MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Masvidal Attacks Covington | Blaydes vs. Daukaus | Bellator News | Ep. 280

Episode Date: March 23, 2022

Luke and Brian are down in South Florida for Episode 280 to discuss some big news out of the combat sports world. Reports that Jorge Masvidal has been arrested for felony battery surfaced late on Monday. What does this mean for his future? The boys discuss the biggest storylines heading into UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Daukaus. Next up the guys discuss a ton of Bellator news that broke this week. Tim Tszyu is set to make his U.S. debut this Saturday against Terrell Gausha. What do we need to know about Tim Tszyu? Finally they close out the main topics by breaking down the news that Devin Haney has been offered the George Kambosos Jr. unification fight due to Vasiliy Lomachenko opting to stay in Ukraine. The boys close out the show with some fan submissions. Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich, but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy. Consider yourself warned. Limited time only at participating McDonald's in Canada. Reveille, reveille, dogs. Look at us now, tip to tip. This is our life. This is our passion.

That's the spirit we bring to this show. I'm Luke Thomas. I'm Brian Campbell. This is Morning Combat. We be tossing and flossing. Our style is not that awesome. And my God, I am going to get deaf if I don't turn this down. There we go.

Nice, nice. Hi, everybody. It is time for Morning Combat on this 23rd of March, 2022. Luke Thomas, Brian Campbell, we are here in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and we're just so full of appreciation in COVID. You know, I was like, let me bring the – that's very true. Let me bring the loudest, most aggressive shirt I have to this MK and FTL event. Yeah, you should cover it up with a football team you don't even care about.

You know, I wanted to wear this MK and FTO. Yeah, you should cover it up with the football team you don't even care about. You know, I wanted to wear this look because it says something. You know what I mean? Yeah, you're an idiot. It says that you have intention. You know what I mean? Soda's walking around with a boner in your pants. I don't mean anything. By the way, could I look worse this morning?

I told BC, it looks like someone abducted me last night, left me in the trunk of a car, then just drove up to the offices and told me to get out. You look like a truck driver to be fair. I look terrible. Sir, the showers are down the hall right there. Yeah, that's it. I think I need more to be de-loused than just handcuffed and thrown away. We have a show today.

We're going to talk about Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington because I what else would we talk about? We do have a UFC fight night this weekend. We're gonna get into some of the storylines a ton of boxing news We'll do some fan subs today. What else BC? We'll probably mumble and laugh a lot. It'd be fantastic. How are you feeling? By the way true story last night. We went out to I met my boss for the first time That's actually a true story. This was arguably one of the more productive days in MK history. That is not a false statement. It's really not a false statement.

So yesterday we went to Sanford MMA, and we sat down with Gilbert Burns. We had 45 minutes with him. I think you guys are going to really like that. I was so blown away by what Gilbert told us. I don't want to spoil it more than that. No, no, he's a real man. It was great getting the time with him. And Sanford is a, you know, I saw Robbie Lawler in the corner there. You saw Lenny Vassell.

And then he saw us and then whoop. Yeah, yeah. You know, Kamaru had been there earlier. ATT was impressive. Sanford MMA was very impressive. I've actually not, I've been to AKA. You've been to AKA? No. That's a pretty impressive facility. I've not been to ATT. Yeah, ATT's the goods as well. Is it like Sanford?

It's very, yeah, it's like, it's not as polished in some ways, but it's impressive just the same. And then we had dinner last night. I met my CBS boss for the very first time, and it was a great dinner, but your boy left early. I couldn't take it anymore. You know, it did go down in the books officially as a Lithuanian exit because you did announce it ahead of time. I did announce it. You were like my vagine, you know? It was, yeah.

Here's the Brian Campbell experience. Anywhere you go, church, ER, dinner, doesn't matter. The Brian Campbell experience is he collects as many neon signs as he can that all say look at me. And everywhere we go, you're like the Las Vegas strip in the middle of the desert, which is funny because I actually hate the Las Vegas strip. Yeah, that is ironic, don't you think?

Yeah, yeah. But the dinner was good. We had a good time. Fort Lauderdale people, you know what? In Florida, people are very friendly, I've noticed. Could we, you know, if we just got... I'm going to get my glasses. If us and our families, Luke, got parachuted

into this environment, South Florida, FTL, Boca, you know what I'm saying, Delray, can we fit in here? Would we be welcomed, Luke? I've got to say, if you can't fit in in Florida because you're too weird and shitty, I don't know where you're supposed to go. It's like there's Florida. This is the elite levels for

that category yeah yeah and um so i'm saying like if you can't go here bitch like you're it's the options are limited at that point uh luke your thoughts i i curated this island behind your curation because that is you know at first i was like what nfl helmet you know best you know represents us and i'm you know i'm not a you know tom brady homer although i live in new england luke so i better be a patriots fan i guess but i'm one of those hipster like post brady day one patriots fans who like i start my fanship today you got a mac jones jersey at home and no but i would okay i did buy my son a cam newton patch jersey at a patch game this season so uh you know because it was a discount rack and that's a badass jersey. Because you're a terrible father.

No, no, to me, that's badass. But, and then, you know, they didn't have the damn red skin Commodores or whatever the hell you're calling them. But they got the Ravens, Luke. And you know,

the Ravens is a great logo. It's a great reputation, right? Yeah, I mean, it's Baltimore. You should be, you should rebrand yourself as a Ravens fan. They might force me, but the real reason

it's up here is, A, BC put it up here. And the second reason is they didn't have any Commander's trophies in here. Or Dutch trophies, excuse me, helmets. I think they have the helmet of every team but the Commander's. You know, which is, what are you going to do? Yeah, it's like the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Phil went there. You know Phil, right? I do know Phil. They have way more professional people working here than Phil. I mean, Phil is the bottom of the barrel. Okay, so today on the show, as we mentioned, all the stuff from before, Jorge, Colby, the whole nine yards. First things first, thumbs up on the video if you like it,

and hit subscribe if you haven't. Give us a nice review on whatever podcast platform you are listening on. Showtime.com is the label that pays, even though we're in the CBS headquarters. Go to Showtime.com, get a 30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, you may not. It's up to you entirely. Yeah, it's all one family. It is one family. I represent cbs on this bitch but i'll take them showtime checks too okay

it's all the same family look okay i agree with that completely uh morningcombat.store for any kind of merch i don't feel like the saint patrick's day stuff really hit yo are you trying to point out a a a a hiccup in the in of RJ Dunkelmaker. I mean, he's like Doc Ellis, Luke, throwing that perfect game on acid. I mean, that no-hitter. He's been slinging. He's been hanging and banging.

But now you're like, how's your fastball? How'd that work out for you? Listen, it was more like he tried the slider and he got hit to far left center. Give him the heater, Ricky, right? You know what I'm saying? But in general, morningcombat.store has pretty good, actually great merch, I would say, on top of that. And BC, our next partner, has a product I use.

Well, I would say every day, but I forgot to bring it on this trip because I'm a fucking idiot. I brought my travel ones. You did. That is a true thing. I started taking athletic greens because I wanted better gut health, more energy, and I hated taking pills and vitamins, Brian Campbell. And it doesn't taste super healthy. You want something that is super healthy but doesn't taste it.

But I'll tell you one thing. It does taste clean, and that's what I love about it. And obviously, it's got the mild tropical taste that, Luke, to be fair, it makes me look forward to it in the morning because it's like my reset moment. It is. It's my cleansing. So what is in this? With one scoop, which is delicious, from Athletic Greens, you're going to get 75 high-quality vitamins, minerals, whole food source, superfoods, probiotics,

and adaptogens to help you start your day right. And it's the special blend of ingredients, of course, that supports gut health, nervous system, immune system, energy, recovery, focus, aging, and hopefully coming soon, Luke, hangover fix. That would be great. Athletic Greens is so easy to use that I take it on busy days, even when we live stream. Although I forgot on this trip because I'm stupid. Yeah. And it's so convenient. I am traveling with it and you can too. Okay. You see, it's lifestyle friendly, whether you eat keto, paleo, vegan, dairy-free or gluten-free, contains less than one gram of sugar, no GMOs, no nasty chemicals, or artificial anything,

while still tasting good. And you want to know the price? It costs less than $3 per day. It's like investing in your health, and it's cheaper than your, we'll call it cold brew habit that you've got going on lately. Taking Athletic Greens is a small micro habit with big benefits. It's one thing you can do every single day to take great care of yourself. And Athletic Greens has over 7,000 five-star reviews to back it up, trusted by leading health experts, including Tim Ferriss and Michael Gervais.

Right now, it's time to reclaim your health and arm your immune system with convenient daily nutrition, especially heading into the flu and cold season. It's just one scoop and a cup of water every day. That's it. No need for a million different pills and supplements to look out for your health. Well said, Luke. And, you know, to make it even easier, Athletic Greens is going to give you, for free,

a one-year supply of immune-supporting vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first purchase. Here's where you're going to hit it up, okay? Call to action. AthleticGreens.com slash morning combat wow again that is athleticgreens.com slash morning combat to take ownership over your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance my favorite part of this read is that there are parts where we can kind of remix and then there are parts that say read verbatim and bc only

remixes those parts all right let's start the show. Oh, one more thing. We mentioned when we went to Sanford MMA and we got on the mats and they made us take off our shoes and I wasn't wearing socks. And I'm like, oh, shit, now I've got to bring my eagle's claws back to the world. And we had fun with it. They caught on camera. They caught me feeling the bounce on the mats, feeling how, you know,

because some people say, Luke, we're not supposed to wear shoes. We're supposed to feel the earth at all times and have that connection. When I felt the mats, I developed an instant connection. It was easy. It felt natural. I feel like I'm beginning to put art back into mixed martial arts, Luke. And here's the videotape to prove it. I mean, I literally can't tell if you were happy. I thought you were stroking out. I mean feel the flow Luke. Do the bull dance. I mean you know you got to just go with it. Look at me in the background. I'm actually trying to conduct business with our producer and here you are in the front just completely letting. Quick and nimble. I go crazy when I hear that cymbal on a hi-hat

with the souped-up tempo. Yo, I'm on the road. It's time to go solo, right? A1A. Falling. Beachfront Avenue. Real fast. Yeah.

Batch. Yeah, I couldn't tell. I was really, I couldn't tell if I was excited or sad you were stroking out. But either way, that's what I thought. Yeah, but the people did, they saw it. They felt it, Luke. It was natural. At the very least, it was natural.

It's like, could I build on that? I could luke do i want to though for the art to be continued all right all right topic number i'm calling you out casey light no actually i'm not i'm not i'm not probably the fuck out of you all right he would definitely ground and pound uh let's start with topic number one this is i mean you just can't even believe this is where we're going to have to start today's show. It's so Florida. Luke, it's so Florida. It's the most Florida stuff. Two Florida men are back in the news again.

Jorge Masvidal has, we have to be careful about this. I'll put it this way. He has been named as a suspect in an attack on Colby Covington. Now, it's weird, BC, because Jorge Masvidal is under investigation formally. He has been named as a suspect, but if you look at the police report about an incident that took place Monday night in Miami, Colby Covington is not named. However, based on reports, eyewitnesses at the scene, and then on top of that, TMZ somehow got wind of the incident and showed up on Monday night and had this sort of reaction camera with him after the fact.

But the story goes like this. Monday night, the 21st, here in Miami, outside Poppy Steak, allegedly Jorge Masvidal ambushed and basically sucker punched Colby Covington. With a hood? With a hood on and a surgical mask. By the way, the only time he's had a mask on when he had to. And apparently ran up on him. Again, this is all alleged.

Sucker punched him, hitting him twice. One time either breaking a tooth or knocking it out. Some of that is unclear. There was a left wrist abrasion. I guess he got hit in the eye on top of that. I mean, it's a fractured tooth. Again, from what we're told, it's a fractured tooth, but there's a lot of things we don't know.

Then you get, which is so great, that Nate Diaz tweet that's like, bro, you're telling on yourself. Yeah, who snitches on themselves? I mean, did Jorge put out a video right after this? You gotta let me set this up so we can do this in an organized manner. I'll pitch to you first. When you heard the story and the details came out about it, again, Jorge has not been arrested. He has not been charged, even though ESPN had a report yesterday that was wildly inaccurate. That aside, what do you make of this situation? Is this what Jorge, not should have done, but did Colby have it coming as some people say or is Colby just a complete victim as others might say? I think it's all of the above and I don't want to say that because it's like we should take a side. Who's wrong? Well, I mean, they're all wrong here, Luke. In a lot of ways it's it's true to the brand it's true to street code it's true what street jesus jorge masvidal has been telling us for

years and suddenly you're seeing all these old interviews pop up of like him and ariel and him and you know way back of just saying about the the sucker punch the 50-yard dash that's been part of his branding and who he is so for jorge the timing kind of sucks because you know you just had your chance to do that to him in the cage and you came up empty. So is it him just protecting his brand to look cool and not caring about the potential financial and legal implications? Probably, Luke. So is Colby Covington a victim? Of course, in the legal sense and in the real life sense. But is he also now finally coming up due on all those advances he made? You know, cash advances over the microphone of calling people out and now those receipts are coming due?

It's a little bit of that too, Luke. This is one of the strangest situations in a way because you'd never want to victim blame if you can avoid it. And I was trying to think, like, how do we assess a situation like this, which I think is somewhat unusual. Not that fighters getting into altercations or whatever, or even just two men of this age demographic getting into altercations. I don't mean it that way, but here's what I do mean. Clearly at that moment in time, if the allegations are true, Colby Covington is in fact very much a victim. And there's just no two ways about that. You cannot live in a society where people can just go and attack people physically for reasons that

they may not like them. I didn't like what you said. These cannot be allowed under any circumstance. And if Jorge did that, it is cataclysmically stupid. However, what I would also say is if someone asked you why this happened, what would you say? You'd be like, I have no idea how this could possibly have happened. Like, why would Jorge ever do something like this? In fact, Colby told the police, reportedly, that one of the things that the assailant said was, you shouldn't have been talking about my kids. I don't want to victim blame, but I will say this, BC. The first lesson I ever got from my manager, the first time I ever was a bouncer,

and he was talking about why we were allowed to use force on patrons. I just want to be clear about that. He said, if you fuck with people long enough, do not be surprised when you succeed. There was a video in TMZ. Colby Covington's like, how did he know I was here? I don't know how he knew he was there. I don't know any of those things. But it wouldn't be surprising if he followed him.

It wouldn't be surprising if he just happened to was there. I don't know any of those things. But it wouldn't be surprising if he followed him. It wouldn't be surprising if he just happened to be there. Either way, dude, if you are driving your car at night, and you need oh my god, I need to get milk for my kid before I get home, or whatever, for the next morning. And you happen to stop in a bad area of town and you're just passing through.

Excuse me, sir, can you give me directions to the interstate? Man, fuck your mama. But I'm pointing out, imagine something bad me directions to the interstate? Man, fuck your mama. Yeah. But I'm pointing out, imagine something bad happens. You would never sort of say, well, you shouldn't. I mean, yes, maybe you should think twice about where you stop, but you would never see, like, oh, the reason why all this bad happened

is because you stopped for milk. You would never say that. That's an honest attempt to just live life normally, right? Yeah. It might be somewhat bad risk management, but they're just living an honest life. However, if you've been attacked previously by other fighters, Verdum throwing the- The damn boomerang.

The boomerang, and more than that- The buffet line. The buffet line, and you go through this course of action, dude, you are running a- These are not people who play by the rules that you play by. So you can say Colby should never have had that happen to him, and I completely agree. But are we supposed to just chuck out rationality here and say, if people are telling you that they're street goons and they're going to do this,

it might be a decent idea to believe them. If you want to speak out on things on a principled stance, like it's important for me to have these opinions, and again, no one should be able to punch someone in the face for things that they say. Of course not. Of course not. But dude, like, he played with fire this whole time in ways that other fighters assiduously avoid. Are we supposed to feel bad about that? I'm not sure what the right answer is. No, we're not supposed to feel bad about that. And there is something I certainly want to make

you look at. And it's like, is Colby now a slave to a page in jorge's rhyme book i try on the show yeah i try i did slide into it like a like i was you know a brand new catalog i make a good faith effort at trying no luke i it's all ridiculous but yes there's a street receipt to pay potentially but there's a risk on that side too. And that's Jorge. So in taking that risk to protect his, you know, code and just a guy he hates, Jorge has to believe and understand though, Luke, how the media machine works and how you create attention on social media and beyond. And for whatever price he has to pay in fines or in, you know know court fees or whatever

ends up coming in a felony is a damn felony at the end of the day if that goes to that full limit um he had to be thinking i'm also going to gain something beyond cred with this is he thinking this is how i get a second pay-per-view fight because i saw no i don't think i don't think that's anything but because i saw when connor and Habib put together real emotion at that level, it was the largest selling pay-per-view in the history of the sport. Do you think this is about selling pay-per-views? I think it's the exact opposite. I'm not telling you the foundation of it is that.

I'm asking you what percentage for someone who is as smart as Jorge, as crazy enough to pull this off and think it's normal and regular, but also smart enough and crazy like a fox. You don't think it's 10%, 20% going, you know, I am going to get another payday out of this. I'm going to get a monster payday out of this. Dude, Jorge Masvidal has been telling, see, here's the problem. A lot of people copy either the style, maybe some of the words, something like that, of what people like Jorge Masvidal say, and it sounds pretty similar.

But Jorge Masvidal has been telling y'all who he is. The guy has been fighting in the streets with Kimbo Slice, didn't finish high school, worked his way up to this position in his life, but has been consistently telling people, I'm a street goon. Like he's not, people didn't take him at his word, apparently. They thought it was all bluffing or something. Much akin to Bill Cosby planting those seeds in that documentary. No, I'm serious about that, though.

The comedy bits, the Cosby Show barbecue sauce scene. You're killing me. This is the, okay, all right. I mean, I'm not sure what to say about this. Look, this is radio. You love radio. This is not radio, and I don't know why you have to derail the conversation when we're not done with it. I'm not done with it it I enhanced it Luke but who do you feel bad for

neither yeah I don't think I feel bad for either one of them dude here's the thing if Jorge did it he made a clear choice to do it like he made a clear choice to do it if he did it and Colby again no one has a right to go do that to people, but I don't know how you can say the things he said and walk around and think, nothing will happen to me. I don't know how you can't see that part of this is Jorge knowing he's going to cash in millions for it, though. I would actually, I want to ask you this then, because here's why I disagree with that. Because the rivalry was dead before this.

It was dead. We saw the final product. The rivalry was dead, but they're not going to make another fight from this there's no way the ufc well okay they could they could actually you're right they 100 will make another fight from this like come on no no i don't think that they will but here's what i want to point out this is what this is the one thing that i do think we should talk about for just one second it may let's assume you're right that it could increase potential chances in another fight. I tend to disagree with that, but...

This is pro wrestling with consequences. I actually feel, yeah, I actually feel like it's a bit brand damaging. I actually feel like there's people out there being like, really, you lost this fight, which you had a chance to do all these things you wanted to do. You didn't do it. And then when you get the chance

to sucker punch a guy in the street, you do that, which, by the way, now you could potentially face legal consequences.'s a villainous move but i think it's more of a stone cold steve austin hey the bad guy is a good guy your brain has been a little bit rewired by too much pro wrestling true but i don't have to understand the more hey you think jorge with a little bit of his mind was like i can repurpose this for 100 i'll take the legal fees i'll take the damage to the reputation in general in, I think that's true, but for this act, I don't. But to call this a damage to the reputation when his foundation of his 2019 breakthrough commercially was the two-punch combination

that he landed on Leon Edwards, the three-piece and the soda, whatever you want to call it. That was the foundation of that. After he had knocked out Darren Till, not after he had lost a five-round fight to the guy he just sucker punched in the street. I get the difference, and you're right on the difference between the two. But to act like that is not a, you know, whatever percentage you want to ascribe to it. A fifth? A third of his motivation? What other multi-million dollar, you know, giant pay-per-view main events does he have left? Conor, maybe. A Diaz brother, maybe.

But there's very few times when you get to this level and you get a taste of it that you can reproduce it without consistently needing to win those fights, Luke. He skirted around that by playing this role already. The pay-per-view B-side who's going to help you sell it because of the street cred and all that. Oh, he became an A-side for the BMF fight and it was great. But now he knows his role commercially and to keep himself around longer i'm just saying would he be like that if there was no if there was guaranteed to be no no fight would he still

do that he might still do that because that's who he is luke but to act like this isn't part of i'm going to get a pay-per-view main event rematch grudge match now out of this no we saw what happened with the with the with the dolly through the window, Luke. It's like printing cash. John Jones and Rashad Evans, different circumstances, but people want that shit. Khabib and Conor hadn't fought by that point.

These guys just fought. They just fought. So is this now a trilogy? Does this count as a win in their rivalry for Jorge? Now we've got to do a trilogy. If they press charges, it's a definite L.

It's a definite L in that case. Especially taking to social media afterwards, and again, not necessarily making any reference to any particular one incident, but seemingly taunting the guy that news reporters were saying you had just sucker-punched in the face. I get your point. I would never deny that if they wanted to, they could repurpose that to a different level.

All true. Having lived through what they did with Conor and Nadali, how could you say no? But again, I don't think people are taking Jorge Masvidal at his word. When he tells you who he is, it might be worth listening to him. You don't have to like it or, again, if you want to speak out against things, speak out against things. But if you want to insult people's families relentlessly, no, the people who you insulted don't have a right to do anything.

That doesn't mean that they won't. That doesn't mean that they won't. And we have appeared to arrive at this moment. He just reinvented his character with this moment. I'm not glorifying it, but I'm saying in his mind, he did. The relevance factor again. Being a, you know, Luke, I'm telling you, you can't overlook that shit, dude. character with this moment i'm not glorifying it but i'm saying in his mind he did the relevance factor again being a you know look i'm telling you can't overlook that shit dude he's smarter

than you think no no i've always known him to be smart i've at least i said in the pre-game preview that was actually he was um but you know it's because he'd been he had been making up to that point pretty calculated decisions and i don't know the ufc rule repurpose it and you should repurpose the Cosby joke. The delivery was at the perfect time. You could have played that shit and just, like, olayed that highlight style. You know what I'm saying, Luke?

I can't wait to leave. Why didn't we go to Poppy Steak? We should have gone to Poppy Steak last night. Imagine the timing. Imagine if us, on, like, a dinner with our bosses, happens to be at the same damn restaurant where that breaks out. And we're fucking on the scene live morning. Live morning combat emergency broadcast right now from our phones.

You know what I would have done if we had gone live on Instagram or whatever? I'd be like, yo, hit us up about a Delta 8 sponsorship. Try to get one of them. Hit me up about your Latin relatives. Hit me up. We're in the mecca of that right here. Okay, we'll see what happens with that. Point number two.

All right, we do have, in fact, a UFC fight night this weekend. UFC fight night, Blades versus Dawkus. You see, we open up with the main event. Curtis Blades taking on Chris Dawkus. Two guys who have more so Curtis Blades. Curtis Blades has tasted the top of this division a number of times and just come up a little bit, well, in some cases, dramatically short. Is he

a bad luck guy now? Is he a guy who we know is talented enough to get to the title shot level? 100%. But is he just a bad luck guy and he'll just never get over that hump? Well, I don't know, but Chris Dawkus has a chance where he loses to Derek Lewis and now he gets to take on Curtis Blades, and I've got to tell you, with Curtis Blades being out there,

that's a very tough rebound fight, but if take on Curtis Blades. And I've got to tell you, with Curtis Blades being out there, that's a very tough rebound fight. But if he beats Curtis Blades, he almost gets the exact same thing, not in terms of reputation, but in terms of elevation, that he would have gotten had he beaten Derek Lewis. This is actually a pretty decent mulligan for him, albeit a very tough fight. This is a well-matched fight. This is a great fight on paper for what it represents to both guys and the ways you just laid it out in terms of advancement redemption for blades but also built-in redemption for dawkus because while he's still rising luke and still learning he sort

of had a level check moment in that knockout loss okay so for him to come right back in this it's a great opportunity to prove it to us look this is my perfect kind of fight night main event. Why? I love this fight. Why? Just for the, both guys are going to come in hungry as shit, and they're going to let it go, Luke. There will be skill and technique and all that,

but there's going to be a lot of heart too, Luke. I mean, if you're Blades, can you drag this guy through the ringer? If you're Blades, you cannot lose this fight. Right. So what is your, which lane of desperation? can you drag this guy through the ringer? If you're Blades, you cannot lose this fight. Right. So which lane of desperation? Now, it's calculated desperation. But which lane of calculated desperation are you more likely to play?

I'm going to rely on my power to make a big statement, or I'm just going to work him through that grinder of wrestling. And if he gets up, then I take him right back down. Curtis Blades has gone out of his way to tell people he is not going to fight in a way that might please them. He is going to do whatever he needs to do to win fights so if you're if you're chris dawkus your task is difficult but it's pretty clear it's pretty clear if you can't stop the takedown you probably can't win simple as that um but his hands are surprising yes they are for as much as aspinall is showing us in not just hand speed, but like every category, in some of the intangible categories. Tom Aspinall is special, and he's coming on.

At least in the category of striking, Chris Dawkus seems like he could be very special. At least in that. At least in setting up his punches, adding variety to the combinations, and then the hand speed with it. He's got deficiencies in other areas, but in that area, he's well above average. Certainly. But let me give you these odds. Curtis Blades is sitting, according to our friends over at Caesars, at a minus 400.

Chris Dawkins at about a plus 310. That's more or less true everywhere else you look. I got to tell you, I agree with the odds. I think this fight got made not because this is the most natural pairing. My read on this is that they got made because they needed to give these guys fights and this was all that was either available or whoever said yes. And those are the fights that end up being memorable because

it wasn't romantically paired together. But yet, it's important in the end for the winner to advance and put their story back in the right lane and back on the tracks. So sometimes those become accidental gems, Luke. And I got that feeling.

I got that feeling about this. Dude, Curtis Blades, obviously he rebounded after Derek Lewis against Jairzino Rosenstreich. He's only 31. 31. And with Tom Aspinall making a big noise and Taito Iwasa making a big noise, I get that there would be a lot of focus on them. And Curtis Blades, as we've talked about, he had two chances against Francis. He fought Derek Lewis.

He's had some other ones as well. But I've got to say, I do feel like Curtis Blades, for as good as I think he is, and I do think he's very good, he's a little bit forgotten in this division. A little bit forgotten. Yes, because every time he's supposed to break through, it fails. And when I say, you know, could he be a bad luck guy, I'm not trying to say all his setbacks are just bad luck. You know, he became the nail against the hammer against the elites in this division a couple of times now at certain key moments. But Luke, here's my key

question about Curtis Blades. When he is fighting just a tier down from elite level competition, you see, it's almost like if i'm playing basketball with the old guys and i know i got a quicker step on them even though i'm washed myself you know i can play a different style than if i'm against contemporaries my age who you know i mean i got to play a different position if that's going to happen when he's against guys who are a step down offensively he begins to show you that he's a well-rounded force with knockout i mean look what he did to jds it like, he put that shit together and you're like, oh shit.

But we don't see that version of him against the top, top level guys. Maybe sometimes that's just styles make that and then he makes a mistake and he loses the fight. Can he be that well-rounded and offensively impressive against guys better than him, Luke? If he can't connect that and become that and at least be willing to go out swinging,

because I don't feel like, do you feel like when he does get solved, it's not because he took some big risk? It's sometimes wrong place, wrong time against the wrong fighter at that wrong moment. You're talking about Curtis Blades. Yes. Well, in fairness, I need to did wrong myself.

I thought one of these was a loss. It's not. He only has losses, two of them to Francis and then one to Derek Lewis. That's it. I know that's it. He's beaten everyone else, which includes Mark Hunt. So I'm being hypercritical because I'm basically asking you,

do you think he can really make the leap to the title level, which his finishes and ability and wins have shown us that it's in him? I think if he can stay injury-free and not take too much damage because obviously getting viciously KO'd the way he did was bad. Even in the Volkov fight, it was just grueling in a way that it maybe didn't need to be, even if he was dominant with the wrestling. What I would say is at 31, with as good as his record has been, these are the guys he's beaten.

Rosenstreich, Volkov, JDS, Shamil Avderrakimov, Justin Willis, Alistair Overeem. Those are some good-ass wins, dude. Those are some solid fucking wins he's got on his resume. But the ones that are the losses sort of tell you there might be an issue there, although two of them are to one person. So what I would say is at 31, he needs to do one of two things in this fight. One, come out with your exact same strengths, but let us know that they are very much as good, if not better, than they've ever been.

Or mix up the game by showing us that not that you can just stand with anyone you want. I think standing with Chris Dawkus with his hand speed and his aggression over time, probably not the best idea. You got to have variety. You got to mix. You got to mix. So if he can, if he can effectively mix here, that to me would be the right next step. Beating strikers the way you're supposed to be strikers is one thing, you know, but, but

can you, uh, but just by wrestling the whole time, I want to see a little more evolution. I just, I feel an imbalance in the losses, or maybe in some of the wins. The Volkov win is a strong win for him on his record, but he's also heavily criticized for how the second half of that fight went, that he sort of ran out of gas. So what I'm saying is I want to see him execute

at that well-rounded level. Sometimes he'll pick a lane, most often wrestling, and just stay down that. But Luke, do you think, and this is deep but you know he kind of turned on the promotion and was one of those early guys during that same time John Jones was making headlines about saying I want uh Deontay Wilder money and then suddenly you had I had him on my podcast during that time you've got Blades openly saying no we aren't paid well we aren't treated right and then Dana turned on him after that and it just so happened that Blades followed those comments uh you know and not his best performance so I feel like he just kind of got kind of set he kind of brought it upon himself

accidentally and then didn't really recover from that well although yet hey BC for all that criticism he's still only lost to two guys in impressive fashion. But I think he's got the skills to get there, Luke. You not only have to beat Dawkus, but you kind of have to dominate him, though, to make that announcement. A little bit. I mean, here's the thing. We saw how good he was for his late 20s, early 30-year-old push. That push told us he could beat most guys, but not the very best.

So if you want in your 30s for that to change, there has to be a clear demonstration of growth. Now, whether it's this fight or the next one or whenever is entirely up to him, we'll have to see. But that's sort of what's missing here. And by the way, this tells you exactly that, like, this fight was only made because this is who said yes and who was available. Curtis Blades is sitting at four. The people next to him are Taito Iwasa and Derek Lewis. His opponent is at, where is he? Chris Dawkus, number nine.

Four versus nine. You don't see that a lot. Usually there's one, maybe two differences in integer for the ranking. Here, basically, they're five spots apart. That's unusual, super unusual. So no one wants to fight Curtis Blades, who's already fought him, and they're around that area, I guess. Tied to Ivasa, they have other plans for whatever they're going to do.

He's a tough, tough ass. I mean, would you agree, though? In his career arc, he should have beat Derek Lewis. I know he ends up losing by knockout derrick lewis that was the moment it feel it felt like everything came together for him the momentum all that and i mentioned sort of falling on the skids with the company in hindsight did that break you know did that hurt him i don't know but he looked like he was ready then but maybe he had one more lesson to learn that's why you like the matchmaking here and um let's see if chriskins, who this would be a monster comeback win for him in terms of reputation and all that.

Let's see if he can put himself back in Tuivasa Aspinall territory again in terms of respect on his name, Luke, for his potential. Your co-main event, Joanne Wood, formerly Joanne Calderwood, taking on now Alexa Grasso. BC, Joanne Wood has lost three of her last four. Alexa Grasso has won three of her last four, including beating Macy Barber in her last contest. Love this fight. Love it. But this is a bit of a do or die fight for Joanne. Absolutely. And they're not doing her any favors, but at the same time, they're giving her opportunity to revive herself during this streak

of losing three or four and not going in the right direction. Luke, Grasso at this new weight class is very intriguing. She really is, because you wondered at first, could she have the same impact? But, you know, she's not a knockout puncher, but she can really let her hands go. She's a very clean boxer. How far away is she from being a completely well-rounded fighter, though, where you're like, OK, let's fit her for a title shot now? Yeah, I mean, I think that, as you indicated, her jab and her boxing has always been good.

That has stayed good. And I would say that her defensive fundamentals in terms of where she gets to and when she gets taken down or someone tries to take her down, not just that her takedown defense has improved, but knowing all the different steps of disengaging and understanding where you need to be in a fight, like putting the defense to good use with smart tactical decisions. It's not just stopping a takedown. There's actually a lot more that goes into it.

In that sense, I think she has shown tremendous growth. I still wonder, it's like, have you weaponized your ground game? That's the difference for me. And again, if you're Israel Adesanya, you can kind of get away with not weaponizing the parts of the game that aren't the forefront of it because the thing that is at the forefront is so dominant that you can kind of just get away with that. But if you're not Adesanya, you can't really get away with that, at least not as much. For me in this contest, and by the way, Alexa Grasso's sitting at 9, Joanne Wood's sitting at 7, so this one tells you it's a little bit more of a coordinated pairing.

This is a big opportunity for Alexa Grasso. It is. Lobo Gym, and if you guys haven't seen it, Danny Segura has a whole piece called, I think it's Las Mujeres de Globo Gym or the Las Mujeres of Globo Gym, whatever it's called. Lobo Gym, I'm saying Globo like a gym. Lobo Gym in Mexico. He's got a fantastic little documentary he put together for that.

You should go check that out um I mean this could be a if if this turns like it could go and drawing wood is tough and there's you know there's gonna be a fight but if Grasso can have like this could be her moment this could be her announcement moment in terms of that she legitimately is a future title contender here and obviously the the cupboard is so bare because Valentina is just, you know, just having her way. I mean, you know, what she did to Andrade. I mean, like, are you kidding me? I mean, you know, Valentina, just just just put it on. I mean, she just I mean, I mean, look, it was like crucifix with elbows to the face. I mean, it was like Tatiana Suarez, who, by the way, has a win over Grasso

is still the long term dark horse. Well, if she can get it back together and be healthy, let's see what she looks like. after that Luke it's not that there's names screaming at you of I want to see what it looks like when she faces Valentina so here's by any means so could Grasso get in that lane she's Luke you're not going to have a lot of time to build yourself is what I'm saying she's on a two-fight win streak yeah she's only 28 years old so maybe there's still time to grow but it's kind of now or never to make that move. It might be. I mean, here's the funny part about it. There are several people who she hasn't fought yet who are ranked far in front of her, but this is the funny part about it. So, Tyla Santos is the next title shot. Which I like. Which is a great one, but here's the

funny part. She's sitting at five in the rankings. You know, like they went to the fifth person. Well, they didn't have much of a choice. Number one, Andrade. We've already seen it. Chukagian, already seen it. Murphy, already seen it. Maya, already seen it. Which leaves Tyler Santos.

Now, after that, it's Vivian Arujao, who I think still has some work to do. That's a hell of a pronunciation. And then it's Joanne Wood. So here's my point, BC. If Grasso beats Wood and can take the seventh spot in the rankings, which is an if, but let's say she can do that, she would only be two spots behind the person who already is getting a title shot. You only have to make it to, like, number six at this point in your rankings to get a title shot because everyone else has already gotten it. When you're at this point and everyone else has already lost to Valentina at least once and dominantly as well,

you're one impressive win from just parachuting right in. And while that is weird because it's not fully democratic and tells you who's the most deserving, it's just sort of, oh, we haven't seen that person against there. You can find random success stories and random bits of magic. And maybe some of that might explain Juliana pena although her circumstance was different she'd been out a while for an injury but it does create that that mystery of what is still inevitable and that's valentina doing that dance luke at the end of it okay well was it better or worse than your dance at sanford mma yesterday you know josh gross on twitter called it an interpretive dance yeah i was interpreting violence josh okay you know i was i was bringing it

you know interpreting through my my it. Interpretating? Interpretating through my filter, my personal filter, through my soul, Luke. Show everyone that piss you're drinking. Let's show that to the camera. He's like, yo, I hit up Juan Manuel Marquez before the show. I was like, yo, urinate. Yeah, it's going to keep me healthy, Luke, for the travel. You know, that's the thing.

You piss drinking. I mean, this shirt makes me look spectacular and less washed. Less washed. But, you know, I also have to work's the thing. I mean, this shirt makes me look spectacular and less washed, less washed. But, you know, I also have to work on the body. Listen, I'm not going to say you look like someone abducted you and just dumped you on the curb this morning like me, but you're not much better. You look a little bit better. Who's speaking to me here? What do we got going on? I don't hear them. Are they talking to you back there?

Oh, he Mikey says the our producer, Mikey Mormyle, that's not what the chat says about my shirt. But you know how misogynist those people are, Luke, okay? Yeah, a lot of racist jokes in that chat. If we can clean that up, Mikey, if you can clean up aisle eight over there in the chat and just expel those folks, okay? Okay, so those are the two. Those are the main and the co-main.

Oops, on that card. In addition, there's some other interesting ones. One more I wanted to talk about. Askar Askarov taking on Kaikaro France. Dude. This might be the best fight on the card in terms of relevant, high-level pairings that have significant implications for the division.

Luke, you could argue that, and we're going to talk about it later in the show, but the title position in this division, there's two guys that are locked up and they're fighting each other a lot. You could argue that Askarov should be his title shot right now. Askarov sitting at two. I think he's already deserved it and earned it.

And he's got that draw with Moreno, right? Askarov that was exciting as shit that if anything proves how elite he is. But just look at his other performance. Luke, he's well-rounded and nasty. He's kind of weird looking too, Luke. And I say that in a nice way. He's kind of weird looking too Luke and I say that like in a in a nice way like he's like warrior Luke you know what I mean like he hasn't fought since March of 2021 when he beat Joseph Benavidez but prior to that he beat Pantoja Tim Elliott had the draw with

Moreno like he lives this life Luke he could play a character in a medieval movie he is undefeated overall so um a hell of a contest, Kaikara France was a guy. Remember, he was on the Ultimate Fighter when they did the flyweight season and didn't have his best showing there. But to me, he has really come around. Obviously, everyone is going to be remembering him from his big win over Cody Garbrandt. As I pull up his profile here on my effing phone or my thing. All right, but his last two wins,

Rogerio Bontorin after he lost to Brendan Royville. Although that was a ridiculous scrap for a long time. Look, they all are, aren't they? So this is the thing. No, seriously. They all fucking are. This division is fantastic. He loses to Moreno in 2019, which is like, okay, Moreno, we turned out to be who he was.

Beats Tyson Nam. Loses to Brendan Royville, but that was a ridiculous contest for as long as it lasted. And then rebounded against Rogerio Bontorin and then Cody Garbrandt in his last two fights. But you see, I've got to say, those two wins, to me, don't count on the level of what an Askarov win would mean. But that's precisely the point. He has put himself in a position to go get a win like that. I don't think you can downgrade the Cody experience at all. Even though we know where Cody Garbrandt is. I don't know about his chin at this level.

I know that we know that. But when you think about that size difference and the fact that Cody was still going to be a dangerous puncher for as long as that would go, I'm not trying to stand here and say what level of Cody this is, but name value mixed with, okay, if they're going to give you that guy, and if that guy, that name isn't that guy anymore, you better dispose of him. Luke, he had a you better dispose of him type performance out there, KK France.

I'm not sure if we looked at him as that type of guy. Or maybe we weren't looking close enough, Luke. Maybe we weren't watching that live cam on the inside of City Cock Boxing, Luke. You know what I'm talking about? Topic number three. We're just going to move on from there. That's your gym. That's your team, Luke. Yep. Alright.

Topic number three. Let's talk about some Bellator news. So it's actually a little bit sad. There's good parts and there's bad. So it's actually a little bit sad. There's good parts, there's bad parts. Let's start with the bad part, which has a different kind of good part. The bad part is, for Bellator London, it was supposed to be MVP fighting Yaroslav Amasov for the welterweight title. Great fight. Which was just an unbelievable fight, and a really difficult one for MVP.

He still has a difficult fight, but he's not going to take on Amosov. He instead is going to take on Logan Storley, who just had the biggest win of his career taking on Neiman Gracie, which is a great fight. If you haven't seen it, go check it out. And he gutted that out. He gutted that out. He really gutted it out. Speaking of Sanford MMA, that's where he's at.

So that's the good part. That will be for the interim Bellator welterweight championship, but we have seen it from these Ukrainian athletes, not just the fighters. There's tennis players who all went back. A lot of people who are of Ukrainian descent or Ukrainian nationals who may not live there or guys like who are boxers who kind of live in a lot of different places during the course of the year. They have all gone back to Ukraine to fight for it in this war with Russia. You could add Amosov to that list.

He is occupied with what is going on there. Much respect. So a ton of respect. BC, is this a better fight for MVP or a worse fight for MVP? Not that we're saying Storlie is equivalent to Amosov, although they were pretty goddamn close when they fought, but he is a little bit different. How does this change things for MVP?

It's a better fight for MVP. And obviously not by a ton because you saw when the current champion, Amosov, did fight Storlie and were we legit calling that one of the best fights in Bellator history I mean it wasn't Alvarez Chandler three round fights yes not fireworks on Alvarez Chandler level but but just a great fight super great fight so they're close but I think this is a better matchup style wise because for as much as Logan Storlie did gut out that win against Neiman Gracie and again full credit to him and dude we gave Gracie his props

in terms of the toughness and standing in there, but a guy who's not a huge striker did kind of piece up Sturley. I mean, he had to walk through it to get there. And couldn't go to his wrestling, which in this fight with MVP, now, of course, he has to get the takedown, but you would imagine get the takedown is going to be high on the list, something that was not available against Gracie. So I think Sturley in this last fight proved a lot to himself most importantly after that

performance before in the homecoming fight where he was the guy he beat you remember the the guy he just beat and he didn't look great he went the distance this is storley in the fight before oh i forget the name was in south dakota or whatever and you know he and he he looked i don't say bad but he looked bad Luke you know what I'm saying there was just there was a disconnect there did he repair that with that victory I think for himself yes but for us on the title level I think we still have a little I have a little bit of doubt I got a little bit of doubt like his upper bound limits to steal your word Logan Sterling is still as strong as ever. He redeemed that against Gracie, but he didn't close all the doors of questioning of exactly who he is. I'm not questioning his toughness, but is he as completely well-rounded and skilled as he'll need to be to be a champion? I think he can get there. I don't know if he's there right now, though, Luke, and that question

only enhances this matchup because MVP is not the guy to F with and this you know not not the guy to make a mistake against not the guy you'll walk into some shit it's still the same contrast in style though that the MSL fight broke the potential of which I like you want to see if MVP can win a fight despite the fact that his biggest weakness is his opponent's biggest strength that's still in play for MVP if Storlie can take him down and grind him into the dirt, Luke. And Logan Storlie is going to be in hostile territory here.

MVP pulls a decent crowd from the Bellator show, so that's going to be tough for him as well. I forgot Logan Storlie's from South Dakota, dude. So he's probably many times grabbed the boys, put on that lumberjack shirt that you wore with Cannibal Corpse that time, go down to Deadwood, hit the casinos, and just slay. Just clean up. All right.

Also, Sergio Pettis is out of the Bantamweight Tournament. We talked about this on CBS Sports HQ yesterday. Bellator still. I mean, it's. Okay, go ahead. Bellator. I mean, dude, I know you believe that every punchline deserves to be tweeted out and put in the Museum of Modern Assholes, but it doesn't. Most of your jokes are quite mediocre, too. It doesn't have to be like tweeted out and then put in the museum of modern assholes. But it doesn't.

Most of your jokes are quite mediocre too. It doesn't have to be an ace every serve. We can volley a little. You know what I mean? But I don't want to. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright, so Sergio Pettis pulls out of the Bantamweight tournament, which sucks because he was the champion. So whoever wins this, yes, you're going to get the million dollars. Yes, you're going to have to beat tough guys to do it, but you can't

technically say you're the undisputed champion of the world. You will have an interim title that they'll have to have about with with Sergio later in steps in one Archuleta who's already in a tournament and again they haven't made the bracket so they've been able to shuffle things around So we don't know who the replace who the altern is that's gonna get that's right We don't we don't have that name yet on how it's all gonna play out But we're gonna have Koji Horiguchi taking on patchy mix on that Hawaii card great card a Ralphie on Stotts is gonna take on one Archuleta for that interim title. So things are moving.

Don't get me wrong. They're moving. But it does suck to lose the champion in the tournament itself. It does. But there's elements in terms of saving face. And not that this is a save face situation. But in terms of being dealt with a setback, which it is with Pettis not being able to perform. And now he's out of the tournament.

And we're hearing some people say it could be a while that he's out. We don't know the exact injury. They've seemed to have kept that up to this point. Am I correct? They still haven't revealed that publicly? Yes, just that he's out for the year, but I don't know what that means. But there's some concern, you know, at least rumblings of, you know, if he's out for a year, that's a long time.

So that tilts the, like, do you want this fight to be an interim title fight? At first, I'm like, I don't know if it should be, but if he's going to be out a year, you just as easily could have said, this is the fight, but the winner of the tournament is the interim champion. Cause obviously that's what there'll be anyway. And the idea of the winner now gets the shot at the full title. I think it adds an unexpected cliffhanger. That's going to carry the story of this division a little bit longer and you get another big payday and again, BC all you're all about pro wrestling, but in terms of selling, I think it may help them long term but in the short term dude archuleta is hungry to prove um that he is still on this level despite being 37 and despite losing a competitive

but you know clear loss to sergio pettis yes but that was also the best performance of sergio pettis's career absolutely he had he that was the that was the fight where he leveled up and we talked you know juan was uh was on hq one archuleta when this broke what yesterday and you and i were of Sergio Pettis' career. Absolutely. That was the fight where he leveled up. Juan was on HQ, Juan Archuleta, when this broke, what, yesterday? And you and I were on set, and we heard Tommy Tran talking to him. And Juan says you're going to see a much different version of himself. And I think he needs to be, Luke. Juan Archuleta, to get to that next, next level,

you say he was already the champion. He was. But to get to the next level where you're a defending consistent and you develop a title reign, Luke, he does need to add wrinkles to that game. I agree with that. So we'll have to see. And it may not matter because Rafael Stantec is coming up. Yeah, he might just be the champion when it's all said and done anyway. So we'll have to see how that goes. Gegard Mousasi has a title fight lined up. I've been talking about this dude. I've been trying to warn everyone. Now, I still don't know if this might be a bit too much too soon for him to be quite candid with you. However, one of the most unheralded middleweights

in all of MMA is this guy, Johnny Ebelin, out of American Top Team. He's undefeated in Bellator, and he is very good. Just beat John Salter. So in June, he is going to have the biggest fight of his career by a million miles when he takes on Gegard Mousasi. He called him out, Johnny Ebelin did, after his win over Salter. Listen, in terms of the ranking position, who else was there, Bellator doesn't have much of a choice in who they can give this belt to. I mean, they have the choice, but the ones that are available, the best one is Johnny Ebelin, who I think is very, very talented, but he barely has 10 or 11 or 12 fights. I mean, the gap in experience between Ebelin and Mousasi is a the grand canyon uh bc i was wrong about vanderford so i don't want to on the moose uh here if it by saying

incorrect things i like eblin's wrestling and i like what he can do with it but in a five round contest against giggard musasi is this too much too soon there's been a trend lately in bellator where the young fighters that are coming into these big almost crossroad matchups and this is a title fight but it's also in some ways potentially crossroads matchup on paper is the the the young have been eating the old you're seeing vadim nemkov you're seeing yaroslav amosov you know juliana velasquez absolutely and it's true uh juliana velasquez on the on the women in Bellator. Like, when that person's coming on, they've been coming through and breaking through. So it may just be that for Johnny Eplund.

But he needs to, though. He needs to show us that he's got that next level gear. So it's going to be a big mountain to climb. But, Luke, his foundation. Like, it took me a while to realize how good he actually is. And that last performance, I think, was the one for a lot of us who weren't up on it early enough of oh shit oh yeah okay he seemed you know because he he seems to be not only does he seem like he's been to plenty like country rock um country music like festivals and shit i mean he's like it looks like he's about that life luke you know what i mean

has he been to floribama i'm gonna guess you ever been to floribama uh i've been to the redneck riviera luke biloxi mississippi that area that? I've been to the Redneck Riviera, Luke. Biloxi, Mississippi, that area. That's what they call it, the Redneck Riviera. I thought Daytona was the Redneck Riviera. I think a lot of people are stealing a little bit of that label than that whole greater area, Luke. It's like every mediocre public college is like,

we're the Ivy League of whatever state they're in. There's only one Harvard, Luke. You know what I mean? There's only one. Anyway, they're going to fight. And then last but not least, Bellator is going to go back to Dublin in the spring. And also, it was announced. I don't know if it's the same night as that loaded main card for Bellator in Hawaii coming up.

I don't know if it's the day before because they haven't announced that Friday card yet. But what Bellator did announce is in Hawaii on that trip, at least it's um juliana velasquez defending her title against liz carmoo yes so that is um an interesting fight because carmoo and velasquez just wanted off of iliana mcfarland so but but but it was a breakthrough win you know what i mean it was you know it was like oh okay she's she's legit and carmoo i wouldn't i was not as high on two fights ago or three fights ago. But was it Kata Watanabe that she gave it to? And she gave it to her, Luke.

And it's like, oh, that next gear is there? I don't want to say it's back, Luke, because she's always been wrestle first. Always a gorilla goes after it, okay? She didn't go after it in the Shevchenko rematch. I mean, not at all. And it's one of those cardinal sins that you're like, I'm going to hold it against her now moving forward. Okay, she won something back with Watanabe.

She also won a title shot, Luke. It's going to be an interesting fight, and it seems to just be another gem added to that card, Luke. Fair enough. All right, let's move on to boxing. On Showtime this weekend, BC. On Showtime this weekend. We tell you all, Showtime.com.

30-day free trial. If you want, you can get it. You can get BC. You can get a lot of things. The price is amazing 30 Yeah Free 99

One of my favorite things Is shoplifting Tim Zhu Versus Terrell Gaucher BC Very quickly For MMA fans Who might be interested in this

Because you've been high on Tim Zhu You got me interested At a bare minimum Give me the best way To understand this fight How should we think about Tim Zhu Terrell Gaucher

It's a US debut for Tim Zhu, Tyrell Gauchet? It's a U.S. debut for Tim Zhu, but at the same time, it's a debut test of are you as a lead as you have looked domestically. Everything that Tim Zhu has already accomplished in Australia is impressive. Selling out stadiums. He's been in seven pay-per-view fights already. He's beaten the domestic heroes like Jeff Horn and Dennis Hogan, but he's done it by knockout.

I mean, it's not that— His most impressive win to date? Probably Jeff Horn. Okay, who beat Pacquiao once in a long time. And he was stopping these guys. And not every fight in Tim Zou's rise has been inspiring. There's been some slower decision wins, but Luke, his poise is next level and maybe that's automatic but not always

automatic when you're the son of a hall of famer and his data cost you zoo uh born in russia came to life in australia um he was 140 undisputed champion he was a boxer who can also punch do i see in tim already luke exact cost Jr.? No, he's a different fighter. He's more of a thoughtful boxer. Heavy jab, great hooks to the body, but he's a different kind of fighter. But at least in the intangible so far of poise, confidence, and I think IQ is what he's shown so far. He might be the real.

And why this matchup is good is Terrell Gauthier has been a perfect I don't want to say damage good it's just I get that when you read boxing previews about him because again I'm sort of I've seen a few of his I mean damage goods is in play I just think it's a little too harsh because look he's been to the title level before he fought um Erislandy Lara so Gauthier is a 2012 Olympian he's you know he's got the background he's got the real background but when he finally got to the title level against Arislandi Lara, it was a boring, lifeless performance he lost. And he did lose a subsequent decision to Erickson Lubin,

which is one of Lubin's biggest wins because he outboxed him and really brought it to him. But Gauthier is not only a tough out, his last fight against Jermonte Clark, who's big and long and was a prospect, I mean, he knocked him the hell out in the second round. And Gauthier had another comeback fight a couple before that against joey hernandez and he knocked that dude the hell out in round one so what it shows you is that gauche is better than he's been able to perform particularly when he steps up is that jamonte clark just another fool's gold okay he should be beating that guy but oh he did knock the hell out of him

like is gauche coming on at this age and figuring out how great he can be it's why he's the perfect test for Zhu at this point because Gaucher may have more left than we think or he may have less than left you know what I mean like it's one of those situations where it's not so much what does he have left it's can he activate himself to a next level can he own this fight and not just be the counter puncher can he own it that's why we're going to need an inspired performance out of him but he's the perfect text gauche to find out if zoo is for real because um all the big names at 154 and it's great deep division it's it's you know because brian castagno and jermell charlo for all four belts the rematch coming up but there's a lot of other erickson lubin i mean where the hell is jared heard there's a lot of other names um

zoo's got to be in the pbc showtime universe to get those names and that's something we did talk about with him when we had him in the studio luke so let's um you know him making his u.s debut is is huge but it's also on showtime which is huge not just the connection to his dad having fought some of his biggest fights there but you got to kind of be in the showtime universe if you want to fight all these big names uh let's hear what tim zoo had to say about this now look i think um we've got a good relationship working with pvc showtime so you know i think there's plenty of um there's a there's definitely a future ahead and um at the moment i'm buzzing from all of this stuff man being in america and having my first spot here in America the other day was just incredible you know it's pretty cool and you know for me it's like a new chapter and a new beginning and yeah I'm sure

there's going to be plenty more years ahead so Luke when we talked to him and we and you asked him a great question what are your goals what's what's a perfect ending in 2022 if you beat Gautier and you prove that this is just another step on your journey and you know he did like that well I'll smash anybody you put in front of me and tough guy stuff and it's cool and he would and I believe that but he's got to believe and hope that even though if Erickson Lubin beats Sebastian Fandora he'll have a claim at wanting the champion next maybe Tim's who's the perfect next opponent for the winner of Jermell Charlo Brian Castagagno, to get a four-belt champion, and let's put him in against the guy who has next.

Is it more likely, knowing boxing and how it works, that we're going to have to wait a few fights for that to happen, even if Zu is the goods? Yes, you will. What do you want to see from Tim? What's your take? Because I'm high on him, because I don't think he's a potential great white hope next name

from overseas that really isn't the real deal he's there's there's stuff leaking out of the side of him Luke and they've tested the fluid and it's real I mean he has he has the you know remember in episode one the Phantom Menace you know they checked his you know mitochondria mitochondria I mean there's it's strong it's the force is strong in this one do you feel that um I don't know I don't know like you have kind of made me want to feel that way, which seems like a reasonable thing to get excited about for all the reasons you have articulated. I guess I don't think of it in terms of like, what do I want to see? Right. I mean,

I want to see the guy who deserved to win win. That's it. The sport is too difficult to root for anything else. But if Tim Zhu is who you say he is or could be, I would like to see evidence of that this time. Something about it. You don't have to stop Tyrell Gauchet, but if you really want to make an impact in this market, as you smirk, what are you smirking for? No.

Okay. But don't you agree? If you want to make an impact in this market, yes, of course, a win is the most important. And even a noteworthy loss in some ways could be not the worst thing in the world i would really like to see evidence of what he thinks he can be in this i mean a stoppage would be a big statement it would be a big statement and if what he's saying is true and we don't know the you know even when we had steven espinoza here we asked him you know he's got big interest in zoo we don't know the how many fight contract are there

options on it but it looks like he's ready to stay in this universe and he knows he's got to come to the u.s and fight these names to to become the champion of this division and take it over, and he seems willing for. This is very exciting, Luke. So just to put things in perspective, so he is the son of Koshizu, but I didn't realize, Luke, until doing a little bit more research, that they're cordial and it's positive, but they're not all that close at the moment, father and son.

Koshizu doesn't go to the fights, and some of that is because after Kostya Zou retired, he left behind his three children and wife and moved back to his native Russia and started a new family, and I'm sure there's difficulties that come off of that. But it's really the trainer. So Tim Zou's trainer is also his brother Nikita's trainer. It's their uncle as well.

His name is Igor Gol golibev and that guy is sort of um i'm finding out you know sort of the unsung hero in in a big part of why tim is this good so um tim but tim you know he also was around his dad when he was younger at all at the second half of his career and when you just get that osmosis it just does something to you and that's uh you know we have one more piece of sound where we're talking to tim zoon about you know what did you take from your dad oh that's uh easy man uh simple um discipline discipline uh it taught me discipline and um you know to to always be a training session no matter if you're sore or tired uh you gotta to work hard for all your goals. That's what I do.

So we're going to find out. It's good theater, Luke. It's pretty damn good theater. Saturday night. 9 p.m. Real-time championship boxing. It's a good card. We'll get into it on Friday.

There's a good co-main and opener as well worth watching, definitely. But it's time to find out if this guy's for real. So right opponent, right time. Let's do it. Let's do it. I'm firing up. All right. Last but not least, Devin Haney has offered, well, okay.

I don't know what this. So it looks like Vasily Lomachenko is out of the fight. And now there is a possibility of making the Haney-Cambosas fight June 5th in Melbourne, Australia. What is the holdup? No, it looks like it's going to happen. So George Cambosas upset Teofimo Lopez is the multi-belt champion at the moment. Was linked to a bunch of different dance partners.

It was going to be Vasily Lomachenko, and that would have been a great fight. I mean, just a great fight, but we know what's going on in Ukraine with Lomachenko. And although it seems that maybe Alexander Usyk is going to potentially fight Anthony Joshua in a summer rematch, it's heating up there. It looks like Lomachenko is not going to be ready or willing at this moment, which is off power to him. But Devin Haney as a replacement,

it's not as exciting in terms of the fight's potential to be a thriller, but it's just as important in us needing the big names to fight each other. So even though Cambosis isn't originally part of those big names at 135 with Tank and Ryan Garcia and Teofimo, he crashed that party, Luke. So we need answers. At least two of the best are fighting each other. And Cambosis is the most decorated at the moment in terms of royalty and hierarchy and how many belts he has. He's the king of the moment um let's find out if Haney is for real but if Haney is for real it may be a long boring decision and that

just may be the way it is Luke okay fair enough I don't have super high level of interest in this right now is it because Haney hasn't doesn't always thrill you even though you know he's the goods or do you not yeah you know what technically yes yes a little bit are you still not sure he's like really the good though he's quite good I don't know how good but there's a difference between failing or being unwilling to entertain with your style and being fucking great you know I mean there's a there's that could be a gap you know I mostly just don't care about the stories what I'm trying to say yeah yeah or or or improv comedy or friendship really if your friendship well you know I am the Osama bin Laden of this friendship though you Yeah, or improv comedy. Or improv. Or friendship, really. Or friendship, or really anything.

Yeah, well, you know, I am the Osama bin Laden of this friendship, though. You really are. Yeah, thank you. I don't take that as a badge of honor, you know. Loved him in Hot Shots Part Deux. That was a great flick. You know, I've never seen that. It's great.

It's good. I saw it in the theater, dude. That was my shit back then, okay? What was the other one? Robin Hood. Prince of Thieves? No, but wasn't there like a spoof? Yeah, yeah. What do you... dude that was my back then okay what was the other one robin hood uh prince of thieves no but wasn't it like a wasn't it like a spoof yeah yeah what do you mean yes that's funny you know we think about it get it men in tights how about our producers right there with it right there with it

yeah yeah getting our back they like us here at cbs i'm ready to go home they like us here okay i mean we are like the redneck uncle that walks into the wedding. Yeah, we definitely are. Yeah, like there's no question about that, but I think they like us. They told Brian one arm's distance at all times that you had to keep. You want to drive home with fansubs right now, Luke? We could drive home with fansubs. Okay, here we go.

Here we go. Where am I looking at? Morningcombat at gmail.com is your email address for Friday's Dead Wrongs. And, of course, Wednesday when you send in the pics of yourself wearing our merch and just a shameless, you know, pat of each other on the back and just a real love fest, you know, between us and the viewers. It's called Fan Submissions. Fan Submissions.

We've got mail. Okay. Luke, this one's from Adam. He says, One last meme after listening to Luke's unhinged rant about Starbucks in Las Vegas. A city that has a restaurant on every corner, all which serve black coffee, and Luke chooses to put himself in Starbucks. I'm realizing...

Dude, these people could not be fucking dumber in their lives. I'm realizing Luke might suffer in a world of his own creation. Do you hear these people, dude? Do you hear these people? The last time we went to Vegas, first of all, there was a worker shortage. Half of the shit was closed. Number one, does this motherfucker have any concept of what he's talking about? I think you work with me in the same. I think he might have nailed that, though. He might like he jumped on you. You're just like, look, was it was it a charge? That's what you're saying. You're

just like, look, I'm saying I'm saying I'm saying, dude, it's not that I present Starbucks to be like the world's best coffee or anything like that. But, dude, if you are working on the strip because you have to be there for all the events and everything else, it is not even remotely realistic to say that you're going to go and walk to various restaurants, which are not fucking open in certain cases, or at least they weren't when I was there last time. Or are you just going to sit down at a fucking restaurant? Yeah, but it's also you saying I just hate people And today, Starbucks is my vehicle to let you know that. No, there's absolutely an element of truth to this.

But here's the point I'm trying to make, dude. I could get on fucking social media and say 2 plus 2 is 4. And there is someone out there who's going to be like, well, I read on clownpenis.fart that that's not the case at all. And Luke's just in a world of his own creation. That's a great website, though. It's like, dude, you guys have no fucking idea what you are talking about. You don't live our lives.

You don't know our work schedule. You don't know what it's like. And yet you want have no fucking idea what you are talking about. You don't live our lives. You don't know our work schedule. You don't know what it's like. And yet you want to tell me how I've lived. I've been on this earth for 42 years, motherfucker, and I'm doing all right at it. Maybe give me the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, Dad. All right. You know?

You can go to restaurants. Yeah. Tell the world, Luke. You're not going to take it anymore, right? Yes. I'll go to Gonzalez y Gonzalez. I'm sure the coffee there will just blow my fucking mind. I'm sure.

What do you want to do with your life? It doesn't open until five in the afternoon. But yes, thank you for these wonderful suggestions that could not have occurred to anyone other than those who have a mammalian brain. Thank you. Very helpful. Very helpful. Thank you.

Thank you. What would we do without these helpful suggestions? You should go to a different place. Oh. Oh, I should. I should go to some other location. I never thought of that. Got any piss I can drink?

Yeah. You know, I realized death metal is just therapy for troubled people. No, it's just these people write you thinking they've got life figured out. Meanwhile, you know, they don't have the slightest fucking... They're behind on their mortgage, probably. But because they're lazy, not because they're broke. I mean, Jam Band is just a more granola version of the same thing. These people have no concept of anyone else's life

issuing these grand edicts about how it could be so different. Aren't those people the worst? Shut the fuck up. You don't know him? I don't know him? Shut the fuck up. You don't know him? I don't know him. Shut the fuck up. I don't want to know him. Completely untrue.

Bears no resemblance to reality whatsoever. Hey, Saul's here. Better call Saul. My wife was invited to be a vendor. Let's get this. My wife was invited to be a vendor for a local spring fling event for her charcuterie business, and I couldn't be more proud of her i wore my mk sweater and had people ask if i worked at or owned worked at or owned morning combat it's an interesting name not only did they say but we sold charcuterie boxes in a raffle

and i told everybody that asked about the show that when it comes on where it's available and to subscribe to get the best fight coverage and humor related to all things combat sports mk all day every day, including when my wife has an event. Yes, Luke. Okay, BC, don't look. That's my guy right there, Saul. Don't look.

Don't look. Spell charcuterie. No. Luke, what you don't know about me is I was the fifth grade town spelling bee champion. Yeah, but you were in a town where people just marry their cousins. I finished 14th in the state tournament, Luke, okay? All right, take that. That's not impressive.

Also, I don't think I can spell it either. From my town, Luke, okay? People don't come out of my town, right? You know what's funny? Actually, our mutual boss, the one I had never met, but BC had known him for some years, like BC went to the bathroom and I was like, how bad is Naugatuck? He's like, oh, it's a town i was like how bad is nogatuck he's like oh it's a it's it's it's a town it's a town's what he said i was like we wear that shit like a badge on our

sleeve luke okay all right spell restaurant thank you sol and thank you to your wife okay sol's been a deep supporter of our merch yes he makes it part of his lifestyle that's all we ask yeah yeah man okay damn jp says um mk superfan from nova scotia again here vacationing live from the riviera maya mexico first trip anywhere since before the pandemic i paid for the wi-fi upgrade down to the beach so i could stream that youtube look at that while having 10 a.m beverages with the bali beds no worries about poor cable management in this case, but big thanks to Luke in B.C. and the hard-working staff on the other side of the cameras.

MK all day, no matter where, every day. Even from Mount Yunaki, Nova Scotia, Canada, it's JP. Yes. Yes. I like that guy, Luke. That's a beautiful shot. I bet you he's French-Canadian like me. I bet you that.

I wish I was on that beach. Yeah. Where are you from in Jamaica? By that beach. Boy. Luke, let's go over to Dima. You're worse. You're worse.

I've decided you're worse than Osama bin Laden. Hi, guys. My name is Dima. I'm a longtime donk from way back. Recently on the show, I heard the guys playing with the idea of coming to Phoenix for the upcoming event. I'd love to invite you to broadcast from our property for this event. I think he's talking about the May 7th UFC pay-per-view, Luke, that stacked one. No, is this the Heaven's Gate cult?

Are we going to have to wear Nikes? What are we doing? His wife, who, by the way, from Bristol, Connecticut, that's my territory, and him, they run a 4,000-square-foot arts enclave in Midtown Phoenix. He's enclosed some photos so we can get the idea. If this is something we'd be interested in. Luke, this is like an open-air market, Luke. First of all, raise your hand if you're interested.

Yeah. Hand in the air. Plenty of legal Delta A and greens of all sorts. Also, there's an on-site tattoo artist that specializes in American traditional, too. Which is one of my favorites if either of the guys was to book wants to book some ink tattoo Paul ski They call him check him out. I was rocking some merch 1.0 at our event The only fee we would ask holy shit Luke is a piece of Brian's art to display at hive on the 16th This mean you're gonna like just jack off on the napkin or hand it to him

You're gonna ruin this moment? Welcome to my world, Brian! These are artists recognizing art and saying, broadcast your pay-per-view show from our enclave. Yeah, but you know what? If I visited the zoo and could get a finger painting from Coco the gorilla, I would as well. But that doesn't mean Coco the gorilla's finger painting is good. Coco would smear that shit all over the place. Yeah was like half BC. Yeah, blue finger paint, you know, what's good? What's your message here Coco? Thank you Nana for the look. I think it Wow, you know

We are the mystics of MMA would you say the Washington? Yeah Hey, they won the WNBA a couple years ago or whatever it was. Yeah, there's some tough women, Luke, okay? Yeah. Right? I don't even know what you're saying. I don't know anyone does. You ever study abroad? Here we go.

Here we go with the dad jokes. Study her. I barely met her. And then he'll walk out of here like Michigan J-Frog, like it's a fucking slam dunk. All right, let's go back to this, Luke. Adam says, good day, dongs. More questioning about how I can get coffee in Las Vegas?

There's a lot of Adams in our fan base. On Monday's show, Luke committed the cardinal sin of shit-talking friends. He got, and I think this is the medical term, quote, butt hurt by BC and the crew a bit. As Luke should know, in the world of dishing shit-talking, you must be willing to accept shit-talking in return. I accepted it. I didn't fight. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Back up a step. Where did I fight you on it? You did reveal over dinner last night, true or false? That I wanted to kill you. Yes, I did want to kill you. That's true. You could see it on my face. This is not some grand revelation.

When we ran the Hasselhoff video, you said that you considered quitting. I almost walked off the show. It's true. I thought about it. For a second, it went through my mind. You remember when Pedro Martinez was like... Careful what you do. Like Jorge playing the knockout game,

I might play the knockout game with you as well. It's a real thing. If I could turn that into an RNC, if I could do that... Which you can't. But here's the thing. I didn't complain about it on air. I let you have it.

What's the problem? I'm looking at you, Def. Don't look at me. Look at me. You're talking to Adam. You're not talking to me. I'm talking to air. I let you have it. What's the problem? I'm looking at you. Don't look at me. Look at me. You're talking to Adam. You're not talking to me. But I'm talking to you. I let you have it.

I didn't in any way object to it on air other than to call you a fuckhead, which fine. I mean, that's some cardinal sin. So you thought it was like when Scottie Pippen dunked on you in that time and then he stood over him and like pointed down at him. You thought it was too much gender reflecting back to the- I think that there are certain things you ask me not to talk about on air and I respect that because I'm your friend and you don't give a fuck about that,

I think. That is not true. That is exactly true. You don't give a shit at all, dude. You expect people to censor themselves on your behalf and then here comes neon sign banging the fucking drum,

walking in the room, it's all about me, Campbell. You don't think there's lines or limits. I think that if you respect a friend and he told you that this bothered him, you wouldn't do that on air. No. And I don't think you care about those limits. I don't think you understand a friend and he told you that this bothered him, you wouldn't do that on air. No, and I don't think you care about those limits.

I don't think you understand that at all. It's why you keep bringing up someone deceased in our production crew's family, and they keep asking you to shut the fuck up about it. I mean, that's not. No, it's not. You think that there are no limits, that if it's funny to you, everyone should find you amusing. Motherfucker, not everyone finds you amusing at all times. I find you amusing most of the time, but sometimes I want to fucking strangle you.

And I bet your wife is the same too, bitch. We know you better than anybody. What are the odds that these meetings we supposedly came for are just a pre-planned intervention? I mean, they would have fired you when you got here if that was the... But this thing, like, I complained on air. I didn't complain on air.

I didn't complain one time. I let you have it. All right, well, this guy's got a long paragraph about how you've had so many infamous technical difficulties that you should understand the jokes. I don't think people should tell me how I should understand challenges in my life. That's what I think. He was very rude. I'm glad I didn't read that. Yeah, you should not read that.

Thank you. That's my friend. That's my quarterback. Well, I don't know about that. Only I get to dunk on him, not you. Yeah, that's right right but no they can dunk on me too if it's deserved but if you insulted me on air and i let it go and didn't say anything other than call you a head some kind of like i was supposed to stand up and like just amazing i'm not going to do that but i let you have your i let you have it okay mister played safe okay afraid to fly is it ironic that the colby jorge thing happened

the same trip that that the that the crevice is forming between i haven't played the knockout game with you yet so it's not i would i would wait for the parallels there's a crack but the ship still got a rudder you know yes i mean i don't care right now but i wanted to fucking kill you on monday yeah sorry look i'm all i can say i don't believe that you are i don't believe i don't believe a word of that i believe a word of that i will create more productive boundaries between art and fun here's the thing and bad taste when you put your life out in public the problem with it is people will take it and they will see it in their own way based on all the different circumstances of their own life and how it looks on camera. And then they will decide what your

life is actually like and what is happening. But there's a massive gap between them. People think that because I've had many technical difficulties, I should just be kind of accepting of this. But I'm not going to say anything more about it, but that's not the way that I look at it. It's a significant problem and it speaks to actually some larger issues that I have and that's why I call I'm not trying to try that's why it causes me a lot of stress and a lot of heartache and then for you to pile on it on Monday you're right you're maybe want to fucking kill I was wrong you weren't wrong it's just Luke I'm not doing a bit I'm sorry you don't have don't have to be... I'm not asking for your apology.

I'm not asking for your apology. But just don't get bitter at me because I didn't laugh at it. That's all I'm saying. I'm not going to laugh at it. I'm not trying to hover a trigger point. I'm not trying to do that, Luke. It's not... Okay.

No, I mean that with love and respect, okay? All right. I appreciate it. We'll see how long that lasts. Man, when did this show turn into Maury? You are the father. Oh, man. When did this show turn into Maury? You know? You are the father. All right.

Okay. Danger Mouse again. Hopefully you're not coming at Luke. Probably. Like Adam was. They all are. They always do. Two plus two is four. Well, who the fuck you think you are?

You don't know math. Okay. What is that? You don't know math. Okay. BC, this could be comedy, says Danger Mouse. It just depends if the production team does their usual thing. Hey, production team, just because I can't see you doesn't mean you're safe. Stop spoiling my punchlines. Seriously, though, I just want to say a huge thanks to the MK team, production included.

Last week, I wasn't even sure any of my stuff would be shown because there were so many great fan subs then you announced you've made merch from one of mine and are sending me some of it it really made my day so thank you very much i am to teach you a yorkshire word bc well chuffed that means happy round our way well chuffed I'd Bob Kraft's place is not far from here Luke okay you know if you're looking to get well chuffed I actually sent in a wrong meme last week that was the question the chat room wanted to know also is this still from him oh here we go here we go yeah Luke's dilemma I look that's it's like the ending to the movie remember Macaulay Culkin was in that movie with Elijah Wood where the mom had to hold the two sons, one in each arm, over the cliff and decide.

The good son, thank you. See, these people are quick, man. That wasn't Mikey. Mikey don't know that shit. I think Mikey's high. That was Jason. Yes, I'm talking about CBS. Yo, CBS making a comeback this week.

I looked over at Mikey. He's just drooling. Wow. The dilemma is bc and ariel who wins an mma fight wow luke wow wow i don't remember this did i haven't again maybe someone i think ariel challenged us to a two-on-two basketball game on the show i think he did yes which i'd be happy to take under one condition i'm going to be bill lambert in that your exact text to me it will be nothing but forearm shivers and liver shots.

So I guess Ariel on the MMA Hour was saying he's got a... He's a director, producer. One of the guys that works for him. Yeah. And the guy sounded like he was young and long and lean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't want no ringer. And the best way to offset that on a small court

is for you to go full on Bill Lambert. Wow. Just... They're going to have to... Don't give me a reason to get in shape, Ariel. Do you need one? You don't think I'm willing to do

Canada on Canada crime, knowing where my people come from, you know? Quebec, you know what I'm saying? Quebec? Yeah. I can't make that joke. We put the special K in Quebec, alright? Yes. Alright. Danger Mouse, thank you. I can't make that joke. We put the special K in K-Back, all right? Yes. All right.

Danger Mouse, thank you. And do you have any more memes? Or is that it for Danger Mouse? I want to respect this guy. So Danger Mouse, if you don't know, created the Pornhub-inspired logo of MK that our merch maven, RJ, is like, you know what?

I bet you your listeners are even grosser than I think they are. Let's make a shirt of this. RJ was like, yo, you know what's a good idea? An idea I can steal. That one. He's like, your fans love porn. I know it.

I know they do. I've watched a lot of pornography on this show. See, you're upset that I violated the sacred trust of our of our lines of good decency you sat down and just shit your pants i had to upgrade the phone plan because i needed more gigabits but you see you have no idea how violent the pornography was last night that was i'm gonna get that away from me get it away i don't want that well you know what maybe you had it coming when i dunked on you maybe and i'm sorry about i'm sorry luke i'm. I don't want that. You know what? Maybe you had it coming when I dunked on you. Maybe. And I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry, Luke.

I'm sorry. I don't think you're very sorry. Why do I have to be Colby? Why? Why can't I be Jorge, Luke? Because you're not a street goon, in the words of Jorge Masvidal. You're just a regular dad. I don't want to be Colby in this equation.

None of us want to be either of them. But here we are. All right. Any more from Danger Mouse? Or no? What do you guys got? What do you got? What do you got, Sean? Okay, let's go move on to Jason here.

We have photographic evidence of BC at the top of the mountain driving his flag into the dirt and screaming at the top of his lungs, Kevin Lee will be a future MMA champion. You know what? I can't hate. I was at the top of that hill, too. Yeah. I do look good in that drug rug right there, though.

Available on the morningcombat.store merch place. Damn right, RJ. And last in that drug rug right there, though. Available on the morningcombat.store merch place. Damn right, RJ. And last but certainly not least, LT, I believe you need a solution during each segment to get BC to start wrapping up his art. In my last fan sub, there was a Chappelle show meme, and BC expressed his love for the show, so I figured I'd put Luke in a meme that would resonate with him

after BC speaks for about 10 seconds. Brian, wrap it up. That's pretty funny. Okay, wrap that shit up. You need more than 10 seconds to talk. Finally, Matt says, if there was a Hall of Fame for MMA podcasts, episode 277 of Morning Combat would be inducted immediately.

Is that the Wheel of Death slash Encanto slash I think so. Jake von Amsterdam piece of business that we put out there that we executed bitch Oh I had to make this in honor of Luke's ensemble performance We don't talk about Bruno this guy also dubbed

I like Luke or this guy also dubbed Luke singing over the Encanto video, but we can't show it because of rights Yeah, that is OK. You got to send me that. That's really well done. So, Lukito, this is your this is your these aren't your in-laws. These are your people. These are me. Well, you know, Americans are me.

But this is my. I like the guy holding the yellow umbrella the best. He looks like Poppy, right? He's the Poppy. Let's see if I can name them left to right. All right, here we go. Luisa, Isabella, Abuela, Mirabel. The little boy is Antonio.

The guy holding the umbrella is Felix. What about the priest behind him? Hold on, hold on, hold on. Bruno has the ruana, which is like the poncho he's wearing. In the back is Peppa, holding behind, between Felix and the other. No, that's not right. It's the shape-shifting kid. Fuck, I can't name them all.

So what did Bruno do that we can't talk about him? Is he like a dirtbag uncle? No. So Bruno would have these visions, and he wasn't making things happen. He would just see into the future. And every time he saw into the future, when someone asked him, he would see something negative. Like they would, you know, your plant will die.

It'll rain on your wedding day. And then they would blame Bruno for having that thing. And he gets one vision that the magic. He's like, I'm just a medium. And the magic that brings all this together was going to fade. And it could have been the fault of Mirabelle. But to protect her, he hid it away. Fuck Mirabelle.

Well, no, he was trying to protect his cousin. Did he have a love interest in this movie? Bruno? Yeah. Rats. So he's an absolute dirt hole. Yeah, he's Phil. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. I was about to support him. I was like, I bet you saved my time. No, he's a good dude. But he was living with the rats, you know, so. Phil. Yeah, yeah, okay. I was about to support him. I was like, I bet you saved my time. No, he's a good dude, but he was living with the rats, you know, so. Yeah, okay. That's your Morning Combat fan submissions. Thank you.

MorningCombat at gmail.com is the home for all that type of shit. Luke, do you have anything else you want to talk about? You know what? If you have any other grievances to air, now would be the time. I don't have any grievances to air. I'm good. Would you like me to make a jesus christ joke you love those luke can you can you really take it as good as you give it luke can you uh i do my best at it which i'm sure is imperfect but but like this this is what i'm talking about

like this guy complaining like i didn't just go, BC, I mean, there should be an Oscar for this. Your enemy is Adam. It's not me. I've got to try to protect this relationship. I'm just pointing out, I let you have it. If that's not okay, I'm not sure what's supposed to be. It's a lot of phony concerns about whether or not I'm accepting of it.

Put it that way. I don't know what happens next episode. Fighting and fucking. The Thomas family. Explained. No one has been worse in the studio than us right now. I just want to point that out. There's never been a show worse than this one here.

We have really taken it to the bottom of the barrel. Just wanted to point that out. I want to get to a level of irrational professional confidence, Luke, where, you know, where I just, what's that term, supernova? I just explode on the way out. I think that's called E-J-A-C. I wasn't saying that, I wasn't saying that. I was more, you know.

I didn't say the word. I put four letters together. You inferred. Would you rather burn out or fade away? Well, you're already a burn out. Yeah. I mean, I'm like dangerously on the border of both. I don't know. Oh, we should tell the folks what we're doing today.

We're going to have some. I won't tell them too much, right? Because we've got to keep it a secret. But. Oh, Mike, he's like, don't tell them that shit. Oh tell oh actually he's saying don't tell folks so we cannot we cannot tell you what we're doing so there you go adam he's looking for you but i understand you adam i understand you all right mikey did i just blow up all your plans okay okay good um yeah why don't why don't you take us out of here oh uh well i can do that so so Brian did you have a good time in Miami

in Fort Lauderdale yeah FTL was it was you had a good run here I'm exhausted but we had a good run my cab driver who picked me up well not Mike my car driver who picked me up from the airport he was from I noticed he was riding me and his English was a little bit messed up but I could tell he obviously was he was didn't hold that against him? No, I didn't. But I responded to him in Spanish and he was like, oh, this is great. And then he got in the car and proceeded to talk to me endlessly about everything in Miami while dropping me off at the wrong-

He's like, I know what you're into. I know it. While dropping me off at the wrong hotel. But you know what he told me in Spanish? This is what he told me in Spanish? This is what he told me. He said, South Americans like to vacation in Miami. Gringos like to vacation in Fort Lauderdale. Do you think that's true? It seems quite true.

That's real recognizing real right there. I think that's what that is. That's like a magnet, just attraction. El barrito. The law of attraction, you know? Mikey, not. Was that a true statement that went my car? It is?

Okay. I thought he was kind of being a little bit racist but there you go no that that guy knows how it gets done in this area luke okay that guy's your your spirit guide he's your shaman into all things full-time lbb lifestyle in south florida could you cut it here you couldn't you couldn't last here what was this the mean streets of thing i, obviously every part's got good parts, bad parts. Isn't Florida supposed to be easy living? Depends where you're from, because when you're from Dade, like Jorge. Yeah, dude. All right?

It's a different code. He doesn't talk about it, Luke. He bees about it. What's going to be the penalty for that, though? I don't know. You think he presses charges? That's the interesting part. I mean, yeah.

It's a damn soap opera, Luke. I'm not saying I love it. You think I love it. I just understand what it could lead to. That's all I'm saying. So don't get all, you know. All right. We can close this here.

Let's see. We've got a ton more content coming your way Friday. We'll get you ready for all the fights. Again, Tim Zhu on Showtime this weekend. UFC, I think on ESPN Plus this weekend. Lots of good stuff. So that is Brian Campbell. Thanks to CBS Sports, who had us here for the last two and a half days, which have been great. And I hope to be back very soon, actually. This has been a fun experience. So for Malka, CBS Sports, Showtime, Brian Campbell, Luke Thomas, and all of you, thank you for watching. See you on Friday. And until then,

may all of your gains be loyal.