MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Christmas Recap | Anthony Pettis To PFL | Askren vs. Coker | Canelo-Yildirim | Ep. 99

Episode Date: December 28, 2020

On episode 99 of MK, Luke and Brian recap their Christmas experiences this year, talk former UFC champion Anthony Pettis signing with PFL, and discuss the feud between Ben Askren and Bellator's Scott Coker. Plus, they breakdown the news that Canelo will fight Avni Yildirim in February. Is it the right move?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is Monday the 28th of December 2020 and it is time diggity donks for morning combat. Hello everybody. The year is almost over but the show rolls on. My name is Luke Thomas. I am from CBS Sports. I am one half of your hosting duo. I am joined by the King of Connecticut on the other side of the screen. He is also from CBS Sports and Showtime likes him better because they send him swag, and they send me nada. It is my friend and yours. It is the one and only Barrick's Cut himself. That's your new name.

It's not Brian Campbell. It's Barrick's Cut. What's up, BC? Yeah, haircut of home season is upon us, Luke, okay? It saved me $100. I'm doing great, Luke. It's almost time for a new year. Almost time to wrap up this thing we call 2020.

Maybe we'll get like Stack and Uncle Matt and wrap it up and smoke it away, Luke. Okay. It's been a rough run. But you know what your consistency has been? High COVID numbers and morning combat. That's 2020. Okay. Because you know who had the best year in 2020?

We did. And that's because of our nation of hardcore. So thank you to all the people. Hopefully they enjoyed our special Christmas bonus episode, and hopefully a lot of people understand, Luke, what we're all about, okay? And that's balls. And also bad audio when my feed goes through my earpiece and not my microphone. So that was fun as well. Do you think in 2021 that there will be a market change?

I don't want to be known as the show that has tech difficulties every 30 minutes. Could we maybe get professional this year? What do you think? Well, you're in business with me, buddy, so don't get your hopes too high. I'll just put it that way. Well, we have a lot to get to today. Let's see. There were some pieces of news that happened last week that no one's really talked about by virtue of most of the shows being off. But we are back.

We are live. We also will have a show on Wednesday. No show on Friday, but a show on Wednesday. So be on the lookout for that. We'll do some awards and things like that. Let's see, BC. Like the video. Hit the subscribe button.

We really appreciate everyone who has subscribed and joined us along this journey. But we still have many miles to go before we sleep, as Robert Frost once said. Before we get fired. Before we get fired is really what you were saying. Before we get fired, yes. If you want to join us for, you know, well, we're not on Showtime officially, but maybe one day we will be. And when we are, you can watch us there.

You can go to Showtime.com and get a 30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, go pound sand. We got merch. Merch is coming. I thought we were going to have some kind of discount. I don't know what's going on with that, but, you know, fuck it. Just go buy this shit full price.

I don't care. You can go to store. Buy the crap, yeah. Store.show.com is the best place to get that kind of goodness. You can see the hat there. We got beanies. There is all the smoke swag, I think, for sale there as well, although in a different vertical.

And also if you're a preferred Showtime employee, as you previously mentioned. Yes, and also if Showtime actually likes you, there's that as well. What am I forgetting, BC? I think that's about it for the preambles. You want to get the show started or something else um i just want to say luke you look happy refreshed in love pale hairy it's a regular monday with luke thomas you know hope you enjoyed the family time over the weekend i'm ready i'm ready all right all right well speaking of that family time let's start things off on a light note there's not a ton of news out there so we thought today we would start the show by just

talking about our holidays. It was, in fact, the holiday season. We begged many of you not to drink and drive. We hope you listened. And nevertheless, we hope you had a great time. Note, we don't need the Canelo versus Prime Hagler on the screen. I can tell you that right now. Hey, we're already off to a great start there, Jay.

Yeah, BC, you're just asking for things that people who are surrounded by are incapable of delivering. Yeah, remember our pre-show meeting when Jay kept trying to interrupt with the comedy? And we're like, we need the info here. It's like, Jay, less talky-talky, more double-checky. All right, but BC, that aside, how was your holiday? You know, it was wonderful luke i i found uh a very look a lot of us have found some silver linings in this crazy

year of 2020 one of them was was thanksgiving didn't travel anywhere didn't have anybody come over my house just had my family me my animals had a great time christmas a lot like that okay mother-in-law came over, relaxed, fun. Now, look, I want to amend something here. I joined you in really attributing me just some poor husband status when talking about the Christmas season on our Christmas bonus episode. Did my wife purchase the majority of the gifts to her this year? Yes, but there's a caveat on there, Luke.

We had an adult Christmas season, which means, you know, when you get to that point where you look around the house, you go, it's about time we upgrade the damn broken dishwasher, the stove from 1968, and that smelly-ass fridge that we inherited when we bought this house. We have the money now. Thank you, Showtime and NBC Sports. So let's just do that and not buy each other anything.

We had one of those holidays, Luke. So we exchanged, you know, left throwaway gifts to each other, stockings to each other. So when I said my wife went out and bought that stuff, I meant the little crap stuff. But, you know, we exchanged big gifts. And what that meant was Christmas wasn't about the sensationalism and the money and the gifts and all that. It was just about time, time with each other, and it was very quality, Luke, okay? So, yes, I enjoyed the crap out of my pause from regular life.

Here's fucking Jay already ready to ruin things. I just want to know if that means he didn't get a PS5 because that's what it sounds like. No, no, no, Jay, no. Jay did celebrate Hanukkah and his birthday in the same week. Jay, why don't you put more lower thirds that don't belong at the beginning of the show and then pictures of Mariah Carey, which is what I'm looking at here.

Yes to both. Literal pictures of Mariah Carey. So Luke, we watch Jay, go away for fuck's sake. This isn't even your holiday, bro. It's barely Luke's.

We watched Holiday in Handcuffs as a family we celebrated the birth of the redeemer i mean what a great time to be alive luke i hope for anyone else out there who's had an awful year they were able to have that insulated type of holiday that reminds them of what's important cheesy but true luke how did it go over there? Did you have a Colombian Christmas? Tell me everything. Not too Colombian. It was mostly sort of always a mix like we normally... The kid makes it weird because it's hard to know

when to open gifts and blah, blah, blah. So I'll say this. The way you guys were handing out gifts to each other, just doing it for the house, that'll be really helpful for her when you guys get divorced and she gets to keep the proceedings. then you're in your one bedroom apartment in the factory in the factory town and she has all the nice new appliances just sort of thinking out loud everything you just said could be in play just as us losing this show one day for

something we say yes you're right yeah uh i tease i tease but here's what i wanted to point out i actually had a great holiday i mean we didn't get to do much either in terms of like going anywhere there's not a whole lot open but i actually am very lucky to live in a place where there's a lot of just great things to do outdoors. Now, granted, it's obviously, it was a little bit chilly in this part of the country for that part of the year, but we took our daughter to see snow for the first time. That was kind of fun. We were going to take her tubing, but she's too young, so we couldn't do that. But still, Liberty Mountain is only like 80 miles from here, so we just drove, played in the snow, came back. We went and saw the National Christmas Tree down by the White House and took some wonderful pictures.

The National Mall is just spectacular. That's not a place where you buy stuff. That's the space between the Senate building and the Lincoln Memorial, all that grassy space. Is that near the phallic thing? The Washington Monument? Yeah, Washington Monument's basically in between the two. So we went there and just did a bunch of stuff, had good eats. Man, we didn't cook.

We just ordered out, partly because these restaurants need help, but also because, you know what, man, we just weren't feeling like just making a bunch of prep stuff this week. I do want to say my wife really took care of me this Christmas. One, she got me this Christmas. One, she got me a reverse hyper machine, which if you know anything about weightlifting

is just one of the most critical pieces of gear you can get. She got me a portable one. Can't you use it outdoors though, Luke? Because, you know, the elements. Oh, I mean, if you can't,

if you're not lifting outdoors to embarrass yourself and make your neighbors afraid of you, I don't know what, I mean, understand, I clear shrubbery in my neighborhood with a machete

and I lift weights outdoors. They must think I'm a fucking maniac, which is exactly the idea. They must think you're under house arrest, Luke. That's what they must think, you know? You have a low jack around your calf while you do that? So she got me a reverse hyper. It's the Westside Scout, which is the portable one that Rogue makes. It's unbelievable and it can fold up against your wall.

It's still pretty heavy, but you know, it's a great piece of gear. I got a trap bar. Excuse me. No, I got a... Sorry, what am I saying? I got a deadlift jack. So now you can put... It's hard if you're... If you're only lifting 135 on your deadlift, it's not a big deal. But once you start getting to 300, 400 pounds, it's a lot of extra weight to add constantly on each side. So I got this jack where you can just get under the bar and it lifts and you can just add the weight very easily uh and then this is the key bc and i sent you a picture of this over the uh over text check this out she got me a 3d vinyl cover oh yeah of pantera's vulgar display of power and if you look oh it is in fact a shooting gallery right it is domesticated her she's look at that well is that not cool that is badass that is very just so cool man and it's

got it's got the the oh i'm kind of just broke a piece here it's got a little bit of the uh things on the back yeah this is actually the back of the album cover. I love that. Yes. So she got me this, and this is just the coolest. So I was pretty happy with this, man. I was pretty. This is my favorite album maybe ever, and she got me this. I'm going to frame it on the wall, so I want to give a shout out to thanks to the wife for that. Like me, if it ever ends, I'll be in a one-bedroom apartment next to a factory. You'll be dead.

So hey, Luke, you'll be missing a a front door and you'll be shot dead, but you had a good run. That's fantastic, Luke. I do appreciate that. Did you guys get out and see some – is it snowing where you are? What's the weather like? No, so here's the deal, dude. We had Christmas Eve, it was 27 degrees, but Christmas was 60 degrees,

and that's great. You know, that shift in weather only floods your yards. And we had 70 degree winds, 70 miles per hour winds, excuse me. So there was a lot of fear going around the neighborhood that we're all going to lose power and have to be pumping our generators. But thank the Lord we kept the power. All the snow melted when it went 60 degrees. It's back to, you know, freezing, feels like 18. And, you know, all that does is screw with nature

right those wild shifts in uh in uh temperature and barometer like that but uh we're holding strong luke okay thank you bc here's the big question did you see wonder woman 1984 and or soul no not both are not my thing but we did last night uh rent a movie on prime it was uh war with grandpa starring Robert De Niro. It's a new one in which he's a grandfather, and he moves into his daughter's house and goes to war with one of the grandkids. It's a funny family flock. All right.

Thank you. Oh, God. Here's Jay again. What do you want, Jay? I saw Wonder Woman. I saw it. I don't care. I don't.

Wait. Does Jay have a producer credit on the show? No. Will you fucking stop? Will you stop, J? Go produce. Go produce. What is he doing?

Boy, he is lonely. That man needs a pat on the back and needs a friend. Jesus Christ. Anyway, Wonder Woman 1984 BC sucked balls. I hear. I hear things, okay? I hear things, all right? It sucked balls. I hear things, okay? I hear things, all right? It sucked ass.

Gal Gadot can't act to save her fucking stupid life. She's got sneaky, though. I don't think her hotness is sneaky. It's sort of right up front. But she can't act to save her fucking life. There's this... Dude, I'm going to give a bit of a spoiler. Is this your statement against suffrage?

Where are you going with this? No, the Jews are fine. It's got nothing to do with her being Jewish. Okay, now I need you fucking anti-Semitic actual Jew. Get on here, Jay, because now I need your opinion on this. Oh, hi. Jay. There's no escape from Jay, as Rod Johnson brought up.

Jay, I know he just finds a way to worm. He just accuses you of being racist. Then you have to call him in here to tell him you're not. Jay, they bring back the love interest of Wonder Woman. And here's the thing I just never get. They take over a dude's body, right? And it's supposed to just be a very normal thing. They just rent this guy's existence for the entirety of the movie.

He goes missing from his family. He probably got fired from his job. They just rent him and then give him back and everything is supposed to be normal. Did you not find that super fucking odd? I did, except for the following. And this movie was not good. I am not defending it. It was bad.

But Marvel made half the world disappear in their last movie and then just brought them back in the sequel like it was a normal life with, like, barely any explanation. With that said, I also saw Tenet over the weekend, and that's supposed to be a serious movie that involves time travel and time shifting, and they explained everything away by just going, it's a paradox. We can't understand it.

Yeah, they should have brought in some gigawatts. I get it. Yeah, so I can't kill, you know, DC for this movie, which was, I mean, it's meant to be juvenile. You were supposed to enjoy this movie at, like, 14 and under. And on a serious note, this is very empowering to young women. I think it really does a good job. Get the fuck out of here. God, wow.

Get the fuck out of here every time every time they do these they did this with the i made this point before they did this with the ghostbusters reboot right where it was like all women and this is going to encourage young ladies to get involved into stem parts of education and it's like that movie sucked ass it was a terrible example to everyone and then you actually have a great movie, Annihilation, with four female lead actors, well-written, well-acted, unbelievable from soup to nuts. And then the movie flops.

It's like the one you do right with women no one pays attention to. The bullshit show you put out there I'm supposed to take is like some kind of grand pronouncement of progress. Get the fuck out of here with that. Terrible ass movie. Don't go see it gal gadot sucks although she is hot do you think it's greedy that jay had his birthday the same week as hanukkah and also the love interest in his wife celebrates christmas so he's just

you you adopt some quons of people what are you doing jay i mean there's a that's a little bit greedy what kind of gift do you get a guy with a hole in his heart that big i mean there's just not much you can do to fill that thing. So I got nothing. It worked out great. Yeah, exactly. The other thing I'd say is if you've not seen Soul, do you have Disney Plus PC? Yes, I do.

I'm one of the 400 billion people who are subscribed in this world. Yes. Well, it is a very good movie. It's not Pixar's best movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it is. You know, Pixar doesn't make bad movies. I think it's a pretty fair way to put it. The animation is just spectacular. The story is very touching, and dude, Jamie Foxx,

is there anything the guy can't do in terms of being an entertainer? It's just everything he does is good. Yeah, yeah. Was that collateral with Tom Cruise? Great. No one talks about that flick, okay? Tom Cruise was good in that one, too, bro. I know.

For all of his Dana White Scientology, I mean, come on. You know, Jay, I don't know if your people run Hollywood, but they made a great one with collateral, whatever it's called. I don't know. Did we get fired yet? Can we get into some fighting here? What are we doing here? Yeah. All right.

Well, I just wanted to check in. If you've not seen those things, you can go check them out. All right. With that out of the way, let's now get to some actual fight news, BC. I predicted this one. Well, predicted. I thought this one wrong, but I definitely got it wrong. So point number two, Anthony Pettis does have a new home.

Of course, we knew it was not going to be UFC. I thought for sure it would have been Bellator. No. He goes to PFL. That is where he ends up. He's going to be in their lightweight division. Nathan Schulte is the guy who is basically the dominant figure over there. You would imagine at 155 Anthony Pettis could beat him,

although sometimes these things will surprise you. BC, I'll go to you first on this one, of course. Again, are you surprised that Anthony Pettis ended up with PFL? Are you crushing your bills? Defeating your monthly payments? Sounds like you're at the top of your financial game. Rise to it with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card. The credit card that rewards your good financial habits.

Earn points for paying your credit card bill in full and on time every month. Level up from bill payer to reward slayer. Terms and conditions apply. I'm very surprised because, look, until we see a shift, meaning PFL started something to make themselves unique, a season format, a big prize, $1 million. But what we have seen the PFL up to this point still, Luke, is more of a triple A, more of a, hey, go prove yourself there,

win the million bucks, and then launch yourself to bigger things. It has yet to go this way. Outside of the Rory McDonald signing, but he really hasn't fought yet. We've never seen somebody really go the reverse and enter that as a plus. In theory, is there less competition there comparative to UFC? Yes. So in general, strategically, is it a smart move for Pettis? It might be at this age, but I don't see there being a ton of big name matchups there that would make for must-see viewership.

And I think that's where we were looking at Bellator as more of the pool in the movie Cocoon, right? Where you can find some fountain of youth in there fighting better, you know, different levels of competition. He could still find that here, but you're under, you know, you're a little bit under the radar still in PFL. Now, a signing like this, a signing like Rory McDonald will certainly help offset that. I'm just a little bit surprised. I'm sure the financially it made a ton of sense. That's why he's here. And really, why wouldn't you at this point in your career?

You're looking to cash in. You're looking to, you know, use your name. But Luke, would it matter to you as a fan and critic if he goes out there and wins a lightweight tournament in a million bucks I mean I feel like you're almost still and maybe he can have a hand in changing that narrative but I feel like it's almost like he's going over there for a while what is over there well it's that same place DJ went over and won and uh and Sage Northcott was over there one time when he broke his face. We haven't heard from him again.

He's going over there, Luke. I'm not there yet. Will he make us be there? I don't know, Luke. Maybe it's good for his bank account, though. I mean, some of the reasons why he listed wanting to go there, I didn't think were bad. You know, obviously, EPFL has a relationship with ESPN.

The majority of their stuff is going to be in ESPN+. It's not a huge departure for people who have already been watching him. Okay, that's a fair point to make. I mean, still, not like Bellator, if it gets up on big CBS or Showtime or sort of maintains a steady presence on CBS Sports, can't be seen. But, okay, you want to go where people have been to see you. Fair enough. I understand that. Also, he mentioned something about, you know,

the way in which Anderson Silva's career kind of petered out in the UFC and wanting to avoid that. You know, it's kind of funny he sort of realized look I've been in big fights I don't I think he doesn't need to be in big fights anymore but like he's not chasing the Nate Diaz big fight or something else he's trying to maximize the time he has left to be as dominant and through domination to make them as big a money as possible I think that's what he's trying to do. He doesn't want to just peter out the way Anderson Silva kind of did at the end of his run there, which I also think is a wise choice. Now, of course, I still thought that someone like Scott Coker would just have been a really

hand-in-glove kind of fit, but there are reasons to think that PFL could do it for him and what he's looking for. I think he'd be very competitive at 155 pounds. I think if he does win the tournament over there, I think that does say a little bit of something. I mean, how much is probably debatable. I certainly wouldn't put it on par with winning a Bellator title maybe. But that's debatable too at 155 anyway. Although if he beat Patricio, that'd be bigger. I mean, there's a lot of ways to parse it. But the point is this, if you're still out there challenging yourself and maximizing the space you have left as a career

athlete and winning titles and getting big checks and sort of finding creative ways to stay relevant I really think that's honestly the best thing you can do I mean some guys like Saint Pierre are going to be able to retire at the top of their game when they're competing for a UFC but that's going to be very very rare we're talking about one of the very best to ever do it. Anthony Pettis is not a George St. Pierre in that sense, but he is a very good fighter, and he does seem to have, at this point in his career, good self-awareness. So I think making the switch out of UFC was definitely the good call. Some of the reasons he lists for PFL are certainly going to be wise ones. If he wins, I do think it will show there are ways to manage the end of your career

that aren't so hard-headed and that don't involve status for the sake of status against some of your broader interests. It seems to me he just was sort of keenly aware of who he is at this stage in his career, and he wants to maximize that. That sounds obvious, but the a lot of guys who especially ones who held UFC gold at some point that's actually quite rare so I actually commend him and think he got um I don't think it's a bad choice I mean in the end of the day BC you don't think it's I mean we can debate whether he should have gone to Bellator or not but it wasn't a bad

choice that he made right no I mean look at the end again when you're at this age you're like you nailed it you're looking at how many paydays can i get to secure whatever i need to secure i want to pay off a house i want to you know put my i want you you got you're not gonna you're not gonna be making this money again unless you develop some successful podcast or you become a you know ufc color commentator so and even then you're not making the same money so yes if it was all financial it's the same move we say of eddie alvarez going to one or demetrius johnson but i got three quick questions for you about this pettis move one luke uh name me the the pfl lightweight you're most looking forward for him to fight well the guy who was the reigning champion and he's undefeated in pfl although he did have some

losses in world series of fighting is nathan schulte right so that's the guy but there's chris wade who's out there um there's some of the guys who uh are connect well chris wade is as well but i believe but there are some guys from ali abdelaziz who have sort of signed from the russian caucuses mountains area that are always pretty good but the big dog there is nathan schulte number two um will showtime pettis attempt a showtime kick under the PFL banner? See, that's the other part. It's like if you're going there to win, where winning is the thing that gets you the most amount of money,

what does that do to your fight style? Because the way in which he fought like Ferguson and maybe even Diaz to an extent, at least early, was, you know, I'm going to sort of entertain the crowd. It's like okay but that's i mean not the pfl is not about entertainment but there's such a premium right on winning um does he fight a little bit more conservatively it's going to be interesting to see actually number three what are the over under on the pettis compound right now of weedy's boxes

unopened remaining i'm'm going to say 35. Where do you go? I think that's very much the under. Probably closer to 100 or more than that. Yeah, we'll see. The other part is, you know, PFL strategy here, signing some interesting names. We obviously know Fabricio Verdum is going there. They called him the Tom Brady of heavyweight MMA, which was no.

That's not what he is. But certainly it's an attractive name to get other fighters. And Pettis is the interesting one. Pettis is one of those guys where you sign him. It's like, you know, Rory McDonald, I don't really know what he's got left. Plus that 170 division is a little bit better over there. 155 seems much more for the taking. And a guy like Pettis who has a big name that fans like,

that, you know, has been a celebrated figure. That's going to be interesting. That's going to be interesting to see what he does in terms of recruiting other fighters. Yeah, and I'm just trying to say here that I'm not against the PFL. They just haven't given me a reason to be for them yet, right? I like that they exist. I like that the fighters have another avenue.

I'm not Bellator, Viacom, CBS, blowhard for the sake of it. Bellator has been a fun alternative to the UFC. Let's see PFL carve out an identity. And look, these recent signings could help that. Let's see what happens. Yeah, I mean, listen, I think if you watch the tournament unfold week over week, which I did for the 2019 season, you'll see that, like, there are good fights on there. They discover interesting guys. Like, there's a lot to like about PFL. week over week, which I did for the 2019 season, you'll see that there are good fights on there.

They discover interesting guys. There's a lot to like about PFL. But what was one thing that was really missing from them? Star power. Star power was just so key. That's where Kayla Harrison was one of their brighter spots, or signing Rory McDonald, or getting Fabrizio, or now Anthony Pettis. They're beginning to do the kind of thing that was missing for PFL that they really needed.

Now, how successful in the end that will be, how financially viable that will be, we'll have to see. But it does make their product a lot more exciting when you've got these guys that are somewhat unheralded, but very good fighters going up against guys who were once very good, a little bit more on the downside of their career, but still quite competitive and have big names. This is the kind of thing that's, I think, going to get uh more excited about the pfl product than what it used to be now how excited in the end i think that's what we're gonna have to see but uh pettis offered his services to to rufus uh bandmate their uh ben askren in terms of teaching him how to box for the potential of the jake paul fight okay shouldn't they have done that already?

It's like, shouldn't I have helped you with your UFC run in terms of throwing hands? Yes. It's like, wasn't that a thing that was more valuable when he was an active competitor in mixed martial? I mean, I guess not. I don't know.

What do I know? Okay. But that'll be fun to see what happens there. We move on now to point number three here. BC, there was lots of angry people on social media, which is something we normally would have kept for SJW, but we're going to go ahead and get to it today. I'm going to ask you in this way.

You had Ben Askren versus Scott Coker on Twitter. You had Ali Abdelaziz versus Conor McGregor on Twitter. And then you had Big John McCarthy lashing out at Dana White and vice versa through those videos that they made, one on the wing and podcast as a response to Dana's stupid ass anti-media video. What was the best beef of the holidays, aside from the one that you ate with your family? Well, is it the best beef or the best response? The best response I thought was Big John McCarthy.

Am I saying that because the Dana video hits close to home right now with me? Maybe. But look, I thought Big John McCarthy had the most educated, entertaining, and rightfully ballsy and manly response to Dana. Look, Big John was featured almost as much as I was in that hit parade, in that four-minute Scientology recruitment video. But what Big John did on the Weighing In podcast with Josh Thompson, which, by the way, very well done, that show, anytime I've checked in on it, uh, weighing in podcast with Josh Thompson, which by the way, very, very well done that show. Anytime I've checked in on it is, uh, come at

Dana and just be like, look, here's the facts. Here's where, where you selectively fought fake news with fake news and big John being a, you know, a bad-ass mofo, a big dude was just basically like F you Dana, you know, you F in this and that. I mean, look, it was, it wasn't like over the top. Let me fire back. It was just that, um, you're saying you don't give an F about, Dana. You know, you effing this and that. I mean, look, it wasn't like over the top, let me fire back. It was just that you're saying you don't give an eff about the media, and yet you put out this bitch-ass video taking false shots at every single media member. So the way that Big John sort of attacked this and responded, it was great. It was entertaining, and I think like us, he came back with facts, right?

He attacked the core and the meat of this ridiculousness. That will blow away, and we'll never talk about it again, Luke. But for the end of this season, and by the way, a lot of commenters on our show being like, these wimp asses just took the L and they can't take the L. Look, at the end of the day, something Big John and Josh said is something I echo. Nobody supported Dana White more once they got state commission approval than this guy. Not that guy. Not that guy over there.

Not Dr. Luke Fauci who's sitting all pretty there with his big ass beard. This guy. So me getting roped in there, Big John getting roped in there, ridiculous, okay? Luke, F you. Somehow you got off completely unscathed and it was a joke last week but maybe the days between you brought this on brother why don't you take a stand now and challenge that man to an on-air duel all right i mean i know i know people like oh media just can't take that they were wrong nope sorry again i'm not i don't want to relitigate this all over again

but i had big john on my radio show right before the florida show and he was unequivocally supportive of it you know so to go after big john you know for a given a guy who relative to everybody i mean if you have a range of opinions right where it's like totally against totally for, where would Big John be? He didn't like the stuff with Tachi Palace because no person with a mammalian brain could ever justify those actions, which is why the media absolutely was justified.

They were totally right in bashing the UFC's approach at the time. No, John Morgan supported it with his blue shirt. Just a heads up there. Well, you know, I can't speak to John Morgan's decisions or otherwise, but going against that was what – if you didn't go against that, something is wrong with you. Something is wrong with your brain if you didn't go against that. So once they switched over to the commissions,

which is what, hello, you're supposed to do, which, by the way, is the law, then Big John McCarthy was completely on board from everything they're on. I don't think he's one of these guys who's like, listen, I'm sure if he's asked to wear a mask, he wears it. I don't want to tell the world what his COVID views are. I don't know them for sure. But I get the sense that he is probably more in alignment with Dana about COVID than me, for example. So for Dana to go after him, it's just the most absurd thing.

This video is only convincing if you're an idiot if you're an idiot this video is super super convincing otherwise it's it's just total trash i mean you see that conspiracy possibly take it seriously in our comment section there's a conspiracy that ufc and dana did not go after you luke because you're armed with too many facts and truth. And they saw how you took down Chael in that one-on-one and they didn't want to give you the attention publicly for all the stances you took against COVID. Again, I couldn't speak to their motivations. You'd have to ask them.

But going after the media for being mad at them when they were trying to put shows on in california when the commission in california was shut down if you didn't go against that that's a stain on your record for life let's just be very clear about that so take the l media no take the l all you donks out there who got confused by bad fucking arguments all right and by the way real quick and in closing uh i don't think ariel has responded and by the way i'll give him a heads up for that that's actually probably the best way we've probably talked too much about this bs he he took the l by just saying f you i'll never mention this again so well done ariel yeah i mean why would

you like he got he got he got railroaded he didn't do anything that the video suggested that he did. And the statement that he did make was completely fair. So whatever. That part's over. What do you make about Askren versus Scott Coker? Apparently. So what's the history of the back beef there? There's more to the story here. Because the present story is Mike Bond of MMA Junkie asked Scott Coker, you know, who would win between Ben Askren and Jake Paul in this boxing match.

And I think Scott Coker said Jake Paul, which I don't know if that's the right answer, but I don't think it's absurd to suggest. Uncle Scott was polite, Luke. Uncle Scott said, well, look, Ben Askren's a wrestler. What does that tell you? He was polite in saying it. And now Scott is being hammered on social media by Ben for that.

But it feels like there must be more to the story because was there something about Scott and Askren related to Bellator at any point? Was there some kind of bad beef between them before all this? I don't – it seems like a big reaction from Ben for a relatively small slight. No? Yeah, it did. That's why I was wondering, you know, when I said I used the words back beef, and I'm not talking about my manhandles in the rear here that I'm working on here. I'm talking about back beef.

The word is on the street that Ashken's putting out these tweets. Everybody knows Viacom's trying to sell Bellator. Now you got Coker coming back and saying, you know, this is not only false, but you might be liable for making those statements. So it's getting pretty serious right now, Luke. I'm not sure, but I would have to guess without knowing and not having a dog in this fight either, that there was some failed negotiation at some point.

I know when Ben exited Bellator 4-1, it was still a Bjorn Rebny product from what I remember, correct? That's what I, I mean, he must have left before 2014, right? So that was Bjorn Rebny all the way. And I know for a fact that Bjorn and Ben had a good working relationship. So I don't know the back details. That was a little bit surprising. But what was that third beef you mentioned? Oh, Ali and Conor. Is there anything more to that than those two just hating each other? I mean, Conor, by the way, congratulations to the McGregors

and his plus-four fiancée, their wife. I mean, they're going to have a third baby on the way, Mad Bills to pay. Shout-out to them, Luke. But this isn't Ali secretly trying to force a fight against abib's wishes right i don't think so it's just amazing that these two keep going at each other without any kind of real resolution ever materializing or you know i i wonder how long this will continue because it seems like as long as connor is even remotely

active which you know obviously he's gonna fight coming up in january but you know he doesn't fight all that frequently this will just be a thing that continues are they gonna fight like they did in the buffet line like colby and kamaru and ali did you think chucking food at each other and shit yeah yeah you're right this has been this is tired and old i mean if you can't it's sort of like if you can't consummate it inside it's not it's in some form you're right why are we why are we continuing to go down this road yeah and he just brings out they they both bring out the big guns too like uh mcgregor goes after him from some of the uh uh the the the the reports about the aliases that he may have had. And then, you know, then he gets called McTapper and you quit

and all kinds of stuff. They really have quite the angry beef there, BC. Yeah, a lot of back beef going on there, Luke. Okay, back. You were bored by this one then, huh? Yeah, yeah, i was bored by that one because uh again unless this is some kind of secret way to to you know bang the thunder again for habib connor too which you know isn't gonna happen doesn't look like it's gonna happen i mean

can we here's what i want in 2021 i'm sure we'll have some morning combat show where we look ahead to the new year and have our wishes and projections but can we just get an answer on habib this is starting to piss me off a little bit this this in this great period in between like is he gonna fight or not give up the title or not reminded me of that like nine months where dana's like i might get rid of the flyweights we just cut about 30 of them but i'm not really sure yet just make a freaking decision hey habib i love you man i love the beard i almost have a habibian thing going on right here um can you just make a freaking decision hey habib i love you man i love the beard i almost have a habibian thing going on right here um can you just make a public decision and we can end this speculation please thank you i know and i saw these reports like over the weekend i guess they had interviews done with

cormier from at some point or maybe he had made some kind of statement it was like daniel cormier believes that khabib will only come back to fight gsp it's like isn't that what everyone believes like everyone does so hey gsp is gonna wake up tomorrow with a full head of hair and be like 43 before we know it so can we just either either you're doing it or you're not can we put a title on the line for connor porie too or not either way just make a damn decision okay i'm sure dana had a great christmas look i'm thinking about you know us wasting more time on that stupid dana video he probably didn't even see any of the reactions he probably is out on a yacht somewhere in like the the south china sea

just you know like wiping his ass with yeah yeah all right there you go all right bc let's get to our fourth topic as we fly through the show here uh canelo there are reports that his next fight won't be against caleb plant or caleb truex or any other Caleb or Billy Joe Saunders or Triple G. No, it will be a mandatory, WBC mandatory, I believe, against this Turkish dude, Yildirim. It'll be in Mexico City in February. And everyone is like, wait, what? Who? Why?

BC, should fans be mad that Canelo's next fight is the one nobody asked for? No, they shouldn't. And here's why. You sure about that? I saw a lot of response to this report out there. Shout out to Manuk Akopian of the LA Times and Boxing Scene and also Mike Cobbinger had part of the report as well. And I saw people responding with, oh, yeah, this is why boxing sucks, blah, blah.

This guy, oh, yeah, we're not getting Triple G. we're getting Avni Yildirim. Here's the deal. Canelo wants to fight three times this year. Canelo hates the boxing politics as much as us. He wants to keep that WBC title. He just won at 168 pounds. The problem is in the mandatory business that these belt collectors, these alphabet organizations hold, Avni Yildirim's been the mandatory of the WBC for a while. So he has to fulfill this obligation. Here are the good parts of it. It's not in Mexico City.

It's targeted for Guadalajara, which is Canelo's home city. So this is like his first time coming back home after becoming a superstar. He's fought exclusively in the United States there since becoming, you know, the biggest draw in the sport and having the Floyd fight and on and on. This is a stay-busy homecoming fight. And, oh, by the way, Canelo has already announced, I want to come back in February, fight Yildirim. And here's the deal, though, on Yildirim real quick.

I know you never heard of him. He's a fun fighter. He's a limited guy, but he's an action guy. Oh, stop. Stop. Canelo's probably going to knock him out. It'll be fun to watch. If that was his only fight, Luke, or one of two fights this year, yes, be upset. Canelo said, I'm coming back in May,

and I want to target WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders at 168 to try to unify belts. Saunders is unbeaten. He's hard to negotiate with. He's even harder to fight in the ring because he fights in like a negative style. This is Canelo going out of his way to take a difficult guy, chase him down, say, I want you. I want to unify titles. That's what real fighters do. He's doing that.

And he said, oh, I want to come back a third time in the fall, probably on Mexican Independence Day weekend. And Luke, an interview with his trainer, Eddie Reynoso, has revealed that they're not against Triple G. They'll do it. They know the fans want it. Here's their caveat, and I think it's fine. They said, we're not doing any favors for Golovkin.

It has to be at 168, where Canelo will only fight moving forward. They will not cut down to 160 in the future for anyone, Spence, anyone. I respect that. You're the money man in this sport. You're saying, come to me. Canelo's an undersized super middleweight, and he's saying, I prefer not to cut weight.

I want to get all the titles and work here. How can you be upset at that? We get like a bonus Canelo fight in February when he was probably only going to come back in May anyway, because that's what superstar fighters do. They fight Cinco de Mayo weekend. They fight Mexican Independence Day. It was the Oscar de la Hoya plan. It was the Floyd Mayweather plan.

Now it's the Canelo plan. I'm sorry you never heard of Yildirim. He's a wild action fighter. But if this is Canelo's gift to people in Mexico and come home and celebrate a mariachi's play in the final countdown, I'm here for it. It has nothing to do with the health of the sport. This is Canelo having his cake and eating it too.

He still wants to fight the guys. It's got nothing to do with the health of the sport or a little bit. Nothing at all. Dude, the sport would strip the WBC title from him if he didn't fight this guy. So he's doing what this. Yeah. All right.

I don't know when I became, you know, Canelo Oliver's lead counsel here, but how could you be upset at this? Unless you don't understand boxing, how could you be upset? It's not that I think it's, listen, it's certainly not the end of the world. It's not worth writing angry columns about how boxing is ruinous to fans' interests or anything like that, because to your point, he may not even come back until May anyway. Of course, Cinco de Mayo, as you indicated, and then Mexican Independence Day in September, right?

Those are the two big dates that he's going to compete on. And if you get one in between, he can just kind of squeeze in against an overmatched opponent. Is it the end of the world? Certainly not. Okay. But number one, you know, look at a bit of the larger picture here. It's like these are these moments where I'm like, I don't know what MMA needs in terms of getting fighters more money. Sometimes I feel like it's the Ali Act, and sometimes I feel like it's not.

Sometimes I feel like it's a union, sometimes it's not. This is one of those moments that gives me great pause. I want the fighters to get paid like what they get paid in boxing or something kind of close. I don't know if I want boxing's architecture in MMA because that, to me, is just a bit of a problem. While it's not the biggest deal here, the mandatory situation, for example, is kind of a bigger problem to negotiate with Joshua and Fury. It's these constant hurdles that get in the way or delay the bigger fights you want to see. They have to deal with this kind of stuff first. And you understand why there's mandatories, right? If people do enough good work work they should be able to be rewarded for it i i understand but there's a downside and an upside to every kind of

system this is one of the downsides it creates slowness let me finish it creates slowness to major fights it creates bureaucratic uh hurdles and it it is in totality if not this one explicitly very annoying right and that's why it's hard to unify or become an undisputed champion of boxing because the alphabets don't want you to they want you to defend your title as much as possible and not be held up looking for other fights why because every time you defend a wbc or wba title you have to pay a significant portion of your purse to that stinking company to wear the belt is it a sham system yes and even the alphabet mandatory system luke in theory if it was set up the way it's supposed to be where the

deserving get the chance regardless of how commercially viable they are right you win enough fights as you mentioned if you're like a john fitch or somebody like that you win enough fights you stay in line you get your title shot the problem is this system is so corrupt and broken where the promoters tend to slide money under the table and that's why some guy you never heard of becomes the number one contender when he's beaten nobody. Like the guy Triple G just fought. You're like, Camille Zmarretta? What? Like, who the hell?

Who the frick is that guy, right? So yes, boxing's broken, but even in this broken system, Canelo fighting this guy in his hometown of February and coming back two, three months later in a fight we kind of need to see. Do we need Billy Joe Saunders? Not if you only want Canelo to fight sexy big fights,

but Canelo's trying to do something right now. He's saying, I live at 168. I want all the belts. So to do that, he needs to fight Yildirim to keep a belt and he needs to fight Saunders to get the belt and then there'll be one man left, Caleb Plant. So Luke, again, he's not,, he could be a total diva. He could be a Floyd Mayweather type right now and just be like,

I only want to fight smaller guys who have no chance, who are coming up in weight. He's not doing that, Luke, okay? So let's give Canelo the respect he deserves. I don't care if you watch him against Yildirim in February, respect the man already. Yeah, I certainly respect him, but I can understand why fans don't want this model.

This model is not designed to maximally serve the interest of fans. You have to just say that out loud. It's not. It's not designed to serve their interests. Boxing is designed to line the pockets of promoters. We already know this, though. Or other interested stakeholders like the sanctioning bodies or managers or

whatever, but it is not designed to service fans interests in a timely way and so it's like we have all these discussions after Canelo beats Callum Smith we're like what's next oh well it could be Triple G and it could be Caleb Plant it's not any of those fucking things in fact of the names that are interesting to me the least which is Caleb Plant but maybe one of the better ones given some of the other alternatives that's the one that's third in line between yildirim billy joe saunders and then caleb plant or maybe triple g after that it's just so fucking annoying how you constantly have to like put it off put it off the the amount of procrastination through bureaucracy in boxing

it is overwhelming. It is so overwhelming. Is it better than the second half of Floyd's career? And I'm not here to shit on Floyd. Floyd ended up fighting everybody. He did it on his own terms. But the second half of Floyd's career, it was always, why isn't he fighting this other champion or this other welterweight

who would be perfect, but instead he wants to fight this old guy or this small guy moving up? It's the same thing. Yeah, it's BS. Maybe that's why boxing is where or this small guy moving up it's the same thing yeah it's it's bs maybe that's why boxing is where it is and it's where it's always going to be it's all bs luke but that bs tastes really good when they put it up on a big shiny plate and they charge you a hundred bucks for it and you know you know i mean come on it's just you know they put like like this show floyd punches victor ortiz when he's not ready and you're like wait what happened and that's his only knockout in like a 15 years man except for yeah and yeah oh so like You know, they put like this show. Floyd punches Victor Ortiz when he's not ready. And you're like, wait, what happened?

And that's his only knockout in like a 15 years, man, except for Ricky. And yeah. So like, but it's like this show, Luke, they put a nice sauce on top. And man, that sauce just tastes so damn freaking good. Right. There's people that hate you, Luke, but they come to this MK food stand for the sauce, brother. Yes. Yeah. I, again, you have a very idea of what of what you provide here but

uh i'll say this yildirim fine i'll watch especially if it's like for cheap pay-per-view or something like that but the broader picture of the brokenness of boxing to which this is a contributing part but not the worst example of i do think you have to take inventory of that uh all right last but not least, BC, your favorite topic. Japanese MMA, baby. There is still one more card left in the year of our Lord 2020. It'll be Ryzen

26. I think we'll be on Fight TV on pay-per-view. I think it's like 50 bucks. I have to double check. Your commentators Joe Ferraro, shouts to him. Ferraro I think it is, out of Canada. Showdown Joe and then Frank Trigg. They do a great job. to him. Ferraro, I think it is, out of Canada. Showdown Joe. And then Frank Trigg. They do a great job. In your main event, BC, I'm very much looking forward to this.

There are something known. They're like the Diaz brothers of Japan. The Asakura brothers. For the 135-pound belt, which Horiguchi used to have, had to give it up. And then Asakura won, even though he beat him in a non-title fair and won it later on. Kai Asakura rematching Kyoji Horiguchi this is Horiguchi's first fight I think since losing that non-title bout to Asakura we got blitzed and knocked the fuck out inside the first round BC level of excitement for the return of Kyoji Horiguchi uh it's no disrespect to Horiguchi who is you know among the best in the world at what he

does in his weight class look i knew i knew you were i got i had a look it up rising 20s kai asakura i don't i'm sorry i don't know kai asakura okay uji horiguchi hasn't fought in like over a year uh i'm looking up and down this card uh we got tension nasakawa but he's not fighting floyd again luke and then there's hey takanori gomi's back okay that's cool luke i don't care let's be honest all right negative four luke i'd rather i'd rather watch that dana four minute video and debate it all again with you and relitigate it than probably watch this but maybe it'll end up and have you seen this shit if it's good i'll check kaposa's twitter afterwards thank you wow you really are that gonna be hear me that shitty to koji horiguchi who might be one of the best bantamweights in the world.

I have nothing against Asian people. They're fantastic. This is just low profile in my radar of, of, of atmosphere. Okay. Thank you. Wow. I'm really glad we're doing a great preview here for the audiences. And I, and I thank you BC so greatly for the amount of homework that you did in glancing at Wikipedia. Why don't you preview the fight? I'll entertain myself. I'll read a book or something. Go ahead. Tell us about if Horiguchi can turn back time and get revenge against Kai Asakura.

Asakura? Why are you saying it like the dude with the buck teeth in Breakfast at Tiffany's? Jesus Christ. Mickey Rourke. We're not Mickey Rourke, but what's his name? Uh, yes.

Kai Asakura rematching Kyoji Horiguchi at 135 pounds. Asakura, by the way, has won three of his last four. The last one he lost, and I'm going to mispronounce his name is Manel Cape Cape. This is the dude who just got signed by UFC at flyweight. Um, so that's the only one he's lost.

He won it, the, the, the bantamweight title for the organization, back in August. And now he's going to rematch Kyoji Horiguchi. His win over him was a bit of an upset at the time, back at, what, Ryzen 18, I believe. This will be Ryzen 26. So that'll be your main event. I'd be very curious to see how Kyoji,

who had to give up, by the way, his Bellator and his Ryzen titles. Then, as BC indicated quite racistly, Tenshin Nasakawa is in your main, Komei, excuse me, but that'll be the kickboxing bout against a WBC Thai champion. Other bouts of interesting note on this one to me, Takanori Gomi is in a sort of a custom rules bout, which is supposed to be an MMA bout, but it's mostly stand-up, I think. And if it goes to a decision, there's no winner.

So someone has to get kind of knocked out or stop with strikes in this one. The other one is the Adam Waite title on the line between Ayaka Hamasaki and Miyu Yamamoto. Yamasaki, excuse me, Hamasaki at 20 and 3 has a very decorated record. You'll note not a lot of Adam Waite fighters getting a lot of opportunity inside of North American promotions. Obviously, there's been some of that for Invicta. But this is going to be one of your better matchups between those. And then last but not least, well, I should say there's a couple more things on this one. Back on this one is going to be fan favorite.

What's the... Ikehisa Minowa. Minowa man is going to be on this card. And then the other Asakura brother is on this as well. By the way, Hideo Takuro is on this as well. You know, a longtime Japanese vet. And I think he fought in UFC for a couple of times, if memory serves. I believe that's right. I could be getting that wrong.

Bellator once. I'm not sure where else he fought. Dream a bunch of times. But he was pretty good for his day. So there you go. There's your very, very quick rising. All right, Luke. You know, my disrespect to the fine people of Asia notwithstanding.

Is your care level higher than Ryan Garcia, Luke Campbell on Saturday on the zone? Come on, bro. It's a little higher than that. Yeah. All right. all right. Well, look, maybe it would be, I know a great place where you can preview that card at length and probably get more clicks

than you do on this channel. It's called the Luke Thomas YouTube channel. You can find it usually right after big news breaks before you watch Morning Combat. I literally have put one post up in like 15 days. But okay, keep crying about it. I'm sure you're right. All right, so that's it for us, BC.

We have asked all the relevant questions to each other. You seem very checked out, so we will move on to a place where the audience gets to ask us questions. It's time for DMs from Diggity Donks. Let's get to it here. Very good, there's the animation. Hee-haw, hee-haw. from diggity donks let's get to it here very good there's the animation okay jay this is where you put the questions on the screen now you understand that very good

all right first one's from last week jay the the new ones the new ones yeah from uh dan's elephant canelo versus prime haggler at super middle. How does it go BC? Well, you know, Hagler operated at middleweight for pretty much his entire career, but Canelo is a small super middleweight. So you're basically talking about this as a middleweight matchup where they're not cutting down. Um, Canelo's great. I mean, he's the man of this era commercially also now critically due to his ascent to the top of the pound for pound ladder luke he's a fantastic counter puncher he's very technical his power has carried up but it's the same thing when we all fell and i was dude i was riding the train i was the conductor

of the triple g original train when all we had luke was the eye test of sitting front row when he ruined Matt Macklin with a body shot, right? Seeing him fight all these B-level guys and being like, man, is he as good as Hagler? Would he beat Prime Hopkins? What are we watching here? I think we all sort of had a hard-on from here to Hanover with that guy. Maybe it was a little bit too extreme when reality haggler is freaking haggler he can switch stances he can pure box you he's got the best chin in the game and oh by the way he can get you out of there with both hands uh let's give canelo still the legendary respect and say a fight between the two of them i mean mean, it is mouth-watering. But I still don't see somebody doing that to Hagler in a straight-up setting.

Like, Sugar Ray Leonard surprised him. And look, Hagler fought a really bad game plan in the first half of that fight. And it was still a pick-em fight. And that was the last fight of Hagler's career. And they still went to the scorecards with you going, I'm not really sure who won. But have we seen somebody really solve on the highest level that prime middleweight Hagler? I would take Hagler by decision in a great fight. I just think he's fast, he's durable, he's tough as hell, and he's old school.

He's also tricky. Folks, don't give him credit for that. He was a tricky fighter. We're the old school of the adjustments look the old school fighters had plans b through z ready for you right because they went through wars in the gym they're fighting four or five times a year i mean it was just a different ball game and haggler was old school for the 80s right in the 70s so i got haggler over canelo i think canelo would not throw enough in the end. And I think Hagler would be busy and he would, he would dilute Canelo's output to a certain degree. He would make Canelo have to be the counter puncher is what I'm saying.

And if you're telling me Hagler can be the aggressor in that matchup, I like him being able to throw with both hands and switch stances like that. Hagler. In fact, my favorite boxer ever. So I love your answer, BC. I have nothing special to add to that um okay from Gabe Chirico or Kiriko depending how one pronounces it BC do you find old classic fights like Griffin versus Bonner for example less entertaining now because of how much the game has improved since then when was the last time you saw that fight because let me tell you something its historical relevance is undeniable its level of awesomeness has declined dramatically that fight was a donk fest by modern standards

and there's no getting around it i think that might be a bad example only because if you're going to re-watch that you're re-watching it for the blood guts and the action right it's like goddy ward-esque so you're i think there would be a better comparison give me another really big title fight from back then even before that what's that 2006 or team shamrock ufc 40 yes that's a better comparison if i go back and watch like the the the the randy couture title fights from that original run or the tito ortiz light heavyweight title reign or something like that i think that's where you see such a remedial level in terms of the well-rounded game and the avenues of victory. I mean, it's like, what am I going to do?

Am I going to outbox him or ground and pound him? Right? I mean, that's really like, yeah, it's such a different, more sophisticated game today. I think that's a bad example, but I think the spirit of the question is perfect, Luke. When you do go back there and watch the best fights from 2002, 03, 04, I mean, look, I haven't watched Fedor Krokop, 2005 from Pride in a long time. Would that hold up skills-wise today?

Yeah, that might hold up a little bit better because Fedor was kind of ahead of his time, and modern MMA is probably a little bit advanced, plus we don't really fight in a ring anymore, so there's a little bit that's old to it. But that one was a contest where the careful forward pressure of Fedor really diluted the ability of a guy like Mirko Krokop

to set his feet, and so it allowed Fedor to explode into range and to dominate. That one would hold up better because that was a pretty sophisticated fight, especially for its era. Maybe not as good as the best heavyweight fights of today, but still pretty good. Okay, what about like, I'm trying to think, what is a really good non-heavy, like lower weight class early UFC fight?

Like a BJ Penn versus... Oh, you could do any of the 205ers, so like... Or no, even below that. Below the heavies and the quasi-heavies. Like BJ Penn, Kale Uno or something. below that below the heavies and the quasi heavies like bj pen kale uno or something would that hold up those fights kind of suck there's a lot of draws with bj early um um i would say something that's a good fight outside of that um i mean it depends how early you want to go some of the matt hughes fights maybe you could go to yeah good call good call yeah i'll tell you what holds up today chemo

versus uh hoist gracie i love that fight man he put he put that man through hell okay pulling all the hair akima versus shamrock was actually interesting one shamrock hit him with the chin through the double uh underhooks which was kind of a nice one but i do think there's something to be said for the fact like dude modern mma even your slop fest today like you know a crazy fight for example Spike Carlisle the best TV fighter ever the ginger ninja and Billy Quarantillo right I mean this crazy back and forth you know that is a way better back and forth than Griffin versus Bonner it's just that Griffin versus Bonner represented something kind of interesting at a very pivotal moment in MMA's existence particularly here in North America and so for those reasons it holds prestige but like does it hold up fuck no it doesn't hold up

not even close Luke do you really think I've checked out because of Koyuchi Horiguchi in this show today is this I mean this this you checked out during that segment for sure I mean you were definitely being a little bit you you know, you know. I better check myself before I wreck my head. I will agree with you that the most annoying MMA fan on earth is the one that over-prioritizes Japanese MMA. But the one who under-prioritizes it isn't much better. Should I go back and revisit the two-fight series with Caldwell to get me excited for this Kai-Asakura fight?

No, just go watch the first Asakura fight. Okay. He fucking bludgeons Kyoji Horiguchi. It's great. I'll tell you what, Luke. I will do that and get back to you on Wednesday when we preview Ryan Garcia, Luke Campbell. And also, when are we going to break down all things The, and I'm not talking about Dwayne Johnson? We'll talk about that at the end of the show.

So hang on. Let's get through the rest of these questions here. Please, por favor. All right. From at mporter440BC, and this is the question they're asking, so don't kill us on Twitter, Ben. Does any fighter in modern MMA have worse boxing than Ben Askren? Does he mean at like the UFC level?

Because you've got to reach MMA. Does Chase Hooper count? Does CM Punk count? Hey, by the way, Chase Hooper, I saw his comments and reaction to like Rogan just roasting him during that fight. I get it. It's got to be hard when you're like a young fighter and you're fighting and you go back and your heroes are just being like, I don't. It's got to be hard when you're like a young fighter and you're fighting

and you go back and your heroes are just being like, I don't even think this guy should be in the UFC, but whatever. I don't think he should be in the UFC. I mean, he's good enough to get wins in the UFC, but he's too young. Let's talk modern elite quasi-title contending MMA. Who has worse stand-up than Ben Askren showed in the Maya fight, in the Robbie Lawler fight. Or worse hands.

The worst hands, Luke. I mean, when you narrow it to the elite quasi-title contender type. Ronda Rousey? I mean, here's the thing. I used to talk to Duke Rufus about Ben striking, and they were pretty explicit about it. They only really focused on ground and pound. They did work on that, and I actually feel like Ben's ground and pound was,

I wouldn't call it tremendous. Like, it wasn't like, oh, my God, you know, he was killing people with it. But it was pretty good when he wanted it to be in certain parts. Like, it was definitely a much more developed part of his game than his just straight-up stand-up. And up and ronda had like terrible ground and pound she had no ground and pound so if you want to look at it like that you could maybe say ronda um because i do think that ben had enough ground and pound to like force change in position score damage you got to give her credit she knocked out cohea and who was the other one uh uh with a body shot remember oh yeah she did yeah no well that was a knee yeah you're right yeah you're right sarah

mcmahon with the knee and then she she took down alexis davis and gmp'd her to hell so i mean there were some wins in there no you're right i'm right you're right you're right it's a fair point it's a fair god ronda's career has been erased from my memory um how about uh alexei olenek i don't know i don't know i would have to look more at his right i mean listen i'll say this ben did not pray ben did not prioritize striking you know i don't i don't think that's a very controversial statement to make he obviously wanted to make use of his wrestling he had good subs when he wanted it or at least you know sort of like um good good good joint manipulation that kind of thing to like force bad positions and his mat wrestling was absolutely tremendous some of the best i'd ever seen in mma when he was you know

the guy who fought douglas lima or koreshkov the second time i mean he fucking demolished these well that's lima hung in there but koreshkov got absolutely worked over. That guy, before really all the injuries began to set in, was a force to be taken quite seriously, and I think all of us who were paying attention at the time did. But did Ben really put in a lot of emphasis on working on his jab? No, not really. I don't think that that was a thing he did. So by virtue of just ceding that territory to his competitors,

maybe the answer is yes. I'm not sure. And by comparison, guys like Damian Maia and Jacare Sosa, who were known for not having hands anywhere on the level of the ground game, they've evolved into different levels of credible. I mean, Jacare was a pretty damn good striker at this point in his career comparatively ben never added anything luke i mean besides that straight jab to shoot in for the takedown so uh yeah yeah yeah agreed it just was never a priority for him i don't think he ever really cared about working on at least not very much uh all right so let's go to

at scott mccreight luke have you ever declined a request to spot a fellow lifter because they were wearing weightlifting gloves? No, I've never declined a request, but I've had people ask me when they had lifting gloves, BC, like on the bench press, and I actually add weight to the bar by pressing it into their throat as a payback for wearing fucking gloves. You should never, ever wear gloves unless you're a hand model.

Luke, that's just, I mean, you're just overblowing. It's not. What is the, dude, let me ask you a question. I can show you any kind of strength sport, whether it's strongman, Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, bodybuilding. The very best pros, you will never see them wear gloves. You will see them all wear belts because the belt is actually pretty important.

The glove is a relic of the 1980s. Sweating to the oldies, Richard, what was his name, Richard Simmons, fucking, I mean, what are we doing here? Do not ever wear gloves. They serve no purpose other than to tell everyone there that you know I lift you know what I hated

so look my dad used to began dragging me to the gym and obviously in hindsight I should have focused and really put in the effort but you know he began dragging me to the gym at age 14 and you know I went on my own through high school college and look I had some good years in my single prime BC twenties of being a pretty, pretty cut and stuff.

But who cares about that right now? My whole point of this is, is being that young kid in the gym, a lot of, you know, driving yourself in high school and going, and you know, you do your own ish. Why was I such a magnet Luke to the gym weirdos, right? So imagine every gym's got it. The bald white guy who's short, but stocky and big and would wear those freaking ball shorts, right? Like the tan, like the spandex ball shorts would have like a tank top. That's barely even there. And the kind of guy that would scream at the top of his lungs with every rep. So everybody could look at him and

see how big he is. That guy would seek me out across the gym luke like like you had to you had to use the no eye contact rule in the gym right same use you same rule you use in big cities like you because they just find you and why do they pick the skinny kid who doesn't want to be there and be like yo come spot me and they never ask it's always tell it's always like yeah like we're in jail or something and then i gotta spot this giant dude who's got a rack with like two or three 45s on each side look i can barely pick up the 45s to even attempt like a shoulder shrug what could i possibly do if this guy was in trouble nothing luke why was i always the target of that why did you have to walk around holding the inside of his pocket afterwards as well no but it was like you you can't you can't say no

you're intimidated at that point and then you realize the guy smells my crotch is standing over his face like it just it's just such crap if you've ever done that to a young kid luke have you ever no i don't ever ask for uh spots at the gym okay ask for a spot maybe from somebody you know or a guy you see all the time hey i got a big lift coming up these are the guys who go there and they're just looking for for fish right it's like the first night in jail right they're just trying to find people like i don't get that i don't get that culture at all luke it drives people out of gyms okay yeah there's less of that today certainly the gym i go to i don't really see a whole lot of that although in the covet era nobody even talks to each other and there's hardly anyone in the the gym anyway. But I don't really see a whole lot of that anymore.

But, you know, you still see – well, so in D.C., I told you, the rules are very pretty strict. There can be no more than 20 people at the gym, mask at all times. They give you a water thing or antiseptic. You have to spray down everything you touch. Locker rooms are closed. You can't go to the locker rooms. There's a bathroom where you can use it, like, if you have to go number one

or number two, but there's nowhere to change. You just have to show up what you show up in and then leave. You got to check in and out. They're contact tracing the whole nine yards. I mean, it's a very strict thing. I will say closing down the locker room has been a great thing because that's where the real weirdos go around. Well, that's where the nude old guys just congregate.

They spend all freaking day in there brushing their teeth, combing their back hair. Yeah, but brushing their teeth after they shower, wearing a T-shirt, socks, and shoes, no undies, dick and balls, shriveled and old, just flapping in the breeze right by the sink, water splashing on it for a second time. That's the reality.

I have to thank COVID for shutting all that shit down. You got to take a dump because you mistimed the takeout you had for lunch that day. And you're like, man, I got to wash my hands. I can't go back to the machines with dump hands. But you got to fit in between two old guys who didn't even work out. Luke, they came there to shower and hang out nude what is it and sit in the sauna that's exactly right i guess that's why turkish baths are a thing right i don't understand this world luke i'm glad we got rid of those people okay because

yeah when i went to i went to turkey with my wife in like 2014 or something and she was like do you want to go to a bath and get a massage i was like like, fuck no. Hell no, I don't want to do any of that shit. Why would I want to go and relive the parts of the gym that I hate? Jay, sometimes you have a perspective that's wanted in this show. Why do men, I don't know if it's part of you, is this your tribe, do they do this? Why would a grown man go to a male bathhouse unless he's George Michael? Now, the darker version of the people of my tribe, you know, I'm talking about the more

Eastern Bloc Jews. Jay, please don't get racist on here. I mean, you mean Amore Stoudemire? That's a whole different kind of Jew. That's a whole different kind of Jew I can't speak to because, yeah, but they love the bathhouses. They're big on them. You ever been to Queens?

A lot of bathhouses. Okay, but what happens in there? Is this just like a beat-it festival? What is happening? Have you ever heard of the mikvah, Brian Campbell? No. No. It is...

It's a Jewish ritual bathhouse where lots of men get naked and then dip in the pool at the same time. And it's a holy experience. Yeah. Yeah. Holy. Yeah. Okay. Jay, have you ever worn gloves and to weight lift in person

in public yes yeah why jay who wants the and did they and did they make you look tough by cutting out little holes over your little knuckles have the ribs like what do i want to ruin my hands on the ribs on the bars you mean ruin you mean manly you know man them up why would you want your hands to have calluses like a fucking man gee i couldn't imagine why you would want those things other than they're helpful and awesome what what points do you get from looking like you just finished you know building a roof for like six weeks i don't know lots i have smooth hands people yeah why does he want to look like a migrant worker luke, just so he can be tough? Whoa, whoa, whoa. I didn't say anything about a migrant worker. I'm not the racist one here.

I got to go now. Yeah, I know. BC can't help himself. He's like, yeah, but what about all the people at Home Depot in the parking lot? Why would you want hands like theirs? Because their hands are tough as shit. That's why.

That's exactly whose hands I want. I'm not out here looking for aesthetics. I'm out here looking for functionality. I want to be able to grip shit and open it. I to have the fucking grip the traction and the strength to do that gloves all right i've got an idea i've got an idea luke that involves the two of us maybe even jay uh due to the success of our first documentary the return to the studio what if we do part two we'll call it bc in in DC makes it look easy. And I come and I stay in your house.

We bring the camera crew with us. We work out in the front yard. I get quality time with Abuela, Uncle Felipe, whatever. Bounce the kid on the knee, whatever. Whatever's fair and custom in your house. And that's our new, that's our second doc. Okay. I think that's amazing.

And then there could be a third one later on where I go and visit the king of Connecticut in the court of Factory Town where he has presided over his plebs. That'll be the follow-up to the follow-up. We need that gas station. Yes, this is good. We're building something here. Jay, would you be part of this?

Wait, Jay, let's real quick. This is the last time I'll bring in Jay because I know our ratings go through. Bullshit. The shit or when that happens. Jay, why did you have zero part of the documentary? Real quick, this is the last time I'll bring in Jay because I know our ratings go through. Bullshit. The shit or what happens. They go through the ceiling is where they go. Jay, why did you have zero part of the documentary? I mean, yeah, we sent you to hell during the show, but you were.

That's exactly right. You didn't have an edit. You're the award-winning director. Shomalka was like, keep this guy away from this project. The funny part is now that you point it out, everybody knows. But had you watched it, I don't think you would assume that with the sheer number of times I was sent straight on a one-way first class ticket to hell. You're welcome. All right.

All right. Jay, will you have a hand on any future documentaries that we do? Hold on. Can we get to this fifth question, please? I will definitely come to Connecticut and eat dog shit food with you. That's for sure. All right. Very good. Last but not least, BC, we go to MT Booble

who asks, which was worse, that Imagine cover video starring Gal Gadot, you know, where all the celebrities during the beginning of quarantine are all self-involved,

or Wonder Woman in 1984 also starring Gal Gadot? Surely you saw that Imagine video and it was just the fucking worst was the imagined video pretentious yes right i mean that's what happens whenever there's like you know there's a whole lot of people saying that that white rich housewives have tried to steal the whole black lives matter thing from black people right this 2020 and made it their crusade um but is it any different luke than we are the world hands across America

people don't you know unless you lived in the 80s you don't remember these things but we're all these rich celebrities get together and do a ton of coke and you know record some song like we ain't gonna play Sun City for the people you know like it's all the same in the end right Luke? I don't know wasn't we are the world part of like Live Aid which was

one of the most epic concerts of the decade? Well Live Aid was awesome. Yeah, and it was run by a black guy with another black guy, so nobody was going to send it to hell. Okay. It was Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. Yeah, and they were stars at the time. I mean, people like Gal Gadot, I don't think she's a dislikable person per se, but that thing was just tone deaf in the middle of the pandemic.

And also, we're in a bit of a different era with celebrity culture. It used to be, I feel like celebrity culture was way, just totally permissive and open, and there was no pushback. And now, I'm not saying it's not cool to be a celebrity,

it obviously is, but there's a lot more scrutiny about their actions than there once was. And so that was part of it as well, I think. I don't think it was hard to be a rich celebrity during the quarantine. Do you, Luke? No, I don't mean that. And it's not what I'm saying.

Of course, it's always going to be better to do that than the alternative. What I'm saying is relative to how easy celebrities might have had it in the 80s, I think they get a little bit more um insults from the peanut gallery these days than they used to i think that's the point i'm making did you take part by the way in hands across america in like 1986 we did we did we had to do it as part of elementary school we had to all hold hands i think the city of dc made all the kids in elementary school hold hands all one big line across pennsylvania avenue so yeah i went to watkins elementary which is down by the old hardware store uh not too far from um

um the marine corps barracks i went that we had to go outside and do that yeah yeah i just reinserted them i just yeah i googled it uh we are the world raised 63 million dollars for african uh hunger relief so that's probably why it wasn't sent to hell. Yeah. Versus the Imagine video was just, you know, like them just, you know, mentally masturbating on your face. Not nearly as fun, BC. Wow. Let me wipe that off, Luke.

Yeah. Okay. Thank you. All right. Well, with that in mind, and by the way, don't see Wonder Woman 1984 even high. It's fucking terrible. Okay. With that in mind, let's now go to the part of the show where we're off the rails, even

though we kind of already are with your lack of prep for Ryzen 26 previews. Have you seen this shit? Let's do it. Wow. That was a sad throw, Luke. All right. Mojo risen. We scoured the globe, Luke. The highs, the lows, highs the lows the good the bad the ugly and the in between it is have you seen this shit and

luke we're gonna start off with a merry christmas message from jeffrey epstein i mean i don't know if he celebrates it he's no longer living but this is a hell of an ornament luke this ornament didn't hang itself with Jeffrey's picture on it. You down? No. Super funny. All right. That's a good start.

Uh, Luke, uh, check out the, uh, the latest in snow removal. I could see you doing this in your neighborhood and people just fearing you. Luke,

this man with a blow torch out there on his driveway. Just remove. I mean, how do you not love this man? I mean, what a fucking American hero. This guy is yeah yeah is that not the greatest shit you've ever seen are you kidding that easy i mean that's

stuff just disappearing is it really that i know that's well that's first of all i'm like you you can clown it for being unorthodox but it looks like it's working to me all right i'm in on it hey there was actually fights on Saturday, if you want to call it that. PVC on Fox, Luke, from that weird studio in L.A. And this was sad to see. Former boxing action star James Kirkland, Luke, looks all kinds of dunzo at age 36. He got dropped three times in the first round by Juan Macias Montiel and was finished in a TKO. Oh, my God, Luke. When it goes, it goes.

But do you remember the wars that this man gave us? Correct me if I'm wrong. Who viciously KO'd him a few years ago? Was it Canelo? It was Canelo, yes. And credit to James Kirkland. They did it in the Houston Astros baseball stadium. Kirkland came to fight.

That's why you sign up to fight him. I mean, when he had Ann Wolfe in his corner it was must-see TV Luke because she turned him into like a pitbull yeah I don't think he ever recovered from that yeah uh he took a bunch of years off too and was inactive but uh this was just sad to see uh this this guy and then this guy was doing like bolo punches he was just just fooling around, and he beat the P out of old James Kirkland. Sad to see. All right, Luke. In the main event, David Murrell Jr. dropped Mike Gavronski with a three-punch combo to end round one.

Stopped him one round later. Nice little three-piece right there, right? Yeah, that was good. You're kind of clowning this, but this is pretty good boxing. No, this was an ish card. Very, very ish. But a nice little highlight we got out of it here. My man got a tattoo in the 90s.

I see that. Oh, yes. Yes, he did. All right, Luke. Let's move on. AMC Fight Nights had their Winter Cup card in Russia over the weekend. Did you see we had a little trash talk back and forth? And then a CBS Strikeforce Gus Johnson brawl broke out.

Luke, guys, guys, we're on national television. What's going on here? Dude, that guy has a head like an anvil, too, the one that's bald. Look at these bearded bros go at it. Yes, Jake Shields in the middle of that again. Wow, look at this. Just chucking coffee, laptops, IKEA furniture, letting it be known. Too bad that the one we're referencing seemed to kill MMA on CBS, Luke.

Maybe even killed Strikeforce. Or was that Elite XC? I'm all confused. That was the Nashville Strikeforce brawl for sure. Yes, yes, yes. All right, all right. Thank you, these crazy Russians, for giving this to us this weekend and Grabaka Hitman for documenting it.

Look at this, Luke. Look at it. Habib's friends are going after Conor. Look at this. All right. Hey, Luke, we're going to go over to Akra Ghana. They had boxing this weekend. I don't know where we're at here, but check out 40-year-old Haruna Osamano sending 44-year-old Ibrahim Marshall

to hell and then hitting him when he's down, Luke. Bro, this guy was trying to, I mean, what is this shit? And the crowd is going crazy inside this local gymnasium, Luke. Oh, it's over. The fight's over. Wow. Yes.

Are they fighting over the rights for, like, the racquetball court? Like, what are the stakes in this bout? Plenty of man boobs and good seats still available, Luke, but the people went sick on that. How do you not DQ that guy? He landed a clean punch while the guy was on his back. That ain't legal, Luke. Listen, the fact that he even had a referee in this contest

was a minor miracle. You got to let some shit slide. Yeah, a couple guys have masks, so shout out to COVID-19. By the way, shout out to Dr. Fauci turned 80 the other day, Luke. You know what? He's not bad for 80, right? He seems to be in decent health. He got vaccinated on his birthday.

Did you see that? Lucky guy. My dad's 80. I'm hoping he gets vaccinated soon. All right. Let's relive this one more time. Look at this dirt move right here. Yeah, get him one more time.

Yeah, why not? All right. Hey, Luke, we talked about that time that Dana White bitched out at Wyomia jumping off the cliff, right, when Rachel Ostevich showed him up. You know who didn't bitch out? Check out this guy with balls, Luke. Do I hear somebody? Yeah.

There we go. Thank you. Is that all the smoke playing in the background, Luke? Yeah, it is all the smoke. Yeah, the shots of those guys. That was distracting. Yeah, it's okay. Luke, how freaking amazing is this?

This guy ran out of his living room, leaped off a cliff headfirst, looked like he was going to kill himself. I mean, are you kidding me? I can't believe he's white. Luke, this video is incredible. No, it is pretty. Would you do this? Would you jump off this?

And when I say this, I mean this particular cliff. No, no. I would have done the Dana White thing, but this is ridiculous. Here's my question. It's a real one. At some point, if you dive into the water, it actually becomes quite dangerous because the surface tension will actually kill you. It's almost like diving into cement.

But obviously, if you're 10 feet above, it won't. 20 or 30 feet above, it won't. I'm not sure what this is. 100 feet or something? Maybe more? If you don't hit this with your feet or your hands and you and really make yourself a pencil you're you're gonna break bones luke right you're gonna be in trouble so how high is too high before you can do this because this guy looks like he's at the limit bc well i'm gonna ask how high is too high to have the balls to do this luke i don't know what he was doing before the camera turned on but he he got a liquid joel of energy i mean

that look that looks like death right there. That's insane. This is me running to the commode after one cup of coffee right here. The commode you have in the lifting station in your front yard for all the neighbors to see. This is the guy with old balls going after BC to get a spot right here. Hey, Luke, remember that great song by Aerosmith in the late 80s called Love in an Elevator? Yes, love in an elevator. Well, check out this video. Remember that great line? I'm going down.

What is going on here, Luke? God, it's all vain and shit too. So gross. So gross. So gross. Hey, let's go back to MMA. We had an RX fight night card in Romania last week. Luke, check out this instant KO. We touch gloves and we got fat white guys and here we go.

Let's do it. Bye. Oh my God. And they're in a strip club, too. Oh, man. He did like the statue of Jesus in Rio. That was incredible, right? Dude, why is he rolling him onto his stomach like he's a COVID patient?

What are they doing? I think they're just getting the stretcher ready for him. This is great. Oh, wow. Wow. That's your knockout of the week right there hey let's check in on hoagie farts uh hoagie farts getting us ready on instagram for the holiday season luke would you employ this tree at all in your in your office room maybe i'm gonna send you this i'm gonna

send your wife this next Christmas. All right. Hey, speaking of ball shots here, Luke, we got a trio of them. Check out this guy on the tackling dummy. This was a mistake. Old number 49 is going to regret this. It's like, bro, your intensity is a little too much. Yeah.

Oh, my God. I got him from behind, Luke. It was like Ron Johnson ending Jay's music career in the backside there. Wow. All right. Hey, let's go over to the gridiron. This Kentucky wide receiver makes a nice play, but then pays for it in the groin from the UT guy. Bop.

Oh, yes. You know what? You stand over guys like that in a sport where you're not supposed to do that. I have no sympathy. Yeah, get off me. Yeah, exactly. He's milking it right here. You want to see somebody no sell a groin strike?

Check out the balls on this kid, Luke. I don't know who he is, but he's going to grow up to be something. Wow. I mean, this kid is losing his shoes. Oh, yeah. It looks like Rush Holloway right there, right? Lining up on him. Yes.

This is me dealing with you. Luke, we could have had this gig where we made $10,000, but I had to fly to California to go sit in COVID hotels for two weeks, and we don't get any money from it. Oh, thanks, BC. Great. Yeah, thanks a lot. I'll take money from it. Oh, thanks, BC. Great. Yeah, thanks a lot. I'll take that from you.

Give me that. Give me that. All right, Luke, let's toast the end of 2020 the way you should with drunken girls and tequila, Luke. This was a fail. Yeah. Is that it? She just spits it up? Yeah. sorry if that wasn't enough for you luke okay that got me uh luke loves when we go to the gym all right let's go to the gym let's find a weirdo

i think this guy's preparing just in case for prison luke what is this exercise called he's stretching his neck but he's doing it in the dumbest fucking way possible do you do this luke do you not like this now why would one stretch his neck what do you what are you preparing for uh you could be doing neck exercises he might have like uh tightness in his shoulder girdle could be all kinds of reasons but you don't do it with your butt in the air grabbing your hamstrings on the balls of your feet. Unless there's other kinds of balls in which you wish to greet. Unless you're with Jay at a New York bathhouse, you know, with his people. Yeah, this is how Jay gets warmed up for his bathhouses.

All right. Hey, Luke, if you had a stylist and became famous, not MMA famous, but real famous, one of our fans sent in a picture of what you would look like. Check this out, Luke. I wish I looked that good. I'm pretty far away from looking that. I just look old and sad. This guy looks like.

That's probably. Like if we took. If we put you on some makeover show. That's probably the end product, Luke. That's prime 41- old luke thomas right there that's right if i had if i had people to make me look better than i look you know who are professionals i could maybe come out this good but see this is why i'm waiting for everything to go gray bc because i've still got brown here on my face i'm just ready just go gray just i'm ready

to just go gray does the carpet match the drapes, Luke? I'll say this. The gray does not discriminate. So gross, right? So gross. All right. Hey, Luke, you know you love gender reveals, right? Is it possible to get sick of stuff like this? I mean, check out this guy, right?

He's having a son, Luke, but the lineage ends right there. I'll tell you that much. Dude, if you have a gender reveal party at any point in your life this is what you deserve fuck your life well I love gender reveal fails let's move on to this family who has a bratty daughter she gets in the way of what was a a very good uh potential gender reveal opportunity she can't pop the balloon. She's mad. She throws a fit. Oh, yeah. Throw that thing.

Somebody let's go with the balloon. Look at this. Look, it's gone away. We're never going to know what they had. Good. Fuck this family. Look at mom. She is pissed off.

Yes. Fuck this family. I got one more, Luke. I've never quite seen a gender reveal like this. This might be how the Thomases will do it for baby number two, right? Is this in MMA, man? Is this Japan? Where are we? It could be D.C.

Could be. No, definitely not in Japan. This might be Risen 26, Luke. If this is what I'm going to get ready for this weekend I'll be into it okay here comes Luke dude it's Risen season yes yes oh I see so one has blue and one has pink

and they're going to fight it out I think so I think so Dota 5000 style yes first one to have a heart attack loses and dies where's the guy with the flamethrower when you need it? Oh, it's a winner for the man, Luke. We're having a boy.

Thank you very much. All right. We're having a boy who beats up on girls. That's what we're having? Yeah. This is a terrible fucking gender reveal. Is that Greg Hardy's house? All right, Luke, let's go over to, let's give a shout out to this new sport.

You ever hear of blindfold racing there's a built-in problem with it luke but that problem is awesome no no there's a built-in solution oh luke let's close with some tip touching because that's what makes us on brand and happy on this show uh check out this uh these bro whoa first we got a little mall bingo here sorry i i jumped Luke, let's close with some tip touching because that's what makes us on brand and happy on this show. Check out this. These. Well, first, we got a little mall bingo here. Sorry, I jumped the gun here.

This is how we do it in European malls. Luke, look at this couple's routine. It's going to be you and me in the front yard gym. The question is, who does which part? Look at the quad strength on her to lift him up like that, right? I would actually say the abductor strength is much more impressive, but yeah. Yeah, check out the abductors on that one. Wow, all right. Yeah, I can only watch this so many times.

Look before I need to be alone. All right, let's close with some tip-touching here. Check out these tape measure bros, right? Very creative, very creative. Okay, It's stupid. And even Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter getting in on the party, right?

Old Mort. Look at old Mort. But they're not really touching tips. They're just pointing past each other. There's a little bit of friction there, right? Yeah. All right. That's all I got. Maybe this wasn't our best show. Okay, we tried, though. It's the Monday after Christmas.

Everyone else is off for the year. We're doing our best. People are getting free shit here. Did you get fat this weekend, Luke? Oh, yeah, of course. Of course. Who didn't? You drink anything good, Luke? You drink anything good this weekend? A lot of Jim Beam.

It's not good. With Diet diet Cola, Coke, zero Coke, zero, uh, BC odds and ends. What do you got? Uh, Luke, I wanted to give a shout out here. Sad news coming out of the pro wrestling world. I'm not watching any in 2020, like I was in previous years, but to find out that a former WWE star, Luke Harper known as, uh uh as brody lee and aew where he moved on to uh real name john huber passed away seemingly out of nowhere at age 41 over the weekend his wife revealing that it was non-covid like lung related uh illness that he picked up

and and became fatal and i'm not really sure the uh the medical details beyond that but what has really touched me is uh since his death the outpouring of love from wrestling stars current past present and the stories they've shared really shows you that this guy was a salt of the earth gentleman a family man a guy who in these long road trips that they had to go on and doing that grind that is WWE was just a real brother to behold. And he had a very special career. Look, he looks a lot like you. I mean, you're really, you know, some beard die away from being this guy, basically.

What I love about this guy is for a big man, he could friggin' work. And he put in the years but didn't really figure out how great he can be until the tail end of his career, the late 30s. He gets revealed as part of the Wyatt family with Bray Wyatt at the core. He had a nice little run there as a henchman. But just in 2017, as he started to show you, there may be more to him. He might be able to be a leading man someday.

He got caught in that political sphere in WWE, got shelved. They weren't using him. Shout out to him getting to AEW, showing us just a brief little snippet over the past year of what he's really capable of and who maybe he was supposed to be. He was a grinder. He put in the years under the radar. And to see him have his moments finally was touching. Because, again, a guy that size who could work like that,

understood the the science of what this this performance sport is to see him go out of nowhere like this right when he was kind of you know figuring out how great he can be is certainly sad but the outpouring of love across the board most of us again know him as luke harper uh part of the wyatt family uh a great performer seemingly a great guy i didn't know him i never interviewed him. But it was sad to see this pop into the news cycle out of nowhere. When we're used to, Luke, seeing guys die for, you know, drug purposes or just being old age and wrestling, to see someone like this who just kind of is gone and had that much of an imprint left on the business, it was touching to see, Luke.

Were you a fan at all of the Wyatt family upon their original reveal in WWE, Luke? I certainly never heard of them. Did people know that this guy was sick? I don't believe so. I don't believe so at all of the Wyatt family upon their original reveal in WWE Luke I certainly never heard of them did people know that this guy was sick I don't believe so I don't believe so at all in fact I would like to know more details about what really happened there all I know is the Instagram post that his wife put out so just out of nowhere he's not wrestling and then the next thing you know he's he's dead yeah yeah I mean it seems it seems like there's something cryptic there or or you know deeper details but she did make a point to say that it was non-covid related he was only 41 like i mentioned and and was really finally just figuring out what his character could be as brody lee with

aew but tough break luke that's a shame that's a shame well i'm sorry to hear that uh i'm also sorry to hear that vasily lomachenko continues to be clown himself. He did an interview on, I think it was a Ukrainian friend, uh, Alexander Usyk's fucking website where he accuses basically the judges of scoring his bout with Teofimo Lopez because there must've been bribery involved to BC BC. How is it possible that Lomachenko went from one of the most beloved fighters in all of boxing to now borderline not quite there yet but we're bordering on deontay wilder level of excuses for a fight that like yes it was competitive and uh certainly

you would think that maybe he could do better in a rematch i don't think that's crazy but then he pretty clearly lost in the end. What the fuck happened? Dude, this is shocking and really sad. And anyone who's like, man, you guys slayed Deontay Wilder. You should slay him the same. We should. I mean, he's not necessarily a Wilder level yet, but he's getting close. Not just the bribery.

He's giving no credit to Lopez for the win. He's trying to claim that he beat Lopez. He's trying to claim that they had the perfect game plan for Lopez that they execute. I mean, it's just a bunch of just here's the thing. He was undefeated in the eyes of hardcore boxing fans. Luke, here was a guy who came from maybe the most decorated amateur career of all time as a as a two time Olympic gold medalist. The only loss he had in amateurs like something like three hundred and only loss he had he he won it back on two occasions to make sure that it was a mistake right and although he lost his second fight against Orlando Salido he never complained about the scoring in that fight which I thought the judges screwed him

he never complained about Salido missing weight and he never complained about Salido bullying him and punching him into the balls about 500 times and referee Lawrence Cole not doing anything about it Lomachenko took that loss in his second pro fight for a world title like a man and he basically said I got bullied I need to learn the pro style this is on me ever since then his Instagram's hilarious he's ahead of the game on certain training techniques. Luke, we love this guy in boxing, right? For all the reasons you should. And then he deals with his first real loss in a lot of ways. And it's just like, dude, take the L.

You want to know why you lost that fight with Lopez? Well, look, I'm not going to take any credit away from Lopez. Lomachenko wasn't effective in the first half because Lopez didn't let him. But the reason why Lomachenko lost that fight was because he punted away more than half of that fight by just trying to figure him out and waiting. Didn't do anything. Basically was waiting for Lopez to fail so that he can overcome. Now, again, credit Lomachenko for rallying,

but you can't complain after a performance like that. The reason why you lost ultimately is on you because the other guy across from you was better than you thought he would be. So any form of the judges and this and that, like, stop it. Do you know what you should do? Campaign to try to fight him again. You may not get it, right? Lopez seems like he's past that.

But what you should do is like, I screwed up. I'm the better fighter. I know it. Let's prove it in the rematch. If you can't get the rematch, shut the hell up and go on to the next big challenge. He deserves the same shade we threw at Deontay Wilder for just being like, and again, it's not the first time. Mike Tyson did it after the Buster Douglas loss.

We have a history of great fighters who have done it. It doesn't mean it's not shameful. I know that part of it, Luke, and I i've said it before is to keep their own ego strong because fighters of any combat sport have to be the biggest liars and salesmen to themselves to get themselves as confident as they need to be to believe that they're going to win these fights regardless of anything age injury anything right they've got to be personal salesmen. So you want to do this in private with your team and be like, man, you know, whatever, the judges, this and that, that's fine.

Don't do it in front of a microphone. It just makes you look like a loser. And I hate saying that because Lomachenko, again, was undefeated in the court of public opinion. He was like a god to boxing fans. And to see him just come out here and just, oh, man. Shit in the bed. Redeem it in the ring, brother.

All right? Damn. So I certainly agree with that. Now, you asked a question in the middle of the show that I thought was pertinent, BC, and important that we get to now as you lean in your chair to let gas pass. What about The Rock? There is a movie, I think, ed harris sean connery nicholas cage and others where uh it's maybe one of the best michael bay movies if not the best michael bay movie i think that was the time that was when he was working with jerry bruckheimer

one of the best nicholas cage movies ever and you had not seen it. Normally, we would assign homework on a Monday, and then we'd review it on a Friday. Not sure how to handle it this time because there's going to be no Friday show. So there's two options as I see it, or three, really. One, we could watch it and react to it on Wednesday. Two, we could do a special episode and just put it up ahead of time for Friday that people could react to it on whatever that day day is or you want to record on thursday and record on thursday we react to it look people like when we answer their questions when we do these bonus holiday q a episodes they

do they said they like the ridiculousness of that since you have not seen it and i've seen it a thousand times and i do bc this is gonna be one of those movies that's gonna be like like if we ever have a date together it's gonna be our date movie dude this is gonna be that movie wow this is gonna be that movie that bonds us I'm telling you I'm telling you we are going to like it for many of different reasons we're gonna like it for many of the same reasons you're gonna see after this movie you and I are not so different you're going to freaking love it so the question is when do you want to review it look i'll can i watch it between between now and wednesday morning can i watch it probably but we can leave over the open the option luke of doing a quick recap show on thursday that will air

on friday on new year's day as a bonus to our people we could i like that idea better i like i like recording a separate episode and then we'll just react to it on Friday. What do you think about that? I love that. I love that a lot. And here's the deal. I don't know why I haven't seen this. It's just one that slipped through the cracks. There's movies like Independence Day, Men in Black, I've

never seen because they just didn't interest me. For whatever reason, I've never seen Field of Dreams. I don't know why, Luke. The Rock just seemed to slip through the cracks of one I miss. I saw Con Air. I saw Sudden Death with Van Damme. I saw a lot of the contemporary movies of that time. Yeah, this is so much better than that.

I mean, here's my answer for why I wanted to see that. At the time in which it came out, I was thinking about what career choices I wanted to make, and I really wanted to join the military at the time. So I had that kind of fever, right? And the other part was my parents were split up. So I would live in the summers. I grew up in DC. And then when my parents split, I moved to my mom with my mom in Virginia and eventually in Georgia. But in the summers, I would come back and I would live in DC. So I was living in DC and there was a movie theater at Union Station at the time. It was an AMC theater. And I remember this movie came out.

I was bored shitless i had nothing to do so i went and just saw it and my eyes were like this the whole time i think i saw that movie two times a week for the entirety of the summer that i was there and i i own a copy a physical copy i own a digital copy it's one of my favorite silly fun awesome action movies it's maybe the best nicholas cage movie oh that's debatable because he made leave in las vegas and that was very serious but it's certainly one of his better ones it's one of michael bay's best action movies sean connery kills it ed harris kills it you're gonna see all these other actors you're like oh my god this guy's in there this

guy's in there that girl's in there tell me it's better than face off with cage and travolta so much better jay jay jay come in here listen i like con air i like con air i'm down with my favorite it's actually one of my favorite movies con air okay i'm down with all of these movies but the rock is something special yeah the rock it's like on shawshank level it's not quite i mean shawshank has more cult following has more of a cult following, but from that era, you got Sean Connery. I mean, it's like the fact that you missed that one is really bad. I'll blow your mind. I've never seen

Braveheart, Gladiator, or 300. Should I go on a run of all those as well? 300 is a movie for idiots. Gladiator, good, but overrated. Braveheart, good. Not not great you're saying braveheart not great they won a academy award for best picture yeah lots of shit wins the academy award i don't give a fuck yeah but then mel gibson did mel gibson things and you know

yeah he doesn't like that i saw hey jay jay i think mel gibson really likes your people no he does not. Do you think he believes in a world banking system? Do you think Mel believes in that? You could probably get him to agree with a lot of the things that you actually believe in. Well, I didn't say I believe in this stuff as much as I am open-minded. I understand. And by the way, you need to see Field of Dreams. How did you miss that?

I don't know. Look, I've seen Better Off Dead 49,000 times. I never saw Field of Dreams once. Sometimes that happens. What was the other one you put in that with Field of Dreams that you didn't see? Men in Black, Independence Day. Yeah, Men in Black you could skip. Independence Day you also have to see. Armageddon

sucked. I saw that in the theater, Jay. That was lame. Independence Day is better than Armageddon. It's funny. It pulls at your heart strings. They kill the aliens. I don't want to give away the ending. It was booty call that was jimmy fox yeah different different genre but tommy davidson yeah great movie yeah all right well we're meandering here at this point so i'll just say this we'll record a special episode meandering all right that's the whole gimmick here okay it's we'll we'll put out a special episode for friday where we react

to the rock so if you've not seen the rock again not the professional wrestler but the movie nicholas cage sean connery ed harris just a fucking amazing piece of action cinema watch that we'll all react to it on friday okay look where are you at in the uh mandalorian season two i'm i'm a quarter of the way through with my kids. Did you finish it? I'm done. Yeah. Is it spectacular like I hear? Should we be reviewing that one day?

I mean, I'm fired up to get there. You know, I have mixed feelings about it. I have mixed feelings about it. I really like the Mandalorian season one. I liked most of season two. The problem is with Star Wars, it's like, can you do... And I'm being serious here for just a second. If you were in charge of the star wars cinema or the star wars universe and you could make a show you would want to make

it some way that the movies kind of fail to deliver on especially the last three obviously right so i feel like the mandalorian gets all of that right simple clean effective storytelling not a lot of dialogue it was very much removed from all of the Jedis and shit. And then in the end here, it's like, can you make a Star Wars program, movie or TV show, that doesn't involve fan service? I don't know the answer to that. I really wonder. Because to me, it's like, did I enjoy it? Sure. But, you know, I'm a little sick of the Jedis, to be quite honest with you.

And Mandalorians, obviously they're related to the Jedis in the sense of being their nemesis, but you'll see. It's not bad. It's good. It's really good. But I was kind of hoping for a departure from all of that, and you don't quite get that. Is that why you're trying to slay Christians in real life, Luke? I have nothing against Christians, but I just don't think they're special like they think they are.

All right. By the way, are you fired up January 1st, Cobra Kai Season 3, Netflix? Let's do this, okay? I kind of fell off on Cobra Kai. I love Season 1. Season 2 got a little too teen drama for me, and so I stopped watching. But maybe I'll pick it back up.

Well, I think that was meant to bring in the wives, bring in the kids. You know what I mean? That's probably fair. Jay, any last words before we fire you? Yes. Cobra Kai is amazing. I'm very excited. All right.

Well, there's the Jay seal of approval for whatever that is worth. Thank you. There you go. If you want to try Showtime, which Cobra Kai is not airing on, but is also just a wonderful network, you can go to Showtime.com. You can get a 30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, go wonderful network. You can go to Showtime.com. You can get a 30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, go fuck yourself.

You can go get some merch. You can go to store.show.com. It's a wonderful place to get some merch, whether it's All the Smoke or it's MK or any place else. We hope you like the video. We hope you subscribe. If you want to follow us on social media, you certainly can. We are everywhere.

Morning Combat is consistent in all the places. There you can see us on insta and on twitter if you have uh emails for fan submissions dead wrong whatever get it to us morning combat at gmail.com that is the official email of the show and uh that's it watch the rock we will react to it later on in the week should we have them send fan questions q a questions for the Rock episode or no? I think so. I think so. Anything they want to send related to the Rock, send it to us.

Put the Gmail address back up for just a second, Jay, if you don't mind. MorningCombat at Gmail.com. Anything related to the Friday episode surrounding the movie called The Rock, send it there. That's where you want to go. Let us know. Okay. All right. That is a, for everyone at Malka and Showtime and CBS sports, that is Brian Campbell. I'm Luke Thomas until next time. May all of your gains be loyal. Thank you. We'll be right back. We'll see you next time.