MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Luke Returns | UFC Fight Night Hermansson-Strickland | Thurman-Barrios | Ep. 260

Episode Date: February 4, 2022

Luke Thomas is BACK for episode 260 of Morning Kombat. Luke and Brian preview UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs. Strickland. What does each fighter need to do to get a win? Next up the guys break down Keith Thurman vs. Mario Barrios and Claressa Shields vs. Ema Kozin. The boys close out the show with some quick hitters and get Luke's reaction to all the news since he left. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Reveley, reveveille, 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. He's back. He is back in the building yes the one co-host who has held it down admirably in the two-week absence of the guy next to him brian campbell the beige bastard yes he's

back at it of course no for real i am pumping up the return of the one and only from columbia with love morning combat of course is back at it But I know what you're tuning in for. You know, like, hey, that BC cat, he may have won me over more than I thought. But he ain't LT. He ain't that gruff, bearded, bass-tard. He ain't the best MMA non-fighting fight analyst in the game today. So today, Friday, January, February 4th, 2022, one of those months, Morning Combat, the award-winning

show, is back, and so is Luke frickin' Thomas. LT, brother, I know you had a travel day from heck yesterday, but great to see you back on the light side of the force. That's patriotically racist? I'm not

sure, but welcome back. Thank you, thank you. Either way, I know you meant well. It is good to be home. I am glad to be home. It was a wonderful vacation, by and large, and refreshing, but I missed the show. I missed everyone here. I am happy to be back in the swing of things, and I'm ready to attack the day, good sir. So I hear, though, BC, Ic i gotta tell you i got a few emails a couple dms a couple tweets being like dude bc consistently savages you on the air now i i

purposely did not double check that in the interest of just letting you have your fun but i want you to know we got snitches out there and they were telling on your ass yeah well where i come from luke uh you know snitches stitches. But I was going to ask you about that. I was going to say, luckily, you look like you're having such a great time. And the picture is that you didn't consume any of the hours upon hours of Luke's slander-heavy content that I delivered. Either solo with the great Chuck Mendenhall. Shaq and Jory slid in for a great performance as well. But you know what, A&MK, even with respect to chuck who's a uh you know a hero we're equal

we're equals right we love that man and definitely have a lot of love for shack helping us out it ain't mk unless it's these two pasty old dads luke so welcome back please um i want to hear about it it's actually i told look i told that producer mike i go you know we'll get into ufc fight night but i gotta hear about this trip i gotta hear about how fired up luke is going to come back and change the combat sporting world you know coming up so we'll get into that but luke welcome back please like this video subscribe to what we do here on mk not just your three live shows your post fight instant analysis which luke plans on delivering saturday after UFC fight nights, a fantastic middleweight main event.

Maybe I'll do the same following Thurman barriers. Who knows? We're bringing it also folks. Um, great interviews. You can consume right now, youtube.com slash morning combat from Keith Thurman, who headlines this Saturday's boxing pay-per-view to Robert Whitaker,

who I just sat down with yesterday and talked, uh, talked to and talked about witch's tits and, you know, fighter pay and all those great topics. He loved talking about fighter pay with you. That seemed to be his favorite thing. I love everybody in the comments were like, oh, I can't wait to see if this is better than that debacle Luke endured last year.

But it was maybe a little bit better, but not by much. In fairness, he could have taken a shit in his hand and thrown it at the screen, and it would have been better than our conversation. But yes, he did not want to talk about fighter break, which on some level you get, right? I mean, he's just like, fuck all that. I want to focus on Israel Adesanya, but it was funny as shit.

He was like, I'm not doing this with you. I remember interviewing Curtis Blades before. It was the Volkov fight and I remember in my interview with him he was very aggressively against the UFC in fighter pay and I think that really set him back for a bit. Dana took a bunch of doogies on him in the immediate aftermath

so no, Robert Whitaker's not going to do that days before his big title rematch, the biggest fight of his life. Very interesting, just the same. Encourage you to check out those chats. And how about Showtime.com? How about 30 days free to get fired up for Bellator, championship boxing, show box with your boy BC in a couple weeks from now, February 18th.

Go there, Showtime.com, 30-day free trial. You like it, you love it, you pound sand. That's how that life cycle works. Great, great network, though. Great people there. Boy, do they have some fun events planned for this year so so you better get on board with the 30 days free right now uh anything else luke what am i oh combat sports awards you know that we are the uh the best mma programmers of 2021 according to fighters only magazine world mma awards well how about sports podcast awards. said, hey, these guys might be the best

combat sports podcast altogether. We're talking about boxing, MMA, kickboxing, pillow fighting, bare knuckle bonanzas. Head on over to sportspodcastawards.com, and if you believe we are of that ilk, vote for us, and CBS Sports has dangled that carrot. That is, if we can win this award, why not go to McGregor, Las Vegas, International Fight Week, UFC, this July? Why not sweat your balls off in 120-degree weather and why not do a live show for the people, okay? So, hey, you know, it's up to you, all right? Rock the vote here, okay?

As, you know, do I need P. Diddy or Don Henley to tell me how to vote? No, I don't, Luke, okay? Vote or die. Luke, not voting is a vote. Just so people know that, okay? I did vote for Nader twice. Thank you. I may be the only living American

that voted for Ralph Nader in two different presidential elections. I actually respect that about you. I'm glad you voted for him. That's good. It's one of the rare things you can pull out these days. Wow. Well, you can pull out some things. All right. That's the crap we're going to get into a lot to set up the stage for this weekend. It's one of the rare things you can pull out these days. Wow. Well, you can pull out some things. Look, all right.

That's the crap. We're going to get into a lot to set up the stage for this weekend. Boxing, MMA, UFC, all the good stuff is back. So get ready. Buckle up. We're going to have a little bit of fun as well with Luke to just get his takes on the biggest topics from the Washington football team name change to everything going on in boxing and MMA while he was gone. We'll talk about the new Doc Doc 6, which is out there, which is changing people's lives left and right. But let's start off the top.

Topic one on this Friday, as Morning Combat always tackles the biggest and most necessary stories. Luke's 47-day trip to Columbia. Luke, as we said off the top, you're back. But, you know, we care. Luke, you have to admit, it's a family of weirdos that we've created here, a dysfunctional family of people that really care about you. So, Luke, why don't you take your tan and your jaded new tattoo spot, right? You can't show it to us yet until it heals, the absolute dirt hole.

Why don't you tell us how this trip went? Because it seems like it changed you. Yeah, it was really good. We hadn't, I mean, you know, a lot of Americans don't have vacations because of the pandemic. I hadn't had one since 2019. And, you know, I was a little bit overdone and needed,

well, we went to Florida, but that wasn't a vacation because it was last minute. It was really just for my daughter. But, you know, as a family, we got to go. I got to relax. It was great, dude. I was really worried about Columbia because of the pandemic, especially Cartagena, which is extremely tourism-based for its economy. And, you know, like a lot of places here in the States, crime is up.

You see a lot of for-sale, for-rent signs on commercial property. However, all that being said, it does appear that, like, the place has – both cities that I was in had rebounded to a pretty significant degree got to see a lot of family but it was it had its own challenges too like dude it was really weird i've been to bogota many times and if you've ever seen like who was what was the brad pitt um it was um mr and mrs smith if you watch that movie it's like it starts out they're like in bogota columbia and there's fucking palm trees and heat which just tells you they didn't do any homework. Bogota is 9,000 feet in the air. It's cold. It's not in any way tropical and

as a consequence when I got there dude I had really bad altitude sickness which I'd never had before. Not in the sense of like headache and stomach. I couldn't eat. I couldn't eat a thing for four days dude. I basically fasted for four days and every time fasted for four days. And every time someone would try to give me anything to eat,

it was like nauseating to even look at, which was really weird. Now, is that a commentary on their cooking, Luke, or is that more about how you felt? No, dude, it's called soroche. It's when you get altitude sickness. It can affect you a lot of different ways. You can lose sleep. You can do a lot of things.

One thing that can happen to you is you can just lose your appetite. So I didn't eat the entire time I was in Bogota, Colombia, which was really weird, but I got to see a lot of cool stuff. There's a lot of cool new neighborhoods. They fixed a lot. People tell me like, you know, all Colombia's got run down from the pandemic. I didn't see a lot of evidence of that when I was there. And then I went to Cartagena, dude, my daughter just came to life. It's a beach city. It's a 17th century Spanish former slave colony. And now it's got this brilliant old walled city and this beautiful neighborhood that called Hetzamani, which is amazing to see. We stayed in the nice beach area called Boca Grande.

And it was awesome. Dude, also my Spanish got a lot better. I was testing it out. I didn't hardly have any problems. I was for the first time ever. So it was good man i really enjoyed it i had a great time which was fucking hilarious because we landed in miami yesterday my wife was asking for a coffee and there actually is a juan valdez key are uh you know uh store in one of the in the d terminal we were in and just on autopilot they were asking like you know uh I was telling them I wanted the drink to go, so para llevar.

And she looked at me like I had asked for, like, you know, hey, do you have any shit-flavored toothpaste I can borrow or something? Like, she just gave me the weirdest fucking look. But in Colombia, I mean, it's like it's never an issue. So long story short is that it was one of the better vacations i've ever had and i needed it and i feel fucking great and i'm dude i'm so ready for the fights tomorrow there will be a post-fight show and i'm glad to be back well we're getting into the preview to break things down so all you people that are hating already on us uh i enjoy look at the cheese on that shit look at that shit luke give that to me wow yeah go go back to that real quick whoever's

running the slides go back to that real quick so this they have this um they have this burger chain people like oh you're going to fucking columbia and eating burgers dude columbia is a burger heaven if you're a burger person you have to try them they're different they're better they're excellent this one's called the costaña and you can see it's got this uh different kind of cheese plus what their version of like sour cream called suero and then they've got fried plantain chips in the middle it is fucking heaven it is unbelievable so so yes i did eat some burgers in colombia because if you don't you're a fucking idiot that's why wow that i'm reacting to that cheese as you were probably reacting to the in-person bbl-age in that country over the last 40 dude i had to dude i had my wife will never see this, so I don't have to apologize for this.

I had to get sunglasses because of all the BBLs in my face. You know what I'm saying? Just so I don't get caught looking and gawking like I'm seeing an accident on the highway and I'm fucking rubbernecking. I was like, holy shitballs, man. It was wild. My wife was like,

why are you buying sunglasses from street vendors? I'm like, so you won sunglasses from street vendors i'm like so you won't divorce me that's why wow all right luke that's great stuff were you called wait wait last one last one so like you i had to buy a dad hat on vacation right because i was getting because you know it's thinning up top and that dude that cartagena sun let me tell you something dude that caribbean sun will fucking cook you like bacon grease okay it is unbelievable how hot it is there so i had to get a hat and you know all these street vendors don't have shit so i was like you know what i need to go like a specialty hat store so i ended

up having to get uh like it's a fitted it's a fitted new york yankees hat right so what do you what do you what do you okay here's red durst here what is no no i didn't i didn't believe me i didn't want to get this i did not buy this whatever but here i'll even show it to you because i'm so fucking embarrassed the lady was like i was like i was trying to explain to her i have a big ass head right and she was like she didn't believe me so she was pulling out like the seven inch fitted and it didn't work and then she goes like seven and a quarter i'm like lady this is not going to work you have to go get something bigger so she's like i have to go to the back and see what we have i said fine go she came back and she's like basically we have seven and three quarters

and she goes she's like she's like cabeza grandote like big ass fucking heads right and i put it on and it fit like a charm. And she laughed. She literally laughed as I put it on. She's like, holy shit. Your fucking head is enormous. You want to know why she laughed? Because they didn't pull that from inventory. They pulled that off the head of the fat guy in the back who stitches it together. Who like farts in it all day.

Luke, there's no question. I can't believe you brought like a. I mean, that's like a Fred Durst pink Yankees hat or something. Yeah, it's terrible. It's terrible. Dude, it's terrible, but I had to get it. I was getting cooked alive. Wow.

All right. Oh, were you upset when you found out that I petitioned to ViacomCBS about changing the rule about the extension of vacations beyond seven days? Wait, what's the rule? Apparently we don't have one, Luke. You've been gone for a half moon, all right? But it's great to't have one, Luke. You've been gone for a half moon, alright? But it's great to have you back, Luke. I'm ready to take over and dominate along with you arm in arm or maybe

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H-O-O-D-I-E-1-5 They're moving. Luke, you heard this morning when Raymond, is that you, Raymond? When RJ was here and he said fourth reorder on drug rugs it just I mean come on Luke you know new wave a jerk huh new wave a jerk yeah yeah all right there we go okay you're

here really to find out uh who's gonna win this middleweight main event Saturday night it goes down in Vegas it's a hell of a top 10 matchup here as Jack Hermanson and Sean Strickland do battle for really high-level positioning to be inserted directly, most likely, into the larger title conversation. This is an important time right now, and this is an important fight. Luke, I broke down the storylines on Wednesday, um saving for a second the X's and O's what do you love about this matchup uh in terms of the stakes in terms of the personalities involved heading into Saturday night well Sean Strickland is a proper weirdo which is always kind of entertaining but I think more than that I

he really has come a long way I think when he fought Kamaru Usman, maybe it was at that one. I was at one of his fights where I saw him struggle a little bit. You could see there was flashes of ability. You could see that he's never out of shape. It's nothing like that. He hadn't quite fully matured his skill set to the point where he could really leverage it against top talent. I think he's turned that corner. I really do. Now, how far he can go, obviously, this fight is sort of determinative to an extent of that. But he's really coming to his own.

I think what has helped him a lot is not just getting better, but understanding what makes him work. He's a volume striker. He puts a pace on you to a degree. He will trade with you. He is durable. And I think his takedown defense has come a really long way as well. Not that it was ever poor, but now it's much sturdier,

which brings life to his offense. It's 82% the takedown defense of Sean Strowman. Yeah. I don't think he's given him. In fact, I think the numbers are he hasn't given up a takedown in his last seven fights. Like, he's really gotten quite good at that. And I think, Luke, to interrupt you about when he fought Usman,

I think Usman was only like two of eight in takedown attempts against him. That's right. That's right. Now, the other part of that story is that Usman kind of stalled him out where, yes, he only got two of the takedowns. But Strickland was on the defense for so long that, you know, it almost didn't matter to a degree. He just never got out of first or second gear because Usman's obviously very difficult to handle. But I'm just sort of pointing out, to me, it's a guy who has sort of dialed into himself, understands who he is, understands what makes him work, has really kind of worked on that particular portion of his game, and the fruits of that have begun to bore out. This is a very unique challenge because of who Jack Hermanson is, and again, his own

unique threats. He is a professional fighter as well. But I just feel like Sean Strickland, people want to make it about the crazy-ass things he says in the media, and certainly that does help him. But it's kind of like Colby. Not that he is as reviled, but Colby makes a lot of headlines for saying incendiary shit.

But the reality is you cannot lose sight of the fact that whatever else he says, by the time he gets in there, he is a very skilled operator who deserves to be taken seriously. And Sean Strickland, I think, has filled that role as well. Well, look, there's levels to this incendiary shit that people can say, and there's different silos in what they fit in. Colby's is one flavor. The shit Sean Strickland says is another,

not just wanting to catch a body in there, which we've heard controversially before in combat sports, Deontay Wilder, others. But I think we've got a tweet or a screenshot of a tweet to throw to. Strickland's been pulling out all his weird tips this week, Luke, and rubbing them in people's faces. Sally, do we have this? It's Staten Island Sally today on the 1s and 2s. Big fan here.

Let me read this. Let me read this. Strickland on why Holland doesn't like him. I think I told him I could rape him in prison one day and it bothered him. But I'm just stating. Can you imagine that? Hey dude, I could rape you in prison. It really stuck with him. Yes, Sean,

it might. But I'm just stating the facts, dude. I'm just stating the fuck. I like how he's like stating it like, hey man, I just told him it was raining. Don't blame me for the weather. You know what I mean? Like, if me and you were in a jail cell together and I wanted to, like, I could take that ass. Yeah, dude, I could imagine that might stick with him a fucking bit.

Dude, it's like the guy at the bus stop. Imagine the guy at the bus stop could beat your fucking ass. That's Sean Strickland, you know? He's acting like Nate, Nasty Nate from the jail scene in Half-Baked Luke. You know what I mean? It's like, yeah. So, Luke, quickly on. We're quick fans.

We're going to get into the X's and O's. But, like, is this a character that can work? Just like, it's not just crazy, goofy, fun guy. It's like crazy, sick guy. Are we eating and abetting in him eventually committing a foul crime? Now, I know that that might seem you know harsh and a lot of people going dude he's obviously playing a character but it's it's it's weird and gross nonetheless luke here's the thing it's like you have to ask yourself

about some of these dudes again first of all this could be a very well manicured act never lose sight of that or it could be a little bit of him just kind of dialed up so always always keep that in mind like these fighters who make headlines for saying incendiary things they have to know some of that is on their part a little bit manipulative um which again for and i don't mean in a dishonest way to in that sense but just to get more attention what i will say is though at some some point, if you've been doing this long enough, BC, and I think you'll agree, there are people who want to say that when you have fighters who say the kinds of things that Sean Strickland says, that you're like,

oh, MMA is just enabling him. And I would argue that if those sentiments are genuine, I would actually argue it's the opposite. I would argue that to an extent MMA is actually civilizing him. It is keeping him away from the kinds of other impulses or activities he would otherwise be dragged into. There's a lot of people in the world of boxing where if it wasn't for boxing, they'd probably end up fucking stealing car stereos and other shit too. Why would MMA be any different in that sense? So it's hard to know. I've actually never asked Eric Nixick, who I have a good relationship with, about it. I feel like it's time to be like,

hey, man, what's the story? Because Eric Nixick is as normal a family man, centered, talented, and he loves the guy. So there must be something to it, right? There must be some other thing we don't understand. Well, if I were you, I would DM Nixick not set it up like like this part of our show and just be like bro do you know if uh i mean sean strickland ever been over your house and if he says yes luke then it's an act right oh i see because that's where his kids are and his wife yeah yeah yeah yeah it's interesting

okay we'll see what's up i don't know what the story is, but whatever the case, here's what I'll say. Don't lose sight of the fact that he's actually a rational operator when it comes to the craft of fighting. He's very good. Look, he's a very good-ass fighter, and this is a big-ass fight which has, you know, number five versus number seven at middleweight. I can't wait for this. And their styles contrast perfectly.

They do. They do. So for me, I thought Richard Mann, who I always shout out, he works for 327, formerly known as Fight Metric, and he looked into the numbers. The numbers are pretty clear about this, which you basically have as a scenario where if you look at Jack Hermanson and the numbers he has for significant strikes versus Sean Strickland. Strickland does better, but they're, you know, they're semi-comparable.

However, when you focus in on the detail that the significant strikes that make up a portion, a significant bulk really, of Hermansen's significant strikes, they are significant strikes from grounded positions. It's ground and pound. Nothing wrong with that, but that takes what he does at distance on the feet to a much lower level. I think, in fact, you saw evidence of that played out in the Marvin Vittori fight when he couldn't really get the takedown. He kind of had to exchange with the guy at range, and I thought Vittori, frankly, did the better work there by

a considerable margin. Well, if Vittori, who, yes, is a different kind of fighter, different kind of athlete, obviously, but if Sean Strickland can kind of map along that game plan, we know from the numbers at distance. Dude, listen to some of these numbers. I've got this for the breakdown. Sean Strickland lands five and a half strikes per minute and absorbs a fair bit, three and three quarters, but he still has a pretty high 1.7 positive differential for ranked fighters.

That's in the upper tier of any ranked fighter in any of the weight classes. So the real key challenge for Jack Hermanson is going to be, I don't think, striking a distance better, although he does probably want to do that. To me, BC, this is takedown or bust, man. If he cannot get that takedown, it seems like a largely unwinnable affair. I was going to ask you that same question, because that seems to be the way this is breaking down. You watch recent tape on Strickland. He is so pinpoint

accurate in the way he sets up his boxing. He'll stand at close range. He'll endure and absorb, but it's that steady flow of short, hard, heavy shot. Look, he has a way of adding some pepper onto some arm punches and just, you know, zeroing in, whether it's your nose or whatever, and just putting that mental pressure of the fact that he's not going away,

but he also hits thuddingly hard and adds up over time. So if Hermanson can't take him down, it's going to be an uphill battle. So my real question is this. Let me first lay down the odds here. As we speak, DraftKings has Strickland a minus 225 favorite. Hermansen plus 185 seems about right. Not just if he can't take him down, meaning Hermansen, this is a tough fight for him.

How about this, Luke? We've seen from Strickland the five-round stamina that he showed against Uriah Hall, so it doesn't seem to be a potential pothole there. We love his striking on the feet. We love his takedown defense. How is his offensive wrestling and or grappling, should Hermansen be able to take him down on a somewhat consistent basis? I would say this. If Hermansen is getting him down on a consistent basis. Now, when you ask that, let me, let me, let me, let me double down on this because we just talked about a certain portion of the game. That's going to be really relevant. Do you imagine a scenario where if I told you like I'm from the future and I told you Jack Hermansen is going to

get a few takedowns in this fight, Do you think that that will necessarily correspond to ground and pound? Or what I'm imagining is I actually wouldn't be surprised if he gets them down, but I think a guy like Strickland is not going to play a guard game or any of that shit. I think he's going to be squirmy underneath. He's going to make control active as part of what Hermanson is doing. And I think, you know, ultimately resisting to the point where Hermanson is going to be in these situations where like,

oh, I got two, three takedowns. But yeah, dude, what'd you do with it? I think Strickland is going to be really good at negating some of that secondary portion, if not the first. And by the way, he might stuff the first portion too. But that second one, I think, is really going to be key. This is not Edmund Shabazian who's going to be a little bit lost here. The other point is, you know, Sean Strickland's had how many UFC fights?

Like double digit at this point? Like, he's been around. He kind of understands what the larger metagame is and what he has to do to get there. He is appropriately sized. Although it should be noted, Hermanson does seem pretty fucking strong for the weight class.

That could play a factor if it goes late or if some kind of injury reveres itself. But what I'm imagining is, negating it on the ground and eventually working himself back to the feet the control time that's what you want to look for how much time like in ghanu versus gone does he spend in a dominant position that's going to really be what decides that do you see um a lot of biz pings game in what sean strickland does well yes also you know taunts of rape I don't think I mean you know outside of the rapey vibes yeah yeah um a little bit a little bit I think it's I think it's

a pretty good comparison you know more like a boxer semi kickboxer defensive wrestler type put some volume on you maybe not like the most dominant puncher in the weight class, but the overall accumulation ends up rearranging people's faces just the same. That's not a bad vibe at all. I would say he's a little bit more in the pocket, best being a little more stick and move-ish. But we'll have to see.

We'll have to see exactly how he does. I think also, by the way, I will say this. If Strickland, if you see Hermansen not just failing on the takedown but circling on the outside with Strickland holding center, that's a really bad space for Hermansen to be. No question about that. Let's stay on Hermansen.

33 years old. Kind of up and down of late, you know, meaning that we've seen him lost to Jared Cannoneer and Marvin Vittori, but then we've seen him quickly tap Kelvin Gaslam. We've seen him expose and, you know, and Marvin Vittori, but then we've seen him quickly tap Kelvin Gaslam. We've seen him expose and, you know, sort of dominate Edmund Shabazian. Got a nice victory over Jacare by decision there. David Branch, I mean, he's done some things.

Luke, we must have an – we either have an inordinate amount of Jack Cremanson European-based super fans in our larger MK family, or maybe I'm just out to lunch and don't realize this but there's a lot of people saying no BC uh hold your day one ish I just started watching MMA last year takes for a second uh Hermanson's got the brighter future than Sean Strickland Hermanson's got the experience he's got this he's got that so Luke are we missing that or is it still in line with the way this you know styles make fights if Jack Hermanson can control the terms of this yeah absolutely the odds are close for a reason he's in this fight but obviously the question is Luke what happens if he can't take

Strickland down are we missing something that we're not seeing on tape here from from um Jack Hermanson that's saying um okay slight under, but he can win this in a few different ways. Yeah, listen, maybe. I would say that there have been times, I don't want to speak for you or anybody else, but for me, there have been times where I have in my own, let's talk about my own blind spots. One of my blind spots historically, and I'm aware of it in the sense that I might still make the mistake, but I know it's a problem that I have I've been a little bit harsh on certain European prospects that ended up being a lot better than I thought they would be there it is true a lot of European prospects at least from the 2011s on you know were overhyped in my view

Conor McGregor not that case but there were a lot of other ones that didn't quite get out and but that's you're not a you're not a huge Paddy Pimplet fan, let's be fair. No, it's not that. I don't in any way dislike him. I don't know him to dislike him. I think that there's a lot of hype around him that his abilities somewhat justify, but not at the current moment.

I think he can grow into where people think he is. I don't think he's there yet. That's all I know. Darren Till didn't reach. I mean, there's still time, but Darren Till didn't reach the noise that was following him in. Yeah, a lot of what happens is that in that post-Michael Bisping era, a lot of the media and the fans were groping for the who's next kind of guy, especially in that middleweight division.

Well, he was welterweight at the time, but you get the idea where you're looking for who's going to fill that role. So that was part of it. I will say about Jack Hermanson, he is strong as shit. He's a very good grappler. And there's a couple things. Like when Gon, for example, against Ngannou was trying to go for the heel hook, he wasn't reaping the knee.

A reaping the knee would mean if I have one of your legs, my outside leg just fully comes over and turns your knee sort of, let's say, inward, which you cannot do in, for example, IBJJF competitions. But in MMA, they don't give a shit. You can just reap the knee all you want. He didn't do it. Well, motherfucker, go watch that Kelvin Gastelum fight, dude. He has horsepower and torque and a little bit of evil intentions.

And any mistake that Sean Strickland makes, dude, Jack Hermanson will be on his ass about it. The thing is, when you go to the Cannoneer fight, look at how systematically Cannoneer was able to break grips, create asymmetry in control positions, and get away. I do think that Cannoneer is probably a more athletic, dynamic scrambler than Sean Strickland, but there was a bit of a blueprint laid there that I think that someone as talented and as experienced as Sean Strickland can probably follow.

Hermanson has the better experience against bigger names, doesn't have a ton of five-round experience, so has gone that full distance twice, getting a decision win and the decision loss to Vittori there. I mentioned Sean Strickland went the full five his last time out against Uriah Hall and absolutely dominated that. This one more likely to go the distance or not in your eyes, Luke? Strickland's average fight time is 13 minutes.

That's fairly long for an elite fighter who is a striker. That's not, usually you have him in the 10 or under range, which tells you he kind of takes his time. He really works on it. You know, one of the things I like about Sean Strickland is when he needs to be a combination puncher and striker, he can be. However, when he needs to pot shot you and really stick a fucking mean jab in your face, he, by the way, we haven't talked about this either. Sean Strickland with that jab, he is

great at rhythm disruption, which I think is going to be key against a guy like Jack Hermanson, never letting him get set and never letting him get comfortable constantly on the defensive, constantly having to reset, rethink, retool. Sean Strickland's really good at that. He's also, dude, a little sadistic. Like, it does actually show up a little bit in his fight style. He likes to demean the opponent, at least in the middle of the octagon. I think afterwards he actually tends to be a pretty good professional about it.

But, you know, in competition, dude, it's fucking mean business, and he is kind of nasty with it yeah yeah and look it's you end up loving those guys in the long run that fight with that type of just i don't give a shit like you know this this is competition but this is a fucking fight at the end of the day luke so i'm right here for that um okay this effing fight luke um i like a lot of reasons why strickland will win this and maybe should win this, but there's so much potential for this to be a back-and-forth, adjustment-heavy, real five-round fight to tell us who's really ready for that upper window. And this is five versus seven, and there's three other potential matchups in the top six of guys that are going to be fighting each other soon. So this feels like a mini-tournament here where the winner is going to go far.

So if Sean Strickland is going to be the winner, Luke, and I'll predict that he will be, I think he's going to have to go five. But I think, Luke, what I want to see if that prediction comes true is him, like we talked about, on his back, where it's not just quick reversal or you know work like a spaz to get up where he's got to make some decisions here and fight off grappling situations with her manson and really show us um i guess that's what i look at look for the most when a guy is at this point of man he's got some good wins he's got great momentum but is he really of that title ilk you've got to show us some of those hidden intangibles for me it's i got to see that sean strickland can make key adjustments i got to see that he can rally

from behind and change the success of his opponent a lot of guys look great in first gear and he was going downhill against uriah hall for five rounds and completely own that but like some of the fears i had for a gone going in there against inganu is you got to see them when someone's really putting them in the, you know, up against their heels there. So I think Hermansen is going to have those moments. But Strickland by decision feels safe, feels like a happy place here, Luke, of a prediction for a result. I like Strickland to stop him. I think he'll stop him. I think he'll stop him. But I'll say the reason why I like this fight, why I think it's so interesting to me, is that Jack Hermanson has done something that Sean Strickland has not yet, which is he did make it into the top five, I believe, or pretty close, and then kind of got

bounced out. He kind of made his way to earn those cannoneer type fights, for example, the Vittori fights, but then he found himself a little bit not ready for that. This is a question of can he retool from those experiences and not just reenter the top five at six versus seven. I think he said five, seven, and six versus seven. Well, my screen anyway. Can he get back to that place and then finally make that push through to get a title shot?

We shall see. Sean Strickland's actually in a similar position. Not that he was in the top five before and is looking to reenter. Rather, if you look at his career, again, not that takedown defense per se was the thing that got him, but guys like Kamaru, who again is quite special, were able to have some success. If he can clean up that, which we think he has, remember no takedowns given up in the last seven fights, and then take the things he was already good at and get even better at them, he will now get his chance to go into the top five

and we'll see what he can do there that's a very deep end of the division as we know not just numerically but you look at the names vittori canoneer brunson costa whitaker and of course adesanya at the top but he will have certainly earned it so here are guys who are trying to say the ghosts of my pasts do not define my future we will see who is correct uh do you have any idea on on hand speed here because if you're looking look strickland's going to be on you for five rounds the volume's going to be high it's going to accumulate in damage without question so you know is her manson a great counter striker you know that's not a sportay will he have the hand speed to to make this a back and forth on the feet if it has to? I don't think the issue will be hand speed.

Forced to answer the question you're asking, I'll side with Strickland as probably the better hand speed. What I will say is go back to the, and this is a very different fighter, obviously, but go back to the Strickland versus Jack Marshman fight. I believe that's the one that is, let me just verify here. Yes, I believe that is correct.

Watch the timing on his jab. You don't't in the words of Floyd Mayweather you don't have to be faster you just have to have better timing Floyd is fast but that's not what makes him so good what makes him so good is he sees the windows that no one else does and he gets to them and to the target before his opponents Sean Strickland is not just a tone setter with his jab at times and a rhythm disruptor. I think he's the guy who takes the more opportune and has the better vision to make those choices. I think that might be the deciding factor. Damn, I love this fight. Looking forward to it on Saturday. Great fight. Before we get into the Kazakh hero of your heart and increasingly everyone else's in what should be an excellent fight,

this co-main event is going to be action at the very least when Poonalehi Soriano enters at middleweight as a minus 190 favorite, according to DraftKings, against the plus 160 Nick Maximoff, who's more of a fresher face on the scene. Luke, as these two pair off in a very important fight, even with Soriano coming off of a fresher face on the scene. Luke, as these two pair off in a very important fight, even with Soriano coming off of a defeat, who do you feel like has the potential brighter future here as these two guys match up?

That's a great question. I think Soriano is actually a little more MMA ready, where he seems, first of all, I think he's obviously a better striker. That's probably not too much in debate. But I think he's just a little bit more game for some of the rough and rugged things that MMA offers. The problem is, these two have just wildly different skill sets. Maximov is, you know, in many ways, only a ground operator. I mean, this is, you know, dude, he's seven fights in. You know, man, I don't know if it's a wise decision for even very good prospects to be in the UFC

when you only have seven. And by the way, I think one or two of those is contender series in the one UFC fight. Like, dude, he came in very early in his career. And Soriano, in the same situation, he's only got nine total fights. So both these guys are just, you know, they're kind of junior in their career to this point. But I would say Soriano just seems a little bit more willing to mix it up. The problem is he's a little too willing

to take risks. Remember what happened with Devis and Figueiredo against Moreno. Figueiredo changed some things up about what he was throwing and whatnot, but the big difference was he dialed back just the junk he was throwing, where he could be a much more concentrated, focused attack, and not just throw volume for volume's sake. I think Soriano could learn from that experience. He knows how to throw great, great strikes. He knows how to make good reads. He is well-trained.

Again, comes from Extreme Couture. These are not people who don't know how to make champions. That's's exactly what they know how to make and Soriano is a game fighter but it just seems like sometimes he can get out in front of his skis with decisions he didn't have to make the way he made them dial it back a little bit calm down and I think that guy with a little bit more focus could be a real handful in this division for a lot of guys. We'll see if that's what he's got for Maximoff. Yeah, can you take that lightning bolt inside of you

that makes you special if you're Puna Soriano and just harness it a bit so it doesn't end up being used against you? And he leveled off a bit, plateauing in that decision loss to Brendan Allen, but this is now the chance to show what he has worked on and as much as maximov may want this to go to the ground luke soriano is going to be uh luring him into a fight uh you know with the catnip and that's what makes him fun to watch uh it's going to be fun to see which direction he's going i like this fight a lot but luke let's get fired the hell up for the third trip to the octagon for one welterweight chop cut rock mononov um it always triggers that willie wonka scene with the with the german piano to open the door maybe i'm too far off the exit for you here uh luke he's

going in there against carlston harris and rock monoff has big time next big thing vibes even separate from the shmesh factory fellas from a couple uh you know a hundred thousand miles over there in in uh in the Eurasian crossover area Hawkus mountain region extended Luke get me off the map get me back into this fight how fired up were you to see your guy back at it for a third time super excited and also I I would really caution folks I actually feel like this is a tough fight like this is not one of those situations where, like, oh, I'm high on Shavkat Rachmanov, and he's just going to roll over this guy. I mean, he might, but I'm actually expecting a pretty tough fight.

Carlston Harris is interesting. He is older, and he's getting a chance at the big show later in his athletic career, but he's lanky. It doesn't show up in the numbers. I say he has less of a reach than Rachmanov, but if you look at the tape, he's got deadlift arms. I mean, the dude stands up and he can scratch his knees. I'm very jealous of what he can do.

And he wisely, this is what I love. We always were like, why doesn't Stefan Struve fight tall? You're fucking tall, fight tall. Not that he's tall per se, although he's not short. What I mean to say is, if you've got long arms, man, use them. And he does. Great body lock attacks. He gets to the body lock quickly. He can fire you in a bunch of different directions. He really understands how to use it. It's a big portion of his game.

I think his striking mechanics at range are a little bit sloppy, and you might see Rachmaninoff take advantage of that. But he's got big power. He is absolutely willing to throw. And he's undefeated in the UFC, like Rachmanov dude they both have 100% takedown defense they both have about you know commensurate level I would say that the wins that uh Rachmanov has are a little bit better but the key oh the guys that Harris had fought in Aguilera and uh Kasang and I stopped them both in the first round one sub one TKO so dude he's a skilled guy as well this should be a very interesting and tough test. You know, when Sean Shelby made that nice cameo in documentary number six, you know, where BC was like, man, you're doing a great job.

They're doing it. Him and Mick Maynard are doing a great job with, you know, there's a fight night card that isn't deep in the traditional sense, but, man, we got banger versus banger in very important fights right here. As we look at it now, Rachmanov with the big reputation coming in following those two submission wins is minus 240, but respect to Carlson Harris at plus 195. Damn, what do you want to see?

Because, you know, watching the two demolitions that Shavkat has had, look, he showed you everything that makes him scary, and he's got next-level poise. He has sort of the movements and swagger and timing and technique of a championship-level fighter, to be fair. What do you want to see, either situations he's placed in,

or what are you expecting in this regard from what you want to see in this fourth test? Shavkat Raghmanov, the reason why he captured my attention with only two fights was I was blown away. I'm going to go back to it because I didn't get it. Well, I did the post-fight show, but I didn't get a chance to talk about it with you, BC, which was some of the errors that Gon made. One of my big reads on Gon was I was really sort of lauding his decision-making because a large portion of it was just a function, now in retrospect anyway,

of what he was doing in clinch situations, which can involve certain forms of wrestling, but obviously at range as well. And in that space, his decision making was just superb. He went five rounds with Francis and did Francis land clean on him one time except to the body? Not really, right? I mean, it's pretty impressive that he was able to do that and all of his other fights as well. But then it turned out when it went to the ground, his decision-making isn't nearly as good because he's just not nearly as experienced in that. He doesn't really understand the full complexities of that game in the way that he should, in my judgment. And so there's a bit of a gap there.

There is no gap there with Shavkat Rachmanov. When you watch him, he—by the way, this is not some guy like, you know, Hamzat Shayev might end up being better, but he comes out of the first round, like a fucking shot out of a cannon, right? I mean, he just comes at you full bore and that really captures your attention. Rachmaninoff is the exact opposite. He very much is a first round. Let's see what things are happening here. Doesn't want to give up too much. Doesn't, doesn't punt on the round round, but you just look at him. He is making read after read. Floyd Mayweather's best rounds are almost never his first because what is he

doing? He's just doing this. Rachmaninoff does the exact same thing, but by round two, that is when you see him really ratchet up the intensity. And once he starts laying into his game, you just realize how many layers this guy has. He is an excellent decision maker. He is very well-rounded. He is athletic. He is much younger than his opponent as well. This is a, I think, a very difficult fight and a tough test with a tricky kind of unusual opponent. But for a guy like Rachmaninoff, if he is who we think he is, and then again, we're only two fights in, let's see. But I feel like on tape, what we have seen is a then again we're only two fights in let's see but i feel like on tape what we have seen is a guy who is so thorough that that 14 and 0 is in no way an accident he is

skilled to the nth degree uh harris the first guy in eastborn fighter to earn a victory in the ufc and look he was saying that just him making it to the ufc started this mma boom in his home country that there was no footprint before that. That's so close to Brazil. I find that hard to believe. You know more about South America than I do. I don't know much about that side of South America. I only know sort of the Spanish-speaking other side a little bit.

He's got an interesting accent. He sounds almost slightly Jamaican, but mixed with all this other stuff. The Caribbean's funny that way, right? All these cultures come together and blend, and it ends up being a ton of unusual different things. I know he trains in Rio de Janeiro, so he's training at Brazilian gyms, and it's done wonders for him. He is quite good, but I don't know exactly the impact

on what's happening in that part of the world. I used to work with a guy from Guyana at the factory, Luke, when I was there, when I was the shipping manager. And he was a big cricket guy, Luke, not MMA. So maybe that's the case. All right, Luke, is it more likely that this plays out like an Anderson Silva versus Chris Lieben type affair or that we find out legitimate answers

in terms of what Rachmanmanov's made of when when pushed a little bit yes uh again this is a guy who you watch him on the feet he's a little loose sometimes his mechanics are a little bit you know rough around the edges I'll say which is why I think Rachmanov might be able to take advantage of that but a tricky opponent is still one where even if you're better than them, if you're not better in the way that you need to be on that particular night, you can lose. I would caution, though, about reading too much into this win.

Let's even say that Rachmaninoff goes in there and blows the fucking doors off of him, right? I still would be very slow down. Talk to people around him in his camp. They kind of believe that like this first contract of four fights, they're just doing this to get him experience. They say no one wants to fight him. Carlton Harris obviously is up for the Carlston, Carlton, whatever the name is. I forget exactly. But you get the idea. They're just trying to get this guy reps. So if he wins, great. If he

wins big, even better. But everyone's slow the roll about the ultimate upside i yes i believe in him but he still has to prove it and this is a nice win but not a formative win carlston carlston carlston is the name uh before we uh circle too far out of this uh youtube.com slash morning combat is of course our channel that we hope you're liking subscribing to and plenty of great uh interviews there luke our boy uh shack majority of uh of vancouver fame of cbs sports has also on his own channel uh been putting out a consistent flow of good stuff i forgot he did talk to jack Jack Hermanson ahead of time about the ridiculousness of Sean Strickland and

getting kind of turned off by some of those comments. I wanted to give a chance to throw to that before we circle too far away. Sally, do we have that? Sally, are you with me? Sally, are you with me? Yeah, he's got one where he's talking about Strickland.

You got that? Whatever you got, play it. I'm ready. Yeah, just play whatever you have. Let's see. Things he says and the things he writes. What goes through your mind? You're just shaking your head you know and you know it's just another crazy thing on the

internet right it just happens to be my opponent this time so do you think if he could get away with it, do you really think he would kill someone? Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised that if he got the opportunity to do a death match. Oh, yes. That he would agree on it, you know, and fight to the death if the money was right. I feel like he's a guy that would say, yes, I would do it. Oh, look, this guy's shocked. Just going for it, I guess, Luke. He's like, you know, you think he, you know, here is something you probably can't understand.

He can just kill a man. Think he'd do it? Interesting. Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of Duke, Duke, Duke. Just doing some cypress. Luke, we haven't seen a sanctioned death match since Daniel LaRusso versus Chosen in the final scene of Karate Kid Part 2.

That was in Okinawa. Remember those things? The duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck. Oh, yeah. I always buy those on vacation like when you're in like south of the border or something and then you know yeah i got a lot of those in my life all right uh so luke any other uh fights of note on this card storylines that you're interested in um not a whole lot juliana rosa is a fun fighter that could be kind of

interesting brandon allen against sam alvey brandvey. Brandon Allen I had a lot of I still have a lot of respect for but has had a couple of trip ups. This is a chance for him to get another W. I think he should win that fight. I guess we'll see. Other than that, it's interesting. Alexis Davis is on this card. She's been gone for a while.

Chidi Ndrakowani is a fun one too. Here was a guy who kind of toiled on his brother Anthony was a great WC fighter, had a great win over Chris Horodeski. Chidi was always the one who was kind of a little bit in the shadow, had a decent run in Bellator, actually a good run in Bellator, but not the perfect one.

Shined like a motherfucker on the Contender Series, and here he is in the UFC. Great striker, great reads. I think both those guys, I'm not sure if they still are, but for one time we're out of one kick nick uh his gym um we'll see we'll see what he's got interesting fight dude trezano michael trezano who is fighting him is uh he's a fun fighter luke from the ultimate fighter makes fun fight i know dude i couldn't tell you who's from the ultimate fighter and who

is not at this point so i mean no disrespect but i've not i paid such little attention to it that i i don't quite understand that that aspect of the matchup sometimes. All right, you're like, fuck. Yeah, fuck that shit, bro. All right, our third topic, Luke, is the boxing pay-per-view of the weekend, PBC on Fox offering welterweights, and it is one Keith, one-time Thurman,

returning back to action for the first time in two-plus years due to injuries, fatherhood, the pandemic. One of the biggest stars in this 147-pound division over the last decade. I mean, when he stepped away for the first time for a two-year absence beginning in 2017, he had the best resume among welterweights. But, Luke, it's now 33 years old coming back against a hungry Mario Barrios moving up to 147 for the first time. But we saw Barrios against Tank Davis at 140 last June.

And Barrios was there to fight until he was stopped late. Luke, I've gone up and down on this card storylines-wise. We've heard from Keith, the interview I had with him. Yeah, you can debate whether 74-95 and whether this is an actual pay-per-view worthy main event. It's an action-worthy fight with a lot of meaning and stakes in terms of the future of both. How do you sort of read the importance of this fight and how competitive you expect it to be? I hate that this fight is on pay-per-view in part because more... Godzilla's here um

yo tuki's like fuck this country you know what i mean i want to bro yesterday bro yesterday was a motherfucking calamity in the miami airport okay neither here nor there i hate that this fights on pay-per-view because it's actually people are like oh i don't want to pay for it right because if you if you take away the pay-per-view aspect imagine this was like for free on showtime or something dude we not just that it's on showtime free on pbc free on espn whatever we'd be pumped for this we'd be like hell yeah dude not one to miss this is the one you got to see but because it's behind a paywall folks will begin to ask different questions about the fight that it really can't answer properly in terms of its value proposition. Here's what I would say I love about this fight,

dude. Mario Barrios, never been a true welterweight before. Let's see if he can do it. It seems like he's got the frame for it, right? I think 71-inch reach. He's pretty tall. So you wonder what he can do. He was, I thought, pretty game against one of the more dominant punchers at light welterweight against Tank Davis. Ultimately couldn't hold up, but you know, dude, he gave it a spirited affair. No doubt about it, he's a fucking dog. And Younger has been in the trenches here a little bit, has been more active. He's himself daring to be great here, taking on Tank Davis and Keith Thurman in back-to-back fights. So you've got to love that.

But with Keith Thurman, man, dude, two fights in five years. Everyone's only talking about the three or almost three-year layoff he's been on. He was on a fucking layoff before that, and he's had hand injuries and surgeries. Look at this line. I think it's from DraftKings. It may have moved a little bit since I pulled this up on my screen, BC. They've got Thurman at minus 180 and Barrios at plus 145. Folks, if you're an MMA fan, you don't appreciate that.

You see that kind of a lineup where two guys are either minus one something or plus one something in a UFC main event all the time. In boxing, how many times do we go into a fight weekend where someone is minus 400, minus 700, minus 1,000 or something? Even in a good fight. By the way, even in a fight that could be competitive sometimes you're like well it could be competitive but the b-side is not going to win you know that's right how about wilder versus fury three they had i think it was a minus two or three

hundred in either direction not this one folks the odds makers are like this is as competitive a main event in boxing as they more or less come you You don't see this very often, and there's good reason and big questions to ask about liking both sides or wondering about both sides. Yeah, who's the more skilled? It's Keith Thurman. But you can't dodge the questions of two fights in five years, two and a half years off. And even in those two fights, Luke,

the second one was, I always argued, that may have been Thurman's best performance. I know he beat Sean Porter in a classic and beat Danny Garcia in a close fight, but the performance Keith Thurman had in defeat against Manny Pacquiao, he was great after that early knockdown. Well, late, you mean, because early he got run over.

Well, not really run over. He got surprised and knocked down in the first round. It took him a while to pick up on Pacquiao's speed, and I think Pacquiao started to slow down, rightfully so, at 40 in the middle part of that fight, and that's when Thurman stepped on the gas. I think you saw, at least here's what I'm saying, you saw the perfect balance of what he is, a boxer-puncher who can do it all.

But let's not forget, just a couple months before that, he almost got stopped by Jose Cito Lopez in a comeback fight from two years off due to major surgeries, a guy not a big puncher who just jumped all over him at one point late in that fight and you're like oh god is Keith Channing question you know what's going on here so considering the questions this is a great fight because Barrios is the perfect fighter style wise and dog wise which is most important as you mentioned to give him a lot of trouble to check his gas tank, to hurt him surprisingly, like Jose Cito Lopez did.

But if you're telling me I'm getting 75% of the Thurman from that Pacquiao fight, I still think he wins a decision in a fun fight. That's why the odds are there with still Thurman as a favorite, despite the questions. And if Thurman as a favorite despite the questions. If Thurman wins, dude, you're talking maybe Terrence Crawford next. Maybe the winner of Spencer Ugas. You're talking big time fights.

Do you think those blind spots, those weak areas are going to come to the surface for Thurman at 33 in this one? Dude, it's not just about beating Barrios for Thurman. The question is, like, what kind of Thurman, and can we get the Thurman that we once saw? So you mentioned that he beat Porter and Garcia in back-to-back fights.

Boy, those wins have aged well. But aged is the key term there. Porter he beat in 2016. Garcia he beat in 2017. Folks, it's been a fucking while since he was doing work like that. He used to be, back me up if I'm wrong, BC, or tell me if I'm wrong, rather. He used to be, I think, a pretty fucking dominant puncher in that weight class, but he's had hand issues and surgery since then. So could he get by beating Mario Barrios on some new style of

stick and move where he can't really commit to punches in the way he did before? In its own right, that would kind of be impressive, but that's not the old one-time Keith Thurman. That's not who that guy is. That would be a new guy. What I'm looking to see is, is there a new guy? Has he turned a corner into something else, either by necessity or by choice? Or has the time off refreshed him? Is he able to go back to what he was doing before where he was kind of a hammer uh with the punches and and and i think barrios by the way could be the perfect guy because he's a little bit of a dog when he wants to be too at least he has been to this point so to me it's a question of barrios's upside and where he's going to end up potentially if he stays in this weight class but

it's also a question of just who is keith thurman in 2022 there's just no way to know he was a dominant puncher on the way up which is why he had the one-time nickname you know hand issues definitely were a factor but also I think you know he fell in love with the with the boxing side of it and I think the only fear in that is does he box more than he should punch you know for the wrong reasons some people think he was going in the wrong direction in the second half of the Danny Garcia fight and was sort of circling away from the action well I didn't see him do that against Pacquiao you know he got hurt late in that fight too with a body shot he kept coming so I'm not as fearful about that but he one thing he did say is this is the first time his left hand and if you look back at him as a finisher yeah the overhand right is big but that

left hook sets up so much he says his left hand is healthy for the first time in years um i don't know guys always say they feel you know best ever coming into a big comeback i hope that's the same for keith because if he wins this luke the future i mean there's gonna be some fun fights with him yeah just ask yourself dude like like even without keith thurman one with 147 has been an incredible division. Now, if you can get him back as a player, it's like you're just playing with house money at that point. There's a million different fights you could make

if Keith Thurman is really who he is. Or how about this, dude? I mean, yes, it would be nice to have Keith Thurman back as a player and you could do some rematches or some fun new fights. But what I mean to say is this. It would be interesting to see if Mario Barrios doesn't just like we we all imagine that if Barrios wins that he might like squeak by or oh Keith looks like shit well what if Keith actually looks pretty good or good early and Mario Barrios shows us a degree of uh development that we haven't seen to this point remember he's still in in his 20s. He's going to grow a lot.

Fight over fight over fight. You're still going to see a little bit of that. What if he comes in there and just absolutely blows us away. Wouldn't that be a fun new name. To the division as well. So to me it's like I don't want to see. What I want to see from Keith Thurman. Win or lose is.

I want to see competitive fire. I want to see that he's got something for us. Because you can imagine dude. Maybe he's been like I've been working on this. I've got all this stuff. I feel much better. But the ring rust doesn't let him show us that this time. Maybe the next time it does.

There's still some hope for Keith Thurman in a lot of different ways. Let's not lose sight of that either. That's why you can't overlook the degree of difficulty of what he's doing here with no tune-up fight against a hungry guy who can totally who can expose those blind spots in him uh that you know no to boxing's tough you fight even less than an mma you know per year per average and you're you're only as good as your last fight because people are going to hold that performance and those fears uh against you in a lot of ways but bc true or false true or false true or false this pay-per-view will tank and keith thurman will

still make more than francis and ganu made for his last fight yeah yeah uh dude people are coming out of nowhere with here's what i made and it's still more than in ganu for every situation lately and each one makes you go oh oh shit man like really you know like that damn um all right so it's a shame that sean Porter retired only from the standpoint that I really would have loved a rematch between them. I mean, you mentioned those two fights for Thurman, the Danny Garcia and the Sean Porter. Those were both on CBS, Luke, in primetime.

Like, that was, they did like six million viewers. Like, that was a big, or five million views. That was like a big-ass deal. Thurman has talked about potentially fighting Bud Crawford next. If it's on the table if they can make it work we're all interested in seeing which whoever signs Bud Crawford

and I heard Eddie Hearn talk about does he want to or not when he sat down with Ariel on the MMA Hour of like you know there's that financial divide we all want to promote Terrence Crawford but will he take the amount of money

that'll be more commensurate with what kind of views they can get on pay-per-view? Either way, Thurman wins here. I want him next against Crawford, and I want the winner to fight the winner of who got Spence. But to close here, Luke, Leo Santa Cruz also in the co-main event, not against the guy who I think's going to give him anything,

but it's the first time he's back since the knockout loss to Gervonta, so it is important. But in the main event,'s, it's the first time he's back since the knockout loss to Gervonta. So it is important, but in the main event, Luke, uh, who wins and why, when,

how. That's a tough one, dude. I really don't know, but I'm going to say, um, I'll go Thurman in a close one. Thurman in a close one. Thurman in a close one.

I don't know, dude. Like, obviously, dude, I don't fucking know. Dude, it's Keith Thurman. Gun to my head, Thurman in a close one. It's Keith Thurman. So even if he comes back at 33 and shakes off most of the rust, I think you're right. I think he's still going to win a decision, majority decision,

or a 115-113 unanimous decision where we're like, okay, yeah, he did the better work, but what about round three and then seven he was a little clunky and oh God, what happened when he got, you know. So there's going to be some questions and I think Barrios is good enough to create those questions. Give me Thurman by decision. That

is the bet. That's the direction. I don't think tuki is yelling enough today can she yell more maybe she was she predicting a barrios upset luke i couldn't translate that i don't know she's no she's singing fucking uh all the lynn manuel miranda songs from fucking incanto it's oh yeah that's your that's you that's the soundtrack of your life, Luke, okay? No se habla de Bruno. Luis Neri against Carlos Castro is a 10-round fight that's going to be very important with Neri coming off of that

knockout loss to Brandon Figueroa in their title sort of unification. Boy, did he not come into that Charlo doubleheader with, like, the wind at his back? And then he had the close fight with Alameda. It was way too close it was supposed to be. And then Figueroa tuned him up. And I'm like, dude has some questions to answer now. He has some questions if he can carry the power at this weight class.

He always has questions about making weight. I think what happened is that fight you're talking about in the pay-per-view, he had Canelo's coach, Eddie Reynoso, and I think they tried to turn him into a boxer, Luke, and it just didn't work, and that's fine. But whether it was his lack of commitment or it just didn't work, you know, he went back to his original trainer immediately after,

and, dude, he just got overrun by Figueroa's pressure and kind of gassed out and got stopped. You know, I mean, it was a great body shot that is going to be a great body shot in any circumstance, but it came at a point where you're like, is Nary fading? Like, is this it? So he's got a lot of questions to answer against Carlos Castro. Looking forward, there's a couple other names worth watching.

Randall Vargas Jr. on the undercard. He's got a couple of pro fights and it's looked pretty good. Luke, let's go over to topic number four. And that would be, how about this? Not yet confirmed by Showtime the expected network for it luke but there was social media uh look like uh confirmation from one brian castagno that this junior middleweight in boxing undisputed championship rematch against jermell charlo with the first one last year being a instant classic almost and a lot of people thought hey

maybe castagño deserved that decision there. They're going to do it a second time it seems, March 19th at, I still, can I say Staples Center forever? Luke, at Crypto.com Arena at the Doja Coin Palace here, Luke.

And according to reports here, BoxingScene.com saying regular showtime, Luke, is going to be the home of this. We'll see if the network confirms it. And also ESPN reporting on the undercard. You know, your boy BC is going to have a hard-on from here to Hanover. Tim Zhu going to come to the U.S. and take on very tough out Terrell Gaucher in a junior middleweight fight. Wow, you're talking about forecasting the future of what can happen between that and the NBA? Very tough out, Terrell Gauchet in a junior middleweight fight that could, wow,

you're talking about forecasting the future of what can happen, you know, between that and the event? Bro, I like that fight because old Timmy's going to have to work for it a little bit, but that's clearly designed to be like, hey, everybody, remember that guy Costa Zoo? Well, this guy's a bad motherfucker too, you know? Oh, my God. Setting him up for his American debut. I feel like we skip over that too soon, meaning saying, oh, yeah, son of the Hall of Famer, Coach Jizzoo.

And I'm not sure everyone remembers Coach Jizzoo, but God damn, he was a badass. Luke, Russian born, but came of age in Australia and fought with a badass ponytail and just had knockout power, but with an incredible amateur pedigree and background to box with it and look he was hell at 140 pounds i mean his knockout of zab judo where he turned him into a you know a dancing zombie is one of the most you know i mean that god i mean and then he lost his title to ricky hatton remember and where he where he ashed out after round 11 in an absolute war and retired right there and um

he was a badass but but but but timzu has been from what i have seen electrifying he is an electrifying fighter at times he has he has great potential but the main event is the is the bigger story and god i'm glad brian castagno gets the second chance because look he fought great against jermel and there was like you know scorecards that were like a little bit too wide and didn't God, I'm glad Brian Castagno gets the second chance because, Luke, he fought great against Jermell. And there was, like, you know, scorecards that were, like, a little bit too wide and didn't make a ton of sense. And not only to see him get the second chance, but to see the boxing world embrace the news of this, of, like, hell yeah, give me this fight. We love undisputed championships. We love rematches of great fights, Luke. So I want to see how Jermel Charlo adjusts

because this guy, Castaño, is not going anywhere. He's in your face, but it's almost with an educatedly aggressive boxing attack. It doesn't go over the line of reckless, and that's what makes him so tough. It's like, I mean, obviously he's Argentinian, so I don't want to say it's a Mexican style, but it is somewhat reminiscent of the pressure and volume you sometimes get with that style, except tuned a little bit back to make it a little bit more strategic

and not as damage intensive in terms of absorbing it, which obviously makes him very, very difficult. Charlo, I thought, gave it a decent run. I thought Castaño should have won. Didn't go his way, but you could tell from that fight, dude. I mean, we talked about it in the run-up to it, where the odds were close, and people were kind of on both sides of it, and it was hard to tell.

You know, Castaño is a clever operator, and I think he learned from that one. And dude, Charlo's got his work cut out for him. No doubt about it. It's interesting. If you could see the future and say Charlo wins, which would be a hell of a win.

And he could further cement the idea that, you know, he's, he's on paper, he's the best 154 pound fighter in the world. In terms of the accomplishments before their first fight. But it's like, if he wins, is it going to be because Castaño makes him knock him out?

Or does Charlo have the potential? Because sometimes when a first fight is so close and fun and back and forth, sometimes in a lot of these situations, the better boxer in the rematch just goes, oh, I'll fight a little bit safer, rely on my, you know, athleticism and mix with my smarts. And is there a potential where Charlo outboxes him somewhat cleanly and goes to another level? Those are the questions I want to see answered here. Yeah, that part to me I'm a little bit more skeptical of,

although I do think people kind of think the Charlos are just kind of athletic punchers and not much else, and that's really not what the tape shows. However, however, I do think that, you skill for skill I'm gonna say Castaño Castaño excuse me is a little bit more skilled than the Charlos but I if you if I if someone came from the future again I was like okay Charlo wins and I had to sort of wrap my head around what that might mean I'm gonna guess it's from dominant punching I do think that the first fight showed that the dominant power puncher of the two was definitely charlo it's just he didn't find enough opportunities to really lay that into castagno because he is quite clever so let's see

if he can change that the second time around well that's the thing if if he feels like he landed his money shots and castagno didn't stop coming or didn't have to alter his game plan that could be trouble you know then then maybe charlo does go to a more boxing intensive speed based attack but you know castanho is not slow and in that that pressure is smart so can't can't wait for that one love it march 19th uh luke we're gonna close topic five with some quick hitters here um jeremy stevens who in the absence luke has signed with uh pfl after the end of his ufc run and also has called out anthony pettis and called him fat and wants a rematch uh whether that moves you or not under the pfl banner but he talked to ariel in the

mma hour and said uh i asked the ufc to give me a favorable matchup i've been fighting beasts a murderer's row for two decades and i just felt like i was getting iced out only fighting once a year that's not good for the bank account i'm just trying to be typical just like you i'm trying to provide for my family and the only way I can do that is by fighting, and they weren't really fighting. They were really fighting with me. Do you know how hard it is to fight on one paycheck per year? I'm just like any normal human being.

I mean, Luke, in this case, you know, he had enough losses where it's justified, but do you think there's any truth to the UFC icing him out and sort of making him quit? I seriously doubt that. But like to the extent that he was not a priority for them is probably quite true. And if you're not a priority for them, you're not going to get priority treatment in rather than being in first

class or business class, you're going to be in boarding group nine you know what i'm saying he was in boarding group nine uh well he went on to talk about luke how many short notice fights he's taken in the past how many fight of the night honors he's gotten to your point he feels like he should get like a a respect status like dude i mean all these fighters decide that they want to learn these lessons the hard way. I don't know what to tell them. Like, you know, the media coverage is clear. Like, you know that if you do a favor for the UFC, there is just way too much evidence at this point to suggest that they, if they don't pay it back, that's quite common.

Now, there are certainly cases I've heard, Michael Bisping has told me some, where he did them a solid and they paid it back. It's not to say that they always don't do that. But, you know, how many stories have fighters told us over the years where like, dude, I got this one short notice and I took this one and I took an L and I took less pay on the belief that that would be repaid to them in some kind of capacity later on down the line and that it never materialized. A lot of these guys, like, dude, you got to respect Jeremy Stevens, man. I tweeted about it. That guy never ducked a challenge, not one. You couldn't find him and an ounce of

cowardice in his body does not have it. At the same time, he made sacrifices in deals where they were just bad deals in the sense of, you know, oh, I made these, I did this for you. What about for me, dude, was the back scratching that you know, oh, I made these. I did this for you. What about for me? Dude, was the back scratching that you thought you were going to get, was that mandated in the contract? No? Then you cannot be surprised you didn't get it. It's a harsh truth, but it's the one that we have to all come to grips with.

Man, he's such a fun fighter. I always love watching him. Him and RDA, dude dude when are you gonna see guys again i've said this before i did an interview with jeremy years ago boys luke that's exactly correct yeah though these are the real you know you get me ready in your 56 chevy these are the guys that rev the engine all right yeah dude these are the guys that i they don't make them like jeremy stevens very often and i think he took fights, honestly, he'll admit it probably, to his own professional detriment.

But for the fans, you got to kind of reward that and understand that's a very special fighter that'll do things like that, even if he didn't have a belt around his waist. Although RDA did. Guys like him, I have the most fear for because they were sort of just shy of consistent, legitimate title contention,

but to maintain, to try to stay near that for the rest of their career, they had to make really tough physical decisions and take on damage and take big chances and just never give up and freaking grind. I fear long-term for those guys because of the damage accrued to be able to stay there. What do they get? You know what I'm saying?

They got money. I would love to know what his total payout was over 30-plus UFC fights. Like, how much was all that blood worth in terms of treasure? And that's the thing. When we talk about the fighter pay debate, we talk about, hey, shouldn't Jon Jones get, you know, 10 million as opposed to 2.5? Really, it shows up in situations like Jeremy Stevens. It's like, God, he was everything.

He was the nail that the UFC prefers to hammer in for years. They love guys like that. I want to see those guys protected and, you know, cared for the rest of the way i look i don't know look i'm no union organizer i'm no answer of of how do you do it then i don't know and it's not up to me but it is up to us as we always say to to bring it to light uh quickly to close on this fighter pay topic chad mendes the 36 year old talked to mma junkie ahead of his bkfc debut he's planning and they asked him whether the grass really was greener

on this side financially with BKFC. Mendes said, quote, I'll put it this way. I just saw what the UFC heavyweight champion of the world just got paid. And it's gonna be more than that. It's pretty crazy. I feel blessed for sure. Man, it's pretty profitable.

I'm getting paid well for the fight and I'm doubling that with sponsors alone. It's crazy. That was such a big moneymaker for us in the UFC before the Reebok deal. Obviously not everybody, but people who knew what they were doing and could promote actually got out of there and got what they needed. It was great. Uh, Luke, you're not surprised by this, right? No. I mean, there's a question of whether BKFC is overspending, but that doesn't mean anything for fighters. There's lots of promotions that have gone out of business. If you're a fighter, get the money, get whatever money you can from them

before they go. And so happy for Chad Mendez, right? This is a thing he wants to do. He presumably is going to get a big paycheck. He's got sponsors. This is the whole thing I go back to. It's like, this is the way it's supposed to be. Like, you know, we're making it a storyline because it's relevant to what the UFC does or does not do. But like it shouldn't, the only thing that should be a, uh, the news item about pay is just how fucking much it is. Like,

wow, did you see that big ass paycheck? That's great. Okay. Onto the next fucking story. But we live in a different world right now. And so as a consequence, this ends up being good publicity for your PFLs with tournaments or your BKFCs with big checks or whoever.

They get so much good publicity just by giving the fighters a little bit more of a cut. Funny how that works. Yeah. Luke, quick update on Megan Anderson, who's a free agent, of course, former UFC featherweight title challenger at 31 years old, posted on Instagram and said, hey, for all those asking and continue to ask me daily, I have no plans to fight right now. I'm not saying that I'll never fight again, at this point in my life i'm loving everything else i'm doing from gaming and streaming working as an analyst for espn and invicta and currently filming my first major

feature film i couldn't be happier uh she went on to say luke she's not affiliated with any gym and she's really not interested in pursuing a new fight contract oh look she does uh some good uh for espn for their Australian coverage. She's like a featured MMA analyst. Yeah, man. It's surprising because there would seem to be a market for her services right now.

But we're also seeing people go, you know what? I got as far as I can go. I'm cool going back to regular life. Dude, there's no shame in that. I mean, fighting mixed martial arts is fucking brutal. And if you're not, there's one way to do this, and it is spectacularly. And if you can't do it spectacularly, you're going to have a fucking hard time. She made a good run of it.

She made it all the way to the UFC. She made it all the way to the UFC. She made it all the way to the best against the world. Couldn't beat her. And that's okay. Dude, that's okay. So you couldn't beat the best in the world. You're not the best in the world. So what? What else can you do? Turns out she can do a fair bit. I totally commend her. All you can want for people in this life is give it a try. Give it your best, and if it works out, amazing. If it doesn't, go do something else where you can give it it all and give it your best. If she can take that knowledge and go make money streaming or analyst work, I commend

her for it. Save your brain. Have a great life. Don't put wear and tear on your body. Also, Dana White, this is the one thing that I think he is just consistently right about. He's like, dude, and part of it he says, you know, to be at odds with fighters who want more money. But there is truth to the fact where, like, man, if you're not all in on this, don't do it. If she seemingly is not all in on it, she wants to do something else, it is wise for her to not be in that cage.

I commend her for the sober, rational assessment of her life, and I wish her nothing but the best. I hope she makes a ton of money and has great success. If only that attitude was prevalent in the adult film business, Luke. That's another brutal business where you take a pounding. Yeah. All right. Luke, Clarissa Shields is back boxing this weekend. I wanted to at least put it out there that it's happening.

It's going to be an independent pay-per-view, but she's going to defend her trio now of middleweight world titles. This is not, hold on, real quickly, Don King is not promoting this, right? I didn't see that. No, no, he had the weird pay-per-view the week before with, yeah, with a really bad decision and a lot of people

calling out Canelo. It was sad. All right, Luke, in this one, though, unbeaten Emma Kozin is going to be Shields' opponent. It's going to be on the same card of Chris Eubank Jr. versus Liam Williams. And Clarissa's been training with Floyd Mayweather. Her trainer, Gerald Tucker, went to Vegas and did some time at the Mayweather gym. And she claims that Floyd has taught her to, quote, calm down and the knockouts will come. Now, Luke, Shields hits hard but not known as a finisher,

and some of that can be the two-minute rounds as opposed to three that we're still archaically using in the women's game. But she could do worse in terms of looking to round out her skills. I don't want to say do you have any interest in this. I mean, look, it's not high profile. I want to see what happens. I want to watch the tape. But in terms of the bounce back and forth boxing and MMA how how interested are you at what Clarissa

Shields could do in 2022? I have to tell you I have great respect for Clarissa Shields I think you know you could look at her record in MMA and it's not you know the most amazing one but I feel like she's trying to do something close to, not quite, something close to the impossible. You know, I've watched all of her boxing matches to this point, and they're fine. She's obviously quite talented. She should win this one walking away.

And what she has tried in MMA is so funny, dude. Like, she's obviously a natural-born fighter. Obviously a good athlete, smart, the whole thing. She works on her craft. I don't mean to say that she just walks in and gets it all done, but she's tough as nails. She's fucking tough as nails. And she, dude, she's not afraid of these people at all. When she gets an MMA, she understands that she's up against different people with better skills in certain capacities, but there's no fear there. She understands what she's up against and she, you can tell she believes in her strengths as well. i like her striking in mma i like her boxing it's fast it's crisp um but dude she's got to make a

choice she's got to make a choice this whole shit about i'm gonna go box a little bit and do mma a little bit you cannot win that way at least not in the pfl it's too hard these people have made you as talented as she is you can get a reasonably athletic purple brown somebody like that black belt in in jiu-jitsu and they're just always going to give her problems and it shouldn't be that way because she is a better athlete than them she is a better combat athlete than them and I think if she really focused on MMA I honestly wonder what her fortunes could be but unless she is in boxing people grow up doing it so by the time they get to their 20s they might take a little bit of time off between fights

and then have these big long camps, and it doesn't really hurt them. MMA, you cannot do that right now. At least not with the current state of the sport, not with her time in it. She's only very recent. She did not grow up doing it. If she really wants to make money doing that

and do something interesting like Brock did, it just has to be more than what it is, which means she needs to move away from boxing. But, of course, I can't tell her that because she can still make money and that's how her bread is buttered. So she's in a difficult position. If this is about money at the end of the day, I mean, money plays a big part in this, obviously.

I mean, she said it is. But if, like, the real foundational backbone is, like, I'm only going back and forth because I've got to maximize what I can make right now, then that's fine. That's fine. But I do get your point on sticking in one lane and going all in. It seems to be the best move. It's weird.

She was at odds with Jake Paul a lot and was very quick to, you know, criticize Amanda Serrano for, even though they're friends, you know, criticize the idea. I have to say, hold on. Can we back up a step here? I think Eddie Hearn, what Eddie Hearn and Jake Paul are doing, and I mean this strictly as promoters X and Y. If you didn't know their names, but you just saw what they were doing

to promote this Serrano versus Taylor fight, they're doing an excellent job, dude. I'm sorry. They are. You can say whatever the fuck you want about both of them. I was extremely impressed by what they had done. That's what I was going to ask you, Luke. She'd been at odds with Jake, and her and Amanda amanda son are friends and and they've supported each other but you know she did kind of take a shot at her of like fighters i'm not gonna go on a youtuber's undercard she doesn't

have a you know ustv deal at the moment uh do you think she can be helped by jake paul in a lot of ways yes i think the two of them could, you know, that could be a powerful partnership. You know, Jake Paul, again, for whatever else you want to say about him, he has done more for Amanda Serrano's career on the promotional side than anyone ever by a considerable margin. Now, granted, he got in at the right time where he was able to make use of those things. But if it wasn't for him, who was going to do this? Like it doesn't, I don't know who the hell that even would have been. So, um, you know, we'll see. And again, everyone's like, Oh, he's just in it for the money, dude. What promoter isn't you think Eddie Hearn's in there for the fucking philanthropy? Like he's in there for the money too. So the question is though, is what they ultimately deliver?

What did they actually do? Yeah, I think that probably could be now again, do I think that Jake Paul probably needs, as a promoter, he probably needs Shields more than Shields needs Jake Paul. There's a lot of promoters I think somebody could go, or she could go to and have great business with. But again, dude, she's a little bit all over the place. And I understand that she's not in an easy situation to maximize the time she has in combat sports as an athlete. But I do think a little bit more targeted approach and making some clear choices about her future,

I think she needs to make them if she really wants to maximize it. Shout out to Ariel. That interview with Eddie Hearn was very well done and very well researched. Of course, it makes Eddie look great. They're all dirtbag used car salesmen at the end, and their aim is to take the money out of your pocket, rightfully so. But Eddie cleans up well. He makes you want to believe in him.

I always say this. I always say this. There is really no such thing as an honest promoter. However, there is definitely good dishonest promoters, and there's definitely bad dishonest promoters. You can be a dishonest shitbag and still be very good at your job. So always remember that. Luke, we close quick hitters with this. We're going to play a video with sound.

Conor McGregor apparently posted it on social media. I think he took it down since. I'm interested in seeing Luke's reaction. Let's go to the videotape. Here's the notorious one. Um. Um.

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um um um um um um um um um um um um um um um um um um um um look i i mean knowing he had to have one hand for the phone and one hand for the bar

i'm gonna assume he wasn't also you know masturbating during that clip but he was very happy luke um do you look at that as relatable or as concernable? I mean, where are you at with this? So that's where all my Delta 8 gummies went. Dude, listen. Let he who is among us cast the first stone. Have I sat shirtless, full of heat pimples, eating fucking ice cream, and laughing to myself about the dumbest shit ever after maybe or maybe not having Delta 8 gummies or things like that.

Yeah, yeah, dude. That is, I have been there. This is shirtless Hasselhoff eating the burger levels or the sandwich, whatever he was eating. I forgot about that, dude. I totally forgot about that. That was so fucking sad and funny. It wasn't as, okay, it wasn't as pathetic as that.

That was pathetic. Remember when he had the burger and then shit was falling out the back end of it and he was just kind of trying to hold it like soup you know my daughter is literally at my door like a fucking zombie and trained to Busan I mean it's unbelievable what she's doing

if she comes in Luke it's going to start with wonder and interest, and then it's going to go sad, you know? And, you know, I don't like doing that to her, you know, through the powers of Zoom, Luke. So, Luke, it does, by the way, look like McGregor International Fight Week, even though nothing has really been announced. You just get that feeling.

Who do you think, Luke? Who do you want? You know? Because I think Poirier Nate is going to happen. Yeah, dude, I really, I'll be serious. Dude, my daughter's literally just knocking. There's like, okay, all right, fuck this. All right, well, who's in control here, Luke?

Where's Pepe? Okay, come on. What are you doing, Tuki? What are you doing? Come here. This is great. This is live TV, folks. Come here. Come here.

Do I want to see Halloween? Do I want to see Halloween? Know me, Amor. I'm in the middle of work. Halloween! What do you want to see? You want to see Halloween? Hey, Tukey, it's Uncle Gringo here. Do you want to see my new glasses, Tukey? Tukey, look at his glasses.

Watch this. Ready? What do you think about that? Oh, she's imitating you. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, Luke. Oh, yeah. Now she's on Team BC.

This is great. Nice work, Tookie. Very good. Very good. Tookie, the animal. Do you think she believes in Hermansen striking, Luke? Me and Maura, do you believe in the striking of Jack Hermansen or no? Say something for the love of God.

Okay. Well, apparently, we didn't get this on the plane yesterday. Let me assure you, it was not the silent treatment. Isn't it amazing? She gets in here, she says nothing, but outside she's banging on the door like I'm being evicted by the town sheriff. I'd love to get all of our characters together, have her and Reggie Jackson hang out for a while, Luke. You know, that'd be great. I love you. You can't be mad at her, ever, Luke. You know, that's the problem with daughters. You can never be mad at her ever, Luke.

You know, that's the problem with daughters. You can never be mad at them. I know. She's always too cute. I just can't do anything about it. So I just have to sit her and tolerate it. All right, Luke. Those were our quick hitters of the week.

So we have a new segment for this special return for you of just getting your reaction to a lot of important stuff in combat sports and beyond during your two-week, felt like two-month absence, Luke. We call this new segment, Luke Reacts. All right, let me put her out. All right, me and more. You got to go. You got to go. Come on. It's so new, we don't have any illustration or anything.

Okay. Okay, okay. I'll play it out there. Hey, Google. I'm watching it out there. Hey, Google. Bop, bop, bop, bop. No, no, no, no. Bop, bop, bop, bop. I'm watching along with you. You know, I mean, yeah.

You know that song from The Nightmare Before Christmas? This is Halloween. This is Halloween. She loves that song to the point we have to play it 50,000 times a day. Yeah, we live in different realities, Luke, but I respect that, you know? Yeah, yeah. What are you going to do? All right, what am I reacting to?

Let's do this. All right, number one, Luke. A lot of people are getting fired up. They want to hear your reactions to the stuff you missed, but number one, the biggest story in sports, Tom Brady retires, and then he, wait, hold on, I didn't retire, but then once he had his own show with

Jim Gray, no, I did retire. There are some reports and rumors that he may sign a one-day deal with the Patriots and retire that way, but as of right now, Luke, that steroid use and no, just kidding. That guy's retired, Luke. Your thoughts? Yeah.

Thank fucking God. He's been terrorizing all of my favorite teams for all these years. I just find it hilarious that people think he's this good because he's been doing extra reps at practice and eating Greek yogurt as opposed to fucking Dannon. Are you putting him in the Barry Bonds category? Is this really what you're saying? I don't know if he's in the Barry Bonds category because we just don't know but his number one

trainer Alex Guerrero to call him sketchy and by the way like related to more than one PED scandal would be understating it to an extraordinary degree. I don't believe in magic. I don't believe in the guys who are just God sent down. I believe in very talented people who work very hard.

I also believe in, you know, personally speaking, I don't know what happened. This is just my opinion. I also believe in pharmaceuticals having a pretty big role in sports. So we'll see. He actually, you know, he had the best career that I've ever seen in terms of a football player. He is certainly, I would agree, the best quarterback that, you know, ever lived by a wide margin, maybe even the best career that I've ever seen in terms of a football player. He is certainly, I would agree, the best quarterback that, you know,

ever lived by a wide margin, maybe even the best football player. But I am glad that there is turnover in the league because I got sick of watching him win. Like, so Hulk Hogan used to say, Luke, that, like, when they were injecting steroids in the early 80s and late 70s, like, in wrestling, like, they didn't even know how to do it. They'd just, they'd inject four days in a row like there's no idea about cycles and stuff i always wanted to count down and look back okay like there's a lot of sports victories whether it be you know team

sport or or combat sports where you're like okay that guy was definitely juicing though great fight great win great you know great period in that guy's career, but, like, come on, man. That guy was dead. I'd love if we had, like, the toxicology reports and the breakdowns of who was the juiciest. Like, which sports highlight of all time was the juiciest? Was it bonds? Oh, dude, the football. Dude, football is still the juiciest. I mean, you can get caught for steroids and just miss a –

I think you can get, like, a four-game penalty, and then you're basically right back in it and guys have had like you know like brian cushing had multiple ped failures and still had a pretty great career like honestly i don't know how and i'm being dead serious about this i don't know how you play american football for in the nfl for a career let's say the average nfl career for those who make it is three years let's say you made it seven eight years ten years even how do you do that without drugs I honestly don't know I don't think a body can handle it so it's not like for all the players

who've used I don't give a shit that they look everybody's used I'm wondering who used the most like what was some of the juicy like Manny Ramirez remember he got what did he get traded to the Dodgers and he and he hit like a thousand? Dude, who was the guy, who was the white guy who played for Chicago who would like shit in a box and send it to his samples to labs to get tested? Who was that guy? He was fucking crazy. It wasn't Erlacher, it was somebody else. I forget his name, but that dude had to be on all the shit.

Like, I'd have to assume like a guy like Bill Romanowski probably took the most that was him romanowski romanowski oh yeah romanowski cushing was another one uh again i don't care like that doesn't bother me at all i mean well i got questions about juan ben wall marquez at welterweight luke i mean i do i do i've got questions you know exactly like i don't know how he did it either without that, but we'll see. So, yeah, good riddance. All right, Luke reacts. Topic number two, Francis Ngannou defended his heavyweight championship, and now the toxic level of the relationship with the UFC seems to be through the roof despite Dana White's huge denials in that regard.

You missed it. He had a really weird Q&A with Laura Sanko that it really didn't answer much, Luke. But just your take, your reaction to the fact that it's likely Francis Agano with knee surgery will sit out the rest of his deal and be a free agent in December unless, you know, UFC comes to the table with a Brinks truck and Jon Jones on the other side. How do you read where we're actually at right now? Francis versus Dana. How much do you believe that Dana White's absence post win?

So when McMahon put the belt on him, how much of that do you buy was just what happened versus, you know, Dana being like, fuck this because he also didn't show up to the press conference. And because he also didn't even reference not showing up to the press conference i think one thousand percent luke this is was that why did the ufc twitter account not post anything live during the main event why is you know i mean it just it just was too convenient luke they didn't even have a even if even if it was fake

they didn't even have a bs story he didn't say oh yeah man uh look there was he said i had a backstage thing but it wasn't like he even faked oh yeah man there were people broke in but we took we had to take care of it like there was just it was like the most the least amount of details possible and yeah i mean here's what i would say let's imagine that like he was mad whatever we think he you know the reason why he wasn't there is because he was pissed right you just have to imagine this like they got the the fighter lawsuit forced them or at least you know compelled them anyway didn't force them because the judge didn't require it but of their own volition based on what was happening the ufc decided to add some sunset clauses into the contracts in ways that had not been prior to

their prior to 2017 and then you add in the fact that in gone it was supposed to go up against this guy who was at to that point, unstoppable, quite literally. He was undefeated prior to this. And you just thought, okay, they took that risk by changing the contracts, but they were going to try and sabotage this guy via that, if that's the version of events you're going with. And then he upsets the whole thing and retains it, and now you could possibly have a case where a UFC champion walks

while being champion it's a level of control that the UFC has given up that they've never had to give up and it just shows you that if Dana White was so enraged by that that he couldn't put the belt on him that tells you how ruthless of competitors they are i don't mean below board i mean above board what are all the actual levers that we can pull um the real ones to retain control that are not illegal that are totally within our grasp they're gonna pull every fucking one of them i mean true or false the reputation of the great matchmaking hall of famer joe silva is that he was he was the ultimate yes he was dude did jose you ever talk to joe silva no yeah one time he got bitter at something i wrote and he called me and that dude read me the riot act for 30 minutes just 30 minutes story did you hear chuck

uh he filled in for you on one of your episodes off and he just casually mentioned oh yeah that was the fight card where i was there but i missed the main event because Joe Silva and Dana pulled me in the back and Joe addressed me about something he told me about that the day it happened actually he called me we talked about it like damn Luke damn I never I never had that by the way there's other details to that story he hasn't told you about what else they told him which was fucking hilarious but um yeah dude they're ruthless they're ruthless competitors and. But yeah, dude, they're ruthless. They're ruthless competitors. And that's why they're successful to a degree, right? That's why they are the 800-pound gorilla in the industry.

But I think a guy like Francis at 35 is looking at the old Jeremy Stevens of the world, and certainly we all have respect for him as a competitor, but I think doesn't want to end up on that situation if as a championship level fighter if he can avoid it but if you take the path that francis has taken dude it will not be easy it will be difficult potentially related to this topic at 11 30 a.m eastern while we were recording john jones tweeted the greatest heavyweight of all time versus the greatest light heavyweight who wants to see it on game? There's also a report out there, I'm not sure the outlet,

but that Jones is willing to fight Stipe Miocic at UFC 196, but wants the heavyweight title. He's been teasing a fight with Stipe Miocic. Would you say him versus Stipe has to have an interim title on it? Well, first of all, I don't believe anything Jon Jones tweets. Period. Matter of factly. Number one.

But let's assume that there is something there beyond that. Would I want to see an interim belt put on it? No. For what? There's no need. I mean, they might, to your point, to make the whole thing better. They will, dude. They probably will dude they probably

will they probably will but you would agree from a necessity standpoint it's utterly unnecessary the last one was the most unnecessary ever it was like oh you can't fight in three months all right interim title belt here we go you know it was like it was like how they threw nico montano at the back door like ah nobody cares anyway whatever right we'll take the bell from her it's cool right yeah dude even they gave much more respect to other champions who had issues with weight. There. Alright, Luke. By the way, if that's the next

step and it's for an interim title, that's a big ass fight. John versus Stipe. I love that, Luke. And it's UFC's insurance of, okay, go ahead, Francis. Go away. This is now our new champion and he's going to fight Cyril Gonnex. And that's still good business, Luke, all right? That's true.

That's still something to build around for the future. It is. So they're fully ready to say, fuck off, Francis. And that's where we're at, Luke. Luke, this is the big one, number three on Luke Reacts. Your Washington football team has officially announced their new name. Would you share that new name with the people who can share for us your best reenaction of your instant reaction upon seeing?

The Washington Commanders are the new team. The hashtag is TakeCommand, which makes me want to get shot in the face with communicable diseases that could kill me as quickly as possible. I would say that like, okay, we avoided worst case scenario, right? Worst case scenario for me was like Armada, President, something utterly fucking stupid. Commanders sucks.

It sounds like an XFL team or like, you know, whatever the fuck. But it's not worst case scenario i did like the new uniforms especially the black one that had the like burgundy and gold trim although that's the color patterns have changed a little bit they added the dc flag to it and then the thing that heartened me was yesterday uh the city mayor mayor bowser said that they welcomed the new name change and they really believe that the team should stay in D.C. Because if you haven't paid attention, there was a gubernatorial election in Virginia. Republican Glenn Youngkin won and has been very heavy about getting the team

to go to either Loudoun or Prince William Counties, which, dude, if they go to Loudoun County, I don't know how to explain this. It's like, when I say I will never go to a game, I will never go to a game. I will never go to a game. They want to put the stadium in some ways closer to Ashburn. Mayor Bowser in D.C. doesn't want to help the team pay for it. I'm guessing Glenn Youngkin probably will help the team pay for it, which is bullshit because that means taxpayers have to pay for it, probably $500 million or more.

So what I'll say is we didn't get to worst case scenario, but then the yesterday more allegations, that's what they are from former people who worked at the organization against Dan Snyder related to sexual harassment. They're brutal. They're the details are brutal, fucking super brutal. I hate,

hate Dan Snyder. and I hate that organization. I just can't quit the team, even though I now root for an XFL team that plays in the NFL. The Washington Commanders. Yes, I command you to change the fucking name to something that doesn't lick balls, but here we are. Wow. Yeah. I mean, I guess it's better than uh sounding like armada armada power rangers or something anyway yeah yeah all right uh luke number four on luke reacts hey march 5th ufc 272 it's jorge masvidal versus colby covington

in a pay-per-view main event. Are you psyched? It's getting a little corny already in terms of the back and forth, but how are you feeling about this? The buildup will be unbearable but successful. The fight, I think, will probably end up being one-sided for Covington, but one doesn't exactly know. However, it's the fight that had to get made for both of them. It's going to be a fight that I think is going to do well despite no title being on the line.

And, dude, Colby Covington, again, we'll see. Maybe Masvidal can resurrect things here a little bit. He has certainly been using the hashtag, you know, not in short supply, the resurrection and all that. But, you know, it's an interesting fight. It's a tough fight. I think Colby is going to really assert himself in the division again. And, you know, these guys have built this up to the point where they're going to be able to monetize their falling out as friends.

So I guess, BC, here's what we should do. When we fall out, we should get paid falling out. You know what I'm saying? Like these guys, why blow up a friendship if you're not going to get paid for it? At least get some cash. So when we blow this whole thing up, we've got to find an angle that we can make money from it. I've already tried to go head-to-head with your live chat, Luke, okay?

I'm not afraid. I'm really not afraid. I'm not afraid. Luke, the fact that I'm not afraid of ending our friendship on a daily basis is what makes this show so good and what will end it so prematurely. Your finger is always on the nuclear trigger, and for those reasons, we always have mutually assured destruction. Luke, is, true or false, is Jorge Masvidal's pay-per-view value finished if he loses in a one-sided wrestling match? Finished?

Yes. Or could you still see him against Conor one day and, you know, we'll care again. Finished is a strong word, but as a headliner, yeah, it probably is. Like, could I see him in an interesting fight as a co-main or something like that? Yeah. I mean, people still will care. He is still a good fighter. Like, there will still be moments for him but um if he gets you know molly whopped by colby i think as a headliner that might be some problems for him you think he stayed i mean are you thinking does he

have one or two big fights left and that's it or do you see him as a guy if he loses this one that's willing to go back down you know calm up the the number. Dude, he was in the trenches so long. I don't think he wants any part of like, I'm going to fucking get on the treadmill again and, you know, fight my way from ranked fighters eight to fucking seven. No, I don't think he does that at all. He's got, I mean, here's the thing.

Like, dude, Nate Diaz would not have taken the Colby fight, right? It's a horrible matchup for him, right? You wouldn't do it. Jorge took it, but as a consequence, well, I think Jorge is going to get paid taken the Colby fight, right? It's a horrible matchup for him, right? You wouldn't do it. Jorge took it, but as a consequence, well, I think Jorge is going to get paid like a motherfucker for it, which is great. He's taking a risk where he can not only lose, but he could lose in a way that is just sort of like thoroughly, you know, demoralizing or something. Nate, Nate didn't do that. They did that when it's like, it's like when Nate took the RDA fight, uh, that was very

different. They didn't have the same, you know, animus or whatever, but it was a fight where he that they did that when it's like it's like when Nate took the RDA fight uh that was very different they didn't have the same you know animus or whatever but it was a fight where he was just not gonna lose he was gonna look bad losing Jorge's risking a lot yeah dude you have to admire like Jorge is putting a lot at risk even though he is gonna make a lot of money which is great it's not an easy fight and it's a fight that is not only hard to win it's a fight where if you lose it could be a loss that it just sort of has a very defining characteristic about it. Luke reacts, number five. May 7th is the target date, and that's Cinco de Mayo weekend,

Kentucky Derby, big-time playoffs in NBA and NHL, usually Yankees, Red Sox, something like that, and Canelo's return is what we're expecting uh in Las Vegas who knows maybe Charlo maybe a different fight we'll see but that night Luke UFC 274 giving us the lightweight championship of Charles Oliveira versus Justin Gaethje the target was Brazil as of now they can't do it we'll see what happens as that gets closer uh no no projected date date, I mean, location as of this point. Luke, your reaction to this box of sex that they're going to open up there? The top five of that division, it's just impossible to go wrong.

Just impossible. And what you love about Charles Oliveira is everything he's achieved and how far he's come, but the things he's done to get there, the improvements and how slick and smart and dialed in and everything else he is, which you could say for Justin Gaethje, Justin Gaethje 2.0 and everything. And he's a fucking hammer. And there's just ways you could see Justin Gaethje getting submitted quickly, maybe even punched around a little bit, but at the same time, who would be surprised if Justin Gaethje goes in there and just knocks his fucking block off on on route to getting it

it's just it's just perfect it's it's it's uh it's a it's a fight between deserving guys in terms of the upper limit of that division it's a fight that is all i mean it's impossible to imagine it being boring unless someone just gets poked in the eye in the first five seconds or something it's it's almost perfect. I love it so much. I can't wait. Luke, I'll throw in a bonus one here. You've probably seen while you were gone the boxing purse bid record for the upcoming Tyson Fury mandatory WBC title defense against Dillian White, which will be a big-time pay-per-view.

I forgot the date offhand, but they want to do it in the U.K., big stadium. I mean, it's a big deal. $41 million by Frank Warren and company to do it in the UK. Big stadium. It's a big deal. $41 million by Frank Warren and company to edge out Eddie Hearn, but Luke, Eddie Hearn in the interview with Ariel said on the MMA Hour, something interesting, that they were.

Eddie Hearn somehow convinced Anthony Joshua on the financial upside of stepping aside. They had Dillian White ready to step aside, and it was Tyson Fury who said no in the final seconds to Alexander Usyk. Now, Fury has, you know, he got out first with his social media attack and made it look like

they were the stupid ones who missed out on the financial boat. Yeah, Dillian White's going to be an easier fight to some degree than Alexander Usyk, no question. I still think this is a great fight. How pumped are you for the idea of Fury, Dillian White? Not very. I don't really give a shit, to be

candid with you. I respect Dillian White. I think it'll be a fun fight for as long as it lasts. I do mean that. I really, I honest to God, do. But I don't see him, unless Tyson Fury has really just kind of phoned it in the worst way. I really don't see how white beats him.

To be honest with you. I know it's big for British boxing and that's great that we've said it before. Do the British boxing fans might be the best fucking combat sports fans on earth. They're, they're unbelievable and God bless them for it. Uh, it'll be huge. I'm going to watch. I'm interested to see how Tyson Fury looks, but again, white can win. This is not like, Oh, Luke says white will never win. It'll be huge. I'm going to watch. I'm interested to see how Tess and Fury looks, but again, White can win.

It's not like, oh, Luke says White will never win. I don't mean it that way. What I just mean to say is he can win, but only, only, only, only if Fury is just absolutely shit in the bed. Let me ask you this adjoined question. Did Fury's ability in that insane third fight with Wilder to take big shots and get back up and just shake it off, was that a sort of final nail in the coffin that like he's not gonna like he may get

out boxed one day by Usyk who knows but he's not gonna get handled by someone no one's gonna come yeah it's just it's just hard to see if dude if Deontay Wilder after how many rounds nearly 30 rounds almost right something like that if he couldn't finally close it with his power punching you just have a hard time seeing how Dillian White is going to do it. Granted, White is a much better pure boxer than Deontay Wilder by a considerable margin. But what I mean to say is, Wilder had his moments where he laid clean punches on Fury, sometimes knocking him down. But even that wasn't enough. It's like, dude, what is he going to do? He's going to outpoint Tyson Fury? Klitschko couldn't outpoint Tyson, dude, what is he going to do? He's going to outpoint Tyson Fury? Klitschko couldn't outpoint Tyson Fury,

so how's that going to happen? Adel Valin couldn't outpoint. What is the path where he's going to get it unless Tyson Fury has been diminished, which I don't necessarily expect. It'll be fun, but it's not like, there's just not a lot of mystery there. I get it.

I'm looking forward to it. The whole idea of, you know, did Fury say no to Usyk out of fear or whatever, well, maybe it was strategically. Maybe he thought fighting him right now in this difficult of a task isn't going to be worth the same amount of money that he could lose and a potential if AJ beats Usyk in the rematch, and then AJ versus Fury is just a monster fight for all four belts so that's right maybe it was a little more strategic based on the to me to me

BC to me it's like do I think Tyson Fury would beat Anthony Joshua I do but I genuinely recognize that that's a much more competitive fight at least it seems anyway and there's mystery there there's intrigue there there's something kind of kind of cool certainly you would agree there's a lot of mystery and intrigue and like wow wow, how would a fight with Fury and Usyk go? Those to me, I might like Fury to win both of them, but those are weird, cool, fun, interesting fights. The white ones, I respect it.

It's important. It should happen. He might win, but pretty unlikely. Luke, I got a bonus. Luke Thomas reacts to end the show, and that's your reaction to documentary or donkey-mentary number six by Morning Combat by

Jake Roseman, our fantastic documentarian by the great team of Malka and Showtime there. I know how much you liked it. I know how much you gave to the process where in the past you're like, fuck y'all. What's your reaction to the process where in the past you're like fuck y'all um what what's your reaction to the reaction of doc six kind of hitting the hearts of uh people who maybe didn't realize you had a

soul it's so weird that people think they know me when they've never met me it's like oh well we watch your videos well yeah but that's not it's just a very small portion of my life like i'm a you know i there's a whole life outside of that. You don't, you think you know someone, you got to meet people, you got to interact with them, you got to see them a little bit. And so I certainly appreciate that maybe to a degree, Jake has humanized me and, you know, showed your, by the way, BC got killed for his nails.

I texted BC. I was like, BC, my toenails are worse than yours. I just live with unbearable shame, and so I don't show them. But I want to say... I mean, are you a real man if you're all cleaned up down there? Come on. We grew up

in an era with stupid machismo where guys would never do something like that, and now they do, so I can't say for sure what's cool. We don't hold it against the English for having bad teeth, right, Luke? Maybe they can let us Armenian-Lithuanians off the hook. Our fungus-encrusted toenails? We've walked a tough road to get here, and those were our scars, okay, Luke?

Yes, that is certainly true. What I would say, though, in all seriousness, was I thought it was a fucking masterpiece. I mean, it's my either favorite or second favorite of all of them and I showed it to my wife and she thought it was touching she loved it you know um it was great dude they did a great job I will say Malka was a little self-serving with it because here's the thing we were like oh let's do a documentary about going to Vegas and winning the award and Malka was like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But also about the studio.

Let's make this about the studio. I'm like, I don't know why it's about the studio. It's about the award. But okay. They shoehorned in the studio angle. At the same time, that also worked because they did such a good job with it. Dude, you know who was surprisingly like the semi-hero of the whole thing? Ashley.

I thought Ashley was fucking hilarious in this doc yeah you're like it's a shithole but it's our shithole she's like it's my office man what the fuck mark the camera guy had some big moments there gaff continued to come out of the dark and be a playable character in this universe i know i love i love gaff's fucking uh they're like gaff what do you think of the studio he's like uh hopefully there's noicks. I really just don't want to see any more dicks in this fucking place. Yeah, Jay Aaron even making a quick moment. So, Luke, it's interesting because I think there's some of our docs. And look, this is meta here, but come on.

If I can't reach around, come on. Sometimes BC's been the MVP of a doc. Sometimes Jake's editing has been the MVP of a doc. jake's editing has been the mvp of a doc luke i think you were the mvp of doc six i mean you know i don't think you showed up and you've and you delivered dude i i did better this one i you know shocker when you try things look better than when you don't try but i would say that honestly what like what made it was roseman he understands us like he understands what makes you tick he understands what makes me tick but he's also not afraid to make you look embarrassingly bad just for the

sake of art though but that's the whole thing like when he went to the cab driver and he was like oh you're from northern virginia near dc and the cab driver's like yeah he goes you ever heard of luke thomas he's like no and he like why we include that because it's important to include that it's important that like that's dude we don't we cannot you gotta you gotta live with those funny l's in life you have to live with that kind of relationship with people and like they should be able to say things like that to us and i like that i love i think it always take us down a peg it's it keeps us humble it keeps us motivated and um and it's fucking hilarious i laughed when i saw that i thought it was legitimately funny. All right, do you now have a handle on all six docs?

Because you'd always say, oh, I think doc one's the best. It's like, dude, doc one's good, but it's not like no one's out here claiming that's the best. That just means you haven't watched them. Are you prepared to give an official six episodes in? I am. You know, this is like putting the Phantom Menace, you know, at number six. I mean, like, are you ready to give a ranking of these six documentaries i am so i'm gonna you ready i'm gonna give you the list you're gonna start with the best or the worst start with the

top to bottom good good to bad okay uh i'm not asking you to agree i can only tell you what they meant to me right i'm gonna go number six as my number one. I just thought it was so fucking good. I showed it to my wife again. I sent it to some of my relatives in Colombia or my in-laws anyway, and even they thought it was just amazing. So I'm going to go number six. I really thought that was good.

Second for me is going to be number one. I really thought that number one was different and unique. I know you disagree. That's fine. But for me, that's where it stands. My number three is going to be number five. Number five was a tough moment for us, but it showed us taking, you know, get look, dude, life is going to slap you around at times and, uh, and give you a little bit of a wake

up call when you need it. I thought doc five brought some of that energy. And again, you sweating like a whore in church, me sweating like a whore in church. You know, it was there. I'll go number... See, this is where it's hard for me. I really struggle with this one.

I'm going to go... Number four. Number four is going to be my next one down. The Miami show I thought was really good. Not my favorite doc, but it definitely had its moments. It captured the authenticity of what we were trying to do at the time,

and that was cool. Shaw played a big role. Shaw played a big role. I'll go number two after that i did like number two a little bit there are some it's a lot of bullshit to be honest with you and number three little bc what you're trying to say look number three should just be deleted off the internet it's the stupidest fucking video one day got made number every every great band that has slid in and out of genres you know you may be a rock band but you you had the country album or you had that you know whatever you two

got a couple weird turns you know the the the number three doc is gonna be that weird one at first where you're like man what the hell is this but then in the long run it'll age like wine and people go well that's actually the brilliant one because they had nothing they had no material they said all we got is a shopping cart in bc and you know we we held it together look my rankings couldn't be kind of more different than yours um the best doc we've ever done and i am happy by the way that a lot of fans say that this one's the best. And it's so feel good. And it's it is a different. This one.

This one is the most. This one is definitely the most feel good of all of them. Right. And we've had a few. Jake's done a good job at providing that happy ending. Thank you, Mr. Craft. All right. So, Luke, the best one we've ever done is number five in Cleveland.

That was the raw and the real, the highs and lows. We showed the downside, Luke. OK. All right. We have the Indians keg party. We had a lot of fun stuff going on in there, but Ariel trying to take over. That was, that was some real life going on in there. The second best doc we ever did is number two, Luke. And it's probably the doc that you, you tried or showed up in the least. So BC had a Jordan flu game. Okay. And, you know, and talked about art and it was, you know, I mean, look, it's a tour de force, okay? The third best one is six, the most recent one.

I mean, it's incredible. And it shows the evolution of Jake's art as well and his confidence in putting it out there. You know, then you go Miami, Luke. Then you go the first one. First one's pretty good. It establishes you and I hating each other, but we're together for the paycheck.

And then, Luke, you know, number three, it is the worst. But it's also a little unique, a little spicy, a little interesting. No, it sucked. All right, we just jerked off for 10 minutes. But thank you to everybody for, I mean, Luke, you know, for all I want to say about the docs. They don't tend to move much product. You know, that means they're really good to tell you the truth you know is that what that means or that they are they're really bad no one gives a shit anymore you know

the masses can't handle because they don't know what they're what they're like is this real is this like are these people really this weird like i don't i don't get it you know but all right thank you very much uh luke that's our show today on this Friday. Fans enjoy, enjoy, please. The fights this weekend and get prepared. If you can follow the, if you can like this show and follow what we're doing here on YouTube and, and if you're listening audio only, please give us a review that you feel we earn there on Spotify,

on Apple podcasts and all that. But Saturday night, we also dabble in the post-fight instant reaction domination. Luke Thomas following Hermanson Strickland. Myself, I believe, Luke, following Thurman Berrios. We can pull this off. If you want to do it, let's do it. I think we should hit the ground running. I'm back. I'm refreshed.

I'm excited. Let's give the fans what they want. Yeah, you're like September in the dorms. You're like, I'm back. I'm refreshed. I'm excited. Let's give the fans what they want. Yeah, you're like September in the dorms. You're like, I'm back. I'm ready to bang, bro. Let's do this, all right? Yeah. Okay.

Thank you, folks, to our many employers as well. Showtime.com. You can get your 30 days free right now by going to that website. You're going to need it, right? Big time Bellator championship boxing. Ray Donovan movie, Luke. I haven't gone that far yet. I'm still in season one of Billions, and it's great, Luke, but it's taken me a while.

I need to catch up as well. I've been... Yeah, you can pound sand. Also, Luke, we got a merch house, and we're hearing that we've got a... What is Sally saying to us, Luke? I don't know. I'm not reading it. Sally, do you have something to throw to here? Oh, please share. Let's see the calendar, yes.

February fight calendar. And as you can see there, Luke, February 5th, UFC fight night. We're bringing it post UFC 271 the following week. It's out of Sonja Whittaker-Tuch. Check out my Whittaker interview. It's out there on YouTube.com slash Morning Combat. On the 18th, Showbox, Luke. Orlando, Ortiz versus Albright with BC on the microphone.

Don't miss it, baby. And it closes the 26th. Oh, Chris Colbert, I'm going to be chatting with him today. He's going to be in there, Luke. He's coming in the 130-pound division against Gutierrez. So fun stuff going on in Showtime land. Bellator right around the corner as well. So follow it along with us. All right, that's what we do here.

Morningcombat.store is your merch home. And here's your last chance. 15% off all hoodies, drug rugs using our merch code. That's hoodie15 H-O-O-D-I-E 15 1-5. Morningcombat.store We got great new stuff. If you haven't been there in a while it's game

changing stuff from R.J. Denkelnugget. They're very nice guys. One of our better employees would you say? Yes. I'm losing steam. Did he deserve that Dr. Nassar joke that time? Probably not.

Probably not. But you can only have regrets in life, Luke. That means I lived. I swung. That means I went. Yes. And I have plenty. Yeah.

Luke, great to have you back, though. Great. Thanks, man. Great to be back excited join us tomorrow night i will be right back here for some post-fight reaction should be a lot of fun okay thank you folks we love you take care of this okay it's tough the winter but spring's coming we're behind you all the way uh like luke thomas will often say uh may all your ex-lovers uh stay satisfied be be excellent to each other and uh and party on dudes we out