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Julianna Peña beat the greatest female fighter to ever grace an MMA cage ... but the UFC champion tells TMZ Sports she still feels like the underdog against Amanda Nunes -- and that's why she's planning on proving she truly is the baddest woman on the planet.

"Everyone thinks it's a fluke, There's a ton of naysayers out there and negative people that think I just fell out of the blue sky and just ended up winning on that night because she hurt her knee or whatever," Peña says.

"The reality is that I won that fight fair and square and if you don't believe me, then you're gonna have to watch me do it again the second time and then maybe you guys will quit doubting me."

Peña says this is a fight she didn't have to take.

"I could've rode off into the sunset and fought somebody else."

Of course, Julianna beat Amanda by submission in the 2nd round of their UFC 269 fight in December 2021.

But, Julianna -- who has an immense amount of respect for Amanda -- believes a champ ain't a champ until they've defended the strap.

"I still feel like a contender. I still feel like there's a target on my back and I still feel like there's more work to be done. I'm not content with just 'oh you got the belt.' No! You're not a champ until you defend it and until you solidify that this is my belt."

"So for me, I'm waking up every morning thinking I still haven't hit my goal. I still haven't hit my goal yet and so as long as I can keep that mindset of just grinding, staying humble and just nose to the grindstone and just putting in that work, then I'll be able to confidently say, 'Yeah, maybe I got a leg up on her,' but right now I absolutely do not. I still have work to be done."

Before the rematch (the date isn't yet set -- more on that after), Julianna and Amanda are serving as coaches The Ultimate Fighter 30 ... which premiers Tuesday night.

FYI, Peña won season 18 of the show.

As for the date for the rematch, Julianna says she wouldn't mind fighting on the same card as Jon Jones ... who could be fighting Stipe Miocic this fall.

"We're still working on it," Peña tells us, "I don't have a date but I saw that Jon [Jones] wants to come back in September and I thought that would be a great card to jump on."

Prior to the L, Nunes hadn't lost since 2014 ... a span where she won 12 fights in a row, beating the who's who of MMA, including Valentina Shevchenko (two times), Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Holly Holm and Cris Cyborg.

So, beating Amanda once is insane ... let alone twice.

American-South African actress Embeth Davidtz was 30 years old when she was cast as Miss Honey -- the gentle, caring teacher at Crunchem Hall who ends up adopting one of her students from their mean and careless family -- in the 1996 family film "Matilda."

Davidtz shared the big screen with Mara Wilson as the intelligent daughter who is mistreated by her parents, Matilda, Danny DeVito as Matilda's neglectful father, Harry Wormwood, Rhea Perlman as the bingo-playing mother, Zinnia Wormwood and Pam Ferris, as the cake-lovin', cranky teacher, Miss Trunchbull.

The Kardashians have come out victorious in their fierce legal battle with Blac Chyna ... who sued them for defamation, but the jury's riding with the family.

Before the verdict was read, it was apparent the Kardashians were nowhere to be found. The clerk asked their lawyer where they were, and the attorney responded, they were all in NYC, "at some gala." Obviously, they're at the Met.

As you know ... the Kardashians and Chyna have been squaring off in court for the past few weeks over the $100-million lawsuit BC filed back in 2017, accusing the Kardashians of defaming her and conspiring to ruin her career by getting her reality show with Rob canceled.

The trial featured tons of explosive testimony ... with the Kardashians claiming Chyna was violent with Rob, threatening to kill him and Kylie Jenner.

Much of the testimony focused on an incident between Chyna and Rob in December 2016 ... when she was pregnant with their child and their reality show, "Rob & Chyna," was in the midst of being picked up for a second season.

The Kardashians claimed Chyna threatened to kill Rob by putting a gun to his head and wrapping a phone cord around his neck, alleging she also hit him with a metal rod and threw furniture at his car when he tried to leave the heated argument.

Chyna testified she was only joking when she pointed a firearm at his temple and wrapped the cord around him, and she denied throwing anything at his car or hitting him.

There was lots of drama outside the courtroom too ... with Blac Chyna's mom, Tokyo Toni, appearing to threaten the judge who had tossed her outta the courtroom for trashing Kris Jenner and her kids. TT claimed her threat was aimed at Kris, not the judge.

Almost all of the Kardashians took the stand at some point ... including Kris, Khloe, Kim, Kylie and Rob ... plus Kris' BF, Corey Gamble.

Rick Ross is flashing his bubbly persona -- and, of course, some Belaire champagne -- as he ramps up for his huge car show by checking in with the crew at TMZ Hip Hop.

The Biggest Bawse appeared on Monday's episode to pour some tea on his first annual Rick Ross Car & Bike Show ... but also clarified why he was hanging with Tory Lanez over the weekend.

Fans might remember Rozay had some choice words for the Canadian singer shortly after the Megan Thee Stallion incident in 2020, and jokingly promised to get him into a Smart Car -- clever short joke!

During the interview, Rozay confirmed cooler heads prevailed, and after hanging with Tory in Vegas this past weekend -- that compact whip will pop up at Rick's car show on his Promise Land estate in Fayetteville, GA.

We got into a lot more with Rick ... including his plans to perform at the car show, his farming skills and why you won't see him whizzing around in a Tesla anytime soon.

Sounds like he's still a combustion engine guy, and car enthusiasts will see plenty of that on display come May 21 at Rick's crib.

NeNe Leakes says she wanted to drop the hammer on the "Real Housewives of Atlanta" years ago ... but the execs blacklisted her, making it extremely difficult to take any legal action.

We got NeNe at LAX Monday, and she says getting constantly silenced by Bravo stopped her from filing her discrimination lawsuit for a long time.

She tells us she went from working constantly to getting nothing ... fans of the show know NeNe was the centerpiece of "RHOA" for years, before leaving in 2020.

She's hoping her lawsuit will help put an end to discrimination against Black women ... and thinks getting called out as a Black woman with blonde hair is grossly unacceptable.

As we reported, NeNe recently filed in federal court in Atlanta, accusing the folks behind the show of ignoring her complaints about years of racist remarks directed her way by fellow cast member Kim Zolciak-Biermann.

In the docs, NeNe claims Kim, who is not being sued, made racially offensive and stereotypical comments about NeNe and Kandi Burruss over multiple seasons.

She claims she complained about Kim's alleged comments to the execs behind "RHOA," but says Kim wasn't punished and was instead rewarded with her own spinoff series.

Lil Xan is not only doing much better, but he's taking extra precautions to make sure he stays sober when he returns to life on the road.

We caught up with the rapper this weekend at BOA Steakhouse ... where he told us about his progress and how he plans to stay on track in the future.

Xan says, he is 40 days clean, after doing 30 days in a detox center and 30 days in a rehab facility. He tells us he's feeling better than ever, and blessed to finally be sober.

One element of his sobriety will be controversial to some people -- Xan says his rehab facility allowed patients to smoke weed, which he says helped him. That approach has been called "California sober," something Demi Lovato said worked for them ... until it didn't.

For now, LX is in great spirits and even showed off his GF while opening up to us about his new lifestyle. He's also looking forward to going on tour May 25 -- but, he's gonna be extra careful this time ... planning to bring a sober companion to make sure everything goes well and he isn't tempted to relapse.

As we've previously reported, Xan checked himself into a hospital in March and got 51/50'd  ... he said he was experiencing a mixture of exhaustion, dehydration and depression from things he was seeing online.

He ended up spending 3 days in the psychiatric ward before getting the green light to check into a part of a facility focused on mental health.

Bugging out at a Disney hotel has paid incredible dividends -- at least for one woman -- because we've learned the company is shelling out a small fortune to make her lawsuit go away.

Disneyland Hotel -- which is the quintessential go-to place to stay for any serious Disney fan visiting Anaheim -- recently settled a claim brought by Ivy Eldridge ... who alleged a few years back she'd gotten chewed out (literally) by a bed bug infestation in their quarters.

TMZ broke the story ... Eldridge claimed in 2018 that bed bugs were all over her room during her stay in the spring of that year, something she alleged the hotel staff failed to notify her although she claimed they apparently knew about it.

As a result ... she said she got bit up all over, and that the bed bugs were even sucking her blood to the point it caused a rash -- for which she claims she had to receive costly medical treatment that took her off the clock at work.

Eldridge even took photos of the alleged injuries at the time ... and yeah, they were indeed gnarly. This suit has been working its way through the pipeline for a while now -- but it appears it's finally reached its conclusion ... 'cause Eldridge's lawyers tell us Disneyland Hotel coughed up $100k to square this.

Her legal team -- headed by Brian Virag from MyBedBugLawyer, Inc. -- added, "Bedbugs don’t discriminate; they are found in hotels of all quality levels throughout the country and worldwide."

Huge break for Adrian Peterson ... TMZ Sports has learned the future Hall of Famer will not face charges in his domestic violence case.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us ... Peterson had a City Attorney hearing in Los Angeles on April 29 -- but the former Minnesota Vikings running back and prosecutors met beforehand to resolve the matter.

We're told prosecutors declined to criminally charge Peterson ... and Adrian agreed to complete 20 sessions of domestic violence and alcohol counseling within the next 6 months.

It's a huge deal for A.P. -- because, as we previously reported, he could have been hit with misdemeanor charges for his alleged role in an altercation on a plane with his wife on Super Bowl Sunday back in February.

You'll recall, Peterson was thrown in jail after cops say Ashley Brown Peterson sustained a small mark on her hand following the alleged incident.

Peterson had denied ever getting physical with her -- saying, "We just had a disagreement."

The L.A. County District Attorney's Office declined to charge the 36-year-old with a felony just days after the arrest ... but kicked the case over to the L.A. City Attorney for possible misdemeanor charges.

Olivia Wilde kept her composure after being served legal documents on behalf of her ex, Jason Sudeikis ... which you can now see on video.

The footage from the awkward moment, which went down on Tuesday at CinemaCon, has finally surfaced ... and lo and behold, Olivia's handling of it all was as professional as everyone described it.

Check it out ... OW was right in the middle of hyping her new movie, "Don't Worry Darling," and about a minute or so into her speech -- somebody comes up to the stage and drops a manila envelope at her feet. She pauses, asks if that's for her ... and then picks it up.

She openly wondered if it was a script, and playfully joked that she was going to open it right then and there to unpack the mystery -- which she did. As soon as she saw the contents, Olivia simply said, "Oh okay, got it" ... and carried on like nothing had happened.

Olivia held on to the envelope -- marked "personal and confidential" -- for a good while as she finished her monologue, and eventually ... tucked it behind her.

As you know, it was later revealed the papers were custody docs from Sudeikis -- but he denied knowing they'd be served in the manner and time that they were, putting the blame on the process server company. The issue the docs addressed was in relation to jurisdiction.

Ulta is under fire after emailing out a promotion that collabs with Kate Spade ... one that refers to the fashion designer's tragic death.

People on Ulta's mailing list were shocked Sunday when a message came to their inbox saying "Come hang with Kate Spade" ... as you know, Spade hanged herself in 2018.

The Internet is going after the beauty company full bore ... with many wondering who the hell QC's stuff that goes out.

Not surprisingly ... customers and even some ex-employees are calling for a boycott.

As we reported, Spade was found dead in her NYC apartment in 2018 -- her body was found by her housekeeper. She left a note behind for her daughter, telling the 13-year-old it wasn't her fault.

We reached out to Ulta for comment ... so far, no word back.

If you or someone you know is thinking of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK.

TMZ Sports has obtained pictures of Colby Covington's face following his alleged March altercation with Jorge Masvidal ... and in one of the photos, you can see the UFC star's front tooth is clearly broken.

The pics were taken a short time after Covington alleged Masvidal punched him in the head and mouth area on March 21 outside of a restaurant in Miami.

In the photos, Covington's right cheek appears to be red ... while his front left tooth is obviously fractured.

The pictures were included as exhibits in docs filed by Masvidal's attorney, Bradford Cohen, on Monday.

"Interestingly," Cohen wrote of the pictures in the docs, "the images do not demonstrate an injury aside from a small chip in [Covington's] fake tooth."

In the docs, Cohen is asking the judge to order Covington to take independent medical exams to determine the extent of the alleged "brain injury" that Colby said he suffered in the incident with Masvidal.

Cohen also asked the court in further documents filed on Monday to have Colby's Rolex watch inspected.

Cohen claims the timepiece that Covington said Masvidal damaged in the alleged attack is actually a "FOLEX." Cohen says there are doubts that it's worth anywhere remotely near $95,000 ... and he's asking the court to issue an order that would allow them to inspect the watch.

He also said pictures of the watch taken after the alleged incident with Masvidal show "simple wear-and-tear scratches."

As we reported, Masvidal has been hit with two felony charges following Covington's allegations -- one count of aggravated battery and one count of criminal mischief.

Johnny Depp was going to make a boatload of cash for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie that never happened -- a significant figure that could prove his damages -- according to his rep.

JD's ex-agent and current talent manager, Jack Whigham, took the stand Monday as Johnny's legal team continued to trot out witnesses on their client's behalf -- and during questioning, Whigam shed some light on what he believed Amber Heard's claims had cost Johnny.

Whigham claims there's no doubt in his mind Johnny lost his role in the planned 6th installment of 'Pirates' ... which he insists would've earned JD a whopping $22.5 mil.

Now, it's worth noting that during cross-examination ... Whigham admitted that the alleged deal was NOT something he'd gotten in writing yet -- which Amber's team latched onto -- but he explained ... that's not how the business goes.

Whigham claimed these sorts of talks with high-level actors and big studios -- especially as it pertains to franchises -- are often had on a verbal level first, and said studios will usually signal what an actor can expect for the next chapter, assuming one happens.

In this case, Whigham claims 'Pirates 6' was supposed to happen with Johnny in a key role -- obviously, he's the main character Jack Sparrow -- but that all came to a screeching halt after Amber's WaPo op-ed.

Christina Haack is going all out to prove she's not the crappy mom that ex-husband Ant Anstead wants folks to believe ... sitting on the sidelines for her kids' soccer games.

Christina was in full-on soccer mom mode Saturday, plopping down in her portable chair next to daughter Taylor to watch son Brayden on the field. For Christina, it's her first public appearance since Ant filed for custody of their son Hudson and ripped her mommy skills.

Christina was not only there with her children from her first marriage to Tarek El Moussa, but with his parents, they made a day of it ... watching Taylor compete in a separate game.

It doesn't appear Hudson was there ... so he must've been with dad.

TMZ broke the story ... Ant went OFF on Christina in legal docs filed Thursday, accusing her of being an absent mother, putting Hudson at risk and using the kid as a social media pawn.

Christina fired back in legal docs of her own Friday, seeking to poke holes in Ant's allegations. She told the court there's no need for an emergency order to grant Anstead full custody of 2-year-old Hudson, and so far, the judge agrees.

Naomi Judd's death was top of mind at the Country Music Hall of Fame ceremony -- with her two daughters accepting the honor on her behalf ... and shedding tears while paying homage to her.

Ashley and Wynonna Judd were on hand Sunday at the CMA Theater in Nashville, where the Judds were inducted into the Hall. Of course, Naomi -- who made up half the duo -- had suddenly passed the day prior ... so her kids stepped up.

Their speeches were sorrowful and moving -- both AJ and WJ were weeping ... explaining how much Naomi knew she was beloved by all, which is what they say kept her hanging on for as long as she did.

Ashley also asked folks to come and see their widowed father, Larry Strickland. When Wynonna spoke, she offered up some much-needed humor ... but then said what everyone else was thinking -- that she was broken and at a loss for words.

Wynonna accepted her medallion -- and everyone gave her a huge round of applause. It was incredibly emotional all the way around ... and sorta astonishing that the Judd sisters even made it considering the shock of their mother dying.

As we reported ... Ashley and Wynonna announced Naomi's death Saturday, citing mental illness, but nothing more. Naomi was out publicly alongside Wynonna in recent weeks ... and was fully expected to make the ceremony, with no outward ailments anyone was aware of.

Naomi had been open about her mental health struggles over the years, saying she'd battled depression for a long time. The exact circumstances surrounding her death remain unclear.

Machine Gun Kelly's revelation he and Megan Fox drink each other's blood is drawing a warning from vampires -- yeah, the real deal -- and, believe it or not, they're reminding the couple ... safety first!

While MGK and Megan haven't explicitly used the V-word, many people on Twitter are labeling them that way, and now self-described vampires are weighing in on the famous couple's blood-drinking ritual.

Belfazaar Ashantison, the co-founder of The New Orleans Vampire Association (NOVA), is urging Megan and MGK to take proper precautions before drinking their lover's blood, including testing for potential diseases and blood-borne illnesses, from which he says vampires are not immune.

Megan and MGK have been together for nearly 2 years, which alleviates one concern, because Ashantison says most vampires do extensive research on their blood donors before using even the slightest drop. He says it took him 6 months to get to know his blood donor and feel comfortable drinking their blood, and they still get tested every 3 months just to be sure.

Soooo ... definitely not your grandpa's Hollywood vampire.

Father Sebastiaan, the founder of Endless Night Vampire Ball, is also urging Megan and MGK to be super safe with their blood drinking, specifically with regards to withdrawing blood.

MGK says he's willing to cut his chest with shards of broken glass to draw blood for Megan, but Sebastiaan says blood withdrawal should only be done through medical professionals.

While Ashantison and Father Sebastiaan admit they don't know all the ins and outs of MGK and Megan's blood ritual, they both agree -- no matter how weird it sounds to you -- if done safely, it's kosher for consenting adults.

This year's Stagecoach Music festival was one to remember -- just ask the flock of celebs who hit the desert -- throwing on their cowboy boots and hats for a weekend full of country music.

JoJo Fletcher, Becca Tilley, Diplo and Brielle Biermann were amongst a list of celebs to pull up to the star-studded fest and enjoy some good vibes.

Heather Rae and Tarek El Moussa clearly enjoyed their time on the festival grounds ... where they were spotted locking lips and wrapped in each other's arms.

Some other celebs included ... Sutton Stracke, Kyle Richards, and Dorit Kemsley, and Maren Morris. Of course, Maren Morris took the stage and gave a performance.