MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Derrick Lewis, Garbrandt vs. Figueiredo, Benavidez vs. Angulo | MORNING KOMBAT | Ep. 55

Episode Date: August 10, 2020

On episode 55 of Morning Kombat, Luke and Brian breakdown Derrick Lewis and Chris Weidman's impressive wins in the UFC this weekend. Plus, the boys preview Showtime Boxing's upcoming fight between young star David Benavidez and Alexis Angulo, and examine the recently announced UFC flyweight title bout between Cody Garbrandt and Deiveson Figueiredo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Rise to rewards with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card. Terms and conditions apply. I'm Brian Campbell. This is Morning Combat. It is Monday, August 10th, 2020, and it is time, donks, for Morning Combat. Hi everyone, my name is Luke Thomas. Hope you are doing well. Happy Monday to you. I am one half of your hosting duo. I am joined by the gentleman on the other side of the screen. The conspiracy to my theory and everything else in between. It's Brian Campbell. Hi, BC. How was your weekend?

It was nice, Luke. I got power back finally yesterday after four and a half days without it. So that was a bit of an S show, if you will. But, you know, so is this one, Luke. And I'm fired up for this one because, as you already know, I don't care if Sunday's black, Tuesday, Wednesday, heart attack, monday i'm in love okay with you with all our people let's get talking some combat here uh i know what you're saying though you know what happened a little bit of a uh a miscut here on the old quarantine cut but uh you know we'll roll on we'll fight through it hey we are all doing our

best with the resources that we have couple of news and notes of, today we'll get to the Bellator card from Friday, Michael Chandler's big win. We'll talk about Saturday's UFC card that just happened, Derek Lewis, Chris Weidman getting in the W column. And, of course, this coming weekend, Showtime is taking place with a big boxing card. Plus, we should announce this, we're not going to get to it today, really, because we're going to do a special Thursday show.

UFC 252 preview. We'll do it all in one big episode later this week. NBC, my dissected will be a preview of that trilogy fight. So we're not going to get to it today, but there's plenty of analysis of that event coming. I mean, let's be honest. D.C. Stipe, three playay three play three needles luke three of them yeah uh it's too big of a fight to be contained in one you know we'd have jay all deep in our cochlea we don't want any of that all right nothing and we should also tell the folks i

believe this is official so for friday obviously there's going to be the weigh-ins for the benavides and gulo fight that will air the following day on showtime you and i are going to be hosting virtually the weigh-ins, getting folks ready for that big main event. So a preview today, plus a preview on Friday, plus an extra MK on Thursday. BC, I feel like we're over-delivering here, to be quite honest with you.

Yeah, mother effing right. Our pocket's looking kind of tight. Let's keep doing that. Luke, by the way, I know I tease it a lot, a lot more announcements to come. This ship is moving, okay? Moving, okay? uh i got it i'm so fired up all right with that in mind two thumbs up please give the video a thumbs up hit that subscribe button below uh as well if you want to try showtime if you want to watch that benavidez versus angulo fight hey go to

showtime.com right now get a 30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, you can go kick rocks. That's always fun. And you want to see some MK gear, you want to buy some, just go to store.show. That's S-H-O dot com. We don't wear enough of our own gear on this show. I wear wrinkled shirts, and you wear wrestling tees.

Something feels like we're not really selling. We're not putting over, as they say, our gear as we should be. Oh, you know what? Funnily enough, you mentioned that. I got mine, too, actually. So there you go. Yeah, and why don't we bring in the third man? Because that's all he wears.

We do have a third member of the show, producer, director, Jay. Yes, hi, I'm here. You can't see because his air conditioner cam only shows the over-the-shoulder Inspector Gadget look. But he's rocking some NK. Jay, how are you today? I'm doing well. You know, it was a nice weekend, nice weather here on the East Coast of the United States. Live from the aircraft carrier, it's Jay.

They can hear me. The people can hear me. Don't worry. Don't worry. I have a special relationship with the people. Anyway, we can go on with the show now. Thank you. Yeah, very good.

You look like you have the room of one of those 90s hackers in a terrible jerry bruckheimer movie but okay yeah good job with napster and i'll move on okay thank you thank you i was always a limewire guy i don't know about you all right let's get to these topics here bc if we can let's get this show on the road first things first we start where the show starts which is derrick lewis getting another win tying the record for all time I think it was KOs in the heavyweight division getting his 15th win something like that in the UFC I mean he was doing really good work beating Oleksii Linik causing a stoppage there essentially I think at the end of the second he looked really good BC so let's start here first things first your biggest

takeaway from Lewis's win over Olenek on Saturday is? Well, look, just a quick correction. He set a new mark for knockouts in the heavyweight division. And look, my biggest takeaway is this. I was really worried coming off of that Daniel Cormier loss. You know, he got rushed into there for a title shot. For really the first time, he went all in to find out how great he can be. And, you know, he wasn't great enough.

I was worried the rest of his career if he would become more of a journeyman, and this was a correction in my eyes of the ship. I know he's already had a win streak coming into this fight, and look, Alexi Olenek, solid guy, loves snakes, may not be a world beater, but what I saw, Luke, was a professional mixed martial artist, not necessarily a Popeye-loving guy who has to take a dump, who just so happens to have power to knock fools out once in a while. I saw a guy who wants one more try at that championship belt, kept the win streak going, did it in the way, which is his

calling card, of course, with that absolutely explosive power. But what made me so, you know, respectful and proud of him was his ground game. I mean, you saw some good stuff here, Luke. He was in shape for the body he carries, pretty good shape. And I thought he went out there and showed a lot of different skills, didn't just go out there and throw a windmill like he did against Volkov and save himself. Yeah, I mean, here's the key to understanding it.

First of all, walking out to Fat Pat and Top's drop is just, I mean, chef's kiss. But I actually interviewed him last week, and we talked about, I asked him how his back was, and he apparently found out something. He got knee surgery, I don't know, I want to say sometime earlier this year, maybe the end of last year. Not a super invasive one, sort of more of a repaired one for, you know, sort of wear and tear. Not some kind of dramatic invasive surgery like Kevin Lee got but what he found out was they said it was his lingering knee issues that was causing him to have his back issues one was causing the other so they cleaned up his knee and he says

his back is not like a hundred percent but it's better than it's been in as long as he can remember and so when you feel better you not only fight better to me what you saw there on the ground was it just opens up his game a little bit more he can take a few more risks some of them a little bit ill-advised but he can take more risks he can find more ways to throw ground and pound he has more options you know the thing about him before was he sort of fights in in in spurts in pockets in moments and then he takes big portions of a roundoff. And he still is not pedal to the metal, but what you saw from this one was he had more offense more of the time

in more positions in ways that he just hadn't in a long, long, long time. So power is the last thing to go, and if you're healthier in a way that you haven't been in years and you can just do more things, it just creates a lot of opportunity for you in the way that you haven't been in years, and you can just do more things, it just creates a lot of opportunity for you in the way that we saw. And so did he look like Demi and Maya on the ground? No, but he's not trying to.

He's trying to leverage his big power and positional top control. And it was a big departure, his last fight against Aliyah Latifi. I know Latifi is a strong wrestler, but he looked lazy and remedial at times on the ground. So to see him turn that stance around, and I know, look, Olenek is a different type of ground fighter than latifi but i'm just saying i saw a professional

in there who had the right focus in vision and maybe you know doctor said you don't need to back out of me anymore that's a good sign but i see a guy like i mentioned who's trying one more time and it's great luke because he's one of the guys you inevitably cheer for he's one of the best characters we have in this game we got to really see his interesting backstory when he did have that title close up in New York against Cormier uh you know former felon convict come clean and turned his life around and I also like to see him kind of turn his career around when it looked for a few fights probably injury induced that he just wasn't that guy anymore but still freaking explosive i mean he showed you some brock lesnar on frank mir and the rematch type uh you

know grounded pound there that was really good to see for him yeah if his back is healthy and he can leverage his existing strengths in more applicable ways in different positions it's really going to create a lot of opportunities for him as we saw in a lot of moments for him in the way that we did which was that vicious grounded and pounding round one. And certainly the end of the fight there, just absolutely unloading on Olenek and never seemed to be too worried, never seemed to be too gassed, never seemed to be too reserved, never seemed to be too pained to try new things. So great to see that. Now it leads to an interesting question, which is what would be next? We saw at the top of this division, or we're going to see, I should say, on Saturday, the DC-Stipe third fight. You got Francis kind of waiting in the wings.

Curtis Blades, who Dana White encouraged to stay active against, just had the win against Volkov. JDS is not too far behind. He's got the fight against Rosenstruck coming up, I think, on this Saturday. So that creates an interesting possibility. Let me ask you this, BC. What's the better way to go? Curtis Blades versus Derek Lewis or Derek Lewis versus the winner of JDS and Rosenstruck,

especially if it's JDS and he gets that win? You know, it's probably better, I think, for Derek Lewis if he got the latter. But I don't think Dana White loves Curtis Blades right now. I think he might want to you know give him a chance to to face somebody dangerous i know you could look at a blades derrick lewis matchup and rightfully go oh god you're just feeding him to blades blades is a you know aggressive in shape wrestler who can just hold him down the whole fight but derrick lewis can also win the fight at any point he's one of those fighters doesn't matter how good you are

he can land that bomb so i'd'd much rather see, I'd just much rather see him get a big fight. I did want to jump in and basically give you a, hey, wait, I got a new complaint. I'm glad you got off that soapbox thinking he should get Ngannou next, but still, he's in the right direction, Luke. If he got any, either of

those two fights non-Ngannou, he'd be probably one to two wins away from a title shot, and that's where he needs to be right now. Well, I still think the Francis fight's the best option, but people hate it, so what am I going to do? I'm going to sit here and harp on that? Yeah, because it doesn't make sense, Luke. Okay? Okay, friend? Okay?

Well, here's what you're going to get if you get the Curtis Blades fight. You are probably going to get Lewis, despite the fact that he has vastly improved ground game now by virtue of just no physical limits that he had before, which is great. Certainly makes the fight more competitive than it already was. But my hunch is that Blades is going to take him down at will and probably wear him out and pound him out. Similar to a way that Daniel Cormier did.

And that's even with acknowledging, again, his sort of renewed vigor by virtue of not being kind of physically hampered the whole time. If that's what you want, if you think that's a better thing than to sort of fix what was wrong before with a striking match, okay. If you want to say JDS would be a better fight, I wouldn't fight too much on that one, especially if he gets a nice win over Rosenstreich. I just don't think people have such a bad taste in their mouth from Francis that they can't even fathom it.

I think the strongest argument against it is, one, JDS provides some options. I can agree with that. And then, two, Francis doesn't need to take it. fathom it. I think the strongest argument against it is, one, JDS provides some options. I can agree with that. And then, two, Francis doesn't need to take it. I can acknowledge it. But do I think that the second fight, it's hard not to be better than the first one. But what I'm saying is, do I think the second fight would be legitimately great? I actually do. I think it would be way, way different.

But that's not a hell of a prepare to die on today. I mean, look, you can only, you know, crap in a can once, Luke, okay? You're not going to do it a second time, alright? We're not going to get that right there. But look, before you go on to more pressing things, I saw you and your buddy had another episode of Java Jerks last week. I was a little late to the party, but Abuela's trying to burn your house down. What's the post

script on that? You have to put you in the rear naked? What happened there? No, it's fine. They were cooking. What were they making? They were using oil to fry something. Now I forget. I don't making? They were using oil to fry something. Now I forget. I don't remember. Plantains?

I think it was plantains, actually. Yes. And they didn't open the window or turn the fan on. Well, do plantains are delicious. I mean, what do you want me to say? That's what they eat a lot in Columbia. Anyway, I think they were making them, and then they didn't turn the fan on above the stove, and I'm in the middle of working there.

And all of a sudden things go wrong. So it's fine, though. And I did what, speaking of Abuelas, I did want to apologize for have you seen this shit last week. A lot of people jumping down my throat saying, hey, hey, B.C., Abuela doesn't have good jiu-jitsu. She just choked and stabbed that chick. You showed a murder on TV. And I'm like, look, if I did, I apologize. In the past, I've tried to, and producers of morning comment have have slapped my wrist so uh that was not

intentional yeah we did we did a nice long interview with someone and we can't even publish it because you asked such ridiculous questions that now legal has gotten involved you can't bring that backroom drama to the forefront here good job bc hey let's do more work that we can't release to the public good job turning everything into a frat house party. All right. With that in mind, let's go on to now the second question, which of course deals with the co-main event from Saturday. Chris Weidman, finally back in the win column for the first time since the Kelvin Gastelum fight. Although this one was a little bit of a mixed bag, right? He kind of ends with Mount or at least back anyway, had it for most of the third round, nearly a head and arm triangle again got the w i think in a very

non-controversial way there's no question about whether akhmedov won so there's a lingering question bc which is what exactly did chris weidman prove on saturday i think he proved uh very similar to robert whittaker against Darren Till, where it wasn't the most exciting fight. He didn't answer all the questions, but he answered the most important ones. And in this case, I know Weidman's losing streak had strictly, exclusively come against elite foes, which was part of his defense as to why he wasn't washed, why he shouldn't hang up and walk away. And I think he proved that.

He's still a very good fighter. Is he elite elite I'm not really sure but he had a rough stretch there of making mistakes getting caught by bigger strikers and what he proved in this one is that you know he can get in great shape he can get a different training camp he brought it down to South Carolina Stephen Thompson Wonderboy area his brother-in-law he wants to move down there you just saw a look, a more fluid Chris Weidman. He did get his chin checked a few times. He passed that test. At the end of the day, Chris is still my son, so to speak, Luke,

because even though I've never been the biggest Weidman fan, right? Did he beat Silva twice or did Anderson lose twice? You got to ask yourself that in the mirror some days. This was a win he badly needed because, you know, he probably is not going to get caught if he had lost there because his name's so big but there's going to be some backroom conversations that he doesn't want to have and now suddenly with a win like this against a guy who was hot and knocked med off and to do it in dominating fashion i know it wasn't exciting but that third round was clearly a 1080 ragdolled

him all around the cage that tells me a lot that weidman can still handle himself he's look he's going to be if he goes in there against a himself he's look he's going to be if he goes in there against a Romero type his chin's going to be a threat but his chin isn't isn't done Luke and I think that was the biggest question he had to answer his heart and his chin and he answered those both beautifully I mean he was in tremendous shape this is a good win I think you have a rosier picture of this than I do I mean obviously he got the win so he did the bare minimum right he did more than that but I'm just saying let the win, so he did the bare minimum, right? He did more than that, but I'm just saying let's start there. So he did the bare minimum.

Then he had, as you put it, a possible 10-8 round. I still would have scored a 10-9, but I wouldn't argue hardcore against a 10-8 for that third. He was in total positional control, certainly the entire time. He was in the back of Akhmedov on the back foot, metaphorically and quite literally, for big portions of it. So, okay, that's good. You're right. He did get his chin checked a little bit at times but never in a way where he got he didn't get dropped you know nothing like that so you think to yourself wow you know a guy who's kind of hard to finish who has been doing up well of late sort of a mainstay in that top 15 10-ish kind of position and why I mean getting back I think it showed a couple things one he can still be a player at least in the top 10 two the move to 205 was ridiculous I mean look how muscular he

looked here he told me he was last week he was hitting the weights in ways he never had before and uh he was really happy with the results of that like going to 205 is not the same reason that like Rockhold what kind of really had a strong need to do that. So that was good. But the problem for me was not that he showed glaring weaknesses per se. I just didn't see the same kind of fluidity and strength, not the physical strength, but other ones that had been there before. His striking looked a little bit labored. His head did not move as much as I thought it might.

He didn't quite have the zip and pop that he necessarily needed to. Now, I want to make sure that I say something here, which is for a performance like this, where he's been making a lot of mistakes and been the wrong weight classes and now finally trying to right the ship, you have to grade this on a curve. I'm grading it on a curve. And if it's a pass fail class, he certainly passes. And even then I give it a c plus b minus something like that and i think that there is room to build on this is not the ultimate arbiter of what is next at the same time though i don't want to declare that like problem solved i don't think that's the case it did look at times to me like he was fighting a little bit underwater

he didn't quite have the same the same kind of bully uh ability over his foes that he used to where he was driving wrist control and shoving shoulders to the mat and easily snatching up limbs and taking risks and going for submissions it was a little bit more you know punch the clock blue collar workman like and that's okay that's not a bad thing to be well that's not exactly what but that's not exactly what he was before at middleweight so if this is the first maybe even second step towards rebuilding cool but to me it's not evidence in and of itself of a return to form i don't think he was uh properly evolving during that losing streak luke i mean he's a guy who's very well rounded

does a lot of things well but i think his game plans had been very Luke. I mean, he's a guy who's very well-rounded, does a lot of things well, but I think his game plans had been very in-your-face and simple. He's a strong, athletic guy who has good technique, but there wasn't much variance to it. And so to counter your point, what I did see was a guy who was trying some things, right? We saw a couple wonder-boy-ish moves in the switching of stances, adding more high kicks to his game.

I think this was a platform for him to try some things out, wonder boy-ish moves in the switching of stances, adding more high kicks to his game. I think this was a platform for him to try some things out, but at the end of the day, not if around and get caught. I mean, at some point, Luke, you need a win above all else. And I think that whenever we're talking about somebody who's getting knocked out too much but not washed, right? How about an Aaron Pico who we're like, dude, just wrestle, all right? Just stick to your strength. Well, he did that.

He out-wrestled a guy whose strength is wrestling, and he looked great doing it. And I'm not a Weidman guy. I got nothing bad to say about him. You're going to get a little critical there with the professor and the salt and pepper and pour a little sugar on him, in the name of love, by the way. But I think he looked great.

I have no concerns. None, okay? Yeah, you say he didn't evolve during the losing streak, and I wouldn't argue with that, but you can't tell me that that was the same kind of fluid striking that you saw even in the Munoz fight. If anything, he's trying to reclaim

lost territory far from building on it. I don't even think that's possible. He's trying to change. Luke, he's trying to be a different fighter now, because the old way wasn't working, Luke. So it was to change. Luke, he's trying to be a different fighter now because the old way wasn't working, Luke. So it was certainly on him to do what he had to do to survive. I don't know.

I mean, I'm a little bit less convinced by that. I mean, it did work just fine all the way up through the first Anderson Silva fight. He was completely undefeated in that Munoz fight and certainly his other ones. He was in his prime and the game hadn't evolved. But this is my point. You have to take stock of that. Okay, if that's his prime and he's not there now, what are the differences?

It's not just physical decline. The physical decline coincides with a bit of skills regression that I think he's trying to reclaim. Now part of that, to your point, might be, hey, I've got to switch things up and when Tiger changes his swing, it takes some time to get used to it. Fair enough. Like I said, if this is the building block towards something new, more sustainable level of success, then I can't say anything else about it. I just want to be clear. I don't want folks to look at this and go, well, he got the W and he did it with a dominating third round. Mission accomplished.

No, the devil's in the details. And the details are a little bit concerning at least at a bare minimum unclear and by the way tiger may change his swing but he hasn't changed his stripes i'd love love to see that guy's dms if you know what i'm talking about i knew you were going to say that all right so let's move on then to a topic where there's just no denying the guy looked unbelievable how about michael chandler in what could be, BC, could be the last fight of his Bellator career, stopping Benson Henderson in, I think, under three minutes, something like that, inside the first round, only the second person to stop Benson Henderson.

And I think this was, with strikes anyway, I think this was the quickest. So the question now becomes, at at 34 does a move to the ultimate fighting championship make sense if i'll go first on this one if i may and the answer is you know i did not think so heading into this fight i wasn't so sure and even now bc i'll say this if he was going to make a move to the ufc 34 would not be the optimal window it would not be the time that i would look at in a fighter's career especially at 155 pounds and i would say okay this is your perfect slot this is the time to ring that bell on the other hand here's

what he showed in this benson henderson win um. I don't think Benson has made a ton of progress since his UFC career either in terms of wins or the evolution of his game despite the fact that I am certain that he trains hard and still actively competes on the jiu-jitsu circuit you know pre-pandemic all that kind of thing. Michael Chandler has continued to build on his strengths and there have been ups and downs no doubt about it there's been ups and downs in terms of fight results but he was switching stance effortlessly effortlessly here he was disguising what he was doing he still takes risks and sometimes those pay off sometimes they don't but when they do they pay off with absolute spectacular results so here's my thought do

i think he's the best lightweight in the world you know that seems like a bit of a stretch but do i think he could be in exciting fights in the ufc no doubt that seems like a bit of a stretch. But do I think he could be in exciting fights in the UFC? No doubt about it. If the UFC wants him and they're going to pay him more, it might just make sense on that level. And I think last but certainly not least, he still seems to me at least pretty competitive. Anybody in the top five, think about it, BC, would you watch a Chandler versuson chandler versus poirier chandler versus hooker any of those chandler versus felder any of those sound amazing so all of that i don't i don't know i don't i'll end here i'll just say again is 34 the optimal window maybe not but it also may just

be better late than never well i think it may just be better late luke and i think you sort of touched on some of that. His game has evolved. I mean, look, 34 ain't young, but I think he's come to a point where he's, his physical and his mental have meshed at a level that I actually think this is his absolute prime. Yes, he was maybe, you know,

a little bit more aggressive and or durable at different points in his career, but he's always a guy who, to your point, will take big chances, will lose some fights, can get hurt. I mean, why did he mesh so well with Eddie Alvarez? Because they're very similar in a lot of intangible categories. But yes, it's 1,000% time for him to find out how great he can be. He's too great of a fighter, Luke, to have gone his whole career

without moving up to that highest level. And it just so happens right now that we're at a historic point in the UFC lightweight division. I mean, it is all killer, no filler. If it was a different division, you know, you look at Bellator right now in Featherweight, Bantamweight, Welterweight. Look, they got stocked enough lineups where you could make arguments and say he's got enough world-class competition there to stay.

But he's fought the big names many times already through Bellator, been the face of the franchise, and it just so happens that right now the UFC is tops at lightweight by far. It is time to test himself. Had he gone out there and won the kind of fight against Henderson that he did a couple years back, split decision win, looked really good at times, had a great first round, but, you know know kind of not

backdoored his way to the victory but didn't look great in the final round and had a fighter peaking to to stay alive and almost beat him we might have the argument and say okay 34 a little bit too far if he could have done this at 30 maybe it would be better but no luke he looked absolutely dynamic to your point the the the stance switching was so fluid that I think I'm not speaking just for myself. I had to watch the replay a couple times to really figure out exactly what he did to make sure a punch actually landed that cleanly. And then you find out that's some Manny Pacquiao-Lomachenko shit he pulled out from the angle and the explosiveness to leap in and sort of land that flush.

Nobody does that to Benson Henderson. And I know he's 36, but he'd won four in a row. He had really been winning the first two minutes of that fight with some hard shots that Chandler even said afterwards hurt his ribs, hurt his legs. He knew he was in for a real fight and he got the guy out of there. That's the

perfect ending. That's the climax. That's the Robert Kraft in South Florida if you will. And I know he still will probably. Yeah, it's a real Orchids of Asia moment. You want to play the Chandler jukebox game and start naming names? You can't lose right now.

So my hope, okay? And look, and he had said it building up, if Bellator will give him the money he wants, he's more than happy to go there. And if they want him to finish as a Bellator fighter, and just a reminder, his first two fights outside of Bellator, every other one has been with that organization,

you could make a pit bull second and third fight. You can do some fun things there. But I think it's time for him to get in that jukebox, and we'll just pick the numbers. If UFC will pay him what he deserves, Paul Felder might be the cowboy Cerrone celebrity gatekeeper of this new era

where if you're Dana White and you're looking at the right name to test this guy on the way in good god a Felder Chandler fight would be insane we also know Chandler's been saying publicly for two years that he feels he has the unique skill set to beat Habib I know what you're saying I'd like to see it but I know what you're saying

but um a fight that won't happen but could you imagine skill set to beat Habib. I know what you're saying. I'd like to see it, but I know what you're saying. But a fight that won't happen, but could you imagine Michael Chandler, Conor McGregor right now? I mean, that's baggo porn at the stag party, if you know what I mean, Luke. I know you do. Yes, the Cuckfest

2020 that you love to attend. Two more points I would add. At 34 BC, you would agree if he doesn't make the leap now, that's it. Because mean, two more points I would add. At 34 BC, you would agree, if he doesn't make the leap now, that's it. Because you can't make it at the end. Say again? The window is small right now for him to fight the very elite. He's not going to get three years of this, right?

The window's small. Yeah, but it's like that scene in Star Wars where they're trying to put the Millennium Falcon and thread the needle there. It's not just small. The window is closing. If you sign a four-fight deal and that takes two more years, you're not going to be the same fighter at 36 as you are at 34. You're going to make the move if that's a thing you want to do. And if he doesn't because Bellator wants to pay him a bunch of money

and he wants to stay, hey, man, it's prize fighting. No judgment from me. But if that's a thing he also wants to do, it's now or it's never. But let's just play a little game here, BC, if we can. Tell me which one of these, some of you would want to see more than others. I get. Tell me which one of these would not be good. This is the top 15 today.

Now, these are not updated rankings from Saturday's results. To the extent that that matters, Benil Dariush might move up given his win. But okay, here we go. Michael Chandler versus Drew Dober. Banger. Michael Chandler versus Benil Dariush might move up given his win. But okay, here we go. Michael Chandler versus Drew Dober. Banger. Michael Chandler versus Benil Dariush. Amazing. Versus Donald Cerrone. Need I say more? Gregor

Gillespie. I'm not a rep for those. I'm going to go through. Eleven. Makachev. Amazing. Ten. Kevin Lee. He's injured, but you can imagine it would be pretty good. Future champion Kevin Lee. Put's injured, but you can imagine it would be pretty good. Future champion, Kevin Lee. Exactly. Put some respect on his name, Lee.

Thank you. Nine, Aya Quinta. Need I say more? Eight, Carlos Diego Fajera coming off that Anthony Pettis win. He's a beast, as we mentioned. Number seven, Paul Felder. This is one that everyone keeps bringing up. What about Michael Chandler versus Charles Oliveira?

Doe Bronx would be a sick fight. And then it's a no-brainer. It's Hooker, McGregor, Ferguson, Poirier, Gaethje, and Nurmagomedov. In short, BC, there are 16 names I just read you. The champ in the top 15. Not one of those is bad. All of them are good in their own way, some better than others. Not one of those is bad.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, we don't have to say anything else, okay? Do it. Somebody pay him the money. I mean, either way, Luke, either way, let's applaud him and say, wherever he goes from here, he has worked hard to earn this, and this is a monster victory. The way he beat Henderson and the position that he's in

on the commercial market for what's next. This is the way to end your fight or your career. Not career, I'm sorry, but your contract. Like, this is the way to go out. This is the opposite, career, I'm sorry, but your contract. This is the way to go out. This is the opposite, essentially, of what Van Zandt did against Hibas. He went in there, not dominated, but got a dominating win to the point where it not only told you who was the better fighter of the two, because this is the second victory between them, but also it just made you wonder about the possibilities. And that might be his golden ticket to the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the price point that he wants. But I guess we'll have to see.

All right, so let's talk about other title shots in the UFC as we move on to point four, BC. Cody Garbrandt, it turns out. Your buddy, my buddy, Brett Okamoto reporting, I think on Friday, that Cody Garbrandt is going to get the flyweight title shot against Devis and Figueiredo. And I don't recall if they had a time for that or an event. I think it's at the end of the year, 254, I want to say. So the one for November, I believe. But Cody Garbrandt had all those losses in a row,

finally got back in the win column, a phenomenal win over Rafael Sonsa, UFC 250, but he did it at 135. I know BC, he had floated the idea of going to 125, his kidneys shut down. I don't know if the two are related, but one wonders, but okay. Do you like this call by the UFC? What do you make of them giving a title shot to a guy with zero fights at 125? Yeah, that's where you, uh, you can certainly criticize this. And we had seen Cody come back and look good on this comeback. But look, he's in it. Bantamweight's loaded, all right?

We know that the queue is long and heavy at this point. So I thought he was going to have a great shot. I know many things that are long and heavy, BC. Okay, I mean, really? You wonder why this show has a bad reputation there, Luke? Okay. We know why this happened. We know how this happens.

I can't say I'm disappointed by it. Flyweight, you do need a star. And Devin, Devin Figueredo could be like the perfect villain for that division. We do have sort of some, you know, reservations. Could he actually become a star with the lack of English and that kind of side of it? But it's a great fight, Cody Garbrandt Figueredo. Like an absolute great banger of a fight. Do I want to see if he can make this weight

and be great at it? Yes, absolutely. I just don't feel like it was necessary because his stock is so damn strong right now as it is for what he's done in those two comeback fights at Bantamweight. And even with that loaded division, he just has the name power to cut to the head of that line.

So I don't necessarily know why this move at this moment makes a ton of sense. Now, you know why Dana would do it. He also, I mean, look, in that division at flyweight, there are names that we mentioned a couple weeks ago after that Figueredo win that are rising, that we love, that make banger fights, the Askarovs, the Morenos, all them. But none of those guys are stars. So you get why if Cody can come back in there, he's an A-side of a pay-per-view and has been before.

He can do this. So that's fine. I don't necessarily think he's screwing over anyone. Moreno and Askarov were the two guys that you can make arguments that needed to be next. So that's what softens this from being a bad move or one you can really criticize. It is what it is, Luke. It's going to be really fun to watch i'm not going to crap on it but it's it's sort of on brand in the entertainment era for ufc in terms of what they do yeah that that was exactly my reaction i had a very max holloway response to it which was it kind of is what it is at this point i mean if

they're going to give a title shot to jose aldo of not merely one fight in the Bantamweight division, but a loss at that, granted, controversial, I get it. Still, he had an 0-1 next to his name in terms of his Bantamweight campaign at that point. You know, you sort of understand, like, they're just going to do things like this. I call it matchmaking gerrymandering to make it work. I mean, here's the only part that I don't get.

Do I hate the fight on its own terms? A Garbrandt versus Figueredo fight. I don't know how much I like it for Cody, where you're going to be draining yourself and fighting a big-ass puncher in Figueredo. That's a little dicey for me. But okay, do I think it'll be exciting? I don't have any super hardcore reason

to doubt it could get this new cody could be a little bit more reserved than the old one so it may be a little boring but let's just say for the sake of argument probably not and cody will swing for the fences and that makes it exciting it's certainly a more exciting name than anyone else you could put in there for casual fans i understand i look at what what they have the two top contenders you mentioned brandon moreno and askerov they're coming off nice wins but they're all decisions i believe and so they're tough fighters and the pantoja win for askerov or i think it was the kai kara france win for moreno those are fine wins but they're not setting the world on fire the only thing i just can't wrap my head around with ufc a little bit here is i get why they're doing this i want to

add a little zip and pop to flyweight it's like dudes why did you drain and nearly kill this division only to resuscitate it if it means you got to do all of this maybe don't kill it off to begin with and listen hindsight's 2020 business decisions are easier to make than others I've long said if you were going to cut one division 125 and men's division would be the one i know that upsets the mma hipsters which sometimes i'm accused of being bc but people cry about what happens to the flyweight division and then don't watch any flyweight fights by any numbers that matter so to me it's just a bunch of nonsense that makes no i don't pay attention to it and i've often said you could just dump 125 for 165 and frankly that's a bit of an upgrade to

me i don't know why the ufc doesn't do that but okay you want to stay in the flyweight business you don't have to do stuff like this if you never did the other stuff to kill it off to begin with that's the part where i just can't i just can't understand so listen do i hate this fight no am i kind of curious about how it's going to go yes do i think it might pay dividends for the division based on a couple of different result possibilities? No doubt about it. I am not arguing. I just feel like, okay, okay, if we're going to do this to breathe some life into a division that needs some life breathed into it, I'm fine with it.

But I don't want to keep seeing this just because we're a little bored with the results. Let's build divisions, BC, to the point where we don't have to do this anymore. That, to me, is the long-term idea. That's a fair point. You're basically saying Dana's robbing Peter and Paul to solicitate sex with Mary, and that makes a lot of sense there. You know what the most UFC thing

to happen for this? Let's say Garbrandt goes in there and beats Figueiredo to win the title, and then Cejudo comes back, and the two of them fight for the flyweight title, only they do them at bantamweight so that they both don't have to cut down. That would be the most UFC move possible at this moment. That could happen. Also,

the one piece of good news that deserves to be mentioned here, such as you can call it that, is Dana was, we talked about it on the show, I believe, he was weirdly non-committal about giving Aljamain Sterling a title shot at 135 pounds well we have some good news right so it looks like cordy sandhagen and marlon morice are on a collision course peter yan has the belt now cody is going to go down to 125 now we don't know

this because they didn't declare it but it seems like bc that clears a path for aljermaine to fight peter yan which is the fight that should have been made. Okay, that's good news. You mentioned Henry Cejudo. Honestly, here's another thing you should consider. Forget Cejudo for just a moment. Let's say Cody Garbrandt wins. What's stopping them from having them fight the winner of Jan and Sterling, especially if it's Jan,

because Jan has had beef with Cody. You could do that fight too. Yeah, for both belts and then make an inaugural 130 belt on top of that. Yeah, they could do what they want. It's Dana's Sandbox. And by the way, it's really fun. So at the end, we're not going to complain too much about this.

So let's keep rolling on there. But yeah, shout out to Aljo getting that shot in there. Is it fair to call Corey Sanhagen a friend of the show? I think he watches us, right? Yes, he is a friend of the show. He loves Morning Combat. He watches. He sends me feedback about it. He says he loves it. You know, he

should. It tells you he has good judgment, BC. That's what it shows us. Even with you calling him Cody multiple times too, so that's great. You know what? I get Corey and Cody and everything else in between. It's a little too many four-letter COs floating around here with these millennial types or a generation

Z whatever they are at this point so I get them all confused but I think the folks watching this will know better and how to distinguish them okay last but not least by the way Luke you ever have a CO commanding officer no Jay what is it

see Tupac would always rap about see a damn CO No, Jay, what is it? Tupac would always rap about. See, a damn CO. It's the word. What's the word? You're bringing the show to a screeching halt for this? Yeah, please. Please, okay?

Yeah, this will be on the blooper reel. Thank you. All right, with that in mind, let's get to our fifth and final point. If you're just joining us for whatever reason, understand we're going to do a whole special on UFC 252 by itself later this week. But we have to talk about Showtime. And again, join me in BC, I think at like 1040, 1030 or so on Friday. We'll give you the details of that for the weigh-ins. But Showtime, back in action.

And BC, I got to tell you, this is what I had circled on my calendar. Benavidez taking on Angulo super middleweight title. This is huge. Now Angulo not necessarily setting the world on fire as an opponent. I think he's ranked what 15th in the division or so. It does have a Latino super middleweight title, whatever that is worth. But okay. Coming off a nice upset over Sims Jr.

But Benavidez is is let's make no mistake about it the a side the star of the show 23 years old he is excellent at angles left-handed body work he's got a piston of a right hand he is the real deal holy field if you are looking for bc tell me if i'm wrong the next generation of boxing stars you can't make that list without putting benavidez on it yeah look david benavidez is uh he won a world title at age 20 right he's he's a tall super middleweight who lets his hands go loves to throw and bang has some highlight reel finishes right there younger brother of course of of the ramirez who lost to terence crawford in a welterweight title fight um i'm sorry ben Benavidez, not Ramirez.

This is an interesting fight for him. We saw him go in there against Anthony Durrell and win back the title he lost when he was suspended for drug use. Now he's back on track. To be clear, I just want folks to know, if you're new to Benavidez, it was Vada who caught him, Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, and it was for cocaine. He got a four-month suspension, not PEDs.

He was on a plane. Yeah, all lit up again. He's put that behind him, Luke, absolutely. But Buck Cherry, here's the absolute point here. This division has some players right now, and a big one that everyone's circling, of course, is Caleb Plant, who has a nice marketing push behind him and also, by the way, might be the best fighter in the division.

We're going to find out. A slick boxer, a big-time heart. Him heart him benavidez they don't like each other so if we are building closer toward having that fight in a unification both guys under the pbc banner you're talking about one of the best fights you can make in the sport because caleb plant is such a studied and pure boxer and benavidez an aggressive guy who walks you down and looks to get you out of there. So Benavidez is going to have to pass this test against a hungry guy in Angulo, but it's all about what it could be building toward in the future.

And I've gone on record in the past, Luke, talking about this Division 168. It's fun. And talking about Caleb Plant, I know at times he's gotten that sort of like, oh, he's just a white guy that you can market. I think he's good enough to be Canelo Alvarez right now i'm i've been on that perch i've been on that limb i think he's a special fighter and to see benavidez as sort of that perfect contrast in style if we get

to that fight uh that tickles me in very nice places luke i'm fired up for the future of this division a couple things i would point out age 23 you might be asking also you know how comfortable is he in the spotlight i think the durell fight was on pbc on fox fight he looked to be in total command phoenix native obviously represents uh you know with usa and mexico but to be clear this is a guy who doesn't mind having the bright lights shown on him so that's the first thing i'd say the second thing i'd say is just in the supreme town as i indicated his double left hand body work is just sublime three the thing you mentioned that to me really gets my attention is he's a sort of walk you down kind of guy if you go and look at most of benavidez's finishes they're with him pressing an opponent with the opponents back into the ropes and they are just waiting for the referee to come save them what's funny about that is and gulo he's much older 36 out of columbia he's not the tactician or frankly as

skilled as benavidez but he has the exact same kind of style so in other words it's two sort of come forward boxers one a little bit longer than a tooth coming off of a nice upset over on a matchroom fight against sims jr benavidez the slicker of the two, the younger of the two, as I mentioned, the A side, all I'm pointing out is this one has action written all over it. Now, the question I have for you, BC, is I've been struggling with this all morning. I had to call in Abuela and my wife in reserves. How do you pronounce Angulo's first name? For folks who may not know, it is spelled Romer, like the word Rome, R-O-A-M-E-R.

I asked my wife and my mother-in-law how do you pronounce this they said they'd actually never even seen that word before so their best guess was romer is that how you pronounce it i think in brazil it's homer right he's he's colombian not brazilian so it's you got to roll the r there at the front yeah yeah i'm not I don't do well with pronunciations in fact I just called Benavidez Ramirez about a minute ago so you know where I'm leaning on that but uh good fight as good as Benavidez is by the way if you're a boxer if you're aggressive you get inside he'll be there to fight you can hit him he'll hit you back so

we're gonna see an exciting one this Saturday last thing say, too, is if you watch the Bellator card on Friday, remember Bellator and Showtime are sharing assets. I noticed something a little bit different. And maybe it's my imagination. I didn't put up a picture in picture, so I could be wrong about this, BC. But if you look at the first Bellator show, and then this one on Friday was the second one, it looked to me like they had picked up some stuff from what Showtime had done.

They had more screens and the lighting, those circle lightings were a little bit more spaced out. All I'm saying is the first show Bellator did, you could see a lot of curtain space. The second show they did looked a lot better. So here's what I'll say. If Showtime adds the music between the rounds like Bellator does or at the end of

fights they've already picked up some of the interesting set design things are looking better for that spot in the Mohegan Sun because remember Bellator and Showtime they're going to be there a while yeah yeah I mean but do the curtains match the carpet that's what the uh viewers want to know by the way there are more things happening in boxing very quickly i've never known how to pronounce her last name the norwegian who looks like she has she has the and i know you're gonna make fun of this word but i believe this is what it's called a dip thong which is when the a and the e are connected cecilia breakhouse she has a big fight coming up on the zone are you at all interested in this one there's history at stake so cecililia Brekus, I believe how you

pronounce it, she has all four welterweight titles. She was the first female fighter to become the undisputed champion in the modern four belt era. And she's going for her 26th overall welterweight title defense going back to 2009. We sort of look at, you know, Joe Lewis's 25 heavyweight title defenses as rightfully a revered mark. So this has been a long run. She's in her late 30s. She's been right near the top in the women's game of a pound-for-pound performer for now a full decade. So it's going to be an interesting test for her.

By the way, did you see that all-female banger on Saturday in Eddie Hearn's backyard? They did a little bit of bingo there at the fight. I saw an all-female banger, but it wasn't in Eddie Hearn's backyard. Well, it may have – maybe afterwards when they took the ring down, you never know with that guy, right? You know, well-dressed, right? Yeah. Real quickly, we forgot to mention it.

It is worth noting something here. How about Corey Anderson? Speaking of Showtime and Bellator and the Mohegan Sun, Corey Anderson, not done with the UFC, asking for his release and getting it. Now, BC, I did not know about this. My producer on my radio show brought this to my attention i don't are you aware of the medical situation that he has been suffering with more recently i guess a few months ago something like that he passed out and his face hit the concrete you think well how bad could it be dude it was bad it was really bad he posted

progress pics from like the initial injury and to develop. It almost looked like, and I'm not trying to do a bit here, I swear to God, it looked like his face was melting or he had Bell's palsy or something. It just almost looked collapsed on one side. Now, today he looks way better. He's made a great recovery, but he was in the hospital for some time. It was not a good look. There are some indications that maybe some displeasure with UFC doctors may have played a role in all of this but your thoughts on him signing with Bellator

well number one uh you know you're most you're most concerned about his health and he did get cleared to return to fighting and he made I don't want to say excuse me a dramatic turn but there was a couple months there where he wasn't public with the information that his career was at risk for what you're saying. Not too long after his knockout loss to Jan Blachowicz, if you read that lengthy Instagram post that he put out there, he did collapse. They were wondering if it was concussion-induced. His whole career was looking to be in trouble.

Great to see that he's back. Great to see a very rare occurrence, Luke, very rare, that somebody in the midst of a UFC contract can essentially say, I want out, I want to sign with a competitor, and all sides basically say, okay, and that's what he did. He got released in the middle. He wasn't a free agent, signed with Bellator,

and obviously from a fighting standpoint, he's still in his physical prime at age 30. This is a big boost to that light heavyweight division when you consider you have a Ryan Bader, you have somebody like Musashi, who's the middleweight champ but can move up you've got Leota Machida's you know you got names whether they be you know ex-UFC stars or some rising guys where you can make some fun fights and he's instantly a player in that division when you consider that his knockout loss to Blahowicz came after a pretty impressive win streak now Now, as long as he's physically okay, it's a plus.

It's a plus for all parties. I just wonder, Luke, how it ended, right? Because if you look at that IG post, like you teased to, there was some unhappiness with the way he felt UFC doctors dealt with him in the aftermath of his loss, that he didn't get the coverage he needed. I wonder if that was part of the conversation when he decided to ask to be let go and they essentially said yes now we do know that dana white wasn't the biggest cory anderson fan didn't love that time that he showed up at what that trading card show in new jersey and tried to fight john jones right there to get on the radar which

was an aggressive move i don't really know the details but i do know it's a big win for all parties including cory anderson who you know who was on the outside looking in in that division at that moment. It's a great restart. It's somebody that Ryan Bader could have a competitive fight against. I mean, he blew through that heavyweight tournament. Did he take a punch in the entire heavyweight tournament? I don't know that he did. Maybe one or two or something.

Something ridiculous. Corey Anderson is a legitimate threat to him. Does he beat Ryan Bader? Probably not. I don't know that he did. Maybe one or two or something. Something ridiculous. Corey Anderson is a legitimate threat to him. Does he beat Ryan Bader? Probably not. I don't know. But you're right. People think of him as like 36-37. He's 30.

He's 30. The guy's been doing this for a long time, yes. But he's only now coming into his physical prime. And I think in Bellator, where in general it's not as deep as UFC, but at the top, a Nemkov, if he ends up beating Bader or a Bader, these could be really interesting fights for him it's a good career restart it's good for you for Bellator to get a sort of a high caliber talent in the way that he is and you know having lived through the Trent Williams saga with the Washington football team here in DC man when an athlete no longer trusts the medical staff in an organization that is a hard line to come back across they that

you you lose trust in medical personnel that you have to switch them out to get that person to stay or to or to to believe in them or whatever the case may be and yes you know Trent Williams one of the best left tackles in football Corey Anderson probably not in the same way as coveted um that Williams is for that position. I'm just pointing out, you know, those are hard feelings that do not go away easily. So kind of interesting to see what happened there with him. Yeah, absolutely.

All right. With that in mind, let's do this, BC. You and I have been talking to each other. It's time for the viewers to talk to us. It's time for DMs from Donks. And I don't know if I got sent the DMs here from Corey. Corey? Oh, yes, you did.

Not Corey. I'm sorry. Gaffney. Okay, let's get to this. Up first, BC, from Sam Oakley 99. I was going to say Smokely. Probably that, too. If Stipe wins the trilogy fight, which we'll get to later this week,

does he take DC's's place at the goat table now obviously bc will have a bigger conversation about it but your early sense is what see this is very interesting and i've been called the steep a hater throughout my uh talking head run that has coincided with uh steep a's heavyweight championship reign and to be honest look i have picked against him at almost every single turn it's not that i don't respect what he's done it's just that it's this okay here's what it is all right when stipe was about to break the record for heavyweight title defenses and it was me it was sort of stamped on him that because he was about to do that he was automatically the greatest heavyweight in ufc history i didn't

think that to be true maybe Maybe it's an emotional reasoning. Maybe it's some other things. It's not that I don't see what makes him great. And by the way, what makes him great are really awesome blue-collar intangibles, right? His ability to withstand punishment and come back and keep himself. I mean, that rematch against DC

and the way he knocked him out and won it was like personified what makes up Stipe who he is but at the same time I didn't think even though his resume is very strong that it automatically makes him the greatest heavyweight ever I know it's a it's it's a division that has always had issues with anyone putting together a long streak Kane I think for my money still probably the best actual heavyweight in his prime I've ever seen in UFC. Couldn't keep it together. Randy Couture, maybe for more emotional reasons, I really have a lot of love for in this conversation.

People laugh at me that I even put him in that conversation. But I think at the end of the day, whoever wins this, yes, they are the greatest UFC heavyweight by this point. If Stipe wins, he'll now have added two wins over Daniel Cormier, two, all those other former champions. You cannot deny that. But does that put him in that upper table? Now, to remind people what that upper table means, to me it means who has a stake, a foot in the door,

in the greatest of all time conversation. And I know some people, they don't care. But I don't care if you don't care. Because us journalists and fans, this is currency to us. To me, it's Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, GSP, Demetrius Johnson, Fedor. And I put Daniel Cormier in there when he knocked out Stipe. Some people didn't think that. That's fine.

Is Daniel Cormier going to be in there if he wins on Saturday? Yes. Is he going to be in there if he loses? I don't know. There's a thin line between the GOAT table and the guys below it, the Jose Aldos, etc., who are great, but aren't in

that GOAT conversation. Does Stipe get in that GOAT conversation if he beats Daniel Cormier a second time? No. He doesn't. I'm sorry. That's a long-winded way of being like, I've been accused of being a Stipe hater. I'm going to keep that Cal Ripken streak alive today with this answer.

I mean, look, Luke, he's an all-time great heavyweight champion, but we have to have levels to this, right? There's got to be that door at the end of the hallway with the stairway up to the attic that only a few people can go i mean here's here's the this is a really interesting debate again we'll have a much longer one on thursday when we do our special 252 episode of morning combat you know and i think you would agree with most of this here's why it's complex let's say stipe wins to me he still doesn't occupy the same space as what Fedor did after beating Krokop in, what, 2004 or 5. There was just not the same level of looking down at the game that way in which he was.

So to me, I'm not saying we can't have a debate about all-time best heavyweight. I think it's separate. I think we need to have a debate about best UFC heavyweight of all time. That's a little bit more doable, at least at the current juncture the other problem for steve that he's up against by no fault of his own is dc had this run at light heavyweight for basically the majority of his career all of his biggest fights up to the basically steep a we're all essentially at well no i mean he had the the grand prix too and strike force but after that it was just you know this long extended run at light heavyweight.

And so we didn't get time to build up a heavyweight resume. Now the argument goes, if DC wins and goes two and one against the guy who was the greatest UFC heavyweight champion, it just automatically makes him that way. But there are some people, I'm not saying on one of them, but you do have to take it seriously.

It's like, is Connor the best featherweight of all time? Yeah. He beat Max and he beat Aldo, but then he bounced. He has no real record, and Poirier too, but only Max is still in that division, and he didn't beat that version of Max.

So what does it really mean? It does count, but it's not the same exact thing as having Jose Aldo's long, extended campaign there. So that makes the argument tricky as well. For me, if Stipe wins, he is clearly the best ufc heavyweight champion ever and we can have a separate debate about mma if dc wins i probably still in my mind say he was the more talented of the two but the lack of an actual campaign a long

campaign again not his fault he was doing it on account of cain velasquez i do think it muddies the debate people people want clarity on this i'main Velasquez. I do think it muddies the debate. People want clarity on this. I'm not entirely sure you're going to get it. I guess we'll have to see. So you still didn't answer the question that that DM-er, Smokely, Jeff Smoker, former Michigan State quarterback. Yeah, but the question presumes that D.C. has got a place at the goat table.

Does he? That's an argument to itself right there. But answer the question straight up. If Stipe wins on Saturday, who cares? Any other, you know, no other. Put everything aside. If Stipe wins on Saturday, is he in the greatest fighter of all time conversation? No.

You mean like top five? Yeah, the upper, the damn upper room. The people who have an argument. Yeah, no. No, he's not. Top 10, top 15, slightly different argument, but not top five. There's got to be levels to this, Luke, okay? All right, you can have a nice podcast.

Is it MK worthy? No. All right? All right, we move on to Alan EK. Can Sean O'Malley, BC, be considered a real genuine prospect if and when he beats Marlon Vera? How many fights does he need to be considered a title contender? Well, he's asking two different questions.

Well, he goes, is he a prospect? And then he goes, is he a contender? Let me send Alan E.K. to the woodshed here. You're asking me, is Sean O'Malley, can he be a genuine prospect if he beats Marlon Vera? He already is. How is he not a genuine prospect? He's a future star.

He's 25 years old. He's knocking fools out. So, yes, okay? And by the woodshed, remember that scene in Commando where Arnold jumps into that woodshed and hides up in the ceiling and the guy comes in and he takes that giant machete right to the balls, Luke? Let off some steam. Yes, thank you.

All right, is he a title contender with a win? He is because he is on, I think UFC just threw him in the back end of the top 10 right now, maybe for this fight to pump it up more. Marlon Vera, a very tough out and credible opponent. And oh, by the way, a lot of people thought he beat Song Yedong and he got rewarded with a huge fight coming off the loss in which a lot of people, probably the UFC too, thought that he won. Now he gets a pay-per-view co-main opportunity.

This is no like, you know, bring in the lamb for the slaughter for the future star to beat. If O'Malley runs through him and does a Anderson Silva and Chris Lieben type of performance, then we'll go, oh my God, he is that guy. But this is a tough ass out of a fight. And if he wins it, yes, 100%. He is a title contender.

Luke, they will have an incredible, meaning the UFC, an incredible hard time over the next 12 months keeping Sean O'Malley out of a title fight if he beats Vera impressively on Saturday. I mean, let's just be clear about about this Marlon Vera is an excellent fighter he is a very very credible talent Colin Oyama has done wonders with the guy and of course he's naturally talented and hardworking himself but I just mean you get the right coach with the right kind of fighter with the right kind of attitude and you know the right outcomes begin to happen more often than not i have a very high level of respect for marlon vera this is easily far and away no doubt about it the toughest

fight of sean o'malley's career you beat marlon vera in a way where let's just say whatever this means not there's no controversy about it like when he gets his hand raised you knew that was the guy who's gonna get his hand raised whether it's a clear decision a dominating one or a stoppage let me tell you something that is a very very that's an elite club man i take marlon vera very seriously so is he a prospect yes he is already a prospect you beat marlon vera and now you're on the short list i'd put you the top seven top eight or so still a little bit more work but you are on the money with this one, BC. If he beats Marlon Vera in the way, let's say, that he's been beating opponents, which I don't think that he will, but let's say that he does.

Dude, the hardest thing in the world is going to be for the UFC to press the brakes on him because he is going to be on a rocket ship to the stars. People love this guy. As I said before, he is effortlessly cool. He understands the new generationlessly cool. He understands the new generation of fans. He is them in so many ways. He has exciting fight style. And look, BC, I don't understand the purple hair thing. Tekashi69 does it. He does it. It seems weird to me, but I'm a 41-year-old white dad. No one gives a shit what I think. I don't know what cool is

anymore, but I know cool when I see it because everyone surrounds it. And that dude is cool. Everyone responds to what he's doing. So if you beat Marlon Vera, look out, dude, he'll have a title shot very soon. Again, probably one or two more fights after that,

but he'll be very close. One to one to two at most. I mean, seriously, we did brush pass. Speaking of 41, how was your birthday? Did you do,

I mean, I had a, I had a conference call with you on your birthday, so it couldn't have been that exciting, but did you guys do anything good? Abuela make you the old steak and potatoes or what? This is, you're going to laugh at this, but this is the story of my life. I actually got really sick on my birthday. I had a terrible, terrible migraine and was basically stuck indoors

for most of the weekend because I i was in agony so i feel great today sorry i didn't ask you about it at the top of the show when you asked me how my weekend was and i selfishly had some ready-made nostalgic corny references to sling at you but look i hope that you i hope that you feel better i hope you're able to celebrate yourself, even if it was by yourself. You know, just 41. Hey, you know, no one gives a shit about you when you're 23 either, Luke, okay? You know, what's my age again? That's what I'm telling you, dude.

Father's Day, it's better than birthdays every day of the week. All right. From Dengay Fever or something. Deng Yong Fa. Dengay Fgue fever asks what is your most underrated excuse me who is your most underrated gatekeeper in the history of mma bc uh is it okay to say paul felder right now in the history of mma that's that's the choice you go to could you have more recency bias please explain take to explain what this question is actually asking are they are you sort of asking who was a guy or a lady who was really

good who only the very very best could beat but they've got some legit wins and maybe they're a fan favorite in terms of their fight style themselves okay so they're long remembered as a gatekeeper as a gatekeeper yet if they were in another era they may have been a title contender is that the spirit of this question or you know they were never the best among their peers but they were good enough to have respect and maybe exciting and you knew if someone beat that guy that they were legit okay who do you got who do you got so i'm gonna just do it from the top of my dome you know one person who comes to mind is Frank Trigg. He only had bad fights against Hughes or St-Pierre,

but he beat the shit out of Dennis Hallman. He beat Hanato Verissimo when people just weren't doing that. He beat Misaki up at middleweight. Dude, he was fucking good. But was he the best of his generation no he was not uh so he'd be a great great name to call out um Ian McCall how about Uncle Creepy I hate to say it but it's probably true you know he got and he could have been more than that and maybe to an extent he was but you're right based on how the things shook out. I can't say you're wrong.

How about Kalasha? Is she really a gatekeeper if you've been in... I don't know how I feel about that one. Maybe. Okay, it's a little harsh. Kat Zingano, I mean, we can go places with this, okay? Zingano is an interesting one. Maybe she'd be that way or you could even say Peña but the oh I got it I got it I got it Keith Jardine all the way Keith Jardine's an interesting

one yeah how sad was it when he beat Chuck dude you'd never seen so many sad dudes in affliction shirts in your life when Keith Jardine you know it's a really good fight I just watched it for the first time a couple months ago Jardine against Sugar the old... Hey, you know what's a really good fight? I just watched it for the first time a couple months ago. Jardine against Sugar Rashad in the Ultimate Fighter Tournament. It's a good-ass fight. Actually, people forget how good this fight was. Keith Jardine versus Stefan Bonner. That actually was a hell of a contest, too.

That was a good one. I would say Forrest, but he won the title, so that's not really fair. So I couldn't say him. Yeah, I would say Matt Serra, but he won the title, so that's not really fair. So I couldn't say him. Yeah, I would say Matt Serra, but he won the title, so that's not really fair. Chris Lytle was kind of one of those guys a little bit. Definitely. That's a perfect pick right there.

You know? All right. What if somebody said the Diaz brothers? No, they're not gatekeepers. They're trendsetters. They're badasses. Yeah, they're not. They would be if they played the UFC's games.

Yeah, good point. Good point. If they let the UFC. I mean, the real answer to this question is Cowboy Cerrone. He fits that in every category. Yeah, you're right. Right? That's exactly right yeah uh and by the way until his recent run i might have said uh jorge masvidal but i think

he's turned things around and really not that he didn't have a shitload of ability but he just couldn't quite get the w when you thought he needed it but now he's got him so it's a little bit different uh okay this is a weird one from at slickmanickman253BC. Do you guys, did you guys rather hear, they spelled it wrong. It's Kamzat, not Kazmat, Chimaev. I think that's right. Say in 2018 after Conor insulted Khabib, he tried to fly to Ireland to beat up Conor, but he was arrested instead. Yeah, that's a weird story.

It's like, I went to go fuck you up, but I couldn't get past customs. So take that or something. I don't know what to make of that. I mean, I don't. Do I believe it? Yeah. All right. Them hoes are our loyal, Luke.

Okay? Them guys will kill for their brethren. Okay? We saw it, 229, right? Yeah. They mean business. They operate on an honor society, not a dignity society sort of basis. I mean, you can crack jokes all you want on this show.

You disrespect them, they might knock on your door, Luke, okay? What are you going to do now? All right, you going to roll? What are you going to do? You going to take them down? What are you going to do, Luke, okay? What? What do you got?

What are you going to do? Saluyev, crank them? What do you going to do, Luke? Okay. What? What do you got? What are you going to do? Saluyev? Crank them? What do you got? Suluyev, you mean? Amor Suluyev? Yeah. Who died in prison, by the way.

What are you going to do? You know he died in prison, right? I do not know that. No. Yeah. He had stomach cancer and died in prison. He turned out to be a hitman for the mob. Did you know that?

Luke, I did not know that either. Wow. Wow. Did he work with Ianan heinish hey um uh would you uh this is a legitimate question because you've been in bar fights you you ragdolled that guy in a wife beater that time and ended his life um would you ever shoot in a in a bar fight would there be a situation where you would i'm not talking about firearms i you mean like a wrestling shot would you go for a double leg yes double leg no body lock sure like a standing clinch yeah like around the waist or high around the shoulders yeah sure under hooks or over hooks uh under hooks always inside control is always better you can remove people from bars that way if they're like trying to fight somebody else it's great okay okay all right last

one i don't know i was i was i was creating scenarios luke if i came up behind you in at a bar and applied a rear naked yes uh would you go go tap or nap? You would go flat to your back, and it would be the worst mistake of your life. Let me just assure you. Okay. We'll see, Luke. We'll see when you least expect it. We'll see.

Let me say something. You want me to break your ribs by crashing on top of you? I highly encourage you to try it. All right. Let's do this. Okay, Luke. We'll see. Yeah, we'll see.

All right. all right let's do this uh we'll see yeah we'll see all right from two of these fucking names auntie rain and uh aunt i ray n yeah and from antifa if you had to go through the rest of your life wearing seinfeld's clothes or having seinfeld's hair from the 90s? Which would you choose, BC? You got to go. Listen to me. You got to go hair. Here's why. Because you can just always shave your head. That would break the spirit of the question.

The question is the hairstyle, Luke. Okay. All right. I didn't say I had to have it. No, it didn't say I had to have a stylist. I had to have his hair. the hairstyle, Luke, okay? Alright, um... It didn't say I had to have his style. It said I had to have his hair. Alright, the question is better said if you were a single male close enough to your prime,

right? Because, you know, if you're married, I mean, whatever, right? I just, look at this crappy haircut I just pissed my wife off with. Whatever, Luke, okay? But if you're single, would you rather try to pull off game with Seinfeld's 90s hair or his clothes? I think you've got to go... Oh, man.

I think you've got to go hair still. You still have to go hair. I think you can pull that hair off with a modern clothing setup, get in shape, you know, fix up your grind hair profile. Yeah, you're not going to win either way. But, dude, he had those, like, dad shoes and, like, pleated khakis. I mean, you know, you're going to spend a lot of time on Eskimo tube dressed like that.

I just know that. You ain't going hard in the paint or the taint, Luke. You're not going anywhere, okay? No. No, it's going to be real bad for you. So you got to go with hair and then just figure something out from there. All right. With that in mind, that is where we now pass the show.

Speaking of the taint joke, I can think of nothing better as a setup to our next segment. Take it away, BC. All right. Woo-hoo. Let's do it. You know what we do on this show we scour the globe for the good the bad the ugly the highs and lows of combat sports and beyond over the past seven days it is have you seen this shit luke we are heavy on actual fights

from over the weekend in hyth this week let's start with UFC Vegas 6 from the Apex Center. Hello Benil Darius. How about spinny shit that worked against Red Hot Scott Holtzman or Hot Rod Scott Holtzman or whatever. Benil, done that Luke. How about this?

Bro, he was on fire in this fight. Holtzman just got bulldozed. He's a talented guy, but Dariusz. Good. Just watch Dariusz. Look at all these punches. Just look.

Just look. Even 30 seconds before that, Luke, he landed about four or five just stiff shots to set him up. This was a wow. Wow. I mean, for a guy that's known for more of the submission highlight reel, is he becoming a real player, Luke? Yeah, there's actually something called the Darius Garden Jiu-Jitsu obviously made from him. For him to do this is just kind of incredible.

You still can't get the Barboza loss out of your head with him, but, man, when he's on, he is on. He is just incredible. Also, surprise Herb didn't let that one go at least a little bit if I'm being honest with you. How least a little bit of being on a video. How dare you? Come on. Dominic Cruz told me he smells like bitches and cigarettes. Let's roll on to the undercard here. Check

out a very mulleted Andrew Sanchez sending Wellington Turman to hell with one punch here, Luke. Yes. You know, I don't like the mullet. I don't think it's cool or funny. Again, no one cares what I think. I'm just letting you know. But I'll tell youullet i don't think it's cool or funny again no one cares what i think i'm just letting you know but i'll tell you this i have heard stories about uh who sanchez has fucked up in the gym you know guys he was brought in to train with and then

sanchez just went to work on him and it's never quite translated to the octagon and beating uh wellington here and the way that he did certainly is amazing. Not an upper echelon opponent, but I'm telling you, man, people have told me, multiple people have told me, like, dude, you know who's really good is Andrew Sanchez. I was glad to see him finally live up to that name a little bit here, the El Dirty. Wow, party in the front, violence in the back here. Mike Pyle in the house.

I like it a lot. All right, let's roll on one more from this undercard. We saw that guy choke out the bum out of his shorts a couple weeks ago. How about Gavin Tucker getting caught in a choke here by Justin James and removing his clothing to break free? I'd like to see this in the women's game, Luke. His shorts look like a can of Four Loko. Have you noticed that?

That is a great call. Yes. Yes. I was like, dude, you got to get Four Loko. Have you noticed that? That's a great call. Yes. Yes. I was like, dude, you got to get Four Loko. How is Four Loko, honestly, serious question. How in the fuck is Four Loko not sponsoring someone in the MMA world? That seems like the perfect demo. Yeah.

Energy malt liquor. I mean, that makes you commit crimes. Yeah. It's the Mickey's malt liquor of the 21st century. Well, hold on. They took out the caffeine, although if you do what my fraternity brothers did, you open the Four Loko,

and this is when they removed all the caffeine, and then you dump a five-hour energy in it, and then you drink it. Oh, my God. That's a heart attack, Luke. Yeah, it's also fun. All right. That's great.

Hey, let's go to the mohegan bubble for bellator 243 hijinks speaking of weird shorts you see chris lencioni bust out the robe and then the coctacular undies here luke i'm not down for this okay it's just not the way i roll i'm sorry well dude you got to be honest first of all his opponent aj akazarm just not making the best showcase of himself also here's what you just missed, BC. You're burying the lead here. Above his waistline, Lencioni, you can't quite tell from this video, he has a cock tattoo.

I'm not exaggerating. I believe the cock, I could be wrong about this, I believe it is ejaculating, but at a bare minimum, it has wings. See those wings on his stomach? They are the wings of a dick tattooed on his stomach. That is not a joke. You're going to fly it into the hangar anytime soon? Yeah, this is...

Anyway, those shorts, Luke, they're awkward. But they do add definition, right? I mean, maybe you could consider picking one up for this weekend? I'm going to wear one of those to the grocery store. Just that and some shoes. See what happens. And a mask. I'm going to be like, what? I got a mask on. Alright, well speaking of what that tattoo's doing here, Luke, you see this

incredible knockout by Valerie Lareda on the undercard. Just her third pro fight at ATT. She gets a lot of attention on social media. I forgot her opponent's name, but she was talking ill-gong about how Valerie represents women, and she made her pay, Luke. That's a hell of a finish.

And then we get the victory dance a la Betch Koheya here. Yeah, you know it was a good dance when Russia Today posted. You ever look at their sports account? Their sports account is like all men's sports, and then the only time they post about women is when there is a degree of in their minds anyway sexual innuendo and they posted this and i was like oh it must have been a hit if russia today is posting it this way yeah you know what the fight was a little bit boring up to this point but uh you know it's a third pro fight it's

not going to be the most amazing thing nice crack crack there to drop her. Yeah, yeah. She's got good hands, you know. The only thing is, what's with her style? She runs the whole fight. It's Taekwondo style. You know, where you have all that space. She has to constantly... Dude, she has a style that's not quite ready-made for MMA, and she's still trying to figure it out.

But, as you've seen, she's athletic. She trains hard. She has a good team behind her. Let's see, you know, three fights in, not everyone's Jon Jones. Let's give her some time. So let's see how she goes. Well, let's advance it to when they read the decision and she had the gi on. She went at it again here, Luke. So my question is this.

She gets a lot of fire from people who say that she's got a very, she might have the thirstiest Instagram account this side of Pearl Gonzalez, but she claims, Luke, it's not for the men, it's for herself. Are you okay with this level of showmanship as a father of a daughter? And I'm not trying to crack jokes here. Are you okay with this imagery that she puts out? Well, yes, because I am not a Victorian-era prude who wants to regulate what an adult here does with her Instagram account.

It's perfectly fine. I don't care at all. I will say, though, I'm a little bit skeptical of that argument. Like, it's for myself. It's not for anyone. If it's for yourself, then why post it at all? Like, it's social media by default. So here's my thing. It's like, do I believe that there is something about being proud of the way you look,

especially for someone who trains really hard? Of course. I don't think that is a bad argument. Do I believe that the entirety of it is for self gratification in some kind of way? No, I don't buy that. I think a key part of it is attracting the opposite sex. And I don't see anything wrong with that. I just think you should be a little bit honest about it.

Yeah, I mean, be honest. It's marketing. It is what it is, right? Never trust a big butt and a smile. That girl is poison. We actually, though, have live footage of a guy in a gym watching her post-dance during his workout. Gaff, can we advance this film?

This is great right here, Luke. I mean, you know, that's killing the two birds with one stone right there. You get a good workout in while you yell, right? What is that called, Luke? You're a big powerlifting guy. So this is for your lats. You would face sitting the mat, and it would be like you're doing a pull-down. My man here is just working his glutes.

What can I tell you? I think he's working more than the glutes, Luke. I think he's trying to get the tattoo from Lencioni midriff going. Alright, let's roll on to... Hey, PBC on Fox had their first card on Saturday at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. And Luke, check out the trunks on super middleweight Lennox Allen

there in the purple. Twitter was all over him. Now, we've seen crazy trunks before. Hector Macho Camacho, Floyd Mayweather, Gervonta Davis wear the heavy leather trunks. What about these? These look like ropes outside of a private club when you wait in line. What is this, Luke?

These to me are stupid, but I thought that Gervonta's trunks in the Mayweather-McGregor fight, he was what, the co-main for that? I think that's right. Yes. His trunks in that one were not. They looked like he had murdered a hairy Smurf or something. Like he had killed Cookie Monster and then cut him in half and was wearing his legs as trunks. I didn't understand it at all.

These are stupid. I will acknowledge. I don't hate these. This is ridiculous. I don't hate these. I hate when people show up in the diaper. You know, the old Hector Camacho, Gabe Rosado ones, where you can see the underwear.

Keith Thurman likes to wear them. That's not my style. But this is actually a decent fight. Big win here at Super Middleweight for David Morel Jr. there in the black. And we roll on deeper on the undercard. Luke, a lot of real boxing folks talking good stuff about this rising heavyweight 34-year-old Michael Coffey. He's 10-0.

Luke, he's an ex-Marine. There's no such thing, BC. And he knocked out Luis Eduardo Pena. This guy could be interesting. Got a late start to his career, 34 years old, like I mentioned. But if you watch this at all, he can move and he can punch from different angles. He's not just a banger. He's got a lot of craft going toward him there. he box for the marine corps do you know i do not know

that yeah you know what simplified of this devil dog this dark green marine here it looks pretty good i'm talking about all right hey luke you have established last week that you hate sweet caroline by neil diamond and the use of it more than anyone ever well we found somebody who hates it more let's go to a bar I believe this is Scotland Sweet Caroline comes on and check out that guy who just walked in front of the stage he does not approve of this set list Luke that guy is uh he's from Scotland but that guy is a fucking patriot. Let me tell you something. What a hero.

Look, this is totally you. This is, I mean, you know, PTSD coming in, just get out of here. Oh, man. Get angry at the world. Yeah, thank you for defending our country and defending that stage. Wow. That guy, I would buy that guy. Not only would I not throw that guy out of the bar, I'd buy him a beer.

Look at this hero. There is a backstory to here. Some people were saying that the guitarist used to bully that dude. He was younger and he was trying to get payback. I don't know the full story, but it's fantastic. You can research it yourself. Nobody died during the filming of this clip, unlike last week.

So let's roll on here. Hey, you know Johnny Football, Johnny Manziel, getting a lot of flack for his bad cliff dive video. Check out what he did off the roof of his house, Luke. Full frontal with the flip. This is fantastic. Do you know how badly that could have gone, Luke? You know what?

You can't say he's not an athlete. I mean, he is an athlete. When you got money and a lot of time, you can do like this right check out this alternate angle i'm gonna give him props i'm a big first of all how does how does a guy who plays for the montreal alouettes afford a house like this you know i don't know he was always sort of had a little sketch to him going on right but uh i've always been a big fan of number two there right kelly number two johnny manziel number two okay you listen here's here's the thing about him him and tebow folks for folks don't want to acknowledge this but it's really true they were college football and what i mean by that is they're clearly neither of them could hack it in the pros but i was there in new orleans for the

sugar bowl when uh the gators played the cincinnati bear. Dude, Tebow in college was fun as shit. This guy at Texas A&M was fun as shit. You just guaranteed good time when you watched them play. And I think folks should acknowledge that. They should. They should. I mean, look, The Rock, Dwayne Johnson just bought the damn XFL. I'd want to see Johnny Manziel as a star of that, wouldn't you?

Well, this is why these guys got to get paid in college, because they can't play at the next level, but they played their ass off at that one. And they were fun. I think there should be financial rewards for that. Well, look, he could have ended his future career if this had gone wrong. And Luke, we've seen it on this show before. Can we advance the slide? Sometimes if you don't have the athleticism of a johnny manziel you should not be trying this stuff oh yeah i think i think he was fine he may never walk again

though yeah wow all right i think this was i think this was my first episode of me hosting the mma hour uh let's move on speaking of fails, check out this amazing skateboard crash. He's just a skater boy. He said, see you later, boy. Wow. Oh, shit. Who did he hit? Is that Marty McFly in Back to the Future?

Jay, can you? Where's Jay when we need him? You know what, man? I feel bad for that delivery guy. That's just some donk delivering fucking ramen on Uber Eats. And this jackass fucking douchebag skater is running into him, you know? Jay, you did a documentary on Back to the Future. What is he wearing?

Is that the Darth Vader costume from it? I believe... I'll tell you this much. Yes, that is accurate. That is accurate. He's coming with Ben Halen for the future. I was like, you know what makes this clip, BC, is the skater. Watch the back of his head bounce off the pavement here.

Bok. Oh. You know what? I'm glad he got a little bit of CTE, and it makes me feel better. Can we point out the matching bag on the back of the delivery bike to the outfit? Like, that's pretty impressive. Look, maybe he's just a COVID truth there here,

Luke. Maybe he's just, just protecting himself, right? Yeah. This is America. This is America running into the COVID virus right here. That is true.

Hey, Luke, let's check out drunk tricks. They always, they always try crazy things. Um, uh, don't be alarmed.

Don't be alarmed. Luke. If she falls head over feet, don't, don't be surprised if luke if she falls head over feet don't don't be surprised if i love her for all that she is that is successful luke what kind of balls do you need to pull that off dude what sausage fest is she at jesus christ that's pretty impressive i'll tell you to walk away from that that is that's not bad not bad at all. Yeah, you know what? That wasn't that bad of a tumble because she initiated the fall. But I'm just looking at these dudes and I'm like, yeah. One day these people are going to reproduce BC.

And then they're going to, you know. Do you think she hooked up or threw up within two minutes after this was filmed? I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. All right. Hey, Luke, you ever grow up wondering which superheroes could win in a fight? It's sort of a mythical matchup Monday. We never have an answer.

Now we do. Check out this brawl, Luke. Oh, yeah. Look at the Muay Thai clinch. Look at the Muay Thai clinch from spider-man he turned batman into bitch franklin dude and robin just stays being a bitch i don't i've never liked robin man look at spidey with the plumb though peter parker going plumb on batman there though let me just let me say something robin is a bitch ass hoe His character has never been cool. He looks like a fucking one of the elves who makes toys in the Will Ferrell movie.

He can't fight for shit. They tried to make him cool in the Bane movie and didn't do fuck all with it because fuck Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Man, fuck Robin. The best thing that they could do with Robin is get him viciously killed by Venom or something else. Fuck Robin. He's also missing his mask.

He's not, like, where's his mask? He's not wearing a little eye thingy. He's got no identity integrity. He is such a fucking quizzling loser piece of shit. Always hated him. Are you channeling your anger to Robin Black? Props to the 60s

Batman costumes. Those are pretty cool this is a robin black take as the robin of the show i take it no it's not it's a fucking batman and robin take i've never understood this piece of shit sidekick ever all right hey let's roll on here to a beer fail of the week here uh look when you're when you agreed a shotgun of beer you do have to be careful to do it right oh god god got a little honor luke wow uh see this is i have yes i have had dates and like this yes yes see this is what it's like when someone has covet on the new york city subways and they sneeze yeah that is fantastic all right hey let's go to some family awkward photos here.

Can we get Ron Jeremy's brother a shirt? Why is the child placed right there, Luke? What's up with this dude having just a layer of titties? It's just one layer. Did you notice that? It's like a 360 layer. Yeah. Yeah.

Of course, he wore the red Stockton shorts there, Notice that? It's like a 360 layer. Yeah. Yeah. Of course he wore the red Stockton shorts there, John Stockton shorts, and put the baby in front of it. That's just awkward here. Do we have any awkward family pictures, though? Full family here. We got any freak? Look at a Dina Howard freak like me right here. Look at Dad.

Dad's like... You know what? That's a classy bunch. I know the kids are horrified, but how do you think you got here right you know because your dad is shock g the one who put the satin on your panties right you don't have to call it that you're stupid okay hey let's roll on um check out this crazy indian fellow saying boo to the the bee hair Luke and stuffing him into his wife beater what would it take how much money for you to attempt this so I'm actually allergic

to bees so there's not enough money in the world alright alright well if this doesn't make you feel gross how did you not get the clip floating around social media or maybe you're about to show it of the the all lives

matter guy who just grabs the handful of wasps and eats it i have not seen that yet maybe it'll be on next week's show luke okay well speaking of grabbing things that are gross and putting them in your mouth this fella took it one step further and his wife beater luke um yeah uh there's easier ways to get a honey these are bees and there's much easier ways to get a honey. What are these? These are bees and there's much easier ways to get a honey sandwich than this, Luke. Uh, yeah, that guy's gotta be a freak in the, in the, uh, yeah. Those cannot be bees. Those cannot be bees.

You know, one time, uh, about 10 years ago, I, I, uh, weed whacked over a bee's nest, Luke. And I got like about 30 of them on me and I got stung an insane amount of times. And I stripped down to my underwear in the moment, ran inside to get the bee spray, came out and they came at me. And it was like, it was like a Rambo moment. I shot them all down until I ran out of bee spray and I ran back in. And as I slammed the door of the porch, like 10 of them came in and crashed and died right there. Look, those, they will man up when it's go time.

That is like UFC 229 in the cage, right? Like, Kamzat will land in Ireland and come after you. Yeah, they're the Diaz brothers at a World Series of Fighting event. Yeah, Jake Shields will take your laptop. Yes, 100%. No, I actually asked him about it.

You ever seen the one, what was the, I think it was the first or second Diaz-Connor fight when Jake Shields grabbed someone's Starbucks and chucked it at him? Yes, yes, they don't care. You haven't seen that? They don't care. No, no, I haven't seen that.

All right. Hey, people think we only show fails. Let's show a great win here. Check out this, the Frisbee Catch of the Week, Luke i'm gonna give this a uh nine out of ten that's impressive wow that is i think that guy is this guy is like a bootleg uh uh juji mufu you know that guy no but i'll look it up afterwards that is great wow first they think they got that on the first take too dude perfect yes all right hey let's go to the airport luke it's always best when But I'll look it up afterwards. That is great. Wow. They got that on the first take, too. Dude, perfect.

Yes, all right. Hey, let's go to the airport, Luke. It's always best when people are waiting for you. When you get off the plane, they got their signs ready because they missed you. Check out this chick's sign. I mean, she's honest, right? That's going to be a fun car ride home in the Uber. We actually have footage of them later that night at a bar, Luke.

It is 2020. It's the craziest years of our life. You do need to be COVID conscious when going after girls. Look, I got to be honest right now. I don't know how single people do it during this pandemic, Luke. Yeah, I was thinking about that. How do you date right now probably just a lot of dry humping not even yeah all right that's great that is uh i mean for you luke seriously all seriousness you have to respect these people

because they're doing what you have been asking them to do, right? No, I'd rather they just go inside and get the fuck out of my face. All right, okay. Just go quarantine, you two losers. A condom could have been an alternative there. Okay, okay. Yeah, dental dams, those are not awesome. Since we showed a death last week, I did feel the burden to come out with some family-friendly content this week.

So check out these hungry, hungry hippos. Luke, I can't stop watching this video. It's awesome. Bro, you ever read about how aggressive hippos are? Male hippos? Oh, they account for more deaths in like riverbeds and bodies of water

than alligators and crocodiles. They are super fucking aggressive. Dude, this guy is destroying these watermelons. They're like Ben Askren. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's fantastic. I love that. All right.

Luke, there's a new sport out there you can try out with your friends. Would you ever blow your friends like this, Luke? I don't think this is a COVID-approved game. What do we call this what is this called by the way uh fellatio football i don't i don't really know where to go with this luke they're not sucking like dude i mean i realize you want to make the the joke but that doesn't even work yeah yeah all right that's awkward uh speaking of awkward we're gonna close with this

luke i got gas the other day a couple towns away from where i live in winstead connecticut and i saw an empty storefront next door and i was like what's that called look they're not even fooling around in terms of what they're offering what would you sell in a store like that i I assumed it was a massage place, but I did look it up and it was, um, it was like hippie clothing. So I don't know, but that's, that's fantastic. That is, I mean, did you really take that picture? Hey, yeah, I did. I took that picture. Yeah. Hey, Karen opened up a new store. Oh, what's it called? Getting Off. Oh, wow.

Yeah, all right. You know, yeah. That is great. Okay. That's all the shit I have for this. Look, I can't, you know, last week was an all-time great one. I can't do it twice in a row. Listen, this was a great one.

I have a little bit of press for time, so let's get to it. We have Odds and Ends, BC. What do you have for us on Odds and Ends? I did want to mention quickly that pbc on fox card on saturday look they tried to uh to up what everybody else was doing they had the uh the fake crowd noise that espn um had tried out with the top rank cards that i hate but what i didn't hate i don't know if you saw this was the fake fans on the boards around them inside the microsoft theater did you see that luke the pbBC on Fox card? I did, yes.

I didn't hate it. It was okay. I'm getting a little bit more used to it, but I got to tell you, it still feels a little bit like a Black Mirror episode to me. I don't love it. Okay, okay. Decent main event.

Welterweight's Jamal James Tacoma decision over Thomas DeLorme. He's a real player in this division, and I thought this was a good win, Luke, because he just got into that brawl with Antonio DeMarco in his last one and really gave up his height a lot, and he was in there against a big puncher here, and I thought it was a good win.

It's time for Jamal James to get a real test to find out if he's of that ilk. I'd love to see him against an Ugas or Sean Porter or something. I know PBC just announced some Fox fights. They weren't overwhelmingly great, but, you know, we'll see what happens. By the way, what's the latest, very quickly before I go to my odds and ends, on the Lopez-Lomachenko discussions?

Thank you for bringing that up. Top Rank did announce somewhat of a fall schedule. And by the way, there's some good ones in there. You want to see the rescheduling of unified junior welterweight champion Jose Ramirez against former champion Victor Postal. That one is going to be fantastic. Where we stand now for October 3rd is Lomachenko has agreed to the money that he's going to get, but Lopez hasn't.

Bob Arum and him back and forth on this. Luke, look, this is outside of Wilder Fury 3 that we're petitioning for later this year and maybe right on par with the Errol Spence-Danny Garcia pay-per-view. This is the best fight of the calendar year. I mean, look, Lomachenko, Teofimo is, you know, present slash past versus future. We have to see this. Dear Bob Arum and company, pay that man his money.

Like, let's do it. Let's see this, okay? I need to see this fight. This is a, Teo's taking a shot. He's like freaking 21 years old, 22, whatever, going in there against arguably the best fighter in the world. Let's see this, okay? No more hiccups.

Also, the ratings for PBC on Fox were not great, which sort of goes to show you this idea that, oh, we'll just watch anything. It's not true. I saw Chris Mannix being like, this is a great time for promoters to start working together. And I would agree. I think to the extent that that can happen or you can find interesting ways to make the fights that people want they will watch it but they're not going to watch just anything i think that's a pretty big important lesson uh last thing on this for me go ahead quickly real quick i don't know if you saw the mike tyson uh roy jones jr fight sources are saying is being moved from september to november 28th thanksgiving weekend uh there were people

like chris mannix from the beginning who were like, I'll believe that fight actually happens when I see it. Do you see this as a plus or minus that they want to move it back a couple months? Well, it was supposed to go head-to-head with Canelo, but now the Canelo fight may not necessarily be happening. So if they were doing it to not go head-to-head with Canelo, fine. If they were doing it for some other reason, I don't know what to make of it. But the problem is, remember, dude, this is a real story.

The FBI raided Jake Paul's home in conjunction with some kind of investigation. In fact, Jake Paul, who's going to be the co-main event, or was supposed to be, was facing misdemeanor charges related to looting in Arizona. If you read the press release

from the sheriff's office there, they dropped the charges to help facilitate the federal investigation so i don't know what this dumb ass did but i hope it's serious and i hope he goes to prison forever because that would be awesome but it relax we're having fun here but i'm pointing out that may be in jeopardy too so there could be a lot of things that are making that a little bit weird all right all right i don't i still don't know what to make of it luke i still don't know if i want it to happen i want it to be fun and i want them to say f you andy foster and we're gonna

throw hands anyway and go for it or i don't know if i just want it to fall apart luke i'm in the middle um yeah i i was so again i said before i was so wrong about the mayweather naskawa whatever whatever that was supposed to be and what it ended up being, that I'm just kind of like, eh, I guess we'll see, but still. All right, last for me on this, and I've got to get going, is speaking of Mayweather, Dana White out there teasing that, you know, Floyd and I are talking, we've talked before, you know, nothing to announce,

but there could be a potential opportunity for another fight or some kind of joint venture, some kind of something. We don't really have any details, but Dana did kind of say that things are still in motion there. I don't know what to make of that one either. I don't know if Floyd is going to try to do boxing with them or I don't i don't know i don't know what the hell it is but i know that yeah dana see i'm old enough to remember when dana put out a video on versus accusing floyd of being racist because floyd had not so nice things to say about jeremy lynn and lynn sanity and uh but i guess that's all behind them now and they're going to work together what that is and when that is your guess is as good as mine but i have to tell all behind them now and they're going to work together what that is and

when that is your guess is as good as mine but i have to tell you it remains true to this day no one is a bigger no one is the he is the monster that lives under the bed of mma fans floyd mayweather they hate him but they are they they want to work with him they want to see him they want to do things with him and yet they want to see him take L's, which he never gives them. So it remains the sort of give and take. But MMA fans love to hate Floyd Mayweather in ways they don't love to hate anybody else. I'm old enough to remember that time Dana White did that Loretta Hunt rant as well, which feels like ancient, ancient history.

Quickly, when you hear that, you're like, okay, maybe it would be Maymac 2, which we talked about it before. To be honest, I think a lot of people at this point would be okay with that and would be welcome. What about something like Floyd versus Henry Cejudo in a boxing match at 147? Who gives a shit?

The Conor's the one that sells that. Floyd too, I mean. But on the mma side you know what are you gonna do you have the king of cringe go up against floyd what a waste of an opportunity at least connor gets you you know to believe in things even when you shouldn't or you know he's got his cornerman dressed like turn of the century but you know uh barbers or shopkeepers or whatever the fuck yeah like he he, he keeps it interesting. I have no desire. To be honest, though, Floyd fought Tenchin Nasikawa. Like, he's interested in cashing them checks.

He don't care what you think. I mean, you could do worse in creating some kind of UFC-inspired crossover super fight than Cejudo, right? Yeah, but... Conor or bust, as far as I'm concerned. You've got to get the biggest star against the biggest star. Plus, they have history. First three rounds were interesting. Blah, blah, blah. Floyd's older. You get the whole thing. All right. You've got to get the biggest star against the biggest star. Plus they have history. First three rounds were interesting. Blah, blah, blah.

Floyd's older. You get the whole thing. All right. We've got to get out of here. One bit of a reminder, BC. This is only just part of what we're doing this week. Thursday, a special live at 11 a.m. 252 preview show.

We're going to go heavy into that card and get you guys ready for it. I have a dissected that will get you ready for some of the heavy into that card and get you guys ready for it i have a dissected that'll get you ready for some of the stuff on that card as well and then friday you can join us for those benavides and gula weigh-ins we'll get you ready for showtime boxing bc we got a busy week my friend and also uh look at all the anyone out there who's a big fan and they should be of that incredible outcry documentary on showtime we got a little bit of bonus content coming soon as well, linked to that, Luke. So get fired up.

It would be already out, but somebody just doesn't know when to call it quits, do they? Look, you know, yeah, okay. No comment, no comment. All right. As always, give the video a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel. We're on social media as well,

Morning Combat on Instagram. That's where you can get your dms in so to speak your questions anyway for dms from donks uh that's on sunday we put up a post you can put your questions there obviously you can subscribe to the channel there's bc and me on instagram and there is bc and me on twitter as well so join us on thursday 11 a.m a ufc 252 preview friday a preview and a weigh-in special for Benavidez and Gulo. And then Saturday, big fights in boxing in MMA.

And we're going to get you as ready as we can for them. BCM's super excited. So last thing I'll say about this, if you want to watch that Benavidez and Gulo fight, and why wouldn't you, go to Showtime.com right now. You can try Showtime free for 30 days. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, you can kick rocks.

But we're going to be watching on Friday, Saturday night, excuse me, and 2.52 at the same time. So it should be a lot of fun. All right? Yeah, you've got another job or something. Yeah, I do. I got to go.

I really got to go. That is Brian Campbell. I'm Luke Thomas. Thanks, everyone, at Malka and Showtime. And until next time. Hey, thanks to Jay. Thanks to Jay. Okay, I know I jumped in as you were climaxing.

Thanks to Jay. Okay, thank you. Fuck Jay. I don't care. It's your show. I don't care. Whatever you want. It's our show.

And with that in mind, may all of your gains be loyal. Thank you. We'll be right back. We'll see you next time.