MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Bellator 285 Recap: Henderson, Romero Win | Shakur Stevenson Dominates | Morning Kombat Ep 353

Episode Date: September 26, 2022

On Episode 353 of MK, Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell recap a massive Bellator 285 event that saw Benson Henderson and Yoel Romero impress in their late careers. Plus, Shakur Stevenson dominates, whats next for him? could it be Gervonta Davis? If you support the show, please vote for Morning Kombat in the "Best MMA Programming" Category: https://www.worldmmaawards.com/nominees/ Get MORNING KOMBAT merchandise now: https://morningkombat.store/ (00:00:00) - Intro (00:09:55) - Benson Henderson Beats Peter Queally (00:26:20) - Romero vs. Manhoef Recap (00:40:50) - Rest Of Bellator 285 Recap (00:50:20) - Shakur Stevenson Dominates (01:03:10) - Joe Joyce Beats Parkers (01:30:40) - HYSTS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, it's the 26th of September and you have nothing better to do than watch this stupid show. Hi, everyone. I'm one half of your hosting duo. Welcome to Morning Combat. My name is Luke Thomas. I join you from the capital of the status of needles right here in Washington, D.C., joined by my hetero editorial life mate, friend and fellow wash dad. He's the king of Connecticut. He's also my friend in yours. It's Brian Campbell. Hi, Brian Campbell. Hi, Luke. I appreciate your constant push for us to take our friendship deeper and you know my fears which is steadfastly reject at all times i mean you want like like you want like man-on-man

contact and stuff you know i'm working into that luke but the whole thing here is though that uh hi my name is brian i love combat sports and I probably have polarizing to shitty takes about them that you're about to consume. So buckle up and get ready, okay? Hope everyone is doing well. It's a Monday show. There was no UFC over the weekend, but it's a combat sports cornucopia every weekend, so there's always stuff to get to, including, but not limited to, there was Bellator 285 from Dublin, Ireland on Friday. We'll get to that.

There was a couple of boxing matches over the weekend. They're actually pretty good, believe it or not. We'll get to that as well. Folks might be asking, what about Ryzen? What about Floyd? What about Kyoji Horiguchi? We'll get to that on extra credit. Plus, I have something else that I've been kind of cooking up that I think folks are going to like, so be on the lookout for that. As always, if you're watching on YouTube, thumbs up on the video. Please hit subscribe. We appreciate that. When you do, you can give us a follow there at the socials below. Morning Combat everywhere, including TikTok, by the way.

We're on the old TikTok. You can do your dance and watch whatever it is you watch on TikTok while you get to consume some MK stuff. So that's there. Just don't groom children. If you're into that, get off TikTok. Thank you. Okay. Luke.

You don't have to. You don't have. Okay. It took you about. Let's see, about 90 seconds to get weird. That's a new record. I think weird or a preemptive strike, Luke, to make this world a better place. It's your choice. Hey, are you going to cyborg up?

I didn't add cyborg to have you seen the shit since it was last night, but I did see she won, Luke. You're going to work that into extra credit or? I don't think so. I watched some of the highlights from that as well. I didn't watch the full match it seemed fine she fought someone who was 17 and 23 which you know if you're pro boxing debut is probably just fine that's not a big deal but there was nothing super remarkable about it there was maybe there's maybe a question of like could she use that to elevate

to like a bigger celebrity boxing match maybe i don't really know but i probably won't get to too much of that on extra credit. I do want to let folks know, if you watched Bellator on Friday, well, you watched it on Showtime, and if you don't have Showtime, you can get it. 30-day free trial. Just go to Showtime.com. If you want to keep it within the 30 days, or excuse me, afterwards, you can. If not, you can go do something else

with your life. BC, I know you got some merch on today, and by the way, I'm told there's a little section on the website for you now where can they go to learn more about this yeah let's drop the fourth wall here we got a great merch house called morningcombat.store you know uh rj crackerfucker our fantastic merch provider he said bc every time you wear the goods on the air is it ear here or air hair? I don't know, but that joke has been done by you probably a thousand times. That's a classic in my house, you know, bait or fade.

But, you know, what he said is, if you wear it, we sell it. It works like that. It's subliminal advertising. So we have a new section on the front page of MorningCombat.store called Campbell's Closet. You want to see the skeletons in my closet? You want to wear those skeletons? You can do that right now. Morningcombat.store I don't have a promo

code, but Luke, shout out to JP. You know JP from Nova Scotia, right? Mm-hmm. Him and his wife Dawn survived that hurricane that flipped things upside down up there on the Canadian coastline. So I wanted to... No power. So they're not watching the show right now, Luke, but I

wanted to shout them out just the same. You can dress like me and jp at morningcombat.store thank you there you go there you have it also you can always email the show morningcombat at gmail.com for wednesday's fan subs which by the way last week excellent fan subs and of course dead wrong which either hit or miss but sometimes they kill us and sometimes it's justified you have to accept it either way. Last but not least here, BC, I want to remind folks, I think voting is, I think this is the last week to do it. If you have not voted for us to get an award, please do so. Morning, excuse me, what am I saying? WorldMMAAwards.com slash nominees. If you're watching now on YouTube, you can see the QR code. Just hold your phone up to the screen and go vote for us, please.

It would do wonders for us us i cannot overstate how important it would be please help us if you are so inclined uh bc i hope you had a good weekend very quickly did you i had a great weekend luke i didn't work a lot i went to my kids cross country invitational i mean it was fall weather you know what i mean we watched movies as a family you know what i did last night luke i went to the uh david bowie documentary in the theater how was it was it good i bought the eighthie documentary in the theater. How was it? Was it good? Thumbs up, thumbs down?

I bought the eighth row, too. The whole row. It was equally brilliant, dark, absurd, artsy, and it is a must-watch if you've got any inkling. It's not the kind that goes album by album and gives you the inside details. It's more of a mind fuck, if you will, Luke. And I know that sometimes you will well i didn't sleep for shit last night because my daughter woke me up at 3 45 in the morning to get her a glass of water it would be interesting to note that she didn't drink the glass of water and then at various times past 4 a.m when i tried to get her to go back to her room

and her bed she declined and then kicked me in the face like bruce lee all night long so i'm tired, BC. Well, Luke, just a heads up, because I know our audience is thinking it. As the parent, you are the authoritative figure in this relationship. Yeah, you know, by title, maybe. I say that knowing, knowing full well that if I had a daughter, there would be no rules.

Sons, I kick their ass on a daily basis, but daughters, no chance, Luke. Yeah, we went to the Latin American Festival here in D.C. over the weekend, Fiesta D.C. Not that great, if I could be honest with you. Not that great. It was cool. It was in Pennsylvania Avenue, which is the avenue you can go

right down to the Capitol on, which the setup was great. But just a bunch of vendors selling jerseys for Central American soccer teams. It wasn't that cool. It's just generic. I mean, Fiesta BC would have been much better, Luke. A party in my pants. Our whole audience is invited. Who would the vendors be at Fiesta BC?

That's really the question. Yeah, you know all those vendors that were willing to do deals with us on various edible things and we got shot down by our bosses? Those people would be it. Yeah, that corporate was like, yeah, we're not going to let you sell that. Yeah. All right, very good. Well, let's get things started.

There was some fights over the weekend. I'd like to talk about them. So topic number one, if we can get going here, on Friday from Dublin, Ireland, I'm told it was, from a business perspective, quite a successful show for Bellator. In fact, you looked at the crowd. They were rocking, as we indicated, Peter Quealy's walkout, just tremendous. The crowd was hyped. It was a wonderful thing to witness.

However, it ended up being the case that Benson Henderson was just a very different level than Peter Quealy. All the way really through. Peter Quealy was kind of in the fight, but never really in the fight. BC, here's my first question. What did you make of the abilities that Benson Henderson showed? And I guess part two of that question, all right, he's got the win over Mamadov. Now he's got the win over Quealy.

Should he get a title shot from this? Well, look, I've got to take a very strategic L. This is dead wrong in the moment, not only for my thoughts on Joe Joyce, but Peter Quealy picking the upset win. Look, it didn't happen. And first of all, you nailed the atmosphere in Dublin is so much that everybody tweeted the same exact thing. Hey, Bellator,

make this your freaking home base. I mean, look, even the people that were in the crowd at UFC's recent visits to London and greater UK were like, there's not the same energy there is inside of Bellator Dublin. Shout out to Graham Manning, one of our MK Finest who was there. Yes, I did slide into your wife's DM

that time. Luke, what I learned here is that Benson Henderson, at 38, look, he's still got it, and I don't think you have to look too far to realize what's going on here. Signed the new contract, a four-fight deal, has outright said it's going to be his last, and you can tell by this performance, the mental edge he had, the shape he was in, and really the intention and what he tried to do out

there that he's going all in on what you just asked me a potential title shot the question here is has two consecutive wins one over and then be an islam mamadav by by split decision mind you and this one which was really start to finish domination is that enough well luke this specific division in the Bellator cupboard, the line is not that long at the moment. And does Benson Henderson have the name, the career accomplishments, and at least a spark of momentum to justify this? Luke, after that performance, I have to say yes, because I thought there was an opening here potentially for Peter Quilley, who I identified as the fresher fighter turned out Benson proved us wrong and that could potentially

take advantage of a still sturdy but aging one in Benson Henderson who's not that far removed from a three-fight losing streak I was happy to see Luke that he is revived he is regenerated the commitment to the offensive wrestling he's always a tough out. The creative strikes, you see that downed up kick right there. Look, he was start to finish in complete control of this contest. In fact, I thought Peter Quigley had about a good 30 seconds to start the first round, and then you almost never heard from him again. Could you justify it in this scenario? I think you could.

Obviously, the unknowns is that this week Bellator returns to Long Beach. You're going to have A.J. McKee moving up to this division for his first time. Is it a one-off? Is he going to be in line if he wins to face the winner of this upcoming Patrycki Pitbull-Usman Nurmagomedov title fight? It's hard to know, but if Bellator went the direction of Benson Henderson after this, this two-fight win streak has showed us, at the very least, that he is pouring out whatever is left. No stones unturned. He has a why again, Luke. He has the motivation to end his career with a bang and try to put that Bellator title next to the WEC and UFC ones on his mantle.

And tell me if I'm wrong, Luke. Even though Queely disappointed. Even though you can argue, was Peter Queely ever, you know, ever. He was a title contender, but was he ever that great well you can make that argument after this performance I loved everything I saw from Benson he's back at this level to where he needs to be to really try to make this title dream a reality I would agree with much of that I almost all of it I thought that you know what really stood out to me about Benson Henderson's performance over the weekend, BC, was just a real veteran performance. You know, I think he realizes he's got some athleticism left and he used it.

But to me, he had a really great strategy and he stuck to it. Now, it wasn't necessarily crowd-friendly at all times. In fact, it was a little bit weird that he kind of like took the energy out of the arena based on what he had to do. I'm not mad at him for it, but it resulted in that. And then in the post-fight interview, he's like, everyone get up! It's like, well, you kind of took the wind out of their sails there, Benson. But the truth is, just the way that he fought,

and where he was pressuring Queely, going back to it, lifting the single leg against the fence, building attacks from there, slowing Queely down, knowing all the different ways to intercept the pressure Queely was going to bring, and then neutralizing it over and over and over and over again. They had a good game plan. They stuck largely to the game plan. They knew exactly how much energy Benson has to give. You can see the gray in his beard now, you know, not like me, and the gray in his hair, not like me, but you can see it now. Like he's obviously turning a bit of a different corner as a person and an athlete.

So let's give him, let's build a game plan around his leftover existing strengths, which are still considerable, but not what they once were. It's obviously fair to say. But let's just make sure we have an opponent who is dangerous, who's going to come forward at all times. Let's neutralize him with all of the other well-rounded skills that we have. And you saw him do that basically from the beginning to the end. As you indicated, a couple of moments here and there where that wasn't really true.

But overall, this was just to me a guy who has been in there and done that so many times. What is he, 13 or 14 fights now into his Bellator career to say whatever else he's done in UFC. This guy has seen a lot and he now understands how to apply himself at this stage of his career against this kind of an opponent in a five round fight. This was a veteran performance to me from beginning to end. Now to get to the second part of that question BC I asked you should he get a title shot? Now as we know the current weight class champion in Bellator is Patrycki Pitbull. The number one contender who he's going to face is Usman Nurmagomedov. So it's going to be the winner of that. We'll talk about that in just a second. But if he gets the title shot, Benson Henderson, the only person in front of him in the rankings is Tafik Musaev, who just has the one win inside the Bellator cage. Benson Henderson is sitting at three. If I'm Bellator, BC, tell me if you disagree. If I'm Bellator, as good as Musaev looked,

I would not give him the title shot next. And I know he's got some history, obviously, from what he did in Rizin with Pitbull as well. But remember, Henderson's got history with Pitbull. He lost a split decision to him, the Petriki one, not the Patricio one. And obviously, if Nurmagomedov wins, you can do something there. But the point is not either of those fights I'm talking about. I just want to

point out Benson Henderson has done a lot in Bellator. The last two wins are legit. He's riding a two fight win streak. Musaev doesn't have that inside the Bellator cage. I actually feel like Benson Henderson is at this point your rightful number one contender given who else is in that field fair or unfair no I think that's fair and look had this been a ho-hum you know had it been a second straight split decision or had it been yeah he did what he had to do but did he really impress you I think that's where you'd start making the argument well hey what's really going on with AJ McKee if he gets passed by Carlisle is he going back to the trilogy potentially with Patricio if he beats Boric or is he headed up to the Patrycki-Usman level at lightweight? I think

Benson Anderson gives you, from a promotional standpoint now, a heck of a storyline into a main event with him challenging for the title, trying to put that capstone on the end of his great career. But the thing is, he looked like he is that guy again. And sometimes, Luke, when someone's in the twilight, and our producers have looked it up in the moment, you mentioned his amount of Bellator fights, 13 Bellator fights for Benson Anderson. He's only been seven and six in those 13,

but a lot of that is because he's always fighting elite competition. He lost two title fights in separate divisions in a three-fight stretch upon his arrival. Sometimes in the second half of a career, you can get caught in a rut where you're doing enough to be competitive, but do you have that spark to get over the top and win it? That spark is back. And sometimes you just have to have a why. And I think Benson, again, has found that signing what he's calling his final deal.

Already has the plans. You saw the video package to corner his wife's professional MMA career. So it seems like the perfect set of matchmaking right there. And I think, Luke, at this point, he's competitive enough to where he's going to have a shot at it. And if he wins it, it's a hell of a story. But he needed to convince us with this type of performance. And good Lord, the best thing he did to show you how convincing it was what's what you would mention that crowd was at a 11 out of 10 for most of that preliminary card in the beginning of that main card credit scott coker and company they rightfully put a lot of local guys in there

and oh by the way luke a lot of these local irish guys take on a ton of damage before rallying to get a victory so the the foundation was set for excitement and Benson Henderson cut through that shit like fruit Ninja. And it was just like the excitement stops here. I'm taking your guy out. Yeah. That was eyeopening enough that where he deserves, uh, uh, the right reward for that. He certainly has the big enough name. Um, Luke, I've never not been a Benson Henderson guy. I've never really been a Benson Henderson guy, but we all love veterans who've accomplished things to try to get that one more run at it and wring out whatever's left. I got to say, this is an

encouraging turn for Benson because he'd become more of a celebrity name tough out, and now for the last time, he's got to keep up a high pace to be in these fights, but Luke, he executed that over five rounds on Friday night. I was very impressed yeah i would say this like the guys who last at like if we're at the lower weight classes obviously the heavyweight 38 is not necessarily all that old but in the lighter weight classes 38 is definitely very old for 38 to me we see what really tells you that benson henderson is positioning himself as best as he possibly could given the stage is that he's not fighting I mean Andre Olofsky had to really change up the way he fought and god bless him he did it and it worked but that's a very very difficult thing to do what I would want to see is something like what a Jim Miller does which is I'm going to do the things I'm good at I'm going to

get the right kind of competition excuse me but what I'm really going to focus on is I'm just going to make sure that I apportion my offense correctly. I have a scalable, manageable game plan. I'm going to do the things I did, but I'm going to do them in a way that's better suited for the veteran stage of my career. To me, that's what you got from Benson Henderson on Friday. You got the things that he's normally good at, just somewhat dialed back a little bit in intensity he's still very much intense either in terms as of a offensive threat and you know his presence in the fight from beginning to end but dialing it back a little bit those times where he's picking up the single leg and holding it against the fence like Peter Quealy man we should talk about this for just a second I really really really I get that for the first three rounds you don't want to make a mistake

because you don't want to end up on bottom with Benson Henderson and then you ride out the round with him on top. You're trying to stop that. So I get that. And there's a lot of takedown defense, which he was able to show, which was great. The problem was, dude, what ended up happening was, once he was picking up the leg,

you saw Peter Quealy have to give all of his attention to manage that particular position. I've told people this over and over again. I'm going to remind everyone again. The best kind of takedown defense is not merely stopping the takedown. It's creating separation, particularly along the fence line. And I go back to one of the guys who's best at it, Izzy. Israel Adesanya is one of the best at this.

What he'll do is he'll stop the takedown, and he is constantly hunting for his opportunity to break contact and recircle to the center you just didn't see that from Peter Quigley and again of course it's very easy for me to say that but I'm just trying to show what the levels look like I thought BC by round four round five it's like dude you're already down this is not going well I know he wanted to get the fight back to the center but the other part was Benson Henderson was doing a really great job of intercepting that pressure when he had to. There was one big uppercut.

You saw Benson Henderson get underneath it and then turn right around to fence pressure. At some point, you just like jump guillotine, go to guard, do something different, create chaos. Try to try to introduce something into the equation that hasn't been there yet that was missing. Do you feel like that's a fair criticism? Yeah, this was a very disappointing performance for Quilio. To have the crowd behind him, I mean, Luke, even after Henderson threw three rounds, essentially shut everyone in that building up, they still tried to rally with a zombie chant a cappella.

And by the way, it was pretty awesome. I mean, that crowd showed out in so many ways as we talked about. Yeah, Luke, he had nothing. I don't know if he had gotten hurt early in a way we didn't pick up on, and he was sort of just riding on instinct. I'll always shout out somebody like Peter Quealy's toughness. His ability to endure over 25 minutes was really on point there, but he had nothing. He had no ability to counter what was coming back at him, and he was just kind of running into the same thing, running into the same wall again and again the same way. I think this was a very disappointing performance top to bottom for somebody who's one fight removed from fighting for a world title against a guy he had just stopped the fight before. I get the controversy and all that with the decision

making from the officials, but this would have been Peter Quilley's opportunity. Really, look, these are the stakes we set for this fight. One guy's probably going in that other direction for good. One guy's going to try to make one more run. It was Benson Henderson who did it so impressively that we're actually legitimately talking about him in a title fight.

And, Luke, I thought Benson's on-the-mic reaction of saying, hey, Patrycki, let's go to Brazil. We'll do a soccer stadium. I'll be the villain. I'll be the road guy. Or, hey, Usman or Magomedov, we'll do the same thing in Moscow. I like that spirit and that attitude luke because it's probably going to take that uh okay so then it gets to a question of

who should he fight now obviously he's the number one contender he has to just fight the winner what would you rather see would you rather see henderson versus patricky pitbull too which obviously the first one ended in a split decision loss for benson h or would you rather see Henderson versus Nurmagomedov? I will tell you personally, it would be the latter for me, but we can get to yours first. Well, look, which fight does he have a greater chance of winning? The Petriki Pitbull one. I love Petriki. He's had savage moments in the cage. At this point in his career, Luke, you know, I think he can be upset. I think, you know, he had those close-ish fights with Quigley. You saw that.

This is the avenue that it would probably need to take for Henderson to have this opportunity to do this late career surge. I just have legitimate questions about Petricci getting past this freight train, this absolute hammer. Do I have the cupboard over here, Luke? Is it hammer time? I mean, Usman Nur cupboard over here luke is it hammer time i mean usman ramagomedov's shaft is in here luke okay um patricky's gonna have an uphill night against that so uh that also means that benson will potentially have the same but that's why we watch the fights luke let's see what happens i will tell you for me personally i'd rather it be nurmagomedov uh and i realize that there's history between him and pitbull right that would be kind of cool to watch again i agree that the henderson

versus patricky fight is much more winnable for henderson i would i would i would certainly acknowledge that that is true but for me on the nurmagomedov side if you're first of all if you're nurmagomedov you're already the champion in this particular case but defending it against a guy like henderson that's by far the most experienced guy he's fought, if that comes to that, right? Like, part of the criticism of Nurmagomedov's resume, we're talking about Usman Nurmagomedov here, is that it doesn't have, like, really top-tier guys in it. And again, we're talking about a Benson Henderson,

who is very close to the end of his career, but still performing, as we indicated, quite ably. But still, to have that name on your resume, a guy this experienced, I think would say a lot. Conversely, if you're Benson Henderson and you end up beating Usman Nurmagomedov, dude, that's about as validating a late career win as you're probably going to get, certainly within Bellator. I couldn't imagine who else he could beat at this point,

even a Brent Primus or even a Tawfiq Musaifai would be good too, but it doesn't carry the same, obviously, value. Either way, there would be a lot more to gain on either side, I think, with a Nurmagomedov versus Henderson fight. And by the way, I tend to think that's probably what you're going to get. I think Nurmagomedov's probably going to be your weight class champion. Seems like Henderson will get the title shot. We don't know yet.

That's probably what we're going to get. I think that works. That's a great way for either guy to get a lot out of something and for the promoter to be able to hand off something interesting in either direction indeed Luke all right point number two let's go to Yoel Romero here so he got a really very solid win putting out the lights of Melvin Manhoff in the third but by the way I forget those stats here I think Aaron Bronstetter had a tweet about it where you look at the stats Romero has a huge portion of his finishes all coming in KO or TKO in the third but he gets it done in the co-main event BC the question to you is a how impressive is the victory and b this is the interesting part he kind of

flamed out of what was supposed to be in the tourney, right? We're supposed to get the Anthony Johnson fight. We didn't get it, and blah, blah, blah. Loses to Phil Davis. It just didn't go the way it was supposed to go. And so he's out of the tournament. We don't have a resolution yet between Corey Anderson and Vadim Nemkov. We're going to get one here pretty soon. 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. But like, does this win get him a title shot? Now that the tournament's over, he didn't necessarily like shine through that process in the way that we had all kind of hoped. It didn't turn out the way we want.

He's got two wins in a row. He beat Manhoff rather easily. And you could say, well, Manhoff, as I said on Friday, I'm glad he's retiring. I don't think he should be fighting at all at this point, but here he is. Nevertheless, where are you on how good he looked and what this means for where he stands at 205?

You all look great. I mean, physically, Luke, he seemed to be back in a spot he hasn't been since moving up to 205 and coming all look great. I mean, physically, Luke, he seemed to be back in a spot he hasn't been since moving up to 205 and coming to Bellator. Now, like Benson Henderson, I think he found a why. We found that out after the fight when he announced, hey guys, I'm still the best 185-pound fighter in the world. Now, look, he put a little qualifier around that little tongue-in-cheek in him saying that, but this was a 205-pound bout. It was a fight he was supposed to win odds-wise, and look, you know, him being this dialed in actually robbed us from some of that crazy all-action potential that this fight kind of offered, but I think the

silver lining in that is that Yuval's back. He's back at the very least to say he's going to get the very best of what's left of him when he's already in this weird, unique, ageless wonder spot. Was he 45? Because look, he was not in this kind of shape in the Phil Davis fight, which was kind of rushed. Even in the last one against Alex Polizzi, which he looked very good. This showed me that he's got something to fight for, and that's a run at the 185 pound title. You saw him in markedly better shape, which shows you he's in the process of cutting down. And when it comes to the potential matchups there, not only has Johnny Ebelin already responded with like a, hell yeah, I'll retire another legend.

But Luke, the idea of him fighting Gegard Mousasi, who just lost his middleweight title, I mean, that's must-see TV. That's destination viewing between two all-time greats. So I actually long-term love the developments of what came out of this fight. We didn't get the back-and-forth sort of highlight potential, but when Romero had the opportunity to end the fight, boy, did he do so violently against a still game man who really was never in this contest.

I like to see Yoel motivated. I like to see him hyping himself up. And more than anything else, although it's not really related to all this, the reception he got from that Dublin crowd, Luke, it was heartwarming. Here's a guy who has no connection to that area of the world. Yet due to his reputation, due to his accomplishments, they showered him in love and praise to the level where you could feel it through the screen and even you heard Yo you could feel it through the screen.

And even you heard Yoel go after it in the post-fight interview and say, Hey, all fighters out there, you haven't fought yet until you fight right here in this cage. I love to see him get that respect. But the thing is, Luke, he actually earned that respect with his performance. He's dialed in. He's ready. How soon for a middleweight title shot? I don't know. But it feels like he's a player now because I feel like he's

making the best use of what's left of his talents. 205 was always going to be a little bit of a crapshoot for him, but to see him now getting back in killer shape and utilizing his offensive wrestling, which is something that just has not been there throughout his elite MMA run, I thought altogether this was a great turn for the better which is something that just has not been there throughout his elite MMA run.

I thought altogether this was a great turn for the better for Yolo Romero, and I'm very excited about his future. I'm surprised that you see a future at 185. I candidly don't. Why are you so confident he can make 185 again? Because I saw him come in in markedly better shape in this fight than the last two. He looked a lot bigger, too. I know it's never been easy for him, Luke.

Can I sit here and guarantee you he makes it? No. I mean, he's fought in how many title fights in a row was he a part of that he failed to make weight in? We get it. But, Luke, isn't that a better use of what's left for both him and the promotion? Look, the aging wonder old guy versus old guy fights are always going to be there. If Rumble can get healthy, will I ever want to see that? Yeah, I still want to see that. Okay, I still do. But there are fights to make at middleweight.

And him attempting to cut down is going to get the best of what's left in him. Luke, I'm going to be honest with you. Even though he looked good against Polizzi, the way he carried himself, how he looked physically the last two fights since coming to Bellator, it just didn't feel like the Yoel of old. I thought we had stumbled upon an old Yoel. And I'm not trying to say that beating 46-year-old Melvin Manhoof is a fountain of youth moment where I'm now going to favor him against Johnny Eblen or Musashi. No.

But I want to see those fights. And he's going to have to be in the right mental and physical shape really strategically as well. And he was with the wrestling in this case, to be there to put off the best version of himself. I think he's found a reason to get motivated, and I think we saw that shine through in this one. I've got to tell you, I agree with your sense of how he looked. The fact that he's got the third round TKOs and TKOs so considerably relative to his peers, to is an interesting thing but if you just watch

this fight in particular and of course this has been true longer than just this fight but this fight was a great showcase of taking his time, finding the right moment it came in the third, obviously there was a lot of wrestling that came before that from UL Romero, he was able to get the takedown basically whenever he wanted and then

sort of softening up, slowing down a guy like Melvin Manhoef and then those elbows sort of softening up slowing down a guy like melvin manhoef and then those elbows i tweeted about it like right when he got to the position i think in the second round where it's like this is the same position that half guard top control that he demolished leota machida from with those elbows i think it was in hollywood florida on a fight night card for the ufc and sure enough third round he gets right back to it dude he's got vicious ground and pound from that particular position. So to me that he was taking his time, using weapons he knows he has.

I think he had a size advantage, even though they were both 205 pounds. He just looked to be the much more physical guy between them. Certainly in the wrestling department, that's going to be true. Here you see the example. He tried that terrible key lock, which was never going to work. He didn't do it correctly at all. But aside from that, he looked good. He knows more about key lock, which was never going to work. He didn't do it correctly at all. But aside from that, he looks good. I would guess he knows more about key locks than you do.

So why don't you watch that tone around Yoel, all right? It looks to me like he doesn't, actually. I would actually say he doesn't. That was a very poorly applied version of one. See you soon, boy. See you soon. Yeah, I actually would say that might be the one thing I know more in combat sports than him. But for sure, his paintbrush is not good.

But, um, short of that, he did look great. He had a lot of things that went from, and again, I like the measured approach. I don't buy one 85 is a path for him at this stage in his career.

What aren't you buying beyond your fears that he's not going to make weight. Luke Thomas, why are you not buying that? That's the only fear that I have. And I don't think it's even physically possible. Dude. Not only did he look bigger in the sense that he had filled out at 205 you can see guys who you know go up a weight class and they look a little bit you know they don't look as drained it wasn't

just that he didn't look as drained it looked to me like he had packed on muscle it looked to me like he had actually not just said well I'm not going to as I'm not going to just deplete myself I'm going to actually add a ton more muscle on top of it. What is he, closer to 50 than he is 40 at this point, or right at the midway point, right around it? Dude, he's not making 185. I just don't believe that it's possible. I don't believe he has the interest.

I know he's talked about it. I understand that. I understand he keeps that flame lit. Does he have two hands? I'm asking you a serious question. Does he have two hands? Yes asking you a serious question does he have two hands yes anything is possible go okay okay i don't know what that means but to me the question is what are you gonna do espn interview luke come on get back in it here please stay with me i can't

see your hands i don't know what you're doing it's a blues riff and g watch me for the changes and try to keep up okay lu, Luke, come on. Okay, I mean, these moves are terrible. But all right, but the point I'm trying to make here is, I'm not even disagreeing with you that there would be fun fights if they could make them at 185. The Johnny Eblen one is very interesting. I just really don't, I just don't buy it.

I'll believe it when I see it, BC. If they sign a 185-pound fight and he makes it, and they give him, you know, I will retract this concern that I have. This is the same tone you use when talking about your lack of belief in a deity, just so you know. Maybe soldier of God, maybe there's a connection there. Yeah, well-placed skepticism, I might add. Well-placed.

But BC, at this point at 205, who would you favor? Ryan Bader or Yoel Romero? Okay, but that's not in play at the moment. I would favor Bader, but, you know, Luke, does he? Okay, look, get Floyd, get Bill Cosby. The proof is going to be in the put and pops, Luke, okay, in terms of him making it. We get it.

Separate from that. I get that there's no separate from that if he doesn't make it i get that okay separate from that is it going to be more competitive in the bellator promotion at 185 or 205 right now don't you think from that two fight experience yeah so that from that two fight experience 185 is going to be the the better use of his skill set of what's left look it's going to be on him and his team hey Hey, if they need help, I got a guy in Las Vegas. They call him Chef Kaz, K-A-S, Luke, okay? He'll put them weird balls on you, okay? He will, he will.

But that guy will meal plan for you. He'll move into your house or probably sleep in your bed. But that guy is on top of his game. There are experts out there, Luke, okay? If Joey grabs one of those experts, don't count him out yet, okay? Okay, let me ask you. Level of confidence he can make

185? Well, I mean, I would be stupid to say, yeah, Luke, I'm right here. I mean, I'm certainly more confident in the Lord above, Luke, because I speak to him on the reg, but this soldier of God, I have less confidence because if he can't make that weight in UFC title fights title fights what are we doing bro but luke he's already announced it he's got no other choice right it's like it's like when you put on that christmas weight and you go up on

facebook like everybody i'm getting in shape now okay i'll put it out there so that you can hold me accountable it's up to him to prove that luke but i do think it's the right direction right now we're naturally skeptical a guy that age cutting down but we don't see guys that age look like that fight like that act like that he's an alien okay he is an alien i will say that i i certainly share your sentiment that his talent will be better used at 185 color me deeply skeptical he ever goes back there or makes the weight i mean they might make you know they might make a fight he makes 187 or 88 or something. I don't buy he can make 185. Some people don't come around to the truth until their last breath, Luke, so I'll be there during your last one and we can rejoice together.

Okay, that's a little weird. In terms of Melvin Manhoef, he took his gloves off. This is the last fight, which I'm very glad to see. He has taken an absolute metric ton of abuse over the course of his career. What would you say about the career of Melvin Manhoef that stands out to you? Well, you know, he did take a big victory lap here. Look, I know it was his moment, but he was like Jeffrey Leonard in the 87 NLCS. Look, one flap down, walking around the bases.

But no, look, Melvin Manhoef deserved that. It was great to see his family in the cage. He's an old school gunslinger. I mean, an old, old, old school gunslinger. It didn't matter the promotion, the variation of what, you know, combat sport we're fighting. Is it kickboxing? Is it whatever? He came there willing to live by the sword and die by the sword every single time. And he would have done that in this fight if, you know, Romero wasn't taking him down um it feels like he hung on a little bit too long but he was still knocking fools out just you know just on his recent

win streak Luke he's one of the most sort of like attraction guys you know he's on the card he's either going to knock you out or you're going to knock him the hell out but it's probably going to happen quick and and you know he covers so many eras and generations. I mean, he's got knockouts of Mark Hunt. I mean, you know, it was like I almost got emotional seeing him get emotional because you realize he was around back when most of us started watching this game, in the beginning, right? So it's like to see those guys who did hang on to almost 50 finally walk away. I was happy he walked away on his own terms.

It turned into a lengthy celebration, Luke, but can you argue against that after what he's done? After what he's endured? He's been all about delighting the fans in the kind of currency that is the most basic and easy to understand. I got this, and I'm going to try to land it on your chin before you land it on mine.

This guy was one of the most exciting to do that. I've really enjoyed his career, okay? That's me giving you real sentiment. He did take a long victory lap, though, Luke, okay? The guy made his pro debut in 1995. 1995, dude. I was, what, 14 or 15 at that time? And he was making his pro debut in the Netherlands.

That is just a remarkable run. And he's got wins over some huge names in the sport. Cyborg Santos, as we mentioned. The Machine from England. Ian Freeman. He's got wins over, by the way, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kazuo Misaki, Dennis Kang, and on and on and on and on. He beat a lot of really good guys.

And he lost a lot of fights along the way too. He had a bit of a record where he was just, you know, fight whoever you want. But Melvin was one of those guys who was terrifying to go against, right? Terrifying to watch. Terrifying knockout power. When he put guys out, they went out. There was no doubt about it.

I mean, he was such a heavy hitter, a relentless pursuit of aggression. He would walk out with his trainer from Mike's gym with the collar around his neck. I don't know if you remember that. He used to do that all the time in both kickboxing and MMA. I mean, he was just an absolute savage, one of the early terrifying knockout guys. And again, beating Mark Hunt with basically a one shot in the way that he did he he did a lot in his career but obviously he took an absurd amount of damage I am very glad to see that this is the end well I really hope it's the end because I don't think it's medically advisable for him to continue so um glad to see that he had uh he was able to go out on his own terms in that way all right BC who else at bellator 283 topic number three who else on this

card anybody else on this bellator card stand out to you some of the irish did well some not so well bit of a mixed bag in that regard but give me the bc i've got my eye on this person yeah it was bellator 285 and bc's got a shout out pedro carvalho had a lost three or four coming in had been in the title level before at Featherweight in the Grand Prix. Got sent to hell in one round by Patricio Pitbull. Luke, he came in against a hungry Mads Brunel who had lost just once in his last nine

and was looking to bounce back from that. And Carvalho showed out, Luke. This was not an easy fight. There was a lot of hard clinch work. Mads Brunel, you know what? That boxing style is always looking to get in your grill and make you fight. And in some ways, this was a much, much needed win to kind of, you know,

create some distance from the idea that he's going in that other direction. Carvalho's still like 28 years old, and he showed the grit and toughness against a still very viable, you know, title contender here in Brunel that it was must win and he delivered uh I have to say it was gritty and could the decision have gone either way no I favored Carvalho in the end and I was happy that the judges rewarded him I would agree I thought Pedro Carvalho looked good and you know I gotta say he's got wins now over Daniel Weichel and Mads Burnell the Mads Burnell win might be his best of his career

27 years old I mean here's the difference obviously different fighter different situation but to be clear he was able to stop the takedown from a guy like Mads or to bare minimum if he got taken down to continue the scramble to not simply accept position eventually break contact get, get back to his feet, separate, and then the fight would keep going. And dude, Bernal started to gas at the end of the second. I think he punted on the third round. He had nothing there at all. This was the kind of performance you need to go up against a guy like Bernal who can

strike, but I thought Carvalho was the better striker of the two. And then on top of that, just just never ever giving up the position fully never just constantly making the guy work for although I will say one thing that really surprised me with Burnell's like why was a guy like Carvalho able to do it well Carvalho was well trained and did everything he was supposed to this is not a knock on him he he executed everything along the way that they had clearly planned for shouts to Pedro Carvalho should be very proud of himself but I'm surprised that Mads Burnell in going for some of these takedowns, he was able to get, obviously, a hip or the rear end or the back in certain ways of Carvalho to the mat.

And then as there was a turn, he was never capturing the wrist, the posting hands of Carvalho. And it's like, you've got to do that. Why was Carvalho consistently able to stand? Because he could get a leg up and a hand on the mat and he could basically just push his weight up. You got to be able to take those pieces away along the process and he wasn't letting him.

So it just kept going back to these scrambles over and over and over and over again. And it tired Mads Brunel out. Carvalho had plenty of energy. So it's a great win by Carvalho. He did everything I thought he could do. I didn't know that he was going to, and he did. He did.

Very, very promising turn, I'll say, in his career, BC. 27 years old. I feel like Mads tried too hard to make a statement. You can see he was rushing. He was really trying to make this a boxing match, a physical fight, was pushing the pace. And, you know, I liked when he took the fight to the ground. It opened up potential opportunities

that Carvalho closed, but I thought for Burnell, he's going to have to go back to the drawing board now. Two losses at the fairly elite level here. One to Boric, who's now going to be fighting for the title this weekend, of course. But this was not the best of Mads Burnell. I thought he got a little ahead of the skis a few times, and luckily

for Carvalho, he was game enough to use that against him and get a big win that he needed. Yeah, I would agree with that. I thought he was just, I wonder if he took not Carvalho lightly, but not in the totality of like, oh, he's an easy guy to beat. But I do think, I wonder, I'll put it that way. I wonder if he looked at this and thought, oh, well, once he gets to the ground, I'm fine, and he wasn't. He was, he did not, he was just not able to do enough, and by the way, I know some people got bitter because there was one 30-27 scorecard. You know, I had the first round for Mads Brunel, but if you go back and you just watch the control that he had,

he had hardly any ground at pound BC. He had hardly anything he was doing with it, and you can say what you want about the scoring criteria and whether or not they should value grappling more and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We've been over it a million times. They may or may not. But just in terms of the way it's scored, I don't necessarily agree that Carvalho won the first round. I don't think it's all that crazy. I really don't. And I definitely think he won the third. And there's a pretty clearly he won the second as well. That 3027 is not so crazy to me so when you think about that and how well he did man that was a nice turn for the career of Pedro Carvalho he's got a future in front of him he's not even close to his prime yet and you can see he's beginning to put a lot of the pieces of the puzzle of his game

together in a really nice comprehensive way you know Brunella told me in that in that Instagram live takeover interview I did where he said that he he felt like he wasn't sure what the judges were seeing in the borich loss that i think he wanted to take it into his own hands and it played out against him luke i've got a question for you regarding the rest of this card are you ready for it are you prepared for this i don't know but i'll try okay look the main card opened with local guys localish guys sort of taking on heavy damage and making huge comebacks it was kieran clark against hafeo hudson hudson excuse me and it was uh carl moore against carl albertson in the battle of the carls and both were exciting as shit both got the crowd doing backflips so luke this whole idea that everybody's tweeting, that, hey, Bellator, forget Thackerville, Oklahoma.

You had a good run there. Dude, you're packing. And you know what? It's not like this is Bellator's second time here. They're doing like six shows a year. So they're making this already a pointed effort. But my question to you is, Luke, when they go back to their own war room,

how much should the Bellator business model be seriously, seriously considering this as a regular, regular stop? Meaning almost setting up shop for half the year there, knowing that if they can keep pulling these exciting yet vulnerable, young fighters dude those fights were compelling entertainment that you could feel through the screen you need aggressive people who are going to run into traffic and get in crazy moments and find a way to win it but there seems to be those in plethora in ireland in the uk do you think bellator and company should should make a like formal announcement that like our business model is really going to surround the idea of making Dublin this special and this great every other month, once a month. I mean, what do you do if you're Scott Coker and company?

Because we know the sport's on fire over there. Is that an opening for Bellator? It's an interesting question. Here's the holdup. Two big challenges you face if you're Bellator? It's an interesting question. Here's the holdup. Two big challenges you face if you're Bellator. It's one thing to be like, oh, we can find Irish guys to put on the card, because you do

want some hometown talent. How many guys do they have who could really headline meaningful bouts against other, you know, it doesn't have to be a non-Irish guy, but just whoever else is in the stable, how many people can they do that with? They gave Quealy an opportunity here against Benson Henderson. He found himself wanting a little bit here.

So that's one challenge. The other challenge is just from a logistical standpoint. They could go to Bellator in Dublin maybe as often as they wanted, to be honest, to your point, because that Irish crowd... And I've told that the reason why they're big and successful in Ireland is they're putting on a good show or whatever, but they really invested in the Irish market in a way the UFC just never did,

and you can see the consequences of that. They have a good foothold in this market. God bless them for it. It's a great thing to see. But is it really best for your ratings for Showtime? And I don't know what they are. I've not seen them. If you're on at 4 in the afternoon versus you know at nine or ten o'clock at night I wonder if there is a trade-off where yeah you can go to

Bellator in Dublin sometimes because you can do a great live crowd experience it looks good on television but you know there's a bit of a trade-off there at 4 p.m. in terms of what you can reasonably pull in for that west coast audience who at 1 p.m. is just all going to be at work right that's a huge portion of it. And obviously the East Coast audience at 4 isn't off much better. And you get the idea. There's some challenges there about what you could bring in. So from an audience participation, from an investment in this market, Bellator is reaping the rewards that they have invested.

But in terms of going forward, how much more could they do? There are a couple of challenges and obstacles along the way. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does, and it's a legitimate counter question. But I have seen a lot of our donks from that area, and there are plenty of morning combat fans out there. I mean, are there enough for us to do a 5,000-seat live show one day in the UK or Ireland, Luke?

I say yes. But they've said, look, Bellator's like front-page news here when they come around. You know what I mean? Like on the level with UFC. That's interesting, Luke. It is interesting. And again, like they have really, really, their success in that market is in no way accidental.

It's in no way accidental. The question is how much more is actually available for a product that is predominantly based in north america it's hard to navigate that it's hard to navigate that all right let's go back to the boxing side of things the things our audience loves the most here but i gotta tell you even though he missed weight on the scales for topic number four on friday dude shakur stevenson my lord is he talented he just demolished Hobson Conce Sal, who you heard Andre Ward even say, this guy's given up on his game plan. He's just trying to land a big shot because dude, every time, here's the interesting part about Stevenson BC.

He's not heavy handed. That is a, that is a lacking feature of his game but dude he he you ever seen those guys who like throw a frisbee and then they pull the art do they have they're an archer and they pull the arrow back and then they let it go and it goes right through the middle of the thing that they threw like just this insane level of accuracy and timing and mechanics that's him uh knocking him down getting a knockdown in the fourth round with a vicious body shot. First question to UBC. Did he redeem himself with this win? And secondly, just in general, how did he look to you?

I think he did. I think he did redeem it, Luke. And it's Robeson. That's what they're calling him, Luke. Robeson. Yeah. It's Hobbson. It's Hobbson. But OK, here's the deal about Robeson. Yeah. It's Hobson. It's Hobson, but okay. Here's the deal about Robeson. So, like, the way Shakur could have shut us all up was doing what he might not be necessarily suited for,

which you mentioned. Does he have top-end power? No. Neither did Floyd Mayweather, by the way. Just a heads up on that. True. I think that short of going in there and stopping him, this was kind of what I needed to see. Now, it wasn't that shoe-shining, brilliant, perfect performance

from Stevenson in terms of pure technical boxing and hit and not get hit. But I think we're seeing a marked change in who Stevenson is, and I think it was fueled by the fact that Hobson can say so, love him or hate him. Look, he fights like a motherfucker. I love watching this guy swagger the way he comes to the ring. For a guy who was a three-time Olympian and a 2016 Olympic gold medalist, he fights as raw, wild, and unpredictable as possible to the point where I think

sometimes to the naked eye you're like, is this guy even good, man? He's throwing wild stuff, not necessarily the best technique, but he's so unpredictable that I think for Stevenson the best strategy was walk him down, sharpshoot and pot shot him, and stand with him and trade. I think we're watching the midst of Shakur Stevenson's evolution from that pure speed

Olympic-level boxing style that he came into the pros with, and more into somebody who's going to go after it. Now, he may not, again, have the knockout power to consistently get all these guys out of there, but the intention to hurt can say so and put the pressure on him was so i like to see that and even more luke i saw some criticism in like the deep boxing hardcore circles you know like deep in my dms of people going okay

but you know stevenson wasn't all that sharp and boy did he follow a lot he did follow a lot but you know what? Can Seysal fight like a motherfucker. He comes in there head first. He comes in there at wild, crazy angles. He's always cocky. Look, at the end of the day, is Can Seysal going to be a world beater in the pros on the level he was in the amateurs? Probably not.

But he's a tough out, and I think for this weird style of fight, and styles always do make fights. Why does Floyd Mayweather say the toughest fight he ever had was him against Emmanuel Augustus because weird styles that are tough to pick up that are physical and dirty that it's tough but I saw Shakur Stevenson who was willing to dig in and meet that style head-on he never got bullied he never got dominated physically and to your point the accuracy even when he's walking you down with single hard shots, he's going to need the complete well-rounded game to always offset the fact that he's not a huge puncher. But the direction he's going to get there, I think this performance was only him adding on to what he already does great. Now, am I giving him a huge grade on a curve and not necessarily damning him for not making weight and the lack of professionalism that comes with that? Yeah. I'm doing that to a certain degree. Why? Because Luke, he's great. And, you know, talent, you know, that exclusive club has its privileges.

We give them a little bit of grace and, you know, an extra longer leash here. Yeah. I saw enough to know that the weight thing's not going to be a problem. He's ready for the lightweights, and to see him get on the microphone afterwards and be like, who do you want? Who do I want? Devin Haney. I want the champion. Let's make this happen. I love everything that's about to happen next, Luke. Do you echo any of my

sentiments that were watching him from the Valdez fight through this one be a lot more offensive? He's taller and longer than a lot of these guys deceptively. Kind of like Floyd in that regard. So look, is he a Southpaw Floyd Mayweather? He might be a Southpaw pretty Floyd Mayweather. We haven't seen him evolve

into the money Mayweather. And oh, by the way, no one's going to be Mayweather. Everyone is their own. But Shakur Stevenson is something very special. And this new switch to walking guys down, I can get behind it. I can get behind it as well and dude Konsei Sal got wild eventually but if you look at the early rounds what he was trying to do was counter the jab of Stevenson and he was actually like I'm not going to say super effective

at it but he was a little bit annoying Shakur Stevenson because he was throwing these hooks around it and and Stevenson was getting touched up so he found ways around it where he was able to draw out reactions or the you know you see you saw Konsei Sal kind of pumping his jab in a rhythmic way and then you saw Stevenson getting in between it dude he is just an operator man he is a skilled smooth operator it's unbelievable to watch what he can do and I know there were some questions about the body shot uh knockdown should it have been one it didn't matter he dummied him on every other round did you give a single round to conceded at all in this fight I didn't yeah I thought that with his daring style there were times like you mentioned where he would land counter shots and he was always kind of in it but on the scorecards

never and look that body shot in real time I thought it was a slip or a foul or something. Did you see those slow-mo replays? Dude, that was sharpshooting as shit right down to the lower solar plexus there. Dude, that's just, he's a surgeon in there. Dude, he's truly, like, everyone says this kind of thing, usually about, like, crazy action fights, but it's true with him because everything is so precise, it's quick. If you blink blink you actually might miss it if you blink you actually don't see all the little tiny intricate details and part of it

was the camera angle in that particular fourth round contest when they slowed it down dude that was a vicious shot right to the solar plexus and i don't think conce sal wanted any part of it and also on the fouling yes there was a lot of fouling but it was Southpaw versus Orthodox so there was a head clash a few head clashes actually along the way that is somewhat of an inevitability given that particular matchup but in general I thought it was interesting that Conce Sal would really impress me about Stevenson is yes you look at the scorecards like oh well he was just winning the whole way through yeah but he had to get around an early problem right this is what i talk about all the time in combat sports whether it's mma or whether it's boxing it is one thing to fight a guy they have a great game plan or if it's a rematch to see what they do differently

the second time the true mark of an elite talent the very clear indication you're dealing with somebody different is if in real time some problem emerges and then they diagnose it and then problem solve effectively by going to a different part of their game that still manages to have you know roughly at the end point the same kind of effect where he's just winning the round cleanly outright you saw that from Shakur Stevenson. He problem solves other elite guys in real time. I can't say much more about him than that to tell you just how special this guy is. Now, BC, take us to the second part of this topic, which is who should he fight next? I know the Devin Haney thing is what he called out, but Devin Haney's got business with Kambosis.

Who the hell knows what's going to happen there? He's a little bit occupied at the moment. Let's assume for the sake of argument that's not on the table. Now who does he fight? Who should he fight? Who will he fight? So here's the deal. The great news here is that we've been saying forever that we've got this core of the four princes,

as Caramel Vinny would call them, this next great generation of young fighters well look uh teofimo lopez moved up to 140 already gervonta davis and ryan garcia are kind of both threatening to do the same but we've said for a long time shakur's coming right now you've got three big ones at lightweight and the great news is that they're all under the same promotion and network espn and top rank here it's devin haney who has all four world titles who's going to be rematching george cambosis in october it's vasily lomachenko the former champion who's going to come back against unbeaten jermaine ortiz and luke it would seem right now that all signs are pointing toward the

idea of those two winners facing each other devin h, if he gets by Cambosis in the true, true test of his young career at 23 against the former pound-for-pound king, Vasily Lomachenko, I don't want to get in the way of that. I'm sure Bob Arum doesn't either. Let's do that. That would be setting up whoever comes out of that to essentially be facing Shakur Stevenson if he can climb the lightweight ladder now that he's moving up somewhere maybe next year in some kind of true two young stars.

I mean, look, the way that could play out, could you freaking imagine the idea of Haney against Stevenson or Lomachenko against Stevenson for all four belts on pay-per-view sometime late next year? I mean, it'd be incredible. But the meantime problem here, the good news is that top rank has had good business here at lightweight. And think of all the, the, the tough opponents that have fought, you know, Lomachenko in recent years, who could he fight? I'd like to see him fight that same ilk. I'd like to see him fight the, um, you know, the sniper Pedraza's the, the, who, who am I missing? Who, who, uh, you know, the Jorge Linares

is that, that level of tough out guys in this area. I want Shakur Stevenson to come into lightweight and make a big statement against a big name. Hopefully top rank will do that. But I think, Luke, it's more about setting up those chess pawns and getting it ready for that big summit next year. I mean, good God, Luke, if I told you that we're on the way to potentially the winner of Haney and Lomachenko against Shakur Stevenson for all four belts. Like, dude, that's one of the—you know, I always make fun of people. As much as I'm a Star Wars nerd, remember when the—you know, when episodes one through three came out in the late 90s and people were, like, camping outside the theater for, like, a month before the first—you know, before episode one came out?

They must have been real happy to see Jar Jar after spending a month on that sidewalk. Luke, I might join them. I might find out, you know, a year in advance where they're going to end up making that fight, and, you know, you could join me in the tent, too. This is great. This is exactly... I mean, how many times, Luke, do we have to wait when Young Stud

versus Young Stud, both unbeaten, like, to fight until they're, like, 34-35? Like, Spence and Crawford right now. Looks like we're real close to getting it, but damn, we had to wait Mayweather-Pacquiao-like terms. How many wins do you think Shakur would need to face the winner of Haney and Loma if we get there? I mean, these are great, exciting times that not only would decipher

who's the king of this loaded, lightweight division, the winner may end up being the pound-for-pound king coming out of that. Am I speaking crazy talk here, Luke? I don't think you're speaking crazy at all. Now, again, it really depends on what kind of matchups they can make and how quickly and in what order. And that uncertainty makes certainty about our proclamations a little bit undercut.

What if I read to you the top ten at lightweight at the moment? Would you pick an opponent here, Luke? Yeah, go ahead. Let's do it. Okay. I'm going to the top 10 at lightweight at the moment. Would you pick an opponent here, Luke? Yeah, go ahead. Let's do it. Okay. I'm going to the ESPN.com rankings. I think this is a Mike. By the way, have you ever waited in line in the morning before a store

open for Black Friday? No, no, no. Okay. I mean, I feel like if you've done that, you're definitely a DJ. Right. Like, dude, I'm not into that life at all. All right. Lightweight. Number one on ESPN's rankings.

Devin Haney, two is Lomachenko, three Gervonta, four Kambosis, Teo, who's moved up, Joseph Diaz Jr. at six, although a harder fight to make, Isak Cruz at seven, Gustavo Lemos at eight, Zaur Abdullayev and Javier Fortuna rounding out that top ten. I got to tell you, I don't know if they can make it because one is with top rank and one is with PBC, but that Isak Cruz fight, that would be interesting.

Would it not? Yeah, or Joseph Diaz Jr. Or like I mentioned, I think Linares and Pedraza may have moved up to 140. Isn't Pedraza setting up to fight Teofimo? Is that correct? I think that's right, yes. All right.

Look, in any case, there's a lot of interesting, fun options for him. Sucks that he lost his titles that way, and it was not a very professional moment, but I don't think it will define his career in any kind of significant long-term way. All right, BC. Last but not least, I poo-pooed this fight. Ended up being pretty great.

So, joke's on me, I suppose. Topic number five, how about Joe Joyce and old Joseph Parker? Wow. This was actually a lot of fun over the weekend. Joe Joyce getting the win via 11th round stoppage. And dude, this fight, BC, Parker was drilling him with heavy shots and Joyce just kept marching marching marching found the mark over and over as a consequence both guys finding the mark but it was Joyce who

was a little bit slicker a little bit more taking control of the fight and he gets the win what did he prove with this he proved a lot Luke look I had a lot of people in my dms from the UK going you're gonna eat some crow about you and Luke, you know, kind of whatever. Look, coming in, I thought Joe Joyce is a juggernaut, but he's a slow juggernaut that would get pieced up by a Joseph Parker who can box, who's been at this level before and is still, by the way, only 30 years old and trains with Tyson Fury. Yet it was Joe Joyce who jumped through the screen

en route to an 11th round knockout stoppage in, you know, a back and forth tremendous fight. So the question is, how did he do it? And what did he do specifically that blew me away? Like, I can give you a list here. Luke, I was overjoyed to see Ismael Salas in his corner. The longtime Cuban national trainer who's, you know, the brains behind Felix Savon, three-time

gold medalist out of Cuba. He's been a sort of hipster, you know, seek out professional coach for a lot of boxers, but he normally is the trainer for slick boxers. I didn't realize that he had a relationship with Joyce coming out of the amateurs, that he'd been in his corner on and off in recent years, sometimes illness or covid or or long breaks got in the way well they got back together for this and you saw immediate changes joe joyce is still a bit slow and plotting but his ability to cut off the ring and consistently use that jab as a weapon but here's the key he had to have the conditioning to keep up that output to really make the jab a weapon that Parker couldn't avoid

constantly. That mixed, like I said, with shutting down the ring, cornering him, and then being able to land a larger variety of offensive shots that we've ever given him credit for having. Short right uppercuts, check left sweeping hooks. He has added a lot of craft to his, you know, raw, sometimes barbaric form. This is not the same fighter that walked down and stopped Daniel Dubois in that unbeaten versus unbeaten showdown. This is a fighter who really looks ready for a title shot. He secured one here by getting the interim strap in the WBO,

which will essentially make him a mandatory for Alexander Usyk, and we'll see how that plays out with Tyson Fury and all that. But Luke, Joe Joyce is for real. It doesn't matter that he's 37. He's, what, 15-0 with 14 KOs. I think Solas deserves a lot of credit for taking him, forming the clay, and actually figuring out, look, he had to take big shots to do that.

Joseph Parker got to a point midway through this fight where he realized, I'm going to have to start landing that right hand. He was finding creative ways to land it. Joe Joyce wasn't blinking. He was walking him down, cornering him, muscling him, and hurting him consistently. I'll rightfully eat crow to add another legitimate heavyweight title contender to this group in this renaissance era. His name is Joe Joyce and none other, as you can see there, than Tyson Fury was impressed. Tyson is in the camp of Joe Parker. They've become good friends.

Dude, this is not the Joe Joyce that we were once introduced for. Remember when he was on the Wilder versus Fury 1 Showtime pay-per-view undercard? That was a different Joe Joyce. That was the guy where you're like, man, you know, he's all right, but he kind of comes across that ring glacially slow. Dude, there's a pep in his step now. But to be that big, you need a gas tank.

He's got it now. I am thoroughly impressed by what he did to somebody that doesn't get handled like that. I mean, Parker's been stopped before, but you don't thoroughly beat him start to finish like that. Maybe only Anthony Joshua did. I mean, that was very impressive from Joe Joyce. So I don't

have much to add I agree with all of that again I'll be clear I'll eat crow on this one I poo-pooed the fight it not only was much better but to your point it actually proved a fair amount for a significant and relevant portion of the heavyweight division fair enough my error won't be the last one certainly not the first one my only question BC and this is the only part I have. I agree he looked like he had the gas tank. And again, by the way, the smart guys, they have a big gas tank, but they still apportion it the right way. So I thought that was in play, even though he was using a lot to march down Parker the whole time. But what about the other part of the story? He did, to me, look much offensively slicker. In fact, look at the way he set up that final shot where he leans with one shoulder and

then comes around with the other side. He had Parker totally tricked. Awesome. He did take a bunch of big shots. Now, you could argue, well, he just took him in, so that's the story there. He must have a great chin. Okay, if you want to argue that, that's great. But we're talking about going up against guys where like Usyk who could potentially

point fight him and move. We're talking about guys like potentially who, I mean, who knows if he fights Fury, who knows if he fights Joshua. I mean, it's hard to say, but what about the idea that on the offensive side, he's much smoother. Everything's much more put together. On the defensive side, there could still be some problems

ahead. Okay, in theory you're right. Did he have to take big shots? He did because look, Joseph Parker's good. He's elite and he tried everything he could to try to slow this tank down. And it just wasn't possible. He wasn't landing the kind of shots that would make Joyce take a backward step. That's a credit to Joyce. But Luke, I actually have to say his defensive intentions were there.

There were times that he actually pivoted and swiveled and caught shots with his glove. Now again, did he take big right hands? Yeah, Joseph Parker hit a fight or flight moment, and for the most part, he went for it. This is heavyweight boxing. You kind of have to absorb that. Is your question against a more skilled fighter than Joseph Parker? Is there a potential for him to get lit up and take too much damage? Of course.

Sure. He's not the same hand speed as a Tyson Fury or an Alexander Usyk, but is anybody else in this division or this era, Ben? No. So I think at the very least, did Joe Joyce prove in this fight that he could beat Fury or Usyk? No. But did he prove that he deserves a chance to fight them?

Yes. And did he prove that he may be, that he's? Yes. And did he prove that he may be, that he's not only right in the mix with that second tier group, I'm talking about the Andy Ruiz's, Deontay Wilder, who's going to have to come back and restart himself. Luis Ortiz still. That second tier group. Yeah, he's in that group, Luke.

And if he can fight like this, like he did against Joe Parker, against those guys, he's a player. Nowke and if he can fight like this like he did against joe parker against those guys he's a player now i'm not that worried he can take a big shot he's adding defensive responsibility but if he can get you cornered and you can't land the type of shot to get out of trouble or get him to back up you may be in trouble here now luke we like i just established usic and fury are on another level. Usyk was, I'm sorry, Fury was at the fight. Afterwards, he said, yeah, I'd love to fight this guy. He won't land a glove on me in 12 rounds.

I saw a post-fight interview in the locker room with Joe Joyce where he said, Fury's team's talking to me. They might want to do this. Luke, as much as I did not like the idea of forcing in a Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua fight when Joshua's coming off two defeats and we got this Usyk undisputed

fight right around the corner when Usyk's healthy again, you know, beginning in March, he says, I think Joe Joyce has earned potentially a chance to cut in, even though he's now the mandatory for Usyk's WBO title and not Fury's WBC. Would you be upset

with some type of short turnaround Tyson Fury against Joe Joyce? That's a tough... If there's a reasonable chance at making Fury versus Joshua, a reasonable one, which, by the way, all these deadlines and shit make me feel like maybe there's not.

But if there is, then I don't want to see that fight. However, if all of this stuff between Fury and Joshua is just posturing, and in fact it will amount to nothing, and now we're kind of back where we started, do I think fury taking on a joyce like this is a meaningful fight that he could take next that would be a value to the heavyweight division and value to the consumer yeah yeah i do i actually again i i was really wrong i really have to be very straight up about that joyce looked very promising in this fight and I would be okay with that

under the right circumstances. You? Yeah. If those circumstances involved, you know, 85,000 in a soccer stadium with two unbeaten guys from the UK. Yeah, I would be okay with that. I would have to have the understanding that we're building toward the Usyk fight for all four belts. Look, is my fear still that Tyson Fury could just change his mind and walk away and give up the titles? You never know what he's going to do. So that is my compelling long-term fear. I want to see Fury Joshua more than anybody. I don't want to see it when AJ's coming off two losses

and we've got a bigger fight to make. But Joe Joyce crashing this party is very interesting. So I'm happily humbled, like yourself, to see that. Could Tyson Fury go untouched over 12 against Joyce? The old Joyce, I would have said yeah. Yeah, right, right. This one, I don't know. Hard to say.

Hard to say. All right, that's it for our top five. We will get to Ryzen on extra credit and some other stuff. I have some fun stuff planned for that one, so be on the lookout. But now is the point where you guys get to ask us questions time for dms from dogs let's get to oh i have the list here now very good yeah hee haw hee haw dude hee haw all right we'll jump right into it from at oh by the way you guys know we put up a post on instagram every sunday you guys

fill it up the producers pick questions there we Okay. From at z.frm.esp What do you think would be better for the Lightwood division? Oliveira continuing his remarkable title reign or Habib's protege Islam taking the belt and beginning a title reign of his own BC? What would be better

for the division? Well, are we talking about, I guess we're talking about from an entertainment standpoint, right? Yeah, by the way, I don't know if it was from z.frm.esp or somebody else but that's what it's at on my my sheet here okay um i think it would be better for well it's tough to say from a marketing standpoint would be better for olivera who's in these dangerous fights in which he takes damage and then rallies to win and is now out of nowhere kind of, you know, coming on as a champion who's got a decorated resume historically. Yeah, it would probably be better for that. I mean, Mahachev is not an overwhelming personality, it seems.

It does seem he has potential to win one-sidedly and not always so exciting. But, you know, I'm not sure that's going to happen. And also with Habib in his corner if mahajev wins you do get that sort of rub as the next habib so i think either situation is great and will create great fights but what's better for the high-end marketing potential of the division it's not only olivera winning but people banging that drum to the idea of hey habib how about if you're going to come out of retirement, and I don't think you will, nor do necessarily should you,

because of the high terms that you're standing on here of obeying your parents. But wouldn't that be exciting to start to bang that drum if Oliveira doesn't stop winning? And then it's like, well, who really is the greatest lightweight of all time? There's that. But for me, it's like, I think Oliveira would be better.

One, it'd be better one it'd be better for brazil which is a market they're trying to get you know back to and it's you know one of the most important markets for this sport in the world there's that certainly russia is important too but you know you get the idea here um the other part is like you know why do people like olivera well they like his fight style yes they like his personality even though he doesn't speak english but the truth is bc i was thinking about this over the weekend actually a lot of times you see somebody burning through the division like they become inevitable like john jones at to be a 205 champion john was inevitable habib you could i remember someone asking me like who's the next big star this was

after ufc 200 i'm like keep your eyes on this guy Habib Nurmagomedov didn't take a genius to say that because he was inevitable he was burning through everyone you could just tell he was destined for it Oliveira was not that guy Oliveira was never the inevitable guy but he has become something to the point where now he has developed the kind of skill set that someone who you might imagine is inevitable would have and the fans have really responded to that turnaround they really really love yes he's got the great submissions and everything else but he's got so many other exciting components added to his game that just wasn't necessarily a part of a long portion of his story charles olivera was never inevitable islam makachev kind of feels like inevitable light, right? Like he's got a lot of this machine behind him.

And of course, he is quite talented, to be clear. He earned the spot that he's in. But it feels like there's a lot of machinery behind him trying to make him inevitable. Charles Oliveira had to take the game by the back of the neck and make it his own. And for that reason, and because he's Brazilian and that's an important market,

I kind of feel like he'd be better if Oliveira won. To answer that question, who do I personally care about? I don't care. I'll be the best man to win. Okay. Does that make sense? It does. It does. But do you get... It sounds awkward to me to ask you if you get off, Luke,

but do you get off on the, whether realistic or not, that banging of the drum for an inevitable habib olivera lightweight summit that'll probably never happen but do you get off for that idea to like get excited to talk about it on this show luke i don't think you get off for much luke um you don't know what i get off on number one number two uh either either listen we're talking about the ufc lightweight title either win here is you know in some ways hugely important and dramatic and there might be a rematch like there's no wrong answer in terms of what you get but you're asking me like what would be better for the for the lightweight division i think olivera continuing to have a

yeah but that's not what i asked you look you love not answering the question coming back i just don't take it seriously yeah i don't think it's okay so you don't even want to like play with like dana making a plea and having another dinner with him like you don't even want to go down that whole shit and it went nowhere the whole time it's just dude half of let me let me explain this half of being an mma promoter is playing tricks on your own audience half of that is just getting gullible people to buy into bullshit which is why i come up on here half the shows and i look like an asshole and sometimes i'm right sometimes i'm wrong but i'm only trying to act as a safeguard around promoters just lying and

trying to trick their own audience into thinking stuff that's not real that's half the job of a promoter the other half is actually putting on the real fights and and and everything else so you know that whole thing like well what about if habib comes back he might who's to say but everything that's been pushing that has been promoter bullshit so no remember when we were when we were teenagers and natalie cole got famous and she was doing concerts with a hologram version of her dad nat king cole and it was like a thing luke yes can we can we do a hologram version of her dad, Nat King Cole, and it was like a thing, Luke. Vaguely, yes. Can we do a hologram Abdulmanap in the corner to make Habib okay about coming back, or did I just cross lines there? You probably crossed some lines. All right, from at CLP Film, with Hamzat's indicated move to 185 BC, how does he fare

against Whitaker? That's a really, really, really tough fight for him. And I think us being somewhat surprised at Hamzat saying, I don't want to fight that guy. I'd rather train with him. That was the first time he stopped being cyborg killer, right? Like foreign villain at the end of the movie coming in to kill all of our people, right? That was a surprising term. But how does matchup-wise he actually match up? Part of it is we don't actually know because a lot of Hamzat's speed and dominance have come against very good fighters, but not, you know, A to A plus level, which certainly Robert Whitaker, a living legend, is. So the answer is, I don't know, Luke. I really don't know what he's going to look like, how his

skills will translate. You'd be stupid to assume he would lose one-sided. But does he have the necessary level of experience and the kind of IQ that can only come from experience yet to win a fight like that? I'd question it for sure. Yes. I tend to think that, by the way, it's a great point that like hamza it's like a brother i'm gangsta i beat everyone and then you're like what about whitaker you're like i'd rather train

with him you're like oh right that's uh you changed your tone there a little bit yeah and understandably dude whitaker is one of the best fighters in the fucking game independent of all time like of all time he's a he is a beast And the fact that Izzy's got some wins over him, one of them was very close. Those are, you know, that is hard to do. Really, really tough to do. So I would say Whitaker. I would favor Whitaker.

Whitaker is not going to wilt. Whitaker is not... Dude, Whitaker doesn't make many mistakes. Like, he's just not going to put himself in vulnerable positions very often. And even when he does, he's going to find good resistance to them. Yeah. I would favor Whitaker to win that one. I'm sure Hamzat could make it tough.

Don't get, don't misunderstand me. I think Hamzat could give him a run for his money for a little while, but I would favor Whitaker to get the job done there for sure. I'm getting a vision right now. I don't know if you can feel this. I don't know if the title will be at stake, but I just got a vision that in the next two years,

Hamzat and Alex Pineda will compete in the greatest action fight of this era. Could be. Could be. It's possible. I mean, look, when you're a prophet, you have to deal

with the potential fallout of your truth-saying, and that's going to be a hairy night at the office, Luke. I'm ready. I'm ready for that. Does Rosetta Stone still follow you on Twitter? What's her name? Julia Rose.

Julia Rose. Yeah, look, me and 272 others. Very illegal. Very illegal. Let me check on that before I keep bragging about it for no reason. Why don't you talk to the people while I check, Luke? Alright, from Darren Marcus.

Quote, we all believe O'Malley will probably get the next Bantamweight title shot if by some means he defeats Peter Jan. But where do you think Jan would fall in the rankings if he lost to O'Malley? Sean is currently ranked 12 and Jan is ranked one.

You see, here's how this would go. Obviously, O'Malley is going to jump way the fuck up there, right? So that's the first part. Jan would fall, but I don't think he'd fall a precipitous amount. It wouldn't. Sometimes you'll see guys relatively close, like four versus seven. And sometimes they'll kind of switch positions. I don't think you'd see guys relatively close, like four versus seven, and sometimes they'll kind of switch positions. I don't think you'd see them switch positions,

at least not in both directions. You might see it's possible Sean could jump to number one. I think Jan would fall to like four, five, six, somewhere in there. Does that make sense? That makes a lot of sense, Luke. Just wanted to show you here that she dropped a follower. Luke, she's only following 251 now. You can can't read that could you make it blurry or fuck yeah i don't know how to i don't know how to make tv work uh yeah she dropped a follower but i wasn't that person she's

down to 251 and i'm she follows me luke okay all right you know look look when you got it you know you got it okay guy you know what i mean just yeah you did follow her first and then she responded i want to be clear about that it wasn't like out of her own volition she did you think all right if she found out that i was willing to no sold the fact that she snuck up on the set and sat next to us during a live show and you were like well we got to bring her in and i was you know trying to give you the no let's let's just pretend she's not there if she knew that would she unfollow me not necessarily you know she probably looked at you and was like look this guy is obviously a goof he doesn't know shit about anything but you know he's not harmful he's not okay luke i don't have many wins in life to share with you that that would impress you but i've got two are you ready

all right let's hear it. Within the last two weeks, a female under the age of 25 who I was not, between the ages of 21 and 25, who I was not trying anything, I was just talking to, said that she thought I was 25 while I was wearing this hat. Was she blind?

And number two, my neighbor, decorated former high school wrestling coach, was showing me a video on his phone of his son, who was in high school in my town, escaping the championship of this AAU wrestling tournament with a second to go and then getting the point he needed to win the match in the last second, almost like he was, you know, Steveson at the Olympics. And I pointed out a Gramby roll in the middle of his, you know, in the middle of his.

Hey. So there's two wins the middle of his, you know, in the middle of his. Hey. So there's two wins for BC of late, Luke. Okay, maybe three if you count Julia Rose. So they say they happen in threes, Luke, all right? Good for you, buddy. Three needles. The same kind of victory. Same kind of victory.

All right. From at Prez underscore theater underscore Roosevelt. Very silly question. Gordon Ryan versus Jordan Burroughs in a three-round MMA match. Who are you putting money on? How do you put money on anyone other than Gordon Ryan? I don't even understand the question. I just started following

Gordon Ryan on Instagram, Luke, because I want to get on board with this because I've been way behind. I usually have to rely on Lee Selker, MKSuperFan, keeping me updated. is he purposely dyeing his beard and and hair like a certain like trendy level of of gray or is that natural yeah so i've seen that there's there's certain people i've seen it more with women than men i think kim kardashian did it for a while it's like platinum right yeah it's not quite like white like this nonsense but it's you know like a to

your point a trendy kind of like if gandalf went to the salon kind of look yeah yeah he has he has but here's why this question is silly now maybe burrows has hands but probably neither of them do but gordon's just gonna walk burrows down and i don't think he can take burrows down but he doesn't need to burrows only path is with a takedown with wrestling which is what he's got but you take gordon ryan down he's gonna get subbed fucking fast like well it's just burrows do so i i really can't speak to this matchup enough to know what i'm talking about does either has either shown the legitimate want to transition to mma or no both have flirted with it Gordon Ryan years ago I

interviewed him in person saying he was considering it um Jordan Burroughs has flirted with the idea that like you know I would love to fight in the UFC I've talked to him I've talked to both about the fact that they had they do have interest but then they realize that like the path they're on I think Jordan Jordan Burroughs I don't know if folks realize this, he won, I could be getting this wrong, his sixth or seventh world title just recently in Belgrade. Dude, Jordan Burroughs is the most decorated American wrestler ever. Ever. He has more gold medals in the elite championships, world and Olympics, than anyone has ever done. Right?

That's an impressive thing. And Gordon Ryan is obviously doing just outrageous shit in no gi jiu jitsu. They both realize that like it probably makes a little bit more sense to fulfill the destiny within their given, you know, in terms of MMA composite sports than to just jump over. You know, they didn't play like Bo Nickel tried to make a world team and it didn't work out for him. So it makes sense in that case to go into mma both of these guys can just i mean they are putting themselves in the history books of their respective sports just keep doing what you're doing so it's possible maybe but what weight would gordon ryan be at if he can if he made the move he could probably get to 205 and that's about it i don't think you can go much lower than that yeah do you think our our social media producer uh brendan lynch who rolls himself luke uh is kind of style wise looking a little bit like a poor man's gordon ryan with a beard and the definite definitely your thrift store golden ryan i mean yeah we see you we see you bl okay we see what's going on right now all right yeah

yeah all right last but not least from our for our buddy telvin kipapa best member from the wu-tang clan bc let's see what your answer is um okay would you okay so you know i was a i was a distant wu-tang fan you know it was more of a commercial wu-tang fan than going all in like you would maybe expect. Because they don't perform at Lilith Fair? You know, I quit being a crazy hip-hop head the year that they hammered it home. 93, 94? Yeah, I was into commercial hip-hop, though, of course. I'm a white suburban kid. From like 89 to like 93,

I bought the Chronic on CD, and then I just sort of transferred into grunge and Pearl jam and all that stuff, Luke. Okay. And I didn't come back to hip hop again until the later nineties. So my point here is I may have missed the boat live, but you know, looking at them as celebrities,

Luke, I always thought that RZA was the real brains behind it all, but the coolest guy was Method Man, and if I was going to try to be somebody, it would be him, Luke, okay? Yeah, that's the wrong answer. The three best MCs of the group, so it's RZA, GZA, Inspector Deck,

UGod, Ghostface, Method Man, Raekwon, Mastakilla, Capadonna. The three best MCs are GZA, Ghostface, and Raekwon. Yeah, but giving three answers doesn't doesn't satisfy anything hey would it be okay if i finished my sentence before you decided what my answer was before i've literally even told you what my answer is those would be your three best mcs you want to do longer shows i'm here for longer shows three go drink your pond water please please. Of the three, I would say that I would probably put it on Ghostface.

I think Ghostface has had the best, well, Raekwon had maybe the best single solo album of them all. GZA was maybe my personal favorite of the three, but I think Ghostface has proven to be, both in terms of what he did on Wu-Tang's work and independently, the very best of them all.

Ghostface Killer. Okay, okay. Do you consider Redman like a satellite member? No, because those guys were from Staten Island, and he was sort of like a Jersey guy, and he kind of wore that. Obviously, Method Man and Redman were like a great duo. I certainly agree with that. The Cribs episode with Redman was just tremendous, you know?

I forgot ODB, but you wouldn't consider ODB the best member of the Wu-Tang. No, he was like the mascot. Well, his solo, okay, I did, see, I have more experience with his solo record than I do with a lot of theirs. I know I'm really falling off the 90s throne here with this, Luke, but I'm just telling you the truth.

ODB is like the mascot of the team, right, Luke? I mean, he's, in his own regard, highly talented, but... He had some good rhymes, too. I mean, I know what you're saying. He was definitely the most colorful, standout character in that way, but mascot's a little strong for me. Okay, okay. I mean, do you remember when he went and cashed the welfare check on MTV?

Folks, forget that. That was huge when he did that. That was crazy. Okay, that's it. Time for BC's Feces. Let's do it, buddy. Folks, forget that. That was huge when he did that. That was crazy. Okay, that's it. Time for BC's Feces. Let's do it, buddy. Alright, Luke. I scour the globe every Sunday. I'm trying to find the highs and lows and the

good and the bad, the ugly and the in-between. Not only combat sports, but beyond. It's a collection of shit that I want to know. Have you seen any of this bullshit? Waiting on those graphics. There we go. Oh. Oh. Oh, God.

Luke, I often come into these weeks saying, no, this is the best one we've had in a while. I'm not impressed by this batch. Let's see if you are, Luke. Bellator 285 from Dublin. Hey, here's that Benson Henderson creative head kick from the ground. It's like a capoeira kick.

Love it. Love that shit. It was effective, too. Your thoughts? He didn't do it off the hand. He did it off the elbow like that. And then my best part is he stands up afterwards. Look.

He gets the leg over, posts, and then stands, almost like a technical get-up a little bit. Not quite, but uh yeah that's interesting really interesting luke melvin manhoof really wanted to make this a celebration of all things his legendary career uh but were you fearful as i was that at 46 he might gas on the way to the cage doing this virtual icky shuffle that he was breaking out were you into this he does this all the time yeah i know i know but yeah he went after it this time luke that's me waiting on the commode after taco bell someone's in front of me uh you

all romero made a uh gif of the of the millennium here luke he turned into a rabid dog at the end of his fight and showtime cameras were there to capture all of it this is what it looks like when you're the gas station hot dog and bc's looking at you yeah lots of drool and fluids uh there you go arf arf arf arf arf i popped for this big this was good stuff this was good stuff all right how about the submission that was on the early prelim card that everybody was tweeting out luca poklet poklet i don't know luke what do you call this we're gonna be we're gonna be going over the i don't know this is dante shiro and they call it according to wikipedia a reverse arm triangle either way looks like they're playing twister this was good theater luke yeah

we're gonna go over this on uh extra credit a little bit in detail but um dude, MMA's capacity for surprise and just bat shittery is unrivaled. Yeah, ask Justine Kish about that. We mentioned Karl Moore's huge comeback in the Battle of Karls. Did you always forget that Tim Sylvia also took a dump in his dungarees against Osweiro Silva? I don't know that story. You don't? No, I got to get updated on my shitpants stories here, Luke.

It's on Fight Pass. Go watch the Tim Sylvia versus Osweiro Silva fight. He had the flu, fought anyway. He wins. But his dungarees, buddy, you could have done some, you know. You know what I'm trying to say here. I can't get it out because I slept like three hours last night. You're talking about a Cleveland steamer, Luke?

What are we doing here? What's going on? All right. Hey, Carl Moore had a hell of a comeback to win the Battle of Carls. Did a Cleveland steamer, Luke? What are we doing here, right? What's going on? All right, hey, Carl Moore had a hell of a comeback to win the Battle of Carls. Did you see his dad, Luke? Chris Weidman is still my boy, but check out this reaction from Papa Moore in the crowd. If we can get your dad to do this one time to an MK episode, Luke,

the world will heal, okay? I think this is how happy my dad was when I told him Marine Corps boot camp is 13 weeks, so I'll see you in a little while. I mean, this guy's running through the crowd like he's Jose Aldo and Heo after a big knockout. Dude, that was pretty tremendous. He got dropped real bad. Was it the end of the first?

I thought it was going to be over. He manages to hang on, and then he gets the win. That was a nice—it wasn't just that he got a nice finish. It was that he was at the doorstep of defeat. So that was a solid moment for him. Yeah. We also got a nice head kick knockout on the Belter 285 prelims. This is featherweight Asail Adjouji.

Wow. Yeah. Right over the glove, too. The guy had his hand up, but it wasn't enough. You got to get two hands on the glove. I think he had one thinking it might be going lower and went Right over the glove, too. The guy had his hand up, but it wasn't enough. You got to get two hands on the glove. I think he had one thinking it might be going lower and went right over the top. And that was all.

Look, let's see. Lead hand. Yeah, lead hand. Oh, yeah. He thought it was going to go low. He had the lead hand up just as like a precaution. And it went up right over the top. That's a nice win, man.

Really nice win. Luke, you're going to break down Mayweather Asakura in length from Ryzen 38 over the weekend. But did you see this dude enter the ring to prepare to literally give Floyd his flowers? And then the promoter got super fucking bitter at him, called him a vile individual. Watch this. And Rizzen apologized to Floyd afterwards. But look at that.

Wow. Dude, that's the industry giving us our flowers. Begrudgingly is probably the best way to describe that okay i mean we're not gonna not give you the flowers but yo fuck you guys here yeah pretty much yeah all right uh luke there was competitive action early were you surprised here i don't want to ruin the extra credit for you but were you surprised when asakura started tagging floyd a bit early in round one? Yeah, I gotta say, seriously, BC, I'm not doing a bit. I haven't seen Floyd hit

that hard and cleanly since, what, the Mosley fight? I'm not even doing a bit. Seriously. Remember when it was the first round of the Mosley fight where Mosley tagged him up? Second round. Yeah, second round. He rocked him twice. The last time Floyd really got hit was the Maidana rematch to end round three.

He legitimately got rocked with a right cross at the bell. Maybe that one. But you know what I'm saying? He hasn't been hit like this in a while. He polished the dude off in the second round here. Well, he would put him away. But, Luke, there's some idea of a ghost punch here. Like it's Liston, Cassius Clay, part two, and Lewiston May.

Some people say no there was a build-up to the knockdown but that didn't look all that clean right there i'm just gonna say that a lot also here something to understand and i don't know how ryzen navigated this space mma is not regulated by any regulatory commission in japan you can basically just do whatever the fuck you want boxing is boxing is there Boxing is. There is a Japanese Boxing Commission. I forget the specific name of it, but they do control it. I don't know how they were able to put all of this together or if they could work around it

because it's an exhibition. I don't know the rules in Japan, but just something to keep in mind. That guy also ran in the ring, which means it's the end of the fight too, before he could even get counted. See that guy in the black suit that ran in? Yes. Yeah, I did see that for the fact. Are you going to show us jizzy? No. I'm going to stop short of jizzy and I'm going that for the fact. Are you going to show us Jizzy? No.

I'm going to stop short of Jizzy, and I'm going to keep it moving. I got to tell you, if your nickname is Jizzy, you're just inviting a lot of unwanted types of attention. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, indeed.

Indeed. More boxing weekend results. Let's go to Manchester, England. Here was the finish as Big Joe Joyce, the damn juggernaut. Whoa, no, sorry, sorry. We got bonus.

We got bonus Risen content. Here's Kyoji Horiguchi, Luke. He's back, and he got dropped hard in round one. He's been getting hit a little bit these days, but he recovered well, obviously in great shape, and got right back to it. So I don't think it was obviously super devastating. He would go on to get a second-round submission via tap out there

with a choke, but he did get dropped, as we could see one more time. Damn, early on. He got timed coming in, man. He got timed, didn't set it up well enough. Close one there, super close one. Kim Taro, the opponent here who came up empty. All right, let's go to Manchester. Here's Joe Joyce, as we mentioned, sending Joseph Parker to hell in round 11.

What a finish. Damn. And they don't show it, but he had Parker confused because he had leaned in with his right shoulder and then came around with a left hook. Man, that was... Again, I'll say it again. Mostly my fault because you were a little bit higher on it than I was,

but I was a shithead about this fight, and I should not have been. You were like, BC, get that shit out of the rundown. It doesn't deserve to be there. Yes but I was a shithead about this fight and it should not have been. You were like, BC, get that shit out of the rundown. It doesn't deserve to be there. Yes, I was a hater. I was a hater. I'll take the L on that one. In the co-main event, Amanda Serrano unified yet another, a third featherweight

title by defeating Mahfoud, but Luke, here's promoter Jake Paul back in the States, I believe, or could be Puerto Rico, depending on where he was at the time, celebrating the victory by, or I'm sorry, celebrating the ring entrance by shirtless jumping. This is great, right? Well, I'm not going to make a joke about Puerto Rico not having power

because that would obviously be terrible. But either way, yeah, listen, you can say what you want about Jake Paul. You can say what you want about Jake Paul. He has done more to promote Amanda Serrano than anyone, in certain terms, effectively anyway. You got to give him credit for it. You can say everything else you want about him, but you can't take that from him.

And Serrano looked great in this fight. She dominated every aspect of it against a champion and added yet another title. She's the most decorated champion in like, like, I mean, she's just short of Manny Pacquiao for the amount of division she's won it, right? Or is she more than him? Either way, Luke, she's right freaking there. She was eight.

Is she, what is she, seven or nine? One of the two. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Let's go over back to that Shakur-Stevenson fight. Luke, we mentioned how dirty and physical it was. Stevenson actually got docked a point with no warning for this body slam of Kensei Sao. A little judo hip toss there.

Your thoughts? I love it. I love it. Keeping a little Muay Thai action, if you know what I'm saying. Well, I didn't want to... Did you agree with me that when I see a young fighter who's rising, I like when they're gritty like this. I like when they go upitty like this I like when

they go up to the line and meet the aggression of their opponent you know yeah obviously if they're getting a little bit too crazy with it taking a point or whatever needs to to like discipline them to not go oh too too crazy but stuff like this where they kind of wrap up he's kind of using the momentum and then his head position and his body position with his feet as well to then just take him over to the side. I like it. I dig it. I get I am two thumbs up for me. 2021 Olympic Olympic silver medalist from the U.S.

Keyshawn Davis improved to six and oh in the co-main event. Good. He looks good. He was nasty. First, he drops Omar Tienda and then gets in his face, basically. And then watch this finish once they restart the action. Luke, he's known for his technique and slickness, but he proved in this one that, look, he's 6-0.

He's facing a certain level of competition, but this guy had experience, and Keyshawn was nasty in getting rid of him. He's mean, right? Keyshawn Davis is very mean, and don't mean that's like he's a bad person I mean as a competitor he really tries to like and and with careful technique but he tries to just get mean and and and bullying to his opponents and he is a handful good lord I love it I love watching young guys with a lot of chutzpah Luke Luke. By the way, happy Rosh Hashanah today to Jay Aaron, okay? Do you know what the definition of chutzpah is?

Balls. Well, actually, I'm not sure what the actual definition, but the way it was described to me once was, the way it was applied was to kill your parents and then beg for mercy because you're an orphan. All right, I'll stop using that word, Luke. Let's go over to this undercard again no but imagine the like imagine the balls you'd be like oh i murdered my parents i'm an orphan feel sad

for me it's a great way of describing it uh sometimes on this uh show luke we shout out uh floyd cashflow diaz as a up-and-coming top-ranked prospect but good old cashflow wanted to get the newark crowd behind him so he came out in full new jersey devil's gear and when i say full i mean like he's dressed like van damme in that movie uh where he became a goalie in the stanley cup finals remember that luke he just walked out of the ring he is so fucking stupid sudden death i love that movie sudden death oh yeah oh yeah yeah i mean listen they don't have a lot of pro teams out in dirty jurors so you gotta do what you gotta do yeah many murders occurs uh let's go over to the practice training session in greater danbury bethel connecticut

you know glover to share is building a stable and look he doesn't just watch he gets hands on him and alex potato we're going at it where coach uh for nelly felice had to kind of break it up did you see this shit i did not i heard about it i'm watching now for the first time oh jesus i mean they're not throwing full power but they're going after it yeah they're getting after it damn yeah yeah because they were just throwing like recklessly at that point yeah yeah uh we tend to like glover glover landed on him there a little bit oh dude how how good is glovers infighting like you could tell he's really worked on the ability to stand in the pocket and swivel and throw big shots.

It was there against Meary. I'd actually say he got the better of this a little bit. Yeah. What a man. What a real man. Luke, we only show pro wrestling highlights here when it's a celebrity crossover variety. Did you see Action Bronson stepping into an AEW ring?

Here he is getting the hot tag. You know I didn't. Okay, are you impressed at all? Nice shoulder tackle there. He's got a hard clothesline. See, I don't know anything about pro wrestling. Should I be? He's decent.

He's pretty decent here. Yeah, I'm like nothing. Remember how bad Tyson Fury looked in that WWE match? This ain't Tyson Fury right here, okay? I never saw that. He looked terrible. I would say Tyson Fury had one of the worst celebrity real matches, like actually trying to have a match that I've ever seen.

It was really bad. Really, really. I mean, Lawrence Taylor was like 10 times better, okay? Floyd was actually good against Big Show. Remember that? By the way, speaking of Ghostface, are you aware of the Action Bronson? I don't think they have beef anymore, but the previous Action Bronson Ghostface beef?

Obviously not, Luke. No chance. Okay, there's a lot of it. Because basically, if you listen to Action Bronson, he kind of sounds like Ghost. And so Ghost has accused him. Again, I don't know what the current status was, but a few years ago, he accused him of basically just taking his entire style you know yeah do you think

um you know dmx deserved to say that to um jaw rule you took everything i worked for mfr i don't think dmx said that to jaw rule i think i think the critics did okay i think the critics did okay here's a quote here from gaff you watching this in the comments i am now don't ever say my music sound like ghost shit is a bronson line yeah but it does though oh that's long island luke our producer uh putting that out in the ethos thank you hey luke uh people come to this segment for dicks in the wild don't they right they do now they do now hey luke you can find dicks in the wild anywhere't they right they do now they do now hey luke you can find dicks in the wild anywhere okay in fact nature sometimes look at the unit on this tree right here

my favorite tree you ever hear that the hug a tree luke you ever do that to just get one with nature you know just just come up on this guy right here. Yeah, there you go. All right. Hey, we often celebrate phoners in combat sports, you know, when you're rock hard with emotion. Yeah, and then you ask fighters about their erections, like you're a fucking urologist or something.

This college football ref was very excited. Wow, my man's just got a lot going on jesus i mean i realized it's something in his pocket and not his actual dong but good lord i think it's a little both yeah i think it's a little both there i mean do you ever remember in the 80s when when like if your friend was like a rich kid and his dad drove, like, a BMW, they'd put that thing on the steering wheel, the club, that red thing, Luke? It was like you'd lock it in. Remember that? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think that guy's got one in his pocket right now. That's great. Okay. Looks to me like he's got a fucking, you know, something you beat suspects with if you're a cop in England with. Yeah, a Singapore cane, if you will. Yeah. All right. Let's go out to the a Singapore cane, if you will. Yeah. All right.

Let's go out to the Cards Nationals game in St. Louis. Look who threw out the first pitch two weeks ago. Santy Claus, Luke. My fucking hero. By the way, he's got a hell of an arm, doesn't he? Dude, this guy is the fucking best. He is just diabetes and hair bleach. He will still beat your ass in golf.

What's in his bloodstream at this point? Like whiskey, caffeine, cocaine? Like what else, Luke? Nicotine, for sure. Yeah. Nicotine. Probably, you know, honestly, if he just croaked tomorrow and he did an autopsy, would you be surprised if there was a little bit of meth circulating? I wouldn't.

Oh, wow. Wow. Well, probably not. Probably not. Okay. All okay all right you got good mechanics on the throw that dude is an athlete yeah he actually did well that was like you know george bush at the 2001 world series level strike he just threw right there all right let's go to let's play a little footy here luke look at these two soccer hooligans having fun with the created jersey oh that's great that is great all right luke in boxing we have this term called let me let me pour some water on my balls on your balls

it was from a eric morales in the corner against a rear rahim his trainer wanted to wake him up so we pour a little of that sauce down on the old nuts and bolts let's see this happen to a soccer player look at the reaction luke he poured a little he poured a little water on those ball yeah look at that wow been there how hot are your testicles where they have like this has that reaction hot as balls balls. Yes, that is great stuff. Great stuff. All right, let's hear. You ever hear those people that grab those tickets behind the goal

and then they bring a megaphone, Luke, and then they annoy you the whole game by yelling? Let's see what happens to those people here. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Let's hear it.

Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Yeah, ain't nobody going to stop you except that fucking ball that just KO'd you. Great work there, DC United fan or whoever you are. I got to tell you, all of these clubs have these supporters, like their Ult ultras or their borrow bravas or whatever, or they just show up and shout the whole fucking time. And that's a big part of soccer.

Like you can't talk him out of it at this point. It just is what it is. But I got to tell you, I don't like sitting in those sections to me. It's like, can I just watch the fucking game, please? Yeah.

Yeah. I went to a, I went to a Bogo and I went to two 1994 War Club qualifying games, Luke. They were like friendlies or some shit at the Yale Bowl. It was like Costa Rica versus Mexico. Dude, it turned into like World War III. Like they had Domino's pizza boxes. They were lighting them on fire and then firing them like Frisbees.

I mean, it was smoke bombs. It was, it was like in, I didn't know New Haven, Connecticut. The Turkish fans are famous for this. The Turkish fans light flares in the stands, multiple flares. They'll throw them on the fucking field and shit. Like, they're out of their mind. I get that that's a thing everywhere else in the world, but to be, you know, what was I, 15 years old in the U.S.

and be spending the whole game looking over your shoulder at weapons that are on fire coming at you, Luke, that was interesting. It was interesting. I've told you this before, dude. I was in Turkey once, and I think it was Fenerbahce-Galatasaray, I think was the matchup, which is like an intense Istanbul fucking rivalry. And one dude was chasing another dude down the street with a donor kebab sword.

Oh, that's great. That is great. I mean, he was getting after it. Unbelievable. All right. Hey, let's keep it going. People like to take soccer and then make it something different, Luke. Like they do it on sand.

I think this game is called Fireball. Would you play this? Yeah. I just, you know. It's a new sport. Everyone's doing it. Barefoot, apparently. it's a new sport everyone's doing it barefoot i feel like um you know i don't want to stereotype but i feel like this happens in countries where

you know you got to be careful about drinking the water and shit you know you ever want to go to one of those like tony robbins seminars where you like walk on hot embers and like you know what i mean no i did all that stupid like test yourself bullshit you know i got my fill of it yeah on the jujitsu mats oh in the marine corps dude i had plenty of like very tough situations i don't i don't like crave that anymore yeah we got another new sport luke it's a combat sport it's called car jitsu you into this this dude let me guess is this russia i mean it's got to be poland or russia or youtube yes of course it is could i have been more right it's just the dumbest shit on earth bro they love dumb shit over there i don't know this i mean this is getting a

little interesting right here i mean we've all been in the back seat of these cars luke just never quite like this right yeah i mean i've all been in the backseat of these cars, Luke, just never quite like this, right? Yeah. I've definitely done things that looked kind of like this in the back of a car, but not quite like this. Yeah. Back then, you were tapping that ass. Now you're tapping out, Luke, okay?

Because these girls would send you to hell. There you go. All right. They probably would. They probably would. I try not to put too many pranks on here because sometimes pranks are lame, but sometimes they're really good.

Check out this Chucky prank and this lady's reaction there's a doll in a box yeah good guys oh jesus no that's pretty good. Yeah, the sound is incredible, too, on that. All right. Look, you mentioned that European MMA, it's just different, right? I mean, it's just different. It's a different energy. There's an edge, right?

Yeah. Well, check out this interview. You had referenced, hey, BC, you going to put this shit in here? Yeah, I did. Check it out. Is this pro wrestling? I mean, what is going on here? Bop. Iop i mean dude hit him with the bop gun right away dave schaller would have got in the middle of that i'll tell you that much i gotta say who you know remember that famous simpsons line

where it's like dude videotaping this crime spree was the best idea we ever had if you're gonna commit assault maybe don't do it on camera you know and well-lit microphone environments it does make me want to watch the fight though Luke so maybe it worked I mean it worked for Cormier Jones but at fame MMA 13 the same week weekend is that happening there was a second interview

is this the same promotion it might as well be look at this bro half the fights in russian mma are before the actual event oh and he got stomped out too oh yeah this is wonderful wow wow just going on back on her oh it's in the background yeah that's great that's great oh oh dude he soccer kicked him jesus yeah they got different rules over there, too, Luke. There's no rules in their street fights. Oh, you know what? The guy who punched first was the one who got stomped out.

Well, you know what? Fuck him. I mean, you brought it on yourself. I mean, that's all I can say about that. All right. But in the United States, typically the promoter is required to stand in between them. That's why you see them there so often, like Ellerby sometimes or Hearn orarn or dana dana they have to be there by virtue of the commission rules uh if i show you a fight pit highlight you know someone's gonna get knocked the hell out so let's see it

oh shades of barbosa and god damn and in a pit wow he just stepped across and let him have it wow man damn you ever seen those like videos where a guy's like i'm gonna go feed this horse from behind and the horse is like yo get the fuck up off me and then launches him into orbit it looked like that yeah i used to watch a movie as a kid about this field goal kicking horse, Luke. It was great. Yeah. You ever see that movie? It's a Disney movie.

It's great. All right, let's go over the baseball pitch. I think this is minor league baseball. Sometimes they always catch a kitten and they can't catch it. It's always hijinks because the kittens run across the field and they can't quite catch it. You ever see a raccoon at a baseball game? Look. You got to give this guy credit for having the balls to deal with this thing, right?

Got to tell you, that's not the first raccoon this man has handled. That is true. That is true. The South is a different place. It's a different place, okay? He has definitely grabbed a few raccoons in his time. Indeed. Indeed.

Hey, let's go over to Shaquille O'Neal. Luke, he's back in the gym, right? The big Aristotle, the diesel. This bro's got abs now. Can we blow this up? I don't think those are the painted in kind. Who do you think's got a bigger hog, the NFL ref or this guy? Definitely Shaquille O'Neal.

I mean, Shawnee O'Neal is like 4 nine I don't know how that worked Luke I really don't they made it work they made it happen they for a short while they did and then he brought hoops Nicky Hoops into the equation you know I remember that yeah he made that change all right uh let's go to some weird workouts Luke I think they call this the human wheel I wouldn't advise doing this in public but this man is a professional I honestly hope he gets run over and I mean that with all sincerity alright there you go I mean it's impressive you gotta lick a lot of

ground in New York City to pull that off but it's not jaywalking can you imagine the fucking germs that this guy has when he goes home you have to just shower in carbonic acid you ever see weird shit like this in the gym luke watch this i call this gymnastics oh i've seen this yeah i mean there's always people in the gym that are trying to get your attention right they're wearing like really short shorts and they need you to spot them that's the worst

what you gotta understand about the gym is everyone there is looking for attention one way or the other but there are some that are much worse than others this guy just here's what you know about this guy he has a terrible home life right like no one loves him no one calls him he's got a deep hole in the center of his soul where he just can't get people to love him so he does shit like this that's interesting all right let's let's rapid fire here i gotta interview a fighter that's my job luke uh would you eat let's go to dubai if you order the one thousand dollar gold steak this is how they deliver it you want to get if you think showtime would buy this for us? Yeah, they bought us some other dumb shit before.

Hey, they bought us that Island Boys cameo. Do you know those guys are feuding right now? The Island Boys? But they also got us the Versace robes. That is true. I think we're close to getting this $1,000 gold-plated steak. It's delivered by snipers. People are literally at the point where they're eating gold, man.

Fuck rich people. Luke's like, let me just order a Bloody Mary and a steak sandwich. And a steak sandwich. Alright, let's see this. Luke, would you take down this Bloody Mary? Oh, Jesus. What the fuck?

That'll cure a hangover, right? We're just slaughtering animals for instagram reels i mean jesus christ all right uh public fails of violence let's see some public fails of violence to close here luke you know you bring a piñata on this segment someone's getting whacked just executing these motherfuckers bro off. Off with their head. I mean, she broke the stick on him. That's insane. My grandma did that to me once.

Oh, of course. Yes, old school. All right, let's go to the carnival. You ever see that hammer challenge? Somebody's going to catch it. They'll shoot your eye out inevitably. Oh, boy. Oh, God.

See, the COVID mask didn't prevent that, Luke. That's not good okay certainly didn't certainly didn't i call this piece of art natural selection playground edition i uh whatever happens i just hope they can't reproduce and you know the champagne bottle when you're partying, excuse me, just make sure it's not aimed in the wrong spot. Oh, boy. I don't think that's the first time that's happened to her, Luke, if you get my drift.

You know what I mean? Yeah, no, I think she was a little bit surprised, but probably not that surprised. Yeah. We close with this, Luke, in the inevitable universal question that still lingers to this day regarding this show. Is this art?

Are we art? Is art art? Oh, my God. I mean, that is... That is... Push, push. In the bush. Who is this other weirdo?

I don't know. He keeps ending up in the show, though. Get this crooked-tooth motherfucker off my screen. We got Bush. All right, Luke, I got to go pee my pants and interview people. You take us out of here. I'll wrap up here,

because I know you got an interview at 1. So thank you to everyone who watched. Again, extra credit will be out probably tomorrow morning rather than today. Got a bunch of things going on behind the scenes, but we will have an extra credit for you, so be on the lookout for that. As always, thumbs up on the video. Hit subscribe. MorningCombat at gmail.com is the place to send us for Wednesday's fan subs,

which we will do. Friday is dead wrong. There is a UFC event this week. We'll lean into that on Wednesday's show. Showtime.com is the label that pays. Go to Showtime.com. Get a 30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it.

If not, you can bounce. MorningCombat.store is the place to be for all of the merch. By the way, there's a thing called Campbell's Corner that's up there now, so you can go check that out. And I want to remind everyone, WorldMMAAwards.com slash nominees. WorldMMAAwards.com slash nominees. Please vote.com slash nominees please vote it would be very helpful for us if you did all right that's it for us today so for the great brian campbell

mulca cbs sports and showtime i'm luke thomas thank you so much for watching we'll see you guys on wednesday and until then may all of your gains be loyal