Fights

Tristan Thompson almost got a front-row seat to a violent street fight over the weekend ... but thankfully for the NBA player, he hightailed out of the area just before the fists started to fly.

The wild scene all went down Saturday night at Papi Steak in Miami ... when the former Lakers center was outside of the restaurant with the hot spot's owner, David Grutman, and a few other men.

It's unclear what exactly was happening on the sidewalk or what Thompson's involvement in it all was ... but check out the video, it seems some of the people at the scene were angry about something -- and when Thompson sensed the apparent tension, he bolted.

"I'm gonna be in the car," he told the group of men as he walked away. "You guys figure it out."

The decision was clearly a good one ... 'cause just a minute later, a man in a blue shirt confronted a restaurant patron as he was leaving the eatery -- and then punches were thrown.

The guys traded blows right on the sidewalk for several seconds -- before the scuffle was all mercifully broken up.

Thompson's ride appeared to stay in the area during the entire fracas -- though it should be noted he was never once involved in any of the action.

It was all part of an eventful weekend in South Florida for Thompson ... who not only attended Lionel Messi's first game for Inter Miami on Friday night, but he also partied with his ex's sister, Kim Kardashian, afterward.

Jeff Bezos is lookin' absolutely JACKED taking a dip in the ocean ... at least, according to a shameless thirst trap -- posted by none other than his boo, Lauren Sanchez.

Lauren shared the pic of her hunky fiance Sunday, showing the bigwig coming out of the water in his trunks. She captioned it, "Is it just me, or is it hot outside?" The comments make it clear ... it ain't the weather that's heating things up.

Jeff ain't the only tech guru gettin' shredded ... because Mark Zuckerberg's been looking as fit as ever, thanks to his training with UFC legends Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski while a potential fight with Elon Musk looms over his head -- better to be prepared.

Mark and Jeff are both looking pretty fire, so we gotta ask ...

As we reported, Jeff and Lauren have been having a blast on his $500 mil superyacht -- dubbed Koru -- and his $100M support vessel named Abeona.

The shirtless pic was taken aboard the Koru during their latest Mediterranean vacay near Italy.

The lightweight title isn't on the line in the UFC 291 main event, but the "iconic" BMF belt is ... and Justin Gaethje wants it!

TMZ Sports spoke to the 34-year-old UFC star ahead of his scrap with Dustin Poirier on July 29 ... and the Baddest Mother F****r belt is on the line. We asked Gaethje if he cared about the strap.

"I think [the belt is] really iconic," Justin said.

"There's only been two guys in the world that have ever fought for it. We'll be the two out of four guys now. And I think it's, it does great things for the legacy, that's ultimately what we're here to build is a legacy. Make money. That's there. And, you know, it catapults us right into the championship talk. So it's perfect."

FYI, only Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal have fought for the belt ... which was created for them. Gamebred won that November 2019 fight by TKO ... and that's the last time the belt was on the line.

It'll be a rematch for Dustin and Justin ... the guys fought in a Fight Night card in April 2018. DP beat JG by 4th round TKO. It was just Gaethje's third UFC fight.

"It's part of my journey. It's something that I'll cherish forever, but you know, I don't think it's a huge factor," Gaethje said of the first fight's impact on UFC 291, adding ... "It's five years ago."

"We both grown so much and we've both been in some huge fights since that day. So yeah, I think it's again something that I'll always cherish, but it's not something that I'm using to game plan for this fight."

We also Justin where he believes a win would leave him in his quest for the 155-pound title.

"I'm not too worried about that right now. [Dustin's] the number two-ranked guy in the world. I'm the number three-ranked guy in the world. I think no matter what it's a given that the winner of this fight, we either fight the winner of the [Islam Makhachev-Charles Oliveira]. And if one of us is able to go in there and get a quick knockout and take no damage, then there's a slight possibility that maybe we'll be ready for October."

Makhachev and Oliveira are fighting at UFC 294 on October 21 in Abu Dhabi.

Machine Gun Kelly went off at the O.C. Fair after a dude decided to indelicately compliment Megan Fox ... according to the brother of the guy MGK swung at.

Nelson Zuniga tells TMZ ... he and his fam were waiting to get on the UFO ride Thursday night, when MGK and Megan stepped off it.

His little brother, Angel, recognized Megan, telling her she was "beautiful as f***' ... which triggered the now-viral ordeal.

Nelson says the comment enraged MGK, who retaliated with a slap. He says his youngest brother tried to punch MGK but missed.

As for Angel's comment about Megan, Nelson says it was a compliment and MGK should have taken it as such.

As we reported, MGK and Megan's security guard swooped in to push Nelson's brothers back, but he accidentally ended up shoving Megan in the process.

"Hey Ben, kiss my ass! You're coming out of retirement? I'll send you right back in the motherf***er!"

Buckle up ... we're talking Jorge Masvidal vs. Ben Askren II!

Retired UFC superstar Jorge Masvidal joined Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weekdays on FS1) this week to talk about the upcoming Gaethje-Poirier BMF fight (more on that shortly), when the conversation turned to Askren and a comment he made about wanting to avenge his 5-second loss to Gamebred.

"Ben Askren said he'd come out of retirement to fight me," Masvidal said, adding ... "Hey Ben, I'll beat your ass with both hands behind my back!"

The BMF belt holder continued ... "Ben's so bad at boxing."

The resurgence of the beef seemingly goes back to late 2022 when Askren said he'd only come out of retirement for a rematch with JM.

Of course, the men fought in one of the most infamous UFC fights ever -- UFC 239 in July 2019 -- when Jorge opened up with a flying knee that sent Ben to la la land, as the star wrestler was shooting for the takedown.

We asked Masvidal -- what discipline? Boxing, MMA, something else?

"[Askren] wanted MMA, but for his sake, I'd do it boxing so I can't knee him in the face. It's illegal!"

"Maybe Ben can get his way now."

That's when Conor McGregor took a stray ... just because.

"Conor, you're a bitch. You never mentioned my name because I'll break your f***ing eye over it, you're a f***ing skank bitch. I don't really like those guys too much, you know?"

Promise ... we also talked about the BMF fight at UFC 291.

When Masvidal beat Nate Diaz for the inaugural fight, The Rock presented the belt to Street Jesus. This time it'll be Masvidal who has that honor.

But, does he actually like the idea of Dustin and Justin fighting for the belt that was created for him at the MMA star from Stockton?

We've got a brand new look at Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox's dust up at the Orange County Fair ... and it looks like the singer is the one who threw hands first after getting heated.

Check out the latest angle, obtained by TMZ ... right off the bat, things were lookin' tense Thursday night as the couple hopped off the ride, with MGK beelining it to 2 guys standing nearby.

Seems like the dudes must've said something to irk MGK, 'cause almost immediately he swings at them, appearing to nail one guy in the face -- then, the other guy throws a punch back in retaliation, which is when his security gets involved.

As we reported, Megan got caught between the bodyguard and the randos ... getting slammed into a nearby fence before MGK pulled her away from the mess.

Megan Fox might be bruised after a night out with Machine Gun Kelly at the Orange County Fair -- their bodyguard took down an alleged attacker, and she got caught in the middle.

The couple hit up the fair Thursday and as they were getting off a ride, witnesses say some guy tried to punch MGK. Bad idea when you see the mountain of a man who was protecting them.

The video starts with their bodyguard slamming the guy back into a barricade -- you can see him in white behind Megan ... who, unfortunately, caught some friendly fire. She also got shoved into the fencing during the brief altercation.

MGK was quick to pull his girl out of the mess before all 3 headed out ... but the whole thing certainly drew a lot of attention.

BTW, no better sign that Megan and MGK's relationship is back on solid ground like a trip to the O.C. Fair -- it's a big couples thing in SoCal.

New footage from a diverted Frontier Airlines shows several women involved not only verbally attacking flight attendants and travelers ... but getting physical with them, too.

The video, obtained by TMZ, shows a different angle of the altercation aboard the Frontier flight from Philly to Las Vegas. You see flight attendants trying to restrain two women from going after other passengers.

Folks on flight 2143 last week tell TMZ ... the women got into a dispute, and it spiraled out of control ... eventually leading to hands thrown.

Passengers tell us one of the women may have spilled a drink on a man sitting nearby, kicking off a verbal dispute between the women ... eventually, we're told, another man shouted at them to "shut the f*** up."

The witness tells us one of the women then turned her attention to that man ... before flight attendants stepped in to try to stop her.

Frontier tells us the flight was diverted to Denver, and the women were taken off the plane and met at the gate by officers from the Denver Police Department. The airline says the plane then took off for Vegas after 67 minutes on the ground in Denver.

Meanwhile, Denver PD tells us they did not arrest the women ... and we've reached out to the FBI, which usually handles crimes that occur on planes midflight.

"It's not an easy injury to come back from, but I do s*** that's not easy all the time."

That's former UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill talking about the devastating injury he recently suffered during a pickup basketball game ... admitting he doesn't know how long the torn Achilles will keep him out of the Octagon while vowing to make a return.

TMZ Sports caught up with 32-year-old Hill at LAX earlier in the week -- who was using a scooter to get around -- as he arrived in Los Angeles before surgery ... and we asked Hill how he was doing.

"Good," Jamahal told us, saying, "I'm about to get the surgery and back on the road to recovery. I'll do what I gotta do to get back."

Hill got the injury hooping with Daniel Cormier ... we asked him how it happened (he didn't want to say), but did tell us he's always used basketball to stay in shape.

"I've been using basketball to work out, stay in shape with cardio and s*** since I've been [fighting]. I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, out of the regular."

Just days after the injury, Jamahal, who obviously won't be able to fight for some time, made the decision to give up his belt (which he won vs. Glover Teixeira in January) ... we asked him why.

"It was the right thing to do."

Cops in Florida are on the hunt for a man who was caught on camera beating the daylights out of a 63-year-old man ... allegedly because he was asked to switch seats.

Broward County Sheriff's Office just released video of the brutal incident, which went down earlier this month in a Pompano Beach AMC movie theater. You see the suspect violently shove the elderly man up against a railing, then land several blows to his head.

According to cops, the victim said he bought VIP tickets, which means he picked assigned seats for his wife and himself -- but when he got inside, he saw the suspect and a woman in his seats, so he asked them to move.

Cops say the suspect quickly became angry and hostile, getting in the man's face -- which is where the video begins.

The man and woman in question fled the theater right after the attack ... but surveillance cameras captured pretty clear shots of their faces in the lobby.

Boxer Daniella Hemsley -- who went viral for exposing her boobs in the ring after her win over the weekend -- is setting the record straight about her future in the sport ... saying she's NOT banned from competing, she's just taking a break to recover from her injuries.

The OnlyFans model bared it all in excitement after defeating Ms. Danielka at the Kingpyn Boxing semifinals on Saturday ... lifting up her sports bra to flash the crowd.

Kingpyn released a statement on the incident ... apologizing to anyone offended and saying Hemsley "will not be appearing in the Final event and has decided to take some time away from boxing."

Many translated this to Hemsley being BANNED from the promotion ... but she claims that's not the case at all, addressing the whole situation in a YouTube video.

"I am NOT banned from Kingpyn, guys," Hemsley said. "I have simply decided to take a few weeks off from training to recover, to recover my body, and I plan on coming back fighting again in the winter."

Daniella -- who claims to have injured her thumb and elbow in the bout -- added she actually suffered a wardrobe malfunction during the flash ... as she initially had fire stickers covering her nipples to avoid nudity, but they came off during the fight due to sweat.

The stunt got mixed reviews ... as fans were pleasantly surprised on social media, but promoter Eddie Hearn hated it -- saying destroyed so much work that has been done to include women in the sport.

Dog The Bounty Hunter is clarifying some controversial and threatening comments he made about transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney ... and now says he wasn't serious.

The former reality TV star went on the "Two Guys From Hollywood" podcast and attempted to explain his threats of physical violence as all bark and no bite.

TMZ broke the story ... Dog's daughter, Lyssa Chapman, apologized after her father's shots at Dylan and added, "Get that punk down. Rebuke Satan out of [Dog] and just give him a couple black eyes. That's exactly and I mean that. If I ever see him, I'm dropping him."

Now, Dog's backtracking ... at least when it comes to the threats, which were part of a larger homophobic rant.

Dog says he's never actually beat anyone down, and he wants to show people mercy and give them grace.

What's more, Dog says if Dylan was ever attacked by thugs he would jump in to help DM ... and he says he's sorry for contributing to Dylan feeling unsafe.

Still, Dog says nothing changes the fact he disagrees with Dylan's lifestyle ... and he's still worried Dylan is influencing children to transition, and that's why he's so upset.

While he was reluctant to use female pronouns for Dylan, saying "she's a he" -- he now says he understands, and compares it to his own preference to be called Dog and not Duane.

Oscar De La Hoya is weighing in on one of the best fights in years -- Errol Spence vs. Terence Crawford -- a fight The Golden Boy agrees is as close to evenly matched as a fight could be ... but that doesn't mean the boxing legend doesn't have a prediction!

"I think it is a 50/50 fight," De La Hoya told us in NYC on Wednesday ... before giving us his pick.

"I like Crawford, I've always liked Crawford. I mean, I love Spence, but Crawford has more of the elusive style, more combinations. It's gonna be a good fight. If Spence wins, he's gonna knock out Crawford. If Crawford wins, it'll go to decision."

Vegas seems to agree with the boxing legend ... Crawford is a small favorite in the bout, heading into fight week around -160 (wager $160 to win $100).

Of course, it's the fight boxing fans have been talking about -- clamoring for -- for years ... and it's just a week and a half away, going down July 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Spence, 33, is undefeated with a record of 28-0 with 22 knockouts. He's the unified welterweight (147 lbs.) champion, holding the IBF, WBC, and WBA belts.

As for Crawford, he too has never lost ... and comes into the fight with a 39-0 record with 30 knockouts. "Bud" is also a champ, holding the WBO welterweight belt. He's been champion in three different weight classes.

There's more with ODLH. We also talked to the boxing Hall of Famer about the Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou "money grab" boxing match, scheduled for October.

Conor McGregor rushed away from a funeral in the UK on Tuesday evening following an incident at the gathering ... and now, cops say they're trying to figure out what exactly happened.

Footage shot from outside The Saddle Club in Birkenhead shows the UFC star, flanked by two security guards, made the swift exit after he had been inside the venue for services for a late family member.

The 35-year-old fighter looked perturbed in the clip ... as he urged some of his fans to move away from his car so he could bolt from the scene.

Club officials said McGregor had actually been jovial earlier in the day -- even sharing several photos of him smiling with other guests at the event -- but they said he "was upset by the actions of certain people attending the funeral" and left.

"Mr. McGregor's security detail decided it necessary to leave to avoid unnecessary speculation and attention," they added.

Merseyside Police, meanwhile, said they were called to the club at around 7:50 PM ... following reports of an altercation. No further details surrounding the allegations were released, however.

"Officers attended the pub and spoke to a number of people," cops said in a statement. "Further enquiries are being carried out to establish what has taken place but at this stage no complaints have been made and nobody has been arrested."

We've reached out to McGregor's for comment on the situation, but so far, no word back yet.

Jake Paul says he's a completely different fighter after experiencing the first loss of his boxing career ... and that could be bad news for Nate Diaz, 'cause The Problem Child tells TMZ Sports he's going to put his opponent on the canvas.

Jake and Nate are meeting in the ring for their highly anticipated fight in Dallas on August 5 ... and it's clear his defeat at the hands of Tommy Fury has him laser-focused on winning again.

"Man, I have the biggest chip on my shoulder, the biggest chip on both shoulders," Jake told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show. "Coming back with vengeance, refilled with that hunger that I had in the beginning of the sport to prove to people what I was capable of."

"The lion lost. I've retreated back into the jungle, I took notes of everything, I got better, I trained, and now this lion is going to come out and maul this dude. And he's gonna have to pay -- he's gonna have to pay for all this hard work, all this sacrifice I've made in this camp."

Jake added he's "100%" going to knock Diaz out ... but has no prediction on when it'll happen, 'cause he doesn't want to add any more pressure while he's in the ring.

Nate has only fallen twice via TKOs in his 20-year pro fighting career ...  one being a doctor's stoppage (vs. Jorge Masvidal), and the other coming against Josh Thomson in 2013, when the ref called the fight after a flurry of strikes.

It'll be nearly 1,000 days between trips to the Octagon for Stipe Miocic, but the former UFC heavyweight champ isn't approaching his scrap with Jon Jones any differently than his two dozen previous fights, telling us the mindset's to beat "Bones" Jones to a pulp!

Miocic joined Mojo Muhtadi on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weekdays on FS1) ... and talked about his highly anticipated tilt with Jon, going down at UFC 295 on November 11 at Madison Square Garden.

"Finally here. This is a fight I wanted for a very long time, the only fight I wanted, and I finally got it. Nothing better than Madison Square Garden," Stipe said, adding "The venue is just amazing, pretty pumped!"

As for whether 40-year-old Miocic has been slowed down by age and time away from the cage, Miocic says he "feels good," and has simply "listened to his body more" as he's gotten older.

"Mindset's still I'm gonna go out there and do my thing and beat that ass!"

Of course, Jones has only one fight at heavyweight ... albeit, an absolutely dominating performance against one of the top title contenders, Ciryl Gane, at UFC 285 in March, where Jon won by 1st round submission.

Stipe says the fight was just too quick (only took JJ 2 minutes against CG) to extract much useful info -- how Jones will fight as a heavyweight -- as opposed to the lion's share of his career, which was spent in the LHW division.

"His last fight really didn't go that long. So it was very hard to judge what he was doing, but I mean, it's Jon Jones, man. He got a lot of tricks up his sleeves. Real good. He's veteran. He knows what to do."

But ... "I mean, I've had a lot of fights and I know what to do as well."

November can't come soon enough!