TMZ Sports - Page 9

Demetrious Johnson is one of the most accomplished MMA fighters ever ... and out of all the titles he's won and defended, the gold medal he took home at a high-level Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tourney may be the most special!

TMZ Sports talked to 37-year-old Johnson days after securing the top spot on the podium at the Master 2 featherweight brown belt division at the IBJJF Masters Worlds ... where he went 6-0, outlasting the 40-competitor field.

"I just fell in love with it. The art of it. And, using the Gi as a tool to be able to strangle your opponent or be able to manipulate their body in certain ways has been fascinating to me," DJ told us.

As for where winning the gold medal ranks among his career accomplishments ... it's near the top.

"It's up there. Everything I've accomplished in my career, it's up there," Demetrius told us, adding ... "I haven't competed in a jiu-jitsu tournament since I was 18 years old, now I'm 37. To go be able to compete with my son in the same tournament, it's up there."

That's saying something when you've won 12 UFC title fights ... and 3 in ONE Championship.

DJ says he had such a great experience competing that he's without a doubt going to enter future tourneys ... as soon as his body heals up from injuries he sustained training and competing.

As for winning his entire weight/belt class was enough to earn DJ a black belt ... not yet!

"The way my professor views black belts, or belting people is based on potential, I still have so much more to learn, and he was like, 'You could get your black belt but you're not learning the steps you need to prepare yourself for that black belt.'"

"'You just won a tournament, congratulations. But, the tournament is done. You won it. We get back in the gym, we move forward, and continue our steps to better ourselves as the best athlete we can be or best jiu-jitsu players we can be."

Move over, Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley -- Kim Mulkey is taking the title of highest-paid women's basketball coach in college history ... after reportedly agreeing to a massive, $32 million deal!!

The LSU head coach -- who signed with the Tigers in 2021 -- is slated to rake in the huge chunk of change over the course of 10 years, with The Advocate in Baton Rouge reporting the deal still needs to be approved by the school board before it becomes official.

Once that happens, it will be the biggest contract in women's college basketball history -- more than Auriemma, who got a $15M extension from UCONN in 2021 ... and South Carolina's Staley, who inked a seven-year deal for $22.4 million that same year.

Mulkey's payday comes after leading the LSU women's hoops team to its first NCAA championship in April ... when Angel Reese and Co. issued a 102-85 beatdown on Iowa.

The Tigers' 2023 win was Mulkey's 4th NCAA title as a head coach -- she also secured three 'ships over the course of her 21-year career at Baylor.

Mulkey's a true winner in all aspects -- she won the whole enchilada in 1981 and 1982 as a player for Louisiana Tech.

LaVar Ball is back to making eyebrow-raising claims about one of his boys ... this time, he insisted Gelo bench pressed over 400 pounds on Wednesday -- but a whole lot of people on the internet aren't buying it at all.

LaVar shared video on Instagram of he and his 24-year-old brother in the workout room this week ... showing Gelo pushing some big weight off his chest -- all while Dad proudly looked on.

Gelo's form wasn't exactly ideal -- he used plenty of his lower back to get the bar down and up -- but, nonetheless, he was able to lift it.

Where social media users got skeptical of the situation, though, was when LaVar made the claim that it all weighed 420 pounds.

The elder Ball swore that despite the size of the weights on the bar, they totaled up at least 200 LBs on each side. He added in a caption on the flick, "400 is 400."

For what it's worth, Gelo cosigned on it all ... re-sharing the clip on his own IG page -- while captioning it, "Biggest APE."

Gelo is still trying to join his brothers, Lonzo and LaMelo, in the NBA ... getting in plenty of runs in the G League the past couple years with the hopes of being elevated into the big show soon.

Kroy Biermann is tired of petty swipes with his estranged wife, Kim Zolciak, amid their divorce, and he's making one urgent plea ... sign off on the sale of their home, STAT.

The ex-NFL star's attorney, Marlys A. Bergstrom, tells us ... Kim's recent on-camera suggestion that Kroy asking a court to let him put the Georgia mansion on the market was actually her idea is simply posturing ... and it's meaningless considering how dire things are.

Bergstrom says Kroy is over all the gamesmanship and simply wants what's in the best interest of everyone involved -- including their 4 children -- and that boils down to selling this house yesterday, collecting whatever equity they can and paying off a ton of debt.

Per KB's attorney, the family's deep in the hole right now -- well north of a million bucks -- and they're also on the verge of having their home foreclosed on for good ... despite Kroy's best efforts to sell personal items and make mortgage payments.

Unless they act soon, we're told, they'll be out on the streets ... with other bill collectors continuing to come after them. Bergstrom says the only way to rectify their financial situation in one fell swoop is to sell the house -- and Kroy is basically begging his wife to come to the table and sign a joint consent agreement that'll get this ball rolling.

Kroy has gone to court in the meantime since he says Kim has failed to meet him halfway -- requesting an emergency hearing to get permission from a judge directly -- but Bergstrom says all that is unnecessary if Kim just plays ball.

Bergstrom tells us Kroy isn't out to hurt Kim, nor does he want to one-up her -- right now, his only focus is protecting their children and helping the family move forward.

Bottom line ... Kroy wants to turn the page, but feels his wife has her head buried in the sand. While she's gallivanting in L.A. -- his lawyer says he's in Georgia trying to navigate their money nightmare ... and he needs her to come back to Earth to face the music.

Julio Urias was seen shoving a woman into a fence at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday before he was arrested ... multiple sources tell TMZ Sports.

The alleged incident happened at some point after the LAFC vs. Inter Miami soccer game.

We're told stadium workers at first broke up the altercation ... but our sources say Julio then went into a nearby car with the woman, where we're told things once again got heated.

Our sources tell us cops then came and got the two out of the car ... before arresting Urias for felony domestic violence.

The Dodgers star pitcher was ultimately booked into jail at around 1 AM PT Monday ... and after about four hours behind bars, he posted $50,000 bail and was released.

Urias had been having an up-and-down season for LA prior to the arrest ... posting an 11-8 record with a 4.60 ERA.

Tens of thousands of mini Julio Uriases will NOT be handed out to Dodger fans in a few weeks -- the team has elected to scrap its bobblehead promotion following the star pitcher's domestic violence arrest.

The Dodgers announced the move just minutes after the ace was placed on administrative leave Wednesday ... as the league investigates allegations he got physical with a woman at the LAFC vs. Inter Miami game Sunday night.

Sept. 21's game against the San Francisco Giants was slated to honor Urias' participation in the World Baseball Classic this past offseason ... with the collectibles showing him in a throwing motion in a Team Mexico jersey.

L.A. said in a statement the team will now hand out "select premium bobbleheads" to the first 30,000 fans at the ballpark instead of the Urias giveaways.

It's not the first time the Dodgers have elected to go a different route with a player promotion amid controversy ... the team did the same thing after sexual assault allegations were made against Trevor Bauer in 2021.

Dillon Danis' incessant online trolling of Nina Agdal has driven Logan Paul's fiancée to the point of both suing Danis and filing for a restraining order against him to make it stop.

Agdal beelined it to court Wednesday to file docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, claiming Danis has posted "despicable" things about her more than 250 times since his fight with Paul was announced earlier this summer.

In her suit, she says she's suffered humiliation, emotional distress, and reputational harm ... alleging that one post Danis made on Aug. 11, in particular, violated federal and state law.

She says as part of the post, Danis threw up a sexually explicit image of her that was taken from "a romantic encounter" she had had with a person more than 10 years ago.

"Danis posted the photograph -- entirely uncensored -- from his X (Twitter) account, without Plaintiff's consent," Agdal wrote in the suit. "Later that day, Danis reposted the explicit photograph in order to maximize the number of views it would receive."

The 31-year-old model claims Danis only agreed to delete it after Misfits Boxing -- the org. behind the Oct. 14 Danis vs. Paul tilt -- threatened to cancel the fight unless he took it down.

Agdal added in the suit that many of Danis' other posts have upset her ... including a tweet he made on Aug. 28 that she says showed a video of her from more than six years ago where she talked about "her desire for intimacy during a period of celibacy."

She claims in the suit that the vid had been stored deep in her Snapchat archive ... "suggesting Danis had hacked [her] personal account or had obtained the private video from someone who had done so."

She's asking for unspecified damages in the suit but wants no less than $150K per violation of the federal law prohibiting the sharing of intimate images.

As for her TRO, she's asking a judge to bar Danis from posting sexually explicit images of her going forward ... in the wake of Danis' repeated threats to release further images that could be damaging to Agdal's reputation.

For Danis' part, he's been unapologetic over the posts throughout the past few weeks ... saying they've been helping promote his upcoming fight with Paul.

Danis took to Twitter to comment on the lawsuit, saying, "Nina Adgel has filed a massive lawsuit against me. She filed a restraining order against me and is seeking prison time, so the fight is in jeopardy if I’m in jail. This is actually wild but I won’t stop f*** the system come get me. Logan Paul is a dead man walking."

Kendra Wilkinson is currently hospitalized and getting some much-needed medical help after suffering a panic attack ... TMZ has learned.

A rep for the former "Girls Next Door" star tells TMZ Kendra had recently become overwhelmed in balancing her life, 2 kids and her job in real estate and it all became too much to handle.

We're told Kendra didn't sleep Tuesday night and decided Wednesday she needed to go to an L.A.-area hospital for medical treatment after suffering a panic attack.

One person tells us Kendra was desperate for help when she entered the emergency room, pleading for someone to get her to a doctor.

Kendra's rep says her ex-husband, Hank Baskett, is currently with her at the hospital while she rests and doctors attend to her situation.

Kendra, who had a massive run of success on reality TV, including her own show "Kendra on Top," recently spoke to Melissa Gorga on her podcast about the end of her TV career.

Late NBA prospect Terrence Clarke would have been 22 on Wednesday ... and his mother paid tribute to the ex-Kentucky Wildcats star by visiting his grave in an emotional video.

Clarke's mother, Osmine, shared a clip of her trip to the cemetery ... showing Clarke's tombstone covered with birthday balloons, flowers, and basketballs.

"Happy birthday T," Osmine said on Instagram. "miss you so much."

John Calipari -- who coached Clarke at UK in 2020 -- also honored his former guard by sharing a photo of TC in his No. 5 jersey.

"Happy heavenly birthday, Terrence," Calipari wrote.

Fellow hoopers Zaire Wade, Isaiah Jackson and Brandon Boston Jr. remembered Clarke with social media posts of their own as well.

As we previously reported, Clarke was killed in a car accident weeks before the 2021 NBA Draft.

Since Clarke's sudden death, the NBA and his hometown of Boston have shown love in many ways ... including selecting him with an honorary pick in the 2021 draft, making him a Rising Star jersey during the 2022 All-Star Weekend, and dedicating a new community gym in his honor.

Clarke was a 5-star recruit in high school ... and was named 10th best player in the 2020 class by ESPN. He averaged 9.6 points and 2 assists per game in his freshman year at UK.

Former NFL receiver Mike Williams -- the Offensive Rookie of the Year runner-up in 2010 -- has died following a recent accident at a construction site.

According to a GoFundMe page set up by Williams' family, the ex-Tampa Bay Buccaneers wideout suffered a "massive head injury" a few days ago when a steel beam fell on him ... causing "complete paralysis in his right arm as well as his lower body from the waist down."

Sadly, Williams' family says his condition worsened in the ensuing days ... and Spectrum News 1's Jon Scott reported Monday he passed away.

He was just 36 years old.

News of his death Monday evening rocked the football world ... with his former teammate, Gerald McCoy, tweeting he was devastated to learn of the passing.

"Dang man hurts my heart seeing the news of my former teammate and Buccaneers 2010 draft class brother Mike Williams," McCoy said. "Always great energy, brought joy and laughter to the locker room and a heck of a player!! Prayers and blessings to his family!! 🙏🏾😔"

The Bucs picked Williams with a selection in the fourth round of the '10 NFL Draft ... and he went on to have an outstanding rookie season, finishing only behind Sam Bradford for OROY honors.

He would go on to play for three more seasons in Tampa, before he was traded to the Bills in 2014. He was never able to replicate the production he had as a rookie, however, and he bounced from the league after just one year in Buffalo.

The former Syracuse standout finished his career with 3,089 receiving yards and 26 receiving touchdowns in 63 total games.

RIP.

Expect to see Bronny James and Paige Bueckers in a fresh pair of Kobe Bryant kicks this season ... 'cause six bigtime NCAA hoops powerhouses were selected as "Mamba Programs" and will be wearing the NBA legend's Nike sneakers on the court this year!

Vanessa Bryant made the announcement via social media on Tuesday ... listing the universities that were picked as the first group to represent her husband's Nike brand.

"So excited to see their players wearing Kobe and Gigi’s NIKE shoes this upcoming season," Vanessa wrote in the caption.

No mid-majors here.

The selected schools were USC -- where LeBron James' son Bronny is playing -- as well as Kentucky, Oregon, Duke, LSU, and UCONN, the team Gigi supported.

"We are grateful for the amazing support of these prestigious universities (in no particular order) towards the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation - to further the legacies of Kobe and Gigi!" Bryant added.

Vanessa didn't disclose which Kobe's the teams will rock, but the Swoosh recently relaunched Bryant's line with the release of the Protro 8 "Halos" ... which hit the market on what would've been KB's 45th birthday (August 23).

Tom Brady has a new venture post-NFL life -- but it's one that has absolutely nothing to do with football, or even sports ... as he's partnering up with a massive American airline. 🤔

Indeed, Delta announced a multi-year agreement Wednesday that they've struck with TB12 -- making him a new long-term strategic adviser for their company ... which will see him give their employees, their customers and their stakeholders a piece of his mind on a number of topics -- including general greatness, something that's right up his alley.

Here's how the CEO pitches this ... "Delta’s people are driven by their commitment to world-class performance, excellence and a desire to achieve best-in-class results. Bringing a leader like Tom onto the Delta team furthers our mission to connect the world while accelerating our drive to continuously improve for our colleagues, customers and communities."

Specifically, Delta says Brady will assist them in developing/advising on strategic training and "teamwork tools" for their more than 90,000 workers. He's also going to be the new face of Delta, it seems, when it comes to marketing for current and prospective ticket buyers.

And finally ... Delta says TB's going to get involved in their shared "communities," but are kinda vague on what exactly that means. In any case, they've landed a major whale here.

As for Tom himself, he's quoted as saying ... "I am grateful to be joining the Delta family, a company I have loved and respected for years," Brady said. "Growing up with a mother as a flight attendant, I have always admired the people that make seamless air transportation possible. Throughout my career, my teammates and I flew Delta countless times, spending hours traveling for some of the most important games of our lives, even celebrating Super Bowl wins on the plane."

He adds, "Those championship teams were built off of great leadership and a commitment to excellence, and Delta certainly shares those qualities. Now, alongside Ed and the Delta team, I look forward to playing my part to continue the company’s success."

No word on what the money looks like here, but ya gotta imagine Brady's making a fortune off of this ... as he seems committed for the long haul, and his services don't come cheap these days. Remember -- he signed a 10-year, $375 million contract with FOX Sports already. Plus, he's got tons of other sponsorships under his belt -- Hertz and so many more.

Perhaps LeBron James wasn't kidding when he said he'd play in Saudi Arabia if the bag was big enough ... 'cause the King was spotted in the country, just weeks after he made the comment on social media.

Bron was in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, earlier this week. The exact reason for the trip is unclear, but James was seen hanging out in a gymnasium with a banner that said "Welcome to Arabia" and "Ministry of Sport."

LeBron was invited to watch a match between Saudi prospects at the AZM Academy, according to an online report.

So, while Lakers fans shouldn't worry (for now, at least) ... it doesn't seem impossible that James could play in Saudi for a massive amount of money after his NBA career is over.

In July, the Lakers superstar used a Tom Hanks' Forrest Gump GIF to show how fast he'd go to the Middle Eastern company if he got Kylian Mbappe-type money (the French soccer superstar got a staggering $776 million offer to play for Al-Hilal, but turned the money down).

Many fans perceived LBJ's tweet as a joke, but ... maybe not.

LeBron's not alone. We talked to Giannis Antetokounmpo a few weeks ago about the same subject ... and the Milwaukee Bucks superstar told us he'd be down to suit up in Saudi if the cash was right.

Just James visiting the country will likely be enough to spark a debate ... considering Saudi Arabia's history of human rights violations.

Despite the controversy, Saudi Arabia, with their enormous wealth, has lured some of the world's biggest athletes to their country, including Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo. Golfers like Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, among others, also bolted for Saudi.

The son of ex-NFL star Hugh Douglas was tragically killed in a car crash on Monday ... the younger Douglas' college announced this week.

He was just 20 years old.

According to police documents, obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer, the accident occurred at around 5 PM in the Atlanta area. Police say Douglas' son, Hugh, and his Morehouse College roommate, Christion Files Jr., had been driving at a high rate of speed when their car careened off the road, hit two utility poles and flipped over.

Both men were pronounced deceased at the scene.

In its announcement of the tragedy, Morehouse College said the loss of the two "is deeply felt by all of us in the Morehouse family."

"Hugh Douglas was an exceptional student who displayed immense dedication and promise in pursuing a business administration degree with a concentration in finance," the school said, adding, "Christion Files Jr. was a remarkable young man who made his mark academically and in extracurricular activities."

The elder Douglas -- who made three Pro Bowls with the Philadelphia Eagles in the early 2000s -- has been posting tributes to his son throughout the past few days on X ... writing in one of them on Wednesday, "Your father is the only man that is truly happy you are better than them. You made me so proud."

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni expressed his condolences to the Douglas family on Tuesday -- saying in a press conference that he had always been told Douglas' son was "an unbelievable kid."

Spanish soccer star Jenni Hermoso has officially filed a criminal complaint against Luis Rubiales for planting a kiss on her following the country's World Cup victory last month ... claiming the act was sexual assault.

Prosecutors in Spain announced the development on Wednesday ... saying Hermoso testified against the soccer president a day prior. If found guilty, Rubiales could face a fine, or up to a four-year prison sentence.

The news comes on the heels of Rubiales' suspension from FIFA, as well as the Spanish government's investigation into the incident.

Rubiales has been adamant the kiss was consensual ... claiming the outrage was nothing more than a witch hunt by "false feminists."

Hermoso's side of the kiss is completely different -- she's stated she felt like "a victim of aggression," and that she and her family felt they were pressured by the federation to downplay the incident in favor of the soccer prez.

Damian Lillard may have his hopes set on playing with the Miami Heat next season but his heart’s clearly still with his Portland Trail Blazers fanbase … he recently crashed the wedding of two of his biggest supporters!!!

TMZ Hip Hop obtained video from September 3 of Dame in D.O.L.L.A. mode … at the nuptials for Jay & Kelly Virdee … a true Trail Blazers love tale if there ever was one.

We’re told the couple have been together for 6 years after meeting at a Portland winery and are huge fans of Dame … Jay actually grew up in the same Bay Area region as the NBA All-Star before making the move to Portland for work.

Their mutual friend, L.A. rapper Dreebo, collaborated with Dame in the past and convinced him to surprise the couple and perform a song during the wedding reception … fittingly their collab titled “Home Team.”