Gossip / Rumors

Valentina Shevchenko is callin' B.S. on the reason behind Amanda Nunes' UFC 213 title fight withdrawal ... telling TMZ Sports she's "not believing 100%" that Nunes pulled out over health issues.

We spoke with Bullet about Nunes pulling out due to chronic sinusitis ... and Shevchenko says she doesn't believe the excuse because Lioness seemed perfectly healthy the week leading up to the fight.

As for why Nunes would make up the claim, Shevchenko speculates the withdrawal happened because Nunes was "feeling (her) energy" and wanted to reschedule the fight to throw off her rhythm.

Jesse Williams and Minka Kelly were super low key, but still out in public together for a what looks like a very interestingly timed date night.

The rumored couple went to catch a movie Monday night in West Hollywood. They were both sporting ball caps, and Jesse added a hoodie as they left the theater.

They posted photos together in Paris back in January, but at the time said they were only hanging out because they were there working on a video game together.

Jesse Williams had harsh words for people who harshly judged him over his divorce ... and he did it on a Jay-Z video.

Jesse had 25 seconds on Jay-Z's 11-minute newest release, "Footnotes from 4:44" ... talking about the ongoing divorce and custody dispute with estranged wife, Aryn Drake-Lee.

Jesse says ... "I was in a relationship 13 years, 13 real years, not 5 years, not 7 years, 13 years and all of a sudden mother f****** are writing think pieces that I somehow threw a 13-year relationship -- like the most painful experience I've had in my life like with a person I've loved with all my heart -- that I threw a person and my family in the trash because a girl I work with is cute."

TBE is firing back at reports he can't pay off his tax liability from that year and has asked Uncle Sam to cut him a break until after he gets his check from the McGregor fight.

FYI, 2015 is the year he fought Manny Pacquiao -- for which he reportedly hauled in roughly $220 million. He also made $32 mil for fighting Andre Berto later that year.

But late Monday night, Mayweather issued a statement essentially saying he's still super rich with no real tax issues.

"While everyone is counting my money and assuming the worst, these are the facts... Uncle Sam, received $26,000,000.00 from me in 2015! What else could they possibly want?"

"I'm sure I would have been notified much sooner if there were any real discrepancies right?"

"Bottom line, everybody just wants to be a part of the 'Money May' show, including the IRS! That's fine, you can crunch numbers all day but in the end, my empire is rock solid and intact! Now Calculate That!"

He also played Donald Trump's "fake news" card -- saying, "Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear, especially when it comes to media in this country."

The issue with Mayweather's check is this ... it doesn't seem remotely close to the federal tax rate obligation he would owe.

If he made $250 mil -- and let's generously say he wrote off $50 mil -- he still owes taxes on $200 mil. And the going federal tax rate for people with high income is 39.6%.

So, he would owe closer to $80 MILLION -- not $26 mil.

Ben Affleck's looking more and more like he's locking in 'SNL' producer Lindsay Shookus as his new gf ... 'cause they had a coffee/juice date Monday morning.

Ben and Lindsay grabbed Starbucks in Brentwood after apparently spending the weekend together. They reportedly had a dinner date Thursday night at Giorgio Baldi ... one of Ben's fave spots.

We broke the story ... Ben and Jen Garner officially filed for divorce earlier this year. We were told they were already seeing other people.

Blac Chyna's alleged ex-bf might be getting ready to spill more of her secrets ... but he still thinks Rob Kardashian's revenge porn stunt was wrong.

We got Pilot Jones leaving Rostrum Records in L.A. -- where he's currently filming a reality show -- and we asked what he made of Rob's social media eruption.

Pilot's response seems pretty tame for someone who's supposedly about to dish even more dirt about Chyna.. As we reported ... he plans to accuse her of a breach of dating ethics.

Still, he doesn't condone posting her nudes. Also ... karma.

Amanda Nunes once told us there was a 200% chance she'd beat Ronda Rousey.

Now, she's DOUBLING that number when it comes to beating Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 213 on Saturday.

TMZ Sports spoke with the UFC women's bantamweight champ -- who guaranteed a 2nd victory over Shevchenko in their highly anticipated rematch.

The two previously battled it out at UFC 196 back in March 2016 -- a fight Nunes won by unanimous decision. Shevchenko says she's out for revenge. Nunes has other plans.

So, what's next if Nunes wins? Hopefully, a superfight with Cris "Cyborg" Justino. We asked her about that too.

Brandi Glanville had carte blanche to criticize or poke fun at Joanna Krupa's genitals ... at least that's what Brandi claimed under oath.

Brandi was deposed in the infamous smelly vagina lawsuit filed by Joanna -- and told Joanna's lawyer ... she "didn't say anything that I knew to be false." You'll recall ... Brandi made the vajayjay claim during a 2015 'Watch What Happens Live' appearance.

According to the depo transcript, obtained by TMZ, Brandi also said you get what you sign up for when you're on a reality show. Joanna's lawyer asked, "Do you think that means you can say things like her pu**y smells?" Glanville replied, "Well, yeah."

Brandi also reiterated her claim the 'Housewives' contract bars cast members from suing each other. She insists being on the show means dealing with "the good, the bad and the ugly that comes along with it."

Amelia Earhart indeed survived her plane crash, but an upcoming documentary claiming to have photo evidence is crazy ... so claims a man who has made the mystery his lifelong mission.

Ric Gillespie, owner of TIGHAR -- an organization long involved in the search for Earhart -- tells TMZ he's known about this photo for a year and on many levels he knows Amelia's not in the pic.

The new documentary claims Earhart became a captive in the South Pacific after her crash and claims her captors can be seen all around her in the photo.

Gillespie says there were a lot of mercenaries in that area at the time ... so it could be any white woman in the pic -- the features aren't recognizable.

Secondly ... based on where Earhart took flight in New Guinea, Ric says she would not have had enough fuel to get to the Marshall Islands, where the photo was allegedly taken. According to Ric, her last signal was picked up hundreds of miles from that location.

Finally, Gillespie believes the photo simply doesn't match up with the captive theory. He points out none of the alleged captors have guns or look threatening. He thinks it's just a photo showing people hanging out on the wharf on Jaluit Atoll -- part of the Marshall Islands.

Gillespie and TIGHAR still stand by their theory -- Amelia survived her plane crash and died as a castaway on the Pacific island of Nikumaroro, Kiribati.

Andre Berto is pissed about Manny Pacquiao's loss to Jeff Horn for the WBO title over the weekend, telling TMZ Sports the controversial decision was "a whole bunch of bulls**t."

We spoke with the former welterweight champ about the outrage surrounding Pac-Man's unanimous 12th round loss on Sunday ... and the Beast is clearly siding with the critics who think the judges butchered the call.

But Berto thinks Manny will "handle his business" and get his belt back ... amid rumors that Pacquiao is seriously considering retirement.

Rob Kardashian got tipped off that Blac Chyna was allegedly cheating on him by the baby mama of "the other guy."

Sources connected with Rob and Chyna tell TMZ ... Rob got a DM 2 weeks ago from the woman who had a baby with rapper Ferrari. She claimed Ferrari and Chyna had been intimate for 2 months.

Ferrari's baby mama blew the whistle just after Rob reconciled with Chyna. He wasn't sure if the woman was telling the truth, so he began confronting people, starting with Ferrari.

We're told Ferrari denied he was hooking up with Chyna, but Rob persisted and then confronted her. We're told Chyna also denied it.

Fast-forward to the weekend, when Ferrari posted a pic of himself in Chyna's bed ... especially galling because Rob says he paid for the bed. Ferrari was wearing Rob's Versace robe ... which enraged him.

Amelia Earhart survived what everyone thought was a fatal flight and ended up a prisoner of war ... this according to a new documentary.

As everyone knows, almost 80 years ago to the day, Earhart took off in her Lockheed Electra from New Guinea and vanished. Neither her plane nor her body were ever found. She was presumed dead.

But a new documentary -- "Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence" -- shows a photo taken on a South Pacific island days after she disappeared. The doc claims Amelia is in the photo, sitting on a dock, surrounded by people who might be her captors.

Bob the Drag Queen is calling out LL Cool J and Chrissy Teigen -- insisting their show, "Lip Sync Battle," copied "RuPaul's Drag Race," and not the other way around.

Bob, who won season 8 of 'Drag Race,' ... wants to shut up the haters who claim the recent season 9 finale ripped off the 'LSB' format. Bob says his show's always featured a sudden death lip sync battle between the show's lowest scoring drag queens.

Not to mention, 'Drag Race' was already on its 7th season when 'LSB' premiered.

Bottom line -- don't come for Bob, 'Lip Sync' fans, and she won't come for you.

Jay-Z's using his wife's playbook to push his new album, "4:44" -- making personal revelations about cheating and his mother's sexuality.

Hov opens his title track apologizing to Beyonce, and says it took the birth of their daughter, Blue Ivy, to change his womanizing ways. It's interesting ... he also refers to his newborn twins as "natural." The assumption is he wants everyone to know they didn't use in vitro.

Then there's "Smile" where he rhymes ... "Mama had four kids, but she’s a lesbian/ Had to pretend so long that she’s a thespian.”

There's also a shot at Eric Benet on the album opener, "Killing Jay Z." Hov raps, "You almost went Eric Benet/ Let the baddest girl in the world get away." Benet's marriage to Halle Berry ended after he cheated on her.

Benet, who is now married to Prince's ex, Manuela Testolini, has already responded.

Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough are firing right back at President Trump ... claiming he reached out to help them fend off an unflattering report about their relationship, but with a major string attached.

The co-hosts/engaged couple claim several Trump administration officials called them repeatedly with the offer over a National Enquirer story about them having an affair -- but they said Joe had to call the President first.

They made it seem like the offer was ... grovel to Trump, and he'll have the story killed.

Joe and Mika dropped the bombshell allegation on "Morning Joe" Friday morning. They actually canceled vacation plans so they could be on the air to respond to Trump's Thursday morning tweets -- where he claimed Mika was bleeding from a facelift when they begged him to attend a party at Mar-a-Lago.

As for that claim ... they addressed it straight on, and told a much different story about how they ended up at the President's New Year's bash -- and the facelift? Mika copped to having a procedure, but added ... that's far from the biggest issue here. She's right.

Interestingly, she also did exactly what Trump did -- plastic surgery shaming. Poor form?

Trump has already responded on Twitter, calling them liars.

But wait ... there's more. Joe just responded and said Trump's lying and he can prove it.

Doc Rivers says reports he shot down an opportunity to deal away his son, Austin Rivers, for Carmelo Anthony are pure BS ... telling TMZ Sports bluntly, "That's not true."

The Clippers honcho was leaving Madeo in Bev Hills Wednesday night when we asked if Chris Paul's departure meant it was a "sad day" for the team.

"I don't know if it's sad or not," Rivers said ... "We'll find that out."

He praised Paul as a "great Clipper" and added, "I wish Chris well."