MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - David Benavidez vs. Demetrius Andrade | 2023 PFL Championship | Fight News | Morning Kombat EP 518

Episode Date: November 22, 2023

On Episode 518 of Morning Kombat Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell get you ready for the holiday weekend. The boys preview the 2023 PFL World Championship and David Benavidez vs. Demetrius Andrade. What should we be looking out for this weekend? The guys also break down some recent fight announcements. As always the close out Wednesday's with Fan Submissions. Morning Kombat is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts 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

Oh friggin yeah how about that hump day but a special one thanksgiving eve wednesday november 22nd 2023 the award-winning morning combat oh it's back baby trust us it's back and it is back with a bang yeah brian campbell right here you know the alpha fellow of the bbc with that b d e my award-winning co-host is right there you can follow him on the x it's luke thomas and luke where i come from the wednesday night before thanksgiving it means one thing valley new year which means try to engage in sexual contact with all the people in high school that at that time thought they were better than you but look at us now look at us now right Look at us now, right?

No, Wednesday night is the first night that everyone who went away to college comes back home. And that's why you try to do all the banging, is because there has been a rematriculation back home. That's the key. Luke, are you speaking in robot voice, or are you broadcasting live from the Lincoln Tunnel? I can't necessarily pick up your audio. Maybe the people at home are picking it up great, but we have a technical difficulty.

Your audio sounds like it's being chewed up and then spit back to me. Okay, let's put the camera just on him while I try to suss this out. Okay, let's put the camera back on BC. Hey, it's BC right here. And let me tell you a few things about this fantastic show, right? You can like and subscribe at the channels below. Thank you, Mikey Mormyle, CBS Sports on the ones and twos today. I said on the channels below.

Right freaking here. Right now. I guess not. Okay, well, hey, we got a great show for you today on this Wednesday. We got a lot of things to set up. The final PFL Championship pay-per-view card of this calendar year. We will, of course, react to the next-level follow-up of that big merger announcement of the PFL purchasing Bellator.

We'll look at Don Davis' lengthy interview with Errol Hawane on MMA Fighting, pick out some of the details and get into it. We'll set the stage for Friday night's card. Also, this Saturday, of course, Showtime Pay-Per-View. God, it's David Benavidez. It's Demetrius Andrade. It's the last stop on the 37-year incredible history of Showtime Sports' boxing pay-per-view coverage.

There, of course, will be one more championship card in December, but got to break down this fight, got to get fired up, got to read your fan subs on this day, among a few other things. And why don't I talk about merch as Luke is getting his microphone back up to speed. MorningCombat.store, of course, the place, right? For this fantastic headwear, all the great wear. We got Factory Town MMA, the Average Joe Art crossover collection. But I've got a text message here directly from the desk of RJ Dunkel Gangbang, the new father.

Congratulations. And here's what RJ says. If you go to the website right now, MorningCombat.store, and you sign up for our mailing list, here's what's going to happen this Thursday night, Turkey Day. You're going to be given personal access to our promotion code that on Friday for Black Friday, get this, we'll give you 25% off the entire site all the old designs must go okay all the original 2.0 merch launches all that it all must go you want 25 off a code that you can use through midnight on thanksgiving all the way through cyber monday the only way to get that code sign up for our mailing list at morning combat.store you won't need to give your social security number.

You will not be assigned a predatory loan. You will not eventually be relegated to the status of Lord or Laird. You will just be on the inside track of what we do. Luke, I want to hear your audio like as smooth as a baby's buttocks, but that would be awkward to say out loud. What does it sound like, Luke? It's going to sound to you like I'm talking through a CB, but you should be able to hear me and I should be understandable. You might have to just turn it up a bit.

Well, I catch a niner in there. Breaker, breaker, one nine. Did you get that? All right. It's some kind of issue with Zoom on my PC that doesn't happen on my Mac. I don't know why, but it just does. So there we are. But here we are. Thank you for having me. I'm told the audio is perfect to our listeners, so that's not a problem. I'll handle this hiccup internally. Luke, we talked about the great merch that's going to launch with this Black Friday through Cyber Monday deal, 25% off the site. Do you have any – you want to put pressure on people to buy. Like, remember that Jerky Boys segment where it's like people got to buy.

These fuckers, I'll sell cars in circles around you. You know what I mean? This guy, he don't want to buy buy fucking put his head right through the windshield you remember frank rizzo luke uh i don't remember the name jerky boys i wasn't quite as enamored with that as you although i did like the jerky boys i'm not gonna sit here and pretend i didn't but uh yes the merch is going away folks this is it this is your chance go get it we are not going to have another opportunity to get what's on the shelves now so go clear it out well luke what about your personal shelving as my old boss boss, Karen Portley, used to talk about my

love handles and the extra shelving I'm building for the winter. What if you wanted to get rid of that? What if you wanted to do something each day that would be like a cheat sheet, a cheat code to get ahead of your nutrition, to start your day the right day? Luke, when I started drinking AG1 every single day, my health was not in the right place. Way too many carbs, sugars, all the things that are wrong. I would start my day each day with the exact type of wrong things that would keep me going in the wrong direction the rest of the day. Then I took a little scoop of that green magic powder.

I mixed it in with water. I had this really subtle, nice tropical taste. But even more importantly, how about the foundational nutrition change that has been happening inside my body, Luke? EG1 is all the things I've always needed but never realized I did. Now I can get them in one little shot. Yeah, I mean, this is just what you need for your daily nutrition, but a whole lot more. And folks, you know, it's a very old man thing to note, but if you've ever been to the hospital for having poor digestion and diverticulitis, you begin to notice, hmm, might need to take care of some certain things along the way.

So here's where AG1 can really help you out. It can make sure it can keep you not just out of the hospital, but keep you running the way you're supposed to be running. AG1 is that for you. And of course, one of the things, BC, that I like most about it, I don't have to take a gazillion pills, I don't have to store a bunch of nonsense, and then take a thousand this and a milligram of that. I don't have to take a gazillion pills. I don't have to store a bunch of nonsense and then take a thousand this and a milligrams that and the other. I don't have to do any of that stuff. You don't have to do just one serving a day. Boom, easy, done, in and out. Tropical taste,

count me in. Big fan. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Look, I don't always get it right, but AG1 helps me get a lot closer to that. I've been telling my family and friends about it and I've been loving, most importantly, Luke, because we have a very road centric lifestyle with this job where I can take those travel packs you can order it you can order it by lump sum in one big bag and put it in your container and get it ready each morning or you can order it set up in the travel pack format that's been the key for me I know when I'm on the road where I'm not always eating clean I can get ahead of that first I can good. I can set the base for the day. It just makes sense.

We're on the go, guys. Life's busy. Life's hard. You don't have time to be buying all these. It's all there, right there, all you need it. One location, Athletic Greens. So, Luke, if they wanted to find out more and be a first-time subscriber and maybe get some of those benefits by getting some AG1 through this here MK porthole,

what should they do? Yeah, if you want to take ownership of your health, it starts with AG1. Try AG1 and get a free one-year supply of vitamin D3K2 and five free AG1 travel packs with your first purchase. Go to drinkag1.com slash morningcombat. One more time, that's drinkag and then the number one drink AG one dot com slash morning combat. As always, morning combat with a K.

Damn freaking right. Luke, I'm a couple weeks into my new journey with my virtual personal trainer, Darren Robinson. This guy will, you know, this guy looks like the Dean of me and Keith Jardine. This guy will kick some absolute ass. He's kicking my ass. Did you know I came back and played two hours of full-court hoops last night with no subs? And right after this show, I'm getting right back in the gym for leg day, Luke.

I'm getting after it, all right? I'm happy to hear that. I hope you continue with your journey. I should tell you, I got a little bit of cheering from the sidelines out here in Washington, D.C., not yesterday, but a couple of days ago. So of what i have to i mean normally what i do bc is yesterday for example it rained the entire day here so i had to work out on my covered porch as cars drove by just looking at me like i was the absolutely insane person because you're kind of acting like it although it's for good reasons luke so i mean i gotta get it in like where am i supposed to do like i this is just what

my what i have to do. So that's what I'm going to do. But, uh, everyone's like, Oh, you go to the gym. No,

I can't. I have to watch my kid who I was actually working out there with me a little bit. But point being is, uh, one of the things I do is I have to leave my property. Cause when I do farmer walks, which is where you just basically hold and carry weight and then just walk

with it. Uh, you have to go up and down the block. So that's when I look absolutely dad mode out of my mind, insane white guy. He'll just shoot up the post office. Yeah. Uh, but this dude drove by this black dude, have to go up and down the block so that's when i look absolutely dad mode out of my mind insane white guy he'll just shoot at the post office yeah uh but this dude drove by this black dude drove by and honked the horn and he go he goes he rolled down his window he's like hey man i come by here all the time i always see you out here he's like hey old timer go get that work i was like

first of all luke why did you need to identify him as a black man anyone could have encouraged you in that yeah i suppose i don't know it's just i was just describing the scene how about that yeah there you go there you go just just some common racism but i'll say this shout out to that guy for encouraging you luke driving by i see you old timer i see you old fella you wash great piece of shit yeah i know i was like on the one hand i like that he notices i'm i'm you know getting after it on the other hand it's like wow, that's what I'm talking about. I was like, on the one hand, I like that he notices I'm getting after it. On the other hand, it's like, wow, man, that's what he went to? Yeah.

Yeah, I guess that's where I'm at now. I guess that's where I'm at now. It is where you're at now. But, Luke, I'm finding out, even at 45, that I can push myself to new levels. Okay? I can do it. I can do anything, Luke. All right?

So can you. Let's do it. Let's get at it. What about 2024 becoming not just the greatest year in morning combat history, but you and I maxing ourselves the frick out without T without necessarily without needing TRT Luke. How about just protein powder and hard work? What do you think?

I think the drugs would work better. I can tell you that drugs motivation doesn't last that long. You can't get by on motivation. You have to get by drugs still win the drugs war in my house. Yeah. I haven't done them yet. I haven't done them yet. But, buddy, you know, if you really want to get the job done, that's how you clean up

on aisle, you know, I don't know, seven. That's how you get it done. Luke, could your personal trainer beat up my personal trainer? We should get these guys on the show and have them debate. No. No, no, no. But, like, I'm not doing the kind of thing like, we're going to do maximum hypertrophy.

I'm doing rehab and exercising at the same time, so it's a little bit different. Well, Luke, I've been just that. Even though I've been in a gym in some form since 1994, you know me, I'm just filling out a T-shirt. It's shoulders, chest, biceps. That's about it. I'm starting to work legs for the first time in 20 years.

Luke, where have I been all that? Very quickly, what does he have you doing on legs? Right now, it's a lot, Luke. There's a lot of free weight stuff, a lot of squatting, holding dumbbells. I'm doing... Yeah, I mean, this is the worst description of exercising I've ever heard. Well, I could get into it, Luke, but do you really want that information? I guess off air, I'd be curious. Yeah. I off off air i'd be curious yeah i'm doing a bunch of i'm doing a bunch of split squats i'm doing a bunch of ham work i'm doing a bunch of uh uh ankles elevated uh squats it's just a lot it is a lot luke but that's what it takes to not be an absolute piece of shit there you go thank you very much to the people that have our back that are pushing us every single day. We're going to get into the show now. Why not? Right. Topic number one.

We felt the need to go back to the well here. Hey, spoiler alert, Luke, there will be an episode Friday, Black Friday. We prerecorded it yesterday. We hit a mailbag. We answered your questions. We talk turkey Thanksgiving traditions traditions we also did react to this in further detail but i think there's more reaction needed than what we did on wednesday show when we had breaking news officially the pfl has purchased bellator we started to see the press release and the plan that don davis and company over there at the professional fighters league have for the future of operating both brands simultaneously, but keeping it under the PFL window. And as Don Davis spoke with Ariel Hawane at length on the MMA Hour, the picture became a

little bit more clear outside, Luke, of some of those other things like the Contender Series and their own version of a Contender Prospect Series and the PFL's expansion into other regions of the world. I just want to talk about the big picture stuff. They're going to go on with the tournament format in 2024. They're also, the PFL, going to launch their pay-per-view division, which will, in 2024, consist of one card in the first quarter, hopefully one headline, according to Don Davis, by Francis Ngannou, maybe against Deontay Wilder, and a mixed rules fight.

Jake Paul in an MMA debut pay-per-view at the end of the year. So what about Bellator? What Bellator will serve as as eight cards in the Bellator International Championship Series. They expect seven of them to air overseas live. And the whole point is when you sign with PFL, according to Davis, you're essentially given the choice. Do you want to go in the meat grinder in our season, regular season playoff format? Or do you want to be the type of fighter who twice a year makes really fun fights and maybe chases after Bellator gold? That's what that series will include, a guaranteed title fight in the main and co-main events of the Bellator International

Championship Series, or whatever the hell they're calling it. Luke, there's a lot here. This is ambitious. This is the plan that Don Davis and company hope will leave them as essentially co-leaders of the MMA space along with UFC. So that's super ambitious. But I want to get your reaction now that we've heard Davis speak, now that we have a deeper understanding of what they're trying to do, have they or have not has pfl set themselves up for whether or not they get there the chance to do what to what they're saying they're trying to do which is to become the co-leader have they made the right steps in your opinion heading into a big next year to do just that they haven't made nbc i'm going to take this earpiece out,

so if it sounds different to you, let me know. Otherwise, I'll put it back in, but let me just try it because I can hear myself better this way. What I was going to say, BC, is I don't think that they... In PFL acquiring Bellator, I don't believe that that is in any way

some kind of mistake. I don't believe that that is in any way some kind of error. I do not believe this is in any way some kind of mistake. I don't believe that that is in any way some kind of error. I do not believe this is any way some kind of like even just neutral thing. I know Dana White was like, well, you got this family business and this one, put them together. Like, you know, what do you really have? You do have more together. You have a lot more raw material to work with. You have dramatically bolstered the strength of the rosters. You just bought basically if nothing else you bought patchy mix you bought Aaron Pico and again I don't want to treat them like commodities but you get the

idea and then you bought basically one of the best light heavyweight divisions in the game arguably the best one I mean it's a pretty good one that they've got over in Bellator right so in many ways this is a very helpful step this is an important step for PFL this is a big change in MMA with probably a lot of good and some bad. It'll all shake out somewhere, I suppose, for the rest of us in the middle. But I just want to be clear about something. As important as this is and as big, and I don't wish to make it sound like it's not, this does meaningfully very little for them to ever be able to compete with the UFC.

Again, the UFC's ability to control this market, not just merely by its size. People think it's just a function of how big it is. It's not really the UFC. Again, the UFC's ability to control this market, not just merely by its size, people think it's just a function of how big it is. It's not really the issue. The issue is, of course, as we've talked about many times, the real end of the money-making machine on this one is when you get access to the premier stars, and then there is ultimate crossover between rosters. That's really what you're looking for. So the Bellator to PFL roster is big, but that central problem, and I want to find a tweet by John Nash because you'll recall, BC, in the press release they said, hey, if you look at the Fightmetrics rankings, which by itself Fightmetrics is a good place that does reliable work.

I have no beef with Fightmetrics whatsoever, but rather if you just actually dig into the numbers, first of all there is some subjectivity about the rankings, but more to that, they were saying, well, we have as many in terms of the proportionality inside the top five as the UFC, but when you break it down, it's all under the heavier numbers, and as you get more up the food chain,

they get lighter and lighter. In fact, the biggest seven moneymakers in the sport, they don't have any of them. So in terms of what they're talking about in the press release, this is a nice step, I suppose, in the right direction, but by itself does nothing to meaningfully change the game at all. I don't know. We had some of this debate that people can check out on Friday.

I just think while it's not proven yet that this will work by any means, but this was all about the launch of the start of 2024 because PFL is not really a competitor, or at least not officially trying to be, unless you've got a pay-per-view arm, and unless you've got people that fans would go out of their way to potentially see. Now, do they have that with Nganou, Jake Paul, a bunch of talented female champion boxers who have made, you know, the announcement of an MMA pivot. Well, they've got the foundation for something here. So I'm not here to argue necessarily that it is going to work. I am here to argue per se that I was successfully kind of

blown away by Don Davis's presentation. I mean, does it always sound too good to be true when someone's trying to compete and is doing big things and is, you know, calling out their shots for the future? Yeah. But to hear this guy's track record as an executive and to hear how thoughtful it was, a lot of the decisions they made when you know they are armed with Saudi money now, you know that the success is going to live and die on their ability to attract big free agents. I think the question you really have to ask yourself was, have they built a potentially successive and exciting foundation to do just that, to lure in big names? I think there's an argument to be had that this structure, while yes, potentially a bit confusing

because you're still keeping the Bellator brand name alive under the larger PFL Inc. structure, and yes, you have a lot of other arms from a prospect series to a launching PFL Mideast, the PFL Europe, PFL Africa, all of these ambitious big term goals that really do follow a lot of the UFC's blueprint. The short term thing that needs to be there is do they have an exciting opportunity for fighters to get out of their UFC deal to feel like they can control their career more and make more money and feel like they have options once they sign with PFL to do just that well Davis says look we're going to give them 50% of pay-per-view revenue we're going to give them the ability to box in their contract

with with PFL however they want so they can stay happy. Luke, these are refreshing narratives that I think need to be there if someone's going to compete with the UFC in 2023 and 2024 where the lawsuit for the antitrust is around the corner. Fighter pay is a never-ending topic. Could you get into deeply the weeds of will there actually be big-name free agents available from the UFC because of the amendments made to the contracts post Ngannou's exit. Yes, there's a potentially dark and sobering reality there, but I've got to applaud the

PFL. I've been critical, right? I thought two or three years ago they had a really big year that woke me up to their future and what they could do. This year has not been great. Kayla didn't fight. She'll fight this Friday. They didn't attract the big name free agents they wanted to that could immediately fight. There's been some hiccups with drug testing. There's been, there was the matchmaking decision of that fight that they pulled the two guys with

Natan Schultz from the tournament. There's been some hiccups, but I've got to say this, Luke, whether or not it works, I'm not here to say, did they make the right moves to go big and announce themselves next year and give themselves a fighting chance? I might want to say yes, Luke. I might want to hold some optimism because overall, I feel like this presentation, it kind of hit the right notes that they would need to, to try to make as crazy as it sounds this big ambitious run to try to compete here yeah i gotta tell you i don't buy any of that wow wow yeah i don't i i i i don't the pfl is trying to do what you say they are doing so when i tell you i don't buy it i'm not saying i think it's some kind of scam or something. That's not in any way what I'm talking about. I think that these guys are trying.

And, you know, for example, like offering you can do boxing like Francis did. We're going to put that in your contract. Like, that is a big deal. That's a meaningful help. That is them bending over backwards, honestly, in order to recruit talent. Now, they have to just sort of give in wherever the marketplace is. But, you know, they are doing it. And I do recognize that. I recognize the effort we seec and i hope you understand what i mean when i say that

i i don't think that they're just coming up with a bunch of bs like they're trying what they know how to do in terms of just really making inroads and perhaps some of these guys will do it but i just need folks to understand listen to me very clearly there is it is not possible short of some kind of scandal rocking the UFC in some kind of way or some other sort of government intervention, short of that, you cannot compete with them. It is not possible. It cannot be done.

And again, I want to go back to this conversation we had a little bit on Monday and previous other times where you look at, you were tweeting this in the group text we have BC about the financial runway for one might run out next year unless they can get some kind of Qatari investment or you know we know what Bellator turns out didn't make money one time in its entire existence and PFL I'm sure. Yeah bloody elbow Anton Tobuena had that story yesterday Luke. Yeah exactly and so you know people keep looking at this and being like oh it's because you know no one else can make money. And I, I was told, we'll talk about this a little bit on Friday show, but it's like, if you took the entire executive leadership team from UFC and then put them in these PFL or these Bellator situations, they couldn't save those companies

either. They cannot, they cannot be saved. So I don't want folks to not think this is a big deal. It's a big deal for a number two to really fortify itself the way that it has. That is important. That's big. And it will change a lot about MMA outside of the UFC. But BC, here's how you know nothing will really change. Nothing did change with the UFC. It wasn't like they lost five bantamweights all at once. It wasn't like there was an exodus of 20% of the roster or Conor left or anything. All that we saw was that two forces outside the UFC came together. It still remains the truth about the fight world that at every point in time, the public perceives a certain amount of guys in certain situations as the legit ones. And it's always not necessarily the most rational observation, but it is the one that they have.

And in this case, it's mostly rational, certainly. And most folks view the UFC guys as the ones who are the most legit, sort of the gold standard. That's what the UFC is protecting through their contracts, through their tolling provisions. I cannot overstate this enough, folks. Unless that is changed, it is not possible to compete with them. It doesn't matter how many Harvard MBAs you have on your team, and it doesn't matter how much sovereign wealth money you have to back up your enterprise. It cannot be done. Accept it. Are you saying when we say compete, now we have to say compete head to head because that's kind

of what Don Davis is saying. I mean, if you follow Don Davis's public comments in the past year, he is not suggesting that they plan on being happy as the new number two. And I think we can argue if they combine the rosters here, which they did, they are the clear number two. He's trying to compete head-to-head. But do you think there is a world in 2024? Since I do think it will take a little bit of time to get the type of free agents, meaning the in their prime, who still have value to UFC level of free agents to come over. That's going to ultimately dictate the success. We keep talking about that because it's true. But there are different levels of competing. There's competing head to head financially against the UFC, which is going to be hard to impossible for anyone ever. Although again, when you have Saudi money, it does change

the equation. Is there a more short-term win in 2024 that maybe if they aren't signing two, three, four, five huge free agents, maybe they're just having success? Think of how the success Bellator had in the last Spike TV iteration where they were getting really stupid live TV ratings, doing a lot of carnival things to get there, but that's what they were doing. Could you see a short-term scenario where I know you're identifying, okay, long-term you want to go head-to-head on every level with the UFC. Luke Thomas does not believe they have set themselves up for that. But is there a more short-term middle ground where they could advance the brand name next year,

which is always contingent on wherever they go with their TV deal, of course, and they can start gaining big wins through, let's say, surprising pay-per-view hits that do well business-wise through, you know, when you mix these rosters together, Luke, automatically it's going to make the PFL regular season more must-watch.

It just will. So do you think that they can still win on levels that maybe don't equal, we're going to go head-to-head with the UFC within two years? Nobody can. Even AEW is trying to go ahead with WWE. They've had wins, but they're not set up long-term to be equal or take over.

They've created their niche in the market. Has PFL at least succeeded in your eyes of taking what they already had and really ramping it up to the next level where maybe not head-to-head competition but making noise in this space the the noise that leads to more money down the road potentially potentially so you're asking like for example what would be again you can't rome wasn't built in a day it's not going to come undone in a day but what would be an example of the PFL I think moving the chains forward now your mileage or the audience's mileage on what I'm about to say might vary

it might vary yeah it might vary yep neither here nor there that being said um if they did a big francis and ganu versus deontay wilder fight i have to tell you i think that that would be i would consider that a big success in my mind you know it doesn't have to be deontay by the way it could be some other kind of big mma fight they were able to attract some kind of free agent that we all cared about i mean for example bc the pfl is charging for this pay-per-view on friday They're charging $49.95. Now, I don't know what the right number is. I don't think this event is going to do very well on pay-per-view. You could quibble with what the price point should be, but really nobody on there has a pay-per-view pedigree that is proven. But in the end, BC, what PFL has to do is put on the fights that people want to pay money to see.

If I had to ask you what the biggest, not the best PFL fight, because I can think of some really good PFL fights. Again, quality, not necessarily the issue all the time, or even frequently at all. But what's the biggest one? Again, you can go back to the Bellator one. It's very easy. By the way,

Bellator has done several million dollar gates. PFL has never done one of those. And Bellator had Kimbo Slice, who was a ratings juggernaut. PFL has never had any of this. So to me, if they had a million dollar gate next year, right, I would consider that progress. If they get a big fight for Francis, that's a PFL fight, even if it's mixed rules. They're the promoter, essentially. I think that's a big step. If they got Jake Paul versus Nate Diaz, I would consider that a big win for them. I used to find that very unlikely. So there's that. I do want to say, though, BC, I have to tell you, I really don't understand this division of the product that they've got going on.

I don't think it makes hardly any sense whatsoever. And the biggest part is this, BC. I'll say this. People are like, oh, it would be attractive to have these different franchises. Again, your product is so diluted and confused at that point, you can't even really say what it is. But more to that point. Now, let's give them credit.

They bought a great roster when they acquired bellator i'm acknowledging that in every way and we'll see how much crossover there is between these franchises that they have set up but i gotta tell you like you're splitting like you should just be making the pfl look much bigger and better they've had so many cards that barely limped to the finish line with people yeah you've absolutely never heard of and now they're going to split it even further at least for a little while now again bc i know there could be crossover but this is what i'm worried about on the one hand you're just you're just you know thinning out your roster to serve all these masters um we'll see how they navigate

that but to answer your question dude there are some real things they could do to take a big step forward but it involves big fights and big success at the box office. Whether it was the wrong move or whether it's a confusing move to keep operating the Bellator brand while being PFL Inc. overall, you have to believe they're doing it because they believe Bellator has made successful inroads, I think, in Europe. If they're looking to do seven of eight of these Bellator Championship International cards or whatever. 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. I participate in McDonald's in Canada. And they're doing seven of eight outside the States, and Europe is a big focus. Well, look, you've got to give Scott Coker credit in recent years for what he's done in France, Ireland, the UK. In terms of attracting crowds. And, you know, in PFLs, Don Davis did say when they had Cedric Dube under the PFL banner just recently, they sold out the arena.

So, look, the obvious sort of, so I'm saying they're probably keeping that Bellator product alive in their hopes of benefiting on the potential of Gates and all that you can argue whether that's necessary or not or whether it should all just be PFL no confusion but Davis did bring up Anthony Pettis as a great example a name fighter who makes fun fights against anybody but at this point it's not cut out as many of the UFC exiters have found in transitioning to the PFL might not be cut out for a regular season. That's a meat grinder that wears you out, might be more cut out and fighting in one-off fun action fights, maybe title fights under the Bellator banner. So there's something there. I get the confusion, but Luke, the larger argument is always going to be, this is great, but is it sustainable? Can you make money? Can you get to that point?

What did you make of Don Davis's comments about that? Because Dana White's knee-jerk reaction at 295 in New York when asked about the potential of, you know, co-promoting and all that with PFL, which he shot down. But it was, look, we have the top three gates in MSG history. As he said, PFL can't get a fucking live gate. They literally can't get fans in the building when they do these U.S. shows where they're not necessarily looking to have more than an apex level crowd, but they're also not getting that. about that because as davis said you make your money and tv in 2023 in this space not in live tickets and i think even though ufc has done everything in their power this year to maximize the live gate experience to just bring more revenue in they're still fully dependent upon that espn output deal that brings them upwards of like 900 million a year that that's the reason

why dana pushed through COVID so forcefully to make sure they meet their minimum level of dates. So do you think because of the constant changing nature of the sports broadcasting and business landscape, which includes streaming, it concludes our parent company Paramount saying goodbye to Showtime and Bellator, despite having a big year in those categories,

do we also need to readjust the way we look at financial success before being potentially too harsh on what pfl is trying to do no not at all none whatsoever he is right by a million miles that they're going to make their money in television they're going to make money the overseas bc be serious you've been covering boxing a long time can you imagine a successful or even unsuccessful boxing promoter convincing you that the gate in their live uf shows u.s shows doesn't really matter yeah seriously dude you would you would you would look at them with a third day but what the fuck are you talking about yeah of course your gates don't matter you don't have one like go go tell go tell any any of these

promoters who have where gates are important um which is any of the major ones in boxing golden boy match room you name it i guess the saudi ones don't really matter i guess they'd be the exception but you know certainly any domestic or international one with the uk with or europe gates gates obviously matter yes do the gates matter as much as the tv or even close to as much no that part is right but all of these things matter because not only does the money really matter in the end it's also just a showcase of what you can do. It's a showcase of what your fan base looks like. It's a showcase of how popular you are. It's a showcase of how visible and important, dude. I mean, everywhere Tank Davis goes, look where he sells out, look where he sells out, look where

he sells out. Well, is that important or is that not important? It's not important if you don't have anybody who can do it. But all of a sudden, I guarantee you, if they had Francis on a big show and Francis sold out, let's pick a venue, I't know somewhere in uh new york again they sold out msg but like the actual msg thing they had a fight with deontay wilder you mean to tell me they're not going to tell you about a 20 million 20 million dollar gate that they pulled off word this is just nonsense it's just these are not bad guys i'm not telling you they're bad guys and they're definitely not stupid but they're just saying things that don't pass basic scrutiny they just say the right things though they did say the right things about being a fighter friendly fan friendly organization first whether that look whether that wins out or works we're going to find

out but let's hear from don davis in terms of his overarching reaction to what's happening what the future will look like this is courtesy of the mma hour with ariel hawani these are one-off event products. So think of it as the one-off event product from the PFL platform. So whether you're a Bellator fighter or a PFL fighter, you're all now PFL fighters. Interesting. You're all in the pool. Okay. Certain fighters like to take one of our own fighters, Showtime Pettis. You know what? That seasoned product wasn't great for him. He's probably better fighting twice a year on a one-off event, just to take one of our own.

Fans love him. He can get ready for that. The season's too hard at this stage of his career. That season's the toughest test in MMA. He'd probably be great on that product. So whether you're a Bellator fighter or a PFL fighter, we'll talk to managers and fighters and say, what's the best product for you and what's the best product for those fans? You'll either fight twice a year on the Bellator International Champion Series or you'll fight in the PFL League season. Your choice, you know, one or the other. The Bellator belts will still be at risk. So the champions remain? Champions remain and they're at risk on the Bellator International Champions Series. PFL league seasons, still exactly what it was. Those products will both run during the year.

So we have two big signature products. We also have the PFL Challenger Series, PFL International Leagues, but two big signature products. Now, PFL, the company, will run Bellator, our media operations, our ad sales force, our business capabilities. We'll rebuild a lot of that. But the product and the brand, we will revitalize. More technology, a little bit better production, and mostly international cities. Big demand internationally.

You even mentioned earlier on your show, UFC hasn't tapped into all that international cities. Big demand internationally. You even mentioned earlier on your show, UFC hasn't tapped into all that international demand. So we'll do probably six or maybe seven of those eight shows outside the U.S., where almost all the PFL league season is in the U.S. Okay. Look, it's all used car salesman stuff if it doesn't lead to money. But I do want to make one thing very clear. If there was no Saudi connection, if the PFL did not just recently get a $100 million investment,

if they didn't also have a fair amount of celebrity investors and seemed to have constant access to cash, if this was boxing, how would I react? I'd probably shoot down their chances if they didn't have access to a pipeline, a war chest. Luke, it seems at some level they do. So when you hear Don Davis say things right there that, again, sound great on paper until you're actually competing with the UFC and the reality of getting their fighters out of contracts and the reality of the head start financially they have, could you at least agree with me that Saudi does add an asterisk to this conversation? That before you can declare them dead or misguided or over-the-top optimistic,

we have never seen this level of cashola injected into this space, Luke. We haven't. We have have not a hundred million dollars that with the promise of more with the potential and promise of more yeah i mean flash entertainment bought you know a big chunk of ufc i think it was like five or ten percent a long time ago ufc bought it back but that was much bigger than i think a hundred million dollars so you know we've seen big infusions um that's not necessarily that that large in that sense but you know the promise of more fair enough could get kind of interesting um listen it matters in the sense that like i think what people think is going to happen is one other person or some other big star is going to cross

over and make a big fight and then this will have a snowball effect but i'm going to go back to it with the way the contracts are structured there cannot be a snowball effect. But I'm going to go back to it. With the way the contracts are structured, there cannot be a snowball effect. These contracts are designed to prevent snowball effects. So that's not really realistic. I do think that it matters in the sense of you have to have those conditions in place like, hey, here's who's writing our checks for the big stars. To say that you have access to these markets or this kind of wealth i do think is a critical ingredient ultimately in getting the bigger stars over that you eventually will need or recruiting them however it may be right we can actually afford you we can really truly afford you here's how you know but again i know i'm sounding like a broken record bc

that by itself can't get the job done it It's not enough. You have to have the ability to have people in rotation on these contracts. Otherwise, no. With the onus, this will take a while no matter what. Whether they make it or not, it's going to take a while. Would the onus be now to identify if you're the PFL, which truly valuable

still in their prime fighters are approaching the end of their contract because it's going to be a process you're going to need UFC fighters to have whether it's I don't know if it's legal or not and tampering in terms of like these off the off board negotiations but what I'm saying is PFL needs to call up for example a Sean O'Malley or somebody on that level and basically say like when you're done we're going to be there and there's going to be this much amount of money and you're going to have this going to be there, and there's going to be this much amount of money,

and you're going to have this ability to do this and that, but they're going to have to commit to that, not taking the offers past their way. You know what I'm saying? They're going to have to commit to that. Yes, there's a bit of that. And also, you know, again, this is another part to think about. Oh, I'm going to take a big fight in PFL, right? But if you're going to sign for three fights, who are the other two?

You know, this is what I mean. There has to be a flow of talent. Before we wrap up on this topic, BC, I had to read this tweet to you. This is what i mean there has to be a flow of talent before we wrap up on this topic bc i had to read this tweet to you yeah this is from john nash right so he's going through the fight matrix rankings of the men's bantamweight through heavyweight division so the seven divisions you ultimately can't compete in pfl has 25 of the top 25 all right that's 44 of 175 they have 16 of the top 10 and zero number one fighters ufc has okay so pfl had top uh had 25 of the top 25 ufc has 62 of them pfl had 16 of the top 10 and this is the big difference ufc has

83 percent of them and of the number ones ufc has all of them that premium market yeah 83 of the number ones, UFC has all of them. That premium market, 83% of the top 10 and the number ones, that's where your, folks, that's where your money is made. Look at how many of them they have. They have nearly all of them. That is why they are so successful. Interesting. So Davis did say he hopes to do in February a PFL versus Bellator champions card where all the champions would square off.

That wouldn't include the divisions where PFL doesn't operate. So Johnny Eblen at middleweight, for example, would not be going up against the PFL champion. But Mikey, if we could close with that one more video with Don Davis talking about where his company will stand against the UFC after moves like this, that will close out this conversation. How close do you feel like you are now to the UFC? Everybody knows Dana well enough that he only dismisses things that worry him.

Or else he just doesn't comment. He didn't comment on the PFL for four years because he wasn't worried. He's commented on the PFL a lot the last six months. He worried. What specifically worried him about Bellator is the metrics we put on the press release. 30% of that roster ranked in the top 25 per Fight Matrix rankings. So this is not Dane against to rank his own guys.

Don's ranking his own guys. As you know, there's only one group that ranks all fighters, Fight Matrix, independently. 30% of the UFC roster is top 25 ranked, and now our combined company of PFL and Bellator, 30%. The same. Now, to UFC's credit, if you look at top five in the world, they still own the top five, one through five. So, called pay-per-view cards, we couldn't compete with

them right now, which is why we're only going to have two, and they have 12. But if you say, I'm turning on TV on ESPN Saturday night, or I'm going to tune in Friday night to watch his Bellator International Series or PFL, our cards are going to be better. Better. Because what they put on this year was ranked 70, and what we're going to put on next year is ranked 40. That's why he said, I don't know why in God's green earth anybody's buying this. Because he's smart and he knows that.

UFC ain't the NFL. We're not the XFL, but he wants you to think that. It's just a matter of time before that starts to get more well known. We're not number two. We're a co-leader. You don't want that. That's what's going on. Interesting, Luke.

A lot of boldness in that that you're going to have to prove before you say, but interesting. That's all I have to say. Interesting. I'm intrigued. I'm optimistic about some level of success and competition because they're going so bold. They're going all in. I'm excited. It's more exciting than not, Luke, than not having it. It's more exciting.

It's a huge change. It's a huge change. I will say this. There hasn't been a robust number two in MMA like this since Strikeforce. That is true. That is true. I cannot think of what would be the second biggest one since the death of Strikeforce. I mean, someone might be able to say some other ones from no i don't think the japanese ones would oh golden boy mma for that liddell golden boy mma so so that is

a big deal it is a big deal i just hope folks understand the reason why the ufc has such a lock on the market you cannot undo that without somebody else intervening it's just a reality uh that's pfl for the future though 2024 they still have business this friday washington dc and they were the old folks abc war it's a pay-per-view by the way the 2023 pfl world championship six divisions will crown new 2023 regular season champions and play with the playoffs here this is the championship round I believe a million dollars is at stake over the totality of the tournament for the winning fighters as well we're also getting the return of Kayla Harrison new opponent in Aspen Ladd but interesting considering she's had most of this year off but Luke I also by the way Ray Cooper III and Derek Brunson, who's making his PFL debut,

also an interesting undercard fight. Luke, across these title fights, though, which one, when you are in attendance Friday night, in your sit-a, are you most fired up for? Ooh, among the title fights. Okay, I mean, each one's got a little bit to it. I'd say the two that are the most interesting would probably... probably okay so the

one i think that is like a bit of the people's champion type is probably going to be impa kasangana taking on josh silvera the josh silvera the son of conan uh taking on impa kasangana who got iced by juan uh joaquin buckley in that amazing you know jumping uh spinning back or whatever the hell it was at this point i can't quite remember that he got you know posterized on it he's had an incredible comeback so that one of 205 is kind of interesting the one between megamed megamed karamov and sadabusi is a rematch from 2021 which was not like the greatest fight and megamed karamov basically won because he got dominant wrestling in two of the three rounds um But Sadabusi is much better.

He's won the tournament since then. That'll be an interesting one. People might like the Hen and Fajita, Denis Goldsov. I don't think that's going to last very long either way. Either Fajita's going to land a big bomb or Goldsov's probably going to ride him out and then finish him off TKO. So for me, the main event, honestly, I get why it is the main event. You have Clay Collard, who's just one of these insanely unlikely combat sports success stories.

He's taking on Olivier Aubin-Marseille, who hasn't lost since fighting Armin Saryukian in 2019. He's 9-0 in the PFL. As I mentioned, I got tipped off by a French-Canadian viewer or listener that he told local media there in Quebec that this could be his last fight. He doesn't really know yet. By the way, if he wins this one, this will be his last fight. He doesn't really know yet. By the way, if he wins this one, this will be his second million dollar tournament that he's won. He never came close to making money like that in the UFC. So this has been a particularly good slot for him. And BC, what I need to tell you about Clay Collard. This guy during the pandemic, he thrived,

man, was beating boxing prospects for top rank on ESPN, washed out of UFC before that, and here he is in this insanely unlikely run. Having fought tough guys, by the way, or at least tough competition, to get here, listen, I don't favor his chances because Aubin Marcier is so good and so improved. Hey, it's a tough fight, but I'm done counting Clay Collard out. I can tell you that. I know.

And, you know, he often will square up, take big punishment, but his punches are shorter, harder, more technical from that boxing experience. And he's been gutting it out. I mean, a lot of these guys have, look, these tournaments are, are an absolute meat grinder. There's no question about it. No different than the Rebney era Bellator tournaments in that regard. You're going to get banged up. You've got to survive in advance. You're inevitably going to have to go through wars. Collard is a plus 198 underdog, according to FanDuel,

against the minus 260 Oban Mercier, but I love that story. I love that they made this the main event, too. But look, look at some of these odds right now. Kasong and I, minus 177 on FanDuel against the plus 134 Silvera. So he's favored to come back here and win a PFL championship after exiting the UFC. You talked about that Magomed Karamov fight. He will be a minus 172 favorite

against the plus 134 Sadabusi, who's the defending champion in this division. And don't forget Larissa Pacheco, who defeated and upset Kayla Harrison in their trilogy bout to close last season's 1-55 tournament, is back here at 1-45 in the championship, and she's a minus-6-50 favorite against Marina Mokinakina. Yeah, I fell apart. I had a seizure during that.oka, wow, Luke. Mokinakina? Yeah, I fell apart. I had a seizure during that. Mokinakina. Yeah, I'm sorry.

Mokilate. But dude, since beating Kayla Harrison, she's beaten Julia Budd. She iced Amber Lybrock and Olena Kolesnik together combined in 60 seconds. I mean, she's an absolute dynamo. She's been an incredible turnaround because she's already washed out of the UFC and lost to big names like Jermaine Durand and me. Yet look at the way she's worked herself back in. Huge puncher out of Brazil.

Tough as nails. So improved. And even though Don Davis himself was telling Ariel we can't wait to make Cyborg versus Kayla next year, dude, if Pacheco comes back here and continually just proves herself by winning this championship after winning the 155 tournament the year before when she inevitably is set to face the winner of that dude that's arguably one of the best fights you can make in women's MMA in a fight you know weight talent and weight class wise because it would have to be at least at 145 you couldn't do in the UFC right now so that's a that's a you know a decent feather in the cap there are some areas now where you can bind these rosters, Luke,

where this new PFL, whether we're talking about women's feather, Bantamweight, on the men's side, light heavyweight, as you mentioned. I mean, they can really compete in a few of these divisions with the depth and the critical, you know, when you add these Bellator names for sure. But I do like this card. I mentioned that Brunson-Cooper banger on the undercard. Davis was saying that Ray Cooper, the former champion, basically has been so successful in the PFL that he's become so rich that he can't stop surfing and getting fat in

Hawaii, Luke. And it's been hard getting him motivated to get back up to that level. So we've seen a few guys being able to financially really work this system. And I mean, who were you always talking about was it lance palmer that's won this a couple times yeah i think i won it two or three times like i mean quietly a successful millionaire over there yeah like he's one of the guys in the last 10 years who's made a ton of money you know i would even argue for the amount of money he's made he's the least well known of uh any millionaire MMA fighter I think I've ever seen. I can't, I mean, there might be someone in Japan

or some other kind of like, you know, East Asian market where they have like their own particular heroes, not necessarily from North America. That could be true. But I mean, for anybody from North America or, you know, continental Europe or whatever, I can't think of someone who got that much money who the fans have no clue who he is.

Now the fighters know, and obviously he was with Team Alpha Male for a long time. I think he's at Elevation now. He's a good fighter. He's a good fighter. He just never went to the UFC and made a shit ton of money. Absolutely. And how about this trilogy on the undercard?

Bubba Jenkins and Chris Wade for the third time. They both have decision wins over one another in recent years. So, look, there's some good fare here. Like, you're going to enjoy that. Do you think though the 49.99 pay-per-view price which is set by the UFC not set by the PFL but obviously it's their decision to make this a pay-per-view do you expect this to be a success based on recent PFL headlines BC no why are you asking me this question I just do expect last time? You know full well I don't expect this, and neither do you.

You don't have to ask the silly-ass questions. No, it's going to tank. It's going to tank like a motherfucker. But it'll be fun to watch, right? Yeah, yeah. Again, it's not a comment on its quality. Like, dude, there's good fights. There's maybe potentially great fights up and down this one.

And, dude, Clay Collard winning. I mean, I got to tell you, he'd be in contention for fighter of the year, if you ask me, if he wins that one. i'm not even doing a joke there i thought that would be tremendous if he won that it would so there's plenty to go and enjoy but like what is it going to do at the box office it's going to fucking bomb is what it's going to do okay luke if you get a chance to interview don davis i hope you do on friday but will you at least set up the stage for him to come on this show with both of us and us ask him very critical questions? Yeah, I would love to.

I mean, you know, usually when I ask critical questions, I don't get interviews after that. So we'll see how that goes. But, you know, hope springs eternal. It does. It does. You know what I'm hopeful for, Luke? A fantastic fight this Saturday night. The final showtime pay-per-view as we transition to topic number three. It's going to go down from Michelob Ultra Arena,

once known as the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas. One of the best, by the way, intimate main event venues that you just don't see used enough these days with both T-Mobile's launch and, of course, MGM Grand still holds a high regard. But we're back at Mandalay. Two super middleweights who are among the best in this division. lunch and of course MGM Grand still holds a high regard but we're back at Mandalay two super middleweights who are among the best in this division obviously Canelo Alvarez the undisputed champion but David Benavidez former two-time title holder really now at age 26 seems to really have

it together in terms of his confidence his work ethic his stamina his preparation all the things that maybe he didn't have in the past that got him in trouble. That victory over Caleb Plant in March was such a big step for his brand, for everything about him. Now he welcomes 35-year-old Demetrius Andrade, unbeaten, champion in two weight classes, and really we're going on 10 years of wondering, how good is this guy actually if he could finally lure an A-list name across from him?

He's been chasing Canelo, Jamal, Triple G. He's been bounced around from promoters. Now he's finally got the fight that matters. And considering both of these guys want nothing but to go directly into a Canelo fight with a win here. The stakes are huge. The style contrast is huge. Luke, you and I will be calling the prelim Saturday from our Jersey City studio. So 6 p.m. in the east on the Showtime Sports YouTube channel. And we've got two very good fights that you don't want to miss. But this

main pay-per-view card and specifically this main event, I know there's been a lot of talk about, you know, this is Showtime Boxing's farewell on this level, and we all, you know, have equal levels of happiness and, you know, sadness on that level for that. But dude, this fight bangs, and I don't think enough people really realize that, that both of these guys are super avoided. So they basically were like, let's just go through each other to get some of that critical respect that we both still need. I couldn't have one bad thing to say about this boxing main event. I mean, other than to say, would it be nice if we had David Benavidez versus Canelo? Sure, that would be certainly much better, especially after Jermell, you know, I think showed that he was unprepared for that level of a task. But David Benavidez is prepared for that level of a task.

This fight is interesting, BC. I saw a stat. Ready for this? Of the 48 professional rounds that David Benavidez has fought, he's only been numerically outpunched in two of them. So 46 to 48, he was at. And for Demetrius Andrade, I think he had something like 105 rounds. He's only been outpunched in three of them.

I mean, you're talking about guys who are not just good, not just undefeated, not just very well experienced. In the of david benavidez young dude david benavidez is 26 years old this dude isn't even in his fucking prime dude he won a world title at 20 people forget that like he's made mistakes yes yes he fucked up he fucked up between 20 and 24 is know, 23-ish, he wasn't doing that great. But now I feel like he's in a much different place. And he is a dynamo.

Fast punching, hand combinations, big power. Walks you down. A big towering guy even for this weight class. Just hard to deal with. Good defense when he needs it as well in addition to having a warrior spirit and a good chin. Demetrius Andre of the two. Much more of a slickster a guy who can fight behind the jab very good ring iq very good ring craft tough to handle and no one has ever wanted to fight this guy you might look at andre's a resume pc what would you say was his best win over the biggest name that he has

that's the problem he's got like four or five even B-level wins against Vana Smartorogian, Brian Rose when he won a title at 54, Machi Selechki. Names where you're like, okay, I know that guy, but then there's a lot of Walter Kanakwandana's on there where you're just like, it's been a waste of time. Or Daman Nicholson from this area who's like a fine fighter, but you know, not at the level. Well, that was his 168 debut with the PBC earlier this year.

But, Luke, like, he's so good, Andrade, but you would admit, dude, like, his run with Eddie Hearn and Mattram was a failure. They were on the side of the road with the zone with Canelo and Triple G and Danny Jacobs, and Eddie Hearn couldn't get Andrade into the ring with any of them, and now it took joining forces with Al Heyman and knowing that, you know, in the PBC, the 168 division is so fruitful with big names. You got to give Andrade credit for finally getting to this point because I have to wonder if he was going to retire or walk away.

Because, look, he was becoming a joke in some ways because he was trying so hard to get people's attention and nobody wanted to fight him. I mean, he literally fought a guy named Willie Nelson. Well, shout out to Willie Nelson. Willie Nelson could punch from Cleveland. Look, we always talk about boxing odds being way wider than MMA and not always fully indicative of how close the fight can be.

I mean, I talk up fights where the guy's a minus 700, 800 favorite, but it's like, hey, this could give him trouble. Look at what FanDuel's got for this one. Plus 290, Andrade. Minus 430, Benavidez. I think we all would agree that Benavidez is operating at a point right now where

he has to be the betting favorite. Look at what he did against Caleb Plant. The stamina was incredible. You mentioned the hand speed and what he does offensively. A lot of people talking online that really understand this game technically, that his defense, especially in close range as he's crowding people, is tremendous. Head movement, little subtle defense, where he doesn't take an outrageous amount of punishment while still being the Mexican monster and walking you down in that pocket.

He's super skilled, but you see the respect the oddsmakers are giving Andrade. He's tall, he's southpaw, he's lengthy, and while he does not have one-punch power as he's in his third division here in terms of moving up, you would say at the very least he is skilled enough to pull this upset off on Saturday. Yes, for sure. I think it'll be tough because David Benavidez, as the rounds go on, he's just going to continue to march you down and walk into you.

And I think, excuse me, as good as Andre is, I think that will wear down and eventually he'll be forced to duel it out with Benavidez and that will be his undoing. But does he have the skills? Does he have the ring craft? And does he have, I think, the overall want, certainly, to take advantage of this opportunity?

No question in my mind. I think in some ways the Caleb Plant fight was really good for Benavidez, though, BC, because Caleb Plant has very different kind of, he's much more of a sort of Philly shell-ish kind of slickster, trunk movement kind of guy, whereas a guy like Andre, a little bit more behind the jab, but certainly using the full space of the ring to do what he wants to do. Both of those kinds of guys have a similar tendency

in the sense that what is Benavidez walking into, a similar kind of thing that he got with Caleb Plant vis-a-vis ring cutting and ring IQ. So I think that was a really good preparatory thing for him. So I still think David Benavidez deserves to be favored here. Dude, he's got to be one of the most exciting talents in all of boxing, David Benavidez. I mean, just what he is, where he's at,

how good he's at, and what fights lie ahead. You're like, shit, dude. I wouldn't want to fight that guy either. I get why he's avoided, man. He's a terminator. He's a terminator. That Caleb Plant fight, dude, Caleb Plant gave him everything he could handle, and eventually the tide turned, and when it did, it was downhill Benavidez. I'm expecting it to

look something like that on Saturday night. Yeah, it's can Andrade have the tricks, the tools to keep Benavidez at the end of that jab and maybe put together the kind of offense that will slow him down, make Benavidez think twice. You want to make someone that destructive who's a constant, inevitable presence that only gets more powerful. I mean, Benavidez gets better in the second half of fights because he's already picked out the adjustment that he needs to make. And then now that he has the stamina, now that he's really putting in the work, when

he starts coming forward, you cannot stop this man. You cannot keep him off of you. I caught up with both fighters on morning combat in the weeks and months ahead of this, so we're going to throw to that, but I cannot recommend enough to everybody to check out the all-access, just one episode, of Benavidez vs. Andrade on the Showtime Sports YouTube channel right now. You love it, Luke, whether it's 24-7 on HBO, now Showtime all-access, these great pre-fight vehicles.

When you get fighters who are underexposed on a personal level and you find out their family dynamics, how their mind thinks, how they work, it is a refreshing way to kind of like get fired up all over again in the matchup. So I really enjoy that. They're also, they really presented Benavidez as like this baby face, Luke, as like this rede face luke is like this redeemed family man who's now ready to be the face dude a little mexican boxing yeah i do i do agree with that so it was interesting to see let's hear from benavidez in my chat with him

on just his general thoughts of this fight the timing of it and all that here's the mexican monster i'm trying to prove to the world that I'm the best super middleweight on this planet. And I'm going to definitely show that because I've had a tremendous training camp. I've been working for three months already. We've been getting some great rounds of sparring. And, you know, this is going to be the last Showtime event. So we got to let it go with a bang. And, you know, these are the type of fights that interest me too because Demetrius Andre,

he's a great fighter, no doubt about that. He has a lot of experience. But I get to test myself. I get to test my spirit. I get to test my heart in front of everybody. And I know when people make me reach deep down that the best of myself comes out. So we're looking forward to this. If he's going to give me a war, then I'm looking forward to it.

I'm a warrior, and I can't wait to go in there. Look, the confidence really seems real. I love what he's saying about the motivation he knows he has because he knows this is the best opponent he's ever faced, so he knows he's got to bring his game to that higher level. That's going to keep him on track. That's what we want out of him. And you and I have talked a lot about the idea of the Mexican-American fan base, the backbone of this sport.

We saw in March in Vegas when they seemed to claim him, not on the level of Canelo, who it took them a little bit to come around to because Canelo was the pretty boy earlier on, but boy did he prove that he's of that ilk of the great Mexican lineage. Dude, I'm surprised. He's not Mexican-born, raised in Arizona. He does represent the Ecuadorian side from his mother's side of his background as well with pride. But, Luke, Mexican-American boxing fans have been like, I don't care.

This is my fucking guy. So has Mike Tyson, which gave him that nickname. And I don't know if you watched that All Access episode, but they got Marco Antonio Barrera, Eric Morales, and Juan Manuel Marquez all acting like schoolchildren FaceTiming Benavidez to, like, fire him up and basically be like, you're the next one with the balls.

Look, I think it's the fighting spirit that they've been like, yeah, we all like Canelo, but this guy is about what Mexico's about. Is that incorrect in terms of Benavidez to say that? It been like yeah we all like Canelo but this guy is about what Mexico is about is that incorrect in terms of Benavidez to say that it seems like that well I again so I talked to like a couple of Mexican journalists when we were there what was the last one we were there for Canelo Charlo and they were telling me that there's like weird beefs inside the giant world of Mexican boxing as you would imagine in any kind of large community like that,

there's going to be cliques or whatever, and that there's a lot of dudes who are like former fighters. Okay, so for example, do you remember during Charlo Canelo fight week, they'd be like, who's in the Mount Rushmore of Mexican boxers? And you would see like Marquez

wouldn't put Canelo on there. And there was other ones too, they'd be like, I'd be like, word? Like you don't put Canelo? He and there was other ones too that they would they'd be like I'd be like word like you don't put Canelo why do you think that is he's Mexican born I know he doesn't fight the the Chavez senior style of take one to give one but he can fight that way look at the Golovkin rematch like he has fought like that you know I don't know enough about boxing or the Mexican boxing community to speak on that intelligently I don't know enough about boxing or the mexican boxing community to speak on that intelligently i don't know but i have seen evidence of it enough to be like wow it is kind of real

but to your point man again we were just observers this was not a thing we had a say in we were just waiting to see hey what kind of fan response yeah is david benavidez going to get from the mexican uh mexican slash mexican american fan base and it was overwhelming it was well beyond what even I thought a high watermark would be it blew well past that and here's the thing he's I'm not saying that people are mad at Canelo about this

but here's what I am saying that famous scene where you've seen Canelo say something like get the fuck out of here man get the fuck out of here he's talking to Andrade in that scenario because andre was desperate for a fight with him and i get it he's not popular canelo didn't want to fight him he's tough we all know the story but this is where the difference is with benavidez benavidez is like bet i'll take that fucking guy i'll fight that fucking guy i'll fight him no one else wants to fight him happy to fight him and i

think these kinds of things matched with his age, matched with his terrifying Terminator style. Man, I got to tell you, I don't know entirely why the reasons why they don't like Canelo. I don't fully get it, but I fully understand why they like David Benavidez. He's what you want from your national pride boxing champion. To see, again, to see Barr Barrera to see Marquez just be like you're the fucking man right now like all right I again I asked uh Benavidez about that

here's his reaction to that incredible crowd reaction in March in Vegas where they did potentially claim him as their own no yeah I think it had been building along but the fans just needed a big fight like that to come out and support. It was such a big fight. You know, I definitely felt the ambience or the feeling in the crowd, you know, so it was a great fight, man. And it was just made me so happy, man. Just when you're when I was a kid, I would dream about moments like that. And then I have finally had my moment. It was a great fight. The fight lived up to the hype. And now I get to do it again, November 25th. So man, we're looking forward to this. And like I said, we're working extremely hard. All right, Luke, it's hard to talk about this fight without

talking about that elephant in the room, Canelo Alvarez. He holds all four titles in this division. Him versus Benavidez, for example, is among the two, three best fights you can make. And you can make the argument it's the biggest and best fight, even bigger than, is that bigger than Fury Usyk? Not historically bigger. It would be more, it would certainly be bigger in terms of attention. And obviously, Andrade has been chasing Canelo unfruitfully for years. Canelo had fight one of his latest deal with PBC. We're understanding that it's a

three-fight deal we obviously don't know where the PBC network future is going to turn for 2024 as we're waiting like anyone else breathlessly for that but if Canelo's got two fights left it does appear like there's been some rumors that it could be Munguia in May for for Cinco de Mayo and it could be or the plan already is, that it would be Benavidez next September. So you have to ask yourself, okay, like, why are we pushing so far? Is it to make Benavidez's brand bigger?

Because you're also potentially risking that he gets a lot better during that time. I obviously asked Benavidez about that. Like, in your opinion, why haven't you fought Canelo yet let's hear him is Canelo waiting you out avoiding you how would you describe the fact that you haven't fought him yet to be honest with you I don't know what that man is doing you know I feel like everything every time I say something people try to say that oh I'm looking

for a payday I'm doing for this and that. But I've been the mandatory fighter for the past two years. You know, I won a title eliminator first, and I won WBC interim. And that guarantees you a spot. So the fact that this fight hasn't happened is really crazy to me. But like I said, you know, this man is just making it worse for himself because I'm gaining so much more experience you know this is my second pay-per-view fight you know the the crowds are really big for this fight so I'm getting very comfortable and like I said I'm not going nowhere

and I'm not going nowhere I'm the best in this division I'm definitely going to show the world why and especially once I get in the ring with Canelo those all those belts are going home with me. So, Luke, with no disrespect to Andrade's chances and his own want to fight Canelo, if Benavidez breaks through on Saturday, like, I don't know if he needs a stoppage because he didn't even stop. You know, he didn't stop Caleb Plant, but he beat him so thoroughly and looked so great

that it was a huge step forward. But let's say in any form, Benavidez dominates on Saturday, then gets on the microphone and maybe it's less complimentary or less polite. And it's just like, listen, motherfucker. Okay. Let's find out who the toughest Mexican is. Then forget the timeline I just threw out there that had, that we had heard about through a report from ESPN Mexico. You got to do that fight in May, right? That's the biggest fight you can make. You got to do that.

Is Canelo at stake for the winner here next, in your opinion? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. And that might sound crazy because you're like, well, who the fuck else would it be? Yeah. Dude, they're talking about some bullshit like Munguia.

I mean, dude, I didn't even know that. Like, when you said that, like, my heart started to say. Well, that's the, yeah, that's the ESPN Deportes report. And, you know, Dale Ahoy has been pushing it for it, too, because, of course, that's the big cash out for Hany Munguia. But he's, I mean, dude, say what you will about M Manguia, and he's been fighting almost a cab driver schedule. He is still like 44-0. Like, he's 41-0 or something ridiculous. Like, you got to go for it now.

BC, what was his name? The wrestler who would, like, wrestle all the women? Andy Kaufman? Was that his name? Andy Kaufman, yeah. Yeah. You know, he was like, I'm like 101-0 or something. And it's like, you know, he's doing this misogynist joke.

But like, that's what it's like. Did you see this? Did you see Ichiro yesterday? He played an entire high school team. Did you see it? He pitched. Oh, he fucking sent all of these kids crying back to the dugout. Like everyone's like, what the fuck are you?

Yeah, dude. Ichiro just destroyed this high school team in Japan. It was crazy. So yeah, dude, he looked like a fucking, he looked like prime Randy Johnson up there, but he ain't prime Randy Johnson. So I'm not saying Munguia is, you know, uh, without talent, he's got a big punch and he's been in some wars. Like he'll give you good entertainment. It'll be the fight with Canelo would be fine, but it's the David Bennett. I mean, this is all dude, like one, whether Canelo hands the title off to him or not and whether they fight or not I don't know all I can tell you is David Benavidez is the next big Mexican star in boxing which is

basically either the biggest star in boxing or something right underneath that and he is going to fucking bulldoze I think I think I think he's going to bulldoze everything and everyone in his way Canelo's trying to figure out to what extent he wants to play a role in that or you know does he really believe he can stop it so you're asking me to figure out like what you know should he be next if he becomes this sort of solidified well not solidified but this is for say again you have to be you can't because like i don't want to accuse canelo is the answer yeah i don't want to confuse or accuse canelo of ducking but like canelo is just coming off a performance against Jermel Charlo, whether Charlo fumbled the bag and didn't try his hardest or what, where Canelo looked completely reborn. He did from the three-fight stretch where injuries had slowed him down and maybe had him looking old. So I don't know, outside of the idea that you could build it up for a year, a hostile build for one year to make this a super fight,

why would you want to wait if you're Canelo for next year when you're a year older for next fall, right? Like potentially fight him now. But man, you got to see where the PBC is going TV wise. A lot of things at stake here. But the fact that we're closing in on this possibility is great. Quickly on the Andrade side, because he's got, you know, Benavides has to win first on Saturday. Luke, I mean, he was, he sat out a couple years when he got into it, when he needed to get out of his

banner promotions deal, and then I mentioned the Eddie Hearn run didn't really go anywhere. Andrade's bounced around. He's finally got his moment but his name again kind of became a derisive force during that stretch where like fighters didn't want to risk it and fans were almost like just fight somebody already dude here's Andrade talking to me on how difficult this run has been how difficult has it really been have you thought about walking away have you like thrown your hands up and said man this business is broken it's not for me how did you get through it to be in the position that you are now to go try to fulfill your dreams november 25th mindset longevity money like you know um i did throw my hands up at

one point not if i was like boxing but like the situation that I was in and just like, hey, listen, clearly this is not working out. And there needs to be a separation here. We need to divorce. We need the close up shop and so that's pretty much what I had to do to be in this position to be where I'm at today so this is more in my hands now no promoter no manager

no advisor no obligations I do have a solid team that I trust and I work with and put together for the best advice, but nothing is on paper and there's no obligations. So free at last, free at last. Thank God, mighty God, I'm free at last.

And so, you know, these are the reasons. And now I'm able to, like, yo, what is it really? What is it? What is it? And so at this point, fighters don't want to fight. But I'm glad David has nowhere to go, just like I have nowhere to go. And it only makes sense to fight me versus fighting other people where it's risky and no reward in the sense of, you know, maybe not as well of a name, you know,

at this time of his career and for my career too, you know. Luke saying no paper. Maybe he's referencing a handshake deal with Al Heyman and PBC. It seems he's happy, but like he finally is controlling his own destiny through Al and getting the opportunities he deserves. He's a cornball, Luke. You can't deny that. All access, he's got some corny bits on there, but I do cheer for the guy in terms of happy

that he has his moment. He's very skilled. Very skilled. He's a skilled guy who's been avoided in the worst of ways. To me, it's a little bit too late that he's getting this fight, um David Benavidez stepped up this is exactly the kind of guy that better that Andre has been wanting for a long time this is exactly the kind of high profile fight headlining a pbc pay-per-view and not pbc per se but like uh you know he is obviously there now but he wanted

a big big show big fight big weekend oh he got it finally yeah and finally we talked to Andre about what type of fight he expects and one thing he did tell me Luke is if it calls for it although big fight big weekend well he got it finally yeah and finally we talked to andre about what type of fight he expects and one thing he did tell me luke is if it calls for it although it wouldn't be ideal he he's willing to stand in there and fight and brawl and do trade or whatever he has to do to win this fight this is his moment nothing left to to keep he's got to risk it all here's what he expects from benavidez um listen people definitely get up for michael jordan you know so i would be assumed he gets up to fight myself um because yeah you know i'm not kato plant in shape, or form. That's a lot of the sayings out there.

We fight alike. You know, yeah, there's probably a little boxing, but there's not fighting like each other. It's just out there question. But, yeah, and I'm also getting up too. I'm excited. You know, this is something that, you know, I get to, like, you know, put all my own questions

and then, you know, put it out there and give it my answers as well. So this is going to be a great time for me to get up and let that Demetrius A game in, Dre out. Like, you know, I haven't been able to do that because it becomes for me as well when it's like somebody's trying to take my head

off, of course, so I'm going to be in shape. I'm going to stay on my job, but it's different when it's like two cats fighting each other now, not cat and mouse. This is definitely I'm definitely excited. Camp's going great.

We on time. We on time. We on time. You're like, we on time? We on time, baby. All right. Look, I think he just compared himself to Michael Jordan. But, but, he does make interesting points about the idea that he doesn't know the full extent of his A game.

Don't forget, though, he was a 2008 U.S. Olympian. He was like a legit, globally ranked top amateur and a medal favorite, although he didn't bring home the medal in Beijing that year. So he can fight. It's his time now, Luke, so let's get to the prediction time. He said he likes this because it's two cats fighting and not a cat chasing a mouse, which is what he's felt like in a lot of these fights against B and C level guys, just to stay busy and defend his titles.

But you need a dog in you to beat David Benavidez. So as much as we like the skills of Andrade, as much as we're saying, yes, could he do it? Yes, he could do it. We're not picking him to do it though. Let's be clear. It's going to be really hard to beat the Mexican monster when he's this dialed in, focused, disciplined, has the gas tank. And oh, by the way, if this fight is close, unless he can, meaning Andrade, disarm and bring down the output of Benavidez. How would he do that?

You've got to hurt him. Unless he can completely confuse or hurt Benavidez, even if this fight is close, the judges are going to prefer the bigger guy walking you down. That's what Benavidez does. The winner here, whoever it may be, and I do think it'll be Benavidez, but I bet you'll see in the stats, whatever their baseline is for output, it'll be suppressed. The but I bet you'll see in the stats whatever their baseline is for output it'll

be suppressed right the the loser I should say the winner will do the suppressing yeah of the other one because they're going to be all over him and I suspect what you'll see is Benavidez try it and get stopped try it and get stopped try and get stopped early then it's going to start to go away in the middle rounds a little bit and then by the last few rounds assuming the fight goes that long you're going to see a case where I think Benavidez is going to overwhelm him but he's going to have to earn it which is why I sort of love this fight for him too putting Andre on his resume if he's able to do it successfully on Saturday night it's going to be a big quality boost to what he's done not just the significance of taking on a fight that no one wanted to fight but actually like

how you performed in that contest there's there's two's two kinds of, there's one nobility. And then there's certain one kind of just really performance measurement there. And both of them work together. And I think to burnish in his resume and his star profile. So we shall see if he can get it done, but I think it's going to look like that. Yeah. I think he gets a unanimous decision. And I think it's dominant in the second half and as skilled and long and

crafty as Andrade is Benavidez is going to make Andrade have to decide whether he really is going to want to stand in there and trade to try to get ahead and win these rounds. And we haven't seen anybody do that to Benavidez and take that part of his game from him yet. So until we do, really hard to make that bet. But Luke, this co-main event is getting some attention. So Jermall Charlo, the WBC middleweight champion,

has not fought in almost three years with mental health challenges. He went through a very bitter divorce that has led to some public moments. He got slapped by Caleb Plant that same day, and there's that thing going on. Yet, he's done some time in Florida with Roy Jones to try to revamp his mindset in games, still training with Ronnie Shields in the Houston area. But this comeback fight against Jose Benavidez Jr., the older brother of David Benavidez, is one of those where on paper, you understand why Charlo's like an 8-1 favorite here. Benavidez's best weight class, despite being a great amateur, was 147. He lost

to Terrence Crawford, got stopped in the 12th round of a title fight. He got shot in the leg and doesn't move the same. He's been fighting over his head the last few fights with the PBC in terms of weight. But look, he's always down for it. Is there enough concern that Jermall Charlo might come back rusty in this 163-pound catchweight bout after so much turmoil that we may see a close fight, or is this just a lot of trash talk wrapped up

in a potential get-well fight that we're looking at here in this comment? Let me ask you a question. You might be able to say Erickson, Lubin, in terms of what I'm about to ask you, but if you had to pick, look at all the KOs that Jermell and Jermall have. What's the best KO between them? Now, maybe you could say Lubin. I don't know. It would depend on how you feel. But the J-Rock one for me

stands out, dude. The J-Rock one, if you've never seen that, he actually pulls his hand to block, pulls it back, and then finishes the guy basically with the same hand. He goes, and then comes back and gets him. It's like ridiculous how he does it and jay

rock is a quality fighter you know jamal has had we saw him we interviewed him both for that when they did the co-headlining one during the pandemic at mohegan sun you know both those guys performed ably on that night and jamal has kind of gotten the lion's share of attention in part because he's he had all four belts or i guess he got stripped of one or whatever it is. But he's the guy in that weight class, whereas Dramal has been interesting and a champion, but has had a ton of issues outside of the ring. I mean, BC, I got to tell you, this fight to me is fascinating

because they put together two guys about which there's a ton of questions about. Yes. And they're pitting this fight as like the winner's chance to actually get right stepping stone this moment to get to better places i mean i was there when uh benavidez jr fought danny garcia i think you were gone that weekend it's the same night as amanda nunez and um uh pena rematch and uh dude he looked terrible danny garcia couldn't really stop him but he was able to move around him with great ease, and he's not known as a fast-footed guy, you know?

And you understand that, right? Benavidez has been shot in the leg. On the case of Dremel, dude, like, he got slapped by Caleb Plant. Their families are fighting. God only knows there's been issues outside of the ring that he's had. He's, you know, I don't even want to suggest that. I'll just say this. That appears to be the tip of the iceberg of greater life problems. And so you're just wondering, what the hell is going on here? Now, there's more recent stuff to the story about Jamal training outside

of the native area where he's from, over in Florida, blah, blah, blah. But this is these guys' chances to do something. I'll just say this. Even if Benavidez Jr. is in the best state he's been in in a long time, it's going to take a lot to get past Jermall if Jermall is at all what he once was. Jermall's upside, I can't say it's higher than what it was for 17-year-old Benavidez Jr., but in the last five years, who's had a higher threshold? Jermall by a million miles. Yeah, but Jermall does have a lot, so many questions to answer in one fight, because last time we did see him against Juan Macias Montiel, he didn't look great.

He got, you know, Montiel got lit up early, but we know him, dude. He just keeps coming until you knock him out, and he didn't get knocked out that fight. He kept coming and really made Jermall kind of look bad. Then he he goes through all that turmoil so it's weird because this fight has so much contention luke they nearly came to blows at the press conference yesterday jose jr got up got in germel's face germel's face i mean it got hairy there uh but yet it's like if germel is not shot or not you know not not prepared there's a lot of nots in there. As long as Jermall's okay, he should win this. But Jose Benavidez does have a will, a chin. He's stubborn.

He's gritty. And Luke, he's been saying some crazy shit on the build here, basically being like, hey, Jermall, shut up about your mental health. I got shot in the leg and I'm still fighting. But bite down and get after it. Stop being a bitch. That's pretty wild. I caught up with Benavidez, though, asking him about the idea of being in the main-co-main combo with his brother

and what his thoughts are on this fight where both guys have so many questions coming in. How do you see this? You see this from the standpoint of being your brother, so I get that. But this is a tough matchup for your brother, but we also have so many questions about charlo what are you expecting to learn from this fight i feel like this is the best um a big opportunity for my brother i think he has to take advantage of this you know he's been working extremely hard i've even been sparring on myself so i'm very confident that he's going to go in there and knock charlo out you know a lot of people have been calling me crazy but i think it's going to be one of the biggest upsets in the past couple years.

I think he's going to go in there and lay Charlo out. But it's going to be a tough fight. You know, Charlo, I think he's just, you know, he probably should have took another tuna fight. You know, because he's been out for so long. But, you know, whatever. You know, my brother, he's going to cash in on this opportunity. And, you know, it's going to be a great fight. I even, I joke with my brother.

I'm like, damn, well, we should just trade fighters. Let me fight Charlo and you fight Demetri. Because I wanted to get that fight too. But it's going to be a great card, man. I'm very excited for November 25th. Okay, so Luke, let's imagine something. Let's imagine that PBC and Canelo would prefer fighting Benavidez next September as opposed to next May for whatever reasons.

Is Dremel Charlo, should he get past Jose Benavidez Jr. in a way that us and the oddsmakers expect? Is he the next opponent potentially for Benavidez in the spring? Because Benavidez told me if he can't get Canelo, he has no problem fighting David Morrell Jr uh but would you like Dermal Charlo versus Benavidez at 68 here I'd rather get because the it appears that the last Showtime card will be the December 16th one with David Morrell Jr as I understand that I'd rather Benavidez fight Morrell Jr yeah so you're asking

me like do I want Charlo? I think that they're on this card together for a reason, if I can be honest. So probably for the reason you're stating. But my preference, my preference is that if Benavidez isn't going to fight Canelo next, let's have those two guys, Morel and Benavidez, duke it out because that would be, that would be,

I don't even want to say, would be amazing that would be amazing if they could line that up i'll tell you what and i'll tell you what too can you imagine a world where david benavidez beats andre morel and canelo all in the same year that'd be shocking right that'd be like that world shattering okay so this plays into the final point i wanted to bring up about david benavidez about how big his potential star turn really could be, especially if he's getting pound for pound accreditation with that. And by the way, if he beats Andrade here, he might show up in your top 10 pound for pound list. When you look at the totality of his last few wins against Plant, Durrell, like, you know,

decent guys, like guys that can fight for sure. I've got one more interview to plug Luke, not to play right now, but I caught up this morning with the great Jim Lampley. Of course, the iconic voice of HBO Boxing for so many years, but he's working for PPV.com, doing work promoting this Benavidez-Andrade fight. And one thing he told me at the end when I did ask him about Benavidez's true long-term star power and whether that Mexican fan base is ready to like really inject themselves in full. He said, this is Jim Lampley talking. You can check this video out, I believe, later today or tomorrow at youtube.com slash morning combat.

That he's talked to Benavidez about the idea of one day moving up to heavyweight. And that Benavidez thinks he could do it. Go from 168 with that frame, carry it up there, still have the speed, all that, that Jim Lampley says, we have never seen a Mexican heavyweight champion with like, you know, we've seen Andy Ruiz to become the first, you know, of Mexican descent to hold a piece of the heavyweight championship, but we've never seen like somebody potentially in the A seat, the driver, a star, a Mexican heavyweight champion.

Luke, that sounds like a pipe dream in a lot of ways because he's fighting a 168 right now. But I hadn't even thought of that. What Lampley's saying is not wrong. Do you think this is a sustainable game that he can carry up that dramatically? I mean, he did fight in the amateurs as like a 275-pound fat kid, basically. That's the thing, though. He's been trying to get down as like a sign of health and progress ever since.

Right? Because everyone, oh, I got teased for being a fat kid, blah, blah, blah. And now he's, you know, oh, I got abs for the first time. It would take, color me skeptical, color me skeptical that that's the way that he even gets to heavyweight by a time where he still has his best skills beneath him. You know what I mean?

Like it would require a real change in his physical stature, which would require a change in his game. We're not, can't say no, but we're a long way away from that. Yeah, but let's just say it becomes harder to make 68 and he's getting bigger. Okay, I could see him as a light heavyweight.

I definitely could. I know his power won't continue to carry up, but he's a volume guy anyway who just outworks you and hurts you and overwhelms you. Cruiserweight's always sort of unknown. If you could take the punishment, and you're a good the punishment you can you and

you're a good boxer you can do things there heavyweight obviously what about bridger weight yeah bridger weight uh yeah it's i'd never even thought of that luke but he would be the biggest star in the sport if he if he accomplished this type of transition uh let's quickly talk about what's also going on the zone this weekend from dublin ireland i can't believe it's already here katie taylor uh she's the undisputed champion in her own division, of course, at lightweight, but she moved up to 140 to face the unbeaten, undisputed champion in that division, Chantel Cameron, earlier this year. And Taylor lost a competitive, spirited, but I thought clear decision. She was stubborn in saying, I've got the rematch clause.

And she said it, Luke, right after that decision was announced. I'll see you in the rematch. Katie Taylor has only identified this as what she wants. Put the Serrano rematch on hold. Put any other fight as she's in her late 30s away.

This is the one that matters to her. Luke, all the preview stories I've read has been about her resolve and focus and dedication for this training camp as she works out quietly in Connecticut. Talk about king or queen of Connecticut royalty here, Luke. She's been a resident for like a decade now. They're claiming that they've never seen her this focused. You remember that first fight. Can Katie Taylor come back, come over the top, and become an undisputed champion in the second

weight division on saturday i didn't think the first fight was necessarily close i thought i thought um cameron was just way better and bigger wasn't is it my imagination or was cameron much bigger than her yes i mean look taylor's moving up in weight but cameron exactly she fought as the bigger fighter too she fought stern sturdy you know yeah so i mean here's the thing taylor has these bursts these sprints and then you know hits the gas hits the brakes it's the gas hits the brakes you have to get around that you'd have to have more sustained bursts if that's the way she's going to fight um skeptical she can get it done skeptical uh what would you say about her saturday come come monday for mk if she does this because I know

Clarisha Shields has done this undisputed in multiple divisions now on the women's side but you know late 30s directly rematching a pound for pound ranked unbeaten fighter who just cleanly and clearly beat you dude that's something in this storybook career

that Katie Taylor's been and what she means to Ireland like I know Ariel lays it on thick Luke he this storybook career that Katie Taylor's been and what she means to Ireland, I know Ariel lays it on thick, Luke. He's number one in the Katie Taylor fan club. But when you do look at her story and the social, cultural impact she has, she's impressive. This would be something, dude.

This is what the greats do. This is what the all-time greats do if she comes back and does this. No doubt about it. And listen, Katie Taylor is easy to like. She's easy to like, whether you like her for Irish nationality, for who she is as a person, or what she's accomplished as an athlete. She's very easy to like.

I just think it's a tough assignment. That's all. I don't wish poorly for her or something. Dude, Chantel Cameron is a very good fighter and big. Do you see Michaela Mayers moving up like two or three weight divisions to fight Natasha Jonas for a welterweight title? Dude, that loss to Baumgartner really kind of set her on a different path, didn't it? Yeah, and you see Baumgartner has claiming that she has cleared her name from that PED.

Yeah, sort of. What they said was there's no way it's intentional, not that it wasn't in her system. But you guys know how I feel. I don't want to give a fuck. Yeah, all right. Topic number four, Luke, is whether you give a fuck about these future fight announcements here. A little.

Let's go to UFC 298, which I believe is the February bout. We don't know the city yet, but we're going to get a heavyweight banger, Justin Taffa, fresh off of Parker Porter did the tour of Taffa, Luke. He's going to now take on marcos regerio de lima and someone's getting knocked out are you in i gotta tell you taking the toffa tour not a lot of fun if you're not one of the toffas i gotta tell you it goes real shitty for you you know what i mean that's true boy those top of those top of boys will knuckle up early on you good lord um so i'll tell you what, Marcos Eugérico de Lima,

he was the one who knocked him out so bad that it fucked up all of his teeth. Is that Derek Lewis? Yeah, it might have been Derek Lewis. Poor bastard, man. I feel bad for him, but this is the line of work he's in. I got news for you. Put your dentist on hold. Justin Toff has got something for you later. You know?

I'm with you on that one. December 9th UFC fight night. You're not into stephanie agger versus luana santos right because i'm surely not yeah i could i would i'm sure it's a fine fight you know yeah uh roman delizze luke we rumored it we teased it from those reports he's really fighting nasardine aim of all february 3rd fight night main event five rounds uh he's got a baby uh that's here luke so I'm sure mad bills to pay. But this hammer, do you think Roman Delice has learned enough from stepping up and losing to Vittori, like, you know,

balancing his gas tank, some of the things that he has to adjust with that destructive power and physicality? This is the fight that will tell us, man. It's time. It could be time for Delice to make a run, Luke. He just the the the humbling defeat now let's put it in gear you know also imovov has kind of made a little bit of noise but then faded down the stretch against some of the bigger opportunities this would be a great win for him too let's not forget that so there's a lot on the line for both of these guys who are kind of in that very talented but where are they

going pool we shall see absolutely absolutely hey michael johnson is talented and when he lets that left cross go really quickly anybody can get it darius flowers is going to get it february 10th you in on this fight luke michael johnson is the can man anybody can get it adrian broner style uh yeah i don't really care yes i mean i like him as a fighter but i don't care about this broner just pulled out for the second straight time with a hand injury for that Don King fight he was going to have in Florida. Probably had a high-life front on.

Yeah, we're at that point of the career, Luke. Dude, you know what? I mean, you know what kills me is when I go on Instagram and then I see Broner promoting his cash app, and I'm just like, what the fuck happened? A lot has happened, Luke. We got two fights for Februarybruary 24th ufc fight night edgar shires versus daniel lacerda victor third time they've booked this one third time it keeps getting fucked up victor altamirano versus felipe dos santos luke why should i care

about either of those fights at this point uh the chires lacerda fight could be good um i don't know about the other one all right uh luke super bowl weekend floyd mayweather will be back in a boxing exhibition it seems there had been heavy rumors whether we would see that in december even on showtime now i don't know the tv home as the pbc is making their transition or whether floyd will be involved but he's going to take take on John Gotti the third when they had their exhibition this year, uh, it turned into an MMA fight,

kind of not really. And then the Gotti's vowed like murder. And then it got weird, but I guess we're going to do it again. Do you care, Luke? Are you in? No,

no, I don't care at all. No. All right. Uh, okay. Yeah. Um,

John Lineker has going to go the Mu thai route and get his debut for one championship in january luke i know they were admitted amid heavy scaring reports from bloody elbow about their financial future but i'm sure when john lineker fights this time uh chachri will tell you that six billion people luke were watching more people were watching than exist do you think that they play it at cemeteries luke and just go well look they had the access to it you know what i mean they were there watching it you know they were they were in front of it um uh by the way john lineker doing muay thai sounds great i mean i don't know how good of a fighter he's gonna be but you know it's four-ounce gloves, like, count me in.

Banger style. Hey, Dan Hooker's out of that Bobby Green fight, Luke. He's got a hand injury. Dagger. No, it's the same one. It's the same break that he got against, who was it, Jalen Turner? Yeah, that sucks, dude. That sucks.

So Bobby Green makes really fun fights against anyone, especially, like, older names who who need to come back against like who would you book them now luke i saw some people saying let's do max holloway and bobby green like what do you want to do here you know i'm not going to give you a name that will you know oh this guy has had championship runs in the ufc but i think the right fight to make is jared gordon jared gordon had that weird head clash situation where the fight basically got stopped for that, you know, it didn't, you didn't get a real answer to who was supposed to win that contest.

And then more to the point, Gordon's just coming off that sensational KO at, what was it, 295 most recently. Got in, got out, looked great, no issues, healthy, ready to go, volunteered for it. I don't know. I mean, RDA asked for it too, up at like 165, 170, so I don't know how that would work. He's got a big name, obviously, bigger than Jared Gordon's. But I got to tell you, I think Jared Gordon's case is pretty strong.

Yeah, I don't know if that, like, would that move people, Luke, though? You know what I'm saying? Sometimes, BC, you just have to do what's right. You know what I'm saying? I mean, like, RDA's always, like, he's Chewbacca- saying? Sometimes, BC, you just have to do what's right. You know what I'm saying? I mean, like RDA is always – like he's Chewbacca level about it, Luke, but he's 39 now. Two of his last three have been defeats. But, you know, he beat Paul Felder and Moicano before that.

He's lost to really good guys in Luque and Fazeev. Do you think he's still got it for a while or what? Or do you think we're close? I think he'd give Bobby Green a tough time. If you're asking for like a big name that would make it competitive I think he'd give him a tough time sure and obviously when he walks away Luke we're gonna his his resume his legacy is fine wine we have to have the MK we have to have the MK Chewbacca award given to the fighters who given to the fighters you know because listen Chewbacca didn't win every battle he got captured like a bitch at times you know it happens but uh when

it came time to knuckle up dude he never said no he never said he was never ever afraid of the of the empire ever dude he was like fuck you you know Chewie go repair that shit he'd be like I don't want to fucking repair this bullshit and he'd do do it anyway. Do you think he liked women of all alien breeds in the galaxy, Luke? Or do you think he was more into, like, Wookiees and, like, furry types? I think Wookiees are into banging other Wookiees. That's what I think. I think he chases the muff around and goes human, Luke. I think he might get down.

And I'm down with that. It's 2023. Yo, Chewbacca can be bout it, bout it with whoever he wants, Luke. Hey, you know, I got a bout it, bout it report. I've got something exciting to say, Luke. We're always pumping out great bonus content for youtube.com slash morningcombat. We've had interviews of every variety of late, including Mike Perry. So that was fun and games to think and miss.

He'll win the Chewbacca award. Oh, hell yeah. Dude, I talked to Brandon Royville yesterday for an interview that's going to run uh early next week here on the Morning Combat channel you know Luke the raw dog is in a title fight and I just want to say something there's fighters that have already sort of revealed themselves over time you know they're MK approved I look at Mike you know I look at Michael Chiesa I'm like that's an MK guy right you know Billy Q the steamroller you know I'm talking about Luke these like you know I'm like, that's an MK guy, right? You know, Billy Q, the steamroller. You know what I'm talking about, Luke?

These like, you know what I'm saying? These are MK approved mother effers. I get it. I didn't know that Raw Dog gets down with us and that he was going to bring the type of wit and humor and ridiculous presentation, Luke, that we live for around here. This interview is awesome. And I love this man.

So that's my Raw Dog report here, right, Luke? Okay, and if he wins the championship, we got to get RJ to make us some Raw Dog t-shirts, okay? You know what I'm saying? Mikey says, Raw Dog has a better type 5 than BC. Yeah, I was laughing incredibly, Luke. Actually, what Mikey wrote was he's got a better type 5, and then he wrote, then DC, sequential, rather than THA.

Oh, boy, here we go. Pedantic Peter is back there. So look for that on the horizon as MK continues to take over the world. Luke, I want something to take over your world, and that's the type of fitness regimen that's easy to understand, follow, that helps spur your motivation, that helps you organize your thoughts and teach you and then adjust to you each step of your journey. Cause we all want to get fit, but sometimes it's hard to do it alone. But look, this app called FitBod, it kind of brings all those voices together into

the palm of your hand. You know what you need out there? And I'm being dead serious. You need structure. You need structure. You need to know what your goals are. You need to know what your plan is. You need to know what's attainable, what's not, what's healthy, what's not, what's right for you, what's right for what you have, and then puts a plan into action. It can refresh that plan over time as it gets new information. It can update it. It can update the goals. It can update the exercise. You need a plan. You need structure. And that is how you get from place A to place B, C, and D, and so forth. And BC, I got to say, for all those things, goals, planning, exercises, refreshing, new ways to look at it, blah, blah, blah, the whole thing, it can all be done with FitBod. It can. And you don't need to be a professor to figure out the math loop because FitBod will take control of these areas.

We see how much statistics and numbers are changing the way we look at and break down sports and react to it. The same should be done for the way you work out and the adjustments you make. Well, FitBod can be that for you. This is an app that can personalize the workouts to you specifically, to your goals, to the equipment you have around you, and to like what you're trying to do here. FitBod will help you get through those plateaus, kick down the walls and keep going. Because look, it's not always about motivation. Sometimes it's about knowledge. And if FitBod can be that gap filler and educate you around the process, teach you new workouts along the way. You're only going to continue to grow as a person, and then suddenly you won't feel like a washed POS, Luke. You know what I mean?

I mean, it's that simple. There's an equation out there. Get FitBod. That's how you do it. And I'm telling you guys, not only has BC indicated it will sort of pick the plan that's right for you and the equipment that you have or don't, whatever, all that stuff, very customized. But more than that, I cannot over stress, overemphasize this. What you do not want to do is show up to the gym and say, what am I working out today? And you don't know. And again, speaking to what I had before, you don't have a plan. That's not really going to work. You're going to get suboptimal gains.

You're going to do bro splits during the week, which is not the right way to do it. You're not going to be picking on the right things. You're not going to be progressing at the rate you want to. And then you're going to do the work that you've done and say, well, I'm disappointed with the results. Yes, because you didn't do them correctly. Fitbod can do all the things I mentioned. And when you show up to the gym or whatever you have in your house, you have a plan. You don't have to worry about what that plan is going to be. I cannot tell you how much of a headstart that's going to be for you. When you have an app in the palm of your hand that can track your muscle fatigue and recovery and help you vary your intensity and volume, it's like having a personal trainer along the way.

That's what keeps your gym sessions fresh. That's what keeps you coming back and mixing up your workouts, your rep schemes, and suddenly you're trying things that you never thought of. Luke, I look at a gym sometimes and look at the CrossFit area. I have no idea what's going on over there, but you get on FitBud, you can start getting an understanding of how to change your life. So if you want 25% off your subscription right now with a three free personalized workout offer for you you need to go that's three free personalized workouts go to fitbod.me slash combat 25 off free personalized workouts at f-i-t-b-o-d dot m-e slash combat as always bc combat with a k here we go luke right into it fan submissions g What is it?

Morningcombat at gmail.com every Wednesday. You can dead wrong us on Friday, but Wednesdays are all about your artwork and your tight T-shirts. Let's do it now. We've got angry male viewers. Yes. You've got male viewers. All right, Luke.

This is Louie Garcia from Tolledo ohio second time contributor i wanted to share some pics of my man cave named eleanor north these were taken just before the wife and i had friends over for you to ufc 295 i was made sure to rep mk at the party note my favorite poster the pride final conflict and my mini poster of one of my favorite movies, Predator. Hopefully Luke can't see my cord management or tattoos very well, as I'm sure I'd be harshly judged. Shout out from this day one fan. Keep up the great work.

It's Louie. Damn, I love this man, Luke. Look at this guy. First of all, that's a great man cave, I got to tell you. Yes. The cord management makes me want to punch a hole in his wall i'll be honest about oh come on come on but but but that aside there's a lot right about this a lot i gotta tell you the mood lighting underneath the bar with the ac duct

right over your head that's what i'm talking about bc that's that man cave the giant rip holes in the wife's jeans this guy knows how to party luke okay you know what i mean he's got tattoos too i mean look this guy's this is a comfortable spot to have friends over and watch fun fucking fights which i've not done in 15 years and that's why i'm gray and sad this man has it going on yeah he nicknames his man cave the l and r north i don't know what that means but i want to be there north uh no l and r l amp is that an ampersand what's an ant what the hell is an and what do you call an end ampersand yeah all right there you go uh let's hear from k is this ky no it's uh hi this is k again this is k checking in from copenhagen figured i would rep mk after

dalby's incredible win I missed the MSG pay-per-view so I was catching the recaps also I wore the green bomber while in Sweden meeting friends as well I found a museum dedicated to BC's liver while I was there Luke that's KY who claims he's beating both of us at okay bet and does submit his picks every single week at morning combat on X yeah he I mean beating us doesn't say much, though. I mean, that's about the bare minimum you should be doing. Would you say KY is greasing his way up the ladder in terms of 2023 Fan of the Year consideration?

I will say he's not in the lead, per se, but definite dark horse. Okay, KY, yes, right? Sometimes you need to get through a tight space. Call KY. say he's you know not in the lead per se but definite dark horse okay ky yes right sometimes you need to get through a tight space call ky yeah yeah right luke right you know you know i'm talking about i've had some good times with ky i'm not i'm not about to hate ky and astro glide you can't go wrong wow thank you k for your contribution. We got a couple more. This is from Nigel. What's up, good donks? I got by N in the chat, but my name is, oh, I go by N in the chat. My name is Nigel. Yes, like Nigel Thornberry,. I'm prior military and my father was also his whole life. I'm also born on Veterans Day. So this weekend I went to the city on my birthday. I stayed at a hotel on West 48th Street. And on my last day there, I'm saying, how crazy would it be to run into a fighter? And as I'm smoking on a Dutch filled with grease monkey, Moki Runts

and Mochi Runts and THCA diamonds diamonds i look up and they're walking past me as iron mike chandler wow i told him i'm a fan i asked for a pic he said yes he told me happy birthday we kept it moving what a way to end my birthday weekend it really ended by all the trains going back upstate being canceled and having to figure another way back home. But that's a story for another time. I'm a big fan of Luke. Don't change, BC. You the realest. Nilla alive? Am I allowed to say that?

Like a Nilla wafer, you know? Yeah, it sounds a little weird and racy, but yeah, thank you very much. I just don't like saying N-words anywhere in that content, even if it's like nuts or Norman. I just don't want to get near it. Yeah, good point. All right, let's see if we can add one or two more

on the way out. From Peter, hello gentlemen. Peter here with two pictures of me wearing my super washed dad's t-shirt. These were taken on Friday, November 10th at my gym called Co-op Fitness. Happy birthday Marines. This is for you Luke and I hope you can win OK Bet. I can't wait to see BC at some abortion rock concert.

Great job fellas. Luke, look at this guy Peter getting it done with the overhead press. Look at the overhead ceiling space in this gym. Fucking amazing. Great. Luke, is he a jerk or is that just the move he's pulling off? Yeah, a little weightlifting. Could be both.

Could be both. We got to fly through these, bro. All right. Maybe we'll just wrap it there, Luke, okay? We'll finish the rest of them another time, right? I mean, I don't want to. All right. Very good.

Very good. Yeah, there we go. Mikey, keep another time, right? All right, very good. Yeah, there we go. Hey, happy Thanksgiving to everybody, huh? Oh, he wants us to go to the last one. This is from 2Changs. Here's our final fan sub of this week. All right. What way too soft song would you choose for Aspinall?

BC, you go first on this one. So why does Aspinall have to have a way too soft song? Can't he have like a badass classic rock song from the UK? Alright, pick one. Hush by Deep Purple or something, Luke? I mean, come on, right? Hush by Deep Purple? Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

That's badass that's badass you don't like that song, Luke? That song moved on. I didn't say I didn't like it, but I wouldn't describe it as badass. Watch out! Oh, God, Luke, that is very well done. And, of course, using the, what was that? I Know What You Did Last Summer,

that opening drive around the curve there when they hit that kid, spoiler alert, and that same song is rocking on those white kids' radio. Yeah, Luke, I guess that was my whole youth summed up there in one incredible two-changs clip. No, those people had friends in their car. Oh, wow. We'll finish off the fan subs next week.

Thank you for your contributions to Morning Combat at gmail.com. Mikey Mormyle on the ones and twos. I think that was Jason directing in my ear hole. We appreciate you, CBS Sports. MorningCombat.store. Guys, sign up for the email thing. You're going to get the code Thursday night for 25% off the MorningCombat.store. Guys, sign up for the email thing. You're going to get the code Thursday night for 25% off the MorningCombat.store website

through Cyber Monday. You got to sign up to the email. Do it right now. We got to run. Enjoy your holiday. We'll have a show for you on Friday. Mailbag predetermined. You're going to love it.

For Luke Thomas, it's Brian Campbell. Turkey Day is the best. Enjoy your family, your football, your friends. Take care of yourselves. We love you. Valley New Year. Out.