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Hasim Rahman Jr. says he knows where Tyron Woodley went wrong against Jake Paul -- leading to a brutal knockout -- telling TMZ Sports he will absolutely NOT make the same mistakes as the future UFC Hall of Famer.

"Bro, [Jake's] a little boy, and I'm gonna treat him like one. That's what Woodley didn't do. Woodley gave him too much respect, and he sat back with his hands down and he got caught," 31-year-old Rahman Jr. bluntly said when we asked where Tyron went wrong when fighting 25-year-old Paul.

And, 6'3" Rahman Jr. -- who has previously fought north of 260 pounds -- believes he has another advantage ... size!

"All of Jake's opponents have been smaller than him. All of them have been much smaller. This is the first time he's going to be in there with someone that's walking him down and much bigger than him."

Paul -- who's 6'1" and was 191 pounds when he fought Woodley (T-Wood weight 189 for 2021 rematch) -- has faced fighters who all stand under 6 feet (Gib, 5'9". Robinson, 5'8". Askren, 5'11". Woodley, 5'9").

Rahman Jr., 12-1, just fought April 29 ... where he suffered his first loss, via TKO. But, that didn't stop the son of the former 2x heavyweight champ from accepting the Paul fight when Tommy Fury dropped out ... even though Hasim claims Jake made him accept strict rules meant to diminish the heavyweight boxer in the ring.

Hasim says although the fight will be contested at 200 pounds ... he'll only be permitted to rehydrate to 210 pounds just hours before the bell rings. A guy Rahman Jr.'s size could typically gain 15, 20 or more pounds in between making weight and the fight.

"If you really wanted to make a statement you would've came up to heavyweight and fought me. But you didn't. You wanted to bring me down, and stack the deck against me, so you could actually have a fighting chance. He knows he has no chance against me had it been at my weight class," Hasim says.

We also talked to Rahman Jr. about Logan Paul advising his brother to not take the fight, and much more.

New video shows the horrific scene inside the Uvalde school where a gunman murdered 19 children and 2 teachers, and you see the police try and approach the shooter and then run for cover when the gunman shoots at them.

KVUE TV obtained the surveillance video ... 3 minutes after the shooter entered the school and began firing rounds into 2 classrooms, you see the police enter the hallway inside the school and approach the door outside the classroom where the shooter was firing rounds at the children.

The shooter then begins firing rounds outside the classroom, presumably at the cops. The police then flee the immediate area and retreat a distance away ... looking for cover in the hallway.

Two cops touch their head and neck area, as if to see if they were shot.

For the next 45 minutes, you see reinforcements arrive ... but they never try to breach the classroom. They eventually set up right outside the classroom but don't attempt to enter for another 30 minutes. That's when they enter a classroom and they see the shooter emerging from a closet and a Border Patrol cop shoots him dead.

LeBron James says Brittney Griner's been in captivity for way too long without the U.S. bringing her home, so if he were the WNBA star, he'd question returning to America.

Bron made the comments during a recent taping of "The Shop" ... when the conversation apparently turned to the incarcerated American hoops star.

"Now, how can she feel like America has her back? I would be feeling like, 'Do I even want to go back to America?'"

It's clear -- at least from the short trailer that was released -- that LeBron doesn't believe the U.S. is doing nearly enough to bring BG home.

Of course, Griner was arrested in a Russian airport near Moscow in mid-February ... after Russian authorities said they found vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her bag.

Initially, the American public wasn't made aware Griner was arrested ... which was strategic on the part of America. With the Russia-Ukraine war waging, the U.S. knew Griner could be used by Russia to gain leverage against the West.

But, that strategy only worked for a couple of weeks. Eventually, the news got out, and it's been one of the biggest stories since.

Griner's case has consistently been covered in America, and across the world.

Brittney's wife, Cherelle Griner, recently spoke with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

(Note: in fairness to LBJ's point, "The Shop" episode seems to have been filmed before Cherelle spoke to the president.)

Biden also wrote a letter to Brittney ... which she recently received.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has regularly fielded questions from reporters at the WH about all topics Griner-related.

The United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has also been in communication with the Griner family. U.S. Congressman Colin Allred, a former athlete at Baylor (like Brittney), has also spent countless hours working to free Griner.

Politicians aside, everyone from fellow athletes to regular people have been touched by the Griner case ... and have prayed for her safe return.

In fact, supporters of other prisoners locked up abroad, particularly in Russia, have been peeved by how hard the U.S. government has seemingly tried to get BG back, while other families believe the same level of effort isn't being paid to the cases of their loved ones.

As for her release ... unfortunately, nothing looks imminent.

After months of sitting in a Russian cell, Griner recently appeared before a judge and indicated her desire to plead guilty to the drug charge.

Griner has not yet been sentenced. She could face 10 years in prison.

Full "The Shop" ep. drops Friday on HBO.

A surfer beat the crap out of a younger bodyboarder after they crashed into each other while riding the same wave ... and the brutal attack is all on video.

The dustup happened at a popular surf spot in Gold Coast, Australia ... where punches started flying after a wipeout.

The surfer was the clear aggressor, swimming over to the bodyboarder and landing several blows to the face.

Other folks in the water race over to get the surfer away from the bodyboarder ... with at least one onlooker telling the surfer his target was half his age and only a kid.

The surfer seems frustrated, throwing up his hands as the video ends ... and it seems he was set off by colliding with the bodyboarder inside a nice barrel.

American actress and fashion designer Michael Michele was 36 years old when she was cast as Judy Spears -- the smart and sassy advertising representative who mysteriously attempts to humiliate and set up her coworker -- in the 2003 romance/comedy film "How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days."

Michael shared the big screen with big stars including Kate Hudson as the independent and intelligent journalist, Andie Anderson, Matthew McConaughey as the hot advertising guy, Benjamin Barry, Kathryn Hahn as the desperate girlfriend, Michelle Rubin and Adam Goldberg as one of Ben's sidekicks, Tony.

Chris Rock's new relationship with actress Lake Bell is heading for new waters, quite literally ... the two are on a romantic trip overseas.

Chris and Lake were living it up in the town of Trogir in Croatia Tuesday ... holding hands as they walk along the boardwalk -- as massive yachts dock nearby. Unclear if the trip was for work, pleasure, or a combo of both ... but we're told the two were definitely enjoying each other's company.

We've seen the couple get pretty close as of late ... hitting up baseball games, getting dinner and even taking a nice romantic stroll on the beach.

We spoke with Chris' brother, Tony, at LAX this week, who jokingly told us he's happy his bro's love life is finally the talk of the town.

Twitter's delivering on its promise to sue Elon Musk for backing out of what they say was his promise to buy the platform -- and they want a judge to force him to follow through.

In the lawsuit, Twitter says it's clear that Elon's only backing out because the stock market tanked right after he signed the deal in April to purchase for $44 billion. The company says that dip reduced Musk's wealth by $100 billion, and Twitter's value also slumped ... making his offer even more over the company's market value.

Translation: His offer suddenly looked ridiculous, and that's the only reason he wanted out.

According to the suit, Twitter's not buying his excuse about the platform being riddled with bot accounts ... calling that a "model of hypocrisy." As Twitter puts it ... Elon had very publicly said one of the reasons he wanted to buy Twitter was to "defeat the spam bots."

NASA's very high hopes for the James Webb Telescope go way beyond those stunning, out-of-this-world images you've seen -- astronaut Mike Massimino says it could literally redefine the universe for us.

Mike joined TMZ live Tuesday, shortly after NASA released even more impressive photos of galaxies and stars forming billions of light-years away from Earth. He says scientists hope the telescope will achieve 2 major goals.

The first is trying to look back into stellar history as far as possible -- about 13.8 billion years ago -- to see the very first light created at the moment of the Big Bang!!! Meaning, it would no longer just be theory.

Mind-blowing, right???

Mike says the J-dub Telescope could also help us find other habitable planets. Now, he says there's no need to pack your bags -- we won't be able to hop on one of Elon Musk's rockets to get there, even IF we find such a planet.

As we've told you, NASA released 4 new shockingly clear space images Tuesday, after unveiling an initial image on Monday ... which the space agency called "the deepest, sharpest infrared image of the universe ever.⁣"

For the first time since 2021, Henry Ruggs appeared in a courtroom in Las Vegas for a hearing in his DUI crash case.

The 23-year-old former Las Vegas Raiders star -- who was charged back in November 2021 with four felonies after prosecutors accused him of killing Tina Tintor and her dog in a fiery car crash -- showed up to the Nevada courthouse alongside his attorneys.

During the hearing, Ruggs' lawyers argued that police had no probable cause to obtain a warrant to collect his blood following the car accident. They asked for the tests -- which cops say showed Ruggs had a BAC of .161 following the wreck -- to not be allowed to be used as evidence in the case.

The judge, however, denied the motion.

Ruggs appeared to be stoic in the courtroom as his attorneys spoke, displaying little emotion. He wore a white button-down shirt, a black bowtie, and blue pants and did not address reporters inside or outside of the courtroom.

This is the first time Ruggs has been seen in public since late November 2021, when he was ordered to show up for a hearing over a missed breath test.

As we reported, Ruggs is facing more than 50 years in prison if he's convicted on all of the charges against him.

Prosecutors in New York say they discovered a scheme to sell stolen handwritten lyrics from some of the Eagles' most famous songs ... and now 3 men have been indicted as a result of the investigation.

Here's the deal ... prosecutors say the men were in possession of about 100 pages of Don Henley's handwritten notes and lyrics for the band's "Hotel California" album, with the men allegedly trying to fool auction houses into buying the memorabilia despite them knowing it was stolen.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says the men fabricated stories about the origin of the documents, and their right to possess them, so they could turn a profit ... even allegedly engaging in a years-long campaign to stop Don from recovering the stolen manuscripts, which are valued at over $1 million.

Prosecutors say the manuscripts were originally stolen back in the 1970s by an author hired to write a biography of the band and then sold to rare books dealer Glenn Horowitz, who in turn sold them to Craig Inciardi and Edward Kosinski.

The D.A. says when Don learned Inciardi and Kosinski were allegedly trying to sell portions of the manuscripts, he filed police reports and told the men the materials were stolen, demanding their return.

Prosecutors say Inciardi and Kosinski then worked to fabricate ownership records to try and coerce Don into buying back the stolen property. At the same time, the D.A. says the men were trying to sell the manuscripts through Christie's and Sotheby's auction houses.

The D.A. says their office executed search warrants to recover Don's stolen manuscripts from Kosinski's home and Sotheby's ... and a short while later, prosecutors say Horowitz tried to use the death of Eagles founding member Glenn Frey to prevent criminal prosecution by claiming he got the manuscripts from Frey.

The men are each charged with one count of fourth-degree conspiracy. Inciardi and Kosinski are also charged with first-degree criminal possession of stolen property. Horowitz is also charged with first-degree attempted criminal possession of stolen property, plus two counts of second-degree hindering prosecution.

Don's manager, Irving Azoff, tells TMZ ... "This action exposes the truth about music memorabilia sales of highly personal, stolen items hidden behind a façade of legitimacy. No one has the right to sell illegally obtained property or profit from the outright theft of irreplaceable pieces of musical history."

Casey White, the inmate who escaped from an Alabama prison before getting caught, just got charged over the death of the prison guard who was on the run with him.

Casey is charged with felony murder in connection with the death of Vicky White, who died from a gunshot wound to the head when police were closing in on them.

The grand jury indictment, obtained by TMZ, alleges Casey caused Vicky's death in the course of committing escape in the first degree.

Remember ... Casey and Vicky were on the run for 11 days after his prison escape, leading to a national manhunt. They were tracked down to a small town in Indiana, where they got into a police chase and crashed their car in a cornfield. Vicky then allegedly shot herself in the head.

Casey was pulled from the wreckage and taken into custody ... and law enforcement officials said he showed no remorse in learning of Vicky's death.

NASA's James Webb Telescope continues to stun our world with images of galaxies and stars from billions of light-years away ... just releasing a new set of pics that look like they're straight out of a sci-fi movie.

On Tuesday, viewers got a look at the Southern Ring planetary nebula (NGC 3132) and its two stars. It's truly incredible how clear and defined the images of the two stars are ... some of the first of their kind.

The new images weren't just a showcase of NGC 3132, though, we also got a look at five galaxies known as Stephan’s Quintet, which NASA describes as, "These colliding galaxies are pulling and stretching each other in a gravitational dance."

The Carina Nebula was Tuesday's "Grand Finale" for the Webb images ... NASA says, "Webb’s new view gives us a rare peek into stars in their earliest, rapid stages of formation. For an individual star, this period only lasts about 50,000 to 100,000 years.⁣⁣"

Of course, Monday's sneak peek from NASA of what is "The deepest, sharpest infrared image of the universe ever.⁣" promised to deliver ... and it certainly already has.

Q'orianka Kilcher has been charged with insurance fraud over what officials claim was improper collection of disability benefits over 2 years ... amounting to tens of thousands.

The actress -- who's appeared on 'Yellowstone' lately -- was slapped with 2 felony counts of workers' comp insurance fraud after an investigation by the California Department of Insurance.

The agency says Kilcher started making claims back in 2019, and allegedly raked in north of $90,000 in disability benefits.

According to CDOI -- Kilcher had reported a work-related neck and shoulder injury she allegedly suffered in October 2018 while filming 'Dora and the Lost City of Gold,' for which they say she sought treatment a few times that year ... only to stop and start back up again a year later, when she apparently told her doctor the pain had returned and she wasn't able to work due to the neck pain.

That turned out to be BS, at least according to the Dept., because it claims she actually had been working right before she told the doctor the pain was too severe to do her job -- filming 'Yellowstone' between July and October of 2019. According to records, she started getting benefits just 5 days after last working on the show.

An ice cream truck is hitting the road and giving people a dish best served cold ... by selling popsicles modeled after everyone's favorite -- or least favorite -- billionaires.

We spoke with an employee for MSCHF, a Brooklyn-based art collective, Tuesday in Santa Monica -- they've got their truck parked near the beach and selling their "Eat The Rich" billionaire popsicles.

As the name suggests, they've created some frozen pops that bear a resemblance to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Jack Ma and Mark Zuckerberg -- the truck is plastered with sayings like "Gobble Gates" and "Suck Zuck."

We're told Elon's been their #1 seller recently -- and it's been a mix of haters and true fans wanting to take a bite out of the guy.

The art collective, owned by Gabriel Whaley, is all about creating commentary for various things in our culture, and that $10 price tag for a single popsicle is just 1 of the many ways they're making a statement about their frozen billionaires.

The pregnant woman using the overturn of Roe v. Wade to fight a traffic ticket in Texas says she's getting tons of backlash, and she worries the added stress could trigger an early birth.

Brandy Bottone tells TMZ ... she's catching tons of heat for using the SCOTUS decision to try to wiggle out of a ticket for driving solo in the HOV lane, with some folks even telling her to get an abortion, even though she's over 34 weeks pregnant.

For Brandy, she says the abortion hate mail is triggering, and as a result, she's stopped reading replies and responses to her viral story. That's probably for the best.

As we reported ... Brandy says she was 34 weeks pregnant when she got pulled over in Dallas County and a cop issued the $275 ticket. She plans to fight it in court though, arguing her fetus is a person -- and therefore a passenger -- under Texas law.

Brandy tells us she's pregnant with her first girl, and she's concerned about going into early labor with all the stress -- something she says happened when she was pregnant with her 2 sons.

Derek Jeter can pinpoint the exact day that his relationship with Alex Rodriguez melted down ... saying it all happened in 2001, when he realized the MLB superstar was "not a true friend."

The New York Yankees legend opened up about it all in ESPN's new "The Captain" documentary -- which is set to run in its entirety in seven parts beginning later this month -- revealing he grew apart from Rodriguez after the former shortstop had made some remarks about him in an '01 interview with Esquire.

Rodriguez, who was very close with Jeter and had just signed a massive contract to play for the Texas Rangers, told a reporter for the outlet that Derek was "blessed" to play for an absolutely stacked NY team.

"He's never had to lead," Rodriguez said. "He doesn’t have to, he can just go and play and have fun, and hit second."

He continued, "I mean, you know, hitting second is totally different than hitting third or fourth in a lineup because you go into New York trying to stop Bernie [Williams] and [Paul] O’Neill and everybody. You never say, ‘Don’t let Derek beat you.’ That’s never your concern.”

Jeter, who at the time was considered the Yankees' best player, took offense to the comments -- saying in the documentary that they "bothered me."

"I’m very, very loyal," Jeter said. "As a friend, I’m loyal. I just looked at it as, ‘I wouldn’t have done it.'"

Rodriguez said in the documentary he apologized, and Jeter said he was down to accept it -- but #2 revealed A-Rod then went on to say "there’s not one thing he does better than me" in another interview, which Jeter made clear officially fractured their bond.

"He’s not a true friend, is how I felt," Jeter said. "Because I wouldn’t do it to a friend."

The two -- who were so close as youngsters in the MLB that they actually had sleepovers at each other's homes -- eventually became teammates with the Yankees in 2004, but famously had an up-and-down, icy time together.