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Jets fans are going to love this ... Brett Favre tells TMZ Sports that as long as Aaron Rodgers stays healthy this season -- New York will compete for an AFC Championship.

Favre raved about his former teammate in the leadup to New York's opening-season game against the San Francisco 49ers ... explaining to us he truly believes the future Hall of Famer is still "arguably the greatest playmaker in the game right now."

Favre said that no matter what breaks down around Aaron, he can fix it -- which is something New York teams have historically struggled with throughout the years.

Leonardo DiCaprio had a titanically good time in NYC this weekend ... clubbing and chatting with a woman who looks like his girlfriend.

The actor hit a club in the Big Apple ... customary baseball cap pulled low over his eyes -- though he went sans facemask while on the dancefloor at least.

Leo's chatting up a lady in these vids ... and, though it's hard to tell who it is, it very well could be his GF, Vittoria Ceretti.

Think Merab Dvalishvili is a bad stylistic matchup for Sean O'Malley?! Suga couldn't see it anymore differently ... telling TMZ Sports he's a "nightmare matchup" for his UFC 306 opp!

"It's a big fight feel being at the Sphere," the 29-year-old bantamweight champ told Babcock of the UFC Noche event, going down Mexican Independence Day weekend at the amazing venue.

33-year-old Merab, the top 135 lb. contender, hasn't lost since 2018 ... and good matchup or not, Sean understands he can be a "dangerous" dude.

If Taylor Swift wants to draw up some plays for the Chiefs, so be it ... so says ex-NFL star Nate Burleson, who tells TMZ Sports the pop superstar being hands-on in Travis Kelce's career will only bring good results.

The All-Pro tight end recently confirmed his lady has fully immersed herself in football since they started dating ... and it's gotten to the point where she's been working on her Xs and Os and designing some Kelce-focused routes.

Burleson -- who now stars in front of the camera for CBS -- has no issue with the "Karma" crooner getting involved in her man's day job ... especially considering the Chiefs have continued their dominance amid her presence on gamedays.

Forget Santa ... Miami Dolphins star Jevon Holland is hoping Tua Tagovailoa heads down his chimney this Christmas -- banking on the quarterback gifting him something real nice after signing a $212 MILLION contract this summer.

Of course, if the signal-caller doesn't send a present Holland's way on Dec. 25 ... the Fins' starting safety clearly won't be upset -- as he tells TMZ Sports he's absolutely pumped his pal was rewarded for all of his hard work over the past five years with a big deal.

Holland told us Tua's worth every penny ... especially when you consider he's had to dodge dudes like Jadeveon Clowney and Myles Garrett in order to have success on the gridiron.

The new Netflix documentary on Steve McNair's murder has left fans with more questions than answers ... and a former cop tells TMZ Sports that in order to fully get to the bottom of it all, police should now reopen the case.

The man who's desperately trying to figure out what actually happened to the ex-NFL star is Vincent Hill -- who briefly appeared in "Untold: The Murder of Air McNair," a Netflix doc that explored the life and death of McNair.

In the program, Hill -- a former Nashville Police Dept. officer who's since become a private investigator -- made a case that McNair might have been gunned down in his Tennessee condo by a male assailant ... not his mistress, Sahel "Jenni" Kazemi.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's son, Pax Jolie-Pitt was involved in a car accident about two months before he was badly injured in an e-bike crash, TMZ has learned.

The 20-year-old wrecked his Tesla before midnight on May 19 when he crashed into a parked box truck outside RED Studios Hollywood, according to the company's incident report.

Thankfully, Pax was not hurt in that collision ... but pictures and video from the scene show the Tesla was likely totaled.

The guy who won the 2024 Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest is well aware Joey Chestnut's still the real wiener king ... telling TMZ Sports his Fourth of July victory deserves an asterisk -- but someone had to win in Jaws' absence.

We caught up with competitive eater Patrick Bertoletti on the heels of Chestnut's record-breaking performance against Kobayashi in Netflix's "Unfinished Beef" event ... which resulted in Joey downing 83 dogs and buns -- 25 more than he did in Coney Island two months ago.

With that being said, we asked the mustard belt winner how he viewed his own win now ... and he's not pretending Jaws doesn't exist. In fact, they're actually good friends ... and Bertoletti was in Las Vegas to support him on Labor Day.

Ryan Garcia isn't letting his boxing suspension stop him from getting in the ring ... the star boxer tells TMZ Sports he's fighting in December!

The 24-1 boxer broke the news to us earlier this week ... months after the New York State Athletic Commission suspended him after testing positive for a banned substance in April, saying he'll soon be fighting again.

"You're gonna see me fight in December," Garcia told us. "It's gonna be a big fight. Stay tuned!"

Jorge Masvidal is ready to get back in a UFC Octagon ... telling TMZ Sports he's eyeing fights with none other than Leon Edwards and Michael Chandler -- and one of the two has already responded!!

Masvidal spoke about his impending return to Dana White's org this week after being away from it all since April 2023 -- and he told us he's itching to get back.

For now, no firm return date has been set ... but he said he's hoping to be on a card sometime either at the end of this year or the start of 2025.

Travis Pastrana says Dana White wants to take "the best, most chaotic, craziest, short-attention span racing in the world" to new heights ... telling TMZ Sports the UFC honcho's vision for Nitrocross is like music to his ears!!

We spoke with the action sports legend ahead of Nitrocross' upcoming season -- which kicks off in Richmond, VA this weekend -- and he said it's gonna be a party the whole family can enjoy.

Nitrocross is pretty intense -- as Pastrana explains, the vehicles have more than 1,000 horsepower (more than any form of rallycross in the world), the courses have massive jumps and cars are flying all over the place.

KeKe Jabbar's cause of death has been revealed ... TMZ has learned she died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

TMZ has obtained the autopsy report from the Alabama medical examiner ... and it shows the reality star had 64% carboxyhemoglobin in her blood.

Carboxyhemoglobin is what forms in red blood cells when carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin ... which sticks 200 times more tightly than oxygen.

Nev Schulman is ready to hit the road again after breaking his neck in a near-fatal collision last month.

The "Catfish" star tells TMZ ... he's on the mend after he was hit by a truck while riding his e-bike in Long Island, NY ... revealing he's set to get an X-ray next week to see if his spine has fully healed. If so, Nev will be allowed to take off his neck brace ... which is necessary if he wants to start training for a marathon sooner rather than later.

While Nev admits he still has a lot of nerve pain and discomfort in his hands and arms ... he's determined to complete 26.2 miles in the near future.

Lisa Vanderpump is ready to SUR-ve up some drama with a new cast of characters ... TMZ has learned cameras have picked up at her restaurant for a new project.

Sources familiar with the project tell TMZ … production crews have been filming a possible new show at LVP's West Hollywood hot spot, SUR, the last couple of weeks.

We're told the cast for the pilot is made up of entirely new faces, all of whom are employees at SUR -- much like how "Vanderpump Rules" first started with Tom Sandoval, Stassi Schroeder, Jax Taylor, Scheana Shay, among others, in 2013.

Colt Gray, the suspected Georgia high school shooter, came from an "absolutely horrible" home life ... with Child Protective Services called to the Gray family home as many as 4 times by their former neighbor, TMZ has learned.

The neighbor, Lauren Vickers, tells TMZ she called emergency services for help after she saw 14-year-old Colt wearing the same clothes daily, and his 2 younger siblings being locked out of the house at night, screaming and crying to get in.

Lauren alleges she witnessed Colt’s parents getting into heated arguments outside the house multiple times, often in the driveway.

Blueface’s 4-year prison sentence is underway now that he's been transferred from the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles to North Kern State Prison in central California.

TMZ’s obtained Blueface’s new mugshot, snapped Thursday as he entered general population at his medium custody facility ... where he'll have a lineup of potential jobs and classes ahead, all aimed at prepping him for life after prison.

Blueface's already a successful rapper, so getting back into the swing of things after lock-up shouldn't be too rough.