Fights & Feuds

Belal Muhammad doesn't plan on waiting for Leon Edwards and Colby Covington to fight ... the UFC star, coming off a decisive win over Gilbert Burns, tells us he wants to jump "Chaos" and scrap with "Rocky," and he knows precisely when and where.

UFC 294, October 21, Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi. UAE.

"I’m still hoping and praying that since Leon wants to fight in Abu Dhabi and he wants to fight in October that they’ll just let me fight him because that makes the most sense in the world," Belal told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weekdays on FS1).

"There’s not a bigger fight they can make in Abu Dhabi than me fighting for the belt in Abu Dhabi."

Dana White previously said Colby would get the next title shot. Assuming the UFC prez sticks with his original plan, we asked Belal if he's been told he has next.

"Yeah, for sure," Muhammad said, continuing ... "I saw Dana in the back. He said, ‘Yup, you got it, man. You earned it. You got your spot now.’ When you hear it from the boss’ mouth that’s all I need to hear. That’s like freakin' -- the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You’re like, ‘Uh, got it, finally.’"

Of course, 34-year-old Muhammad beat Burns by unanimous decision at UFC 288 ... and is now the 3rd ranked welterweight, behind the champ, Edwards, former champ Kamaru Usman (#1), and the aforementioned Covington (#2).

FYI, Belal's resume is about as strong as it gets. He's won 9 fights in a row and hasn't lost since January 2019 (Geoff Neal). Over the course of the win streak, Muhammad has beaten the likes of Demian Maia, Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, and Vicente Luque, amongst others.

Muhammad already fought Edwards in 2021 ... but the fight was stopped near the start of the 2nd round after an inadvertent eye poke forced Belal out of the fight. The bout was ruled a "no contest."

Belal believes he's done more than enough to run things back with Leon ... who is coming off a victory over Usman, the welterweight G.O.A.T.

"I’ve done everything I can do. I have five ranked wins. What else is there to do? There’s nothing else."

Check out the clip ... there's much more with the UFC star, from his breakdown of the fight with Burns to his plans to train with Khabib Nurmagomedov later this month.

Nate Diaz clearly ain't sweatin' his criminal case down in Louisiana ... the former UFC star actually had a laugh about it all with Jake Paul on Tuesday.

Paul was the one who brought up the choke-out incident to Diaz during a news conference to hype up their August boxing match ... wondering if the MMA fighter thought he was scrapping with his brother, Logan Paul, when he choked out a guy on Bourbon St. during an April 22 melee.

Diaz smiled and then pretended to truly believe it was Logan who he put to sleep on the popular New Orleans roadway.

"You're going to act like that wasn't Logan?" Nate said with a grin. "Come on, man!"

"You thought it was Logan?" Jake asked again ... before Diaz responded with a giggle, "It is Logan, what are you talking about?"

Of course, the case shouldn't be much of a laughing matter for Diaz ... officials have charged him with second-degree battery after they allege he caused the man to suffer a head wound during the incident. Diaz is now facing time behind bars if ultimately convicted.

Diaz, though, did get serious about it all for at least a few seconds during the presser ... appearing to say he took it easy on the guy by choking him instead of throwing hands.

"You don't want to just hit people out there," Nate said. "That's f****** dangerous. You know what I'm saying? Give him a little nap."

Diaz didn't elaborate on it all further ... but he's been adamant since the incident went down that he did nothing wrong -- and was simply acting in self-defense.

Prince Harry was in a real hurry to get out of town after the Coronation ... because he didn't hobnob once with senior members of the Royal Family.

According to multiple reports, Harry went to Buckingham Palace after King Charles and Queen Camilla were anointed Saturday at Westminster Abbey.

But, the Duke of Sussex stayed at The Palace for less than 30 minutes to take a breather from the public frenzy his presence had whipped up, The Daily Mail reports.

While he was there, Harry never interacted with high-level Royals, because he was anxious to get back to the States to be with his wife and child, sources told The Telegraph. At the same time, The Royals were busy with the Coronation procession, providing them cover NOT to meet with Harry.

Harry was also MIA from the Royal Family's official Coronation portrait and Sunday's Coronation Concert headlined by Katy Perry and Lionel Richie.

What's more, Harry was treated like a second-class Royal at the Coronation. He was seated in the third row during the two-hour ceremony, while his brother, Prince William, and wife, Kate Middleton, were front and center.

Harry seemed rather uncomfortable throughout the event as photographs emerged of him shooting awkward smiles.

Upon leaving The Palace, Harry jumped into a car and hightailed it to Heathrow Airport, where he caught a flight back to the US to celebrate his son Prince Archie's fourth birthday.

Bow Wow and Jermaine Dupri have officially buried the hatchet, after going over a year without speaking.

The playful reunion took place over the weekend in Vegas at the 'Lovers & Friends' festival and on Monday, Bow Weezy told the world he began following his So So Def Records mentor once again!!!

Bow gave JD a playful shove as their respective entourages teased them about the PDA, giving the longtime fans who hated seeing them apart a sigh of relief at the same time.

Neither artist pinpointed a clear reason for their deflection other than the need for Bow to "be his own man" ... but things were sour for a while. Most notably, Bow claimed Snoop deserved the most credit for his career ... a swipe that fans didn't believe and even the D-O-GG himself didn't cop to it!!!

Francia Raisa says she's been on the receiving end of some serious bullying since speaking out on her broken relationship with Selena Gomez after donating her kidney to the singer.

We got the "How I Met Your Father" star out in Studio City Saturday who shared some of the vile comments she's gotten in the wake of her interview where she dodged questions about Selena ... yet sort of threw shade at the same time.

Francia says things have gotten so bad, she's now suffering mentally. She tells us one of the most hurtful comments she's gotten was, "I hope someone goes up your p***y and rips out your other kidney you f***ing whore." So yeah, things have gotten pretty intense.

The two former childhood actors go way back, getting super close through the years ... Francia donated her kidney to Selena in 2017 after hers failed due to her battle with lupus.

Things went south when SG later told an interviewer the only person she was close to in Hollywood was Taylor Swift. Of course, this didn't sit right with FR who unfollowed Selena and the two haven't gotten on the same page since.

Francia says getting bullied by Selena's fan base doesn't make any sense ... especially since Selena's been a huge advocate against this kind of behavior.

Usher took the stage Saturday night at the "Lovers & Friends" music festival, after a physical confrontation with Chris Brown Friday night that left him bleeding.

Here's the thing ... Chris performed right before Usher, and never made reference to the fight.

As we reported, the confrontation went down at a roller rink party, after Usher and Chris got into a heated confrontation that turned physical. TMZ obtained video of the lead up to the fight.

Thing is ... Usher and Chris were super close, and the party was to celebrate Chris's 34th birthday with lots of celebs on hand.

As we reported, the fight was over Chris' scrapped AMAs performance last year -- when he was set to do an MJ tribute, which as 86'd at the last minute. As for what led up to the fight ... Teyana Taylor, who was at the party, was being confronted by Chris because he blames her for his canceled MJ tribute.

Chris demanded that Usher show her the door, and things escalated quickly.

Grammy-winner Robert Glasper is thankful for Chris Brown's temper tantrum about this year's Grammy ceremony ... mainly because the controversy helped line his pockets!!!

We caught up with Rob at LAX, where he told us he's still raking in the residuals from his "Black Radio III" album.

If you remember, the project took home the "Best R&B Album" Grammy in February -- and Chris cast a bigger spotlight on Robert's win with a sore loser reaction ... asking his 130 million+ followers "Who The F*CK is Robert Glasper?"

Rob eventually got an apology from Chris, but even better than that -- he sold the negative question on t-shirts, which he says earned him enough to buy a really nice car.

Our only question now is ... are we talking a Bentley or a very brand-new Buick?!!

He also says Chris' viral outburst scored him around 20,000 new followers and several musicians flooded his DMs hoping to collaborate.

Hurricane Chris recently claimed the late Pimp C threatened him and his crew with deadly force -- but the UGK rapper's widow is saying the only thing he planned on killing was a track!!!

On Friday, Chinara Butler got wind of the Lousiana rapper recalling Pimp C getting the boot from his star-studded 2007 "Ay Bay Bay (Remix)" ... and getting an earful about it afterward.

Chinara says she remembers the moment vividly, as she was the one who intercepted the email, and burned the instrumental on a CD for Pimp to drop his vocals.

According to Chinara's memory bank, Pimp C took about 2 days to submit a fire azz verse ... but was told it was sent too late to make the cut.

In true Pimp C fashion, Chinara says he grew enraged and floated the idea of doing a remix titled "A-K-K" ... as in the assault rifle, and "kill all his competition!!!" The finalized track featured E-40, The Game, Boosie Badazz, Jadakiss, Birdman and Angie Locc. Pimp clearly missed out on a banger!!!

HC remembers things a bit differently, claiming Pimp C angrily called his phone with detailed knowledge of his location.

Former OVO Sound artist iLoveMakonnen says he knew his days on Drake's label were numbered when the Canadian rapper allegedly started making snide comments.

Makonnen made the shocking accusations on NPR's recently shuttered "Louder Than A Riot" while discussing his rise and fall in music ... claiming Drake once quipped he was an "Eric Benet-ass-looking-n****" right before they performed together at the 2015 Wireless Festival.

Makonnen says he and Drake shared a dwindling bond prior to that moment. The Canadian megastar helped catapult Makonnen to nationwide success in 2014 via the "Tuesday (Remix)" ... which earned Makonnen his first platinum plaque, and his signing with OVO for a single deal.

But, Makonnen says Drake started treating him differently when he began showing signs of weight loss ... hence the Eric Benet crack, and he claims the label stopped promoting his EPs.

And, to make things worse, fans were literally digging up his old tweets dissing Drake!!! Whoops.

Makonnen says his relationship with Drake imploded for good at Rihanna's VMA after-party in 2016 when he attempted to reconnect, but he claims Drake met him with a facial expression that meant him bodily harm ... and he knew it was time to bounce from the label.

Makonnen came out as gay in January 2017, and believes that decision caused the dissolution of many of his working relationships, and much of his inner circle in Atlanta, too.

R&B emeritus Ye Ali doesn't give a damn how much Nick Cannon has to shell out for his kids -- he wants his money, pronto, for an uncleared Chris Brown song he claims Nick swindled from him!!!

Nick was pleasantly enjoying his Thursday on Twitter, joking about impregnating the entire world, when Ye intercepted his message with fiery rebuttals ... making fans aware of his issues with the "Wild 'N Out" creator.

Back in 2021, Nick released his movie "She Ball" ... which featured a snippet of the unreleased CB track "Drive." Ye says he had a hand in creating the song originally cut for a Breezy studio album, and he claims RCA never gave Nick permission to soundtrack it.

According to Ye, Nick's lawyers have been stalling him out, so he felt it was time to take matters public. Nick has yet to respond ... probably because he's busy filling in for Jamie Foxx on his Beat Shazaam TV series.

We reached out to Ye to see if he plans on following through with a lawsuit. No word back -- he's plenty busy stepping on Nick's Twitter neck!!!

Lil Durk and NBA YoungBoy's lethal rivalry is coming to a close ... as both artists seemingly confirmed a peace treaty through breadcrumbs dropped for their social media followers.

DJ Akademiks informed his Twitch live stream audience of the Durk/YoungBoy truce on Wednesday ... and when the clips made their rounds on the internet, fans noted Durk liked the tweet containing Ak's update.

Additionally, the YB Instagram "fan account" -- long suspected to actually be run by the Lousiana rapper on account of its 1 million+ followers -- also shared the news for the world to see.

Durk and YB's tensions revolve around the late King Von's issues with Quando Rondo, who's signed to YB's Never Broke Again label.

Von was shot and killed in November 2020, after attacking Quando ... and the two camps have been at odds ever since.

Their peace accord is truly a watershed moment for recent hip hop culture, given the amount of blood spilled in recent years. While we're not hearing any collaboration talks, each rapper's fans are still getting new music.

YB just dropped his new album "Don't Try This At Home" to a Top 5 Billboard 200 debut and has the lead single on the upcoming "Fast X" soundtrack with the song "Won't Back Down."

Billie Lourd is calling out her aunts and uncles -- Carrie Fisher's siblings -- saying "they know why" they didn't get invited to Carrie's Walk of Fame ceremony ... and it's all about money and alleged exploitation.

Billie tells TMZ ... she's seen what her mom's brother and sister -- Todd Fisher and Joely Fisher -- have said recently and feels she has to speak up after being blasted by them for not inviting them to Thursday's ceremony.

She says her mom's death showed her all she needed to know. The way Billie sees it, they "chose to process their grief publicly and capitalize on my mother's death." She recognizes they're entitled to do what they please, but adds it hurt her a lot when they did interviews and wrote books about Carrie soon after her 2016 death, without consulting or considering how it would affect her.

Billie bluntly says there's "no feud" between them because "we have no relationship." She says she made the decision to not include them on the Walk of Fame guest list to "break a cycle" -- and thinks their public complaints about missing the ceremony back her up.

As we reported, Todd told us it was "heartbreaking" he was left off the guest list ... and he joined us Wednesday on "TMZ Live" to tell us more about why he should've been included.

Billie responded just a couple hours after Todd's interview.

Carrie's sisters -- Joely and Tricia Leigh Fisher -- called out Billie, calling their disinvite "deeply shocking."

Billie clearly doesn't care, and is putting it all out on the table now.

Carrie Fisher's brother says he'd be well within his rights to show up to her Hollywood Walk of Fame Ceremony and cause a fuss over getting snubbed from attending ... but he's opting to keep things "classy" in honor of his late sister.

Todd Fisher joined us Wednesday on "TMZ Live" and we asked him why he and Carrie's sisters are officially off the guest list for the big event Thursday on Hollywood Blvd.

Todd says he doesn't know what's behind the snub ... but strongly hinted it's Carrie's daughter, Billie Lourd, calling the shots. He admits they don't really have a relationship these days, but seems genuinely puzzled as to why.

There's definitely some bad blood ... Carrie's sisters, Joely Fisher, and Tricia Leigh Fisher ripped Billie on social media for the snub. Todd seemed to be trying to play nice, as he would only say he hasn't talked to his niece since she ghosted an invite almost 3 years ago to visit a dying relative.

Todd says he's the one who got the ball rolling on Carrie getting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was shocked when he found out he didn't make the 30-person guest list.

Carrie Fisher's brother won't be the only family member missing at the late actress' Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony -- her sisters, Joely, and Tricia Leigh Fisher say they too weren't invited -- blaming the snub on their niece, Carrie's daughter, Billie Lourd.

Joely and Tricia took to Instagram on Wednesday with a joint statement, "In response to all of you asking whether or not we will be part of the celebration ... Strangely we won’t be in attendance to celebrate our sister, whom we adored."

They continued, "For some bizarre, misguided reason our niece has chosen not to include us in this epic moment in our sister’s career. This is something Carrie would have definitely wanted her siblings to be present for. The fact that her only brother and two sisters were intentionally and deliberately excluded is deeply shocking. We have all been grieving the loss of our favorite human for some years now…we have given Billie the space to do that in her own way. We have been nothing but loving and open, consistently."

They ended the post by saying ... "This isn’t about a photo op on Hollywood Blvd…this is about celebrating the permanency of Carrie’s legacy in this industry, taking her place with a star on the iconic Walk of Fame alongside our parents. We thank the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for honoring our sister in this way. May the Fourth Be with you Joely and Tricia Leigh Fisher".

As we reported, Carrie's only brother Todd Fisher -- son of late singer Eddie Fisher and Late actress Debbie Reynolds -- told us he was heartbroken he was intentionally omitted from attending the ceremony... adding he was the one who got the ball rolling for Carrie to get her star.

Todd says Disney told him Carrie's family was in charge of the final guest list, and they had filled all the 30 seats given ... adding he was told not to stress Billie Lourd over the whole ordeal.

Henry Cejudo believes he's one win away from securing a spot as one of the greatest four fighters in MMA -- joining legends Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, and Anderson Silva -- and all that's left to do is beat champion Aljamain Sterling.

36-year-old Triple C joined Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weekdays on FS1) ... where he talked about his return to the Octagon after 3 years away, and what a win would mean for his legacy.

"I think that puts me on the Mount Rushmore of MMA. I'm probably not better than Demetrious or Jon Jones or Anderson Silva, but I think that puts me at number four," Henry said.

"I think that puts me in a league, I'm a two-division champ, Olympic champ. I come back three years later, I do believe in my heart that I am the greatest combat athlete of all time, just by my resume, just by my accolades, but I think this fight right here puts me on Mount Rushmore."

Of course, Henry hasn't fought since he beat the legendary Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 in May 2020. He was in the midst of a 6-fight win streak, including dubs over Mighty Mouse, Marlon Moraes, and T.J. Dillashaw.

FYI, Cejudo won an Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling back in 2008 in Beijing.

Now, Henry will look to earn that spot on Mt. Rushmore ... with a win over bantamweight Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288 on May 6.

If he gets past Aljo, Henry says he'd like to fight rival "dirty Q-tip Ronald Meth-Donald" 'Suga' Sean O'Malley.

Once he does all that, Cejudo believes there is a path to becoming the greatest ever, period. In order to do that, he believes he needs to beat current pound-for-pound king Alex Volkanovski for a third belt ... which has never been done before.

Carrie Fisher's getting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but her only brother, Todd Fisher, says the family is shutting him out from attending ... and he considers it a slap in the face.

Carrie's bro tells TMZ ... "It's heartbreaking and shocking to me that I was intentionally omitted from attending this important legacy event for my sister, Carrie."

Todd, the son of late singer Eddie Fisher and late actress Debbie Reynolds, says the snub is ironic because he claims he's the one who got the ball rolling on getting Carrie a star on the Walk of Fame ... and he says he's worked tirelessly to honor and preserve the family's Hollywood legacy.

Todd says he and Carrie were inseparable for more than 60 years -- so, he views the guest list snub as "extremely hurtful and distressing as I was always a big part of everything my sister and mother did historically over their lifetimes."

Todd points out he went with Carrie to their mother's own Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony back in the day, as well as her handprint dedication at the famed Chinese Theatre. Fittingly, Carrie's getting her star Thursday, May the 4th (be with you) ... aka "Star Wars Day."

When Todd found out he didn't make the guest list cut, he says he had his team reach out to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which oversees the Walk of Fame plaques, for clarity ... and he says he was told the guest list was controlled by Disney.

Todd says Disney told him the final say came down to Carrie's family ... and he says he was told they had filled the 30 seats they were given and to not add anymore stress to his niece, Billie Lourd, over his snub.

Carrie's brother says the event is about her -- not him or his family -- but adds, "Frankly, it's a distressing situation and I don't deserve to be put in this position. As the only brother of the Carrie Fisher, being omitted from this special day is truly hurtful."