MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Dos Anjos Beats Felder | Terence Crawford's Big Win | Chandler vs Ferguson? | Ep 83

Episode Date: November 16, 2020

On Episode 83 of MK, Luke and Brian recap this weekend's UFC fight night battle between Paul Felder and Rafael Dos Anjos (4:35). The boys also break down Bud Crawford's impressive win over Kell Brook and where Crawford goes next (24:57). Michael Chandler and Tony Ferguson want to fight each other, is that fight the right call for UFC 256 (54:00)? --------------------------------- 'Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit: store.sho.com   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat  To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is Monday the 16th of November 2020 and it is time, Donks, for Morning Combat. Hello, everyone. Happy Monday to you. My name is Luke Thomas. I am one half of your hosting duo. I am from CBS Sports, as is my partner in crime on the other side of the screen. He is the conspiracy to my theory, the truther to my COVID, the one and only Brian Campbell. Hello, BC. How is your Monday going thus far? Well, Luke, I didn't have power last night due to quasi-tornadoes that hit Connecticut. So, you know, I went to bed with the phone off to save the energy.

I woke up, Luke, to about 82 text messages of you sending me COVID-positive links about how the world's going to end and all the MMA fighters got it wrong. I tried not to get upset about it, Luke. Oh my God, did I try? But at this point, Luke, I feel like you're just victory lap slam Duncan on the fact that you may have been right. Even though I feel like everybody predicted the second surge, I almost feel like you're getting pleasure over this, bro. Stop trying to pleasure yourself through my phone. I'm not down with that. All right.

Well, your phone is a place of pleasure for both you and me for a variety of different ways. But no, it's just it's very easy to be right for the most part. Not entirely. For the most part, when you're like, hey, maybe there's an army of worldwide scientists who say this is a thing we should listen to. Oh, that's a very easy position to win on, generally speaking. Okay. But neither here nor there, BC, because we have tons of news to get to from the weekend. You put out an instant reaction over the weekend.

The video is up on our channel because we've got, let's see, Crawford beating Kell Brook. We've got Dos Anjos beating Paul Felder. We've got a lot to get to there. So first things first, as always, thumbs up on the video. Hit that subscribe button. Appreciate that when you do. Showtime is the label that pays us. So if you want to try them out, why wouldn't you?

Showtime.com for a free 30-day trial is a great place to go. And, of course, if you want some of this sweet-ass merch, store.show. Oh, looking good. The green hoodie luke my wife i like i like this i like the hoodie the hoodie keeps you warm i like i like it you know what i'm saying unrelated to that luke i got some merch in the mail right here check it out let's see what you got below the belt no return address on it though little roots of fight below the belt b shop shirt i must have an admirer on the left coast probably all the the shout out and i've been done over

i would have preferred a big beige one but i'll take the uh uh triple double xl uh yellow a little bit too big for me but uh shout out to the family just the same look wait is that did you really get that in the mail you're just doing a bit you'd be surprised I did wow very interesting uh all right well if you want you can go check out Roots to Fight too they are a great company that produces great content BC and speaking of great content we have events to get to so let's start the show where it starts first topic to kick things off here we start on the UFC side of things. Rafael Dos Anjos defeats Paul Felder via split decision. We'll talk about the split later on. We are going to have a conversation about it, but I had it basically as a shutout. I think you could give one round to Paul Felder

if you wanted to, but it was Rafael Dos Anjos' return to lightweight BC. Okay, we know he's been a former champion in this weight class BC. He's a perennial contender basically no matter where he goes. But what did you learn on Saturday? What did he prove to you? He proved the spirit of those things we said leading into this fight. Let me, let me phrase that correctly. What I'm trying to say here, Luke, he's not typically on the short list of the names that jump out of your mouth of guys who you were like surefire Hall of Famer, active legend, all those type of things. He's in that gray area. Yet, you know, something we said on last week's show in response to the interview I did with him, it's like, you know what?

The more you look at that resume, the more you look at the fact that he only fights the best. He'll lose some, but his wins are impressive. His losses are almost more impressive just on how many great fighters he fights in a short period so you have that as sort of you're like you know what maybe this guy doesn't get the credit for being the completely well-rounded always professional model sort of badass blood and guts fighter who can get to that elite level and you can't count him out and then he comes in here at 36 moves down to a weight class he hasn't been in four years one that said Luke he nearly died the last time he tried to make it when he lost his title to Eddie Alvarez and he comes in looking like a million

dollars he may have lost four or five coming in from welterweight but what he did on this one night against a hungry game as balls Paul Felderder, who had nothing to lose, was really kind of stamp something home. Yes, at 36, he's an active contender in this historically deep. And this was all about that. A complete performance. Figured out early on what was going to give him the advantage. Used the pressure of the wrestling. Was fairly even striking on the feet for most of this fight with Felder. Really started to win out as the rounds went on slightly in terms of using his volume, body shots, attacking. But it was just a grind, hardcore,

get him to the ground, survive a cut, create a cut of your own type of ballsy, badass performance. He lost four or five coming into this, Luke. If he lost this, we would have been talking about, it's time. It's time to make your plans. You know, what's going to be your go-away bout?

What other legend do you want to fight before you end this? No, he's a legitimate title contender at lightweight, at 36, at the weight class that was going to kill him, and he did it by basically doing an eight-month training camp, going to Brazil, catching COVID, running up the hills next to the favelas. He did it Rocky IV Moscow old-school style. He's a hero.

I love this man. Is he ever going to get back to the title level and win one? I don't know. But a performance like this, you cannot count him out. Yeah, I mean, I echo really everything you're saying. There's two different divides in the conversation to have here. One is, what is the immediate implication of a win over Paul Felder from Saturday? And for that sort of narrow consideration,

what I would say is he is going to be a tough out for anyone in that top 10, especially even that top 5, I would say. He is obviously a former champion. He looked to be in phenomenal physical condition at 155 pounds. He had the stamina to go 25 minutes. Now, exactly where it places him remains to be seen. Climbing the ranks at lightweight, even if it's just one rung on the ladder, is exceedingly difficult to do. But to me, I would say he is a player in that top seven,

top six space. To me, he's a tough out for all of them. I wouldn't discount his title chances completely. And to be this good this late in the game after all of, yes, many victories, but many defeats too, and two different weight classes coming back to a weight class that you had to leave because of the weight-cutting issues, it is incredible that he finds himself here in this position. So I don't want to overstate the value of this one victory at lightweight, but I don't want to undersell it either. It tells us he's not washed, he's a tough out,

probably going to be ranked somewhere in that top seven-ish space, and he is a viable player at 155 pounds. The broader conversation, the second part of it, to me, it just blows me away. I can't say enough good things about Rafael dos Anjos, BC. Ten times this guy has been in a UFC main event, sometimes on pay-per-view, mostly on fight nights, but ten times he's done it.

Eight times he has fought somebody who was previously a belt holder in this organization. And he's done it at 155 and 170 pounds at the time in which he was competing. Certainly the two most difficult weight classes out there. I said this on Twitter on Saturday night. It is not a knock to boxing because I'm sure if the incentives were different, you would get guys like that in the sport. It's just not available to them. But in MMA, if you want to be a guy who just takes on risks because you believe in the martial arts spirit, if you want to be a guy who says, I don't really take fights that are always advantageous,

I'm not going to take fights where it's even on size, I'm not going to take fights where really I have anything to gain, you might get guys like that in boxing, but you have that here in RDA. even on size. I'm not going to take fights where really I have anything to gain. You know, you might get guys like that in boxing, but you have that here in RDA. There is no equivalent like him to me on our sister side of the sport or, you know, brother side, whatever our sibling side of the sport in boxing. He is a guy that has incredible wins. He's a belt holder previously in the UFC, but there is time after time after time where he took fights that were not to his, no manager would have ever told him it's a good idea to do. He was undersized. You know, he was against somebody who had no name, whatever. And he still did it. Look at the

list of guys that he has faced it. People talk about murderers rows. No, no one has faced a murderer's row like him. He's got some losses for it along the way. He is such a unicorn. And the last thing I want to say about this is, BC, I'm going to put him now on the level of Michael Bisping and Alistair Overeem. And what I mean by that is these guys who most of the time they're winners. In fact, winners at high levels. Overeem, holding the dream and strike force in K1

title. Bisping, Hall of Famer, middleweight champion. And obviously Dos Anjos, a previous lightweight champion. But sometimes they lost. And sometimes they lost in devastating ways. And sometimes when fighters lose in devastating ways, they're never the same. But then you get guys like those three that I just mentioned that have an absolute amnesia about the difficulty they have faced. They have amnesia about the times that life pushed back on them. They have bulletproof minds that carry them forward no matter what. It is a marvel to witness, and Dos Anjos deserves to be placed along those two other men. He has my utmost respect.

I'm so glad he's back yeah well said and it's one thing by the way to have that unflinching self-confidence the greats have it right but it's one thing to have that when you can't back it up there's been many a great who's lingered too long took on ill-advised fights sent to hell for it and fell apart and you're like man they're their you know they're their own they're their they're their own, they're their worst victim. They are their own worst enemy is what I'm trying to say. It's even rarer in that space you mentioned, the biz pings, the over reams, where you can linger late, still believe in yourself

and still be able to evolve and execute and withstand and all those things. I mean, there's a mental toughness in there that goes far, far, far, far beyond just that entry level toughness in there that goes far, far, far, far beyond just that entry level toughness that, that makes you a professional fighter who can last and do some things. You have to really be able to be smart enough to evolve. And that's what he's done. If there's any boxing equivalent, and it's not an easy one to make, it's probably Nodino Donair,

who's been to the top so many times and then looked done, uh, went back down in weight late in his career you know re-resuscitated himself now he's back in the title picture here at 118 coming off that uh hellacious fight of the year against niowa in a new way he might be the only guy you can compare to it is unicorn level and to circle back to your original point yeah rda's in play i don't think he'll get conor mcgregor he wants to make this old hotel room key luke this relic of mma history 196 rda mcgregor the fight that never happened he wants that i don't know i don't i don't think he gets it luke but he's gonna get a big ass fight and he's gonna deserve it now when we look at this title picture because either habib's gonna do one more

and gonna look for the perfect opponent or we are gonna be lining up who's next for Khabib. He's not at the front seat of that conversation, but he's in the car at least. Okay, Luke? He's in the damn car. Are you crushing your bills? Defeating your monthly payments? Sounds like you're at the top of your financial game.

Rise to it with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card, the credit card that rewards your good financial habits. Earn points for paying your credit card bill in full and on time every month. Level up from bill payer to reward slayer. Terms and conditions apply. I totally agree. And then the last thing I'd say on this, I just want to, you know,

anyone can go on Wikipedia and look at this, but I'm not going to go through all of them. But since he faced Gleason Tebow, this is who he has fought. So Tebow, Kamal Chalarus, international class wrestler. Anthony Angel Kawani, great striker. Mark Bocek, one of the best grapplers out of Canada ever. Evan Dunham. Let's see.

Cerrone. Khabib Nurmagomedov. Jason High. Benson Henderson. Nate Diaz. Anthony Pettis. Cerrone again. Eddie Alvarez. Tony Ferguson. Tarek Safadi. Neil Magni. Robbie Lawler. Colby Covington. Kamara Usman. You're not going to find many resumes of guys who are willing to take on challenges like that in combat sports.

Celebrate them while they're here, BC, and I know you do. Would you also throw, real quick, Frankie Edgar and that same group of over in biz ping in uh in rda there's some frankie edgard vibes i get from this late 30s rda yeah i guess you could put him there i hadn't thought of it in that way um yeah yeah i guess you could i mean he's had the bad setbacks but i don't feel like his setbacks were as pronounced maybe i'm wrong about that though that's you know what i have to he's at a bare minimum, he's on the bubble, probably deserves to be included, but you're right. Certainly, he's had a career of nothing but absolute savages over and over again across now multiple weight

classes, three of them, and found ways to keep winning. So I don't want to take that from him either. Now, it brings us to our second point, BC, which is, well, what about the other side of that equation? Paul Felder loses via split decision which is, well, what about the other side of that equation? Paul Felder loses via split decision again. We'll talk about that in just a moment. But five days' notice, he made weight. Five days' notice, he made a strong account of himself. I thought you could maybe give him a round.

I think giving him two would be very generous, but I suppose doable. Still, he made a strong account of himself. And then after the fight, BC, he reveals that he hadn't been in an MMA gym in four months. Now he had been working out, as I mentioned, he was able to make the weight, but he wasn't doing the kinds of preparatory things that you need to for all the difficulties that Dosan just may have had in Brazil and then changing teams or getting a new trainer in, uh, in Andre Pettiniris, you know, still, that's very different from just not training MMA at all. What did you learn from him in going five rounds and competing basically as well as you possibly could, given those considerations? Yeah, there's a lot to love about this whole week for Paul Felder,

not just saving the card, not just bringing in the story of his dad who died a few years ago, but wanting to honor him and sort of using that what's, you know, what's still there, the active pain of that loss as fuel to get him through a weight cut that he said, what Thursday night, one of the darkest, you know, nights moments of his life. Look, he showed us like he put the balls on the table. He showed us the absolute savagery of who he is, a company man, a hero, all this stuff. But more importantly, Luke, he showed to himself that he's got more left in the tank. And I think that was the most surprising thing.

He's 36. He's still very good. But I think he's sort of some ways proven that he can't get over that hill to the super elite level. Yet, I think by going through a different kind of training camp, one that wasn't designed to be a training camp, he was quicker on his feet, man. I mean, that was one of the best performances of a guy who clearly lost by a wide decision that we've seen on the elite level. He bloodied RDA. Yeah, he was on the wrong end, Felder, of all those grappling exchanges.

But he never gassed out. He never lost heart. He battled back. Anytime they went back on the feet, you know, it was it was pretty even Felder also had had moments where you know he was leading the charge on the feet this was a performance I think Luke that showed him maybe there's a different way to train there's a different way to focus on things uh and maybe there's more left to get out of him if he gets in in sort of another level shape that he had in the past and I think a lot of fighters realize this maybe taking less damage in camp leading up you know is something that can he had in the past. And I think a lot of fighters realize this, maybe taking less damage in camp leading up, you know, is something that can help you in the cage. But I thought that was a very pleasant surprise for a guy who,

uh, you know, I would get if he walked away being that it's 36, when he does move up to the elite level, he doesn't get over the top and he's got a great side job. He's, he's developing right now, but at the same time,

he's could be in a lot of really fun fights. And every time he loses to the elites, Luke, it's so damn close. This may not have been so damn close on the scorecards, with the exception of that one third card that we'll get to in a few minutes. But this was close enough on all the other intangibles and skill levels and IQ and all that stuff. I don't know, Luke. This was like one of those good time stories. Like he found out he was better than he thought he was. And there's more left in

there. And you know, that can be a dangerous reveal to a, to a certain man, but, uh, I'm interested to see what his fights look like moving forward. Yeah. I mean, I've got mixed feelings on this because, well, the good news about this bout BC was that I think all of us went into it being like, man, I don't know if I want anyone to lose here. RDA is a good guy. Paul Felder is a good guy. There was that video that came out from his manager that showed Paul talking to the UFC cameras getting ready for the hype videos and talking about the anniversary of his father's death

and what it meant and how he could feel him and his presence in the room. And it was really touching and powerful. And so it was like, God, I don't want anyone to lose in this contest. Now, of course, Paul Felder did, but, you know, can you really say his stock dropped in terms of what fans can expect from him or that you can really look at him and say, you know, if he had trained, he never would have won. I mean, I don't think you can say that.

You could say, man, that fight could have been a lot different if he was really prepared for it. And so that's sort of my point here. Look, man, if he wants to be a commentator, I'll support him. If he wants to be a fighter, I'll support him. Really, if he does whatever he wants to do, which is, you know, commentate a little bit, fight a little bit, I'll support whatever he wants. But I will say this.

Depending on what he wants, he might want to focus. If the plan is to just do what he's been doing, which is train on occasion, uh, you know, maybe for camps really focused, not like taking fights on five days notice all the time, but you know, sort of living half in the commentary world and half out of it. And he just wants to take on fun fights and be in fun moments, win or lose, great. That's a fine place to be, provided you don't get too hurt and you get paid for it, and that's the thing you're okay with. If he wants to be the best fighter he can be, though, I like him as a commentator.

If he wants to do it, I support him, but I don't think he can do it with his half-in, half-out approach. If he really wants to see what he could have done against Rafael Dos Anjos, and I know it's tough because he even mentioned in the post-fight interview, you know, I fell out of love for the sport. I had to find it again. I mean, you are where you are with MMA. You'll love it. You hate it. You can't stand it. You can't live without it. You have to, you have to deal with that in the real world. And it's not so easy. I'm not presenting this argument to you, BC, like it's some kind of easy thing to figure out. All I'm going to say is maybe he could have beaten Rafael dos Santos. When that fight was over, I didn't think it was close,

but I didn't think it was close because one guy just barely trained and was sort of going off natural ability and veteran experience, and it took him, all things considered, pretty goddamn far. But if you want to get as far as that ship can sail, you've got to focus. It's just the way it's going to be. And so I don't dock him personally in the sense that I think he's not as good as I thought he was. Maybe he's even better. But the reality is we do have to dock him.

He does come down in the rankings. Dos Anjos is going to take that spot at number seven that he had. Where he ends up, I don't know. But it does count. The losses do count a little bit against you. So my only advice for Paul Felder, such that I'm in the position to give any, which I'm not, but my only hope for him, I guess I should say, BC, is I just want him to figure out what he wants and put his talents towards that.

Because whatever he wants to do, he'll be good at. But if he really wants to be the best fighter he can be, the path he's been on is not the place to is not is not the way to get there well look if he if he decides to go after it he did as in his own words you know find once again the love for it so that's great to hear uh and if he wants to go the route that you the the rich franklin second half of the career that i always mentioned it's a route it's a celebrity route you can go for big money and fun matchups against other big names you typically don't get to that position though unless you're a former champion so Luke there is sort of an opportunity

if he wants to model himself as an action celebrity fighter where he could end up lucking out and getting into there where the paydays are larger where sometimes you are called upon to save cards oh we got a card in Singapore next month when there's uh you know people able to sit in the crowd we need a name. Oh, yeah, Paul Felder and this guy, they'll make a fun fight. I mean, you could end up in that role and, like you said, still make a lot of money, make some fun fights, get some fun wins on the end of your career.

Intention will matter, but either way, I'm happy for him, Luke. All right, so before we kill off these topics, let's just figure out where they both should go from here. Match make for me, BC. Paul Felder's next fight, and now Rafael dos anjos his next fight back at 155 pounds again felder came into this contest sitting at seven so he's sandwiched between six olivera and then eight carlos diego fajera that i think they were supposed to fight and fell out because of covid i don't know what the ufc's plans are assuming you could whisper in dana white ear, where do you send both fighters? Well, RDA needs a big fight, but he's, Conor's got Poirier.

Tony Ferguson, which we're going to talk about soon, is trying to get Chandler. If you get those bouts locked up, you sort of need a next big name next in line. I mean, you know, somebody like a Dan Hooker would make a fantastic fight that would figure out in that four to seven area in the rankings rankings who's who and what's with that. I certainly wouldn't be against that. I don't know what the right pick is for Felder.

Do you have a – I mean, it's going to depend in some ways on, again, how much he's ready to put back into this and how soon he wants to get back in. So I would put Fajeda against Felder. I would put Ali Quinta against Felder. I would put Ally Quinta against Felder, or I would put Kevin Lee against Felder. I think any of those are really exciting fights. Well, Kevin Lee, I don't know what his timeline for return is, but if they can make that. Give me Lee Felder.

Yeah, that would be pretty great. In terms of Dos Anjos, he's competitive with anybody in that top five. You can give him Gaethje, although I think there's no reason to make it right now, but people are sleeping on Charles Oliveira, man. And when I say people, I mean, me too. There was a while there, I was just kind of an afterthought, afterthought, afterthought. He got caught up in that last COVID show, you know, with Kevin Lee, where there was a lot of controversy surrounding it. And I think all

the hype he built from that got lost. And again, he was supposed to have a rebound fight. And then that whole thing got scuttled. So to me, it's like, dude, you got a guy like Charles Oliveira who's striking is way improved. Dos Anjos is good on the ground, and he actually has better jiu-jitsu credentials, so to speak, than Charles Oliveira, but Oliveira would give him problems on the floor. I love that fight. Hooker, you could do that too. I still think, though, that Gaethje Poirier, Ferguson, McGregor, and I guess Chandler's kind of floating in that space now. I kind of put that a little bit on the pocket, a little bit to the side.

Not quite the level we're talking about just yet. But if you beat an Oliveira or a Hooker, well, now you ascend to that level. And at that point, man, there's just no bad fights you could make. Sneaky call on Oliveira, which is you saying if it wasn't for Doe Bronx, this rap shit probably never would be going on, right? So tell me where you're from. I dated a girl from Riverdale once, which is a nice area of the Bronx. Thank you very much.

Luke Gehrig resided there until his death, Luke, okay? Who did? It's good enough for that guy, all right? Who did? Luke Gehrig. I don't know if you've heard of him. Yes, the luckiest man on the face of the earth, right? Yes, yes.

Until he died, not so lucky, but yes. Of a terrible and tragic disease. All right, so let's move to now point number three. BC put out an instant reaction video over the weekend if you didn't see it, but I want to go right back to him because on ESPN, after the UFC was over, we went to boxing. Bud Crawford, what do you want to say about this guy? Unbelievable job. First couple of rounds, pretty close by Kell Brook. He looked, by the way,

to be in absolute dynamic physical condition and had a good stinging jab the first couple of rounds, BC. I thought probably took the first two rounds, but the third round, you could tell the lights went on for Bud Crawford. He was able to make some adjustments, and then by round four, he closed the show with one of the – I mean, I cannot overstate this, BC. That right over the top that he hit, like a hook jab almost, the timing on that punch is about as impeccable of a timing on any kind of strike you're ever going to see in combat sports i'm talking about quarterback throwing a touchdown on a dime in the narrowest of windows so the question to

you bc is does this prove that bud crawford is the top pound for pound boxer in the sport very loaded and difficult question because uh this is this is a little bit of um the in the pound look i care about popper so some people it's worthless to me it's the only currency in this boxing game where guys only fight twice a year the you know you can't the a heavyweight can't fight a straw weight how do we figure them out i actually care about pound for pound and in this era right now luke the last year look there have been five or six guys you can make cases for i think right now today that case has has wiggled down it's either canelo alvarez niowa inouye or it's terence crawford and as i said in the very low energy uh instant reaction video that i put

out there a lot a lot of people worried about me luke uh it was it was after midnight i just wasn't really that ready to let it all hang out, apparently. Whoever you have, you're right, because all three are incredible right now. But I think, look, this was probably the best opponent left Crawford could find himself in against, given that political and promotional divide, which we're going to get to in a second, that has held him back from proving that he truly is. I think right now, if he's your number one fighter in the sport,

this is the fight to show you how great he was. I don't want to hear anybody saying Kell Brook was washed. He's only 34. Three-fight win streak. He proved to us he could make that weight. He looked great early on. Everyone's like, man, he got knocked out by a jab. Did you see, as Luke said, the timing and the craft on that punch

mixed with he caught Brooke coming forward mixed with Kell Brook saying in the history of my boxing life I've never been handled like that sparring amateurs pros I've never seen that and felt that before and what he saw was a person in Terrence Crawford who arguably might have the best skills from a craft and IQ standpoint in the game, but he also has that finisher's menacing mentality. Luke, when Crawford followed up that right-hand jab that staggered him, that caught it perfectly, a little half hook, did you see how accurate his power shots were? This is what separates Terrence Crawford from the other guys.

When he gets you hurt, he gets you out of there. And it's quick. This was just like that the fight was over. And I know it's easy to say, well, Brooke broke both orbital bones in his biggest fights three years ago. He's not the same. He doesn't have the same punch resistance. I mean, that could be partially true. But what Crawford just showed you is if you have him at number one, you're not wrong. What I want to find out, though, Luke, is not where he sits right now in a pound for pound ranking against the other guys in the category.

I want to find out when Bob Arum says those prophetic large things of I haven't seen anybody like this since Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns. He's on that level. The only way we're going to find out if he really is on that level is fighting all those guys on the other side of the street. A lot to talk about on that, but just from this performance, Luke, try to pick out anything bad. You want to know why Brooke was in it in the first couple rounds? One, because he's really good. Two, because Crawford takes that snapshot. He's smarter than everybody. He's quicker, longer, faster, more aggressive. He's a perfect fighter for welterweight.

Maybe he doesn't sell himself enough. That sold it enough. Okay, that performance right there. I don't know if $4.8 million guaranteed for a TV fight is worth it, Luke, but that's a $4.8 million performance you put out on there on Saturday. Yeah, no doubt about it. I mean, do I have him pound for pound? Listen, there's going to be people who know a lot more about boxing than I do who may have him at number one. To me,

though, you can't complain about a guy's strength of schedule and then say he's also the pound for pound best. One kind of has to be related to the other. So for those reasons, I have Canelo. Luke, that's why I do have Canelo, because even though I thought Canelo lost a couple of these close decisions, the Lara fight, the Trout fight, at least one or both of the Golovkin fights, he fights the best. He fights over multiple weight classes. Canelo does things that, in my mind, separate him. Fair enough.

And so to that point, though, I just can't make him my number one pound-for-pound boxer. But I'll say I understand why people are tempted. I get that completely. I mean, this guy, BC, we were talking about it with Teofimo Lopez. Sometimes you watch a guy, and Teofimo is a different kind of fighter for different reasons, but for whatever the reason may be, some guys just, they just jump off the screen. Holy smokes. Budcroft jumps off the screen. You know, he really reminds me of like, I mean, I guess a Ray Leonard is a good comparison, but in the modern era of guys we've seen compete while we've been in our, let's say twenties or something, he reminds me a little bit of like partly Floyd,

but maybe I'm not sure who else it would be. Here's what I mean. People like, Oh, well he lost the first two rounds, right? He did. I mean, Kel again, Kell Brook came in. You can say whatever you want about Kell Brook in the current state he's in. That dude came in prepared. He came in very prepared. And so, you know, he took the first couple of rounds, but the lesson you always get from Mayweather is if you don't win that fight in the first six rounds, provided that it goes 12, let's say, you're not going to win because whatever version he shows you in the first round, that won't be there by the 12th. All the things you're good at, he'll just take away. But Mayweather is a little bit more methodical about it. Again, he's usually going up in weight a lot. Crawford's a little bit

different. Crawford is the same in the sense that he takes his time to look and see what's going on. He makes adjustments, he reads, and then he begins to act on it. But when he acts on it, the consequences usually come pretty quickly and they are violent. And here's the other part about it, BC. If you look at what Kell Brook was doing, because he was trying to close the distance as well. In fact, that's what you saw Crawford take advantage of. He saw Kell coming at him. He didn't really dip to the side a little bit, but then he just sort of caught him over the top with that right hand. You just can't make errors against this guy. have the tiniest tiniest margin about what you can get away with and that's it there is no do-overs with him there's no mulligans on round five none of that you make an error against him and you are going to wake up looking at the lights or a referee

is going to be hugging you and that's the end of it man i've never seen a guy who last thing i'll say on this pc i've never seen a guy who has that kind of patience and calculation yes right to sort of drag a fight to where he can finally go okay now i know what i'm looking at and then when he acts it is lethal in the end he is a rare combo when he acts it's very similar to prime ganadi galovkin meaning you have a savage finisher who's so precise I mean look at the replays of that finish on Brooke it's so on point with both hands from angles and precise uh that's what separates him and also when he's taking the snapshot the first two rounds he's winning the the chess match on the feet he's figuring out how to get his foot inside of yours get closer get closer okay this is where I need to be. Now I'm switching to southpaw.

Now I took away your jab, and now my naturally stronger left hand is going to be the big money punch. It's incredible. So we're still going on the eye test, unfortunately, with Crawford because we haven't seen him at welterweight against A-plus competition. The brethren that he's competing against, the Spences, Danny Garcia, Sean Porter, Manny Pacquiao, they have much—let's take Pacquiao out of this for a second. Those guys have much better experience at 147 on this elite level. But what they don't have compared to Crawford on the eye test. I was a Spence guy over Crawford for years.

Now, Luke, I'm a Crawford guy over Spence because what I see is a guy who can win a fight boxing from the outside if he has to and also is more than willing to get you out of there if there's an opening to do so uh that's where the Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns comparisons come in that's where the old school nature is so Luke let's now talk about him getting those fights uh Bob Barron and company is in an interesting spot Bud's unhappy there's only so many times you can go to them and say, make the deal happen. Get me a two-network pay-per-view. Me against Spence. Me against whomever.

He said right now he wants Pacquiao. It actually seems like it could happen because Pacquiao's a free agent and Bob Arum seems to have found a suitor in the Middle East who will throw stupid money to make up for the lack of a gate there. But Luke,

there were interesting comments from Bob Arum just this morning, Lance Pugmire, the athletic put out a story in which he interviewed Bob the day before the fight. And Arum said really publicly for the first time, do we even want to resign? Uh,

Terrence Crawford, does it even make sense financially? How many more fights of his am I going to lose money on? So Luke, that's Bob Arum playing check, you know, playing chess on a checkers board and trying to put the onus back on Bud to market himself better,

to be more willing to call people out and all that. But however you slice it, whoever's fault it is, if they don't get him Pacquiao next, if they don't get him the winner of Spence Garcia next, I don't know how he's going to stay there, Luke. According to the Pugmire story, he has a contract that expires next October. You would think he would want to go with Al Heyman and the PBC,

being that all of the career-defining opportunities are there under that stable. Crawford's 33 and not getting any younger. This is going to be a soap opera. You hate in boxing that these business things, these relationships, this is as big a story in boxing as the fights unfortunately but it's true luke i don't know how this is going to end or play out but they got to get him a big fight now no more no more mean machines no more guy my guy uh vinnie paz the the the head of jedi mind tricks he's a huge boxing fan and he posted something that really caught my attention bc i wonder what

you make of it which is he said that crawford right now kind of reminds him of Triple G maybe six or seven years ago, where the top guys are going to do everything possible for a long time to avoid him until he gets just old enough where he's still very, very viable as a threat, but maybe not what he once was, and then you might be able to see those fights being made.

If that is true, that is really quite a shame because you point out something, it's like, I don't know what Top Rank and Crawford are going to do. Top Rank claims, listen, we go to Al Heyman, we go to PBC, we ask to make the fights, they don't want to play ball. And if you're Al Heyman, why would you? You've got a ton of guys under contract already that can all fight each other. In fact, December 5th, Errol Spence is going to fight Garcia. That's going to be on pay-per-view. It might do pretty well. And so if you have all these guys, why do you want to do

business with Bob Arum? Why do you want to do business with Top Break? Again, on occasion, it will make sense. And we've seen crossover fights happen between them, but they're pretty rare. And so Bud is like, dude, what am I supposed to do here? Well, you're up kind of against this reality between these business entities. On the other hand, Bud Crawford doesn't do a lot of media, and then he gets mad at media when they're insufficiently supportive of him and his ambitions.

And so to me, it's a broken relationship, BC, and I don't think they should try and fix it. I think they should part ways. There's no way to really mend this. Even if you get one fight, how do you build on it? So I think if it's even at all possible, he should do the Mayweather thing, buy himself out, and figure out where he needs to go.

Because at 34, October 21, 2021, excuse me, I'm not saying that's too late, but that's a lot of time between now and then where he could get two, three fights in. Quickly on this in terms of who's at fall, I will say this this crawford should have already fought pacquiao back when pacquiao was under the top rank banner they didn't do it because it didn't make as much sense worth the risk financially because crawford's not a giant crossover star so this is where you where when bob says this stuff you kind of do push some of that blame back on crawford he doesn't talk trash

he doesn't call people out he's spectacular inford. He doesn't talk trash. He doesn't call people out. He's spectacular in the ring. He doesn't like doing interviews. He doesn't have a big social media presence. So some of that, Luke, is his fault. They put him on the pay-per-view level on HBO against Postal a bunch of years ago because there wasn't enough room in the regular budget. He bombed. They put him on pay-per-view on ESPN against Amir Khan.

He bombed. You know, you're right. It seems like this is the end for this relationship. It's not going to be the end, though, for Terrence Crawford and big fights. I just want to see it to your triple G point before it's too late, Luke. I don't want to live and die with the damn eye test. That's your, that's your, if you're a boxing hardcore, the eye test is your mistress. That's all you can sleep with because these guys don't bang enough, Luke.

They don't. They don't bang enough. I they don't they don't bang enough i'll just say this bc it's um i don't know where we go from here and i really it's going to be very interesting to see how it all plays out in the end but it would be a fucking shame if a guy this talented was limited to as good as he might be, as ready as he was, you know, the Kel Brooks and the Latvian guy whose name I can't properly pronounce. Lithuanian guy. Come on.

Lithuanian. Respect my people. Something from the Baltic states. I'm not sure. I'm just pointing out Bud Crawford is a very, very special talent, and it just goes to show Conor McGregor gets one thing right. Yo, when the time comes and you are up to bat, you need to hit a home run like Aldo, like he did against Alvarez. But one of the key ways to get into those positions is not just when

you got to pull the levers of media manipulation. You got to pull the levers of grandiosity and showmanship. Bud Crawford is right that the ability for top rank and Al Heyman to not do business together, that's not necessarily his fault, and there's not much he can do about that in terms of that particular consideration, but he might be a lot further along in terms of where he would want to

be if he just pulled the levers that people like McGregor and other fighters like Tyson Fury know how to pull very true very true look there you go love the fight by the way it was a great ending uh okay let's talk about Nevada let's talk about the Nevada State Athletic Commission so they did not have an easy job they had to work two different events in the same city in two different sports on the same night. They had to work UFC fight night, Dos Anjos versus Felder, and they had to work the Crawford and the Brook fight over in,

I guess it was in the MGM Grand Ballroom. Where is that? Conference Center. The damn Conference Center. Conference Center. Excuse me. That's right. Yes, I apologize.

Okay. So what can we say about it? Well, look, a lot of times people want to blame them for fuck-ups that aren't necessarily their fault. But three things happened that are worth discussing, BC. First, there was a scorecard in the Felder versus Dos Anjos fight. And I give Felder relative to the standard of what can somebody do who hasn't been in a gym in four months and is taking on a fight in five days against Rafael Dos Anjos, how good can you fight? On that level, wow, dude, he fought really well. But on the level of winning enough rounds to get the fight, not even close. I had it a shutout for

Dos Anjos. Chris Lee, the judge there, had it 48-47 Felder, which to me is utterly incomprehensible. We'll talk about that in a second, but the bigger of the two issues was that in the Maloney and Franco co-main event on the Crawford and Brook card, fight stops after what, the second round, I believe, and they take 25 minutes to look at what was perceived to have been or may have been a headbutt that the referee had called. They looked at it over and over and over and over again on instant replay. I believe we got all the same angles as home viewers and they ruled that it was despite there seemingly being no evidence for it. And then Bob Bennett, the executive director, has the balls to say he doesn't understand in the wake of these controversies why he is taking so much heat.

A guy who assiduously avoids making real, meaningful changes to improve these combat sports, who lobbied and accepted rule changes that took away the transparency in fighter purses, which is an absolute dirtbag move on his part. Has the temerity to say he doesn't understand why he's taking controversy. BC, unpack all this for me. What the fuck is going on in Nevada? Let's stay with the boxing one for a second. Here's why it's extra frustrating.

Remember I made that joking comment last week, whatever. If you're going to lie to me and your promoter, at least do it right. At least put the smile on, at least back up your claim. Even if I think you're lying, even if I know you are, at least let me feel good about it. Luke, this got a, you know, as I always say, hashtag that's boxing reaction in it, but it deserved it. I was very harsh on Twitter. Why? Because this is my family boxing. Okay. I know the sins worse than you do. I almost would have rathered that this was a situation where the house fighter, let's say Franco was a much bigger star and a big draw where he got bailed out because he's the house fighter

and then you could tell yourself at night, you know what? Boxing is, was, and will always be a little bit frigging shady. I don't know if that's enough to make me sleep at night, but I see it enough in this great sport, Luke, this red light district sport as Burt Sugar used to call it That you know alright I can live at night This instead is just straight up like

Just like who the hell is at the wheel here This was just The fact that ESPN's truck Had to be the voice of reason to find the right replay for this and the fact that it was presented to them over and over again all of us within one watch of the damn replay Luke could figure out what really happened that it was a punch to cause this and they could have all those advantages three screens in front of them and the fact that they're bringing in Robert Byrd now here's the deal Robertbert bird's a you know a decorated armed serviceman a boxing hall of famer as a referee

and as of three years ago a guy who i still said was the best referee in the game there's a couple problems here um he's not the same guy anymore also he's married to adelaide bird somebody who probably never should be judging again on in either sport after that horrible 118-110 Camelo decision in the first Triple G fight that will live in infamy. If you saw Robert Bird's ability in the ring last year in one of those World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight fights, I forgot who were the two guys. It was an abomination to the sport how he let a fight go on. He's your friggin replay official next to Bob Bennett who's got a history of you said of doing this and they watched that thing for 26 freaking minutes which is already Luke a joke already put out your memes put out Sergey Kovalev sleeping on the couch while

they watched the uh Masvidal fight put out all your fun and games but yet 26 minutes later we still didn't have a damn verdict when it was so easy to see. And then on top of that, they got it wrong. Like, it's just like, what is going on here? It wasn't, I'll tell you how much this wasn't, this wasn't a screw job. Okay. Franco, yes, was the champion coming in. Nobody from Golden Boy Promotions, which promoted him, even showed up at the fight.

Oscar De La Hoya was tweeting out, wow, the ESPN production looks great. And Robert Garcia, the trainer for Franco afterwards, were like, where the hell were you guys? All right? So this is not the house fighter. If there is a house fighter, it's Maloney who's promoted by Bob Arum. And you saw Grandpa there at 88 or 89 or whatever

get up in Bob Bennett's grill at ringside. Rightfully so. You put in replay to try to curb the constant barrage of bullshit that this sport brings on itself. The corrupt decisions, the fact that the young prospect with the big name and big promoter gets the win when he doesn't deserve it. All these things that happen, all right? And the thing that's supposed to stop it from happening

somehow causes more of it. I mean, what the hell's going on here, Luke? It goes back, unfortunately, to Adelaide Bird, who when Bob Bennett was pushed after that fight by the ringside media, one guy in particular, Michael, what's his name? Michael Montero pushed the crap out of Bob Bennett. What are you going to do? You know, should she ever judge again? Bob's like, don't worry about it. It's fine. She's a great judge, you know? She'll be back next week. She was back next week. I mean, like, there's just nothing here, Luke. There's nothing good to say, okay? And then

you add in that guy, the third scorecard in the Felder fight. Did you see the damn tweet from Bronstetter? Did you, Luke? Yes. He researched through MMA decisions. Judge Chris Lee, who scored the main event for Felder has been involved in 10 UFC and Bellator split decisions in 2020

and was the dissenting judge in 7 of the 10 it's a friggin pattern at this point what are we doing? this is why Dana White goes off all the time and says we need to get out of Vegas yet then keeps coming back because this business is based there this is why Bob Arum got on Sean Vettel's video after the fight and said we gotta get the fuck out of Vegas, yet then keeps coming back because this business is based there. This is why Bob Arum got on Sean Vettel's video after the fight and said, we got to

get the fuck out of Vegas. Well, your office is also there and the big arenas. You'll probably be back anyway. But that's why they say it, Luke. So I guess until somebody does get the hell out of Vegas, I'm just screaming into a microphone in my basement, right? Right. Well, and also Top Rank is based in Las Vegas as well.

So where are they going to go? That's what I just said. I just said it, Luke. I missed that part. I apologize. But yes, they're all based in Vegas. They have put their fortunes there and their business relationships there. And so it causes a lot of problems. Let me just say this about Nevada.

Because I actually have a lot of respect for what happens in New Jersey, even when I disagree with some of the calls that they make about certain rule changes. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Andy Foster and what they do in California. I've sat in on some of their referee training. They actually invite the media to come on and not only learn some stuff themselves, but see how the referees interact, learn from each other, develop best practices. There's transparency about it. There's actually an openness about it.

One of the major problems among many in Nevada is everything feels like this, to use the words you make fun of me for, Omerta, BC. Everything is behind closed doors. Everything is whispered. You don't know why decisions are made or why somebody can't be replaced. Like when they made the call that they made about the instant replay, there was really no ability for the press to question the people making the call or even to listen to what was going on between them. There was nothing about that. Do they even bother giving any training in instant replay setting, which, by the way, the NFL does for its own umpires and referees.

They do that. They actually give real training. How do you look at what you're looking for? What are the specific pieces you're looking for? And how do you make the call efficiently? They do all that. They don't do any of this nonsense in Nevada and most places in combat sports to be somewhat fair to nevada it's a sclerotic broken institution it is run by a jamoke by the name of bob bennett who has the temerity to wonder what what did i do

looking like urkel after shattering broken broken glass and a fucking china shop full of expensive china everywhere and wondering why the fuck people are mad at him because you fucking helped break it bob because it's on you bob because you don't want to do anything about it bob and when media has the you know asking you basic questions you act like this is some kind of indignity that we're not genuflecting before the king fuck you bob that's really what everyone should be saying to you. And the fact that they're not really is a miracle at this point. What a ridiculous human being he is who runs another ridiculous organization that doesn't care about getting it right.

They want to get enough of it right to get the job done, and that's it. They don't care if people get hurt along the way. They don't care if something goes wrong on their watch. They don't care if there's some kind of difficulty that encumbers other pieces of the combat sports community as long as it doesn't overly encumber them. for anybody watching this, decide to put your arrow back in the quiver. Sling them today, tomorrow, spit venom if you have to. Not quite literally, I'm using this word metaphorically speaking, of course. But I'm just trying to explain, these are people who are not only worthy of criticism, you'd be doing a disservice to combat sports if you didn't, if you somehow held back. It's the only method that we have. And people say that they're not beholden to anyone. Well, for the most part, that is true.

And that is why for the most part, no good ever comes of complaining like this. But the governor sometimes does get wind of things. And when they went overboard on Nick Diaz and there was this huge media outcry about it, they actually did make some change. So while it may be annoying to listen to me up here, ranting and raving most of the time, I understand that this is the only lever we have to pull BC to make change for them. Don't ever be kind to them until they make change. Don't ever give them the benefit of the doubt until they make change and bob bennett is an absolute coward of a

human being who has never understood the concept of responsibility to anybody outside of his own self-aggrandizement what a clown he is i mean the bigger star winning a decision more often than not in a close fight it still it still has me showing up bullshit like this no one should show up anymore i mean here's a quote that lance Pugmire from The Athletic got, Luke, from one of the regulators when asked about the broken eye socket. His quote was, you ever see a super flyweight throw a jab and fracture an eye socket? You think

that comes from punches? End quote. Did anyone see the fight of the year last year in Iowa, Inouye, and Nonita Donair, which was contested three pounds up from this weight class? Three pounds up. Three frigging needles, Luke. All to the bag.

Three pounds up. Donair broke Inoue's eye socket in the second round. Like, get the hell out of here. Kell Brook broke his eye socket in back-to-back fight. Like, stop. Stop. Just stop. And even if these guys are right, the fact that they just circle the wagons

and protect themselves no matter what. So here's how you fix it. Here's how you fix it. You either stop going to Vegas, Luke, or we change the rules in combat sports across the board that whenever there is even a hint of controversy or just make it a part of every fight, there's a press conference normally after every fight, yes? Well, you know who should be able to show up if asked for? Bob Bennett or whoever is the head of the commission present, the referee and all three judges.

You're going to fix a lot of bullshit with that, Luke. Why? Because you get them on a camera and I'm not saying their job is easy. I'm friends with plenty of boxing judges, by the way. Their job ain't easy at all. They're on an island by themselves. But the good ones, over time time their record speaks for themselves if you put a microphone and a camera in front of them and let them be forced to explain what happened you're gonna find out pretty quickly i think luke who deserves to be coming back the next fight and who's a clown or who's taking a padded envelope or who just shouldn't be there why do we not what you know why are we eating omerta sandwiches every week luke this is

ridiculous you're right i mean that would require them accepting responsibility for their own actions and deciding that as a government entity transparency about what they do is important but that's not who runs it that's not it's not andy foster who after he made a bad call giving chuck liddell a license went on and did a media tour to like eat shit for it. Cause he did make a bad call, but he went out there and explained himself and has reached out to me every month. Come on the training, see how we do it.

Take a look. And when I can, I go totally different scenario. Bob has decided he's above reproach and that's the end of it. Well, Bob, if that's the game we're going to play, then I'm going to scream until the governor hears it.

And so that shit comes rolling downhill in a way you can no longer avoid. So there you go. Hey, Luke, I got breaking news into the morning combat studio. Can I read it to you? Please. Okay. Brent Okamoto of ESPN reporting that Fabricio Verdum, you remember that guy, former UFC heavyweight champion, has signed a deal to compete in PFL's 2021 season and claims the reason is because they

will allow him to fight four to five times in a year which is what he wants your thoughts you know what it's an easy way to get a million bucks right i mean no fedor fight for him i guess luke okay hey listen he already has been there does he need to prove he can beat Fedor again in his 40s um that's an interesting one well you know what god bless him I guess they must be giving him a a decent purse up front in addition to the million dollars right some shit like that I don't know whatever right it's the damn PFL what I know it's like how much can I hate or love it it's the PFL you know what you're gonna do all right last but not least bc you brought this to my attention michael chandler taking on tony well not yet wants to take on tony ferguson tony ferguson seems like he might want to take on michael chandler should ufc make this fight it seems like okay it's a no-brainer that they should

but if they do bc if this is the fight to make where do they put it well how do you solve the pieces of the puzzle as it relates to that this seems simple to me it was a tweet from tony ferguson a couple days back that basically said you know chandler stop being a sign the deal and he followed up with other tweets that suggested this would go to ufc 256 in december luke that makes a lot of sense why Why? Because Amanda Nunes and Megan Anderson is off the board. You already have a great main event in Peyotre Yan and Aljamain Sterling for the Bantamweight title. This would be an absolute hellfire, awesome, amazing co-main event that also fits into

the narrative, in my opinion, perfectly to figure out two important things, Luke. One, who will be habib namaga medoff's last opponent if he really is going to go for 30 and 0 and his manager ali has tweeted out cryptically 30 and 0 let you believe that there's probably talks about it and two who's going to be fighting for that vacant title when habib goes away you're already going to have uh connor and dustin in january most likely huge fight now this is this is really the perfect entry point for chandler a huge opportunity after the loss for tony to come back and what you're going to end up with luke is two winners of those two

fights and maybe they end up fighting each other for the vacant bout of a vacant title or maybe one of the two end up ends up fighting uh habib i mean we talk all this stuff about if habib does come back for one more could it be gsp could it be connor how about tony how about tony bro uh if he can beat michael chandler i'd be okay with it because michael chandler i guess like benson henderson it would go to a decision and whatnot or i guess even in the premise fight it went longer than it was supposed to. But in general, I don't see how that fight, even if it goes to a decision, which, by the way, would be very somewhat debatable, I suppose,

is just not all action all the time. You've got two all-action fighters, and even if Chandler wants to wrestle, you've got a guy like Tony who does incredible slashing and cutting underneath and, by the way, has good guards, good submission, and, uh, you know,

uh, can invert for submissions as well. And so it just brings a degree of, you know, dynamism to the sport and to those particular fights. That is fairly rare. So where you put it, I like your call.

I think that's a good one to add to it. I don't think you can get the deal done. I guess, I guess you could November 16th. Yeah. If you've both been training, you can ramp it up and be ready by then. I think that's probably fair get the deal done. I guess you could, November 16th. Yeah. If you've both been training, you can ramp it up and be ready by then. I think that's probably fair.

Tony's crazy, Luke. He'll fight on this show if we give him the right amount of money, okay? Yeah, it's a fair point. And Michael Chandler did make weight for the last Habib and Gaethje fight, which means he'd have to ramp things back down. But it would not be, if he did it properly, that's not too hard of a turn to ramp things back up again so he could do that and by the way yeah go ahead go ahead i was gonna say both guys seem to want it so that seems to me like the most important consideration of them all yeah i was gonna say

we can get a gofundme going and have help uh tony avenge that uriah hall loss in sparring when jay hit that spinning wheel kick on him the claim to fame of of Jay's life. Hey, I think we have Jay. Ready? Let's troll the fans. Let's bring him in. Hey, it's Jay Aaron, everyone. Yeah, I'm here. I'm here, guys. So, Jay, when did you decide that showing your face was a thing that people cared about?

I'm fairly certain they don't. It's just too much work to just keep redoing the studio every other day. So, now there's stuff. Is that your, is that your problem? Too much work. Hey,

look, it is. We are coming into Thanksgiving season. Maybe you could show a little bit more heart and love to the man who keeps this structure going. I do. I also have a bit. I also have a bit to maintain.

Well, that's true. I was going to say of all the tech errors lately from this crew, how many do you think are, are, are Jay's fault in theory? I don't know. Did we,

did we, uh, was there audio at the beginning of the show today or not? Turns out afterwards. Turns out there was. All right. All right. We're back.

We're back. I think honestly, I have no idea. You could say, would you take that fight with Ferguson? Like me personally? Yeah. I mean,

if we, if we can raise enough, why does that seem like a good idea to anybody? All right. raise enough. Why does that seem like a good idea to anybody? Alright, alright. Why does this seem like a good idea? Jay, great talking to you. Luke, I think this is the fight to make for many reasons, and I'm not... Look, we know Habib, okay?

He don't want to give Conor that payday. If he can't get Habib in... If he can't get GSP in the right settings, I could see Habib, knowing the principle that he stands for, wanting to give this fight to Tony and give it to the fans who have wanted this five times over. I mean, this this would be a really nice cherry on top of the the resume there, wouldn't it, Luke? I'll say this, BC. I just yes, I agree. I mean, you just think about like, why is the fight so good?

Oh, well, it's all action. Right, but it's more than that. Because we don't, I'm personally, I mean, look, the beating that Tony took against Justin should not be overlooked. That could be a career-altering beating, especially at the advanced age in this division that Tony Ferguson occupies at 36, 37. Still, I'm not ready to bury the guy yet.

So, for Tony, you beat a guy like Michael Chandler, that to me tells me you're still very much a viable top contender. And if you're Michael Chandler, what's a more proving win of your worth to be in a title shot or to be in the top of the UFC than beating Tony Ferguson? It's the most, like,

I mean, that's how Justin transformed his whole situation. So, it's great for those reasons as well, aside from the fact that it'd be a fan-friendly affair and blah, blah, blah, blah. Imagine if the major fights at lightweight over the next six months was Ferguson and Chandler in December, Connor and Dustin for the interim title

or whatever you want to put on it in January, and then Habib saying goodbye to potentially to Tony in April as a celebration of that and finally giving us that fight. It'd be a pretty badass look, okay? It'd be pretty spectacular. BC, I'm looking at this press release from PFL. It just showed up in my inbox. Two things.

There's a graphic that calls him Fabricio Verdum, MMA heavyweight goat. That's debatable. Like straight up. Like straight up. He's the greatest heavyweight of all time. That's what they said. But this one gets better. Then they don't even issue a qualifier.

In just the language in the email, they him the tom brady of mma okay that's pretty cringe pretty cringe pretty cringe there folks i mean pretty cringe when scott coker comes on here and is like cyborg there's no debate she's the greatest female of all time there's a sneaky hipster bottom floor argument in that luke okay you have to pretend you didn't see the fight with Amanda against Cyborg and you gotta take Cyborg's pioneer part of what she does and really amp that up. I don't hate on Scotty Cokes for

saying that. Uh, PFL calling this man the GOAT? I kinda hate on them for that. The Tom Brady. It's like, okay. Alright. That's a thing. Alright, BC. Yes. Okay. Got it. Alright. Well, okay, all right. That's a thing. All right, BC. I threw a boomerang at Colby. Yes, okay, got it.

All right, well, with that in mind, let's do now where I don't ask you questions, you don't ask me questions, but the viewers ask us questions. It's time for DMs from dogs. There's the graphic. And, of course, every Sunday, we put out a request for questions on Instagram.

That's at Morning Combat with a K. And you can do that there. All right, BC, let's go to our first one. And it goes as follows. From Chavez Camacho. After the win over Brooke, BC, will Bud Crawford finally gain access to the PBC stable of fighters, yes or no good sir uh not not with top rank no uh top ranks best bet is to get him that pacquiao fight because

pacquiao technically is a promotional free agent so if you do that if you get the middle east involved it could be a big event whether there's fans or not potentially um that might be it though i i don't know if al hayman and company, as we're talking about, have the incentive to want to do that. Because, unfortunately, Crawford has not become that crossover star that his ability would want him to have. And when you can keep doing Spence against, you know, Porter, Thurman, all those guys. When there's still pay-per-view matchups to be made in your own stable, Luke, and there's not a crossover fan demand, there's a boxing fan demand for Crawford Spence,

right? There's not a casual fan demand, right? That's just the truth. So because of that, I doubt Bud's gonna fight those PBC guys until he, you know, you can't beat him, join him. Remember Paulie Malignaggi did that? Remember after he lost a split decision to Adrian Broner on Showtime? he called them all out for being corrupt al hayman

blah blah you know what happened a couple weeks later he signed with al hayman luke he got some big fights that's how this game works bro what is the chance that bud could could or will buy out his contract you know every contract is different obviously i'm not a legal expert i don't know i still don't even know how floyd was able to do that you know uh after the zab judify and uh and pay for 750 000 without him and get out of it i don't know how that stuff works uh all i know is that it's it seems like golden boy steel with canelo wasn't that firm because as soon as the lawsuit came around they were like hey big red have a good run all right we made some money off each other we'll check you later nice tad hey i see your wife's eyes she's looking at me look at that yeah uh all right that's it that's

all i got that's all all right from at theo dot brook do you guys think connor will ever win a ufc belt again i'm gonna go with no BC. What do you think? Okay. Gun to my head. No, but come on. If he fights for an interim title against Dustin in January, a guy, he beat. And if he comes in, you know, that's a style that he couldn't win. It's a guy that that's going to give him hell, but he also could knock that guy out with the, with the right setup of two punches. It's in in play luke i don't think it was fool's gold against cowboy i'm telling you i don't think it was i think connor can be back if he wants to be back luke all right i mean it's not that i don't think he could like beat good

fighters again or even go up to 170 and beat someone you didn't think he could beat part of connor's whole mo is just beating people he's not supposed to beat based on you know whatever expectation the public has or critics might have or skeptics might have. His whole shtick is beating that. At least it was. The question is, is it still? But that's how he built his name. So me saying probably not is partly like what people like me have always been saying and then always been wrong about him. So, okay, there's that. On the other hand, it's like, you got to beat Poirier, which obviously he stands a very good chance of doing.

But if Habib is still around, I don't like that fight for him no matter what. If Usman stays the champ, I don't like it. I think the magic's gone. Here's what we learned. You know what I mean? Could he beat Diaz again? Yes. Could he beat maybe Masvidal?

Maybe. He could do amazing shit capture a belt I don't know I did believe in his magic at one point I think it was real the magic is a combination of momentum confidence um you know there's a lot of things at play the magic allowed him to get higher than we thought I don't think he's going to beat somebody he shouldn't anymore but I think there are matchups in the title picture that are winnable poirier might be one of them if there's a strap at stake yeah fair enough all right from at nrg 111413 which is like i guarantee you his password for his email who who is the worst loser

between wilder trump and rousey well bc Trump is obviously by far the worst loser, but you can't count it. Well, I don't know. Trump gives interviews at least, Luke. Trump goes back to the, I'm not a Trump guy. People think I am. Yeah, but Trump's the kind of guy to get knocked out and then, you know, at the post-fight press conference being like, I clearly won that fight. It's like, ah, maybe you didn't.

He's LeVar Ball, basically, right? Yeah, he's LeVar Ball, basically. Okay, that's a good point. So between Wilder and Rousey, who was the worst? See, that's tough because Rousey basically just quit the sport after a couple of losses. Well, sadly, Luke, she had thoughts of suicide, which takes us not from a joke anymore.

It's pretty serious, but, I mean, she's a bad loser. Straight up, Luke. But here's the difference. She stayed with Edmund Tarverdean, maybe to her to her detriment but she stayed whereas wilder has thrown his own or at least members of his own team under the bus so which one's worse probably wilders in terms of intentional behavior rousey's in it worse in terms of going from the best ever to like i can't fight ever again and what like, that. You know what I mean?

Like, that's pretty dramatic. That's being a tough loser. Luke, what's more likely to happen? You ready for this? You ready? Okay, here we go. More likely to happen, Donald Trump, whether it's four years from now or eight or whatever, wins another presidential election

or Ronda Rousey fights for another UFC title? What's more likely? All right, wins. All right, wins. Wins a UFC title. Trump running again and winning is more likely, for sure. Okay, what about fighting for a title? We don't ever talk about that because we

think it's impossible we think it's not in her to ever even come back for one more cash in i know more ill-advised fight i could rock came back gsp came back the big ones come back for big money you know and she's so competitive luke and i saw that in her wwe run which which by the way was you know pretty damn good at the peak of it um I do believe that she may wake up one day and go I'm sick of making these weird videos and growing chickens with this bearded guy yeah you know what I might I might I might be open to that argument by the way what happened to her WWE run why did she stop uh the the story was that she was going to try to start a family but I think it may have also been connected with, uh, the grind of the road. And she did it for a full one year.

I mean, you're working five days a week all over the country doing, you know, non-TV shows and you're, you're putting in the time. It's a fricking grind on their body. I, I, I think she did it. She did it at a very high level. She had one of the greatest debut years ever. And you mix that with the fact that she's probably the greatest crossover. She is the greatest crossover one they've ever had.

I mean, maybe Brock. Well, Brock came to wrestling first. I don't know. You get what I'm saying. She was great, Luke. What else can you do to top that? I think she kind of fell into that mode. Like, I'll come back for giant money for WrestleMania,

but I'm not going to do this day-to-day shit anymore. Yeah, I don't care. Either way. All right. From at Center of combat bc this is really the question for you should tip to tip replace the pre-fight glove touch what would the pros and cons be so like if you want you guys you can touch tips before we go uh well um touch tips and come out fighting a b accidental boner that would be a an accidental boner would be a major pitfall luke okay for for i mean really you know you you're angry you're

ready you touch tips and then you end up with that remember that thing connor had in his pants at the floyd way and remember that oh mean, that thing was like a frozen steak. Yeah. Yeah. There's certainly something to be said about not wanting that to happen in that moment. It's a little bit too close. Luke, too close. Look, effing fighting.

It's all the same. It's a very thin line there. Luke, we know that. We know that. Right. You know, we've been there. We're not maybe not there, but you get what I'm saying. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't I don't think there's room for it in sports luke okay okay i'm sorry um that's just me wanting to get cleaner dms you know that you know that right that's my that's just yeah dude your dms must be a disaster should tip to tip replace the pre-fight glove touch um yes but you could only do it not before the fight i guess they're calling it pre-fight. But once the first bell rings, you have to come out and not touch gloves. You have to come out and do one of those numbers. That would be kind of interesting.

I'd like to see that maybe once. That's a weird question. All right, we have weird viewers. From underscore K8LW, I'm guessing Kate Lightweight, something like that. Luke, what are your thoughts on Brian? Uh-oh, here we go. Having his Twitter profile pic, a picture of himself with his co-host, Rashad Evans.

That's a good question. It's a fair question, Luke. It's a fair question, all right? But that's been your profile pic as long as I've known you, hasn't it? You still have you and Pauly and Mauro on the weigh-ins for the Wilder Fury 1 set, right? I had that at some point. So right now, what's the profile pic? The circle one or the banner? No, no, no.

I'm saying your pinned tweet is that one. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. My pinned tweet is that one, yeah. I think I've had the Rashad pick up there for two years. I think before that I had me interviewing Floyd. I don't know. Whatever, Luke. I didn't put too much thought in it.

I don't, you know, people see you and I together enough. I don't think I needed a big picture of you. I have had your picture in the banner before. Okay. But yeah, exactly. I mean, here's the thing. I know that some people have lost their jealous little minds that i didn't plug anything on the rogan show nothing nothing i plugged no i even

said the words morning combat and that's it i didn't plug i didn't plug my youtube channel nothing people are very very hurt about this that i didn't somehow spend three and a half hours mentioning you but you know i'm not i don't want to police everyone else's behavior, unlike everyone wanted to police mine, and so I'll just say, I think it's great. I think it's great, BC, that you have this friend, that you have this relationship. True or false? Rashad Evans is a very nice man. True or false?

Rashad Evans is an incredibly nice man. That's a very true statement. Why wouldn't you want to have him? I love that guy. I'll have a pic with him on my damn Twitter. He's my colleague. Here's the question, BC. Would you change it if I posted a pic with me and Rashad and put it in my Twitter profile? Wow. This is getting weird.

I was going to say, what if I post one with me and Ariel? What are you going to do next? What are you going to do next? All right. Same thing I do to him. Ignore him. All right. With that in mind, BC, as we go off the rails i can feel the train

just headed off the cliff it's time for your section of the show good sir all right here's what we do we scour the globe for the highs and lows the good and bad and ugly in the week that was in combat sports and beyond. Lucas, have you seen this shit? And we are going to start in viral country Miami. BKFC 14 from Friday night. Did you see the three-second KO from Uli Diaz? Don't blink. It's over, Luke. Dude, how has BKFC... I was thinking about this all weekend.

How has BKFC or Barstool Sports, how have they not done Antifa versus Proud Boy card? How have they not done that? Luke, I need you to gauge this. This is pretty incredible. It reminded me of one where someone just swings on someone else who is totally overwhelmed in the moment. Oh, he's testifying.

Luke, he's testifying under the CBD advertisement, Luke. The whole bit. That's what I'm saying. That's what it reminded me of. Can we show the cage side angle provided to us by publicist to the stars, Bernie Barmazal? I'd love to check this out. Look at this, Luke.

Right. Oh, God. Take that, proud boy. Yeah. Three seconds, Luke. Three needles, bro. You know who was cage side ring side uh bear side bare knuckle side for this luke uh you're about to see him soon boy joel romero was there check

out this reaction luke three effing needles bro yes yeah it's like wow it's like it's like i like how he had the mask right below his nose. The old, I'm not doing anything with this thing. Dude, wearing a mask below your nose is like putting a condom on your balls. Like, I don't. Luke, nobody in the arena caught COVID on Friday. I know. I'm just saying. Listen, can I just point out, it's not best practice.

That's all I'm saying. All right. Well, Luke, I don't know if you saw what else happened from BKFC14. Have you ever heard of a fighter named Jeff Chiffins who goes by the nickname Deliverance? Is this your twin? Who is this? He walked to the cage wearing a 9-11 was an inside job

with a mask of a sheep, Luke. I'm going to guess he did not win. I'm going to guess he did not win i'm gonna guess he did not win you would be right he got he lost luke but he also spray painted on his trunks can we advance the slide fake flu luke which got covered in his own blood your thoughts wow listen maybe not i've said listen i've said it before if you can't fist fight for a living in this country, I don't know what you can do, but you're going to get an interesting swath of humanity who takes part in that occupation.

Yeah, by the way, if you research this guy, he's had some brushes with the law. Shout out to the- I don't believe it. That seems so out of character for such a well-adjusted person. All right, Luke. Friday morning, i believe from singapore we had one championship back and you know who was back taking souls john lineker doing

what he does best against kevin belling non wow bella non or belling non the g is silent but uh and by the way first time he's ever been stopped with strikes i believe kevin bergeron, I don't know. But look, that's what Lineker does best. Why is he doing it over there, Luke? Because he got released from UFC and one decided to wisely sign him. So I'm saying, dude, like one is run by some weirdos, but the organization has good fights.

They do. Well, you know, we're a couple weeks late on this, but you know that guy, Au Lang Zane, that guy? Yes, the song that everyone sings at New Year's, also the birdie spider. You see this uppercut walk-off? Oh, look at the body contorsing, Luke. I know, but look at the guy chasing him. I mean, he's just looking down the whole time.

You know, it's like my daughter with a new pair of shoes. Yes. Well, Luke, Thursday was bellator 252 did you know it was the 27th anniversary of hoist gracie's win at ufc one that day november 12th uh hoist's son conroy opened the card luke and he got sent to the uh to the sub pump area of the basement of hell by six foot seven trevor the scarecrow goody check out the mullet on the scarecrow luke yeah it's a shame that this kid's really not learning the stuff he needs to for mma i think he's already like one and two in mma like he's already sub 500 so

yeah not not great bob not great any thoughts on the scarecrow, Luke? He's got an MMA fighter on the prelim card haircut. Yeah, he's a 6'7 welterweight. I'll be watching him more. Hey, Luke, we know at 252 that Pitbull used his fist like a machete to carve out Pedro Carvalho. Check out this Pitbull with a machete. Look at this. What's going on here?

Who gave that damn dog a knife, Luke? What is happening? What the fuck? Get him,ido kick his ass sea bass look at that look at the the judo chop what is happening that dog rules is that guy using a skateboard as a shield what the fuck are you supposed to do your dog is carrying a machete wow wow yeah yeah hi you better hide wow luke oh man i love this dog this dog is great michael vick recruiting on line one this guy's vicious wow okay hey luke um i gotta show you this video this couple do you ever tell your daughter that this is how that you met her mother or Luke, what is happening here? I can't tell if they're dancing or if they're fighting. F-ing fighting, it's all the same, Luke, okay?

You live with Louie Dawg, it's the only way to stay sane, right? Wow, that is, yeah, you get them in the corner, Luke. Yeah, wow. See, you know she's not somebody of... See, all the spicy Latinas I've ever dated, you could just tell they were a certain variety because whenever they got mad, they would throw drinks in my face.

She doesn't have that. Or rip a door off its hinges, Luke. Or rip a door off the hinges. Yes, a true story. Hey, Girls Gone Wild takes us now to the weight room look. Luke, this is uh right place wrong time for this chick oh my god wait i missed it what the fuck oh oh that's a 45er that got tossed her away oh and then she gets hit with a follow-up i don't know the context of this luke

but this is wild that can't be real is that handle a uh what does that handle say is that we should probably get that off the screen i don't know that can't be real no one gets hit with a 45 like that maybe some giant dude was dead lifting and he threw it you never know people are weird in the gym okay it's true all right hey girls gone wild is gonna take us out on the water luke uh crack kills anywhere but during boat season yeah look at the kid in the background just horrified look left of the screen is that calo that he's drinking right there luke the hell the hemp infused seltzer is that it look yeah i could make a comment i won't You're drinking right there, Luke? The hemp-infused seltzer? Is that it, Luke?

I could make a comment. I won't. All right, Luke. Girls Call Mile takes us to the football field. Check out this open field tackle from Big Z. Wow. Yeah. First down.

So you want to play girls rugby, huh? Yeah. Bro, Lilith Fair got violent wow that was that was uh this is who drives your Subaru when you're not looking yeah oh wow all right street fight of the week time Luke uh here's your best one punch ko sent to the dark depths on the sidewalk. Not coming back, Luke. Wow. Oh, buddy. Why are you fighting with the bouncers? You fucking idiot. Bow.

Is he working security there? It looks like he did. Maybe he didn't. I don't know. Picking souls. Wow. All right. Luke, let's go into a Russian bodega. You know, hell hath no fury, Luke. Like a Russian female cashier when somebody's go to a russian bodega you know hell hath no fury luke like a russian female cashier when somebody's messing with a drunk watch that drunk in the background getting thrown into the case and watch this cashier take it into her own hands luke hey bah hold that you want some more? You want some more? Hold that, old man. Bang, bang. Wow, son.

Yo, she slapped him. And then goes back and she's like, it'll be five rubles for the Mountain Dew. And a little shake of the hand, too. I like the respect. Wow. She crushed him. Yes. Dude, we got to find her. We got to find her and find a country where we can both legally marry her yeah hey hey get off of him guy stop touching the woman

make toilet yes all right i think she's got plow experience luke that is great wow look at that hold that bitch hey check out this hero. Hold my beer so I can stop this robbery that's about to happen, Luke. What? How about that counter right Superman punch? Look at that. It's like, what's your superpower? It's like, I'm a fat guy who clotheslines running robbers.

Well, that's not the only robbery save of the week, Luke. We've actually got three of them. Here's the second one on this street corner. I think this is in front of your sister's house in Richmond, Virginia, where Jeff Goldblum fought that dude. But we have a purse snatcher, I believe. Look at this guy. Oh! Yeah!

Intercepted! Making a citizen's arrest. Somewhere in Europe. Oh, yeah. Where they just don't care. That's got to be Poland or something. It's like, listen, guy. This is a place where we fist fight in the street over our fifth tier soccer team losing.

You think you got a shot at taking a purse? They even took out the architecture there. Yeah, buddy. He got walloped. All right. Speaking of chivalry, we have a serious shot. Yeah, buddy. He got walloped. All right. Speaking of chivalry, we have a third foil attempt. This is how you help the cops. Go third world on somebody.

Check out this good Samaritan in the red shirt on the replay here, Luke, with the jumping single leg kick. And then the other guy need him in the balls. Look at that. That's like a teamwork right there. Bro, if my Trader Joe's love was like this i would never leave imagine that it's like which way is the parsley on buck all right luke i don't know if you checked your local listings lately but we had a celebrity family feud episode pairing ufc fighters and boxers. Luke, which one of these doesn't belong? I don't know. Which one believes in COVID that it's a real virus? Because if they do,

they don't belong. The correct answer is the top right, Luke. Mauricio Suleiman. You better believe he made a belt for this, probably, Luke. I don't know who won, and I don't care. But why is Riddick... I don't know. Have you ever seen Riddick Bowe try to talk? I don't know how he made the cut for this either.

But check your local listings, Luke. Dude, how did Riddick Bowe make this? I saw him, dude, when he was at the Peterson-Khan fight, he could barely speak. So I don't know how he's doing it now. It's not good. It's not good. All right.

Hey, Luke, a couple weeks back I saw this. I forgot to put it on the show. Karate Combat 4. Check out Daniel Viveros getting a vicious finish here with the slam. Bah! Let the boys be boys on that. Look at the background, Luke. Where are we fighting?

On the moon here? I don't know. But shouts to Karate Combat for being run by morons who don't know how to get proper publicity for their attractions. Yep. Hashtag never forget. All right. Hey, this week in white people, Luke, you're going to love this new segment.

Here's a car wash. Let me guess. They're trying to stick a spear up a cougar's ass or something. Speaks for itself, Luke. All right. It speaks for itself. Luke, I don't know what this next white person video is about, but it's called Fusion Gone Wrong,

and it's got nearly 4 million views on YouTube. I don't know. It was recommended to me that it might be good for our show. I don't like it. I don't really like it. I'm very uncomfortable. So they went tip to tip, and they created something, Luke. A guy with shaving cream and firm buttocks.

Yeah. So I want that when you and I go tip to tip in person at the studio, I want like explosions to happen and in, you know, entities to be created, Luke, in our laboratory of sin, right? Weird science, right? No? Okay. Hey, this is Creep Me Out. Let's get out of here. Hey, real nice moment of the week.

Luke, did you check out in Durban City, Dagestan? Someone took the boss logic design of Habib and his late father, Abdulmanap, and put it on the side of a building. Fantastic. I did. That's really sweet. That's pretty amazing, too. Yeah. All right. design of Habib and his late father Abdulmanap and put it on the side of a building. Fantastic! I did. That's really sweet. That's pretty amazing too. Yeah. Alright. Lots of people take his artwork and don't give him credit. It's a common problem.

Will you ever see someone commissioning this in Jersey City for you and I maybe? What? You trying to choke me or something? Yeah. Something sweet between us if there ever was a moment i don't know this is getting weird this is getting weird hey let's close with this luke check out this drunk bastard having trouble taking home this 18 pack of natty lights brother all right straight from the polls luke he voted this year you're right yeah yeah Yeah, he did.

You know what? You can even classify this as a gym fail. This is a true thing. This is called a suitcase carry. Wow, this guy's great. He spent 30 years roofing, I'm going to guess, Luke, right? Listen, my man is just trying to maintain a buzz, and everyone here is just drunk sh know, drunk shaming him.

I like how everything falls in that hole, by the way. Everything just got sucked right into it. There's probably a parallel joke about our society and government here, but yeah, all right. Did he, what do you think? Did he still drink the beers? I think he probably stayed there for a while, Luke. I don't think he moved.

He might still be there, Luke, depending on what city this is. All right, that's the shit for the week. Hope you saw it. Hope you enjoyed it. Special thanks to all of our providers of that. All of our lovers and haters, thank you. Thank you. Very good. Mark and Ginger, thank you.

All right. Yeah, she loves you. BC, with that in mind, it is time for our odds and ends. What is your odd and or end? Hey, I want to shout out what was a fantastic fight in the opener to the ESPN Plus Fight Night card over the weekend. Luke, did you watch that women's strawweight clash between potential rising next Ronda Rousey, Kay Hansen,

and this newcomer from across the pond, Corey McKenna, both 21 years old. It was one of the youngest pairings in UFC history. And Luke, this was not some kind of soft touch to tell us if Kay Hanson was the next big thing. This was tough ass matchmaking. Did you enjoy this fight anywhere as much as I did? I did. I thought it was pretty good. I thought Kay Hanson's got a pretty interesting story and a lot of ability. I thought the judging in it may have been a little bit off, right? But certainly McKenna, who's like what? She's Welsh but trains with alpha male.

She seems to be the genuine article as well, if I got that right. She was calling for the bonus after it was 29-28 on all three scorecards from McKenna, who takes the win. It could have gone to Hanson. I had Hanson but Luke that was a fun fight and I want to shout out to this what it was great matchmaking all right you don't always have to build two separate entities and wait till they go you know 25 and 0 and face each other obviously that barely happens in MMA it's it's much more of a boxing thing but between this fight Luke which was great matchmaking between that opener on the i'm sorry the the co-main on the bellator card on thursday when yaroslav amosov took that

split decision over uh what's that wrestler's name the logan storley logan storley which was a fun fight gritty could have gone either way luke this is what what great matchmaking is all about when you got two young fighters, you want to see who's better than the other. You want to send one back to the drawing board to improve and you want to elevate one. Well, I think in both fights, both fighters got elevated

because they fought their hearts out. This is the kind of matchmaking we do not. We do not see enough of in boxing and I want to see more of it. Well done by both Bellator and UFC. Obviously, this has been sort of the model for Showtime's Showbox series that's been around a long time. And I don't know if you've seen the press releases, Luke,

but NBC Sports is launching a series this Thursday called Ring City USA. It's going to be shot at Freddie Roach's Wild Card Gym. Your boy's going to be on the broadcast team, joining Bob Papa, Sean Porter, Kern Batier. So I'm excited. It's a promoter agnostic show. So it's going to be more about get your guy

who's up and coming against my guy who's up and coming. And we'll see what happens. Good main event this week with Oshaki Foster and Mickey Roman at 130. So looking forward to it, Luke. But when great matchmaking happens and both fighters deliver, everybody wins. All right?

Everybody wins. And when you find a way to plug what you're doing by shoehorning it in, I think you win as well. That's a good thing to note. Okay. No, I'm actually legitimately happy for it. I'll be watching that. So with that in mind, my odds and ends.

I'll shout you out, Luke. I'll shout you out on the show. I'll shout your damn ass out on the show. I don't think that you will, but I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. All right, so here's the point. My odds and ends. Tiago Santos, who did lose to Glover Teixeira, but is back. He's going to be taking on Alexander Rakic, who had a big win.

What was his last fight? I can't even remember how long ago that was. However long ago, against Anthony Smith. They're going to meet, I believe, March 6th. That will be, I'm not sure if it's the main event or not, but you've got Rakic, this big physical 205-er. Somehow the guy fought a 185 for a time, but Tiago Santos, a big physical 205-er.

Now one's coming off a loss, one's coming off a win, but they're kind of meeting in the middle on this position to see who's coming or going. Could be three losses in a row if Santos loses but for Rakic this would be the Smith win was big but it was only three rounds if they make this the main event and he can get like a you know a stoppage win or a five round you know domination or something which again big if I'm just saying that would be a huge turning point for him and that might get him honestly a title shot it's possible at that point it could happen

because we don't know what's happening with Dominic Reyes yet and we'll see what's going on but um you know there's a lot of uncertainty a little bit at 205 but the point is when guy when a guy like John Jones leaves it opens everything up and the division has to be reborn a little bit guys like Rakic making their way up the food chain wins over Jimmy Manoa wins over Anthony Smith maybe now he'll have a win uh win over Tiago Santos on March 6th. You get some of that fresh blood in there. But, of course, you know. That's going to be a war.

Luke, that shit's going to be a war, dude. Yeah, it's going to be. That fight, I mean, either guy can win that very easily. And it's a great test to see exactly how sharp a guy like Alexander Rakic is. Because we know he's powerful and he can wrestle and he has a heavy punch. But, like, how do you deal with somebody like Tygo Santos in your fucking face? Even in defeat, did Mejeta show you that he's back from the injury? That he can still at 36 be something?

I still think getting back takes time. I'm one of these guys that's like, you can get these guys like Dom Cruz. I don't believe in ring rust. Maybe he doesn't. But for the devastating injury that Santos had and all the rebuilding and all the rehab, do I think that was the best version of him? Or at least the best version even to come? I don't.

I think that he's going to take some time to get back on his feet. And even then, he almost beat Glover a couple of times. So keep that in mind, right? All right. BC has been looking at his phone all show long today. I don't know why. Well, I don't think so. I think just this is the first time I've looked at it, Luke.

I've caught you multiple times looking at your phone. Sorry, Luke. Sorry. Hey, I got homework. You want to do it? You want to do it this week? I don't know. Do we?

Are we bringing that back or what? I was thinking about it because the week after will be, you know, not a normal week with Thanksgiving. Do you want to do the homework? I got a homework. It's my pick this week, Luke. All right. We can do it if you want.

All right. Here's what I'm going to do. You and I were both Drive-By Truckers fans. A lot of people know that they're lead guitarists for most of their very popular run, a fellow by the name of Jason Isbell, Luke. He has a very strong solo career, but he's got one specific gem in that solo run, something you and I talked briefly about during Red Shoe In-Room Diaries.

Luke, the 2013 album Southeastern by Jason Isbell is our homework for this week of the Are We Art? Is Art Art? You know, that segment. Luke, it's Roots Americana Rock, and it features one of the greatest songs of all time called Elephant. So I'm going to be very interested

in you listening to the whole album. I encourage you to listen to it. Eat it. Don't put on this background music. I want you to make love to this thing. It's emotional. It's involving. That's the homework as long as you get a chance to listen to it all the way through and come back, Luke. We can chat about it on

Friday's show if you're willing. Okay, I'll do that. Right now I need to shit though so let's wrap this up. Okay, we are on social media so you can follow us there. Morning Combat is the same everywhere. Morning Combat on Twitter, Morning Combat on Insta, Morning Combat on YouTube, Morning Combat on Gmail.

You can get that up. I'm trying to tap dance while they get the graphic up. There we go. But there you have it. There's all the Morning Combats. I'm Luke Thomas News on Instagram, LThomasNews on Twitter, Brian C. Campbell on Insta, on Instagram. L Thomas News on Twitter. Brian C. Campbell on Insta. And then just B. Campbell on Twitter.

And of course, morningcombat at gmail.com. Get your submissions in for Dead Wrong. Fan Art, which we do on Wednesdays. That's the place to drop it there. morningcombat at gmail.com. By the way, I want to mention something here. So the Friday after Thanksgiving, we won't have a live show mentioned something here so the friday after thanksgiving we won't have a live show but here's the good news brian and i are going to do a special episode that will

drop on that friday what we're going to do is a bit of a you guys will do like think of it as like a big dm from donks with both me and brian answering it so if you want to get your questions in here's how to do it go to apple podcasts Podcasts, leave us a nice review. We're very grateful when you do. And in that review, leave your question. Our producers will dig them up, we'll put them all together, and we'll have a special post Thanksgiving episode

special attraction of MK for you. But you've got to go on Apple Podcasts, and you've got to leave a review there. Sneaky, sneaky, Luke. Sneaky, sneaky. If you want to try Showtime, you certainly can. Showtime.com, 30-day free trial. If you keep it, if you like it, you can keep it.

If not, you can go pound sand. Store.show.com. That is the place to be. And let's see, what else? I think that's it for right now, BC. I'll be in LA this week, but Jay has mailed me, Luke, a trusty technology briefcase that will allow me to do the

show remotely on Wednesday and Friday. So if we have any tech difficulties, blame Jay. Thank you. Blame Jay. Don't get COVID. Don't spread COVID. Come back safe, and we will keep this show rocking and rolling. Back with you on Wednesday, but interviews and everything else between now and then. And

yeah, thank you guys so much for watching. Thumbs up on the video, hit subscribe for everyone at Showtime and Malka. That's Brian Campbell. I'm Luke Thomas. Until next time, may all of your gains be loyal. Thank you. We'll be right back. We'll see you next time.