TMZ Sports - Page 12

The City of Angels is officially the City of Swifties -- Taylor Swift has kicked off her 6 sold-out shows in Los Angeles, and fans had a lot to go wild over on night number 1.

Taylor took the stage Thursday night at SoFi Stadium for her "Eras" tour ... rockin' the crowd of over 70,000 after a killer opening act by HAIM. She brought the sister group back out later in the night to perform "No Body, No Crime" together.

TS had a surprise for her L.A. fans ... dusting off "I Can See You" from "Speak Now (Taylor's Version") -- the first time she's ever performed it live. Safe to say, the crowd went ballistic.

Swifties also pointed out a fun fact -- Taylor sang "August" from her "Folklore" album in August for the first time ... pretty neat.

It was a star-studded event at SoFi ... Vanessa Bryant was there with her daughters, Natalia and Bianka. tWitch's wife Allison Holker was in the crowd, as was Ashley Tisdale, Nick and Vanessa Lachey, and "Outer Banks" star Madelyn Cline -- and that was just Thursday.

As we reported, the LAPD is working with Metro to help with the flood of fans heading to and from SoFi while Taylor's in town ... beefing up the amount of officers throughout the big Metro system.

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department said it's "providing a similar level of visibility as the 2022 Superbowl" ... in other words, LAPD ain't messing around when it comes to Taylor!!

Diana Taurasi made history, and then she partied!

DT and the Phoenix Mercury were extra-lit, chuggin' champagne in the locker room after Thursday's game ... after the star guard became the first WNBA player to amass 10,000 points!

The record-breaking moment happened during the Mercury's game against the Atlanta Dream on Thursday, where the 10x All-Star dropped 42 points in a winning effort.

'We are a part of history," Mercury coach Nikki Blue said after the game. "That was so much fun. Let's do it again!" coach said, laughing.

That's when Taurasi, 41, got the party started, spraying champagne with her teammates, and drinking some bubbly, too ... while rocking her custom "The Drive To 10k" shirt.

Brittney Griner -- who is taking a mental health break from the team -- even pulled up for the special moment, rockin' a Taurasi jersey.

Taurasi leads the WNBA's all-time scoring list ... sitting atop a list of greats like Tina Thompson, Tamika Catching, Tina Charles, and her former UCONN teammate Sue Bird.

Of course, Taurasi is considered one of the best WNBA players ever and was even given the nickname "White Mamba" by Kobe Bryant.

Taurasi started her basketball career at Don Antonio Lugo in Chino, California and spent four seasons at UCONN where she won three NCAA titles under Geno Auriemma.

The 6-foot guard was the first overall pick in the 2004 WNBA draft and has won 3 championships, 2 WNBA Finals MVPs, and the 2009 WNBA MVP, amongst other accolades.

"Euphoria" star Javon Walton is remembering his late costar Angus Cloud as one of the most genuine people he's ever met ... telling us there's not a lot of folks like Angus out there.

Javon and Angus played brothers on the hit HBO series for two seasons ... but their brotherly bond runs deeper than the "Euphoria" script. Javon says Angus had "the purest soul ever" and it's still tough to process just how suddenly Angus died.

Javon, who recently signed with Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions, tells us Angus took him under his wing from the beginning, and always wanted to see him thrive and succeed.

TMZ broke the story ... Angus died Monday at his family's home in Oakland, CA, where his mom called 911 to report a potential overdose.

Taylor Swift shared a special moment with Kobe and Vanessa Bryant's daughter, Bianka, during her "Eras" Tour stop in Los Angeles ... gifting the 6-year-old her "Red" hat and a big hug.

Vanessa and her daughters were among the Swifties for the singer's first of six sold-out concerts at SoFi Stadium on Thursday ... with mom decked out in a custom jean jacket to honor the late Lakers legend.

But, it was Bianka who had her wildest dreams come true ... with Swift picking her out of the crowd and bringing her up to the stage in the middle of the show.

For those who don't know, Swift gives out her iconic hat to one lucky fan every time she performs "22" ... something that's been quite the phenomenon throughout the tour.

Taylor shared a warm embrace with Bianka -- she hugged her and said a few words before putting the hat on her head ... and the entire stadium erupted in cheers and applause over the gesture.

"We love you @taylorswift ❤️," Vanessa said on Instagram.

The Bryant family has been tied to Swift for years -- not only are they all huge fans, but Kobe also took the stage at Staples Center to reveal a banner to honor her record for sold-out shows at the venue in 2015.

Gigi was also a massive Swiftie ... and Vanessa shared a throwback of her late daughter rocking out to "You Belong With Me" prior to attending Thursday's show.

Sorry boxing fans, there will be no Terence Crawford vs. Canelo Alvarez super fight ... 'cause Bud tells TMZ Sports he has absolutely zero interest in fighting his fellow boxing superstar!

In the wake of his dominating performance against Errol Spence, which Bud ended with a 9th-round TKO, the boxing world has been salivating over a potential future scrap between Crawford and Alvarez.

So, we caught up with 40-0 (31 KO) Terence, and asked him ... do you want Alvarez?

"No, not at all," Bud flat out told us. "Canelo really don't interest me because of the size factor."

Bud's got a point. While both men are about 5'8", Crawford's a 147 lb. welterweight. It's true, Alvarez used to fight in the weight class, but it's been years since he's been that light. Canelo, who has bounced around divisions over the last few years, is currently fighting in the 168 lb. super middleweight weight class.

Speaking of Saul moving around ... even Bud joked that it's hard to keep track of where he is, saying, "You don't know what weight [Canelo's] fighting at when he fighting."

Even though it won't be Canelo, that doesn't mean there aren't big fights on the horizon for the welterweight king ... including a possible rematch with Errol. Though, it's clear Bud prefers another bout over running it back with ES.

"That's my obligation in the contract and I gotta honor that if that's the next move for me and my career," Crawford said of the rematch clause.

Jermell Charlo is also very much in the mix.

"I would definitely choose Jermell Charlo. It's a meaningful fight," Crawford said. "It's more history. It's more on the table."

Regardless of who it is ... fans would be wise to appreciate the undefeated boxer while he's still kickin' ass, because the soon-to-be 36-year-old says he won't be around for too much longer.

Aaron Rodgers doesn't just have a new football home, he's got a new crib, too ... the Jets superstar quarterback dropped nearly $10 million on a brand new, gorgeous New Jersey estate!

The $9.5 million, 8-bedroom, 10-bathroom pad is located in Montclair, NJ, according to Daily Mail, which broke the story ... and was just recently built in 2022.

The 4,000-sq.-ft. house, which sits on about 2 acres of property, is located about 10 miles from Met Life Stadium where the Jets play on Sundays.

Records indicate the home, which was originally listed for $11 million, sold at the end of June.

The "stunning and immaculate" estate is described as an "ultra-private architectural masterpiece" ... and comes complete with a gourmet kitchen, media room, wine cellar, and 3-car garage.

The home also has an incredible view of the New York City skyline.

The Jets, who traded for the 4x NFL MVP in April, started training camp a couple of weeks ago and will begin their season in early September.

Many experts have anointed Gang Green as Super Bowl contenders this season.

Boxing star Devin Haney can breathe a sigh of relief -- his felony gun charge has been dropped, TMZ Sports has confirmed.

The L.A. District Attorney says Haney's case was declined last week due to insufficient evidence ... but it was not announced until his court appearance on Thursday.

We broke the story ... Haney was out in Hollywood on July 12th when the vehicle he was riding in was pulled over for an unsafe lane change and failure to use a turn signal.

Police said Haney -- who wasn't driving -- and his security got out of the car ... and during their search, they found a semi-automatic handgun under the driver's seat.

No one claimed the gun, but the car was in Haney's name ... leading to his arrest for felony possession of a concealed weapon. He was booked and released on July 13th on a $35k bail.

Themba Gorimbo's days of living in the gym are over -- the UFC fighter now has his own place to call home ... thanks to an incredible gesture from his idol, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

The movie superstar and WWE legend surprised Themba at his gym in an emotional meetup last week ... holding up on a promise he made after hearing the mixed-martial artist's story about fighting with just 7 dollars to his name.

But, as it turns out, their interaction at the gym was just the beginning of their special time together ... 'cause Themba's hero had something else up his sleeve (even though he wasn't wearing any).

Here's how it went down -- The Rock initially said they were going to meet up with his friend, Jay, at his apartment in Miami ... but once they got to the pad, Themba would soon find out there was no "Jay."

After walking around and seeing framed family photos all over the place ... Themba quickly realized he was standing inside his new apartment!!

"I was so moved by your story," The Rock told Gorimbo. "When I found out you were sleeping on the couch in the gym ... now there's no more couch sleeping. This is your house. Welcome home!"

"Now you can bring your kids here, man, your family. This place is yours. You don't have to think about anything. The only thing you think about is your family, getting them over here, getting them with you, training, and becoming a champion."

Themba was overcome with emotion ... thanking Johnson for the act of kindness.

L.A. ain't messing around with Taylor Swift in town ... cops are beefing up security for public transit, with an operation that'll be taken as seriously as football's biggest day.

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department announced Tuesday that LAPD is working with Metro to support the swarm of folks heading to and from Taylor's 6 shows at SoFi Stadium -- providing a ton of officers through the spread out Metro system.

The dept. says, "The Department is providing a similar level of visibility as the 2022 Superbowl in order to ensure the safety of the public throughout the Metro System."

In case ya forgot, tickets for her SoFi shows sold out instantly on Ticketmaster, so the only way to score tix at this point is by shelling out thousands for resale.

Swifties in L.A. have been going nuts over her arrival -- with fans already waiting for hours just to grab some merch!!!

The violence simply couldn't wait for Saturday night -- the Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz press conference ended in an all-out brawl involving both fighters' security ... with multiple punches thrown.

The chaos went down minutes ago in Dallas ... shortly after Jake and Nate jawed back and forth in their last media event prior to their big fight at the American Airlines Center.

Something happened on stage as Nate and Jake faced off ... and a huge scuffle ensued.

It appears Nate was exchanging words with Jake's manager, Nakisa Bidarian ... when Paul's security intervened.

In footage from the incident, you can see punches thrown ... but thankfully, the scrap was handled rather quickly -- and both boxers appeared to steer clear of it.

Jake and Nate unleashed on each other earlier in the event ... with Paul saying, "I'm going to bend him over and f*** him like a cowboy."

"I'm gonna ball on his face, like Luka Doncic dropping 40 on his face. Knock him out, Luka Doncic on his head ass."

There were also some homophobic comments made ... with Diaz referring to Paul as the f-word during a heated exchange with a member of Betr Media.

The real fight goes down in just two days ... getcha popcorn ready.

Magic Johnson's having the time of his life on his annual summer yacht vacation, gassing up the jet ski and hitting the beautiful Ionian Sea off the coast of Greece ... and boy, was he flyin'!

The NBA legend made his name on land, but turned into a bit of a water sports athlete on Thursday ... posting video -- wearing a life jacket (safety first) -- ripping around on a white and black jet ski.

You can see Johnson was all smiles as he sent it, full throttle, amidst the gorgeous scenery.

"I got my jet ski on for a few hours this morning in Myrtos Bay on Kefalonia Island, Greece," the 63-year-old said.

"There is no greater thrill for me than being out on the water and seeing some beautiful coastlines, especially in a country like Greece."

Johnson also surprised his wife, Cookie, and her friends with a photo shoot ... with the famous Flying Dresses Santorini.

"My wife Cookie looks absolutely STUNNING in her gold flying dress!" Johnson said.

Last month, Magic and his wife of nearly 32 years welcomed good friends Samuel L. Jackson and Judge Mathis, among others, on their 292-foot yacht.

LL Cool J is sick of hearing how rap is both a "young man's game" and comparable to sports ... setting the record straight on how he feels hip hop culture should thrive.

The legendary rapper appeared on SiriusXM’s "Sway In The Morning" Thursday to promote his new tour, the 50th anniversary of hip hop, and he closed the interview with his first-ever freestyle on the celebrated radio show. ... supplying a dizzying array of rhymes.

LL rocked the mic for nearly two minutes, causing all Sway's Universe cohosts to go wild as Tracy G proclaimed LL shut down their freestyle segment for the rest of the year.

Earlier in the interview, LL expressed his disappointment with older rappers being rubbed out of the culture, much like he did when he took DJ Akademiks to task last year.

LL admits he's a fan of songs from the likes of Lil Baby, Lil Durk and DaBaby but says his reason for creating his "Rock The Bells" platform was so he didn't have to pretend like he's not older than he is.

The 55-year-old MC also laid into the rap debates that liken the genre to sports and says rappers only flirt with retirement like pro athletes over insecurities of becoming obsolete ... a position LL says he's allergic to!!!

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland could double as a K-pop idol ... 'cause the soccer superstar just got a personal dance lesson from Blackpink's Jisoo!!

The athlete and singer met up for a one-on-one interview during Man City's visit to Seoul as part of its preseason tour of Asia last month ... and at one point in the conversation, Jisoo gave Haaland a tutorial on how to do the viral dance to her solo song, "Flower," which has nearly 350 MILLION views on YouTube.

Of course, the "Flower Challenge" was a big thing on TikTok ... with a bunch of users trying out the dance craze.

While Haaland didn't do the whole dance, he was able to nail the hand movements from his seat ... even getting his own flower props to execute the routine.

Jisoo gave her stamp of approval on Haaland's attempt ... with the entire room clapping following his impromptu performance.

Haaland also came bearing gifts ... handing Jisoo a customized Man City jersey -- complete with No. 103, in honor of her birthday (January 3).

But don't start shipping Haaland and Jisoo -- the singer is currently dating Korean actor Ahn Bo Hyun, their reps confirmed Thursday -- and Erling is dating Isabel Johansen.

Joseline Hernandez just got slapped with two more felony charges from her backstage brawl at a Floyd Mayweather fight ... so she had to go through the booking process again at a Florida jail.

The "Love & Hip Hop" alum was in court Thursday for her arraignment when the judge dropped the bad news ... prosecutors are charging her with two felony counts of battery on a law enforcement officer.

Joseline stood before the judge stone-faced as he explained why she needed to be taken into custody again and booked on the new felony charges ... check out the video, it sounds like she won't be spending much of her day in jail.

TMZ broke the story ... police body camera footage from the aftermath of Joseline's epic beatdown of Big Lex captured her violent, profanity-laced rage from start to finish ... and the video shows her shoving cops.

Joseline had initially been charged with a felony charge of resisting officers with violence, plus a slew of misdemeanor charges ... and she previously went through the booking process for those charges.

But, as the judge explained, two new felony charges being tacked on meant Joseline needed to be taken into custody and booked a second time ... in part to prevent her legal team from finding some potential legal loopholes.

Kamaru Usman says he's wanted to fight Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson for some time ... and with both men in need of an opponent, the former UFC welterweight champion has an idea -- fight each other!!

"I've done everything there is to do. The only guy that, to be honest, that even make sense right now is Wonderboy, 'cause he needs an opponent," 36-year-old Usman told TMZ Sports on Tuesday.

"Wonderboy's been around for so long, and he's just that name to where it's always a good fight."

40-year-old Thompson, a mainstay at the top of the 170 lb. division for years, has one of the most unique styles in all MMA (Kempo) ... and that's a challenge that excites Usman.

"His style is very, very difficult to fight. He's just one of those names, he's in my era, that I never really got to fight."

Of course, Wonderboy was supposed to fight Michel Pereira at UFC 291 on Saturday ... but the fight was scrapped after the Brazilian fighter missed weight, tipping the scale at 173 lbs.

Some fans and others around the sport have criticized Wonderboy for not fighting, despite the fact he cut and made weight, and Pereira didn't. Kamaru says those people are full of crap.

"I know everyone is crucifying [Wonderboy] for not taking that fight. But why? I don't understand that. Why?" Usman asked.

"People are like, 'He's a bitch.' 'He's scared.' 'He didn't want to take the fight.' Why? We signed on a contract, and [Pereira] said he was going to make this weight. He decided not to make this weight, and [Thompson] told him, 'Ok, I need you to go back and make this weight.' And if he's not going to try, why is that [Wonderboy's] fault? No, absolutely not [his] fault. People need to stop that."

"Wonderboy did his job. He came in there, he made weight, he trained for the fight. What more could you ask of him?"

There's much more ... we also talked to the future UFC Hall of Famer about his close friend and gym-mate Justin Gaethje's incredible KO win over Dustin Poirier at UFC 291, with the BMF belt on the line.

Kamaru talks about why the win was so important for his squad/coaches.

UFC fighter Song Yadong just revealed he was robbed at gunpoint by four men earlier this week ... and his friend, who was with him at the time, was pistol-whipped during the alleged gas station robbery.

"For the first time in my life, I was held at gunpoint," the 25-year-old bantamweight fighter said on Thursday.

"Last night, my friend and I drove back to Sacramento from San Francisco. On the way back, we were robbed by four black men at gunpoint."

Yadong (20-7) admits he was a bit tipsy when the incident happened.

"When we got there, those four Black people who robbed us were already there,"  Yadong said. "They're not following us, they're waiting for the victim."

Yadong -- who last fought in April -- says after they grabbed water at the gas station store, they were approached and held at gunpoint while the perpetrators demanded their valuables. Song says his friend was pistol-whipped.

"The man told him to hand over his money, his wallet, his necklace, and hit him with the handle of his gun," Yadong said.

Yadong says he's happy he and his friend are alive to tell the story and advised anyone being robbed to give the thieves whatever they want ... or "you're screwed."

The specific location of the incident is unknown, but we reached out to San Francisco.