizing for sharing a Sandy Hook conspiracy theory vid back in 2013.

The former UFC bantamweight champion infamously reposted the clip -- which questioned the authenticity of the tragic school shooting that took the lives of 20 children and six staffers -- to her social media page ... before almost immediately taking it down amid backlash.

She appeared to try to sweep it under the rug in the ensuing years ... but when her recent Reddit AMA thread was bombarded by comments about the controversy -- she took to X to officially issue a mea culpa.

Craig Jones' weigh-in kiss might be a tactic other fighters should pick up ... 'cause he took down Gabi Garcia after planting the smooch on her pre-match.

The Australian grappler dominated his 6'2" opponent from the opening bell ... though she drew out the fight a little before finally tapping out in the second round of the intergender bout.

GG -- who's mulled over an intergender battle like this for years -- has multiple gold medals and world championships in the sport ... but, she just couldn't handle Jones who's also one of the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes of all time.

Dricus Du Plessis isn't only traveling thousands of miles for his first title defense, but he's headed straight into Israel Adesanya's backyard. So, is the middleweight champ pissed off?!

Nope ... in fact, he tells us he would've preferred to fight in Izzy's own gym!

"I'm extremely happy," Du Plessis told TMZ Sports. "If I had it my way, I would have done it in Auckland, where he's from."

Former mixed martial artist Lumumba Sayers -- who once fought ex-UFC star Derek Brunson inside a cage -- was arrested for murder over the weekend ... after he allegedly shot and killed a man to avenge his son's death.

The Commerce City Police Department says the incident happened at around 5 PM on Saturday during a children's birthday party at a Commerce City, Colo. park.

According to the arrest affidavit, obtained by Denver7, Sayers is accused of walking up to 28-year-old Malcolm Watson and shooting him in the head. The docs state witnesses told cops Sayers may have thought Watson had been a friend of a man he believed to be somehow involved in the 2023 death of Sayers' son.

Boxer John Gotti III admits he was "caught off guard" by the hoopla surrounding his first fight with Floyd Mayweather ... but, with their rematch just a week away, John Gotti's grandson is warning the 50-0 fighter, don't expect a repeat in the rematch!

"It was a big moment. It was the biggest crowd I've ever fought in front of before. It was against a living legend. And, [Floyd] came out with bad intentions, caught me completely off guard," 31-year-old Gotti III told TMZ Sports of the June 2023 scrap.

The fight was ultimately stopped during the 6th round after a ton of trash talk between the men. Despite the bout being stopped, Floyd and John weren't done scrapping just yet, with a melee kicking off in the ring and around the arena.

Belal Muhammad already has an idea who he may fight in his first bout as defending UFC champion ... telling TMZ Sports it could be all-time welterweight great, Kamaru Usman, or up-and-comer, Shavkat Rakhmonov.

Muhammad joined Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs nightly on FS1) ... where the guys talked about everything from what it felt like to finally achieve his dream, to who is on his shortlist for his first fight as the division's king.

"It's been epic," Belal said ... "for me to go down to enemy territory, his home soil in front of his people, that were booing me the whole week, to go out there and dominate them the way I dominated them, it felt so good!"

Khabib Nurmagomedov is arguably the greatest ever to grace an MMA cage, so with Deiveson Figueiredo training with the undefeated former UFC champion ahead of his fight with Marlon Vera, we asked "Chito" if he was concerned with the Brazilian star's secret weapon.

"I don't give two f***s who he trains with," 31-year-old Chito bluntly told TMZ Sports (let's be real, if you've followed Vera, you could've guessed his answer.)

36-year-old Figueiredo reportedly spent time training with The Eagle on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi ... the location of Saturday's UFC on ABC card.

Belal Muhammad is set to take part in his first title match as a member of the UFC ... and the No. 2-ranked welterweight tells TMZ Sports he's ready to play spoiler for the hometown fighter, Leon Edwards.

The 36-year-old Muhammad spoke with us just days before he makes the walk in the biggest fight of his UFC career at UFC 304 in London ... and while it took longer than he thought it would, he's excited the moment has finally arrived.

"This is the fight I've been waiting for the last three years," Muhammad said. "To get this rematch, to get this title shot, it's taken forever, but it's all worth it. The long road, the long wait. I think that once I get to fight night, I'm gonna know the reasons why I had to wait."

Jon Jones is the official UFC heavyweight champion ... but not in the eyes of Curtis Blaydes -- who tells TMZ Sports he views interim champ Tom Aspinall as the real title holder.

We caught up with "Razor" as he prepares to square off with Aspinall for the second time in his career later Saturday at UFC 304 ... and he said there's not much doubt in his mind, he's going up against the real No. 1 in Dana White's heavyweight division.

"I view it as Aspinall [and not Jon Jones]," Blaydes said when asked who's the real heavyweight champion. "I do. I think Aspinall had to beat a harder opponent in order to get the belt. Ciryl Gane is a very skilled heavyweight, but he has an obvious hole in his game, the wrestling. He doesn't have any of it. Jon, smartly, went after that hole. Easy W."

While Paddy Pimblett is viewed as the next big thing in the UFC ... Bobby "King" Green isn't all that impressed -- telling TMZ Sports he's just "another guy" who he's hoping to knock out later Saturday.

We caught up with Green just hours before he throws down with "The Baddy" at UFC 304 ... and while the scrap is in Pimblett's home country of England ... Green says, so far, he's been getting love!

"I didn't know I was international," he said, "but they've been giving me a lot of love, too. And a lot of it is his people been telling me to kick his ass!"

Ronda Rousey is ready for round 2!!!

The former UFC champion and WWE Superstar announced Thursday she's pregnant with her second child ... sharing the big news while speaking at a San Diego Comic-Con panel to promote her new graphic novel, "Expecting the Unexpected."

"Did anyone notice that I'm very pregnant right now? Yeah, I'm just as pregnant as 'Mom' is in the majority of the comic," Rousey jokingly said to the crowd in attendance.

Francis Ngannou is speaking into a mic for the first time since his 15-month-old son died suddenly back in March ... and his words are nothing short of heartbreaking.

Ngannou made an appearance on Joe Rogan's "JRE MMA Show" Tuesday and he talked about a wide range of subjects, including the moments he experienced in the leadup to the death of his son, Kobe.

Ngannou revealed his son had mild inflammation of the brain ... which led to him fainting twice. The first incident happened while they were in Cameroon, but he said the doctors found nothing.

The UFC will host the first-ever live sporting event at The Sphere in Las Vegas, but, there are only 10 fights. So, who gets a spot?? Well, 19-year-old Raul Rosas Jr. said earlier this week one should be reserved for him!

TMZ Sports talked to the rising star -- prior to reports he made the cut for the Noche UFC event going down on September 14 -- and he pleaded his case for why he should be involved.

"My manager is talking with the UFC right now, and I think the possibility is high," Rosas Jr. said of landing the coveted spot.

Mike Perry will be across from Jake Paul in just over 24 hours (more on that in a minute), but before fight night Platinum made a huge announcement, telling us he's launching his very own combat sports promotion, Dirty Boxing Championship!

"We are friends for fighters and fans," 32-year-old Perry told Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs nightly on FS1).

"Me and my team have been working on this for quite some time," Mike added. "We've tried to hint at this, we've been making way and we're ready to make the announcement that this is coming very soon. We're very close to being sanctioned by commissions and we're ready to get some athletes and get a card together and put a fight on sometime this year."