MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren | Glover-Jan Being Booked for UFC 266 | Kelvin Gastelum | Ep 143

Episode Date: April 14, 2021

Luke and Rashad Evans take an early look at the weekend ahead. They preview Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren and examine the biggest storylines of Bellator 257. Plus, in the UFC, Kelvin Gastelum replaced Paulo Costa in the April 17th main event and will face Robert Whittaker. What's the difference between this replacement and Kevin Holland filling in vs. Marvin Vettori? --------------------------- 'Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit: store.sho.com   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat  To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reveille, Reveille, dogs. Look at us now, tip to tip. This is our life. This is our passion. That's the spirit we bring to this show. I'm Luke Thomas. I'm Brian Campbell. This is Morning Combat.

All right, my daughter is home, which means you're going to hear Godzilla rampaging through downtown Tokyo just outside this door in a matter of moments but hi everyone it is the 14th of April 2021 and it is time for morning combat my name is Luke Thomas I'm from CBS sports I am one half of your hosting duo today I'm joined by the gentleman on the other side of the screen he's our Florida correspondent just so happens to be a UFC hall of famer as well as a combat sports analyst for CBS sports as well it's sugar Rashad Evans Mr. Evans how are you sir on this fine Wednesday I am great this fine Wednesday just

uh enjoying another beautiful day in sunny South Florida how many days out of the year as a Florida resident would you say you actually make it to the beach? Now, not necessarily in the water, but maybe on the beach, laying out, hanging out with friends, something where the beach is involved in some kind of leisurely activity. I try to do it at least twice a month. There are times where I go without months and months without going. And then I'm just like, when I go there, I'm just like, don't i go here every day you know there was a time where i was going every single morning but uh you know that can be time consuming if i lived in the beach i'd like to think that i would go most days but i don't know i've never lived in a beach town except for uh you know the week of spring break or something like that which doesn't't really count. I would imagine it'd be pretty tempting.

But, all right, we have a lot to do today, Mr. Evans. We have, let's see, we've got some breaking news to get to. We've got some fight previewing to do. We've got, let's see, the Askren and Paul fight that comes this weekend. We have Bellator. We have a lot with UFC. We have a lot of stuff. So we're going to start to dig our toes, so to speak,

into the sands of those fight stories. If you are new to MK or you're regular either way, please give the video a thumbs up. If you're new, of course, give the channel a subscription. We appreciate that very much when you do. If you'd like to try Showtime, you can. Showtime.com. 30-day free trial. If you like it,

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morningcombat at gmail.com. Dead wrong, fan subs. We're not going to do fan subs today because it just feels wrong to do that in brian campbell's absence but we got some other fun stuff planned for the end of the show still keep those dead wrongs and fan submissions coming if you can and um yeah i think that's about oh merch store.show.com. You can buy hats, mugs, tumblers, I don't know, shit like that. Things you probably don't need, if we can just be honest with you. But I'd like you to buy just the same. Store.show.com.

All right. Let's get into it if we can here, Rashad, on this Wednesday edition of the show. Let me ask you first, before I bring up the actual way in which I want to have this conversation just as a broad overview where are you on the youtube boxing thing what is your general forget about the fight this weekend you know exactly just in general what do you how do you view that enterprise i mean it's uh it's entertainment um you know i i give it that for the fun factor it's fun to watch, but outside of that, there's really not much to it. I mean, you know, but however, however,

with all that said, I'm very interested to see Ben fight this weekend. I really am. All right, I want to talk about Ben a little bit later, but I want to start the conversation here because I want to get a general tenor of your stuff. My attitude is there's quite obviously a market for it. How big is debatable, but there is one.

I think the fight this weekend will sell quite well. I don't think Triller's going to make any money off of it because their payroll is out of control, but it will sell quite well. I am confident of that. But I've been thinking about Jake Paul a little bit, which is sad and a reflection of how many poor choices I've made in my life, Rashad, that I've come to a position at age 41. I have to spend time thinking about this dweeb.

But there is something that you just can't, to me, you just can't deny about him. So I'm going to make a statement. I'll defend it, but I would love to get your reaction to it first i believe that if you are looking around and you're asking why are people interested in jake paul fighting either this opponent or any other some more than others the answer to me is going to be that this guy is the youtube boxing or youtube combative sports heir to kimbo slice people don't want to admit that because Kimbo Slice is extremely beloved and Jake Paul is largely polarizing

or reviled by many corners. So there's some meaningful differences between the two and Kimbo got famous YouTube fighting whereas Jake Paul built fame on Vine, then on YouTube through his antics and has transitioned into this. But here's why I bring

this up, Rashad, because all the similarities are there, right? Using YouTube as a platform for fame, and you're not really fighting fighting. You're kind of like stunt fighting, which is still very difficult to do, but it's not actual fighting, you know? So it's a little bit different there. And two, I remember this remember this rashad don't you remember when kimbo was starting to make his move into mma and then you had like baz root and training with him and they'd be like wow he's so much better than i thought he would be and all these little nuggets of information coming out from different fighters different camps be like wow kimbo works really hard blah blah blah you're seeing the exact same thing to a degree with Jake Paul you're seeing uh uh

Violent Bob Ross come out and say he's so much better than I thought and all these other little validators so of that thesis what do you make is Jake Paul the heir to Kimbo Slice I can see that I can see that but one one thing that um you know for me that stands out, you know, as a Kimbo fan, you know, what captured my attention with Kimbo was just the rawness of what he did, you know, with those backyard fights and everything like that. I think that's what captivated me. And I just don't get that rawness, but I do understand the same sentiment with the YouTube and making it, you know, making it, you know, his vehicle to, you know, to reach these fans. So I do understand it in that respect. So, yeah, I mean, I can see, I can see the similarities, but here's the thing though, does Jake Paul, I mean, because Kimball was beloved in the fact that he was just so intimidating and the fact that, you know, when he went out there he was knocking guys eyeballs

out and then you got to know him and then he was like this soft nice guy so that was the appeal with kimball but with jake paul he's just so trolly you just you you just can't stand him and you just want to see him get destroyed you know i'm saying but then you find out that on the other side of it that he's actually pretty decent and and to to that point you know uh jake paul you know um actually tried to get some sparring with tyrone spung when he first came down to florida to start this camp and i was just i was just surprised i mean listen tyrone spung is is an animal inside the ring or a cage or whatever but even in training tyrone is somebody you just don't want to even spar with you know what i'm saying so for him to call out tyrone it just showed me just that he

was believing in his own hype a bit yeah i mean that's did did spong do it not well it didn't end up happening but uh it was it was dangerously happening. And I was going to go and see it, man, because Tyrone, he was going to body you. He was definitely going to body you. He was going to put that motherfucker in a summer job. I mean, that was going to get ugly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's definitely believing his own hype a little bit, which I guess if you're going to do that kind of thing, on some level you're supposed to.

See, here's the thing. I agree with you. There are real meaningful differences this is not an exam this is not an argument to say that like jake paul is today's kimbo slice because you're right kimbo featured very differently he was this he was the jaws underneath the water you know this very intimidating menacing figure at first then transitioned i remember dan lebitard wrote a story about kimbo being homeless after one of the hurricanes had hit florida so he had this hard scrabble story then you met his family and then he was trying to do different things and he became a sympathetic soft figure

in that sense uh he's quite different from jake but you have to ask yourself if youtube fighting is going to be a thing whether it's a good thing or a bad thing it's going to be a thing you're going to get heroes you're going to get villains too you're not going to get just one or the other it's going to produce to me a whole bevy of different people and i agree that i mean he is jake paul is so trolly so to me he's like the heir to kimbo slice but he's also he brought in modern internet culture is just troll culture everywhere. Whether you watch movies on the internet, sorry, whether you're involved in like cinema,

internet, combat sports, internet, you know, um, um, food internet, all of it is troll culture.

It's seeped into every part. He has taken that to the nth degree, but then following in some of the footsteps that Kimbo did. So he's remixed it Rashad, but to me, it's a difference in degree, not a difference in kind. Mm, mm. I understand that.

Yeah, definitely, man. That troll culture is something key that you hit on too. It's everywhere. And it's something that, you know, until I heard you put it like that, you know, it really wasn't crystallized in my mind as being a total concept, you know, but now that you said it like that, it really wasn't crystallized in my mind as being a total concept. But now that you said it like that, it is, man.

I mean, people are taking this whole trolling thing to a whole other level. And Jake Paul is the king of the trolls. I mean, this guy, for him to even build up this fight, even to get the fight, I was just like, yo, somebody's got to shut this dude up. I mean, he's running around just talking crazy to everybody he talks wild he talks wild um so let's uh let's get to this fight here just a little bit you had indicated you were like okay in general you know you could take it or leave it but this particular one you wanted to take now or you were interested in more what do you make of this framing people always ask

this question and I try to answer the best that I can which is is Jake Paul good and I never know what they mean by good I never know what they mean by bad it's hard to answer that question which is why Rashad I described him and if you have a better way to describe it please by all means let me know but I kind of described him and I did this to BC he I don't know how he felt about it I do think that the stunt boxing is a good way to describe it. Because if you're like a stunt performer, that's not an easy job. Like you actually do have to train for that. You have to be prepared for that.

It's dangerous. It could go poorly. But you also have to have some skills to execute a stunt. But that's not the same thing as actually doing the thing. It's a controlled version of it. And so I think that he probably has a degree of ability. But until you actually fight real pros and real challenges, to me, you're only going to be a stunt boxer. Am I being unfair?

No, you're not being unfair at all. I think that there is definitely a graduation process that he needs to go through in order to be considered a real fighter, you know, and fighting a guy like Ben Askren is a step along the way, but it's not totally that direction being the fact that, you know, uh, Ben Askren is, is a professional in a different discipline. So, um, he he's taking the steps to become a real fighter. Now it's just a a matter of does he have that fight in them you know they can he transform and become a real fighter we'll see because what makes a fighter a fighter is if we can watch a fight and we can get emotionally pulled into your struggle and how you're able to pull it off and and and just you know being able to see you fight through

some things you know I think that's when you know, being able to see you fight through some things, you know, I think that's when, you know, people started, okay, this guy has some fighting, uh, uh, I mean, apart from the skill level alone, right. Cause you got to have some skills in order to even be considered a fighter in some degree. Uh, but Jake Paul has that Jake Paul has some pretty good ones and twos has some pretty good power. Um, you know, knows, knows his basics pretty well. Um, has a lot of confidence that can carry him far, but now he's going against a guy, Ben Askren, who is a real fighter. If Ben isn't anything, he's definitely a fighter, you know,

and in respect to the fact that, you know, he's one guy who can grind and he can, you know, bring the fight from a different perspective and compete at a higher level. And can Jake compete at that level level that's the real question would you be surprised if either guy got tuned up i mean i i would i would really be surprised if jake paul got tuned up um i mean either either guy get tuned up because i just can't see, for one, Ben Askren being able to tune anybody up with those hands. I mean, his hands are terrible.

They're terrible. They're not great. No, he looks like he's out there swatting flies. You know what I'm saying? So it's going to be interesting to see how he's able to throw that into a punching combination. What I foresee is that him throwing one punch, him tying up, and then through the frustration, being able to land some shots that can maybe hurt Jake Paul. But, I mean, Ben is not even known for his power, you know? So there's a lot of different things that can, you know,

make this fight interesting. But at the end of the day, I think that this is Jake Paul's fight to lose. That'll be interesting to see. I mean, to me, it's like, what would the results mean if Jake wins? And I'm like, not a whole lot. Like, to your point, Ben's striking was never great or even really good or even really there. I mean, there's just a lot of problems with it, which I think even he would probably, for the most part, admit.

And then he had a hip replaced after he retired he's come back now and i know he felt better but it's like you know how many times can you brag about a win over oh i jacked the jaw of a guy who had a hip replacement okay i mean it's not nothing uh but i don't really know that it's some kind of high water mark and they're going to use it to launder you know they And they're going to use it to launder. You know they are. They're going to use it to launder the truth. They're going to say, oh, Jake beat a UFC fighter. They're going to say that as if that's some kind of grand pronouncement rather than them getting the – they found the guy with probably even admittedly the worst hands maybe ever

in modern UFC. Great wrestler, obviously, and tremendously strong, and a decorated athlete at one point in his life waited until he had a hip replacement and then boxed him up and they're going to be like, oh see the dishonesty about it is kind of what I really hate the most, if I could just

be honest with you Rashad what's that? in the sense of like, oh I beat a UFC fighter it's like, well did you? you know, with this whole thing um you know what gets me as well too is that you know you you have been asking and um you know with with the fight uh is is this fight going to be a fight that you know that that can build some momentum from jake because at the

end of the day jake can just keep on doing this jake can just keep on having these these trailer fights because there he doesn't never need to raise his level he has enough interest on his platform that beating a guy like ben askren can get him a fight with somebody else along the same lines you know along the same line somebody with less experience in boxing and whatnot and keep on doing the same thing over and over again and keep on just racking up these checks you know because uh the truth of the matter is this does have a following you know what i'm saying and i mean people like to see what an average guy can do and i think think that's one thing that Jake hits, that he's able to really capture

with this whole YouTube fighting is, this is an average guy. This is like pros versus Joes, pros versus Joes back in the day. And that's what this is like. Okay, Jake is the Joe. And you have the pro and Ben Askren. Can he do it?

It'll be interesting to see. So you're definitely going to watch on Saturday? What's your plan? Yeah, I'm going to watch this. I got to watch it. It's like an accident. I got to watch it, man, because I'm cheering for Ben Askren. I mean, I just don't want to see him lose.

I don't want to see that stain on MMA. But I almost feel like it's inevitable. Yeah, I don't really know what to expect, candidly. You could tell me that, to your point, Ben's going to go in there and overhook one hand, and then short little uppercuts underneath until the referee separates over and over and over again, and somehow we'll either win or the fight will suck enough

that you don't really care who won or lost, like that i can see that is totally plausible i can see you know him getting stretched to be quite honest with you that being plausible as well uh likely i don't know but plausible and so for those reasons actually i'm a little bit curious to see what happens but i don't think that you know again the folks ask me oh is he good like, okay, how many boxers has Jake Paul fought in a boxing match? Zero. Right, right. You know what I mean? Like, start doing that, and we can more accurately assess what your skill level is.

Also, I wonder what they're paying these guys. Last thing on this, Rashad, because even Ben has admitted, like, listen, I didn't really want to do this fight. Like, it wasn't on, like, top of mind, but the money is dumb. The money is dumb. If you saw the purse bid for Teofimo Lopez, and they put almost three times what the other bids were, Triller must be paying stupid money. So, Rashad, if you got a Jake Paul call out,

and they're offering you stupid money to come back for, I don't know, six rounds, three minutes, or something like that, what do you think? Are you going to do it gonna do you're gonna go knock this fucker out bro if they call me like today and say could you be ready for the fight this weekend i would do it of course i mean look it's six rounds it's six rounds you know what i'm saying like that's nothing that's nothing like i mean i'm in pretty decent shape right now. I'm not in great fighting shape. I'm definitely not in great boxing shape. But, I mean, I can definitely, you know, tussle with Jake Paul for six rounds. You know, I mean, that's easy work.

You know, I'm not saying he's, well, yeah, I'll beat the hell out of Jake Paul. I would love to see it. But, by the way, just last thing on this. In terms of managing your energy, is there nearly the same amount in time? What's the difference between five minutes fighting in MMA and then a one-minute break? This would still go over the limit,

but you'd have two rounds in boxing and essentially a break at the end. That would be a little bit longer, but they're roughly equivalent in time frame. How different is it? It's a bit different it's a bit different in your um your your work and your energy you're putting out and stuff like that you know how you want to how you want to do it and the pace that you're setting but you know at the end of the day that three minutes feels really really short you know so you almost want to uh

you know start a little bit faster than you normally would in an MMA fight. But at the same time, you know, you know, really start to, you know, you want to in the last 30 seconds strong. But, you know, start to like in between rounds, you're going to feel you're going to feel so rested so fast because that's when you'll still be fighting in MMA. And you just got to keep on staying sharp at that point. But I think it's pretty easy. Every single time that I do six rounds of boxing, three-minute rounds, I'm like, dang, it's over already? It goes by so fast.

I'll say this, though. Ben Askren was asked about the training for this. And, again, he's going to have very limited training with striking generally. And then for this fight, I'm assuming he's got a very specific game plan that he's going to stick to that's not really going to be involved too much at range. I think it's pretty a fair point. But he was saying how much easier boxing training is than fighting. And certainly I think that the injury load tells you that that's probably true. There's probably something to be said for MMA's

injury load that speaks to how hard the training is. And of course, the multidimensional aspect I recognize as being just uniquely difficult. But I think people often overuse terms, Rashad, when they're like, oh, training in MMA is either as harder than it is in boxing. And it's like, well, there might be some real truth to that. He goes, because you're just training hands. You're not doing anything else. Fine. I can admit that the lack of dimensionality makes it somewhat of a more manageable task. But then when you look at the guys who do it really well, yes, there's less options in terms of what you can do in a fight.

But within those range of options, they have all the little tiny pieces along the way throughout the course. I mean, the timing on the check hook that Bud Crawford threw to knock out Kell Brook, that little window, you know what I mean? The tiniest little window. They find all of them. So, yes, there's less to do, but your margin of error against somebody good in that sport is extremely low. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, in boxing, it's all

about repetitions. You do repetitions over and over again, and you do them with a couple of different exercises where it kind of disguises that you're doing the same repetition and the same movement. But at the end of the day, it's all about that same repetition, the same movement, because they want to just make it so you're just reacting out there, and you react the most when you're just kind of in your muscle memory. So that's what makes it a little bit easier because you're not working the whole entire body. But at the same time, those details, it's mentally taxing in that respect. That's why it's such a mental game of chess.

Interesting. All right, let's move on, if we can, to topic to topic number two here rashad bellator 257 is this weekend some interesting fights on the card julia budd the former champion of 145 is back uh two of the guys uh well actually one of the guys who lost in the featherweight tourney is facing an up-and-comer from new zealand so you'll have pedro carvalho taking on jj wilson Wilson. Saul Rogers taking on Mads Bernal. These are two guys who could easily be fighting in UFC. And then so on and so on. Lance Gibson Jr., the son of Lance Gibson.

But at the top of the card, Rashad, you've got Vadim Nemkov and Phil Davis. You fought Phil Davis. First of all, what did you learn about fighting? That was a while ago, but what did you learn about fighting Phil Davis? Which, by the way, you won quite well. Yeah, Phil kind of surprised me with a couple of different techniques you know his stand-up was a lot better than i thought it was at the time um and he also surprised me some things he didn't do you know i thought that he would wrestle a lot more you know phil was one

of the best college wrestlers out the gate i mean in college and um you know he didn't really wrestle too much or even, you know, show his ground game, because I guess he has really good ground game coupled with that great wrestling, but he didn't really show it. You know, he was pretty strong, he was pretty strong, and he was kind of hard to break, because there were some times where I thought, like, he was just going to quit and give up, but he just kept on fighting through so um he was a pretty he was a pretty tough out you know he's grown a lot since we fought but at the same time there are some areas where he didn't and I think that the areas where he didn't is the uh the fight IQ what do you mean well I feel like you know he doesn't fight the

best fight for him. He has pretty decent stand-up, and it's pretty decent because I say it can close the distance and it can disguise his takedowns and what he wants to do, right, in order to set up something else. So it's pretty decent in that respect, but it's not world-beater. And sometimes he puts himself in a position to fight a world beater stand up fight. And it's like, that's not your game. Your game is if you can mix in your wrestling with it, mixing the level changes, mixing all the other tools that you have to make it more dynamic. You know, Phil Davis has a hell of a kick to this kick and kick like crazy. But it's kind of telegraphed, you know, because he's he's throwing one thing at a time.

He's not really throwing things in fluid combinations and i think if he's able to bring his wrestling in there it'll open up the rest of the rest of his game but he's still yet to do that and that's why i say it's like an iq thing you know what i've noticed about his uh his career either what's that like he's never really ended up on highlight reels like yeah it it's weird, you know? When he loses, even like, I think the Rumble fight, like, he was wise enough to avoid the big shot from Rumble for the most part. And he has achieved great things, but his fights have all kind of taken on this kind of pace

where it never really suits itself to the highlight reel, even when he loses. It's a bizarre kind of situation. Most of the time, fighters who have been around as long as he has, who's fought who he has, somebody's got him good once or twice. It's not really the case with him. He's lost. You hear you see Nemkov tossing him around. But the fights have never been like that, have they?

Yeah, you're right, man. He's really never just been beat and knocked out. And, you know, you've never seen that with Phil Davis, which is a good thing, which is a great thing, which shows that, you know, there's still a lot of tread left on those tires, you know, and there's a lot of freshness still in them because he hasn't taken those big blows. But at the same time, it kind of goes to, you know, what the errors in his game, meaning the fact that, you know, maybe he's not aggressive enough. You know, he's got to be aggressive enough with his own game.

And that's why he, you know, I don't know, man. It's just hard to say how he hasn't taken any of these shots. I mean, you fight a guy like Rumble, you know what I'm saying? Rumble's finding everybody's chin and he's putting them out. But Phil's been able to do a good job, but I think he's only lost like four times and they've all been decisions. So he's been preserving himself pretty well. But if he's going to beat a guy and he's going to win this tournament, he's got to turn the corner. He's got to turn the corner on his fight approach and just start implementing more of his tools. Start using his

dominant grappling game. When he got Nemkov down in the first fight, he really put Nemkov down. I mean, put him in trouble on like, you know, he had an arm triangle at one time. You know, he was going from one submission to the next, and he was going quite fluidly. So it's like, dude, you could have did just the whole fight, and I hope he keys in on that and starts this fight off like he did the third round in the first fight. How good do you think Nemkov is based on that fight? And, of course, he beat the brakes off Ryan Bader.

Assess his level of talent for me. Nemkov is good. He's solid all the way around. He has great stand-up, fluid stand-up, and great combination striking, and a pretty good idea of where to put those strikes, pretty good striking IQ. And then he has good wrestling to boot, pretty decent and solid inside the clinch. My thing with Nemkov is that he kind of fades in a fight a little bit. In a fight with Phil Davis, you can see him kind of fade in the third round a bit.

And I've seen him in other fights, too, kind of trail off, too, and just not have that same sharpness that he had in the first two rounds, which can be expected when you put in the kind of effort that he does. But at the same time, when you're the champion, you've got to start being able to find a lot of momentum in those championship rounds because you've got to be able to close the show out as a champion. It's funny, you know, Phil, former champion, has, to me, of anyone, he's probably the one least expected on his side of the bracket because it's Nemkov, Phil, and then Rumble and Romero.

You know, of all the guys on there, he's probably the least expected to advance, and he has the toughest road. First you've got to beat Nemkov, and then you've got to beat either Rumble, who already beat you, or 205 Romero, who at that point would be coming off of a Rumble win to get there. That is not an easy path for Phil Davis. And then, by the way, if you win, you've got to beat probably Ryan Bader or Corey Anderson too.

He's got, I would argue, a fairly uphill climb, right? Yeah, fairly, fairly uphill climb. And he's going to have to pull out, you know, the best string of fights of his career in order to, you know, have his hand raised and win this tournament. But he can do it. He can do it. But it's going to take Phil Davis fighting a lot different than he has before

you know he's got to be able to be a little bit more volume on his feet with his striking so that way he can set up his takedowns and and then from there his takedowns will set up his hands he has a really good overhand right that he lands in and he throws it with some power but it just never hits as clean as it can. And that's partly because of the fact that, you know, they're not guessing what's coming. They know what's coming. You know, he has a really good high kick, too. Phil Davis threw a high kick, and it just grazed me.

But I just felt the breeze off of it. And I'm like, man, if that would have caught me, man, I probably would have knocked out for two days. Because he throws a lot of power on those kicks. But, you know, he doesn't really set those things up properly you know he just kind of like just throwing technique but without a rhyme or reason now that we've got you here like how should we prepare for rumble you know is it the rumble before is it a little bit different like he's a little bit older but he you know the last four years he's been kind of I won't say chilling but certainly not been competing in MMAma what what what should fans expect when he takes

on romero i guess on may 7th you know uh this is a different rumble like this rumble that we're seeing now is is a um a rumble that we would only see when it comes to you know the last few weeks of fight camp meaning the fact that he's keeping his weight down. Rumble's walking around at 218, 215, and just solid and really strong. And he's worked on a lot of areas that gave him problems in the UFC. He's worked on his grappling. He's worked extensively on his jujitsu and worked on his wrestling. And those things that he used to hate, now he's gravitating more towards because he knew that was his achilles heel so if he can maintain those things going into a fight because it's one thing to do something to practice another thing to do in a

fight if he can maintain those things and and bring it towards a fight then we're looking at a rumble who can do everything fluidly and who can impose his will by using his wrestling and get the fight to where he wants to not only only with the hands standing up, but taking the guy down and letting him feel the ground upon him. That fight with him and Romero, like lock horns, it's just going to be chaos. I don't even know. I feel like it's just someone's going to get stretchered. It's just going to be terrible for the loser. I don't know who that's going to be but romero is a force of nature too that really isn't like the most

exciting bout frankly in that tournament really and anywhere uh and then some so i'm pretty excited about it yeah i can't wait man uh romero everybody that i i know that have fought romero they all come back and tell me the same thing they're like like, man, this guy can't be human, man. When I hit him, it hurt me. His bone is made of metal. When you hit him, it hurts you and it just doesn't feel right. That's what people tell me

that's fought him before. I'm just like, man, that sounds crazy. They say that his speed and strength is just out of control. We'll see what Rumble has to say after this fight. Yeah, it's going to be fun. Just real quickly, on the co-main is the other side of the bracket. Corey Anderson makes his, I think, second fight in Bellator,

first of the Grand Prix when he takes on big-time unknown Dovletzdan Yakshamurodov. There is tape of him on YouTube. You can go and see it. What would you say, Rashad? I've looked at the tape too. He's small for the weight class. Does appear to be strong. Does appear to be like maybe he can physically handle himself here on some

level. But you know, Corey Anderson is, he's not going to win any bodybuilding contest, but he's strong and in shape. He's a good wrestler too. He can lean on you. He can grind on you if he needs to. And then, you know, even if you beat him, you've got to beat Ryan Bader. And even after that you got to beat you know the whole side of the bracket whoever ends up winning i i don't want to dismiss yaksha muradov but i would just be lying if i thought he

had a likely path to the finals yeah i mean he he has probably has the the toughest out of everybody right i mean cory anderson out the gate you know you're talking about a guy in Corey Anderson who sets a pace that, you know, the flyweights may be a little envious of. You know, this guy has a gas tank on him that just keeps going and going. And just the vocabulary of his whole fight game when it comes to striking and mixing in the takedowns. That complete Mark Henry game is on another level. I used to train with Mark Henry and it was, you know, one of the most interesting times in my career because I never trained with a moral thorough coach. You know, Mark Henry, you know, just so thorough with his X's and O's. He has a game plan, crazy. He makes you, you know, you remember all the codes, you

have codes that he calls and you just, he calls these codes and you like, you remember all the codes. You have codes that he calls. And he just, he calls these codes and you do these moves, you know. And, you know, that's a big part of Corey's game. And that's a big part of Corey's fight IQ is that he's got Mark Henry behind him. Now, with Yakshamirdov, you know, he's got the ability to wrestle. He's got the ability to, you know, stay on his feet. And he has explosive strike-ins with the overhand right. And, you know, it seems as if like his punches just, you know, they change up speed, you know, look to come one way and then they just kind of speed up. And he's really good

with his punch selection as well, too. He has a murderous overhand right, but that size is going to be a big problem for him to keep a guy like Corey Anderson off him. I mean, Corey's just going to keep going, shot, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. Even if Yakshamir does stop him a few times, he's not going to be able to stand up to that pressure of Corey Anderson. Yeah, and again, somehow he gets past Corey. Congratulations, here's Ryan Bader waiting for the heavyweight champion. It's going to be more of that times a thousand. Also, last note on this,

Paul Daly was supposed to fight during the pandemic, and the whole thing went tits up because I think one of the opponents got COVID, or they got canceled. But when the fight got canceled, he said, I have one more left. This was in October of 2020, and my next fight will be a 175-pound catchweight

because there were weight issues, I think, with him as well. And that'll be my retirement bout. Well, fast forward to Friday. This is his first bout since that time. So this is, my understanding, I could be wrong, is that this is Paul Semtex Daly's retirement fight. Any thoughts about the retirement? Assuming this is, and I believe it is true, about Paul Daly? I mean, he was a UK pioneer, right?

He had good resume, good stand-up. He's won half of the best one-round fight, or arguably the best one-round fight of all time. He's got an insane highlight reel. He did a lot in his career. He really did. He was one of my favorites to watch. This guy, Paul Daly, brought it. You're talking about power

in both hands you know some guys just have it in one hand but paul just had it in both hands just crazy stupid power and um you know explosiveness like one of the most explosive athletes and you know he's actually became a pretty decent wrestler just by you know preventing himself from getting taken down being taken down so many times. Now he's gotten pretty decent. If this is his last fight, I'll find that a little bit unfortunate because he's on a bit of a streak right now. And this is the best string of fights that I've seen Paul Simtex daily go on in a while. So it'd be interesting to see what an interesting fight,

I mean, a big win over Sabah would do for him. Would that make him want to say, you know what, maybe I got a little bit more left or what? Because I mean, this fight with Sabah is going to be a fan favorite fight. I can't wait to watch it myself. So, and this is the perfect kind of fight that Paul Daly shines on. Somebody who's going to stand in front of him. Somebody who's not going to take him down. Somebody who's going to go blow for blow. So it could be his retirement, but with the big finish, we can see Paul stay around. Yeah, there he is against Lorenz Larkin. Lorenz Larkin, a phenomenal striker, and Paul Daly out here giving him the business. This guy beat a lot

of good fighters, very, very, very good talent, and was really important for the UK back when there wasn't a whole lot of fighters out of that part of the region. All right, let's move to the UFC if we can here, Rashad. Kelvin Gaskellum faces Robert Whitaker. By the way, we had Robert Whitaker on the show yesterday. It's not the best interview. I don't think he really wanted to do an interview. But if you want to see it, you can. It wasn't personal, Rashad, but you know how it is.

I've noticed with fighters, there's a good time to book them and a good time not to book them. So, for example, I remember the first time I interviewed Rampage outside of a fight camp. And when I say fight camp, I mean within two weeks of a fight. I interviewed him like he was six months after a fight just getting fat and being Rampage. It was the most different experience I'd ever had.

It was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Because you get Rampage cutting weight. He's not friendly. You know what I mean? He's not in a good mood. And he's shitty. And then you get him outside of that. And he's the life of the party.

So I really learned over time. You've got to pick your moments when you... Not just for weight cutting, but you've got to pick your moments about when you not just for weight cutting but you got to pick your moments anyway he did it he's a pro it was fine but it wasn't a great interview um but we were talking about something with kelvin gastelum you and i on monday's show we're talking about kevin holland and the strategic bet he made to fill in on short notice refresh my memory rashad to what extent have you filled in on short notice in your career um i don't think i've ever filled in for short notice do they ever call you for it yeah they've called me for it and um i think i was going to do it one time but the fight ended up not happening

in general but i don't i can't remember off the top of my hand if i ever did a short notice fight all right well here's why i wanted to bring it up because people can disagree but i think kelvin I can't remember off the top of my hand if I ever did a short notice fight. All right. Well, here's why I wanted to bring it up. Because people can disagree, but I think Kelvin Gastelum's decision to take this fight on short notice, it's a different set of incentives, but they're still pretty similar in many ways. I like it a lot more. I'll tell you why. I'll see what you think about this.

One, he's coming off of a win. Now, that win was not a good win, not a great win, but but it was a win so he wasn't trying to get anything back right he wasn't down at the blackjack table trying to um you know fix some kind of right that well wrong that was uh that he he didn't he didn't double down on a mistake he is doubling down on fact the fact that he had a good camp and also and a good win and with that he had a good camp and also a good win. And with that, he probably can maintain weight and can transition rather easily into this one. That's one I would say is different. Two, and I think this is pretty key, Rashad,

the guy already had a full camp for Robert Whitaker. Now, he didn't get that fight because the day of the fight, Robert Whitaker had to pull out. But he had all this time to prep for this guy plus it's not like Robert Whitaker is not some known commodity he was the champion of the weight class like there's been a target on his back for some time this guy had a whole camp around it to prepare for and if you're Kelvin Gastelum yes beating Ian Hynish in your last fight is great when are you going to get a chance to fight the number one contender? You're coming off of a win. You have preparation for this guy.

It's a spot you'd never get short of this. I like this fight a lot more for Kelvin Gastelum than I liked Kevin Holland's fight against Marvin Vittori. I 100% agree. For me, it comes down to Kelvin Gastelum. He's at that twilight stage of his career. You know, I don't want to put the stake in him and say that he's done. You know, he's definitely got some tread left on his tires.

But at the same time, you know, he's closer to the end than he is, you know, to having a few more years left. So with that said, he's got to seize these opportunities. And fighting the number one contender right now is equal to him to fighting for the championship belt right now, right? You know, he's got to be able to start getting those big fights out the way, you know, and here's another thing that I like. Kevin seems to compete a lot better against guys at the highest level, you know. Kelvin has a tendency to compete to his competition at times, you know, and that's one thing that's been that's been Achilles heel in his career. You know, when those are those opportunities where he's supposed to look great against a lesser talent.

He just doesn't do that, you know, but against a guy like Robert Whitaker, I do believe he can shine. I do believe that he can tap into that full camp that he had with them already. And that's another thing that makes this fight a more appealing fight. Having had a chance to have a full camp with them, having that firsthand experience of knowing, you know, taking the time and knowing, you know, all the things you need to go through in a full camp and all the things that he does, you know,

he's not stepping in his fight blind. He knows what he needs to do. And he knows that, you know, how he matches up based off of MMA math, the guys he may have fought, or whatever guys he may have trained with, whoever, with Robert Whitaker because he's been around for so long. I think this is a great fight for Kelvin. I think this is what he needs in order to get back on path. If you were training Kelvin, or at a bare minimum, let's say, cornering him, what would be your basic strategic advice? I've noticed there's a lot of ways to assess a fight and why guys win.

And there's just certain conditions. If there's a condition in place in the fight, let me give you an example. If X fighter, pick one, who's got a really great jab, if he's able to maintain distance at jab range while using lateral movement, in other words, you don't force him or corner him or cut him off or really change the distance between you. If he's the one dictating the distance and he's got room to do it, he's going to do it all day long. You have to take away that condition.

What condition does Kelvin Gastelum have to establish to have the best chance for success? You know, Kelvin used to have some really good footwork. Like, he used to have some really bouncy footwork. And that bouncy footwork, it was good because it bounced him out of a lot of, you know, bad situations when a guy was attacking him. But at the same time, more importantly, it helped him offensively because he was able to really just bounce forward he has a really good uh right hand really good overhand left that he does you know and with a lot of power so you know if he has his footwork again especially against a guy like robert whittaker who is great footwork you know um i think that's something that can behoove him as

well too and not for nothing he's got to get his lead hand going with some jabs and stuff like that. Sometimes I feel like Calvin is just waiting for that big, powerful left hand to just come through and he doesn't allow the combinations to flow. And through combinations, that's when you find the power, not when you're just trying to look and land the home run. You can hit it at times, but for the most part, when you're trying to land that big shot, it eludes you.

You know, his strength and conditioning coach is his girlfriend. Now, she does seem like a competent professional and a nice and normal person. But that is a, you know, that's a choice he's making. Would you ever have a significant other train you? Nah, I mean, it depends on what, you know. But I'm a big believer in the fact that, you know, we got to have separation, you know, separation church and state, man. I got to be able to separate and be able to unwind and come home to my lady in a different capacity. We can't be in the house talking about fight all day.

When I'm in fight camp, that's the last thing. I don't want to be talking about the fight. I don't want to look at you and be like, oh, man, I got training tomorrow. I don't want you to be watching what i'm eating saying maybe you shouldn't have that because you i mean i don't want that i'll split the difference i've never been a pro fighter but just sort of living life in the way that i have i would say that i definitely wouldn't want to work with my significant other like in a direct professional capacity but but i definitely don't mind on

occasion coming back and like bouncing ideas telling them about my day blah blah blah fight camp's a little bit different because it's so grinding and overwhelming you're trying to get away but uh i i think that if i hired my wife to train me or some kind of thing in work-related capacities we would be on the fast track for divorce, if you know what I mean. All right. So this was one that you kind of wanted to talk about. Aljamain Sterling, who is the existing UFC bantamweight champion, he is going to get neck surgery. Let me read a quote for the folks who may not know.

It's not going to be nine months, he said. I don't know why people keep saying that. Who knows spreading these lies? But it's like the UFC has a mole that just tells stuff that they don't know is actually true. I'm not doing the fusion. I'm not going to be out for nine months. I'm probably going to be fighting around August, September, October.

Okay? We'll see how my body takes and how good of a shape I can get in. Obviously, the more time, the better, but I can ease my way into it. So let's imagine it's in October. It's now April. So that's May, April so that's May June July August September October that's six I tend to think uh any kind of neck surgery August is a very aggressive schedule that probably won't turn out but in general let's say he does come back in October what's the big deal Rashad

what's the big deal, Rashad? What's the big deal? The big deal would be the fact that the way he won the belt, right? The way he won the belt was off of a foul. And you would think when someone wins a belt when when someone wins like that the Rematch is kind of close to immediate, you know to kind of you know, the settle that that air between you know, what happened? Here in this situation, you know Al Jermaine has been kind of he's been a troll about having his belt man Somebody's got to stop Aljo somebody about having this belt, man. Somebody's got to stop Aljo.

Somebody's got to stop him, Luke. Somebody's got to stop this man. He is, he's unruly with this belt. He's just unruly with this belt, man. It's crazy. Like I get trying to be a troll and stuff like that, but he's making people hate him for the way he's doing with this belt and uh you know it's funny to an extent but the more concerning part to me is if he was believing

all that troll hype that he's that he's putting out there as if you know he's he's you know as if he's the man you know what i'm saying Like as if he went out there and finished Peter Jan. And I'm not trying to throw any shade on Aljo because I love Aljo to death. But at the end of the day, it's like, man, you, Ooh, you gotta, you gotta slide back just a little bit with all of that. And here's the thing. Here's the thing that, and I say that because if he had not been acting the way that he's acting, maybe a date like six months or having to have neck surgery wouldn't seem like such a bad thing. They're like, you know what? Okay. But all of the things that he's doing outside of that is kind of making that neck surgery thing look like something else.

Yeah. of making that neck surgery thing look like something else. Yeah, I mean, listen, if you're asking me to read the room, right? Forget what I feel. Forget what you feel. Just what everyone else is saying about this. There's no denying that he has created some backlash. I mean, it's just a reality. It's observable. It's clear. You can argue whether

it's fair or not, but does it exist? Yes, it exists. Still, I like to believe in a world, Rashad, where people say what they want, they can do what they want. But in general, you want to figure out why people make decisions that they make. Just look at their incentive structure. And here you have Rashad, or excuse me, not Rashad. You have Al Jermaine, who he gets a belt when even he would argue this was not the way it was supposed to go down. I think that's pretty fair. But, you know, it is his. I've argued that the way in which we do rules, you know, and the way in which his particular situation was handled,

I did not think was handled correctly. Not so much by him, but by the way in which we have all set handled, I did not think was handled correctly. Not so much by him, but by the way in which we have all set it up. It's a longer argument to get into. But my point is this, Rashad. You finally have the belt, even if it's weird circumstances. I recognize there's probably a public message you could get out that would do more for your stock or the way in which you're viewed. But look at that fight.

In that first round when he was really flowing he was doing extremely well but that pace was unsustainable and once that pace became unsustainable you had seven takedowns from Peter Jan seven uh you know that's a huge amount and he was beginning to put it on Aljamain I think in that fourth round when it finally got called you're gonna have to run it back, which means you're going to have to change a lot of your strategy up and some of the weapons you're working on. Now is the time to fix your fucking neck. Because

if you don't beat Peter Jan, it's going to be a long-ass time before you're even close to sniffing that belt again. That's just the way it's going to be. Why not fix all the shit that's fucked up? Yes, the public's going to get mad at you, but if you really are serious about capturing that belt, you've got to do what the things are necessary to do

to take care of yourself, to put yourself in the best spot to win. Fixing your neck might be that. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I agree. I agree with that. I mean, you want to be able to go into the fight being the healthiest as you can be, 100%. It's just everything that he's done outside of that has made it look as if like it's something else. It makes it look as if like he's dodging Peter Jan and he's, he's scared, you know, that's what, that's what it looks like, you know, because, you know, with the whole posing for the belt with, um, with, uh, triple C and stuff like that,

you know, it almost was looking as if like, he really wasn't trying to fight Piotr Jan again. And, um, you know, I think that's kind of bogus right there if he wasn't trying to fight him back. But, you know, I honestly believe that Aljo is a talented fighter. Aljo is one of the best guys in the weight class. But what he needs to fix in this game, in that fight, is just the overall pace and just the overall mindset approach to the fight in general. You know, I felt as if like, you know, he went away for camp and spent a lot of his time in Vegas. And he was there training with his boys who was just hyping him up and didn't tell him anything that he was doing wrong. And then when the fight was happening, you know, he just couldn't shake what he's been doing this whole time. And that's what that's what it seemed like watching it.

So with all that said i i feel as if like yeah he does need to go into this fight 100 but does the ufc allow him to do that and still be champion yeah i mean listen if he comes back august obviously september probably no problem even october i think they would let slide The one thing that he can't mess up on at this point is, it's like, look, okay, you want to take time for your neck. Fights being delayed is a thing that everybody hates, but we can live with it, I suppose, because the UFC's got a lot of other irons in the fire.

But if you say it's going to be a lot less than nine months, it needs to be a lot less than nine months. It needs to be on the calendar that you said it was so august september october i think honestly if he can come back at those times the fight can be scheduled in those months i should say if the fight can be scheduled in those months i i you know it'll be it'll be i think it'll be forgivable in the end it's just annoying like no one likes to see unresolved fights which is what that basically was and no one likes to see fights that are supposed to get made either rematches or otherwise get delayed and delayed and delayed and delayed like is gsp coming back you know what i don't

care i don't care because it's just talk we just do it all the time is he coming back is he coming back so i think if he does that he'll be fine rashad that's just my personal opinion but you know you gotta i do too but i i think the algae is selling us short by saying with this whole neck injury because here's the thing necks are so complicated they're so complicated and you never know how your neck is going to feel after surgery no matter what the doctor says or what their recovery is you know it's one of those things that you don't know what's going to happen or how you feel until it's done you know what i'm saying so that's that So that's a hell of a procedure to have before you fight somebody like Piotr Jan. So I'm saying if you can put some duct tape on that bitch,

you better duct tape it up and put a great camper together and fight Piotr Jan as it is right now. All right, that's fair. Put some tussin' and some duct tape on it and call it a day. All right, last but not least here for our top five, Rashad, I don't have a whole lot to say about it. Not that it's bad. I'm not in any way bagging on it,

but the return of one championship is tonight on TNT. It's one on TNT, too. In the main event, you have Christian Lee, who is the lightweight champion over there, taking on a guy guy this is the guy that blew through Eddie Alvarez Timothy I never know how to pronounce it but I'm going to pronounce it this way because it sounds cool Nasty Yukon uh and then you have some other fights on there as well that are somewhat interesting including some uh Adam Wait and Wait tie but Christian Lee versus Timothy Nasty Yukon is a he's a legitimate his win um this was Eddie Alvarez's debut.

Rashad, remember, it didn't go too well for him. That was against this dude, Nasty-Yukin, who is the real deal. Christian Lee, he's had some good wins. I don't know a whole lot about him. Your level of interest in one on TNT is what? It's pretty decent. It's pretty decent. I'm interested because I want to see what they do

with this platform they have on tnt uh the first one was like so so uh they still got some things that need to work out i mean um the eddie call was terrible and then dimitri's losing like that kind of hurt my heart a little bit but the first first one was decent uh and this one right here um with christian lee this guy christian lee 22 years old um this kid is a phenom man this kid has been fighting at a high level uh since he's been like 17 years old you know and um he he does everything so well he's just a a true cheap treat to watch you know just a a perfectionist in almost every facet of the sport, man. And what's his name? Nasty Lucan?

Nasty Lucan is how I'm going to pronounce it. It's probably wrong. Nasty Lucan. That fight with Eddie, man, I talked to Eddie, and Eddie said he's never felt anything like that in his life. You know, he said when that guy hit him, it just split his whole eye open. And he said he just felt air in his life you know he said when when that guy hit him it just split his whole eye open and he said he just felt air in his eye and he said he's never felt something you know like that before he said a kid has some serious power and watching him fight you know he has some crazy power in both hands and he's got the fastest knockout in one this guy got some serious knockout power so it's gonna be you know can the youth and speed of Christian Lee staying up to got the fastest knockout and won uh this guy got some serious knockout power so it's going to be

you know can the youth and speed of christian lee stand up to the power of nasa you can yeah and uh to your point uh christian lee has a win over yuri lapicus that's the guy that eddie fought last week that didn't go well but eddie was putting it on him uh christian lee has beaten him as well i always say this rashad, and I really believe this is true. It'll vary a little bit, obviously, but if you've never heard of an organization, but they're putting on their lightweight title fight, it's probably worth watching.

That weight class is so good. Bantamweight, you could put in the same one. Maybe welterweight, depending on how it shakes out. But certainly for 155 and 135 pounds, any organization that has a dedicated division anywhere in the world with a television deal, you're going to see good fighters on there. Are they as good as the UFC champions? Maybe, maybe not.

I don't know. Probably not in most cases. But I think you would agree, Rashad, that is a weight class that is deep across the earth. So there's no chance that Christianian lee versus nasty yukon is going to be a low level fight it will be a high level fight for sure absolutely and those asian fighters at 155 uh they're they're just phenomenal they're phenomenal and like you said worldwide that 155 division is just so deep you know and these guys that compete at that weight class in one, um, they're,

they're fast, they're explosive. Um, it's, it's just a different, different kind of energy. You know what I'm saying? Those guys, those guys come with a lot of intensity, uh, and it's good to see, you know, one FC, they really specialize in a lighter weight. And with this guy, Christian Lee, they really struck gold in him because he's got everything. 22 years old, good looking, speaks really well, and he's got a really, really bright future ahead of him. He's got a tough opponent tonight as well, so that should be kind of fun. All right, so let's change things up here a little bit, Rashad.

I've got five. Let's see. One, two, three. Yeah. I got five short, quick hitters. We're going to call this KO or no. So if you're going to give a KO, you're going to say it's a good thing. If you're going to say no, obviously it's a bad thing, right? So it's a KO or it's a no.

All right. KO or no. Good or bad. Kevin Holland plans to train with Daniel cormier to improve his wrestling quote can't say too much changes we'll see i honestly don't know gonna spend some time with dc for sure work on some of that wrestling go work on wrestling learn to stop some of these takedowns other than that same old same ko KO or no? It should be a KO,

but I'm going to say it's going to be a no. I'm going to say it's a no. I know the intent is there, right? I know the intent is there and I know that DC will be one hell of an asset to Kevin Holland if those two can get together and make it happen. That'd be great. But DC

works a lot, man. DC works every fight. DC's traveling around. DC's a hard man to nail down, you know what I'm saying? So I don't know. I don't know if it's going to happen. I wish it would happen. It'd be great for Kevin Holland if he can get some of that understanding of wrestling from a guy like DC.

That'd be great for him, but I don't know if it's going to happen. All right. Let's see. Big John, who is now no longer reffing, calls out the ref who disqualified Eddie Alvarez. Quote from Big John, you guys need to understand, talking to other referees, you have a responsibility to a lot more than your understanding. You have a responsibility to those fighters. You have a responsibility to the promotion, and you have a responsibility to those fighters. You have a responsibility to the promotion and you have a responsibility to the fans of MMA and the sport of MMA that you're going to do something that's reasonable within what you can do. Just to take a championship fight and throw up a red card or to disqualify somebody, you're not using your brain. You're not being reasonable and you're not thinking of the full context of what you have. Now he makes a much

broader and bigger argument about the specifics, but KO or no, good or bad on Big John calling out other referees, or I should say he's former but active referees. That's a KO, man. I totally agree with that 100%. That referee was out of line, man. I think that in that fight, Eddie was landing some ground and pound, but the guy was moving his head. And that's one thing that the referees always tell us. They

tell us, you know, watch the back of the head. But if the guy turns his head while you're punching him, then that's on him. That's always been a rule no matter what. So you know that offensively and defensively. So I don't know what happened there. And it seemed like that was exactly what happened. The guy moved his head when Eddie was punching him. That's not on Eddie. I have to tell you that every – I've been watching the sport for 15-plus years. Every time there's one of these situations, I learn something new.

There's a new thing that referees do that i'd never heard of i don't know if anyone feels this way i always feel like every time we encounter some new scenario there's a new power referees had that i didn't know a new responsibility a new way in which to adjudicate the situation i always feel lost when it comes to these situations uh yeah all right you feel the same or no yeah yeah yeah i mean i i i was watching i had to watch it a few times to kind of get um you know see if there was something i didn't miss because i'm not too familiar with one so i was thinking like maybe they have some other kind of rule i mean mean, if you can knee a guy, a downed opponent in his face,

hitting him in his head when he's moving his head in that direction, I don't think that's any worse, but I don't know. Fair enough. All right. On June 10th, for the Professional Fighters League, she calls herself the quote, Clarissa Shields will make her mma debut will it be a knockout for the pfl or will be a big no for them in terms of her upside i'll say that'd be a knockout i'll say that'd be a knockout i'm really i'm really excited to

see her compete i think that um if she can learn the ground game, what she can do on her feet can be pretty scary. You know, she can definitely land with some punching power, some speed, and some intensity that, you know, these women never felt before. But the big thing for her is, you know, can she keep the fight where she wants to on the feet? Has she closed enough of the distance with the stand-up and ability to keep the fight in her discipline in order to be able to land on the big shots? That's the question. I think she'll be – I mean, they announced this on Good Morning America. I tend to think at a bare minimum this will be good for their brand. But everyone wants her to fight Kayla Harrison I'm like oh why you know you know you know for the next year to probably a little longer Kayla's

gonna work her over yeah you know it's just not time maybe in the future but it's not time right now yeah it's not it's not time right now i mean you you give clarissa some time to see if she even has the ability to blossom to to see if she can even you know close the gap at all because after you get to a certain point with with with your not grappling or knowing how to rustling it just becomes a point of no return where it's just like you're not going to learn it you know and i don't know how clarissa moves to know if she has one of those body types that just never ever will will get grappling um you know stiff torso you know not not really using uh hip shifting and that kind of a thing it's it's the yeah it's the hips luke it's all it's

all in the hips. If their hips are super stiff and they don't have any mobility in their hips or any way to, you know, don't have really good hip strength, then they're not going to be good at all with wrestling or grappling. I've noticed a lot of tall fighters in MMA,

probably because they don't spend a tremendous amount of time doing it, which you understand. Like, there's 24 hours in a day. day you know you have to train the things that are you know most important according to what your needs and talents are but i've noticed there's a lot of taller fighters that are not good at either wrestling or grappling with their legs their legs serve like a blocking function which is kind of basic but in terms of like using it to weave and really be right commanding like a third or fourth arm,

they don't have that. And that's a big key differentiator. And to get there, some people are naturally quite good at it. But if you've been boxing your whole life, it'll be interesting to see. It'll be interesting to see. Absolutely. Okay here, Rashad. KO or no, Julian Marquez had a big win in his last fight.

And before his fight with Sam Alvey, one of the editors at bloody elbow bloody elbow.com i used to be the editor there many moons ago um we have the tweet for it he you know he said something snarky a little bit look at the first one just below having zero doubts that julian marquez is going to take the worst approach to fighting sam alvey and still has a 60% chance of winning. Okay. It's a little mean. It's a little mean. It's kind of funny.

It's probably true as well. And then Julian Marquez gets out there and says, sounds like I shouldn't do any interviews with bloody elbow anymore. Okay. Rashad, are you going to give a KO or a note to Julian Marquez in terms of how fighters should handle feedback, media criticism, and who they give interviews to. I would give him a KO on this, man. Listen, sometimes you got to make them pay

for what they say. Luke, you got to. But here's the thing about it. You do have to have a thick skin. You can't take everything personal. You got to be able to be like, you know what? They don't know me. Because I used to get it all the time used to kill me kill me oh this guy you know he's not gonna do this he's not gonna do that on a lot of the fights that i fought and um i didn't react every single time you know you just keep on shutting them up you just keep on shutting them up and sometimes staying quiet and just shutting them up would change things around maybe he shouldn't you know really say he won't do any interviews with him but just be like okay who was the editor that said that and just kind of make him feel uncomfortable next time

he does an interview with him you know have some fun with him i always feel like listen talk to who you want to talk to they don't owe you anything blah blah blah but at the same time the better way to handle is to your point one who said like who did i interview with versus who said it because you know the sites have you know a dozen or plus staffers that not everyone has the same opinion and also what you should do and i'm going to give them a no is not say oh i think what you said is awesome i'm going to go back on your podcast and then on your podcast i'm gonna take it to you there that's where i'm gonna do i'm gonna let you have it right in front and that way what can you say you said it on twitter now you got to answer it for it on your podcast i think that's a much better approach

rashad yeah it's a much better approach it's much more diplomatic approach too you know what i'm saying and and it kind of makes you look a lot better you know sometimes if you're just like i'm not gonna do an interview with them anymore, you just look like a little whiny bitch and can't take any criticism. That's what happens sometimes. The other thing I would say is this, like obviously I don't know what it's like to be a professional athlete in the public eye, but, you know,

I've seen internet threads about me and blah, blah, blah, and sometimes they're nice and sometimes they're horribly cruel. But the reality is like on some level, dude, for example, perfect example, Rashad. I was talking to Kayla Harrison. This was a couple of years ago. She was telling me at the time that, I think 2018 or 2019, that she had a Google alert sent to her mailbox

anytime someone mentioned her in a news article, on an internet forum, anything. And I was like, that's a really bad idea to just know what the world is saying about you at all times in every way, whether they know you, whether they don't, whether they like you, whether they don't. To me, it's like you can't fight the ocean.

People are, for the most part, for the most part, people are just going to say what they're going to say and let them have it. And then your life doesn't have to match that. It can actually be quite different in the end. Yeah. One thing that I had to learn in my career was to separate when Sugar Rashad was being verbally injured or just kind of had a fall versus Rashad Evans.

For the longest time, I couldn't divorce the two. When people were insulting Shigeru Rashad Evans, I would get offended as Rashad Evans. And it took a while for me to be like, you know what? Those people can say what they want to say about the character because they're talking about the character because they don't know me. They don't know the person that I am outside of on TV and stuff like that. So they really don't know me. They don't know the person that I am outside of, you know, on TV and stuff like that. So they, they, they really don't know me. So what they're saying, they're saying it about a character and I needed to just make that separation, that division and who I was as a person versus the character, you know, I was when I, when I fought or the way they see me when

I fought and being able to do that, it helped me out a lot. It saved me a lot of just, you know, not wearing all that, not taking all that home with you because as a, as a mixed martial artist, you know, you take, you know, it's you, you know, you take your job home with you. Some aspects of the job you need to leave at the job. You can't allow that to stay inside your psyche. You don't need to have a Google alert listening to what people say or reading what people say, because those are the things that stay in your mind in your quiet moments, you know, and you don't want to have that. You don't want to have anybody else's ill-informed dialogue in your mind when you need to do something. And then last but not least on the K or a no here, Francis Ngannou and Tyson Fury

have been exchanging words, Rashad Evans. We have some tweets up here. We're going to put them on the screen. Here we have Tyson Fury. Mike Tyson, after I smash Anthony Joshua, I'll roast that guy also. Francis Ngannou, easy work. He is such a troll.

And then Francis responded, if this guy did this to you, that was Otto Wallin, what do you think I would do? KO or no to the idea of Francis Ngannou, Tyson Fury? That's a KO. That is a KO, man. That is a KO. And that's the kind of stuff that will bring Francis to the next level. That will bring Francis to an all-time. I mean, we thought McGregor and Floyd would have been a big fight.

This would trump that. This would be bigger than that. I mean, because the big boys bring that kind of attention. And can you imagine a fight of this magnitude? Can you imagine both of these dudes fighting? Oh, my God. Rashad, why are you trying to my god Rashad why are you trying to get Francis hurt why are you trying to do that hey listen it only takes one shot it only takes

one shot it only takes one shot and the Francis hold on Francis does swing wild and he does swing for the fences but the Francis that we seen against Stipe even though he wasn't going against the boxer like the Gypsy King who's who's got that finesse with them he still was putting together a well-executed striking game plan starting off with the body nice and easy punches wasn't just swinging for the fences if Ngannou can come with a calculated striking plan and not try to swing for the fences, I don't know. He might be able to do it. He might be an interesting boxer. Would you bet your car on it?

Oh, no. Listen, if he wasn't going against the Gypsy King, maybe. If he was going against some other heavyweight and a boxing yeah but the the um tyson fury is one hell of a boxer this dude can box he can really box i'm usually not the guy who's like wow a lanky seemingly seemingly awkward tall kind of flabby white guy is just gonna bust up the universe but uh it's just not a fair description of him he's so much more than that and he really he what he did to wilder in the last one was just like and klitschko too like just unbelievable i think he's going to wear

out anthony joshua do you yeah i think so i think he's going to wear him out i mean you know tyson fury has some kind of sauce with his movements man man. Maybe it's been training in Detroit that got him that kind of way. But he's just one of those fighters that I really enjoy fighting, just from a stylistic point of view. Because he's a big guy, but he fights so pretty. He's got such a pretty boxing style. All right. Oh, we do have some breaking news to get to here very quickly.

So just a quick reaction from you, Rashad, if I may. I'm trying to toggle between two computer systems here. We have some breaking news. According to ESPN's Brett Okamoto, Dana White has announced, or at least the UFC is planning on putting anyway, light heavyweight title up for grabs. Glover Teixeira is going to fight Jan Blachowicz. UFC 266.

Rashad, you got to love it for a Glover Teixeira is going to fight Jan Blachowicz. UFC 266. Rashad, you got to love it for a Glover Teixeira. I've said this before. Getting a rematch in a title fight or having a title fight after you've had one. This is my point. Let me word this as carefully as I can. Glover Teixeira had a title fight in 2014 in Baltimore, Maryland. I was there when he fought Jon Jones. He went five rounds.

It wasn't especially close. Didn't get blown out, but that was it. Fast forward six years, seven years later, basically, Rashad, and he's back at the top of the mountain after hitting the 40-year mark of his age. To do that, to spend seven years between title fights but to get it again says a lot about your character says a lot about your skills it says a lot about to an extent the division as well but i think in general it speaks so highly of glover to shara absolutely absolutely to everything you said i mean to be able to be in this position after seven years, you know, the ups and downs, never, never given up on yourself.

Being in those tough fights where, you know, it looked like you were going to lose, but then finding a way to get that win against these younger talent. You know, I mean, just what glover to share has been able to do is is something out of a fairy tale you know to be honest uh you just don't see guys right off in the sunset and and at the age that he is still being able to compete with these younger guys and it warms my heart man from from a corny sense of point of view it warms my heart to see that man because i i love to see the older guy and glover Teixeira get a chance to get a belt. And he could win this fight. This is a very winnable fight, too.

It's not just the congratulations on him getting a shot to fight for the belt, but this is a fight where we could see him potentially walk away a UFC champion. Can you imagine that, him walking away at UFC champion. Can you imagine that him walking away as UFC champion? If I was him at that point, I would just retire if I was him, you know? But I mean, it's, it's, it's what a great story for Glover to share and what a great testament to heart and character to earn himself right back in this position. No doubt about it. And you know, it's a tough fight. Uh, Jan Blachowicz has, I think this is the best he's ever looked. I I've been working on a tape study of his and um you know I didn't really understand his

fighting style it's a lot of it's a lot of waiting uh it's a lot of blitzing I just didn't quite get it but then I went back and I watched his old fights and how he's improved over time he has obviously you know turned out to be quite a special talent himself. I'll say this. I think Glover has a challenge because Jan is very, very good setting traps, backing up, which Glover, with his pace coming forward, that might be a bit of a problem for him. However, on the ground, Glover's been a black belt for a long time. He passes. He has good control, good ground and pound. You saw what he did to Anthony Smith.

He can move to mount. He can hold mount. If he can get that fight to the floor and then, you know, obviously not overly push on the feet. To your point, Rashad, very winnable fight for him. But, you know, I don't want to take away from the chances of Jan Blachowicz either. Yeah, I agree, man. You know, Blachowicz got that crazy uppercut that he has on his right hand that you don't really see coming. You know, he disguises so well and he catches everybody with it.

And if he doesn't catch you with that, that uppercut, the shovel uppercut that he sneaks by you, that left hook that he has is another killer that he knocks everybody out with. But, you know, I've watched, you know, throughout the years, Jan just growing to such a better fighter, not more or less with the skills, but just from a cerebral level. Mentally speaking, he's fighting at a higher level than he's fought in a long time. And the fight with Adesanya just proved that. To go in there and to win the fight that he did against Adesanya was a great moment for him because it shows that he was in a fight with somebody who was technically better with skills but his adjustments on a mental level being able to uh you know use his whole

skills all the skill set was the difference in that fight and it shows that this guy is a lot better than we all throw up um if you ever want an experiment this is what really helped me with yonble ho which to really understand how he got better. I had two different screens up, Rashad. And on the left side, I had Jan Blachowicz versus Jimmy Manilow one. And on the right side, I had Jan Blachowicz versus Jimmy Manilow two. Jan loses the first one, wins the second, although both had their moments in either case. And I watched round one of one, then round one of the other one.

Round two, round two, round three, three round three it will tell you all the differences it's not a huge he didn't radically change you know he was like some terrible striker and he got good no he just made really smart adaptations he refined the process a little bit to your point he clearly has a mind for thinking through and solving problems. He's a much cleaner, smoother, smarter, patient operator in there.

He picks the spots, and as you can see, he's been picking them pretty goddamn well. Yeah, absolutely, man. I'm excited about this, man. I think that it's going to be one of those fights that is going to be a lot closer than people think uh i think glover to share has a lot and and and for for uh yon blowhole weights especially on the ground so this is going to be interesting interesting fight all right we'll wrap with something fun here today rashad now i've

known you for many years i've been covering your career for many years but yet in many ways i don't feel like i know you i only know you as a professional colleague. Here is my chance and the audience's chance to maybe get a little bit more information. We're going to call this Getting to Know Rashad. I have 10 questions for you. And we'll see how they go. All right? These are easy.

These are very simple. Okay? So, you're a vegan these days. Before you were a vegan vegan what was your favorite pig out meal pizza and chicken wings buffalo what goes on the pizza from oh man it well i would have pepperoni it would be a meat lovers pizza right i have some pepperoni uh stack it up all kinds of meats and i will put like some jalapenos on there just for the spiciness too you can still have jalapeno pizza as a vegan you just have to have the diet

cheese or whatever right yeah i try i try to i mean every once in a while i have some cheese but i try not to eat cheese it messes with my stomach a little bit no no but can't you i mean have you ever had the pizzas with the vegan cheese? It's not so bad. I tried the vegan cheese, and sometimes I eat the vegan cheese, but if I'm going to do pizza, I'm going to do pizza. I don't want it to taste not like how I'm used to tasting it. I want to remember it the way that it was. Right. That's fair.

I got to tell you, I don't know if they made it through the pandemic or not. I'll get the name. A buddy of mine who's lived in New York since 1998, he took me to a restaurant nearby where he lives. It's on the southwest side of Manhattan. I want to say it's near Chinatown, but it's not Chinese. It is Mexican. It's a Mexican place. Now, if you've ever lived in Latin America or even just Latin American food, you know that meat products and dairy products

from Mexico all the way to Argentina and every place in between, those products feature prominently in those cuisines, even though those cuisines are all quite different between them it's an all vegan mexican restaurant and i know you're thinking to yourself that's gonna be terrible food it's gonna be shit you're gonna hate it and i was like okay i'm gonna hate this but i'll i do like trying to eat vegan food but i just thought that was going too far it was gonna be bad it's one of the best meals i've ever had in new york anywhere it was reallyingly good. I'll get the name of it, but the next time you're in New York City, Rashad, you owe it to yourself to go to this place.

It will blow away your expectations. I'm going to check it out, man, because I always try to find new vegan spots. I'm going to open up a vegan restaurant one day and go on to different places, different restaurants, give me good ideas. Okay. Oh, yes, the place is called,

if you ever read Spanish, they spanish they print they spell ha ha ha with a j obviously okay so it's called in english it'd be ja ja ja but in uh and in um yeah you know it's ha ha ha that's the place yeah it's uh 162 east broadway shouts to them it'll blow you away, man. It was shockingly good. All right. Next one. Here we go. I'm going to assume, Rashad, and maybe I shouldn't, but I'm going to assume you probably are, at least on some level, a fan of hip-hop. Is that a fair assumption to make?

It's a fair assumption. Fair assumption. Give me the Rashad Evans top three MCs. Top three. Tupac already off on a bad foot but okay go ahead Tupac okay okay okay Immortal Technique okay alright

and I'm going to say my third one is going to be Busta Bust Busta Rhymes Busta Rhymes man I love some Busta Rhymes. Busta Rhymes, man. I love some Busta Rhymes. When it comes to flow, when it comes to just wordplay, Busta's it, man. Busta has got the sickest delivery. His lines are just, I mean, Busta's it, man. So you're not much of a, so you said, well, Busta Rhymes is New York. He's from Brooklyn, so that counts. But Mortal Technique, I'm not sure where he's from.

I don't, is he, where is, I mean, he's Peruvian-American, but where is he from from? Do you know? He's from New York, too. He's from New York, okay, I did not know that. And then the other one, I forgot, Tupac, was obviously Baltimore slash West Coast. Yeah.

Okay, so I'm surprised. No Biggie, no Jay-Z, no not, no, no, no, no, you know, Big Daddy Kane, no, no nothing? No, I mean, I love Biggie, no Jay-Z, no Big Daddy Kane, no nothing? I love Biggie. I love Biggie, but I like the body of work that these other artists have. I love Immortal Technique

just because of the content and what he wraps in and the delivery style. When it comes to speaking truth and when it comes to his ill wordplay and mortal technique. All right, number three. Favorite 1980s either martial arts or action movie? And if you want to go early 90s,

this is like a bleed over from the same era, you can. I won't be too hard on you, but it's got to be something like that. You said just my top one my favorite one just number one number one oh man number one it's going to be action jackson you remember action jackson vaguely oh my gosh accent jackson was the accent jackson um the golden child was another one that got a little bit of yeah golden child was another one just you know back in the day i used to like to skip school and just watch some 80s movies man these this this would be on my my playlist if i

was gonna miss school like this would be like you're not like a you're not like a terminator or blood sport or any of those van damme seagull i mean some of those again were early mid 90s but i guess i guess if i if i was to say if i was to say you ever see the last dragon yes that's one that's one that that that that that's an all-time that's an all-time classic right there the last the guy who did show enough and the show enough character were basically perfect it was everything it needed to be yeah am i the meanest show enough all right for number four not not the first time you saw yourself on tv not the first time someone wrote an article about you. What was the first time it really dawned on you? Like you had a moment that you were famous. What happened? Oh man. Um,

the moment I realized I was famous, uh, it was after the reality show and I was still like, you know, starting to pick up some fame from the show, but it really didn't dawn on me. and I was still like you know starting to pick up some fame from the show but it really didn't dawn on me and I was still working at the hospital and uh I had my boss come up to me to tell me that I might uh they're gonna have to put me on a different shift or I might have to think of doing something else or because so many people were uh stopping and want to take pictures and I was like as a security guard in the hospital that wasn't a good thing so because so many people were stopping and wanting to take pictures. And I was like, as a security guard in the hospital, that wasn't a good thing. So at that point, I had to decide on if I wanted to still do security work

or just try to pursue the whole MMA career. But for the longest time, after I won the Ultimate Fighter show, I didn't quit my job. I just kept my job for a while. And then after that situation happened, I was like, yeah, maybe it's time to quit. Did you ever have to give anyone those hands at the hospital? Did everyone have to get the Evans uppercut special? I mean, you know, I've had to, you know, because part of my job as a security guard, I had

to restrain people. So I had to, you know, implement some of my MMA skills on people, but I never got to really jack nobody up like that. All right. You did plenty of that in the cage. All right. What would be the best way to describe you? You can only pick from these three. Okay?

In high school, were you a jock, a mathlete, or a weird loner? Which one best describes you? a mathlete, or a weird loner? Which one best describes you? A mathlete. That means you are a math and an athlete, right? Well, so my senior year, I didn't even know this was a thing. I was on the math team. And again, I had no idea this was coming. And you know how you could get the varsity jacket if you played football?

And if you played football, you put it on the letter, you know? They go, you lettered in math. And I'm like, no, no, the fuck I didn't. I'm not putting that on a fucking jacket ever. So that's where the term comes from. Wait, you said math, mathlete, right? Yeah, math, mathlete. Oh, I thought you said mac as in mac daddy see

i'm like yeah okay i was a mac daddy and an athlete nah i was just a jock i was just a jock i was i was terrible in math i'm still terrible in math man but uh yeah just just a jock all right number six what's the first car you ever owned? It was a Ford Probe. It was so busted up. You were pushing a terrible car. What was that like? Oh my gosh. It was terrible.

It was terrible. Listen, I got it for $1,500. I brought it with a little bit of leftover money I had from my college tuition. And I needed a little car to go to class. So I got me a nice little 1500 whip and i and i beat the hell out of that car but that car it stuck around for a few years i was thinking that it was only gonna last me like maybe one one year but it ended up lasting like four or five years pretty decent have ac did the windows roll down man no i had no ac it had no ac um the it was it was it was bad like

sometimes the brakes didn't work in the winter time i had uh one time i i my brakes were so terrible the whole winter i had to find some kind of special way to to slow down because it was terrible if i had to put the slash slam on the brakes uh here's what i did my first car ever was a white chevy corsica that i bought at a government auction from some drug dealer they took it off of i'm like first of all if you drove a chevy corsica you're the worst drug dealer in america number one you make no money and number two the brakes on that thing were so fucking shitty that i would have to drive it and to to slow down like a hill. If it was a flat service, not so much.

But if it was a hill, I had to pump the emergency brake while I pressed the normal gas pedal just so I wouldn't crash into the car in front of me. Yeah, I know the feeling, man. I know the feeling. I know the feeling. All right, we're moving along here. Number seven, either from a customer service or a mechanical operation standpoint, what's the worst airline experience you've ever had? Oh, man.

I would say when I went to Russia, I lost my bag. And I had one of my oil pens on me. And as soon as the bag come out, they come out with these dogs, right? And these dogs are smelling all over the whole, where the bags are coming out. And my heart is just in my stomach. And I'm just like, I'm dying here. I'm like, oh my God, I'm going to go to jail. I brought my oil.

I shouldn't have brought the oil. I was tripping. And then it just so happened that my bag didn't come at all. And I was just, I was so relieved. I'd never been happier to not receive a bag from the airline, but it took about three days for the bag to get there. And I was there for a UFC trip working a UFC fight. So I had no clothes. So I had I had to go well I had to go and buy some clothes in Russia just like some I had to buy like a t-shirt and uh and some and some slacks but it was uh it was a crazy experience but I was happy that I didn't have no bag because you know I was so nervous about having an oil it ended up showing up like three days later. Calling customer service for Russia was not a good thing because they all called and they're like, your bag is not here. What?

What do you want us to do? And I was like, okay. It was just so matter of fact about it. And it was, I mean, I was just like, I guess I have no bag, you know. It finally came the last day. That's crazy. All right. My favorite walkout that I've seen of yours,

I was in Atlanta when you fought Jon Jones, and you walked out, too, speaking of Immortal Technique, point of no return. So for me, when someone asks me, what's your favorite Rashad Evans walkout, I'm going to say that one. What would you say is yours? Oh, man. Favorite walkout yeah I would say I would say it would be that

one it was it was that one appointed a return to mortal technique and I say that one just because of what what that walkout was for me you know going out for that fight I'm walking out to the fight and I don't even have my own cup on I'm wearing Nate Marquardt's cup. I forgot my cup that day when I was going to fight Chuck and I had to wear Nate Marquardt after he just fought. I forget who he just fought, but he just fought somebody on that card and I'm wearing his wet, sweaty cup and I'm walking out and I'm like, well, I mean, the place where I'm from at this moment, it doesn't exist.

I'm either the guy who beat Chuck or the guy who got embarrassingly knocked out by Chuck. So my reality was going to change. And I remember just truly feeling the words of those songs. Amazing. All right. Number nine. We only have two more. What is your most unpopular opinion?

This is one where like you've tried it on others and everyone's like oh rashad you don't know shit what's your most unpopular opinion about anything related to mma what's a what's the view you have about something happening in the sport and you try it on other people and they they're like oh you know you're wrong what is it hmm i don't know that's that's a that's a difficult question what do you mean by that okay i'll give you an example i'm not you know and like this is a longer debate uh conversation obviously but i'm not really all that bothered by performance enhancing drug use it doesn't really bother me right this would be a

fairly unpopular opinion for others to have or to right right right okay okay okay okay um man let me think here i guess i whoo man i don't really have one to be honest i don't really have really just mr consensus over there huh you're mr consensus everything you say yeah i just like agree with yeah i mean? Yeah, I mean, I guess so. I guess I really don't have any two different opinions over the norm when it comes to that capacity in the MMA. I kind of feel the same way you feel about the supplementation. You know what I'm saying? Like how it used to be. I kind of feel the same way about that, the supplementation. You know what I'm saying? Like how it used to be.

I kind of feel the same way about that, but I've never really voiced that to anybody. There you go. All right. Very good. Join me on the dark side. I'll join you on the dark side. Yeah. Yeah.

Last but not least, most importantly, he is our esteemed colleague. You know, he's got some delusions of grandeur, but he's an all right guy. In fact, he's a great guy, but he's not here us today and that's brian campbell because he is on vacation what did you think of brian not now the first time you met him i thought he was silly as hell man but i thought i thought I thought he was funny. I always thought BC was funny, but he was just wildly silly, man. I was like, man, this guy has to get himself fired. Because BC says the craziest things sometimes. You know what I'm saying?

Sometimes BC doesn't have a filter, and he just says what comes to his mind. I was like, oh, my God, he's going to end up fired. That's what I first thought when I met BC. Yeah, he loves to comment on the sexual attractiveness of female colleagues. And I'm like, I don't think we should do that, BC. We're going to get fired. Okay, very good. Now I know you better.

I know you better as a consequence of this segment. Very good stuff. I appreciate your candor, Rashad. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. All right, so for Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. For that, we are done here for the day. I want to remind everyone, thumbs up on the

video, hit subscribe. Let's see, what else? Showtime, you want to try it for free? You certainly can. 30 days. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, you can go do other stuff. If you want to take the plunge, you can see the bottom third right there. Go to show.com slash Bellator MMA.

Only $4.99 a month for the next six months. Let's see. You can go to store.show.com for some merch. If you want to check that out. You can go to morningcombat at gmail.com to send us anything for Dead Wrong or for fan submissions. And, of course, put up the lower third there for all of our social please go follow mr evans you can follow him on instagram you can follow him on twitter and of course morning combat as well as the same name everywhere notice that i'm stupid and don't have

the same name between accounts because i'm a very very smart man um i think that's it rashad it's been great working with you i appreciate appreciate you making some time, man. What's on the docket for Mr. Evans today? Today, I got to go to the gym. I'm actually running a little bit late. I got my heavyweights training, Justin Willis and Greg Hardy. We got some big fights coming up, so coach got to be there to push those big boys. All right. Well, I won't keep you from Mr. Big Pretty or Mr. Hardy.

I appreciate your time, Rashad. Great to talk to you. And yeah, for everyone out there, thank you guys so much for watching. For Brian Campbell, let's see, Morning Combat, CBS, Showtime, Malka. There's the UFC Hall of Famer. I'm Luke Thomas. Until then, may all of your gains be loyal. Thank you. We'll be right back. We'll see you next time.