MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - David Benavidez vs. Caleb Plant | UFC San Antonio | Paulo Costa | Ep. 422

Episode Date: March 24, 2023

On episode 422 of Morning Kombat Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell are in Las Vegas to cover David Benavidez vs. Caleb Plant. The boys kick off the show by reacting to the press conference yesterday. Paulo Costa signed a new UFC deal. Who will he face now that his contract dispute is over? Dustin Poirier mentioned he would be interested in a Justin Gaethje rematch. Does this make sense? The boys close out the show with Ok, Bet and dead wrong. (14:30) - David Benavidez vs. Caleb Plant (33:30) - Ok, Bet (56:30) - Paulo Costa signs 4-fight deal (59:30) - Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje (63:00) - Dana White's plans for boxing (65:00) - Quick Hitters Morning Kombat is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.     For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Rise to rewards with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card. Terms and conditions apply. Reveille, reveille, dogs. Look at us now, tip to tip. This is our life. This is our passion. That's the spirit we bring to this show. I'm Luke Thomas.

I'm Brian Campbell. This is Morning Combat. Oh, yeah. New start time on this artsy Friday. Same washed co-hosts. This is the award-winning combat sports showcase known as Morning Combat. I'm Brian Campbell, live and direct from Las Vegas. The Ka Theater behind me, Cirque du Soleil, hanging from the rafters here at the MGM Grand.

And this is my co-host as we continue to get ever so itchy and close and desperately, ragingly excited. David Benavidez and Caleb Plant this Saturday on Showtime Pay-Per-View. This is Luke Thomas. You were making fun of my glasses. Plastic pieces at the end that keep it around your ear. I do.

Last night over dinner when you were criticizing me for looking at the menu with the flashlight on my phone because my eyesight's gone now because we're old pieces of bag, you know? Well, I mean, the only lighting in that place was the strobe. I mean, did I ask the waitress to turn down the house music three separate times?

Did I have to order the same drink five times? I did. Friday, March 24th, 2000 and 23. Thank you for waiting 60 minutes for us here on the West Coast Delay to get fired up, but we have a fantastic show for you today. Not only setting the stage for what's going down in

and around us, and you can see the stage behind us for today's David Benavidez and Caleb Plant live weigh-in. You can catch us on that stream. What time does that start, Luke? 4 p.m. 4 p.m. in the east, 1 p.m. local. It's going to be Luke, BC, Raul Marquez, Jamal Charlo.

Not going to want to miss this. Interviews with David Benavidez and Caleb Plant. Of course, we're here to fire you up for Saturday night's pay-per-view event. The extravaganza on a loaded undercard, by the way. 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific, only on Showtime pay-per-view. Why wait when you can tune in to bad blood, an incredible style contrast,

and a must-see fight in boxing's sexiest division of the moment? Go to Showtime.com slash PPV and order right now. But Luke, we're going to look at that fight. We're going to set the stage and make our picks for ufc san antonia san antonia that was that was that was san antonina shevchenko i put a latina like edge on that right i don't think you need to it's san antonio it's a no san antonia imagine if that city was founded by women they wouldn't have lost at the lmo i'll tell you that much. Maybe not, maybe not. But they certainly did. They let everyone know with the memorial. You know, we got news and notes, skits and bits, dead wrongs, all that stuff.

All that and then some tall, pale and handsome, it is your boy BC. Look, I'm ready to go. I woke up ready to go. You did wake up with a fire under your ass, I will admit that. You got dressed for the press. I mean, you woke up with a fire in your ass based on the story of the restroom from ten minutes ago, you know? I absolutely set the world on fire just now in that commode. But yeah, you look like you're ready to go. Thank you. I also

had our fantastic, I don't know if she's like our supervisor, Courtney, she loves us. She applied makeup on my red spot. Put the camera on, BC. So I slept in first class with my face against the window and I got this aggressive red spot that you saw on the cameras yesterday. I mean, they're just trying to splash so much water on your face

that it just blurs everything out. I'm washed enough, Luke. I don't need to be washed out anymore. But, no, I look better. I feel better, Luke. And I'm ready to deliver a fan-frigging-tastic show. You can like us and subscribe us as usual. Thank you for watching this morning.

Come every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday if you're somewhat new to this. 11 p. 11pm Eastern normally but we got so many great offerings for you at youtube.com slash morning combat interviews my own breakdown of the Rocky and Creed movies ranking them in order people are like yo what kind of bullshit content is this

what does this have to do with combat sports you know it's like nothing has to do with entertainment and life right is this did you get bad reviews on your video or something It's like nothing has to do with entertainment and life, right? Did you get bad reviews on your video or something? No, no, no, no, no, no. So, Luke, they can check out that content, of course, Saturday night post, right?

Post, baby. That's right. You and I, right? Right there inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena. We will be going live with a Benavides plant breakdown. Luke and I will also be Saturday night calling the prelim action. We have a two-fight Showtime Boxing Countdown show offering. You can check that out on the Showtime YouTube channel. I believe that is

6, 7 p.m. in the 6.30-ish in the evening. Yeah, that's about right. Something like that. We've got a special guest plan. I don't even want to say it, Luke, but I just want to tell people. Yeah, don't say it because I don't think the word is out yet. There's a potential special guest on Saturday's Showtime Boxing Countdown prelim show hosted by – They're just not going to believe who it is.

You're really not going to believe who it is. Like if I gave you a list, right, you'd be like Dana, Joanna. Of all the names, yeah, of all the names you could pick, you would not imagine this one. But we've been told that this person will be there. Look, people like that. We got so – a quick intro last episode. We got right into the meat, and they love that. But you know what, Luke?

They don't understand what this part of the show is. This is the good stuff. Remember when Dennis Leary said that smokers know that they hide the heroin in the smoking filter? Luke, this is the good stuff for the people that know. I mean, dude, I was looking up Mellencamp tickets for tonight. I almost pulled the trigger at $168 in the lower section, $168. But you said it would probably be about $50 in fees, and I'm a cheap bastard. $50 is a little high, but definitely $20 to $30.

I mean, should I see him? He's 71. He's an artist like me, Luke. He's an artist like me. No, he's literally. That's like people at Subway being like, I'm a sandwich artist. It's like, well, I respect your occupation, but that's a bit of a dramatic description. Yeah.

Jared from Subway, he had other arts. He had the dark arts, right? Dude, we can't get through one week without you making a Sandusky. Oh, no, I didn't. Dude, come on. That's low-hanging fruit. Larry Nassar. I've been told to stop doing that.

You know, we had content delayed when we first started this relationship because of Pat Tillman references. How well delivered was that in hindsight? In fairness, it was really quite in there. My Tower 7 joke yesterday, that random guy, that was something too. Too soon on that. Okay. Maybe we should keep the show.

But what I was going to say is these intros are, you know, this is our life. This is our passion. This is our life. This is our battle. We were doing MKKaraoke earlier. We were like, I need a co-host that won't drive me crazy. Yeah, that's impossible. Suck it on, chili dog.

Outside to taste the freeze. You know the thing about him? Was he a poor man's pop, Springsteen, who maybe in some degree was a poor man's pop, Dylan, but that's aggressive. I need to have a comment. Bill and Cam spoke to America, Luke. He did. He spoke to the everything. He was Americana in the 80s and 90s.

He had a connection to pop accessibility. Do you hang him for that, that his songs are so accessible? Not really. I will say this, though. The amount of people who are our bosses, so I have to be careful about this, who love Bruce Springsteen and want me to love Bruce Springsteen, put the camera on me.

I'm never going to like Bruce Springsteen. You understand? Well, I love Bruce Springsteen, but you can't work on this show in an extended portion unless you were born in New Jersey, you went to college at Syracuse or Penn State, and you love Bruce Springsteen. And you also have to say, Newark's not that bad.

Word. Word. I spend more time in Newark's not that bad. Yeah. Word. Word. I spend more time in Newark than any of you fucks. It's terrible. It's terrible. All right, all right. Luke, speaking of this travel cough I got, I may have the perfect term. Hey, every time we go to Vegas, now the answer to this question varies.

Yes. Which communicable disease are we going to come home with from this Vegas trip? Certainly shame. That would be a first one. Probably COVID. Like, off the start. Like, baseline. Probably COVID. Probably COVID. I'm going to say common cold this time. Common cold. It's not too crowded, right?

Yeah. Right? Too crowded? Vegas? Yeah, right now. You think it's crowded? I mean, it's the most crowded it's been in a long time. Do you know how many things are going on this weekend? It's insane. I don't think that... I'm trying to stay away from the crowds.

Fair enough. But in terms of walking around, I've definitely seen, like, okay. I mean, maybe I'm comparing it to Mayweather fights, where it's like the place is overrun or something. Yeah, Mayweather Pacquiao was something I've never seen, and I don't want to ever feel it or see it. Yeah, I got to say, after seeing those big fights,

they're too big to enjoy. You ever notice that? So you like saying how people say the Super Bowl is for the casuals, but the conference finals, that's the real stuff? Something like that. But, like, I mean, I'm glad the big fights got made. But the best, wouldn't you agree, the best fights to go to are, like, I firmly believe, in terms of, like, your fans, ticket price and everything else, stakes, talent. The mid-major ones are, to me... Or the mid-major pay-per-views

like Caleb Plant and David Benavidez. That's the sweet spot. On paper, it's a great style contrast. Are these guys household names? No, but it elevates because you get the tension and the cross. And also, you know what? Today, they may touch each other. They may touch each other. Speaking of one of our showtime

bosses, he made a great point. You see this in MMA on occasion too. There are some times where guys match up and you have a hard time imagining either guy losing. I'm having a hard time imagining. I can see worlds where Plant and Benavidez lose. They're so dialed. But they're weird. What's that? I was transferring it.

It's transitioning out of we'll come home with some level of communicable setbacks, Luke. But there's a travel partner, a daily partner, a partner in general that can help you avoid this type of riffraff coming out of you. Who am I talking about, Luke? I'm not talking about AG2, Amanda Guerra, CBS Sports, and Bellator fame. I'm talking about the original, the one. Bitch, I'm talking about the original. The one. Bitch, I'm talking about Athletic Greens. Athletic Greens.

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But again, athleticgreens.com slash morningcombat to take ownership over your health and pick up the ultimate verbatim daily nutritional insurance. Why don't you take ownership over your body odor? I showered. I didn body odor? I showered. I didn't shower. I showered. All right. With feces.

Yeah. I mean, like the backdrop looks good. I'm in a suit. But this is one of our worst episodes of all time so far. You're hosting. All right. All right. Hey, let's start the art.

Let's get it going. Let's put it in gear. We are here for a reason. And this is a fun weekend of combat sports across the board. Your crown jewel, the main event is Saturday. Super middleweight, Showtime pay-per-view, Las Vegas, the MGM Grand Garden Arena. It's David Benavidez and Caleb Plant, two former champions. One, and Caleb Plant, who has one career loss that came against Canelo for the Undisputed Championship. David Benavidez has lost his title twice without ever losing it in the ring

they're colliding at the perfect point in their physical primes and as the rift between them which we saw at yesterday's press conference come out in very fun ways including the face off this is not just about oh man this hate is real and boy is it if you want bad blood, you got it. There's no question. But this is about the depth in this division, how big of a

win this is for either fighter in the larger. Canelo sweepstakes and just declaring themselves the man at super middleweight. Luke Thomas, yesterday was fun. It was fun. The back and forth, the face-off. It wasn't quite as insane as I thought it might have been, but it was fun. The back and forth, the peace off. It wasn't quite as insane as I thought it might have been, but it was fun. Definitely both guys with absolutely genuine intensity.

Yes. And I'm really hoping that no one tries to pull. I'm not saying that they will, but sometimes guys lose, and afterwards, you know what? I had this kind of camp, and I had this kind of injury. Both guys are declaring that this is truly. Are you talking to Kamara right now? No, no, no, not at all. This happens all the time where guys say after the fact that, oh, I didn't feel this way, I didn't feel that way.

Fine. But there are also camps and preparations where they really do say things like this is the best one I've ever had. But then look at, too. David Benavidez looks the part of the rhetoric. Caleb Plant looks the part of the rhetoric. Caleb Plant looks the part of the rhetoric. And so afterwards, win or lose, I just want to make sure we don't, do not accept any, well, I wasn't feeling.

I just hope both teams play well and they're happy. That's right, in the end. It's about sportsmanship, not the cash. I said this yesterday and I want to echo it one more time. We sat down with both fighters. We'll play some of that sound in a second. But some fights when it's trash talk heavy and that sometimes can be the drawing card. Sometimes the trash talk is

ridiculous, Luke, right? Sometimes it's just absurd. There's been like very truthful shots. I'm not saying, you know, every element of the trash talk by both camps has been all healthy and hunky-dory. But the point is, Luke, they're stinging each other by bringing up some of the questions we have about both fighters entering this matchup and using that as trash talking

fuel. The idea that really, you know, maybe Benavidez hasn't fought an opponent on this level, exactly this skilled. And at the same time, with plan, have you fought a destroyer who can walk you down on here? All the things back and forth, I think they're reacting naturally because there's been some good zingers in there, but some of that concern is true, Luke. We've got to find out in the ring on Saturday.

Let's see the face-off between them. Let's relive that. I think you just checked out. What do you want me to say for the 50th time to the same question? Here we go. This is what we want. Caleb Plant with David Benavidez with two top fighters

and 168 pounds. This has been a grunt match that goes back over five years. And they finally get the opportunity to stand for the score in the ring. Let's turn for the cameras, guys. This is it. The young meat, David Benitez. On any level, on any topic. And I think it was interesting how close in size they actually look here.

When I talk about the trash talk, Luke, and it making sense, Plant's saying you never fought a real super middleweight. A guy who's a natural 168. Let's look out this way, please. All right, that's enough, guys. Benavidez versus Plant. Showtime pay-per-view, Saturday night. Okay, there it is. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes, bro. All right. All right. All right. All right. A lot of testosterone there. High T levels coming out of that stage.

Also, something you may not appreciate as an MMA fan, if you're watching this, this is not, again, this is boxing. This is not MMA. We can still hear it. There we go. The fighters don't actually have to face off. The promoter has to convince them to do it. Yes.

And they did. And both guys did. So whenever you show up for an event like this, they'll almost always face off at the weigh-in, but they won't necessarily face off at the press conference. So we didn't know. You just never know if they're going to face off. They did, and I was like, there we go. And I expect today to be intense on that subject.

Yeah, for sure. We sat down with both fighters, and let's hear from David Benavidez. The first clip is about being motivated by Plant's willingness to stick it to him at every turn, creating the website in his name, all the stuff that we've talked about, making the action figure of the gravedigger thing. I mean, Plant is all the hell in whether you believe he's willing himself to believe he can win or whether he's got the secret on how to break down the code against Benavidez. Let's hear what David had to say. Yeah, definitely. But he's always talking, saying I'm fat, that I'm

this and that. I need to make weight, this and that. But now that I come in, I've been on weight all week. You know, I definitely gave him the importance he wanted. You know what I mean? I gave him all my attention. If back then I hit hard and I didn't really train like that, now that I've really prepared myself, I'm even more dangerous. So he should be even more worried. You know, like I said, I trained for about three and a half, four months. You know, I trained extremely hard. So he definitely gave me the motivation, you know,

the extra motivation I needed because I really don't like this guy. I really do want to shut him up. So, you know, I'm definitely going to be pushing for the knockout every single round. I've got a key question off of that sound. You and I have been talking about this off-camera a lot and trying to figure out who's actually going to win this fight. What Benavidez just said, I teed it up as the idea of his plant poking the bear

too dangerously because he's going to get you to a focus and training level that you've never been before. Is that a red flag that Benavidez ultimately admits? Yeah, I'm not always the professional I need to be, but good Lord, this fight I will be, and this guy's pressing the wrong guy at the right time. You've definitely heard and seen scenarios in combat sports

where someone did something extra and got extra benefit from it. At the same time, Caleb Plant's argument that I don't ever wait for an opponent to get motivated, I don't ever wait for an opponent to do the extra rounds, I don't ever wait for an opponent to make me motivated to do the things I need to do to win, I take that seriously as well, BC, because the thing that that signals is

when there is a surprising, unexpected difficulty in the middle of the fight, it's not that we doubt David Benavidez's resolve to win, but can you keep the same mental composure? Can you stick to the game plan when things get hard? How much can you get veered off course if you're not used to doing all the things when you have to cross all the T's and dot all the I's? Not that, oh, I don't want to do that game plan because it's actually getting hard.

I'm going to go to a different one. And yes, you can go out on your shield, but it's not the same commitment to doing the hard things when no one's looking. So it's hard to parse. You and I talked about this yesterday. I do think David Benavidez is more ready for this than I've seen him ever, ever. The first time we actually got involved in David Benavidez's coverage was that event where he lost his belt on the scales for missing weight.

So we've seen that. We've seen that. So I do think he's more prepped for this one. But if this one goes deep and guys have to go into, like, real problem-solving mode through frustration, what happens to the resolve then? Because you have no question that Benavidez is about that life, that he's got the chin, balls, willingness to, like he'd prefer. He'll go for it. If this was an actual brawl, he would obviously prefer that style-wise

that would play into his hands. But being on this level and this stage for the first time, having an opponent that won't back down, I mean, look, ultimately, the true question of how this fight actually finishes and who wins is whether Caleb Plant's chin can hold up. That's the true question of how this fight actually finishes and who wins is whether Caleb Plant's chin can hold up. That's the true question. But if it does hold up, I think that's where you start to look at some of the things Plant is saying about Benavidez in wonder. Does he have an edge on him and those intangibles if it gets to that crazy point?

Either way, we're going to see the very best we've ever seen of David Benavidez at age 26, because I think he's carried that chip on his shoulder of missteps that, you know, he claims and rightfully says was his fault. The cocaine test, missing weight during the pandemic, all that. But we're now seeing him against the toughest opponent on his resume in terms of facing them in their prime by far. And we're now going to find out, Luke, how good he actually is with no excuses. And something you asked him was, why now? Why is now the time that you are going to be at your very best and that this fight is finally coming together and that it's your time to not just beat Caleb Plant, but remain the long-term boogeyman for Canelo and potentially that boss at the end of the 168-pound video game? Let's hear what Benavidez said.

So what I'm saying is is he's not some huge one punch knockout power type of guy he's a volume puncher that's his greatest asset he's a volume puncher because um i had to keep the promise to the little kid i told myself you know when i was 13 years old i told myself i was going to be here when i got to the pay-per-view I was going to work my ass off no matter who it was or who was in front of me I was going to be in spectacular fashion and I was going to be that man um the next pay-per-view star and that's definitely what I wanted to be even before I got the phone call for Caleb Plant I was extremely ready I was in a training camp for another fight so I mean this is probably the hardest I've ever worked and I just turned 26 years old so I'm kind of getting in my prime, you know what I mean, at the beginning stages of my prime,

so I'm even stronger now than I was back then, and everything that's led me, the good and the bad has led me to this moment, and I just can't wait to take advantage of this. Now, I don't know if I could pull off those glasses, but do I believe we're going to get the best version of David Benavidez? Yes.

You know, but the thing is what's interesting is Caleb Plant has said a lot of things about him. And again, some of this is dealing in areas that might be true. Have you ever faced a super middleweight my size? I was surprised when they finally did face off there, how kind of close in size they ever they've seemed to be. The skill factor does seem to be wide. It is boxer versus puncher, even though Benavidez is certainly a craftier brawler and bully on the elite level than we tend to see.

But Luke, here's something very interesting from Caleb Plant, ultimately, about why he does believe people are overrating Benavidez. And while it fuels his reason for not showing any level of fear or even really respect, maybe baseline respect. I have to get myself prepared because I know how dangerous this guy is. But Plant doesn't really think Benavidez is all that. Certainly not at this level, and here's why. So what I'm saying is he's not some huge one-punch knockout power type of guy. He's a volume puncher. That's his greatest asset.

He's a volume puncher. And so so you know for him to try and build this up maybe he's trying to make me scared his power now this newfound power he has but he's not he's not a one punch knockout power he doesn't punch as hard as canelo he doesn't punch as hard as jose uskategi he's a volume puncher so but hey if he feels like he's this big you know one punch knockout power guy more power to him luke there's i can't wait i can't wait to see how that plays out i really can't wait i mean he's no is he a one punch guy no he's not a one punch guy but he utilizes you and also here's the other part

he can have one shot that hurts you and then the follow-up is right behind and then the follow-up is right behind and so yes does he have the one like this but he can put four on you yes in the span of a time it takes another guy to put one or two and that's where the problem lies is once you get hit with one remember we talked about it the gatling gun of shots that come right behind it that's where you get overwhelmed in an instant look at the reflection from your laptop look look into the camera it's giving you it's not the laptop it's the lights all right there you... It's not the laptop. It's the lights.

All right, there you go. There's nothing I can do about that. I was mesmerized by it. But I think what you're saying... Wow. I mean, are you... I know. We can hear you guys.

If I had Ebola and a squirt gun, I would spray it in your face. I just want you to know that. Okay, thank you. This is... Look, I mean, you also have to avoid those shots. Let's see if Plank can do it. Ultimately, he couldn't against, you also have to avoid those shots. Let's see if Plant can do it.

Ultimately, he couldn't against Canelo, but these are different fighters. Styles make fights. There's a reason why I think we're giving oddsmakers giving Plant much more chance against the Benavides than Canelo. Canelo will also have the skill and accuracy to go with that speed and power. But, Luke, if Caleb Plant is going to win, it's probably going to be with what he's saying. Avoiding those shots, relying on his skills. He believes he's the more skilled fighter for sure, and I think there's no question in that.

I think the big questions here is the bread man relationship. How much does that raise the element of Plant being a more dangerous puncher than he showed? The Durrell knockout last year, knockout of the year, certainly echoed that. But one thing I've been harping on all week, and I've got to be honest, anyone who's going to bet on this fight, anybody who has some serious interest, to try to figure out who's going to win. Do you have the odds? Yeah, they've actually grown in Benavidez's favor.

Ooh, tell me what we got here. Benavidez, according to our friends over at Caesars, or I should say, yeah, Caesars. Wow. Minus 360 for David Benavidez, plus 280 for Caleb Plant. All right, we're going to get to our pick in a second, but based on those odds, what you have to figure out when betting this fight, and everyone's facing this dilemma, we know that at the end of the day, skills pay the bill.

Skills win fights. But the slant against Plant's skills in this sense, per se, even though he's got the skill advantage, is he's facing a bruising type of guy who can play into the one disadvantage he has outside of that Darrell knockout of not being a big time puncher. Let's see if it ultimately plays out that way. But the dilemma for all betting oddsman is, you know, plant has the skills, but this level of confidence that he's showing this maniacal, almost like sadistic level, like playing mind games and just cool the whole time and calculated.

Is it because he knows a secret that David Benavidez is going to be the first one to find out on Saturday? Or has he just excelled at putting in the work and talking himself up to be ready for this moment? We've seen a lot of confident people go into big fights and lose. There does seem to be something extra about this version of Caleb Plant. And I asked him about that. Um, well, uh, you know, I've been doing this for a long time at a really high level and um you know I've always succeeded at the highest level in boxing whether it's from the amateurs Golden Globe National Championship Olympic alternate you know Olympic trials um and then obviously you know moving through the pros the fight with Jose

who's got to be I was an underdog year layoff coming off a broke hand. I came in and did what I did, got my hand raised, became champ. Against the rail coming off the Canelo loss, almost a year layoff. Came back, did what I did. And then even with Canelo, it wound up not going my way, but I know the type of work I put in and the success that I did have. And that was a hostile environment and that was a hostile crowd. We were there. We were just talking about that.

Yeah. And so, you know, coming out the other side of that with the success that I had, it didn't make me feel like I was a step further away from accomplishing my goals. It made me feel like I was just one step closer. Luke, I've been asking you this all week. It's a day before the fight. Is poking the bear the right thing to do here for Caleb Plant? I think so. I think so. I think so.

I think you can't lay back. You can't try and be Mr. Professional, Mr. Cool, which he is being cool to an extent, right? He's not getting overly emotional about it. But I do think, dude, you're not going to, on some level, man, you really got to match his intensity. David Benavidez's intensity, right? They always talk about that in wrestling matches. Whatever the intensity of your opponent is, you really got to match his intensity. David Benavidez's intensity, right? They always talk about that in wrestling matches.

Whatever the intensity of your opponent is, you have to match or exceed that. And, of course, that's a different sport and a different kind of aesthetic that goes with it. But at the same time, I just, you know, I remember that press conference that Conor had with Rafael Dos Anjos before that fight fell through and then Eddie Alvarez's one filled in,

which is that, you know, he was eating him alive at that press conference. And you saw Dos Anjos try and lay back and, like, you know, I'm going to ignore it and blah, blah. And it just didn't work. It didn't work for Eddie either. It didn't work for Eddie either. You've got to match his intensity. And if you don't, you're just going to get run over. So, like, the kind of situation they're in, they're kind of forced to play mind games a little bit with one another.

So, you know, and then going the Davididbenevidez.com route, you're going to get David Benevidez defeated when you can get him off of his game, when you can get him to overreact, when you can get him frustrated. He has built up in his mind, both guys have built up in their mind, this expectation that Saturday is going to go their way. But when they're in the middle of it, if it's not going their way and they've been frustrated and this dude is in their head and they can't think clearly, yes, I think that will work. But just laying back and be like, I'm going to, you could lay back and accept it if the

skill differential was much more noteworthy. Then you could be like, I'm about to teach you a lesson on Saturday. But this is a closely contested one. And I think Caleb Plant knows he can't make mistakes, but at the same time, you just can't lay back and let this guy dictate the tenor of the pre-fight coverage. You've got to get in there and mix it up with him a little bit. Plant's smart. He's showing us that, that he's smart.

Whether this works or not, like I always say, Luke, on the basketball court, you poke the pair of the wrong guy, you're going to find out the hard way. That's life, right? People are wired differently. He may find out the hard way, but I think this is the best for his skills to play Matador to the bull for sure, but also to try to build any advantage he can mentally. Why? Because if Plant's going to win this fight, it's going to be by decision and he's going to have to walk in and out of hell and be fine being close to that fire, which I think he will be. So any slight

advantage he can gain, luke said to get benavidez off his game or to just mix him up make him reset bread man edwards in his corner this relationship heading into fight two is big to close before we get ready for okay bet in our prediction here a lot of people have just asked kind of casually like hey i haven't been following this what is the root of this beef why do these guys hate each other luke i wrote a story about it this week i think it comes down to this we know that caleb plant's infant daughter in 2015 alia died at a very young age and and that was a big part of the story that we told about who this guy is as he rose at some point luke he saw a video with jose benavidez senior the father and trainer of david where he basically said look i think caleb's

milking this i think he's you know he's using this like his daughter's gone let it let it go and focus on you know he basically did one of those things. Caleb said, that's unforgivable. You know, you went to the level beyond, you know, even talking about my wife, you're, you're, you know, this is, so he, he bound to never forgive them, Luke. And that led beautifully into that 2018 gym altercation that we talk a lot about in Las Vegas, where yes, plant did throw the first punch at Jose Benavidez, Jr. The older brother of David. And it escalated from there. We're going to find out in the ring on Saturday, Luke, and it's time to make our selections. We do this segment every week based on demand from you folks, so hopefully you're enjoying

it. I don't know if you've enjoyed the success of our picks, but Luke and I will go head to head every Friday. Five picks, the biggest main event of the weekend, favorites, underdogs, which fight will go the distance or not, and of course, finallydogs which fight will go oh oh go the distance or not and of course finally which fight will end in either a ko or a sub and you have to pick it and luke based on some criticism of me picking boxing matches in ko and sub moving forward it's gonna be mma match only okay fair enough um last week luke had a tie let's not forget in a

fight that turned out to be a draw involving jai Herbert. I also had a fight, Luke, that never happened featuring Gabe Rosado and Zerto. So I will pick an extra bonus pick this week to even us out. But as we stand, you went 2-2-1 last week. I went 2-2. Your morning combat updated standings are Luke Thomas in first place with 20 wins, 18 losses, and one tie. That's despicable, Luke. Slightly above 500, which I'm sure I will fall out of. I'm 15 and 23 overall.

I'm the Washington Wizards, and you're the Detroit Pistons. You have the champion's advantage as being in the lead, which means you can veto any picks that we have that are mutual, and you can pick whether you go first or second. I'll go first. All right. Our main event of the weekend is Benavidez versus Plant. Luke, who wins and why?

I'm going to ride with Caleb Plant. I might live to regret it, but if you just look at David Benavidez's resume, certainly the guys he's fought, he has soundly defeated. He was much better then. I do think he's very good. He's 26 years old. This is his first time in the big

show, by the way, and he obviously has had some professionalism issues. I don't really... The fact that he used cocaine is not of interest to me, and I don't think he should have ever lost his title, but he did miss weight. He lost his title on the scales that way. There's just been some things where his professionalism has been called into question. Not this time. I don't

believe that. I really do believe we're going to get a great David Benavidez which makes this hill for Caleb Plant to climb much higher. But I think that Caleb BC, would you agree? Whether you think David Benavidez is going to win or lose, Caleb

is the better boxer. Yes. Pure boxer. He's the better boxer. By far. By far. Because what Benavidez is great is takes the art of brawling but adds craft adds craft to it and he's big and imposing and can kind of like lean over you and you know he's got he does have good power he works the jab he knows how to box yeah yeah like whatever caleb says about him like he is a very skilled tactician in the way in which he fights so this one's going to be competitive certainly if they have a bit of

benavidez wins you wouldn't be like, how did that happen? You would know. But Caleb Plant has, I think, Caleb Plant's experience against Canelo, which was the hostile crowd, hostile fight week. Everyone counting him out. Everyone counting him out. And I didn't think he had the firepower to beat Canelo.

I wonder if he might against David Benavidez, who I do think has better overall firepower, but is much more stationary, much more able to be hit, does not have Canelo's defense, does not have Canelo's shoulder rolling and trickery, does not have the same kind of ring craft that I think Caleb Plant is the more skilled guy. It's an uphill climb. He might lose certain rounds in dramatic ways, but I think he's going to, over time, David Benavidez is going to be frustrated. He's going to make mistakes. I think he gets dropped in this contest. You think David Benavidez gets dropped? Here's what I mean. He did get dropped by Gavriel when he won the

title. Here's what I mean. Not so much because he gets hit so hard with a shot that he just goes and his brain doesn't work right. But oftentimes, here's the thing. I talk about it all the time, guys. You've got to pay attention. Watch how many guys go back foot first when they go into position in boxing.

And it makes you front foot heavy and hard to pivot and hard to move. He does it a fair amount as he comes in square. I think a guy like Caleb Plant, if he has trained right with Redmond Edwards, is going to feast on something like that. And so he might. But his chin has to be there. Here's what I mean. Because Caleb's getting knocked down.

He's getting knocked down in this fight, I believe. Sure. I think that's right. I think he's going to get beat up to the body, too, real bad. But here's what I'm pointing out. He might get knocked down because he's off balance. That's actually a real thing. And they're going to count it no matter what.

You're talking about Benavidez. Benavidez. Benavidez. If your gloves touch the ground or you get sat to your rear end, even if you're not rocked, they're going to count it. And so those kinds of things I think are actually on the table for Caleb Plant. Maybe I'm reaching. I probably am. But I'm going to ride with Caleb Plant.

I think he's got a real chance here to do something special. I'm surprised that you came around because sometimes I can fall for things easier, Luke. A flashy package or somebody just showing you a mental toughness mixed with the skills that i know they have but there's a lot of reason to believe in the last last go ahead would you agree caleb's best win is much better than benavidez's best win it's better it's jose who's caught to back when he was a champion and closer to his pride on the gear i won't say much much better but he had yes he has a better win.

And then the experience of Canelo is a monster part of it. So here's the deal. I'm not just falling for Caleb Plant as the underdog here, the confidence. The upward trajectory of where he's going and the improvements he's making and the confidence he has added, he's rounding out to try to be the very best he can be in every single category, mentally, physically. And now with Breadman Edwards figuring out how to have more power when it matters. I think they know the uphill challenge here,

that even if you're ahead, let's say, you know, six rounds to one entering the seventh round, even if you've corralled a bunch of early rounds by boxing and avoiding the big shot and frustrating Benavidez, there's going to be some downhill moments where Benavidez corners him, and that's where the resolve of Caleb Plant has to show up. It's not like he has a history of being ever knocked down or knocked out outside of Canelo, which I think was a confluence, would you say, Luke,

of clean punching, fatigue, like, dude, there's why styles make fights. Canelo is actually a better boxer at the end of the day than Caleb Plant. Not as quick, but a better boxer has more answers to all the questions. Benavidez doesn't. And for Benavidez to have his biggest success offensively, he's going to have to square up and be there to be hit, even if he's cornering you. So Caleb Plant actually doesn't have a history of being chinny. He does have a history of fading a little bit against Uzcatsiki and then getting kind of rocked around by big shots. He never went down, but it showed you, oh wow, if this was a 15-round fight,

he'd be in trouble. This is a different Plant since then. I understand the idea of looking at some of the guys that Plant beat outside of Uzcategui and not being overly impressed. At some points, he was kind of used by PBC as an attraction fighter to build the brand. You saw him in pay-per-view co-main events

against Mike Lee from the Subway commercial who had a glossy record, but no chance against him. But can he step up and do this on this level? He has the skills to do it. He certainly has the belief if he's got more offensive firepower, I think there's reasons to believe that this is the time for him ultimately, because sometimes it does come down to who you are and who you've actually beat. We have built up a boogeyman reputation around David Benavidez, and largely that is rightfully

so. But the majority of his opponents have been either aging or they've been what the hell is that Luke? Or they've been aggressive brawlers who Benavidez could not only meet their aggression. He could out skill them in getting off his punches and he had the size. He had the gas tank. He had the intention and all that. He's facing deficits in some of these key categories i believe when matched up against plant is playing gonna have to walk through hell yes but do skills pay the bills at the highest level provided that you can get to

that 12th round i think so i think caleb plant by close decision in a fight that luke i think in the second half it's going to be a little bit more than of an action fight than a than a boxing match or a cat and mouse or anything like that i I think this is going to succeed in entertaining us. And I don't know if the Caleb Plant win means he gets Canelo, but I'm taking Caleb Plant as the upset pick here, too. And he won us over. You have to admit, he did win us over this year. Yeah, he did.

He really did. And the other part, too, is Benavidez has never fought a guy like Plant. Not the same skill level, the same kind of style. And again, David Benavidez is not Canelo, but in the sense that Plant has faced someone who's going to try and pressure him against the ropes, control him, and then go to work on combos in that area, he has faced someone like David Benavidez in that sense.

Not the same proportion, not the same style. But look, what's the smart bet? What's the safe bet? Benavidez by stoppage. Hey, there's a dog. Yeah, there's a dog here. There's the safe bet? Benefit is by stoppage. Hey, there's a dog. Yeah, there's a dog here. There's loud noises. There's a dog walking through. That's a police dog. They're looking for shit.

Fucking dog is a narc. Fuck that dog. Alright, that's your pick for the main event. Luke, what's your favorite of the week? Where are we going here? Alright, for favorite, we're going to go back to the UFC card. I'm going to go with Macy Barber over Andrea Lee. Macy Barber, we talked about it. She was positioned as being the next big thing.

Fell short of that a couple of times, but has kind of nicely rebounded over time. I'm liking the growth in her game. I still believe she's got a great future. As I mentioned, 23, 24 years old. There's really a lot of time for her to get better, and I think she is. Andrea Lee, though, I think is kind of, she's definitely become much more well-rounded over time, but I still think has some deficits in the ground game, controlling of the ground game.

These are areas where Barbara has tended to excel. Barbara gets better as the fight goes longer. I wouldn't say the same for Lee, necessarily. So it's close. It's competitive. It's not, you know, no one's really out of the realm of catching a win here or an L. But I like Macy Barber. I think she's got more skills to win. Maybe it goes the distance. Maybe it doesn't. But I think she gets her

hand on it. Can she establish that ground and pound consistently against KGB? Maybe not at first, but I think over time. Yes. I mean, she can box. That's a great noise. I love that noise. I love that noise. All right. Luke, that's your favorite of the week. My favorite will stay on the same card, and it's the co-feature, and it's women's band and win.

Of course, it's the return of Yana Santos, formerly Kunitskaya, from giving birth, her and Maheta Luke. Very beautiful, happy family. Love it. She's coming back quickly, though, and turning it around against the ageless wonder 41-year-old Holly Holm. Luke, you know the damning stat when talking about Holly. She's 4-6 overall, counting the Rousey fight. Or since the Rousey fight, excuse me not great but dude outside of the ketland viera split decision loss which i felt you could have gone either way you would say she only loses two champions correct

gdr misha tay amanda nunes like that luke she's a better fighter matchup to matchup in this matchup and um that's why luke i'm going to Holly Holm, who is a minus 250 favorite here. That's a very safe, smart vet because she can wrestle in this latter version of her. Luke, people will scream that she's overrated, but against this level of competition, she does the job. Remember when she schooled Megan Anderson? You remember that?

It's going to be one of those fights. You're just not into UFC at all. Can we move along? At what point did you lose interest in the show? I saw it coming early. I saw, like, Little Pockets, and then it just, like, the damn road. I don't have interest in not doing the show. I have interest in actually doing the show.

So we go to the next pick. Women's bantamweights matter. They do. They do. Just not as much as you'd like to imagine. All right. For my underdog pick, BC, I'm going to go Albert Duraev. Albert Duraev is taking on Chidi Njikawane,

and according to our friends at Caesars, currently sits at a plus 130 spot. So it's very close. It's very competitive. Really, this fight hinges on whether or not he can get the takedown. It's really not so clear. So I'm going to take a guess that he can, and he can either get enough control time or good ground and pound to get the win.

Chidi Njikawane has much improved takedown defense, but I think once he starts to chain wrestling attempts together, takedown attempts together, that's going to come undone. I like Albert Duraev as my underdog pick for this week. Luke, it's time for me to pick my underdog. I'm going to that featured bout of UFC San Antonio, the fight night card, and it's in the Bantamweight division. We've got to say we were wrong the other day.

We had Chido Vera. You read the odds incorrect. You read it flip-flopped. Sorry about that. And I didn't check it. We had Chido Vera as the favorite the whole time as we were giving analysis. Luke, Corey Sanhagen is technically here the betting favorite. Now, you can understand that, correct?

Yes. This is a fight you're willing to talk about, right? I was. Will you stop? Will you stop? I'm trying to get in on the same line with you emotionally you know i am here to do the show i am um you know candidly i'll be lying if i said it wasn't a little bit surprised no the odds are close yeah so it you know and again the odds are made in a way to induce betting they're not a full reflection of the reality

i'm a little surprised again, Corey has faced much tougher competition and I think his record has suffered a little bit for that but you would say he's battle tested, it's not like we're seeing him getting KO'd super battle tested, he goes 5 hard rounds with elite dudes and Chido is battle tested in his own way, he's been in the organization

for a while, you can't say he hasn't worked his way up the food chain he most definitely has, he's riding high on momentum. Again, it's the two factors we talked about. His physical sturdiness is one, and his ability to work at kicking range with more pressure over time. We call him the king of the five-rounders on this show. He really is. For that reason, I'm slightly surprised.

But again, who has more overall skills? Corey Sandhagen does, and i think they might be looking at well look it plays into my underdog pick here of cheeto vera luke at plus 138 it's as close as can be but he's got the he's got the biggest weapon because cory he's standing taking have more ways to control elements of the fight and maybe even win it yes but who has the biggest gun in the fight luke it's marlin cheeto Vera. Luke, would you say that he's operating at an almost 2019 Mas Vidalian where it's like just in the form of

being able to turn just a moment into instant violence that changes the course of the fight? That and he's got a certain... Give him five rounds, too? You're giving him five rounds to figure this out, too. You know what I mean? I haven't interviewed Chido in a while, but I used to interview him and there was a certain kind of humble, happy-to-be-there kind of attitude.

Yeah. That's gone. That's gone, dude. He's got real. He wants the money. He wants the money. Listen to him talk, man. He's got a real hitman mentality.

Yep. He believes he's better than these guys, I think, for the first time, not ever, but right at this moment. I think he believes he can win a title. I think he believes he's destined to win one. The way in which he's performing can win a title. I think he believes he's destined to win one. The way in which he's performing is better than ever. He switched coaches from Colin Oyama to Jason Perrillo.

I think that has really upped some of the finer tuning of his game that he needed. And he looks dynamite. He looks dynamite. But I texted briefly with Ryan Hall yesterday, who's cornering Corey Sanhagen, and they seem to think that Corey has really rounded the corner himself. It's a great fight. I mean, it's a great freaking fight. I'm going to go the upset pick, but look, that's official for OKBet. He is my underdog, Chido Vera.

I feel like I'm getting, I feel like I'm, I believe in this guy here. But look, before we get your take on this outside of OKBet, a colleague of ours, Shaquille Majorey, you know him from CBS Sports Vancouver, the Prince of Persia. He caught up with Corey Sanhagen and they talked about this exact challenge. Let's hear from Team Sanhagen. He's like a very grounded fighter, right? So he doesn't rely on his footwork to win. And that's fine.

You know, like, that's great. I rely on my footwork to win. Cruz has's fine. You know, like, that's great. I rely on my footwork to win. Cruz has given him some troubles. Cruz doesn't really have like the greatest guard in the world. Like his hands don't really come back to his face much. So there's like that mistake. I do think that I'm a much better defensive fighter. Maybe I won't say much better, but I'm a better defensive fighter than I think Cruz is just because I have better hand positioning and a better guard. But, you know, I think that Chido's going to pressure me. He's going to try to make it kind of an ugly fight.

I think that he's going to try to do his best to wear on me. He's going to try to do his best to make me move my feet so that I run out of energy. And I'm going to do my best to, you know, not let any of those things happen. And I'm ready to take the fight wherever the fight needs to go. I'm a quiet, humble kind of guy, you know, so I don't really get to show the dog that's inside me sometimes, you know, in my last couple I kind of have. But if that's what I got to do to win, then that's what I'll do to win too.

So I'm ready for however ugly or however beautiful Saturday night is. I'm ready for the both of them. He's got that dog in him, Luke. Does he get the win on Saturday? Well, I didn't make that pick. I didn't do that for my thing. Do you lean either way or are you just like, let's enjoy it? I don't know.

That's painful. Are you passing kidney stones quietly during this? No, I... It's almost like I need to see what Corey's got in this performance to understand where he's at, you know? It's hard, look at the odds. This is a performance that's calling on him to do something different.

And I'm getting there. You can't keep doing the shit you've been doing. He's so talented, but we talked about some of the mistakes, some of the strategic visions I think needed to be retooled, and this is that moment where it's like, okay, did he figure all that out, or at least a big part of that out? I'd like to believe he can. He's too smart. He's too talented not to, but dude, Chito Vera is a fucking brick wall. Look at Tristan nodding.

He knows. Don't you agree, Tristan? He knows. Well, where are you, Tristan? Are you Sanhagen or Chito this weekend? Chito. Yeah, Chito. And you know how Tristan lives his life too, right?

Damage and destruction. By stoppage or by decision? By decision. Interesting. All right. Can we finish our picks? Because that's where I'm at. No, we can't.

Because, Luke, I've got an interesting thing. You think Corey Sanhagen's thinking about winning this fight and then fighting the winner of Cejudo versus Aljo? He's not necessarily. It's topic two.

We can get to that a little later. We've got to finish this one. We've blended it together because why would you go back to it? It would feel odd and awkward. So we close with it right now before we continue. Here's Corey Sanhagen talking about who he would really want to

fight introducing the new mcspicy from mcdonald's it looks like a regular chicken sandwich but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich mcspicy consider yourself warned limited time only at participating mcdonald's in canada it seems like things are kind of being held up a bit because you have Cejudo, you have Marab not wanting to fight Aljo. It's a little messy at the top end. It seems a little bit messy. I think that I personally feel like the next fight for me should be against Marab. I think that Marab is definitely the toughest guy who isn't the champ right now.

I think that he showed that in his last guy who isn't the champ right now. I think that he showed that in his last fight. His last fight was very inspiring. Even for me, it made me want to get a lot better. So I think that that'll be the next fight. I keep hearing whispers about O'Malley being the next one to fight for the belt after the Cejudo and Sterling fight. So if they do that, then Murab seems like a very energetic guy who doesn't want to sit on the couch for very long and will both be sitting on the couch for quite some time

if me and him don't fight. I don't think O'Malley will fight not for a title unless he has to. That would be, you know, maybe not the smartest move on his part, even though I don't want to talk him out of it. I don't want to talk him out of it. For more, you can watch the extended interviews there on the

Shaq MMA YouTube channel. That's a smart answer. Very smart answer. We can still hear you guys. We can still hear you. Very smart answer. I'm not trying to speed us up through UFC. Our fans love this. Why would you be such an asshole to them? I don't think that's what's happening here.

How much does Corey Sanhagen look like Corey Minnichie, our great producer? Ooh. They're like doppelgangers. Like a gingered version of him. I wouldn't embarrass Corey and make him go out here so we can do the split screen to share mannerisms and facial. Because that would probably be too much. And that would really piss you off.

Because you need to get to your over-under pick. So what's your pick, Luke? I'd pause the show for that. Oh, my God. Wow. That's actually fun entertainment. Wow. I don't know if Minici is willing. I mean, he's like

an accomplished musician. He doesn't have time to be this bullshit over here, but no movement over there. Yeah, I noticed he didn't stand. Yeah, there we go. Okay. Thanks. Thanks for giving your all, guys. Yeah, alright. Over to Over Under, Luke. Pick number three of OK Bet this week. Where are you going? Okay, Over Under, I will

pick number four. Pick number four. I will go with this fight. Corey Sanhagen versus Chito Vera going the distance. Here's why. Oh, you can't double up. It's against our rules. I didn't double up. I never picked anywhere. Oh, you're right.

I can go that. I can do that. All right. Give me your breakdown here. Fuckface. We should change your name to the Fuckface Show. Let's be honest. You can't be trusted about this segment because you don't care.

I do care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care.

I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don this segment because you don't care so i have here of course these these walls around why do you say i don't care i care i have receipts you know i do it huh yeah let's see it yeah let's get maniche in here okay can we go can we go split screen for over under sandhagen chito goes the distance ybc very simply chito excellent chin cory excellent chin yeah that's a fair point i think he's gonna get a stoppage all right let's see all right can we

direct this properly can you get a camera on on man think he's going to get a stoppage. All right, let's see. All right, can we direct this properly? Can you get a camera on Maniche? Let's get a camera on Maniche. Maniche, you're going to have to go no headphones, no hat, so we can fully try to figure this out, okay? Yes, yes. Yeah, but how bad is it? It's not.

No, let's do split screen there. Let's do split screen, can we? He's got to build it. All right, Maniche, if you talk into the – do you have a microphone you can speak into? I've got to say, you look like a combination. Hold on. Go back.

Go back. Go back, Gaff. Go back. Go back to the – no, no, no, no. No, no, no. Go back to the split screen you had where it was Corey on one side and then it was Shaq and Corey Sandhagen. Okay, look. Our Corey looks like Shaq and Corey Sandhagen had a kid.

Oh, wow. Wow. A Colorado Persian sensation. Hey, can you look like you're low eye hang and mouth breathing a little bit there, Maniche? Can you zoom in on Maniche so we can truly go split screen here? I think this is doppelganger. I swear to God, it looks like Corey, Sandhagen, and Shaq banged. All right, all right.

Thank you, Maniche. Maniche, I know you, and I know you hated that. Yeah, a little bit. I'm glad we interrupted the show for your fuck-fuck games. Hey, you were the one who made the fuck-fuck games. I was all in on it! Alright. Luke, you went over under there and my pick for over under. Hey, I'm gonna go to that ESPN top-ranked main event.

This is a good one with Jose Ramirez back at 140 pounds against Richard Comey. Luke, we know Richard Comey has become at 36 like the tough out for the elite names. Ramirez looked really good against Pedraza in his comeback fight, I thought. I'm going to take an over-under of this fight to go the distance. Ramirez does not have fight-ending power.

He's a volume puncher. He gets inside. I think he'll win this fight comfortably, but it's going to go the distance, and I'm going to catch up to you based on this. Alright, fair enough. And then last but not least for KO sub, I'm going to go Vinicius Salvador versus Victor Altamirano. It's going to end in KO or TKO. Okay, I'm going to take the KO ending for Chidi Nokojuni.

Njikawani. Njikawani versus Albert Duraev. And I think I'm going to win that too. And Luke, my bonus pick to even things out is I'm just going to pick to win here. Jesus Ramos. Don't miss the co-feature. Very good Showtime pay-per-view undercard. But two unbeaten 154-pound prospects are going to pick to win here. Jesus Ramos. Don't miss the co-feature. Very good Showtime pay-per-view undercard.

But two unbeaten 154-pound prospects are going to meet against one another. The power-punching Jesus Ramos against, of course, Joey Spencer. I'm going to take Ramos to win, Luke. And if you want to double down on that, I'm going to take him by KO. All right? So that's going to be my bonus pick for OK Bet. Luke, let's continue the show now with topic two. Polo Costa. OK. Well, I guess we now with topic two. Polo Costa.

Okay, well, I guess we'll go this way. There we go. Topic three, actually. No, topic one was... You see, as it's listed here, this is clearly topic three. Yeah, but then I merged two into one. Right, but it's still topic three. Just move through it. Well, if you put two into one, then that becomes two. I mean, this is... Right, but it's listed

topic three here. Right, but we freestyled... Who gives a shit? That's what it's labeled here. This is what they go by. They don't go by your impromptu reclassification. They don't. Insufferable would be the adjective I'm clearly looking at. Hey, Paulo Costa of the UFC, he's back.

He's re-signed with the Prodotion. We saw some back and forth of whether he would exercise his free agency. He talked about his new deal with PVT. What what is that that is the outlet who broke the news it's a brazilian one okay i'm thinking pyt pretty young thing right uh pretty young thing i just want to love you pyt uh i haven't signed the contract yet but we have reached a deal with the ufc regarding pay costa said it wasn't easy. There was a lot of hard work. And I have to highlight Tamara's brilliant work here.

Who's Tamara? Beats the fuck out of me. I'm going to guess his manager. Who put this information together? Okay, I want that, too, he says, of fighting Hamza and Strickland in 2023. Costa said facing them both back-to-back would be the ideal plan. The UFC wants to make sure the Chamaya fight happens at all costs, Costa said. And I want to make both fight happen.

Does that happen both this year for Costa? Sean Strickland and Hamza. I think it might. I think it might. Costa did what I think is the most rational thing for a contender of his status to do. The reality is if you're Francis Ngannou and maybe you could get a Deontay Wilder fight, maybe you could get a Tyson Fury fight. We'll talk about that in just a minute because

Fury and Usyk has gone up in smoke. Then maybe you want to go do that or Nate Diaz, go get a boxing fight and whatever. But with all these guys you're going to realize, and if they don't already, I'm sure their managers do, the best money they can get in a monopolized market is still going to be with the UFC in general. Not for everyone

but certainly in a pay-per-view guy like this. Not a headliner but on the main card kind of guy. So what he did was, he probably went and got other offers and then got re-signed, or even through the exclusive negotiating period, was able to leverage a little bit more out of it,

given what the open market might bear for him, to then go back to the UFC and get a higher amount. I think that probably ended up what happened, and that's the most get a higher amount. I think that's probably ended up what happened. And that's the most rational course for someone, I think, of his stature and potential future. It's a sign that makes sense for all the parties. He wants to stay active. Everyone wants to see Costa versus Hamza.

Or, you know, I don't think people would scoff at Costa versus Strickland. It's a good signing. It makes sense. Here's the key question, though. Has he fully transitioned to exciting opponent for big names? Or is there still a window where he could make a run as a title contender? He would have to... After the Izzy loss, I think people were like, oh, right, he's a bit of a...

He's good, he's dangerous, but what else is he? And remember, Vittori beat him too, right? So... Yeah, that's a bad loss. And it's not a bad loss. It was a close fight. Vittori's, you know... He's a big dude. I'm just saying, he? Yeah, that's a bad loss. And it's not a bad loss. It was a close fight. He's a big dude. I'm just saying he should have won that if he

really was what I just asked you if he still is. So he's going to have to beat someone along the way to restore that confidence. But look, he makes fun of... I mean, look, that fight with him and UL is one of my favorite fights in UFC history. It's one of the craziest. That first round is just... it's sex. It's sex. The real topic number three here is just, it's sex. It's sex.

The real topic number three here, Luke, is something that is going to get me very the hell excited. Dustin Poirier fresh off the all-action win over Michael Chandler and questions of whether he would go back into the pool there of potential UFC lightweight title challengers or just make can't-miss

absolutely awesome action fights against other absolutely awesome action fighters. Luke, in the history of absolutely awesome action fights at Lightweight over recent years, which covered so many great names from Alvarez, RDA, Gaethje, Chandler, Poirier, the best matchup ever together was... Poirier-Gaethje. Yes, and guess what? Dustin Poirier likes the idea of doing that a second time

he talked to fansite at MMA and said it's a fight that makes me nervous when I hear a name and I get nervous it's motivation same thing with Chandler when I heard Chandler's name when they called it I was nervous because I knew the dangers of those kinds of fights

and that's what motivates me same thing with Justin if they call me and he's the name they say maybe we'll make it happen we'll see yes give me that new york city call me an event right yeah give me that what do you make of poirier wanting this fight why would he want this fight he's already beaten this guy does he have intel that he's not potentially next at the lightweight title or does he not want to potentially fight the current lightweight champion knowing what might happen? I'm asking

you seriously. I definitely think he wants the Islam fight, just because it's a chance to fight for the title. I mean, I'm not questioning if he's about that life, but... Yeah, but that's not fair. Does he feel like it's not next, so let's stay busy, make money, and you know... Also, Justin has a big

name. I think he wants to fight big name guys, the people, the fights that the fans care about. He does seem to have his finger on the pulse about that. The first one was so good. But also, like, remember, that is pre-2.0 Justin Gaethje. That is Justin Gaethje still fighting on that old World Series of Fighting style. That's just not really who he is. I mean, still some of that guy, but obviously we know he's made leaps and bounds in terms of technical progression.

That's a different fight this time. And that last one, by the way, was five rounds, I believe. And so you would want to do this one five rounds as well. So you're saying as a co-main, I don't know how I feel about that. Sometimes they put five round non-title co-mains just for shits. I'm just saying I wouldn't want to interrupt that process

however they want to make it happen. So like the fight it's an interesting choice by dustin for the reasons you articulated maybe he feels like he has to get one more maybe it's a big name who knows but it's a different fight this time it's a blood and guts fight no matter what count me in i like the idea do you want to see fights like this just be pay-per-view main events because they can be it's not big enough for a pay-per-view main event. Rashad versus Rampage was. They had just come off the most highly rated season of The Ultimate Fighter. Oh, that was the Kimbo season.

Yeah. Shob's season two. No, season 10. Wasn't Shob in the Kimbo season? Yes, with Mitri on. That's season 10. Isn't that the season where Rampage broke a door against Rashad? Season 10.

Yeah, that's what I said. I thought you said season two. No, I didn't say season nothing. I said same season, like T-O-O Rashad, yes. Season 10. Yeah, that's what I said. I thought you said season 2. No, I didn't say season nothing. I said same season, like T-O-O. Oh, oh, oh, okay. Look, we already talked about Dana White still having hopes for Zufo boxing. You don't care about that, right? I just find it baffling.

It's like, dude, by federal law, there have to be independent rankings. The promoter in boxing, by law, is not allowed to keep the title. They have Ali Act protections, by law. What on earth about the UFC's business model works with any of them? First of all, here's the quote to the Sports Business Journal. I don't know if I can fix the sport, but I think I can put on fights that the people want to see, and I can make boxing interesting again and build a brand around it. End quote. Danny, you said

this five years ago and three years ago and he's saying this off of the week where he lost his fucking champion. Like if unless he's the one that could, we're going to talk about Fury and Usyk like next, but unless he's the one that could come in there and bring all parties together and get everybody happy and save it and say

hey, we'll just distribute it. If this is more about an overarching, put your fights on UFC Fight Pass. There are already boxing promotions that do that, correct? So if it's something to that degree, could they ever put a big fight? But the problem is nobody's like independent free agents. Everybody worth the salt for the most part

is tied to a network and a promotion. So unless you're going to come in and directly partner with somebody, unless you're going to say when Top Ranks deals up with ESPN, come, we'll distribute everything. That's not going to come in and directly partner with somebody. Unless you're going to say when top ranks deal up with ESPN, we'll distribute everything. That's not going to happen either. So I don't know. What he should be doing is, and I've said this before,

what he should be doing is taking all his retired UFC fighters that want to make money in boxing and just running that promotion. So there's that. So what I was thinking was, could you do something between boxing and between the Jake Paul model, where you find someone who's not really a world beater and never going to be a world champion, but have built them up on fight pass, have them fight UFC fighters along the way to build up their name

and then occasionally cash in on a big fight through building these guys up the whole way. And then could you have individual performances or individual fights and fighters that you promote along the way and make some money? Probably. But I just don't know how it's going to be anything more than that the reason that the ufc model works the way that it does is because it lacks any laws that boxing demands how the fuck do you make that work you can't they they own their own title they own their own rankings it's an utterly different regulatory environment you can't make a splash in the current state

of networks, promotions, and all that unless you're willing to lose a ridiculous amount of money. He wants to burn money? I don't quite get that either. Yeah, I mean... If you talk to people in the boxing world about Dana White potentially getting involved, here's what I've noticed. They're not really against it, people in the boxing world.

They don't seem to find that that's a bad idea. They kind of welcome, hey, another promoter coming through could make things interesting. Obviously, they've had a lot of success with the UFC. But then when you begin to ask the specific questions about how they're going to operate, A, given the way that they operate already in MMA, which is completely different by law, and then B, to your point, everyone that matters is under lock and key, at least for right now. What is the reasonable path to doing something meaningful in the space?

There are some lanes, but they're just not very pronounced ones. That's what makes it interesting. Yeah, it's weird. Luke, boxing is the biggest story that broke out is totally hashtag boxing. That's what happens when great fights get basically announced and then they don't happen.

I got a lot of things to say about this. Tyson Fury, Alexander Usyk, all four world titles, two unbeaten, like all-time great champions here. You know, Usyk for what he did in cruiserweight mixed with heavyweight in the Olympic gold medal and Tyson Fury being the dominant heavyweight of this era, even though he's yet to face and defeat every single one. This fight seemed like an absolute no-brainer,

promotionally and network-wise. And then you had Tyshon Fury forcing Usyk to take a 70-30 financial split, and accepting that, even though Usyk is unbeaten too, has three world titles as opposed to one for Fury, and, you know, okay, no, he's not the marketing sensation Fury is, but critically, few better in this world, pound for pound. That got accepted. But then Luke, rematch negotiations got to the point where Fury began

to demand everything related to the rematch and wanted the same control, meaning 70-30 splits and control over everything. Finally, Usyk's team appeared to walk away and say, like, this is too much. How much more can we give you do you actually want this fight well tyson fury put out a video on instagram to answer that who's that you little shithouse you proper little shitbag bog-eyed gappy-teethed ugly little rat bastard you little slimy fucker tried all week to get out of it, begging for a rematch like a little girl, you got your rematch and didn't even want to fight at that, you little shithouse pussy, always know, pussy, that you was never man enough to tangle with the Gypsy King,

ever in your life, you little shithouse, you little 14 stone coward, you little shitbag, you rat little bastard, and your full team know it as well and all the lawyers have got the full information you little ugly bastard keep running fight your butt the copper box now shitbag and always know that you or anybody else like you could never tangle with the gypsy king you shithouse little coward you little little prick. You know, he doesn't do it in this video, but he always calls his opponents like breakfast foods. It's like, you little sausage. Yeah. You little waffle.

So, Luke, here's the deal. You know, I've read every commentary you can. All the different people who are breaking news on this. Dan Rayfield at Fight Freaks Unite. What the fuck? They're setting up, Luke. It does appear in every category here that the Usyk team more or less

was willing to take the knee in basically everything until the point that it got ridiculous. What was my fear going back six, nine months ever since Usyk beat Joshua the second time? That Fury would do the song and dance and not end up taking the fight. Or he would do WWE or do Gunganu

but constantly go you know back and forth with I'm retired today I'm not tomorrow and then he took a you know tried to rush an AJ fight which never he never really seemed all that serious in doing and why would AJ rush back after a loss to Usyk right you know he needs time new trainer all that and then fights on pay-per-view Derek Chisora for a third time but then we go okay but that's fine Usyk was hurt just a little bit had to extend to March in terms of availability maybe Fury just wanted a big payday and get himself all fired up for the fight that Chisora fight was completely unnecessary after he had two wins over it and this is obviously a much more faded version of Chisora but Luke all along

I had people from the UK and all around going, Beastie, you're being too harsh. He wants this fight. You'll see. He'll fight anybody anytime. Except for Usyk. Why? I think because at the end of the day, Fury knows that his combination of toughness, size, unique skills, pure boxing ability, being a genius, being a natural brawler if he has to, can beat almost every other heavyweight on this planet. I think he's somewhat unsure about

usic and i think it's playing out in front of us right now that unless he gets 100 control of the pie and look you can argue isn't that what tank's trying to do to ryan and some of these stipulations to some degrees yes he's exercising his a-side part of it but this is for the undisputed heavyweight championship and the guy who has more titles than you said, yeah, I'll take the 30%. I'll take the bad pay cut. Let's just do this thing. But now we're haggling over a rematch. Who's right? Who's wrong? I don't think Fury wants the fight, and I think I've been right since the beginning on this.

Yeah, it doesn't look to me he really wants it all that much. It's disappointing as shit. It is disappointing as shit. I never had high confidence in it. You more so did. You got way too excited for it before it was ready. Well, it did get reported.

I mean, Coppinger's all over the place sometimes, but it got reported as kind of a fact. It did, and they've been close. They have been close at times, it turns out. But listen, every time I talk to one of these boxers, whether it's a Tank or a Garcia, or yesterday we had Plant and Benavidez, when you talk to the guys who are willing to take on the tougher fights,

the bigger matchups, not that Tyson Fury hasn't. I mean, he's made some big ones. But when you find out, it's like, at the end of the day, dude, if they don't want it, it's no matter how much money you throw at them, it's kind of hard to get them to do it. They have to internally, truly, just, they must want it. They must want those matchups. Those matchups must be coveted by them

and what the winning confers upon them. Tyson just appears to be in a space where he's willing to take these risks only on extreme Yeah, but I think it's even further than that. Do I think Tyson Fury is afraid of him physically? No. Fury would be favored to win and to be fair, Fury

should win because he can't. I bet on him to win. and to be fair, Fury should win. I'd bet on him to win. Because he's an incredible boxer and whatever. He just doesn't really want it. So do you think, this is what I think he wants to do. I think he wants to knock out Joshua in front of 90,000 people and then retire. Right. Or, and then take on goofball shit after that, maybe.

Maybe the Mayweathers. So we have to criticize that. We have to. You're the heavyweight of this generation. I've said it before and I'll say it again. If Tyson Fury goes on to clean out this era, meaning he already got Wilder three times and arguably won all three times. If he can get Joshua and do that,

he beat Dillian White by knockout. I mean, he beat Vladimir Klitschko to take the world titles. If he does that against Usyk too, and he's favored to do so, he's going to be the heavyweight of this Renaissance era. But because of his unbeaten record at that point and his size and his ridiculous mixture of skills

that is so unique, it's absurd. You could make incredibly ambitious arguments of where he would belong in the top 10 or even five. Because who in history size wise, skill wise can stand up to that. If he doesn't clean out the era at the time, do, should he care about history that much?

Yeah. He put his whole life into this. He's already made a ton of money. He'd be favored to win against the smaller guy, then fight him. And why are we, you know, I mean,

do you believe anything from that video? We only have the information we have. What is there? Is there any blame And why are we, you know, I mean, do you believe anything from that video? We only have the information we have. Is there any blame here on the Usyk side? Because I'm going full on like Fury's calling him all those names just to try to distract people from what's really happening. I have a feeling that Usyk, in all these negotiations, both of these guys are probably

being divas. But if you really wanted to, whenever a fight falls apart, usually it's one side initiating. Again, the Bud Crawford side was the one that pulled out from the Spence negotiations so he could go take money with BLK Prime. How'd that go? And then on the other side, again, I'm sure Usyk has made some demands like, oh, really? What the fuck?

But it just looks like Tyson doesn't really want it. Just doesn't really want it. Just doesn't think it's worth the squeeze unless it's under extreme contractual conditions but what other extreme conditional conditions do they have he's got a 70 split there have been talks about going to the middle east where there's a ton of money if you did that in a london football stadium which is what we look like we were doing april 29th when they kind of half announced that you're gonna sell you know at 90 000 tickets i know not the same price we're used to in some cases in the U.S., but you're going to be the four-belt

undisputed, undefeated champion. Is that not a prize anymore? Is that not enough anymore? I guess it's not. Yeah, to answer your question, yeah, it's not. Clearly. Look, I understand when people are on the opposite side of networks, and sometimes you get close, but you don't quite get there, and you always know

at the end why. There's nothing, I don't believe this is holding us up. I mean, is he right? I wonder if he's right that, is Usyk saying, I won't fight you unless there's a rematch? Yes. Is that confirmed? I mean, that's what he's accusing. Not confirmed, but he was the one pushing for the rematch clause, yeah.

Okay, then how much, let's be fully, I mean, how much should we be pushing back on that? No, no. Because if Fury believes he's going to beat him, then who cares? Just beat him. It's standard practice. fully, I mean, how much should we be pushing back on that? No. Because if Fury believes he's going to beat him, then who cares? Just beat him. It's standard practice, but that's the problem with boxing. It's becoming two fight deals. Yes. All these rematch clauses. So on the one hand, he's not doing anything else that every other B-side before him hasn't tried to do.

On the other hand, it's so out of hand at this point. It's so out of control as a practice yes that i can understand why people are like man fuck this just fucking fight the one deal but but at the same time the split he's trying that fury's trying to get financially in the rematch if usic has beaten him like usic's not rocky balboa trying to upset apollo creed like he's the unbeaten unified champion after being the undisputed champion at cruiserweight i know that marketing wise is not like you not an overnight sensation, but

you're not talking about... Beat Joshua twice. Yeah, you're not talking about nobody here. I mean, Olympic gold medal, you're like, come on. I know, bro. It's my support. It's the fan in you that's dying. Slowly. Slowly. The co-host in me too, Luke. But let's go to... You know what'll get us excited? Fights on the horizon. You ready for

this one, Luke? May 13th, I want to get your pulse. D-Rod. Daniel Rodriguez. D-Rod. Against Ian Gary. Yo! That's a step up for Ian Gary. That's a step up. He looked good in his last outing. Everyone said, is he the next big thing? I've said the same thing.

Take your time. No need to rush this kid. He's young. He's with a great team. He's obviously talented. Let's matchmake him appropriately. This is a step up. I think it's a fair one. I like this fight a lot. I like it a lot.

Me too. Me too. I don't know about this, though. June 3rd, UFC fight night. Middleweight. Main event. I like this one, too. Brendan Allen versus Jack Hermanson.

But I do want to stress again, main event. Am I being a jerk here? I mean, it's not a bad fight. Well, for the main event, I don't know if it's that fulfilling. But as a fight, it's also interesting that Jack Hermanson has now become a little bit of like, okay, are you really good at middleweight? Let's fight Jack and see where you're at. I mean, it's going to be a good fight.

I'm being an asshole. But at the same time, it gives me those feels when it was Anthony Smith, Ryan Spann main event. You were like, you said must-see. What a self-compromising, bad-faced asshole. Actually, we fought about that, and I didn't say must-see. What a self-compromising, bad-faced asshole. Actually, we fought about that, and I didn't say must-see. That's actually a lie. You said must-see. No, that's a lie.

The real ones will find the footage. We'll find it. Listen, if I'm wrong, I'll take the element. We do dead wrongs every Friday. That's true. But I'm going to say this. Jack Hermanson, huge fight for him. He really needs a win over a quality name, which I consider Brendan Allen,

who ran through Andre Muniz in his last fight. I couldn't believe that. I couldn't believe that. Not ran through. It was competitive. But that he got the sub, oh, my God, I couldn't believe that. Great fight. Liked that one.

Okay, is Hermanson Allen as a main event better than I versus Calvillo, a recent one? Yeah, it's a lot better. Okay, how about Derek Lewis versus Abdur Rakeemov in Albany that time? It's better than that. It's a lot better than that. All right, I'll a lot better. Okay, how about Derek Lewis versus Abdur Rakeemov in Albany that time? It's better than that. All right, all right. I'll take that back. Hey, there's another Magomedov that might dominate mixed martial arts.

Are you ready for this? Bellator has signed Olympic silver medalist 28-year-old Russian. What's the first name here, Luke? Kadi. Kadi Magomedov. The stats you'll need to know, Luke, is he – I can't read unless I look. You want me to read it yeah i got i got a 28 year old russian is going to make the transition while still hoping to make

gold in 2024 they said he was going to make the featherweight division but i had someone kind of hit me to this he competed in the 74 kilogram category in wrestling i don't know how the hell he's going to make featherweight that must be a typ typo. But okay, either way, BC, here's the deal. At the 2020 Olympic Games, he, I don't know if either tech-faulted him, but he blanked Kyle Dake 11 to nothing. Why is that important? Kyle Dake, folks, I remember watching this go through. Kyle Dake wrestled for Cornell.

He is the only person in the history of NCAA wrestling, not merely to win four national championships all four years of college. Other ones have done that. He did it in a different weight class every year. Every year he went up another weight class and won the NCAA Division I National

fucking title. And his senior year it was against David Taylor who also ended up becoming, ready for this, an Olympic gold medalist. He beat up Bo Nickel. He beat Bo Nickel along the way? Didn't David Taylor beat Bo Nickel? Or am I confused?

Oh, they were. Well, they both wrestled for Penn State. I don't know what happened. I thought in the Olympic trials or something. They might have. Yes, that's right. David Taylor beat him ultimately. I know my Olympic wrestling shit.

I think for the spot on the world team. But either way, either way. Are you more freestyle or Greco in your likes? Freestyle. Okay. Freestyle? Freestyle. Okay. Freestyle. But anyway, Michael Madoff blanked Kyle Dake 11 to nothing. 11 to nothing.

So we're not talking about some chump. We're talking about a highly decorated Olympic wrestler. It says here he's going to... Juggling his MMA career. That's interesting. Yeah, you know how that goes. Yeah, I do. I do. And then one of them falls through and they just go to MMA. So That's interesting. Yeah, you know how that goes. Yeah, I do. I do.

And then one of them falls through, and then they just go do MMA. So we'll see. All right. Well, Luke, remember Augusto Sakai? Remember that time we were in Miami for Floyd Logan, and you were trying to get me to close the show? And I was like, dude, we haven't even talked about Augusto Sakai.

And you're like, Augusto Sakai! And you blow up, and it's like a famous soundbite moment. Okay, so the theme of today's show is, hey, Luke, remember that time you did things that I found disappointing? No, dude, I loved it. It's part of doc number five. Remember that with Brendan? That'sbite moment. Okay, so the theme of today's show is, hey, Luke, remember that time you did things that I found disappointing? No, dude, I loved it. It's part of doc number five. Remember that with Brendan? That's a big moment.

I'm an Augusto Sakai truther. I remember him from Bellator before he even went to UFC. Did he just cut ties with UFC on like a two-fight win streak? I think he even filled in for short notice and won his last one. They were like, you know what? Just fuck off. All right. I haven't seen that happen since the wrestler guy for weed.

You know, the bro. Oh. Matt, Mark, the bro. Didn't he wrestle the king of the bros? Wasn't that his nickname? Yeah, yeah, yeah. With all the guys' names. Everyone's screaming it right now on the screen.

Yeah, everyone. Like, he washed pieces of crap. Matt, it's Matt. Yeah. I'll look it up. Thank you. God, save us. Somebody save us.

Do our brains us from each other our brains are absolutely pathetic Matt Riddle thanks our producers for not jumping in there thank you very much alright Luke let's keep it going Sakai's gone where does he end up PFL against something like that alright thank you very much Fabricio Verdum by the way no longer under his PFL deal what does that mean to you did he even fight

in the PFL he did once and it was weird and then he got like didn't he have like a brain thing oh yeah dude he's like nearly 50 like Verdum had a great to you. Did he even fight in the PFL? He did once, and it was weird, and then he got, like, didn't he have, like, a brain thing? Oh, yeah, and they were like, dude, he's, like, nearly 50. Like, Verdum had a great combat sports career, but I think it should come to a close. We're talking about Vi Cavallo, right? Go horse. Yes, indeed.

Threw a boomerang that time. Hey, KSI is not going to come back against, um, I don't know who he was possibly coming back. He's going to take on Joe Fournier, who is the guy, the influencer that's friends with David Haye, and then they had that really sketchy, friendly sparring match that time on Triller. You don't care about this, KSI.

Even though KSI tweeted out a video making front of Jake Paul yesterday that opened with you interviewing Jake Paul. Did you see that? No, I didn't. I texted you last night, and you responded, so you did see it, Luke. No, I just said that it's great.

Without even looking at it? I didn't even look. Oh, my. You're such an asshole no i just said that it's great without even looking at it you're such an asshole that's like you're like that's great i don't even i know i think i wrote the word sweet it's like that great i don't care okay uh that's all we got here but luke when we're talking about getting yourself all pretty for today's way in stream it's not just the hair the face the makeup thank you courtney sometimes it's not just the hair, the face, the makeup. Thank you, Courtney. Sometimes it's what's going on below the belt. Breaking news, BC. Manscaped now sells beard products. That's

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Now you can finally use Manscaped products to make your drapes match the carpet. They actually wrote that, by the way. They did. By going to Manscaped.com and using our code COMBATWITHAK for 20% off and free shipping. Guys, I use Manscaped products. I use

the lotions. I use the downstairs trimmer. You use that on your face? But now they sent a full package to me of the whole beard line. I'm thinking about making a Luke Thomas run at this. What do you think? Good luck. Good luck. Every time I want to do something new

in my life, you're like, it's not as easy as it looks, BC. It just always seems like you're trying things long after i've discovered how difficult they are and then you have this like childlike enthusiasm about it like my only pipes account it's working i'm connecting with nice people on cam you are by the way it's time to tame your main main no one likes a weird beard so think about all your stubble trouble with manscaped's Pro Beard Kit. Yeah, it starts with the beard hedger.

This thing is a juggernaut of fixing your face. First off, this cordless trimmer has a rotary wheel that gives you 20 haircutting lengths. That's nice. All with one guard, so no more messy drawers full of extras and add-ons. I mean, look, you know what we're talking about here. 20 different beard lengths in one guard? That's impossible. How about this?

It's waterproof. You can shave your face in the shower to avoid all the hair in the sink. Titanium-coated T-blade. Tough on hair, but smooth on your face. And can lead to single-stroke efficiency. Brings satisfaction one stroke at a time. BC, that's my kind of way.

Yeah, and then the Pro Kit doesn't end there, Luke, because they've created four dermatologist-tested formulations for your post-trim care. They got the beard shampoo and conditioner. I use it in the shower, Luke. It makes your hair feel different. Your beard hair is different than your face hair. People don't realize that's why you have to have oil for it.

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Bitch. All right. We close every Friday by, you know, coming clean and saying, look, we were wrong. Was I wrong when I came in and demanded Ashley to get me coffee this morning? Maybe. No, that was right. She was just too busy on TikTok. We offer you an email address if you have a problem with something we've said.

It's morningcombat at gmail.com. Sometimes, Luke, we take L's. I did. I'm sure I'm about to. This one's called. Dead wrong. Have a receipt, bitch. Not only am I about to take an L, I'm about to take a dump.

In my dungarees. In my dungarees. Okay, this is Jordy coming in. He's coming in at me, Luke. All right. Good day from Sydney. At approximately 28 minutes of episode 421 of MK, Mr. BC with the BDE

may want to check his CTE as he claims Kelvin Gasolum fought a close five-round decision loss to our previous... Were you talking about Darren Till? I'll get to that in a second. Soon-to-be future champ Robert Whitaker, you may want to run this back because KG got the shit beat out of him

by Whitaker in a masterclass, no bias from an Aussie and not suggesting you watch it another 49 times like LT, but you're dead wrong. It wasn't close at all. Yeah. I'll take a, like a three fourths or nine tenths L here,

Luke. He did lose 50 to 45 across the board. I wasn't trying to suggest that it was an overly close fight. Just take the L. Okay. I'm taking the L here. Was I more likely the Till fight or the Cannoneer fight, which were closer? Yes.

Maybe I'm blending that. But he did land shots against Whitaker, and his chin, to be able to take those shots, was top shelf, and I never felt like... I mean, do you look back and go, he got pissed on? I felt like he stood up to maybe the best guy in the division. Yeah, not pissed on, though. And showed... So, yes, in hindsight,

it was 50-45, and i know numbers wise he got dominated yes clearly whittaker was clearly better it is all part of the theme though that that gastelum may never be better than that one night he was but he comes close sometimes and he's not as bad as people think his record indicates that he is luke he fights with heart all right let's go to the second one, Luke. This is from Josh. Wednesday show, Luke called Valentino the only champion women's flyweight has ever seen.

Oh, what the fuck? Grasso just won. Can we put some damn respect on Nico Montano's name? Up to that point. Oh, Nico. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. In place in history as the inaugural women's flyweight champion.

Yeah. Luke, you're dead wrong, says he. Yeah, you're right, I am. I'll take that L. Dude, I literally, I'm not going to do a bit, I completely forgot. Yeah, Josh and a fellow named Justo wrote in with that. Alright, fair enough. I'll take the L. Do you think Justo's Brazilian? Does that mean he automatically has a black belt with the Nogueira brothers?

That was some second hand shale right there, but did you think that um, alright, you know, alright, you know alright, you know this is our last podcast with each other, not against each other, but you know

Luke, we should have a WCW and Monday Night Raw, like Monday Night War rivalries with our live chats, just head to head constantly recruiting each other's audience to come on over be like, I know what Luke's gonna talk about today, don't log in, I got this and constantly one-upping each other

with guests, with like, you know, with props, you know what I mean? And slander. I don't think you want that smoke. The thing is, Luke, I live for that smoke. I don't think you do. And I think at the end of the day, you got a little Tyson Fury in you, right? At the end of the day. You little sausage. You smell this Usyk coming on.

You little bacon and eggs. Alright, let's keep up the L's here. This one's from Mike Owens. That's Mike Owens Media, right? Mike, what the fuck, guy? Hey, Luke and BC, it's Mike Owens here. That's the guy from Liverpool. We love that guy.

On Wednesday's show, BC said Canelo became undisputed champ with three straight... Unless we got another Mike Owens as a fan. Probably not, right? He says that Canelo became undisputed champ with three straight knockouts against unbeaten champions in unification fights. This is dead wrong. As Canelo defeated Callum Smith via unanimous decision. He beat the shit out of him. That's right. So Mike Owens media says Smith is a scouser

and I had to flag that in respect of my fellow Liverpudlian. He was punching Smith's arms. The dude was completely overmatched, it turned out. Now, how do you feel about Mike Owen Stone and his own plug here at the end? FYI, my new podcast with Rob Font called The Font Forecast launches on Fight Week 287, and Rob's returned to the cage against Yanez.

All right, we can give him a plug. He's been nice. He's a great kid, that guy, yeah. All right, there you go. Let's go over to Micah. Hey, dipshit. At 3.52 of Monday's episode, Brian refers to John Cougar Mellencamp's song as Cherry Bomb.

Every real 90s G know it was called Jack and Diane. Which song was he singing? Jack and Diane. Two American kids doing the best they can. Insults aside, you guys are my favorite MMA podcast. Donks for life, it's Micah. I thought he was going to dead wrong me on still calling him Cougar.

When did he drop that? I never know the answer to that. I think that was early 90s. Because he was Johnny Cougar in the beginning, and his album sucked. He did not live up to the reputation that they thought, expectations. But then he didn't want to be called Cougar because it was bullshit. So he added the three-name thing, and he took off, and then he finally dropped the Cougar Cougar because it was bullshit. He wanted to be, so he added the three name thing and he took off and then he finally dropped the Cougar, Luke.

Should have kept the Cougars around if you know, I bet you he did. I bet you he was a connoisseur of Cougars. Remember that song you did with the bassist, Michelle Andeggio-Chelsea? Yes, it was a cover of Van Morrison's Wild Night and it was awesome. It was fucking great. It's great. She plays a killer bass line. She's really good.

What happened to her? I don't know. Maybe she's around So you must have been singing lyrics from Jack and Diane And I called it Jerry Bum, that's fine Suck it on, chilly dog Outside to taste the freeze Yeah, I'm thinking of

Cause that's when Smoke was a smoke It was grooving Yeah, and in dancing it was everything. Luke, we were young, but we were improving and not anymore. Not anymore. All right, let's go finally to Jordan. Luke,

either your brain is withering away in vape juice. That's true. Or you had some Delta 8s for episode 420. That's probably also true. Actually, no, I didn't. I didn't. It's probably just my brain doesn't work. But at 44 minutes in referencing Bilal Muhammad's win streak, you mentioned a number 7 Jeff Thompson, a number 9 Sean Brady,

and a number 10 Vicente Luque. Who is Jeff Thompson? Did I say Jeff Thompson? Guessing you meant Wonderboy because Jeff Neal is actually Bilal's last loss. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. He's right. My brain simply does not work. Jordan says Mahalo.

Does that mean he lives over there with Telvin Kipapa? I think he might. And Governor Penn over there at the Lava Shack? Governor Penn, yeah. We should write a song about the Lava Shack in the vein of Cougar Mellencamp. No, we need to go to Hawaii and then visit the Lava Shack, and then you and I can fist fight in the parking lot. That's pretty brilliant. This has been

Morning Combat, and we want to remind you that today 4 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Pacific, on the Showtime Sports YouTube channel behind us here at the Ka Theater, MGM Grand Las Vegas. It will be the weigh-in. Wow. For all things David Benavidez versus Caleb Plant. Of course, that goes down Showtime pay-per-view

Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden, 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific. You can purchase the pay-per-view right now at Showtime.com slash PPV. And Luke, seriously, what are your expectations for the final face-off when the two step on the scales here? Can't wait. Both of these guys are professional. Truly,

I really believe both are dialed in. I also think they want to sell this pay-per-view a little bit. They're going to need to have someone in the middle of them, I think, today. It's going to be that kind of event. We will have El Diamante, the former junior middleweight world champion of the world. Raul Marquez by our side.

We will have middleweight champion Jermall Charlo. I want to ask him myself, are you moving up to 6'8"? Are you taking on the winner? That would fire you up, right? That would fire me up big time. That's a great fight. Don't miss that. And one final plug for Saturday.

Before the start of the pay-per-view at 9 p.m. I don't think I know the start time of this still. Does anybody know what time we start? The Showtime Boxing Countdown. I can look up the press release. We will have two live fights. Luke Thomas and BC here will be on the call. 6 p.m., we believe, Eastern Time on the Showtime Sports YouTube channel.

But once again, I want to give a heavy tease. We have a special guest that you're not going to believe. You're just not. You're just not going to believe. There's nothing we could say to make you believe what it is, but it's real. You're just not going to freaking believe it. Wow.

7 p.m. Eastern time, Saturday. Thank you, Gaff. 7 p.m. Eastern, Showtime Sports YouTube. Luke, it's been a hell of a Friday show, but we made it. We landed the plane in, you know, like Sully Sullenberger. Do you think he has dirty secrets and we just cover it up because he saved all those people? I don't know. Doesn't he have a woman's first name?

Sullivan? No, his first name. I mean, we've got a lot of people sitting around on their phones. Somebody look up Sully's first name in real life? Thank you. I think it's BiggestDickus. Names don't have to be gender specific, Luke. I think it's BiggestDickus. Speaking of that, Ariel Helwani has a new show on Showtime Basketball debuting today. The Ariel Helwani Basketball Show. A little bit of crossover pub right there for the extended team. Did we figure

it out, guys? Chesley. Chesley. Chesley? Chesley Sullenberger, yeah. I thought it was Chelsea. No, it's Chesley. Chesley.

All right, well, that's kind of manly, right, in a weird way? Chesley? Like, hey, Mom, here's my date. It's Chesley. Yeah, you know? I would put a T in there, Chesley, and then I'd have Bilal Muhammad-sized pecs, right? Just absolute man pecs. If I had man pecs like Bilal Muhammad, I wouldn't be focusing on Covington

as much as I'd be just walking around shirtless all day. Put a nipple ring in there. Like a real weirdo. Like a proper weirdo. Like Jay Aaron's TikTok cooking segments, right? Jay, put the camera on me. Put the camera on me. Put the camera on me.

They're not going to do it. Here we go. Jay, it's time to stop. Just set your phone on fire and go live a normal life. It's never going to happen for you, okay? Oh, come on. You don't like this Pennington James pivot

into TikTok cooking influencer? Why is he talking like he moves furniture for a living? Will you agree to my watch-along idea where we just watch his entire volume of YouTube? I love that idea. Listen, what you guys got to do here, huh? You got to put a little seasoning on the chicken by this specialty oven. It's like $10,000 everybody can afford it. You know what I'm saying? Lick my balls. Lick my balls up in here. You put the seasoning on,000 everybody can afford it. You know what I'm saying? Lick my balls.

Lick my balls up in it. You put the seasoning on the chicken. You poke it with the fork. And what do you got? You got a guy who's just living that divorce dad energy on this TikTok shit. That's what you got. Wow. Wow. Wow. Jay's a loving member of this extended MK family. You'd agree, right?

I feel like Jay's the only guy who we could insult to tears without an HR violation. HR would be like, well, we actually have a policy. Shitting on Jay is fully acceptable within the bylaws. I'd like to thank our fantastic Malka crew for helping us out today.

Mikey Mormont from CBS as well. Showtime, we love our team, Luke. I mean, you know, was this a flawless show? No. But, you know, Maneach took one for the team, and I appreciate that. We were like, Maneach, we're going to need you to go have a rendezvous with that college softball catcher. You know, you've got to take one for the team, right?

He's going to fucking kill you. He's going to stab you, and I'm just going to watch. The thing is, M Maniche is really talented. Can we talk about dinner last night? Okay, so here's what happened over... And he doesn't want me to talk about his music, but he's good, Luke. I will say this. You know what the problem with dinner last night was?

The music wasn't loud enough. That was really the issue. Well, the problem was that your conversational skills among adults was like... Don't blame me. I was... You were like... It wasn't just me. Hold on.

It was not just me. Okay, but you went from, hey, guys, guess what? You know what the worst thing I ever did was? it wasn't just me. Hold on. It was not just me. Okay. But you went from, hey guys, guess what? You know what the worst thing I ever did was watching a beheading on the internet. Our producer, producer goes, the worst thing I've ever seen was some guy gets stabbed in the neck on Twitter. And I was like, oh, do you guys remember Nicholas Berg? Nicholas Berg was this guy who in 2003 went over to Iraq. So we're going to relitigate it, right?

I'm just going to say this. And they, ISIS captured him and beheaded him. I watched the beheading video back in when I was 23 painstaking detail i didn't i didn't here's the thing i could give you painstaking details i didn't it's the most horrendous thing i've ever seen i fully regret ever watching it and then you had a diatribe on sex crimes i'm like these are like adults that we work with they could they don film. For a guy who starts every show with a monument being built to various sex crime offenders, I find your position on this issue

a little bit hypocritical. Would you agree, though, that our audience is very consensual on that? What? There may be inappropriate things that happen in the relationship between me and that camera, but the other side are willing.

No, I think you make everyone uncomfortable with it. I don't think there's any willingness whatsoever. You are vastly overstating the staff and the audience's participation. No, the staff is another question. They just have to deal with it. Dude, look at this. Look at this motherfucker. Because that's their job.

You know, that's their job, right? Bro, look at this specimen of a man. Look at him. I mean, water. They love that egg. Water. Yeah. Don't they? Don't they? Every shot is just a man. Look at him. Water. They love that A. Water. Yeah. Don't they?

Every shot is just a prop. Jake, if you're out there, if you're listening, Jake, if you're watching, where are you? We need you this week, Jake. We need the doc cameras. Chronically history. The growth of men. You know? Dude, I got to tell you, you're at the wrong Vegas restaurant. If there's a DJ screaming, if it's your birthday, stand up.

They're trying to get us to wrap this up. Yeah, I agree. We should go. All right. For Luke Thomas, I'm Brian Campbell. Check us later for The Weigh In. Enjoy the fights this weekend. UFC, so much more.

Showtime Boxing Pay-Per-View. This is the best show that ever happened. I don't know if it's going to last forever. Enjoy it while you still have it. Vote for us, sportspodcastgroup.com. We love you. This is the best show that ever happened. I don't know if it's going to last forever. Enjoy it while you still have it. Vote for us. SportsPodcastGroup.com We love you. We are out.