TMZ Sports - Page 11

Get excited, Panthers fans ... Bryce Young tells TMZ Sports he believes he's going to turn things around in Carolina next season -- saying straight up, "I'm definitely confident."

Of course, the quarterback's rookie season was filled with plenty of speed bumps -- he threw just 11 touchdowns to 10 interceptions ... and only secured two wins in his 16 starts.

But, he's not down on himself at all ... 'cause when we spoke to him out at Super Bowl week in Las Vegas, he sure seemed to think things are going to be a whole lot different 12 months from now.

"I feel like I've grown -- I've learned," the 2023 No. 1 overall pick said. "I'm excited to improve this offseason. Get better at some things -- I'm excited for year 2."

Young actually told us all of the growing pains he and his team went through last season will only make them stronger ... feeling like they all "grew a lot closer through that."

As for the Panthers' new coach, former Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales, the ex-Heisman Trophy winner seemed fired up to begin working with him as well.

Meanwhile, this year's Heisman Trophy winner, Jayden Daniels, also spoke with us out in Vegas ... and he told us he's happy to finally get a chance to show what he can do in the NFL.

Taylor Lewan isn't rubbing any extra salt in Mark Ingram's wounds ... telling TMZ Sports he's absolving the guy from a Michigan-Alabama bet the two made earlier this season.

The former Wolverines offensive lineman revealed to us out at Super Bowl week in Las Vegas that the guys placed a wager on their alma maters ahead of their Rose Bowl matchup back in January.

By the sounds of things, it seems some serious cash was on the line ... but even though UM won the big game in overtime, Lewan is now ready to let bygones be bygones -- with a little bit of catch.

The ex-Tennessee Titans first-round pick said all Ingram has to do is come on his podcast, "Bussin' With The Boys," later this year and everything will be forgiven.

In fact, Lewan said he's giving Derrick Henry -- a former Tide tailback -- similar treatment after they, too, bet on the game.

"'Hey,'" Lewan said he told the guys after relieving them of their debt, "'I don't want the money. I'd rather you guys come on the show.' 'Cause those are great dudes and their personality being shown is the most unbelievable thing."

Some amazing Kobe Bryant items are looking for a new owner -- including a Draft Day ticket and gold-painted handprints -- and they're all going to go to the highest bidder at auction!!

The two rare pieces are a part of Goldin's "Iconic Collection Honoring Life & Career of Kobe Bryant" ... and the stub stands out, as it sparked the very beginning of Mamba's Hall of Fame career.

The Continental Airlines Arena ticket has the event date (6/26/96) etched on it ... as well as the customized NBA Draft in New Jersey logo.

Of course, the 1996 draft is considered one of the most talented in NBA history ... featuring Bryant (the 13th overall pick), Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury, Ray Allen, Steve Nash, Jermaine O'Neal, Derek Fisher and more -- so the original owner certainly saw a fair share of future greats.

Another cool item is the 33x25-inch framed clay handprints Kobe made during a tour of Paris in 2017 ... which were covered in gold paint as part of a project for French artist Sacha Schwarz.

There's also a photo to match the moment Bean put his paws in the molding to provide authentication.

We're told both items are estimated to sell in the thousands ... in fact, the gold-plated hands are expected to go for $20k!!

There are other great pieces as well -- things like game-used jerseys and unique trading cards.

Johnny Eblen's next fight nearly came sooner than expected ... the Bellator champ found himself squarely in the sights of a popular prankster, and things got heated!

32-year-old Eblen was shopping at a local Home Depot in Florida recently when a social media prankster named ImReddttv approached Johnny and his lady friend wearing the Apple Vision Pro, and things almost instantly got off to a bad start.

"I'll tell you right now, I'm pretty sure I can bag her," Redd said, standing in front of the couple.

Credit to Johnny's spidey senses ... he seemed to instantly feel something was off, and even pointed out a guy in the cut who was surreptitiously holding a camera.

Redd brushed off the dude filming, and carried on with the prank, saying ... "What's up little man?" to the MMA champion.

He continued ... "Sweetheart, you need to be with a real big man like me," before asking Eblen if the woman was "his girl."

That's about when Johnny's patience wore out (he lasted a lot longer than most would've), saying, "If you say something disrespectful I'll f*** you up!"

Eblen and the woman started walking away, and Redd followed. Johnny then stopped and began walking toward the prankster ... and you get the feeling it was about to turn bad for the social media star.

That's when Redd revealed he'd been sent by Brian Butler-Au, Johnny's manager, to troll the fighter. Tension was instantly broken, and Johnny had a good laugh.

Not too long after the prank, Johnny hopped aboard a jet and flew across the world to Saudi Arabia ... where the Bellator middleweight champ is fighting PFL light heavyweight champ Impa Kasanganay on February 24 in Riyadh.

Busy week here at TMZ, and as we finish up the weekend -- it's worth looking back to see what we covered ... especially on our TV shows, which were chock-full of good stuff.

Kicking things off on "TMZ Live," Harvey and Charles tackled this TikTok video that North West threw up on her social account -- which she shares with her mom, Kim K -- and which got taken down soon afterward ... for reasons unexplained.

Take a look yourself -- seems North wanted to express her gratitude for her dad's new album ... complete with a drawn tribute to her stepmom, Bianca Censori -- ass out and all.

On "TMZ on TV," the gang talked about Dakota Johnson's press run for the new "Madame Web" movie -- which she seems to have been very disinterested in promoting lately.

That was capped off with a confession this week that she hasn't even seen the movie.

Finally, on "TMZ Sports" ... Babcock and Mojo discussed Patrick Mahomes and Brittany Mahomes visiting a hospital in Kansas City to visit some of the children who'd suffered gunshot wounds after Wednesday's incident.

Check your local listings for when TMZ is on in your area or catch up on past episodes!

Fue una semana ocupada aquí en TMZ y como estamos terminamos la semana, vale la pena mirar hacia atrás para ver lo que cubrimos, especialmente en nuestros programas de televisión que estuvieron llenos de cosas buenas.

Comenzando con "TMZ Live", Harvey y Charles abordaron este video de TikTok que North West subió a la red social que comparte con su madre Kim K, y que fue retirado poco después ... por razones inexplicables.

Echa un vistazo tú mismo, parece que North quería expresar gratitud por el nuevo álbum de su padre, además de hacer un homenaje a su madrastra Bianca Censori con un dibujo donde aparecía su culo y todo.

En "TMZ on TV", la pandilla habló de Dakota Johnson y las ruedas de prensa por su nueva película "Madame Web", la que al parecer no tiene mucho interés en promocionar últimamente.

Esto fue rematado más tarde en la semana con la confesión de que ni siquiera ha visto la película.

Por último, en "TMZ Sports", Babcock y Mojo discutieron sobre Patrick Mahomes y Brittany Mahomes visitando un hospital en Kansas City para apoyar a algunos de los niños que sufrieron heridas de bala después del incidente del miércoles.

Comprueba la programación local para saber cuándo se emite TMZ en tu zona o ponte al día con los episodios anteriores.

Mark Zuckerberg may be worth $160+ billion, but he's not above working a weekend side gig ... the Facebook founder spent Saturday night cornering Alex Volkanovski for his title fight at UFC 298!

Well, at least until the punches started flying.

Zuck and Volk's relationship isn't a secret -- they're buddies -- the guys have hung out/trained together multiple times since MZ got into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu a couple of years ago.

So, when the 35-year-old featherweight walked to the Octagon at the Honda Center in Anaheim for his main event scrap vs. Ilia Topuria, Zuckerberg, in full coach's kit, was standing with Alex's team waiting for the fighter.

AV and MZ even shared a hug before Volk stepped in the cage.

It then appeared Zuckerberg took an Octagon-side seat ... and watched as a spectator, no doubt rooting for his friend.

Unfortunately for the pair, the night ended with an "and new" after Volkanovski was stopped by KO in the second round of the 145 lb title fight ... and Topuria was crowned the featherweight champion.

Mark watched the stoppage from just feet away.

Zuckerberg was also front and center earlier in the night when Merab Dvalishvili threw opponent Henry Cejudo down in front of the FB CEO ... and had a mid-round conversation with him, much to the amusement of Mark.

Saturday marks the closest Zuckerberg's gotten to a cage since negotiations with rival Elon Musk broke down ... a battle that at one time looked like it would take place at The Colosseum.

Lily Gladstone's not happy with the Super Bowl champs' name ... and she says the NFL runner-ups' mascot ain't much better.

The actress and activist spoke during a Santa Barbara International Film Festival panel last weekend, before the Chiefs defeated the 49ers ... and ripped Chiefs fans' use of the tomahawk chop -- a hand gesture and chant used by fans of teams with Native American mascots.

LG said the gesture is a reminder of what Hollywood has done to Native Americans ... pointing out the chant was used in old Westerns before indigenous actors were given the opportunity to play major roles in the movie.

Gladstone said she gets upset when people say the chant is meant as a sign of "honor" ... calling it the "commodification" of her people as well.

These arguments are pretty common among activists and groups ... but, Lily also mentioned the San Francisco 49ers as another example of an offensive mascot.

Lily pointed out settlers -- called 49ers -- who went West looking for gold harkened "an incredibly brutal time for California Indians" ... so an NFL team using that moniker's not totally blameless either.

BTW ... protests against the Chiefs' name take place from time to time -- with one kicking off before their Super Bowl LVII victory last year over the Philadelphia Eagles.

Other pro sports franchises -- like the Cleveland Guardians in MLB and Washington Commanders -- have already changed their names in the face of criticism ... though their original names were pretty clear red flags for activists.

New video from the Kansas City shooting appears to show the exact moments before shots started to ring out -- and as the cops have indicated, there are teenagers in the mix here.

TMZ has obtained footage that depicts the KC rally Wednesday at 1:48 PM CT -- right around the time the first reports of a shooting came in -- and eyewitnesses tell us that the young guys you see in the background got into a heated exchange with someone off camera.

There are a few key players to focus on -- a teen in red, who you can see get angry and throw his bag down as he argues with someone who's not in clear view. There's also another teen in all black with a satchel-like bag hanging from his side, who walks toward the action.

These 2, in particular, were recorded walking away from the shooting just moments later -- also seen in the footage we got -- and the young man in black looks to have been shot.

We're told by eyewitnesses who saw this that he appeared to have been shot in the face. If you look closely, his buddy in red is trailing close behind him as they beelined it outta there.

Going back to the main video ... there are a couple other dudes who were pointed out to us who also seem to have been involved -- one young guy in a brown jacket (who looks to be the same guy who got tackled in that now-viral video) and another guy in a black jacket and red beanie ... whom we're told appeared to be reaching for something in his coat.

Our sources tell us all the young guys you can see on camera here all looked to be rolling together as a group -- and that they were bickering with a much taller and possibly older man off camera ... who our eyewitnesses say definitely fired the first shots at them.

It's not entirely clear if the young guys fired back, but we're told people there believe they might have ... although, you don't see them pull out or use a gun at all in these videos.

Of course, in the aftermath of this ... cops have only charged 2 individuals -- juveniles as they've been described -- with gun-related offenses, although more charges are likely to come.

The pieces of the puzzle are still falling into place ... and there are more questions than answers right now. From the looks of it -- this may have been an argument gone wrong.

Donald Trump is taking a swing at social media users with his nine iron for posting "fake" A.I. pics of him with a massive beer gut on the golf course.

On Friday, the 45th U.S. President posted a message on Truth Social, blasting everyone who uploaded to their accounts what he claims are Artificial Intelligence-generated photos portraying him as a fatso as he hits a golf ball on the links.

The pic, BTW, appears to be a photoshopped version of golfer John Daly.

Regardless, an infuriated DT wrote, "The Fake News used Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) to create the picture. These are despicable people, but everyone knows that."

He continued, "The other pictures are me hitting Golf balls today to show the difference. Sadly, in our Country, Fake News is all you get!"

Alongside his bloated "A.I." image, DT posted three snaps of a skinnier version of himself supposedly playing golf Friday afternoon.

As you know, the insult could not have come on a worse day for Trump as a New York judge ordered him to pay $355 million in fines after he was found liable in his civil business fraud trial.

Victoria Beckham had a very spicy reaction when she was confronted with the prospect of becoming a grandmother during a recent Vogue interview.

The former "Spice Girls" pop star sat down Friday with 'The Run Through' co-host Chloe Malle and was totally gob-smacked when she was hit with the "Gramma" question from the Vogue contributing editor.

Here's how it unfolded ... Halfway through their chat, Malle brought up Victoria's son, Brooklyn, and his 2022 marriage to wife Nicola Peltz.

Malle asked Victoria if she had any relationship advice for the young couple who has no children ... yet. Victoria replied that she'll always offer them support, but she's not down with giving advice.

Then Malle smacked Victoria -- AKA "Posh Spice" -- right across the face with the geriatric stuff, asking, "Are you excited to be a grandmother?"

Check out the video ... Victoria was absolutely floored by the suggestion Brooklyn was having a baby with Nicola -- and she delivered an extremely animated response, "Oh. Jesus. What? Woo. Hang on."

The fashion designer even used her hand to fan her face before turning to the audience and insisting, "I don't think it's happening just yet unless you guys know something I don't."

Victoria finally regained her composure and, on a more serious note, stated, "If I am blessed, then that would be wonderful."

Then she returned to her funny routine, fanning her face again and reiterating that "we are not there yet."

True, but Brooklyn has made no secret of the fact that he wants to start a family with Nicola, posting about it on Instagram.

Tom Brady and a craps table in Florida apparently have something in common ... neither stands a chance against Eli Manning!!!

TMZ Sports has learned ... the New York Giants legend rolled dice at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, FL for hours on Thursday night -- and he appeared to win BIG.

One witness tells us ... Manning showed up before 9:30 PM and stayed past 2:30 AM -- albeit with a short break for food at some point -- seemingly raking in cash throughout the evening.

In fact, in video we obtained, you can see that after one run in particular ... he celebrated like a madman, high-fiving his tablemates before sharing a huge embrace with one of his pals.

We're told Eli seemed to have around $40,000 in chips in front of him ... while some of the guys he was playing with had over $100K.

Of course, it ain't like Eli exactly needs the dough ... after all, the former signal-caller made over $250 MILLION in his NFL career alone.

NBA Slam Dunk champion Mac McClung says he has two opportunities to do something truly historic this weekend ... telling TMZ Sports he's ready to reveal a pair of moves that have never been done before!!

The G League star -- who wowed the entire basketball world with his top performance in 2023 -- peeled back the curtain on this year's contest ... and it sounds like fans can expect nothing short of fireworks.

"I think I have three dunks that haven't been done in a contest before, but I think two of them haven't been done by anybody before," McClung said. "So I hope I can make them -- if I make them, I'll be happy and I do them right."

"But we put a lot of effort into it and hope it goes well."

Mac -- who currently plays for the Osceola Magic -- says there are about six different dunks he's got ready to go ... and the only real issue is figuring out which ones he'll pick.

But it's not just the dunks that have him excited -- he hinted there could be some cameo appearances featured in his routine as well.

McClung is going up against some fellow high-flying athletes -- Jaylen Brown, Jaime Jaquez and Jacob Toppin -- and he admitted he'll be just like the fans as he watches them perform.

There will be a lot more than a shiny trophy on the line for McClung -- the hooper recently partnered with hi-tech insoles company, VKTRY ... and if he repeats as champion, he's giving out $ 500k worth of product to a number of lucky fans who register for the giveaway.

McClung raved about the insoles ... claiming they give him a big advantage on the court.

Dude better be careful, or he's gonna need a helmet when his head hits the roof.

Maxx Crosby might be bummed he didn't win NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors this season ... but the Raiders star tells TMZ Sports he's planning on using the snub as motivation to whoop some ass next season.

ICYMI, Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett edged out Crosby -- and other finalists T.J. Watt, Micah Parsons and DaRon Bland -- for the big award at the NFL Honors ceremony on Feb. 8 ... which many felt Crosby deserved.

After all, Myles had 14 sacks and four forced fumbles on the year ... while Crosby totaled 14.5 sacks and two forced fumbles.

So, when we got the Las Vegas pass rusher out at Super Bowl week, we had to ask the three-time Pro Bowler how he was taking it ... and it's clear, he's using it as fuel for this offseason's workouts.

"I mean, it's exactly what I needed," he said. "I know I'm going in the right direction. I know what I'm capable of. It's just the beginning."

"People haven't seen anything yet," he added.

Before he embarks on the road to dominance in '24, though, Crosby had a little fun in Vegas ahead of Super Bowl LVIII ... horsin' around on a red carpet with none other than Tom Brady.

Ian Machado Garry hasn't forgotten what Sean Strickland and Colby Covington said about his family last year ... and the welterweight star has revenge on his mind!

TMZ Sports caught up with the 26-year-old fighter as he prepares to return to the Octagon against Geoff Neal at UFC 298 for the first time since finding himself in the middle of one of the biggest and most controversial storylines in all MMA last year.

While he's focused on Geoff, Ian isn't trying to hide who he wants next.

"It's Colby Covington. I'm not looking for anyone else. I'm getting him. I'm gonna get him. I'm gonna retire him from the UFC. I'm gonna rid him and his f***ing nonsense from the organization and the whole world will be a better place because of it."

We followed up, asking if Machado wanted Covington even more so than Sean Strickland.

"I'll get both of them eventually, but right now the goal is to go for Colby. Sean Strickland, I'll get in time. God will give me that. I believe God will place that very firmly in my path, 'Off you go kid, enjoy!'"

As for how he handled the drama -- which saw his relationship with his wife put under a microscope -- Ian told us the following.

"I mean the truth is I didn't handle it well at the start. The truth is I didn't, it was very emotional. Very stressful, because I've never had a vicious onslaught of violent attacks on my family or my wife, and it was all based on absolute bulls*** and lies."

Ian went on to explain why he's still upset to this day, saying he doesn't "think that most people know the truth, and that's annoying, that's irritating."

Garry added ... ["Strickland] had no f***ing clue what he was talking about, didn't have any facts or any knowledge on the situation at all. Hears someone's opinion on it which is completely false and then elevates it to a point at which now everyone is attacking my wife, and it's just absolute utter nonsense."

Drama aside, we also talked to Ian about his matchup with Geoff, and his desire to co-main event a Conor McGregor card.

We also talked to UFC star Mackenzie Dern (#7), who is fighting #3 ranked strawweight Amanda Lemos on the UFC 298 card ... as she looks to bounce back from a defeat at the hands of Jéssica Andrade in November.

Dern is getting in the Octagon with another killer ... but if she gets a dub, she believes she could be next in line for a much-coveted title fight!

We finished the week strong at TMZ -- and the same goes for the topics we covered on TV.

Starting out with 'TMZ Live,' Harvey and Charles continued to discuss the fallout from the Kansas City shooting at the victory rally Wednesday ... particularly as it pertains to Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, who've been catching some flak for what they did afterward.

Of course, we're referring to the dinner party they attended hours after the shooting -- which we're learning more about even now ... and yes, it did look quite celebratory in nature.

On 'TMZ on TV,' the gang dove into Kim K's new list of qualifications for a potential long-term partner -- and from the sounds of it, pearly whites (among other things) are pretty important.

Finally, on 'TMZ Sports' ... Mike and Mojo discussed Jayden Daniels and where his Heisman currently is.

Check your local listings for when TMZ is on in your area or catch up on past episodes!