TMZ.com Home

Khabib Nurmagomedov has officially made weight for his 155-pound championship fight with Justin Gaethje ... though he needed to strip down naked to do it!

The Eagle couldn't have looked more relieved Friday morning when he stepped onto the scale and hit exactly 155 pounds ... meaning the lightweight title fight with Gaethje will proceed as planned.

UFC 254: Khabib vs. Gaethje is going down this Saturday LIVE from UFC Fight Island -- the main card kicks off at 11 AM PT.

Gaethje also weighed in perfectly.

Khabib has struggled with weight cuts in the past -- in fact, he pulled out of his UFC 209 fight with Tony Ferguson due to a bad cut.

But, no issues Friday ... though Khabib's people needed the famous UFC naked body ring to shield him while he stripped naked for the scale.

Justin Gaethje also made weight -- and later on, the two came face to face to "square off" for some promotional photos leading up to Saturday's main event.

As we previously reported, Dana White says the hype for UFC 254 is real -- it's currently tracking to be the most-watched PPV event in UFC history ... bigger than any Conor McGregor fight!

The fight is available on PPV through ESPN+.

LET'S GOOO!!!!!

Astronauts are voting from space, millions are mailing ballots and patients battling COVID-19 are voting from their hospital beds ... welcome to the 2020 election.

Voter turnout is expected to be on the rise for what you've, no doubt, heard is the election of our lifetime ... and a non-partisan group called Patient Voting is making sure hospital patients don't get left out.

The group's founder, Kelly Wong, tells TMZ ... they've seen a huge influx in patients seeking help in casting ballots, and they're using the little-known emergency absentee ballot.

Here's how it works ... patients who are unexpectedly hospitalized without arrangements to vote by regular absentee ballot can request an emergency absentee ballot if they're unable to make it to the polls, or if it's too late to apply for regular absentee ballots.

It's pretty striking ... we're told about 200 people per day are reaching out to the organization for help, a 5-fold increase compared to the midterms. The obvious difference this year -- the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected 8 million Americans and counting.

Sadly, we're told some people who reached out for ballots and info died from COVID before casting a vote.

Then there's the case of a voter in Washington ... we're told they're hospitalized with COVID but their ballot is at home, and the volunteer org is assisting in helping the patient vote electronically so as not to infect others.

Did you know Justin Gaethje has a twin brother?

It's true -- his name is Marcus, and shocker -- turns out knockout power runs in the family!

We spoke to the Gaethje boys (both on Fight Island getting ready UFC 254: Khabib vs. Gaethje) ... and they revealed how they used to destroy people together, while playing high school football back in Arizona!

Both Gaethje's were 2-way players -- Justin was a QB and strong safety, Marcus was a tight end and middle linebacker.

But, they got their kicks on defense -- where Justin says they were a "brotherly force" ... "We both hit hard!"

Marcus tells TMZ Sports he always knew his bro was a talented athlete but didn't think he'd pursue professional fighting until Justin became a star wrestler in college.

"He met one of those wrestling coaches that was kinda in the fight game and he brought some UFC fighters to the wrestling [gym] and I think that's when he made the decision that he wanted to at least try fighting," Marcus says.

"Other than that, he did a couple backyard fights with gloves on but that was really it."

Justin's career choice has panned out -- he's fighting for the UFC lightweight belt on Saturday.

Justin says he always wanted to be an NFL player -- but he just wasn't big enough.

He's still a huge fan of the Raiders and plans to take his UFC belt to the team after he beats Khabib!

There's a lot more ... Marcus also talks about what it was like growing up in the small town of Safford, AZ -- population 10,000.

"You would never think that this was possible for someone coming from our town [to make it big] ... and then it being my brother? It's kinda cool."

Before this puppy lovin' pipsqueak became one of the newest additions to a long-running comedy sketch show, she was just another runt ruffin' it in Alameda County, California.

This doggone cutie is best known for her featured role on 'Saturday Night Live' for the past two seasons, where she's entertained audiences with her hilarious characters and skilled impressions. Some of her most memorable celebrity impressions include Drew Barrymore, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Carole Baskin.

You can also catch this funny female making appearances in other hit comedy series such as 'Search Party' and 'Jane The Virgin.'

Kid Rock and John Daly thought they'd be able to take in the Presidential Debate mask-free and within throwing distance from the stage ... until a staffer caught them.

The singer and PGA Pro -- who attended Thursday night's event in Nashville to support President Trump -- first took their seats sans mask. It didn't take long until both men were approached by an employee working the event who had fresh masks for them both.

Both John and Kid Rock finally obliged, we gotta imagine they would've been asked to leave if they refused.

Daly's lack of caution in protecting himself from the disease is a total 180 from his stance back in August when he withdrew from a PGA event in San Francisco because of COVID.

At the time, Daly said, "People keep asking why I WD from PGA??? California now #1 in cases/deaths, I had knee surgery, I’m a diabetic & I don’t feel comfortable flying. Being too close proximity to even small crowds & risk exposure with my health not worth it! God Bess & y’all be safe!"

The gloves were already off, but now the sneeze guards are down for the final presidential debate between President Trump and Joe Biden.

The Commission on Presidential debates made the decision Thursday after Trump and Biden each tested negative for the virus just hours before the debate goes down in Nashville. The commission, after consulting with Dr. Anthony Fauci, decided it was safe to remove the 2 plexiglass barriers between the candidates' lecterns on stage.

After the commission's medical team felt it was safe, they consulted both campaigns and they too agreed it was OK to remove them ... according to NBC News.

Sen. Chuck Schumer is weighing in on an odd fact about most polling places in America -- where you cannot wear clothing with a candidate's face or name, but CAN carry a firearm.

The Senate Minority Leader was heading to his ride Thursday on Capitol Hill when we asked him about the rule banning voters from wearing t-shirts or caps hyping their candidate when they go to cast their vote.

In theory, it's about not coercing others to vote for your candidate ... but when we asked Sen. Schumer he seems to think t-shirts are harmless when it comes to the election process.

On the other voter intimidation hand ... there are guns. You might be surprised to know it's perfectly legal to bring your legally registered firearm to the polls. According to the L.A. Times, only a dozen states have banned guns where you vote.

We raised that with Schumer too, and again ... he answered quickly, but much differently from the t-shirt question.

If you're curious ... California, Florida, Arizona and Georgia are among the states that have outlawed guns at voting sites.

In Michigan, an open-carry state, they've enacted a temporary ban on firearms at polling places. Remember, we've already seen citizens armed to the teeth this year in Michigan's Capitol during protests ... not to mention the foiled plot to kidnap Gov. Meg Whitmer.

Even if you do live in an open-carry state it's not a guarantee guns are okay when you cast your ballot ... especially if you're voting somewhere like a school.

A North Carolina man may have been plotting the assassination of Joe Biden and showed an alarming fascination with domestic terrorism ... this according to the FBI.

The feds filed legal docs detailing why Alexander Hillel Treisman -- who was originally arrested back in May on child pornography charges -- should remain locked up pending trial. Among the reasons the FBI wants to keep him behind bars ... a possible plot to assassinate the Democratic Presidential nominee.

The feds claim Treisman posted a meme on social media -- asking if he should kill Biden. The feds say he had planned on traveling to a Wendy's that's 4 miles from Biden's home. The feds claim they also found a checklist that ended with the word "execute."

And, then there's this ... in docs, obtained by TMZ, the feds say back in May they found Treisman's van filled with guns and explosives ... from an AR-15 style rifle and a Taurus .380 caliber handgun to a canister of the explosive material Tannerite. What's more ... the feds say Treisman had $509k in U.S. currency, books about survival and bomb-making and drawings of swastikas and planes crashing into buildings.

The feds also say they uncovered driver's licenses from 3 different states. According to docs ... Treisman's Internet searches between March and May 2020 also included information about Biden's home address and night-vision goggles, among other things.

And, if that's not terrifying enough ... the feds allege they found an October 2019 note created on Treisman's Samsung cell phone about a plan to carry out a mass shooting at a mall food court on Christmas Day or Black Friday.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is trying to ease fears about the asteroid that's got a shot of striking the U.S. before election day -- but also knows everyone wants to panic, cause it's 2020.

The famed astrophysicist joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday for a science lesson on the refrigerator-sized space rock hurtling towards Earth. Here's the truth, folks ... he says the chance of it landing on American soil on Nov. 2 is less than 1 percent.

But, does that really sound comforting with all we've seen so far in 2020?!? Didn't think so.

The good news ... Neil's got some more information that might help ease your mind. Even if the asteroid does end up in line for a direct hit, he says it's NOT killer-sized, and instead, it'll just create one helluva light show.

Neil, who hosts the new Fox show, "Cosmos: Possible Worlds," says a direct hit is even getting a little ahead of ourselves. The prediction's based on a limited amount of data -- the proverbial "small sample size" for all you baseball nuts enjoying the World Series.

Of course, NASA's also confirmed the asteroid is on a trajectory to possibly strike ... and the space agency is staying mum on the 3 possible points of impact. Thanks?

Neil's also got cool nuggets about another asteroid that could hold clues to the origin of our solar system. Fascinating stuff that's clearly not in line with Bible teachings, but he even addressed that with us.

Kate Rubins just cast the mother of all mail-in ballots -- she's not even on Earth and she still cast her vote!!! What's your excuse?

The NASA astronaut voted Thursday from her post aboard the International Space Station, which is about 250 miles or so above our planet ... so you could call this the definition of going above and beyond.

Like most Houston area based astronauts, Kate votes in Texas ... and there's a super cool process for getting her absentee ballot from lower Earth orbit all the way down to the Lone Star State.

As you can see, there's a secure voting booth on the ISS ... and Kate voted using a secure electronic ballot generated by the Harris County Clerk's office and uplinked by Mission Control. Kate's completed ballot is then downlinked and delivered back to the County Clerk’s Office by e-mail to be officially recorded.

Astronauts have been legally allowed to vote from space since 1997, and Kate also cast her ballot from the ISS in the 2016 election. She says if she can vote from space, folks should be getting done on the ground.

President Trump just released video of his failed "60 Minutes" interview where he just walked out and never came back, and when Lesley Stahl challenged Mike Pence as to why the Prez walked out and didn't get an answer, she said they insulted her show.

Mike Pence tried to steamroll through Lesley's questions over Trump's abrupt departure, but she wasn't getting answers. As she put it, she got a bunch of campaign speeches from Trump and Pence, and that clearly frustrated her.

As you probably know by now, Trump felt the interview was an ambush, and he walked out in the middle. He accused Stahl of bias, claiming all Joe Biden gets are "softball questions."

Gene Simmons is ready to get the hell outta Beverly Hills after nearly 4 decades ... and he's looking to unload his mansion, which is primed for the rock star lifestyle.

The KISS frontman just listed his two-acre estate in beautiful Benedict Canyon for a cool $22 million ... which gets ya 7 bedrooms and 16,000-square-feet of pure luxury.

Gene's pad comes tricked out with a 60-foot water slide, parking for 35 cars, and a professional size tennis court. Yeah, rock star status. He's also got an incredible collection of KISS memorabilia ... but he's taking that with him.

The inside of Gene's custom mansion is super lavish too, complete with chandeliers, coffered ceilings and several balconies and decks overlooking the manicured grounds.

100 million eligible voters did not cast a ballot in the 2016 election, and celebs like Kevin Bacon, Keke Palmer and Sterling K. Brown are determined to make sure those voices are finally heard.

Kevin, Keke and Sterling put together some fun and informative videos to encourage eligible voters to make sure they're registered this election, because 100 million people could have A LOT of sway.

Kevin's hilariously shaming folks into voting with a 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' twist, Sterling's reminding Black voters why their ballot matters and Keke's got a message for millennials and Gen Z, the largest voting demographic in America.

The PSAs were put together by the Enough! Collective, a group of Hollywood bigwigs with visions of effecting social change on a systemic level by mobilizing voters for the upcoming election.

You can check out what the stars have to say about registering yourself -- but the gist is ... this election is too important to sit out, so register ASAP!!!

Twitter's not buying what a Dutch man's selling -- that he hacked President Trump's account by guessing a very simple password, which is lucky for him ... legally speaking.

A spokesperson for Twitter's vehemently denying Victor Gevers, a Dutch security researcher, got into Trump's Twitter account last week when he guessed POTUS' password as "maga2020!" Twitter says, "We've seen no evidence to corroborate this claim, including from the article published in the Netherlands today."

It should be noted ... if Victor did, in fact, hack Trump's account -- giving him access to tweets and direct messages sent to and from the leader of the free world -- it's a federal crime under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. That explicitly states it's against the law to intentionally access social media accounts without proper authorization. See, huge no-no.

According to a TechCrunch report ... Victor claims he notified Homeland Security's cyber unit division to inform them about the security breach. Victor also claims Trump's password was then changed shortly thereafter. What's more ... Victor shared what he claims to be a screenshot inside Trump's Twitter account.

The security expert told TechCrunch he guessed Trump's password on the 5th attempt. He also claims to have done the same back in 2016 when he discovered Trump's LinkedIn password was "yourefired."

Registered Democrats are being targeted and threatened by a disinformation campaign ... the question -- who's it supposed to hurt and who's behind it?

An email has gone out to an untold number of Democrats ... supposedly sent by the Proud Boys -- the white supremacist group Trump told to "stand back and stand by."

The email reads, "We are in possession of all your information (email, address, telephone ... everything). You are currently registered as a Democrat and we know this because we have gained access into the entire voting infrastructure. You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you. Change your party affiliation to Republican to let us know you received our message and will comply. We will know which candidate you voted for. I would take this seriously if I were you."

What's especially unnerving ... the email has the voter's home address. In other words -- they know where you live.

The Director of National Intelligence came out Wednesday and said Iran and Russia were actively trying to interfere and said it was to hurt Trump. It's puzzling ... the threat is against Democrats. The only way it would hurt Trump is if people recoil because it looks like it's coming from a radical group Trump seems to support.

There's another letter going around to registered Republicans threatening to burn down their homes if Biden wins and Trump doesn't concede. Some think this is actually anti-Biden because the point is scaring Republicans, so they go to the polls and vote for Trump in larger numbers. Whatever the motive, it's clearly threatening.

President Trump might be having a change of heart -- he's acknowledging systemic racism exists in police forces ... or, at least, he guesses it's there.

The President, who has repeatedly denied racism is a problem in America's policing, was asked about the topic during a town hall taped for Sinclair TV stations. The moderator, Eric Bolling, said, "Is there systemic racism within police departments and is there any sort of retraining they need?"

Well, ya really gotta see how POTUS hemmed and hawed -- "Is there? I guess there probably is, and that's very sad. There is, and I think there's not much. Hopefully there's not much."

He went on like that for a bit before finally settling on this statement ... "I guess there always is, and it's a shame."

Now, it's really interesting because what's glaringly obvious is while he danced around his answer, Trump never actually said the words "systemic racism."

On the other hand, he did -- in the end -- say it does exist. That's a shift from everything Trump has said since George Floyd was killed, sparking anti-police brutality marches around the world. He's also denied it when questioned about Breonna Taylor's death.

Just last month in Kenosha, Wisconsin -- in the wake of police shooting Jacob Blake -- the President said, "I don't believe that," when a reporter asked if racism is an inherent issue in policing.

The question ... is Trump truly changing his view on racism in policing, or pandering to Black voters 12 days before Election Day?