TMZ Sports - Page 50

Washington Nationals broadcaster F.P. Santangelo has been pulled from calling MLB games in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations ... but he insists the claims are "untrue."

The 53-year-old, who's turned into one of TV's best baseball analysts following a 7-year MLB career, was removed from his role as Nats color commentator several times last week.

And, The Athletic reports sexual misconduct allegations are the reasons why.

According to the report, a 31-year-old woman says Santangelo "made an unwanted advance several years ago, ignored her when she repeatedly told him to stop, and sexually assaulted her."

The woman, speaking to the outlet on the condition of anonymity, also claims Santangelo "sent her angry text messages and blocked her on social media after their one and only in-person interaction."

The woman says she has not filed a complaint with police and does not plan on filing a civil lawsuit ... explaining, "I don’t have any motives behind this other than I wanted to avoid this happening to other women.”

Santangelo, though, has denied the allegations ... issuing a statement to The Athletic saying, "What I have read in your recently published article from an anonymous individual about me is untrue and did not happen."

"This is not representative of who I am as a man or a professional. I am confident that my name and reputation will be fully cleared."

Santangelo, who's been calling Nats games for MASN since 2011, was initially pulled from broadcasts last weekend but was allowed to return ... before he was pulled again a short time later.

Nationals officials explained the situation to The Athletic, saying in a statement, "Late last week, we were made aware of allegations of conduct by F.P. Santangelo that are inconsistent with our values as an organization."

"We alerted MASN and revoked our approval of him as a member of our broadcast team. MASN assured us that they would investigate these allegations thoroughly. After MASN notified us that their investigation was complete and that F.P. should be reinstated, additional posts appeared."

The team continued, "Once again, we notified MASN and revoked our approval of F.P. as a member of our broadcast team indefinitely. Moving forward, we will refer all questions regarding this investigation to F.P.’s employer, MASN."

Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott are showing signs that they're back together ... grabbing dinner at a celeb hot spot with famous friends and family.

Stormi's parents did a triple date night Sunday at West Hollywood hot spot, Catch LA, with Justin & Hailey Bieber and Kendall and her NBA star boyfriend, Devin Booker.

The 6-some all brought their own sense of fashion and style -- with JB still proudly rocking yet another new hairdo -- but Kylie was the only one who managed to duck the photogs all night. She's a pro!

We know she was there for the triple date, though, which only fuels speculation she's back together with Trav ... something that really kicked up a notch when she flew to Miami last weekend to celebrate his birthday with him.

You don't do fancy dinner dates with other happy couples unless you are feeling those same vibes yourself, right???

Tyrell Cohen -- the twin brother of NFL running back Tarik Cohen -- was found dead Sunday ... after officials say they believe he was electrocuted trying to climb power equipment.

Authorities say the 25-year-old, who's a fraternal twin of the Chicago Bears star, was involved in the tragedy shortly after a single-car crash Saturday morning in Raleigh, NC.

Officials say Tyrell left the scene of the accident after the wreck ... and could not be located in the ensuing hours.

Tyrell's family eventually filed a missing person report Saturday night ... with Tarik even putting out a message on social media asking anyone in the area for help locating his brother.

"Could be on foot in the [woods] around 540 and six forks," Tarik said in a since-deleted tweet. "Possibly injured!"

Officials say on Sunday morning, they resumed their search for Tyrell ... and, after an employee at a Duke Energy substation discovered a body, officials ultimately identified it as Tyrell's.

Authorities say Tyrell appeared to have entered the substation after the accident and was electrocuted shortly after. They say they do not believe foul play was involved.

The Bears released a statement Sunday evening mourning the death ... saying, "We are heartbroken."

"Our immediate thoughts and prayers go out to Tarik, his mother, Tilwanda, and the rest of their family and loved ones."

They continued, "On behalf of the entire Bears family, we extend our most heartfelt sympathies to all who mourn his loss."

Tarik was picked in the 4th round by the Bears in the 2017 NFL Draft. He's started 22 games for the team in his four-year career.

You can't intentionally hit your opponent in the balls. Period.

That's an NBA rule Luka Doncic broke on Sunday night -- whacking Collin Sexton right in the man junk during the Mavs vs. Cavs game ... earning him a swift ejection.

The two were battling for position under the basket in the 3rd quarter when things got physical ... and Luka threw what looked like a hammer-fist right into Sexton's no-no zone.

The refs called Doncic for a flagrant 2 -- which means automatic ejection -- and when you check out the replay, you can see why.

Ouch.

After the game -- which the Mavs won -- Luka insisted he didn't MEAN to hit Sexton in the groin ... it was an accident!

"It obviously wasn't on purpose," Luka said ... "Just two guys fighting for a rebound, I guess."

He continued, "That kind of stuff happens a lot of the games you know ... I don't know. That's my explanation."

Floyd Mayweather COULD beat up both Logan Paul and Jake Paul on the same night ... but he won't, according to the man who runs Mayweather Promotions.

Remember, Floyd took the mic at Hard Rock Stadium on Thursday and said he would have no problem beating "two fake fighters" on the same night.

Jake Paul confronted Floyd about the situation -- and with news cameras rolling, Floyd yelled for his manager to draw up the paperwork.

Hell broke loose after that ... but when things finally calmed down, we spoke with Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe and asked if there was any real chance fans would get a 2-for-1 special on June 6.

"Realistically, he could [fight both brothers], but no ... from a business standpoint, no."

Ellerbe continued, "[Floyd] and Logan are gonna have a great exhibition on the 6th of June and the whole world will be entertained."

As for the possibility Floyd could fight Jake on another date down the road? The door seems to be open on that ...

Who knows?! Who knows what the future might hold?!"

Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit was allegedly juiced up when he won the race, because he apparently tested positive for steroids.

The legendary Bob Baffert, the horse's trainer, broke the news Sunday that the test results showed the presence of corticosteroid Betamethasone. It's kinda technical, but the sample came back positive for 21 picograms of the drug. It's used as an anti-inflammatory.

This means the horse could be disqualified. BTW ... Medina Spirit is the only horse in the race to test positive.

Baffert denies doing anything wrong ... "I don't know what's going on, but there's something that is not right.” It's not official till the split sample comes. Usually, we wait for that, but I wanted to get in front of it."

Facts are facts, and this would be Baffert's 5th medication violation since May, 2020.

The good news for bettors ... they won't have to give their money back. The bad news for Baffert, the trainer and the jockey ... they'll have to return their winnings if their appeal fails.

If Medina Spirit is stripped of the win, it'd be the first DQ since 1968, when Dancer's Image won but was later disqualified for an anti-inflammatory drug.

A signed Tom Brady card PACKED with diamonds was just pulled out of a wild box break this week ... and it's got everyone wondering -- is this the greatest TB12 card ever!?

The piece came from a 2020 Flawless NFL box ... and it's absolutely insane -- with some experts putting a conservative resale price tag of $250,000 on it!!

The card -- a 1-of-1 -- features an image of Brady, the Super Bowl XXXVIII logo, Brady's signature and inscription ... plus over two dozen REAL diamonds!!

It was all pulled thanks to Bryan from Ultimate Box Breaks ... who purchased the $6,000 Panini America box this week and split it 32 ways between collectors.

Bryan tells TMZ Sports some of his followers/card enthusiasts agreed to buy in for around $160 -- and each one was then assigned 1 of the 32 NFL teams.

The deal was simple ... whatever team the player's card was on -- that collector would get the item.

Turns out, the guy who had the Patriots scored BIG TIME -- 'cause Bryan tells us the dude is just a regular Joe who so happens to be a huge New England and Brady fan!

As for his plans for the card now, Bryan says it's unclear whether the guy will sell it or hold it ... but it is clear the card could be worth a small fortune nonetheless.

Remember, Tom's rare cards ALWAYS resale for big numbers ... in fact, one of his rookie pieces just netted $1.72 MILLION at an auction last month.

Western Kentucky hoops star-turned Raiders rookie Carson Williams says a fellow Hilltopper's advice inspired his football career ... telling TMZ Sports N.Y. Jets star George Fant played a big factor in getting him to try out for the NFL.

23-year-old Williams' story is pretty wild -- he was named Kentucky's Mr. Basketball as a high schooler in 2016 ... and spent the past 3 seasons playing basketball for WKU, averaging 10.9 points and 6 rebounds per game.

Despite not stepping foot on the gridiron since the 8th grade, the 6'5", 254-pound forward decided to take a leap of faith and participate in WKU's pro day as a tight end last month.

The risk paid off -- 'cause the Las Vegas Raiders were so impressed, they decided to sign Williams to a contract as a tight end.

"It still hasn't completely set in, but I'm obviously very happy, very excited and looking forward to getting to work," Williams tells us.

As it turns out, Williams ain't the only former WKU star to make the jump to the gridiron -- Fant was an all-conference forward for the Hilltoppers from 2011-15, averaging 13.8 points and 8.4 rebounds during his senior season.

Williams says he met up with the Jets lineman/tight end to pick his brain about turning to football ... and by the end of the conversation, his mind was made up.

After all, it's been pretty successful for Fant -- he signed a 3-year, $30 million deal with N.Y. in 2020.

Williams believes his hoops background will be beneficial -- he tells us his foot skills, work ethic and athleticism will give him a solid start on the football field.

Williams says guys like Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez and Jimmy Graham -- who also played college basketball before ending up in the NFL -- also inspired his switch to football ... and he explains why the Raiders made the right move.

“I guarantee you I’m the best striker [in the UFC] and a much better striker than Max Holloway. I just need my chance to prove it."

That's UFC rising star Giga Chikadze officially throwing down the gauntlet ... challenging the featherweight G.O.A.T. to a scrap when talking to TMZ Sports.

Chikadze's stock is soaring after the 32-year-old put Cub Swanson away with a BRUTAL liver kick only 63 seconds into their co-main event fight last weekend.

Giga -- 13-2 (8 KO's) -- is now the #10 ranked featherweight ... so we asked him to name his dream fight.

“For sure Max Holloway.”

Why Blessed? He's the definition of a problem inside the Octagon.

"His fight against Calvin Kattar, I watched that fight and it was probably one of the best performances I’ve seen in a featherweight division," Giga says.

"Every time he was doing some crazy boxing combo I said, 'Man, I wanna fight him!'"

Of course, Holloway didn't just dominate Kattar (he landed a record 445 significant strikes) ... he's beaten Jose Aldo (twice), Brian Ortega, Frankie Edgar, Anthony Pettis and Jeremy Stephens -- to name a few.

Despite his ridiculous resume, Chikadze isn't afraid to say he has better hands (and legs) than the former champion ... and a fight with Max would be over inside 10 minutes.

“It doesn’t matter if it's gonna be a 3-round fight, 5-round fight ... I only give [Holloway] 2 [rounds]. That’s the max.”

TMZ Sports: "Do you think Jake Paul can win?"

Mike Tyson: "No. He's gonna get beat up pretty bad."

There it is ... Mike Tyson keeping it all the way real when asked how Jake Paul would fare against Floyd Mayweather if they ever step in the ring.

Don't get it twisted, Mike is NOT a hater -- he loves both Jake and Logan Paul ... but he's also a walking boxing encyclopedia who knows more about the sport than almost anyone else on the planet.

So, with Logan slated to fight Floyd on June 6 and Jake also gunning for a shot at Mayweather, we asked Mike if either guy had a snowball's chance in hell.

Look, our photog was extremely excited to talk with Mike and fudged the names ... but you get the gist of what he's trying to say.

Bottom line ... Mike ain't even offering up the "puncher's chance" argument for either Paul -- which basically states that anyone with knockout power has a chance of winning a fight, even if they're out-skilled.

WWE Superstar The Miz says he's 100% down to play the legendary Johnny Cage in the next "Mortal Kombat" movie ... telling TMZ Sports he'd put his blood, sweat and tears into perfecting the role.

Of course, the beloved Cage was left out of the iconic video game franchise's reboot movie that dropped last month ... but SPOILER ALERT: the ending teased the hell out of him being in a possible sequel.

M.K. nerds have started a social media campaign to see the WWE Superstar play the sunglassed badass in a future flick... with Miz tweeting out for M.K. producers to call his agent.

But, the champ tells us he's not kidding about wanting the role ... telling us he'd love to give the fans what they want.

"Honestly ... if I have a shot at it, I would definitely want to make sure that I give everything that I possibly can to make sure that not only the production company, the director are happy with the character that I get, but also the fans because they are the ones that are so adamant about Johnny Cage being in the movie," The Miz told us at LAX this week.

"This is an iconic character in the 'Mortal Kombat' franchise and it needs to be done right. If I'm the person to do it, then so be it. I'm ready to go!"

We know what you're thinkin' -- Miz is more of a wrestler than a karate guy like J.C. ... but he says he'd do whatever it takes to execute each move like the real Cage would.

The role would be a full-circle moment for The Miz ... who says he spent countless hours playing M.K. while growing up.

"I remember playing this game when I was a kid. Sega Genesis, I would never play Super Nintendo because it didn't have the blood, but I always played the Sega Genesis version and I remember playing as Johnny Cage."

"And, to see this kinda all happen, it'd be like a dream come true."

Miz could have some competition, though -- it sounds like Ryan Reynolds is also trying to throw his hat in the ring.

Oscar De La Hoya took a break from training for his return to the boxing ring ... to SING with a mariachi band on Cinco de Mayo, and TMZ Sports has the footage.

The 48-year-old hit up Maestro, a Mexican food restaurant in Pasadena (he's like the mayor over there) and started feeling himself when the mariachi band began to play.

So, Oscar -- who once released a Latin Pop album back in the day -- decided to grab the mic and take over the lead singing duties.

Look, he ain't exactly Marc Anthony ... but it's not bad for a guy who was mowing down his dinner just minutes before taking the stage.

The crowd loved it and cheered him on as he sang hits like "Amor Eterno" by Rocio Durcal and "Sigo Siendo el Rey" by Vicente Fernandez.

FYI, Oscar's self-titled album was released in 2001 and actually got nominated for a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album alongside Shakira, Christina Aguilera and Luis Miguel!!!!

Oh, he lost to Shakira's MTV Unplugged album -- which, in her defense, still holds up.

As for the boxing side of things, Oscar announced he'll be returning to the ring on July 3 ... but his opponent has still not been announced.

Huge opportunity for Michelle Waterson ... who knows a victory over Marina Rodriguez tonight will get her one step closer to her goal -- avenging her loss against the champ, Rose Namajunas.

Waterson -- aka "The Karate Hottie" -- is currently ranked #9 in the UFC's strawweight division and coming off an incredible victory over Angela Hill.

She's squaring off against #6 ranked Rodriguez on Saturday night -- and says there's extra motivation to get that "W" ... revenge.

The current strawweight champ is Rose Namajunes -- who choked out Waterson when they clashed in 2017.

Michelle says she thinks about that fight all the time ... and she's laser-focused on earning a chance to run it back.

"I would love a rematch," Waterson tells TMZ Sports ... "In actuality, I was doing really well against her right up until I wasn't. So, it was just that moment that lost me the fight."

"You have to be able to rein it all in on that very, very special day and those very, very special 25 minutes and I've come to realize that and I understand how important it is to stay in the zone the entire time."

First, she needs to get through Rodriguez -- who's been impressive since joining the UFC in 2018 ... with only 1 loss on her record.

"9 fights into my career, I believe that I'm going to be the greatest."

That's 30-year-old MMA star Kayla Harrison predicting that she -- NOT Amanda Nunes, Cris Cyborg or anyone else -- will go down as the best mixed martial arts fighter ever.

TMZ Sports talked to Harrison -- a 2x PFL tourney winner who's undefeated in the cage -- after DOMINATING Mariana Morais at PFL 3 ... where she won by TKO in only 83 seconds.

After the fight, Harrison sent a message to the MMA world ... saying, "If anyone thinks they can step to me they can come get in the cage. From now on, I'm the baddest woman, in this room and in any room."

Of course, only 1 person can be the baddest ... and if it's Kayla, that means it's not the current (widely accepted) G.W.O.A.T., Nunes -- the UFC's bantamweight and featherweight champ.

But, was Harrison -- who is also a 2x Olympic gold medalist -- calling out Nunes?! Kayla says definitely not.

"It's not personal. It's not directed at Amanda [Nunes]. It's not directed at Claressa [Shields]. It's not directed at Cyborg. This is about me and my belief in myself."

FYI, Harrison and Nunes are super cool with each other ... and even train at the same gym -- American Top Team -- in Florida.

Why'd Kayla make the bold proclamation ... well, she says she got tired of being politically correct.

"I think I just realized that it’s time to stop being this golden girl or like this miss congeniality. I truly believe that what I said I feel is the truth. So why wouldn’t I say it."

There's more -- after her fight, Harrison took a jab at "YouTuber idiots" who think they can fight ... so we asked the combat sports star about Jake Paul.

Antonio Brown invited 6ix9ine to work out at his personal training facility in Florida ... and you know who's pissed off about it??

Pretty much the entire internet.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl champ posted video with the controversial rapper on Friday ... running some 1-v-1s and easily catching passes over the rainbow-haired MC.

But, there's just one problem -- a lot of people have distanced themselves from Tekashi recently ... after the rapper was labeled a "snitch" for ratting out his gang member friends during his 2018 RICO case.

Folks on Instagram didn't shy away from calling A.B. out for the questionable move ... with NBAer J.R. Smith commenting, "Bruh...," and NFL player Terrelle Pryor adding, "Damn AB."

Other critics were harsher... with one person saying, "AB they gonna clown you for this one dawg," and another commenting, "Oh Hell No."

There's more ... "From being the best receiver in the league to 3rd string at Tampa and now doing workouts with a snitch ... #rockbottom."

Canadian Football League player Ahmad Thomas added ... "Taking L’s all across the board?"

We could keep going ... but you get the idea.

The black eye and bloody mouth will fade ... but Jake Paul was still able to get a permanent reminder of his altercation with Floyd Mayweather -- immortalizing the incident with a new tattoo!!

The YouTube superstar showed off his new ink Thursday night -- just hours after he was roughed up at Hard Rock Stadium by Floyd and the boxer's bodyguards ... and it's pretty damn funny.

The tat -- located just below his right knee -- reads "Gotcha Hat" and features a picture of a baseball cap.

Of course, after Jake famously stole the hat off Floyd's head following the Floyd-Logan news conference in Miami -- he shouted repeatedly, "Gotcha hat!"

The scene was wild ... Jake got pummeled after stealing the cap -- and showed off a shiner and a bloody mouth in a video of the aftermath.

But, Jake's been having a great time with it all regardless ... talking all kinds of smack, getting the tat AND selling new "Gotcha Hat" merch.

Logan and Floyd are set to face off on June 6 ... and we're fired up for that -- but there's got to be Jake vs. Floyd immediately after that.