TMZ Sports - Page 9

Aaron Rodgers has no blind allegiance to anything ... he scorns politicians -- be them Democrats or Republicans -- who impose the way they want to live on their citizens, and that includes abortion.

Rodgers appeared on Bill Maher's "Club Random" podcast, which drops Sunday, and SFGATE got a preview.

The famed QB ridicules Cali, saying "State's going to s**t, but I'm hanging on." He's especially angry at the State's COVID restrictions, saying, "I grew up in a small town, very little cases up in Chico, California, but all the small businesses? F***ing gone."

Aaron lasered in on a bill that's apparently about to be signed by Governor Gavin Newsom that would put a doctor's license in jeopardy if he/she promotes COVID "misinformation." He asked, "What standard of information."  FYI ... this is exactly the worry doctors have over vague restrictions on abortion.

Speaking of ... Aaron says, "I don't believe the government should have any control over what we do with our bodies." He went on to say, "As much as I might lean pro-life, I don't want the government to tell me I can't smoke a cigar, I can't have a drink of alcohol, I can't choose my own medical decisions. And if I'm a woman, don't f**king tell me what do."

And then the key point ... "Like whether or not I agree with what you decide to do, who cares, and the government should not have a decision that infringes upon my own personal freedoms."

Rogers agrees with Bill ... Donald Trump is like a sore loser on the football field. Bill says, "You take it like a man. You don't go, 'We won that game.' That's what Donald Trump does. We won that game. You didn't. You lose it. It happens. You lose sometimes. Be a f**king man and just own up like every other president has ever done."

Aaron gets a lot of criticism, but you gotta say ... he's a pretty consistent libertarian.

Parties coast-to-coast Friday night, with Drake hosting the Nike Maxim Awards in Beaverton, Oregon ... AKA Niketown.

Here's what stands out ... Drake did stand-up, and he was pretty funny. Among the yuks ... "Nike is 50. Nike's so old, it's wearing New Balance!" Respectable, for sure.

Drake took aim at Kanye, Tyga, Adidas and Reebok. He tipped his hat to the Nike stable of stars, including LeBron, Serena, Kevin Durant, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Virgil Abloh and Cristiano Ronaldo.

At the event, stars like Travis Scott, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Ronaldinho, Sheryl Swoopes, Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony were there for all of Drizzy's jokes.

Nick Young is doing his best full-court press on LeBron James' son, Bronny -- telling TMZ Sports the basketball phenom should play college ball at USC instead of Ohio State.

The NBA superstar's oldest son had the sports world buzzin' after posing in a Buckeyes uniform this week ... just days after the James gang hit up the OSU-Notre Dame football game on Saturday.

Bronny has made it clear he still hasn't committed anywhere, but he seemed to embrace wearing the Scarlet and Grey ... evidenced by how happy he and his parents were during the photoshoot.

Young -- who suited up for the Trojans from 2004-07 -- says he has a better idea in mind for Bronny ... telling us the senior guard should stay close to his second home in sunny California.

"Back home!" Young said. "I went there. Plus, it's in L.A., it's in California. Why leave and you already out here comfortable? Dad's here. Dad can come watch you play. Mom can come watch you play."

Swaggy P even came up with a nickname for 17-year-old Bronny as part of his sales pitch ... saying James should go by, "Swaggy Bronny."

We also asked Nick if he thinks Bronny has a shot of ending up with his dad on the Lake Show ... and Young thinks it's a real possibility they could play together in the NBA someday.

Gilbert Burns tells TMZ Sports he and Jorge Masvidal have verbally agreed to a fight ... and the only question is whether it'll go down December in Vegas or January in Brazil!

36-year-old Burns joined Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV Show (airs weekdays on FS1) ... when we asked him whether rumors of a Masvidal fight were accurate.

"I spoke with [UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby [two weeks ago] and they said that's a fight that they want, you know, and I said, 'For sure, there's no plan B.'"

"We wanna do you and Masvidal," Gilbert says Shelby told him.

Burns, who last fought in April against Khamzat Chimaev (it was a very close fight -- Chimaev was awarded the decision), says the bout will in all likelihood happen at the end of 2022, or the beginning of 2023.

"[UFC] just gonna figure out Pay-Per-View in December or Pay-Per-View in January, but the fight is verbally accepted from him, from me, so I'm just waiting to confirm if it's gonna be December 10th in Vegas or if he has the balls to go to Brazil, UFC Rio, January 21st."

"I don't think he will show up in Brazil but we'll see. I'm just waiting for the UFC and for Jorge to accept. C'mon Jorge! Let's do it!"

Of course, Durinho is from Rio de Janeiro.

37-year-old Masvidal last fought in March ... a decision loss to Colby Covington. Before that fight, Jorge fought then-champ Kamaru Usman twice.

Gilbert says he plans to follow up with the UFC after 279 this weekend, and he's ready to fight no matter where the location, but ... he really hopes it'll be in his home country.

Ryan Garcia is officially a homeowner ... TMZ Sports has learned the star boxer has copped his first house -- an amazing, $3 million crib in Southern California.

The pad is located in Porter Ranch, roughly 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, and Garcia just sealed the deal on it this week.

The two-story property features 3,680 square feet and comes with five bedrooms and six bathrooms.

The outside has a luxury pool, spa, an outdoor fireplace ... and insane views of L.A.

There's a cool bonus, too ... it's fully designer furnished -- so the super lightweight boxer can move in ASAP.

Garcia's buyer's agent, Brandon Soufer of The Agency, was pumped about the deal ... saying on social media, "Congratulations to my brother @kingryan for purchasing his first home with me."

"I am honored to have had the opportunity to be a part of this big step in your life. Cheers to many more accomplishments together for us to celebrate. Love you my brother."

Garcia deserves to treat himself ... the 24-year-old just won in July after knocking out Javier Fortuna in 6 rounds and continues to add on Ws to his undefeated record (23-0).

Forget Lamar Jackson, the guy to really watch during the Ravens' season opener this weekend is Morgan Moses -- 'cause he just copped some custom Dave Chappelle shoes for the occasion ... and they're awesome!!

TMZ Sports has learned Baltimore's offensive tackle hit up popular artist Mike Jordan to get some dope imagery put on his spikes for the team's first game of the season against the Jets.

Jordan tells us Moses let him pick out the design ... and since Moses loves pancakes and wanted Ravens colors, he decided Chappelle's famous Prince episode was the perfect theme.

If you haven't seen it -- the 2004 sketch is hilarious ... Chappelle dressed up in a Prince suit and replayed the fictional time the legendary singer beat Charlie Murphy in a pickup basketball game -- and ate pancakes afterward.

On the right side of the cleats, Jordan put Chappelle wearing the same fit he did in the show with a plate of pancakes. On the left side, he put Chappelle in the Prince suit making a funny hand gesture.

The left cleat also features Chappelle's hilarious saying in the show, "Game, Blouses," under the Nike logo.

Adrian Peterson and Le'Veon Bell came face-to-face for the final time ahead of their highly anticipated boxing match on Saturday ... and they look ready to brawl!!

Peterson and Bell, two current/former(?) NFL running backs, both weighed in for the Social Gloves 2 event in Los Angeles ... and locked eyes with one another before they go to war in the ring.

AP -- who was known for his bruising style as a running back -- displayed a great physique ... weighing in at 218 pounds according to the scale.

Bell -- who was more known for his shiftiness coming out of the backfield -- hit the scale and appeared to be in awesome shape for a guy who ran for over 6,500 yards in his career.

LB weighed in at 204 pounds on the scale ... so he's conceding a 14-pound weight difference to Peterson when the two collide on Saturday.

But, the video of both future Hall of Fame running backs sparring this week has boxing fans encouraged that both men will deliver a good, solid fight.

Khamzat Chimaev just stepped on the scale during weigh-ins ... and the UFC star weighed a whopping 7.5 pounds over the 171-pound limit -- putting his highly anticipated fight with Nate Diaz in jeopardy.

Diaz and Chimaev are the main event at UFC 279 -- where they're fighting at welterweight (170 pounds) -- but when it came time for the 28-year-old undefeated fighter to get on the scale, he clocked in at 178.5 pounds.

It didn't seem like Khamzat was upset or remorseful, either ... he flipped the middle finger up as he was about to step off the scale.

He also Tweeted an altered image with training partner Darren Till.

FYI, during non-title fights, the UFC allows fighters to be one pound overweight ... meaning Khamzat could've made weight weighing 171 pounds. But, he wasn't even close.

In fact, 178.5 pounds puts Chimaev closer to the Middleweight division (185 pounds) ... where he has also previously fought.

Nate weighed in at 171 pounds.

Now, the question is, what happens to the fight?? There's a chance the bout could be scrapped ... or, Khamzat will be forced to give up a healthy chunk of his fight check to Diaz.

Story developing ...

Tyler Cameron has a bit of advice for all you horny athletes out there -- wait until AFTER a game to get freaky ... 'cause your legs will be absolutely shot!!

The Bachelor Nation star and former college football QB for Wake Forest shared the hilarious anecdote this week, saying he had been hanging out with a girl from Tinder before a game against Utah State ... and they decided to hook up with kickoff just hours away.

As it turns out, Mick in "Rocky" was right ... 'cause as Tyler puts it, "I remember going out to warm up before the game, I had zero legs."

Cameron -- who was a backup at the time -- says not only was he in awful condition, he almost had to go into the game!!

"All of a sudden, we're getting our asses kicked at Utah State. They said, 'Tyler, warm up. You're about to go in.'"

Cameron says his legs were wobbling like crazy as he warmed up on the sidelines ... but luckily, the action on the field switched back in WF's favor for a bit, so he was in the clear.

Washington Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz was pulled from the team's game on Thursday and taken to the hospital -- after he scarily took a foul ball straight to the groin.

Nats manager Dave Martinez explained the cringeworthy situation to reporters following the team's win over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis ... saying Ruiz's testicles were swollen and injured during the odd play, which happened earlier in the afternoon.

According to the Washington Post, Ruiz was actually hit by the baseball in the bottom of the second inning ... but somehow stayed in the contest.

The 24-year-old, though, apparently felt awful as the day went on -- and needed a trip to a medical facility in the sixth inning in order to be checked out to make sure everything was OK.

No word on how he's doing Friday -- the team has yet to release an update.

Feel better soon, Keibert!

The 49ers fan who was left in a coma following an altercation at SoFi Stadium during last season's NFC Championship Game is now suing the Rams over it all ... claiming the team didn't do enough to help prevent it from going down.

The allegations are spelled out by Daniel Luna in a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ Sports, and filed in Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this week.

In the docs, Luna claims he showed up to the big 49ers vs. Rams game Inglewood, CA on Jan. 30 -- and after being unable to secure tickets to the contest, he watched the action in the stadium's parking lot with around 20 other fans.

But, at one point during the second quarter, Luna claims he made contact with Bryan Alexis Cifuentes from behind and then walked away.

Luna alleges in the suit that Cifuentes then "pursued and pushed" him ... before socking him in the face.

Luna claimed he was defenseless at the time of the punch, and "immediately fell to the ground and was rendered unconscious by the blow."

He was ultimately put into a medically induced coma, which he came out of in March.

Luna is suing the Rams, Cifuentes and others for unspecified damages.

As we reported, Inglewood mayor James Butts Jr. announced back in February that Cifuentes had been arrested over the altercation and booked on a felony charge of assault by means to produce great bodily injury.

In his announcement, Butts Jr. said investigators found that Luna initially pushed Cifuentes, before Cifuentes then shoved Luna and punched him in the face.

At the time, the 49ers said in a statement of it all, "What happened to Daniel Luna is reprehensible and we strongly condemn all violence."

"We know local authorities are conducting a full investigation and we're here to support them however we can."

"Our thoughts and prayers go to Mr. Luna, his family, friends, and the medical team providing him care.''

Isaiah McKenzie earned major props from his fantasy owners AND his family with his TD on Thursday night ... 'cause it turns out the Bills wideout did a gender reveal for his sister right in the middle of the endzone after scoring!!

Buffalo just made the revelation in a TikTok video posted Friday morning ... showing the slot receiver actually screaming out "It's a boy!" into a camera right after recording a touchdown in the third quarter of the Bills' game against the Rams.

In the video that the Bills shared, you can see McKenzie's family watching on the TV as he revealed the news.

And, when he yelled into the lens -- they went bananas!!!

It's unclear whether Isaiah planned the gender reveal or if it was a surprise ... but his family's reaction was priceless, bringing smiles to their faces.

Of course, McKenzie, his fam, and the Bills had a lot to smile about Thursday ... 'cause they knocked off the defending champs in a laugher, 31-10, at SoFi Stadium.

Dana White is making one thing clear -- he's absolutely FED UP with Jake Paul ... telling TMZ Sports he has no interest in talking about the YouTuber's fight against UFC legend Anderson Silva.

It's no secret -- the UFC honcho and Jake have become hated rivals in recent years ... with Paul constantly calling him out for how he runs his business, and White criticizing the Problem Child's relevance and talent in combat sports.

After his fight was announced this week, Jake posted an old clip of Dana, who previously said he doubted Paul would ever call out Anderson, hyping up Silva's skills in the boxing ring. Now that the fight's been made, we had to ask White about the matchup.

Well -- we tried, at least ... before White cut us off.

"I don't care about that. I literally was saying the other day, everybody keeps asking me about Jake. This guy's not even in my sport!!"

"I don't care."

What Dana DOES care about is UFC 279 on Saturday ... where Nate Diaz and Khamzat Chimaev are set to duke it out in Las Vegas in one of the most anticipated fights of the year.

The jokes about Drake's jump shot might no longer be allowable -- the rapper just showed off his 3-point stroke repeatedly in a skills contest against Carmelo Anthony ... and it's seriously improving!!!

The "Honestly Nevermind" rapper visited Nike's headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon this week ... and participated in a 3-point competition. And, according to footage obtained XXL Magazine, he drained (most of) his shots!

In the short clip, Drake nailed his first basket. The camera then panned away for a bunch of his other attempts, but it did ultimately come back around to catch a few more of his makes.

The makes weren't enough to beat Melo, though ... with the All-Star heating up and crushing him as Jayson Tatum and Russell Westbrook watched nearby.

Of course, Drake didn't always use to look like this on the court ... in fact, he famously used to be the owner of a busted jump shot.

You'll recall, while warming up with the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team back in 2014, he actually air-balled one of his jumpers.

But the diehard Toronto Raptors fan has clearly worked on his game since then ... and the hard work seems to be paying off.

BYU athletics says the school did a thorough investigation into claims a fan hurled racial slurs at a Duke volleyball player last month ... and after checking hours of footage and interviewing dozens of spectators, it was determined there was no evidence to back the allegations.

Duke sophomore Rachel Richardson made the claims following a match on Aug. 26 ... saying a man in the stands was yelling racist comments toward her and several black teammates throughout the entire competition.

The fan in question -- who happened to be a Utah Valley University student -- was quickly handed a permanent ban, despite police and others in the stands being unable to support Richardson's account.

On Friday, the school announced the results of its investigation ... saying it has lifted the fan's punishment after determining he never said what he was accused of.

"From our extensive review, we have not found any evidence to corroborate the allegation that fans engaged in racial heckling or uttered racial slurs at the event," BYU said. "As we stated earlier, we would not tolerate any conduct that would make a student-athlete feel unsafe. That is the reason for our immediate response and our thorough investigation."

The school added ... "There will be some who assume we are being selective in our review. To the contrary, we have tried to be as thorough as possible in our investigation, and we renew our invitation for anyone with evidence contrary to our findings to come forward and share it."

Duke responded to the results of the investigation ... saying, "The 18 members of the Duke University volleyball team are exceptionally strong women who represent themselves, their families, and Duke University with the utmost integrity."

The Pittsburgh Steelers are continuing to honor Dwayne Haskins following his sudden death ... by wearing #3 stickers on their helmets for this entire season.

The org. announced the planned tribute on Friday ... showing the nod to the late quarterback will be placed on the bottom left of their iconic helmets starting this week.

Haskins joined the Steelers back in January 2021 following a two-year stint with the Washington Commanders ... but did not see any game action.

Tragically, following the season, he died when he was hit by a dump truck in a horrible accident on a Florida highway.

He was just 24 years old.

The Steelers have paid tribute to him repeatedly since his passing ... with head coach Mike Tomlin saying at the time of his death that he was devastated over the loss.

"He quickly became part of our Steelers family upon his arrival in Pittsburgh and was one of our hardest workers," Tomlin said, "both on the field and in our community."

Haskins' alma mater, Ohio State, and his former Commanders team have also paid homage to the QB in the wake of his death.