MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - 3 Fight Wishlist for 2024 | UFC's TV Deal | Ortiz vs. Lawson | Morning Kombat EP 533

Episode Date: January 5, 2024

On Episode 533 of Morning Kombat Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell break down the three fights they want to see most in 2024. Who will be on each list? The guys also discuss Bloody Elbow's recent article about Power Slap and the Commissions, along with the report that the UFC tv deal could double ESPN's current contract. Could this be possible? The boys close out the main topics with a boxing news round up. On this friday we close out the show with Fan Submissions and Dead Wrong. (00:09:00) - 3 Fight Wishlist for 2024 (00:42:30) - UFC's Next TV Deal (00:53:45) - CSAC Approves Powerslap (01:20:00) - Boxing Roundup (01:28:00) - Fan Submissions (01:38:50) - Dead wrong Morning Kombat is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts.     For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich, but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy. Consider yourself warned. Limited time only at participating McDonald's in Canada. Reveille, reveille, dogs. Look at us now, tip to tip. This is our life. This is our life.

This is our passion. That's the spirit we bring to this show. I'm Luke Thomas. I'm Brian Campbell. This is Morning Combat. Oh, yeah, get after it, right? It's Friday. I know you ain't got shit to do, and you're probably a big provocateur of art,

so you're here, Morning Combat, back The Frick ad at the award winning one, January 5th, Friday, 2024. And we've got an interesting and fun show for you. Looking at the latest headlines in boxing and MMA, looking ahead to your fan subs to kick off the new year. And of course the Friday staple of dead wrong.

I'm Brian Campbell, that BBC with that BDE, the American Alpha in the damn winter flesh. You can follow and subscribe me below, as well as my co-host, the best damn combat sports analyst they got today. His name is Luke Thomas. And Luke, we are 24 hours away

from an incredible anniversary of one of the most wildest days in american history luke gen 6 what are you feeling right now as history beckons well i don't think there are any protests here the weather tomorrow is supposed to be super crappy like half rain half snow and i've not heard of anything going on in the city dude last time after january 6th they put up barricades so far i couldn't drive past k street which is very far from the capital but uh everything seems normal everything seems normal so i am uh and for luke kratom or ketamine uh probably both you can get both in the city but no it's just it's just my it's just my alphabet it's just my alphabet sure sure got you

right there well we do have a great show for you today i'm sure i'm sure of it i'm pretty sure of it at least mikey more miles cbs sports on the ones and twos as luke and i plan to look ahead at our wish list for fights in the sport of mma in 2024 and so much more luke any big weekend plans to your life here uh we're going to get the snow avalanche that we haven't had in two plus years. I'm expecting a foot and a half in Connecticut. You got any of those issues down there and cherry blossom? No, no. I think we're somewhere around two to four inches. Not that we, you know, inconvenient, but that's the worst. Like, dude, I mean, I know you're complaining about a foot and a half. That is a lot. That's a lot of

snow, but you can have fun with a foot and a half of snow. Like, you can do stuff with it. But when you have just a few inches, I mean, it's just a nuisance. And maybe it's good for pictures or something. Well, I wouldn't accept pictures of your few inches. That would be a heck of a nuisance in my DMs, Luke. But, you know, where I'm going with that. Yeah.

So we've had two very mild winters around these parts that have led me to believe i mean look it was christmas day it was like 52 degrees here in connecticut it was insane it was it was like you know i'm getting used to these global warning winters right these north carolina winters up in connecticut but now we got the real deal holy field and i'm back to hot showers and you know well dude the place that we went to to go uh skiing and tubing over the christmas break where we couldn't go because there was no snow in the mountains i looked at their forecast for the weekend they're gonna get like six to eight inches and i was like rock you know i couldn't have been last week but what are you gonna do

you think people in minnesota that watch our show are laughing at us right now luke or maybe nova scotia i mean they can laugh at us right now, Luke, or maybe Nova Scotia? I mean, they can laugh at us if they want, but they're the ones living in Minneapolis. So really, the joke's on them. Yeah. You know. There you go. There you go.

Do you have a favorite Midwestern or like middle, like non-left coast, non-east coast? Is there a favorite city in the middle that you're like, you know what? I could go there if I had to run from the law and set up shop somewhere. I mean, Chicago doesn't count, right? Because Chicago is a big-ass city. You're talking about something a little smaller. It could count if you wanted to. I think Chicago is a fantastic place.

I love Chicago. Tons of interesting culture. It's cold. It's cold. But food is tremendous tremendous people are friendly relative to new york and la and stuff like that it's much more affordable sure they got some decent public transit i like chicago i have good things loves two things in life luke has bula in chicago all right so shout out to ray the voice and then not buttoning his shirt until it's at the belly button

that's there you go shout out to ray flow sweet baby ray right there shout out to us follow and like and subscribe as i talked about you of course can also go to our fantastic merch store luke thomas wearing a t-shirt from that selection morning combat dot store i know what you're saying where's the deals where's my discount all right you you want it you freaking got it. Direct from RJ Dunkel Gangbang. 10% off using our code LIVE10. Right here, right now. If you missed it over the holidays, why don't you put yourself in a drug rug or something?

I don't know. What do we even sell these days? Probably everything awesome. That's probably what we sell. Everything that's awesome. So Average Joe R and so much more. Also, youtube.com slash morning combat. We've got so many great

bonus clips you may have missed over recent weeks interviews all that and we are of course looking forward to our relaunch in a couple months Luke as we take MK to the next level so bear with us as we get everything in motion but I'm ready to bang to it you got anything else you want to say because look I get offended when people are like yo i fast forward through the mk intro it's the same bs about their lives i don't care about their lives i care about mma you know it's like go watch ariel all right you know what i'm saying what does that even mean i don't know but go watch ariel all right uh well he's not on today i don't i don't believe so it's just us but uh no much to say. I mean, listen, there are no MMA fights of note tomorrow. There's really not much of boxing of note.

There is some that we'll get to, but there's not a whole lot. We're just out here jacking off on a Friday because we have a contract obligation to produce a certain amount of content. So I'll just say this. If you're here, I'm glad you're here. Thank you for joining us. All right. Luke will pretend he's happy to be here too, Luke. No, I hear it in your voice today.

You're very happy. You know, it's a new year. There's no limits, Luke, in your life. I tell you what, dude, two weeks of getting, well, I was sick a little bit, but even then, two weeks are for the most part, for the most part, getting good sleep. Damn, dude, it does a lot for you. Changes your mood, changes a whole lot about you. I feel okay.

I feel pretty good, I guess. It turns out getting good sleep and managing your stress is really healthy. It's like, yeah. Who knew it would make you feel so great? I had no idea. Meanwhile, you're normally licking the floors at the Newark Penn Trade Station trying to uncover the next strain, but we're happy to have you in one piece, Luke. All right, just a reminder, folks, that this great, fantastic episode of Morning Combat

that you're about to devour, presented to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more and download that FanDuel Sportsbook app today. The official odds providers here, of course, of our OK Bet Challenge. Be Steve's victorious. We're going to get Luke out to a concert.

Let's get our ducks in a row. Let's get Jacob in the bullpen. We'll figure that shit out. Yeah, Luke, they better. They better. They better finish documentary number eight. Our trip to London, our precarious 2023. I hope that's in production right now.

You think it is? They've made some promises about what they could do with it. They were a little bit vague with the promises, but they did say they would try to produce it. So I hope that they do because you're going to miss out on a do with it. They were a little bit vague with the promises, but they did say that they would try to produce it. So I hope that they do because you're going to miss out on a lot of it. Dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. All right, here we go. Topic number one on this Friday, as Luke mentioned,

not a lot going on this weekend. We'll get to Virgil Ortiz Jr. to return in boxing in a little bit, but we got our wish list out. Looking ahead at the sport of mixed martial arts, primarily the ultimate fighting championship as we turn the calendar. Luke, I think we both have big expectations, or at least I do. We talked about this on Wednesday's show. I think it's going to be a bigger. I think the combination of 300 and all those other big events we're going to get at the top end And once again, you know, the kind of fights we deserve, well, maybe not John Jones versus Francis and maybe not even Luke, John Jones versus Tom Aspinall,

but mostly you're going to get the fights that you want. That doesn't stop us though, from picking off the menu. Luke and I have put our heads separately together, each pick three fights on our wishlist that are currently not booked and not being talked about obviously some other fights sometimes have to play out before we can get to that but luke you get the opportunity to go first here counting down from three to one i want to hear your three fight wish list for 2024 all right threefight wish list. So what we were tasked with doing was picking fights that are obviously not made. So like BC, if I could be honest for a second, they already kind of made the one that I wanted to see the most,

which was Volk versus Teporia. It hasn't happened yet, but it's already on the books. And I got my own version of that called Blanchfield versus Farrell, Luke. Okay, very good, very good. So we didn't include that on the list because it's literally already booked and scheduled to happen what we were kind of doing was what's not a fight that is booked but that is reasonably possible to happen that you would like to see that's sort of yes is he whitaker jones all those luke all those all the bangers that everyone is clamoring for on the internets. But let's go to the graphic, and I'll tell you my number three here

right off the bat. Zhong Wai Li taking on Tatiana Suarez for the 125-pound title. Now, I know what folks might be saying. I don't know if Suarez is next. There are some things that could get in the way of that. Zhong Wai Li will probably end up fighting Yan Xiaonan.an but for me this is the one that kind of matters a lot one John Wiley turns out is really the best in class uh for this division at the present well it said 125 it should be 115 actually Mikey should be 115 because Suarez fought at 125 and then dropped back down to 115

obviously John Wiley is the champion at 115, but no harm, no foul. But that's really the issue here is that Tatiana Suarez, for folks who were not around or were not paying close attention prior to her injury, I think I have an old video on my personal channel where I interviewed her, and I asked her because there were comparisons at the time, and you could say that these were guys tripping over their skis a little bit here and trying to get ahead of things, calling her the next Habib Nurmagomedov because you just didn't see a female fighter who had that kind of dominant wrestling in the way that she did and then

dominant ground and pound and frankly some dominant athleticism as well she was very unusual at the time that which she was first breaking through but she lost an enormous amount of time in her career due to injury and folks who aren't familiar she also was impacted in her athletic life when she had cancer earlier which she also beat she's had to overcome some pretty difficult circumstances and i think for some folks that may have lowered her stock or just at a bare minimum her visibility but i tell you what for me this super, super important to see. I think it'd be a big watershed moment, frankly, for the development of the women's game.

It'd be an exciting match between two of the very best, I think, in this weight class that you have to offer, and I think if Suarez is going to get the belt at all, it's going to be this year, and it has to be right now. If she doesn't get it right now, I think time might pass her by because she has lost so much of it due to these extenuating circumstances. Zhong Wai Li is a force to be reckoned with herself. We all know the story there.

But it's such an interesting clash of a pretty dominant figure versus this very, at one time, seemingly well-known contender who's had to rebuild again. And somehow, even after all that time lost to BC, with the rest of the game kind of catching up a little bit, I think she still has a lead on her competitors. Give me Zhong Wai Li versus Tatiana Suarez for the strawweight title. Okay, Luke, I love, love this pick out of you.

So much that originally this was my number two pick on my top three but this was the only one that we randomly had in common so i decided to switch it up and get a little bit fresh here but originally why would i have this at number two the same reasons you just said i mean suarez looks i mean all the stuff that you talk about and rightfully so due to the the promise that guys like shavkat Rachmanov are showing and Ilya Teporia too even though he's got to go against the absolute best there at featherweight in Volkanovski is the is your idea that like look I you respect those guys abilities it's easy for you to kind of look ahead to this year and say man I could easily see those two as champions I think Tatiana Suarez in her own

division is exactly in that category where it's like, she's just looking so potentially dominant and has always showed so much promise that I just need to see her now against the very best. It turns out that's Whaley. It turns out Whaley could be historically great for this division and really historically great for women's MMA history. Not just the, the asterisk of being the first Chinese born champion. She regained her title.

She's constantly evolving her game. Yeah. I want to see her a third time against Rose. And apparently Pat Berry and I are maybe the only two that do. I don't even know if Pat does. Luke, I'm just assuming. But Suarez versus Zhongwei Li in this great freaking division is the best thing you can do in terms of the two best fighters. A little bit of a style contrast there.

I love it. All right, that's your number three. Let me go to my number three, Luke, on my list here. I'm going to go to the middleweight division. And it fits a trope that you already know that i like two can't miss prospects that when they get to a point where it's like okay what is going to be their big early defining fight how about we match them against one another yes i always reference ad nauseum the john jones ryanader fight, which once met that criteria. And we learned pretty dominantly who the better fighter was,

despite Bader going on to have a tremendous career, two-division champion with Bellator. But Bo Nickel versus Joe Pfeiffer fits that. I know people don't love, apparently, Bo Nickel coming back against Cody Brundage. I get the sentiment of why they would like him to match even more difficult and continue to show what he has. But look, look that fight for what we seem to think right now could like open UFC 300 could be the first on the early early prelims so I'm not going to hate on that fight I also kind of like that matchup but we're going to need Bo Nickel to stay busy and really make this year his breakout year

where we find out exactly who he is like he he may actually get, as we already know, because of the greatness he's showing, he may get to the top and actually one day fight for a title before showing us his full car, his full hand, exactly what he has in each category. But I really think Joe Piper is the unspoken name here at middleweight. In fact, when you and I did our projection show for the new year in each division, I don't even think we brought his name up and we should have because he is starting to jump through your screen and show you that, man, he's putting his game together. He's a hard-nosed guy. He's powerful. Luke, there's a bit of a style contrast in here too, but this matchup would be so compelling to

find out exactly who's ready for greatness now between the two. And like other fights, Islam versus Saryuki in the first time, it's not going to be a major L, whoever would take the L here, as long as it's a close competitive fight and they show out, they're going to adjust and grow and learn. But I love those early showdowns at the OK Corral with the two guys on the rise. These are two of the biggest in the sport. Now, I love this fight.

Please don't misunderstand me. I like this choice. i'm in generally in favor but playing devil's advocate for a second some of the viewers might be saying okay but why not bo nickel with like a hamza chamayev why not bo nickel versus some kind of top five even top 10 name pifer interesting as hell physical as hell we've only said good things about Joe Pfeiffer on this show, but he is a developing name. Bo Nickel too, but Bo Nickel's got that, obviously that college background that's really put a bit more visibility on him.

Why not somebody a little bit more advanced up the food chain when you think about more interesting matchups? Because I feel like the reveal of the Brundage matchup shows you that UFC is taking this a little bit slower than maybe people would want. I know Bo has had some setbacks in trying to stay consistent, but we want to see this guy fight like three or four times this year. So I'm really just escalating up the matchmaking scale and saying, okay, if he gets by this, who could be next? What I love to see him at the,

whether, whether it ends up happening this year or not, that Bo literally cracks up into that top five and gets, you know, either a title shot or a near title shot, which is what we would be talking about with a Hamzat. So if your point is that Hamzat versus Bo is actually a sexier version of this exact fight, I won't argue against that, but I will bring up the uncertainties in Hamzat's health. And I also think Hamzat is a lot closer to fighting for the actual middleweight title than Bo is. And even though I don't doubt Bo Nickel as being legit, I don't, I don't actually doubt him. I think, you know, I mean, he's mature, he's, he's older, he's got incredible background and

dominant skills in wrestling and now submission, uh, through his, you know, evolution on the ground. But look, I I'm having trouble believing that the ease and speed that he's defeating guys, that it's going to be that easy when he does start cracking into the top 10. So I think to me, Piper really would represent that sort of first really tough test of a guy who doesn't have an overwhelming flaw up to this point. And I just want to see which direction, you know, one is going. But, you know, OK, I get what you're saying. Could Bo versus Hamzat be sexier?

Yes, I just think it's less likely because I think Hamzat's a lot closer. Do you agree with that, or do you think Bo, if he keeps blowing away these guys in 90 seconds and submitting them, that it's not going to matter? He's going to be in one of those fights by the end of this year anyway. How do you sort of look at Bo Nickel in 24 in terms of how quick he could be matched? Well, I tell you what, the Pfeiffer fight is why I like it like it why it's interesting maybe it wouldn't have been the choice that I went with

but why I like it is because I have seen guys now Bo Nickel does appear to be a special case I mean let's be serious about that but I've seen guys who were you know multiple time all-americans in certain cases national champions but let's just say really decorated wrestlers coming out of college who did look the part kind of early on and then they would fight someone who did not necessarily have that wrestling pedigree but Joe Pfeiffer got has you know phenomenal physicality he is well rounded right he does have good MMA wrestling he does have good MMA striking he's got a lot of parts of his game that are very admirable and you know make you sit up and notice it and that's the kind of fighter he is sometimes those guys end up being really really really difficult

and and in certain cases overwhelming tests even for these other guys who have the background that are similar backgrounds anyway to Bo Nickel like you would you everyone thinks that the guy who to potentially give Bo Nickel problems is going to be someone elite, someone who's got, you know, lights out skills in some kind of very recognizable way. And I want to get, I'm not to,

no way am I demeaning Pfeiffer's skill set, but he is a little bit more, in terms of the well-roundedness of his game, he doesn't have anything that necessarily sticks out more than the other, except for I think his physicality. that guy that kind of guy can often be a very tricky fight for someone like Bo so it actually to me the reason why I like it is not that I find it like the most exciting fight that could be made but one of the most illuminating fights that could

be made in terms of understanding either guy. I think we just don't know enough about either guy to really say how that would go. But I tell you what, if Pfeiffer gave him a tough fight or even one, that should not necessarily be all that surprising. It would depend how it went, obviously. Like if he got, if Nickel got out wrestled, that would be surprising, right? That would be like whoa but um i think piper is an interesting kind of type of fighter a little bit blue collar fighter but super foundationally well-rounded very very physical that's a tough guy to beat if you're really not dialed in or

have something special going on right like who's going to be the first guy that makes bow have to outpoint him and show the full complete game maybe it is a piper but how would you set the line let's say that fight was happening in may june what would you sort of set the line on what you know now again this could come back to bite me where we all look silly in the end you know i would give bow you know minus 180 to maybe a plus 150 piper something like that very fair luke a lot of respect shown across the board it's a lot of what we don't know. I mean, what we don't know about Bo is also what excites us because we've seen just little snapshots of absolute brilliance.

But I got to see the cardio over three to five rounds. I've got to see the chin. I got to see all that. We're hopefully going to find that out this year, Luke. Very good. All right. Should I go to my number two? Absolutely.

Take it to absolutely absolutely here we go this one's easy this one's easy john jones versus tom aspinall no problem about it either way yesterday tom aspinall took to social media in particular twitter finally on a i know right a firestorm of tweets basically arguing quite correctly in my view that the only real possible fight that should be made for him next is unification which by the way folks he is so incontestably right about that I don't even know what else to say at this point obviously unification should be next that's the whole point of having an interim championship we've been over that on the show I don't want to belabor the point but that's's the one I want to see. Now, of course, I don't know if we will.

I don't know if they're actually going to end up making the Jon Jones-Stipe fight and if they do at what point in the year. Maybe they make it end up being third or fourth quarter, in which case, even if Jon does want to stick around, an Aspinall fight wouldn't happen until 2025, or maybe Aspinall loses between now and then. There's a lot of unknowns, but from the way I can see it, BC, at the present moment, John Jones obviously has the belt, and Tom has the interim belt, but more than that, they appear to be, to me, the two best guys in this division. We don't really know that yet, because John has just had the one fight, and he's gone, but that seems to be, I think, a relatively reasonable inference you can make.

Well, then if that's the case, and these guys have titles attached to their names, it's not a question of like should it or will it. I don't know how to answer that. But do I want that? That is, of course, what I want to see. I want to see everything about that. I would take, by the way, Tom Aspinall versus Stipe as like a consolation prize. But this is the one I want to see.

I want to see this guy who waited all this time to come up, who obviously has been the best light heavyweight you've ever seen by a million miles, who is the heavyweight champion, to take on this guy who is a different kind of heavyweight than we have had in some time in mixed martial arts. A big, dynamic, quick athlete with fantastic power, excellent well-rounded young no miles on him that is exactly the kind of challenge that I want to see the champion take so whether it will happen whether it should happen these are factors I simply cannot control or really fully understand but for a wish list BC yeah that is easily on my top three it's such a great fight when you look at the the idea of john being the old guard and like you said we still don't really know like i mean you know like i

always say that you don't really know who the heavyweight version of john jones is i don't think we really know what he looks like three rounds in with that new frame with all that weight like there's a lot of unknowns but putting him against a guy who really looks like heavyweight 2.0 or at this point 3.0 or whatever evolution i thought gone was going to be 2.0 luke i know he's still lingering but you know aspinall looks like that next level guy then you add in the uk element if that fight was done in a soccer stadium which doesn't seem like ufc wants to do um yeah that would be massive luke i wonder though like look we don't talk much about the MMA gods. Like, you know, people will reference it.

We can make jokes about it. But if Hamzat was not asked to miss weight for the Nate Diaz fight, which led to that last minute shakeup, if we're taking the conspiratorial out of it, if it literally was his team and his doctor looked at the hard cut, we're like, it's not worth it. We felt like in that moment, like that was the MMA gods going, why are we going to serve up this legend nate to an ass kicking on the way out when he instead could get this old guy fight against tony last minute walk out a hero go get the jake paul fight all that could

those same mma gods luke potentially do a solid for the fans and forced for steepay out of the jones fight when they finally do want to reschedule it with some kind of injury. And then we do get Aspinall Jones because, oh, Stipe can't do this and we're not going to wait two years. So let's do it now. Because Luke, when you look at the tweets from Aspinall, they're correct. What you said, like it's refreshing to hear. He actually went after the exact reasons why this is so preposterous. I mean, one of them in particular, Espinel wrote, last time Stipe fought and won, GTA San Andreas had just come out on PS2. He will fight next for the undisputed title ahead of me, even though I'm the interim champion,

you would think that I would fight the champion next. He also would close after a multi-tweet rant by saying, final fun fact, Stipe last won a fight in August of 20. I've blown my knee out since then, went through rehab, took a year off, tweet rant by saying final fun facts. Stipe last won a fight in August of 20. I've blown my knee out since then went through rehab, took a year off, had seven UFC fights, had four wins against top 10 ranked opponents and won the interim title on two weeks notice all in the time since Stipe last fought.

And he, you know, he didn't want to shit on Stipe. He said, Stipe has a great resume, but he also closed by saying, so does Tony Ferguson. And why are we not putting Tony Ferguson in a title fight?

So I just like that. He's being not fresh mouth, but standing up for himself. Look, this is the most pivotal time for these guys to act like business man, just as much as fighters with everything going on with the fighter pay and the entire trust suit and all that.

I hate more than anything. When a guy's in a key spot and they get on the mic and they go, whoever the promotion wants me to fight next, I'll fight. No fight for what you deserve. This is a good move by Aspinall, but I'm actually kind of hoping, even though I am a steep a fan, Luke, that that fight just doesn't take place for whatever reason. I hope that whatever reason though, isn't John going out because you would love to see John have to show us who he is as a heavyweight. Here's what I mean, Luke. We always felt like it was inevitable that John would move up to heavyweight and that he would have a great chance to do what he's done now. Kind of settle the goat debate, right? Kind of settle it for now as to like, we used to say it's either John or GSP or Anderson or whoever,

you know, whoever. I feel like John go in the two division championship route, kind of settled that for now, but to like solidify and cement that and there being no doubt, we got to find out who he really is as a heavyweight. Like I would hate that he only won a vacant title bout against Cyril gone, who had that big hole in his game. And then he'd be an old steep and walked away that what would that tell us? You know, you wouldn't history books. You wouldn't put a giant asterisk and clown john for that but

it would be an incomplete way to finish telling that story what story am i talking about how about the wild and crazy story of the greatest mixed martial artist of all time john jones i want to see that story told the right way so uh you know i guess i can shut up because in a perfect world luke we could get jones steep a maybe next summer and then still get Jones versus Aspinall to close 24. But what are you going to do? Make Tom fight two? I'm telling you right now. I'm telling you right now.

If they can't make Jones Stipe until third or fourth quarter, which is possible, potentially even later, but let's say third or fourth quarter this year, and Aspinall keeps winning, right? Let's say he beats Gon or something else. There's no fucking way Jon fights him. There's not a fucking chance. Now, I think if the Stipe fight falls out and Jon is looking for a dance partner, now that changes the equation.

I think he would fight Tom under that circumstance. I don't think he would duck that. I don't think he would just say, I'm not coming back at all. I think he would take that. But, and honestly, I would understand it if John fought Stipe, Aspinall's beating the brakes off everybody else,

and he's like, yeah, my work is done here. I get it, bro. I get it completely. I understand that. That's his choice. He doesn't have to. He can walk out under his terms that's what prize fighting is all about but um i and i don't wish ill on stipe

but however it happens i hope the stipe fight doesn't happen and we get to see john versus tom that's the one would be super interesting it would be super big dude i mean if you really look at one of the realistic super fights we could see in the ufc this calendar year that one would be super big, dude. I mean, if you really look at what are the realistic super fights we could see in the UFC this calendar year, that one would be on the short list. I hope we get there. Let's go to my number two, Luke. It was originally going to be Tatiana Suarez challenging Zhang Weili for that title, but I'm going to stay in the female game.

You guys know how much I'm ready for Blanchfield versus Farrow, not because I have creepy addictions to any of these ladies, despite Luke's Instagram nudging. Really, obviously, it's that 125 has taken over to be the best division in the women's game. We need the closure and clarity that we're about to get with Farrell fighting Blanchfield for the number one contender spot. And then hopefully, whether it's first quarter or second for Noche, we get that Grasso-Shevchenko fight.

So no disrespect to Shevchenko, who actually probably deserved having won the rematch in September against Grasso, got the draw instead. Hopefully they can make this fight happen soon. But Luke, I think a lot of people, even with Shevchenko coming close, are still going to lean toward the younger fighter of the two in Grasso, who has shown so much guile and and and spunk and and and just you know to fight through close situations if Aaron Blanchfield gets through Faroe and if the

champion Alexa Grosso uh defends and ends this rivalry with Shevchenko Grosso versus Blanchfield is one of the best fights you can make in this sport and is on my short list for must-see fights. And one of the reasons, Luke, why I would be so into this fight is it's two fighters that, yeah, they're highly skilled, they're smart, they're specifically strong in one specific area compared to the rest. Although Grasso's very well-rounded and obviously Blanchfield is evolving at a fast pace, but they're both so physical, so aggressive, and can almost will their way to victory at times that I think this would be a wild five-round fight, and yeah, we can look at Blanchfield as a freight train, and if she destroys Faroe like she's done the ones before her, she could even be a betting favorite entering into that fight when she gets there for all we

know, but Grasso has this ability in the right weight class now that she's figured out her game has evolved so quickly but look she's just got an ability to come back in fights to you know I mean there's a lot of fighting spirit in there you get two young prime hungry fighters going for it right there you're going to get the potential for an instant classic the best division in the women's game, maybe arguably except for 145 globally outside of the UFC, but this is a can't miss matchup. I'd be fired up. Does it get on your radar at all, Luke? Or let me ask you this maybe better.

In your 125 tournament right now, is this the matchup you expect we'll end up seeing? Ooh, that's a good question. I don't know. I don't know. Remember this year, what I said about the women's game, where obviously the Shevchenko and Grasso fight was really the first of them. Well, both of them were really good.

But basically what I believe has to happen, and my answer is going to be a little bit messy because I feel like the situation is a little bit messy. I did not see, except for a couple of performances here or there, I didn't see fantastic achievement in the women's game in 2023. Now, again, Amanda Nunes retiring on top, that counts. Grasso upsetting the apple cart against Shevchenko the first time, that counts. So then the rematch was kind of messy and blah blah blah Blanchfield marching through got close still

has some work to do and Suarez we just talked about and there's some other ones as well but my point being is I feel like what kind of has to happen BC is we need a fresh crop of the younger fighters to come through and this is true in general but it's especially true in these women's divisions, and to push them out, to reset the order. And until that happens, I don't have a super strong preference about who does it or which direction it goes. Does that make sense? But rather that I just feel like there has to be the turnover. And then once the turnover happens, I feel like you've got a whole fresh set of possibilities

and what future excellence can look like. I don't know if it's a cop-out or not, but it's sort of what I'm at. No, it's not. And we're back. Luke, I've got a little bit of egg on my face here from these production issues that turned out to be my fault in a loose cable. But we roll on here in these parts of the MK.

All right. Just be patient with me. Okay. Do you want to tell everyone the truth about what happened? Yeah, it was a loose cable. I couldn't. I didn't realize it was. All right.

I mean, it happens here. We're not all technological savants. Some of us have major head injuries. All right. Let's let's move on look let me react to your number one okay hold on very quickly let's step this up we we did a live stream it didn't go well but what we were doing were our um so we're recording this episode we were doing our three wish list fights i had gone through all three of mine although you hadn't reacted we've gone through two of yours so we still have a little bit to finish there let's go to your number one luke i'm shocked that you put this there conor mcgregor nate ds3 not because it wouldn't be a pay-per-view blockbuster and regal all the old casuals to

come out of the woodwork and see the you know the old guy ending to this great rivalry but this isn't your style of fight this is a luke thomas list. I'm a little bit surprised you put it on there. It's not, again, that this doesn't have commercial warrant, but I think we would admit that the critical warrant of seeing who wins this rivalry is like eight years too gone right now, right? We're like eight years past. Well, it's sort of this. Again, just as a reminder, on my three,

for folks who might be listening on the audio podcast, I had Tatiana Suarez taking on Zhong Wiley as number third for the 115 title, Tom Aspinall and Jon Jones for the heavyweight title as number two, and then I just feel like it makes too much sense for everybody. It makes sense for Conor. It makes sense for Nate. It makes sense for their rivalry. It makes sense, I think, competitively. Does it make sense for you, the fan, though? That's where my intrigue is at. So here's what I would say.

Here's what I would say. Of all the fights, and I mean this sincerely, at least for MMA purposes, of all the fights that either of those guys could be in, people say things, and I know he's going to probably fight Michael Chandler in 2024 for Conor, and I don't know what Nate's going to do exactly. That's not to say I don't like those fights, or I don't think that they're big, or that they have no value. If you are asking me what pairing to me, and that just makes sense to me, but makes sense to me in a way that finally

turns on the lights and now makes me like lean in and want to see it. It's this one. I feel like the pairing at this moment at this time is just so perfect that yeah, I actually do really want to see it. There's not many fights, frankly, for either guy at this point that would get me to be like, Oh, that's a, there's, there's a million of them. I could say that's good. But how many of them would get me to lean in and like, okay, this is what I'm talking about. This is the kind of thing that makes sense. It's this pairing between these two at this moment. So it doesn't have the divisional stakes BC of frankly, either of the first two fights, which are title fights that i had picked it's not that but instead it's the finally just the right kind of the the cinderella and the glass slipper this

is the one that i've kind of been waiting for a little bit well it's closure on a great rivalry the star power is tremendous and maybe the best thing you can say is they are the right opponent for each other at this point in their respective careers which has a lot of doubt because of age inactivity injuries defeats all of that it actually would be probably the most competitive connor fight you can book among these big names at this moment so it is kind of it would be interesting in that regard i certainly know they're going to do it i'm excited when it finally happens i just never thought we'd wait eight years i thought it'd be two three years down the road but that's the second half of connor's career it's been

absolutely all over the place all right you flashed my number one earlier and just a quick recap if you missed it i went joe pifer versus bo nickel for my number three i originally had whaley and suarez subbed it out for grasso versus blanchfield with my number two my number one goes at the deepest division in this entire sport, and that's Bantamweight. And it's a fight we very well could see if both get past their tough matchups coming up, and what we have is like a final four atop this division. And that's Sean O'Malley, your champion, against Murab Duvalish-Whealy.

Luke, first and foremost, am I wrong here? This is Conor versus Khabib, but at Bantamweight, style-wise. Conor versus habib but at bantamweight style wise connor versus habib at bantamweight style wise contrast wise not where are they out in their careers compared to where were those two at 229 i just mean style wise i don't think marab is the ground and pound or sub threat that habib was. But I think you get the, the, the general nature of that, of that comparison. It's the contrast between two great fighters. The questions we still have about O'Malley. We've always rightfully said that O'Malley could actually get to the top of

this division and become champion without answering all of those questions. And he's done that with takedown defense. He's done that with poison. He he's done that with takedown defense. He's done that with poison. He's certainly done that with incredible striking. It really would be that perfect matchup because we always say, okay, what about when he does face a wrestler of that ilk who can break through that defense and really make him have to squirm. And we'll find out how deep that gas tank is.

Well, that's Merab all the way, right? So the, the, the seas have changed. Al Joe's out. Merab's going to get his chance at gold if he can get past suhudo i do think though when you look at the matchups vera versus o'malley two on one side suhudo versus marab on the other this very well could be a fight that we see to close 24 and i think it would be a great one so i'm that's really for me luke when i look across the board it's got some star power It's got the best division in the sport. And it's got two of the best fighters in this game.

I'd be all in on it. I don't hate that fight at all. But let me ask you, you had Sean O'Malley tweeting yesterday that Ilio is going to be my Eddie, sort of referring to how Eddie Alvarez for Conor and Ilia. What about that fight? Again, there's a certain amount of presumptuousness that goes into it. But nevertheless. I do think that O'Malley would get that opportunity quicker than everyone else because

he has the opportunity to be the the new pay-per-view face of the brand if if he continues to win these fights against tough guys where it's like okay i could understand if he was allowed to jump up and wait um that also be a hell of a match-up luke we'd have to see how he can do with the higher weight class i don't know if it would hamper him as much because he's tall and long and certainly has big pop, but this is the fight we'd have to see first, dude, Marab's coming on.

And if somebody is going to end this year as champion in this division, I would put my money on Rob. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, Luke, fair enough. I don't love that fight as much as you do. I'll just say that.

What, what holds you back? Is it the idea that you think it would be one sidedsided or do you think it would not aesthetically please i don't think it'd be necessarily one-sided although it obviously could be but it's not that's not really what marab obviously has an engine unlike any we've ever seen, and he's gotten more polished over time. But I don't know how polished he actually ever will end up being. And so to me, the kind of fight that gets me really excited are these guys that have really deadly ability,

which Sean has in the striking, but probably not so much in the other parts of the game. So that makes it kind of interesting. But he's got some potentially other known weaknesses that Murab could take advantage of. So competitive is not so much the issue. It's that I don't think there's – it's going to sound kind of crazy because I was like, oh, Nate Conner, I want to see that.

But there's something missing about how much of a threat Murab is not to win, but to really do, uh, to put Sean's lights out or to finish him in some kind of way without that being there. It holds me back a little bit, I guess. Well,

he could get there in the championship rounds, Luke, if it went his way and he was able to really break down that gas tank. I think that's the allure in seeing this, but I get what you're saying. It wouldn't be two dominant strikers coming together and we find out who's the last man standing. It would be a kind of interesting fight where each could have their own stretches of, of momentum in, in success. It'd be very interesting to find out. I think we see it. Luke, that was topic number one, our wishlist interrupted, of course, by the inevitable.

I mean, look, you know, I can never make a hasselhoff joke again you know i like to think of myself as hasselhoff on the berlin wall or you know on the baywatch beach but i'm i'm the sloppy guy drunk you know eating the sandwich that's falling apart on the carpet i know you like to do bits where you try to enrage me and then when it's my turn i act like an adult and i don't do that to you and you still don't seem to realize that but maybe now it's finally done so much more mature than me luke and fair that i don't know how we've stayed friends this long i mean it's definitely true but uh topic number two luke on this abomination of a show that we're keeping together is interesting it comes from wall street an analyst predicting that the new ufc tv currently, of course, UFC exclusive in North America to ESPN+.

We do know the deal could be up right around the corner that could net them millions more. How much more? Well, Wall Street analyst has predicted the new deal could be double the current ESn contract luke the current espn contract was so groundbreaking that it literally changed the pay-per-view structure and format and what ufc's motivation is due to the guaranteed money per pay-per-view event per show on espn plus what are the what is this analyst breaking down specifically that has this level of optimism and do you buy it i don't buy it or at a bare minimum i i have a little i want to be clear i'm not saying he's wrong because uh a this is his area of expertise and that's sort of like a one level of it and the other one is you know dude a lot

can happen in the media rights fees business in two years but I do think we need to back up a step here because I have a little bit of a different view about how this all will go. You might recall Mark Cuban will retain the billionaire, former owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and now he had sold a bunch of that stuff off to the Adelson family, a billionaire family out of Las Vegas. They will own it.

He will still retain control of basketball operations, but he sold off. And there was great speculation that the reason why he had done that is he had sort of seen the tea leaves about what was happening in media rights fees and felt like there was going to be an inflection point and they were not going to get what they once got, the NBA. And in fact, he didn't want to really be a part of that kind of a situation where the value of his product would go down.

But let me give it to you in a bit of a different way. 10, 15 years ago, the cable bundle was one of the most dominant, frankly, forms of business in the world. It's such a successful model about how much they could make. And if you guys don't know how much they were making at their peak, I mean, there was about 100 million homes that Cable was in. And each of those accounts had what's called affiliate fees. And with the affiliate fees, that meant whether you watched every hour of SportsCenter or zero hours of SportsCenter,

you had to pay for whatever your cable bill was that month, $100, whatever. You had to pay $5 of it, went to ESPN. Didn't matter how much you watched of it, didn't matter how little you watched of it. That's part of the bundle. And those affiliate fees, BC, kept going up $5, $6, $7, $8. I'm not sure where it all topped out eventually. But as we now know, the cable bundle is not just decomposing. It's decomposing at a rapid rate, and no one thinks it's ever coming back.

There could be other ways in which Paramount works together with Warner Brothers Discovery or whatever, but the original cable bundle, it's dying, and's going away and it's not coming back. And nothing is going to replace that for these leagues, which is why you have seen people say, dude, the next couple of years are going to be real interesting in the media rights business. Now, for those reasons, BC, I am, I'm not going to say skeptical that the UFC deal won't be good but I think that should put a pause on everyone's assessment that they're just going to double what they had before that seems to me not impossible but extremely optimistic very optimistic now I know what you might say well if the cable bundle is going away and these guys want exorbitant fees, who is going to pay them that? Well, maybe you're already seeing the answer. Amazon has under its watch NFL. It has one. It has golf. I saw the other day and that probably will only grow. Tech will probably step in on some level to take care of that.

You might have seen as well, I know you're not a big MLS fan, neither am I, but Lionel Messi joining MLS was a big deal for dot, dot, dot, Apple. It was a very big deal for Apple. You can buy a season pass on there, any number of other ways to watch, not just Inter-Miami, but the league in general so tech in terms i mean dude if you think about who the most like the richest companies in the world are now google or alphabet uh amazon you know these kinds of entities uh apple these are the ones that have flush with cash they're actually trying to lean back into that side of the business. But BC,

here's my point. While I do think there will be some winners who do sign with Google or YouTube, if they get into the business, or Apple or Amazon, that will happen. Not everyone's going to get that deal. It's not just going to fully replace the money that everyone was getting out of the cable bundle. And so when someone goes out there and says, oh, it's going to be worth twice what it got last time. I'm like, dude, that seems awfully bold for a very uncertain market where already people in the NBA, which by the way, is a much bigger property than the UFC, including globally. And they're already kind of worried about what kind of money they're going to get. What makes him so confident that they can 2X that in a rapidly deteriorating media rights environment? If I had to ask that without having done an extreme level of research, I would question, Luke, whether it's splitting up the package to multiple networks.

If you have been following at all pro wrestling business over the last five years, WWE at one point had all of its flagship shows mostly through NBC Universal, through their different networks. Then about three, four years ago, the big splash was moving SmackDown to Fox on National Friday Night primetime TV. That netted a separate price that meant they almost doubled their income by separating Raw and SmackDown. Raw staying with NBCUniversal at that time, SmackDown going to Fox. Now, later this year, SmackDown's going to leave Fox and go back to NBCUniversal.

But the whole idea was separating it. You can charge even more. I wonder if that's the focus here luke and it would certainly be smart in the evolution of the ufc now with endeavor behind it to always want to reach for the stars and look at the nfl or the nba as a model of comparison and competition those rights for both of those sports leagues are spread around multiple networks we already know that anybody with nfl rights is paying out of their ass and hoping to make up anything they can through advertising or through teasing their other programming through the the viewpoint of nfl but i wonder if ufc is thinking

okay maybe we get a smaller deal with with espn maybe we put us you know the fight night series on amazon maybe we put contender series on rum TV, but I wonder if that's part of it, Luke. Could be. Could be. Again, it's between now and two years from now, that's a long time. There's a lot that could happen. Yes, so much is changing. Live sports was

everything two years ago, three years ago. For the bundle. It's what kept the bundle from deteriorating quicker than it already has. It became the most valuable television because you couldn't you know you wouldn't want to tape it in advance and watch it due to spoilers so we understood that it raised you know the viability of boxing for a couple years in a lot of ways too luke do you think ufc going through financial record year after financial record year has evolved to the level, even with the changing

elements of streaming and whether, you know, streaming has jumped the shark from the idea of overspending and now everyone else trying to catch up. I wonder if UFC has put its brand because of the consistency of it being there every weekend. And because of how, I mean, look, I can say all I want, how these ticket prices are through the roof, $900 for the worst seats at MSG. Miami is going to be what? $500 for the worst seats earlier this year.

But people are buying them. They are filling up arenas. When they go to a new city they haven't been since the pandemic, people are coming out of the woodwork. Is that all the same comparison when it comes to signing up these new TV deals? Will they be in demand at a level they've never been before? I'd have to believe, given the recent success, it'd be a yes. signing up these new TV deals? Will they be in demand at a level they've never been before? I'd have to believe, given the recent success, it'd be a yes.

But again, where's the money going to come from? ESPN is not going to have the money in two years to give them a 2X deal. I can tell you that. That I am super confident about. Now, to your point, they could break it up and then it's a different ballgame. And if Apple gets involved or if Alphabet gets involved or Amazon gets involved, again, different ballgame. I'm just pointing out this idea that like, oh, well, they've been majorly successful. They have relatively cheap content. They can self-produce to a large extent. It's pandemic proof, but whatever. In a crazy world, they can deliver.

Those are all really valuable things. But if people in the NBA, again, a much more lucrative in terms of media rights fees kind of situation, if even they are concerned, what would make the UFC exempt from those similar kinds of concerns? ESPN will not have the same money. NBC will not have the same kind of money. All the traditional broadcasters will not have the same kind of money. And so there has to be some kind of switch. Tech seems like they will solve some of that, but they're not going to solve all of that for everyone. Maybe it will happen for UFC, in which case, great, great for all of us. One more note about that, BC. It's not so true with, it's a little

bit true with millennials, but Gen Z is just a lot less interested in sports than Gen X. Oh my God. Right. I was looking at my, you know, 15 year old twins' bedroom and see that they don't give a crap about live TV, you know, scripted TV shows for the most part, live sports for the most part. mean they are the youtube generation times 1000 what do you think is going to happen with gen a right the next one one right behind them and again that's a different situation than two years but just in terms of the trajectory about media rights business people being like oh it's going to be 2x of what it was before i'll believe that when i see it i'll believe that when i see it yeah I'll believe that when I see it. Yeah, I wonder if we'll see players come in that we never imagined before, Luke,

or I wonder if somebody in terrestrial TV will look to make a big reach and try to get into this. I mean, could we ever see? I mean, UFC was on Fox, and certainly it's on both ESPN and they get that window through ABC once in a while. But does terrestrial tv matter anymore luke you do have a lot i mean who watches the most tv old people old people are still rocking the old cable package they're sitting watching everything it's been a resilient it's been a resilient

business model but again like with fox a terrestrial broadcaster where do they get their money dot dot dot advertising and affiliate fees the affiliate fees are declining rapidly maybe this is why powerslap is getting such a big push for UFC, Luke. It's huge in India. It's, you know, doing all the other sports numbers plus combined when it comes to social hits. And speaking of PowerSnap, Luke, tied into this category related, but not really for topic number two, but kind of is an expose put out there by bloody elbow yesterday looking at the recent decision from the california state athletic commission to approve

powerslap which was seen as a major breakthrough for powerslap owners which is dana white of ufc and of course the fertilas of zufa fame getting the full push from endeavors ufc to promote it but really the thing here is Luke, it got passed on a six to nothing boat in California, which is expected to essentially clear power slap in most state jurisdictions with California being such a pivotal one after Nevada first allowed it to clear. But Luke,

the bloody elbow expose, which interviewed people that were in attendance at this supposedly supposed to be public meeting that for some reason was held in a very private and unannounced matter in san francisco the day of the devin haney regis progre fight it looks that there's been a lot of inconsistencies according to bloody elbow reporting they've basically framed this as to some degree ufc strong arming the vote in putting the UFC influence on the state of California from the idea of approving power slap and bringing out the future plans for TKO

of bringing WWE UFC and power slap to the same city the same weekend that's obviously the larger endeavor business model of trying to travel in groups with this combat sports lockdown that they've created. But Luke, when you read the fine print of this, how concerned should we be? Not that UFC necessarily broke laws, but that there did seem to be heavy influence on this six to nothing vote passing, including some really weird inconsistencies with the meeting not being allowed to be public, media not getting a chance to take part, whether virtually or in person, and then multiple people who were outspokenly

against PowerSnap on this commission and State of California doctors very publicly in recent months suddenly shifted their vote in the opposite direction. To you, is this a warning sign? Are we digging too deep in a sport that we didn't ask for and don't really want? It is getting shoved down our face from an MMA standpoint? sign are we digging too deep in a sport that we didn't ask for and don't really want and it is

getting shoved down our face from an mma standpoint or uh is this really a mirror of the ufc's original journey to run at legislation run at uh you know medical and everything that has to do with that and trying to do this the proper way yeah i mean there's a ton of issues with this whole thing bc as you well know i mean first, um, the medical board didn't give and wasn't given the opportunity in California to give an opinion on this. Uh, there was two of the doctors who signed off on it. Uh, I think one of whom is like a skeptic of CTE. You're like, okay, that seems like not necessarily in keeping with the latest on medical science. So that's really interesting. one too is like you know these guys are athletes no they're not this is something that hunter campbell had said before nevada he said it before california as well it's

simply not true they are not athletes by any real measurement of what an athlete is supposed to mean there was a guy bc who i sent to you the photo of him weighing in this dude was to call him morbidly obese would not even be an insult it It would actually be euphemistic. I mean, he's something much more than that. A guy who's got a life expectancy of Tuesday at this point. But more than that, BC, there's just any number of curious elements to this. And two things I would spotlight. One is what they say is, hey, it's what they use in MMA as well.

It's the exact same playbook. They're like, hey, if you don't regulate this, you're going to get some 400-pound guy versus 100-pound guy in some kind of bar as this spreads for some kind of contest. And there'll be nothing really to shut that down. I'm like, well, first of all, law enforcement could shut that down, number one. It's a threat that if you don't have regulation, there'll be this run amok scenario of slapping happening all over the country in ways that is unregulated and bad for the public. That seems like a very presumptuous thing that is not really backed in any way by any facts that have been advanced to make that argument. Show me the argument that organically, not powerSlapp the organization, but the broader activity is growing

in such a way that you need some kind of regulatory mechanism specifically addressed to make sure that it happens in an above board way. That was true, or at least partially true anyway, for MMA. Certainly it was true for MMA in California before it was regulated. I am deeply skeptical that that is the case for Slapp. I don't see any organic growth in the way that they're talking about that necessitates that kind of a thing. That's the first one. But the bigger one here, BC, is the specter of the size of UFC. UFC has created a situation with MMA where only they, not the fighters and not even other rival promoters, are even able to make any money hardly at all in the sport only they and they have

combined their fortunes together with WWE to create this larger group TKO BC I mean I cannot declare to you as a matter of fact that this is what happened but let me tell you what I think probably happened in my opinion California is the only state that is mostly immune to not having pressures from a single promoter because they have so much combat sports that happens there, they don't need anyone else. But not having UFC for a long time is not great for them. UFC combining with WWE and saying we want to get Power Slap regulated, which, by the way, they did it in conjunction with Bare Knuckle,

which Andy Foster for a time really hated and they still agreed to do, which I don't quite get either. To be fair, aggressively hated it like earlier in 23, aggressively publicly outspokenly hated it. Yeah, hated it, and all of a sudden it passed. But here's what I think really happened. You've got so much muscle there between WWE and UFC, and if California had said, dude, we're not regulating power slap,

like, no, we're not doing that, TKO can turn around and said, dude, we're not regulating power slap. Like, no, we're not doing that. TKO can turn around and say, great. We're just not going to bring shows there. Not very often anyway. We're just not going to put a lot of UFC shows there. Hardly at all. We're not going to bring WWE either. Hardly at all.

We'll just go to other places. And the problem that we have set up here is athletic commissions are not just watchdogs of the industry. That can happen, and I think California in general has done a pretty good job of that. I want to be clear. business tourism, where what you need to do is, yes, regulate these activities, but we're also looking to you to create a kind of business climate where your office can be responsible for generating income for the state. And if you say that these events can't come here, and then now this company decides, well, not only are we not going to bring our power slap, obviously, because it's not regulated, we're not going to bring our power slap obviously because it's not regulated we're not going to bring our heavy hitter events and we're not going to do that for a very long time well this now has very deleterious consequences

for his the the job of the commissioner who now has turned away business for the state itself this would be really really bad and so my opinion about what has happened is you've got this totally unusual process by which there was either an about face, no real medical input. Does the commission even, by the way, have legal jurisdiction over this is another open question as well. And they did it basically to save their ass

because you have these gigantic entities who have combined forces to basically arm twist that again i'm not declaring to you outright they did that this is just my opinion but it just goes to show bc boxing fucking guys can't do this golden boy cannot go to california and then practices or or or or threaten this matchroom can't do this fucking even pbc which has 40 of all the best fighters can't do that as Fucking even PBC, which has 40% of all the best fighters, can't do that as well because they're split up and they're broken apart. Every fucking time someone says to me, oh, boxing's a broken business. I'm like, guys, I got to tell you,

if we're talking about distorted markets, boxing is a distorted market. There's no argument. But MMA looks like it's a super fucked up distorted market and it's advantageous to a arguable monopolist in ways that i don't think serves the public yeah i encourage everybody to read zach arnold's work over there on bloody elbow this is a very extensive piece that has a lot of layers but i do agree with you taking that summation and the writer did to some degree without being blatant trying to allow the reader to figure it out on their own. But look, it does seem to be influence and strong arming. I mean, it is from a competition standpoint, no different than the playbook Vince McMahon put out in the

eighties of WWF of going, you know, becoming such a pay-per-view force and reaching out to the cable companies in each state and saying, if you carry our competitors, pay-per-views, you will be not be having access to get our WrestleMania pay-per-view next year. It's the same thing. It's saying, you know, you, you, you ban this without saying it. We're not going to come to California two, three times a year, but if you don't boy, can we partner with you and be able to bring all our entertainment on a regular basis? You don't have to be a genius to see the connection there. I think the deep concern was the clandestine nature

in going against the grain of their own sort of rule sets and protocol to do this meeting out of nowhere with a short announcement time, not allowing media or anybody to be there in person, not having the normal protocol doctor reports, as you mentioned right there, having doctors not present there that have been very outspoken against it in the past. And even more, Luke, of the six-member board, a name we know pretty well, the mother of Ronda Rousey, Dr. Anne-Marie DeMars, she was the only one who was outspoken, according to Bloody Elbows reporting in this meeting, and gave a lengthy and heartfelt speech about why this is potentially more dangerous of a sport than was presented.

And even after that, Luke, she still voted for it. So, you know, what the story did represent, we want to give UFC, I mean, if you want to, you can give them this credit, is they're doing the right thing in mirroring the process of getting UFC approved originally 20-something years ago. They're running at legislation. They're basically saying, hey, state of California, give us a one-time temporary pass to do this. We will work with you and help you develop the structure of what the safety protocols

and the rule set and all of that should be. It's basically saying we will partner with you. And I do encourage everybody to read this piece at length because it really goes into detail how important that ruling was in the Mark Hunt case against the UFC, Brock Lesnar, just happens to cover California as well, which took away the liability upon the UFC potentially if somebody, let's say an athlete in power slap, takes performance-enhancing drugs, injures somebody, permanently kills them, then you can't go after the promotion. There's a very interesting sort of gray area that I think this story touched in a lot of ways.

Again, not illegal behavior, but very organized and smart behavior by the UFC, which has been consistent to a lot of their success, you know, openly lobbying against their fighters, right. To organize and all of that. I mean, this is just on par with that, but this feels sketchy. So Luke, people can hear us say this and say a couple of things. I could say, why do you guys care so much if you're not going to watch it? And we can argue, well, we're getting to shove down our faces. I've always argued. It's just such a fricking horrible look for the promoters of the leading mixed martial arts promotion on the planet who should be putting themselves in positions of protecting

fighter safety better than anyone else. Or yet a rolling out of sport where it's literally part of the rule book that you have no safety, but is it enough? Cause you read that story too. The big push from Hunter Campbell and UFC toward the California athletic commission in an effort to get the votes to get it passed was that if you look at the, the number annually of ambulance trips that the UFC shows produce that power slap is significantly fewer.

Does that actually tell the story of why this is safer though, Luke? Like I know you can always say, well, look, boxing's 50 times more dangerous when you have two non knockout punchers with padded gloves hitting each other directly in the head for 12 rounds. Yeah. That's very dangerous. Right. But we always can counter that by saying at least there's built in the idea of defense protection. It's part of the game. When you have something that has no defense, just like that. I don't feel like just saying we produce fewer ambulance rides than a sport that has arm breaks, leg breaks, and all that. I don't think that covers it from a dangerous standpoint, but is this even an argument in 2023 in your eyes? Like if people are signing up and say,

they'll do it, we could, we should probably just shut up and be like, we don't like it, but what are we going to do to change it? Because I think commissions have, you know, they get really mad when people like us say really mean things about them,

you know, and more so less, let historically less. So California, much more like nevada and then other ones uh they get really mad about it but this is the reality they have they have not acted in a way to preserve the public's trust what does it mean that there are fewer ambulance rides is that per capita or is that overall from an aggregate standpoint i don't for sure the data first show they're saying they're per show i'm show. I'm not even sure exactly what that is supposed to imply.

They go to the ambulance. They get in the ambulance and taken to the hospital less. Right. But what are all the various reasons why someone might go to the hospital in MMA? How many competitors are there per show in MMA? And more to the point, none of that even is necessarily the most important criteria. The most important criteria is what is this doing to the brain on a per show basis? What is this doing to the brain over the course of a year, right?

How many ambulance rides happen for an athlete over the course of a year relative to what you get in MMA for similar weighted counterparts? There's a lot of unknowns about the safety of slap that make us very very concerned and when there isn't a full and transparent process that the public can observe to see how these decisions are made you are not entitled to a single stat as some kind of trump card over what the truth is that might listen in the end we actually might get to a place where we have a lot of evidence to suggest, listen, slap's not great, but believe it or not, it's actually not as bad as boxing, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, for any number of reasons. But we're not at that place whatsoever today. We have

very little information that indicates that it's actually safer than some of the alternatives. And if your regulatory process by which you had to approve it is unusual and less transparent, dude, what the fuck do you want guys like us to say? You're doing this whole thing in a way that invites scrutiny for an activity that nobody wants except for this promoter because there's no federal regulation protecting this industry whatsoever. Guys, I wasn't fucking born yesterday you have a lot to answer for and you've only raised more questions in the process no like what does it mean that they took fewer ambulance rides it means fuck all i mean the good side of the arguments that they're trying to say is a slapper

is only and they're calling these fights by the way they're saying in a fight a slapper is only, and they're calling these fights, by the way, they're saying in a fight, a slapper is only doing three slaps and they're only allowed to fight two or three times a year. And they're not allowed to spar. Like that's not part of it. You don't spar, you don't train in that way. You train by, I guess, building up your neck muscles and whatever. I mean, it's bullshit, right? But I guess that makes some sense, but then why do this ridiculously clandestine shady way of getting it passed? And as the story indicated, there was a large media. The media wasn't allowed, but UFC PR machine and power slap was ready as soon as that meeting ended to get all that material out and announce excitedly that it had been passed. Why does it have to get passed under the shadows of night?

That doesn't make any sense. We already have a huge, from an MMA media standpoint or combat sports media distrust in a lot of ways of state commissions, because we feel they are so compromised by their own need to bring in those dollars, keep those relationships strong because really they're just promoters, right? Luke, I mean, you know what I mean? The commissions, they're, they're promote, they're, they're working with promoters, but they're essentially bringing in promoters to promote a big event. They obviously want to make sure everything's done on the up and up and safety is good. And no one's saying that UFC has never been ahead of the game. That's been a big part of their success safety-wise by being so ahead of the game.

But I just don't know how you can clean up and put lipstick rolling this pig out when they already have the most respected and best run fight organization out there that does have incredible safety protocols built in yet they're rolling out the sport and doing it and getting it approved under the shadows and i mean it really just makes california look look weak and i'm questioning when john jones got moved from vegas to california during christmas week a few years back to fight Gustafson a second time. It's like, you know, it was the whole picogram thing. And I know there's a lot of gray area in there too, but it's like, you want to see a, a, a, a state commission do their,

run their own protocols, stand firm and protect. This felt like intimidation and they did it. And I guess that's why we do need to really lift up and support entities like Bloody Elbow who are going against the grain and actively interviewing people that were in this meeting and actively going the lengths to actually report what happened. Because Luke, all we saw was a press release, right? Like 10 minutes after that meeting ended, the press release that it passed. Oh joy, It passed. I had no idea the connections, the deep connections and what that meant or how it actually got passed. That journalism does not exist in combat sports in this modern day. Too many outlets are too tied into their own access and their connection to the promoter. It's the modern day that we're in where promoters and network executives are in bed with one another it's everything's exclusive to specific networks i i guess i understand to some degree but this felt like a lot of bullshit for a sport that has felt like nothing but bullshit up to this sport up to this point

they can you know this america they can do what they want they can get it passed they can roll it out but they're not doing it separate luke they're doing it as part of the package through the ufc and that's been our problem all along so there you go you can read the facts for yourselves and come up with a point yourself but look there has been a lot of through the years ufc doing things quote the right way but i think the more that we dig into this 30-year history and specifically the history that began in 2001 with zufa i do think we're going to start uncovering more things I do that's just my prediction listen this industry is in such desperate need of federal regulation and that won't solve all the problems either it just won't but oh my god I mean again

it just blows my fucking mind when I hear people talk about how dysfunctional boxing is. It's like, dude, boxing is intentionally designed to avoid a situation that we have arrived in, in MMA. Like this is what it's not supposed to look like. It's not supposed to look like one firm who is so strong that no other, I want to say something to BC. We had this situation going on and this is what we're talking about the monopolistic situation that the ufc is in we're like only they make money bc let me ask you a fucking question that just is so important and it's kind of related to this debate it's a little bit separate but i really want to have this out right now in boxing de la joya promotes

golden boy seemingly makes money, whatever. Eddie Hearn promotes, Matchroom makes money. I know for a fact they make money, right? We've seen it. PBC, same thing. And there's other promoters as well, some more boutique size, whatever. But there's a shared balance of power, right? No one in boxing says only PBC can promote fights.

They're the only ones who can do it. And it doesn't dawn on people, it just blows my mind, when they look at the situation where one can't turn a profit, Bellator couldn't turn a profit, IFL couldn't turn a profit, Elite XC couldn't turn a profit, Bellator couldn't turn a profit, as I mentioned, PFL, none of these people can turn a profit. MMA fans have somehow conditioned themselves to believe that there are five guys in Las Vegas and there are the only ones on planet earth who can promote and make money in MMA. It's the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard in my life that there's just five white guys in Las Vegas and

they're the only ones who have figured this out when in fact of course that's not true of course that doesn't make any sense yes promoting is hard that is true not everyone can do it I'm not saying it's like riding a bicycle that's not my point but rather when I say that boxing is intentionally dysfunctional because you don't want to get a firm who can do this look at what they can do they can go to regulatory places get some secondary fucked up event like slap push through under not not not like you know like a thief in the night but under let's say somewhat unusual regulatory circumstances with the threat of this other broader financial implication involved. And then on top of it, they can make it so that the fighters don't necessarily make money.

And it's literally, literally impossible for a promoter of an international class variety to turn a profit. And people want to fucking honestly say right that's how the industry should work it should work this way it actually turns out there are five white guys in las vegas and they're the only ones who have figured this out it's so broken it blows my fucking mind that we have to have conversations like this this isn't i don't want the ufc to close up shop i don't want them to become the number two three or four they should also be strong promoters yeah i just want things to be truthful i want the fighters to have the rights they deserve i think this power slap thing is just a slap in the face to every ufc fighter and now if you read that that story at length it

looks like they're really recruiting directly from the the base of the the failed mma fighters that don't make the ufc so it's like they're recruiting from the same of the failed MMA fighters that don't make the UFC. So it's like they're recruiting from the same pool. We got two 400-pound guys squaring off, which was always against Dana White and company, which is why they have the 265-pound limit in UFC. But I think, Luke, the more history starts to get told the right way, people will realize some things like, is it cool that Lorenzo Fertitta had a seat on the Nevada State Athletic Commission

and he stepped down right before Zufa purchased UFC and they were the only potential buyer that were able to get the sport passed by the state looked like they might not get over the top. We are, we have this job today for the success of Zufa and Dana and UFC, but go look back at the history of how they acquired the company and how we are now. There's a strong arming that, that doesn't always feel fully on the up and up when it comes to ethical. And that's just business Luke. And I just watched the documentary yesterday about how dirty Don King was. I watched another one how dirty don king was i watched another one about bob arum i watched another one about i mean look this is combat sports it's the wild wild west and it attracts people that can come in and you can always argue well look at least the ufc is doing things you know quote unquote the legal way in a lot of ways they are they have their bases covered but is this the right way is this the way this sport should be

run from a promotional standpoint in terms of the monopoly and even deeper all the way down to fighter pay and all that and treatment um it's it's weird it's weird that we're 30 years in and we don't have a lot of these foundational elements right right if we were 30 years in and this sport still wasn't on mainstream tv and still wasn't accepted you'd just be like it's another wild west combat it's another version of combat sports it's where bare knuckle is today but bare knuckle was also banned in the state of california vehemently until suddenly it wasn't when it was allowed to come in because of power slap um why are these decisions being made i'm glad somebody's at least asking the questions over there at bloody elbow i do support them luke but i wish more uh i don't know it's it's it's it sucks i mean you look at the

state of MMA journalism. I mean, it's just weird. It's a weird time, Luke. Still love the sports. It's a time where powerful people are consolidating their wins. That's really what's happening. Powerful people are consolidating their wins. And this is what I mean about legislation.

Either the powerful people are going to make it work for them, or the other entities can find a way to make it work for them, like the fighters winning the court case, or you get the Ali Act, or whatever. But it's going to go one direction or the other. And so far, it is all in the direction of entrenched power. There it is. That's topic number two. Let's go to topic number three.

Just a quick roundup of the boxing to come. And in the latest news, we have one card of note this weekend on Saturday, DAZN Virgin Hotels, excuse me, in Las Vegas. By the way, that's right next to our favorite. I want to implicate you. That's right next to one of my favorite weed places in Las Vegas. You and Bob Arum, you mean? You and Bob Arum, yes.

Yes, yes, yes. Y'all little prick. Virgil Ortiz Jr. is the story here, and it's been a difficult story for him, having fought just once in the past two years, 19-0 with 19 knockouts, just what? Two years ago, we had him as one of those young welterweights to watch, just like Boots Ennis, who were ready to take over the sport.

Even though he's put together a string of good victories, some weird illnesses and some bad luck from fights being canceled have kept him out. Luke, now he's forced to move up in weight to 154 after that recent health scare with the weight miss. He was supposed to fight a few people and didn't come together. He's back. He's expected to blow out his opponent, who's blown up,

former welterweight Frederick Lawson, who, Luke, I once worked a Friday Night Fights card back in 2015 when Frederick Lawson was in the main event. I haven't heard from him since then, but for as much as this is a setup fight in a lot of ways, if Virgil Ortiz can come through these health issues, if he can establish himself this weekend at 154 it's going to be interesting I know he's on the DAZN side of the street which he won't have access to some of those same huge names but this division at 154 is

interesting if you add him into that mix he's a big kid has always had big size has been huge for welterweight look I think we all just wanted to come back and be healthy but i think a lot of us also are going to be looking at how he navigates this fight in this new division to see could he bounce back this year and really pick up where he left off yeah there's listen there's no doubt about this this is a fight that ortiz should shine like very easily in but i think you said it set it up right this is about what can he potentially not promise exactly, but what can he set up for the future? Well, how, how is he going to look? Well, how, how easily does he dispatch Lawson? How does he handle the weight? All these sort of other factors that, that are ordinarily you wouldn't consider necessarily as the biggest sort of thing going into a big fight. It's not a big

fight. So for that reason, you're kind of focusing on the other factors that could be more relevant as he gets to a stage where he has bigger fights um i i think ortiz will win here relatively easily i don't think there's a big breakdown that's really necessary but your your point is correct bc let's line up some of these factors and if he can you know hey does he look good at the way did he dispatch him easily you know all the kind of things you want to see in terms of how he handles various challenges. And then once he passes that test, assuming that he does, then you can begin to be like, okay, what really comes next? Those are the much more interesting kind of affairs. Yeah, he's still just 25 years old.

Luke, he was hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis. Is that how I say that? Rhabdomyolysis, yeah, which is overtraining, basically, but like very badly overtraining. When damaged muscle tissue releases its proteins and electrolytes into the blood so he hadn't he had multiple bouts with covet as well in recent years so just one fight in the last two years but when he did step up at welterweight victories over samuel vargas maurice hooker the former champion at 140 mean machine kavalowskis who dropped uh terence crawford in their fight in their title fight so he's he's put those

wins together and he's really key for uh golden boy Luke we look at them as really it's like Ryan Garcia or nothing he's that other young I mean I know Oscar assigned some other young prospects recently but like Virgil Ortiz needs to become something big for them and when we look at the future man I mean what could he make a fight with Tim Zuda on the run Luke that'd be pretty incredible if those are the last two standing in this division long way to get there but let's let's see what goes on uh that's saturday also in the co-main event it got rescheduled o'hara davies of the uk luke will take on ishmael borosso it's for an interim title we remember borosso pretty much got robbed against roly for the vacant bell after Devin Haney gave up his, or no, who gave up that

140 title, Luke? No, Roley got sick and couldn't defend it, and so they gave him until March. That was Alberto Pollo's title that he had to give up when the USADA hit. Yes, yes, yes, yes. But I'm saying, it was supposed to be Roley in this contest, and then he couldn't do it. He has to

march, so they threw in O'Hara. Barroso is the plus 40 slugger who tony weeks's stoppage was just not good we'll see him back here with the worst stoppage of 2023 the worst stoppage of 2023 no question in the fight news in boxing look how about this we teased that this main event could happen now top rank has made it a double header super bowl weekend in las vegas this will be will be Thursday night, February 8th from the Mandalay Bay. Teofimo Lopez Jr. will defend the 140-pound title. He just won over Josh Taylor in a brilliant comeback performance against the rising Jermaine Ortiz, who only has one defeat,

and that came against who? Vasily Lomachenko, but he did look good in defeat. This is a viable, interesting test. And how about this co-main event? Rising, unbeaten Olympic star Keyshawn Davis going to take on the sniper Jose Pedraza, who's certainly in the tail end of his career, but in terms of this matchup, that's a 10-round bout,

so we're going to find out exactly who Keyshawn is. Luke, how much do you expect this to be a tough test for Tao? I love this fight dude Ortiz or I slept on Ortiz before the Lomachenko fight dude if you guys may not remember this Lomachenko had to rally to beat Ortiz in that fight and he did but Ortiz gave him a very commendable effort like way way way more than I thought he was ever going to um and so and then by the way has a winner for Jamel Herring as well I I actually really like this fight I tend to think if Lopez is not fucking around he should win this but if he starts clowning and doesn't take this seriously or

I don't know just has another cambosis night BC then he will lose there's no doubt in my mind Ortiz has the capability to beat him but of course if you get back to the Josh Taylor Teofimo Lopez I think Lopez wins but I love the contest I love I love now I know what folks are saying they're like what happened to Lopez versus Subriel Matias okay fair enough we didn't get that but I will say I will say this is a good fight Super Bowl week it'll be I think that Thursday BC of Super Bowl week so you just got a lot of fun stuff on Super Bowl week to get you ready for. I love it. Absolutely. You're going to have George Cambosis, by the way, that fight against Lomachenko is official.

I believe that's April or May. They're going to do that. So a lot of good matchups coming together. I don't know if you saw that former 140 pound champion Jose Ramirez has left top rank and just got signed by Golden Boy, which was a surprise. Luke, he does draw a big crowd in that Fresno, California area. Still a good fighter. I believe his only defeat was what?

In that unification fight at 140 against Josh Taylor. Yes, that's right. So that'll be interesting is to see him on that side against some of those matchroom and Golden Boy fighters. And to close here, Luke, on our boxing update, before we hit some fan subs and dead wrong, you're not going to care about this, but it did happen. New Year's Eve, risen, rising, Luke.

Sometimes we karate chop for love. Manny Pacquiao came out, and he had an announcement. Let's go to the videotape. I hope to see you here in Japan again with a big fight against a... Floyd Mayweather. Floyd Mayweather. Floyd Mayweather, yeah. I thought you didn't want me to say that. Okay.

But I'm excited for that. Thank you for always supporting Ryzen, all his promotions, and thank you for talking about us. Thank you, baby. So, Floyd and Manny Part 2? Like, that was weird, worst announcement ever didn't even sound official don't want to see it didn't ask for it

yeah i mean i am of the two thumb i wish i had more hands bc i could give those titties four thumbs down that's kind of where i'm at with this one. I'm not overly excited if it's an exhibition under the Ryzen banner in Japan. It doesn't really move me. Would you be interested at, we just talked about Connor versus Nate three, which is a different slice of pizza altogether. But if Floyd and Manny said,

look, we are going to rematch pay-per-view. The fight's going to count. PBC pay-per-view on Amazon or whatever. Would you be more interested in that rematch than Spper-view the fight's gonna count pbc pay-per-view on amazon or whatever like would you like would you be more interested in that rematch than spence crawford like where would you sit on that no i'd still be interested in i i mean i don't think that errol spence needs to fight bud crawford again but i would still watch that rematch i mean the only thing i would watch behind may pack two would be slap fighting i mean it's at the bottom of the barrel for me it's i'm saying if may pack two was a real fight in floyd's unbeaten record was at

stake you wouldn't get a little bit into it a little bit no no two old fucking guys in their 40s well who gives a shit no well you could say that about our show luke but we keep yeah well i and they would be right and they would be right all right let's go to the fans luke they have an email address gmail uh sorry morningcombat at gmail.com we haven't done these in a while this is how you uh get on our radar to become the donk of the year it's called fan submissions you've got mail viewers fan sub number one comes to us from peter he says hey it's peter here happy new year and may 2024 be the year that mk brings back the best mma programming award where it belongs here is a picture standing at the edge of a mountain in shaver lake california beautiful view but unfortunately some of the trees are still scarred from the fire a few years ago always keep up the

great work let's have an awesome year. And remember, in life, just stop and enjoy the view. Is his shirt on backwards? Yes. Unless we sell one that, no, that's on backwards. Yeah, that is. I don't know if he knows that, though. Is he urinating?

He might be. I mean, that would make this fan sub a lot better if I could prove that he is. Yeah, I'm going to imagine he's urinating in which case this makes this an a plus fan sub. All right. I mean, look, do you think he has the type of a shoulder and back build that he's seen a

gym? It looks like he might've seen a gym a time or two. Yeah. I shot him out there. All right, let's go to the real Saul. Luke, we know what we're getting from him.

He says, happy 2024 MK family. The wife and I celebrated New Year's with our friends and got a couple of compliments on the MK bomber jacket. I got drunk and requested my friend Steven sing a song on the karaoke mic. Let me know if it's Blogbussa or Negflix. MK all day. So let's go there.

Let's make our escape. Come on, let's go there. look that that's definitely an egg flicks right there that is badass that is so good wow can we show saul again i love this man luke he's such a manly man what do we got look at that guy luke you know what i'm saying look at that you run you run from that guy all right he's got a nose ring i didn't realize that yeah maybe he gets freaky you know what i'm saying i don't care i don't want to know anything i don't like tyron woodley i got three seconds of that and that was more three seconds than i needed yeah shout out to saul shout out also to the fake saul little anthony luke love that guy as well let's go over to eric he says as promised from an earlier fan sub here

are a few picks of my south american trip first pick is christ the redeemer in heo that's not christ the redeemer that is that is here we go yeah yeah there's christ the redeemer in heo that's not christ the redeemer that is that is there we go yeah yeah there's christ the redeemer and then he said the second is at perito merino glacier in patagonia and then the third pick is the hike to fitzroy in patagonia and lastly machu picchu in peru had some random guy at the airport in buenos aires say nice shirt with a thumbs up colombia is next and i'm more excited to see those bbls than brian was before a women's bantamweight fight look people think i'm into that bantamweight division you know i'm a 125 and 115 or myself but look at this guy luke taking us with him on vacation what do you think about this beautiful scenery i want to go to argentina i've never been um this is a true fan

dude is that his lady in the mk uh sweatshirt over there seems that way yeah seems it seems that way all right well done there eric um luke what do you think about him getting stopped in buenos aries and told that the mk shirt is awesome. Buenos Aires. Pretty cool. Probably means nothing, but pretty cool. All right. Do you like his tats or you don't really care about him that much? Tribal tattoos.

Not for me. Not for me. Okay. All right. At least it's not a barbed wire tattoo like Pam Anderson and Tom Gugliotta had. I mean, that's just lame looking back, right? Well, she was in the movie Barbed Wire, so yeah she can get away with it but yes yeah i mean what was what was the worst look for pam because she was an icon of our youth whether you're ready to admit that or not luke

was it the tommy lee video or was it the marriage to kid rock oh my god she married kid rock i forgot about that yeah but that was like post-market after prime like that you know that was like the tommy that was the one that was on the magic and the sonics and it was like sad that's what that's what that kid rock marriage was you know yeah no it's it's the it's the tommy lee guiding the boat with his with his schlong part yeah i mean that guy was i mean that guy was packing luke you know Luke. You ever drop a drumstick behind that kid? Tommy Lee, just get after it, right? Just get after it. All right, let's go to Casey.

Happy New Year, donks. It's me again. And I just wrapped up a fantastic Christmas and New Year's in the Philippines with my girlfriend and my son. As promised, I made sure to represent MK on the streets of Manila. But the biggest highlights were meeting her wonderful family and filling this dad bod with the most delicious food on the planet. As a proud Southern man, I was shocked that the best fried chicken in the world can be

found in the Philippines, and I firmly believe it's the cure to BC's food racism. Hey BC, I promise that if you bite into a fresh piece of fried chicken from a Jollibee, your taste buds will be taking off their cayenne robes and making you hop into the Neres Jeepney to get more. Luke, the Filipino-based Jollibee has opened up chains in the U.S. Have you sampled? I have not. I have not.

I'm sleeping. I need to try some of that Filipino fried chicken. Casey would go on to say hey luke you're right tagalog and spanish are weirdly similar it's because the philippines was a spanish colony for centuries come on lt you were supposed to be the educated sophisticated frasier crane of mms i do know that they were fucking yeah i mean that's not a surprise to me but how the two got interwoven in the specific ways that it has i don't know the story to that everyone knows it was a fucking spanish colony that's not all right well casey says uh he's a product of the alabama public school system and even he knew that but to your credit luke you

were very astute in noticing his lack of a wedding ring he has been regularly training in bjj for about six months and he says all i can say is that one day i hope my guard passing game becomes as depth as adept as my birth guard passing game becomes as depth, as adept as my birth control passing game. Keep up the great work, and I hope you guys get the hardware back in 24. Wow, he slipped one through the goalie a few times. I mean, we're not going to get it back with days like today, but I hope that the future is brighter.

Yeah, that's okay. Let's hear from David. He said, we visited the capital of Los Estados Unidos for the end of the year. And man, I had to rep some MK merch on those streets. Thank you, Luke, for all the food recommendations you shared. We had a great time in every place we went to and the food was great. I wish you and BC nothing but the best for 24. MK is a unique show thanks to both of you.

Hopefully your plans come to fruition. They will, David. And you guys can continue bringing up the best combat sports show all the way to us in the world. Awkward pause from BC, period. MK all day. Luke, what do you think about this man, David? Have you seen him walking around outside your house at all? I have not seen him on the streets of DC, but I appreciate that shirt.

And it looks like he had nice weather on his trip. God bless him. And a nice woman in his arms, Luke, right? How about shout out that man? Yeah. You don't like to talk about people's significant others. You have like respect for the world. No, I'm not an asshole. Well, I mean, I am an asshole, but I'm not an asshole for that. Yeah, indeed. This is

from Chewy. He says, hey, BC and LT, I'm a P1 donk here, and I never really submit anything because my Photoshop skills are trash, but since the admissions have not been great lately, I figured I'd share mine and maybe spark some inspiration from the rest of the donk army okay bet was great and as much as i'm excited to see luke go to a jam band show i hope you guys do okay bet next year and luke gets you to a real man show in the mosh pit yeah yeah this is about right that's fucking hilarious oh man i checked congo pat berry fight

that was that was a funny one yeah this is great bc this is a great bit this is a great bit that's well done there chewy was about that about about it with this but he spelled fish if i have to go to fish then i'm quitting the show i just want you to know that we should set that up for sure also here's wrong but let's hear from jay paquette he says good day donk nation uh public warning to all students just when you thought it was safe to go home for the holidays move over bad santa we have something even more creepy coming down the chimney it's santa appy all in good fun folks it's only business much love donks and happy new year Love the show. Keep it up.

Luke, this feud between these two co-winners, it continues. It continues. This is disturbing and terrifying. It's pretty well done, too. Shout out to Jay Paquette up there in Nova Scotia. Let's go to John. Always great seeing BC out there in the media asking the hard questions imagine if i did that luke on showtime pay-per-view there with david benavidez and was just like david great performance uh what would you say is your favorite discounted food you know that'd be great so you're like you can honestly be like i don't know like uh were you a four loco guy before they removed the caffeine?

Finally, we have Lazy Bed. This is the first entry in my line of submissions for 24. I'm coming for that Donk of the Year award this go around. This one was made before the new year to give encouragement to baby face Brian Campbell. You're doing great. Keep it up. It says, don't worry, young bc in 10 years you'll be selling wiener cream on a floundering podcast with an uncertain future look i would i would

fight against that if it wasn't so true from tanner here of lazy bed that is a that is a very fair assessment of your situation our situation really showing me in my first ever ESPN glamour shots back in 2013 there. And secondly, Lazy Bed says, after years of hawking AG1, the boys settle into their post-podcast lives and find themselves discussing the complexities of life. It looks like they found the TRT fountain of youth. Luke, what is this all about? This is a little bit weird the joke doesn't work but the but the ai photoshop of us looking like muscle-bound american gladiators is amazing yeah give us about four more months we'll be exactly right there uh lazy bed said hope all is well

expect more nonsense in the coming months and shout out to my guy danger zone Daz 2 Changs and everybody from the MK discord it's lazy bed from Ohio shouting out those are your fan subs we appreciate you folks thanks for the ha ha's but morningcombat at gmail.com can also allow you to put us on trial we do the segment every Friday called dead wrong

really come with a receipt come original roast us if you can this one's called dead wrong. All right, Luke, let's hear from, uh, Arthur in San Diego. And many people sent this in, by the way. Hi, Luke and BC and team. I'm a big fan of both of you, but I couldn't help but point out at 53 27 of the last of, uh uh the new year's mailbag episode luke was incorrect trying to cook bc about the word air regardless and how it's not a word although i thought the same thing i decided to look into it and it turns out that it is technically a word

according to miriam webster it's a word in the same way that ain't is a word which is that you can use it in colloquial speaking but it is not's a word in the same way that ain't is a word which is that you can use it in colloquial speaking but it is not a technical word in the english language that is absolutely not fucking here in suburban connecticut we speak colloquially to each other no not to do that dude i did a thing in high school called grammar court this is a real thing this is a real thing when i tell you it's not a word it's not a fucking word this is actually totally fucking wrong it is a word in the sense of like do you have riz right which is just sort of slang it's a word in that sense but in terms of formal language it is not part of formal language at all it is not a fucking

word no well uh arthur would say it is indeed disregarded by many linguists and is rarely used in published writing but the fact remains that it's still a word that's been used for well over 200 years bc this time you have the right to have the last laugh you don't it doesn't do it regardless and by the way even if it were a word in the sense that he's describing it doesn't even mean what you think it means there is no such way of describing it you just drop the ir it's just regardless regardless of what you have to say regardless of what the facts may be regardless of what he said at the at the bus stop blah blah but it's not irregardless it's just regardless is it your head you're here or air hair look it's regardless uh here we go nick is here he says hey fellas i'm back on the attack here to serve bc a

slice of his own rare end once again on friday's episode at 49 minutes when discussing the gnarly ramirez versus espinosa fight that won mk boxing fight of the year which by the way makes for a great eighth row rewatch you're damn right it does b BC refers to Espinosa as a six foot one inch heavyweight. Like that is something to behold. Did I really say heavyweight? I don't remember that. Heavyweight isn't something hard to fathom, but a six foot one featherweight is,

which is what Espinosa is. Yeah, I clearly had a brain fart there. No judgment here. I know that this was a slip of the tongue, but just like a good pimp doesn't want to smack his bottom bitch i don't want to have to dead wrong you guys so please baby don't make me i hope both of you and i'm pretty sure pimps slapped their bottom bitches i don't think that that's a thing they reserve you know handling on um do you think that it should be the name of um tyron woodley's adult film, Slip of the Tongue Lure?

I don't want to talk about what he was doing anymore ever again. Okay. All right. Yes. Cunnilingus? Yes, you can. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Yeah. All right. Hey, one more for you. This is from Daz. He says, first he says, aloha, Donks. During the prediction show at 16 minutes, 10 seconds BC and describing the lack of rivalries between contenders at 205, he stated that the fighters are like two ports in a storm passing each other. Well, that sounds lame.

BC, I appreciate your efforts to sound intelligent, but you have mixed your metaphors by combining any port in the storm with like two ships passing in the night also ports are physical locations and thusly cannot pass each other in a storm hope well unless the storm is like really unless there's a major earthquake and the world just a tsunami then everyone's passing each other uh hope your holidays have been merry have a happy new year thanks for the content. Look forward to 24. Mahalo. It's Daz.

There you go, Luke. That's all the fan shit we got. We appreciate every one of our fans. Morning Combat at gmail.com for more. We'll be back on Monday as long as my connections hold up with Have You Seen This Shit? Thank you to Mikey Mormont for not killing me when I screwed up this whole show. Luke, do you have anything you want to wish anyone hope you have a good weekend guys sorry about the state of today's show i know it looks like we have absolutely bottomed out to a

terrible place which is not technically untrue but it is also true that we're working on the rebound in a way where i hope will make you guys proud stick with us i know it doesn't you know it's stick with us stick with us we we love you baby please stick with us i know that we've abused you in the past but we love you okay so maybe it's cold outside apparently you can't play that song at christmas anymore no it is a little it is a little she's like i really i really can't stay and he's like he's trying to convince her to stay. It's a little... I think it's he that's trying to say,

it's cold outside, I shouldn't leave. You know what I mean? No, she wants to go, and he's trying to talk her into it. He's trying to talk her into it. That's why it's like a thing. Yeah. I think that's right. Morningcombat.store, right?

Is that our website? Yeah, morningcombat.store, right? Is that our website? Yeah, morningcombat.store. 10% off right now using our code LIVE10. 10% off merch at this great merch house. That's about it. I've petered out. Yeah, there you go. I don't know what else to say.

All right, listen. Enjoy the snow this weekend. You're going to get a full foot and a half. See, when you say snow, I think inform. Ho in the garden, yeah. A bicky boom down. Did you ever hear the Daddy Yankee cover of that? No, but I like your great-grandfather, Daddy Yankee,

also following the light, Luke. Yeah. We talked about this. He probably banged so many tens he just can't imagine his life anymore in that direction but uh no he has a song called con calma which is like a uh sampled it and it's you know con calma similar kind of bit yeah all right all right that's it i don't have any more weird dad jokes. Um, you know, I'm kind of going through an existential crisis right now. Look, I mean, I'm really embarrassed about the microphone. And then let's call it a day because I got shit to do. Yeah, you probably got a few other jobs or something,

you know, it's great. All right. It was great talking to you guys. We're out.