MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Fight Night Recap, UFC London, UFC To NETFLIX? | FULL EPISODE | Morning Kombat

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

MK is back to kick off your week with all the latest in MMA! Luke and BC break down this weekend’s UFC Fight Night, where Roman Dolidze avenged his loss to Marvin Vettori with a hard-fought decision win. Dolidze is now calling for Israel Adesanya or Robert Whittaker next—has he done enough to earn that shot? In broadcasting news, could the UFC be heading to Netflix? A New York Post reporter claims that not only is the UFC likely to sign with the streaming giant, but that their relationship with ESPN might be on shaky ground. With reports of ESPN refusing to air UFC events on linear TV and PPV buys allegedly down, is there real smoke to this fire? And if so, does it even matter? Plus, we take a quick look ahead to UFC London! What has us most intrigued about the Leon Edwards vs. Sean Brady showdown? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Judging by your taste in podcasts, you like listening to things that help you reach your full potential. How about a yogurt that does the same? Try new Oikos Pro with 18 grams of protein per 175 grams serving to help build strong muscles and no added sugar. Oikos Pro, feed your strength. The truth is, no one does it alone. And why would you want to? We all need someone to make us believe. Hashtag, you got this. Oh, Jesus. Oh.

Do you want a margarita? Yes! My God! It's us doing what we love. Two, three, two, three. It's time to bang. Hey, Aaron, go bra. Hey, lose the bra actually.

Hey, it's morning combat at St. Patrick's Day, Monday, March 17th, two thousand and twenty five. You stumbled into the greatest combat sports show they ever thought about putting together, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, let's get down with that. Right. Hey, Brian Campbell, that BBC with that BDE. But my co-host from Washington, DC is also hair, ear, hair, ear, hair.

It's Luke Thomas. What's up, bro? What's up? What's up, bro? Happy. By the way, the Irish get quite bitter. They don't like it when you say St. Patty's day.

Do they like it when Conor McGregor goes to the white house on St. Patty's day? Yeah. What they, what they apparently prefer is it's either Paddy's Day or St. Patrick's Day, but you can't call it St. Paddy's Day and I'm here to tell the Irish. We're probably just going to call it St. Paddy's Day.

I'm sorry to tell you that like and anyone else suck on my payload toes. Hey, look Thomas original right there. Hey, I hope you're doing well. Hope you're fired up. Hope you enjoyed another apex card over the weekend. We're going to break that down as Roman Deleize, a legitimate middle weight title contender.

We're going to get into that as well. Also, we'll look at the biggest headlines in combat sports. Did you see Callum Walsh at the garden last night at that St. Paddy's beating up them Lyft drivers? Yeah. First round KO. Nice combo. But they got they got to match him now. They got it. They got to put them in against somebody. Now it's time. I saw Dan Kenobio saying they should get Xander Zayas to fight him, which would be kind of sick. That would be sick. Uh, so there was a, there was a lot of fights over the weekend.

We'll look at the biggest stuff. Also, we'll answer your questions with the EMS from dogs. And then I got a batch of shit today that I think people are going to be talking about. Now do you have people dying or eating feces or some other thing that's going to get us hemmed up by the don't think so, but I think it's a nice batch of she at if you don't get in that you can follow us at the socials below. Also, if you're free-loaded and how about a like or a subscribe or both right now really helps the show push forward.

We've been stuck on the same subscriber count for probably six years now, it seems like it is a vexing issue, but they can help us right now. They can help us. You can follow our YouTube channels as well. And of course, we do have a third member of our team. You won't see him today, but you can hear him. And of course, you probably saw him taking bong rips on his main card

minute podcast over the weekend. He's the son of an Australian. His name, Long Island, Luke Noceda. What's up, boys? Great, podcast over the weekend. He's the son of an Australian. His name, Long Island Luke Noceda. What's up, boys? Great fights this weekend. Surprising, right? Yeah, great's a strong word, but definitely good. Dude, four bonuses in the first five fights of the night?

Never seen that happen. Back to back chick, first round chaos. I will say that. To me, the big revelation was that you finally had some women's fights that were really great. Those were really great. And look, say what you will about the main event. That was fun and action.

I thought it was it was kind of I think of all the charm on the card. I would not say the main event was the charm. Longhound, did you enjoy that? I call it a technical thriller. OK, OK. All right. Here we go. I can't tell that's an insult. It is an insult. Thank you very much. All right. There you go. So that's the shit you got coming to you today

I hope you're ready for it. I hope you're doing well as I said Luke anything you want to bring up anything you want to talk? Oh, I had teased I had teased that I had an announcement which I do but it's only going to be released after the show Let's focus on MK. Let's get this. Let's get the MK in the bag and then on my train ride home I'm going to share the details. Oh, that? I can't wait to hear it. Does this have anything to do with a diagnosis medically? I have AIDS. No. Okay.

Really getting the silence of the horse for that one? No, no, everything's fine. It's good news. It has nothing to do with anything. Good news coming today after MK, if you're a big Luke Thomas fan, and why wouldn't you be out there? Well, there's plenty who aren't.

Let's put it that way. I wanted to shout out MK listener, Corey Marlin. I know you're going through Luke Thomas fan, and why wouldn't you be out there? Well, there's plenty who aren't let's put it that way I wanted to shout out MK listener Cory Marlin I know you're going through a lot right now physically got some surgeries in front of you and coming up keep fighting brother I mean, yes, that's all you can tell people keep fighting. All right, I always say come in Okay, keep swinging the axe keep swinging that axe. Okay, keep swinging that All right, let's just turn tragedy to sexual jokes about that Oh, that's it. I guess that's the MK way right there. That's all right. Let's just turn tragedy into sexual jokes. How about that? That's it. I guess that's the MK way right there. That certainly is.

Yes. I guess, you know, unless you want to filibust at all, we can probably start the show early, right? I mean, this is great. Well, let me just turn the tables very quickly. Do you have anything to say? No, no, no. I'll be on the call though.

Saturday night, Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay for PBC regular Amazon Prime Prime video, by the way, Sebastian Fundora in the main event. So check out that triple header. Also Friday, because I got a flight. The times are tough. We got to go early. We got to go 10 a.m. Eastern on Friday for MK. Oh, that's right. Yes. So programing note this Friday, 10 a.m.

Eastern, your Friday MK episode. Don't miss it. Thank you very much. And there's also UFC on Saturday. That'd be great. And also this fantastic episode of Morning Combat. Oh, by the way, presented to you by our friends at DraftKings. And as you already know with DraftKings, The Crown is yours. Shout out to everybody watching on YouTube, listening in their

ear holes or watching on the DraftKings network. We appreciate you. Oh, very quickly. Last thing, Bong Island Luke, give the fans a betting update. How did you make out this past weekend? I actually had a great weekend. I went five of six on the main card. Only fight I got wrong, I had Eliza Zalesky Dos Santos

versus Chitty Bang, but Roman cashed as a dog, had two parlay. I forgot who it was. It's the guy who, forgive me, I forget his name. He does the podcast with Hanato Moekano and Gilbert Burns. Matty Gilbert Burns. Matty Betts. Did you see his bet that he made? No. I know he does like long shot parlays and it did hit this week. Oh, he did a long shot parlay. It was I think he put I think he wagered like 4,400 he did a parlay on the Zaleski fight ending a certain way the main there were just three stoppages or whatever it was No, no main event and then two other stoppages

One by submission one by TKO and then the main event he made a hundred thousand dollars off of forty four hundred based on the parlay That's dope. That's pretty sick. Yeah, that's pretty sick. I know and now when I see him I'm just gonna rob him at gunpoint. So that's what I'm gonna. That's my retirement plan. Just rob people It works. Hey, let's start the show, though, OK, with topic number one. There you go. Hey, it was a UFC Fight Night Apex show for you. Middleweight division, of course, in the main event, probably the best fighter of the card in terms of rankings and actual stakes. When we look at a rematch two years after two years and four days, by the way,

after the fact of Marvin Vettori and Roman DeLizze. The first time around, Vittori scored a close but disputed, unanimous decision over three rounds. But in this rematch, which was all action and was exciting down the stretch in the so-called championship rounds, it goes the way of Roman DeLizze gaining revenge and catapulting forward when you consider the names that he called out. So Roman gets the best of the rematch. Was this a case though, Luke Thomas, of Deleidze showing improvement from that first fight?

Remember he lost the subsequent fight after that, one, two in a row. Now that's a three fight winning streak. Or was this Vittori maybe not being himself declining or just the realities of him being off nearly two years with an injury recovery coming into this fight? I don't know if we it's hard for me to exactly say There's if you're off that amount of time you obviously have to consider that a relevant factor in a prize fighter's career That is in a significant amount of time, and we didn't really talk about it But of course part of that was related to injury

Rehabilitation these are difficult moments, but of course, part of that was related to injury rehabilitation. These are difficult moments, but we had kind of surmised BC on Friday. Hey, if anybody could make a good rebound from that, given his age and some other factors, it seems like Vittori had some of those factors with the wind at his back. So I don't want to say that it played no role, but I do think when I watched this fight and I watched it a couple of times and we were texting back and forth today on the train ride, I think the leads they got better. I think the leads they got better. Now if you look at the numbers for Vittori, in the first

three round fight, he was competing somewhere in terms of strikes landed per minute, excuse me, strikes landed per round, somewhere in the high 30s, almost at 40. In this fight he was high teens and then low 20s. So his output for Vittori was not nearly as high but if you just look at who made not huge but slight yet meaningful adjustments I think it was Roman DeLidze. I think he had better defense. I think he had better understanding. I mean obviously third round was a bit tough. Obviously he got it. He got hurt there. Better pacing, better pacing, better stamina. Look, I thought he was going to fold in the fifth round, not not fall apart fold, but I thought he was going to get outworked in that final round. Yet he was the one pushing the offense

and closing strong. I got to give that up to him. Yes. And he had more offensive ideas in this fight than he did in the first one. What was Nick said? Call it chaos? Yes, dude. I really lot of these lot of this. Yes. And he was some of that landed.

What round was when he hit him with the back elbow and like the fourth or the fifth, I forget which one it was, where it had an effect. It just looked to me like the leads that we talked about it. Were those last two wins he had before this one? Were they against the very best middleweights? No, not necessarily. Or in the case of Smith up at 205, no, not necessarily, but they're, you know, these are still important victories to get there.

You can fine tune your craft through all of it. You get your paychecks flowing. You're staying active. I think BC for me, accumulatively, the story is, you know, did Delead say transform? No, I don't think he transformed, but he got incrementally yet meaningfully better and Vittori I I let me say this about hard five rounds First of all his chin is fucking ridiculous his conditioning is also very good Did you not get a sickening feeling in your stomach when I think it was round five when the leads a hit him with that knee

Yes, and you could hear it go crack and dude, Vittori just treated it like it was a light breeze. His chin is absurd. And there were a couple of them or their open stance. So it's one South pole, one Orthodox. Vittori had a couple of backup open side counters. It wasn't consistent, but you could see the ATT Mike Brown. That's right.

Effect. You could see some things he was trying to add. He just wasn't there yet. A little bit of head movement every once in a while. Hard to go for him from defense to offense. He's either got offense or he's got defense. But he did have the open side counters a couple of times. It wasn't like Vittorio looked like trash. That's really not the point. The lead's A, being active, working on his craft craft having some new ideas Adjusting for some things the first time to me that made all the difference no doubt about it Well look this is a close matchup a first fight and second fight first fight

I thought the leads a one two to one But it would go two to one two to one three nothing on those scorecards this time around over five rounds all three judges had A forty nine forty six or four rounds to my not foridze, which I thought was a little much. All three judges gave Dilidze the first and second rounds. I thought the first round should have gone to Vittori. I thought round three when Vittori dropped Dilidze, I gave him that round. But I give Dilidze credit in rounds four and five for coming back in on my scorecard,

sealing it three to two. Did you have it similar? My scorecard is identical. Round three, clear round for Vittori. Rounds four and five, clear rounds for Delidze. Round two, clear rounds for Delidze. And that's simply enough. Round one, the debate is whether or not Vittori, who numerically outlanded

Delidze, did better work. And I think people who scored it for Delidze say he landed less, but he landed more authoritatively. I didn't see it that way, but it doesn't matter either way way, two, four, and five clear rounds for DeLize. He's your rightful winner. They both show, I mean, look, was it the highest level, even though it was two guys lingering around the top 10, one in, one on the outside?

No, it wasn't Adesanya versus Whitaker level. With the chins, the gas tanks, the will of both, I did enjoy the fight overall. Long Island Luke, before we hear from Vittori, do you think there's a case scoring-wise, three to two here for Vitori? Nah, I had it the leads a for one I don't think there's a case First round was close. Yes, for sure. Okay, I thought the whole fight was close But like I still thought the leads a clearly one one guy just kind of pulled ahead. Yeah

Yeah, well tough break for Vitori because he did fight hard 25 minutes. He's been so many five round main events Whether he's deserved them all or not right? He's been kind of kind of a favorite of UFC I mean there does seem to be that Lorenzo connection That's brought up a lot with the Italians and again his youth he's at one of the young well I mean that's changing now, but for a long time He's been kind of one of these upstart middleweights and still in their 20s waiting for him to turn the corner It's just the corner that was the the big question we had coming in. Would he show us a drastic improvement of craft?

There were pockets of improvements of craft, little moments that helped him, but they were both swinging for the fences on every punch. So it came down to that will, that chin. But dude, let me say this. You had Dominic Cruz mentioning this, and I think he, Dominic Cruz mentions this all the time,

but the reason why he does this all the time is because it's relevant all the time. But the reason why he does this all the time is because it's relevant all the time. And I'm not talking about underhooks, I'm talking about fakes and faints. And he made a point, I think it was around round three, where he was just saying to them, or saying to the broadcast to the audience, that, you know, these guys are just kind of jousting, they're not really opening each other up a little bit. For me, that was one of my big criticisms of this fight. It's like these guys are senior level fighters. The leads a closer to 40 than he is 30 at this point.

He's 36 years old. I was hoping for a little bit more of that. That's why I think when we get into the whole discussion around like, you know, those the winner and in this case to lead say how far does he catapult into true contention? There was no setups. There wasn't a lot of jabbing. There weren't really take down, you know, attempts maybe outside of one.

So it really was just who's going to be tougher over 25 minutes. Who can land the bigger shots entertaining to a certain degree. But I don't think like either one raised their stock aggressively outside of Roman fixing the cardio issues and showing you that, look, if you can go 25 hard with him, he's got, he's got the tools to win that, but this was a very basic, but sort of simplistic fight in that regard Well, let's hear from Vittori in terms of losing this close fight in his return from that what shoulder injury? Yeah, I believe that's right Here's Marvin Vittori

Yep, nothing too bad. Just some cuts and bruises Fuck man life sometimes shows you that even you give your heart out and everything you got you still fall short. That was a close fight, almost had him on the turn but I guess it wasn't enough and uh yeah man fuck I don't even know what to say. Just thank you to ATT, the best in the world bro bro. Thank you, Dan, Mike, McCahan, Marco, JJ, everybody, bro. Even all the sporting partners helping me out. Love you, bro. Love you guys.

And thank you, UFC. What the fuck can I say, bro? I don't know. That's it. Luke, serious question. Too many BBLs in that time off? I don't know. That's it. Luke, serious question. Too many BBLs in that time off? First of all, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Is there a thing? Is too many BBLs? I don't know. Listen. Okay. I have two opinions about the state of Marvin Vettori. On the one hand, he's doing what we're asking him to do in the sense that he had to get right with his injury. He changed up camps, he moved all the way across the country, or at least

you know for the camp anyway. I'm not sure where he exactly collects his mail. You remember where his old camp was? It was King's MMA. He was with Rafael Cordero. That's right. And I think he was doing some other stuff too, but that was the base of it. And he finally goes over to Florida, you know, trading with Mike Brown and ATT, they're going to get you, I don't know how far they can take you, but however far that is, they're going to get it. Yes. Right?

And so all of those things I really like, and I really appreciate, and I do think if he keeps investing in that, it will pay dividends. At the same time, while I am appreciative of the fact that he's coming off of injury off the layoff camp change, these are difficult things to like it takes King Mo told me this one time, like it takes time when you go to a new camp to get adjusted, even if that you're clicking with them all automatically, there's just layers of that bond that have to get built over time. It's just a function of how much time you have. At the same time, the big knock on what he was doing was it just wasn't he's a decision machine Either way either he wins via decision or he loses via decision because he does have that foundational game

But there's nothing dangerous. He has to find that BC. Yes. He's got to find that extra gear And I do believe Mike Brown can do it and dude look at the fucking guy He looks like it looks like a million. Hercules walking around out there. When you have, I don't know how long this could last, but when you have a gas tank, a chin and a willingness, you can go very, very far. To the point you raised about like why the UFC has belief in him. Okay. The fact that he's of Italian descent, you know, probably doesn't hurt. Let's say. But the other parts there, there is, you look at it on paper and you're like dude There's something here

We're just kind of waiting it maybe was a bit much this time because of all the factors we've mentioned But I'm gonna keep my eye on it I do think it's something to pay attention to and I think for people who might be writing them off being like oh He's regressed might be a little early to say something like that. Let's see how the rest of the year goes He would tweet afterwards that he wants a trilogy Yeah, no, I'm good on it's gonna want that now, but We see it down the road. Does it matter? I don't I don't there's no need to run that They didn't need to run this fight Now the leads a would say ultimately that not fighting angry for the first time was a big part of his adjustment

Here's the lead day talking about this victory. You know, a lot of guys are they are all we are going to war Listen, these guys don't see the war I see plenty of wars in my life 2008 in Georgia when I was born in 90s in Georgia 2014 in Ukraine 2022 in Ukraine I saw a lot of bad things people don't know what is real war but and when these guys are going there and so we are going to war and this and that and we're looking at their eyes and they are very serious about it. I understand these guys don't know nothing about it. If they want to see the war I can take them I can show them if they want but this is I respect all of them. It's not like they are my enemies or something. That's why when I saw Marvin during waiting I go to him I

said Marvin I was in Rome it's amazing city., I was in Rome. It's amazing city. I loved it so much. I love the Italian food. I speak with him. He was a little bit shocked, probably. Didn't understand why I'm talking to me, but I'm not looking at these guys like my enemies for life or something. I'm cruel guy. I'm going there because I know that they want to hurt me. And I try to hurt them also.

But it doesn't mean it. I mean to them. And it's only sport for me and nothing more. Yeah, it's not real war Do you think that there should be a rule if they're gonna wear those Game of Thrones type clothing that you should have to have killed? The animal I mean he might have to be fair. I would not doubt once again I've said it before if you wear dead animals, I mean like leather, you know, Michael Kors jacket you bought at JCPenney I don't mean that but I mean like real ass fucking game that you killed. You know, you mean business. Yeah. Well, that is interesting for him to say that it happened this late in his career where he finally figured out how to keep

his emotions and poison check. And he was basically saying that it's maturity in fire in the fight, he would get hit, get mad and use up a lot of his gas tank in that regard. Oh, sorry. I'm putting my hand up on the camera. But again, I'm not saying transformational, but did it look to you like he was overall relative to the first fighter, certainly earlier in his career, making better decisions? I would argue that it looked that way. And when you're calm, you can do that. Yeah, better but not best.

And I know we'll talk in a second about who he called out and what his future is. But Luke, even though he upped his output, which was a key part of winning this fight along with fixing his stamina, he was fighting a single strike opponent. I don't know if that output is gonna win him fights against the elites. We'll get to that.

I want to bring up the elephant in the room though. And that's Herb Dean. That's the eye poke central that went down. It's every week that we're talking about eye pokes and they're back with the old gloves, which I think makes it happen more. But the central tension here is that referees are not following through and taking away points.

DeLidze was warned early at the start of round two by referee Herb Dean before it started with coach Nykstic there to just sort of say, look, this is not going to be allowed. You want to do this, which they would talk on the air, like who would do that, Bisping was saying. He's probably right. Either do a fist or whatever,

but this is just not going to work. Within the next minute, he poked Vittorio in the eye. Right in the eye. And was given a softer warning, was given a, if this happens again, then we're going to be talking about it. There was never a threat of a point in there. And it wasn't the last time

that there were fouls between these two. Luke, this, and I think this is aligned, by the way, with Steve Willis' performance in the Javante Davis fight. I think it's an overall group think by the commissions that they don't wanna become part of the story. But by not becoming part of the story, they're becoming part of the story. This cannot be where there's eight or nine referees

that are all getting it wrong. This seems institutionalized, doesn't it? Long Island Luke. Doesn't it though? Top of, to this point, Long Island Luke, top of your head, don't give me a random one. I'm going to ask in a very specific way. What was the last time you can remember a referee in MMA taking a point from a fighter or an eye poke?

Fuck man. Fuck, man. Right. Right. I don't know, but wait, back to DC's point of the group think thing. Yeah. I believe it was the Ryan Span fight, I could be wrong. There was something like three or four fouls.

It was Mark Smith refereeing. Yes. Didn't even consider taking a point. Nothing. Three or four fouls, it was just ridiculous. I understand that- This is not a UFC issue, this is a commission issue. It's a commission issue, it has nothing to do with UFC. I understand that this is not a UFC issue. This is a commission. It's a commission issue It has nothing to do with UFC. I

Understand that if you look at the bylaws It is not legal to poke another fighter in the eye and I'm here to tell you that practically speaking It is entirely legal low blows are the same thing. It is entirely Somebody show me the proof that if you didn't know anything about MMA and you just watched it How would you ever know, other than the fact that the referee might say something, but there's no penalty, like nothing, how would you ever know that it was against the rules?

You might stop it because it's like an accidental thing where you ever watch two teams in South America play soccer, and then like a dog shows up on the field, and they have to pause the game and get rid of it. That's how they treat eye pokes. It is absolutely illegal on paper. It is practically 100% legal to the point you can do it multiple times in a fight. BC, you can even do it multiple times to your opponent in a round. This is absurd.

As Minnell cop scraped the eyes of his opponent to set up the finish, not to mention the Cejudo fight, not to mention when Weidman blinded Bruno Silva, and on and on. It's going to be weapon... So I want to say, what's the thing that's going to finally make him the change? And it's going to be a serious injury to an elite fighter that can't fight anymore because of it. But is there anything else that could make a change? What about if teams start actually weaponizing this, meaning it's the end of the second round. You realize you're on your way to being down 0-2 in a three round fight. What's the first thing you're going to do?

Kick them in the nuts to get a stoppage so you can get some rest time and regroup and start to build the momentum in your favor through following. And I know that we romanticize guys like Bernard Hopkins in boxing who have almost Almost like a John Stockton the NBA they've they've learned how to weaponize cheating in such a smart way that we applaud them for right Same thing I guess maybe when you look back at the pitchers in the 70s and 80s would always Drain green something illegal and you know or something illegal that they can use to pitch and we'd be like well There's they're smarter than everybody else if If you're not cheating, you're not trying. But dude, it's going to set up strategic cheating on a regular basis if this doesn't get snipped. And for as much as we rail UFC, it's not a UFC issue.

I would like Dana to be more vocal about it against it because I feel like his voice can lead to change because we do assume at the end of the day that a lot of these state commissions can be swayed by money or the possibility of money. I don't mean direct bribes, I mean, we got to keep these promoters happy so they bring their big fights to our state. If you don't think that's part of MMA right now, you're not reading the MMA draw about all these government contracts and how these cities are like, we need you TKO, come bring your whole circus the whole weekend, we got to drive up tourism and all that stuff.

But it's bad, but in this case, do you think this affected Vittoria enough to say that if those files hadn't happened, maybe it's a different fight, even if he had taken a point based on the way the judges went, it still would have been it still would have been. The lead say that one, so it wouldn't have affected the outcome per se, at least in this particular case, although again, hard to know what would happen

if you take a foul and blah, blah, blah. But I just feel like this is this is I feel like I remember when Anthony, rest in peace, Rumble Johnson got poked in the eye. Here we go. Here's how here's how fucking old I am by Kevin the fire burns. Right, right. He gets poked in the eye. And it's a terrible fucking eye poke. They have to, I believe they did a rematch and then, you know, at that point Rumble dispatched him viciously. But like, the point I'm trying to make is, can you look up when that, when their first fight was Long Island Luke? The first Kevin the fire burns and Rumble Johnson

fight. What I'm trying to make is we have literally at best made no improvements at all since then. And this the part like again, you're right. It's not a UFC issue. You're 100% right. It's a commission issue. It was July of 2008. This is what the fuck I'm talking about, dude. We're I mean, we're almost 20 years later. What the hell is happening? But this is what I wanted to say. I remember after every single UFC event when Dana White wanted Steve Mazagati gone and he would go to fucking town on him. And I'm not even saying that's necessarily fair. Mazagati was not a good ref. I don't know

if he deserved exactly the treatment that he got. He got it hard too. He who? Mario Yamasaki. He got run out too. He did. But although although his brother still does roughing when they go back to the to this And he brought this into our lives. Yeah, he did the heart. Yeah, took he does that too but what I want to say was I Remember what in effect it had when Dana did it accumulatively

I guess I don't understand why he doesn't do it other than does he just not consider it to be a problem? Do the people in charge like we're here talking about like it's a huge problem. I don't know what the evidence is that the people in charge consider it a problem. And that by itself is a problem. I think that they just want to not be part of our shows the next Monday of like, Oh my God, did you see Herb Dean took away

a point if he wouldn't have taken that away, this fight could have been whatever, but they're getting the opposite. So let's hear Roman DeLidze speak upon something that he seemed to have benefited from these eye pokes. I didn't try, you know, if there was something I didn't remember it quite good because I wasn't trying to do this. If it happened, it happened accidentally and I didn't want to do it to damage him or do something wrong to his eyes. Yeah, because I know a lot of times when it's hand fighting, you know, you're reaching out, you're trying to either paw at them, you're trying to either stop their strike before it comes. It's just unfortunate when you do that, your fingers are extended out there.

Is there any way to do that you think with maybe a closed fist or is it just something you have to kind of just actively tell yourself going in there? I was actively telling me after a couple times when judge told me I was sometimes you can see like I was doing like this in the middle of fight because I was oh I need to close them and I was doing like that because I'm not trying to do it. Yeah. It happens. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean I don't think he's doing it on purpose. He's not a cheater in that sense. They've got to change the structure of how you do it. They've got to teach them just like in the NFL of tackling below the tackling shoulders down. It's got to start. And the only way to do that is policing it.

So that's that's it. That's that right there. We got some big call outs, though, from Roman DeLidze. Some big ones. We're talking about former champions Robert Whitaker, Israel Adesanya. And if you look at this fight coming in in the rankings, it is time for DeLidze now on a three fight win streak to really find out where he is. Let's hear Roman talking about the future. All these guys need opponent.

They need to fight somebody. They need to have somebody, some opponent. I don't care if somebody else will be from top five. I'm also ready. I don't really care much, but I said more realistic fights because both of them are from lose, they lost. And that's why I said, I don't really care who but I said more realistic fights because both of them are from lose they lost and that's why I said I don't really care who will be from top five It's more just trying to get into that top five

Realistic being realistic who is ready and who need opponent and who because there are some guys Who really deserve to fight for title like Kaio you mentioned like Imamov also like there are a couple guys, good guys and they are waiting, they are in the line. If they will give me these guys, I'm ready anyway. But there are more realistic fights and that's why I said these names. Both of these guys have good names. More important for me, the name. Of course, Adesanya maybe was more on the top and it will be better for me for my name to fight Adesanya. But we take it also a champion, he's well skilled, a very good fighter.

It's not about like about personality or something. It's all about name and quality of opponent. And Adesanya will of course will be better if we're telling about higher, more loud name, of course. Luke, let me update you on the ratings heading into this fight. Dilidze was 11, Vitori was 8. OK, the champion, of course, is DDP.

Number one is Imovov. Number two is Strickland. Three is the man who we think is getting next, Hamzat Chamayev. And then four and five are Adesanya and Whitaker. So if Dilidze number 11 beats number eight, and he's looking for that, I really feel like either of those names are kind of perfect right now. So just one quick clarification. You're basically right.

Dilidze is sitting at 12 as we currently speak. Okay. That obviously- Not 11, got it. But you know, basically right there. And you're right, Vittorio's sitting at eight. So let's assume that he bumps to eight. Izzy and Whitaker, four and five.

They don't have fights right now. They don't? So Izzy's coming off losing streaks. Yep. Whitaker's coming off a, what was his last outing? Who did Whitaker just lose to? Hanzot. So he loses to Hanzot, so he needs a reset.

And by the way, that was a bad stoppage. Maybe it was a good stoppage, but it was a bad loss. And Izzy got smoked by Imamov. I'm down with either of those. MMA Twitter seems to think that Dilijde is going to be headlining a five rounder against Strickland in the Apex coming up. That's also a possibility.

What is the right fight to reward him for three in a row and a victory over a top 10 guy? Listen, if he can get the Izzy fight and the Whitaker fight, he's smart to call him out. There's certainly nothing wrong with trying to call your shot. The problem is, and he's right, Kyle Bahalio sitting at six,

but he might have business inside the top five, here's the problem. And I don't think it's a bad fight necessarily, but it's not super sexy. Canineer just had a great win. Yes. And he's sitting at seven. So.

And they haven't fought, right? And they, I don't, not recently, right? oh they have not fought but I was saying that's the fight to make dude they are gonna headline the apex right UFC Vegas 120 I just like the fight I do like the fight like I said I just feel like you couldn't go wrong with Izzy or Whitaker certainly again Bahalyos probably got a date up there but the cannoneer factor cannoneer you know that was a tough ass win in his last fight this was a tough ass win in his last fight. This was a tough win for him in this fight.

I just feel like they're made for each other for the, especially if it's going to be an apex fight. Here's the hard question. Rank those possible three opponents, Whitaker, Adesanya, cannoneer, in terms of difficulty for Roman, or just in terms of like, could he he beat them because I'm not sure yet on canineer and even though Whitaker and Otis Hiney are coming off of defeats I just don't think the lead day is on their level I think all of them are pretty tough I'd probably say Whitaker's the toughest because it's gonna be a little harder to hit Izzy appears a little bit more head of all these days

unfortunately but can in there was willing to brawl Yeah, that's the other part to canine ears can be hip But he'll just stand in the pocket with you and what were you gonna say? I was just gonna say canine ears also 40 plus so he's got to be the most yeah But does he look 40 plus doesn't matter. I looks it's no no no, but I'm saying I don't mean like like bodybuilding I mean like when he performs does he look 40 plus you know what I mean, right? But if we're comparing to Whitaker or is he kind ofineers definitely the easier for sure sure sure and the style wise if he brawls but if they brawl they say styles make fights like that's all I mean in

some ways it's an easier fight in some ways it's slight depending how he takes it a bit of a riskier fight I point taken I mean canineer has not had the career that either Whitaker or Izzy has had but I just feel like canineer the leads a that's that's where we're headed on all this All right. I think where we're headed in topic number two is finding if there's more room in Luke's underpants for new fighters. Here we go. Topic number two is your UFC Apex undercard from the Fight Night 104 over the weekend.

Let's just skip right down to the fighter that Luke Thomas told you to watch for and told you how his wife would have pronounced his name. This is Kevin Valleshos. to watch for and told you how his wife would have pronounced his name. Mm-hmm. This is Kevin Valleshos. Not bad. That's not as close. First round TKO stoppage over Choi Sung-woo, 23 years old, from Argentina so you know

he's here to be a gaucho, steal your girl and knock you out. Luke, just how impressive was this? And if not him, we'll get to who else impressed you on a card that did produce nine finishes across the board. But let's stay with Argentina's Vallejos, that cracking overhand right. And is this his second UFC fight? First, first, because second contender series. Five years before that. Like, are we ready to kind of catapult the guy like this?

And I just got to say, I so I mentioned it before MMA on point put out a video talking about how much older everyone in the UFC is getting, in particular, to champions, but not exclusively them. Right. And we talked about this with the lightweight guys. It's just a fact that lightweight contenders and lightweight champions are now older than they ever have been. This is not a lightweight fight.

This is a featherweight contest. But the point I'm trying to make is it's true more broadly anyway. So the reason I bring that up is when I see a 23 year old kid who is still raw and at times a little reckless, but clearly has some real awesome ability. And in particular, the ability, we just talked about what Vittori doesn't have,

the ability to turn defense into offense To slip and counter which is exactly what he did now to be clear Choi was coming into this fight with a heavy heart his mother apparently had passed away a month ago yeah, God only knows how much that could have been a Real obstacle to performance here. And so, you know, we we are dealing with someone in again You can say by a host you can say as my wife would say by, again, you can say Vallejos, you can say, as my wife would say, Vallejos, or you can do like the Argentines would say, which is Vachejos.

I'm going to have to ask Martin Bodder. So did you hear, by the way, I have to say this, Brendan Fitzgerald, did you hear how he pronounced it? I know, but I saw your tweet praising him. Yes. So I don't understand this, they're the only ones who do this. The Argentines, the double L in Spanish, you most commonly hear it as a Y, an English Y, so Vallejos.

That's how you commonly hear it. In places like in Columbia, they'll put a J on it, like an English J. So it's Vallejos. The Argentines make it a sh sound. So they say Vallejos. They don't say Medellin, they say Medesín. Okay. It looks like Medellin.

Medellin, but it's Medesín. And. Medellin, but it's Medellin. To Colombians it's Medellin, to Argentines it's Medellin. That's some Mike Shashevsky bullshit right there, okay? I'm telling you, Brendan Fitzgerald had it exactly right. Very, very impressive level of homework. I like Fitzgerald, by the way. But here's what I want to say about Vallejos. However you want to pronounce it.

Little bit of teporia there little bit little bit Little bit of to poria Tick-tock I saw of the comparisons of them too. I saw them go In and I have not seen any now. I feel like everyone saying I swear I swear I might have been like an Instagram. Either way, I don't feel so. Okay, before he waxes sexually poetic, Long Island Luke, you're going to have to be the boner

patrol here to keep this man in a healthy public state. They're going to deport me. Was that Tupperia-esque? Did you feel flashes? I didn't say Tupperia-esque. Did you feel flashes of sex that came off of that performance? He looked really good. I'm not going to take anything away from the guy flashes of sex that came off of that before he looked really good I'm not gonna take anything away from the guy, but we have to factor in song

Woo, Choi was finished in three of his last four come I understand I understand listen This was a UFC debut no more no less And we all agree and the point is and I said it at the top of the question which you asked which was is he? Still raw and you know somewhat reckless and obviously green generally even though He's got like 15 fights, but you know terms of legitimate tough competition pushing him deep into rounds. He's very very green There's a lot that's unknown about him But some of the way in which he sets up attacks some of the attacks he goes for these overhand blitzes in particular He's a wrestler too, right?

He can't think he has some but the striking is what I was most impressed by and of course he's miles away from Ilya Tupori of course but there's a you can tell what I'm trying to point out is these transcendent figures and it was you know McGregor before him and everyone else but you're seeing this evolution of more guys electing to be pocket boxers in particular some of the shorter guys who have to make up that reach because they have to get closer to their opponent the the ones who are athletic, who have natural ability and obviously, you know, he works really hard as well, like this gentleman from Argentina, it creates for a very exciting prospect. And I do think he is borrowing explicitly from Toporia.

But again, that long lineage of pocket boxers who have really revolutionized that kind of style of late. Don't forget the original pocket rocket pocket boxer, Tyson Griffin, who I used to love. Tyson Griffin. I remember when he beat Faber. He did also remember, Freddie, Frankie Edgar made his UFC debut against Tyson Griffin, and no one knew who Frankie Edgar was. Yes.

And we were like, Oh, Tyson Griffin is going to run the fucking table on this guy and then Frank Yeager gave me the business look by jay shows Kevin he's like but JJ Kevin VJJ he even had Fiona is that his teammate or just country woman Fiona meaning Eileen Perez who's on a streak right I do not know if they're teammates she was cage-side and throwing shirts into the ring celebrating so if who's on a streak right now. She's streakin'. I do not know if they're teammates. She was cage-side and throwin' shirts into the ring, celebrating, so if he's got a little bit of that spirit in him, then we can be havin' some fun in the future here at Featherweight. He also seems to be a good guy.

Here's Kevin Vejayjay. Okay, all right. Okay, being really nice here. So Damon Martin would tweet out that Kevin Vallejo uses his post-fight interview to advocate for Sung Woo Choi to get another fight in the UFC after he still showed up to compete despite suffering the personal loss prior to the event. What a freaking class act. Kevin would quote tweet that and say, Choi lost his mother less than a month ago

and still fought me. My heart aches for him. I really hope he gets another shot in the UFC. That's a good guy move. And I don't think we see enough of that in this non Bushido cage. Okay. You know what I'm saying? There used to be about that. She at right.

Yeah, I was waiting, you know, I mean, you know, I'm more commonly expecting each one to call each other slurs, but yes, not this time. Thank God this time at all. But Vallejo Vallejo's would also talk about what he wants here and moving forward, how quickly they want to throw him in there with some big names. Honestly, I'm on a cloud right now.

Like truly, I can't remember like what hand I hit him with, how I knocked him out, like what round it even ended in. It's just all like surreal. And I sacrificed so much. I went to Brazil for five weeks to do my camp. And no, I'm on a cloud right now. Yeah, there's definitely one person on my mind. We're at different stages in our career right now.

He's on a five-fight win streak. That man's name is John Silva. I want to fight him because I want to fight the best. I want my rematch with him. And I'm going to be the one that takes the title from him So whatever comes I'm gonna eat here. That's good. And then when I get back to Argentina, dude Yeah, he's talking about talking about eating Argentinian food Kevin Vallesios versus Jan Silva. So they fought already. This is Yeah, that's I mean that's a weird one that you are doing that

Yeah, that's I mean, that's a weird one that you are doing that They fought already silver one, but remember but remember Kevin was 21 at the time. This is what I mean He's so federation is this no, no, they were in contender series Oh, right the fingers here is a Vallejos one around on all three judges. Yeah, so it was close So the point I'm trying to make is it was a he's this is my whole point Everything's coming to him a little bit early. He's a little bit raw. He's very young, but he's got some exciting Possibilities and what I love is he's right Silva is moving on ahead So it was gonna be fighting obviously Bryce Mitchell UFC 314, but I like how he's got this long-range Kind of target he's getting after and if he keeps moving up by the time that they do fight again, dude

It's gonna be it's gonna be electric I can't wait for that. I forgot that they had fought in the contender series that was part of our storyline coming in for these two fights, but interesting that rematch will be it'll be it'll have a Mahachev-Sharikin type of backstory to it and I like those a little bit. That's right early in your career You know which which also we just saw it middleweight with fluffy and the other guy Remember that fight was sloppy, but it was Brendan Allen. Yes. Yeah Although he was as we talked about fluffy was messed up. Yes, that is true. You see what about you?

Who'd you do think stood out? Um, I did enjoy this card Long on Luke called it great. I think it's a little strong that felt a little bit. It was a good car It was a good card. Yeah, I agree with that. Let's talk about Chidi and jacquani against Eliza Zalesky dos Santos that's a mouthful. He gets the second round finished. It was pretty pretty gnarly pretty brutal, but it felt like a Escalation of the run he's been on he did miss weight That's a problem to account that he did miss weight and not terribly but he did miss it He wanted to cut his hair that wouldn't let him. I thought he looked great all things considered It was still it was back and forth early. Yeah, he's probably he's been kind of competing

You know in the shadows of the UFC in a weird way And I think now he's kind of earned maybe like a pay-per-view slot or some kind of opportunity on a bigger card against a bigger name He's sort of proven at this point he can do, well, I mean, I'm not sure. There are some limits to it, but in any event, this was a great performance and building off of it, I think, is something he's earned. We were looking out for Daman Blackshere

against Cody Gibson here at Bannumweight. You know what, Cody Gibson fought pretty good. Well, you could see he's like in the best shape of his career, he's got new tattoos, like he's going for it. And he he went for here, but he did get submitted It wasn't after it was after having a lot of success too So how big of a win for Blackshear and as I think we're in Insighting insinuating here that this isn't a it's not gonna end Gibson's run. You know, he's he's still here

I thought Gibson again credit to DeMond Blackshear He was the sharper guy down the stretch. And also it looked to me BC when they were tying up, there was a clear physical advantage for Blackshear. He just looked to be stronger, more athletic and that's okay. But dude, Cody Gibson is such an interesting story. He went to the UFC a lot. I think he fought Manny Gambordian back in the day and you know, had to kind of, you know, muddle around. He fought Aljo too. Yeah. Yeah. And he had to kind of mud know muddle around on Fort Algo too. Yeah yeah and he had to kind of muddle around in the regional scene. He was a history teacher I think he still might be in high school and now he's back in the UFC and I think he's very much cleaned up his

technique. He's much more well-rounded but he's a little bit older, 37 years of age I believe, and Blackshear is quite skilled and as I mentioned not just very skilled but I thought there was a real physical difference between them so I don't think there's really any shame in this performance by Cody Gibson but definitely another great win for Damon Blackshear. Two in a row now for Alexander Hernandez a guy at lightweight who we always think is better than the amount of losses that he has but he can make mistakes he can be hit or miss. How did you score that? Competitive fight with Kurt Hollubauer. I had a 29-28. For Hernandez?

Yeah, 30-27 is absurd. 30-27 was a very close fight. It was a very competitive fight. I thought there were definitely, here's what I thought. I thought Hollubauer was better through big portions. Takedowns failed him, right? He couldn't defend the takedown and underneath he just couldn't necessarily do a whole lot. And I'm going to say this, there was punctuated moments where you could

definitely see Hernandez surge back, like reclaim the round. So for that reason, I actually thought it was a pretty good performance from Hernandez. I did. I thought it was mature. Yes. He's always in like third team all body shape. He just had, oh my God, but he just had like the weirdest UFC

start where he, he just KOs Dariush He beats OAM and you're like dude, holy fuck this guy came out of nowhere Yeah, yeah, and then he called he called Donald Seroni day drinking Don and it was bad news after that But to the point he this is a guy who you can tell has been in the gym working And at least it paid off here. Are we allowed to shout out Waldo Cortez Acosta on four straight heavyweight wins? Okay, that was not a great fight though. Against Ryan Spann who...

He didn't look great. No, he didn't look great. He didn't look great. And he went down weird on that. I know it was, the replay would show it was a short shot that turned his chin. Yeah. But when you're watching in real time

it kind of looked like he just fell on the note. Like a failed hirai goshi, yeah, it didn't go great. But he did get beat up hard on the ground. Yeah, I thought he was going to have a speed advantage and he looked slower than... Did you feel he looked faster? He didn't look faster than me at all. This is such low level competition. That's where the heavyweight division is at. It's where it's usually at to be fair. There's not a lot of consistency there. Bannonweight Carlos Vera did get a bonus

afterwards for that first round submission 50 50 BJJ out of false Church, Virginia Carlos Vera was it Josiah's Musasa is that who he says upon? Yes He got hit with the fade away and then the head kick comes over the top when you're not looking and then he took his Back and then he had to switch the grip a couple times, but he got it on the choke long I knew did you do the whole he's Brazilian, so I'm gonna bet him by submission? He's Ecuadorian actually. He is Ecuadorian. Wow. I take that back.

He looked like shit I gotta say until he got that finish. Also biggest dog on the card he was like plus 550 cash. Yeah but he showed up when it happened. I'll say this, to finish off with that smooth ass back take that was nice. That was real slick. Look at what- His ground game is no joke but he kept pulling guard. I mean I know he has Ryan Hall in the corner and mentioned 50-50 50, but like, dude, it looked like the 50, 50 guys,

they believe in the guard. You know what I mean? And I understand that, you know. All right. Let's talk about these ladies that kicked off the card. And not necessarily maybe about what this win does for them, but it was interesting to see back to back first round stoppages. I give them credit. Women's fights at Flyweight. Carly, Judy's knocked out Unieski, do Ben. And a lot of people were DMing me

Unieski picks as if I keep some like collection of women on the scale You know, I mean, I'm like, you know, like we have some no can we can we treat these with dignity then at Bannum weight? Priscilla Cotcher, where I Gave it to Josie and Eunice. Yeah, that was a smoked her. Absolutely. It's rare I'm one punch. I mean Jessica on Drudge has given us a few of those, but it's rare to see one punch KOs in Women's MMA. Again, I've been down on Women's MMA. I was very happy to see this. Congratulations to all the ladies. They performed great. So this Fight Night card, which we said on paper coming in to be very fair,

we said the same kind of jerkest question we say a lot. Is this actually the worst of the Apex finite cards in terms of, you know, amount of non Wikipedia page entrance spillover of Dana White contender series and did we need this main event, main event, all those questions, even though I enjoyed for most this card and the main event. Well, UFC took that criticism and when they had a hot streak here, decided to go to social media and dunk on the haters by saying. Fight nights at the apex are so boring with the capitalized and lower case. And then it says, make that nine finishes on the night.

I did enjoy the nine finishes. This was this was a great TV card. There were great TV fighters on it, and there was some fun back and forth. Not super high level, but some bangers, right? Not a ton to talk about in future title contention, but at least you had a breakout performance from the Argentine. At least you had a couple of things going on here. But I don't think that has the impact in Gratis

that they think it does. Okay, what's the issue with their tweet? You're gonna have to do a lot more to fix the actual issue, right? You know what I mean? Like any card you roll out could have that ability to be fireworks. And that's kind of why we tune in, even if we're getting angry here. And I'm not saying don't celebrate that, but that was a pointed look back at the opposition or the opposing viewpoint, whether it's fans, whether it's media, whether it's whomever, as almost like a F you, how do you like me now?

It's like the card is still the card it was on paper. I just want them to know that, right? Well, I would have a couple of different responses. I think the first thing I would say is I looked at some of the responses to that tweet and a lot of people were like, yeah, great, but these guys should have been competing in front of a large crowd, not in front of, you know, five donks sweeping a broom.

That was the first thing I saw a lot of people complaining about. Now, is it true that we were probably, let me, here's the reality. The UFC has so much resources that even their overflow can at times perform quite well. And this was one of those cases. And we were probably a little too negative heading into it

about its potential for fun. There always is that, you have to take that seriously. By the way, sometimes these turn out to be like god awful. I mean, they can be both, but that's the point. It could also be really fun, and you got something really fun. But it seems tone deaf to come out and be like, there's no issue, see?

Right, but the thing I would say is, the guys at Tapology were tweeting about which fight nights and which pay-per-views this year have yielded the most live traffic and interest. And of all the fight nights this year, this one was the lowest. And the point you have to understand is, when you the UFC has created a tier of content. It's not like these fighters aren't necessarily some aren't that great. But these ones, you know, there were many good ones on there. It's not that these fights don't have a place.

The question is, do they belong with a premium brand that is just creating a tier of overflow content so they can get more money from ESPN? Is that what they should really be doing? And of course, we've been over this debate. Some people want that. Some people don't. I understand. However, the proof is in, as Floyd might say, the Putin, which is to say the way in which you can judge a card is not by how good it actually is in the end. You can try that, but what you have to look at is what are people doing with their time? And when I worked at MMA Fighting, we would have this,

I talked about it a million times, now with this proprietary software is everywhere, but at the time it was quite novel called Chartbeat, and you could see who was coming into your site by the second and where they were going and how much they were paying attention. And that was the first lesson I got BC and I was like, Oh wow, people do not watch Bellator. Holy shit. You know, um, this card, as the guys at topology said, had the lowest amount of traffic of any of the fight nights this year. If you create overflow content as the premier brand where

you're just throwing fights together, throwing them in the apex. Yeah. Did it end up turning out pretty good credit to the fighters? It actually turned out pretty good. But the point is is no one was there to watch it either in person or online because there was no interest about it. The expectations are so low at this point. It's where we're at. So that just kind of showed it like this is always the question I have. Do the matchmakers and the people that do this, do they not know that it's gone down? Are they hand strung by the budget

and what they're told and they can't tell us? Or do we not know how hard it is to actually do that job and this is the best they can do? Because I think if we're gonna be the ones that have been complaining, we're looking at it as their hamstringing them. They only have limited resources because there's so many dates to fill. That's probably the dictation of this direction, right? Of downhill.

You mix it with the Dana Wike and Tender series. Nobody has Wikipedia page, blah, blah, blah. Where Fight Nights Ever Deep is also another argument I get. But this argument extends to pay per view main cards, too, by the way, right? It's not just the bottom of Apex ones. Do you think the matchmakers, if it was that like an opinion of them, like like nothing is wrong. You guys are the ones that have the bad expectations or like who's going to give them a halfway break?

We were wrong. And we we need to be careful about this, which is people are always like, oh, it's the ones that people don't pay attention to that are always good. That is not true. I can't tell you how many times people are like, I'm not gonna pay attention to it. And then it also was bad.

I mean, that happens all the time. But as I said before, the UFC does have a point that if you are a hardcore fan and you do care about just turning it on, it is quite possible week to week, you could get a series of cards and fights from the apex itself that can very much over deliver. We really have to take that seriously and we discounted that last week. I don't think we're trying to say let's never use the apex again or that there's no value.

There is an intimate banger TV friendly value there, just not as many as the other. But to the point you raised, these fights should have been in front of an audience and more to the point there was no promotion for this at all. It's just overflow content and we're not the ones who treat it like overflow. They're the ones who treat it like overflow. We take the cues from them. That's it. That's a fair point. That does kind of transition us into topic number three and sort of the larger debates we've been having of late about the UFC. And, you know, we did that last Friday in a very extended listen to the fans and try to find out if maybe we're not looking at things the right way about where the state of UFC

is at this moment, but where the state of the UFC's future broadcasting deal is getting interesting. According to a New York Post reporter who said in a recent NY Post podcast that for that media outlet he's hearing, not only is the UFC likely to sign with Netflix in their next TV deal, but that ESPN and UFC might be having a fractured relationship with ESPN unwilling to air UFC events on their linear channels, instead just putting it on the plus, and also pay-per-view buys being quote, way down. How much do we believe that this, even if it's true or false here, but this is a major report in a lot of ways,

how much do we believe it's true? But edged with that is does it even matter in the end? So, if you haven't seen this podcast, I highly encourage you to do so. And does this make shop right for that conspiracy theory? What was his conspiracy theory? That ESPN was purposely messing with the system to make UFC look bad, to gain leverage in their window of negotiation right now.

And then maybe if this report is true, then there's been an apathy built up where they're just sort of, you know. So, I mean, there's a bunch of takeaways. I think the three biggest takeaways I had from that podcast and I'm going to assess the question that you asked. First one was he's the he surmised and this is several people have done this, but he surmised that UFC is likely to end up with Netflix, which would make a lot of sense, obviously. To that ESPN doesn't have the same kind of loving feeling for UFC content. And one of the ways you can tell that is because they don't typically air

as much as they used to on ABC or ESPN linear linear, all the linear channels that are not on, they're just giving them to the little plus. And then three, the pay-per-view buys are down. Let me say this. It seems to me that one, we haven't had this independently corroborated. I'm not I'm not here to say that the guy is lying or not truthful. And New York Post is a sensational outlet. However, New York Post is typically pro-UFC.

Yes. But it seems to me that both sides are leaking to the press. ESPN is leaking to the press to affect negotiations, and I suspect UFC is leaking to the press to affect negotiations. That's the first thing I'm going to say. Again, we need to see if it's independently corroborated. The second thing I'm going to say is even if all of that is true, I'm not saying it doesn't matter, but the UFC made more money in 2022 than they did in 2021. They made more money in 2023. They made more money in 2024 every year. And I suspect they're going to make more money this year too. So even if there are those problems, it's not like, oh, we're facing, you know, some kind of dire situation.

They're flush with cash in a way that quite literally have never been before. I think that's what I would say. But BC, this is the I think where I come down on this. I have had a sneaking suspicion and I've been talking about it with so down on this. I have had a sneaking suspicion, and I've been talking about it with so many different people. It's just a very basic question. Is MMA as popular as it was in 2016? Now on some level, it can't be because

that was right before a sale, that's peak Conor, that's peak Rhonda. Which means there was a casual fan base that was stuck to it that is not there right now. Totally, totally. But the point I want people to make is on the one hand, the UFC has everybody by the balls because they do control the industry. They've got most of the best fighters.

Either you watch MMA with them or you basically just don't. There's really not much of an option. At the same time, I've had a nagging feeling with anecdotal evidence that there's been a decline. I've had a feeling with anecdotal evidence that something has been a little bit off. I cannot confirm this report or what he said on this podcast, this gentleman. I cannot say that. But what I would say to you, BC, is if it is true, it would certainly explain a lot.

That's where I come down. It would. But I think there are some nuances and questions within this. Do we agree that UFC is spreading itself too thin, that it's too watered down, that there's too much of a... at every turn to pull every cent out of it? Yes, I think we all agree that. How much of that, though, considering that the ESPN contract has been

UFC's financial backbone, it's why, again, during the pandemic, they pushed so hard to meet the minimum demands of that contract. And then by doing that became the only game in town and brought in this whole new wave of fans that are passionate about it right now. But how much of that is ESPN, though, saying we'd like this many dates? Because I thought a potentially great point was made by Kid Nate and Zach Arnold on the MMA Draw podcast where they said ESPN coming back into that deal and renewing it midway through, extended it two more years,

and may have taken UFC out of the actual golden window when they would get the most money when their deal was up because streaming was on top. Now things are changing so quickly in the digital TV streaming battle that's going on that if that's true that they did miss a window on there, we look back and be like, well, the ESPN is asking for these dates. It's kind of when Dana's doing these interviews pitching TKO boxing, everybody's like, how many fight cards a year are you going to do? How many divisions? And he keeps going, we got to get a TV deal first, then we're going to find out

what they want if they want to show every week. We'll give them a show every week. That was actually what he said. And so how much of this is is because they're true bosses, the ESPN deal, because it keeps the structure, all the lights on and allows them to be in position to make all this extra money. How much of that is because of the broadcasters want. So what I'm saying is, could there be a future if the current run of PR

and events and money hurts them or maybe like Zach, my Arnold may have said, maybe it was maybe they got a little bit past that perfect window where they would have gotten whatever they asked for. Is there a future where they can get a TV deal that has less states that forces them if they don't get the money they want To get after it again and be that that that that passionate driving promoter They used to be put up the tweet if you can long island luke where somebody had summarized this I don't know if you can take off there. There you go

Um, here's what I thought was kind of interesting They have quote ufc will do everything in their power to get netflix deal netflix are not a fan of the paper view model But are flexible I Mean I want to be clear even I said this before even if there are issues with the product I feel like the UFC's next deal is going to be worth It'll be their most lucrative contract. I don't get the bump. They're looking for no matter what of this reason So they want a billion a year I don't know if they're gonna get a billion a year

But I do know that whatever they get is gonna be bigger than the last ESPN you think it'll be split or it'll be one Deal that's the part. I don't know if they're going to get a billion a year, but I do know that whatever they get is going to be bigger than the last ESPN. You think it'll be split or it'll be one deal? That's the part I can't tell. Okay, that's the one I have no idea because I don't think Netflix wants to do that pay-per-view. I think they want to have maximum access, but. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how that's going to go. And again, if you're right to the extent that the broadcaster says we have interest in, I'm going to make something up 25 events here, I still think that they would probably take

another broadcast deal beyond that BC. And the reason why I say that is because they've just expanded the scope of what they do so far. They're going to want to sell that to somebody. Maybe Netflix doesn't actually buy it. And so you can say, Oh, I'm just going to pay attention to the Netflix shows in that in that ballpark tour. So the point being is if you've got six to can say, oh, I'm just going to pay attention to the Netflix shows. Amazon's in that in that. Right. So the point being is, if you've got six to seven to 800 fighters,

and I think they're closer to between six and seven, if you've got that many fighters, you need to keep them busy or you have to restructure your organization. I don't think they're going to restructure their organization. They're going to find someone to sell that to. The question is whether or not that is Netflix. Well, that if TKO ends up launching with the Canelo versus Bud Crawford fight on Netflix, Dana kind of downplayed that.

I know it feels like he downplayed. It's not part of our show today. But Turkey, El-Ashik put out a video that was almost like coming back after the recent criticism that came out of the TKO boxing announcement. And it feels like both him and Dana are suddenly like, well, you know, a little bit. No, but I mean, more than that, Fight Hub TV did a quick like ringside interview with the Callum Walsh fight with Dana and they asked him like, hey, are you going to be part of this Crawford Canelo thing? And he's like, Turkey's got commitments.

He made it to be like a turkey thing. He didn't even say him. I felt in that case that he was just trying to take the attention off because he wants it to be a big surprise. That was my. OK. Yeah. Maybe it's not finalized yet. Maybe it's still in a. Yeah, fair. I don't I don't know how to assess that. Yeah, yeah, we only know what we know, but you don't think that this bad PR stretch

or this bad stretch of mark, I mean, because here's the point I wanted to make about, are they right that things aren't on ESPN as much, is that Sports Center's not putting out UFC features every 20 minutes? Dude, I watch Sports Center, I don't see shit about UFC. I don't see it either when I do come across it. So that might be part of it.

But how much of that is the fact that we're talking about the star problem and stars fuel the really big crossover fights. How much of that is the fact that they didn't deliver on Jones Aspinal or Jones and Ganu, that Conor hasn't fought in forever. How much has that played a role in here? Because if those big fights would have been made, first take is going to be talking about it, right? And it's going to make this UFC feel not niche,

not a high-priced niche. It makes it feel like it's mainstream. Do you remember when Kane Velasquez fought Francis Nganu and then as soon as that fight was over, they threw it on ESPN to Sports Center, which was hosted by Ariel Hauwani and Chael Sonnen live. Wow. Do you remember that? I don't remember that. Right. I remember that distinctly.

What was the last fucking time something like that? That might have been the last time something like that has happened. It just doesn't happen anymore. That was the first national ESPN card, if I'm not mistaken. It could have been. But the point is, is like, why didn't they repeat that? Like they didn't go back to it. You know, it's just been a thing that they tried once it

I I would imagine that the UFC and ESPN go ahead every time I see you lean over like a like the Unabomber over there He's talking about I was selling BC something. Oh, okay. Sorry about that. I would imagine that ESPN does want to stay in the UFC business, but I Think certainly under vastly different terms than the first time. But I'm like, you know, chicken in the egg here. Does the fact that ESPN wanted so many dates force the UFC to water down their product and this is the reality? Or are you UFC holding some of these really good fights for the next deal?

Because if you can offer, I can get McGregor DS3 if you want to sign with me. Also worth considering, you know, first of all, I do think that the fact that ESPN fucked up so badly, USC 313 improves UFC's hand considerably no matter what. I think that they could be holding fights, but one thing to consider, and I have no idea to what extent this is relevant. I remember after the Reebok deal collapsed and there was like, you know, leaks from the Reebok side, they had said, you know, the UFC brought in Matt Hughes and they brought in all these different guys and they told us that the fighters were going to love it.

And then there was this massive blowback and Reebok had said they were caught by surprise. To what extent did the UFC prime the pump a little bit and saying, oh, we can definitely give you 40 plus dates a year, no problem. And the ESPN was like, great, let's take it. And now they're like, okay, right, we need to pare that back a little bit just over time. So the point I'm trying to make is you're making it out to be, or at least suggesting the possibility that it was ESPN saying, we want these dates. And my hunch is there was a little bit of salesmanship

on the side of UFC to say, we can absolutely dates. Right. And my hunch is there was a little bit of salesmanship on the side of UFC to say we can absolutely deliver X plus, you know. But you know, the Dana White Contenders Series plays into that. Everything plays into how the trends are going, but there certainly isn't a great trend for the company of late despite the financial success. You say that, you say that, but dude, they're gonna sign a massive deal. To me, the next deal, the UFC signs will be incontestably massive. The thing that I have a question about is not that one. It's the five to 10 year mark from now where all of the

chickens if they don't change will come home to roost, but we'll have to see how that goes. That's it's going to be a very interesting time coming up. If you're into the business side of this. It is wild to see, Luke. It is wild to see. I certainly agree with that. Yeah.

We like great relationships on this show. I mean, you ever see a great pregame preview of late on morning combat? Yeah. You know, you're seeing it because of our great friends at Cuervo. And oh, by the way, now is a good time as any to remember where Tequila's story truly began. I'll take you back. 1795.

Cuervo invented tequila. Since then Cuervo has stayed true to its roots, the same family, the same land, and that same passion that we're talking about right here. 230 years later, Cuervo still here in every pore, in every margarita, in every celebration. So enjoy a tequila that started it all. Cuervo, the tequila that invented tequila. ProximoCuervo.com, please drink responsibly. There it is. We're gonna have a fun UFC 314 pregame preview. Yes we are, with some Cuervo.

That is a fantastic, fantastic card. So are you feeling the sex? Especially if they put Yair, Patricio on the main card, are you feeling how damn sexy that card is right now? Yeah, that's a sick one. That's the best card of the year thus far. We bury our complaints, Long Island Luke, about, well, you don't complain ever.

You love this product week to week, and that's fine. That's your choice, but this is like red panty night, right? Connor was right. This is definitely the best pay-per-view of the year so far for for a million miles. Yeah, those fights. I love the in between fights. Are you feeling Bo Nicol RDR by the way, by the way, that on the same card as figgy and Sandhagen sign me up brother. And everyone was kind of like why is Jeremy Stevens back? We talked about a little bit, but like the Stevens Mason Jones fight I'm into it. I'm into it. I don't hate it at all, right? But also they're putting it in Iowa So it's like it seems like a local ticket

Thing just is that the same reason why they picked up? Paige Van Sant's husband last minute in his home area there Portland again. I don't think that's a bad thing I don't think signing guys for regional ticket sales That's more what this is rather than an FU to be KFC or a power move. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think it Yeah, exactly. I don't think it's a by the way Jeremy Stevens earned it with what he's done with his brand Absolutely. Oh shout out to him on that run. Let's go to topic number four right now. We haven't talked about Nate Diaz in a while, right? Let's talk about him. He told the Full Violence YouTube channel that he wants to go back to get a UFC

title, not done in the Octagon, but that quote, everyone is boring right now, is now a good time for the UFC to welcome back Nate Diaz while he wants a title fight. Which bouts would make the most sense for him? Which division? Let's talk about a possible Nate Diaz comeback, but let's hear his words himself. First we got this tweet here. Here's the quote, Right now there's nobody doing shit in the UFC. Everybody's boring right now, Nate said. Who's the champion right now at 170? Exactly.

That's what I'm saying. There's no buzz. Nobody doing shit. Everybody's whack. So, Luke, that came off of that podcast that he did with full violence on their YouTube channel. So shout out to them. Like, what is actually left with Nate in your eyes? He had the win over Jorge Masval and a competitive boxing fight between two old guys.

He does always want to fight the best. He's always said, I want to fight Leon Edwards when he was champion. Like, get that rematch. He only wants the best. But McGregor part three feels like the only UFC fight left or Masvidal rematch. I have some ideas. No? Okay. I have some ideas. Now, it is impossible to know exactly what Nate wants, both in terms of opponents. I mean,

yeah, champion, but okay. I don't know how realistic that is. Or you want somebody red hot that has street cred for going in there again. So I've got five names. Can I give you five names? Now these five names, and long on, look, I would love for you to weigh in on this too. I've got five names. I am not putting them in any particular order. I just have them. I want you to tell me what your vibe is on how good it could be. Okay. Now there is an escalation at the end, but okay. How about Nate Diaz versus Dustin Poirier? Yeah. Yeah. For a retirement fight on top of that in New Orleans. Now he wants a champion. I know. I don't know what they can do about that. But that's that they have history too, right? From

the MSG fight. They were supposed to fight and didn't happen a whole bit. And if you don't know what they can do about that. That's that they have history to write from the MSG. They were supposed to fight and didn't happen a little bit. And if you don't show up to fight against Nate, you lost under like 209 Street code. Okay, I don't I don't think that he would accept this next fight. But at 55 Nate Diaz versus Ilya Toporia. What do we think? Oh, fuck you. You got so wack, dude. You can't have Ilya fight Nate Diaz. You got- That's so whack, dude.

You can't have Ilya fight Nate DS. I'm trying to come up with great ideas! Why don't we just have- Connor needs to be fighting Ilya in this type of fight. Hold on, I got five names. I got five names. Okay. Um, I think you could do a Leon Edwards rematch.

How do we feel about that? So if Leon beats Sean Brady at UFC London next week- That's right. And... Yeah, you could. Cause Shofcott still is gonna get- Especially if you tell Leon you're not gonna get the next or the next title shot because of the way that this division is is like Gary's or like There's a lot of people on that need big fights. So what do you think about Leon Edwards? I

Don't love it. I'm not gonna lie about tomorrow I have a good name, but I'm gonna wait and see if you say it first, okay So there's I saw so far I've had poriates of poria and Edward you want tomorrow at all. Hold on next This is an easy call. Conor McGregor. Yes. So you can do the trilogy with Conor McGregor. Easy call.

It always felt like 100% in any form. And when I say any form, I mean even 43 years old form that they would cash in that lottery ticket, meaning the UFC. OK. What right now, given everything, what is your confidence, percentage, chance that Diaz and McGregor have a third fight in the UFC's octagon before they die 25% Wow, that's it 25% Yeah, like two years ago. You would have said 90 or yeah better at worst 50-50

No, I don't look where you are on that. Do you do you need that? Do you care about that fight? I don't care about it at all, but I was gonna say 30% like you don't care about at all No, but I mean you you agree. That's a big fight Sure, but I would have cared about it way more four or five years. Yeah exactly Okay, if here's the one if you didn't caught up with poor you Connor Yeah, that would have been a good time to cash in that knee fighter in this room. All right Here's the one that I think is I I give it a second to marinate But I like this one at 55 and again, I have no idea if Nate wants to do 55 but if he does Max Holloway for the BMF title what do we think about

that it's a title fight you can do 55 they're gonna beat each other's fucking brains out what is wrong with that fight dude this is like for all the if I don't care I don't think UFC listens to our show and it's like oh my god the press is saying bad things about me I think they're probably just like fuck the press like they always do yeah but you want to give a gift back to the fans, too. That's a you put that on top of pay per view for the B.M.F. Bell. It's just like I feel like that will recharge the repump the primes, right? That'll re re get the come on.

And Luke, you have to weigh in on this one. I could get behind that. I think that's a good fight. I was going to say, which Max is up there with that. Justin Gagey made the that's a good fight. I was gonna say which max is up there with that Justin Gaethje That's a good one. That would be a scrap. That's a good one too. Plus you could do that a 170 That's the hardcore fight fans version of the fight We just said Holloway versus him is like this everyone's tuning in everyone loves both guys so much Yeah, but the darker hardcore version of that is that the reason I like the Holloway fight is because one it's stylistically going to be fucking awesome.

Yeah. Two, I don't know if we've ever talked about these two guys fighting each other before. It's rare to get star power that big right now at this point. And then last but not least, certainly it is for a title. Granted you can call whatever you want about the title, but Nate's like oh I want to fight for a title if the BMF title Which I know he fought for before obviously UFC 249 Against or him as it all didn't get it. Here's a second a second chance for 244. I apologize He has a second chance to get it. It doesn't he claim they created it because of him. Yes, so this is this is storytelling This is WWE storytelling right here. That is that's really I like that fight

I like that my good but the gate she won is gly the gachey one is devastating that one is tough Do you want nothing to do with another Mazda fight or is there any scenario where you bet they fought in MMA? They fought in boxing the boxing fight as we talked about was surprisingly good. We gave him credit for it I still give them one in the series Like okay, if that's a pay-per-view main event, people are gonna complain. But imagine if that was like the third best fight on a loaded pay-per-view card. Then you're like, fine. Then you're like, okay, yeah.

I'm just thinking, what do we do to meet Nate's terms to get him over? To me, Holloway 55, BMF. Let's talk about motivation, though. Willingness, which can waver with Nate. Remember, he fought Conor twice and then took three years off at the peak of his marketing, right? Like at the point where he was almost a household name because of the McGregor rub. Do you think that he was reinvigorated by this Mozabat all fight?

Do you think that he's looking at, okay, I got X amount of paydays left? Like, what do you think? I know Nate is different than all of us. So how do you think he's looking he's gonna be 40 very soon I'm not sure exactly what it is but it's imminent and on top of it remember he got sideways with fan me oh he was supposed to get 10 million or more and even the 1 million he got he tragically gave back and so I don't even know what he got paid because that story disappeared I have to believe that everybody got paid what they were

deserved I've not hit up his manager that story resurfaced this week when Ryan Garcia was getting sued by Famiya saying they're still in the yeah I was about to say so this is my point that was supposed to be a big financial windfall that never materialized granted he got the Jake Paul fight I'm sure he got a good a pretty coin for that the DS excuse me the McGregor. I'm sure he got a good, a pretty coin for that. The Diaz, excuse me, the McGregor fights. I'm sure he got big money for that. Even the Ferguson fight to an extent. But I suspect this is a payday issue. And this is the point I want to make. Like if there's no real big payday associated, like if Gachey had a title, I think Nate would take it. But without a title, it's like, what is the value to him? There's no world where he fights Islam Mahajan, right?

There's no like justification for that. Now a guy like him wouldn't need justification because it's- Right, because he's Nate Diaz, but that seems unlikely. I wouldn't bet on it, right? Would he take it? Because he just said I want to be the champion, so would he take it? He'd take it.

For a title, he'd take it it for a title he take it yeah does he do better or worse than doesn't it worse right I think Islam I like we all love Nate Diaz but I think Islam would win that handily yeah dude again Islam is the number one pound-for-pound guy in the sport I mean what are we talking about okay and now a paddy's got a fight, but if Patty didn't have a fight, would you have considered that at all? God, Nate versus Patty. It's such a weird fight. Okay, it's a weird fight. It's actually a good fight for a lot of reasons, not least of which is it's generational.

However, I have a feeling that Patty, because he might be at the peak of his powers, would win, and then we'd all be fucking devastated. And so for that reason, I have a hard time getting behind it, but I can't I can't shit on the fight. It would not. It would it would solve a lot of problems. It would be a good fight. There you go. That was topic number four. Let's go to topic number five. You guys are wrong. Diaz versus Ilya Toporia would be good.

You guys are fucking haters. No, I just think you do the McGregor fight. You're a fucking hater. That's what you are. You got it at that point. You're just do the McGregor fight, dude I don't mean McGregor Diaz. I mean McGregor to poria. I think that's the fight you that the UFC Should cash in on I don't I'm not saying I want that I think they should cash in on that for their own good I understand would you enjoy that at all? Would there be any part of you that would get jazzed up? Yeah, I'd be pretty, I mean, that's a relevant fight, you know. Seist, maybe?

Seist, as they say, and where I'm from. All right, topic number five takes us to the O2 Arena on Saturday. Hey, UFC's back, not just a regular fight night. We're at London here with this card, and it ain't bad. There's high stakes in this welterweight main event as former champion Leon Edwards, a bent out for a while. We've needed to see his answer, his return from falling off of that welterweight throne, he'll be welcoming a streaking Sean Brady.

But is it a Sean Brady who's shown us every answered all the questions we had? Well, this will be the fight in a lot of ways that should do that for us. Luke, this has massive stakes. It's a great fight. So when you talk about which aspect of this great fight has you most intrigued, most cised, most excited, most recoiled and ready for possible gross explosion? Who even talks like this on a television program in front of a microphone? Luke, what part of this fight is the sexiest? To me, this is do or die for Leon Edwards. Now, of course, even if he loses a decision here, I don't mean his career is over. That's not what I mean. But this is do or die for him at the top of this division. And the reason why I say that is obviously just sort of where

he is from a general position. But there's a little bit more to it than that, namely, he was supposed to be fighting Jack Dale of Maddalena, and there was a switch to Sean Brady. Now that you go from a striker to the grappler, that can't be easy. But number one, there was a lot of time in between to get right. Number two, we're talking about a guy who had to go back to back fights with Kamara Usman, he had to fight Colby Covington, he had to fight Bala Muhammad. And now you have to fight Sean Brady. These are each different guys, but you are talking about different versions of

the same kind of fighter. Somebody who's going to press you up against the fence, who's going to be hunting for takedowns, looking for submissions from the back in the case of Sean Brady, by the way, very, very, you know, very good at that. But you have a chance to capitalize on all of your, if you're Leon Edwards, all of the investment in takedown defense, in getting off of the, your back off the fence, in down blocking, everything that he has worked on for years at this point, even before the Kamaru Usman rematch, but I mean in particular ramping it up since then where he had these constant wrestlers in his face. This is advantageous for him. On top of it, you will recall in his last fight

where he did lose to Bilal Muhammad, and you can choose to accept this or not, I'm just repeating to you what Leon Edwards told the public, namely, hey, it was five in the morning, it messed me up. Well, this one will not be. This one is going to be prime freaking time in London. Dinner time for us. So let's back up a second here. Let's back up a second here. We're talking about a situation where a former champion is getting a,

I'm not going to say stylistically favorable, but stylistically well-known kind of opponent on a much better time. A guy who, by the way, I have great admiration for Sean Brady he was one of MK's first alums from the room service my brain just fried their room service diaries he has worked on his striking but it's not like he's the kind of striking threat that you know I think Kimar Usman is necessarily not shown it in those two comeback fights meaning Sean Brady or has he not been forced to show it it's tough to show it against Gilbert Burns I think Kamara Usman is necessarily not shown it in those two comeback fights, meaning Sean Brady, or has he not been forced to show it? It's tough to show it against Gilbert Burns.

I think more than people realize. So the other point is maybe Brady actually shows us here. We already know his wrestling is top notch. We already know his grappling is sensational. We already know he's a fucking gorilla. Maybe he actually adds another wrinkle here, which actually adds to the intrigue. I'm just going to see some bombs. I'm just pointing out if you're Leon Edwards and you lose this one, what would the excuse be this time?

What could you possibly say? You giving him the tar for a bit right now? Well a little bit. Did he not make a bunch of excuses including ones like dude Balal Muhammad went in there and fought at five in the morning and he won just fine. Leon is an excellent fighter who has done incredibly well. They are giving him again, you're fighting Sean Brady. It's not an easy fight, far from it, but the set of circumstances in particular relative to the last one should give him, I don't know, some confidence about his chances here. If he loses this one, what are you going to say

now Roy? Wow, Long Alan, I got to wonder if you echo that from Luke. Like what I said off the start of this segment was that like, Leon, where you been? We've been waiting for this answer. And I'm thinking he's got like a year and a half layoff. His layoff is eight months. He lost the belt last July.

Do you feel like he's like overdue to answer a lot of questions here? Like let's effing go. Where do you stand on that? I don't think he should be, but I think given how long it took him to get a title shot Obviously the UFC does not really favor him So I somewhat agree that like now you lose two in a row to top guys

It's gonna take him a while to get back to that spot But uh, I do feel like the JDM fight was way more winnable for him here I know the odds were a little further apart, but uh, see I thought this was more I thought we had more questions about Sean Brady in this fight. Like can you you're going to have to show us the full game. So will you're striking beyond the level? What have you grown? Where have you grown since the balala?

Why are you convinced he can't win with wrestling and grappling? I'm not convinced that he can't I'm just saying I thought that was where the focus would be question-wise and concern wise and you're saying this is what makes it a great main event. It is everything you're saying is true. You asked me what I'm paying attention to. I mean, they both are gonna have to answer some things. Leon Edwards surprised me against Kamara Usman,

but then you watch some of those fights and you go back, you're like, okay, shouldn't have been surprised. Obviously, he rolled over Colby who looked like shit. And again, folks forget in that fifth round, he gave Balal some trouble. And obviously, it was another round, I think he took his back or whatever, second round or whatever it was, second or third round. So, you know, it wasn't like he got completely demolished in that fight it's just you know dude you're getting another

wrestler you're getting it at a much better time slot he has historically not shown the most aggressive punching ever okay Leon you want to get back this is a great opportunity and even though I'm the one saying like man if where have you been come back it feels like it's so long I guess I feel the one saying like, man, if where have you been? Come back. It feels like it's so long. I guess I feel the weight of not having these questions answered, but he's 33 and heading into his last fight, he was top five pound for pound. So I'm saying I might have a little bit more confidence that we are going to get a very

elite Leon Edwards in this one. So I want to see if Sean Brady can raise that. Yes. Or if his plan A is going to be a problem for Leon, there is a lot of chatter. And we're going to break it down X's and O's, Y's in great detail on Friday, but let's just stick here from a distance. A lot of chatter of, is Leon the takedown defender that he's made up to be? And would he have a problem with Shawn Brady's aggressiveness? I think if Shawn Brady can take down Gilbert Burns, he can definitely take down Leon Edwards.

But dude, you got, who knows how Sean is feeling? Who knows if he's, by the way- Dude, Sean's a competitor. Michael Chiesa, we were talking about this privately one time and he just couldn't believe how fucking strong he was. He was just like shocked by it. And dude, we already know Sean Brady can wrestle his ass off.

We already know his got phenomenal. He's got some of the best jujitsu, by the way, in the entire UFC. That's a real thing. And you and him both agree that asses should be fully tatted on. Tad up them thangs. But at the same time, I just find it real interesting how Leon kind of went out in his last fight. The way things turned here, it's just a real remarkable turn of events.

I am, I am pumped for this. Here's the question on this is very cynical. And if you're a Leon fan, you're going to be like BC, you're a dick. Was he super elite or was he streaky? And I know like people allowed one off night performance. Was it one off night, Luke, or was he streaky? Meaning that people like me who missed on the way up, how good he actually was?

Did we have reasons to have that doubt? And maybe he is a bit of a streaky fire. And I didn't expect him to win the Kamara Usman rematch, which, by the way, he was on the way to not doing that until he had one of the greatest moments in UFC history. He won the rubber match cleanly at that point. And that's when we were like, oh shit, if we'd missed it, then that's the... So that's when I felt like I was like, damn, I must have missed what he was doing.

But then to watch what Bilal did, I was like, oh right. I kind of audited him. Well here's the thing. Bilal Mohammed's takedown setups and series are very different than what Kamaru Usman did. I did a whole tape study on it. They had a real particular method that they were looking at when they went after him and it worked tremendously. The point I'm trying to make is it feels to me like Leon

leveled up his wrestling for an older generation of welterweight. And I know that Balal is technically a little bit older, but I'm saying the generational that he comes from. And the newer generation of grappler, the newer generation of welterweight, I don't know this because only Bilal has done it. But if Sean goes in there and does it, you're like, aha, okay.

So there was a line in the sand he could not cross. Or Leon goes in there and busts him up and he's right back to it. So again, either way you wanna look at this, this fucking fight we have early odds here along on yeah right now Leon is plus 124 Sean Brady minus one for you know that's a lot of respect for Brady right a lot of respect for Brady it's a lot of debt to me it's a lot of respect for Brady it's also a lot of doubt to me about Leon yeah I think people are like I don't know we're gonna get with it this is my point this

is my point this is the whole reason why this shit is intriguing, because Leon can go out there and shut all of my stupid mouth and everyone else, and by the way, I'm not even predicting he'll lose necessarily. I'm just saying, you know, really like dunk on, okay, if people were doubting me, look how great I am. Like, this is on the table as well. That's why we watch this shit.

This is why we watch. Damn, let's hear from Leon Edwards. Don't we got that shit? Let's hear from Leon. Rocky, let's go. Me as well. I spoke to the UFC. Don't we got that shit? Let's hear from Leon. Rocky, let's go. I spoke to the UFC. They told me that after this win, this is no more a contender fight. Whoever wins this, I'll fight for the title.

Well, when I win this, I'll fight for the title. That is my aim. My aim is to get back that two-time world championship and the result of the fight with me and Belal. Everyone knew that weren't me. That was fighting at home, 5 a.m. in the morning. I mean, I don't love that excuse. Go on, see what I mean?

He might be right back to it. What if he's just really honest? What if he's just like, that was the reason I succumbed to the time change? Okay, I believe that. Why didn't it affect Muhammad? Right, it doesn't like other, it's five a.m. in England for Bilal as midnight.

Maybe he didn't prep, what I'm saying is like, that stuff could trip you up. Maybe he's just being honest, like it tripped me. It tripped me the F up. The excuse making for Leon here is insane to me. He's you're the UFC welterweight champion of the world. You have all the time in the world to adjust your schedule

to perform at that time. Miss me with this bullshit, please. Miss me with it. Put the camera. What are we talking about here? I'm not defending it, I'm just saying. You said Bilal had to fight at that time too. Bilal's still used to time in Chicago. No, but he came over weeks ahead of time.

He had to acclimate there as well. I mean, I guess there was... It's probably easier to acclimate given that. That's fine. But again, if my job is to go run a race at 5 a.m., I'm gonna take all the time I need to do that, and if I fail to perform that, oh, tough titty, said the kiddie, the milk is all gone.

It's what I was secretly trying to ask in that last harsh question of Bilal. It's like, is he an elite fighter or did he have elite flashes when he needed them? No, he's elite. You know what I'm saying? No, he's elite. No, no, I guess what I'm trying to say is like, we're not concerned that he's physically washed, but are we concerned that he doesn't have that same spark when he needs it most?

Like, you know, momentum wise. You have to wonder if he doesn't hit that head kick on Kamara, where is he today? That's what I'm saying. And like the mental side of it is huge. And sometimes momentum really matters in this regard. So right now, is it not that he's regressed? It's just that he's on a he could be on a downswing. I mean, that's those are some of the questions that he's got to answer.

He's always been a little streaky. He's not quite the right. Curial. Yeah, a little bit kind of like, you know, very good, but not exactly the fight almost fell apart there at the end. Yeah, yeah. Not exactly overwhelming. But I do think he's elite. I do think he's very good. Again, let's be clear.

Sean Brady has his hands full here. You know, we're not crazy. I just, I'm very unsympathetic to, oh, I had to fight five in the morning. Fine. They shouldn't make fighters do that. I totally think they shouldn't make fighters do that. But you're the UFC welterweight champion of the world dude Give the excuse to somebody else. I mean there's

Interested in it But Leon ain't fighting till five in the mall and right so what you're gonna do we also have sound from Shawn Brady Do you want to hear from Phil? We have sound I think we have oh do we okay? Let's see I hear we do We don't have sound oh, I must have misread the law reacting to Leon think we have. Oh, do we? OK, let's see. I hear we do. We don't have sound. Oh, I must have misread. We have Bilal reacting to Leon's last video. Oh, here we go. Here we go. Thank you for this piece. This. From Perry Punch here, Bilal Mohammed responds to Leon Edwards, his claim that the UFC told him

he will receive the next title shot if he beat Sean Brady at UFC London and says he will 100 percent turn it down if it gets all offered. And the quote is, I don't know what Leon's thinking because Leon, you have a full three years before you can even think about getting a rematch with me. This is Muhammad talking on the Believe You Me podcast. It's going to be a long three years, he said, of fighting contenders for Leon. And then 100 percent, I would say no, if UFC offered me Leon Edwards next. This is obviously Bilal still talking.

I would make him wait. I have the next guy in line anyway. I think it's Shavkat. So there's nothing he could do to skip Shavkat. I wouldn't allow that to ever happen. So, Luke, a bold, bold statements by the champion right there. Does he actually have that control and power? He can say no. Yes.

Yes, he can. And then what happens next? The UFC publicly shames you. The thing is this. The question is how quickly Shavkat's gonna be ready. And the other possibility is what if Leon goes in there and just fucking runs over Sean Brady? Like head kicks him in the first round. What's that catchphrase he has? Is it head shot dead? Yes. Yeah.

So I'm saying what if he gets one of those you gave a cringe response to that. No, no, no. I just forgot. I was trying to my dude. I I've been awake since 2 30 this morning. My brain is barely working. All right, but what I'm trying to say is the UFC is just giving themselves options.

They probably did tell him that and I'm not even saying they don't even mean it if he goes out there and wins and can make a quick turnaround and looks pretty good and Shofcott's not quite ready We haven't heard anything about how Shofcott's gonna be ready all that stuff But at the same time you make all that work He could jump the queue absolutely and by the way now you've got a rematch on your hands now You've got Muhammad versus Leon to after getting passed in that particular scenario in this case, huh? Leon and Bilal had a no-call. That's right. That's right. I completely remember that.

Not that this really matters. It was the eye poke. Remember? Good thing we're doing a lot about eye pokes these days, huh? I know. Seriously. That'll wrap up our five topics right there. I hope you enjoyed them. Of course, we'll be back big on Friday. Don't forget 10 a.m. Eastern start time on Friday. We'll really hammer out this card from top to bottom.

Like the pornography I watched. Like like like a pornography. I watched it. I was going to get all bang. I watched a lot of blogs get, you know, hit top to bottom. We've got a fun segment now brought to us by the fans every Sunday night on social media that's X and IG at morning combat gives you an opportunity to ask your question, let your voice be heard and open yourself up. I got a question to some some legitimate heckling, yes?

Before we do this, so will you rate my shoes? I have a serious question, will you rate my shoes? Okay, do you have your toe spacers on? I don't, so I wanna say, I have been for the last like four years, I've been buying barefoot shoes. Yes. And the biggest complaint I have about barefoot shoes

is not that they're not functional, they're actually quite functional, but that the design of them is ass all the time. It's like full Hoka It's just the worst so I finally got these these are from a company called bare barracks And are they like Air Jordans version like that they're like the Dunk Lowe's from Nike dunk lows. Yeah, you got a radem What do we think here? Oh, it's hard to see. Oh, that's a bold dad move right there. They're not they're certainly not awful They're certainly not What do we think I could see what you're trying to pull so this looks like rookie ball rookie year Michael Jordan on the balls Like yes, but it's low. It's definitely shittier. I mean definitely screams dad, but you kind of pull it off in a way

I'm gonna go like Six point eight. Oh, you can't give me the seven. But dude, I wear things that are well below four point, you know, I wear. Long Island Luke, can I get a seven out of you? You can, but it wouldn't be genuine. No. No.

Wow, what a time. Let me just say this. Let me just say this. For barefoot shoes, these are a 10 out of 10. Yeah, those are, yeah, those are the sacred. For barefoot shoes, these are a 10 out of 10. Yeah, those are, yeah, those are the sacred. For barefoot shoes. You don't realize when you buy Nikes or whatever, you're not paying for function.

They're actually bad for you. You're paying for the designers that they hire. Thank you, Dr. Scholes. That make it all look so pretty. And by the way, every time I go to the shoe store and I walk by, a tear comes out of my face that I can't wear any shoes anymore. Well, Luke is saying, wear practical shoes that I can't wear any shoes anymore.

Practical shoes so you can look like him. All right. It's called DMs from donks, actually. Sorry about that. Have a little fun. All right. There's an ejaculating dog. I mean, this is what we allow this program. Let's hear the first donk speak it. This is from at Steve Narmit, Ted Narmotage.

Eighty nine. All right, Steve, is Vittori This is from at Steve Narmitage, Narmitage 89. All right, Steve is Vittori for getting his athletic support cup on his way to the cage and needing it to be handed over by a coach. Is that the donkiest thing in MMA? And if not, what is Kevin Randleman hitting his head on a pipe when he walked out to his fight and the fight had to be canceled is done. Oh, that's bad. That's rest in peace to the legend we love Kevin random and around here but that he definitely did that also Vittori wearing his fucking

venom shorts backwards is that's up there that's up there I'm thinking of the guy on tough who trained with steep and I think his name was like John Gunther and he claimed he had his esophagus tube coated with PVC pipe so that he was Unchokeable and then I'm pretty sure he got choked out and like his first fight. That's pretty much. I'll shoot himself in the foot Like he got no he drill drill his balls. I'm self in the ball sack. He's had a few Incidents I mean could Victoria end up on like good. He got a couple votes for third team all donk and you wouldn't be surprised Or what? Yeah, that'd be one. All right.

Yeah, sure. All right. Um, that's a hard profession. So no one's a donk at the end of the day, but people do donk-tastic things. I'm trying to think of like, what's the most go-to like? Brian Ortega jumping up and down and turning his ankle and Bruce Buffer reading his name. That's a great one. What about like Clay Guida just getting fucking slapped so hard right before he goes into a fistfight. That's pretty donkish

Yeah, but it does it does it does it hurt his performance? I don't think that it does There's no way for us to know he's only ever been slapped. I think him getting like mildly concussed by his brother no less Yeah, let's go to the next question here from these donks. This one's from flannels and Jits. Luke, he writes in every damn episode. You got to support a guy like this, right? Support him, Luke. You support him motherfucker. All right.

Is the lack of depth flannels and Jits asks in the UFC's light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions partly due to top tier athletes like Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez and Cole Conrad choosing to remain in wrestling or transition to no-ghee grappling where they can earn solid money with the risk of CTE question mark. That was a run on sentence. I don't know to what extent it's affecting those divisions

in particular. Obviously Gable Stevenson, it seems inevitable. He goes to MMA cause he washed out of everything else. But do you see? That's a bad ending. You go back to, because he washed out of everything else, but do you see that's a bad ending Well, do you go back to I was watching one of his dual meets recently actually on TV or whereas? I can't remember where I saw it, but he was just abusing these fucking oh, yeah like it was insane So he's gonna end up in MMA, which would be you know obviously a boost for the UFC's really believe he's gonna fight Yeah, I don't know what unless he gets some kind of job at like a D1 school

as like a coach, where they just give him huge money or something, yeah, he's gonna probably fight. Do you just not have the heart for pro wrestling? I'm asking because I wasn't following that when it was happening. I don't watch. This whole fall out with WWE, but I don't know. You're asking the wrong guy.

Yeah, well it's clear that yeah, there's no doubt. Also I think the fact that he didn't have the allegations of sexual assault. I cannot confirm. I think the fans turned on him for that. Again, allegations. I don't know what happened legally, but. Well, well, if he stays in MMA, they won't turn on him. OK, so hey, let's go to the next question.

Do they might invite him to the White House? Boy, Justin at Justin dot B underscore. Wow, that's very in code. It was great to see Keith Thurman back in boxing, but it made me think, what if he never got injured in 2016? Keith Thurman was the best welterweight on the planet. That is a true fact. He should have been in the mix with Spence and Crawford.

Which other fighters boxing or MMA do you think that what if for? Cain Velasquez is a major what if in my brain, Luke, always. OK, even more than than you would guess that for the greatest featherweight of all time. You know that guy from Dagestan? It was a beat? Yeah, like that's a what-if for me in a big way. For sure, for sure.

But I think Cain is even bigger, don't you think? Like, we never got Cain's Stipe. That would have been great at the peak of their powers. We never got Cain, John Jones. We never, yeah. Dude, he would have been great at the peak of their power. We never got Kane, John Jones. We never. Like that. Dude, he could have been the all-time great. Not just heavyweight, all-time greatest.

Right? Or am I crazy? What if Kane had not fallen apart or not lost in the ways that he did? And what if he ran that table? If you were never there for when Kane Velasquez beat Brock Lesnar, that was one of those moments where I was like, a star was born. How many times can you really say that? You know, like when to poor you beat Volk, maybe.

But when he definitely beat he took Lesnar apart. Yeah. So like, you know, I do. He demolished Lesnar, just fucking abused him like I. And then that was the art. I'm actually that was the first time I'd ever seen a and I'm being serious because they hadn't gone to like, well, they've gone to Brazil. But in the United States, that was the first time I had seen a

predominantly Hispanic audience at a UFC fight. Yes, and I was like, holy shit They're about to cash in on this fucking transformative figure and it just John Jones imagine if Kane was still around Luke still active when John came of came of no I mean imagine if we saw Kane and gone who on our different different circumstance, right? Those would have been great is there anybody else that jumps out to you because Keith Thurman is a is a decent enough what if like he did pop back into things for the Thurman fighter for that pay-per-view against Barrios but after his back-to-back huge fights of Sean Porter

and then Danny Garcia they're right we never got that Spence fight we never got anyone in that stretch because he was always in and out of the lineup for so how much how much was that was injury pretty much all of it all of it yeah it was a bicep shoulder thing right yeah but it was like a few things and then he got married in between that some people thought he lost the fire but when he came back against Pacquiao dude I mean I know he lost but that that was a great performance out of Keith and but he had some shaky moments Remember leading into the Pacquiao fight,

Jose Sito almost knocked him out against the ropes. I forgot about that. He's had a couple of those. Pacquiao dropped him, right? Yes. Yeah. Going backwards, I think. Dropped him in the first round on like an awkward kind of cross jab,

but also hurt him to the body weight. But great for Keith with that win. And I'd love to see Tim Zude, Spence, a few of them. I'll tell you what, after that win against Mr. Brock Jarvis, definitely some renewed interest. There you go at 36, no less. Let's hit the next one here. This is from Telvin Kipapa, one of Hawaii's finest.

Damn it. Wow. Telvin asked better. Oh, Telvin, can you help out BJ Pan out there? And this is not a bit seriously like all hands on deck right now. Better Rock Band band he asks Metallica or rage against the machine these are two Alzheimer's here. Are they rock bands? I Mean Metallica is heavy metal. Well, okay. They were heavy metal there may be closer to rock now Is this a friends don't let friends get haircuts moment or what? Yeah, then rage

I don't know how you would properly classify them. I guess they're I mean, they're almost rock rap alternative Like there's a lot going on there, but ultimately they're both rock Who is who in your opinion is the better band historically? I think that the even with the problems with their catalogue. Nevertheless metallic this catalogue is much deeper I think you got to take Metallica here yeah I think you have to long out look you have a clue in this in these departments so what's gonna say I got to disagree completely it's great bring it rage 100% how was it rage never been three they've had three fucking albums with the exception of enter Sandman

every time Mariano Rivera came out to save a game I mean I don't listen to Metallica whatsoever Listen so let's fucking close up shop And don't get me wrong. I saw rage recently. I saw hold up. Please tell me it did come on Do they still bring it a fucking brought the house down more? I love to go into because they do I? Rage you guys I saw them at the Capital One arena first of all It was a little what is that Della Rocha injured for this he was sitting down the whole time But dude you could like if you just close your eyes you couldn't tell you couldn't tell Their sound was so fucking good. I remember talking to my wife I'm like it sounds like they're trying to cut a live album to release at a later date. Their life is awesome

You know Tim Tim B whatever they call them, Tim. Dude, they I don't know if they're ever going to go back on tour again. If they do fucking go see them. Let's go. Let's go. There are problems with Metallica's turns at times, but that's a monster catalog, longevity, quality. The music did change over time. I mean, as much as people can, you know, bring up negative reactions to when they went commercial, that was pretty fricking awesome, though.

So you have the three albums from Rage and they have the like the covers album. They got a couple more than they're great. They're all great. In my opinion, Rage, like I don't they haven't given me. But like for me, the fact that you could go, let's see, kill them all, ride the lightning, master of puppets and justice for all. You could stop there and then just add some of the bread fan from the garage inks. To me, that's enough to put them over even with load reload,

even with the give me fuel, give me fire, give me that what I desire. Get the fuck off stage. That rock, the tin pan drums of St. Anger, I always talk about that stretch being the worst stretch in rock history when when like Nickelback was on top and Creed and all that. Dude, don't forget, Metallica tried to be a major leading leading player in that in that regard.

Do we have any more DMS from these donks? Yeah. How about, hey, happy, happy St. Patrick's Day to what? What did he say? It's pronounced. Was it like Sheeran? I think it's applesauce. Yeah. Well, saw us underscore Delaney. Yeah. What did he say? Come on along. I look you need to be the. If you read the rest of the question, he says it's actually shitstick McGee. Okay. He says, maybe I should read Delaney's words. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, do you

have any memorable moments interacting with Irish people? I've told the story a million times. My brother lived in London and he was right when he said that if you ever go to London, the Irish are just friendlier than the English. I don't give a fuck if the English are watching, we love them, but sorry, the Irish are friendlier. And I go to visit my brother. He worked behind in Leicester Square and one of his coworkers was Irish. And we went to lunch and this motherfucker ordered five pints at lunch and not like that American bullshit pint, like the real pint.

And then went back to work and I asked my brother, I was like, yo, you're fucking coworkers and alcohol. Like he's like, dude, this is just what they do here. I couldn't fucking believe how many beers he had. They could hang out with the Sabatkas from season two of The Wire down on the dock, you know, at that little bar. The Wire season two, bitches, back to the docks.

That's what I'm talking about, yeah. Although that kid was a piece of shit. He deserved to go down the way he did. A little bit, yeah. Yeah, all right, there you go. What else was that guy asking in that question? Oh, Ted, that was, yeah, shit stick McGee is the correct pronunciation,

but shout out to that fella, Chi-ar and Chi-ran. Hey, Gaelic Delaney, Thank you, sir. Thank you. I think that's his name is pronounced. BC had a seizure. There you go. OK, that's it. Right. That's all we got for that absolute bullshit. If you want to reach the show, by the way, and we do appreciate the fans contributing, contact the show at morning combat at Gmail dot com. We're talking about Friday's dead wrongs.

Fan submissions showing Mikey Mikey your 100. Yeah, Mikey specifically said, I want to see your butthole. And I was like, Mikey, that's just aggressive. We're kidding. We're kidding. But wow. Yeah, that's disgusting. And also, you know, some people said, look, our debate went way too long on Friday.

It did. But we might be onto something. I know other people hate it. They don't want to see anyone talking about MMA, but you and I and maybe even no Sita Maybe I think if we don't like I think if we can really tighten it up, which we can we can try that again Okay, well, we have to tighten it up. I like interacting with the people in safe distance. I love it I love it, but you got but they're right. You got it's got to be snappy, you know We have one more segment for you and you can argue. It's probably the best in the entire industry, right? I mean name a segment people are talking about more than this one

It's when BC scours the globe for the highs and lows the good the bad the ugly the in-between and combat sports and The world beyond that this one's called Have you seen this shit? shit. Luke, not all bad when the UFC goes to the apex. How about this wholesome moment between GSP and Marabdavaleshvili? I want to tell you again, it was your record, now I buy my record. Yeah, congratulations. You do it better than anyone. You're the king at this, man.

You are the two of the guys who were the main takedowns. Most takedowns, yeah. The record are made to be broken. I'm a big fan of yours. I love your fighting style. Georgian people are very tough. A lot of Georgian guys helped me with my wrestling back home, so I'm very happy that you represented.

Luke, that made me feel really good. If that didn't reach around, I wouldn't have protested. You know what I mean? That was Bushido. People love the Canadian goat. I mean, what a nice guy, right? That's like being at a cocktail party around crazy people. Luke, that was great, all right.

You see he ended up with Shaq that night, him and the lead singer? Yes, I wish I had gotten that in here in time, damn. Happy St. Paddy's Day to all of our Irish people out there, okay, and we met a lot of them in our time with MK. Luke, to celebrate it, let's go to a college party. Watch this. You know what St. Paddy's Day is all about in the college.

Oh, my God. Oh, yeah, bro. You got to see that again. I don't know if you saw growth. You ain't dying at a college party. How good is it? Not very this. This looks like what I don't know. I mean, look at the fucking disaster. Oh, yeah, that is. Yeah.

I I can't tell you how many fraternity houses I've I've been in in my life where I found maggots in the sink. Oh, see, that's why I told you about fraternities. The porch was rotted, burned up couches in the backyard. So, you know, for people that can't stay alone on their own. Hey, look at me, look at me, look at me. Some of the best days of my life. Ha ha ha ha.

Um, Luke, I love Irish kids when they show up on live TV because like regional MMA, anything can happen. Now, let's go over to Schlager he's with the kids Okay, the fuck's up with this clip? Oh, they about to get sexual? Yeah, there they go. There it is. Okay, that went too far. That is wild.

That is awesome. Luke, everybody has a favorite Irishman. Would you say that's true? I don't know if that's true. I don't know if the Brits do. The Irish media caught up with Trump to ask him who his favorite is. Who's your favorite orange person? Oh, there's so many.

Are you kidding me? Well, I do happen to like your fighter. He's got the best tattoos I've ever seen. I don't know if I'm a big fan. Is it Conor McGregor? Conor. Well, Conor's great, right? You know, talking about Conor.

But you have a lot of great Irish fighters, actually. Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor?

Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor?

Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor? Is it Conor McGregor That was kind of shocking to see that. Is it? I mean, given where we are, is it? That was wild. Let's continue the Connor fun.

He was just celebrating St. Patty's Day in his own bar. What's it called? The Forged Iron Inn? I don't know. What is it? Well, guess who showed up, Luke? Internet royalty. The Nelk boys, baby.

Jesus. the And then he went home early well no he had a way for Andrew Tate to come over Hey new segment alert, it's called selfies done wrong. Let's watch oh Yeah, we're at the bar we're getting drunk. Oh god. What the fuck God? Oh, it's just donks fighting Celebrating st. Patrick's day a lot of dudes with the burst fade, yeah. Also, this one, also. Okay, we're gonna have to clean that up behind her. That is just, yeah. I probably dated that girl in the back. Probably after it happened.

Yeah, probably. You probably had no shame at these frat parties to help them like wipe the spit off. I wasn't a predator, okay. I mean, it's disgusting. I was just also drunk. You can get selfies at Mariah Carey concerts too.

You can also get fist fights watch this Who's scrapping out there Karen these two least whoa shit dude when Karen's attack Yet they still they still completed the pose That was great. Hey listen you pay good money for those motherfucking seats, you know, Luke, you know that term carrying water Yeah, it was never more true for this kid dude they're literally above the head why do we need this much water for three shit no don't go fast don't go fast jack stop stop stop stop stop don't stop stop Oh, stop.

Yes, that was great. All right. Yes. Speaking of fluids, it's time for your body shot of the week. Let's go to regional boxing where anything can happen, Luke, including a left hook to the liver. And OK, I've watched 10 clips and they're all fist fighting and vomiting. What the fuck are you doing? Hey, John Jones had a big week, Luke. First of all, fist fighting and vomiting.

Tom Aspernell sent him. I don't think this is real. You don't. I think this is Photoshopped from who you think the John Jones response to. So this is a live Instagram video from Pereira. Yeah, Pereira talking about the loss. I think this is Photoshopped. I don't believe this is you don't think Johnny Bones put disappointed. Oh, you so you think I fell for the trap?

I think you have put up fake news here. OK. I don't know that. I don't know that. But I believe that long. I look, do you know that? Today's the first time I'm seeing it. So I don't know. OK. I'm OK. I'll apologize to John. You are fake news to his face and then ask him about his 20s. Yes. Look, speaking of bony, you just you just won't get over it. I'll apologize to John your fake news to his face and then ask him about his 20s. Yeah

Speaking of bony you just we just won't get over it watch bony's new haircut. Tell me if you like it, Luke The the kimbo slice Brian Ebersol bit Yeah, what do you think about that? Look good. You think he'd fight with that? Or you think that's the direction he's running away from? This way to duck. Yes, there you go. He might still fight him. We don't know that.

We don't know that. He might still fight him. You know the good thing about WWE these days, Luke, you go as a fan, you can get a handful. Oh. Or a more than that. So this dude. Yeah.

Whoa! That right there is assault, brother. I mean, don't do that. Out at second, yes. He... Yes. Don't do that. Don't do that.

Don't do that. Don't do that. That is unbelievable. Boy, that is one entitled little shithead, huh? Yeah, well, they got more of them. Let's go to Yukon. What's the best part about being a Yukon fan. I might get in trouble for saying this.

All the fucking whores. Well, have you had misogyny today in this show? This is unbelievable. Can you believe that one day that guy's going to have a job interview and they're like, Mr. Steve, it says here that you did a man on the street interview in Connecticut. Well, let's review the tape. Whores!

You can leave. Not quite Hawk, too. Oh, yeah. That guy should get a meme coin. Dude, here's my plan. We need an MK shit coin. We need to rug pull our entire audience and then just cancel the show and move to Bermuda.

People are always asking me, why is it always weird on these documentaries you traveling with Luke? It's probably a normal experience, and then I show them this clip I mean, this is the kind of this is the kind of you know Communication I get back from Luke on our trips this motherfucking koala is my spirit there it is there it is Let's watch fat. I'm sorry that this overweight high calorie. Yes. Oh They're about to sink this motherfucking boat dude. You got you got some big old motherfuckers on this boat They probably have a weight limit, right? Yep. Oh

Do what? Lee dog he just sank the whole thing. Okay. Wow. Hey, I want to see the greatest play in pickleball history Let's go slow motion. And no, they already asked, is Jay Aaron in this? He's not. Oh, nice save. Oh, shit balls, he's gonna dunk the fuck out of that. Oh!

In MMA, the referee would warn him that's right Stay for the ending what a finish Wow All right. Hey time for some sports legal. That's legal in MMA some sports sneak attacks Let's watch this South American soccer event This is I think Venezuela. That's unbelievable. Wow. Keep your eyes on the referee at the end of this basketball game. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, what the fuck?

Oh shit. Oh shit. Now, now you're fighting for your life. This would be on faces of death 7 You know we hit him you know what he hit him with he hit him with the remember DC to Gustafson hit him with the old 360 and then the suplex city at the end. Holy shit Let me just see the beginning of that like who started it. I don't know. It looks like they're talking Oh, it looks like the ref the ref starts it and then though then the whole family rightfully so jumped in at that point I don't know that I don't know the origin. I don't know who's at fault, but that's a gnarly video

Yeah, I mean like hard to say exactly what happened before the kid. Holy fuck Wow You know what you should never trust A wet fart old people on a golf golf cart. Oh yeah, that's true. Because I'm a plus-time bot, I never have old golf carts. That's why I'm the little bit of stuff. No, I'm telling you, like I said, you better bring it. Even have a spot right here, it's a sort of radio.

It's a glove compartment you can put in here. Oh, he's trying to sell him this thing? Yeah. Oh, he's just gonna slam the gas like a fucking moron He tells him be careful you old piece of shit I mean listen listen You need Somebody needs to euthanize that bitch. Okay. Okay, that's too far Kevorkia. That's too far. All right. Wow Wow, okay

Luke your favorite person on the internet is back the weird cake lady Fucking demonic Send her to Guantanamo Bay Why she's very creative. You wouldn't take a bite of that. I would throw her out of a moving plane You wouldn't take a bite of that I would throw her out of a moving plane Go eat some toe fungus Luke everything okay disgusting nightmare fueled Idiot even though the tile on the wall. She's gonna start cutting open her child

Alright hey, let's go to the T-shirt of the week. Almost every hand you've ever shaken has had a dick in it. This guy looks like he's not having the best day ever. No, Luke Trivia Time. Do you know what was the first video music video ever aired on MTV video killed the radio star by the Buggles? Yes. Great. Great answer.

Let's let's go to the meme. Dude, it's 2025 and we're doing OJ Simpson memes. Holy shit. Luke. How important would you say it is to start your day with a balanced breakfast? Not very cereal is probably the worst way you can possibly start your morning. That would be a lot worse. Yeah, I was going to be like, you know, bagels is a better option than terrorism.

Yes, yes. The only thing we can do is close with some flatulence. You in? I'm in. All right, let's hit it. Let's hit it. Can I get a witness? Dude, dude the eye contact is bonkers. Bonkers. Bonkers. Dude don't get me wrong I find that hilarious but there's something wrong with that guy. Oh that guy's gross as heck. There's something

wrong with that guy. I think we got a couple more more of these i just have one question to the man that asked me to fart in a balloon and nail it to him dude what's your fucking address and finally that's a good bit that's a good bit that's a good listen to this to go to miss did it did it did that? Oh Going all the way Yeah, you can burn him alive, oh so yeah, that's the shit of the week. I hope you saw it a minus Wow, it was controversial. I don't know if it was I mean the OJ memes are that yeah I mean, but though Jay into the 9-eleven was probably ill-advised at best, but That's yeah, that's that's what we got for you You can reach the show again in morning combat at gmail.com and we would like you to let's see some good fans ups for this

Friday also, we're like in a we're in a mid-merch creation mode. We're in mid-merch creation mode. We are Long I'll look and tell you we're actively working on merch. That's a real thing. We're in a mid-Merch creation mode. We're in mid-Merch creation mode. We are, Luke can tell you, we're actively working on Merch. That's a real thing we're doing, right? Yeah, we're working on it. Coming soon. Yeah, there you go. Coming soon, yes. Maybe like the third Dune movie, maybe. I do like the second Dune movie a lot.

It's amazing. It's amazing. I watch it on every flight now. Just to get another taste of it? Where are you on like Lord of the Rings and stuff? I don't touch those, should I? I'll say this for like if you like a flight to Europe or something, you can kill two of those and it takes up almost the entire flight.

I know. I'm not going to be naive. I know I'll enjoy it. I just have no want to do that or well, harder under any circumstance. Just like, yeah, I mean, I don't know if Peter Jackson wants you to watch that movie on an 8-inch screen, but sure You know it would be a theater like I cannot believe you did not go to dune 2 in the theater when you had the chance So you just decided that in your house. It would be an equivalent experience. I did buy a new TV. I Don't I don't think you know I did like pretty nice. I did the IMAX I did the It was like one night where you can do it all you could you could like pay it was IMAX and it was

Not 3d, but like the boot they were they have the bigger speakers that shake the Dolby Yeah, yeah, whatever Dolby surround bullshit, but it was amazing. It was absolutely great I wanted to put 3d on top of that one of my sons was like dad like why can't we just watch a movie like Normal people why does always have to be like a like a roller coaster? Did you know what I realized? I didn't know this, but I saw I maybe I've seen it before, but I got reminded of it recently. I didn't know that on Uber Eats you can order from the movie theater like their popcorn and then they get and their sodas and shit and then have it sent to you.

And I'm like. That's both genius and incredibly disturbing. I mean I don't know if you've used uber eats much of late but like the way that they're enticing you to add on to your order and it not costing any extra money. Oh bundle whatever. Or if you want to bundle the 7-eleven and get a case of water and all these snacks and a slurpee and shit you can just hit like yeah so it's it's dangerous. I don't want that at all. All right. Well, hey long Island Luke. Thank you for playing today All right, you got any dates coming up? You got the I got my birthday this week guys Thursday Oh, hey, you gotta do anything special for it. I'd probably just get drunk and you know, I'm a good time What age are you turning if you don't mind the people knowing? It's my Patrick Ewing here 33. Oh wow the sweatiest man alive

You know he would you don't never forget watching him just dunk on motherfuckers either at Georgetown or with the Knicks And there had to be that dude with the with the boom right behind them You know who was underrated in that is Kevin McHale I was a big Celtics fan every time out or father had to work the floor. He's grabbing a towel He's like bathing in it. Yeah, those big ass dudes, they sweat a lot. They do, they do tend to do that. All right, well that's the damn show for this week. Thank you so much.

For Luke Thomas, I'm Brian Campbell. Take care of yourself. Friday is a 10 a.m. Eastern start. Thank you for helping me accommodate my schedule. We're still gonna bang though on Friday, okay? Alabama power, Chinese power, just like Big Bang Zang said. That's LTBC. Thank you. We're out of here