MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Max Holloway OUT Of UFC 272 | Chikadze vs. Kattar | UFC 271 | Ep. 250

Episode Date: January 10, 2022

On Episode 250 of Morning Kombat Luke and Brian react to the breaking news that Max Holloway is OUT of his trilogy fight with Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 272. Plus, they breakdown Giga Chikadze vs. Calvin Kattar this weekend and look ahead to UFC 271. (7:00) - Max Holloway Out (23:00) - Giga Chikadze vs. Calvin Kattar (29:55) - Derrick Lewis vs. Tai Tuivasa (39:15) - MMA in January (45:00) - Quick Hitters (60:00) - Dm's from Donks 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. TD Direct Investing offers live support. So whether you're a newbie or a seasoned pro, you can make your investing steps count.

And if you're like me and think a TFSA stands for Total Fund Savings Adventure, maybe reach out to TD Direct Investing. 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. So fresh and so clean. Would you have a gander at this? Welcome everybody. It is the 10th of January, 2022. It's time for Morning Combat. This is Brian Campbell. I'm Luke Thomas. We're the hosts of this. We're It's time for Morning Combat. This is Brian Campbell. I'm Luke Thomas.

We're the hosts of this. We're from CBS Sports and Showtime. And this, Brian Campbell, is the brand new studio. Yeah, this is what success looks like. This is what being at the top of your award-winning profession looks like. Luke will be teaching community college classes after this. That's right. That's why he's dressed like this. But we are back to debut here in Jersey City.

Blown up like you thought we would. Call the crib, though, Luke. Same number. Same bomb shelter, but new set. And officially we'll be moving down the street later this year, but this is the brand new set right here. And it is, Luke, our producers and directors, which is normally a wild mix of unprofessionalism,

they rallied to curate at least my half of this set to my exact specific personality and disorders. Yes. For some reason, they've given you twice the amount of set that they've given me, which I don't quite understand. And then the other part that's kind of interesting is that they asked for a list of books that I wanted on my bookshelves.

They literally didn't get a single one right. I didn't ask for not one of these books. Now, you can see over this shoulder, they did get the DC flags right here. All right. I didn't ask for not one of these books. Now, you can see over this shoulder, they did get the DC flags right here. All right, I'll take that. You sure that's not Armenia? It looks close, Luke. I'm sure you're an idiot. I know that. That's a fact. Put a flag over your stupid face on it. Trying to be cultured here. Anyway, so they got that part right. That's nice. And we made a trade earlier. I got a bell.

You have an AEW belt on yours. Yeah. Can you show the folks that? Can they see it? They can't quite see it because of the way the camera angle works. We're going to move this shit around, Luke. Have fun with it, okay? But this is the beginning of our future, which is going to be very successful.

And, Luke, the more that people nominate us for awards, I think the more our fan base is going to vote us in, right? Looking good so far. Pretty promising results on that front. All right, so we have a lot to get to today. The fights are finally kicking back into gear. Obviously, he was on one of them for Friday's show box card. We'll talk about that a little bit later in the week,

or after the show, but we'll talk about fights that are taking place a little bit later in the week with the UFC getting back to action this weekend. We'll talk about some fight news and some dropouts. We'll do some, what do you want to call them? Quick hitters we'll do as well today. Yeah, we'll look about some news and some dropouts. We'll do some, what do we even want to call them? Quick hitters we'll do as well today. Yeah, we'll look at some shit too. We'll look at some shit.

We'll do your questions. Thumbs up on the video if you are watching on YouTube. Hit subscribe. If you are listening on a podcast platform, please give us a nice review on Stitcher or Spotify or Apple Podcasts, wherever that may be, and we'll promise you things we'll never deliver on as you help us scam the algorithm.

Yeah, that's a good point. Remember we were going to give out something? Yeah, we were going to give $50 to nice reviews. We didn't do that. We just lied. So I think we should do that. But that's actually not up to us. It's up to Mikey.

Don't we have to tell people to vote for the next award, Luke? I don't know. Oh, yeah. Go to, what was it? Podcast. Sports Podcast Awards. Sports Podcast Awards. Dot com.

Obviously, we are very plugged in on all the things that are going on can we drop the lower third for it right here let's see let's see how long it takes let's see

they got a lot of new there it is there we go Sports Podcast Awards dot com we're up for best combat sports podcast against the likes of

Trish Dixon's Boxing Stories Ariel Hawane's MMA Hour I don't know Chris Jericho's whatever he calls that thing he's got a combat sports podcast oh yeah it's really good though it's really good wait when

you say combat sports they mean pro pro wrestling no most of it is like alien theories and ufos and rock and roll and stuff but uh great yeah i think we can beat all of them you know because right now we are riding something called momentum do you remember mcgregor in 2015 2016 i sure do momentum do you remember mk in 2022? Momentum, bro. All right. I'm at the point where I can throw any dad joke out there and it'll hit, Luke. Yeah, you're doing pretty good. You are certainly riding a high note. I have to say that as well. And it's not the Delta 8. It's not the Delta 8, although a cameraman over here. Oh, yeah. Jesus Christ. I mean, they're just falling out of his pocket as he walks down the street. There's so

much jersey in this room, right? It just reeks. Is that why I got lice already? I couldn't believe it. Amazing. All right, well, the COVID producer is here somewhere. She's probably checked out. Who knows? With that in mind, ready to get the show started? Yeah.

Do you want to just take one more second? I got to say, you're really taking it all in. You were having a moment over there, huh? I mean, you remember what our first set looked like. Oh, I just need to recall. It was like a juvenile detention center, basically. I mean, look at us there, huh? I mean, you remember what our first set looked like. Oh, I distinctly recall. It was like a juvenile detention center, basically. I mean, look at us now, right? I know.

Actually, the first episode of this show was actually Orange is the New Black. We were just in prison doing it there. Yeah, no, this is great. This is amazing. And this is, as you indicated, we're probably going to, you know, tinker with the format a little bit here and make things a little bit better. Looks like, yeah, I'm going to add at least some part of my personality. Although that book called Chinese Boxing

looks appealing. Yeah, they put a book in there, Chinese Boxing. Like, I mean, okay. I guess I'll never read that. All right. With that in mind, BC, you ready to get the show started? Yeah, let's do it. Okay. Topic number one, I believe I'll go to this one. So right after the show on Friday, news broke.

So this is not actually new news, but it is important news, and we've not reacted to it yet, that Max Holloway would not be fighting Alexander Volkanovsky at their upcoming third bout to decide one of the most important fights in featherweight history. He is injured. He will not be taking place. So they are looking for a replacement. Now, some of these guys threw their name in the hat, BC. Some of them had their names sort of introduced as part of being involved in the news cycle. Here's the question we're going to start with today. I'm going to read you these names.

Josh Emmett, Korean Zombie, Yair Rodriguez, Charles Oliveira, and Henry Cejudo. These are the five names that have kind of been circulating around Alexander Volkanovsky, who is trying to stay on the same competitive frequency at the same time. Also, before you tee this up, Volkanovsky, did you see the cryptic tweet he had that involved the word lightweight? Because the reason why Charles Oliveira is on this list is because he came out and said, look, I can make 145 easy.

I'll move down and fight for the second title. Why would Volkanovsky tweet something about lightweight? Is there a possibility for him to move up to try to fight for a second title, why would Volkanovsky tweet something about lightweight? Is there a possibility for him to move up to try to fight for a second title? Maybe, but for now, I think he's trying to defend his featherweight belt. So let's stick with that for just a moment if we can. BC, of the five names I read,

let us assume to start this conversation that you could make all five of those fights equally. Yes. Which one should UFC make? You're not going to want to hear my answer. I'm asking you because I want to hear my answer. I'm asking you because I want to hear your answer. I was just going to wait

until the staff could... Yeah, if they could talk more, that'd be great. I like that they moved the control room from the control room to right here. Guys, we're going to actually

come from the other side of closed doors, but we're just going to keep talking the same. Yeah, all right. Okay. It's Henry Cejudo. Because, here's the deal,

when a fight falls out like this, you, in best case scenario, would go to the next most deserving, obvious big name. I think at this point in this division, with Ortega having lost and a little bit of a reshuffling here, it's a deep division. There's many big names. But I don't think there's that one name who deserves it most above all others. So to fill time, Luke, to still have a co-main event or pay-per-view main event, you have the opportunity of kind of breaking glass and bringing in celebrity. That's what this Henry Cejudo fight is. It wouldn't disrupt the momentum of the top of the division as we're seeing at Bantamweight where there's more of a roadblock. It's like, can we just get that Sterling rematch done with already?

I think it is creative, fun matchmaking. I think Cejudo has done a great job making his brand as large as it can be by walking away at the peak of his powers when he won the second title and was seemingly sort of in control. Him coming back is creative fun. It just seems to be the perfect fight to make in this scenario because it gives Volkanovski a potential new Hall of Fame name to add on his resume if he wins. And he should be the favorite. So I don't think it's one of those situations where it's a more difficult fight.

I think it's a unique special fight, Luke, in this case. Why do you hate that so much? What is the difference in your mind between a unique fight and a special fight, since you said there's a difference between them? Did I say there's a difference between those two words? I think I said it's a unique fight. Help me understand. This is just what I'm up against.

I get with the Henry Cejudo fight why there is momentum behind it, to borrow your description earlier. And the reason why is largely, as best I can tell, an argument about possibility and marketing hype that doesn't have much to do with what could actually happen. Folks say he's got a shot to beat Volkanovski. Okay, how? What is the path to victory for Henry Cejudo? Because what it looks like to me is that he's waving a flag out there saying, pay attention to me on the sidelines. It's an interesting moment. He

does have the great pedigree, but I've yet to see someone connect the dots to the next phase, which is, of the five names I read, why is his name the one likeliest to attain victory? I haven't heard that. It allows it to look, even though I could make a great case to why he should be in this fight, in the discussion of winning this fight, right? Even though you give him kind of no chance in a lot of ways.

I think you were wrong on that, and that's fine. We've got to see it play out. It's a lower-risk option for Volkanovski, but yet, in terms of a last-minute thing, it's suddenly a huge deal. So Hudo's a big name, and we've never seen someone attempt to become a three-division champion. I think he's just, Manny Henry,

has carried the curation of his brand and the control over it so perfectly in trying to take back any possible leverage you can get when you're in the star center. When you get your moment, he became a two-division champion, you don't have a lot of leverage in this pay-per-view era, Luke. This was a nice leverage play by him.

It's not a huge risk because he's so small for Volkanovski where it's like, I want to stay in line. It's sort of an event at that regard. And Volkanovski should win, even though I do like Ceruto's chances to compete in there. It's just perfect, Luke, because it doesn't disrupt the overall flow.

The point of that is, I love me some Josh Emmett, but do you think he's deserving of a title shot right now? I think the answer is no. No, this is a title shot under injury conditions. I love me Korean Zombie,

but I don't think he's necessarily deserving right now of this title shot either because there's no one sitting there raising their arms saying you know i've been looked over i don't think you need to go to the level of bringing in olivera i don't think you need to do anything like that i think so hudo is the perfect player for this and luke i think you need to wake up to the idea that volkanovsky is the smallest of other weight that hudo can fight so hudo's wrestling is is world-class as we know but his mind and his ability to adapt and game plan,

look, he's in that fight. He's in that frigging fight. Dude, these are just statements you're making that don't mean anything. His ability to do that, you're just saying words without specific references to evidence of him actually accomplishing these things. Okay, you didn't see that three fight stretch he went on

when he became kind of like a... I'm not going to say that that stretch aged poorly because that's not true but it has not. Marlon Marais was beating him up until he wasn't. We know what's happened to him since. Granted, Henry was the first one. It was a tremendous turnaround. Up a weight class. Blah, blah, blah. I get the whole story. It's amazing. We did it to TJ. Hard to say exactly what that was given the weight cut

but certainly it was a strong moment for him. And then against Davin DeCruz, that's amazing as well. He's a formidable fighter. But I'm not sure what you see in there that tells you he's gonna give a guy like Volkanovski trouble. I see adaptability. It's a totally different Volkanovski. When you're fighting Volkanovski, you need to be either on his level IQ-wise, which

we found out in the end Max was able to mix the fact that he's all-time great in terms of smartness with his physical advantages and compete in there. You have to be on that level if you're not a big slugger or you're not this one specific thing. I think Henry Sudo's on that level. I think looking at a guy like Volkanovski as big as he sort of naturally is, he's a smaller guy, but in terms of his power and his strength and thinking a smaller guy is

the guy to beat him. I actually think it's the bigger guy is the guy to beat him. I could see him outworking him. I could see him pushing a pace that he would never be the favorite. I would never pick him to beat Volkanovski, but to act like this would be a one-sided mismatch and maybe shouldn't happen, I think that's the miss on there. All right, so let's talk about some of these other ones here, these names that got put in the list.

You like Henry Cejudo as the top option. I think we would... Would that be a bigger fight from a box office standpoint than Charles Oliveira going down a week? Slightly bigger, yes. But they're pretty comparable. It would be a pretty comparable role because it's champion versus champion. I don't know who was an ex-champion, but still,

it's that idea that he never lost a belt. He went away on his own terms. Now he's coming back for a third division. That sells just as well as, oh, crap, Charles Oliveira is on this one hell of a run. He's kind of cementing his own all-time greatness here. What would a win over Volkanovski look like? Whether they did it at featherweight and try to cut down and take advantage of this momentum he's on

or whether they did it at lightweight so it was less of a risk for Volkanovski on short notice you know meaning he's not going to give up his title he's just trying to dare to be great I would give that the second option for me because it's such a marquee fight I see I think Oliveira would give Volkanovski some serious oh yeah I think that's why you would almost do that at lightweight, because you respect everything Volkanovski's accomplished, and you're not telling him, put up your belt against such a dangerous guy. So you don't want to send him down to 145, even though it's a more competitive fight, perhaps.

And, God, if Volkanovski beat Oliveira for the lightweight belt, then we're talking about someone all-time special. So that leaves Emmett, Zombie, and Rodriguez. Their existing place in the rankings is Zombie is sitting at four. You have Emmett sitting at six. And you have Yair sitting at three. Yair just lost to Max, however, somewhat controversially. Chan Sung Jung, not in the running, obviously.

Why do you say obviously? He was the first name that jumped out because he had interest. Volkanovski had interest. He seemed to have interest. Yeah, he wasn't my first name at all. I'm not saying I want that fight, but if they're going to treat this, Luke, as a let's just put a bandaid on and keep the event going, then maybe Korean Zombie's the name. If you're just trying to keep Volkanovski busy and give him a title defense and you're

not looking to overly book this into something bigger than it doesn't need to be Volkanovski, then it is Zombie in there, Luke. So Zombie got the big win, the rebound over Dan Ige. I guess the question you also have to ask yourself is this question about who should replace who used to be a lot easier 10 years ago. Because 10 years ago, when the pay-per-view model was what it was, where it was highly volatile, it was strongly based on star power, it would change dramatically month to month depending on who was on the card, you had a little bit of an easier time understanding the UFC's options. If there was a

strong standout number one contender, they obviously would go in that direction, usually. But if it wasn't super strong, and then there was another name circulating that was big, and this is not exclusively true of UFC, this is true generally of promoters who have that kind of model. But I'm just pointing out now with the ESPN model, if you're the UFC, are you saying to yourself, well, wait a second, do we really want this to be like the big sales item on this card? Or do we just want to reward someone who hasn't gotten a title shot yet, who's kind of been waiting a while? Do we want to just create a bunch of sizzle for the pay-per-view audiences? I think the UFC's positioning here in terms of what they want based on the opponent

should drive some of the discussion about which direction they'll go. I agree with you. If they feel that they don't need, if this isn't a card that they need to double down on to get pay-per-view buys, and let's be fair about the reality of where they're at in their financial deal, you see the reporting from the guys like John Nash. What do they get, Luke? A base of the equivalent of a $500,000 sale pay-per-view

in terms of the guaranteed money from ESPN. $500,000 buys. The equivalent of $500, guaranteed money from ESPN. 500,000 buys. The equivalent of 500,000 buys from ESPN. So there are cards now, Luke, where you don't have to break glass in case of emergency. So if they just want to move the chains and this isn't one where they're aiming to really get a big payback from, then that's why Korean Zombie makes the most sense there, Luke. He's not going to be favored. He's going to make a fun fight the best he can.

He's going to lose. But Cejudo is the fun play. Cejudo is the fun play. All right, I'll tell you what I like, and no one seems to like it. I grant that this is not a popular idea. Are you going to say Josh Emmett? I am going to say Josh Emmett. And the reason why, Korean Zombie to me, it's like, dude, he got, he got, the Dan Ige win is nice. It's a quality win. But there's nothing in there that would tell you he would give Volkanovski any trouble. And more to the point, he got beat by Brian Ortega, so no. And then you got the other name was Jerry Rodriguez. That's an interesting one, but the problem...

He just lost. He just lost. Here's the problem. As much as he gave Max Holloway fits, and he did, and I do think he would give, depending on where it was situated, I think he could give a guy like Volkanovski fits, but the problem is the wrestling. I just feel like Volkanovski would take him down at will and grind the fight out there. That's not that interesting to me.

Josh Emmett, I don't think can beat Volkanovski, but the reason why I said it is, one, his time in the sport is limited. It's extremely limited. He's 35, 36. And he's figured out right now how to be as great as he can be, getting through all those injuries. That's it. This is Josh Emmett at his absolute best, or pretty close to it, give or take.

Him trying to get in an opportunity like this, I totally understand. And I do think over time, Volkanovsky's defensive awareness, he doesn't really ever positionally overcommit or get out of position. I think that would be a big deal over time against a guy like Emmett, who blitzes into position a lot. I think that would wear out its welcome over time, and I think Volkanovsky would win. But early on, I actually do think that would wear out its welcome over time, and I think Volkanovski would win. But early on, I actually do think that would be pretty competitive.

So for me, if you don't have a need to sell it big time, and maybe you do, but I don't think that they do, you can do right by the division by keeping a featherweight. You give a shot to a guy who, you're right, doesn't deserve it. I'm not arguing that he does. But I think you can make it competitive and fun. Does have some danger there. He does have big power. You would agree he has big power.

It's not as sexy as Henry Cejudo. I'm not saying that it is. I just feel like it's the right play to do. Will the decision here sway anything in your mind in terms of what the UFC looks at Volkanovski as a brand? Yeah, it will. It will tell me a lot. They could reward him by Cejudo. Cejudo could be his reward.

Volkanovski's already fought the hard fights and grounded it out and won those. He kind of deserves to get the treatment that Usman got with the rematch with Masvidal. Cejudo was doing something interesting. You can't sit on the sidelines and be like, fuck you, UFC. But if you sit on the sidelines

and then you kind of just wait for the big fish to drop, and so you're like, oh, I'm going to do you a favor. Also, 145, he doesn't have to make weight nearly as difficult. He can make 145, Harry Cejudo, I would imagine, relatively easily. And so for that reason, you would just drop in, I'll do you a favor, I'll do you a solid, Uncle Dana. That's a little bit different. So if they go that direction, it will also tell you, obviously, what they think about Henry. Now, if Henry gets that fight, it's

Red Panty Night in the Al-Burrasin household. You know what I mean? He's going to send us so many drunk beers. Yeah. Real quick, do you know what name we're missing from this discussion who would be perfect right now? A.J. McKee? No. Zabit. Good old Zabit. I saw him on Instagram. He's a hairy bastard. I love

that guy. Can he? Will he? You're a little higher on Zabit than I am. I think Calvacator has him. I'm delta Instagram. He's a hairy bastard. I love that guy. Can he? Will he? You're a little higher on Zabit than I am. I think Calvin Caterhans is not. I'm delta eight and a half on Zabit. Believe that, all right? You know, I love that man. Look, I think he could win the championship if he wasn't so not coming back right now. How many milligrams per gummy on those delta eights you're chomping on?

All liquid nitrogen here, Luke. All right, I'll call it. Is that right? Yeah. All right, so I'm guessing which way the UFC will go with this. I guess they're going to go the Korean zombie. I guess they're going to just say, look, we don't need to overdo this. We don't need that event right now.

We'll find a home for Cejudo, and they will eventually. They'll find the right fight. Maybe it comes after, you know, let's say, what if Peyotre Jan finally puts his stamp and hold on the Bantamweight division that we all think he could. Even though it's loaded, there's a bunch of deserving people, I think Jan's going to be the last man standing. Is that a year from

now, and then you make Cejudo versus Jan? That'd be a big fight. You could do that. Also, by the way, interestingly, on this card, it's 272 that we're talking about here. This will be at the T-Mobile Arena on March 5th. It's currently scheduled to have the featherweight and the bantamweight titles up for grabs on the same card. Obviously, Sterling is going to fight Peter Jan.

If Volkanovski stays on that, you probably do need some help selling that, which makes Cejudo's chances of getting picked a little higher. You know, Oliveira, it's like there's too much business to do at lightweight to take him out of that. And by the way, he could get hurt going down there, too. I know.

And it's like, do they really want the potential reality? I mean, do you think Volkanovski can beat Oliveira at lightweight? He wouldn't be favored. It would be an uphill battle. But do you think he can beat Oliveira? Can he beat him? Yes, he can beat him. I would not favor it, but I think he can beat him.

Do you think Volkanovski would take the offer from the UFC to fight for the lightweight title and just say, look, if I lose, I lose. I'm still the featherweight king. Not a doubt in my mind. Not a single solitary doubt in my mind. In part because he's a competitor. In part because he's a businessman. Yeah, but like us, he wants that shit, right?

He wants that smoke. Yeah. You know one of our listeners, Goran? Ivan Isevich? Yeah, yeah. He's friends with Volkanovski. Oh, is that right? Yeah, yeah. Shout out to Goran down listeners, Goran? Ivan Isevich? Yeah, yeah. He's friends with Volkanovski. Oh, is that right? Yeah, yeah.

Shout out to Goran down under. Goran! Okay. I don't know what that means. Does that mean he puts on the ball cream after practice? I don't know. The ball deodorant. Maybe he gets the lawnmower from him.

Maybe he manscapes him. Maybe he manscapes. All right. Topic number two here. We stay with UFC. So this weekend, the fights return to action. We are back at the UFC Apex for UFC Fight Night, whatever the fuck it is. But in the main event, speaking of the featherweight division,

it is one hell of a contest as Giga Chikadze tries to enter the top five by taking on, I won't say perennial top ten talent, but certainly a guy who's been at the top of this division now in recent years, in Calvin Cater. Okay, BC. Yeah. Here is the question relevant to this discussion. What does the winner here, in either case, Chikadze or Cater, what does the winner get with a victory? What do they prove? I think there's a much larger upside in Chikadze winning this in terms of what he can do with it. Luke, could Giga Chikadze become the next Zabit? Meaning that sort of aura over him,

this mystery man that when he does fight for a title, hey man, maybe he's got a shot at doing this. Maybe he's that sort of Swiss army knife that could take hold of the division. Is that on the table for Giga with a win this big? Because I think, full respect to Calvin Cater, he had sort of hit his apex entering the Holloway fight, and he lost, like, you know, dramatically bad.

He's not getting a title shot off this win. He buys time. He's a player. But this, to me, is about Chikadze potentially, you know, taking off. Do you see him in the same category as Sarukyan and these other guys that, you know, the, and Kolaev, who's Habib's new boy, Islam. Makachev. Is, is Chikadze in that category? Because if he gets a win here, Luke, he could be taken as a beach thunder of what was left

in terms of that guy, that guy in the top five. So I think if Chikadze wins, Chikadze is currently sitting at eight, Cater sitting at five. So if you're Chikadze, there's a decent chance you could enter the top five with this win. No, you will. You will. Again, in all likelihood, you certainly will. So there's that, number one. Number two, you know, you could argue this is the most quality opponent Chikadze has beaten to date if he gets his hand raised. Damn right.

So you've got Cub Swanson and you've got Edson Barboza on the ledger. And those are impressive but that's not quite the same as somebody who I think is as battle-tested and and talented as a guy like Cater is but I think more than that dude it has started before the fight with Cub Swanson Giga Chikadze lost he got choked out on the contender series folks forget this for some reason and he had to go back to the gladiator challenges of the world to get back on track and he did and his first few fights in UFC were like, I think the first two were like split decisions, and he was grinding them out.

He was winning, but he was grinding them out. And now, dude, he has figured out his offensive tempo, his rhythm, what rounds are supposed to look like. Are you going to answer my question, though? I'm telling you, I think Giga Chikadze not only gets into the top five with this and gets the signature win of his career to this point, but on top of that, he becomes your dark horse contender for Volkanovski. All you had to say was BC, he's the next to beat. That's all you had to say. He's taken that spot.

What does that spot mean? That means that you're the mysterious man of intrigue that may or may not completely take over this division. I don't think a loss for Chikadze is all that bad. Is a loss for Cater that bad? Are their losses equivalently bad? No, because I think a loss puts Cater where he is at this point of his career, Luke. He's a

hard out in the back end of the top ten. You're still that guy if you lose this. And you know it. Okay, so what does Cater get if he wins? Like I said earlier, Luke, I don't think he advances much. I think he buys more time in this area, but I think long term this is who he's going to be. He's going to be that tester.

I think we saw the very best of him, and he was the best of him entering the Max fight, and I think we found out where his ceiling is. We should just say this out loud. We have not seen Calvin Cater since the Max Holloway fight. What condition is he going to be in? Now, obviously, he trains really hard. I don't think there's any question about that.

I'm sure he is in good shape. I don't have any issues or worries about his cardio, per se. But you are talking about, this is not just me on my hobby horse about, like, I don't like fights go too long. The way in which Cater lost to Holloway is about as bad as you can lose absent getting stopped. In fact, it's arguably worse, because if I one-punch ring BC on the jaw, and he goes down face first, but then gets up,

no big deal. But if I kind of just bang on him for five rounds, that's much more damage handing out. So we're talking about a guy who got a historic, a historic beating, where Max Holloway was talking to the commentators while smashing his face. Do you remember a minute ago when I tried to make that same point? You were just like, yeah, yeah, yeah, on to my next point. And then you just made my point. That's what this show was all about, BC. I got to launder your points. Wow. But anyway, you get the idea. Yeah, I got the idea. Yeah, I got it. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, what are your expectations? What do you think when it's all said and done? Whether he gets his hand raised or not, how much of a detour was the Holloway fight?

I don't think it was a detour. I think it was us finding out and him finding out where he's at. No, no, no, but you could be that before the fight. I'm talking about what does that accumulated damage mean? Yeah, it's going to send him back. He's going to have a 2-3-4 fight stretch left as a gatekeeper for the top ten, Luke. And he's a tough ass out, and he's still got something left in there. But we can't act like we didn't find out who he was from that Max fight,

and we can't act like, to your point, the Max fight isn't going to take anything out of him. It's going to age him fairly significantly. Yeah, I mean, his only losses in UFC were to Hidato Moikano, and then there's the beat fight. The beat fight, you know, was not, it wasn't a super, you know, weathering fight. It was just sort of pretty standard. But there's no harm done if this is his plateau and we're not putting it on him. Rally back. I'd love it.

But if that's his plateau on an ABC main event against a former champion, I mean, he made it pretty damn far, Luke. But you can't convince yourself he's coming over the top of Chikadze here. You can't. I think there's too many questions surrounding a guy like Cater, to your point, that picking him outright, especially given the run that Chikadze is on and the stakes that are involved, it's extremely difficult for me to pick Calvin Cater.

And I do worry about what not stopping that fight might have done to him long term. This will be the first time we get a real clear sense of that. And, dude, they didn't just give him a tough opponent or a high-ranking opponent. They did do that. They gave him that. But in giving him Giga Chikadze, they gave him just a guy who fights mean. There are certain fighters who are just mean with their punishment and ruthless with their efficiency, and that is exactly what a guy like Giga Chikadze is.

So to go from the Max Holloway fight and then into a Chikadze fight, as Chikadze is surging, this is out of the frying pan into the fire, BC. That's how the UFC does it. I saw you having a conversation there with the crew here while I just did the monologue. He wasn't speaking loud enough.

He's sitting right there. He basically can just be like, yo, BC, I think it's something with my earpiece. But look, you need some earpiece control. Yours is hanging out of that. I know, it doesn't work for me. And you don't have cauliflower air as an excuse like our camera guy Mark does, you know? Yeah, but he's got Delta-8s all in his car.

All right, with that out of the way, let's go to topic number three. Mark wears that shit like a badge, though, all right? BC, I know you are pumped for this fight, so it's slated for UFC 271. How about a heavyweight banger fest? Derek Lewis is going to take on Ty Tuivasa. BC, let's start from the Australian side of things. How would Tuivasa's career change if he beat Derek Lewis? Like us, debuting this new set, big time, Luke.

He's on his way. He's making it. But tell me the truth here, Luke. And this is probably the right test given to Ivas' win streak. But this ain't Augusto Sakai. When you saw this matchup, were you the same as me? Like, oh, shit, he deserves this, but they're going to get our boy hurt. You know what I mean?

Like, this is. Well, there are some times where you'll see, like, a Derek Lewis fight. Like, I don't even know if this fight happened anymore. Maybe it did. I can't remember. Has Derek Lewis ever fought, like, Marcin Tybura or if this fight happened anymore. Maybe it did. I can't remember. Has Derek Lewis ever fought like Marcin Tybura or something? Yeah, Latifi.

He's had a few of those. So you'll see, you'll take a guy who's like kind of upper end in the division, just sort of cycle through somebody's name and then they get to him.

This doesn't feel like that. This feels like a purposeful collision. Absolutely. And it's the right fight like, to be fair, like with the Christakis fight who just fought Derek Lewis, correct? Yes. I'm not misremembering this. It was the right fight, like, to be fair, like with the Christakis fight, who just fought Derek Lewis, correct?

Yes. I'm not misremembering this. It was the right fight in his sort of, okay, if you're going to be that dude, if you're going to dance with the upper core, you've got to get past a guy this dangerous. For Tui Vassalouk, I love the improvement in fitness. I've heard the interviews in which he basically said, look, before, I wasn't that focused and didn't care as much. Now I'm trying. You love to see when a fighter, especially a fun fighter who can get behind like this, wakes up and says, no, I want to dare to be great. I want to find out how great I am. I'm just not convinced his ground game, his gas tank, his adaptability. Sure, he can bang, but can he bang for three rounds, four rounds, and make adjustments and stuff? I don't think it's on that level. I think eventually, if you're not on that level, Derek Lewis is going to catch you. So I got fears for Tuivasa, but this is going to be a fun-ass fight that we have to be there for. We got to be, whether we're there or not, we got to be, you know,

Luke, this, 49 times maybe? This is going to be fun. This might get 50. Yeah, I mean, this fight's going to be fun. But what do you do if you're Team Tuivasa? Shit in a shoe and eat it? What do you do here, Luke? If he wins? No, to get ready mentally for this. So let's talk about who beats him or who has beat him, which may not be relevant, but at least is what we have.

He has the JDS loss, which he lost via TKO back in 2018. He has the Blagoje Ivanov loss, which was a decision. That's a bad loss, bro. And then he got arm triangle choked by Sergei Spivak. That seemed to me like the bottom for him. That was in Melbourne, Australia, by the way. And he was fat, too, in those fights. Yes.

So since then, he's beaten Stefan Struve, Harry Hunsucker. That's a real fighter. That's a real fighter. Greg Hardy. Sounds like the name of our merch guy, right? Raymond Dunselmaker? Every time we're on the call on Zoom, BC slightly changes his name. He's like, all right, so is RJ Rumpelstiltskin there?

And then next time, he's like, all right, is RJ Rumpelforce in there? Rowan Gardner's like, all right, so is R.J. Rumpelstiltskin there? And then next time, he's like, all right, is R.J. Rumpelforce in there? Yeah, Rowan Gardner, yeah, all right. You're like, you're just going to call him names for your genitals from now on? All right. Then he'd be Greg Hardy,

and then the most important one, as you indicated, was Augusto Sakai. Can you infer anything from the nature of the three losses, Ivanov, Dos Santos, and Spivak? Yeah, the same sort of things that we're talking about, and could we get somebody to fix this?

Because now I'm all like it. Hey, the same sort of things that we're talking about. And could we get somebody to fix this? Because now I'm all like it. Hey, act like you've been here before. All right, sorry about that. So, you know, Luke, he's rebuilding the intangible things that'll need to be there if he's going to end up being a title contender, the want, the focus, the fitness, all that stuff, Luke. But he doesn't have a real evolved game. He's still playing one note, one fun, big-ass note.

But Derek Lewis blows that note at a much higher level and volume. And I don't think we learn anything from those losses because he's not that guy who's not trying as much. But would you be largely surprised if this turned out to be the Tai Tuivasa career-changing moment and he gets a victory. I'd be a little bit surprised. It'd be very surprising. I think a guy with power like that, you could never say,

are you guys trying to come over here to him so I should monologue? Yeah, okay. We can get Nolan on here. Yo, he's been in the weight room. Yeah, he's always been in the weight room. The thing about Nolan, though, like Chewbacca, he's bowed it. You know what I mean? Like, shit goes down, the sound guy Nolan.

What have you done that you've called Nolan for backup? Yo, you can just tell. Did you shop with him? Yo, those power crystals get up next to me. And you call him

when you shout yourself? You can just tell. Dad! Yes. Ty winning is in play, but it would require something of him, true or false,

that he has not shown yet. Yeah, that's a great way to sum it up, Luke. He's got the power. Absolutely. But the thing is, Derek Lewis doesn't, he can get a fatigue KO, but he doesn't get in slugfest and get knocked out. That's the thing. He has. He doesn't anymore. Right. This sort of dialed in version of Derek Lewis. And to his credit, he stayed at a fairly high level. I mean, he's coming on right now, so to speak, Luke. Yes. I mean, you're not going to outpoint.

I mean, is Tai Tuivasa going to outpoint Derek Lewis in his first five-round fight? No, Luke, no. I mean, this is the problem with fighting Derek Lewis at this stage of the game. Derek Lewis, by the way, still not old himself in the division, not Tai Tuivasa, 28, but I think he's like 34, 35, something like that. He's not that old for heavyweight. And to that point, dude, he now has, and we talked about it with the Chris Dawkus fight, dude, a guy like Derek Lewis can say what he wants, can pretend to be something he's not.

Derek Lewis is not just a heavy-handed fighter. He is a smart fighter. He is a clever fighter. He is a fighter. 36, excuse me. Still, hardly old. And at 36 with all this experience in the division he is a fighter who sets

traps. He sets traps and he orders the fight and pushes it towards his strengths. He knows what he can do. He is very conscious of what he cannot do and tries to have a fight where it's only on one circumstance and not the other. And I should point out, in his division for his career, has been, generally speaking,

quite successful at that with some noteworthy exceptions. Derek Lewis has won five of six, the only loss being to Cyril Ghosn, who may or may not become the full champion soon. Does he get a title shot with a win here over Tuivasa? See, that's the problem. Like, that's not completely out of play. The problem, this is, Derek Lewis has kind of replaced Curtis Blades as the guy who's not quite the guy in this division.

Blades can get it back, but currently I think Derek Lewis... I mean, Stipe's going to still be in front. He might get a Stipe fight from this. Would you, you'd get sized up for Stipe versus Derek Lewis. Yes, yes. I would worry if I was Lewis about the wrestling from Stipe. That would be a problem. But Stipe's older now, so...

You can knock him out with a jab if you're Ngannou. Well, that's Ngannou. That's both of them big friends. Yeah, come on. But, yeah. So, to me, if Taito Iwasa got this win, I don't know if I'd say changing of the guard or something. I don't know if it's quite that exactly.

But that would be, I mean, signature win for sure. And to do it firmly. Unless Lewis just says, fuck it, let's brawl, which I don't think he quite will. Not that way, anyway. It's going to require a certain measure of growth from Tui Vassa that hasn't shown yet. Speaking of tie, and this is not some continued joke, you know, talking about him shitting his pants. But Luke, did you see that after his last win, do you remember he did a bunch of shoeys and then on his way down the aisle, he did a final shoey and he was like, he couldn't see, he was like blinded. Somebody put Tabasco sauce in the shoe. That's what you get. You think I feel bad for him? I don't.

If you don't went into his eyes and stuff and, uh, that's gross. Do you like, what are the odds that he's accidentally picked up other fluids that he didn't intend to by doing so many shoeys? Like, has he ever eaten jizz or something? You know, I wasn't going to say that, right? I wasn't going to say, like, you know, what if just some nondiscreet guy shows up from halfway across the country and is like, hey, I made you this land-yager.

Should the fans get on Reddit and say, Brian Campbell says, Taito Iwasa eats jizz? No, no, but, you know, did you when you ate that? Land-yager? Yeah, yeah. Land-jizzer? It was good, though, right? It was tasty? Land Jaeger? Land Jizzer? It was good, though, right? It was tasty.

Yeah, yeah. Creamy or no? I don't feel bad for Taito Ibaso and his shoo-e's. If you do a shoo-e and you get Tabasco in your eye, yeah, you shouldn't do that to someone, but fuck your life. Do you know what's happened to us since we did a shoo-e? Blown up? It's been the equivalent of what's happened to you since you met me again.

I don't know what it is. I'll show you some audience metrics that are going to surprise you a little. Since I came back into your life. I think you'd be surprised. What happened in July 2018? MMA beat episode 200. You and I reunited, right? That's right.

That's right. Since then, you knocked up your wife and had the true love. I can thank you for that? You can thank me for Tukey, okay? Oh, very careful with that. You know, you got hired by Showtime. I did. You know, CBS Sports

bought you in. They did. MK won an award. You know, you became financially solvent. Yeah, so I was financially solvent before I was halfway. I had some bills. The people receive you at a much happier level. That part is true.

Yeah. Yeah, but I don't have quite as big an audience. It's kind of like when you're like a donk, but then you get like a girlfriend, and suddenly everybody wants to bang you, Luke, right? Yo, I'm getting you. I'm not fucking you tonight. Yo, I'm getting you editorially laid, okay? I'm not fucking you tonight.

We're not editorially fucking, just so that's clear. All right. Our boss is at showtime. I regret him giving us this big time. Okay, BC, let's go to point number four, topic number four. I got to say, I like the new graphics, but it's not really... See, we lose that. Go to the major screen.

Guys, Luke will direct the rest of the way. Yeah, I'll be in charge here. No, put point number four. Do you have it? Do you have the graphic for the... No, he wants it on the big screen. Yeah, on the big screen. He wants you to use your toys.

That's a J response from Corey right there. Oh, he says it doesn't look great. I thought it looked great in the pictures. Yeah, it looked great when you were selling me how good the studio was. All right, topic number four. BC, the month of January, has a ton of different MMA fights. Bellator will be back. UFC, as we mentioned, already back in action.

And there is plenty of others. Give me a fight, boxing or MMA, in January that is falling below the radar. Okay, you're going to laugh at this. You're going to say this is me picking out the grossest hot dog on the roller. But, Luke, Greg Hardy versus Olenek? I'm glad you're in council. Alexi Olenek, that's an interesting fight. If you eat hot dogs, yes.

If Greg Hardy loses this coming off the bad KO loss to Ivasa... Are people over Greg Hardy? They're way over it. But the UFC is going to be over him, and this is the right matchup. Yeah, Olenek's like 58, and he's got 16 losses, but he gets him in one of those... What do you call that thing he puts him in? Ezekiel chip.

He gets biblical on that ass, Luke. This is not an Ezekiel right here. Yeah, that's a... Hello, my darling. It's like a Michigan frog coming down the fucking street. Luke, I'm oddly intrigued by that. You have no interest in that whatsoever. Less than zero.

I mean, none whatsoever. They're fine fighters or, you know... They're not fine fighters. Look, they saw this matchup. Alexi Olenek is a legend. I'm not going to talk badly about him. And Greg is whatever Greg is at this point. Here's my question about that. When he eventually bounces at a UFC, is he going to Bellator, PFL or BKFC? Serious question. I say PFL. I say they use no fucking way to go to PFL. You don't think so? No, dude. The guy's got bad cardio and can't wrestle. I say they use... No fucking way he goes to PFL. You don't think so? No, dude. The guy's got bad cardio and can't wrestle.

I mean, he's got a lot of baggage, Luke. Why the fuck would you go to PFL? He's got a lot of baggage. You know what? He could go to that smart cage, order Uber Eats. No, dude. What are we talking about? He is the perfect candidate for main eventing Triller Triad.

Like 100%, right? Oh, how did I not think of that? Yeah. I mean, could you imagine? Yeah, that's right. Dude, we're going to see Anderson Silva versus Greg Hardy in a mixed hybrid fight, aren't we? On scooters. Yeah.

On scooters and shit, you know. All right. That's your fight of this month? I didn't know that boxing was involved in this, Luke. Do you have a boxing one? There's a big DAZN push for the next three months. I'm not sure how many are in January, though. Yeah. I'll stick with that answer are in January, though. Yeah.

I'll stick with that answer, but you're probably going to give me something. Are you afraid at all that Cheyenne Villismas is somewhere out of the country at an undisclosed location? Did you read that story? I did read about that last night. That's wild, Luke. By the way, very on brand for you to tee that up out of nowhere about her. Yeah, dude, she is in an undisclosed location. She says she's training.

This is like the movie Taken or something. Yeah, but she did it on purpose, apparently. She left it on purpose, but I don't quite understand. Can I give you my under-the-radar MMA fight this month? Yes. I'm going to go with Invicta has a show on Wednesday. It's going to air on MMA Junkie, I think through their YouTube channel.

Invicta 45. It's going to feature the Adam Waite title fight. This is a rematch. Alicia Zappoletta and Jessica Delboni. They fought, I think, earlier this year. I want to say May or June of this year. Zappoletta, who is the existing champion, won that fight. Then Delboni, who, by the way, she won it via split. It was very much contested.

The commentators, Megan Anderson, thought that Del Boni had won. Del Boni goes into the Phoenix tournament to get a title shot again, wins it, and this will be the rematch. Adam Waite, for folks who may not know, is 105 pounds, so it's the weight class just below straw weight. Isn't the UFC rumored to be bringing in... Correct. This is why I bring this up, because I have a feeling, I don't know if it's this year or when, I don't have a feeling on that,

but Adam Waite globally is a big enough weight class for the UFC to take it in. I think that they will over time. Do you smell a tough season? Yeah, I mean, isn't that the best way to put it in at this point? So look for it. Rematch, Sepp Aleta, Del Boni, Wednesday for free, Invicta 45. That's the one I'm going to be paying attention to. Okay, who's the announced team on Invicta these days? So for that one, it was Kedzie doing color commentary.

It was Megan Anderson, and it was TJ DeSantis. Shouts to TJ. Long time OG. The podcast producer to the stars. Yeah. Dude, I remember when he was hosting Beatdown with Josh Gross on SureDog.com in like 05, 06, something like that. I was listening at the time.

I remember when it was Ryan Bennett and Frank Trigg. First MMA interview I ever listened to on streaming radio was they had Carl Parisian on after he fell out of his fight with Matt Hughes for UFC. Was this in the cocaine years? Something. I think a lot of Carl's years were some of those. Luke, different topic, of course,

but how excited are you after watching the rough draft of Morning Combat documentary number six, which should be coming out in the next week? I mean, were you like...

We're in the middle of the run. Were you like fired up, Luke? Because I was pretty fired up, dude. You're like, hey, I just like Pad Thai with medium spice. Okay, I like apples.

What the fuck's I got to do with it? There's a lot of celebrity drop-ins on there. In fact, have you put on yet? Have you worn the underwear that the schmo gifted you with that separates your balls from the shaft? I don't think I have worn that yet. Okay.

I'd be interested in a detailed report. Can we do quick hitters before you just defecate all over the set, please? There's a different kind of energy in person, right? You get a lot more. I like it. I like it. But let's get through the rundown here. Okay, quick hitters, topic number five, if we can, for that one.

All right. Dude, I'm going to read his resume here in a second, but you just got to be blown away at this. RDA versus Rafael Fazeev. Fazeev? Fazeev. Fazeev. Booked for February 19th at one of the UFC fight nights.

BC, it's going to be a. That's a badass fight. Dude, I want to say something about this. There's a couple guys we've pointed out over the years. Jeremy Stephens has been one of them. Here is another one I've just got to say. Yeah, but RDA's more Gegard Mousasi underrated than he is Jeremy Stephens because he's a higher level in class.

He's a former champion. That's right, dude. Listen to who this fucker has fought. This is RDA's resume since coming to the UFC. Some of these he won, some of these he lost. Listen to who he haser has fought. This is RDA's resume since coming to the UFC. Some of these he won. Some of these he lost. Listen to who he has been in the trenches with. Ready?

His debut was Jeremy Stevens, Tyson Griffin, Rob Emerson, Kyle Bradley, Terry Adam, Clay Guida, George Sataropoulos, who was a big-time grappler at the time, Gleason Tebow, Kamal Chalorous, Anthony Njikawani, Mark Bocek, top grappler out of Canada, Evan Dunham, Donald Cerrone, Habib, Jason Hyde, Benson Henderson, Nate Diaz, Anthony Pettis, Cerrone again, Eddie Alvarez, Tony Ferguson, Tarek Safadi, Neil Magni, Robbie Lawler, Colby Covington, Kamaru Usman, Kevin Lee, Leon Edwards, Michael Chiesa, and most recently, Paul Felder. Motherfucker. Name me somebody who's done that shit. Yo, he's a badass.

Dos Anjos is a fucking badass. He doesn't get the love. You know what, Luke? He may still get that Conor fight that he talks about in every single interview because it, of course, fell out at 196 when they were supposed to fight for the lightweight title. Even with a loss here, he's still kind of the perfect Conor comeback opponent if the UFC isn't panicking. Because if they're panicking, you kind of want to do Nate 3

or do some type of monster super fight. You mean if they don't do... Don't you feel like Poirier losing just makes the Conor Poirier thing... I don't want to. I don't need it. I don't want it. You'd be pumped up for RDA because it wouldn't be some soft cowboy gimme. That's a tough fight. That's a tough fight. Dude, yeah. That's kind of the

perfect fight. There's never going to be a situation where RDA gets booked and you're like, well, I don't know if this is a tough fight. Motherfucker, he's in it. Can he beat Fazeev? Can he beat him? At this point. He's never going to be a situation where RDA gets booked and you're like, well, I don't know if this is a tough fight. Motherfucker, he's in it. Can he beat Fazeev? Can he beat him at this point? He's been in good form lately, RDA. I think if he mixes it up, he can. I don't think on the feet.

Listen, Fazeev is very special on the feet. Just a guy you don't. Like, why would you fight Fazeev on the feet more than you have to if you are well-rounded enough? And we know a guy like Dos Anjos is extremely well-rounded. Here's why I extra respect Dos Anjos. Look, he's already had these crossroads moments where he's like, I can't make 155 anymore. I'll die if I make it.

And he keeps kind of reinventing ways to like figuring out. Like this guy, he's a lot like you in the MMA space. Just a lifelong grinder. And, you know, at the end of the day, you have, at certain points in your career, like the last couple of years, been operating at a very high level. RDA had that run. Dude, your delusions of grandeur are unbelievable. No, I'm not saying I am the reason for your success.

I'm like the air freshener in the car of your success, right? Do I no longer have the new car smell? Yeah. Okay. March 26th, homecoming for the immortal Matt Brown, as he's going to take on Brian Barberena. Dude, I love this fight. Matt fucking Brown. Someone put together a thread, whoever it was, of all of Matt Brown, a GIF thread, of all of Matt Brown's finishes in the UFC. And then Matt Brown retweeted it and wrote, this thread's pretty badass if you ask me. And I was like, yeah, it is Matt Brown's finishes in the UFC, and then Matt Brown retweeted it and wrote, this thread's pretty badass if you ask me. And I was like, yeah, it is Matt Brown.

Dude, that thread is incredible. Here's another guy. Again, he hasn't been a UFC championship level at any point in his career, but he's been a great fighter. No, let's give him the credit. I think it was 2015 area. That run he had, which ended with the Robbie Lawler loss when he won like seven in a row, and you were like,

dude, Matt Brown's kind of a title contender. That was really fun to watch. Do you remember when he had that main event at like the fight for the troops card that was in, I think, Ohio? Yes. And I forgot who he stopped in that main event, but it was a Sunday night card and it was like, oh shit, that was, looking back. Diego?

Maybe it was Diego. I don't know. He slashed him with the elbow? No, that was later when he was older. But by the way, that Diego slash I was going to ask you. One of the worst options. Is that more violent than the way Hendo beat Hector Lombard

at 199? Yes. With those like motorcycle gang elbows? He actually, if you actually go back and look, they didn't have to

turn Diego over because he gets hit so hard his body naturally does a forward roll. God, that's nasty. But dude, also, just to get back to our conversation

about Hall of Fame stuff because we're always mired in it, this is sort of what I mean. It's like, dude, Matt Brown is not going to qualify on his own individual resume for the Hall of Fame. He might get in through a fight or through something else. But that's not a slight on Matt Brown, dude. Look at how hard it is to do what Matt Brown has done. You're talking about a

very, very successful fighter, very worthy of our praise and admiration. But the kind of space we reserve for Hall of Fame is a tier or two probably beyond this. Doesn't mean he didn't have a great career. We can't say nice things. Just want to point that out. Bellator. And by the way, that's going to be a banger, dude. Barbarina, come on.

Barbarina comes to fight, so he's probably going to be, I think Matt Brown's going to beat him, but we'll see. All right, Bellator signs controversial ex-amateur wrestler Pat Downey. Yeah, so I know nothing about this guy. I've read up on it, but tell me. Pat Downey's an interesting guy. So Pat Downey is a guy that at one point in his life, and I think he'd probably even agree with this,

was a tremendous fuck-up, where he was facing three felony charges while he was still in high school. For beating the shit out of people. Beating the shit out of people, including Navy midshipmen. So he grew up in Baltimore. His dad put him in boxing very young.

I read all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he was always a good wrestler. In fact, he was supposed to go to the University of Nebraska. Jordan Burroughs, what, five-time world champion Olympic gold medalist, was the guy who recruited him there. And then he was such a fuck-up, they kicked him off the team. He had a bunch of other issues. He more or less got right through junior college, Iowa Central, where John Jones and Colby Covington went. And then he ended up as an Iowa State cyclone. Didn't he drop out of or get kicked out of Penn State, Iowa, Iowa State?

He had all kinds of issues with them. But he did reach All-American status. He was unseated in the, I think, 2014, 11, something like that, NCAAs. He got fifth, so he got All-American status. Then wrestled a little bit on the international circuit. The rules are a little bit different. He had some big wins over some big names, some modest tournaments. He won gold at the Pan Ams, which is his biggest win to date.

But what he's been doing, and why this is so interesting, is he's not a fuck-up anymore. But he's got a big mouth. He got into a lot of trouble because he was shitting on women's wrestling. They kicked him off one of his teams for that, too. That was recent, by the way. God. He took on Gordon Ryan. What is his name, Maga Man?

He took on Gordon Ryan and Nikki Rodriguez, two guys who previously did on her death squad. And with Gordon Ryan, he did one match all wrestling, then another match sub-wrestling. He tech-falled Gordon Ryan in 30 seconds in wrestling, and then he got submitted, obviously. But he tech-falled Nikki Rodriguez in, like, 30 seconds again. It was, like, nothing.

Dude, this is a good goal for a signing was like nothing. Dude, this is a good Bellator signing. So this is a long way of saying this is a great signing by Bellator because Pat Downey can wrestle. He's a sick athlete. Does he have like

a pro wrestler persona? Yeah, big time. He has his hair all weird. He comes in with weird clothing. He's perfect for the job and by the time he was 18, he was knuckling people on the fucking sidewalk.

So like this is just the guy you want for Bellator. Great guy to get. A middleweight for Bellator. We should interview him. We should get Big Tuna on. He's got a fight coming up, too. Dude, Big Tuna tweets me all the time. I love Big Tuna.

Yo, would you do an interview with Big Tuna? Yeah. From this set? Happily. Happily. Oh, and we can put him on the screen right now? Yeah, hell yeah. Dude, Big Tuna, we should give him some shine anyway.

He's got a fight coming up, as a matter of fact. Yo, he comes from the mafia, too, Big Tuna. Don't ask too many questions. I know, but it's like middle America mafia, but still, you know? Yo, how much Mahjong is, what's her face? Ashley? Yeah, playing right now. What?

What? Are you serious? This is you right now, during the middle of this important show. Just mouth breathing. Just all that oxygen going through there. Luke, you haven't forgiven her for bringing... She gave everybody COVID! Yeah, I can't.

She did. Watch Doc 3 for more info. I'm teasing. But back to what we were talking about. I think 6 is the best doc now. I think it, you know, I haven't seen the finished product yet. Okay, now that you brought it up,

we've seen the first two thirds. Yeah,, like 20-something minutes. And it's excellent. It's tremendous. Excellent. All right. That guy Jake, I mean, he's got, you know, edgy, weird vibes. We've only got two more of these before you. Dude, you don't have to take a shit. You don't have another job. What is stopping you from giving the people what they want? Doing a good show. Bobby Green versus Nasrat Hakparast, whose name you racistly wrote in the emails. I'm teasing.

You didn't. But you did misspell it. It's not like I put Nasdaq 500. No, you didn't. But you did misspell it. At UFC 271, Bobby Green coming off of a big win. Hakparast, the loss to Dan Hooker. This might be do or die for Hakparast.

We'll see. We'll see. Yeah, I like this fight a lot. I don't love this fight. It's a grinder type fight. I like grinders. Against Bobby Green? You've got to put Bobby this fight a lot. I don't love this fight. It's a grinder type fight. I like grinders. Against Bobby Green? You've got to put Bobby Green up a level.

He shines when you give him the fights he's not supposed to get, and then he kicks everyone's ass. So he's the new Michael Johnson. A little bit. A little bit. A little better than that, maybe. And then lastly, this one you're kind of all over. Misha Tate apparently mulling a move to 125.

Yes, and she got called out instantly by Jessica Andrade. I've got to say, I don't hate that. I don't know if she can... I've done some shows with Misha. I don't know if she can make 125. She's large. She's a lot more muscular, so she'd have to really... That could be dangerous, taking off

the muscle, but the idea of Misha Tate knows that her brand is enough and she's still game enough to... She's probably got one run in her. Can it come abandon weight now that Peña's turned the division upside down, and there's going to be a rematch, and blah, blah, blah? This is a strategic path that she sort of put out there and said, fans, you know, what do you think?

Which way should I go? It's a quicker path at 125, but making weight's not going to be easy, and it's probably more difficult to fight Valentina at 125 than to fight Amanda at 35. Let me ask you about this. Yes, it's in conjunction at 35. Let me ask you about this. Yes, it's in conjunction with this.

Let me ask you about this. What do you make of this recent trend? Hooker, for example, is this way as well. Cody was this way. Of guys, I don't know if Cody did actually. Arboza, Aldo. Using the PI and modern weight cutting systems to get down in weight

to weights where they can get there and they can get there by the metrics that say it's safe, but they perform like shit every time. Do we not? Well, they do, because it's really hard to do, right? I mean, it's really hard to take off. If you have to take that many steps to get to your weight,

you're going to be like shit by the time you get to your weight. Do we not give UFC enough credit in the larger fighter pay debate era of putting that system in place for the fighters? I think that system is great. I don't have a criticism of it, but I wonder if they've gotten too clever by half, right? Have they gotten so good at teaching people how to cut weight where we can get you to 125 or whatever weight it is safely?

Yes, you might be able to do that, but you haven't improved their performance yet. If you don't win in two minutes, your stamina is done. So I do worry about that a little bit, but I guess we'll have to see. That's it for the top five right here. Time for... There was another one, Luke, that I think that...

Oh, it was the one that Mikey sent. Yeah. Before I forget that one. So there's a fight announced for March 12th, Luke. I want to get your virgin reaction. All right, hit me up, hit me up, hit me up. Maheta Tiago Santos versus Magomed and Kalaya. Oh!

Blood, sugar, sex, magic, right? Yeah, I mean, marry, fuck, kill. I don't even know. Jesus, I love that. Are you kidding? Uncle Ive, I think, might be a future champion in that division. Uncle Ive is a fucking beast. Are you going to put the same Cyril Ghosn,

who's that other motherfucker that you like a lot? Shafkat Rachmaninoff. Yes, are you going to put that same level, like, yo, like, Uncle Luke saw this shit and it's coming? Like, you're going to do that right now for Ekolov? For? Because you were right on Serylgan.

Um. Yo, put your money where your mouth is. I think, I'll say, I think Uncle Ive is going to be probably a future champion this week off. Yeah. I think so. I think he's going to wear gold. Yeah.

Damn. Damn. That fight's going to bang. Like, even if, like, Tiago... That's a dangerous fucking fight. Like, Tiago should lose that, all things considered. His age, his streak that he's on.

But you know he's still got one big fucking devastating knockout at him. You know that. You know what's amazing, though? Dude, Tiago's going to go out swinging. Here's what's going to be so amazing

about Ankhalaev's game plan. Like, I went back and re-watched the Blahovich fight against Maheta. And Blahovich, dude, I don't even blame him. Like, there's a lot of times where he's ducking and dodging and getting the fuck out. You know what I mean? He's like, fuck this. And I get it. Dude, you know

Ankhalaev, win or lose, is going to fight him in a way where when it's over, you're going to be like, dude, Ankhalaev wasn't the least bit intimidated. Right? You're going to say that. You're going to say it when it's over. You're going to be like, dude, Ankhalaev didn't fight even remotely scared. I do want to say this. Rashad and I, one time on the old CBS State of Combat podcast. You're going to say it when it's over. You're going to be like, dude, Ankalayev didn't fight even remotely scared. I do want to say this. Rashad and I, one time on the old CBS State of Combat

podcast. You did mushrooms? Yeah, we licked toads together. We gave a ranking of our top five most rewatchable UFC Fight Pass fighters. Meaning, when you're home and you're drinking beer and you're like, oh, let me go on Fight Pass and F around. Which fighters do you go to first? And my list was like

Robbie Lawler, number one. It's sort of obvious, guys. I think Mejeta's got to be in that top five. He's got a surprise for you. If you watch that run he had in transitioning from middleweight to light heavyweight, these fights are bangers, dude. He goes after it. Even the Jon Jones fight, in hindsight, Luke, was pretty damn fun.

No, that fight sucked. Not an action fight. No, no, no. It wasn't an action fight, but there was lingering drama, because he would make these runs at John where you're like, oh, shit, he might knock him out. Yeah, dude, I mean, here's his run. Cesar Fajeda, Hany Marks, Uriah Hall, Andy N., Steve, do you remember the Steve Boss head kick KO?

Yes, I do. Jesus Christ, that was terrible. Elias Theodoru, Nate Marquardt, who he viciously KO'd. He lost to Musashi, Eric Spicely, then beat Jack Marshman, Gerald Mearshard, Jack Hermanson, Anthony Smith, lost to David Branch, beat Kevin Holland, Eric Anders, Jimmy Manoa, Jan Blachowicz. Damn. Then lost to Jones, Teixeira, and Rakic, although the Rakic one was thorough but boring, but

then he rebounded against Jimmy Walker. Dude, I'm not making some backward case for Hall of Fame, but like his career is way better than I ever gave him credit for. He beat way more guys than you think off the top of your head. And he bangs, man. He goes in there. He started out, it's funny, he started out with Mutanchi, Cesar Fajera, who's, you know, he's a good fighter, but he's now in PFL. He's not of that level. And Mutanchi had all of the, at the time, had a lot of hype behind Vitor Belfort. Mutanchi was one of his guys.

And obviously, Tiago Santos had some hype from being, I think he was in Bope, wasn't he? Wasn't he in the paratrooper group? I don't have this knowledge. I believe he was a part of the paratroopers out of Brazil, the special forces. You think he wore a cover? He wore one of those beret-type joints. Oh, shit. Yeah.

How do you say cover in Portuguese? Cover? Wow. He wore a cover? He wore one of those beret type joints. Oh shit. Yeah. So, um. How do you say cover in Portuguese? Cover? Wow. I don't know. He shoots? He shoots.

Yeah, okay. How would, how would, uh. Shoot the box. What's his face? Um, the 27 time world champion. What's his face? Hey, Delta A guy, what's his face? The guy who calls himself the 29 time, 27 time world champion.

Ric Flair? No, the Brazilian dude. Renato Laranja. Renato Laranja, yeah. Oh, yeah, the guy from... Uncle Hanach. Yeah. How would Hanach pronounce it? He's a fun follow on IG.

Dude, I met him at Glory's Last Man Standing, and he is literally as funny in person, if not more so, than online. He won me over at High Rollers, Luke, okay? That and that giant jar. Dude, he was walking around, Hanato Laranja, the guy who plays him anyway, was walking around handing out weed to people

being like, Uncle Hanach, I got your mineral wine. Yeah, that was in Brazilian, Luke. That was like Mario from Racistly Shipped Boyardee. Why does Hanato Laranja sound like a racist Italian? I don't know. Alright, well with that in Like, racistly shampoo your D. It's like, why does Anatole Ron just sound like a racist Italian? I don't know.

All right. Well, with that in mind, it's time for DMs with donks. So let's do that. Let's put that up here. There we go. Yeah. You know what? I'm excited to watch Have You Seen This Shit without delay.

Yeah, it's been a long time since we've done that. All right. So I think I've got these now. Let's go first. From St. Jean Kevin from St. Jean Kevin. St. Jean Kevin. Maybe it's Kevin St. Jean, Luke. Could be.

Maybe it's just a fuck face. How great was Bob Saget, BC? Okay, the obvious answer is he's great, and he's got a place in all of our childhoods, whether you loved him or thought he was lame, you know, with the Full House, America's Funniest Videos vibe. And even at 65, it feels too soon. But he is a very good comedian in his own lane.

And he's raunchy as shit. I know. I've never seen him. And once you, in the moment that you sort of opened your eyes and realized that, he became like Dirty Uncle cool in a way that's like Hall of Fame worthy. he's you know but yet in reality I didn't love most of his work like most of it

because most of it he played you know sort of that buttoned up loser but when you got to see him like at the cameo in Half Baked is all time great

you know you don't suck dick for coke I've never I've never seen his you know what I'm talking about Luke yeah get off the set I've never I've never seen his stand up so I'm I'm talking about Luke? Yeah get off the set. I've never

I've never seen his stand up so I'm only familiar with what people have said about it. Yeah. But you know there was so many people

from so many corners of the world who said so many nice things about him which everyone does in their death but this one seemed a little

different to me. I remember one time in seventh grade there was this weird kid and he was like he was like yo I saw Playgirl magazine the other day

and we were like you were reading Playgirl? He was like yeah but he was like there's saw Playgirl magazine the other day, and we were like, you were reading Playgirl? He was like, yeah, but there's this article where it talks about how big Bob Saget's dong is. And I was just like, I don't believe that shit. He's got a big hammer. I don't believe that shit at all. What, are we talking about Shaq right now?

Are we talking about Uncle Rocco? No, come on. From AntWorkman54, Luke, how are you going to talk shit about cable management when your Christmas tree is up two weeks into January? I don't know. What is the appropriate? Is this a dead wrong right here?

It's not quite a dead wrong. You guys are just kind of grilling me. Because here's the thing. What is the rule with keeping your tree up? When does it go down? What's the rule? Say again? After.

So here's my rule on this. This is why I do it this way. Because in the city, they collect it at the end of January. I'm going to take it out probably this weekend. But that's why it's still up. Because the city will come get it, but not until the end of the month. And I just don't want to leave it out there in the alleyway. So I think that's reasonable, right?

That's fair. One year, I got a real one, and it smelled like five times as strong as normal. It was amazing. Wait, wait. You normally have a fake one? Yeah, because I have cats and stuff. But I had a real one for a bunch of years. I had cats.

What's that got to do with anything? It's just a mess. Did you put tinsel on the tree? My son's got asthma, and he's allergic to it. So that's the main reason. But when I had the real one, it smelled like five times as strong as normal. So I left it up until late March, because it was like this giant air freshener in the corner of the room.

It was great. One time when I was single, I did get a small Christmas tree for my house, and then when Christmas was over, I just chucked it in the yard and forgot about it. Did you have like giant, like, I can imagine in the front of your house just having like a giant black flag that says like POW on it, where people walk by and they're just like, oh man, the fucking guy, right? Why would I have a POW flag? I could see before

your lovely wife cleaned you up that you were probably like, did you have all like black sheets and you know. No, as like,

like to block out the sun in my windows? No, no, no, no, no, no. That was, my pad was not cool but it wasn't bad. It was just. I mean,

you did go to a shooting range on your first date with your wife. Yeah, and she fucking married me, so it looks like I made the right call. All right. Anyway, yes. The tree's coming down, so fuck you. All right. From AhmedHady95.

At the risk of sounding like I'm dissing Cesar Gracie, do you think Nick Diaz could have been a UFC championship-level fighter or downright a champion under a different coach? Who would have been a good fit given his style? Absolutely fucking not. No. No. No chance.

Cesar Gracie has a deep bond with them, both Diaz brothers. Both Diaz brothers are not going to move to fucking Florida for their camp. That ain't happening. They'd kill for Cesar Gracie. Yeah happening. They'd kill for Cesar Gracie. Yeah, they would fucking kill for Cesar Gracie. Like, no. But here's the deal. Is that question implying Nick's lack of evolution?

Yes. Because he did sort of stop fighting at one point, right? The reason why that's wrong is that Nick Diaz was for a long time the bleeding edge of evolution. He had a very good guard and very good jiu-jitsu in ways a lot of guys didn't. So it wasn't just that he had good jiu-jitsu in ways a lot of guys didn't. So it wasn't just that he had more jiu-jitsu. He had a better impact on his game.

And he was the beginning of, let's put some boxing skill in some MMA fights. Guys have copied that. He was one of the first ones to do it. Nate Diaz as well. So did he have the best skill set to beat the very best fighters of his generation, even in his prime? No, no, he couldn't be GSP and some other ones. But he, in many ways,

was an extremely important contributor to the development of mixed martial arts over the last 10 or 15 years. His run through Strikeforce becoming a sort of global star was so much fun. Do you remember when we filmed those Strike Force morning combat classics at the beginning of the pandemic with Mauro Ranallo and Scott Coker? Mm-hmm.

And now they're nowhere to be found? Yeah. They were on the app for like six minutes. I was at Showbox this weekend in Orlando having dinner next to the guy

who happens to be the one who populates the app. Ah, okay. And I was like, dude, where are these shows? He's like, no, they're out there. I'm like, no, they're not out there. He's going to plug them back in.

When these get in, these were fun. They were fun. They were great. These are really good shows to look back on. Yeah. We did a lot of Nick Diaz. Nick Diaz was undefeated in Strikeforce. Folks, forget that.

He had a great run. And these shows are re-watching the fights and then commentary from Mauro, Coker, the two of us. Their memories and stuff. Yeah, it's fun. All right, from at St. John underscore CA. So I guess Canada somewhere. What is next for showbox fighters?

Nunes fought twice on showbox. Would he fight a third time, become a prelim fighter or Showtime Championship Boxing Card or become a contender? So folks are asking, how does it work? How do you graduate from showbox to Showtime Championship Boxing?

There's usually a couple fight window that we've seen. Like even, you know, Dron Boots Ennis two years ago was like the featured showbox guy a couple times in a row, you know? Brandon Lee, I think, fought two or three times. Sometimes that sort of becomes where you're, it's really how long are you in that transitional period? What you love about showboxes, it's, you know, at its best, it's putting unbeaten prospect against unbeaten prospect, and it's sort of the first time in their career in theory that they're really stepping up to somebody on their level to find out if they're title ready. And sometimes they're title ready right in that victory.

Sometimes that victory is the breakthrough moment. Sometimes that window of sort of figuring it out is a couple of fights. So it depends on the fighter. But that's two good ones in a row for Luis Nunez on Showbox. So I'd like to see him one more time on that level. He could. He could. But also, for folks who may not understand what the significance could be,

the best way I could explain it was, remember four or five years ago where one of the best places you could be on a card if you were not on the main event was,

yes, you could be the main event prelim, the prelim main event, the one right before. Talking about UFC? Yes. Or what you could do is you could be the

main event fight on Fight Pass. Remember that? They would put a lot of interesting extra buzz into you for that. So you were not featured alongside the very best, but Brandon Lee on the Showtime YouTube channel has a ton of different feature pieces about him

by virtue of being in a main event slot on Showbox. And then he's now graduated up to Showtime Championship Boxing. Absolutely. So there you go. Last but not least, BC, I haven't thought about this one too much. From X-Man Mex. Some Mexican guy.

So he's a Mexican superhero fan. Or maybe he transitioned to being a woman. Wow. But he's still Mexican. That's the thing. You can go from male to female, female to male, but you're staying Mexican. Well, if you remove the X's on the outside, the middle says man me. So I think he's still...

I think there's like... Yeah, but doesn't the X mean like... This is hidden man code right here. Yeah, yeah. I like how the first thing you thought was man me. So that's what BC says in the bar. Bartender, man me. Yes, yes.

All right, who's winning? Manscape me. Mans, yes, please. All right, who's winning? Manscape me. Manscape my filthy genitals. Who's winning the Super Bowl, BC? I'm not. I was plugged in three, four weeks ago. Did you watch any football yesterday? No.

The last... I had been ever since I went to that Patriots game when Mac Jones had that great performance against the Browns. Your texts to me from that game were fucking hilarious. I went on a nice run of watching the NFL again, watching the Patriots run. I think still right now, you've got to back the Chiefs, Luke. Is it going to be Chiefs-Bucks?

Who's it going to be? Anybody here watch football? Packers are favorites. Packers are favorites? Didn't they lose yesterday? But it was the JV squad, though, right? How much does COVID have a say in the Packers' chance of winning? I don't know, bro.

I don't know. COVID. Well, COVID should be dying down this wave or whatever. It should be dying down. But when's the Super Bowl? First week of February? Right? Yeah, it should be coming to a relative close.

You think Tom Brady could play the Super Bowl after getting injected with Omicron the day before? I'm sure he'd try. Him and Alex Guerrero would try. I'll say Packers, and then who's the big team out of the AFC? Well, Tennessee thinks they are. They're not. They're not.

Do they have Derrick Henry? Yeah, he's going back. Oh, he's back now. Yeah, I mean, he is the boogeyman. He's fucking awesome. Yeah, he is. Chiefs Packers? The Chiefs have the AFC on lockdown right now.

Did the Chiefs? I know they had like a shitty middle part of their season. Have they recovered? They're better now? Okay. All right, we'll see what happens with the playoffs. I'll go Packers. There's nothing worse than two guys who barely have been watching the season.

Yeah, what's your take? Make declarative statements and analysis. Dude, the only take I have is February 2nd is when they're going to announce the new Washington football team name. All right, let's talk about it. Can we talk about that now or do you want to make a whole separate clip with this? Yeah, we can do it. We can talk about it. You're way about that now, or do you want to make a whole separate clip with this? Yeah, we can do it. We can talk about it.

You're way off in the names that you like and want. You don't understand DC, and you're making these decisions based on a national promotion. Stop with this. Unless you got tattooed, you can't have roles. No, no, no. State why you're wrong, and I'll explain why you're wrong. Of a metropolis. State why you're wrong.

This franchise, Love or Hate the Name, has lineage and legacy and success. So to put something like the Gladiators or the Red Dragons or what kind of shit were you... You were into all this bullshit. I'll read out the names. Like, you were into all this, like... Okay, so do the... Like, Cleveland Indians are going to be the Cleveland what?

Guardians? That's lame as shit, Luke. Is it better than the racist? I'm not saying stick with Indians, okay? I'm not saying that, alright? Here are the names. So I want you to go thumbs up, thumbs down. I'm saying you mentioned as a possible name the president and you were like,

you know, you were like, it should be the Red Dragons, bitch. I'm like, what is this? Is this lacrosse? Like, no, Luke, no. I don't know what that means. No one knows what that means. Would you like to know how wrong you are? Like, what is this, lacrosse? Like, no, Luke, no. I don't know what that means. No one knows what that means. What is this, minor league baseball? Let's call ourselves. Would you like to know how wrong you are?

No. Tell me as a fan of a team with legacy and tradition. Well, they kicked off the day. I will explain to you my decision. You didn't listen to a fucking. The president is D.C., right? No, it's not. Dude, that's a part of D.C.

that people who don't understand D.C. think is part of D.C. That's not part of D.C. You're like, I want to focus on the crime. Dude, dude, the guy who occupies it, Trump, Biden, whoever, they're not D.C. They it's part of D.C. That's not part of D.C. You're like, I want to focus on the crime. Dude, dude, the guy who occupies it, Trump, Biden, whoever, they're not D.C. They just sit there for four, eight years, and they're out.

How about the Washington Bullets? I love that name. Are you kidding? When they change that name, I'm like, what the fuck you change that name for? All right, here are the choices. Let's go through these very quickly. Number one, Armada.

Worst choice ever. Armada is just Spanish for Navy. You got the Washington Navy. That's basically, see, that's like an MLS level name, right there. Armada is just Spanish for Navy. You got the Washington Navy? That's basically, see that's like an MLS level name right there. Yeah, that's a horrible name. Next is Presidents, and I have gone on the record, if they go with Presidents, I'm out. This is my beef. Let's stop here.

Let's stop here. Presidents is D.C. I'm not saying it's not corny. Dude, you're going to name your football team after a version of government? Okay, the baseball team? What a jack-off fucking loser idea that is. Washington Nationals is a strong name. Hey, I'm the federal court reporter.

True or false, true or false, Washington Nationals, the baseball team, is a strong name that represents the capital city of our country. I fucking hate that name. That name sucks ass. So you want Washington Guardians? No, I don't want, let's go through, let's go through, let's go through. Why don't you go back and take your Xbox? So Armada, Armada down. Presidents, two thumbs down.

Dude, Presidents is the best one. Hold on, let's go through the rest. Presidents is the Henry Cejudo in this debate. Brigade? It is a little bit old man World War II feel, so I could come swayed back to it. Defenders? No, see, that's okay.

That's okay, Luke. It's okay. Because in theory, Washington is the brain of our country, the center of our heart and soul. That's where the military comes in. Commanders? If you had to, yes. It's way better than any of the ones you've liked,

but it's still below par. Keeping Washington football team, like not changing it like that. See, that's also very... I hate that. I'm trying to be see that's also very I'm trying to be too clever I'm trying you know I'm trying to be

alright and then the last two are Red Hogs and Red Wolves now Red Hogs the Red Hogs is the best one oh Red Hogs

that's amazing hold on I mean I get the offensive lineman reference but that's what it is but I think you know Red Hogs I'm like you know

like a dog's dick when it gets super hot at the park like a president's dick you ever seen a dog's dick when it gets super hot at the park? No, no, like a president's dick. You ever seen a dog's hog when it gets all fucking erect? It's gross. Oh, wow. Can you imagine if they named him after that,

and that was the logo on the helmet? It was just a dog getting a pink erection? All right. Red Wolves is out. Red Wolves is out because they already said it's out. They said we're not doing it. Well, dude, you liked Red Wolves. Here is, God, Jesus, for the love of motherfucking God.

Here's why I don't want Armada, Presidents, Brigade, Commanders, or any of that. Because these are inherently military-inspired names. Brigade, Armada, Commanders, that kind of shit. Defenders, less so. But with that, you have to understand who owns the fucking team, dude. Daniel Snyder owns the fucking team. He's gonna fuck this up. If you give him

a military tie-in to this, do you understand what's gonna be happening at these games and how much the military is gonna be a part of the NFL when it has no business being

and all of the extra money that's gonna be spent? Okay, okay. Dude, I don't want any part of that. I don't want Daniel Snyder touching the military ever.

Because he's gonna come out selling like Redskins covers, right? Or whatever the fuck, yeah. Red Hog covers, yes. Dude, it's going to be terrible. That stance I respect, but your support before of Red Wolves? Dude, seriously, what is this?

It's like some second league hockey team name. Dude, you think that I think that Red Wolves is a great name. I don't. I think that the rest of them are untenable. Okay, then guess what it should be then. If you don't want to do any military connection, I get it. Presidents, that's DC, bro. Hey, I'm the it should be, then. If you don't want to do any military connection, I get it. Presidents. That's D.C., bro. Hey, I'm the Secretary of State.

Everyone suck my dick. I scored a touchdown. It's the worst idea on earth. No, it's classy and classy. I'm the ambassador to Zimbabwe. Seriously, ex-Redskins fans, because everybody agrees the team name shouldn't be there, but there's also, it's hard to pull away from that nickname because of the tradition and history.

Presidents has that royal aura. If they go with the presidents, they're your team, and I'm out. Because I'm not a dork. So fuck that team. Meanwhile, hey, if we can get the Red Wolves in. It's better than the presidents. Okay, but this morning you did say Washington FC would not be bad. You said that.

Dude, relative to fucking the Armada, if they call them the Armada, what are the Nina, the Pita, and the Santa Maria? The worst idea ever. Fuck that shit. Anyway, let's watch your shit. All right, every Monday we put together a collection of absurdities. Wait, hold on, let me see a show of hands.

I'm not saying these names are good. Who as their number one choice likes presidents? Yeah, get them up there. The Washington presidents. Get them up there, please. Let me see. I can't see you. Show me your hogs.

Is there one? No. Zero! I need proof. Can Mark shoot the... What do you think? What's your number one choice? Jake.

Commanders. Commander? Okay, I can live with that. number one choice? Jake. Commanders. Okay, I can live with that. Oh, look at documentary. Commanders, you can live with commanders? Red Hogs, baby. Ashley's like, they should be the white chicks and spell it with a Y.

That's a letter I. She did say that's her favorite movie. She literally goes, that's the peak of cinema. White chicks. I was like, word? Yeah. the peak of cinema. White chicks. I was like, word? Yeah? Too many dumb things! Wow. Okay. So we scour the globe, Luke, for the highs and lows, the good, the bad, the ugly, the in-between. From combat sports and beyond, this is called Have You Seen This Shit? Oh, God.

Okay. Luke, you gave me, true or false, you texted me about ideas for today's show, and the one thing you were like, no fucking Jake Paul. I did say that. Okay, well, let's say we got Jake Paul in this segment. Oh, you fucking loser. He tweets out a... Are you going to put it up here so I can see it or not? A day one

MMA training video that showed him twice throwing out leg kicks. Luke, is this a teaser to the fans for the future? Well, this is a teaser to the next clip. Yeah. Oh, great. Oh, my God. Any chance we can... There we go. Yeah. I mean, these are just

standard day one leg kicks. Okay, so this isn't anything more than this. No, it's nothing. This is not him telling you. He might, but this isn't a demonstration of any kind of ability. Three days ago, Scott Coker said publicly we'd love to sign him for MMA. He might. Listen, I don't know what the fuck's going to happen, but no.

These are just... These are nothing. All right. Let's wait until this conversation is probably over. That's important, not this one. All right, boxing from Santa Fe, Argentina. Luke, you may have seen this earlier. Featherweight Alexis Rebozio

improving to 2-0. I saw this like five seconds ago. Oh, God. You see that left hook, Luke? Yeah, that left hook was. What round is this? First round, too? Yeah, this is, no.

Where did they get this guy? From the pizza parlor? Wow, yeah. Is that the one? Wow, yeah. Let's see a replay of this, Luke. Hey, I know you were bagging groceries earlier today. Can you come fist fight this dude? If we can get an opponent who also can drive the Uber home, that'd be great. All right, there you go.

Hey, Luke, there's all kinds of celebrity commercials on Instagram these days. Montana De La Rosa now has a deal to selling bedside gun safes. Your thoughts, Luke? This was a paid ad on her IG. Is this kind of hot or what? You know, he was storming the Capitol on January 7th. Yeah, he saw this. So he's all about it.

Listen, gun safes are a good thing. It's a good thing. But I didn't grow up with gun safes this way. We had a gun safe in the house that was put away, and it was locked and had multiple locks on it. I bet your dad had, like, old, like, weird rifles that looked like Wild West. My dad had a bunch of guns.

Oh, that motherfucker. And he died. That's not what he said. Oh, wow. He had ridiculous gun control safety. So, like, putting it bedside for me, you know, that's a little bit, I don't know, that's not for me. Okay, what would be the line?

Because, you know, we sold some products on this show before. Like, is there anything that you wouldn't sell? I mean, I'll hoard up for the checks. I doesn't, you know. I mean, if Montana could reach out to them and say, hey, maybe MK could sell these beds. Yeah, I would go back on all my programs and sell it. All right, hey, Luke, you're always saying that we like elder abuse.

There's a lot of talk that there's not enough. I don't say we, I say you. There's a lot of talk that there's not enough child abuse on this show. So let's see how long this lasts. Luke, can we go full screen, please? Oh, no. That's one. This is always dangerous, Luke.

I mean, you got to. Wow. Okay. You know what? That wasn't that hard. Luke, let's go to the UK. This is some palace guards on the way back to our. Wait, can you go back for one second?

I know you just started this, but please, just one second. Just roll this. Dude, children are fucking stupid. My daughter loves the swing, right? And I'll push her on the swing. I have to, when I push my daughter at the park, I have to push her on the swing and

I have to run interference for all the fucking moron children who think running in front of my daughter is a good idea when she's coming at them full fucking blast off the swing she's like harold howard you know my kids i have sent into fucking orbit with my daughter hunting them just whoosh yeah get the fuck out of the way all right child abuse number two takes us to england luke watch these guards closely can we go full screen on

this please have you been to london no i can. Watching the beef eaters do all this shit? I can't wait. You've got to corral your kids. Oh, he just stepped on his hoe. Yo, he stomped on this kid. Dude, that was like Allen Iverson over Tyron Lue. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was. Wow.

Did he just score against the Lakers? What the fuck? All right, let's go to the indoor'll play around with the indoor playscape Luke you ever talk to people who do you I you're in the reserves you're talking to people who do a well actually on the whole screen on this to I see I sent this to you the you see the guys looking to get any soldier will do it look at many blessed

I don't know will do it in hurricanes will do it they don't they don't stop at anything yeah they're fuckin there They're hardcore about it. Okay. One more, Luke, on child abuse here. You've got to watch doing these TikTok stunts. You can take one of the pills. Let me get this right into the ball sack. Yeah, he had it coming.

That kid had it coming, right? Fuck that kid, right? Yeah, all right. Luke, luckily we still have some time in this show for elder abuse. Roll the tape. Here we go. Senior citizens in virtual reality, Luke. It's the latest trend. Dude, who was the fucking asshole?

Oh, God. Oh, my God. You've got to go full screen. The people deserve this. The worst part is when you get old, have you noticed that old people, they fall. Old people have bad breakfalls. Do they not? Yeah.

They don't have no zippy breakfalls, bro. All right. They got the worst breakfalls. Do they not? Yeah. No zippy breakfalls, bro. Alright. They got the worst breakfalls on earth. I know you may ask, what happens if old guys try virtual reality? Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, my God.

Right? Hey, Luke, I'll tell you the truth, though. Dude, I'm going to give my dad one of these. These old folks ain't much better on mopeds, Luke, I'll tell you that much. Dude, don't ever put... Oh, no. Dude, that's like watching Luca go over the thing. Oh, wow, yeah.

She got some saddlebags, too, that hefty chick. You know, once that thing starts veering off course, that's hard to keep on. Let's go to the next one. Luke, this isn't Wendy, sir. I mean, come on. Let's check this out. Can you blow this up? Is this a bachelor party at a fast food joint?

Or are we just hanging out on Friday here? How is this not racist? That is... How is this not racist? That is, um, that's, uh... How is this not racist? Yeah, that's not, that's not our finest moment, Luke. Let's keep it going. Luke, I think they call this a bean cock. Would you be interested, Luke?

Oh, God, right? Yeah. I mean, it combines some of your favorite things of all time, but not, like, together, right? Yeah. Wow. You're the worst person in America. Hey, Luke, let's head on over to the voting booth ahead of November. Can we zoom in here? I think this is called poll watching. Just urinating all over the voting machine. This is what I think of democracy. Yeah. Okay. Hey, Luke, we won a big award.

It's, you know, rightfully to celebrate here, celebrate the new year, celebrate your podcast award. Just be careful with, oh, no. Oh, no. Can you go full? You've got to go full on this. I mean, the people,

look at her face afterwards, Luke. Was this you at prom? afterwards, Luke. Was this you at prom? Oh, boy. Was this your date at prom? You mean after the prom? Yeah. Wow. All right, Luke.

How about some fighting here? A lot of talk about this jiu-jitsu move here, this reversal. I've seen this, yeah. Can you break this down? I mean, basically what he does is he kind this is, watch, he'll basically just reverse out of this by going backwards with his flip. He holds the head and then comes back around the other side. What do you call that?

I don't know. I don't know. A dirty hooker? Sure. A dirty hooker. Yep. That's what they call that at all the mats. Look, first rule in improv is, you know, never say no.

Don't start out with a terrible joke. Okay, all right. Hey, let's go over to, we love old guy fights in MMA, but I'm not sure about this, Luke. What is this? What the fuck is, I mean, what are we doing here? Look at the tats on that guy, right? What the fuck is this, man?

Is this some Squid Game shit? They fight to get out and get their cell phone bill? Dude, that old man. Again, the old people. Just zippy break falls. Let's get some younger people in here. Let's see this Karate KO of the week, Luke. Dude, these are... Oh, wow.

Yeah. Dude, that was like... She just stopped in an exclamatory way. I'm definitely Team Eagle Fang. I know you're not watching Cobra Kai, Luke, but wow, that is great. The lives of teenagers are uninteresting. Yeah. Hey, let's play one with some volume.

Did you see Drunk Canelo doing karaoke with F1 driver Max Verstappen? Yeah, Verstappen. Let's fucking party, cabrones! I was born for this. Get fucked up! He was doing close talking drunk, which was the stage before that. Not quite. Not quite. They didn't have to hold him up. I was born for this. Get fucked up. Right? That's really what he said, I think. He was doing close talking drunk, which is the stage before that.

Yes. All right. Hey, Luke, the Houston Rockets, the true story, have offered a new delicacy, jumbo mac and cheese dog with Froot Loops and bacon. Would ya? Jumbo mac and cheese dog. So it's a hot dog. With mac and cheese dog. So it's a hot dog. With mac and cheese. And they put mac and cheese, bacon, and Froot Loops on it?

It's kind of interesting, right? No, I'm not. No. Mm-mm. No. I've not. I don't. No.

It's like you're contemplating anal. You're like, well, you know. I'm like that fat chick who's like, ooh. Oh, God, yeah. All right. Hey, Luke, how about some drunk chicks, right? That's a people pleaser. That's what they came for.

Let's go to the diving board. Oh, yeah. Into the drink. I mean, that's easy, right? You know, she's had the time of her life. Dude, this is the, show that again. She never felt this way before. This is the official summer of white claw right here yeah it is there it is nobody Luke puts baby in a corner and nobody gives baby CTE either

Luke oh they keep doing this one yeah they keep doing they just don't ever fucking learn have fun on the pavement be odd naked yeah naked that reminds me of that scene in better Off Dead in the cafeteria when that chick's on roller skates. You know where I'm going with this? Nope, sure don't. All right. Let's go to, look, this isn't me breaking the National League record

by sneaking six cans of Budweiser into the 2000 NLCS Mets Cardinals, but this is. How have I not married this person? Yeah, that's three bottles. That's impressive. What's the most you've ever shoplifted? In size. Not in terms of...

I mean, you know, that's... I took a two-liter bottle once in a winter coat. I thought you were going to have a real story, like, you know, I stole a diamond bracelet. Wait, have you held it up at gunpoint or something? My wife's wearing it now, you know? Yeah. All right. Hey, Balloon Art of the Week. story like you know i stole a diamond bracelet my wife's wearing it now you know yeah all right hey balloon art of the week luke you can see anything on the subways these days

you sure can i would blow it up please fuck all y'all let's fuck i think it says fuck all day luke i think that's actually what it says is that what it says yeah yeah i don't have my glasses what party did he get those at, Luke? Well, it looks like it's a little bit of arts and crafts. The best part is, what's the bodega that sells this? Do you think street people have

orgies? I've seen condoms in the street. We've talked about this. All right. Luke, there's nothing like a good deadlift fail. Let's bring that back into the uh rotation here can you blow it up that's not a deadlift well he's dead luke so you can call whatever you want oh god it looks like he's trying to power clean yeah he he won't be producing children after that luke yeah but you

know what when you're a moron you shouldn't't. Oh, wow. Alright, hey, Luke. You know, the holidays. These are like mini-Darwin Awards. Did you hear the fireworks go off New Year's Eve? My neighborhood had fireworks go off. Yeah, I have dogs. They were fucking running to the basement. Alright, here's a bottle rocket from the balcony. Let's listen to this. You know, you gotta be courteous to your neighbors in celebration of times.

Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, God. Hey, let's commit arson. Yeah, remember we saw something similar to that when we were filming on the rooftop with Chuck and that old guy was watching porn on the big screen over there?

People think we're exaggerating. No, he was watching pornography. No, the same thing happened. I know because I was watching pornography through his window. Let's close with this, Luke. You ever play the game called Find the Pickle? No. All right.

You've got to be careful. You may get a little on you, Luke. Who is this Rhodes Scholar? Is there anything worse than a face full of pickle juice, Luke? Who is this MacArthur Jesus Graham winner? Hey, could your face be redder, you fucking lush Jesus? Yeah, look at her. All right, because, yeah.

Why don't you drink more? Good Lord. Luke, that's all the shit I got this week. Fairly good. Fairly good. Not bad. Better than last week's for sure. Odds and ends. What do you got for odds and or ends? I did, Luke, and I thank you and everyone that supported me, including all

the Morning Combat fans out there. Made my showbox debut this past Friday. Thank you. It was a successful one. Showbox went down in Orlando. Can't wait for the next one in February. But we did see in the main event, Luke, Dominican prospect, as we mentioned earlier, Luis Nunez, remain undefeated. Luke, he calls himself the twist and comes out to Chubby Checker, yet he's 22.

Something's missing there. There's a disconnect there. Unless he just likes the classics, right? I haven't listened to a word you've said. All right. Well, I think our staff have picked what they, what they deem to be the greatest clip of the evening. Let's go to that now. Is this where you tell people you're happy about 9-11?

Brian, great to have you with us. Nice job tonight. Thank you. The virgin trip for Brian Campbell here on Showbox. Look at your fat face. Well, Luke, as Barry said right there, a virgin no more, Luke. Okay, so I don't know who popped that cherry there on the staff on Friday, but it was great. And Luis Nunez could be something. Did you see the main event? I did.

So he was kind of dominant but not really going for it. The problem was the other guy was a little overmatched. Let's see the highlights here. So it's hard to tell. The other guy was, but the other guy had balls, and he was pushing it. And look at Nunez there in the blue. Yellow hair, yeah. Yeah, Nunez there in the blue. This is in... Yellow hair, yeah.

Yeah, this is early on in the fight. Maybe we can get the knockout loaded up. Hey, there's some part of the... Oh, there's the ending. Oh, we celebrate. Yeah, okay, there it is. Round 10, yeah, it was the 10th round. We were like, you know, he kind of needs something.

He needs something. He needs something. And we didn't show the punch that hurt him. All right, well, we had a good run here, Luke. But it was exciting. And he's looking a little Gamboa-like. Remember your Yorkers Gamboa back when he could fight? Like Cuban guy, although he's from the Dominican,

has the requisite boxing skills but just loves to go after it. So a fun fighter to watch. And, Luke, Barry Tompkins, dude, Rocky IV. I mean, come on. He called Hagler Hearns. He called Hagler Leonard. He's still calling fights. For mine, very quickly, I will just come on. He called Hagler Hearns. He called Hagler Leonard. He's still calling fights. For mine, very quickly, I will just tell you that Dean Lister has made the ADCC Hall of Fame.

The reason why this is relevant is the 2003 Absolute Gold winner is the first American to ever make it in. As you might recall, as I mentioned, he won gold in 2003 in the Absolute Division. He returned in 2005 and beat John Jock Machado and claimed the Superfight Championship in a tough match, took a break in 2007, competed again in 2009, and then in 2011, he took home the gold medal in the minus 99 kilo division. So absolute division and Superfight Champion. They put him in the Hall of Fame. So congrats to Dean Lister, a pioneer of grappling,

certainly for the American side of things, and one hell of a champion. And is willing to kill Jon Jones on site, right? Dean Lister? Didn't they have a beef? Or who? No, who am I thinking of? Who said they would? Yeah, wasn't it Dean? I'm not making this up. I don't think Dean Lister's ever had beef with Jon. Dean Lister? Who am I thinking of right now that had that run on IG where they're like, Jon, like... Oh, Frank Lester. Frank Lester, and I confused that. There you go. All right.

Two different people. Two different people. Thank you very much. I was almost getting people in trouble right there, Luke. All right. Yeah, me. They're going to be fired. They're going to be coming around with Anthony Smith looking for a receipt, Luke, okay?

All right. BC, that was today's show. Do you want to hit to the folks what we're doing the whole week? Well, not the whole week. We're going to be filming an important resume review looking at a big-time UFC fighter. The bosses literally called me. This is a true story. And they said, we want more resume reviews.

So I said, okay, fine. They're like, we want you, if you can, to, through bad karma and sorcery, manipulate the results of these main events. Yes. They're like, we've got a lot of money. We're willing to put down whoever you guys. So we're going to do that. We've got some other stuff we're going to try out for you guys.

Should we do it in a room service diary? We don't do that anymore. I think we need to. I brought my camera equipment. Yeah, I think we need to. OK. Because we didn't do one for the last three trips. And everyone was kind of on our ass about it. camera equipment. Yeah, I think we need to. Okay. Because we didn't do one for the last three trips. Yeah.

And everyone was kind of on our ass about it. So anyway, we'll do that probably as well and a bunch of other stuff. So stay tuned. And yeah, it's going to be good. And we're in the new

fucking studio. How loyal are these games right here, right? This is pretty fucking loyal, man. I got to say, this is nice. Although there's been like an, you know,

I don't always mean to make it you against me, but there's been an uprise of people DMing me going, hey man, been watching the show a long time. Luke looks ready to go. He looks like he's got one foot out the door. And I'm like, that's sort of who Luke is, right? His default is to be uncomfortable and give the impression I might leave your ass.

I only have that impression when there's nothing to talk about. It's like Jake Paul and no fights. It's like, I don't, you know, what do you want me to do? But when the fights are back on. Shout out to D.C. with this, right? So, Luke. 51st state. I had no idea what this flag was.

Like, we don't have, I don't have a Naugatuck, Connecticut flag in my house. You know what I mean? I don't have a New Haven County flag. Like, we don't give a shit about that. I could be mistaken, but I believe that either George Washington designed this flag or George Washington's plans for the city were the inferences for designing the flag. MATTHEW HENDERSHOTAIN JR.: That means it's inherently racist.

But this is the flag of DC. This is what's tattooed on my arm. MATTHEW HENDERSHOTAIN JR.: What would you do, though, if you did find out that this flag was directly, unmistakably racist? Probably get a cover up. No big deal. I'm not like these UFC fighters who have Nazi tattoos,

and they're like, I'm not getting that covered up. It's part of who I am. Oh, okay. All right. All right. Luke, did anyone come to your steps on January 6th?

Homeless people looking to lift, anything? No, but there was lots of sirens that day. Oh, there was? 24-7, there was nothing but police sirens and animals. All right. I hope most of our viewers are safe. They're fine. Okay, well, that's it for us.

So what's the pitch here? Showtime.com, 30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, you can go pound sand. Yeah, we have really good clothes that you can wear at morningcombat.store. I think we didn't plug anything at the top of the show. No, we should. I mean, it's great. I wear this stuff all the time.

Can you speak to the quality of our merch? It's pretty high. In fact, I brought... In fact, most people that do the merchandise for us are pretty high, too. Yeah, and you always call them names like RJ Grundlesucker. I just call him Raymond. Is that you

again, Raymond? No, it's not Raymond. Check out the clothes there at morningcombat.store. Morningcombat at gmail.com is the email for Dead Wrongs on Friday and Fan Subs on Wednesday. Will Jay Aaron make an appearance

in studio this week? I certainly hope not. Certainly hope not. For what? What would he do here besides get in the way? Plug his stuff? Hey, everybody,

I wear white frame sunglasses because I'm interesting. Is he the Steve Urkel? I just go blow guys in the alley. Would you say he's the Steve Urkel of Morning Combat? Yeah, right? Urkel is charming. Yeah, but Screech is like the real person, like Dustin Diamond, like the guy who's getting knifed and shit, you know? Sorry, Jay, you're the Dustin Diamond.

He's not the Screech. He's the Dustin Diamond. The actual flunky. I could see him being the third Menendez brother. Was there a third Menendez brother? No, but I could see him being that guy. He achieved more than his brothers, but he's still... Alright. For Mocha...

Sorry. Did you prefer my line of Alec Baldwin jokes? Would you prefer that? Hey, Alec Baldwin. Nice to see you. We can't recover from that. Are you kidding me? You're the worst person in America.

All right. Well, for Brian Campbell, I'm Luke Thomas. Thank you so much to everyone who made the new set possible. We love it. It's great. We'll tinker with it. We'll burn it. And we'll be back on Wednesday.

But we've got a lot of stuff we're shooting in between now and then. So until then, may all of your gains be loyal.