MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - CYBORG! DANNY GARICA! STEPHEN A. VS JOE ROGAN?

Episode Date: January 27, 2020

Brian is joined by Chuck Mindenhall as they breakdown all the fight action from this weekend, including Danny Garcia vs. Ivan Redkach and Cris Cyborg's win. They also dive into the feud between Stephen A. Smith and Joe Rogan. #MorningKombat #DannyGarcia #StephenASmith 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. Oh, yeah. Come down and waste away with me. It's Morning Combat, Monday, January 27, 2020. I think I got that date right. You're looking at your boy, the Brian Campbell of CBS Sports. This is not Luke Thomas. It's a much more new and improved edition.

The man who used to do a little on the show, but that little got more and more. The man in the hat, Chuck Mendenhall of TheAthletic.com. And a fantastic podcast that I'll never remember the name of. The man and the myth. How can you forget that? The man and the damn myth. Hey, man. I'm glad to be back here.

It's the first time this decade that I've been in the bunker. I thought we were going to go see it up a little bit. We might jazz up the place a little bit, maybe get a gag or something going here. Yeah, something here. I mean, this is, wow. The apropos. This is ruthless here.

Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey. No one knows the exact location, though. We're back for another week in what's going on in the worlds of boxing, MMA, and beyond. Luke's not here. We can do pro wrestling this week. Oh, here we go. We can do a little rumble. I don't know if you called that last night, Chuck. I actually did. Shout out a little Brock party action. A little Brock Lesnar. You look good early, faded late. Fantastic

piece of business there. I'm no longer covering pro wrestling for a living. I'm just watching as a fan. So you're just a fan. I saw your enthusiasm on social media last night. You were into it. I was fired up. I was there. I was ready. I was ready to do this. I'm ready to do this show. Luke Thomas, by the way, on mandatory assignment doing some Super Bowl radio this week. It is what it is. None of these jury duty excuses this time around. You know what I'm saying?

But the hat is back. One of these days, we will get that morning combat. Yeah, I'd like that. I would like that. Absolutely. Morning combat, of course, is the best way to start your week because we pull no punches, Chuck. We bring it.

You know what I'm saying? I mean, I could lay awake just to hear you breathing. You know what I'm saying? All right. We're already there. We're like three minutes in. Let's start this damn show. It was a loaded combat sports weekend, and it was Bellator 238,

Inglewood up to no good in California, and the headline news was Chris Cyborg exiting UFC recently, making her Bellator debut and capturing the women's featherweight title with a fourth-round stoppage of long-reigning champion Julia Budd. And Chuck, the historical news here is that Cyborg, the legend, the Brazilian phenom, becomes the only fighter to hold titles in UFC, Bellator, Strikeforce, and Invicta. How impressed were you at age 34 with this victory?

I was pretty impressed, actually. I have to say, this is the first time in a while that I've had a little bit of doubt going into a fight with her. Even, you know, the Mananunas went, okay, that was what it was. But somebody other than Mananunas, I thought there was a little bit of doubt there. And, in fact, the people were kind of talking about the sharp money and where the line would go and stuff. I was like, you know, if I'm betting this, I'm probably going to take the value of Julia Budd in this one, just because I felt like she was being a little bit unheralded, unsung going in. She's probably underrated historically. And she's big. Like this was the big difference if you were watching from the get-go in Strike

Force, the types of opponents Cyborg was facing versus 10 years later when she's facing somebody like Julia Budd, who actually was bigger than her and almost looked stronger than her early in the first couple rounds. There was a couple times she was just out muscling her and things like that. But overall, I thought Cyborg looked as good as she ever has. And it seemed to me like a vintage performance. Okay, I want to stop you right there. All right. And I want you to break that down.

Because at 34, she's certainly in the twilight, on the other side of that hill. She's not washed. She's not diminished. But she's not the same as prime Cyborg in my eyes. Okay. But the thing I want to give Chris, do we call her Justino anymore? We throw that name off the window. I think that's gone.

Chris Cyborg, the main point of compliment I want to give her is the stamina. The championship level aggression stamina never wavered in this fight. Is that when you're leaning on when you sort of say, this is as good as she ever looked? Because I'm still seeing a fighter who still had so much. I don't know if she has everything. Although, here's the problem. Here's the problem, Chuck.

Here's the problem. She was the GOAT. She lost to Amanda Nunes in such quick and devastating fashion and because of Scarletrix she didn't get a chance to run it back and really give us that that ending belief but in terms of what you saw yeah you're still seeing prime I mean there are wrinkles to the game right like so I think she could knock people out very easily early on but it was just the level of competition and I think these days like Julia Budd is is no joke, right? Like she's tough. She can take a punch. She was able to persevere. And I think she was able to kind of tie it up and make it look a little more competitive

than maybe it was. Her size in the grappling is fantastic. Yeah. And then when you got in the third round and beyond, though, you could tell where the fight was going. I just thought she looked very good. I agree with you that, you know, her cardio, just her age and everything else looked very good. But dude, when that her cardio, her age and everything else looked very good. But, dude, when she starts throwing those bombs, those combinations and putting things together, it's ridiculous. I'm still the same way I was when she was beating Jan Finney all those years ago. And Kim Winslow was just standing by letting her take that beating. It still looked like that to me where you're like, this is like battery.

You're watching an assault. There's certain fighters historically in boxing or MMA when they smell the blood and they go for the finish it's just brutal it's violent it's accurate she certainly had that i did want to give that same respect to bud who maybe wasn't beating the same level of ufc level competition in recent years but had been the champion for four or five defenses had been unbeaten going back to what like the prehistoric days where she lost to rousey and amanda nunes But it was a game effort from her, but Cyborg's just too great. And this is sort of where the transition of this goes. Because, look, I love Cyborg the person.

She's so humble. Everything about her has always been great. A couple missteps here and there, maybe in her public presentation, there was the one PED misstep. But she's always been great to see the way her UFC relationship fell apart. It was sad to see. I mean, the floating of that video was ridiculous from her team. But at the same time, you want to see her have a chance always to prove how great she is. Were we too quick in taking those goat horns away from her and giving them to the lioness for going into the

kitchen and taking the heat and knocking her out. Because what Cyborg did Saturday night just adds historically to her legacy. And if she doesn't get a chance to run back, that Amanda fight, which now doesn't seem likely, were we too quick to say, oh, you beat the greatest. Now you are the greatest. I don't know, man, because I think the original knock, right? Well, first of all, she was in a weight class of her own. It was very difficult to find somebody who was 145 pounds, a legit 145 to go fight her. But you look at the

amount of time she was beating kind of nobodies. And I hate to word it that way, but she did go through a string of fights where it was just kind of padding. There was a lot of that. And then she goes to the UFC and she looked good. She looked dominant at times, but she did have that loss. And there were a couple of, you know, I would say that she had more pedestrian-looking performances than she has in her career. So I think we're judging her exactly right. This was a big moment to see just how far, if she had diminished,

if there was going to be any of that, she didn't show it. And so I think I still consider her right there. So the Amanda Nunes one is weird, though, because of the way that they've crossed. I'd like to see it run back. We probably won't. But it's like a 1A, 1B to me. I mean, does she still have a claim to be the greatest of all time on full accomplishments?

I mean, you saw that picture where she's holding all four of her belts. That speaks for itself. I mean, regardless of who she was facing, to do it as long as she did and to rack up four different belts in all the major organizations, that's an amazing thing. I think you're right on doing it as long as she did and to rack up four different belts in all the major organizations, that's an amazing thing. I think you're right on doing it as long as she did. She's considered rightfully a pioneer because she started and was dominant early on at such a fertile time, and she's still winning. She's 34.

I mean, if she's able to compete at a fairly high level into pushing 40, how are you ever going to deal with that kind of longevity in terms of just compilation in terms of what she did? I mean, it was great to see her get that win. I thought she looked a little bit human at times against Felicia Spencer in her final UFC fight. I think she sort of turned that around, didn't really take punishment, was dominant. Does Bellator, though, have the bodies, the names at 145 to make a potential title reign interesting? That's where I'm a little...

I don't know either. I don't think so. I think we're back into that who does Cyborg face realm. And even when they asked Scott Coker afterwards, he was basically like, you know, Julia Bud wants a rematch, but I think she's got to go on a bit of a tear. I'm like, a tear against who? Who are these women facing to

get to each other? Against who? I don't know. I think it's going to be more like it was back in Strikeforce, where whatever name comes out of that hat is who she's going to go against. I'll give Bellator credit this weekend going head-to-head with the UFC rally card, which we're going to get to in a second. This was a deep card. There were a lot of storylines.

One of those was the continuation of this featherweight world grand prix tournament. It's been fantastic so far. Darren Caldwell had maybe the toughest ass to date this weekend when he took on Hungarian Adam Boric, who had been climbing the ladder, capturing everybody's imagination. And then here's the deal. It was a somewhat pedestrian first-round submission win. Chuck, I don't know that Caldwell was overwhelmingly great,

and I don't know that Boric was overwhelmingly disappointing. I just know that Caldwell took him down, choked him, and that was it. And, you know, I talked to Adam Boric before the fight, and basically he was like, you know, we've been training. We've already fought Aaron Pico. We beat him. We face top guys like this in the wrestling realm. I think I leaned more the other way.

I was like, oh, man, that was disappointing because I had him pegged, Adam Boric, as kind of the dark horse to maybe take this thing. I really thought that he would show up and that this would be his big showcase moment to kind of signal that. But instead, I agree with you. It was a very pedestrian showing. You hate to see him go out like that because the cat was just getting a name for himself. I thought that he'd kind of, even though he'd, you know, he beat Curran and he had beaten,

you know, he had already taken out Pico. I didn't really feel like people were talking about him. I felt like this was his moment and he didn't get it done. Rashad Evans, who I do a weekly podcast with on CBS, had been in my ear seeing him at Hard Knocks 365. Oh, yeah, because they're both Henry Hoop guys, right? And just being like, rightfully so, you need to get up to speed on this guy. I had been, maybe this is his humble moment to come back, but Caldwell moving on, who does he have up next?

Oh, he's going against A.J. McKee. That's a big one. I mean, you're right, his road is very difficult, but that's a great fight because they already have bad blood between them. I love Caldwell moving up in weight and showing us what he can do like that to close on this a lot of stories talk about but Aaron Pico this you know uber prospect who stumbled to that four and three record came back this weekend not against a household name but delivered the good needed it

would work guy he needed the the the shape up get well and he did finishing with a brutal left forearm that came out of nowhere. It was crazy. This is the confidence build that you need. What did you take from the comments before and after from him? Do you think mentally he's in the right place now? I think so, man, and it was good for them to keep him out of this Grand Prix, but to put him back into the spotlight with these guys,

because I feel like he is kind of that guy floating around that you know will see. He's 23 years old. He suffered a couple of knockouts. The big thing I'm seeing from him is he's picking his shots more. Like, he kind of set that up a lot more than he has in the past. I think his first six fights were all through in the first round, including him getting knocked out a couple of times. His last couple have gone into the second.

So they're always finished. It's still feast or famine, but I feel like he's learning to pick his shots. He's reeling it in a little bit, and then he finds the moment to kind of explode. We don't have the name here of the guy he beat, but I'm sure the guy did well taking down the octagon after they're taking down the cage after the fight and driving Pico home. But strong victory there. It's such a weird, fertile spot mentally where you want to keep building up his confidence. You want to see how far he can go. He was so confident going in. I need him to wrestle. Yeah, I know. Exactly. Well, he's so confident, and he starts with Bellator, so he's

fighting guys who are capable of beating him. He loses,, I know. Exactly. Well, he's so confident and he starts with Bellator so he's fighting guys who are capable of winning. He loses and I feel like he's been trying to chase his own confidence to get back to where he was. Luckily, MMA, we always say this,

especially compared to boxing, you can take losses and learn from it. It's not the end of the road. Real quickly, kickboxing phenom, 39-year-old Raymond Daniels had his third MMA fight.

Talk about fun to watch. It's like Kong Lee stuff. I invite you to name his opponent. See, because that was... Let me call up Uber right here. My Uber app. Chuck, it was just fun to see the spinny shit.

It was Kung Lee back, but he said he's willing to face his good friend MVP. Dude, fireworks. Okay, let's do this. It's 39. Why not? Throw him in there. And you want to see this guy's going to go out there

and go for broke, right? Like he's just basically dragging his kickboxing prowess. He's not going to wrestle. He's not going to do any of that stuff. Put him against guys who will accommodate him. Sergio Pettis and Curtis Melender, UFC vets, also big wins in their Bellator debut. Sergio with a finish.

It's our finish. First one in years. Nice submission there. But this weekend, also, UFC Raleigh fight night. It was heavyweights in the main event. Curtis, razor blades, trying to make that step forward toward a title shot. And you talk about a dominant performance.

First, I'm sorry, second round TKO over former champion Junior Dos Santos. Didn't do it with his wrestling. Did it with the threat of his wrestling, finishing him with the right hand and then punches that followed. Now, Chuck, I'm thoroughly impressed. And I hadn't been a big Curtis Blades guy.

Solid, never spectacular. The finish of over-ring won't be up. This one did it. But here's my question, because he's talking title afterwards, and he's really third in the UFC rankings and just made the biggest victory of his career, but he only has two defeats in his pro record, and they're to the guy right in front of him in terms of Francis Ngannou,

one in which he got hurt and retired, the second in which it was a quick knockout. Does he have to beat him to really get in line and be a true title champion? Well, I don't see a way he even gets back to Ngannou. His best bet right now is in March when Ngannou takes on Rosenstreich in the main event there. He's got to root for Rosenstreich, really. You've got to have the other guy kind of get through and put Ngannou behind you, because I just can't see a route for him right now, unless something crazy happens, which in MMA we know is possible.

But he's probably going to have another fight or two, just the way it's playing out. You've still got Miocic against Cormier. I'm guessing that the UFC is still trying to book. I don't know where that is at right now, but that's going to happen. You have that other fight, which I still think the pole position comes from that. Very interesting, because you want to talk about a guy who's made that evolution. He's not just a wrestler. He's now put together a few different knockout wins. It wasn't just Overeem, JDS. He had that real good one against the names falling off my brain at the moment. Oh my God, it's the Russian cat. Yeah, probably the Russian cat. Probably some Ukrainian guy, whatever. But the whole point is the threat of his wrestling

is now what is so well setting up his power. And he heard JDS a couple of times leading into that stoppage. We talked about the potential road to get to a title shot. But in terms of legitimate title contender, if he fought tomorrow, a Stipe Miocic or a Daniel Cormier, would you give him a legitimate chance? I think he's getting there, but I'm not sure I would pick him yet.

I agree with you 100%. I was a little bit eye-open. If you'd said that he was going against JDS and the JDS would thwart his takedown attempts, all six or seven of them, I would think, well, that probably means he got knocked out or picked apart on the feet. But the fact that he was able to stand with use the, basically like you said, as a threat, and use plan Z, as he called

it, and use his hands and kind of showcase those a little bit, tells me he's come a long way at just kind of adapting to what's happening in a fight, because a couple, that Ngannou, like, you think about the Ngannou fight, it would be nice to have a few more tricks up his sleeve. I feel like he's getting those, so he's getting close. I would still like to see him maybe do that one more time. He's got a nice collection of names now, man. He's got, you know, you mentioned Overeem, Mark Hunt.

Now he's got JDS. He's starting to put them together. But give me one more, and if we see him do it, I think he'd be ready. So it's interesting to see if the kryptonite of Francis Ngannou will follow him throughout his career. Because it's rare when somebody would lose twice to a guy and then need to beat him a third time to get to what he wants it's sort of like i interviewed claudia gadeja ahead of uh ufc 246 in her fight that fell apart and she's like um the yoana beef will never end and i will fight

her a third time and i might need to get through her to get the title or get into a title shot it's sort of weird when that plays out where you get a trilogy based on you know one-sided but then again i'm the guy who's calling for DC Jon Jones 3, so what the heck do I know? Heavyweights were in the main event this weekend, but you want to talk about the fight of the night on paper coming in that we needed to see. It was the co-main event.

It was welterweights. It was the damn maverick, Michael Chiesa, pinning an impressive three-round unanimous decision on former champion at lightweight, Rafael Dos Anjos and Chuck. Wow. You like that. He has a 3-0 since moving up to welterweight, but it's one thing to beat.

Look how huge he is. The husk of Carlos Condit. It's one thing to beat the husk of Diego Sanchez, but you go in there against an RDA who only loses to the super elite, and you dominate him. Wow. Yeah, and putting the pace elite, and you dominate him. Wow. Yeah, and putting the pace on a guy who puts pace on people. You know what I mean?

He kind of reversed the tables a little bit. You can see from this footage. I mean, I was really impressed with this one, and I felt like this would be the real gauge to see if he's a welterweight player. And he handled himself great. I think he's loving life at 170, man. And I think he's actually, I like the fact

that there's a guy who's showing that it can be done this effectively. He goes up in weight. So many people want to go down. Jose Aldo recently going down to bantamweight, these types of things. I want to see guys like Jose Aldo go up because you know that you're going to see them with a different power range. You know, you see how their speed transfers, all that stuff. Chiesa is showing that it can be done, man. But I was very, very impressed.

And I love that he had a call-out ready. We're going to get to that in one second. You mentioned the size. It was eye-opening and everybody had the same exact tweet. I'm nothing original here. But how the hell did he ever make lightweight? I don't know. When he goes in there and looks, as you can see over our shoulder,

100% like the bigger man. He looked like he was a weight class and a half above RDA in terms of size. And then you see him dominate physically on the ground. Is this just one of those things where he's figured out how great he can be in this spot? I think it is. I think it is. I think that there was some stigma that he had to get down to 155. He would kill himself to get down to 155. Which was weird because people do that to preserve a certain power advantage.

He wasn't a power puncher at 55. I mean, he was trading wins and lies. It wasn't like he was this dominant fighter there. Just really strange. I think it was one of those things that it was in his head, and you think that that's where he's supposed to be. But you can tell he's liberated. Just listen to him talk about the fights, about the matchups.

He feels invincible at this weight. And that's kind of what you want, right? You want to feel that way, going against a guy like RDA. This guy's walking around the cage like he's Mr. International, a player with a passport. He's just like Aladdin, bitch, right? He'll do anything you ask for. Here he goes. Here it is. He closed the

victory, of course, with a heck of a walk-off in the interview with Daniel Cormier in which you teased, basically just said, the only thing I have to say is get ready my next opponent. I'll see you Colby Covington this summer, this July, I think is what he said. How anybody could find Colby Covington? Where the hell did that guy what he said. How he did the math here was that RDA was ranked fifth by the UFC coming in. We mentioned he had only lost to elites.

And by the way, a little side traffic here. RDA's got a sleepy, great resume. When you go back and look at it, we think of him as, oh yeah, he's a good fighter, former champion, whatever. He's been good for a long time, man. He might have a better resume than Michael Bisping. I'm sorry. You look at the wins he's piled up. Anyway, he takes the L here. Chiesa's thinking is, I beat the number five guy. I'm

only going up now. He should. That's a strategic call-out. Colby coming up to lost to Kamaru. Do you think Michael Chiesa's wrestling mixed with submission can contend with the cut of this division, meaning the Usmans and the Colby Covingtons who will put that pace on you

and will try to grind you out for five rounds. Is he at their level in that? I think that remains to be seen. Because by saying Colby Covington and saying his name is one thing, but to get in there with a guy like that who puts the pace. We saw that Usman fight. He loses, but that was a preternatural kind of fight for a guy like Usman.

He had to go through a lot, you know, and he had to put a lot of damage on Kobe coming in to stop him. So you're asking for something that you know may be your immortal end, basically. Like, this is one of those types of situations, but you've got to love that he feels invincible, that he feels like he can do that,

and he wants to go upward. There's so many guys, I think, who kind of look at it more, their doubts kind of come out in who they're calling out. They want guys who are maybe slightly in the range. He wants the guys that are above him because he wants the title shot. So it's hard to blame him, man. He's a legit sleeper now in this division. I love his mentality.

First of all, we learned from Kevin Lee, don't talk bad about KS's mom. We've definitely learned that. But I love that it's sort of like this blue-collar mentality from KS. He's sort of like every guy in terms of when you talk to him, but puts in the time and has that mixture of wrestling and jiu-jitsu. He's going to be a tough out. I don't know if he's going to have that same next level that the guys at the very top have had, but wow.

If he's able to dictate his game, he's very good. I just don't know if he'll be able to dictate his game against a guy like Colby Covington. But I guess that's kind of the fun of finding out, right? Yeah, yeah. Jay in my ear, of course. But did you see the, speaking of the fight that Mike the Mav won against RDA, did you see the fight he had with Luke Thomas on Twitter in the days leading up?

Hell of a debate over who was the bigger 90s starlet. Topanga from Boy Meets World or Kelly Kapowski from Saved by the Bell? That's Kelly Kapowski, hands down, isn't it? You being a 90s guy. Jay, a big Kelly Kapowski guy in my ear the Bell? It's Kelly Kapowski, hands down, isn't it? You being a 90s guy. Jay, a big Kelly Kapowski guy in my era. Here's where all of you are wrong. It's basically a push, okay? Yeah, Kelly Kapowski's hot.

I got behind Mike the Mav saying Topanga's curve sort of made me a man. That's all great and stuff. But how is anybody missing out what is on the table here? Can we just go to Valerie Malone when Kelly Kapowski became of age and came on the scene in Now 2-0 and replaced Shannon Doherty as the number one bad girl in TV history? Yes. That's the real winner.

No, I agree with you. She's the real MVP. Can we wake up 90s folks? I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan. Thank you. Shout out to Topanga, though. I'm definitely in love as well.

All right. Thick for days there. Yeah. I was talking. Yeah, okay. That's inappropriate. Let me fix this. All right.

We're going to roll on here. MMA and also boxing this weekend. Showtime boxing took over the Barclays Center. Once again, big time welterweight matchup in the main event.

Danny Swift Garcia, former two division champion in a stay busy-ish slash potential trap fight opportunity against the rugged, aggressive Ivan Redkotch. We know who Danny Garcia

wanted to potentially impress. Sure. We know he wanted to do it in knockout fashion, which is, in theory, why he drafted in the Southpaw Ivan Redkotch, the aggressive guy who comes after him. But he didn't get that knockout. It's a unanimous decision. It was wide.

In my story, I wrote it. Look, it was clinical. It was thorough. It was calculated. How was the crowd? Were they into it? They were into most of it. Danny Garcia packs that house consistently at the Barclays. So it was the eighth or ninth time? It was his. It was thorough. It was calculated. How was the crowd? Were they into it? They were into most of it. Danny Garcia packs that house consistently at the Barclays.

So it was the eighth or ninth time. He was his eighth appearance. He'd opened up that building. But Ivan Redkotsch ultimately didn't play the role of sacrificial lamb. He came in surprisingly to try to box and it ended up helping him survive. Now, certainly he had to show a heck of a chin at times to be able to walk through that. But the whole idea was for Danny Garcia to impress to the level, to make his pay-per-view debut this spring against Errol Spence Jr.

or Manny Pacquiao, the two big southpaws. Both have championship belts at 147. Did this performance in that it was somewhat anticlimactic, even though it was thorough and dominant, give him a better or worse chance to draft Pacquiao, which would be his preferred destination? I think worse because you were talking, I know I was listening to you and Luke talk about this a lot.

I was sold on this too. I thought his punching power would distinguish him in this fight and basically put him up against another power puncher. You know what I mean? Like all of a sudden you have like a big time fight with Pacquiao. I just don't feel like now they're rolling in with that kind of momentum. I mean, we'll see, but I'm like, to me, I wanted to see him go in there and had, he had an accommodating guy. I felt it was on him

to put him away. I know he cut a lot of weight and all this stuff. I heard his excuses, but it just didn't seem like he was, he didn't have that instinct to do it. He had to go buck neck it to be able to make weight this time around. And you know, he said, it's not a struggle, it's a sacrifice, but it's a struggle, right, to make that weight for him. But I'm the guy who was bragging that he's the biggest puncher in the World Toy Division and no one's talking about it. Turns out this guy with the yellow had a machine head and it was better than the rest and he was able to survive.

I think the fact, though, that he didn't look spectacular yet certainly has a big name, always packs them in the seats, especially at Barclays, always does good cable ratings. If I'm Pacquiao, why not? You know what I mean? You bring in that Hispanic market. Here's a guy who, Danny Garcia, for as great as he is, and he is great, he's underrated in so many categories, his only losses or close fights have come against quick boxers with great footwork. I wonder if Pacquiao looks at this and goes, all right, maybe he's not as dangerous as we thought, and I can dance around him at 41. I love how we have to guess these things in boxing.

This is the big difference between MMA. It's like we always have to guess what the other guy that they're trying to chase is thinking. But I could see what you're saying in this. You know, I think for me, after watching the Rios fight, you'd mentioned a couple of his knockouts before. Granados with the right hand, yeah. I mean, he looked like he was going to do that here. I felt like this was the setup and he could do that. He just didn't get it done.

I guess I wanted to see that. That's what you realize in the end. You wanted to kind of see that. I'm sure the crowd at Barclays wanted to see that. They wanted to see it bad. They were lusting for some action there. Especially after that. Just like a college-age Chuck.

But the thing I did take away here from Danny, which he said leading up, he said, look, if I end up losing out on this opportunity, if this spring Errol Spence comes back from the accident and faces Manny Pacquiao instead, here's what's interesting. Danny said he would move up to 154. Now, right away, you're like, oh, my God, I've never heard this before. Does Danny have the size, chin, or punching power to do this? But he's like not necessarily to chase those title holders.

He wants to rematch Sean Porter and Keith Thurman, who he made great fights against, but do it at 54, where they don't have to struggle down as much to cut weight. I'm here for that. Yeah, I'd be all right with that. He sort of referenced the De La Hoya-Mosley rivalry, which started at welterweight.

They moved up together to 54. I would certainly be into that. Luke and I, though, played a big role this weekend, as we mentioned. Really the stars of the show. To open the show. I mean, you know, Luke cleans up, I guess, decently well. Professor Salt-N-Pepa there. But, you know, we took over the Countdown Live show,

did a little weigh-in action with our boy, Pauly Malinagy. Yeah, it was awesome. It was well-received. You know what wasn't well-received, unfortunately, though, was the co-main event on Showtime on Saturday at the Barclays. Former unified junior middleweight champion Jarrett Swift-Herd coming back his first appearance since that loss to Julian Williams last year, went in there against a hungry Francisco Santana,

and sort of effed around and tried to show the new wrinkles. He's not War Swift, the guy that we fell in love with, who just walks you down and breaks your backbone. He tried some ish. He won a wide unanimous decision. He scored a hell of a knockdown in round 10, the final round, but he got nearly booed out of the Barclays. Now, Chuck, in theory, this is a stay busy, right? Should you be allowed to sort of work on some stuff in the public eye when people come to see the war swift? I mean, I'm torn on that one. I understand him wanting to

get his bearings in a situation like this. You lose your title. You want to get your bearings again. You want to feel like you're doing a job. You have a new guy training you. I think you want to show off your new wrinkles. But when a pattern is established in a fight, the enthusiasm for that fight kind of leaves the room and then it becomes what happened. I think that when there's literally

no threat, I thought it felt to me like that there's no threat of this thing going any place that we're not seeing through each minute that's passing by. It gets pretty boring. And I felt like he could have done a little more. I mean, he was fighting as safe as you can risk aversion, right? Like he was, he wanted to get through it and he was happy with it in the end, basically even talking about it. So yeah, he said the crowd could have booed till they were, till they were, there was a defiance to what he was doing. And I'm like, if that was his sole plan, was to go in there and come hell or high water, and he didn't care about getting the crowd engaged in it, then he succeeded.

Now, quickly, the reason for this was he had a falling out with his old trainer. New camp with new trainer, Kay Caroma, who's the U.S. National Assistant Coach. They want to preserve him. They want to have longevity in their career. They want to be more defensive, hit and not get hit. I think why the crowd turned so lustfully against him was there was a round five moment for the second half of that where he turned back into the old Jarrett Hurd and he's landing combinations and Santana's hurt. And he completely went away from that the rest of the fight until the 10th round

when Chia Santana got on his butt, you know, got up, put his foot on the gas and came after him. Nice uppercut from Jarrett Hurd to remind you he still got it. I just hope when he moves back up to the title level, and this division's wild. Jermell Charlo, Tony Harrison, J-Rock just got knocked out by Jason Rosario last week. I hope he brings in a little bit of that old guy that we fell in love with. You know what I'm

saying, Chuck? I think he will. I mean, you can only domesticate a man so much. Well, and he is who he is. I think at some point you can dial it back, but I think that that other side comes back out. It will. Those were the highlights from Brooklyn this weekend. There was a low light in the main event.

I want to remind you, see if you saw this. Round nine of Danny Garcia, Ivan Redkotch. They're in the clinch, and Ivan Redkotch channels his inner Tyson Holyfield, too. There's no ears that were harmed in this, but he bit his neck? It's just bizarre. His chin, very vampire-ish. New veneers? Yeah, new veneers he had in there. Now, referee Benji Estevez,

to his credit, didn't see it. Garcia complained afterwards. There was no follow call. Here's what's weird, though, and I love me some Ivan Radkoch. He's a good dude. You get to know him. But he's got that serial killer look, and he just laughed about it the whole time. Afterwards, he went up to Danny and they talked about it. He's just laughing and giggling. Should something be done here, Chuck?

Should the commission step in? What gets me when you say that he has that look is that, you know, according to what was said, he said Mike Tyson in the fight. Like, he said that. Like, isn't that bizarre? That's bizarre behavior. That means it was sort of premeditated. It wasn't losing your mind.

It's a little bit. Yeah, Tyson did it to try to get a way out of that fight, essentially, right? Because he was panicking. I don't know what Redcott, oh, we have the footage here. Nice. Look at this. Showtime pay-per-view.

Oh, yeah. 1998, I believe, 7? 97. Look at that. Oh, yeah, look at that. I don't remember that so well. Here's the best part about this fight. When Holyfield's like, F you, and he starts all like,

all right, you want to fight? And they start brawling before it's stopped again. I don't know how Mills Lane let the fight go on here for a little while, but wow, look at that. I mean, that's certainly much worse in terms of the intention. This seemed almost like homage by comparison. It was just frigging weird. It was very weird, man.

So was Red Koch's hair color, but hey, you know, you've got to stand out however you can there, so wow. If I'm the commission, though, I make sure it doesn't happen again. Yes. Okay. I don't know. It's got to be something, right? Although that wasn't the other weirdest thing. You know how Danny Garcia has six toes on his right foot? I don't know if you know about this. I did not know this. He doesn't have shoes that fit the sixth toe, so it peeled all the skin off, and he was a bloody mess afterwards. He says that was part of why he was unable to get the knockout. You have any extra body parts, Chuck, you want to talk about?

None that I want to talk about. Okay, okay. Hey, tip to tip over your shoulder this week. By the way, Luke ordered it to that side of the studio, just so let's set the record straight. All right. Let's merge. No, we won't merge boxing and MMA. We'll head back over to MMA.

A little bit of mixture of boxing and MMA. It's really mainstream sports center ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith. We all know what he said on the ESPN broadcast after UFC 246. Conor McGregor knocks out Cowboy Cerrone in 40 seconds. Stephen A. on that post show, cage side. Joe Rogan on one side, Michael Eves on the other. Really did the whole cowboy quit, cowboy was disappointing, all of that. This has now blown up into a little bit of an S-storm.

You had Joe Rogan on his podcast. Give a long and thorough explanation. where Cowboy was disappointing, all of that. This has now blown up into a little bit of an S-storm. You had Joe Rogan on his podcast give a long and thorough explanation. Very thoughtful. Thoughtful, basically saying, look, ESPN, you've got much better analysts you could be and should be using, especially with this marriage between ESPN and UFC. He brought up Daniel Cormier. Why is Daniel Cormier not in that spot?

That could have better explained to the general public what really happened and not just come out and crap on a veteran like Cowboy. It's weird because there's two extremes. One extreme is to watch that fight and go, oh, it's fixed. Didn't you see what happened? The other extreme is to go, Cowboy sucks. He's washed. Look at what happened. Stephen A sort of picked that second extreme. This didn't end here though, Chuck. Saturday night during the MMA and boxing action, Stephen A responded after seeing it and put his own video out on Twitter, called it bullshit, went on and on. And even Conor McGregor's jumping in on Twitter at Stephen A. Smith. After hearing both sides, who's right? Who's wrong? Where are you going to settle this? I mean, Stephen A. Smith is who he is. And I think that ESPN understands that, right?

And I just, I think that the divide is obviously he doesn't have the context to go in there and speak on MMA. This particular sport is very exclusive in the way that people perceive it. Any outsider coming in who wants to make a comment on a guy who's a veteran like Cowboy Cerrone had better have some kind of context for what they're saying, right? Like, I feel like if you go back to any of Cowboy's 33 fights in the UFC before going into this, if you go back to any of those, how many times has Stephen A. Smith done, like, a post-fight analysis

or preview or anything? How many times has he talked about him? He hasn't. So there was no context, basically, to what he was saying. So to make the accusation that it looked to me like he quit, to call it atrocious and call it disgusting, that's going to stand out and it's going to rub the main public who's watching this the wrong way. And that's the MMA fans, right? He's literally just the more of the casual, he's more of the casual infiltration of the sport. And that ESPN was

using him. I was sitting right there when they were doing it. I was sitting there watching them and do the interview. And I was thinking at the time, like, what could Stephen A. Smith possibly be saying? And then it blows up into this. I was very surprised that he was allowed to be in that spot. It's different when you go back to the studio. Hey, let's bring in Stephen A. Smith. And by the way, Stephen A. Smith does have deserved power. He's the highest rated guy at ESPN. He brings consistent ratings, not just first take it, but beyond across multiple sports. Heck, he's been in moonlight in the boxing game for a while, and people have dealt with takes like this where you're sort of like, oh, you're being a little bit of a blowhard. What I don't like is the situation they put him in. Cage side. There's

sort of a branding on that that you are not only an expert, but because of the relationship with ESPN and UFC, it's almost saying, hey, UFC is on board with this as well, right? I mean, it's almost like you're standing next to Joe Rogan, who was before this not an ESPN employee. So Stephen A. Smith is wrong in his analysis. It's wrong in the message that you put off when you're representing a brand and a person, a legend like Cowboy, and so on.

But here's the deal that he's trying to make, and I want to get your opinion. Stephen A. Smith is saying this. I'm known for controversy, but the numbers back me up. People come to me. This is my opinion, and that's what it is, and I'm on this show for a reason. And to a certain degree, his reaction is not different than a lot of casual fans, right? Especially fans who aren't day-to-day hardcore fans. I agree. Is it right to have somebody that is, quote-unquote, the potential voice of the fan in that spot? Or is it just better housed

somewhere else in the studio? I personally didn't have a problem with it. But when you say that MMA fans, Joe Rogan becomes the biggest one. And he just happens to be in that equation. So it should be mentioned on Joe Rogan's show, just like it should be mentioned if Stephen A's running his own show. He should be able to say

anything he wants on that. It was the confluence of putting them together that made the controversy, right? It was very unusual. But I personally have no problem with a guy like Stephen A. Smith, who I know is a casual, or just a guy who's more of an observer, specific events. He shows up for Conor McGregor events. I know he's around the Mayweather fight. He comes around for Conor McGregor. You know, he's seeing what he sees and he's telling you. So I know that there, I know that a casual ESPN viewer is probably siding with him or taking what he said to heart. That's fine. That's interesting. It's just weird that the most mature guy in the room is now complete baby face turned Conor McGregor, whose Twitter comments were like thorough and smart. He was

like, no, Steven, I'm sure we got him to throw thorough and smart. He was like, no, Stephen. I'm sure we got him to throw him up. He was basically like, no, Stephen, it wasn't because you said this. It was because you iterated that he quit. This is the rational era. I mean, look at this. This is interesting. Yeah.

Yeah. Conor's right. This is a weird era we're in now with this new really nice Conor. I mean, is he going to start delivering turkeys to the needy too? I mean, this is interesting. But to close on this. Like Les Nesman though, he drops him from a helicopter. Go ahead. To close on this, what happens next? Does Dana White call up the powers that be at ESPN and we get in a room and we say, can we compromise here? Can we get our guys here? Now, Dana is smart enough too to understand a good controversy, right? Or stuff

like this, because I feel like people keep talking about his event, his pay-per-view, Conor McGregor, everything. Because of these guys, they're two big personalities. Joe Rogan, you know, Joe Rogan is maybe the biggest thing since Carson right now. Hey, if he endorses a presidential candidate. That's what I'm saying. And it's a big thing. And then you get Stephen A. Smith, who is who he is. I just think that that can't be bad for business. And I think that there's got to be a side of Dana White that's like, let people quibble over it. I love it.

I wonder if there's a side of him that says, let's just make a fight, right? Rogan against Stephen A. Smith. It was the fight of the week. Bring in Wesley Snipes as the referee. We should have saw Snipes-Rogan. That was going to be a thing one time there. But wow, wow, wow. That did happen.

I can't believe it. Also this past week, look, the Conor McGregor narrative from the hangover of UFC 246 is still strong. The major conversation in combat sports still revolves around what would be next for Conor. Last week, of course, we debated the merits

between should it be Habib, should it be Jorge Masvidal. Boxers, though, entered the equation because of the success of Maymac 1. You got Manny Pacquiao. You got Floyd Mayweather rematch. And now, Chuck, you've got an interesting addition. First, Bob Arum, longtime promoter, top rank, the Hall of Famer. Good buddies with Dana White. 88 years old, loves him some skinhead white guy MMA from his famous quote to Ariel Hawane. Not only offered his unbeaten welterweight champion Terrence Crawford to box, which was normal, it's sort of desperate like here, let's give him some attention,

but he went the next level saying we'll do a two-fight deal in which Terrence Crawford will go into the octagon first and then come back and box because Terrence Crawford has a wrestling background. He said he could pin him. Now, deeper on that wrestling background was that his extended family and his kids have amateur wrestling backgrounds. Terrence Crawford wrestled in middle school. He still rolls around on the mats today. Bob certainly

muddied the waters here with the comments. He went public where he said that Terrence Crawford would fight him in the cage. They'd go to boxing three months later. And you can't count out Terrence because he's a better wrestler. And as you just said, he would pin him. Now, we can press time.

We can call time out. This shows the full range of Aaron's knowledge. Let's take a listen here. Jay, if you've got this in the back. He was willing to fight Conor McGregor on his turf, you know, in the octagon. And then they can fight three months later in the boxing ring. That's a better test. And I think Crawford's a really tough dude.

He has a wrestling background. And I think he would do very well in the octagon with Conor McGregor. They're willing to fight him in a boxing ring where McGregor doesn't have much of a chance. So let's even it out. Wow. I mean, Chuck, the question here is which D are we going to go with? Is this daring, delusional, desperate, dong-tastic? Look, here's my thing about this, Grandpa.

You're 88. You're a genius. We know what you're doing. You're trying to get your guy, Terrence Crawford, who might be the best boxer, pound for pound in the world, but is on that other side of the street in boxing business. The politics cannot get the big fights right now with the Errol Spences, Manny Pacquiao, all the people we talked about for Danny Garcia

just a few minutes ago. You get the idea of, hey, come to us. We'll box you. Because that's a desperate move that's meant to get attention. Yes. But Terrence Crawford ain't old here looking for a payday. He is in the absolute prime of his career. He might be the best in boxing.

This is beyond desperate. This is disappointing. How about another D? Because to me, it's just a shameless, it's almost the potential of whoring out your guy, giving him an obvious L. What if he gets a head kick? You're going to come back three months later and box? I know I'm probably giving too much airspace to this already, but this is almost disappointing for me, even if the only goal is to get attention. It's a weird one.

It's so left field, but it just tells you about the gravitational pull of a Conor McGregor event. His name comes back in. All of a sudden, it's a sweepstakes. Everybody wants involved. That's what it seemed like to me. It's like, well, you know, we should put our guy in that conversation, too. And it just really makes no sense. It really makes no sense.

But saying that he would pin Conor McGregor, it tells you that Arum doesn't even know the sport. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Chuck, I used to watch, you know, I'm almost a day one-ish MMA guy. People, oh, the Kimbles, the MMA casual of the show. Dude, I've been watching since UFC 2 on Black Box Illegal Pay-Per-View. 2-0-2? UFC 2.

I used to watch with my dad. I mean, come on, when Joe Son's getting punched in the nards, it was like a life-changing moment. Thank you, Keith Hackney, for sending Joe Son to hell because he deserved it. That's right. He did deserve that. My dad even, so we were watching from day one. Yet even up to like three years ago, I always tell this story. My dad was still like, you cover that bare knuckle stuff, right, in the cage?

And I'm like, well, no, it's MMA. He's like, oh, it's called MMA now? I'm like, yeah, dad. There's like rules. And he's like, but it's still like no rules. You can still like pull hair and kick in the balls. And I'm like, no, dad, it's an actual sport. Like grandpa, like, you know, Bob Arum is one of the best. He's a hilarious interview. He's an advocate for marijuana in his native Las Vegas, where he lives in and he does it legally. This is something that an idea that would spark up while you're sparking up.

Maybe it should have stayed there, Chuck, okay? Look, if you're Terrence Crawford, why are you entertaining this? Is it just to get his name out? I don't know. This is really stupid. It does feel like. It's just like throwing your name into the most relevant pot, you know? But he doesn't, you're right, he doesn't need to do this.

He doesn't even need to have his name attached to something like this. Gun to your head. Who does Conor face next? I think it would be Masvidal. I know that, I know, I watched last week, I know where you stand on this, but I think Masvidal would be the guy. I just think that you're never going to get

Masvidal at a higher point than he is right now, and that point is probably where Conor should, you know, that's the kind of, that's the kind of star you want to have going against Conor McGregor at this point. I say, stay busy with Nate 3, and then do the, uh... I've been seeing that one pick up a lot of steam. Do the kind of star you want to have going against Conor McGregor at this point. I say stay busy with Nate 3 and then do the winner of Habib Tony later this year. I mean, it would have been great if Nate had won. And I know the Cowboy Cerrone is not the greatest gauge either for all that stuff.

But I wish Nate had won. It would have been a no-brainer, right? Like, you make that trilogy fight. I just feel like their momentums are a little different. I also do think, though, that Nate is transcendent enough of a star that you could plug him in. It doesn't matter what happened in his last fight. You just plug him in because you know that that's going to do big. Do you agree with me that the best fight, it wouldn't be next, but the best, the most

eye-pleasing fight would be Conor and Tony. And where no one's talking about Tony actually beating Habib, even though I think he's the only guy who has a legitimate chance to do that. It's funny you say that, because I have heard people talking about this a little bit, but I feel like the road to Tony is just so different than the road to Khabib, who he's already fought, you know, things like that. But I personally would love to see that, just for the chaotic element of how Tony Ferguson goes into a fight. And I would like to see how Conor, honestly, he's one of the better game planners there is. He's obsessed with kind of breaking down guys' tendencies and holes.

I would love to know what he comes up with for a guy like Tony Ferguson. Wouldn't you love to see that? What if, man, what if either Tony or Habib is tripped on a wire or whatever? I don't want to see that fight fall apart. But it would just be interesting. If Conor jumped in there in April and then the winner got whoever was out. Given the track record of their four times being booked,

I mean, it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility. Imagine if it was Tony and Conor for an interim belt in the Winterfell. That'd be amazing. Look, any combination right now, it's what a time. That's why people are willing to sell their souls to get into the Conor conversation. All right? Sell it away. Okay? Sorry. My cup condom here.

All right, that is the top news of the week. Now we want to hear from you, the people. We want to remind you, of course, to subscribe on YouTube. We want to get these numbers up. You want to see more Chuck? Subscribe. Tell your friends on this show as well. But now we want to hear from you in a segment we call DMs from Donks.

Oh, that's my favorite. Now, full disclosure here, G. Charles Mendenhall, we didn't see these beforehand. This is a wild card here, okay? So if people want to disparage Luke and ask our opinion,

we'll tell the truth. All right, here we go. Let's load it up. Jay, put it in the holster, Jay. All right? Yeah, there you go. We're live. We'll do it live.

Where's the little donkey? A little dead air never hurt anybody, right? This is great. So yeah, Chuck, I was down at the New Amsterdam, you know, talking to this yellow girl. Alright, here we go from Gaspierre. Love that guy, by the way. RIP Mamba.

What is your favorite Kobe moment? Obviously, look, we're going to have more on this later in the show, but RIP to the Lakers legend, NBA legend, Kobe Bryant. Over your shoulder, of course, the Kobe Bryant's Muse documentary on Showtime as well. But what is your favorite Kobe moment? Man, I mean, there are a lot, actually.

81 points, brother. 81 points. I mean, come on, man. He had 55 and a half in that game, and I think that there was a moment where I really believed he could get Wilt Chamberlain's record, which seems insane. It doesn't seem like it's possible. It's like Cy Young's 513 wins in baseball.

It's almost unreachable because a game would have to be structured in such an illogical way. Exactly. Yet that game was competitive, and Kobe actually needed to do that to win. Yeah, that was at Toronto. I think that that one probably stands out the most, but there were so many times that he made game-winning shots, just ice in his veins. He wanted the ball. I saw somebody mention on ESPN during their day of eulogy, basically, but they were saying like, you know, it was a special kind of competitive makeup,

right? To like say, I'll live with the consequences of missing, but he would rarely miss that shot. I just think that there are so many moments. It's like he is a true legend in that game. Absolutely. My favorite moment is right when he became Kobe Bryant. It was the 2000 finals against the Pacers. It was game four. Shaq went down with that injury. Or no, I'm sorry. Kobe was coming back from the ankle injury. Shaq follows out. It's Lakers, Pacers. They go into overtime. With no Shaq, Kobe steps up and he's like, guys, I got this. I don't know if you remember the close of that game in overtime, hit jump shot after jump shot. And after that clinching one, timeout was called and he did this. Whereas he's walking back to the bench, like, don't come and celebrate with me. We got this. And it's just one of those subconscious

things that like, I could be at home and getting stressed out. Like, oh crap, I gotta fit into a, I gotta somehow tie the top button this weekend when I go on Showtime and put a tie on. I'm getting kind of fat. I got this. I got this, okay? Just calm it down. I got this.

And it was one of those iconic moments in, wow, wow. I mean, you want to talk? We'll talk more about that. Yeah. Let's roll on. That's crazy, though, man. Thank you to Gaff Pierce for that. Moving on.

Donk me here, okay? At Cheribs, do you think having individuals like stephen a smith commenting on the ufc events is positive in the long run or does more harm than good for the perception of the sport we obviously went into detail on this but sort of that bigger picture because i don't see him hurting it at all is it worth the squeeze of the fact that if stephen a is on the screen and you're flipping through, which I know is not really a thing that happens anymore too often, flipping through in the on-demand era, but would you catch more viewers?

Stephen A. Smith is more known for opinion than being right. Correct? I mean, everybody understands what he's doing. He'll threaten Kevin Durant. He'll do it. He's always doing this, man. I think just given the fact that he is who he is and people understand who he is, he cannot do harm to a sport.

Nobody's going to take him literally in the face of value, even if he's as ignorant as they come, because he's Stephen A. Smith. It's not like he's got this great track record, but he's got this fetish for MMA and he wants to talk about it, but he's always wrong. He's kind of wrong in other sports as often. So I just feel like people take whatever he says with a grain of salt anyway. It's just more argumentative and opinion-based. So it's like, you know, I don't really think he can

personally do MMA any harm. I guess it depends on who you are as a fan. If you're a casual fan, it's something you're rolling the dice with. It's fun. It's sort of like, yeah, let's see him go off and piss off the hardcores. I love seeing it. But if you're a hardcore, you know, if I'm watching that, I'm sort of like, uh. You worked at ESPN.

Did you ever talk to Stephen A? Just get in conversations with him? I did have a little bit. I like Stephen A the person. Same here, man. I mean, I've dealt with him in the boxing realm because he's done a lot of boxing coverage as well. I talk to him a lot about boxing, too. I certainly respect.

I mean, to pump up Showtime here, the fantastic All the Smoke show. Oh, yeah. He was great on that, too. On Showtime here, the fantastic All the Smoke show. He was great on that, too. You really get a chance to get a feel of who he is and the toughness of who he is as a person to get to where he is in his career. But yeah, after a UFC fight, I want to see Daniel Kormis.

I can appreciate it, too, because these pro athletes and all these guys, it's very difficult to get to go from basically being a writer, like a beat writer, whatever his trajectory was in newspapers, to being respected essentially by everybody in terms of the sports world. You know what I mean? They treat him as an equal in so many situations,

and he handles himself. He's shown that he can grow into that role. I respect anybody. Look, we're specialists. You and I, we cover combat sports. It's what we've always done. I respect anybody, whether you're like a national radio host or anybody that can carve out a niche in every area

and have a competitive, definitive opinion. Now, in this case, we're calling into question Stephen A. Smith's opinion. But understand that... And his opinion wasn't that ignorant. It was just without context. If you remember, Skip Bayless was the one who said that Nate Diaz used sumo-style wrestling to pin Conor McGregor. Now that's other level ignorant.

I clowned on Jalen Rose. Not only did he give up 81 points to Kobe in that game, but Jalen Rose recently on ESPN said that Lomachenko needs to fight Canelo to truly prove his greatness. Wow. Hey, real quick on that UFC Raleigh broadcast. That combination of Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier on the same announce team was fantastic the interplay of love hate it was very Campbell Thomas if you know I mean it was it was almost where Brendan Fitzgerald wasn't was almost not needed because the two of them were just taking over the broadcast ornament no I thought it was great too man I'd like to see

them do that more often it's funny when they experiment I feel like they sometimes stumble on these things when they remember they went to the three-man when they brought in Dominic Cruz? I like that. I like them to experiment, but I really enjoyed that as well. Randy Couture is still the best. Still the best. You think so? Still the best in MMA breakdown on a broadcast.

I love going to UFC Fight Pass, going back to the old fights. I know he still works with PFL and stuff, but I love that. All right, let's keep it going here. You got any more donks? Donktoberfest? At JamieSAFC95. All right. Why are people so high on Gagey?

I had a long argument with Luke this weekend. He hates my Gagey pronunciation. Okay. Gagey? Gagey. G-A-G-E-Y. Gagey. Gagey.

Why are people so high on Gagey and pick him to beat Conor? He's obviously good, but his best wins are probably Barboza and Cowboy, two guys on bad runs, and has two Ls to people Conor beat. This is an interesting question, okay? Because of this. Justin, Gagey is in that conversation of potential Conor opponents. I'm a peachy fool. You can talk yourself into, hey, maybe Conor should stay busy and just wait for the winner of Tony and Habib and fight Gaethje.

Yes, you'd be fighting a cyborg who you can lose to because Justin Gaethje can walk through punishment and just keep coming. But I think stylistically, I don't think Jamie's too far off here. True. That's the perfect matchup for Conor McGregor's style, his speed and precision to expose. No, I agree with you 100%. I think that we always sleep on the element of hysteria in fighting, right? Like if there's a guy who goes out there

and he wants to just bite down on his mouthpiece and throw down, and he does that consistently, and he wins, and sometimes he adds just enough of a wrinkle to be like, oh, he's improving, he's doing these things, it's enough to sell hysteria that like, oh, my God, I want to see that guy against this guy or this guy or this guy. It's a natural want to want to see a guy who's going to bring that kind of fight, an accommodating fight to Conor McGregor.

So I think that that's why it's there. I wouldn't necessarily say that he has the best resume. He did. I mean, he's won some fights, but even his Luis Palomino fights, I mean, he could have lost any of these. I mean, he goes in there and plays roulette. That's what he does. To Gage G's credit, Gage G's credit,

he is involved. You really are struggling. He's added wrinkles to his game. This win streak he's on, he's showing you that he can be the caveman, but he can polish it up a little. Yes, if Conor was unable to get him away, and then we see late rounds Conor,

yes, you're always in danger here, but I think he would light him up. And look, when Gagey has lost on the highest level, it's been Eddie and Dustin willing to take punishment and then use their precision and technique to get him out of there. That's true. I think Conor, going back to what we were talking about earlier,

just is such a precise game planner. He breaks down tendencies so well that I think he would pick apart Gaethje. I would just say that right now. I think that would be the one fight out there of all these guys that people keep mentioning that I would completely favor Conor McGregor in. I'm with you. And you keep talking about hysteria. I'm thinking Def Leppard here for a second.

Oh, here we go. Too soon? All right. Hey, let's keep rolling. Too soon. Too late. Too late. All right.

All right. You got any more of them donks? All right. At pun 15 hour 3 underscore 05. Oh, yeah, yeah. Are those the launch codes? What is this? 15 hours.

All right. I don't know. 15 hour energy drink. How many Henry Cejudos are needed to win against one Stipe? I haven't seen a question like this in a long time, man. I used to get these a lot at ESPN Mailbag. You know why I don't love these? Because I was in line at Media Day at UFC 246, all right?

And you know, the clock's ticking. Yes. You're like three away from getting somebody. And you're like, man, we need this interview. And somebody in front of you is like, boxers or briefs? I know. Would five Stipe Miocic's just be able to beat five? I'm getting anxiety.

Yeah, five rhinos in a fight. And it's like, everybody wants to be the schmo. There's only one schmo. Let the schmo be the schmo. There's only one schmo. Let the schmo be the schmo. Stop being the damn schmo. There was a schmo before schmo. I don't know who that schmo was, but they've been asking these kind of questions a long time. And I don't even know.

Should we dig that? You want to answer it? So with that said, entertain the donks. They fought for this question, okay? Entertain them, Charlie. And it was Stipe Miocic we're talking about. So how many Cejudos? I would say two could get it done.

I'd say two could get it done. I'd say two could get it done. There's only one man, though, who could eliminate this cringe in our lives, and it is Jose Aldo. He's the hero we need. Are you ready for this 135 title battle? No, I'm not really. I don't know if you guys broke this one down,

but that particular fight doesn't do much for me. But I'm kind of with you. I see what your sentiment is there. I'm like, Jose Aldo, if you can sort of put the cringe behind a little bit. Every time I think about cringe Hudo putting diapers on his championship belts and then putting out that Instagram video, I get more sterile. All right. Hey, let's roll on.

You got any more of these donks you want to fire at us? It's hard to get more sterile. Hard to get at my age. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. At Nate underscore Cherriesries favorite 90s action movies This is what I'm talking about right here. Hey, this is my domain. This is how I get down. Okay action movies

All right. Go ahead What do you got best 90s action movie doubles as the best Steven Seagal movie and people don't think about when people think Steven Seagal They think out for justice as this. Yeah. It's his version of Commando. Or they think Above the Law, his first one, which is the most legitimate Steven Seagal movie. Or maybe they think of the blockbuster Under Siege with Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey, his biggest mainstream one. But Marked for Death is without question the best action movies of the 90s. It is gritty and raw. The Screwface twins,

hope they're not triplets. I mean, really, I've spent most of my youth debating which Screwface twin died worse. Was it the guy who got the sword to the satchel or the guy who got

his head chopped off and then the rest of his body fell down the elevator shaft onto that dull spike at the bottom? God, I can't even, I don't know. I'm not the biggest action. You know Mark for death. Come on. I do know that movie. I do know that movie. Remember, I can't even, I don't know. I'm not the biggest action.

I do know that movie. Remember, Screwface is sitting there playing dominoes in the room, and his henchman comes up and whispers to him that Steven Seagal had just murdered, and he goes, uh-oh. Who did that? What, Bo Hatcher? And then he's like, yeah? And then he slices the leg off

the table they're playing on and kills his own henchman out of anger. That's a villain right there. Screw face, all right? Well, now I've got to put that on my little Netflix queue. What's your answer, Chuck? You lived in the 90s. Come on, bro.

Up on the mountains in Colorado. It's too early for me to remember that. A lot of buds. Bud Light. Action movie, you know, like... Dank Buds. Would, like, true romance or something like that, would that be considered an action movie?

I mean, there's action. Is that Tarantino? That's the first Tarantino? Yeah. See, like, True Romance or something like that, would that be considered an action movie? I mean, there's action. Is that Tarantino? That's the first Tarantino? Yeah. See, I like things like that. I'm not the biggest, like the big car chase, explosions and all that stuff.

I'm not the biggest. Well, the 80s and 90s sometimes blend together because of the three S's, right? Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Seagal started in the 80s and sort of ended in the 90s. Whatever happened to Speakman

in the fourth one? Remember Speakman? I don't, I don't. started in the 80s and sort of ended in the 90s. Whatever happened to Speakman in the fourth one? Remember Speakman? I don't. I don't. Those are the three kings of action movies, but nothing else. Nothing else. Nothing from... What's your favorite Stallone movie here?

My favorite Stallone movie? Rocky IV. Come on. Well, the Rockies are almost their separate thing. Cobra. Cobra's fantastic. That was good. We never got a sequel, though.

I loved Rambo. I mean, come on. Yeah. That was a good one. That's true. The first one was awesome. Like, I don Rambo. I mean, come on. Yeah. That was a good one. That's true. The first one was awesome. I don't know.

If we're talking Arnold, Commando is just a triumph. How about Alyssa Milano is in that? She's in that, yes, as well. And my favorite one is Rod Deal, Schwarzenegger, because he plays a mafia guy. You know what I mean? Yeah. Remember his middle initial is S? I'm sorry, P. They ask him what the P stands for.

I don't remember this part. What is it? Pussy. All right. Oh, yeah? Yeah, hey, it was great. I'll just keep, yeah, that's fine. All right. You got any more?

Can we talk about dicks now? All right. Jay, we're live. Okay, here we go. Here we go. What's this? What's this? Wow, zoom in.

Any tips for guys looking to impress a woman on a date? Wow, who's that from? Jay, is that your DMs right there? Who would even bother asking? I don't know. Any tips for me? I'm an old married guy post-vasectomy. I mean, what do you want from me? You know, come on. Chuck, you know, I think the operative word there is tips. Isn't that what this is all about? They're trying to get me, but I've got that. Come on. Just the tip. Yeah, just for a second. Chuck, do you have any tips for a young man?

You're a father of a son. Yeah, I am. My kids are turning 12 this week. They're boys. Soon we're going to have to give them this talk, okay? Tips on a first date. Have fresh breath. Yeah. Look in eye.

Don't have a son. Look in eye, right? Right? Yeah, yeah. Don't look down. Look in eye, Denison. Look in eye, right? Right? Yeah, yeah. Don't look down. Look in eye. Do you go for the smooch at the end of the first date, Trent? Oh, man.

It does make a statement. You've got to read the situation. You do, but it does make a statement either way. It does. But if all the signs are saying don't, you don't, right? I mean, I don't know. See, I don't think we can connect with the new generation. You can't.

These people can just swipe and they're banging. Oh, I'm banging now. Hey, just like. A lot of hashtags in the new generation. You can't. These people can just swipe and they're banging. Oh, I'm banging now. A lot of hashtags in play, too. We didn't have the internet. We had to go up to chicks. That's true. We had to walk to chicks. And ask for a phone number.

Uphill both ways and then ask for a phone number. And first of all, you've got to freak out to ask for the phone number, which is just an anxiety moment. Then you need to go home and sit by the phone and dial almost all the numbers. You had a rotary. Yeah, yeah, yeah. moment. Then you need to go home and sit by the phone and dial almost all the numbers, but then hang it up real quick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I hope that answered the question. We can't all be General Luke Thomas and just show up and... Yeah. Alright, thank you.

Thank you. Nothing, Chuck? Everything you said. Okay, yeah. You got any tips? Yeah, okay. Keep it going. Is that it? Alright, it's time for the best segment in all of combat sports. This is where we search the globe for the good, the bad, and the

ugly. Okay. Hashtag ugly. Emphasis on ugly for our first one. It's called Have You Seen This Shit? Speaking of Stephen A. Smith, he has been in the headlines not just for the Joe Rogan beef. I have seen this shit, then. But you may have seen this shit

for this awful video. Now look, I'll give him credit. He's a man in his 50s trying to stay in shape. Donkey Kong. He's got the wife beater on. He's got the Donkey Kong basement video game set up. Look at this guy. Look at Teddy Long. I was going to say, has there been anything worse than

Stephen A. Smith? Maybe Teddy Long, but I think there's one more that's worse. Think of shadow boxing. What's the worst shadow boxing? Ah, there it is. Oh, man. There it is. Oh, my. Head movement.

Whoa. Head movement. Head movement. Where'd that footage come from? Stephen A. there. That was. I don't know who floated that. That'd be a nice sort of origin story, who got that out there.

But, yeah. Wow. All right. Telling. Yes. Okay. We're going to go on to roll on this weekend. There was a boxing card in Minneapolis headlined by Caleb Trucks.

This is on the underguard. I think I saw your boy Ray point this one out. 42-year-old Colin Sangster in the red shorts got dropped by 412-pound Andrew Case Allen, but Sangster comes back. Oh, my God. Oh, wow. Wow. That's a lot of girth, Chuck.

That's a quake. Butterby just rolled over in his grave on that one. Wow. That's a lot of girth, Chuck. That's a quake. Butterby just rolled over in his grave on that one. Wow. Look at that. Who licensed this-ish, Chuck? That's what I was just wondering. This was off TV, and yeah. Damn.

Let's do that again. I mean, how are we going to get him out of there, right? Well, look, he scored the nine. This might be round of the year right here, Chuck. I mean, this was fantastic, right? These guys have a combined, like, four pro fights. I don't mean to clown on them, but I don't know how you're sanctioning this. Wow. Damn. Good night. Timing beats speed, you know what McGregor says? Yeah. Wow. Okay.

Come here. Are you ticklish? Yes. Okay. Let's roll on. That's a lot of... Hey, we got head kicks from hell. I got three of them for you. This is head kicks from hell, volume one. Check out this. Oh! He stepped up. Did you see that? Whoa. Did he kick from the dong, or did he use the dong as a jump-off point?

Complete. Look at the cyborg. Look in his eyes. Is this Dagestan? He's going to. Look at this. This is like Steve Austin style. Kick to the dong to get the attention.

Step up and send it. That is amazing. Wow. That is amazing. You're right. What's chilling about that is his reaction. Look at this is like Steve Austin style kick to the dog. I got the attention step up amazing Wow You're right. What's chilling about that is his react his reaction afterwards is like oh, yeah, dude I'll you know, please you know, I do this all day here. I do this all day Do you know where that guy on that is an amazing? You know where that guy on the left one I want to see the response of the people behind here react to this Yeah, and another language. I don't know where it's going right there. But I'm sorry you... They must see this shit all the time.

Oh, my God. Yeah, he is very Ovechkin-like, Jay. You're right. They're very Russian. I don't know if he's just in a hurry, but wow. Wow. Ovechkin, that's a good call. That's the Headkicks from Hell Volume 1.

Let's move on to Volume 2. This is in Muay Thai. These guys are always sending each other down. Oh, my God. Random Thai fellow. You've been sent to hell! He looks scared for a minute of what he might have done. I don't know how these guys

live. I just assume that all these young Thai gentlemen die when they're 30, you know? CTE is a hell of a drug. That is violent. Oh, my God. Alright, Head Kicks from Hell, Volume 3. Let's go to Taekwondo. Check out this death blow. Oh! That's like a reverse

ghetto blaster the headgear is not going to do shout out to bad news brown good lord forfeit your soul oh wow i could watch this how violent is that there's headgear to see that thing land oh there it's so quick it landed it landed you You could see the ghost just come out of that guy's body. That's a three-pirouette. Like, look at this. Bam, on the third one. Oh. That's how you punish aggression, Brian.

Oh, my God. It's like faces of death here. We can't show the video of the snake killing the kid, but we can show this. I mean, come on. Wow. All right. Hey, yeah. Instant karma in the next one.

That's awesome. You ever play a joke on your friend? You tap him on the back, you know, try to jump out of the way. Oh! Wow! That's golden right there. Wow. To the showers, R. Kelly.

This is unbelievable. Is it real, though? I don't know. I mean, he fell in the water afterwards, Chuck. Oh, my God. It's just guys hanging out and playing, right? I mean, that's how men do. That's how men get down, okay? What the hell? Oh, man. God's just guys hanging out and playing, right? That's how men do.

That's how men get down, okay? What the hell? Oh, man. God, rinse and repeat. This is awful. Look at this. Yeah. See, I wouldn't have played this prank to begin with. Yeah, turn them into a urinal cake.

Do you like it when you're young and you go to the strip clubs and they got ice in the urinal? Isn't that the best thing ever? That is cool. Just pour fresh ice in there for me, okay? I mean, it's just so relaxing, you know? Just drinks being thrown out. Yeah, just all right. Hey, let's go on to LFA.

You know that organization? Watch that guy. Oh, he got folded up into a suitcase. Did you see that shit? Wow. He melted. He was like. Look at this right hand from the deep, dark depths.

Bang. He busted the nose and then the guy's like spleen broke in half when he fell. Look at this right hand from the deep, dark depths. Bang! He busted the nose, and then the guy's, like, spleen broke in half when he fell. Look at this. It looks like his leg just... Oh, my God. These people... Oh, wow. You take a chance fighting on TV.

Because then there's people like us who... He put him in a suitcase. Kind of reminded me of that old Showtime fight. What was that, like 2014? Jay, do we have this? Remember that knockdown? Oh, my God. That is crazy.

Here it is. Arislandi Lara, Austin Trout. Put him in the damn suitcase! Folded him up. He went down in sections like an accordion. You know what I'm saying? Just pack him up. Let's go on through TSA. Come on. You got pre-check? Here we go. Wow. I remember seeing this. That was a nice knockdown. 2014 at the Barclays Center there. Let's see what we got going on here. Speaking of packing up into a suitcase here, you're touching my woman here, bruh. Uh-oh. Hey, bruh. Uh-oh. Oh, boy. Oh, you're in trouble now. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. First bag is free on Southwest. Here we go. Chuck, check this out. He's going to actually pack him into the

suitcase. So this was all heading somewhere Yes You have a narrative That you're following There we go There we go You've been sent to hell Wow Holy hell That is

Wow look at that A little handsy right there right Yeah Wow Alright Okay Yeah It's like

That can't be real Can I see This is Luke would not I don't know where you get this footage He would not Put up with this Oh man

Alright We're going to go to a MMA organization called WWFC14 This is, this is, Luke would not put up with this. I don't know where you get this footage. He would not put up with this. Oh, man. All right. We're going to go to a MMA organization called WWFC14. Have you heard of this? No. Check out this submission from Kirill Gorobets. They call it a banana split. Have you ever heard of this? I have heard of this.

Let me see it, though. Watch him tear this guy a new asshole coming up in three, two. Oh, ow, ow. Oh, my God. They new asshole coming up in three, two... Oh my God! They don't go in that direction, Chuck. What do you think burst first? I'm trying not to overthink it, but...

Have you ever heard of this? I have heard of this. I've never seen it executed as a wrestling thing, right? But you never see it used in an MMA fight. Oh my God, I don't know if he... That's not the way to go. That is not. That is... Jumping out of an airplane air. Air shooting out open. That's the way to go.

You know we're going to close. My kids are real... Don't play it yet. My kids are real into this Dude Perfect thing. You ever see these guys? No. You don't know Dude Perfect? These trick shot artists, what they do is they stand on a roof. They throw a basketball over their head. It bounces 20 times, and it goes in the hoop. And you're like, this can't be real. Or if it is, it must take them four weeks to do it. Check out this guy trying to audition for Dude Perfect coming up.

Maybe more like Dong Perfect. Oh, check it out. He got a hole-in-one, Chuck. Oh, and the javelin. Oh, you dick. That's amazing. Every time. Look at the head movement on that. Wow, Chuck. Oh, and the javelin? Oh, you dick. That's amazing. Every time. Look at the head movement on that.

Wow, Chuck. Oh, man. Oh, yeah. Look at this guy. This is a modern-day Jim Thorpe, this guy. A man for all seasons. Look at this. God.

Call him Dick Van Patten, right? This is great, right? In the face. Yes. Wow. How do I get, right? In the face, yes. How do I get suckered in? How do I get suckered in? Oh, yeah. Look at that comment.

Bullseye, indeed, right? More like bullseye. Wow, Chuck. I mean, you got any first date tips? They're right here, right? Yeah. It's amazing, man. Okay.

Shout out to this guy. Oh, thank you. Thank you. That that's it that's it all right that's it have you seen that shit wow right um yes hey shout out to this t-shirt yeah olivier obon merci your boy shout out to some fanny pack i like that a lot i like that wow wow all right all right it's odds and ends time and we did did want to get serious for a second and really look at the impact and the loss of Kobe Bryant. 41 years old. A really unfortunate helicopter crash that took the life of him and one of his daughters as well. We remember, of course, the Showtime Kobe Bryant's Muse documentary.

The poster is over your shoulder. And it's tough in this spot because, look, we're all heart-wrenched, right? Yeah. Not all of us covered Kobe or knew him or had any kind of personal connection, but he's right in his post-career artistic prime. He was doing a lot of stuff outside the – won an Oscar. So he's had certainly a deep cultural impact. For me, Chuck, guys my age, he was my high school class, class of 96.

I remember him going to the McDonald's All-American game. I was working at McDonald's at the time. I remember sort of all of his rise. He certainly does have an impact from this standard for me. That whole thing that Max Holloway was tweeting about and always talked about, that Mamba mentality, right? Kobe Bryant, if he did one thing, he absolutely maximized his full and complete potential in a way that was maniacal, but also inspiring. It was like he was not going to leave anything on the table. He was going to completely, and of course, he's got that reputation of a killer and that

Mamba nickname fits in that, that I'm going to go out there and do whatever it takes to step on your throat proverbially and win the game and hit that buzzer beater on you. But the constant motivation to come back from that ACL injury late in his career and play three more seasons at such a high level really leaves an inspiring legacy. And Achilles, remember he tore his Achilles and he went and shot the free throws and he hobbles off on his own, doesn't have any help. The dude was another level competitor. And like you said, he was so ingrained into the fabric of everything that we did growing up.

You know what I mean? That's what's weird. It's like this seismic presence is just gone, just like this. And it's crazy, too, because I think people do wonder, like, what is he going to do in retirement? Because the game meant so much to him. And you hear all these guys, all the players that have gone against him, basically giving little stories about how he'd outwork them in the gym, talk to them on the court, just all the stuff he would do.

But the fact that he was succeeding outside of it, and he was kind of proving people wrong even on that level at the Oscar and everything he had going on, man, it's horrible. He has a six-month-old kid and his daughter and his family, everything that they're going through, it's just a crazy thing, man. And I have to say, and I think this is the deepest respect you can have as a fan who doesn't know him, like just as a person who pays attention to the sport,

I hated him. You hated him. I'm a Celtics fan. I absolutely hated him. Because he scared you every time. I lived in Los Angeles when he filled a void, when they needed a superstar essentially back in the late 90s, early 2000s. There were no football team.

He filled a void, and he was that star. He had that star flavor that L.A. needed. So he was there. But I went to the Western Conference Finals games because I'm a Denver Nuggets fan. The Nuggets made it as far as they've ever made it in their career, in their whole time. They made it to the Western Conference Finals.

2009, I went to the first two games in Los Angeles, and the Nuggets won one of them, but the other one he basically stole, and he stole the whole thing. But I remember just hating him. You're like, oh, my God, I can't stand him because he's just that good. But when you hate a guy that much, it's because of how good they are. You could always appreciate him. When he's not playing your team you could

appreciate exactly who he was it's weird like okay he's the son of an NBA player so you're like okay well yeah he's gonna be that good but how many guys came out around his era and had a certain level ability but we're never able to fully completely maximize that the intensity he showed the want to be that guy from early on you know why did the Shack relationship fall apart they're both probably at fault but some of that is I know how great I am want to be that guy from early on, you know, why did the Shaq relationship fall apart? They're both probably at fault, but some of that is, I know how great I am. I can be that guy. I always respected, you talk about his want for the last shot and not caring if he misses it. He's failed at the very high level. People remember his rookie year against Utah in the

playoffs when they gave him the ball and he had those two air balls and he cost him in that deciding game. And, you know, the, the breakdown against phoenix in game seven i think was 05 or 06 in the playoffs where he just stopped trying and you know the loss to the celtics in game six when they got completely blown out in that 08 series and yet he was always able to come back and reinvent and i was always happy for him that he had that little era post shack where he could just let it all hang out scored 81 averaged like 35 16 his last game 37 points per game, but then turned back into a team player when they reloaded around him and trusted his teammates, and the way he went out with 60 points in that final game was just, it was just insane, man. It was just insane.

So the young children, all of that hits you hard, but I think it just hits you hard because he's our age. He's right here, and it shows you the fragility of life. I mean, it would be the equivalent of an Anderson Silver or somebody passing away at this point. Had such a great impact. He followed Michael Jordan. Played the same position. Had a very similar game and yet almost equal. Almost equal

his legacy in terms of championships and that. It's crazy. It's a raging argument, right? Kobe, Jordan, which one? It's wild. Shout out and like I said, remind everybody that Kobe Bryant's Muse documentary, which was, as it says on the poster, fiercely personal, a great look at his mentality. And gone too soon there, Chuck.

Way too soon, man. All right. What else do we want to get here on the odds and ends? I wanted to bring up, I saw that Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, had his second L.A. press conference on Saturday. Of course, they have their rematch February 22nd in Vegas. You going? Yes, of course.

All right. A joint network pay-per-view. It's been interesting. Tyson Fury's not playing the role you would expect, like he did the first time, the agitator. He's not calling him a dosser. He's not trying to press all the buttons. And I've been talking on the show the last few weeks how it's making me a little nervous of his mentality coming in.

Does he have the same fire when he wanted to prove everybody wrong last time? One storyline that keeps coming up. We know he switched trainers at the last minute. Bring in Sugar Hill Stewart, the disciple of the great Emanuel Stewart. Because he says, the judges screwed me the first time. I'm going to knock Wilder out in two rounds. Now, Chuck, when he says it once or twice. Keeps saying it in his dreams, right? Like the card? When he says it once or twice,

you're like, okay, Tyson, you say everything. You're six foot nine. You don't have huge power. You're the slickest guy this generation has seen. But he doubled and tripled down this Saturday on that idea that he's going to learn how to be a better power puncher, sit down on his shots, and he's going to go for this. Is this his trickster, gypsy traveler show, this three-card Monte, or is there any chance that he sees some vulnerability? Obviously, Wilder might be the biggest puncher of all time, but you can hurt him. You can, you know, you can rattle him. Well, we know the delusions have stayed in business a long time, and, you know, like in the fight game, right? right? I think people build themselves up to think

something. I don't know, because I think that he is that guy who might just throw out some smoke and let everybody run with it and then do something else. I hope so, because that's a tall ask what he's saying. I mean, if he does it, this will be like Mystic Mac all over again, right? If he goes in there and does this, I would give him all the credit in the world. But I feel like this is a little bit of smoke and mirrors and maybe just trying to play some head games. I feel like it's more in that range. Now, look, at its core, saying that is stupid. I'm going to stand in there with the biggest puncher

in maybe this division's history and try to – but he does have a legitimate speed and technique advantage, and he was coming on in that 12th round after he got knocked down and rose like the Undertaker. Fury was coming on, but it can't be real. I love the first fight. I love that he's saying it, right? Why not throw something out there very

specific? It's like he's going to draw eyeballs, you know, that many more eyeballs. I like that he's out there saying it. This whole build-up has been kind of fun. It's been a little weird though, because what's weird is he's not trying to agitate Wilder, and Wilder's as dialed in as I have ever seen him. There is no doubt in his eyes. He just had a destructive year, two huge knockouts.

He is ready as ever to deliver that boom. Man, this is going to be high theater. It's like watching a guy pitch a perfect game in a hailstorm, right? It's like, wow. Other odds and ends this week is Canelo, biggest star in the sport, rumored to come back on his Cinco de Mayo date, but not in Las Vegas and not against what we would call a preferred

opponent. He wants to go to Japan and fight little-known titleists, Ryota, Murata. Here's the problem. DAZN has a card this week, Super Bowl weekend this weekend. I think it's Thursday night. Jake Paul's on it. Nobody cares.

Good-ass card. Good-ass fight with Tevin Farmer and JoJo Diaz. But WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade is in that main event. And he's a guy who we're just waiting for him to finally see how great he can be against a big name. He wants Canelo. He followed Canelo to DAZN. He's banging the things for Canelo.

Yet Canelo's probably going to fight Morata. This guy, Andrade, is fighting this weekend against a guy none of us has heard of before. Luke Peeler? Come on. The Irishman? I'm just kidding. I looked that up before we came in. Yeah, thank you for looking that up. You know he's like a 25 to 100.

I looked at the line. I had to see. So you were saying a no-name, but I'm like, it's a 25 to 100 dog. It's ridiculous. There's an idea, well, maybe if Canelo does what he wants for the first fight of 2020, meaning he'll get a big money to go to Japan in a fight that he's obviously going to win, and then maybe in the second half he'll do what Dazon wants, which is a third fight with

Glocken. But here's the deal. You're paying this guy $365 million. He's kind of the face of your franchise, separate from Anthony Joshua, the backbone. Can you get him on board for the money you're paying him and say, hey, dude, Andrade has another bell up middleweight. Let's unify. Let's do it.

OK? Like, Canelo has fought difficult guys like this before, like the Trouts, the Laras, and he's won. He's great. He might be the best fighter in the sport. I'm not in on this Japan idea, OK? Canelo, be the guy. You took the Cinco de Mayo date from Floyd.

Be that guy. Give us an event. Go to 68 and fight Billy Joe Saunders for a title. Do something here. Don't go to Japan where we're like... You just got through Santa when we were talking about Cogran. It extends to sports, and this is boxing's problem, right? Life is short. Do the things that make sense.

Do the things that you're supposed to be doing. Don't waste time on these things. I know that he's getting paid, but I'm like, I want to see the fights that are exciting. And it's tough to give that argument in boxing at Canelo because he has dared to be great. Last year, the Danny Jacobs to Sergey Kovalev was great. But here's the thing.

Golovkin's getting pretty old. True. If you fight him at 168 in May, it'll do huge business. Canelo will probably win. All of us people who thought Golovkin got screwed will be satisfied that there's a third fight. Just do it, Big Red, alright?

Come on, bro. John Skipper getting his ear, right? Come on. Offer some Bugar sugar. No, no, no. We'll cut that part out. Also this weekend, Chuck, Super Bowl 50... Something like that. Niners, Chiefs, are you

fired up? I am actually a little bit because there's no Patriots in this one. It's kind of fun to have fresh blood in there. And Kansas City, who hasn't been there since, I don't know, not in my lifetime. I don't remember them ever going. It's kind of cool. And the 49ers out of nowhere making it. So that's a good matchup, man.

I like it. Good storyline there. Mahomes can kind of become everything with a win here, right? Yeah, I think so. Bob Kraft probably upset that he can't go to South Florida there's a lot of ways to relax down

there yeah sorry what you got though that was that was Def Leppard sorry

I don't know you know it's an 80s reference we don't have an 80s Campbell's reference what's this new

picture all like professional what about that you know I just That's an 80s reference. That is an 80s. We don't have an 80s Campbell's reference. What's with this new picture? All like the professional Campbell's. What about that? Yeah, yeah. You know, I just, I've been, I tell Luke this all the time. I've covered pro wrestling for four years. It's a time suck.

The good news is now moving forward, I'm focusing on just boxing MMA. Luke's going to be happy. I'm just a wrestling fan now. But when you cover pro wrestling day in, week in, it is a time suck. So I've kind of fallen out to a certain degree on movies, time with my wife, mainstream sports. So I'm going to try to get all back into all of that. Okay. Try to get my life back. I went to the movies I said last night, you know. Starting to come back. Starting to come back. All right. Starting to come back a little bit, but yeah, let's, let Chiefs do this, okay? Yeah. Let's see it. I'll have the Chiefs do.

I don't have much else to add to that. Yeah. Okay, thank you. This is not a deep football breakdown podcast. Your boy Drew McIntyre, though, huh? Yeah, just to close on the Royal Rumble, a little bit of a Brock party going on. There are people saying, and I'm one of them,

that that's one of the best Royal Rumbles we've ever seen last night in Houston. You know what was great? It was Matt Riddle showing up. There was a report. I don't know if you get it on the dirt sheets. I try to stay away. A little bit. That Riddle and Lesnar had a little separate.

They need to be separated backstage. I don't know if any of that's true. But Riddle shows up. Edge makes his return from a nine-year retirement due to a serious neck injury. Ricochet was in there? Ricochet. And Brock Lesnar starts it out at number one. 13 in a row.

Tries the record, didn't he? I mean, look. Obviously obviously it's not real. But the way they scripted that, the way they booked that match was entertaining as hell. I know Luke's already tuned out at this point. But entertaining as balls. And Drew McIntyre, the guy everybody wanted. Not Roman Reigns. Anyone but you, Roman.

Drew McIntyre. I thought for sure. I was like, there's no way they're going to have Drew McIntyre win this thing. You know what I thought they were going to do? I thought Roman was going to win, the crowd would boo like hell, and then Bray Wyatt the Fiend would come out. They'd dim the lights and he'd put them in the mandible cloth. That's that.

Do you think we could see a mandible cloth submission in MMA? Bob Arum thinks we can get pins. After seeing that banana splits, I'd believe anything. Bob Arum thinks we can get a 1-2-3 there, Chuck. Oh, Bob. Senility. You know, that's our show for this week. Morning Combat. Please do us that, Sal. There's our social

handles for the show. Subscribe on YouTube. We need to get these numbers up. We've already promised you, okay? If we can get to 50,000, Luke will take his shirt off on set. And if we can get to 75, Luke and Chuck will go tip to tip, baby. Wow. Yeah. That's gross. Mendenhall guarantee.

All right. Yes. We want to get those numbers up. Chuck, you listen to any good 90s albums right now? No, I'm not actually. Are you? Yeah. I'm backing on August and Everything After. It's a little depressing, but it's a top five 90s album. Yeah. You don't back me on that? I'm just trying to see your count. I want to see you break your personal record when you're at 19 right now. You would not put August and Everything After as a top 5 90s album. I'd have to think about it.

Along with 10 by Pearl Jam. Okay. Okay Computer by Radiohead. All right. 40 Ounces of Freedom by Sublime.

You still with me here? I'm with you. I'm listening to you. Get the hell out of here Metallica Black album. Lime. You still with me here? I'm with you. I'm listening to you. Get the hell out of here, Metallica Black album in my ear. The big Nirvana album, Nevermind. That'd have to be in the rain. They're all in the discussion, okay?

They're all in the damn discussion. Blind Melon? Something like that? The No Rain album? I think it's self-titled there. Okay, get smashing pumpkins out of my ear. Thank you very much. That's our show for this week. Luke Thomas will be back next week after his Super Bowl radio escapade.

This is Chuck Mendenhall. Read his work on TheAthletic.com. For the price of feeding a small child in a third-world country, you can read his work. It's your choice how you spend your money. You can read his, listen to the man in the myth podcast. It's free. It's free. It's free. Yes. You and Sean. That part is free. Al Shati. Yes. That's him. Yes. Okay. Chuck, do you have a message for your people? A presidential endorsement, anything controversial? Oh man, no. Pay attention to the man in the myth though. Yeah. Yeah. Hands up, heads down.

Oh, yeah. All your hoes be loyal. This is Morning Combat, and we are out. We'll be right back. you