Fights & Feuds

Ja Rule's reiterating his feeling that 50 Cent is an "idiot" for hurling a mic that could earn him a felony charge, but he's also telling TMZ Hip Hop ... the moment's in his rearview mirror.

The "Holla Holla" rapper's already looking toward the future of his upcoming comedy special, which happens next month!!!

We caught up with Ja Thursday night outside TV personality Josh McBride's birthday party at Somewhere Nowhere NYC, and he blew off his recent digs at his archnemesis.

ICYMI, 50 clowned Ja for, in his eyes, reenacting "The Passion of Christ" at a recent show ... but then Ja barked back -- going more viral -- by bringing up the criminal battery probe associated with 50 injuring Power 106 radio host, Bryhana Monegain with the mic he threw.

Ja spared the crowd the holy antics inside Josh's party, delivering only hits, but revealed to us he plans on giving fans a different form of entertainment come Oct. 25 - 27 when he takes over Harlem's Apollo Theater for his "Laughing It Up" comedy series.

As sure as "one plus one equals two," Israel Adesanya says he's going to knock out Sean Strickland ... and if he runs his mouth during the fight, the UFC middleweight champion tells us he's going to straight up break his jaw!

"I do wanna shut him up and I'm gonna shut him up. I'm gonna break his jaw if he keeps talkin' to me while he's in there, trust. When you're talkin', you never know when a shot's coming, the jab can hit you while your mouth open and send your jaw to the back of your head," Izzy told TMZ Sports.

Of course, 34-year-old Adesanya and 32-year-old Strickland are headlining UFC 293 in Australia on September 9 ... and Izzy says Sean should just be thankful for the opportunity, and accept his ass-kicking.

"[Sean] should just thank me. He got his passport, he got the fight, he gets to travel out of the country for the first time, actually see the world instead of being a f***ing hillbilly and yeah, he should thank me. Should really appreciate the fact that I got him the opportunity and he's gonna get paid, he can buy his boat and then he can f*** off and make other opportunities."

Adesanya is coming off a massive win against his rival, Alex Pereira, at UFC 287 ... where he won his belt back in epic fashion with a 2nd round KO.

Strickland has won two fights in a row ... beating Nassourdine Imavov and Abusupiyan Magomedov in 2023.

Israel was originally going to fight number 1 contender, Dricus Du Plessis ... but he suffered an injury. Due to the circumstances, Sean, who is ranked 5th (behind Du Plessis, Robert Whittaker, Jared Cannonier, and Marvin Vettori), got the fight.

We asked Adesanya if Strickland deserved the fight.

"Do I think he deserves it? I think he's been in there long enough to earn it. To step in there with me, my ego says no. My ego says we're levels above. He knows it. I know but he knows he still has a chance of winning this fight. I just have to make sure it's the minimalist chance ever. That's my job," Adesanya told us.

Nina Agdal won't have to worry about Dillon Danis posting any more sexually explicit images of her online without facing serious consequences.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, a New Jersey Court has granted Logan Paul's fiancée a temporary restraining order against Paul's upcoming fight opponent.

The docs prohibit Danis from, "posting content in any way depicting or portraying Plaintiff that Defendant knows or has reason to believe was never meant to be shared publicly or was obtained without consent, through the hacking of any of Plaintiff’s accounts or devices, or through any other illegal or unauthorized means."

The documents also place the same rules on people associated with Danis.

TMZ Sports broke the story, Agdal sued Danis and requested the restraining order Wednesday after weeks of social media harassment from Dillon on Twitter and elsewhere.

She specifically highlighted a sexually explicit image Danis posted on Twitter of Nina and another person from "a romantic encounter" taken more than 10 years ago.

The lawsuit stated, "Danis posted the photograph -- entirely uncensored -- from his X (Twitter) account, without Plaintiff's consent" The docs continued, "Later that day, Danis reposted the explicit photograph in order to maximize the number of views it would receive."

The highly-anticipated Mark Zuckerberg vs. Elon Musk fight is all but cooked ... 'cause Dana White says the billionaire brawl is "probably" never going to happen.

The UFC honcho -- who got involved in negotiations after the two tech nerds agreed to take their beef to the cage -- was pessimistic when asked Thursday about whether the potential matchup would actually happen ... pretty much killing all hope of seeing the bout come to fruition.

“I never say never, but probably not," Dana told Charly Arnolt on "OutKick The Morning."

The fight would have undoubtedly been massive ... and there were even talks of hosting it at the Roman Colosseum.

Of course, Zuck said he was moving on from Musk last month ... claiming the Tesla CEO is all talk, no action, and never serious about duking it out in an MMA fight.

The hype has fizzled out since then ... as the two sides have calmed down their social media trash talk. Zuck said he's now focused on taking a REAL opponent -- and he's been training his ass off with some of the biggest names in UFC.

While it's a major bummer, White says the real losers in the situation are the charities that would've benefited from the event, as it would have raised a ton of money for good causes.

"Let me tell you who would win in that fight -- would be whatever charities were picked to donate the money to," White added. "They would be the absolute winners because I think that thing would do a billion dollars in revenue, and they wanted 90% of the money to go to charity."

"So, it would have been the biggest charity event ever held in history, especially for one night. It would have helped a lot of people."

Dillon Danis' incessant online trolling of Nina Agdal has driven Logan Paul's fiancée to the point of both suing Danis and filing for a restraining order against him to make it stop.

Agdal beelined it to court Wednesday to file docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, claiming Danis has posted "despicable" things about her more than 250 times since his fight with Paul was announced earlier this summer.

In her suit, she says she's suffered humiliation, emotional distress, and reputational harm ... alleging that one post Danis made on Aug. 11, in particular, violated federal and state law.

She says as part of the post, Danis threw up a sexually explicit image of her that was taken from "a romantic encounter" she had had with a person more than 10 years ago.

"Danis posted the photograph -- entirely uncensored -- from his X (Twitter) account, without Plaintiff's consent," Agdal wrote in the suit. "Later that day, Danis reposted the explicit photograph in order to maximize the number of views it would receive."

The 31-year-old model claims Danis only agreed to delete it after Misfits Boxing -- the org. behind the Oct. 14 Danis vs. Paul tilt -- threatened to cancel the fight unless he took it down.

Agdal added in the suit that many of Danis' other posts have upset her ... including a tweet he made on Aug. 28 that she says showed a video of her from more than six years ago where she talked about "her desire for intimacy during a period of celibacy."

She claims in the suit that the vid had been stored deep in her Snapchat archive ... "suggesting Danis had hacked [her] personal account or had obtained the private video from someone who had done so."

She's asking for unspecified damages in the suit but wants no less than $150K per violation of the federal law prohibiting the sharing of intimate images.

As for her TRO, she's asking a judge to bar Danis from posting sexually explicit images of her going forward ... in the wake of Danis' repeated threats to release further images that could be damaging to Agdal's reputation.

For Danis' part, he's been unapologetic over the posts throughout the past few weeks ... saying they've been helping promote his upcoming fight with Paul.

Danis took to Twitter to comment on the lawsuit, saying, "Nina Adgel has filed a massive lawsuit against me. She filed a restraining order against me and is seeking prison time, so the fight is in jeopardy if I’m in jail. This is actually wild but I won’t stop f*** the system come get me. Logan Paul is a dead man walking."

Jake Paul says Dillon Danis is doing exactly what Logan expected by spewing nonstop trash talk leading up to their boxing match ... telling TMZ Sports lines have been crossed, but at the end of the day -- it's only making his brother richer.

The Problem Child joined Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs on FS1) ... and he got into all things boxing, Betr ... and, of course, Logan's current arch nemesis.

In case you've been hiding under a rock, Danis has been unloading on Logan and his fiancée, Nina Agdal, on social media ... posting hundreds of pictures of the model with her previous boyfriends and other random men in an attempt to embarrass his opponent.

Many critics are going after Danis for bringing an innocent bystander into the prefight antics ... and while Jake agrees the former Bellator MMA fighter has sometimes gone too far, Logan is ultimately winning.

"My brother could've fought anybody, and he picks this kid who he knows is gonna make the fight massive," Jake said. "And right now, everybody wants to see the fight because of the things that are being said."

"So, all of that, all the pay-per-views are going directly into my brother's pocket, and that's why Dillon was picked. At the end of the day, Dillon's a puppet."

As for Paul's boomin' Betr business, he also talked about its new fantasy vertical, Betr Picks ... which is here just in time for NFL Week 1.

Jake explained Betr -- which also just launched in Virginia -- is way more than just a money-making opportunity for him ... as he's truly passionate about putting together the best possible user experience.

"Our goal is to make the product the best in the space, and the fans are the ones who are really gonna win here."

Sure, Terence Crawford's the undisputed welterweight champ, but out of his 40 professional fights, the only legit threat was Errol Spence ... so says Canelo Alvarez who tells TMZ Sports he respects the dude a great deal, but their resumes aren't comparable!

Obviously, Crawford (40-0) has been the talk of boxing since his TKO win over Spence on July 29, with many calling him the face of boxing, and the world's best pound-for-pound boxer.

Since then, Alvarez has been hounded with questions about whether he'd fight Crawford. We asked Canelo if he was tired of talking about Bud.

"No, look, like I always said, I respect Terence Crawford," Alvarez told Babcock. "He's a very talented fighter but he just won one big fight."

"If you see his record, he just beat one good fighter in Errol Spence. Other than that, I don't think he's beaten other great fighters like Spence."

Alvarez, on the other hand, has fought a bunch of beasts over his legendary career 59-2 career, including Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, and Gennady Golovkin. Up next is the undisputed super middleweight champ, Jermell Charlo, who he's fighting on September 30 in Las Vegas.

"Jermell Charlo is a great fighter, he's a talented fighter and he's undisputed in his weight class," Alvarez said. "It's going to be a good fight so I'm happy to be in this kind of fight, in the big fights."

"The fight is almost here so I'm excited. I'm excited because I feel great."

Jason "Mayhem" Miller has found himself in trouble with the law yet again ... this time, TMZ Sports has learned the former MMA star was arrested for allegedly choking a fan at a hotspot in Los Angeles.

Law enforcement tells TMZ Sports ... the incident happened on Aug. 29 at the Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood -- only a few months after Miller had been released from prison.

According to law enforcement, a fan had approached Miller to say hello, but a verbal confrontation somehow ensued. Things then allegedly turned violent -- with Miller being accused of putting the person in a chokehold.

We're told the altercation got so bad, security had to intervene and help the man break free from Miller.

Sheriffs were called to the scene, but Miller had already left by the time they arrived. An assault report was taken.

However, law enforcement says Miller showed up at the Sunset Marquis the next day ... and when someone called the cops after recognizing him at the venue, officers showed up and arrested him.

Miller was released from custody a short time after being booked. The case is still under investigation -- we're told detectives are still pouring over footage of the incident -- and charges are still pending.

Tom Sandoval got in the middle of a tug-of-war during the wrap party for "Vanderpump Rules" season 11, after a man hurled a glass of wine at a security guard.

The man -- not sure who he is -- just launched as he hijacked the party. After throwing the wine, the dude picked up a chair. You see Tom run into frame trying to calm things down, as another security guard restrains the guy by grabbing his arms. An aggressive tug-of-war then begins.

The TikToker who shot the video says the dude is not a cast member and was not going after Tom. The TikToker said, “We were just sitting at a table and this random guy came and he grabbed the centerpiece [of a] flower vase [and] chucked it at the security guard.”

Giga Chikadze's dad can apparently see the future.

The father of the 8th-ranked UFC featherweight fighter predicted his son would be champion the day he was born on August 25, 1988.

"Giga Chikadze was born here, son of Zaza. In this very hospital. My first-born son. The future World Champion in Judo, swimming. A good fighter and a good man," the proud dad said from outside the hospital in Tbilisi, Georgia (country) more than 35 years ago.

Now, Giga isn't champ -- at least not yet -- but he's a top-10 ranked fighter in the world's most popular MMA promotion.

"From that day, I've been the project of this. I'm UFC's future. I don't even know. They already decided for me what I would have to do, what I would be in the future when I grow up. It's funny we actually have the video," Giga told TMZ Sports.

Chikadze is coming off a unanimous decision win over Alex Caceres last weekend ... in his return to the Octagon following his first UFC loss (Calvin Kattar in 2022).

Caceres was ranked several spots below Giga ... and now he's looking for that to be reciprocated by the UFC by way of a top-ranked opponent like Max Holloway, with whom he shared a locker room at UFC Fight Night on Saturday.

"It was definitely fun to share the locker room with him and I'd be happy and it's gonna be an honor if he would agree on this fight. Love the guy, he's such a nice guy, doing great stuff, great family, and all the stuff. Feel like we can do a nice event together. Maybe even a Pay-Per-View card on December 16."

Blessed is the #1 ranked contender ... in the division where Alex Volkanovski currently rules.

A win over someone like Holloway could set up a title shot for Giga ... who would then have the opportunity to prove his dad's clairvoyant.

Erica Mena won't be on MTV's waves anymore, 'cause she called a Black woman a monkey on one of their biggest reality shows ... and the network's fired her over it.

The longtime 'Love & Hip Hop' fixture was cut loose from her current iteration of the popular show -- this according to the official 'Love & Hip Hop' account itself ... which just announced her departure Saturday.

The message reads, "The Love & Hip Hop franchise has never shied away from hard conversations in our community. Working hand-in-hand with our partners, viewers will see the impact of Erica Mena's remarks play out in the final three episodes of the season."

They add, "Effective immediately, she will not appear in the next season of Love & Hip Hop Atlanta." It's unclear if this means Erica won't/can't appear in other 'L&HH' series ... there are a lot of versions of it, and she's bounced around from coast to coast since way back in 2011 -- when she first started to appear in the franchise.

The news comes on the heels of a recent episode that aired, showing Erica fighting with fellow costar Spice -- with whom she gets into it over fractured family dynamics ... and whether her son loves her or not. Spice suggested he didn't ... and it sent EM into a rage.

During the brouhaha -- which saw Erica flip a table -- Erica called Spice a monkey ... and that appeared to rub people the wrong way on set. BTW, Spice is Black ... and Erica is Afro-Latina, coming from Puerto Rican/Dominican ancestry ... which complicates this a bit.

Anyway, that exchange drew a lot of backlash, with many calling for Erica's job ... and it sounds like the 'L&HH' honchos have given in to their demands. Strangely enough, now their decision is catching some flak as well ... as some argue the whole thing feels calculated.

Namely, many are accusing 'L&HH' producers of being exploitative -- having had this footage for a while, airing/marketing it for views ... and seemingly only responding to the public reaction. In any case ... Erica's out of there -- capping off a turbulent 2 weeks for her.

Remember, she was just arrested a little while ago for a brawl at an Atlanta club that allegedly resulted in her attacking police officers. Other 'L&HH' stars were busted too.

Many athletes and celebs have stepped up in a huge way in the wake of the devastating wildfires in Maui ... and perhaps none more so than Bellator MMA star Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, who raised over $2 MILLION on Instagram!

TMZ Sports spoke with the Honolulu native this week as the area is still reeling from fires that killed at least 115 people, with hundreds still unaccounted for. The people who fortunately escaped with their lives are still dealing with property loss, in some cases everything, including their homes.

"We have hit the $2.6 million mark and this is just on Instagram alone," Macfarlane said.

"The beautiful thing that I love so much about this fundraiser is that it wasn't big corporations or big huge donors, it was literally people."

Macfarlane also gives credit to a few celebrities for sharing the fund, including Bretman Rock, Meghan Trainor, and Jason Momoa.

Now, the challenge is getting the money to those who need it ... which can be a difficult job.

"I haven't raised that much for my nonprofit before so I am collaborating with other agencies to make sure it's distributed equitably and efficiently."

Macfarlane also revealed she's teamed up with Bellator to replace gym equipment and training gear at local dojos. They're also inviting a family to Ilima-Lei's upcoming title fight in San Diego.

Speaking of her fight with mentor Liz Carmouche (Bellator 300 on October 7), Macfarlane says it's a bout she's always wanted but hasn't been able to enjoy the lead-up to the event because of the situation in Hawaii.

"It was a super scary time and it was actually weird timing because [the fires] happened the day that we announced my title fight," Macfarlane said.

"I just couldn't be happy. I couldn't be excited for this super awesome fight that I've wanted for so long just because of what was going on."

Mobb Deep's hit "Shook Ones Pt. II" has stood the test of time for nearly 30 years but the iconic record could've had a tragic legacy ... according to Havoc, who's revealing he survived a near-fatal fight when they shot the music video.

The Surviving Mobb Deep member recalled the wild moment for Vevo's "Footnotes" channel -- he says he got into a fight with a guy from the neighborhood who felt like he wasn't getting enough screen time in the video.

Hav says they started fighting and fell into a puddle, only for one of the camera crew's lights to fall into the water and drastically increase chances they'd be electrocuted.

Mobb Deep hail from the Queensbridge projects in Queens, N.Y. -- an historically rough place, which they detail in much of their catalog, but thankfully cooler heads prevailed.

Havoc tells TMZ Hip Hop ... he settled things up with the guy he was squabbling with, and they still remain friends to this day!!!

The song went on to be dubbed an all-time classic, earning placements in multiple video games and most infamously, the closing scene from Eminem's "8 Mile" film.

UFC fighter Natan Levy is hoping bullies everywhere take serious note of his recent beatdown of an internet troll ... saying on Tuesday he wants anyone who's even thinking of spewing hate speech going forward to know "words have consequences."

Levy absolutely mauled a smack-talking social media user named Ben recently ... after the guy had defended noted antisemite Nick Fuentes in an exchange on X.

Levy, who's Jewish, met the dude at his gym and pounded on him for several minutes -- forcing the guy to tap out.

Eventually, he got Ben to say on camera following the sparring sesh that six million people were murdered in the Holocaust -- an atrocity Ben didn't previously acknowledge.

When Levy joined Harvey and Charles on Tuesday's "TMZ Live" to talk about it all ... he said he was pleased with how it turned out with Ben -- and now, he wants others to keep the incident in mind before they hit their keyboards with similar nonsense.

"The big lesson I wanted to teach this guy -- and hopefully everybody who is watching -- is words have consequences," he said. "Actions have consequences."

"If you say something, you better stand behind it," he added, "'cause this hate turns into hate in the real world. So we need to cut it off."

"Kid, you have no idea how much money you're gonna make."

That's what UFC president Dana White told "Suga" Sean O'Malley as the newly crowned champion stood in the Octagon with the UFC honcho after defeating the great Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292.

28-year-old O'Malley joined Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show on Friday ... and chopped it up about all things Aljo, how life's changed since becoming champ, reaching Conor McGregor levels of fame, his offer to train Henry Cejudo in wrestling, and what he wants next!

"Chito was acting like he earned a title shot. I think he even tweeted he was the most exciting bantamweight which is just bonkers. I don't know how he sees that. He needs to settle down a little bit, cause I do have options.

"Henry, I pretend like is an option, realistically it's not. He lost his last fight. Alexandre Pantoja, the 125 lb. champ, throwing my name out there a little bit. That's an option. Merab's an option. I might just wait for Cory [Sandhagen] if Chito's gonna act like he earned a title shot."

FYI, Sean and Chito have history. The men fought in 2020, and Vera won. It's O'Malley's lone career loss.

(We also talked to Chito about his win over Pedro, and a possible fight with Suga.)

Sean says there's a way for Vera to lock down the fight, but it'll involve eating a little crow first and saying something along the lines of ... "Ya know what Suga, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. I didn't deserve it. I didn't earn it, but I appreciate you.

"If he came at it like that I would think about it more. But the fact that he's tweeting, 'I earned that' and stuff, it's throwing me off a bit. I got options. I'm not too worried about it."

Of course, Sean dropped Aljamain with a perfectly placed straight right about 30 seconds into the second round, and after some effective ground and pound, the fight was stopped by ref Marc Goddard ... and just like that, O'Malley was Bantamweight champion.

As for how life has changed ... Sean says while he was a star before winning the title, he's now more than just a big deal amongst MMA fans.

"I kind of had everything-ish before 'champ status,' but definitely getting recognized way more in public by random people you wouldn't think were fight fans. The casuals that don't watch the fight, watched that fight," Suga said.

Speaking of fame and making money ... we also talked to Sean about acting (he's received movie offers) and whether he believes he will ever fight Aljo again.

Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann seemed like a couple on the mend from the outside -- but were fighting nonstop behind closed doors -- before one fight sent Kroy over the edge, causing him to file for divorce once again.

Sources close to the estranged couple tell us ... Kim and Kroy had been arguing for several weeks about money before Thursday's filing ... and things had gotten "nasty." As for specifics ... we're told each has been on the other's case about not paying various bills. They blame each other for their serious financial mess. As one source said, "They've gotten ridiculously petty over who hasn't paid bills. They're counting down to pennies."

We're told Kroy was regularly threatening to file for divorce. However, it was during a fight Thursday morning when Kroy threatened once again to file for divorce, Kim dared him ... so he did.

TMZ broke the story ... Kim and Kroy filed separate divorce petitions back in May,but had a change of heart in July -- pulling their divorce filings.

At the time, we were told they still really loved each other and could work things out -- leaning on religion to help get them through -- but clearly, things soured.

Kroy's asking for sole legal and physical of their 4 minor children as well as child support, alimony and attorney's fees.