MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Dana White Announcements, Till vs. Rockhold Misfits 22 Preview, Craig Jones vs. Chael Sonnen @ CJI2

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

BC and LT are back on a Friday to get you ready for the weekend in combat sports. The guys will recap Dana White's announcement of a handful of fights at UFC 321 & UFC 322. Then move into the Misfits Boxing card this weekend where UFC veterans Darren Till and Luke Rockhold face off in a bridgerweight boxing contest scheduled for eight rounds. In the co-main event, UFC veteran Tony Ferguson faces off with Salt Papi in a five-round middleweight contest. The Craig Jones Invitational 2 is going down in Las Vegas this weekend. Plus much more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Revely, Revely. Look at us now, tip to tip. Oh, Jesus. Oh, ha. Shout for morning combat. Do you want a margarita? Oh, my God.

It's us doing what we love. Two, three, two, three. It's time to bang. Oh, yeah, get fired up, folks. It's Friday, and I'm in love. Let's do this. It's morning combat directly in your face hole. What am I yelling?

Hey, it's Friday, August 29th of the 25s. And we almost had nothing to talk about today until Uncle Dana flew back from the white. house and dropped a pot of gold inside of Madison Square Garden. We'll get to that in a second. I'm Brian Campbell, of course, you know, that alpha fellow fresh and direct from the Hartford, Connecticut suburbs. And next to me from Washington, D.C. is the angriest man in mixed martial arts.

L to the T. Luke, we did get a lot of feedback from last episode. Are you or are you not on the verge of a breakdown? I am not on the verge of a breakdown. Okay. Okay. That's great to hear. All right. I mean, you know, you've had time to think about it now, though. Like, which MMA fighter today really inspires you? That's what the people want to know. I got this question got brought up yesterday on my live chat and I, you know, to help answer, I guess, you know, because apparently, you know, there is some dissension in the ranks about the nature of the answer that I gave, which, you know, I explained more on my live chat. But I said, you know, there's plenty of guys who are, you know, far better people than me.

I think, you know, Max Holloway is to see what he's become as a father and as a person. It's great. Dustin Poirier, his ability to get back to his communities are all wonderful things. That's not really my issue, but, you know, we don't have to relitigate this, do we? All right. I was just willing to tell you, I admire Brian Ortega's dating history very, very, very much, all right? So there's also that, hey, it's going to be a fun show today. Probably we're going to look at your fan subs. We're going to dead wrong ourselves.

and we're going to set the stage for this weekend. We got Misfits Boxing. We've got the Craig Jones Invitational Part Duh, with a new opponent in the main event Super Fight. And we also got some Jay Aaron kickback. So if you may recall on the last episode, we played a little over under. And I challenged Luke Thomas with the idea that this middle-aged donk,

right, the former M.K. producer, the inogular one, Jay Aaron, he's in like the best shape of his life, but can he bench 190? The consensus was hell no. But LT and I received an almost instant text message that said 190 coming at you. Now, Luke, this man is, you know, laughable in many ways. No, put the shit back up there. Let's go. Why are we? Why do I have to look at Jay Aaron's nipples? Now I am the angriest man. But do you respect the work? I mean, do you respect the damn work right there? Yeah,

of course. I mean, anybody who takes the time to take good care of themselves, applaud that, right? I'm not mad at that, but like, why do we need SEAL Team 6 fucking highlight reels? That's like, you're jumping on boxes and doing push-ups. Just let that

be what it is, you know? All right, all right. Is that unfair? I don't know if that's unfair. He did send an additional picture of his hog, but we will spare you that. He said that to Mikey. Yeah, right there. I just wanted to remind you that this episode of Morning Combat is presented to you by Draft Kings and with Draft Kings, The Crown.

It's yours. You already knew that, though, all right? Luke has probably been crowning like the King of England. And also, Luke Thomas is excited about those new Amtrak, Acella speed train bathrooms, which can fit a few people in there at one time, right? I haven't seen them yet. And we're not traveling next week, so it might be a little bit. but I will have reviews of the new Amtrak trains

that I plan to take unbelievable dumps on. All right, commodes, get ready. You saw before you can put them on one more time, please, our handles. Please like this video, subscribe to what's going on on Morning Combat on the YouTube channel. Shout out to the audio-only listeners, tell a friend, and hello to everybody on the Draft Kings Network. We also have extensive extended YouTube channels.

Hey, plenty of good interviews this week on the BCX. Check it out. I got Usmaner Magam Medoff. Paul Hughes, legendary actor, Eric Roberts, Callum Walsh, Corey Anderson, and more. So check it out. Luke, you got any highlights this week in your world? In terms of interviews, no, nothing this past week that's interesting.

I got a couple in the pipeline for next week when I just set up on a call before we did this one. Let's go. Let's go. We'll see. All right. Happy to hear that. I do want to say, though, I will have some C.J.I. coverage on my personal YouTube channel during the course of the weekend.

So be on the lookout for that. Love it. it let's introduce you to the third member of our team a director producer bong enthusiast for sure and if it wasn't for that horned up australian you wouldn't know this man he's from the main card minute podcast it's luke no cda what's up boys how we doing luke i got a lot of requests from people for you to do a cj i watch along so i don't know if you're interested in that but a lot of requests i i am interested in that the problem is i don't know exactly i mean so cj one thing we'll get to when we talk about it is that C.J.I. 2 is very different from C.J.I. 1. And so I kind of don't know

exactly how that would go, but I'm, here's what I can guarantee. I will absolutely have coverage no matter what for day two, which is Sunday. I don't know exactly what the right way to cover it is digitally for day one. So that part I'm trying to figure out, but a watch along on Saturday and Sunday is possible. That is possible. Long Island Luke. You have a new popular spinoff program on your podcast, the main card minute. It's a new podcast called Watch Me Not Talk to My Girlfriend for you yet another day. I don't go live for that.

Prop quiz. I heard there's a fresh episode today. What can you tell us about that? There is a new episode dropping at 1.30 p.m. Eastern. So right after Morning Combat. And it features Shaquille Majori and Gaff Pierre. He's never going to stop texting you. He already, dude, he was texting you the whole episode, Luke.

We were like, Shaq, are you? paying attention at all, stop texting Luke. That's why I blocked them. That is great stuff. Shout out to Vancouver's own. Shaquille Maljuti, my man, right there. Thank you, Long Island, Luke. Finally, the only other grift we have to offer you is our fantastic merch package.

Put both hands on our package. Go to morningcombat.combat. It is your final weekend to get the August exclusives. The sold-out autograph posters are no longer available. Thank you to everybody for supporting us. but your limited edition, M.K. Beavis and Butthead from Average Joe R. And of course, vaping is for closers.

That's available for a few more days. And also don't forget about our evergreen stuff going on there at morning combat dot shop. Pick and mix and match your colors. This is a G.I. Joe Donk for short shirt that could make you look cool, especially if you've been lifting. And a programming reminder that is tied into our merch is that we will not have a show on Monday.

It's Labor Day. No one will be going into labor. We'll be off. But Tuesday, live, 11 a.m. Eastern, we'll be back. And we'll also be releasing the September exclusives for morning combat. Dot shop. I mean, it's just a bunch of shirts and mugs, right? But it's the best way to support our show because the money goes right to us and the Long Island, Luke, over there.

So fired up as always, Luke, do you have anything else to say before we dip into Dana's goody bag of big time fights? Do I Do I dare to cover misfits live? It's going to get a lot. Do you say what we will about misfits and we will say? It gets it gets eyeballs on it. It gets eyeballs on it. It gets freaking eyeballs.

I think you should do C.J.I over misfits. No, no, no. It wouldn't be. So here's the rule. If I end up covering misfits in any capacity live, then there's no way I wouldn't do CJI both days, right? Does that make sense? Like there's no world where I prioritize.

that over C.J.I. The question is, do I triple up this weekend and get greedy with misfits coverage? I think I might do a reaction to that one. I don't know. Normally, I'd say you've been eating long enough now. Stop being greedy. Stop being greedy. Yeah, yeah. Give to the needy. Yeah, F the needy. All right. Let's transition here to topic. Numero uno. Hey, Dana White teased a big announcement on Thursday. We had to wait a little longer than we wanted, but it seems like it was worth the weight. Did Dana White cook? Yeah, yeah, he was cooking fresh on the UFC equivalent of Air Force One and fresh off

a visit to the White House where Dana White did say the summer, July 4th, 250th anniversary of our country, UFC event is going to happen. It is in motion. Obviously, there will be more on that to come in the ensuing months. But what we got from Dana was big time updates for UFC 321. October 25th in Dubai, and the annual stop at MSG come November 15th for UFC 322. Now, look, the MSG news was a lot bigger, so let's get into that first. Despite teases that we could see Elia versus Gaichi on that card, it's not going to be.

What we will get instead is Jack Delamattelina making the first defense of his welterweight title in the main event against a rising pound-for-pound stalwart in former. lightweight champion Islam Mahathev. Bang, bang, bang. Your early draft king's odds are JDM plus 200, Mahachev minus 245. Luke, we're going to go item by item right here, but we know MSG is a major.

We know there's other good fights added, but how do you feel straight off the bat of getting Islam JDM right here, right now in just a few months? this is this is how it should be done this is how it should be done and i realized it can't always be done this way fair enough no one can expect this kind of thing all the time but this is just excellence all the way around um i mean now this was not a fight that we didn't see coming we all kind of knew that there was a reason to expect this and okay fair enough um here it is but we didn't exactly know when and we didn't know what it would be complimented by and we didn't really know the setting would

it be in abu dhabi in october and i realized that that ship had kind of sailed but there was at least a point in time that was being considered or would they have this in Australia or when would this be and what would the circumstances be? Well, B.C. Now we have the answer. They're going to the media capital of certainly the United States, arguably the world. They're going to have him, Islam Makachiev, who does not have a rightful claim to pound for pound, but only because he's been kind of inactive. I think one of the interesting parts about this about is you might have to reconsider his place in that B.C. if he ends up winning up a weight class against the title, a guy who makes very few mistakes, who is extraordinarily well-rounded, who is just

you know, the excellent, to me, the standard bear in many ways of excellence in MMA up against a guy in JDM who not only of course is the champion, but so vastly improved in what he showed in that fight with Bala Muhammad. And I know we'll talk more about this, but is going to have more time this go round with Craig Jones, who of course we already know has had a lot of experience getting in particular Australian fighters ready for Islam Makachev. And so BC, what would be the argument about this that you didn't like? if you're an American person and you wish there was an American or whatever,

if you're a Brazilian, you wish there was a Brazilian somewhere in the fight, yeah, fine, we don't have that or whatever. But if you're just a fight fan who's looking for excellence, who's looking for stakes, who's looking for setting, which I think is something that we now appreciate more than we used to, but really drives home, it checks all the boxes, B.C. What an excellent fight. Love it.

Love everything about it. We're always trying to be honest with you, even with my pending employment under the T.K. O. Banner coming up of when we don't like things or when. things are a step behind. To me, this is a plus matchmaking. It makes MSG matter along with the co-main and the other fights we're going to start to mention here.

It's a big deal. Islama-Chiev, arguably the best fighter in the world, going for that two-division champion status, just like his suddenly chief rival, Ilya, just recently did. I love this. And, Luke, there's already been a bit of back-and-forth between the two camps, because as you mentioned, this isn't a surprise

that they're fighting each other, The surprise is just when, but there's been enough of a back and forth where I think we can bring in our friends at Cuervo for a little bit of shots fired. Of course, now is a good time as ever to enjoy the tequila that invented tequila. This is shots fired, brought to you by the great people at Cuervo. Let's first get a little bit of a quote here from Islam Mahachev manager, Ali Abdelaziz, who sat down with Dennis on submission radio. He said, at the end of the day, the fight is done.

I think Madelena will lose. He's going to be a very tough fight for Islam, but I believe Islam have all the tools to beat him. So that's certainly one side of the equation. On the flip side, submission radio also gave us an interview with the chief coach. Look, what is Jack Del and Madalinas coach's name? Oh, my God. I looked it up today and now I've forgotten it again.

I'll get it for you. I'll get it for you. Yeah, yeah. I think I got it right here. Hold on. You think I'd prepare this. Yes, Ben Vickers. Ben Vickers is the name. Here's Ben Vickers talking to our favorite Ukrainian Australian about what he thinks about this match. Do you still feel that's how it's going to play out come New York time? Yeah. I just don't think Islam has the chin that Belal has. We know for a fact if Jack clips someone clean on the chin, they can go over. So it could happen in the first minute.

in the 24th minute could happen in the 24 minute 59 seconds it could happen three rounds in we're not we're jack likes long fights you know he likes to be in there um but obviously we're not getting paid for overtime so if the opportunity arises um we're happy to take it but jack's cardio as we saw below's reputedly the best like cardio in in the ufc and jack out cardioed him below was more tired than jack towards the end of the fight so so um you know jack's cardio is exceptional his power's and yeah, I just, I like the fight. I really do. Now, Luke, Coach Ben Vickers, in that same interview, would also give a warning to Ilya to come up to

Walter Waite because he would catch that same smoke. But what the coach is saying here, we already established the early Draft King's odds of Islam as a minus 245 favorite. Should we be concerned in his first fight in this new weight class, has he shown you any reason up to this point that he might not have the chin to take what jdm brings well i mean i'm trying to i'm trying to noodle what he's saying here i mean he might be saying two things one you're going from 55 to 70 and you're naturally going to have harder hitters which fair enough that's true i don't know if you can even really argue with that

but is he saying bc am i reading this right he's kind of intimating that islam has i mean obviously he got stop with strikes once in his career and and or looks like he doesn't wear punches well from big punchers at 55 and so therefore there might be some kind of of either chin issue or weight cutting issue, some kind of combination of him saying, I don't think he's as physically sturdy as he needs to be at 55, much less 70, that's what it sort of sounds like.

But I mean, I would push back on this a little bit, to the extent that he gets up at 70, Islam, in terms of bulk and just sort of the, you know, the particular way in which he wears it, what does that do for his ability to resist strikes? granted from heavier hitters, generally speaking, but he does have some added

resistance there, and more to the point, if you're also having less of a weight cut, which we do know was the thing that affected him, certainly for example, in the fifth round of the first Volk fight, like that's a real thing, but to what extent is that now being mitigated? I'm not saying he shouldn't have confidence in Jack Dela Medellan, and not so much for being a dynamite

puncher per se, but for being a very clean and accurate puncher, which I do think is real. And then to the extent, for example, that Islam does struggle to either capture the takedown or maintain it, what does that do for his, you know, necessity to sluck it out then with Jack and then what does that mean? So I don't think confidence generally is misplaced, but the way he was kind of framing it made it seem like Islam is fragile or something. And I don't, I think that

might be a little bit exaggerated. Am I reading that wrong? No, I agree with you on that. And look, obviously, you'd hope that the coach would give some level of tough talk and support his fighter's strengths right here. I certainly agree with the early odds. I believe. that Mahathev, I mean, obviously he's been the pound for pound king or at worst number two for like three years now. I believe those early odds show you that he's definitely the more skilled fighter. But the obvious question that we don't have an answer to is how does he look 10 pounds or not even 10 pounds more than that higher here, 15 pounds higher. That's the leap he's going to have to make. I don't think outside of that knockout loss and his UFC debut. He's shown

a great history of vulnerability. You did mention at times maybe a little bit of a fading due to the cut on his gas tank, do you think the Dustin Porriere fight should potentially give JDM's camp confidence that maybe we saw some weaknesses in that bout? Like, how do you explain what happened at the end of that fight? Is that just Dustin being an all-time dog? Dustin's a heavy puncher.

He has an all-time dog. I think you know that too. You know, there's been times in fights, certainly in the fifth round of the first Volk fight and then the fifth round of that Porriet fight where, you know, I think you got a little more competitive than you might have imagined it getting, depending on your perspective anyway. But, you know, again, up a weight class generally, like what that does, and then in particular,

the relaxation of the difficulty of the weight cut, I would like to see that. It's not that I have any heart BC, like just to the extent that Jack Dela-Madalena lands cleanly in combination on Islam could this cause terrible problems for him yes this is i think a very serious and real threat i guess i would question a little bit the idea that islam is so fragile that it only really has to happen one good time yeah you know for that to be because you're talking about someone in islam bc who generally speaking generally is very defensively strong and is generally speaking i realize that he has he had a lapse early in his career but the the overwhelming body of evidence shows a guy who's defensively very sound.

So, yeah, we're getting kind of back to it. I don't miss on, I think the, having faith in Jack Dale and Manalena striking as his key way to win is clearly the right way to look at it, right? Clearly the right way. But I don't, I'm not ready to, I'm not ready to say, this is the big question. What is Islam's readiness from a physical standpoint at 170? We don't know the answer to that. They seem to think that he's going to be physically overmatched.

My answer to that is that remains to be seen. Yeah, let's see it. I mean, it's not like JDM walk through Bilal. Obviously, Bilal is a big... He's a big seven dear, I mean... For sure. The final point I wanted to make on this is I wonder, even though palm for pound is what it is, everybody's got a different opinion.

If you have Elia or Islam right now, you're certainly not wrong, right? It's that close. But I wonder if we're going to see those two every time they fight and win before they eventually fight each other, and I think they will. I wonder if they're just going to keep switching. watching places. Luke, would you say if Islam wins a title in the second division and beats

JDM in any way that is not controversial, is that a better win than what Ilya had in his new division over and aging but still dangerous Olavera? Arguably, yes. Arguably, yes. One, it would be

beating a full-on weight class champion, right? So, versus somebody who had it and, you know, had then subsequently lost it. And then secondly, how old is Dela-Madelena, 31, 32? Sounds about right. I think he's 31. Someone could verify that for me. I believe that's right.

He's 28. Della Madelena? It's 28 years old. Dude, beating a guy that young? Yes, I mean, you have to ask yourself, what would you rather have as an opponent? Would you rather have someone who's got an insane amount of experience, but maybe is a little shop-worn, but still crafty and all. that kind of shit or someone who actually is still kind of to an extent even as champion still

kind of proving himself actually which is really the interesting part but has like all the youth on their side has all of the has all of the vigor and the physicality i mean they're right at the beginning of their prime you know that's a tough one to say if i'm going up a weight class i might want the more shop-worn veteran to be honest with you so in many ways i can see jdm as a tougher challenge at this point dude 28 oh my god i thought he was a little bit closer to 30 Jesus, that is, wow. He's, yeah, I mean, Islam might have the youth advantage in this argument, but Aaliyah's got the euthanasia, Luke, that he, you know, he, when he finishes these guys.

Speaking of euthanasia, can you put your animals on screen? I want to take a look at him. I actually blocked the door today because Zoe is on one of those runs. I can hear her head bouncing off the door trying to open it because she, she, she like craves the camera now. It's out of control, Luke, you know? Anyway, let's keep. You got to put her on Only fans, how much butthole she shows.

Oh, crap. She just actually opened the door. Well, yeah. Oh, gosh. So, Luke, let's keep going on this UFC 322 card. And you know, I'm an MSG guy. I'm a Connecticut-born guy. It's the world's most famous arena.

I love when UFC makes this card every year truly, truly matter like UFC 205 and UFC 217. Now, this one, 32, not as deep as those legendary cards, but how about this co-main event when you're talking about the women's side of things? when you're talking about an era right now where maybe the women's game doesn't have the depth it does. But if we're going to get Kayla versus Amanda soon, and now we are officially going to get Valentina Shvchenko

defending once again her women's flyweight title against the now vacated women's strawweight champion, the Chinese star, Zhang Wei Li. This is a female super fight. This makes 322 big time business. And when we look at these early, Draft King's odds. A virtual pick-um, Jean-Wea-Lee minus 105, Valentina minus 115.

I'm very happy the UFC did this. We'll get to what's going to happen next with the strawweight division. But Luke, power versus power here in terms of name value, experience, historical relevance. This is a big one, brother. This is absolutely huge. I love everything about this fight. We had talked about what the fight game needs. Now, is there, excuse me, is this the biggest women's fight you could make, the one with the most amount of fanfare? I would humbly submit to you that if it's in the co-made event, the answer is probably obvious that it is not. I would argue BC, and I'm sure you probably agree, Kayla Harrison defending a returning Amanda Nunes, which we do think we will get at some point.

Yeah. That would be a much bigger box office or promotional attraction. You agree, right? I agree. Okay. But what I'm going to say is, I think this is the best women's fight you can make, at least on paper. Someone might respond that Valentina Shevchenko's relative size advantage, obviously she's very skilled. And what we've seen out of, for example, in the Fioro fight to an extent, or, you know, some other way, the third Grasso fight, for example, BC, that you might expect a Shevchenko to try and wrestle her and get on top. And in fact, I suspect that that, that would be a key part of any game plan that she would bring, especially for an opponent like this, and also because she is coming up in wait.

So there is a world where potentially this fight actually kind of blows. I want to be very clear about that. It is very, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, I'm not, I promise. Let me get to it. I promise, I promise, I promise. I'm not, I'm not downplaying the fight. What I'm trying to do is just reconcile with the critics up front. Some might say that this one, there's a few circumstances you could

point to that make you believe that Shevchenko could have a bit of a wrestle fest in winning this one and otherwise not interesting bout. Okay, I don't deny that that could happen. But, A, that's not a reason to not make the fight. And B, there's also plenty of reason to think that that's not true at all, right? You've got Zhong Wiley coming off of a performance against Tatiana Suarez, where she stuffed 14 of 15 takedons. And to the extent that she got a takedown. Actually, I don't know the answer that. Let me see how much control time she got. Yes, Suarez, over the course

of that one takedown, she got, did have some substantial control time in the first round, three minutes, but then could do nothing else with it. More to the point, I think that there's other ways that the speed advantage and the accuracy of someone like Jean-Wiley could make this interesting. And in any case, B.C.,

if Valentina Shivchenko wins, this would make what, her ninth title defense, eighth consecutive, or no, second consecutive, because she lost the seven-fight win, but, but, but, ninth overall, but would be kind of historic for, A, this would be the smallest UFC fighter moving up in a weight to capture a belt in a second weight class. That's never been done before. Never been done before in this weight class, obviously. Second woman, I think, to become a champ champ, like what it could mean for the Chinese market, and could it be an exciting bout on the feet

for as long as it lasts there? Yes, for all of these reasons you make this fight. And, B.C., more to the point, are there really contenders either at straw weight or at flyweight for either Shivchenko or, I mean, I realize that Zhang has now abandoned the title, but imagine for a second she hadn't, but you would say, oh, I'd much rather see those contenders get rewarded with a weight class fight rather than making this one right now. They're the most interesting fight for the other person, given the circumstances. Pull the freaking trigger. They did. This is a banger, banger, banger, of a co-main event. Dude, this is a one-two punch. You don't see them that's this good that often. I mean, banger, Luke, I prefer

to just watch her right let's not get crazy but let's talk about how good this is i like that minotferro got her chance she didn't get the win but she got her chance it is time as you mentioned let's look at a little bit of the statistics here valentina is 37 years old in her second reign as flyway champion since moving down from bannamway upon the creation of this division she's 11 one and one and has avenged both that loss and that draw to alexa grasso probably should have won that second fight, which was a draw and is a two-time champion. Zhang Wei Lee is 36. Sometimes people forget that.

But since making her UFC debut, she's 10 and 2 at 115 pounds. Obviously, the only losses were back to back against Rosamma Eunice. She's 10 and 0 against everyone else. Yes, they're up there in age, but they are one, two, from a female standpoint, in terms of pound-for-pound rankings in women's MMA. This is a glorious fight. The odds are so close. Long Island Luke from a betting perspective early on for these two matchups. Does anything jump out to you from what we see in these early odds?

I mean, I've been surprisingly to everyone, all my Aussie lovers out there. I have been on the Islam beats JDM train for a while now. So I think that's a good price for Islam and only minus 278. The Valentina Way-Leafite, I was literally like I would take whoever was a dog. And of course, it's a pick-um. No one is a dog. So I'll wait a little longer to see how that moves. Wonderful.

wonderful to close out there's there's that there's that pet there's always would i put her down first in front of you or second i mean i don't know the answer to come on all you know rip booker we don't have to go down this road at all that's a bad bit right there but let me tell you this luke one more big fight out of to msg the third biggest one here how about former welterway champion leon edwards taking on a suddenly restored after that one defeat to ian gary carlos Prattish, who looked absolutely fantastic against Jeff Neal. Big time stakes here for sure for Prattish. How confident are we of Leon's condition at this moment as still one of the elite

welter waiter? Have we learned from that Sean Brady fight that this is no more? Well, that's what this fight is going to tell us. And the reason why is because Carlos Prachas is nothing like Belaw Muhammad or Sean Brady. He is something, I mean, obviously there's significant differences, between them, but he's a little closer to Nate Diaz, right? That linkiness, the reach. But I would say Prachis has much more pop. I'll see much more naturally suited for 70. You know, the Gary fight didn't go his way, but he certainly had a moment

late and had better cardio than I thought he would, which is kind of interesting. And, you know, Leon can't say, oh, I've got to worry about someone trying to take me down the whole time. Yeah, you're going to have a guy who wants to slug it out right in your face. So if you're having trouble with the grapplers, and then I'm going to imagine a world where he has trouble with Prachis, what can you say by contrast if you get a win over a guy like this at this moment in time you at least restore some order about okay he can still do some interesting things in this division it hasn't completely fallen off he just had you know tough matchups given the relative skill advantages he can still do some things for carlos on the other hand dude this would be the biggest one of his career by a million miles right this would be huge huge for him by contrast though i think if he loses it kind of tells you where he's settling out but that's still a pretty interesting point place to be. So I think to me, the bigger stakes winning and losing, honestly, kind of are on Leon's side here. Yeah, yeah, no doubt about that. Obviously, this would give him a big shot

at restoring it, but this seems to be like protest coming off a big win. I hope they continue to play up his Majorga-esque ways in terms of his marketing and character. I mean, you beat a former champion who was pound for pound top five not that long ago. You're going to have a big opportunity to get into position in an already loaded division. I love this triple header at the top of the card that they've got that got going on here for 322. That's November 15th at MSG. Let's get into the other half of the announcements.

It'll be the pay-per-view one month earlier, October 25th in Abu Dhabi. What do we already know about that card? We know in the main event, Tom Aspinall, and his first defense of the undisputed heavyweight title will take on serial game. I'm sorry, surreal gone. And also we're going to get Alexander Volkov, Jalton, Almeida. We knew about a lot of these, Alexander Rackich against Osama, Mirza Kanoff. We have two big time additions here first and what will probably be the co-main event.

It's a women's strawweight rematch this time, though, for the vacant 115 pound title after the exit of Zhang Wei Li, who, by the way, exits this division on a five-fight win streak. It's going to be Verna Janji Roba, 37 years old, against a constant. constantly up and down McKenzie Dern. We know Dern star power. We also know Dern owns a unanimous decision victory over Jan G. Roba when they met five years ago in mid-pandemic. This rematch is going to be, that was at UFC 256. So, Luke, this rematch goes for the strawweight title vacant.

We've got a two-fight win streak for Dern. We've got a five-fight win streak overall for Jandiroba. how are you looking at this rematch? Do you think this was the right move now for a division that's down on talent from its prime eras and now is even downer, but at least there's a big name in here, you know, and somebody who's earned it in Janjarova? Yeah, I mean, first of all, it's a rematch. The first fight was not especially interesting.

Janjarova was able to get her down and hold her down or at least use control time anyway and some superior positioning in the second round to take it, but otherwise got basically outstruck all the way through. and Dern went 0 for 5 on takedowns in their first fight. If you can imagine that, Janjuroba one for one. So it's kind of interesting, but it wasn't enough. Dern was better on the feet. And I think that's probably only maintained a degree of truth.

Like, like, Janjarobe is kind of up against it, right? Because her best way to win is probably going to be on the ground, but against Dern, that's a tough thing to do. It can be done, but it requires quite a bit. Anyway, it's the right fight to make, basically, right? You could have maybe gone a couple of different directions, but let's think about this logically, B.C. In Janjiroba, she did lose to Amanda Hebas back in October of 2021,

but since then has beaten Angela Hill via decision, Marina Rodriguez decision, Lupi Godinez, that's a tough one decision. She submits Amanda Lameh in the second round and then beats Jan Shaunan. Now, if anyone's deserving of a title shot in this division, it's after a run like that. Dern does not have that kind of a run. That is true. However, she is on a two-fight win streak where she beat Lupi-Godd,

DNS via decision and then submitted Amanda Hebas and looked, you know, again, in general, I think pretty good in that fight, all things being what they are. So it's like Dern is 32. I did verify that. She's 32. B.C., this is the end of her prime. If you're going to give her a title shot, you know, there's a two-fight win streak enough. That's up for debate, but probably the wins are quality. She promotionally satisfies an interesting need. There is a chance that if she gets the championship, which is, you know, a pretty good one at this point. You know, she'll fulfill some of the promise that was early in her career that I think some of us weren't sure she would ever do.

So I'm cool with it. I think this is a deserving fight. You especially have a deserving contender in Janjiroba. I can't make any claims about what kind of fight it will be in terms of the best thing ever, but it's a worthwhile addition to this card. They didn't announce any fights yesterday where I was like, uh, all of them that they announced, I think, meaningfully contribute to the cards that they are on. I'll agree with you on that one.

And it's much better that Derns on a two-fight win streak, that she had to finish in her last one. Yes, she's four and four in her last eight. We've seen a lot of those up and downs. But it's a constant theme when we react to her fights. Even, you know, we know that she has elite skills in certain categories, an incredible chin, some of the best submission game. Obviously, she's never fully rounded out that game. But she is a star. And, Luke, if we're going to be honest here, if this was Verna versus Lemos,

who, you know, but you wouldn't do that because Janjarova recently beat her or or Janjarova against, you know, Jan Shaunan, I'm going to be honest. I don't think people would care at all about this fight. I think they'd almost be like get it off on the main card. I think there's intrigue. There's always intrigue in Dern's story. She's always carried herself like a star. I want to see what happens here. This is a, I mean, what do you think about this payper view and all?

Because do you think people will get behind Aspinall gone or is it weird that John left? left stripped of the title now he's back gone came off a win against volkov that you know no one believe he earned and in his other big step up title opportunities he laid two eggs so this card does have some things going against it in some ways how do you feel about how 321's coming together i i mean i don't know if it's my favorite card i want to see the whole thing here up uh so i can take a look at it and give you a more accurate answer are we're going to get to the umar fight too because that one got put on there yes so just a quick i'll see say, Umar and Magamatov coming off the loss in the title bout to Marab de Valishvili will take on

a Mario Battista, who last time I checked is still streaking. So that adds to the depth of this card for sure. All right. So what I'm going to say is, again, first of all, if you look at the flyweight rankings, there's a question, there's no question that Virna, as the number one contender deserves at which we said. Durn is sitting at five. The problem is Lemos got beaten. She's sitting at four. Yon Shaunan got beat by Verna. She's sitting at three. Tatiana Suarez just came off of a loss of the chip well the champion's no longer there but it's sitting at number two you know could you have gone with godinez at six both of them beat her there's the yasmin lucindo and tabitha ritchie element who are further down the line and i'm not saying they deserve it either

but there is at least some question about whether durn deserves the title shot but the point is is jadjurobe is at one durn's at five everyone in between is either lost to the champion or lost to either of those contenders so i can i can kind of see them by a process of elimination that's why you would go there. Also, Tom Aspinall, defending the heavyweight title by itself is kind of a minor miracle, given what we've been through. And I know that God didn't deserve this fight. There's absolutely zero argument that he does. But independent of the rankings, this is somebody that Tom hasn't faced. And it's somebody who, at least in theory, on the feet, we don't know a lot about Tom. Like, we just don't. We don't. I mean, he does this all the time to escape, and we don't know what he looks like in the fourth round. We don't know anything. You would have think that there's on, on, some level Cyril Gahn might be able to answer some of these questions. So the bout has value. So to me, that has intrigue. Those have intrigue. Volkov Almeida, to me, is a little less interesting. Rackage versus Mursa Kahnov is very interesting. Abdel Wahab versus Chris Barnett is just, you know, I'm not going to trash it,

but it doesn't do anything. I'll take Chris Barnett against anybody if you're just going to add on another fight. Yeah, I mean, it's an add-on fight to make the card more fun, right? That's what it is. Iqram Alaskarov and Park Jon Yong is a fine fight. And there's some other ones down the line. you mentioned Nirmogamadov and Bautista, which, by the way, is actually a pretty good fight. Yeah, let's talk about that. What you're pointing out is, there's nothing like, it's like, it's not like 322 where like it's like very perfectly aligned at this moment in time. It's kind of like putting pieces together.

But what I'm going to say is it also lacks 321, a little electricity, whereas 322 is the sky is crackling with it, you know. There's a lot more questions to be answered that matter a lot more. it seems at 322, but it is good at 321 at the very least that Aspinall gets back to business. He rightfully gets to be the, you know, defending undisputed champion. And at least gone as the big, I guess the biggest name left outside of John Jones, who was potentially available here. I want to get to Batista in a, or Narragamatov in one second.

Dern won the first fight. I forgot to ask you this against Janja Roba. It wasn't a thriller. She got the job done as they stand right now in terms of their current stop. I think Jan Giroba should almost be the favorite here. How do you look at that? Yeah, I mean, I don't know if they have odds at Long Island Luke just yet, but I would agree. I mean, well, she's certainly done better work in that division.

There's no question. That's not even arguable. You have to ask yourself those stiles make fights. And this is someone who already got beat. Granted it was some time ago, 2020 or so, 2021, something like that. Maybe 2019. 2020. 2020. Okay. So, you know, game has changed a little bit since then, but I feel like Dern's gotten better. The question is, has Janji Roba gotten a lot better since then? I don't know. I don't know about that. I don't know about that. All right. In that band and weight division, this is a very key bout to potentially, in all theory, produce a new title challenger. I mean, maybe not direct. I mean, let me ask you that, Luke. Mario Bautista, the run he's on. If you know, B two Martin Maga medal,

off. It's going to be hard not to put him in a title fight, considering Marab is quickly, you know, clearing out all the big names. But do you think the same thing is at stake for Umar, given the fact that it was a very close fight against Marab? Umar seemed to really dominate the first two rounds before Marab was able to really pull on that gas tank. Could you see him bouncing right back into a rematch with a win in this one? Um, well, you got yawn out there. That's the interesting. That's also true. Yes, yes. And the issue is, people are just desperate to not give Mario Bautista his credit.

He's a very good fighter. Whether you like him, whether you find him exciting, or whether his style is in any way pleasing to you, these are not irrelevant questions. Every fan gets to feel how they feel about a fighter. No problem. It's cool. But you can't say he's not good. He is very good.

He did not luck his way into the situation that he, he's in he played a white win streak by the way right exactly in this way class i don't give a shit dude you're not fighting eight jumps in a row it's not happening so uh but the problem is for umar dude umar's sitting at two in the rankings bautista is sitting at eight wow that would be like i mean maybe catastrophic is a strong word but that would be terrible for umar numigamedov if he lost this fight meanwhile what a boost to the fortune of maria bautista who would have the Jose Aldo fight in his back pocket. Granted, didn't make him a lot of fans, but it didn't hurt his professional standing. And you beat Umar, brother, you're, you're right there. You're right

there. Whereas Umar's got the problem of Mario, Mario can be beaten, but not many people look super awesome doing it. He's kind of like tough to like style on. And so with Jan sitting right out there having styled in his last fight, I don't know. It's, it's going to be tough. I mean, I get like, I mean, they say fight win streak for Bautisa. If he gets this to be nine, I mean, you know, that's even more than Fluffy's got at the moment. And he just happens to be a middleweight in a, in a clog division at the very top. But like, how much is it, how much should people hold against Bautista to fight, despite the eight fight win streak, which didn't get elite names until sort of the latter half,

that he fought somewhat safe against Jose Aldo and that he beat Apache Mix and his UFC debut, who unfortunately, I hate to say. it laid a giant egg, didn't move his head at all, kept walking in, you know, as if he didn't respect his opponent at all and ultimately paid for it in a big way. Yeah, I mean, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not sure what to say about that. He didn't, you know, Bar, Batista's, I'll say this about Batista. How about this? Here is a wonderful opportunity to finally prove to the fans exactly who you are.

right styles make fights that's one issue previously that's affected him and and it will be you know relevant potentially in every single contest but what i'm saying is an ummer numigameh made off yeah he didn't beat marab but i think he is a very well-rounded super talented fighter and if you can beat a guy like that you know yes there's a way he could do it where it's you know another sort of thing that the fans point is boring but it's also an opportunity depending on what you can do to really showcase your level of ability and the kinds of things you're capable of on your best day. It really is a fantastic opportunity to finally prove once and for all.

You might begrudgingly welcome me into the top 10, but this is a chance to really seal the place, certainly inside the top five and potentially even top three with that kind of performance. So, you know, there's a lot he's up against. There's a lot that's gone wrong from a promotional standpoint, but a fight like this against an opponent like that. By the way, not in his backyard, BC, but in something roughly approximating, you know,

Numerka Madov's backyard. This is also big opportunity for him. Yeah, we've yet to get our first UFC Dagestan card. Still waiting on that. That's your reaction there. I got to say, as much as I respect Mario Batista's game, man, I really do want Mara versus Umar part two, whether it would happen next or Peoriaian will get the first crack. We'll see how it plays off.

That's a hell of a launch there from Dana yesterday. I'm sure more to come. Luke, we're talking about the summertime here. It's the tail end of it. And you know what can happen. More sweat, more heat, more stink potential. You've got to be ready. And if there's one thing I know I'm not messing around with when I'm out in public

representing me and my family is my deodorant, my smell, right? I'm talking about Mando deodorant plus sweat control. And it is built for this season, right? Depending on where you live, it can still be very hot out there. What does Mando give you? How about blocking odor all day, controlling sweat, powerful, the pits but gentle on the skin it's not your typical drugstore pick this is a high-performance pit shield and look if i'm grilling in 90 degrees i'm playing golf i'm chasing the kids around hey

heck if i'm chasing the muff around although i'm clearly not luke uh i'm trying to survive swamp ass right i'm trying to be out there looking good smelling good i don't want to worry about that that's why when it comes down to it dude i'm representing mando whether it's the spray whether it's the cream, whether it's the pit stick. I mean, look, I could show you right now how to even, you know, apply this and smell. I mean, you know, I could get. I thought, I thought you were going to do the John Daly and then spray it in your mouth. I mean, look, the thing is, this is the first time I've put on deodorant all day. So I smell good right here. And why would I use it? Why would I hype it up on this show? It smells great. It's also doesn't have

the kind of ingredients in there that you have to worry about. What else can you say about Mando that makes it unique, Luke. Yeah, I mean, there's so many things, as you indicated, just quality products that don't irritate your skin, they feel great, and it takes good care of it. What you want is something reliable. Am I getting my money's worth? Does this product work and does it work at a price point that matters? And on all of those questions, we absolutely have you covered. So here's what you're going to do, guys. Check out everything. What you're going to go to is shopmando.com. You can see it right here where I'm pointing at shopmando.com and use our code combat. That's combat with K, you're going to get 20% off sitewide plus free shipping for new customers only.

And what do I like about Mando? We've already talked about some of the unique benefits, but let me tell you a couple things more created by a doctor. How important is that? Who saw firsthand, of course, how B.O. can be, you know, not treated all that well. But this one is clinically proven to block odor all day and control odor for up to 72 hours. Talk about bang for your buck. Mando deodorant product options include the solid deodorant.

stick, the spray on deodorants, or whatever kind of application you want, and all the products baking soda free and paraben free. And you can choose from a variety of sense from things like Clover Woods or Bourbon Leather or Mount Fuji or pro freaking sports. So Mando's starter pack is perfect for new customers. It comes with a solid stick deodorant, cream tube deodorant, two free products of your own, like mini body wash and deodorant wipes and free shipping. And And as a special offer for listeners, new customers get 20% off site wide with our exclusive code. So use combat.

That's combat with a K at shopmando.com 20% off sitewide plus free shipping. Boys, what are we waiting for? That's what I'm saying. Whether you use the cream or the clear like Gary Sheffield, you're still going to smell great. All right, let's keep it moving here. Topic number two. We got a big time, I guess of sorts, boxing event this weekend.

And it's drawn big time attention. It's going to air on DeZone Saturday 1 p.m. Eastern main card start live from Manchester, England. It's Misfits Boxing 22 and certainly has a major mixed martial arts presence on it from a main event that pits Darren Till against Luke Rockhold. And if you've seen some of the press conference hijinks this week and our good friend, Ben the Bain Davis, got a nice elbow in the face from Darren Till when they had to be held off. that's going to be a God, a Bridgerweight, Bauer, are we really doing this? So Bridgerweight is what, 200 to 224? Yes, yes.

And we've also got Tony Ferguson making his boxing debut here against Salt Poppy. We'll get into that a second. Dylan Danis will also be taking an MMA fight on a boxing card. I'm not sure why that matters. But Luke, when it comes to disruption, we give BKFC credit when they do it. Mike Perry versus Jeremy Stevens. I'm going to watch it. What about Darren Till versus?

is Luke Rockhold. The current betting odds have Tillas an overwhelming betting favorite minus 2,000. He has looked well in making it look good and making this boxing transition. Luke Rockhold, who of course was brutally stopped and really asked out of the fight in BKFC against Mike Perry is a plus 1,000 underdog. From the standpoint of disruption, do you care about this fight on Saturday? Um, No. No. I mean, listen, we know, it is what it is, right? Yeah. There's an audience for this. Okay. Darren Till, with a win, in my opinion, could potentially be in the Jake Paul sweepstakes. I don't know how likely that it is, but I would not rule it out, depending on how this goes. And hasn't lost, I think, since losing to DDP, right when his last UFC fight I think he's won all everything he's done outside of the the octagon since then you mentioned he's a big favorite people seemingly want to see this

I don't know that it's got relevance certainly for Rockhold who's what like 40 years old at this point I mean he's he's he's getting up there there's just nothing to say about him he's just an aging guy doing an aging guy's thing and that's no hate but that's just where he's at Darren Till to me still has a little bit how old is Darren Till he still got a little bit of life left in him. He's 32. He's 32 BC. So there's a little bit more interesting on the Darren Till side of things. And we've seen ABC guys who, you know, that can kind of wash out of MMA and then rehabilitate themselves doing influencer boxing or BKFC or some combination of the two. It can happen that you can revive your name to a degree. I think Darren Till's got an interesting opportunity, you know, but does it

plug you back into the, you know, major pipeline? of elite talent i don't think we can you know that's not what this is about right that is not what this is about you know fun disruption i i like what you're saying there about the potential for till of a jake paul fight they have that's crazy do you think that's crazy no i don't think that's crazy when you look at it right now and if you're looking at the opponents jake paul is choosing you can say all he wants about you know fighting for cruiserate world titles he's he's still looking to just sell you know sell events and make and make big big things happen um i i mean have i love the till I mean, it, it seems forced Till yells into the microphone even more than I do in this show, Luke.

But I do recognize that Darren Till seems to have found a home here. This is the same weekend that we're also getting Mike Perry and John Jones presenting dirty boxing with Jire Zeno Rosenstruck fighting for their inaugural heavyweight championship. But I do care about this more. I want to see what happens. In terms of who might win, unfortunately, I have no confidence in Luke Rockhold right now. Is that overstated because Mike Perry did seem to with the bare knuckles break his teeth on that, you know, on the first attack there. Do you feel like Darren Till will slice through him ultimately? Probably.

I mean, Rockhold does have the win over shilling from karate combat and that was nice. But it just feels like Rockhold's durability has taken a hit. I mean, again, dude, I mean, that's not even an insult. Like, how could it not? Right. He's 40. He's been, he was, you know, a champion in fucking strike force for crying out loud. Like, you know, he's had a good, long amount of damage.

It takes a toll and Till is still in his, at least athletic prime, probably. So, yeah, like, I don't think it's in any way unfair to raise some of these questions. You know, again, combat sports is crazy. It's not like Till is unbeatable, but I don't think it's unfair to look at like Luke Rockhole situation to be like, yeah, this might not go well, right? This might not go well. He did fight like an absolute dog in that sort of weird final UFC fight against Paula Costa. But hey, they're going to do it.

We'll see what happens ultimately. It seems like there's just as much attention on what will happen in this co-main event. By the way, hold on. Real quickly, that fight against Costa was three years ago. Yeah, you're right. You know what I mean? It was August of 2022. It's been a while.

I mean, I just feel like why would Luke have the dog in him to win a really hard fight like this if he has to? I wonder if it's just the competitor and him stay busy, get another paycheck. Till's still in his physical prime. Till seemingly has more things to win from this. So I understand Till has a 20 to one favorite. Good Lord, maybe that's, that does seem. That does seem high. That does seem high right there.

Speaking of getting high, Long Island, Luke, are you going to jump on the plus 1,000 rock hold odds here? No, actually, I thought you had at first you were team me up for Darren Till. Yeah, plus 1,000. I feel like that is actually. worth a dabble on for Rockhold because I feel like neither guy is that great and this is boxing, anything could happen? Yeah, I would throw down on Rockall.

All right, there you go. Hey, let's move on to that co-main event, 41-year-old Tony Ferguson for better or for worse. Probably worse is still fighting here following eight consecutive UFC defeats to end his career. Of course, beginning with that Jacksonville interim title loss in which he took a lot of damage against Justin Gachie back during the pandemic. he'll welcome salt poppy it's a weird ass fight it's interesting and weird ferguson a plus

340 underdog so not insanely out of it minus 500 for salt poppy if you're like hey who the heck is salt poppy uh i did kind of have to look it up and now my uh my tapology page is giving me issues so salt poppy is uh five than you bustamante 31 years old he hails from england His real name, as Luke mentioned, is Nathaniel Bustamante. I believe he used to be a fat guy who slimmed down overall in these cross-over... Let me ask the question. I thought Sal Poppy was American. Like, I know he's fighting out of London.

Is it... I don't. I mean, you know, do I know? No, do I care even more? No. Two fuckos in their late 40s being like, where Saul Poppy from? I mean, seriously. I mean, it could be Salt Bay for all I know.

So overall, Saul Poppy is six and two in his boxing escapades, but he has a one three in a row not against names you'll remember he does have a loss to anthony taylor the former bellator fighter who has been all over jake paul and misfits boxing cards look the story here is a lot more about tony ferguson what do we expect here what are we doing i mean this is a five round middleweight bout uh does this end bad here or does this somehow revive tony but if it did revive tony would you want it to you know what i mean look like you know like you know like what's the best scenario here i mean i just want to go over here very quickly tony ferguson is 41 years of age he's older than luke rock hold his last win came against donald saroni this

was in june of 2019 um prior to the pandemic since then he got viciously beaten up and stopped by justin gaichie he got you know uh thrashed by charles olivera similar to benille daryush who lost that as well he got one of the worst front KOs I've ever seen against Michael Chandler. He got guillotined by Nate Diaz. He got arm triangle choked by King Green, Bobby Green. Then he got decisioned by Patty Pimlet, and then he got choked out,

be a rear naked choke in the first round by Michael Kiesa. Can I be honest? I didn't even remember that he fought Michael Kiesa. I literally have memory hold that. And that was the last time we saw him, which was a year ago, BC, August of 2024. It's not MMA. And so on some level, you might say, and he's fighting an influencer, so you might say, well, you know, I don't know. How bad could it be? I think it's scheduled for five rounds if memory serves. I believe five rounds. But, you know, I've not been, and I think most of us would agree, not been super overwhelmed with the quality of boxing we've seen from MMA fighters who have crossed over Tony in his time and his peak certainly had very good MMA boxing.

but he's always had like monster defensive lapses. I don't know how you can walk into this fight and not feel at least some level of deep concern for this man. Long Island, Luke, I'm honestly not really, you know, prepped or cared enough to prep on how good is salt poppy as a boxer. Could you share any insight with us on this or did we fail? Yeah, we failed. I didn't do any research on this guy. He's got, he's got a little bit of power. he's got a little bit of power and i think he's got probably better skill than tony he certainly has much more boxing experience in terms of like bouts even if you want to call them exhibitions or whatever

he's like done the thing yeah um six and two overall as i mentioned yeah i mean am i ready to say like oh he's in trouble like i don't i don't know enough to say if tony's in trouble but like just even if you didn't know anything about salt poppy just given the circumstances by the way he as British, but shows what I know. If you didn't know the circumstances, or sorry, just knowing the circumstances of Tony Ferguson, you're like, this seems bad.

This seems like really, really bad. Let's look at the faceoff that they had this week. If the bodies can show us anything or maybe the looks, look at that smile from Callie Sowerland behind Tony right there. That guy's never been to a bad party. Tony taller, right, against the 510. Rangier.

Yeah. I like the no tie look. I mean, he does look a little gangster right there, but it's it's just we've seen enough to know we've seen too much is really where I'm going with this. We also got some comment. Look at Ben the Bain in the middle right there. Shout up to that guy. He will be on the broadcast as a ringside reporter. He called me drunk last night. I love that. Todd Grisham, of course, will be on the call on DeZone along with about 18 other announcers because that's how DeZone does it. Here is Tony Ferguson talking about the ever elusive. Habib Narmaga-Med-off fight. I know you mentioned the build-up to this. You did an interview a few weeks ago about the time when Kabeb confronted you at a hotel in front of your family. Is that the closest you've ever felt to having personal hatred to someone?

Would Kibib be the only person? Or was that still not enough to bring hatred out of you? I would call it hatred. He's still fat-headed my book. You know, he's still Kabeber on his world tour. When it goes into it, his dad was the one that saved him from some real ass weapons and just getting bloody and stitched up and all this other stuff. He did some foolish things.

I mean, he went in New York and he made some homeless do pushups and threw money at him like there were strippers, which is ridiculous. You know, him and his cousin in Rockerchief. When it goes into it, I like to be able to look after the people that can't look after themselves, and I've always done that since I was little. This Saturday come from with Nathaniel and assault. You know what I mean? I don't have to go on there and intimidation.

It's not my bag to be able to do that. I carry a certain presence with myself whenever I show up. I don't mean to, but it's just how I am. It's just how I look. And that's just somebody that demands persons doesn't have to really say anything. They just show up. No, no Tara Misu reference.

They're from Tony. That's a shocker. I do like Tera Mousseau. I respect this guy so much, Luke, that, like, I don't even want to see him talk trash anymore. I want to, I just want to, yeah, but this is. I legit wish, like, you know, and you can't wish this for all the fighters who performed heroically during the time you watch them, but you, like, you wish they could be coaches and then just, you know, take pride in that and getting ready for the next.

next generation and it's like that i realize i realize we all know that can't be everybody but there's a few of them you wish it could be true i mean tony at least in his in his prime as a talker had such a great personality could command a media scrum and entertain you the whole time that i remember specifically ahead of that fight with anthony pettis it was like he did a couple of those at media day where we're like we're just all mesmerized as he does his schick i i'd almost wish he became a commentator or a person, you know, a US commentator is a strong word. I get it. But like those, you know, I get it. All right. That is what it is. No, but to your point, to your point, just thriving in a fight related role, right? Still in the fight game, just not putting his health

on the line. I will say, though, BC, there's going to be a lot of fist pumps if he viciously chaos salt poppy, which, yeah, sure, you know, I've nothing against the guy, but as an influencer, it would be nice to see an MMA fighter sleep him. But if it's another MMMA, fighter getting torched by an influencer, you know, not great is what I would say. I bet Tony wasn't born a little bit later so that he could pull a Sakuraba and just try to beat all the Nirmaga Madoffs and extended Nirmaga Madoffs to finally get the final boss, Habib at the end of the day. Speaking of Habib.

Quickly on Habib, did you see a kid Nate tweeted out some report that it was revealed that Habib was offered $35 million for a comeback fight at some point in recent years? I did not see that. By the UFC, I don't know the sourcing on that, but Kid Nate was trying to make a point that TKO in this era, whether it's John Jones or Habib, they will, for a big one, they will pay, but that could have been Saudi money too, for all we know.

Yeah, I mean, I'd be curious to learn more, for sure. Yeah, there you go. Oh, we got one more piece of sound here. So Dylan Dennis apparently has an MMA fight on this card, and he caused trouble all week. At the press conference, he cared more about getting in KSI's face than his actual opponent. here is dylan danis talking about one tony ferguson now we're doing it right now we're doing

right now you're boxing you won't get paid if you fight about you fucking me are you all right my dick you need to focus you need to focus on my dick then i bend you over and fuck you dirty we apologize for the language here on just so hey luke why demon levato turn gay after you fucked her i apologize for the language again on the zone little sewer act you even know what the fucking fuck up let's take it to warren spencer the mechanic 40 years old with fucking Bon hair. There's a lot. Obviously, Luke, I read that wrong.

That was Luke Rock Coldoo. And after not Tony, that was your sound bite of the week. Did Luke, in fact, turn that woman. Okay, enough for that. I got to say, that's got, first of all, that's definitely got some BKFC vibes. Yeah. However, however, he doesn't deliver it well, but that's a pretty good thing. It's a pretty good thing, I think.

Will Dylan Dennis ever fight in the PFL or UFC in your mind? Not like I really care. Like I used to care when he was YouFC, definitely not. I cared when he was in Bellator, but yeah. UFC definitely not. PFL to me probably. No, I'll say no.

I'll take the under. I'll take the under. All right, there we go. Misfits 22 this weekend is on. One P. Eastern, check it out if you care. Also this weekend. Craig Jones is back with C.J.I.2. The Craig Jones grappling invitational,

a two-day event at the Thomas and Burp Center. in Las Vegas, excuse me. Luke, we know that C.J.I.1 last year was a big deal. It seemed to, like, disrupt the grappling industry. It also seemed to influence UFC if they already weren't in the influential stages of, according to Craig, copying their model and rolling out their own grappling league. We did see Demetrius Johnson this week hold the debate between Craig Jones and new UFC grappling star

and former one championship vet, Mikey Musa Mechie. First and foremost, Luke, what can you tell us? We do have a change in the main event. That's been a big storyline. What should we care about? What should we know about entering C.J.I.2 this weekend. A reminder, you had Craig Jones on this MK in your damn house a couple months back. Yeah, I'll make this as simple as I possibly can.

First of all, it'll be a two-day event. Saturday, basically at 9 p.m. Eastern. I think there's a pre-show at like 8.30, but basically 9 p.m. And then Sunday, 9 p.m. So same time, Saturday, Sunday. And this year, it's very, very different. Now, it's still going to be in that slanted thing that the UFC just straight up took from them. And everyone's like, oh, you know, Craig got it from karate combat, which is true, but he licensed it from them.

And anyway, it's a different story. But neither here nor there. Here's what you need to know. It's a team concept. It's like quintet. Do you remember quintet, B.C.? I do remember it. Not like I watched it, but I remember it.

Yeah. Five versus four. five is how it goes but the way it works is let's say you're on a team you're on team connecticut and i'm on team dc and we battle and i beat the first guy from team connecticut i just stay doing that until i've beaten as many people as i can and one person can wipe out the whole team that can actually happen depending on how it goes you're going to have all of the 80cc weight classes here so 66 kilos 77 88 99 and then plus 99 you'll have one representative from each team but here's the interesting part bc so let's say team dc fights team connecticut you beat me my coach

will have a royal rumble style clock from which they then can pick whoever they want to go face you and then the big reveal will not be announced it will just happen royal rumble style where like the curtain opens and then that person walks out and all the coaches are going to have this royal rumble opportunity to you know pick exactly what matchup they want given the circumstances so that's basically how it's going to work winning team takes home a million and then they can split that however they want there's also a four-person women's bracket i'll get to that in just a second that is interesting and that's the highest prize money for any woman's tournament ever i believe um very quickly if you're wondering where it air can you tell us where it airs live and free on the b team youtube channel you don't

have to pay a cent to watch it. It's right there. You can go and check it out. The teams are new wave. That's the Gordon Ryan's not competing, but that's the Gordon Ryan kind of, well, he's King's way now, but that's their team. They're going to face off in the first round against Team Americas. By the way, the guy who coaches Team Americas BC, Greg Souters, was very briefly a guy that I got to train with many, many years ago. I find him to be a very, very good coach. Did he tap that ass? I don't know if I ever rolled with him. He was just teaching classes, But Atos faces with who has Diego Pato, who might be one of the best competitors in the world, takes on Team Europe. B-Team is on this as well.

They're going to take on Daisy Fresh. Daisy Fresh has some of the most interesting names. BC Michael Pixley and NCAA Division II national champion on Daisy Fresh had a huge win at ADCC last year. And to me, is one of these guys who might have gone into MMA, but for the nature and growth of submission grappling, now just does pure sport. instead. So keep an eye on him. 10th Planet will take on team Australasia. And then the women's tournament is going to be Helena Cravar, who is like a teen phenom out of New Wave, taking on previous 80-CC champion, Adele Fornerino, and then

Anavir, taking on Sarah Galvan. Day 2, BC will have, you know, basically the, whatever the winners were from day one face off to win the championship. Also on that is going to be Craig Jones taking on Chale Son. Now, you might say, wasn't that supposed to be Gable Steveson? Yes, it was. It is not going to be that anymore. Gable Steven pulled out with turf toe.

What is interesting about this, BC, and I'm not making any suggestions. I do not know what the truth is. What I can tell you is Gordon Ryan put out an Instagram post claiming that Gable pulling out of the event was a boss move by UFC. I don't know exactly what he's implying, but there's no interpretation of that where that is good. I don't know what, I don't know what that means exactly. But in any case, Gable has a fight pass LFA event in two weeks as pro-MMA debut and is pulling out here with Turf Toe such that you can call that whatever that is. Anyway, could I interrupt you and ask?

Would you argue that like the biggest storyline slash rivalry in this event is actually Craig Jones versus the UFC rather than any of the grappling teams or individuals facing off? Yes. In fact, if I have both one blessing and curse for this event, You are so right, you nailed it exactly, which is, on the one hand, if you follow Craig on social media, and he's been doing the rounds, he did MK, he did Ariel Show, he did the Mighty Mouse debate, all this kind of stuff. He's been making the rounds. He has done an unbelievable job as one man trying to promote a jihitsu event. But one of the downsides to this is, A, B.C. Gable Steven, even before pulling out, wasn't doing any promo at all, which was a problem. And more to the point, none of the people, people competing in the jiu-jitsu matches have any kind of promotional rivalry that can sell the event beyond what Craig is doing. So, like, yes, Craig has done a very, very good job, in my opinion. But the limit to that is he's just really one guy doing it. How much can one guy do? While substantial, I would argue not nearly enough for what the event, frankly, needs and deserve. So there's a bit of a

problem there for sure. Anyway, just to wrap it up, he's going to be going up against Chale's son and in a super fight. My hope is that they make it kind of fun because from a competitive state, standpoint, it really shouldn't be, although I will say BC shouts to the West Lynn Gangster just showing up on the worst of circumstances for a very difficult task at this age, pretty remarkable. Yeah, but the only thing I'll hedge that with is he also showed up for that Anderson Silva boxing trilogy and the two of them did WWE style boxing in Brazil for a bunch of money.

Like, I almost feel like they should add strikes to this fight just so it's not like, you know, goofball, grab each other's package, and then Craig taps them out, you know what I mean? There's no way it's going to be great, right? I mean, how could it be? But what is Craig supposed to do? It's a one time a year event. If the thing falls through, he said this. I don't know if you saw this. Did you see Craig spoke to Oscar Willis yesterday for MacLife? No. And so in it, what he basically says is we didn't do a good enough job planning a backup. We should have had a backup planned because it is one time of year and what are you going to do if the full thing the main event so to speak fell out you know five days before it's supposed to happen it just is terrible timing um but you know i

i really believe Craig understands how to make jujitsu entertaining cjai one was a massive success i know for mma fans it's gone a little bit under the radar but i i'll say this i am very cautiously optimistic that you're going to see something really fun and special on Saturday and Sunday. All right. Long Island Luke reminding us that Chale and Craig did grapple at ADCC in 2017. Yes. Craig winning by heel hook. We've got sound from Craig. This is from the mighty debate that Demetrius Johnson put on. It was a sort of entertaining back and forth. Here is Craig talking about what has become a rivalry with UFC over his accusation that they are banning their own grappling

athletes or fighters from appearing on his cards. We had never negotiated officially they've thrown money at us terrible money for the streaming rights to CGI but the ultimate fighter reality show was separate deal gotcha so what you're saying is that they offered you money to coach uh yeah they basically told us for nine months that like no you're not competition any of our guys can do it like we're not going to hold them back CGI is separate it's live and free on YouTube as long as it's not behind a paywall all our athletes can do it and then they offered me the show with Mikey and then the second I said no no athletes could do it anymore

Again, false promises. Breaking my heart, they did, Mikey. Do you think if you would have did that, can other athletes outside of the UFC do CGI? Because you think about it, if you had all the UFC roster at CGI, and then you brought in, like, you know, Mika, who's under, who's number one,

you have one championship, those guys. Or do you think if that was, you went that route, do you think one championship would allow their guys to compete under a UFC, you know, I don't want to say it's sponsored by the UFC, but I would say UFC has their their claws in there. Yeah, I mean, it would have been difficult, I think. Like, if it would have been on fire pass, no one championship athletes or no flow grappling athletes would have been how to do it. As it stands, free on YouTube, flow grappling athletes can do it. So can one championship.

Respect to one championship. I didn't think they were going to do that initially. And now it's just UFC beached athletes that really can't do our event. And I think given it's live and free on YouTube. It's a singular event here. We're not creating a league that's a rival. I just felt like it was a petty move to rob the athletes they've signed from a fun opportunity to compete.

It is a risk for them. Obviously, one championship allowed the Ritalos in. Tye got injured. It is a risk. Yep. He looks like the red rooster with that haircut, Luke. If Chale ends up beating up half of the Luxor again after mismanaging his dosage,

do you think they could get Chhatri in for the super fight. That's like an extreme last minute. Well, no one has really good Chalana material except you, maybe. Apparently, and I love Chale too, but... I know, I love Chale. That's so it's, I mean, you know, it's funny to me, but...

That is interesting, Luke. They offered him, as he says, like, dirt money to do the ultimate fighter coaching gig in grappling against Mikey. I was surprised Mikey was allowed to even do that debate. I mean, you know what I mean? He didn't come off great. Did you watch it at all? I watch parts of it, but, you know, look it's grappling. If it's not

Gabby Garcia and the guy from karate combat making me laugh, you know, exclusively. Hanato LaRangea? Yeah, I mean, that guy's just brilliant. So no. Here's Greg, Craig, one more talking about the success of CJI

part one. A million dollars potentially. So how many people are there in Jitsu? A huge amount, right? And only two people have made the million dollars, like you said. And that's great for them. Cade and Nicky. They did amazing, right? But didn't your first event lose millions of dollars doing that? So you lost money from an investor doing that. So is that actually a successful event? It's successful because you helped our sport grow making money. But how can we do

that? How could that sustain anything long term? Well, I think it's successful because the UFC copied it. So it's, I don't need if you have a shot. Come on. I have one shot with me. I haven't interrupted yet. I will interrupt you for sure. That's kind of. That's on the line. He raised my hand. Go, go. All right. So you said that it wasn't, C.J.I. It's not successful over a long period of time.

And I think when you talked, that wasn't your goal. Your goal was to change the sport of Jiu-Jitsu. Yeah, the first one was to change the sport of the Jiu-Jitsu. Obviously, the second one, if we were to sell the streaming rights, we would easily make a profit of it. So it would be a sustainable business. So I kind of feel like we could prove that for the second one, but we're electing to keep it live and free on YouTube. So it is, in my opinion, a sustainable business model in which athletes could have the exclusive contracts and still challenge the best grapplers in a CGI-like format.

Yes, Mikey. Did he end up drinking the tequila? I think he did, yeah. All right, all right. Um, do you think that Craig Jones could tap out Buccea or no? Um, yes. Yeah, I mean, it wouldn't be, uh, it'd be tough, but it could be done. Um, and do you believe you have C copied C.J.I? I don't, you know, I can't prove that. I, I don't know exactly how they came to create everything that they did, but it does seem a little odd that, um, you know,

they borrow the slanted kind of thing after C.J. I won was an enormous success. So, yeah, it's hard for me to see that there's not some kind of influence there. Do you feel like Craig is going to make this second one of success, even with losing Gable? Or do you, are you getting the feeling like with the TKO tentacles that this could be the last one? Well, that's the interesting part because, like, again, CGI 1, it was CJA versus ADCC at the same time in Vegas. So like the entire grappling world, well, not the entire grappling world, but the entire jiu-jitsu world had kind of descended on Las Vegas.

And there was like, it was the show versus the show. And now you don't have that element. And UFC is kind of playing, you know, prevent defense rather than, you know, ADCC was somewhat, somewhat leaning into the rivalry back then. It just doesn't the same kind of thing. As I mentioned, I think Craig has done an enormous amount of work to try and promote this thing. but that is only so much one guy can do. C.J.I.2, relative to the first one, is absolutely flying under the radar.

And what does that mean for the creation of a third one? I really don't know. Yeah. Craig also said on this very show that he might just disappear after C.J.I.2, you know, he might just be done with, well, he's going to be in Jack Dalyman, Adelaide's camp. But, you know, who knows what relationship to jihadical have. So, you know, yes, I would say there's some pretty big stakes on this event's success and what it means for the future. Finally, here's Craig talking about those. exclusive contracts one more time. Do you think exclusivity and Jiu-Jitsu is a good thing?

I think exclusivity in Jiu-Jitsu is important if the organization could actually back what they say, right? If they could give you a certain amount of matches, a salary for those matches, they give you the marketing to grow your brand and exposure, like long-term, like growing your brand, then I think it's important. If they can do that, then I think it's horrible. I think that exclusivity saves athletes from pulling out of events from other. events you know I think that's very important because what stops some millionaire giving an Australian money to poach people from an event so then they can't do their event what stops out from happening without exclusivity

so I think that that's important because of some of those reasons I just said okay Craig do you think exclusivity in Jiu jitsu is a good thing obviously UFC BJ and I know who's number one and I believe there's a couple other ones that have exclusivity but how do you throw out that contract binding on the athlete. I mean, it's good if they get paid, but UFC, PJJ has one good athlete in each weight division, so there's no good, interesting matches they can book. Who's your next opponent, Mikey? I'm not, I'm not allowed to say. What's his caliber? Top 10? Top 10, top 5?

Yes. Top 10, top 5 in no gear or in ghee? Has he competed in no gear before? Absolutely. I don't want to interrupt you, sorry. You don't want to show him? Well, you asked me a question, so I So it's a good opponent. Yes, sir. But for the most part, do UFC BJJ have the best athletes, enough good athletes to warrant exclusive contracts? Well, I think...

You want me to answer it? No, no, no, no, no, no. I think it's more about not if they're having enough good athletes. Is exclusivity good for Jiu-Jitsu, right? Like, I don't remember if I forget what Chilsana said. I want to fight the easy... I want to make as much money as possible and fight the easiest athlete in the world.

That's smart. i i look you're right mike he doesn't come across great here it's almost as if like there's no way he could have done this without being like a corporate chill in a sense right so it kind of just looks bad but if they ever remake lucas that classic 80s movie with cori hame and uh and uh charlie sheen yeah he i mean he fits the part perfectly all right look i haven't seen that one in quite some time that's a deep cut yeah yeah that is right there. So that is C.J.I. 2 this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, and live on the B-Team YouTube page. And maybe, maybe live on direct on Luke Thomas at YouTube.com, right? That's right.

All right. So check that. I mean, is there going to be a team winner or an individual winner in the end? Well, I mean, so a team winner is how I would answer that. But recall that one person could conceivably run the table on the other teams or team or whatever, such that there could be clearly a standout performer, but technically the million dollars will be awarded to the team. Indeed, indeed. All right. Let's transition to our final topic of the day, topic number four. And we're looking at the UFC schedule, which has certainly come together here for the end of summer, the totality of fall. But how about those two big ones on the calendar yet to be publicly decided? Of course, the annual December, Las Vegas pay-per-view, which will go down officially, at least in this era,

as the final actual pay-per-view with UFC then transitioning in January of 26 to Paramount slash CBS, having all of their numbered cards on Paramount Plus and going off of that pay-per-view model. I think we're supposed to be calling them PLEs, premium live events moving forward. But from the standpoint of who will close out their final pay-per-view and who will kick off their first card in January, which is yet to be announced on Paramount, we've got a few things to talk about. We know Islam is off the board now against JDM. We know a few other fights are. Luke, when we're looking at December and January, that Elio rumor did not come through whether he's going to end up fighting Gaichi, Armand, or Patty. Maybe I'm looking at how do you think

it plays out? Or maybe if you want, how would you like it to play out? Because these are two strategic cards. If UFC's going to finish this pay-per-view run, they may have a chance to cash in big one more time in December if they load it. No, I'm misunderstanding you. What do you mean? How do I want which event to play out? In terms of who, you know, the main and co-main events, who is looking like in your eyes

could and should populate the top end of these cards? Because there is that potential that they load up for a final pay-per-view to get as much money as they can. And then obviously, we're hoping they kick off this Paramount era with a bang with biggest star available, but a lot of those big stars are fighting in the next few months. I mean, if I'm doing my math right, I think the last event that the UFC is going to have in the ESPN era is, now we don't know this because they haven't fully announced anything, but it looks like to me, just based on a number of normal events they have in the course

of a year, that you're going, the last pay-per-view of the year is not going to be the last event of the year. I think it's probably going to be an apex event unless they announce it as something on the road. I have to tell you, if the last event in the ESPN era is an apex event, that is somewhat fitting, is it not? Yeah, I mean, it is. But really, I'm talking about the December pay-per-view. I understand. I understand. The point I'm trying to make is, I don't know how much of a priority going out on pay-per-view is a bang when you're walking into a $1.1 billion a year deal. Fair point. Yeah, I don't know that. I mean, I don't think they're going to phone it in. That's not my point, but like, are they going to try and load it up? My thought is this, BC. Here is how I'm thinking about it. My thought is, all this could change depending on who's available, who gets injured, you name it. But you've got to go with Volk Lorone Murphy as your December paper view.

Now, the question is, what do you marry that with? I think there's a good chance that you marry that with Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes. However, what you might say is, wouldn't you want Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes to headline? That is also a possibility. I don't know how to answer that. What I do think is likely, though, is that one way or the other, I think Volk versus Murphy probably ends up headlining your December pay-per-view for January and now we call them numbered events, PLEs, right? I guess that's what they're called. I think you go Ilya to

Poria. Now, the question is, what direction you go. I think we both got fooled by some fake news. Ilya's manager did not put out a statement like, you know, Viacong Dios Gaetia, or whatever it was. that was not true. It is true that Hanato Moikano said he was hearing that Geishi was next for Ilya at 322, but then we just saw what happened with 322. So the question is, dude, I'll get M.M.A. Cento

at any moment of the day, okay? Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of fake news. It's tougher than it looks. They're constantly get out of the way of it. But the point being is I think Volk Murphy headlines 323, and then 324 is going to be Ilya,

do they go, Sarju, Newky NBC? Do they give him that right away? Do they go with the old warhorse in Gachi? I don't think it's Patty Pimblet that just doesn't sound right to me, but something like that. And Amanda Nunes and Kayla Harrison could potentially serve as the co-main event in either of those, but I don't know who would be a secondary co-main event necessarily that you would throw in there. That's my general observation. Long Island Luke just updated us the other half of that rumor that was senteld to be the msg comane which is pantosia defending the title against josh van which has a lot of interest so what about if it goes and i like the idea of vulcair volk murphy in the main event in december van versus

pantosia for the flyweight title in the co main and what about this three fight top of the card banger for the first january p le this is me maybe wishful thinking well i don't think gachi is the best possible opponent for uh toporia he does carry a name he does carry a reputation for action and all that so what if it's toporia gaichi main event amanda kela co-main event and then armand versus patty as you're supporting bout for the next shot at the winner of the main event i don't hate it but you know what the voice of the people is really long island luke long island luke where are we out here like do or do we all think comes out is not going to be considered because of the wrestling and the unreliability for the

January. Well, you have to also think, whoever you're picking in January, how does that affect the White House car? That is also a relevant thing you can't ignore. So Long Island, who is headlining 323 and then 324, Comain in either direction? 323, I'm going Murphy, Volk, but I'm going to say the Comain is Pantoja Van. Okay. And then January, I'm going to say they start with a bang in that. era and not that this is the fight I want in fact it's third on my list but Ilya Patty

has to be the headliner for that do you think they pull that trigger? Yeah because I think like personally I want Armin but I just like from a fan let's get as much people subscribe in a Paramount Plus as quickly as pot like that's the fight you start with I think and I don't really think it matters what you put under it

Kayla and Amanda's a perfect co-main under that although I think that could actually headline on its own but that's the issue with like that's a killer co-main, but it's killer enough to headline on its own. What about Armin versus Gaichi has that co-main? And are we forgetting that Marab wants to defend the title four times this year and set the UFC record?

Does he get squeezed into December if he doesn't take damage coming up? No, because they'll probably announce it by October 4th, I would think. Right. Right. Also, like, dude, is Gaichy going to fight Armin? you know, I could see Gaichi fighting Pimbleau because it's a big enough name where you could, you could ricochet off of that, right? But, dude, Armin's in a tough spot because he's fucking good.

And the UFC brass is probably not as mad at him as they once were, but they clearly are not fucking happy with him, you know, like it's a tough spot, man. Now, the people we haven't mentioned who could do this, Hamzat's one of them, but like we said, he was dominant, he wasn't overly exciting. and do you risk the idea of his unreliability for that spot? What about the fact that both John Jones and McGregor are seemingly training and in the testing pool? I'm not saying, you know, we would love John Jones against Derek Lewis or something like that. But if the idea is to kick off the CBS Paramount, and believe me, I've zero inside information on this,

with an absolute bang, and they have done that in the Fox and ESPN eras. Luke, could you see them inserting either Connor or Jones just to completely light that match of bringing back every possible lapse fan that they can? For January? Yes. No. Or are you saving both for the White House?

I don't know what the UFC is supposed to do with either of them. First of all, I'd be happy if we never saw them again. True. I mean, I can see Connor Nate 3. Personal opinion. I realize everyone's going to be different. but you could see Connor Nate 3 at the White House easily you could I think you could I think you could I think you I think you really could um the Jones one is more interesting right because in the sense that like again you know to me he's effectively retired whatever else happens and to that point BC like how do you know he won't mess up between now and then like you just don't like there's why you give him that's why you give him like the proving fight you give him like the like who Derek Lewis yeah like it doesn't be Lewis it doesn't be Lewis. but what if they gave him a co-main opportunity on the January card to earn his respect back because they're thinking, what's the best main event we can make for July 4th? It might actually be Jones Aspinall, seriously.

Are we doing this again, dude? I don't want to do this again, but like, I'll say this, I'll say this, I'll say this. We should imagine what it might mean for Jones's return in the event that Aspinall gets smoked, right? What if he does lose to God? And I've said this since day one. The reason to make Jones Aspinall is maybe you might believe that Aspinall is the toughest test. And there's certainly plenty of good reason to believe that. But really, that's not the reason.

The reason is that that's the guy he's supposed to fight. There's no one else more deserving. Like we've been over that a million miles, a million times. What I'm trying to say is you're ducking responsibility to the most deserving guy. But the most deserving guy, as I say all the time, there's a lot that's really not known about him. We just don't know. So what if he loses to God? You might see John like running to get back, you know, into the UFC heavyweight division, in which case, yes, January could potentially be, you know, especially if it's a fight that's real winnable against somebody who can't really wrestle.

Dude, they might do exactly that, you know. What if Volkov ends up beating Almeida and they want to do Jones Volkov as like a return fight? Dude, that's not awful. That's not awful. I mean, it's conceivable, right? It's conceivable. Yeah, no, totally, totally conceivable. We'll have to wait and see. Let's go. Let's see what they do. Will they kick it off on Jan 6 on the steps? I don't know, Luke, they seem to like big, dude, there was a guy who rode, uh, I was, I went bike riding with, uh, with my neighbor and I took Tuki and then their kids.

We all went bike riding nearby and we paused for one moment so like the kids could get some water and a dude biked by he looked like he was from the city. I think he was wearing it ironically, but it said Washington, D.C. Jan Sixers on it like like a like a like a, like a, you don't have a picture of capital on it and everything i was and my my neighbor goes would did his shirt just say jan sixers and i was like indeed it did did see that guys balls they were weird yeah i got you i got you all right those are our topics for the week now we transition into our two friday fan fun segments or are they that's your choice but morningcombat dot gmail dot com is your portal to send mikey

pictures of your scrab your uh your damn satchel and also to send in pictures of you with saul's wife wearing an mk shirt we kick it off with dead wrong that's our opportunity to take the stand and answer for our bullshit this one's called dead wrong all right let's see how pedantic we can get this is from david he says bc you are dead wrong you washed p o s during the over under section on monday show when discussing alum walsh being the co-main event for canello crawford with your mind on hot dogs and straw weights that the fight was November 12th

when we all know it's 13 love the show but get this shit right yes holy shit I got that wrong you're damn right um now where did November 12th come from was something else happening that day well something happened before the show that day

right Long Island Luke or from our buddy who had espresso cannabis oh before that show yeah I was like yeah yeah yeah I think I know what you're talking about. Okay, so there we go with that.

I'll take the L. I was dead wrong. The 12th might be in my mind because that was the original date that they wanted to do Friday. And then Turkey had the issue with Netflix. They ended up, did you hear that report that the UFC paid UNLV to move their football game out of the dome for that day? I did hear that, yeah. Yeah, so there we go. That's a huge fight.

By the way, November 10 is always the birthday of the Marine Corps. This November 10 will be the 250th. shout out to the Marine Corps never X never former always forever yes we are 10 November 1775 brother Semperfy never die never in X willing to pay for sex it's the Marines yes yes we nailed it all right where was the where was the hip hop horn for that that was a great thing I just did it while you were talking through it I was sorry I didn't hear it I apologize all right our final dead wrong comes from Rod let's call him hot Rod he says hey Dongs long time listener here and at 5225 of the 319 pregame preview, Luke's old ass made reference to the University of Nebraska

Lincoln as not the real deal. The University of Nebraska Lincoln is the flagship campus and home of the cornhuskers. If he went to a real university that wasn't full of pedantic frank guys, he might actually know something about other universities. Wow, shout out to William and Mary on that. Put some respect on Nebraska Lincoln, you old bitch. Luke, your thoughts. Have you been to Nebraska?

Never. Long Island, you've been to Nebraska? No. I mean, who has? Right? Who has? So I, I mean, is Lincoln, like, what's a, what's like the hotter city? Lincoln or Omaha, right?

But Omaha's the bigger city, but Lincoln's the capital. Yeah, yeah, but I'm saying, like, which one's the hotter city? Like, which one is the, I would guess the culture is in Omaha with, but I have no idea. I mean, you know, you know, you know who's from Omaha? Fucking 311, bitch. Yeah. Oh, yeah, Omaha is Riley. Somewhere in Middle America. Yeah, I love it.

Shout out to Peyton Manning. Okay. Let's, so yeah, that's the, that's the home base of the big. All right, I'll take that L. I'll take that out. Where were you, uh, jumped, you and your brother in Oklahoma? That was in Lawton, Lawton, Oklahoma. How old were you?

God, good question. Maybe 11 or 12. Damn, was your dad pissed? Like, did he go after? Yeah, my brother got beat up worse and we had to go to the ER and shit. It was terrible, yeah. Did your dad go after him? He wasn't there.

We were, my brother and I were playing, we were kicking the ball around in the park. And my dad was back at our grandma's house. So after we got beat up, we had to walk back to my grandma's house, yeah. What a walk of shame that was. Sorry to laugh. Well, I mean, it's two versus 10. What are you supposed to do, you know? Just give them your money and run, yo.

No, we did. We did. And they, that wasn't enough. We're also going to give you some hard ass boots. Yeah, I got you. All right. They were just, they were just looking to fuck us up that's it uh long island luke telling us that lincoln

nebraska has a population of two hundred ninety thousand where omaha is four hundred ninety thousand yeah my bad you know i thought i thought i didn't know i don't know shit about nebraska i mean nor should you uh but marty fro us from there he wrestled there you know what i mean good old uh marty usman our final segment is uh fan submissions let's see it all right Viewers. Do we? Plenty of male viewers. Our first male viewer is Jonas.

He's got a video for us. Let's listen. This, none of this is surprising. None of it. It's shocking and it's horror, but it's not surprising. Oh, yeah, right? Is that the cake lady, Luke? That is, and they're doing a 9-11 bit, I have to tell you, that is amazing, hilarious, and insanely disturbing, right?

I laughed so hard at this pre-show by myself. Because that audio is real. That audio is real, right? Yes, yeah, I think, I don't know. I think so. I don't know how AI scares me, dude. I'm never using it ever playing. Do you use AI in any capacity whatsoever?

Dude, every old person has to draw the line of what technology will not. be for them i will not be a part of this look what about you long island i've dabbled but i've never actually used it for so i use deep research on chat gpt deep research is very helpful but i don't i don't use it for anything else yeah i mean one day we're going to go to war with the robots luke and i'm i'm going to be on the right side of history okay like we're just we're welcoming a problem that we won't be able to handle oh i agree with that yeah thank you very much okay um let's go over to gb who says, I've been traveling through Spain the last few weeks, and in search of some groceries, I stumbled across some Ilya toptoro in the supermarket.

I thought Lou could frame this one and put it beside the bed. P.S. Spanish food sucks versus Portuguese food. Much love. It's G.B. This person has the palate of a toddler. That's how you know. Well, he's from Australia. G.B. from Australia. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anybody who prefers Portuguese food over Spanish food. These are people that order chicken fingers at adult dinners, just to be very clear about that. So wait, does Topteria, is that a yogurt that he's representing?

Yeah, I mean, chocolate moose. Yeah, and then the other one is the Lindal. It looks like it's both yogurt and pudding. Yeah, all right. La Lianda. He's a superstar. Thank you, G.B. Look at those. Go back, go back, go back.

Look at the prices for some of this shit. a buck 64 for the for the for the well i don't think it's the american dollar what is the yeah well i'm just saying is you know it's roughly equivalent well actually dollar's kind of declined but yeah anyway you get the idea it's pretty cheap over there i was going to say if you go to like uh if you go to like uh nice gyms in columbia and you want to get like a protein smoothie they call it a smooting s m o t i n g a smoothing protein so it's uh it's weird right and coles Colombia, they say cocaine, yeah, Luke.

No, cocaina, not not. Ena,ina. Let's go to Tanner. He says, love the show boys. Keep on keeping it real. Hey, Luke, who are some fighters that inspire you? No. Oh, that's good. That is good. All right, that's funny.

Yeah, yeah. Well played, Tanner. Let's go to my favorite Hawaiian factory worker. it's telvin big papa key papa look do you know that i did a early morning live chat a couple weeks ago because my schedule was busy so it was 3 a m in hawaii and telvin was just getting out of work and he jumped right in i mean these people are the best uh that's amazing aloha this is telvin key papa i submit to you a funny meme of l t crashing out on monday show still love you luke but come on there there are some good fighters with good morals like max koreas of course there are that's not the point, although this is very funny. Luke Thomas

were talking about porn, Ilya, heavy metal and samurai tattoos. This is from one of the greatest movies ever made, or certainly a martial arts movie, Big Trouble in Little China. And then there's the scene where that same dude explodes, and he writes, Luke Thomas, we're talking about MMA fighters that inspired. So Telvin says he is

inspired by Max, Zombie, Ngano, Alima Lea, McFarlane, Angela Hill, GSP, Carlos Condent, smooth Henderson, and of course, Joe son good lord joe son what the fuck he says just kidding about the last one anyway those are fighters in my opinion that are inspirational have a good one guys aloha luke uh what's the early line on um daz uh mahaloing a bare knuckle fight against big papa ki papa in the lavishak parking oh like like what's the what's the chance that it happens well no what's the betting

line who you're favoring from what we know so far who you favoring i might give i might give old big papa a key poppa like a minus 150 plus 124 das because you know daz will back up on that ass and give these guys a blast from the past you know what I'm saying man I love our weirdos that's great our final one comes from someone named Ben who says Luke you fucking pig Brian Campbell from the Hartford Connecticut suburbs coming to you live and direct from New York City metal lark studios this man came on the train he what so look i know who that is that's our guy ben who uh who created the uh he's a grower he created

the morning comp plant oh that's him yes and he said if we are ever in the uh central new york area uh that we will be you know well well fed on that so all right that's uh that was first that was very funny that was a good bit i really yeah i got to tell you the skits and bits on listen people taking pictures of themselves with their merch on i'm good with yes but the skits and bits that they do making fun of us is those are the best ones all right he said i think he said he's in the verona area but i know he's also uh he's also like he does regional i'm a may announcing as well so uh big fan of our show very good guy so shout out to ben uh those are our fan segments of the week morning combat at gmail dot com is your

entry point to the show tell mike you said hi i mean definitely don't show him your a hole either I mean, that is just not cool at all. Reminder, one more time on the damn merch, folks, morningcombat.shop, your final days to get those exclusives for August of Beavis and Butthead and vaping is for closers. Our autographed posters are sold out. But Tuesday's show, not Monday, that's Labor Day.

Tuesday, 11 p.m. Eastern, we'll be back with a remote show with our September exclusives. And if you haven't checked out our new site, guys, check it out. We have some evergreen products. always adding new stuff long out look you know that design that we were texting about the other day will that see the the light of day i don't we need to have a meeting after this show to see what sees the light of day but i got a bunch of stuff ready to go so all right so get ready for september

your final chance in august is now morning combat dot shop get your shit today all proceeds go to the three of us so uh thank you thank you very much and always a final reminder that this episode of morning combat has been brought to you by draft kings draft kings the crown is yours l t what do you got going on this weekend beyond live streaming my wife is out of town on a business trip the biggest one she has all year she's going to be gone for 10 days can you believe that bro 10 days across the globe uh no i this one state side but still i mean it's a long time so i got a lot of tokey time coming my way which is cool i'm cool with that but it is you know can be a little you have some uncle pepe or abuela help uh i'll have some abuela help i'll definitely have some abuela help which

definitely makes it a lot easier but you know um i got to figure out what to do i could see you being like it's keto bid no that's a bad bit bad bit from down i'm not calling my daughter that yes that's right no no i was talking about abuela you got you got to fit the joke here uh you know look you know look you know that show 10 minutes of shop do you know on september 20th they're doing a 24 hour live Marathon show where they're going to watch Gringo Poppy on a loop over and over and over and over again. I did not know about this. That seems like, that seems like it's a lot. Yeah, shout out to Cooney and Gerardo there. Those guys get after it, but there you go. Have you, have you been on this show? Do they have yes?

I have not been on this show, but you never know what the future might bring, all right, you know. Would you ever have chin on this show? Are you, wait, wait, are you telegraphing that you're going on? I didn't telegraph shit Luke Okay all I know I did not But I'm letting you know that I am a beast of a dad Just like good old shop So shout out to that guy Real quickly Long Island Luke

Let me ask you a question It has nothing to do with any of this I'm looking at BC's picture Is he too bright or am I not bright enough? You're not bright enough I was gonna mention it earlier I'm pretty bright though Is BC also too bright?

Yeah I kind of honestly thought the whole time That you didn't have one of your lights on Luke But you know really shit? All right I gotta fix it then I think it's just a representation of the pallet of our souls, Luke. You know what I mean? It's just, uh, well, that's all the more reason to brighten it up. Yeah, yeah, we got Sith on this side.

Yeah, there we go. All right. Long Island, Luke, you want to tell the people anything about this weekend? Uh, prop quiz drops in about 40 minutes on main card minutes. So go check that out. Shack versus Gaff. I got nothing going on this weekend having a nice beach weekend with the ladies. So, uh, look out, uh, north shore of Long Island.

Or maybe you'll go down to the, uh, go to the south shore for that. that where the people go down to uh what's that place where the men like um fire island fire island yes yes indeed that the men like yeah i mean it's true i mean i've done time at fire islands for everyone but but the men do like it yeah that's a fact yeah that is uh for l t long island luke myself the bc thank you guys for staying with us forever uh take care of yourselves enjoy the weekend it's about to get ready right next week is ufc paris canello crawford the week after so finally some big time content coming our ways but until then we're out of here this is an iHeart podcast