TMZ Sports - Page 43

The UFC will host the first-ever live sporting event at The Sphere in Las Vegas, but, there are only 10 fights. So, who gets a spot?? Well, 19-year-old Raul Rosas Jr. said earlier this week one should be reserved for him!

TMZ Sports talked to the rising star -- prior to reports he made the cut for the Noche UFC event going down on September 14 -- and he pleaded his case for why he should be involved.

"My manager is talking with the UFC right now, and I think the possibility is high," Rosas Jr. said of landing the coveted spot.

Hulk Hogan was in a celebratory mood after his big Trump speech at the Republican National Convention ... the iconic WWE wrestler was out partying at a Missouri saloon and we got the video to prove it!

Check it out ... Hulk was standing behind the bar at Shady Gators in Lake of the Ozarks Friday night when he picked up a can of his very own brew, "Real American Beer," and chugged the whole damn thing in front of everybody.

He then raised the empty can above his head before he dropped it to the loud applause of the cheering crowd. Everyone there was a Hulkamaniac for sure!!!

Patrick Mahomes knows a thing or two about Xs and Os ... so it's no surprise he and wife Brittany played an adorable game of tic-tac-toe with their 2 tots to reveal the gender of baby #3!

The Mahomeses posted video of the reveal -- which looks to have taken place at their palatial Kansas City estate -- to their Insta accounts, captioning it ... “Baby Mahomes #3 is a….”

In the vid,  their 3-year-old daughter Sterling turns over tiles to see if she'll be getting a "Little Sis" or "Little Bro" ... while the couple's other child, 1-year-old Bronze looks on.

Everyone from Muhammad Ali, to Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather, have fought in the United States ... so when Eddie Hearn says the upcoming "Riyadh Season" event in L.A., featuring a bunch of top-notch fights, as well as a performance by Eminem, will be the biggest in the history of boxing in 'Merica, that's saying a lot!

"I mean, it's the biggest night of boxing I think America's ever seen," Hearn told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs nightly on FS1).

The August 3 event goes down at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles ... and features a main event bout between Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov, in addition to scraps between Andy Ruiz and Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller, Jared Anderson and Martin Bakole, "Pitbull" Cruz and Jose Valenzuela, amongst other compelling matchups.

Mike Perry pulled out all the stops to troll Jake Paul ahead of their big fight on Saturday ... commissioning a custom pendant showing El Gallo getting his bell rung -- and it's quite the pricey piece.

Perry's been proudly sporting the new jewelry leading up to the bout ... rocking it at his open workout and press conference for the showdown in Tampa, FL.

The pendant shows Jake's face covered with bloody cuts and a boxing glove on his left cheek ... something Perry's hoping to do in the ring at Amalie Arena in a few hours.

A piece of tennis history is up for auction -- the shirt worn by Rafael Nadal en route to his first-ever Grand Slam title at the 2005 French Open ... and it's expected to fetch a pretty penny!!

TMZ Sports is told the match-worn shirt -- which Nadal wore during the quarterfinal, semifinal, and final at Roland Garros -- is being made available via Prestige Memorabilia.

We're told the legendary green sleeveless tee had a starting bid of $25,000 ... but is expected to sell for $100k -- and that's understandable given its history. Besides being the first time Nadal competed in the French Open, it marked the first showdown between the man who would become a longtime rival of his -- Roger Federer.

Team USA volleyball star Kristen Nuss says she's fired up to play in the Eiffel Tower's shadow at the Olympics this month ... telling TMZ Sports the picturesque court straight up "gives me chills."

If you haven't seen it yet ... the volleyballers who qualified for the Paris Games will get to play their matchups starting next week just feet away from France's most iconic monument.

Check out some of the photos from the sand -- it's literally right next to the famed structure!!!

Donald Trump reunited with Melania, $2 billion Powerball winner Edwin Castro has a smoking hot girlfriend, and Mike Perry is making big moves ... all this on today's TMZ TV Hot Takes.

First up on "TMZ Live" Harvey and Charles break down Melania's interactions with Donald at the Republican National Convention ... including what may or may not have been a smooch.

Mike Perry will be across from Jake Paul in just over 24 hours (more on that in a minute), but before fight night Platinum made a huge announcement, telling us he's launching his very own combat sports promotion, Dirty Boxing Championship!

"We are friends for fighters and fans," 32-year-old Perry told Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs nightly on FS1).

"Me and my team have been working on this for quite some time," Mike added. "We've tried to hint at this, we've been making way and we're ready to make the announcement that this is coming very soon. We're very close to being sanctioned by commissions and we're ready to get some athletes and get a card together and put a fight on sometime this year."

Caitlin Clark is opening up on her decision to pass on the WNBA's three-point competition on Friday ... saying it all came down to getting some much-needed rest.

The Indiana Fever star is notably not among the sharpshooters taking part in the long-distance All-Star Weekend event ... and many wondered why the league's biggest star declined to be involved when it could have been an opportunity to get more eyeballs on the organization.

Clark provided some answers earlier in the day ... explaining she's been playing non-stop for a long time -- and she wants to put her energy into helping her Fever teammates, rather than prepare for the contest.

Kylie Kelce -- the wife of former NFL star Jason Kelce -- says she's not pregnant ... and she's blasting all those who have fueled the rumors -- all while revealing she's previously had a miscarriage.

The 32-year-old mother of three took to TikTok to air her grievances ... letting her followers know she's fed up with people questioning whether or not she has another bun in the oven.

She explained the inquiries were highly insensitive ... as just prior to the birth of her eldest daughter years ago, she suffered a miscarriage.

Brittney Griner made a special announcement Friday ... she and her wife, Cherelle, have welcomed their first child!!

The Phoenix Mercury star dropped the exciting news on CBS Sports' "We Need To Talk" ... prior to the WNBA's All-Star Skills Challenge and 3-Point contest in Phoenix, Arizona.

"He's here," the Phoenix Mercury center said. "Seven pounds, eight ounces."

Richard Simmons' death certificate sheds no further light on the mystery surrounding his death ... but does provide some interesting details on his final resting place.

In the document obtained by TMZ ... Richard's manner of death is not listed -- instead, it notes the manner of death is still pending an investigation. This explains why there is still no cause of death to report.

However, it appears the fitness guru -- who is actually referred to as a "Health Motivator" on the cert -- has already been laid to rest a week after his death. Per the doc, Richard was buried here in L.A. at the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary.

Friday is the official launch of EA Sports College Football 25 ... but fans who dropped a few extra bucks were able to get their hands on it earlier this week -- and the player count is mind-blowing!!

According to Electronic Arts, since the game had a soft launch on Monday ... 2.2 million unique players have stepped onto the virtual gridiron to give the company's return to college football a try. In addition, EA's subscription service, EA Play, saw 600,000 players take advantage of the trial period.

Ever since the company announced the game back in February 2021, anticipation has been through the roof ... as fans were without a new installment following the release of NCAA Football 14 in 2013.

Nick Saban is getting another tribute at Alabama -- the school just announced it is renaming the Bryant-Denny Stadium field in his honor.

Bama will hold a ceremony on September 7 ... when the Crimson Tide host the South Florida Bulls.

The university shared a special video to reveal the news ... featuring several memorable soundbites from Saban's historic career.

Add the 2024 Olympics to the long list of organizations affected by the ongoing global cyber outage ... as the Paris Games' organizing committee revealed some operations have dealt with some hiccups as a result of the ordeal.

With the international competition just days away, the org. released a statement saying the outage has impacted accreditations and the delivery of uniforms. Luckily for organizers, they say operations around the preparations of venues and ticket sales are unaffected -- while the Olympic torch relay is also not caught in the crossfire.

At the press center, security is doing checks outside the building the ol' fashioned way -- breaking out a list of names and scrolling through it manually. For journalists just arriving in the City of Lights, Reuters is reporting the accreditation desk is closed ... and people are being turned away.