MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - CONOR IS BACK! CAN RUIZ DO IT AGAIN? KHABIB VS TONY, 5TH TIME A CHARM?

Episode Date: December 2, 2019

It's the cam before the storm as we are getting prepared for some great Combat action to finish out 2019. First things first and that is the Conor vs Cowboy fight is official for January 18th at Welterweight. Should things go Conor's way, it will be interesting to see what's next. Maybe what is next is the winner of the Khabib vs Ferguson fight, which is being planned for the 5th time in April...hopefully the 5th time is a charm! Before that big title fight is the December 14th fight for the Welterweight Title between Usman and Covington on December 14th and last...and least is the Tito Ortiz vs Alberto El Patron fight for Combate Americas on December 7th. Over to boxing where we have the big rematch between Andy Ruiz and Anthony Joshua on December 7th...who knows what will happen there and remember, that fight should start around 4pm eastern. After that fight we also have Showtime Championship Boxing featuring Middleweight Champ Jermall Charlo defending against Dennis Hogan Saturday night! Enjoy Donks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Rise to rewards with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card. Terms and conditions apply. Yo, it's about that time to break forth the rhythm and the rhyme. Morning Combat is back, folks. And it's back with a bang. Monday, December 2nd, 2019. Welcome in your boy, BC, the Brian Campbell of CBS Sports and the State of Combat podcast. And I'm looking right here at the man in the damn hat.

Your favorite combat sports writer's favorite combat sports writer. It's the Athletics' Chuck Mendenhall. Chuck, great to see you again. You know who braved the elements? I did. You did. I mean, seriously, you know what I'm saying right there? Who had the balls to come out here? I mean, I know everything is fair when you're living in the city and all you have to do is get on a subway to get to where you're going. But I wake up this morning, I look out the window, it's like three inches of snow and ice. Same here. We live in the same state, man. I mean, you know, I look in the mirror. I'm like, is it worth it? You know who didn't make it here?

Let me work it, right? I put my thing down. I flipped it and I reversed it. What were you saying? I said, you know who didn't make it here today because of the weather. Maybe because of the weather. I don't know why he's not here. I heard something about DCF and music choices for infants.

I don't know. You're talking about the great Luke Thomas. The guy who's conspicuously missing. Yeah, like the Redskins all season, he's on a bye week right now. But Chuck, you're a member of this family. You belong in this. Yeah, I feel at home here. Yeah.

Remember people were actually doing legitimate Armageddon bunkers for the Y2K thing? I had an uncle who had one of those rocking out. Yeah, he had the tank and everything. It was fantastic. I got up there to make it happen for the dedication for this show. 530 a.m., I'm out there plowing through lines of white powder like it's fight week for the first Gustafson fight. You know what I mean?

Like I'm out there getting the job done to get in here, Luke, because it's still real to me, damn it. But like snow, we are the combat sports informers, right? Uh-huh. I lick your bum bum down. Here he goes. And look, there's no other show like this. We bring it to you raw, real, fresh, no punches pulled, no cringe.

We tell it like it is, whether it's Big Luke or Chuck next to me. So for this holiday season, they should probably pay it forward, right? I think so. Get on out there, YouTube, subscribe. We want to see these numbers go up. We got that 30K goal by the new year, but if you want to see Luke topless, we want to get to 50K. If you want to see Luke and Chuck go tip-to-tip,

75K is in our rear view. We got to get bigger. We got to get this show out there. There's a lot of good special surprises coming up. There's a lot of things you're touching on all at once. I don't want to get handsy here so early in the show, but Chuck, before we get into all, we got a big show ahead of you for today. A lot of Connor talk. Ruiz, Joshua too out in the desert there. But my favorite holiday this

past weekend, Thanksgiving. How'd it go, brother? It was great, man. You know, there wasn't an event, so it felt like an actual Thanksgiving this time. Like four days off. I know, exactly. So I really can't remember the last time I had that many days strung together where I didn't have obligations. You and the wife carve up a bird? Two different times, actually. We had the in-laws in at one point, and then we did it at actual Thanksgiving. I had turkey with stuffing and cranberry. Can't believe Tyson gave that girl VD. I mean, it was a great weekend altogether. But in my family, we have meat pie because we're French-Canadian. And then we have the backyard football game. And I'm never afraid to take L's. You got to grow.

You've got to learn. I took the worst L as captain this year in GM when it came to picking in terms of the game, the biggest blowout loss, and then I almost lost my face. Check that out right there. Look at the love and the dedication. Cousin Morgan coming in on the blitz, and I got to the outside. Wow. I like the platinum best thing you've got going here.

I protected my moneymaker, though, Chuck. I did it all for the nookie. Look at that dedication and passion. We got blown out big time. Nobody can cover Cousin Tim. Did you hit your face on the... I almost did. Oh.

You know, nobody... Take that down. Enough of that. Nobody could cover Cousin Tim this year. He lit me up in the end. It was a bad... You're getting older, Brian. I am.

I am getting a little washy there. But Turkey Day was a success. Good. Great holiday. No gifts. Everybody could take part. No religions. Just about food, football, family, friends.

And those things, yeah. If you're single, maybe that other F. There's a lot of things you can get done on that weekend, all right? Yeah, that's true. Hey, you look pretty happy and awkward here. You want to get into the show here or what, Chuck? Let's do it. All right, so much to talk about in the world of combat sports.

And this week we kick off with an announcement we've been waiting on for many a month. Conor McGregor is back, folks. Like this show, I think he's back with a bang. It'll come January 18th. I believe Las Vegas, not sure if they narrowed down that site, but it's looking like UFC 246. Cowboy Cerrone is the opponent for Conor's first appearance since that UFC 229 loss to Habib Nurmagomedov. Have you really been waiting many months for this? I have been waiting so long. How many podcast hours have we filled with this debate?

So it's finally here, Chuck. But this fight would have been seemingly even better nine months ago when we first started talking about it. I know Conor had the hand injury in between, would have been seemingly even better nine months ago when we first started talking about it. Yeah. I know Conor had the hand injury in between, but considering Cowboy Cerrone's coming off two straight knockout defeats in the past six months, does that take anything away from what this fight could and will be January 18th? Well, when Conor fought, I mean, he's coming off a loss as well. So it's not like he's on some

raging winning streak. I think it's actually kind of, it's still perfect, right? I still think it's the ideal opponent for him to kind of accommodate his style. And he has, Cowboy has a name too. Like you say Cowboy Cerrone, I feel like a casual, it kind of, you know, people have heard that name before. At this point, he's fought 33 times in the UFC. The guy's been the most prolific fighter going, which is almost the exact opposite of what Conor has been. So I feel like those two guys coming together,

knowing it's going to be a fireworks fight, regardless of the two losses, I know that we've just seen him knocked out. That's always a little bit different than if it's a couple of decisions or something like that. It takes a little bit of the shine off of it, but honestly, because they planted the seed four years ago at that press conference, remember?

The Go Big press conference, I think it was. That was the same press conference of Who the Fook is That Guy, right? Yeah, exactly. I believe it was the exact one. So we've had this in our minds in some form for all that time. So I feel like it can, you know, it feels like the right time actually for me to see this fight happen. I mean,

obviously super smart for the UFC to make this a pay-per-view main event. Conor's brand deserves that coming off of such a delay to get to that. I mean, he hasn't had a win since 2016. And what you and I talked about last time we hosted this show together was it's insane. We never would have thought when he was on top of that mountain that we'd go three years and only one appearance during that time in the MMA cage and no victories. But look, on paper, from the standpoint of potential violence and action,

you don't need Jake Hager to come in here and tell you that I'm rock hard with emotion here. I've got a phoner, which by the way, he told me on my podcast means fight boner. Okay. I'm glad you with emotion here. I've got a phoner, which, by the way, he told me on my podcast means fight boner. Okay. I'm glad you cleared that up. On paper, these two are going to bang, and it can accomplish two things at the same time. It's the perfect comeback fight, like we've been saying all along, because Cerrone is such a name, but such a beatable name, but also a guy who could win just the same.

And then on the flip side, no matter what happens, you're getting real action between two personalities that you know, that got to buy, that you got to see. Are you more of a proper 12 whiskey man? Are you more of a Bud can man? Because that's what the build from this should be all about, right? Well, that's the whole difference, right? I think before, if they'd booked this fight, say two years ago, maybe whenever, you know, whenever they could have done it, let's say before last year, I think that there would have been a wider segment that would be rooting for Conor McGregor. It's just the natural way of his progression.

But over this last year, which has grown dark, really since the Khabib Nurmagomedov series, which was a very dark lead up to the fight, the aftermath, everything that's gone on, out of the cage and everything else, I feel like the sentiment has swung. I feel like Conor McGregor still sees himself as a lottery ticket for anybody he's going to face.

This one's a little bit more of a de-escalation. You're seeing a fight where there's no title in place. It's an arbitrary weight class of welterweight. There's a lot of different elements. But if you're just strictly talking about a rooting element, even in Ireland, I kind of feel like Cerrone at this point is kind of emerging as the guy. Yeah, I agree with you on that. I mean, if you hate Conor McGregor and he's given you a lot of reasons to,

depending on which side you're on, Cowboy is the perfect babyface superhero in this spot. What if I liked it better when Cowboy was so much hotter nine months ago when the Cowboy dad was back and banging? But look, he always fights elites. He does. And he comes out there swinging, and you know what you're going to get. In a lot of ways, this can be the perfect Conor comeback fight

to rebuild his brand, but it can also be BMF territory, and that's what it is. The only thing missing here is the damn BMF belt. It's got that spirit and that attitude in here. But I want to talk to you about the decision to make it a welterweight fight. Conor, we've only seen him in the UFC there in the two fights with Nate Diaz, in which he split. Does Conor McGregor, with a win at 170,

become the number one contender at 155, and does that math make sense? No, it doesn't make sense. And honestly, when a guy is usually gone for that kind of time, they're taken out of the rankings at some point. We've seen this happen at least with certain guys, but Conor McGregor has maintained his top five standing

through all of this. And it's a little bit strange. But when you really come down to it, he will not deserve it. It won't matter. It's still Cowboy Cerrone. This is what you're looking at. Guy on a two-fight losing streak, Justin Gaethje just beat Cowboy Cerrone. Should he be the next guy? It's really the same thing, different weight class. There are guys like Dustin Poirier, of course, who just lost for the title fight. But when you go, what is it, 11-2 or 9-2 or whatever it is, he's gone in the last few years at lightweight. That guy's still going to trump the merit in that kind of matchmaking. I don't think so, but as you know, man, it has little to do with that when it comes to

Conor McGregor. He literally, the rules change around him and the money, yeah, it's all about the money, especially if Tony Ferguson wins the title. I could see Conor McGregor jumping the line and getting that fight. Wow, you're talking about a box of sex that fight would be, but a lot to take place before there. Just from the standpoint of the health of the sport, Conor's been gone for so long, Chuck,

and UFC has in some ways rolled on and advanced and moved on to see him kicking off 2020, throwing him right back into the mix from just a marketing, crossover, casual fan, must-see-right-now type of situation, this is fun. No matter what you like. Whether you're there to hate him or love him, that guy, unlike anyone in MMA history, even more than a Rousey or a Lesnar, can stir the shit up. It smacks of the Diaz fight, right? Because the Diaz fight was left field. It was going to be RDA for the lightweight title.

It became Nate Diaz, and then it became a series. Then it became like this long detour outside of what the normal, you know, lineal way that Quanah McGregor was going about his ass kicking. You know, it's like he became something else. And here we are where you end up kind of in a backwards way into a fight that goes back to that. It doesn't have, we're not sure what it means in terms of if he goes through, will he stay at welterweight? Will he go down to lightweight? You know, you have to kind of figure all this out.

The guy doesn't make as much sense as maybe he would have. But I like it in the way that you're talking about because at some point, Conor McGregor is just his own thing, right? It's like his own entity. It's his own event. It doesn't have to be tied to the paradigm and the model the way the UFC has set it up

for all these years. Thank you that there's no interim title at stake here. Thank you that it can just be a big-name guy in a comeback fight. I want to close on this one. We're talking about the business side of it, though. Gun to your head, and you're a man of business. I haven't seen your financials, but you're very well put together here. You would have a different opinion if you did see the financials.

I probably would. But will this be the best-selling pay-per-view of 2020 for the UFC and ESPN? Of 2020? Probably not. Especially if he's a man of his word because he says, Conor McGregor says he wants to fight three times. And each one of those, let's say he's able to get by Cerrone, there is that escalation back in play.

You're going to see some pretty crazy things after that. You're basically saying Conor, if he wins, is going to fight Tony or Hibby. I think so. I think so. Especially if it's Tony. But I think that it'll be a big fight regardless. And then, you know, who knows what happens after that. But I think there'll be a bigger fight after that.

Break out the red panties, right? Yes. We're back. We're back. It's good to have him back. I mean. It's great to have him back. There's so many people.

If you mention his name now, it's just such a dark cloud. There's so many people who are just turned off by the idea of Conor McGregor. Any lead up, anything to do with him, and that makes sense. But from a fight game perspective, it becomes a different place when he's involved. And so it's always good to have him on the schedule. Speaking of dark clouds, Jay in my ear trying to move me on. So great to hear from you, Jay. Happy holidays.

There he is. Look, we have a piece of news that ties into it in some ways. Conor McGregor's return. What happened right after that fight was announced. The fight we have wanted for oh so damn long is finally going to take place for the lightweight championship. Let me get the date right. April 18th in Brooklyn, New York. At a pay-per-view yet to be made.

Am I going? I'm going to camp out for it. It's Habib Nurmagomedov defending against Tony Ferguson for the fifth time. Although they've never actually met in the cage due to injuries and weight, bad weight cuts and all the drama that's gotten there. So Chuck, maybe the fifth time's the charm, but I want to ask you, is this fight cursed or did the heavens and the MMA gods just part the seas so that we can finally see this right now for the title when it would mean so much more than back in Tampa in 2014.

Well, I mean, if you just look at each iteration, it gets bigger, right, each time. And I think that by the third time it was booked, I remember, oh, third time's the charm, but there was already this idea of this karmic, you know, cosmological thing that was in play, like, oh, it never happened, it never happened. And then it starts falling through.

By the fourth time when it fell through, I really believed it was cursed. So I'm not sure. I don't really honestly believe in that sort of thing, but I don't want to talk about it, so I'm becoming superstitious. I've written major, you know, big-time articles about it that just kind of went out the window because the fight never happened. So it's like one of those situations at this point, you're just like, show me it, and once they're walking to the cage and they're in the cage, I'll believe it, but I guess I do take it with a grain of salt. I mean, it's almost tempering what our excitement could be because, like you said, we've been here so many times.

But yet at its core, tell me if I'm wrong here. When you look at the landscape of all combat sports, boxing or MMA, is this the best possible on-paper fight in terms of like, forget the commercial side for a second. Just two guys we need to see in there with so much at stake. What's it going to look like? Style versus style. Is this the best fight you can make in boxing or MMA from that standpoint where you are not only appealing to the hardcores, you're sticking that fist in and turning it? I would have said that on the third time they booked it, I would have said yes. What, the fist comment?

No, just that it's the best fight on paper. You could have said that a couple years ago when it was supposed to happen. I would have said it doubly on the fourth time they booked it, I would have said yes. What, the fifth comment? Just that it's the best fight on paper. You could have said that a couple years ago when it was supposed to happen. I would have said it doubly on the fourth time they booked it, and I would say it triply on the fifth time they booked it. That's how much I believe in this fight. I love this fight. I've always loved this fight. It's only gotten better over time. You consider that since the first time they booked this fight that never happened, Ferguson has won six fights more in a row. Nurmagomedov has won six fights as well. And he's also won the title and defended it twice. You know what I mean?

It's just... Don't they both have the same amount of UFC wins in a row? Aren't they on the same amount of UFC wins? They might. They might. I just know I kind of went back and I looked at that and I was like, where... Because every time they do it, it's just... It's gotten sweeter and sweeter because it just doesn't happen.

Usually something happens or a guy loses. Just like you were mentioning with Cerrone. You would like to have seen it in the day before he started losing like that. Usually that happens in MMA. Like a guy loses and then it kind of loses its luster, but that hasn't been the case here. I mean, Ferguson has been on such a bizarre journey to get to this point, tripping over the cord, having to beat everybody they put in front of him. I mean, but he's finally here and what this victory could be the opportunity, even at age 36 now, for him to skyrocket to superstardom,

which really his brand has been under blossom. Some of that is always missing time due to injuries, but true or false? Forget the commercial side again. Tony Ferguson's the only man that can beat prime Habib Nurmagomedov. You know, I would say true, and I think that's one of the reasons I want to see it so bad. I feel like he's the one guy that adds an element or a dimension of doubt to it. Usually when you're contemplating a Nurmagomedov fight, you're thinking, how long? How is he going to do it?

How long until he takes him down and starts pounding him out? But when you've got a guy who's just that strange and like that good in a scramble and that unorthodox everywhere. That insane too. Let's say that. That's part of the scouting point. Yeah, he starts bleeding and then he becomes like a scramble and that unorthodox everywhere. That insane too. Let's say that. That's part of the scouting report. Yeah, he starts bleeding and then he becomes like a banshee or something.

He becomes something else in that cage. It's very... If it bleeds, we can kill him. I mean, that's great. Send me location. Brooklyn, New York. Cannot wait. I'm so happy it's happening in our backyard.

It's becoming a Habib home, Brooklyn, right? I love that. Hopefully no Irishmen show up with their dollies. Oh my God, inject this fight right here. You want to do that? Give me some tracks right now. Let's do this thing. All right.

Well, look, MMA is hot right now. Big fight in boxing this weekend if we can transition combat sports. You're going to have to go out to Saudi for this one. We're talking about a heavyweight title rematch when Andy Ruiz Jr. puts all three belts on the line that he won in upset fashion from Anthony Joshua in April. They're going to do the rematch this Saturday afternoon in Saudi Arabia. And Chuck,

heavyweights are red hot right now in boxing. We're just a couple weeks removed from Wilder Ortiz. We've got Wilder Fury 2 coming up in February. But this one's for three of those four recognized heavyweight championship belts. Wow.

I need to towel you off, man. Wow. So much of this narrative heading in, and rightfully so, is what is AJ's headspace going to look like? Knocks down Ruiz in that epic round three the first time around, then gets hit with that equilibrium shot in the ear, was never the same, gets stopped in round seven, and the division was turned upside down. Is AJ all we thought he was heading into that fight as a global superstar phenomenon?

Where's his head going to be at entering this fight? It's crazy because John Skipper basically put out a tweet, and I remember this, saying that AJ was on brand basically making, like, what is it, $40 million last year. He was this close coming to America. He's on brand with being like a Ronaldo or a LeBron, right? This is the kind of space we were talking about, and there's a lot of people in the boxing realm, obviously, and there's a lot of people overseas. This was our first look at him. It's the strangest thing when something like this happens, because you're not sure to what length

all of that mojo has been shaken. Where is he at at this point? Is he going to come back in some diminished form? That's always the question. That's always the question. And I feel like that guy, particularly, just kind of how he came up and going into the fight, which was obviously a late replacement.

There was a lot going on there that was kind of unorthodox, and his head wasn't completely into the fight. And then the way it played out, it was almost existential. Like you could see him almost embarrassed in real time by his performance. And when you see all of that, you just feel like the pressure is on him to try to regain more than just the titles. You know what I mean? It's just there's more to it than that,

and I always feel like that's where the back story is at. You nailed it. The pressure is so huge because it's not just about the titles. You know what I mean? It's just there's more to it than that. And I always feel like that's where the backstory is at. You nailed it. The pressure is so huge because it's not just about those titles. It's about justifying who he was coming in. That fight was supposed to be a walkthrough. He was supposed to be fighting Jarrell Big Baby Miller until he failed about 18 drug tests in Madison Square Garden, U.S. debut. All of England filled that arena.

We were there that night. It was Sweet Caroline going all around like crazy. Bah, bah, bah, good times. Well, they felt so good. So good. Until that third round. Until that third round. So he's got to... Look, I don't think it's out of bounds to say that this fight in some ways is make or break for his entire career. Meaning, should AJ succumb a second time and lose by knockout? When you consider the money he has earned to get to this point, this guy's selling out 80,000 soccer stadiums, 90,000 against Klitschko.

I mean, it's just insane the phenomenon that he became, not just in England where he was Olympic star, but he's got the family roots in Africa. He became a worldwide global star. If he loses, the ghost may be gone. Tied to what, though? It was like tied to a 22-0 record, 21 knockout rallies. He's like he's putting it all together.

He had all the elements. Well, the machine of invincibility was the first thing to go. And if he loses it a second time, if he loses a second time, you really wonder to what extent. I mean, look, the reason why this fight is in Saudi Arabia rather than a soccer stadium in England or rather than Cowboy Stadium. And the reason why, look, if you're DAZN, you probably don't love that it's going on in the afternoon up against the SEC Championship on CBS as opposed to at night. But AJ's getting $75 million, the report is. That's why it's there. Everybody's cashing in on it.

I wonder, though, if that sort of side location that doesn't seem to favor either guy is the best thing for AJ in this spot because so much of this fight is going to be mental. You're not going to have the throngs of that British press and the American press at the same time waiting for him to crack and break. And they're doing it in a makeshift 15,000-seat outdoor stadium in the middle of the desert that just popped up out of nowhere. I love that they do these things in these makeshift areas.

Oh, my God, because there's so much cash going around that I think it's almost make or break for his entire career. Because with this $75 million, with every piece of money that he's made, if he gets knocked out again, he might just walk away for good. And it might be that time. The only thing worse than going into a fight when it seems like it's an inevitability that you're going to win is when you go in with the air of the fluke. That you just lost. People are now talking about a fluke. It's almost like they're doing the exact same thing. They're saying it's a fluke.

But he was losing on you.how did you have the fight score? Because I felt like he was losing on all of them. Oh, he was. He was. And, I mean, it's one of those situations where it's like, that's not really a fluke. I know that when you said the equilibrium shot, it changes things. But I don't know. I mean, to me, it's like there's a lot to be— I mean, I've seen many a guy in boxing get hit right in the air or behind it,

and you're just never the same. You've got to actually credit AJ in this spot. He gutted out another three, four rounds. But you go back, and The Zone has a really good documentary on it called One Night that they have about that fight, and it really documents he just wasn't himself the rest of that fight and he gutted it out. To me, that's the same level fluke, in a way,

of Lennox Lewis getting one-shot by Oliver McCall or one-shotted by Hasim Rahman, which he invented them both. So the difference in people comparing the Andy Ruiz knockout win to like a Tyson Douglas, I think it is different. I don't think it's so much different from Buster compared to Andy, even though that's Maybe just in the odds. I think it's that Tyson, like Ronda Rousey, was so invincible that when you pull that air of invincibility away from them, you find out what they're really made of.

And both people were in some ways never the same. Tyson still had a career, obviously. But AJ has been, look, he's not a perfect fighter or boxer by any means. He's a great finisher when he gets you hurt. He can handle the star power and the pressure that comes with it. But he's been vulnerable in some of his biggest wins. He got knocked down by Klitschko. He got hurt by Dillian White. He got rocked by Carlos Takum early in that fight. He had that boring long fight in which he outpointed Joe Parker. So maybe it's going to be easier for him to bounce back because he's been through some vulnerabilities where, look, spoiler alert, if I'm handicapped in this fight,

I think the odds maker's got it right. I like AJ in this rematch. The key is going to be to use that jab and create distance. Because let's not forget, that one punch from Andy Ruiz changed the whole night to the year. But it was because he got inside the jab and was able to land that shot. If AJ can get in a great mental space and rely on that jab, he does have the size advantage and the reach.

Is Andy Ruiz a better pure boxer? Yes. But Andy Ruiz has never been the, to take his nickname, the destroyer that he was in that fight. I know he rose to the occasion with no pressure on his biggest night. He's not Buster Douglas. He's more polished. He's been on the title level before, but he's also not a killer. So I do think the door is open here for AJ to put the train back on the tracks.

AJ would have to, right? Like, smelled the blood in the water. He kind of just kind of went crazy there. Look, AJ's a finisher. You know what I mean? I just, I feel like he'll be a little more cautious in a situation like that. And you know, some of the things about AJ that people got wrong after that fight was that, oh, he was never so good to begin with. He was never this or that. Look, like go back and look at the wins he's

gotten. I mean, he's beaten a Klitschko, a Dillian White, a Joe Parker, all those guys. This is his big opportunity and the Sultans are going to be swinging. You know, like this is going to be a big time business. You got me fired up for it. I'm fired up for it. You got any prediction that people want to know? Are you going? No, I'm not going. I'll be on my couch here. Are you leaning on me?

I am leaning on him. I think that anything he was caught by surprise, he'll have time to then figure out. So anything that happened in that first fight, I take it a little bit with a grain of salt. I guess I am tending, not fluke, I hate that word, because like I said, he was not winning the rounds, and there was some extenuating circumstances, but I feel like he'll have it solved this time. By the way, you should check out that DAZN doc to see Mike Tyson just off the walls.

He was great in that. I do want to talk quickly, and we did mention Wilder. Wait, who's your prediction? You're going to tell me? Oh, AJ. AJ's going to do it. I think he's going to get a late stop at Jackson. I think he's going to box beautifully and set that up. Ruiz, at some point, is going to have to go for broke. I think he runs into something. Fury Wilder, too, on the horizon. It's going to be interesting to see what happens with the victor on Saturday.

Look, if AJ wins, you kind of go back into position. Usyk's is mandatory on that side, his own friendly fighter. But Dillian White is going to be on his undercard. We know they had that fun fight the first time around, their amateur rivals. What can be crazy is if Andy Ruiz wins on Saturday for the second time because he's a PBC fighter who would be taking those three or four heavyweight titles, going back to Showtime and Fox on PBC, and then you could presumably put him in there against the winner of Wilder Fury 2

for all the belts. This is what we want in the heavyweight division. We're not talking about Ibrahimov and Liakovic and all these old names of all. Just over this last year, it's all opened up again, man. I love it. Well, this Saturday, there is more boxing than just what's going on in Saudi. Showtime's back with a card in Brooklyn. Luke and I are going to be at this weekend.

You want to check it out. WBC middleweight champion, Jamal Charlo, one of the rising stars in the sport, is back in a very interesting test against Dennis Hogan. Now, Chuck, we saw Hogan in his last bout, very controversial decision loss to Jaime Munguia. This is a guy that can fight. This is a guy that can test him. I'm going to be looking forward to how Charlo comes out there and relax. But it's been an interesting year for the Charlos going back to last December.

Remember his brother Jermall lost the 154 title to Tony Harrison. They're going to have a rematch in December. Jermall went almost life or death with Matt Korobov in a very interesting fight. I think you're going to have to watch the co-main event on Saturday. You could be finding yourself a new Charlo opponent in the future. Chris Eubank Jr. is going to be in there

against Matt Korobov. That's going to be a fun fight. We love the Eubanks. How good is Chris Eubank Sr. to just put him out there in front of a microphone? I mean, the guy's just so poetic and just, you know. And it's not just one poem. The guy has, like, he can flip through his cards and he can pull a pinion. I mean, he's great.

But Chris Eubanks Jr. can bang. He's a fun fighter. But back to just Jamal Charlo quickly. These Charlos, man, you put them in front of a microphone, they make things happen. You put them in a ring, they take full souls. They can punch. They can box. I think both guys are sort

of waiting to bust out and be that pound-for-pound talent. You down for Lions only? I'm down. Alright, you're going to be tuning in on Saturday as well. Hey, big stuff, big-time business coming around in boxing and in MMA. See, I like this show because I get to watch more boxing. It's required to watch

some boxing. That's what I like. I'm going to require you to watch some pro wrestling, too. See, that's where I draw the line. I'm going to need a sweat rag in here. The lack of flowing air is really getting to me this week. All right, back on the MMA side, we have a card this Saturday going down in Luke Thomas' backyard when UFC DC invades the nation's capital. We've got a heavyweight main event with Alistair Overeem against let me get this right, the rising

Jair Rosenstruik. I think that's pretty close. Jairzinho Rosenstruik. Anyway, Chuck, give me a headline from this weekend that you're looking forward to checking out. Besides that one? Or that one. Hit me up with it. I think this fight is all designed basically for Rosenstruik

to shine, right? I mean, he gets the fill-in, and it's unfortunate circumstances with Walt Harris and everything that's going on there. He gets to come in here, but everybody's got their eye on him. And who was the last guy to stack up Arlovsky and Overeem in back-to-back fights?

Francis Ngannou. Oh, hey. And he got a title shot right after that. You're telling me that's the path right there? So I'm telling you that it kind of has that kind of, you know, both those guys have names, and he just did that within a month's time, right? Like, he just had Arlovsky.

Now he goes in against Overeem, and I feel like if he's able to do something, it's going to be a nice showcase for him if he's able to do, you know, a big knockout like we know he has power. If he does that, I can see him make waves. I wouldn't want to see him in a title fight, but you could put him against, there's a lot of guys. He's still raw. He's still early, and he's still raw. But I think that you would definitely have a guy at that point

that you would have marketing ability, because you're putting him in a main event. It's a nice spot for him. If he does that, I feel like he can really boost his stock into that top 7, 8 space. Now, Overeem's been around forever, 39 years old, did make steep A-tap once, but he is on a two-fight win streak, maybe not against household names unless you live in the Dagestan caucus area.

But this is the right test to find out who Jairzinho actually is. Good enough for a main event there, but when you look at other storylines there, I'm always looking down the card to see what they got. Bantamweight fight I need to see on the women's side when Aspen Ladd comes out. First fight since that controversial

stoppage loss against GDR, and we know Durandamy has moved on to a title shot, so that sort of shows you how close Ladd was in a very shallow division, would be the best way to say it. Yeah. You get former title challenger Yana Kunitskaya in front of her. What's really at stake here for Aspen in your eyes? I mean, it could, who knows? I think it could be something like a title shot. You know, it really depends, because I think that Aspen Ladd, it was smart in one way, also very distracting for her to kind of protest her last fight and raise awareness that way because it almost puts an asterisk on it. You feel like it wasn't quite on the up and up, even though it was.

But I feel like she can kind of get by with it. She was 24 years old. She was undefeated. She didn't have a ton of fights. But if she goes in there and she has a nice finish in this one or just a great presentation where she dominates the fight. I can see her being right back up there. Luke and I were talking last week on one of the DMs from Donks when our people came in with their own questions, and they were like, you know, after GDR, what would be next for Nunes?

And you're sort of like, in both divisions, it's shallow. So does UFC kind of need Aspen Ladd to put the train on the track here? I think that they wanted her to. I don't think they wanted GDR because it's like one of the, you know, the whole situation there. I honestly didn't think Duraname would ever get a title shot again after the whole thing that happened at Featherweight. So that tells you just that alone, that they booked her into the next title fight,

how desperate they are to kind of get contenders rolling through. A couple other fights. No, I mean, you've got Stefan Struve against Ben Rothwell. If you like it extra sloppy there, you can throw that on there. Anybody else you're looking at there? Struve coming back after that long hiatus after retirement. The skyscraper fell down, took a nap. He's back up.

He's ready. He's ready for that. You were telling me you're fired up about Matt Wyman, though. I am a little bit fired up about Matt Wyman. He's one of those guys who came in at UFC 60. He broke through on the Ultimate Fighter V with guys like Gray Maynard and Nate Diaz. That's a long time ago, yes. Paul Miller. I mean, like, he's been around. But then he disappeared for, like, a four-year

span. Have you ever talked to him? Never. This is one of the craziest, like, I don't know, not crazy, like, crazy, but he's like almost a hermit in a fight game. Like, he just kind of hides away, doesn't have social media. He, you know, he's very, very aware, like, if he's eating something, he'll eat everything. He doesn't

waste. He told me a story about wanting to disappear out the back during his fights because he gets so scared. Just a completely different cat. He has been gone so long. He showed up. He resurfaced a couple months ago against Luis Pena. He got beat up pretty badly. First fight in five years. First fight in four or five

years. Something like that. I don't get the message. You have to run the pigeon. What happened? What was going on in the break? Injuries? The truth of the matter is, I think it's just he just kind of took a break. That's all it was. I'm still waiting for Dustin Hazlett to get off the EMT circuit and make a comeback. That was my guy back in the day.

Where's TJ Grant? I keep saying this. Where is TJ Grant? No, but I'm always interested in Matt Wyman. He's just such a different kind of character. And I want to see him, man, because I feel like that probably devastated him a little bit in that last fight. So I want to see how he rebounds this coming weekend.

Well, we hit you up with the big time boxing and MMA coming up this weekend. You had to believe there was a circus carnival fight as well to get me excited. This is quasi pro wrestling here. Wow. I just heard a thump on the table. That's how I do it, right? This is a funky introduction of how nice I am here. Tell your mother, send a telegram.

This Saturday, Combate America's MMA will have that promotion's biggest card to date in a pay-per-view emanating from McAllen, Texas. I believe it's hashtag, what side are you on? What side of the border? I'm not really sure, but we're going to see UFC legend Tito Ortiz take on former WWE champion Alberto El Patron slash Del Rio slash Dos Caras Jr. What are we going with? We're going with Alberto.

And Chuck, this is seemingly from the Bellator playbook. Tito's 44, Alberto's 42, and he's nine years removed from the MMA cage. I like it extra sloppy. What's your interest level for this? You like it this sloppy? This is pretty sloppy, man. Is there anything to take from this? I mean, from a strict level of fun,

like I guess, like our sloppy fun, however you want to look at it, okay. But it is obviously like a very blatant, let's pin a couple of names on there. These guys, it doesn't matter. Let's just brush off their names, these relics, and throw them against each other and see what happens. I mean, you know, the truth of the matter is if you like a car crash,

I feel like that's kind of what you're getting here. Well, Alberto has had 14 pro fights. He's nine and five overall. We're doing our best end of decade things, and this guy last fought in 2010. So it's like you're going all that way back for the whole decade. But we most remember him for that one time he went into the pride cage wearing a pro wrestling mask.

Jay, in the back, do you have it? When Dos Caras Jr. went in there against Crow Cop. Oh, look at this. Oh, my God. Look at how old this looks. Look at the knee pads. This was back when he was wrestling in Mexico. He wanted to protect his identity.

I remember this. He's a third- generation legend pro wrestler. And Crow Cop said, left kick hospital. And we'll leave it there because, wow. Remove the mask. Remove the mask. Don't show it. My God.

All right. That's classic. Look, okay, for the promotion, it's an opportunity to get eyeballs on it, show some of their younger fighters. They haven't really hit their mark yet in the U.S., right? Sure. They're going after the Hispanic-American audience. This is potentially a good opportunity for them. But as far as, like, what this fight's actually going to look like,

the problem is Tito's been active. But can I make a case for Alberto to be competitive here? Tell me if I'm crazy. Six foot five, they're doing it at a 210 pound catch weight. Yes, that's true. Actually has an amateur wrestling background, was a near Olympian for Mexico. And F'd around in an MMA cage. Is that enough to tell you that he lasts a round? I think so.

I mean, you know, he's probably... Tito says that he could beat Jon Jones right now, man. I mean, that's how good he feels. So it's one of those situations where... Hold on, can we hit timeout? When Tito says publicly in interviews, I can beat Jon Jones right now, man. That's how good he feels. So it's one of those situations where we get that Tito. Hold on. Can we hit timeout? When Tito says publicly in interviews, I can beat John Jones right now, most people, you're

just thinking, oh, it's a way to stay real. What is he actually thinking? I don't know. I don't know because everything he says is just kind of out there at this point. And nobody really takes him seriously. They haven't for years, right? Like this whole decade. I'm going to be finding.

You do love this. I'm going to be finding a legal stream for decade, so. I'm going to be finding. You do love this. I'm going to be finding a legal stream for that on Saturday. I'm going to be checking this out. I urge you to buy that as well. Had a bunch of these guys in my pocket. Our friend Max Bretto is calling that. Really? For Combate America.

Talked to Max in a long time. I love Max, by the way. Yeah. Shout out to that man indeed. All right, that's it for the biggest topics of the week to get you fired up. Now we want to hear from you in our segment called DMs. I got to burp. Hold on.

In our segment called DMs from donks. There's the donk. Hello. All right here. By the way, shout out to the tea today. Amoeba. A little Amoeba music, actually. What you got there?

I want you to know that somebody tell Zhang Weili that Boogie Woman is coming. Here we go. And I don't know if you've been on her IG page, but she may not be the only one. All right, let's hit up these questions. We start off with Henry.boy11. What would you sacrifice to see Tony? So I guess they're saying to see it actually happen.

To see in April in Brooklyn this fight finally take place. Chuck, what would you personally sacrifice? I feel like I've sacrificed so much already. I've spent so much time talking about it and writing these articles. When I was back at the ringer, you're writing these big articles that basically became obsolete the moment it would fall apart. I've given a lot to this, man. I feel like I deserve it at this point. I have nowhere else to go. Yeah, all right. You wouldn't sacrifice a kidney at this point. How about, like, your left pinky?

Anything like that? No, nothing? Maybe the tip. Just the tip? Just for a second? Just the tip. All right, all right. Shout out to the...

I would... What would you give? Would you give your hair? Oh, wait. All right, let's go on to the next one here. You never even answered. Heavy.Falcon chimes in this week. In what fashion does Dom Reyes

need to win at UFC 247 for Jon Bones not to get an immediate rematch, catastrophic injuries excluded? What would stop? Because, you know, in modern combat sports, like Andrew Ruiz is finding out,

you've got to beat the big-name champion twice to actually be the real champion. So what would stop this? Maybe like a three-round domination where one of the rounds is maybe even almost a 10-8 and he puts him away on the fourth. Like something that was so one-sided. That would send Johnny Bones away for like six months

to get his head straight. Yeah, like something where you're like, you would not be interested in a rematch. You're like, he had nothing to offer Dominic Reyes. Something like that would be a case for it. Maybe have the fight at that intersection in Albuquerque so John will run the whole time. Yeah.

Too soon? Too soon. All right, yeah. Interesting, interesting question. Oh, I like that you go to these places. No, I'll go into the dark. I'll go to the deep, dark depths. I'll follow you into the dark there.

All right, all right. Yeah, I think it would have to be that. Any other situation, you've got to run that back. John Bones has been the dominant champion. Hit us up with the next one, Jay,

from No Limit Cunningham. If Ruiz wins against Joshua on Saturday, does he have the potential to be as big of a marketing asset for DAZN as their biggest names

currently, referencing AJ Canelo? I think so, man. The problem, No Limit Cunningham, is Ruiz is not a DAZN fighter. He took that first fight on three weeks' notice. He is now a pretty shiny asset for PBC, which has deals with Showtime and Fox.

Yes. Well, in any case. So let me flip this question around on you, Chuck. How bad is this for DAZN if AJ loses on Saturday? Pretty bad. I mean, ultimately, it's great, though, for everybody else, right? Like, it ends up being one of those things. I really believe that Ruiz is pretty marketable.

And I felt like people who weren't paying attention to the heavyweight division at all, say Joshua just won the way he's supposed to, it wouldn't have got the love almost. That fight wouldn't have got the love that it did. You know, there were outlets covering it, and I was seeing his name. He was appearing all over the place. You know what I mean? His victory tour was pretty big. I can imagine him kind of breaking out in a bigger way.

I think that it really helps when the optics are so opposite of the way he fights. His hands are so much more faster, but he just looks like this guy who's a schlub, right? But then he's able to do this, especially against a guy who's like, what, 6'6"? And you see it twice, I think that he would be a normal person. He's a golden god. I mean, AJ's body is a wonderland. And you saw the fat guy come in there and take him out. I think for AJ, it's been interesting.

A lot of pundits are kind of saying, is he mentally in the right place heading into the rematch because he's so openly spent so much money? And he's almost treated the win like a lottery ticket, buying the giant house, buying the Rolls Royce, having the birthday party where they're eating sushi off of the women. Now you've got to fill the cupboards again, yeah? I mean, look, when you're a fighter and you fight your whole career hoping one day for that big moment, that big opportunity, and you get it, of course you're going to live it, right?

Of course. I don't know what that means for his mindset. He seems thinner and in better shape. Everybody loves a story like that. But separate from what it means to the networks, for Andy Ruiz, I think he's,

win or lose, going to be a fun brand moving forward and is going to be a fun opponent for all of the big names because he's just got that every man thing

because of the way that he won the fight that people love. People love seeing fat guys do big things, right? Especially when they're at that odds and going against inevitability,

like an inevitable champion like that. I always think that those things are big. And I just think he gets bigger, though. I think he gets bigger if he's able to do it again. I love it. I love it. Indeed. We got any more of these DMs from our donk friends here at Jake Averch. With the lack of pay-per-view numbers being released since the ESPN Plus deal,

sneaky, sneaky, how do we empirically, wow, that's a Luke Thomas word, determine who the biggest stars in MMA are? Well, you know, that is a funny thing. We talk about guys like Israel Adesanya now, like, oh, he's got the head fags, the next big thing. But I don't know how to gauge it anymore. I really don't know other than kind of where they show up. Like, what kind of outlet is Good Morning America asking him to come on and announce his next fight?

No. These are good gauges, right? Yeah, yeah. But you're not seeing that. And that makes me think that guys like Adesanya are probably, maximize their space within the bubble. I'm not sure how much they transcend beyond it yet. I'm still not sure.

It's a great question. I feel like it's harder and harder to figure out who's in MMA specifically. Is it harder and harder for the fighters to figure that out themselves? And is that a way for the evil empire UFC to keep the fighters' value down? By not allowing those to go public at all? But they didn't used to allow them, right? It used to be it would leak out. Yeah.

It is more difficult, though. And I sometimes think we push a narrative. We push these stars. We think they're stars, but they're not. like you see guys who they seem like they're moving the needle but then when you actually do see them and this is where it gets very hard and uh to figure out these days they just don't do the pay-per-views you think and I feel like there's a lot of those in play right now I haven't seen a guy come through that's a clean slam dunk star since Conor McGregor or you know Ronda Rousey obviously nobody has done that John Jones I feel like was the closest we've come and and he's still

well below Johnny Walker look like a phenomenon until Corey Anderson took his soul. You want to see how far guys like that can go because they at least have multiple layers of you know they're dynamic in a lot of ways and you kind of want to see how far they can go but losing it's the hardest the hardest part is you got to win right like you got to keep winning you see Johnny Walker just so told a Brazilian outlet, I saw Aaron Brotstetter, one of my favorite MMA folks, tweeted out that he wants to fight six to eight times next year. In the first fight back, he wants Chris Weidman to avenge the loss for Anderson Silva.

He wants to break Weidman's face. What is this circus clown doing here? Can we leave Chris Weidman alone there? Everybody just wants to beat up on Chris Weidman. All right. We got one more DM from our faithful donks. At TJ978, football on Thanksgiving or NBA on Christmas? Very interesting here.

Do you get more excited about the spotlight matchups that they give you in the NFL, on Thanksgiving, or NBA. I've got to go NBA. You do? Because they save a sexy storyline. You're out there playing in your backyard football. Are you playing basketball? I'm playing it. I'm playing the Madden tournaments after with the Cousins.

I'm doing all that. But what the NBA has always done well, remember Kobe versus Shaq? Sure, of course. Is make a sort of sexy drama, old coach or old player against the former team type of deal. And they save that because the East and West only face each other once for that big moment. NFL, I don't feel like each year, you know you're getting the Lions, you know you're getting the Bears,

but it's like there's the one marquee game at the end. I'm sorry, the Cowboys. America's team, thank you, Jay. Thank you. Cowboys superfan number 99 coming in right there. What's weird, though, is those traditions, since I've been alive, have been in play. So it's almost like you're always watching the Lions in the early game, and then you get the Cowboys, right?

And it's always like, who are they playing? It becomes a part of the tradition. I would still say that I pay more attention to the football games. And maybe it's just it speaks more of the holiday because you're around the TV a little more. Do you unbutton that button, the top button? You got to. You got to let it all hang out. You got to let that thing breathe, right?

But the basketball one, man, basketball has just, I love the NBA, man. I love basketball. So, like, it's gotten to the place now where I feel like the games have such magnitude. And when they do the storylines correctly and, you know, you've got so many superstars, the way that they've marketed their stars and everything, it's catching it. But I would still go right now with Thanksgiving and football. Is it really the same, same though without John Madden and the turducken

it's not the same because even I wouldn't eat that and I eat some gross things that was pretty gross yeah that was that went on for a long time he's always circling butt sweat and things like that

yeah I don't get down like that and then he would show the turkey and you're like this is not a good juxtaposition two guys touching tips that might move me but I don't know about that

right there alright thank you for your questions donks please subscribe to our show continue to send in your thoughts and questions one guy oh one guy I don't have his name off the. All right, thank you for your questions, Donks. Please subscribe to our show. Continue to send in your thoughts and questions. Oh, one guy. I don't have his name off the top of my head here.

I'll add my own DM for Donk, because this guy is all over my Instagram DMs. With all the talk of Luke going crazy over Cannibal Corpse or eating children, Jay Winchell has hit me up about 87 times talking about Ask Luke, but Luke's not here. Chuck, is Tool really the greatest rock band in history tool I Definitely like them Greatest in history though. This is where he's going with this now greatest greatest hard rock outfit of the 90s Probably okay. I do like Tool a lot, man.

You like Tool? I like me some Tool. They would, I was, I'm, I'm under, I've never gone deep. You know what I mean? I've never gone deep. But I was, in response to this question, having some beers on Saturday night over at my neighbor's house. He's got this giant stereo system.

We can turn it up to 11 and we put on some old school Tool and I was. You're not joking when you say you go to the gas station and you want things injected in your veins. I hear about your private life and it's like. We can turn it up to 11 and we put on some old school tool and I was... You're not joking when you say you go to the gas station and you want things injected in your veins. I hear about your private life and it's like... We were drinking Treehouse too. Treehouse Brewery, the best brewery in the world. Shout out to those folks in the Massachusetts forest. Alright, that's it for Donk DM questions this week. Thank you, Jay Winchell.

You got your voice heard. Now we're going to do, Chuck, a little thing called my favorite segment of the week. Have you seen this shit? This is my favorite as well. Chuck, a little thing called my favorite segment of the week. Have you seen this shit? This is my favorite as well. Chuck, you know how it works. We searched the globe to find the good, the bad, the ugly, the most

bizarre from combat sports this weekend. It was a holiday weekend. There weren't many big fights, but if you want to see a good fight, Friday mornings on Black Friday, be there when the stores open. I don't care what race, creed, color, origin, religion, anything like that you come from. It's a nightmare. If you are showing up at Black Friday and you're fighting people over a TV,

you are the bottom of the food chain that was very Luke Thomas-ian of me right there. But we got an interesting fight here. You don't care about the big deals? People used to just fight it out with their fists. Now people are bringing MMA to the Black Friday fights. Look at this chick's guard right here. Whoa. She's putting her's guard right here. Whoa. She's putting her in Hell's Gate.

Can you break this down for me? Where is this at? Oh, my. That is a J in my ear, a jiu-jitsu specialist J in my ear telling me, of course, it's a triangle choke. But, you know, in my day, you used to swing for the fences, right? The woman on the bottom was like right here. I think she would have tapped her. Maybe a couple more seconds, put her to sleep, right? It sounds like an old woman. The woman on the bottom is like, wait here. I think she would have tapped her maybe a couple more seconds to put her to sleep, right?

That's amazing. I like the people watching it. That chick in the black's got to feel like... Rather than helping somebody's filming this, I'm like, oh, people... The chick in the black

has got to feel like Chael Sonnen there around five, right? Like, I've come this far to victory, and this is what happens. I wish I knew what prompted this.

I mean, you kind of get the gist just watching it. By the way, yeah, and I couldn't put up the traditional Black Friday fights because it's just such a... Is this over an Xbox, you think? I think so. It's such a it. By the way, yeah, and I couldn't put up the traditional Black Friday fights because it's just such a— Is this over an Xbox, you think? I think so.

It's such a poor representation of our society, Chuck, okay? People just brawling over stuff. Little kids getting trampled. I don't like it. I'm not down with that. I'll happily say I avoid stores. I mean, happy Cyber Monday to you. They created that for safety purposes, all right?

I'm not down with that. All right, we've got to roll on here. I want to take you to AbsoluteMoyTie51. I want to take you to absolute Muay Thai 51. I want to show you a little bit of matrix defense from this fellow. Look at that. Oh, my God. Wow, you think he took the blue pill or the red one? Look at that.

That is amazing, man. That is how you avoid death and bounce right back with the left hook. That doesn't hit him? No, no contact. Maybe just the tip of his nose. Oh, wow. See, that's beautiful. That is timing.

That is confidence in your defense right there, right? You really go through and find these, huh? I think if I tried to make a move like that, my spine would collapse. Look at that right there. That's fantastic. All right. Chuck, I want to roll on here. You're from Colorado.

And in any town that you grow up in, there's always some scrawny dude who buys a motorcycle and he thinks he's tough. And he thinks he can fight because of it. And you're like, what is he going to do? Get off the motorcycle? Knock us out? Oh, my God. This ain this ain't vin diesel this is motorcycle manhoff check that shit out both those guys fell so fast i didn't even see what he threw there how many times you see a dude on a motorcycle you're like yeah f off whatever oh he gave my kicks he's prompt put it in park get off the bike boom left hand oh. Two lefts. I'm sorry, guy in the black t-shirt. You've been sent to hell.

Wow. What's that guy doing? Look at these chicks. Is that a girl? I think he stole his wallet. That's a Back to the Future reference, CJ. Keep the clock rolling. Keep the clock rolling.

Keep the clock rolling. Wow. That is some killer. That guy's not fooling around. That first guy is like gone. That guy's all cold. That is, wow. Imagine if you're that girlfriend.

You're like, yeah, okay. One more time. Look at this. He started it, though. Look at that. No jab either. He's going right for the money punch. Oh, oh, wow.

It's nice when you're wearing a helmet, too. It's like retaliation is going to hurt. Lou thinks all we do is heckle people on the show that gets knocked out, right? We do more than that. We do a lot of dick jokes, too. All right. I want to roll on here. Global superstar Canelo Alvarez was on vacation in Thailand over the weekend. Hey, fuck it, right? When you got

that kind of money, do it. He was in fuck it and he was on top of this elephant's nose. But I want to zoom in here. Jay in the back. Chuck, what are those? What the hell are those? Come on, Canelo. You've got 35 million reasons not to wear shit like that. I know they're Dolce & Gabbana. They probably cost more than this whole set, but... You got any comments on this, Chuck? I think that when you ascend to a certain kind of status, you just do whatever the hell you want. You know what I'm saying?

I'm sure that the zone executives are like, get him down. Oscar, they were a way to wear a hose. Well, yeah. Well, I mean... Are you talking about the fishnets? Where are you going with this? Fishnets, yes. That's a little different. He had hoes in a different area. All right. Yeah, all right. Well, I mean, are you talking about the fishnets? Where are you going with this? Fishnets, yes.

That's a little different. He had hoes in a different area. All right. Yeah, all right. Wow, Canelo. My wife would kill me if I left the house wearing that, right? I can appreciate it. All right. I think that's, you know, it's his style.

I like it. It's his style. He's got his wife's eyes tattooed on his forearm. I know we talked about that a lot. Yes. But that's dedication. That is dedication, man. That's keeping the marriage bed sacred.

So shout out to Big Red right there. Have you seen this shit, Chuck? I want to take you to Infusion Live. Oh, the old one. Oh, my God. Shades of Rocky 2 and Fedor Mitrione. It's a double knockdown. Look at that.

I never get enough of these. Never. You cannot tire of this. What are the odds of this happening? Because you both have to land with enough force, right? Yeah. Well, one guy's dead. It has to be simultaneous.

It's crazy to me. Wow. I like how that guy got right up. Do you win? If you stand up, you win, right? Yeah. Well, one guy's dead. It has to be simultaneous. It's crazy to me. Wow. I like how that guy got right up. Do you win? If you stand up, you win, right? I think you stand up, you win. In that situation, yeah. Is this guy trying to count, too?

I mean, the guy's not moving. I think he's done. I think we can get him out of here. Well, one guy just got knocked down. The other guy got knocked out, so. Do you watch a lot of Infusion Live? Oh, man. You know, I've missed.

Actually, I've missed all of them so far, but. I'm sure you can pick it up on fight pass or something here um let's go back to mui hardcore we've got a theme on this show if you try spinning shit in this you get sent to hell enough with the spinning shit i don't know this guy's name he may not deserve it but shout out the channel late live he attempts the uh kick he said you know i'll spin back. No, you'll... That is a crazy sequence. Ouch. Yeah.

Do not pass go. Disposit your soul at the bottom of the ring on the way out. That is some... Wow. You see the guy's head disappear through that foot. It's like... Look at this. That's a small ring, too, Chuck.

Oh. That's a beautiful sequence, though. That is some vicious, vicious swath stuff right there. That's what you get, bro. Enough with this spinny shit, okay? I got to watch more Muay Thai. I know there's some minor leagues you can try crap. You know, you can kick each other in the dong.

But look, you're going to get sent to hell trying this stuff, all right? So get it out of your system now. I want to take you to a real fight that happened at WXC 84. This is not a real fight? No, this is not a real fight. This one is. The Turkey Bowl winner gets a full turkey dinner in all the spreads. And we've got Lawrence Bonds taking Ryan

Hall's soul. No, not that Ryan Hall. Wow. Normally I'd make a joke about the... That's a plural Ryan Hall. Yeah. Normally I'd make a joke about the loser eating his feelings afterwards. I think they both will, Chuck. God, what is this? That's some... That's super heavyweight MMA. Wow. That's great. That's

dedication to watch. It's going to be hard for that guy in the bottom to take down the cage afterwards after he got that headache, right? Wow. This is shades of Tito in Alberta. Yeah, it's an appetizer there. We've done all fighting, all serious stuff up to this point, Chuck. Yeah.

No dongs. Yeah. We can go a full have you seen this shit without dongs, right? Yeah. All right. Well, let's go to road rage and disrespect. Remember that old thing you do if you see somebody you don't like on the road? You flip them off, give them the finger?

Well, the kids these days are doing something a lot different. Oh, my God, Doug. Balls across the nose. What is going on here? Where have I alighted? Wow. Yeah, that's you, bro. Wow. More than

a mouthful. What do you do with that? Look at this guy! Yeah! That was the greatest thing I've ever seen, I think. Wow! Is this a sequel to Shaft? That's the second time I tried that joke. Wow! Look at this! The slow motion and the slow look and then... In my day, you'd just go like this and the

truck driver would give you a honk. I guess, you know, honk if you're horny. That's fantastic. Wow. The point is the best. The point is the best. Oh, my God. Chuck, have you seen this shit?

It's the best thing going on combat sports. I think it really is. It really is. I don't know how you find these. Is that Jay, or is that you finding these things? That's me. This is a Brian Campbell production. Okay.

It makes sense. Cuff me. I'm here, all right? Trust me. It makes sense that these are yours. Chuck, this is your fourth time in the family of Morning Combat. I think it's the fifth. And look, no one's above taking an L here.

I don't have high school photos I can pull out of here. But we know that you have the iconic hat. Some people think you have the iconic hat for a reason. I've been able to dig up the last photo you took without the iconic hat. The last one you took without the iconic hat. The last one you took without the iconic hat. Can we see it right there? Oh, look at him! Right there, ESPN MMA Live in the house. Wow, you know, Joanna was right. It's tough standing next to the best-looking journalist in MMA. No, it is. But he got over it, man. He was pretty natural. That looks like the

moment before the edibles kick in. What's going through your head right there? You know what's hilarious? There were, not me, but there were edibles right around me. Jeff Wagenheim was standing just off. Oh, God. You can get a contact. I'm not joking. Like, he gave him a tootsie roll right before this.

A hooker told me she got a contact time making out with him. It was great. When was this, 2012? This was 2012. The Kane-JDS rematch? Obviously, I was still at ESPN. Now, what happened here? Did the producer say no hat?

ESPN, I used to do the show there Now, what happened here? Did the producer say no hat? ESPN, I used to do the show there, and I never wore the hat. Alright. Hey, shout out, by the way, to ESPN MMA Live. Talk about a proving ground for future superstars, alright? I was an early editor on that show. I'm the one who said, get McNeil. He's got sources. Make him a part of the show. That show has produced

John Anik, super producer Zach Candido, who's like top shelf in the UFC. The founders, Karen Portley and the late Anthony Mormont. Rashad Evans cut his teeth there broadcasting in the beginning. Kenny Florian cut his teeth early. Ewan Brett did some time there. Todd Grisham. Max Bretos. Molly Karama

first take was an originator on that one. Cassidy Hubbard, the NBA, she used to do MMA live with me, too. Absolutely. Yeah, they have a lot of talent. That show, all truth be told, that show was ahead of its time in the beginning. We don't have this show right here in some ways without some things like that.

It's not the hat. It's like how drowsy you make it. Can you pick the one where my eyes are open at least? No, I don't think there are those pictures out there. That's why I was wondering what was in your bloodstream at that point. It was 3 a.m. or something like that. Well, you must be lonely. Yeah, indeed. All right. Chuck, odds and ends this weekend.

I don't know if you caught that ESPN top-ranked card over the weekend. Did you see Oscar Valdez moved up to 130? His opponent missed weight by 11 friggin' pounds and got sent to hell by Bob Arum. They bring in the replacement podium. Adam Lopez scores a knockdown and nearly pulls the upset. I love it in those

situations when they pick a guy out of the scrap heap. You're picking Andy Ruiz out of there. He comes in there and changes the game. You want to mention anything? Anything going on in your life? What have you been listening to? I've been listening to a lot. Listening to?

Yeah. 90s-wise, of course. Oh, man. I do like the Lithium Channel. I found that to be soothing. All right, all right, all right. That's good television. What do you think

is the greatest guitar solo of the 90s is it the first one from November Rain the second one or the third one

or is that a trick question and the second and third are combined with that little break in the middle it's your world man it's my world we're just living in

I must have seen that video though a thousand times probably the best video ever back then when it was still like a you know monoculture, like you would have to kind of watch MTV, you would see that endlessly. That and REM's Losing My Religion at the time. I lost my religion watching Stephanie Seymour in that

video because you really have to ask yourself, like, Axl's a dirt hole. And that guy's just pulling in royalty. I mean, I guess it's a career path for some people, but it always would make me mad. Things didn't go so well for him in the later 90s. That's true. And now he's got the dreads. It's really not. Did Chinese Democracy finally come out? It's supposed to.

I think it's coming. Yeah. Still waiting. What was the last concert you were at, Chuck? I actually saw Journey. It was kind of a funny thing. I was in Vegas, and some buddies had some Journey tickets. So that was the last one I went to.

That was just like last month. Did that come with a free hysterectomy or what? It was pretty, it was good. No Steve Perry, though, right? No Steve Perry. It was the Asian guy. Yes. The Asian guy is fantastic.

He's great, man. Yeah, yeah, he is. He could barely, you know, the voice, if you're not paying attention, it sounds exactly the same. We need to go to a concert together. Maybe we get the whole morning combat team. But the problem is Luke. Luke ruins everything. He wants to see like,

you don't get down with like the I'll eat your soul, I'll eat flesh, I'll kill children, those bands he likes. No. He's disturbed, man. Yeah, he's very disturbed.

He was at one of those like recently. Yeah, cannibal corpse, dying fetus. I mean, it's under that genre of abortion rock, but it's really not my scene. You know what I mean?

I'm glad we could incorporate Luke's taste in here. All right. We are pretty lean on running time this week. We hit it. We hit it hard. We hit it fast, quick. It was like eighth grade, right? I mean, it's just in and out.

It was fantastic. I wish eighth grade was like 10. Not where I come from. I'm like 25. All right. I didn't say that out loud, did I? Here's the deal, folks. Morning Combat, whether you're looking at mugs like your boy BC, did I? Oh, here's the deal, folks. Morning Combat,

whether you're looking at mugs like your boy BC, Chuck, or Luke, we need you to subscribe. We need you to get on out there. You don't have to go to your street corner and hold up the sign, but you got to spread the word to your friends, spread it wide, spread it across the toast by subscribing to us on YouTube, Morning Combat, hitting us up on Instagram each week. Get your questions in, but we want to get these numbers up because the people that make decisions, not Jay, not that a-hole Jay, the people that make decisions here,

they think they have something here. Yeah. And they want to take this thing public. All right? Yeah. We need your support to get there.

Okay? You want us to do a, you want WWE in the 90s, you want us to do a show in your house, it may happen. All right? Let's get us there.

Let's get us on the road. Let's do big things with subscribing. You can follow Chuck's work at The Athletic. Your podcast is called? The Man and the Myth. It's great. With Sean Alshadi.

Great pod. Check out Sean Alshadi's feature on that. Oh, yeah. Travis Fulton. Travis Fulton, who fought 5,000 times. Yes. Chuck, you want to shout anything out? Are you going to be making any public appearances,

book signings or anything? No. You have our social channels. I love when you put me on the spot for these type of things. I'm still waiting for your greatest guitar solo of the 90s. Alive? Maybe next show. Alive by Mike McCready?

Come on. No. Probably not that one. What's yours? I mean, can you get better than November Rain, can you? All right. No? No.

No more tears, Zach Wild? Come on. No? All right. Hey, all right. It's going to start snowing, Brian. We'll have to wrap it up. Yeah, we should probably wrap it up before my wife calls and kills me for being on the roads.

My name is Brian Campbell. You're looking at Chuck Mendenhall. Your buddy Luke Thomas will be back next week. Right now he's in the gym getting those gains. And for the fine folks at Showtime, check out Brendan Schaub's work on Below the Belt. Check out All the Smoke. Have you seen that yet? Yeah, I have, actually. It's a good show. That Showtime show check out Brendan Schaub's work on Below the Belt. Check out All the Smoke. Have you seen that yet? Yeah, I have, actually.

It's a good show. That Showtime show with Matt Barnes and Steven Jackson is fan-frigging-tastic. Jacko breaking down the palace brawl. That is must-see audio in your ear hole, so check it out. Shout-out to all the listeners who only check us audio-only. We appreciate you as well. Hit us up with that review on Apple Podcasts, I don't know, Spotify, J-Date, Tinder, wherever they can access us. Spread it.

Tell the world. That's it. May your hoes be loyal. Jump up. Jump up. Tins down and get down. Yeah, that's it. I got nothing more to say.

We're out of here. All right? It's over. Show's over. Throw it. It's over. The show's over. We'll be right back. Thank you. Outro Music