MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Derek Brunson vs. Darren Till | Fight Announcements | Quick Hitters | EP 198

Episode Date: September 3, 2021

On episode 198 of Morning Kombat Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell start off the show by previewing UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Till. Where does the winner of this fight stand in the title picture? What other fights should we be watching on the card (10:00)? Next up the guys run through some big fight announcements and rumors. Charles Oliveira and Dustin Poirier reportedly have verbally agreed to fight. Maycee Barber vs. Montana De La Rosa will be facing off (32:30). The guys also preview the DAZN boxing card featuring Katie Taylor. What should we be looking for here? Oscar Valdez tested positive for a banned substance and that can mean bad news for his future (44:50). Finally we close out the show with some quick hitters (74:00) and dead wrong. Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn 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: store.sho.com   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat  To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

oh yeah it's friday september 3rd 2021 and you've stumbled upon the greatest combat sports show ever assembled they call it morning combat in these parts so shout out to cbs showtime and for putting this shit uh live right in front of you at this moment. I'm Brian Campbell, the beige one, that BBC with the BDE, your co-host for today. It is Friday, orange background, no J, and this is where BC runs this clown show, okay? But I'm going to run it strict today. We're coming, and we're coming hard,

and that man sitting next to me, he's a changed man. He's a reformed man. He's still a pretty angry man. One of the best in the world, if not the best at what he does from dc with love it's luke thomas hello what's up bc happy friday to you doing okay i'm here i'm here that's not a very affirmative answer i feel like something's wrong is something wrong did you say it's not a very effeminate answer? Because I answer to many, okay?

I put it across the board, all right? Okay. Well, as long as you're all right, then that's good. Luke, it's Friday. We get the people ready for the weekend to come. We've got an intriguing UFC fight night middleweight main event. We've got some news to get into. I mean, look, there's a big glory card this this weekend there's shenanigans on the on the box side are you feeling what i'm

feeling about the state of love and trust in combat sports at the moment yeah the card tomorrow for ufc is not great but the main event is great the the i don't know enough about kickboxing to give a full review of the glory card but i do know that the top two fights on there with Pereira and Vakitov with the co-main event and Badr Hari returning the main event, I know that's very good. And, yeah, Katie Taylor's back, so lots of good stuff. Yeah, just enough to fill your glory hole, as they say, Luke Thomas. But speaking of that hole, it's unfulfilled if you're not getting up

on what's going on over there at Showtime.com. You can get a 30-day free trial right now. It is the only place you can catch Bellator MMA in these 50 states. And why would you not want to get involved when we've got Yoel Romero's debut a little bit more than a week away? When we've got, I don't know, Rumble Johnson fighting for the light heavyweight title on October 16th. A lot of great stuff. Showtime Championship Boxing will be back. Don't forget we've got September 18th.

That boxing, Bellator, doubleheader. A lot of great stuff there. Check that out. If you don't like it, right, that's when you can pound the sand. But first you've got to try it out before Luke will let you spin that shit around. Let's also tell you a little bit about the merch that we sell on here. Morning Combat.store is the home right now for this mug and a lot of other great stuff that I'd like to see you and your abuela outfitted in, if you will.

Check that shit out and support us. We like to support you back. That's why it's very high-quality fabrics. Luke, is it cotton? What is that made out of, carob? I don't know how the sweatshops are doing it. It's a blend. It's like a cotton blend, but it's real soft.

It's nice. It's nice. It's high-quality stuff. I'll put it that way. Okay, okay. You know what else is high-quality stuff, Luke? The stuff that Less Than Jake is putting together. I hear, Luke, okay, a little bird in my ear.

One of our great producers tells me we could be, I don't know, 10, 12 days away from the release of Morning Combat documentary, documentary number five, Luke, detailing a very personal, heated, and even healing weekend in Cleveland. All things Paul Woodley. Luke, are you moved at all by

Matt Snyder, our great producer's assertion that this might be the best doc we've ever done? It's not saying. Well, no, the first one was good. Every other one has sucked. You know, that's what they all said about Death Magnetic. You know what I'm saying? That's so wrong, Luke. So just so

you know, Luke, the second one is actually the best stock we've ever done the fourth might be the most entertaining and easy to like you know some some who have a taste for high art do do do prefer the third one although it's you know it's very sergeant pepper it's very sort of you know you got to be in the mood in the moment okay thank you yeah it's bad luke one day you and i will have a documentary detailing our our bitter divorce and breakup it's gonna beke one day you and i will have a documentary detailing our our bitter divorce and breakup it's gonna be spectacular that will be the best one for sure no no doubt about it uh luke people can also check out our fine bonus products at youtube.com slash morning combat where you'll find out quickly it actually is mk all day nearly every day three live shows

per week check out luke's live chat from thursday luke i mean you gotta you were real you you were that we gotta be real you you want to know all things what happened between luke and ariel check it out on luke's thursday live chat am i wrong i'm always real on that thing i'd never bs uh on that but uh yeah i did i mean there's you know there's some things that obviously i'm not going to get into, nor should I, but yeah, we did a little bit of talking about it. People were curious, so I gave them what I could

and go check that out. Check that out. Also, we got interviews with Oscar De La Hoya, a little bit more than a week out from his big return against Vitor Belfort. A lot of interesting stuff. We talk drugs, we talk healing and addiction, we talk a lot of good stuff there. Also, check out Luke's favorite broadcaster, Laura Senko.

I had a very nice chat with her. That was unexpected last minute, but very great to look back on her little historic breakthrough moment there. Her journey from fighter to broadcaster. Luke, I love positive stuff. Chatting with Laura Senko, we talked about this story on Wednesday's show.

It's just a good moment to sa her for for a quick second right it's a it's a good it's nice to see good people get the good jobs in the business you know what i mean like a lot of times it's really not the case um but that's the case here so it's good to see yep yep like like oj calling football for nbc sports not not you know not one of those situations, right? Yeah, this is more Tony Romo for CBS. A little bit more deserved. All right. Well, that's all the shit I'm here to sell you today before I sell you a fantastic preview and review

of all the things going on at Combat Sports. Luke, do you have any weekend plans? It is Labor Day. Is there any traditions, maybe Colombian-based labor traditions in the Thomas household that you guys will be partaking in this weekend? Well, what's amazing, I don't know if you know this, America doesn't have a whole lot of holidays. So if you actually go to South America, this is true everywhere, but obviously it's true in Colombia too, they have a holiday, I'm not

exaggerating, at a bare minimum once a month and usually every couple of weeks and they get work off for it it's unbelievable it's amazing to see uh us americans we work too much so we don't know much about that but i heard you mention this pre-show it's nice and cool outside here in your nation's capital i know it's nice and cool over there in um connecticut where you are thinking about maybe some evening fires around a fire pit I'm going to build. I'm thinking about, you know, teaching my daughter about s'mores a little bit. I think it could be fun. She doesn't want some less, Luke.

She wants some more. Please give it to her. I will say this, Luke. I've always said this. There's no problem in life that can't be solved over an open flame. I mean, there's just something about it, Luke. Okay? Sometimes I shovel a path of snow in the winter just to get

out to that fire pit and figure out what's going on in the deep dark depths of my life you know what i mean so i encourage everyone fire pits especially if you live in the city and you don't have much access to space to have a fire i have just enough of a backyard just enough where i can afford one and put one there in terms of space i mean and uh we're gonna get that thing cooking over the weekend i'm'm excited. Good shit. Colombians do celebrate often, Luke. In fact, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at about 1057 a.m. Eastern time, they usually celebrate right outside your door.

So shout out to this. It's a global phenomenon there. All right. That's it. Okay. It's time to get into it. So BC hosting today, buckle up. It's going to be a fun ride. And we're going to kick things off looking ahead to saturday night at the apex in las vegas a card

and main event originally scheduled for august 14th in london it did not happen due to covid uh regulations and scare tactics but we are back at it here and it is a middleweight tilt that i don't know you have to ask yourself does it here, and it is a middleweight tilt that, I don't know, you have to ask yourself, does it have title implications? It's certainly got something. Derek Brunson, 37 years old, a four-fight resurgent win streak going against Darren Till, who, Luke, we know Darren Till has lost three of four all against elites, though, but we also know he's got a way of carrying a very elite

persona around him UFC never afraid to put him in big moments considering his recent run you could argue a big win is needed here and I think you can also argue a big win could lift him to some very high levels our

odds makers over there at Caesar Sportsbook have it minus 175 for Darren Till, plus 150 for Derek Brunson. So that tells you how close it is. What are you looking for specifically as we head into this? I don't want to call it must see, but it's a pretty damn good main event. It's a great main event. I mean, the odds are very, very close.

Our friends over at Caesar Sportsbook, they've got till at about a minus 175 and they got derrick brunson about a plus 150 so pretty close look you know i just said that right you know like like about 10 seconds ago like i just said that you said the odds out loud yeah sorry i was i was listening but i was readying my thoughts in my head to get them ready but i apologize for that formally but i was truly listening I was just trying to get my mental notes here what I really wanted to say though BC was I love this fight because what's kind of amazing is Till is actually in the superior position from a rankings perspective I believe that's correct um if you look at the middleweight rankings today Brunson's five Brunson's actually five Till seven but here's

the point Till's coming in at about one and three in his last four. But it's hard to know what to make of that. Remember, Darren Till's only 28 years old. He is not old by any stretch, and he hasn't had a lot of competition experience. In fact, that one and three were going all the way back to when Woodley beat him for that first of the three losses. So that's a long time ago. And I feel like he's really made a lot of changes,, least of which is weight class. On the other side, you have Derek Brunson, who has a lot more competitive experience, certainly in the UFC anyway,

and has been on this great run over Theodoru, Heinish, Shabazzian, and then most recently he beat Kevin... Holland. Kevin Holland. Kevin Holland. Kevin Holland. And so I went back and I watched some of these fights in preparation for today, BC. It's kind of amazing.

This is what it comes down to. There's been a lot of hype around Darren Till, waiting for him to have a big breakout moment. He had a nice win over Kelvin Gastelum. A little bit ho-hum, but it was a solid win. And he did lose to Robert Whitaker, but you know, that was close. He dropped Whitaker early. Both of them recognized that was a very, very difficult fight. Like he's shown real ability, but doesn't have that signature win on the resume, nor has he faced somebody

who can be a dedicated wrestler against him. On the other side with Brunson, you've got all these wins and they're all quality. And in fact, they come from a big change down at Sanford MMA, where they're getting him to be like, look, we're going to go back to the wrestling, but we're going to take our time to get there. We're going to set things up at range, and we're going to find our moments. And it has worked absolutely spectacularly. But you've got to just be honest about it. Darren Till is a different level than the guys he's beaten, or at least we think Darren Till is a different level and conversely for Darren Till Derek Brunson has his flaws but we're going to see how real is this late career reformation that he's undergone with Sanford MMA the one thing I would say BC to close is this is what everything hinges on to me to me if you if the fight takes place entirely on the feet now I may not but let's just pause it for a second that it does that seems like a hard fight for Derek Brunson to win. Even Kevin Holland dropped him in the first round. He got hit a couple times with some clean shots from Shabazzian before he kind of fell apart. So there's still a

little bit of times where he gets out in front of his skis. But the question is, in the smaller cage, how much does Darren Till's takedown defense hold up? It's held up very well. He looks pretty good. He's a plus 80%, but he's never faced someone like Brunson. Now, one note, BC, I actually did talk to the guys at Fightmetric about, you know, does a smaller cage facilitate better takedowns or higher amount of takedowns? What they told me was from a very, very, very, very preliminary standpoint, they have not looked at the rounds. They've not sorted by weight class. There's a lot of different ways to look into this. And by the way, the smaller cage can force action in other ways that has nothing to do with take downs too. But as it relates to take downs, do they come

easier in the smaller cage versus the bigger one. There is not, to date, a statistical significance. In fact, it's barely separate at all. So I do think it might be easier to make contact with Darren Till. I don't know if that will change his fortunes. And Darren Till, very good at popping back up. You had a guy like Robert Whitaker, 2 for 13 on takedowns against him. And even the two he got, he was right back on his feet. So this is a great fight.

I really like it. And there's a lot on the line here. I think, though, as you identified it very smartly, I think there is potential to make a lot of money off Darren Till here. And I know you're like, I've always been the biggest Darren Till critic. Like, I didn't think he, I'll still go to my grave saying Wonderboy beat him in a close fight. You know, I didn't love his chance.

I told you on the MMA beat, Woodley's going to knock this guy out and you know he stopped him, he submitted him I've always been critical of Till, but when I really break down this matchup Luke, I realize why the odds are close-ish because Till's lost 3 of 4 because let's not forget his injuries, he was supposed

to fight Jack Hermanson, pulled out because injury, was supposed to fight Marvin Vittori, pulled out because of injury. So there's a lot of question marks around him. And Till in the media scrum this week, kind of not a direct comparison, but said, you know, I've seen Dominic Cruz go through these stretches of injury

and questions, but keep pulling through. And one thing I will say about Darren Till, do I think he's a little bit overrated and maybe that's why I've been critical at times? Yes. But I do think he's very, very mentally tough. And I think that's the key for long-term success. And I like a lot of the comments Darren Till has said during this training camp, which is, you know, I'll lose. I may have to lose more in order to figure out how great I can be. You know,

he's doubled and tripled down on the idea that I know there's greatness inside of me. I know I'm going to be a champion one day. I'm not afraid to get through injury, losses, learning lessons, whatever, to get there. You gotta love that fighting spirit and that attitude. I think the odds are this close, Luke,

because of the relative win-loss records of late and because of some of these questions surrounding Till. Yet, like you just said, when you look at the matchups, it's hard not to really like Till a lot. To be able to stuff two of 13 takedown attempts by Robert Whitaker shows you that if he has a chance to take away Derek Brunson's best chance of controlling this fight, Till's a much better striker, Luke. He's great at commanding distance. He's great at lowering the output of his opponent through a lot of the subtleties he does

with the short elbows inside, which makes it hard to get inside on him. And just the fact that if he was able to make Robert Whittaker fight his fight, which that's what Till did. Till lost 3-2 on all three judges' scorecards. I thought Whittaker did enough to beat him, but that was a high-level, technical, slow-down fight because I think Darren Till set those parameters. And, you know, Whittaker's a better fighter, so he beat Till at his own game. But if Till gets Brunson into that type of fight, I don't think it's one Till's going to lose. Obviously, he's got to keep his back off the mat, but I think some of Derek Brunson's turnaround here in this four-fight win streak is the level of competition, and it is the expectations.

Luke, you know Brunson. He had lost four out of his last six before this winning streak. We know him as a guy who was a gatekeeper-ish sort of guy. I give him a lot of credit that at 37, he could turn it around like this. He can go down to Sanford. He can figure out how to round out his game. He could be much more patient. This is not the guy who ran into oncoming traffic against Robert Whitaker, right?

But he beat guys who were maybe looking past him or maybe had much higher goals. And he kind of humbled them with the great skill that he has. A great motor, taking them down, basically showing them that, you know, you're not at this level yet. I think Darren Till's above that level, even though I've been a massive Darren Till critic throughout. I think we have potential here for not only Darren Till to control the action on the feet,

but to even get a stoppage here, Luke. His elbows on the inside are absolutely nasty, and he gave Whitaker a lot of issues here. Whitaker is just on another level completely Luke I like Till I like him big you can take that to the blank bank excuse me the blood bank Senator Trent that's a deep reference I think you articulate some of the the key tensions here it's funny dude Darren Till has looked good in losing fights against very good opposition and when I say looking good,

even when he got knocked out against Jorge Masvidal, dude, he dropped Jorge Masvidal early. You know, he dropped Robert Whitaker early and then just couldn't really finish at the end there. By the way, if you look at the takedowns against Darren Till, I'm not gonna say most of them, but you'll often see them cluster towards the end of fights in the third rounds, or as I mentioned against Robert Whitaker, of the two that Robert Whitaker got, they both came in the third round, or as I mentioned, against Robert Whittaker. Of the two that Robert Whittaker got, they both came in the fifth round. So something to keep in mind as well. But in terms of Till, he's looked really, really good in losing fights against very good opposition, but he doesn't have that key win.

The Gaslam win was nice, but we've seen kind of Gaslam, he's got a bit of his own issues as well. And so we just need to see, we need something more than beating Cerrone in the way that he did at the time that he did. We need something else we can hang our hat on that tells us this guy deserves to be considered truly elite. In the case of Brunson, well, he's sitting at five, and that is commendable.

And all of those wins that he has since the loss to Anderson Silva, which by the way, I think served as a wake-up call, the Theodoru and Heinish wins, those are good wins, but against guys who I would not consider super, super elite. And then against Shabazian, I think he's got a bright future, but against guys who I would not consider super, super elite. And then against Shabazzian, I think he's got a bright future, but he was flawed, very green in certain respects, we can all agree.

And then Kevin Holland, I mean, do I even go back over the wrestling of that one more time? That just was what it was. So to me, while you can clearly look at the tape on Brunson, you can say, whoa, this guy is definitely doing things in a much better way, no doubt about it. You've got to do it against somebody we all consider to be what we think is very dangerous, very big, even for middleweight. He was a giant welterweight. He's a huge middleweight still even. You got to do it against somebody where we really feel like, okay, you got your rebound wins for Derek Brunson. The rebound

wins are there. Fair enough. That's the first step. the next step is you got to get not just back on the horse you got to show us you can beat other real contenders in that top 10 even including the top five space I don't think the winner gets a title shot but I think if Brunson gets it he has one more fight before he might he's in a good space but he really needs to prove this reformation is not just good for beating people he probably could have beaten anyway yeah Brunson said he believes the winner will get a title shot. It's really hard. It's really hard to see that. There's a bottleneck there.

I think if anyone's going to get a title shot off the win, it would be Till with the bigger name, but he would even need some luck. We're pushing off out of Sonja Whitaker, too. We've still got some very high-ranked guys in that space between them. Luke, if Brunson is unsuccessful at taking Till down over a number of rounds, let's say three rounds, can he still win this fight on the feet, given the fact that Till has made some big mistakes in big moments? I don't think so. I don't think he can win a pure striking battle. I think he can use the striking at range to set things up. And by the way, he's

got a big punch too. It's not like it's just for that. But over time, what you'll begin to see is the discipline that he employs when he is thinking critically about how to get his takedowns in there. He doesn't rush them. He doesn't barrel into them like he did before. He sets them up. He takes his time. I don't think he shot in the Shabazzian fight for the first several minutes. He took a long time striking at range, but you begin to see that Shabazzian was starting to land on him a little bit, and then that's when he began to turn the table.

So I think it's useful. I think he can have great moments. I think he can even land a big shot or two. But the reality is, what's one of the big knocks on Darren Till? It's that, for example, what's his best weapon? It's that lead left, right? Or I should say the power left.

And you'll notice he's not a stance switcher, BC. So what often happens is guys are circling away from his power. So you'll see him kind of chase down with the left, trying to find people. And that's when Whitaker found most of his openings, was when he was reaching on that left. Whitaker would get under it and then try something from there. So with a wrestling component, I do think you can take advantage of some of the deficiencies in Till's striking.

But just, do I expect Derek to slip and then counter over a guy like Till? No, I don't think he's got that in him. By the way, one thing to keep in note as well is, Till's still one of those guys like Adesanya who will do that lean to get out of the way, the physio of lean. That could get him in trouble if he has some of those habits too. To me, this really, really, really hinges on to what extent can Brunson get the takedown and keep it. If he really can't, that's not very much a winnable fight, I don't think.

Luke, Anderson Silva said this week while doing interviews for the upcoming tito ortiz boxing match next week that he doesn't he thinks adesanya is unbeatable at 185 i don't agree with that but i appreciate the respect and sentiment so i have two key hard-hitting questions on darren till one luke is darren till a threat for israel adesanya if he can get there sure sure because it's a different fight Adesanya is not going to take him down so that's going to be a pure striking battle I tend to think Adesanya is better and should win that one but yeah he's a threat sure number two Luke is a loss here disastrous for Darren Till? It could be. That's on the table. Because you would be,

let's see, he's one in three now, he would be one in four. And it wouldn't be against chumps, but it would be multiple opportunities against fighters who present very different challenges, by the way.

Jorge Masvidal is very different than Derek Brunson across two weight classes, and you still couldn't beat those guys. It's like how many times do you need a test against the very, very top before we can begin to realize, as you put it before, you are what your record says you are. The only thing I would say about that as a pin in that,

same thing we said for Kevin Lee and everybody else. He's 28 years old. He's 28 years old. You cannot lose sight of that. Now, Luke, final question on this, because Darren Till does intrigue me. I love in this buildup how he's been, like, jumping in Derek Brunson's DMs one day

to ask about the family and wish everybody best, then the next day jumping in, dropping F-bombs and talking trash to try to keep him off guard. He's from Liverpool. How the hell do you explain that accent? Because even my wife walked into the room yesterday, my office, when I was transcribing a Till interview.

And she's like, what language is that? Yeah, it's called a Scouse accent. You ever heard that word before? Scouser? No. It's a Scouse accent. It's basically, you should do it. Because look it up on YouTube, like Scouse words.

Because it's not only a certain way of pronouncing things, and they say me instead of my a lot, you know, me wife, me land, that kind of a thing, but they have an utterly unique way of pronouncing things. Like, for example, Patti Pimblitt has a Scouse accent as well. Pay attention to any, this is many things they do differently. Pay attention to any word they have that ends with the letter K. They give it a huh, so they say like work you know cake like that kind of a thing it's just an entirely unique accent to that uh city slash region

and they've got their own slang their own way of pronouncing utterly ununique or unique from a london accent and it's hard as fuck to understand i'll put it that way yeah me neck me back you know saying luke put it me and me crack yeah indeed uh luke before we move on down this card which is less than impressive but has some storylines do you have a pick are you willing to put it put your balls on the line for the sake of your reputation in this show who wins brunson till i would probably say till i think tills again i'm banking on a certain set of assumptions about till and those assumptions might be proven wrong based on what derrick brunson does but for the time being i'm gonna ride with them but i like the odds i think they're close i think a bet by the way on brunson

probably a decent bet as an underdog you don't get a ton of value out of it, but you get some. But I'm going to lean Till. What about you? Yeah, put all the money on Till. Third round TKO. You heard it right here. Tell your friends. All right, Luke, this card, it's interesting. Do you care at all about this heavyweight co-main event? I know UFC loves shoving heavyweights

into the co-main. It's like the old-time thing. Well, hey, the heavyweights are going there and they'll bang. But it's Tom Aspin time thing well hey the heavyweights are going there and they'll bang but it's tom aspinall versus sergey pavlovich um that's not moving the needle luke or even your needle for that matter well yes and no sergey spivak i don't care one way or the other about i mean he's an okay fighter did i say sergey pavlovich did oh mikey's killing me he put that in the notes it's sergey spiva who the hell Sergei Pavlovich Luke somebody that Mikey made up but the answer is I am I do care about it because Tom Aspinall is good Tom Aspinall out of the UK is a very very good fighter a highly intriguing prospect

he's got great accuracy good patience he got hit a little bit more than I expected him to in his last fight but he's still very young he's's still putting it all together. He looks like he might be the real deal at heavyweight. Now, they were still, to be clear, early in that run. I don't want to rush it in any way, but he has shown an ability that deserves to be respected and noted. And Spivak, I think, is a good fighter, but Aspinall should win that one pretty clean, I think. Sergey Pavlovich, so I don't get dead wronged here. I know him now. He is a Russian UFC heavyweight, Luke.

He knocked out Maurice Green in the first round, got stopped himself by Alistair Overeem. I know that guy now. But yeah, Aspinall, Spivak is what it is. I agree with you. Aspinall is the bigger rising stock here. He's a minus 240 favorite. Luke, as we look up and down this card,

I know what you're going to tell me. We got to watch Patty Pimblitt. You know, to be honest here, right? Our new friend, our old friend and new friend, I don't think Ariel Hawane loves anything more besides calling Brendan Schaub out

than publicizing Patty Pimblitt. Luke, if anyone had never heard of this guy, how do you describe this phenomenon entering his UFC debut? Well, you could make an argument that he is overhyped in the sense, in the sense that when you look at him on tape, you realize as good as he is, he's still, by the way, he's only 26 years old. He's got a bit of a ways to go. There's a lot of growth that's going to be necessary for him to compete at the UFC, compete consistently and win at the UFC level. But

here's what is interesting about him. He too, like Darren Till, has that Scouse accent out of Liverpool. And he has a ton, a ton of cage warriors experience. He has a record of 16 and 3. So he's got nearly 20 fights, a lot of them at the high international level, and he's got five-round fight experience. What you can say about him is he's an aggressive back attacker. He looks for the back. He finds it a lot. He's a good finisher from there. A lot of his subs and finishes come in the first or second round. I talked about this on yesterday's live chat. You look at his last loss against Soren Bach, which was a five-round fight, and I think Bellator has kind of fucked that up a little bit because Soren Bach beat Paddy Pimblitt, then

basically goes to Bellator, and no one really knew about it. Like, they didn't do a good job of publicizing that at all. So here's Paddy Pimblitt, but two fights later, you could see massive, massive improvements in his stand-up with his motion and his understanding of range and distance. There still do, I'll be honest, people are like, oh, he's the next Conor McGregor. Well, I can't say that that's not true, but he doesn't jump off the screen to me in the way that Conor McGregor did at that time. So I think he's got some work to do. But to have 20 fights under your belt

at the Cage Warriors level, to be still 26 years old, and to have the kind of experience that he does with the different opponents, and again, the five rounds, dude, he is situated, if he can stay on the development track he is situated to do some potentially pretty impressive things but what I would say is I understand your caution if you just watch the tape you know it doesn't come off necessarily like oh my god this guy's the next

big thing but I think the guys in the UK they've seen this kid around a long time he's been fighting a long time on cage warriors levels and he's really kind of ascended. I think he learned a lot of lessons from that Soren Bach fight, and he looked good in his last win. Very, very good. So I'm excited he's here, but I also feel like we gotta have some managed expectations about what's readily available.

He's got good stuff in the tank, he's got good foundations, but there's still a building process that needs to happen. Yeah, Paddy the Baddie, very charismatic. I've seen Ariel interview him in the past. I'm looking forward to check this out, Luke. He is a lightweight. He'll be taking on Luigi Vendramini.

So this should be an interesting clash. You know, Luke, I'll be looking out for my Lithuanian brethren, light heavyweight Modestus Bukauskis against Khalil Roundtree Jr. Two straight defeats for the lit, Luke. He has tweeted and IG'd that, like, it is must-win territory. So I'm sure Rose and I will be all about war Lithuania on this one, Luke, okay? Okay. That's all you got on that.

I thought Roundtree retired, but I guess not. Not yet, Luke. Maybe after this one. Are you of any belief that it's a win or go home here? Or not go home, but it's win now for Molly the Meatball McCann as a minus 110 favorite against G or not go home, but it's win now for Molly. The meatball McCann has a minus one, 10 favorite against G. Yeah.

Young Kim, Luke. Okay. You got big expectations for the meatball here. Are you like, Hey BC, move on. We've got a deep show.

Yeah. I mean, I've certainly had no disrespect to her, but yes, we have a lot of show to do. All right. There you go. You want more UFC fight night,

deep previews. Don't watch this show. All right, Luke. We've got more to get into, and let's continue it. Our second topic is big UFC news, okay? Big, big UFC news. It involves the lightweight division. Sources tell MMA Fighting that although contracts are not yet signed,

both Charles Oliveira and Dustin Poirier have verbally agreed to a December 11th title fight at 155 pounds. That would be the big, final Vegas pay-per-view that UFC typically does, formerly in the past New Year's Eve weekend, now they're doing it a little bit earlier for ESPN's schedule. Luke,

we had done a lot of talk in the weeks of this build-up that, is Poirier going to chase money and go after a Nate Diaz? Or is he going to do what we wanted him to do, fight for that full title in the post-Habib era and find out who the best lightweight in the world is? How fired up are you that it appears we're heading in this direction? Yeah, this is long overdue.

I mean, you could have made a case that Dustin should have been fighting for this a couple of fights ago. And then certainly after he beat McGregor in January, you were like, okay, it's got to be a title shot next. Then he fought McGregor again. So now it's just like comically overdue. But it's a great fight. Charles Oliveira, we all know the story about what he had to prove to himself and everyone else in the setbacks. And he's been here since basically he was 20 years old. what he had to prove to himself and everyone else in the setbacks.

He's been here since basically he was 20 years old. He finally has developed into what you see here today. Poirier, another guy who didn't have necessarily the smoothest run every time, but it really turned out to be somebody pretty special. I love the style contrast. I wish they were fighting a little bit earlier, December 11th. It's still in 2021. I'll let it go. But it's the right fight to make.

I frankly think it's very, very competitive. I think Dustin's got the power-punching edge, but Oliveira obviously can pull a rabbit out of his hat with jiu-jitsu at any point if you make any kind of mistake. Dustin Poirier gets submitted a lot. Khabib did his thing, but that's, you know, obviously a relatively unique situation. So it's well-matched. Obviously, you mentioned Poirier's a black belt himself, so he should be able to handle himself reasonably well on the ground,

even though we can all acknowledge Olivera's very special in that regard. But Poirier, I mean, these two guys do. What can you say? Look at their resumes. Look how battle-tested they are. Look at what they've had to overcome and what they've had to show and what they've had to deal with and the set've had to show, and what they've had to deal with, and the setbacks, and the narratives, and the media, and everything else. You know, two guys who you wish you could have dual champions, because they

both deserve it in that way, but there could only be one, and I am extremely excited to see how this one plays out. I tend to think Poirier probably gets his hand raised, but, you know, Oliveira's been counted out a few times, and shown people what time it is. So highly, highly excited. This will be, although it has not been announced, obviously, because the fight's not officially signed and finished. It would be UFC 269, sight to be determined. But as I mentioned, they typically hit Las Vegas there in December. That's the same card with the rescheduled Amanda Nunes, Juliana Pena about. So, Luke, I mean, I just want to see Poirier have a chance to get his moment, whether he

gets it or not. He certainly doubled and tripled down on his brand with the two wins over Conor McGregor this calendar year, and you want to talk about potential for fighter of the year. Imagine if he wins this, Luke, and finally scales the mountaintop. I mean, you know, we're talking

about cementing an incredible Hall of Fame legacy, easy fighter of the year, all that good stuff. And just to be, you know, to be fair, given the run that Oliveira's on, it's just such a batshit great fight on paper. It could go so many directions. And, you know, sportsbetting.ag, which

usually rushes out and gives you the early odds, Luke has Poirier as a minus 180 favorite, Oliveira as plus 155 underdog. I would say that seems about right, because I think you and I agree that post-Habib Poirier, until we see him lose, is the best lightweight in the world. Right, and also, you know,

Michael Chandler couldn't quite finish the job, and obviously the guy who finished it was Oliveira, which, you know, don't... I mean, if there is one lesson from that Chandler fight, it's that A, MMA is crazy, but B, dude, do not count out Charles Oliveira. But you also have to acknowledge some of his weaknesses, and a guy who is as credible and, frankly, efficient a power puncher that Poirier is.

And, you know, dude, Poirier has faced all different manner of opponents as well. No one quite like Oliveira, but, you know, some pretty close-ish kind of guys along the way. You know, dude, if he wins that belt, man, you mentioned fighter of the years on the table, right? Because he would have beaten McGregor twice and then gotten the belt at the end. That's pretty big. But just the, you know, they always say, man, progress doesn't go like this. Progress goes like this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and then kind of ends up there.

Where if you just look at the beginning and the end, it's a straight line. But there are so many. It's just an undulating path. I mean, I cannot think, if he ends up winning, I cannot think of someone who exemplifies just the lack of smoothness that is success. It's tough. It's hard. It takes time. But it can be done, and so we'll see. We'll see what he does. And look at what we thought about Poirier just three years ago entering 2018.

We all know he was a world-class fighter, but he was coming off that weird two-fight series with Eddie Alvarez where he got the finish, and he was entering the Justin Gaethje fight. We all certainly thought of him as great, but if you would have told me he would have had this run after that, of course losing to Habib, but everybody else did, and then getting those two wins over McGregor and then entering this fight favored potentially for a chance to win the belt.

I mean, that's a glorious run there. So great to see Dustin get the opportunity. We'll see who wins. Briefly on this topic, Justin Gaethje caught up with our friend Brett Okamoto of ESPN. And by the way, condolences out to Brett for the loss of his father. Gaethje said, I thought that lightweight was the most coveted title in UFC. When Habib was around, it was turned into almost a laughing stock of the UFC overnight. It was me and Poirier who should have been fighting for the belt, not Chandler and Oliveira. It should have been

one versus two. That's what should have happened. Luke Gaethje, on the outside looking in to a degree, although he has a big opportunity against Michael Chandler to get back in there, do you think he has a case here that it should have been him, even though he was the most recent to have lost to Habib? And let's not forget,

probably one leg strike away from putting Habib in peril probably or maybe argument no I don't think if you lose to Habib then the first fight after that should be um another title shot no I don't I don't really agree with that all right Luke I got some quick fight announcements here that I just want to get your reaction like a yay or nay or like a yay or I don't know what it does this move you Luke we had touched on it the other day but December 11th which is this same card we're targeting uh Poirier's return they see Barbara Montana De La Rosa you know it gives me the feels Luke what about you I mean come on Luke come on

it's a good fight it's uh it's another for Barber, who I did not think beat Miranda Maverick, but the judges disagreed, and so that's what counts. De La Rosa is, I think, an underrated but tough competitor. I think Barber should win that, but De La Rosa could make it tricky early. That's an interesting style clash. December 4th. How about this one in the old lightweight division? Rafael Fiziev versus your boy Brad Riddell of CKB. Pour some sugar on you, friend. And I'm not talking

about out of the spout of the great Rashad Evans, bro. Yes, right? Dude, that fight is just bananas. You got two guys who are arguably two of the more decorated kickboxers in the UFC if not that division who have translated to MMA well we saw against Bobby Green Fazaev have some struggles a little bit certainly not the I thought he'd be a little bit more dominant than he was but

he was the deserved winner he looked amazing and then in riddell you know that fight against drew dober he got put he got tested i mean he got pushed to his limits and still found a way to come back and win a very very talented guy out of a great camp fazaev same exact thing dude that fight should be an absolute war yeah my mispronunciation aside this is a great fight and uh it's it's part of this turnover at 155 that I've been quietly talking about. Some of those bigger names are fading, but we've got some hungry lions ready to fill those spots. Luke, November 20th reports have it that Michael Chiesa bouncing back against Sean Brady.

Do you like this challenge? I like that one just as much as the one we just talked about. Dude, Michael Chiesa had a bad fight against Vicente Luque. What can you say about it? It was a bad fight for him. In the end, anyway. But I don't think he's at all done. I think it'd be foolish as hell to say that 170, he's peaked.

I don't think that's true. And then if you folks don't know who Sean Brady is, you're about to find out. Sean Brady is easily, easily one of UFC's best kept secrets. He is 14-0. He was supposed to fight Kevin Lee. He had the injury and both guys did. And it was kind of, you know, the whole thing fell apart. And Kevin Lee ended up taking on Daniel Rodriguez.

But dude, Sean Brady, I'm telling you, this guy is a black belt in Jiu Jitsu. He is a physical specimen. He can do it all. He just needs an opportunity to show. Chiesa is by no means a walk in the park but I'll say this if if you can beat Michael Chiesa holy shit that will be his breakout moment pay attention to Sean Brady he is an absolute hammer yeah yeah there's no question about that and finally Luke November 5th in Dublin we have Bellator 270 already announced it's James Gallagher and

Patchy Mix in the main event, which has me fired up. But how about these two fights added to the card? Daniel Vytro versus Pedro Carvalho. And in the co-main event, a rematch. Patrycki Pitbull versus Peter Quealy, the SBG product, who had just defeated Patrycki by doctor's stoppage. Your thoughts on the card Scotty Cokes has put together. Yeah.

Excuse me. That's a good card. I like that matchmaking the card Scotty Cokes has put together. Yeah. Excuse me. That's a good card. I like that matchmaking a lot more than Fedor versus Tim Johnson. I'll say this. That Gallagher-Patchy-Mix fight, that's a tough fight for Gallagher. Dude, Patchy-Mix is, he is a berserker. And we actually saw him in Vegas at the High Rollers event that we attended. And he does it all. He has great grappling,

great team behind him. He's strong. He's athletic. He's gotten out in front of the skis a little bit as he's tried to ascend the ranks. But I've never seen him just get like, you know, what do you want to say? I mean, yes, he lost the fights where he was able to get to where guys were just better than him. But what I want to say is for a guy at his experience level to have the skills that he does, that's a tough fight for Gallagher. So they're putting that in. I like it. I like the matchmaking. I like it a lot.

They're testing their contenders there, dude. Yeah, I mean, that crowd's going to be nuts. So, you know, there's a little bit of an advantage there for sure. But, you know, Gallagher's got to prove it. Luke, patchy mix that night at High Rollers. Who was he going to grapple in the main event? We didn't end up staying for the main event, but do you remember who he was supposed to grapple?

I forgot. I forgot, yeah. All I remember, Luke, is as we're watching High Rollers, shout out to that place, a fantastic establishment. It was awesome. And our own Al Wendling handling the post-fight interviews, but they hand out the gimmick to you as you're watching, so you take part in it, and you start laughing

luke patchy walked by he was warming up for the main event and i looked him in the eye and i was like yo take this motherfucker out bro and look he looked at me like like excuse me like do i know you and i was just like yeah okay bro all right he was nice to me i shook his hand as well but yeah he's a savage bro bro. He's a complete savage. So that should be fun. Yeah, Jake Shields was there too. I was like, yo, where's my laptop? Right?

Tootsie? I actually asked him about that. I actually asked him about the hot coffee. I was like, why did you throw hot coffee over someone? And what he says was, A, it wasn't hot coffee. Although he admits, even if it was hot coffee, he was still going to throw it no matter what. But it wasn't. And I asked him, why didn't you throw it like a ball like he just kind of shot putted it and he was like dude have you

ever tried throwing a starbucks cup cup filled with like liquid and i said no he's like you can't like you can't throw it like a you're not gonna you're not gonna spin it like a spiral you just gotta heave that thing so he did jake shields now full-time coach at uh extreme couture in las vegas luke shout out to him right only part-time not full-time coach at Extreme Couture in Las Vegas. Luke, shout out to him, right? Only part-time, not full-time. Oh, sorry. I read that wrong. Okay. Hey, Luke, let's go to topic number three,

some news and previews in the world of boxing. But this is an important story that your boy BC hijacked the rundown and forced it in. Yeah, you're all over this one, dude. I mean, it's serious. Oscar Valdez, if you don't remember him, he is the unbeaten WBC featherweight champion, had one of the biggest

victories this calendar year when he knocked out miguel burchelt to win that vicious knockout in a great performance valdez is unbeaten and this was a surging next level win for him in his first fight with canelo's trainer eddie reynoso in his corner so esp andPN and Top Rank have Valdez scheduled to return next Saturday, September 10th, in Arizona in a title defense against Brazil's Robinson Cancaysao, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist who defeated Valdez at the Pan Am Games when they were amateurs. The problem here, Luke, is Valdez tested positive on both his A sample and B sample for a banned supplement called Phentermine, a central nervous stimulant.

Yet despite positive tests on both samples, the Pascua Yaqui tribe athletic commission in Arizona has still cleared Valdez to fight next week. Luke, there's a lot of extra layers that I'll get into in a minute that kind of pump this story up on both sides. I want to stop you. I want to stop you because I want you to do this. Only you can do this.

I cannot do this like you can do this. You put the story at this place in the rundown for a reason. Before you ask me anything, I want you to explain to the MMA fans who might be watching, why is this such a big deal? And I know it involves Eddie Reynoso so do that part but tell tell the people who may not know yes you got a guy who tested positive he's not going to go and compete that part they get the Reynoso connection is the to me the more interesting story well I mean I'll get to the Reynoso connection in a second because he's building such a huge stable

and we've had some big name fighters uh take some shots and maybe I'll get into it now. So, you know, Eddie Reynoso, the manager and co-trainer of Canelo is really, you know, rising and building a stable. I mean, he's got Ryan Garcia, Andy Ruiz. He's got, you know, now Oscar Valdez. And after this happened, Luke, we've had some big name fighters make a run publicly against this. So Devin Haney, the unbeaten lightweight, came out and said, Eddie Reynoso's whole camp is on that shit and had a needle emoji. And that got Ryan Garcia fired up, who came out and said, shut your mouth, accusing me of cheating. I get it, you can't punch with those eight-ounce gloves,

but don't be accusing me of such a serious accusation. They went back and forth and basically were like, why are we not fighting each other? Which I think all boxing fans are saying the same thing since they both fight on DAZN. But Luke, just this morning Caleb Plant, the unbeaten super middleweight champion who will be facing Canelo Alvarez later

this year, tweeted nah at Canelo team and at Canelo they deserve bitch of the year. All of them are suspect and everything out of that camp is intentional. They have the knowledge and experience them are suspect and everything out of that camp is intentional they have the knowledge and experience to know better and the resources to have the best of the best and whatever they want to taco and beef emoji or some shit is the reason so luke this is some pretty heavy

accusations from two big players in boxing about what's going on in that camp but i think the news and why i think it's so important is there's some boxing bullshit at its finest i mean boxing is is is long luke if we talk about the some of the usada ufc circus play with with the drug testing is it is it more window dressing or is it serious we're moving cards for john jones we're talking about picograms i mean don't forget about thomas hauser's detailed reporting against usada in boxing that for all those years they were running big time fights they outed one person eric morales for a failed test only because it leaked accidentally and oh by the way despite morales

testing positive for his amb sample he was still allowed to fight against Danny Garcia in 2012 for, for clenbuterol and tainted me. I mean, it's, it's Luke. It's bullshit. There are layers to this story that, that I want to get into that,

that, that can argue either way, but on the surface, you have rules. You have a fighter who failed multiple tests and we're just like, nah, I don't think it was performance enhancing. He can still move on.

So here's the deal, Luke, and I do want to get your take on this because you're a drug testing guru. Phentermine is legal under WADA rules. WADA are the rules that this Native American tribe in Arizona oversee. The problem is both fighters signed up for drug testing through VADA, the drug testing body that is considered the most recutable in boxing. They cost less than the others.

They test for more. And this supplement is illegal under VADA rules. Valdez signed up for VADA testing. You don't have to sign up for VADA testing in boxing. They do it when, you know, not only when people have suspicions of their opponents, but also this is a WBC sanctioned fight and the WBC is aligned with VADA under their, you know, clean boxing program that they're trying to put out there. So you got Valdez's manager, Luke, saying, oh, Phentermine,

it's absolutely nothing. It's not, you know, it's not a PED. He probably caught it drinking herbal tea. Now, there was low amounts in his system found when this test was done a couple weeks ago. Valdez tested negative for this yesterday. But this drug life is out of your, this drug is out of your system in 48 hours. And you have Victor Conte, the, you know, the disgraced drug cheat turned supplement maker who talked to ESPN's Mike Coppinger and basically said, you know, this is dog eat my homework stuff. That fentermine, I know what it does.

It's very powerful. It's like a methamphetamine. You know, it's a PED. You know why? Because it's very powerful it's like a methamphetamine you know it's a ped you know why because it's a central nervous stimulant it accelerates your heart rate it gives you energy it gives you endurance it gives you stamina it makes it easier to breathe your training time to exhaustion would be much longer without it end quote luke this seems like a bunch of boxing bullshit no i mean you don't take that by accident. No, he did not get that from herbal tea. I mean, contamination is real.

Even USADA has gone out of their way to say contamination is real, where they've had people who popped from drinking water or pharmaceuticals that were prescribed by a doctor. They were just contaminated with something else. Like they got prescribed X and there was a trace of like Y or Z on it. So contamination is real. It's actually quite real to the point where it's it's a problem but no he did not get that from herbal tea um my hunch is that he just took it so bob arams fired up luke he talked to new york fights and michael woods and said this is absolutely nothing it's not a ped it's not illegal um there's a very light amount he took herbal tea because he wanted to

stop drinking coffee. He ended up taking a shot at Mike Coppinger, saying it's irresponsible for reporters to do it. It gives journalism a bad name. Any company that should hire that so-called journalist should be ashamed of themselves. Well, first of all, Bob, your promotional company is aligned with that company that hired Coppinger. It's like, dude, you both work with ESPN, so maybe cool. And second of all, mike coppinger is reporting news your fighter signed up for vada he got caught so like so luke you and i both agree

that a lot of drug testing in combat sports is just bullshit it's just to cover the ass to give the look of something this is damning against canelo's team no doubt because Canelo himself had the clumb butyrol hiccup ahead of the second triple g fight um I don't know you know I believe more people are using than not at the end of the day but if you have a rule system and someone violates it should top rank and ESPN and the commission get together and say we're sorry Oscar Valdez you can't headline this card next week. You broke the rules. Yeah, I mean, usually there's a case where even if it's not illegal under a certain jurisdiction or some kind of system, but someone breaks a rule under a different system, there's usually like the different bodies will work together

and say, you know, we'll honor this, even though we may not necessarily have the exact same rule on the books, or, you know, they didn't violate something with us specifically, right? You'll see that a lot, but even between USADA and then various state commissions, that can happen at times, too. You know, listen, here's what I think is probably going on to an extent. One is that, you know, he does have a bit of a loophole, not a loophole but he has a bit of an argument that hey under the wada code which then all of the various uh state excuse i should say all the various um national testing agencies from the united states on they all are signatories to the water code usada obviously follows that they can say under that there's not a big deal this is the preeminent anti-doping global

system quite literally so if he's not a run afoul of that, how serious could it possibly be? And also, dude, I think that the pandemic has just fucked a lot of things up where people aren't getting the gates they get. Fights are falling through. It's a constant problem. And if you can just look the other way, and I'm not saying that they should, but if you are of the belief that you can just look the other way and, you know, again, under the global anti-doping system, he's not really run afoul of that, then who really gives a shit? You could also argue on top that, you know, I mean, if you're the opponent of Oscar Valdez at this point, whether you care about what he took or what he didn't, you have to know what you're in for at this point. I mean, not just what the tape shows, but what everything else the tape doesn't show. I mean, this is sort of what I mean about everything. You know, I don't know what the right answer is with all of this stuff.

I probably feel like if you ran afoul of what you signed up for, that should have some kind of larger force. It's the one weakness. Well, not the one, but it's one of the weaknesses of VADA, which is that it is kind of voluntary. A lot of states and jurisdictions don't ever really sign up for it. But the WBC mandates it, Luke. And Valdez is the WBC champion.

So this is one of those rare times where boxing is trying to do the right thing, right? Are they? I mean, a lot of this is just for window dressing. At the end of the day, dude, I really don't think that the power... Some of the athletes might care, but I don't think the power brokers care about anti-doping in any kind of real and serious way.

I mean, this is the thing I always try to say. There is, dude, drugs are here. They're not going away. So the question is, what are you going to do about them? What place do they hold within sports? And that's a broader conversation. But this just shows you how difficult it is to manage all of these things. There is no one serious, coherent combat sports anti-doping

program. Even if there is, there's tons of problems with it. In this particular case, you have competing ones that test for different things that have different forms of jurisdiction. And you also have on top of that, you cannot lose sight of this fact, dude, COVID has fucked everything up, whether it should or it shouldn't have, whatever your belief.

It's canceled a lot of events. It's removed a lot of dollars from people's pockets, fighters included. And my guess is that they just want shit to go forward and don't care. And you can like that or you can hate that, but that seems to be what's happening. I mean, like, I'm not necessarily saying from my personal standpoint, Yank Valdez out of there, you cheat. Because, Luke, I'm not going to sit here and watch Sosa and Maguire break records

and not be suspicious of everyone. I'm sorry. We're past that point. But, again, if you have a rule system and someone violates the rules, you can't be talking about herbal tea. You can't be talking about picograms. Look, Jon Jones shouldn't have fought Gustafsson in L.A. I said it, then I'll say it now.

If you have a system of rules, whether it's window dressing bullshit or not, and that system of rules is violated and you're only doing it to protect yourself or look good, then you've got to follow the rules. I mean, come on. Like, you know, like, it's just at this point, if you're going to let him fight, then just come out and say testing is bullshit and no one cares. Because you know who doesn't care, Luke? The sanctioning bodies, for the large part, don't care.

The networks, for the large part, don't care. The promoters don't care so let me ask you let me ask you a question so so just think about this this is the argument i always make about anti-doping people like oh it would ruin the sport if if doping was allowed that's a separate argument about what it might mean for competition but just ask yourself this have any of the sponsors of the upcoming event that valdez is supposed to be and have any of them pulled out have any of the sponsors of the upcoming event that Valdez is supposed to be in have any of them pulled out have any of the broadcasters who are involved said you know what we just can't do this has any other person who stands to make a profit from this including his opponent by the way have any of them come out and said this is so beyond the pale we can't allow this dude

everyone can get on Twitter and they can say that they care so much about drugs and sport but when the rubber meets the road the fans don't stop buying tickets the advertisers don't stop advertising the broadcasters keep broadcasting it's a lie it's just an obvious lie that people care about it they fucking don't and I don't know why it's a scandal for us to say that out loud I never thought I'd get to this point. I remember you had opinions early. Nigel Collins, the Hall of Fame boxing writer who I used to edit his work on ESPN. He's one of the best writers in the game for many a decade.

He had that early take, you know, five, six, seven years ago. Let's just let's just legalize everything. What are we doing here? I'm finally there because I've seen enough to know that i've seen too much so uh i mean it's luke that's why when ufc signed up with usada all of us from boxing are like really that's the body you signed up with usada who doesn't who doesn't bust anyone at all like that's that's who you signed up with so you know come on across the board there uh but i i agree with you the one thing i think it just goes back to is if you're gonna have a system of rules they they the for example

if you have a speed limit in your own hometown that says 55 it only counts as 55 if the cops enforce it yes if no one ever enforces it it can be on the books that it's 55 but in practical terms it the what makes a rule a rule is that people enforce it. Dude, these are not rules because nobody with their power ever seems to enforce it. They're just guidelines, kind of. It's like the masks in the hotel. You can wear it if you're unvaccinated, you have to wear the mask. They're not checking to see.

They don't give a fuck, so people just do what they do. Yeah, yeah. You're right, Luke. You're right about that. They don't give a fuck. So people just do what they do. Yeah. Yeah. You're right, Luke. You're right about that. I love Oscar Valdez. This does call into question his recent rise. But, you know, I mean, we'll see what happens. He's going to fight next week.

We're going to watch it most likely. Dazon's back this weekend with a boxing card. Luke, it's a little under the radar, but it's good shit. Mauricio Lara, who had one of the biggest upsets in boxing in recent memory in February when he went in there against featherweight world champion Josh Warrington, who had one of the biggest upsets in boxing in recent memory in February when he went in there against featherweight world champion Josh Warrington, who, by the way, had been on an upset path himself, beating Karl Frampton to win the title. And he stopped Warrington in the ninth round.

And this was a guy who was a massive underdog, a young fighter from Mexico. And now they're going to run it back, Luke. And Katie Taylor also in this card in the co-main event. She'll defend all four of her lightweight world titles against Jennifer Han. Interesting little bit of business here, Luke. I don't know if you remember that Warrington-Laura fight, but it was an absolute war, and it was one of those under-the-radar good stories in boxing when you got somebody going in there

who's a heavy favorite against a mandatory, and they come through and get the big one. Let's see if Laura can do it twice in a row and also I went back and I watched some of the highlights for this in preparation for today's show I was thinking like why would this be different the second time and it might be I mean I don't I don't know what will happen but it does seem to me correct me if I'm wrong BC Warrington I won't say can only win, but Warrington's best chance of winning, he's got to fight a lot more conservatively. He's got to be a little bit more careful. Okay, you can do that, and that will work as long as the fight can last, but I actually feel like that could even energize even more Laura to go for, not for broke, but to put significant more

pressure on him. I don't know that the calibration, in other words, not for broke, but to put significant more pressure on him. I don't know that the calibration, in other words, that Warrington needs to make to get a better chance meaningfully improves his chances. Warrington's problem, Luke, is that he's such a fun, aggressive fighter, but he fights like he's a big puncher and he's not. He's more of a high-volume, aggressive, almost a brawler. You know, it's not completely void of technique in game planning, but he's one of those, you know, I guess I'll compare.

Remember Juan Diaz, the baby bull, was a very good boxing champion, had those absolute wars with Juan Manuel Marquez. But really the problem for Juan Diaz was never had that big time power, but would get himself into, you know, crazy fights. He fought Pacquiao too right uh no that was uh david diaz but it was around that time so oh he won bull juan diaz fought paulie malinage remember the first one was a robbery and yes yes now yeah it was texas right yep yep and then paulie won the rematch um so warrington style know, when you meet a bigger puncher,

when you meet somebody who can take your shot. I mean, Lara dropped him in the fourth round of that first fight and finished him in the ninth. So, we're going to have to see Warrington with this time off to, you know, to recalibrate, get back in there. Warrington was not supposed to be this big thing. He beat Lee Selby by split decision. He upset Carl Frampton for the title, as I mentioned.

This is going to be an interesting matchup. It's not a real sexy fight that the world's talking about, but it should be good. Obviously, though, Luke, the biggest name on this card is Katie Taylor. And, you know, I give Eddie Hearn and his own credit because they continue to showcase her. She fights often. They put her in big spots.

And, look, she delivers. She's fantastic. She got through that two-fight war with that Belgium police officer Delphine Pursuit who came at her like a zombie in a video game. Jennifer Hahn is not expected to, let's say, upset her. But Luke, we all want Katie Taylor to get to that next boss at the end of the video game. And a lot of people think that could be Amanda Serrano, who had the big win on the Jake Paul undercard

is willing to fight in just about any weight class and almost fought Katie Taylor before the pandemic. Then during the pandemic, Eddie Hearn gave her an offer that Team Serrano felt was way below the regular price. Serrano's stance is, I'll fight Katie Taylor tomorrow

but you gotta pay me the money. Do you think with a win here for Katie Taylor that that's got to be the right move for Eddie Hearn and company because you know you want to call Katie Taylor the pound for pound queen you got to beat Serrano so that's what it is you can do these fights in between which are against talented you know somewhat difficult opposition I don't want to say that they are these are runaway fights for Katie Taylor just in the same way that Mercado was not like a runaway opponent for Serrano. She had to earn it, and there was enough of a, there was enough of a gap where you knew Serrano was going to win, but not enough where she could just cruise. You had to really work for it. I mean, it feels like

that's what you have here, but dude, at some point, at some point, and I realize there's complicating factors here. I get it. You've articulated many of them, the pandemic, although I don't think the DAZN thing is any kind of limit, but previous promoter history and whatnot, still, this is the fight to make. Serrano versus Taylor, that's the one. I appreciate what Taylor's doing this weekend. I'll be watching.

I can't wait to see it, but all eyes are on getting this to the next level and those roads lead to Serrano. You know, Katie Taylor, she's 18 and 0, but she's 35 years old, Luke. You know, she had the big Olympic success and turned pro a little bit late. She's lived up to huge expectations. She's great. She's aggressive. She's got fantastic technique and combinations.

But, you know, I don't know, Luke, Even though Serrano would be moving up in weight, I might favor Serrano on that fight. It's that good of a fight where you're like, we found somebody. You know, Delphine Persoon gave it to Katie Taylor. I thought that first fight was a draw. I mean, she was close, right? Taylor showed the championship resolve and got over the top.

This Serrano fight from a technical, hardcore fan standout is everything. It could be. So hope we get there. Jennifer Han's going to be a, you know, probably a suitable test comes from a boxing and kickboxing family. Her brother,

AB Han, you may remember had some moments in, in boxing. So we'll see what happens there. Luke moving on. How about this for this weekend? Glory 78 has a big kickboxing show in, in Europe, but the headliner two division-division champion,

I'm sorry, the co-headliner, two-division champion Alex Padeta, there's some interesting news here. We know he's headed after a couple cups of coffee in MMA to what looks like a full-time move to MMA, but now the reports are, Luke, that he has agreed to terms to a deal with the UFC and is expected to sign the contract after Saturday's fight. Now, it's a rematch against Artem Vakhtov. Vakhtov, yeah. Yeah, the reason why this fight is very important, it's for the light heavyweight title, is Pineda

won their first fight by split decision to become the two-division champion. He was the interim champion. He was upgraded to the full champion. You know, you get a lot of people, Luke, who thought he faded late in that first fight and not got a gift, but, you know, there's enough reason to want to see this a second time. We can get to this card in a second, but you got to be jumping out of your shorts

that this guy seems to be this close to being on the UFC roster considering he stopped, one, Israel Adesanya and glory kickboxing so the kickboxing experts of which neither neither of us qualify for that but what they tell me is that uh I mean you can watch the fights and get some sense of them but what they tell me is that Pereira is a devastating puncher but there's a couple things that should not give you reason why he won't do well in UFC but that it might not be exactly what Adesanya did, which is to say, one, he's starting later in terms of his, he's already done some MMA, but in terms of really making the conversion to MMA,

he's starting later than Adesanya did. Adesanya was winning that bout where he got knocked out before he got knocked out, and the style that Pareda has and some of his weaknesses, they're a little bit more pronounced. So obviously, as a striking threat, he is going to fuck everybody up. I mean, that seems quite obvious. But there could be some reasons to think that if he's not match made appropriately

and doesn't level up in the way that he needs to, just to expect because he knocked out Adesanya, oh, he'll have a similar level of success in UFC. He certainly might. that he needs to, you know, just to expect because he knocked out Adesanya, oh, he'll have a similar level of success in UFC. He certainly might. I just wouldn't say it's an obvious expectation. I would actually say that may not be the likeliest of outcomes. And by the way, this dude Vakitov, I worked briefly for Glory.

These guys have been fighting in Glory for a long time. Dude, Vakitov is a fucking animal uh he is a tremendous fighter he pereira uh might lose this fight to vakitov before he even makes his way to mma you know i've read some i've done some background on this ahead of the show and you know those who watched that the full fight in january when they fought in and potato won a five round split decision we talk about potatoes ridiculous power all the time we show his knockouts and have you seen this shit bakatov was walking through his punches and was the fresher fighter late so this guy has like superhuman chin coming into this i saw bakito i think i could be wrong about this but i'm pretty sure i was there for bakitov's

glory debut and i remember like some of the other like dutch guys who were part of the promotion like we're watching this guy and being like holy fucking shit he is good uh padeira has his hands full boy let me just tell you right now this guy vakitov is the real deal and i have seen him fight personally in live uh he is he's he's he's an absolute savage vakitovav is also from Russia and Luke Padeta though. He is 34 years old. So it is now or never on making this MMA crossover. I mean, he had a fight in LFA in 2020 and got a knockout win, but you know, he's only had three MMA fights. It's time to make that move. Is it going to be Gokhan Saki or is he going to be, you know, Israel Adesanya in this transition? I think it's going to be must see TV and watching that um he's the middleweight and light heavyweight champion in Gloria is that the same

equivalent weight classes in MMA I don't think they're quite the same although they're pretty close um because I think they go by kilograms but again I'm not I'm not a kickboxing expert that's a better question for somebody else okay Okay. What I'm just finding out, Luke. They're roughly equivalent, if not identical. Maybe you knew this. Maybe I knew this and didn't realize it. But Padea, according to Wikipedia, is fighting out of Bethel, Connecticut in fights at Glover Teixeira's gym in Danbury.

Luke, that's my backyard, more or less. That's Chuck Mendenhall's backyard, more or less. So I should be probably bro-ing out with this guy, right? Yeah, you should go hang out with Alex Pareda. You guys are just the same. I mean, we both bang, Luke, in our own distinct professions. I mean, we both absolutely are known as power hitters. We bring it, Luke, okay?

You and Uncle Pipe and Alex Pareda. The dong and the kong. I mean, the king and the ding. I don't know, Luke. Him and I will get a Tango and Cash buddy cop movie soon enough, just the same. Luke, do you think he'll get a big push in Piedad in terms of like UFC in the past when they bring in somebody with some buzz? They match him tough right away. Think of all those big Bellator names that have come in and did not get it.

You know, Chandler, Alvarezarez they got lesnar for crap's sake they will test you in the damn octagon you think that's going to be the same for potato probably probably especially because of his age like you know i mentioned this before with patty pimblet he's only 26 like you got time to figure out what exactly this guy is going to be he's got a whole presidential cycle before we really have to start asking questions about his upside, potentially. With Pereira, man, it's a little bit like... And here's the thing. Michael Chandler was 34 when he made the transition.

But, you know, obviously his background was from Bellator to UFC. It wasn't from another sport to this one. And I know he's got... Pereira has a few MMA fights. But what I'm saying is that, you know, that was a much smoother one. And the point I'm trying to make here, BC, is Chandler was eyes wide open. even said to ufc i'm not here for a long time i'm here for a good time i want to prove that i'm the best in the world i want to prove that i'm not but i'm out there to just get it done like he had exactly the right attitude i think ufc understood that and

said you know what with that kind of attitude we can promote this guy in any way that you know makes sense for us because he's on board with that same kind of vision. But at 34, man, you can't slow walk this guy. You could take your time a little bit at first, but you're going to wait until he's 37 before he starts asking questions. It's hard to gain the skills that he needs to succeed at a high level when this is really the first major conversion to MMA. So we'll see. I'm excited. But again, this is really the first major conversion to MMA. So we'll see.

I'm excited. But again, this is not Adesanya 2.0. This card takes place in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Which I've been to. Nice place. Friend of the show, Todd Grisham on the call. Look, I don't know if these guys on the card are juicing up, but I'm pretty sure Grisham is.

You see the shirtless pics on Facebook holding his kids? He's got the tats and the cut. That dude's like 44. No chance that's natural, okay? No chance. Yeah, listen. Todd's amazing. We love Todd on the show.

Frankly, we're jealous of Todd on the show, if we can be honest. But, Todd, you've got to hook your boys up here with some of that good good you're putting in your body. You know what I'm saying? Can I get some of that windstraw that you're taking? Can you inject it right in my prick, Todd? Please. Okay? Okay, Luke.

Actually, Luke, I'm trying not to talk like that anymore, okay? I want this show, Luke, for as long as this show, like Michael Chandler, we are here for a good-ass time, alright? We've got to clean this shit up a bit. Luke, Glory 78, of course, headlining by the return of the legend,

Badr Hari. You and I are not kickboxing experts, although I am excited to watch this card and get a little closer, just as I'm excited to see Alistair Overeem come back and make big fights here. I'm not even going to try to pronounce the guy he's fighting against, Luke, because it's very Polish. He's been off for a while, this Moroccan-Dutch stud. You love yourself some Badr Hari, don't you, Luke?

Everyone loves Badr Hari, even though they recognize he's a bit of a mess at times. He is, you know, I think at times he's been the crown prince of kickboxing. At times he's been the clown prince of boxing, or kickboxing I should say. But he is must-see for heavyweight kickboxing. He is when he's on, he's a force.

The fight that they had promoted between he and verhoeven and put it put it in the netherlands it was as i mean that glory did a phenomenal job with that and better harry is just you know he's just an easy guy to promote i don't know if the conor mcgregor thing makes sense i don't think it quite works that way but he is a big name he has big power he has exciting fights he has an exciting style but he's had some troubles inside and outside the ring. I don't know much about his opponent, quite frankly.

I'll be candid about that, but you just see Badr Hari. Badr Hari is that guy. Badr Hari is that guy for you and me. We see his name on the lineup, and we're like, ah, instantly, okay, I know who this guy is. And his fights with Overeem and everything else, they've just been phenomenal. Oh, they were huge.

That's where we come down. They crossed over into MMA, those fights with Overeem. They were a big deal. He's 36 years old, nicknamed the Golden Boy, of course. And Luke, he's winless in his last four, including three stoppage losses and a no contest. And he's been out for a year. So we'll see if he can come back and get another big win. Of course, that's in the heavyweight division.

Interesting. All right, Luke, I want to close our main segment here with some quick hitters and sort of get your reaction. Uh, Luke, all things Triller. I don't mean to laugh, Luke, but it's been a wild ride for Triller. You can only laugh talking about Triller. different reasons but evander holyfield who was supposed to be boxing uh kevin mcbride and then hopefully eventually mike tyson is now filed a demand for arbitration claiming triller owes him millions of dollars for that proposed fight that doesn't have a date in it i don't even know if it's going to be rescheduled luke triller made a lot of promises to holyfield he's been in training i'm sure those promises included a third fight with Mike Tyson. Unfortunately, Tyson is suing Triller right now.

Luke, how much longer can this last? Seriously, when you lose Jake Paul, your biggest face, your other faces are suing you or you're suing them. Actually, I'm sorry. Triller's suing Tyson. Now Holyfield's filing something against Triller. And then meanwhile,

they paid $6 million to put Teofimo Lopez on a Tuesday night, Luke. Dude, how much of a financial bath? Assuming that they pay him all the money, which, you know, I'm not saying that they won't, but I'm curious to see, you know, make sure that check clears, right? Let's assume that they pay him whatever the purse bid was. Dude, how much of a financial bath are they going to take on that one? It's going to be unreal. You didn't even bring up Roy Jones Jr. telling Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix

that he was planning on suing them. I don't know what the situation is with that because he didn't get paid what he was promised. I don't know why folks think... Dude, I lived through Affliction putting on the Megadeth show. I know how this movie ends. Now, obviously, Affliction is a bit of a different model than what you have with Triller because as we've been over, it's an app that's supposed to be a TikTok competitor. And there is something kind of to that, although not a whole lot.

But you've got all this venture capital money. They're just pissing away. And everyone thinks if you hire Trick Daddy and... Oh, was it? No no excuse me not trick daddy it was too short and an ice cube and everybody else and bieber and the black keys wow this is so different this is so great no you rubes this is expensive this is why fight promoters who've been around a long time like bob arum you can have your criticisms to bob arum but he's not still in business by fucking accident yeah because for the most part, he knows what he's doing.

You ever been to a Bob Arum show that just had fucking Drake come out and do his new album? Like, never. Because it's a waste of money. The margins don't work that way in this business. This is why, for example, my sister was explaining to me. I told you. Remember the beginning of the pandemic? My family sold their restaurant.

They sold it in March. What they explained to me was, if you go and these like celebrity chefs like bobby flay and whoever else they own like a thousand restaurants and you must be like wow man they must make a lot of money and they do but what she explained to me was like restaurants don't really make much money they make very very little so the way to make money in restauranting is to have five or six and then all together that's when you get your big big ass checks you know dude there's just not a lot of money for those kinds of expenses in fight promotion and everyone seems to think that they reinvented the fucking wheel no they reinvented debt that's what they reinvented here's

a new way to incur debt for no fucking good reason so congratulations if you bought into that shit you're a dumbass there it is there it is uh by the way jay-z and rock nation tried to get into boxing and put fabulous concerts on before the main events again nobody cared let me guess did they fail yeah they did they did so uh hey i'm still gonna watch that shit show uh on september 11th we'll see what happens oh i i'll watch because i really like uh teo fima lopez i've been a big believer in his for a while yeah i, October 5th for that. But, you know, can you imagine being on the hook for that shit? Like, ugh. Sean O'Malley this week, Luke,

admitted that he turned down an offer to fight Frankie Edgar and said he doesn't want big fights until he gets big money. Do you think O'Malley is making a smart move by not fighting, you know, a fight that could give them a lot of, uh, critical respect in, in, in more big name exposure by following this trajectory.

Yeah. I think in theory, it sounds nice and it's not wrong, right? Where if you were, you know, why am I taking more risk for the exact same amount of money? That makes no sense.

I understand that. But like what these UFC fighters really just have to understand at some point is they don't, they don't hold the leverage. Like, dude, do you hear fans, for example, this is a very different situation, but like, where is the fan demand for Jon Jones right now? Like our fans being like, man, we just can't watch heavyweights anymore. If Jon Jones isn't there. Yeah. You see some people being, and us on the show, we want to see Jon return and fight whoever they, you know, they can come to an agreement. But, like, dude, they don't need him for money. They made more money in the last quarter than they have in any single quarter in the company's fucking history. Like, what are people talking about?

So, for me, it's like I understand the rational perspective he's taking. But by what leverage do you have to do this where it can reasonably affect your pocketbook other than between contracts, which is what it's always been. And even then, it's pretty modest. Like, the pay stays the same. I keep trying to explain this to folks. The pay stays the same as a percentage anyway every year. They do that because everything is formulaic with them. People are like, oh, I'm going to do this and do that to get more money.

It just doesn't really work that way. Well, speaking of lack of fighter leverage, Al Iaquinta continued a trend of late by telling Ariel Hawane that yes, he's excited for his scheduled fight with Bobby Green, but that he never signed the contract before UFC announced it. In fact, he had some questions about his contract and concerns. So according to Iaquinta, he reached out to Sean Shelby and Hunter Campbell for two and a half weeks, Luke,

but never heard back. And then suddenly saw the news that the fight was announced, dude. I mean, we said it before. We can only keep saying it every time. Like this is a bullshit move by the promotion. I'm sorry.

Like it is like, that's a absolute bullshit move, but you know, you said it many times and i'll say it again like we can keep calling this out but until the fighters want to do something about it you know it is what it is you got to keep dealing with it i i feel bad they should not announce fights that are not signed they should not do it to pressure fighters they should not do it to make cards look better it's not okay okay. But who's going to stop them?

Quickly to close here, Luke, this is one of those potential good news in boxing's bullshit. We didn't talk about it because we were busy and on vacation. But three weeks ago, Luke, PBC put on a Fox main event that was just dreadful on paper. Michael Fox against a fighter by the last name, I think, of Maestri. Maestri. He was only 3-0, yet it was for an interim WBA title Luke one another one of those just like hey WBA you're

putting out 86 titles per division what are we doing here well Michael Fox seemed to have won that fight with ease but got absolutely robbed on the scorecards Luke subsequently the judge who most robbed him they They saw a racist. Everyone did some research, found a ton of basically racist tweets. So WBA was under a fairly large shit storm, rightfully so, by the way,

because of the most egregious of the four boxing bodies. So in WBA 17, there's 17 weight divisions in boxing. You know, we have four recognized champions yet. The WBA has over 40 champions in those 17 divisions because of the interim, vacant, gold,

champion in recess, super champion bullshit. So Luke, here's something you don't see often. The Association of Boxing Commissions sent a letter, Mike Mazzulli, the head of it, who I think you know well as well, sent a letter out threatening that all 50 states

would stop recognizing all WBA-sanctioned bouts across every state if they didn't clean up their act. So the WBA responded by saying it would eliminate all interim champions. And even further, the WBA said that any fighter that holds titles in multiple divisions, like a Gervonta Davis, for example, who has secondary titles in two different weight classes with WBA, had to decide which title they wanted and which title they would give up. And in further eliminating these meaningless ones, they're making mandatory matchups to kind of further eliminate it.

So on the surface, Luke, this is good news, but I got to be honest with you, the WBA came under pressure about four or five years ago and did the same thing only to continue to do the same bullshit. Luke, I think the key in this news is this. The Association of Boxing Commissions, the ABC, finally

stepped up because there was enough bad press about this and people were just like, what the fuck, boxing? Like, seriously, like, what the F? Obviously, this fight wasn't prominent enough where it became a mainstream sports story, but can the ABC get their shit together too and actually like take charge of this sport

so that this type of bullshit that everyone just deals with, the fact that there's so many champions per division and it makes no sense and it's all so the WBA and other sanctioning bodies can line their pockets. I mean, is this what needs to happen, Luke? People need to just write about it like crazy

and there needs to be a public scandal for them to change? Scandal helps, but the ABC is somewhat powerless. They don't have federal, as you know, they don't have federal authority. They're an advisory body. So there's only so much that they can do. Well, certainly on the MMA side. I'm not sure if their power extends beyond that

on the boxing side either. But you saw when mizuli threatened to recommend that all 50 states and all you know native american grounds stop recognizing the title that's when they bent finally yes so i mean because he could coalesce he could form a coalition of people um to do it but you're asking abc to i think to do things it's not legally equipped to do in terms of just the power of the body itself you know look i would love it if uh if more people in boxing that have power networks promoters join together to end the bullshit but unfortunately luke networks love when there's titles attached to fights even when they're not there and And promoters love it.

The sanctioning bodies love it because they get that 3%. And that 3% adds up, by the way, when fighters are making millions. And then, of course, the fighters love it because they get to call themselves a world champion, even though you're the secondary or third champion under the WBA in your weight class, which already has four champions. I mean, I guess it's no different, Luke, than you could be like, hey, my high school basketball team won the state title that year. Well, you won the Class S title against farm schools. You ain't beating that city team any time.

This ain't Hoosiers, Luke, okay? So that's cool, right? That's cool? That's cool. Yeah. All right, Luke, that's pretty much wrong, but luckily we have a segment to check ourselves when we are

wrong. So, morningcombat at gmail.com is your email address. Every Friday we look in the mirror and, you know, we get honest with ourselves. It's called Dead Wrong. Alright, Adam is here. He says, hello BC, you on wednesday's show at the 25 minute mark that kelvin gastelum has lost five fights in a row that's dead wrong he lost five of his last six keep up the good work i like i like you have a bad liver and skin tax

and you inspired me to stop eating at 7-Eleven and gas station hot dogs. Please, guys, gas stations are the silent killer. By the way, my wife just gave me a book about liver health. Luke, I've been starting to read it there. I'm ready. I'm ready, okay? That sounds like a sensational read. It's a great read, by the way.

I'll take that L, yes. Gasol must five of six. I, in passing, said five in a row, but you get the drift here. All right. John says, on the post-fight show on Saturday night, around the nine-minute mark of Woodley and Paul, Luke claimed that the judge gave rounds five to nine all to Jake Paul. Unfortunately, Luke, this was only an eight-round fight.

No, it's not what I said. Five to nine all to Woodley. Yeah, well, maybe he's dead wrong. Five to eight. Five to eight. There was no round nine. It looks like Luke would fit in there with all the other great boxing judges. Love you guys, and if you're coming on, come on.

Thank you, John. It was pretty clear. We were talking about how did Woodley get the 77-75 scorecard, and it's because he got four, which he deserved, and then he got five through eight. So he got four, five, six, seven, eight, which just makes zero sense. Luke, while we're here and we're saying a lot of nice things about Ariel, and I'm happy to be on the good side of this,

I don't like that Ariel keeps saying that this fight for Woodley was for his legacy. That, like Askren, years from now, people would remember this stain at the end. When people are going to talk about Tyron Woodley in 20 years, they're not talking about whether he could have boxed Jake Paul and an alien could have came and banged him from behind as a parachute man dropped it on top of them luke and people would still say in the first line of his obit former ufc welterweight champion so can we get past that yeah there's that's probably true i mean and by the way and i don't think ariel minds if you disagree with his points um so i don't i'm with

you i don't agree with that at all i would say though that there was to me like the best way like how would you couch this the actual significance of it and from a negative standpoint if he had really shit the bed it would have just it would have somewhat magnified the end of his ufc run but you know he had his moments and the fight was kind of whatever ish but the reality is i do think and I said this before I do think if he had won and kind of like somewhat emphatically but like you know just one I don't know I feel like he would have that would have been the mechanism to get the fans to love him in a way that his actual MMA career never really materialized in but either way good or bad meaning he gets knocked out in the first round by Jake or he wins it's fleetingeting. It's short. It's like meme season, right?

Yes, I think that's right. I agree with you, yeah. Like, Luke, do you remember when Jerry Rice was like 43 and he just didn't want to go away and he tried to hang on as like the fourth string Denver Broncos receiver and then finally in training camp they mercifully cut him? Do you remember that? Yeah, I remember when Michael Jordan played for the fucking Wizards.

Yeah, well, that's a little different. He was actually still good, at least. He was fine, but it's not exactly the equivalent. But I'm just pointing out, when you think about what Michael Jordan did, you can add the point totals and whatever else he did from the time of the Wizards. But the Michael Jordan time is the Bulls time. Everything else does not matter, but it's not so significant. No, time heals a lot like the criticism like you know floyd sent me to hell because i challenged his resume on purpose to get a great soundbite out of him but even that luke every year that

goes by we talk less and less about floyd handpicking opponents 15 years from now we're going to be like you know floyd's probably one of the six or seven greatest ever where when he retired we were still kind of holding some shit against him you know i think that's true people forget things over time yeah thank you luke all right uh a man named brian slides and it says bc was dead wrong when talking about vicente luque and nathan diaz when saying the winner could fight charles olivera next luke fights at 170 and charlie olives is the lightweight. You're right. I don't remember saying that specifically, but I guess I would be dead wrong thinking Nate Diaz could

defeat Luque and then somehow fight for the lightweight title next year. Yeah, that one's a little off. Yeah, alright. I'll take part of that L at least, okay? You know, Brian? Eat that L. Player. P-A-S-I. Pasi? Pasi? From Finland. S-A-I? Pland sigh i don't fucking know pasai pussy luke is that is

that finish for pussy um he says thanks for the great and honest show but to keep you even more honest i have to point out an error as a professional poker player and overall ev which stands for uh expected value he's an EV seeker. I really didn't like it when BC said on MK episode 196 at both 23 minutes and 29 minutes that there is value on both sides. He also said that I said there's value on both ways, referring to Jake Paul versus Tyron Woodley betting lines. What does that even mean that there's value on both sides? That you could bet on both sides and then make money out of it?

Yes, it's possible in rare situations where lines differ so much between different sports books that you might get over 100% return by betting on both sides. That's called arbitrage. And I highly doubt that BC meant that you're damn right. I could barely pronounce it, but inside one sports book, that's,

that is impossible. I like that you guys use sports book lines when you discuss fights because it gives the most objective way, blah, blah. This guy's blah, blah, blying it here. Luke, don't ever change. But he just wanted to point out that that that error. Best regards, pussy. Luke, what I'll tell pussy here is that, yeah, maybe I probably worded it wrong. Look, I spent a career wording things wrong. What I meant was there's value in betting on both. It was a fight in which we had so little of answers that either could have won by knockout that there, the line was close enough that I felt there was good value on both.

Even with Jake Paul in the minus side of it. Does that make sense? BC, you know what you just did? You, you just beat the pussy up, you know what you just did? You just beat the pussy up. That's what you just did. Some would say that's a first, Luke, right? Yeah, all right.

Wait, what? Yeah, okay. They'd be wrong. Beat it up. Thank you. They'd be wrong. All right, Luke, that's it for that shit. Also on Friday, Luke, we usually end it by struggling to get to the finish line

and give people a tip for the future, a tip of the cap, a recommendation. We call it, what do we call it? Just the tip? Tip to tip? Tip to tip. Yeah, tip to tip. Let's touch them, Luke. Let's touch those things.

You want me to go first, Luke? Yes, please. You are hosting, good sir. Hey, we have been talking about on Netflix this new Uncutut series which is focused the first episode on the palace brawl fantastic second episode on the uh christy martin crazy boxing marriage which is so good pretty damn good luke episode three is freaking awesome i believe it's called Crimes and Punishment, and it focuses on the Danbury Trashers, the King of Connecticut's in the house here. Luke, for the people that may not know, there was a minor league hockey team in 2004 and 2005 called the Danbury Trashers that, I'll tell

you this, I grew up in Hartford, Whaler's country. The team left when I was a senior in high school, but we always had, it was a hockey state, right? We had the New Haven Nighthawks, which was like a brawling minor league team. Luke, I once went to a Hartford-Woolpack game. I sat in the second row. There was this great brawl where this guy got all bloodied on the other team.

And as he was coming to the railing, I was like, yeah, yeah. And you know what he did? He stopped and he looked at me. He was like, nice fucking teeth. And then he kept going into the uh into the uh thing and then my friends heckled me that was not a good moment yeah you got well jokes on him because that's i got because i got adult braces in my mid-30s so jokes on him luke i've cleaned that part up but i'll say magnet but they oh they had this team called the Danbury Trashers, and I remember the buzz going around.

I lived in my hometown of Naga. It took about 25 minutes away from there. The buzz of, like, you need to get down to see this team because they have full squad brawls and people bleeding on the ice like every single game. Turns out, Luke, I didn't even know the half of it. This is an incredible story. Jimmy Galante, the garbage magnate and organized crime mafia leader,

was the owner of the team. He appointed his 17-year-old son, A.J. Galante, to run the team. A.J. has subsequently, by the way, become a manager and promoter in boxing, so his name's popped up now and then. But I just encourage everybody to go see it. They spent a lot of money illegally, by the way, to build this team up with big-time names and to basically give a middle finger to everyone.

Have you seen this, Luke? Because the stories of brawling and corruption and loyalty and mafia life, it's incredible. It is incredible. So I encourage everyone to check it out. I feel like minor league hockey is the closest thing to boxing and mma which is to say not not that like yeah they're fighting and stuff i don't mean that but just the cast of characters the shady managers the fucking

seedy venues the gross atmospherics of everything there's a there's a kinship there between them and i think this what you're what you're saying this documentary explores that i mean this story like like i said when it was happening i only remember people just being like yo this team has been designed to fight like that's why like like they're like the raiders on steroids of minor league hockey it's like slap shot and then to find out like there was a high school kid who was literally in high school running the show and making signing. I mean, it's wild. So everyone check that out.

It's a good time. In hindsight, Luke, I really wish I'd gone to some games. I never made it out, but it was fun to see. Luke, what's your tip? I'll stick with Netflix. I've kind of talked about this with you on Twitter a little bit. It's actually not that good of a show, but I found it kind of funny. So BC always brings up the fact that I graduated from Marietta High School, but I only went there for two years. It was just my junior and senior

years. Now, I met lifelong friends there, which actually is why it has a much more formative experience in my life and everything. But for the first two years of my high school career, so ninth and 10th grade, freshman and sophomore, and my brother graduated from this school, I went to a school called Valdosta High School in Valdosta, Georgia. It's in Lowndes County. It's literally the county that is on the southern border between Florida and Georgia. And I know everyone talks about like West Texas high schools. I'm not here to say that they're not football crazy. I'm just telling you what I've seen personally. I have never, ever, ever seen a place that was as football obsessed as Valdosta, Georgia. The team there has won nearly 50 state titles, multiple national titles. They've had multiple scandals of guys leaving their home

wherever they're from so they could play for Valdosta. They were living in apartments that the school paid for and there was eligibility requirements requirements it was a shit show at all times you know and they there's been there's been books written about it there's been um uh you name it and coke coca-cola which of course is based in Atlanta when we won our sixth national title my sophomore year they they made us a coke bottle for us like it's just it's a football factory you want to go division one school you go to Valdosta high school anyway netflix has made like a docu reality series about it it's called title town high it's currently on netflix it's a show basically the last 20 years well in 2017 the nfl network did a whole documentary series on the just the team itself and they won the state title that year.

But they didn't win since, and the coach got into trouble and whatever. So they have a new coach, and they have a new quarterback who, hello, was already committed to USC, didn't want to sit out his senior year because of COVID, so he moved from California to Georgia to be the quarterback of the Valdosta High Wildcats. And it's really about team life, which I find fucking boring and stupid. But the one thing I found kind of interesting, BC, is they try to make the town seem like insanely podunk. Like, if you had a gas station,

wow, man, that must be the place. And don't get me wrong, it's a small town, but there's a university in town. Like, there's a... And there's another high school at Lowndes High School which is also in Valdosta which is a huge like you know 6A high school and there's a university there there's like

I mean it's a small town but it's not so small that it's like you know every neighbor is a mile down the road kind of thing if you're into teen dramas that are docu-series and you want to see where I went to high school for a time Titletown High

Luke, I hate your disdain for teen drama Not that I think a 42-year-old man should be all about that shit No, it's partially creepy depending on the person But I think you had the same disdain while you were a teen So adults like us watch these teen shows Because sometimes they weren't cool as teens and they want to like celebrate what they could have been you've always hated teen drama you're just a bit you're like a stale lemon i mean teen dramas are pretty fucking dumb

dude like it doesn't matter what age you are it's pretty easy to recognize that like teens don't know anything and they have vapid lives dude i mean in retrospect you know fuck romeo and juliet two morons who kill themselves for nothing like i mean what what jackasses they had to be i don't give a shit about uh the lives of teens i find them boring and uninteresting and frankly they're not very clever but they do stupid things and if you're interested in watching teens get caught on camera doing stupid things from where i went to high school title town high is where is title town better than do you remember mtv's two-a-days back in the early 2000s following uh hoover alabama's high school there was some some pretty hot uh debutants in that show luke yeah i mean yeah you're talking about

other communities that are probably equally football obsessed i did not see that one but you know friday night lights Night Lights Georgia edition is basically what Valdosta is. I had my first girlfriend in 10th grade at Valdosta High School. Oh wow. I'm trying to clean this show up. I know. She went on to

Yale by the way. I knew your math team ass. I'll celebrate you doing that in 10th grade. That's well done for you Luke, but I knew you had to dig down the math team ass. I'll celebrate you doing that in 10th grade. That's well done for you, Luke. But I knew you had to dig down the math team roster for that. So yeah, she had braces. She also got a 1600 on the SAT.

She was pretty smart. What is she today? Like a neuroscientist? I haven't checked in a long time. I bet you she checked in on you one day, Luke. And she's like, oh, he hosts a show, Morning Combat? Let me tune in. I think she's a, oh, he hosts a show, Morning Combat? Let me tune in. I think she's a lawyer now, but I'm honestly not sure.

Maybe she'll be the one who sues us for IndyC content one day, Luke, to get you back for breaking her heart. Possibly, Luke. All right. I'm looking forward to the old Marietta reality show coming out one day, too. All right. That's the show for this week. Luke, I did want to say, I forgot earlier, I watched the news

this morning. It's heartbreaking, the floods, the hurricane that hit New Orleans, the floods that have torn up the East Coast, New Jersey, particularly. I hope our listeners that are out there, I hope you're doing well. I hope you're hanging with it. Hang tough, folks.

It's not easy. This is the worst type of it. Hang tough, folks. It's not easy. This is the worst type of situation. So hang tough. Hopefully you'll get through it. Luke wanted to shout out some good news. My colleague at CBS Sports, Jack Crosby, a big fan of this show. Him and his wife, Allie, on the birth of their daughter, Penelope. Right now she's being nursed while Jack's wearing the MK green sweatshirt,

the 1.0 merch. So he sent me that pic. It was great to see. Love that advancement right there. That's all I got this week. Luke, anything from you? No, been a good week. Finally, the kind of week where we're back on track. We should tell the folks, no Monday show,

but a Tuesday, Wednesday set up for next week. We should be very clear about that. Yes, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday. We want to be more communicative with you. We want to stop taking long vacations. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday. We want to be more communicative with you. We want to stop taking long vacations. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday of next week. Luke, I can't wait until I tell you probably October 31st that I am going away in November to Jamaica.

Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, okay? I can't wait. Then you'll be like, oh, BC, remember all those two-week jokes you hit me with? $2, two weeks, you know? Remember that? Remember that? Remember that? It's okay.

I need you to get vacationed because you're a better man when you get some sleep and you get some fam time. Thank you. Thank you. Shout out to our great staff here who are probably like, hey, wrap it up, guys, already. My name is BC. That's Luke Thomas. Follow us below.

Like the video. Subscribe to what we're doing here at Morning Combat. Tell a friend, because this March to 100K, it's a grueling one, but we'll get there. So we need your help. Continue to spread the word. I mean, you spread gossip about MMA writers pretty easily. Can't you spread a couple clicks to subscribe to this show?

That's the last groveling I'll do. Vote for us if you like this podcast at worldmmawards.com slash nominees. Your boys at MK are up for best MMA programming. It's a pretty tough field right there, but I think we can do this, okay? We're going to need you to get there. Also, that's it. I'm not selling anything else. Let's go, dude, cause I got shit to do.

You literally, literally quite literally, uh, for Luke Thomas. My name is Brian Campbell. Uh, be safe. Take, take care of you. Take care of this. Okay, folks be well. And, uh, we love you. MK care.

If don't know one else care. Okay. We out.