MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Morning Kombat: 2025 Recap, Year-End Awards & 2026 Predictions

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

LT and BC wrap up the year that was in combat sports. First, they'll recap Naoya Inoue's UD victory over David Picasso this weekend, before looking back at their predictions from the end of 2024. The guys will then give their 2026 predictions, as well as end of year awards. Lastly, they'll dive into your DMs and HYSTS?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It's us doing what we love. It's time to bang. Oh, yeah, the new year, it's almost upon us, but we are still live and direct. Welcome into morning combat. Your parents are getting divorced, but they're putting it back together for a few more episodes for the sake of the children here. Monday, December 29th of the 25th, Merry Christmas to everybody. Hope you had a great one.

and happy holidays across the board to whatever you celebrate. Brian Campbell live and direct from the Hartford, Connecticut, suburbs. And with me, as always, my co-host from Columbia with love. It is Luke Franklin Thomas. Yes, Luke. Merry Christmas to you.

How's everything, bro? Felice Navidad. Felice Navidad. Hello to everyone. I am today coming to you live, this as you can see, his artwork, from Uncle Pepe's office here in a town outside of Bogota, Columbia.

Dude, dude, Pipe has used his pipe hay in that office many times, and you know it, okay? You know it. It seems like a tranquil workplace, but I didn't put a black light in here first. So, you know, I have to guess. You are setting a record for most episodes done in different Colombian locations on a single trip. Well, here's the good and bad news. The good news is this is a wonderful place. The bad news is the internet here can be a challenge.

Now, it does exist in good places, but it's not like, you know, in America, I do it just you just take gigabit speeds for granted. Yeah. You can't quite do that here. So in this office, it's fine. You'll see the connection today is great. But, yeah, it can be a challenge to find the right place. All right. Well, I'm very happy that you have stuck it out.

You could have stayed on vacation and I could be here alone touching myself. But I appreciate you joining me on this goodbye tour, Luke. We have a loaded episode today. And absolutely, in fact, they put a gun to my head and said, B.C. If we don't get out of here in under two hours, you're off the show for good. Try me. Actually, it wasn't too far from that.

But yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, got dick down, Aljo style. Wow. So here's what I want to say. We have a great show for you today. A quick look at the latest news. We're going to look back on our 2025 predictions, make predictions for 26, hand out awards, go through your DMs,

and pick through the kernels of my shit in two hours or less. Is that even possible? We're going to have to touch and go here a little bit, B.C., kind of like you and a, well, actually, I don't want to make that joke. Like Mike Bonn on a 747, right? Yeah, touch and I'm out, smashing grab. That's it. But thank you to everybody for joining us. Shout out to everybody watching the Draft Kings Network.

YouTube, of course, the audio-only divorced dads at the grocery store. Keep at it, okay? Get back to the gym, turn it around. You're still in the game. Let's say hello, the third member of our team. He's a Bong enthusiast, director, producer. lover of all things Australia and Long Island and he's the host of the

Main Card Minute podcast. Yeah, he had a horned up dad about three decades ago, but we don't talk about that. It's Luke Nocita, yeah. What's up, boys? Hope you had a good Christmas. Hope the donks had a good Christmas. Looking forward to our award show today. How are you guys feeling? Great. I mean, that's a weird question,

but okay, just fine. Yes. Luke, your beard is looking extra Papa Noel. No, not Luke Nosea. Nocita, how did the family go? did you did was your dad fired up you had a good time you didn't smoke any family joints i'm not going to lie but uh we did have a good time we did get lit we were drinking some tequila drink you know how that goes you know it's three a m and you got to go but you know there's only one tequila by the way that invented tequila it was square bo by the way uh you can't like follow subscribe to the show tell your friends about it the show ain't dying by the way okay this thing is a machine that can't be stopped i'm sure they'll appear at the bottom of the screen eventually these handles follow our extended YouTube channels as well. Also, finally, the merch. I'm leaving, so it's a great time to have a sale.

50% off everything with BC's face on it. Farewell. I think the posters are gone, but the clothes are still available, mix and match colors. The December exclusives, Master of the Universe, brought to you by the great Joe Romero of Average Joe Art fame. Check it all out at morningcombat.com. All right, let's get right into it.

A bit of unfortunate breaking news. right off the top of the telecast by way of Nigeria where a former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua was involved in an automobile accident involving two cars, five humans, in which two perished with Joshua exiting with what is being deemed as minor injuries. But the pictures and the videos are somewhat alarming if we can throw to that here as it's getting picked up all around the nation, all around the country, excuse me, in the world. here's video of the accident scene it took a long time for the authorities and the medical response to get there crowds piled around a shirtless AJ as he was removed from the vehicle as we mentioned two people died in the accident a very sad breakdown of events Luke Thomas I don't know how you would react to this but wow wow

I'm not sure what to say I don't know if there's a big takeaway other than thank goodness well I mean I realize that two people perish, but to the extent that anyone lived in this accident, that is obviously good. I certainly hope that AJ is okay, obviously condolences to the victims and their families. I would just say, B.C., you know, man, you know, maybe he'll be fine, maybe this is no big deal. We're just kind of reacting in the moment, but like last week, he was kind of on top of the world, and then here this week, you know, what appears to be, what appears to be a near-death experience, life can be quite fragile and quite short. So let's just hope for the best.

Yeah, well said. Shout out to Anthony Joshua and everybody affected by that accident. Not great news to wake up to on this Monday morning. We also over the weekend had the final major combat sports card event, unless I'm missing any of New Year's Eve bowl. Yeah, Ryzen starts, I think, tomorrow night. All right. Shout out to Ryzen, just the same here.

But it was boxing on Saturday as the ring. I believe it was Ring 5 was the name of the event. It went down in Saudi Arabia, and it was headlined by a pair of Japanese superstars who were on a collision course to face one another this spring. Of course, in the main event, your pound for pound king, or at least he's right around number one with Terrence Crawford's retirement. He may have retaken it. Now, Iowa, Inouye defended his undisputed 122-pound championship by outpointing unbeaten Mexican David Picasso over 12 rounds. A new way was disappointed in himself that he didn't get the KO. But Luke, I got to give Picasso credit.

I've called his fights in the past. He doesn't have big power. I didn't consider him on the elite world level. Yet he showed great defense, great heart. He hung in there. Now he did get largely blanked and outclassed. But everybody expected a new way to walk right through him. There was a little bit of a handwrap gate before the fight.

But what could you say about the performance ultimately that we saw from the monster as he becomes the first fighter since former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes to defend the ring. championship four times in a single year yeah it's a good question i mean i thought about this one too in anticipation of today's show bc people want to go back and see the fight by the way i hate to say this bc and i were talking about this earlier today and pre for the show just nobody in attendance right bc like there was it was not you know this is not the typical crowd that either canello or in this case in a way is accustomed to competing in front of but putting that aside for just a moment here's

my thought on this bc on the one hand this was more of a flawed performance, even relative to Luis Neri, B.C., who dropped him, right? But what kind of made Inouye famous was that not just that he came back in that fight, but that he's got dominant power, he's a chaos threat basically at all times. And so what people really remember is not so much that Inouye got knocked down, but that he feasted upon Neri in the end. You didn't get that this time, B.C., but if you're looking round over round, how many visible mistakes did Inouye make, again, even relative to the Neri fight,

Like, this one was a lot cleaner. This was a cleaner performance against, you can tell the audience how good Picasso actually is. He seemed durable, certainly, and game in as much as he could be. But thoroughly outclass, I mean, there's really no question about it in the end. So I have mixed feelings about the performance, B.C. On the one hand, I'm happy, you know, any mistake can be costly. Good thing Picasso is not a dominant puncher like, you know, near he is. but at the same time was that trademark almost Mike Tyson-esque expectation of in a way fulfilled?

No, and I think that left some people flat to say nothing of the hand-wrapping controversy, although Stitch Duran said that the wraps are clean. I did see that. So basically it was the, he got accused of stacking his handwraps, which under whatever commission jurisdiction they were using in Saudi Arabia, it was illegal compared to what he's used to in Japan. As Stitch Duran basically said, it was much to do about nothing. It was just positioning it on the knuckles as opposed to off.

I don't know a ton about hand wrapping. But look, Inouye's in his fourth division as champion. So we know like the great Chocolatito when he finally hit his limit there at 115 that it's not going to be a straight knockout fest. This is kind of where his power levels off. But you got to give Picasso a lot of credit. You may be confused by the name. Picasso's not his real last name.

It's a nickname he's adopted as his surname. He goes by David Allen Picasso, sometimes just David Picasso, sometimes just Allen. Either way, not a big puncher, a somewhat classy boxer, but I actually thought this was the best performance of his career. He was confident. He was sharp. He wasn't winning a lot of rounds, but his ability to take what Inouye had to offer and go the distance was certainly impressive. This pretty much, we have awards today. They're very MMA-centric, but Luke, this pretty much secures, I think for back-to-back years, in Iowa in a way, as your boxing fighter of the year. I mean, these were four title defenses, not all four at the highest level,

He had to get through some mandatories, but he finally took on Murr, John Akmadaliyev and absolutely outclassed him. And I think what we're seeing at age 32 now from Inouye is he's leaning more on his speed and boxing ability, still using it to set up the power. But in the smaller weight classes, he's just walking you down with that power. We're seeing him have to box and be slick. He's still probably the best fighter in the world. I mean, Usik isn't all that active at the moment. Crawford just retired. I think Inouye is the best fighter in the world.

Back to back, he's the best fighter of the year. This was a strong performance. Now, what this sets up is that long-awaited all-Japanese showdown. I believe it's set up for May in Japan against former Bannamweight title holder, Unified title holder, Juno Nakatani. But here's the key part from Saturday, Luke. Nakatani came in there as a pretty big favorite against the opponent's name. What was it, Fernandez?

Hernandez. Yeah, I didn't want to mess that up in real time. And this turned out to be not only a true fight of the year contender, but an absolute high-paced war in which Nakatani took a very difficult test for his first fight at 122 and nearly seemed like he was on the verge of losing the Chocolate Tito fight in the end. Two judges had it 115, 113, in favor of Nakatani, which I thought was the correct score. One judge had a 118-110 and some Adelaide Bird type scorecard that made no sense. but how impressed were you

at the opponent here coming in from Mexico not a big name? In fact, I missed it in real time for getting it here and he came out and nearly upset one of the top 10 best fighters in the world. Yeah, this one I mean, I'm just not going to sit here and pretend I knew who this guy was before the fight. I didn't have any

great idea. I knew about Nakatani. We've talked about him on the show previously and of course as you indicated, the all Japanese showdown is the one that's kind of been wished for, forecasted, you know, you name it, kind of discussed out there and now being plan to an extent. So I just thought

he was going to walk over him, to be honest with you. I didn't think much of it. And then it wasn't that way at all. And dude, honestly, here's my view. You tell me if you agree. 7-5 Nakatani I'm okay with. I think it's okay. But I don't know if that's the best scorecard.

Okay. I really don't know that. I don't know if that's the best one you can argue. Dude, Hernandez. Sorry. I mean, I know who he is now. I'll put that way. It's Sebastian Hernandez, 25 years old,

fights out of san diego for mexico go ahead yeah just very quickly i i i you it's not you can give that fight to hernandez like that was a fight that you can argue i think he won at a bare minimum a draw seems maybe the more equitable solution to this nakatani had to battle back in parts i thought some of his body punching in parts was pretty good you know he he had to bite down on the mouthpiece but dude hernandez was all over him for long stretches of that fight he i hope at a bare minimum he gets another big fight off of this because he came to win that day. Yeah, he will definitely get a big fight off of this. 20 and O coming into this fight hadn't been a ton of major names, but was considered on paper

a tough challenge. In fact, they said on the broadcast that some members of Nakatani's team were hesitant about making his debut in this division against such a tough opponent. And oh my God, was his gas tank on point. He was in Nakatani's chest for all 12 rounds, pushing the pace and his chin. I mean, Nakatani's known as a big-time puncher. His chin of Hernandez was right there. Mike Oppinger scored at 114-114 on the broadcast. So in some ways, it slows down the rising momentum of Nakatani.

It doesn't take away from the need to make the Inouye fight, but it certainly asked some questions about whether this was just an over-the-top, best performance ever from Hernandez or whether Nakatani at 122 has found ultimately some limitations. By the way, we can be critical of announcers at times. I thought the trio of Corey Erdman, Darren Barker, and Mike Cappinger on Saturday was very good, very good, good chemistry, played off each other well. Darren Barker, an excellent analyst, a classy fighter in his own right. So shout out to Ring for having a strong team there.

You've worked with Corey Erdman in the past. You did the Dublin show with him, right? Callum All show, yep. Dude, he's excellent at what he does. He's one of the better, I think, obviously a great play about play guy in commentary, but what I mean is like, I don't ever question whether he's done his homework, right? He seems to me he's a super fan, just a historical super fan. And I thought Kopp had his best show ever.

So shout out to that trio right there. It went down Saturday in Saudi Arabia. We do have the big fight now for May. Turkey says he's going to be there. I don't think it's a to zone Riyadh season card. I think it's, you know, Japan baseball. We'll see if it gets picked up on American TV. in some form.

Dude, if they put that fight anywhere but Japan, that's a crime. Oh, yeah, I want the Tokyo Dome. I don't know what arena they pick, but it's got to be the Tokyo Dome. This is the biggest fight, it seems, in that country's history, right? What's the last time there was

a big Japanese fight? Japanese versus Japanese guy, but you can recall in boxing. Can't recall. And these two are... Not ever? I can't recall. I mean, look, I've watched the lower weight

classes. There's always Japanese stars and those. I can't off the top of my head name where you had two unbeaten, decorated champions, both in the top 10 pound for pound, which both are, at least in my top 10 for CBS sports, facing one another. On paper, this is going to be one of the toughest fights of Inouay's entire career. So this is big stuff, real big stuff.

So happy. Sick. Yeah, can't wait. All right. The weekend is behind us. It's hot as balls in this office. Let me turn down the heat. Let's get into it.

We're going to look back at what we got right and wrong in our predictions for MMA for 2025. And look ahead, of course, on how we see the future in our. crystal ball we're going to go division by division and we start at 125 pounds in the ufc men's flyweight our predictions last year on who would end 2025 as champion go like this luke thomas predicted alexandre pantosia long island luke did the same bc picked that kai car france would become at some point also bad but as we look ahead but as we look ahead for 2026. LT, who's going to close next year as champion

at flyweight? You have to forgive me. I had to close out the link because my computer was stuttering for a second. Can you just circle right back to me? Yeah, Long Island, look, let's go to you off the top here. Who's going to close this coming year as champion at flyweight? I got Alessandre Pantosia reclaiming the title. And I don't think it

happens early on in the year. I think it probably happens in quarter four, you know, maybe November, December. My camera's acting up, man. My computer's being shitty right now. I see it on the front end, Mike. My camera's all fucked. Yeah, we have a history in this show of tech. Yeah, you know, but it's happening to me now.

Normally it happens to other, uh, other Luke, but, uh, listen, listen, this is my Bain moment. Yeah, you merely adopted the darkness. I was born in it. Your machine can only take so much weed smoke blown out. Yeah, I guess that's what it is. I don't know, but, uh, Pantosha, I think he reclaims the title late. I think the title probably changes hands a few times.

It's a weird year for that division. That feels like a reach given his age, the severity of his injury and the fact that the rest of the division is caught up, but I like it. I like it, right. All right. I'm going to go with 35-year-old Kiyoji Horiguchi. He's here to win, and you look back at his recent run across, you know, after his exit following the loss to Demetrius Johnson

when he fought for the UFC flyweight title back in the day a decade ago. He has been, when in this division, lights out, the best in the world. I think the floor is open for him experience-wise, complete, well-rounded game-wise. I think Horaguchi exits this year as champion. LT, where are you going? I'm going to go Josh Van. And it kind of, I don't know how to give this without sort of giving away my prediction for the year as well for the mid-flyway division, which is quite simply, we've talked about it before, like, can you lose in a year and be fighter of the year? And there's certainly a debate on that.

The times that it's happened in the past before 2025 was like Robbie Lawler losing early to Johnny Hendricks and then having an amazing year storming back and then winning both the title and then beating Hendricks in the end. I think you're going to get something similar to Josh Van, dude. I don't think he's going to press the brakes here really at all. In fact, you know, I think he's going to try and keep going in this way. And listen, his style's a little reckless. He's going to lose sometimes, I think, as a consequence. But I think his talent is going to shine through in the end. So there might be another champion B.C. in 2025.

But I think Van's going to circle right back to it and maybe pick it up before the year is out. Interesting prediction right there. By the way, ESPN.com just named Marab DeVosvili, their fighter of the year, despite having that lost in the four fights that he appeared in. In terms of breakthrough fighter of the year, I'm going with Amir al-Bazi in this division, Long Island, Luke, going with Kai Asakura. Luke, you wrote down Shavkat Rachmanov. What, did I?

Wrong one? Yeah, yeah, that's a minute. A men's flyweight? Yeah, maybe he's fasting to get there to come down. Oh, all right. What the hell is in the wrong section? But in terms of my prediction for the division this year, I actually think Minel Cop's going to defeat Josh Van and the first title fight in this division of 2006.

I think it's going to be cop who loses it to whore. Uruguichi. Remember, they fought back in 2017 in Risen, Horaguchi submitted cop. I think he gets it done again. That's my bold prediction for the year. LT, or you shared yours, Long Island, Luke, what do you got for bold prediction for this division? I think a Brandon will fight for a title, whether it's Roy Vaugh, whether it's Moreno. One of them is going to bounce back. And the champion at the time isn't going to be Pantosia, because he's coming back from that injury. So whoever it is, they may be have a pen. You're going all old guys, all old guys across the board for you. I'm going for something random here.

Yeah, like Jordan Hudson. right there you're just loving that old dick all right that's great here let's go to the men's ban on can I ask what that means I don't know what that means Bill Belichick's girlfriend slash 401k stealer yeah yeah sorry all right there you go I didn't even know her name

I just knew that Belichick had like a 22 year old girlfriend or whatever was yeah you know who's in a feud with her right now is our boy Pablo Torre yes all right let's go to men's banam weight our predictions at the end of 2025 for BC picked that Umar, Nirmagametteoff would not only win the Bannon Wade title. He would become the fighter of the year.

L.T. picked that Umar would become champion. Long Island Luke said Marab will remain champ. Wait, in fact, let's hear what he had to say. We got a video here. This is the only guy. My bold prediction. Marab remains champ.

Not only that, defends the belt three times in 2025. You're out of your fucking mind. He said he wants to fight like four or five times. He said three times in like three months. that's not happening but let's be real that's definitely not happening we've got umar in january let's say he wins that then over the summer he gets someone and then quarter four there it's totally possible all right he's going to beat yon he's going to beat omali he's going to beat umar let's go well he already beat yon and thoroughly at that uh and he beat omali i would say mostly thoroughly

at that one um but i think umar's got his number we'll see wow wow wow listen how about that I'll take my bow. That will never happen. I mean, you got the yon part wrong, but that's pretty ballsy, man. You nailed it. Shout out across the board right there. L.T. and I coming up empty on Umar. But yet as we look ahead to who will be champion at the end of 2026, both LT and B.C.

have it the same. Umar and Muramagamatov. Luke, I still believe. I still believe. I just can't quit you, Umar. I just can't quit you. Now, that being said, that being said, BC, I'm expecting some bangers. I'm expecting some tough-ass fights

I'm expecting some nail-biting rounds You know these guys are good But fucking Umar man I just feel like it's wrong to think that like Oh hell never touch UFO really He's one of the 10 best fighters in the world Right now in my opinion Fight me on it

Well now look you went a different way for 26 And you're on a role in this division What's your prediction I mean like my 2025 prediction Marab retains the title Get it back baby let's go You know what after my asshole The denial of your very correct prediction

And this time I'm going to say, you know what? I believe in you, Long Island. You're right. This is going to age perfectly next year when he's nowhere close to the final shot. Breakthrough fighter of the year in this division. The predictions long out. And look going Felipe Lima. Shout out to that.

I went to high school with Felipe Lima. We called him Phil, though. Shout out to that guy. He's going to break through into the UFC this year. Let's go. LT, you and I both went Peyton Talbot. So what are you expecting here, like a two and O year to put himself in true title contention? Yeah, I mean, you know, he's,

In a way, you could maybe argue he all kind of already broke through a little bit because he certainly got the bad taste out of everyone's mouth on the Barcellos fight. And then, you know, best win of his career, styled on Henry Suhudo. I mean, it was a great night for him. So in some ways, that was a bit of a breakout performance. But I think he's going to build on that. I mean, the thing that I think everyone saw this year, it's pretty fair to say, started out a little bit rocky with that Barcellos fight,

looked much better against Lima and then really just put it on Henry Sohudo. And everyone's going to say, Suhudo's old and blah, blah, blah. this is how the fight game works. You get some of these old guy names and then eventually you have to turn that into names against other guys where you cannot make those same considerations about, right? Whether it's contemporaries in a sense.

And that is obviously where the rubber meets the road BC but honestly the guy, the level, the speed at which he's getting better I think is what everybody has noticed. You're like, okay, if you're getting better, you're filling in these areas of need very quickly, what does that mean as you're still in your 20s, like, you know, peak performance years?

in 2026. Port 10's good things to me, it seems. Yeah, Luke predicting he's going deeper into that ocean. We'll see if it happens right here. Luke, let's stay with you. What's your bold prediction for Bantamweight for the new year? All right, bold prediction for bantam weight for the year. Hold on, let me pull up my goddamn nose.

Hold on I got out here. One second. I don't know what God has to do against this. I mean, to be fair. Even though, BC, even, let me tell you why I'm saying this. It's only because MMA is cruel and unpredictable and strange. which is part of the reason why we like it, but also part of the reason why it breaks our hearts.

Namely, Piotr-Yon just had the performance of a lifetime against Maraub. Even Maraub Ball-Wisher, Long Island-Luick, would certainly agree to that. Just unnecessary shots. But in all seriousness, in all seriousness, it was incredible. And he not only leveled up as, you know, a rematch fight or revenge fight, but just overall in his career. but like I've just seen MMA go so many different ways

where you'll see a guy like this and it's unfathomable that they could even lose again and then they lose in the next fight. I think Yon's going to lose his first title defense, B.C. Maybe that's unfair. Maybe that's crazy. Maybe that's probably stupid. But you know, this is a fun little show for nothing. But I don't know, man. Like the minute you think you're on top,

the instant you think I've got this thing firmly established, something just happens and it just takes it all away. Will it be a trilogy against Marab or the Umar fight that almost happened earlier this year? I feel like it, I feel like it, I don't, okay, I don't want to discount Marab, but I think Maraub's got some work to do. I feel like Umar and has the, the problem that Umar's got is he's going to have a hard time hurting Yon. Uh, and the other part he's going to have a problem with is maintaining control positions because Yon is extremely squirmy. So I think it's an uphill battle, uh, or I should say it's a difficult battle, but I do think it's ability to get the positions like the back, like what you saw Aljo get.

I think Umar might be able to repeat some of that stuff. All right. My bold prediction for Bannon Way for 26 is that former champion, Sean O'Malley, will suffer his third straight defeat. He's going to drop a decision to Song Yadong at UFC 324 and then immediately announced that he's moving up to featherweight. Long Island, Luke, where are you going this direction here? I'm going that the title changes hands more than once.

And I think I'm kind on the same wavelength of Luke, where I think that Piotrion loses his belt. I'm thinking to Umar, though. in the first fight. And then I think they do the Marab rematch. Marab gets it back by the end of the year. And that's why Marab's champion. Wow, a lot of belt juggling over there in the Nocita household. Let's go to featherweight and look back on what we saw. We have a video from LT's prediction. Well, I don't know if I'm looking forward to what I'm about to say, but I do think it's headed our way and we should kind of get ready for it. I think that Volcanowski is going to try to recapture the title. And I think the U.S.E will probably award him something. Now, let me be clear about this. Let me be clear about this. I'm about to say does not count if what we're talking about is interim title fights. I haven't quite thought that through, but what I will say is he's probably going to try to recapture the full-on weight class title and will fail. He will not get it. And I don't know what that will do for the remainder of his career, whether he will choose

to keep fighting, move up, take super fights, whatever. I don't know. But I think that my prediction for Featherway at 2024 is Wilkes is going to try and recapture that title and it's not going to work and then we have to kind of deal with the fallout from there. Damn. Now let you get the year wrong, you got the pick wrong right there. There you go.

All right. I had two. Well, you know what? We'll see. I mean, so here's what I would say B.C. What if he loses in the rematch, the spirit of what I was after would be. Here's the problem, dude. I mean, it just, it means a terrible prediction. Here's the problem. Nobody knows. You can't see the future. No, no, no. He actually knows.

Well, that is also quite true, but more to the point he was coming off those terrible knockout losses and I thought oh that that egg might have been cracked but credit's DeVolk man he is he's fucking different

yeah I had two predictions for featherweight for the new year both did not come true Pitbull uh free air free Eddie Patricio

would come to the UFC and make his debut in a title fight that did not happen and Arnold Allen will go two and oh and be on his way to a title shot exiting

2025 yeah I don't I don't know what happened to the all almighty we need you back i know he's got a big fight coming up long island luke predicted that ilia to poria will move up volk will reclaim the title against diego lopez both came true l tl let's go killing it killing it i'm thinking back to this we must have known that volk versus diego was at least rumored or something because that fight was in april this was december like i'm i think that i like all year i didn't remember calling that i feel like we must have known that fight

was book so it wasn't that crazy but take my flowers either way well as we predict who will be champion at featherway to end 2006 it's unanimous across the board all three of us got it the same l t who's it going to be it was a clean sweep here at mk we we kind of feel like most are of loyiv might be the guy um now obviously bc we don't even know if he's going to get a title shot and we don't even know if he's even i mean he was a non-factor in 2025 that's just a reality you know So he's kind of been this guy and hanging over the division and without really materializing

into anything that we thought we could match his potential. But BC maybe this year feels a little bit different. Like there's some openings potentially. If you can get back in there and do what he does best, he seems like a formidable guy to root against, you know? Yeah, I mean, if we're mapping it out,

he'd have to take on that fight in the second half of the year. I think that's very possible. And the only thing is, though, let's be fair. UFC seems to be going against that direction. We've seen Islam Mahachev come out and complain about Ranat, fuck,

Renot, fuck Retinoff, getting come from the U.S. You nailed it. That's exactly how you said. Or not resigned after going 6'0 and 1 and basically Islam saying in an interview that if you're not exciting, if you don't talk on the microphone, if you're wrestling heavy, you're probably not who they're looking

for. I would have to believe they want more American stars. They want to not just have all Dagestan dominant wrestlers but uh i don't know if ev can ultimately be denied and i'd like his chances against lopez or volk so that's where i'm going that way for breakthrough fighter of the year both l t and i went the way of kevin va jejos yes yes he's the new the argentine ilia yes he's a banger uh l i l you're going nathaniel wood brother yeah nathaniel wood who just beat jose delgado that was a big upset he's six and one in the ufc since moving up to featherweight and

he does get like always goes decision which is probably why they're not giving him big fights but i feel like this is going to be the year he breaks into the top 15 so all right fair enough let's go i'm done rooting against long island luke's predictions they're very yeah he's on fire let's go for our bold prediction let's go right to no ceda what's your bowl prediction at feather wait for the new year this was similar to my women's ban and weight last year when i said about holly home josh emett will headline a ufc event in 2026 okay they milked this guy for all he's worth for the headliners he has lost like top of my head three in a row maybe even that ain't that bold brother that ain't that bold but come on three four in a row

they should not give him a headliner they're gonna it's gonna it's gonna be a fevac headlines every other apex card he's a heavy way dude david o'nama headlined a card i mean he's on a winning streak that's way different josh emitt hasn't want to fight in a while all right yeah but people like josh i mean he's got big power you got a win to be able to use that power all right that's true my bold prediction for feather way for the new year is lorone murphy coming off of that spinning knockout of Baron Pico, I don't believe he actually fights for the title in 2006. Obviously, the fact that they went with Diego Lopez for the rematch with Volk says a lot about what the company thinks about both him and Movesar.

I think Movesar would get the edge in getting the next title shot. And when you look around this division, I'm not sure Lorone Murphy, who looked great in that one fight. Look, he may be the next Leon Edwards. It may be feast or famine, right? Six, seven, it may be a little bit of that. I don't think Murphy gets to the title fight in this year, even though he's on a hell of a run.

What's your prediction? Yeah, I mean, okay, so I'm not making a claim here about winning or losing. I'm making a claim about volume. And I think that you're going to get two more fights from Volk, and then I think he's going to call it a day. Now, this is not exactly, on the case of Long Island, Luke, this is also not exactly a bold prediction, because there's kind of been rumors about it. But what I'm thinking is he could win the first one, then lose the second one and go. He could lose two more and then say that's there.

Or he could win to. Like, I feel like two kind of feels like the magic number of what's left. Now, of course, I thought he was going to lose to Diego Lopez, but he still might. He still might. Nevertheless, BC, I think he could go on a winning streak. He'd go on a losing streak. Either way, I feel like he's got two more in him. And by the way, maybe one's at 55 again.

I don't know. But it's two more in him, and then he's going to call it a day. All right, let's move on to the always exciting lightweight division where at the end of last year, your boy, BC, just coming out, shooting them in a barrel. Let's see my prediction. This new year swaps someday with today. You've already got the idea, so make it real in 26 with a pro-level website. GoDaddy makes it easy with the lowest-priced website builder, guaranteed. Ready to build a confetti-ready site in minutes?

New customers start for free at go-dadi.com. That's go-dadi.com to get the lowest-priced website builder, guaranteed. look my prediction for this division in 25 is patty pimblitz going to have a year i still don't know if he is truly of the ilk and when he does finally get his opportunity can he climb that mountain and become a champion there's still too many questions even though he's trending in a better direction of late don't forget his submission of the year contender against king green and if he's headed toward a money moikano test fight i think it's still one that he can win but what if he goes into the top 10 there over the second half of the year and scores a big win over a still

highly ranked aging name and what we would look at as a big step up for him. Luke, my bold prediction is that Pimbled ends the year in the top five at 155, and really we start setting up what's the site, what's the pay-per-view, what's the venue where he fights for a world title in pretty close. Now, he got in there with some bullshit, which you have to admit, however, by hook or by crook, that one's pretty good. I mean, that was ultimately the part of the fuel of the prediction that it wouldn't be he would be earning it in our eyes of beating the top contenders,

but they would give him an aging name. There's a lot of them. He got a Chandler who was on a losing skid and was set up for him. But to his credit, he passed the test and his marketability has him now in an interim title fight. And we don't even know if he is going to defend that title again based on his current issues there in the family situation. So that was my prediction.

I nailed it. Long Island Luke said at least five guys in the top 10 will no longer be there. Was that true long out, Luke? See, I don't, I should have wrote down the top 10 at the time. I don't actually know if that's true. I did name three people when I said it, and I said Porriere, Hooker, Darius. Hooker is still there. Darius might be lingering near the top 10.

I don't think so. But yes, I don't know if it came true, but I also feel like that's vague enough where that probably comes true in every division every year. Yeah, I mean, but no, it was a good prediction because this division needs turnover. It kind of needs his aging names to go. Luke, you predicted that Ilya will get one big fight, win. it and be in conversation for a title in 26. Dude, you did not see this divorce coming at all, bro. Nope, I mean, but I feel like I got most of that right.

You know what I'm saying? He had the one big fight, and then he was in conversations for the Islam fight for most of the years. All right. You can play with that. I feel like, I mean, that one's pretty close. That's pretty true. All right, as we look to be who will be the champion of this division at the end of the year?

Luke Thomas, you're sticking with Topteria or what? I am sticking with Top Turia. I very much struggled on this one because BC, here's the thing. There's a question of whether Sorukian will beat them or could beat them. But there's the bigger question, which is, of course, is that motherfucker even going to get a title shot? And I don't really answer to that. Because if Pimblit wins, I mean, it doesn't even matter who wins at the next headlining event, right? So between Pimble and Gagia, they're going to get Taboria, you think, probably right?

Or I just, I don't know how this is going to go. going to move to Poria that's 70 and some kind of crazy move? Is he going to be back in time to take on Pivot? I don't know, but I just kind of feel like when the dust settles, he's got to have at least one more in this weight class. And I think it's probably going to be Pimbley, and I think he probably wins that one. That's kind of how I feel. That's the same prediction Long Island Luke gave that Ilya would end the year as the

lightweight champion. I'm going against that for a lot of the reasons that you said. There's already been some rumors, not substantiated, but rumors online. that Aaliyah could vacate the title, given what's going on in this personal life. I think the combination of that, we don't know how long he'll be out, mixed with the combination that we know his upward ambition that he wants to fight Islam at 170, whether that makes sense or not. I think that my prediction is wide open for this division.

So when I look at the landscape, even though he was passed over, my prediction for champion is one Armand Saryuki and the Armenian Hulk. And I actually think that all of this stuff he's had to fight through, whether it's been partially self-induced or not has only built up the time that he's working in the gym to well-round his game. And I think it's also making him angrier and meaner. When I look at that Patty v. Gaichi interim title fight, I think Armand smokes either guy. So I think Sarjukian ends this year as champion. And if he has to do it by going through Elia, Luke, I'm starting to believe that that's not a 50-50 fight.

Shapiro is arguably the best fighter in the world. But I believe Sarukin can win that fight. I do. I'll tell you this much. If there's anybody at 55 who's beaten Ilya, it's Armin Sorukia. And by the way, he's on a little bit of a count of Monte Cristo tour. This weekend, he's out there in Russia. And it's a grappling match.

But with Sharra Bullitt, who's a fucking middleweight. And by the way, I kind of like Sarukia's chances, if I'm being honest. So listen, if there is any, any threat to Ilya, it's, I just don't know if he's even going to get a fucking opportunity. But it's like maybe he gets one where Ili is not mentally where he needs to be. I mean, sometimes divorces bring out the best in people's art, usually in songwriting, but I don't know if that's going to, you know, mean it in this case. That first fight back, B.C., let's just say for whatever reason it works out in this

circumstance, where the first fight Ilya has back is Sauru Kian, I might pick Sarkiian in that particular case. You know what I mean? Where that seems to me like destined for problems for Ilya, but I guess I don't think he was ready when he, when he pulled out of the Islam fight, like literally ready to take over, but I think it's built up a callous on him that's going to lead him

to where he needs to be. Let's go breakthrough fighter of the year in this division. I'm going with Faris Ziam. Is that how you say it? The Frenchman who keeps sending people to hell with that frivola head kick and continuing on. I think he's on a hot run where he is going to make some noise at the top end of this division. We need some breakthrough from some new fighters. So I'm going that direction. L.T., where are you going? For my selection, I went with Manuel Torres, who has not been without

necessarily a bit of an issue BC at 55. He did lose to Ignacio Mondes via stoppage, by the way, as UFC 306. But if you look at his other fights, B.C., Frank Camacho, Nicholas Motta, Duncan. And then this year particular, Drew Dober and Grant Dawson. All of those are stoppages. All of those were performance of the night bonus winners. My man's got some skills. Kind of like Josh Van, BC, where you can tell he's still green in certain areas and maybe a little bit too risk ready, but clearly has great athleticism, phenomenal footwork, good speed, a willingness to get in there, a natural finisher. BC, I got my eye on Manuel Torres. I think you might do something special this year. It might not be a surprise to some here, but Long Island Luke's got his eyes on an Aussie man, don't you?

Yeah, I do. Quill and soul killed, man. Three and O in the UFC, two like really nice knockouts, one over Nassarad hack press. I feel like a lot of people don't knock out Nassarat. And he got nine takedowns in his contender series fight. Like, people forget he's also got wrestling chops too. So I'm interested to see, I think he's ranked by the end of 2020. I need Australia to send fighters that don't have strange names that are hard to remember how to spell. That's what I need from them. All right. Robert Whitaker was too tough on you there? No, see, Robert Whitaker is a great example. But like Jack Dela, Madelena, it's like how many L's, how many D's? It's not my favorite. It's not like Poland where it's basically just impossible, but, you know, it's tough.

Oleg Sheshach. My bold prediction for lightweight for the new year is this. Benoit Saint-Denie, I think he's turned it around. He's not without flaws with the recklessness, some of the things that slipped him up in that losing skid, which began against Dustin Porreier, I think it's behind him. I say he goes 2 and 0 in 2006 and he enters 2007

as the number one contender for the title. L-I-L, or L-T, excuse me, where are you going? Well, I did, I did oh, you mean for the bold prediction? Yeah, that's where we're at. Okay, so my bold prediction I put,

So Yukian is going to get somehow a title shot and then lose the I'llia. Now, here's what I mean by that. I think Patty's probably going to beat Gaichi, so I think Patty's going to be the guy, but I feel like something's going to happen potentially before we get there. It's all very unpredictable, but it feels like BC,

it's wrong to say that Teporia and Sauru Kian are on a collision course right now, especially because there's just other stuff happening, but I feel like people are going to realize, some already do, but it's going to be much more widely known, that that's one of the best fights in MMA you can make, and there's going to be huge demand to make it maybe patty gets injured maybe something happens who knows but i feel like they're going to find a way to get it done and i feel like ilia's going you know rain triumphant i thought you just predicted that you'd favor armin i thought i heard that

earlier well in the sense of if it's the first fight back and it's about he's out a long while maybe so if he comes back more quickly maybe less so i feel like if he's out the whole like what was it when was this fight against charles like march april something like that no july International Fight Week, end of July. June or July. If he's out a full year or more from that or even 18 months, like then I would be concerned. But if he comes back relatively quickly,

then I was still going to pick I'll. All right. Long Island, Luke, where are you going? Something bold here or what? Yeah, I'm going bold. Because if you remember, I said end a year champion will be Ilya but my bold prediction is he doesn't even fight in the year 2026. He's going through personal issues the whole year. UFC likes him enough.

They keep the interim title. Maybe he just left them to fend. the interim title but ilia is undisputed at the end of the year so you're predicting that ilia has a hundred problems and if no hey hey hey hey hey hey hey no no no no no no no uh let's go to welterweight where last year bc predicted that islam mahachev would move up to 170 and become a double champ yeah there you go well done well done okay it's that easy l t you said shavkat rakmanov would defeat Balal and become champ. I believe that to myself.

I mean, I'll say this. If Shafkat had fought him, I would still pick Shafkat to become champ, but it didn't work out that way, did it? Long Island, Luke, you got, I don't know where you were going with this. Bilal Muhammad would exit the year as welterweight champion. What's going on? Yeah, what the

fuck? I mean, come on. Don't even explain. Worst take the year. Yeah, worst taking the year. You had simultaneously the very best prediction and the worst. in terms of who ends this year as lightweight or welterweight champion it's a sweep all three of us going Islam Mahachev Luke it seems like there aren't a lot of people

we believe who could handle Islam's wrestling and well-rounded game at this weight class Shavkat's certainly one of them but you think he's going to run the table ultimately I think Shafcott I think they're going to make him fight at least one more guy maybe too i don't think so but i feel like there's already kind of

he can win a fight bc to like make himself eligible to be number one contender but there's just a lot of movement or past him you know what i mean like there's just a lot of other names that are already being circulated ahead of him and i think you got gary you got morales uh you you could have ilia like there's a lot going on in this there's a lot going on and who knows how many times islam even fights this year as he ages out especially if he fights on, you know, I don't know on the White House card or who knows, maybe he just decides,

I don't want to keep doing this for a whole lot longer. But, dude, he looked incredible against Jack Dela Medally. And I know everyone thought that Jack kind of shit the bet on that one. And yeah, he didn't have his best night, that's for sure. But, you know, that was a very, very good win against a very, very credentialed opponent. So I'm a big believer in him at 70 at this point, you know. All right.

But Luke, for Breakthrough Fighter of the Year, you picked Michael Morales when I think he already broke through. He knocked out the number one contender, Sean Brady. So just like the case of Peyton beating Henry, now that one's different, but what I'm saying is it kind of served the same purpose in terms of being a breakout performance, no question about it, but that one is actually better in my mind, B.C., because Brady is also a youngish top contender. So that one's actually for Morales even better. But the point I'm trying to make is I don't know how fast they're going to roll him out. To face Islam, I mean. I think that they want to keep him at least, at least, at least. least one more. And I feel like potentially even to BC because there are just lots of developmental reasons. But the point I'm trying to make is I think he's going to have some other big wins here this year that have nothing to do with Islam Makachev and perhaps even more than one. All right. My breakthrough fighter at Welchewit's going to be Yaroslav Amasov. And I think

he's going to have an RDR type run of quick activity, going to score some big wins, going to show you the combination of the stamina, hunger, and submission game and probably exits the year putting himself in true title contention long out look who's breaking through here i took mctebec oral by he's four and one in the ufc two and oh at welterweight he's coming off that hellacious knockout over jack her manson i feel like they're going to give him a big name he's also all action like a lot of fun and he's got a lawyer degree like jed mishu chose uh combat sports they're both using it right now i think he's a little too wild to end up there but we'll see what happens that was a great knockout of the veteran jack let's go to a bold

ass prediction. I'm going to start it because this is it. This is what's going to happen. Islam Mahachev will fight three times this year the first time since 2021 and his wins will end up being Kamaro Usman Ian Mashado Gary and Shavkat Rock Monoff

to win back to back fighter of the year. Well, if he did that, he definitely would be. I don't know if I have him fighting three times BC but my prediction is pretty close to yours. Yours is Boulder. I agree it is certainly Boulder, but I think basically he's going to get, he's going to sneak two of them in there.

Now, I definitely think Kumar is going to be one of them. So, you know, fucking kill me. But nevertheless, here's my prediction, though, B.C. I don't think he's going to, by the time Morales is ready, I think Islam is going to out the door. I think that's what I think is. I think if they fought now, I'm picking Islam. I think Islam's level of ability is just too high for a guy like that. But a guy like that with those kinds of physical tools who can still cut weight down

to this, but he can really get everything dialed in. I don't know if anybody can be the guy like that. So whether he'll get there, B.C., this is what I'm trying to say about this year. I think he's going to show as he can, but he's got to do it first. Islam told me during fight week in November that he could fight a lot more at this weight class. I know Ramadan comes into play, but we'll see what happens. Well, Guy, Luke, bold prediction. Bilal Mohammed becomes champion again?

No, I had to do the exact opposite this time. So I did, Bilal Muhammad goes winless in 2026. I don't know how many times he fights, but he does not win one of them. I could buy that. Unfortunately, I like Ballal, but I could buy that. I like Ballal, too, but that's just how this game goes. It's like, oh, you're champion. Then you lose the belt.

It's like Leon Edwards, right? Just lose, lose, lose, lose. It's just how this game fucking goes, man. All right, let's go to the middleweight division, which is kind of becoming the new light heavyweight, meaning that we're kind of void of big things going on. We do have a big champion right now. We'll get to that in a second.

My prediction on who would end this year as middleweight champion, I'm sorry, my bold prediction from last year. Do I have this right? Yeah, yeah. Was that Bo Nickel. Oh, you nailed it. Would suffer his first pro defeat. I don't even think that was that bold, but it did happen.

Remember, he was coming off that Paul Craig fight where it was just weird. He didn't shoot for takedowns. He didn't seem to understand why he didn't fight great. Long Island Luke predicted that the title will change hands more than once. That did not happen. And LT, you predicted that Israel out of signer will retire while that didn't happen. It feels like he's close. He's close.

It did not happen, so that one's wrong, although he, and he put it, he did an interview at Bang Tao out in Thailand, and where he said, you know, he doesn't even care about the title anymore. He just wants some fun fights. So he's still got a little life left in him. I buried him too soon. But even by his own admission, you know, he's out of the championship picture. Here's what's interesting. All three of us are picking that the champion at middleweight to close the year will be meet the new boss, same as the old boss, Hamzat Chimayev. And I say that's interesting because he's never active. He's always talking about. moving up to light heavy weight we all still think he's going to run the table i think some of that is this division's not that deep luke how many times does chamois fight then well you kind of got me to my bold prediction here oh for it go for my bold prediction is he fights once definitely and i think he wins that's what i think he ends the year's champion which is what we put down however i think he's going to have another issue where he might be out after the win and the ufc is going to create an interim middleweight title for whoever it comes up next because he cannot be active as a

consequence that's what i think all right reggie get down reggie this dude's driving me nuts this winter break all right uh let's go to don't you dare disrespect mr october yes thank you breakthrough fighter of the year at middleweight the two of you luke's let's go to no here have the same pick why are you going a teba gotier i mean he's 23 years old three and o in the ufc all first round knockouts it seems like he's super likable to bc i was telling l t off camera that in the embedded last time they brought him to like a cat cafe and he was just like surrounded by kittens having the time of his life i mean i'm just rooting for the guy i think they want to root for him too so i think he's going to get favorable matchups and it'll wait not that deep he could

crack the top 15 so it's the lack of depth that makes me pick joe pifer as my breakthrough fighter i don't love his comments about mexico i don't think he's completely well-rounded and a true title contender but i think he's going to get close this year division not deep i think he's got big power he's going to figure out how to iron it out so that's the direction i'm going luke already gave his bold prediction for middleweight mine is this otisanya whittaker three will happen this year but it won't be at middleweight it'll be at two oh five luke you retweeted it whittaker's talking about going to light heavyweight are we going to see him fight john jones or what wittaker jones becomes more plausible by the day bitches by the day

well god look there me something bold here as i let reggie out My bold prediction for middleweight is that it was the same as Luke's pretty much. Chimayev doesn't fight until October. So yes, only once this year. But I know he was both in Chicago, but I still weirdly feel like there's always like lingering visa issues with him. And I can see them just holding out for a hard, review, numbered event, whatever you want to call it. So he doesn't fight till October, remains the champ. Continues his trend of fighting once a year.

I think it's been like three, four straight years. It just once a year. Yeah, he loves doing that. We really need him to be active and to dominate this division. Let's go to light heavyweight, which hasn't been the deepest, hasn't been great. My bold prediction last year was that the Poetan Adasanya trilogy would take place at 205. There wasn't a need to it. LT, you predicted that Poetton would vacate, move to heavyweight, and fight either John Jones or Aspernel.

I think you were just in here off. It seems like it's going to happen, but I was too soon for the truth, B.C. There you go. LIL did not produce a pretext. prediction according to our records is that true i think we were just running out of time and you guys kind of just moved that happens yeah all right let's go to who will be the champion to end this year luke thomas who you got uh to be the champion at the end of this year bc i feel like it's going to be the guy as you indicated meet the new boss same as the old boss i think it's going

to be megaman coliav obviously he got run over in that fight with poeton but i feel like poiton one i mean if if my prediction was wrong last year i do feel like it's going to be right this year like Poetan does seem like he's going to try and move up and B.C. try and get that third UFC title, which would be insane and amazing in the whole nine yards. In any case, BC, for that reason, I still think Ancolaev's the most well-rounded

guy, and I want to say well-rounded. I don't just mean offensive tools, I mean like defensive responsibility as well. And so for that reason, I kind of feel like he might in the, again, in the absence of John Jones, Cormier was clearly the guy. It kind of feels a little bit like that to me. I guess we'll see. Long Island Luke went the same direction.

of you big onk will regain the title my prediction is different and it ties into my bold prediction and it goes like this i think perrero will vacate the title and i think the vacant title bout will be uncleaya versus yri prohatska only i think the big onk will be the big donk and lose the title via complete donkery as yri lures him into one of those sloppy ass fights and finishes him with something spectacular i think prohasa gets back to the top of the ladder in this division He doesn't cut to middleweight. He's got a new baby. He's ready to go.

He's cutting balloons with swords. I'm going with Yeri right there. Let's go for this. Let's go for this. Let's go for a breakthrough fighter of the year. Who do you got LT? Well, this one was really hard, and I don't even know what to fucking say about it because this division sucks right now. But the guy who really impressed me at the end of last year, again, it gets a bit of a patent-tabas situation.

But I really think he's going to have a big year of this coming year is Osamaat Murza-Khanoff. He is, it seems like, undersized for light-heavy. weight, but his hand speed and his boxing and his accuracy, they're a fucking problem. And he's, you know, he's reasonably well-rounded where he needs to be. He's not the perfect fighter B.C. And I don't know if he ever wears a belt. I don't know if I kind of

see him in that regard. But I think you just, you see, you got a bunch of big don't knowks in this weight class. And they don't move their head. They're not defensively irresponsible. And dude, this guy steals on them constantly. I kind of feel like he might be able to take that pretty far.

I wonder if Jamal Hill has a better chance of regaining the title or scoring you on after what happened i don't know uh my breakthrough fight of the year i got to go lithuania here modestis bukowskis is on one of those runs the division lax step i think he can creep up here with a two and o year uh long outlook which direction are you going on breakthrough and then give us your bull prediction i'm going with abdul rachman yaki ayev i was joking with luke before i was like i don't even remember anything about this guy so i had to quickly look into him 24 years old eight no seven finishes looked like it's a man Taylor. Yeah, dude, both his UFC debut and his contender series fight ended in 30 seconds,

but he's also gone five rounds before. So, like, he seems like the goods. I'm excited to see him. Bold prediction, maybe not that bold, but he is coming off like four losses. Jan Blyovic is going to win a fight this year, all right? They're going to give him at least one more fight and he's going to win the damn thing. Just move up the heavyweight already. Please, Jan. Okay. Regardless, he's going to win a fight. Let's go, yeah. All right. I already gave my bold one. Luke, what do you got for Poetan in this coming year? all right well you know you gotta play the hits bc that's the only game i know how to play

so i think poiton moves the freaking heavyweight my only bold my only boldish prediction is that it's permanent like there's no going he doesn't go 205 heavyweight too it's just he's going to finish out at heavyweight and that's just going to be that and that's the end of it i think that's dead on I think you're going to win with that let's go to the

unpredictable heavyweight division where last year luke thomas predicted with or without a John Jones fight, Tom Aspinall will end the year as champion. You never predicted he would go blind, but well done, Luke. Didn't get the vision part right, but I got the rest of it. So I just felt like, you know what? He kind of skated at the end there a little bit if we're being honest.

But again, by hooker by crook, it came through. I predicted that Francis Ngano would fight Vadim Nemcoff in the PFL. That did not happen, but it might. We'll see. Long Island, Luke said, We'll get Aspinall Jones at some point. We should have. We should have, but it didn't happen here.

Let's go to Prevyweight predictions for the new champion. Long Island, Luke, you're going Tom Aspinall. You believe he's going to end the year, but how many times does he fight? Once, maybe twice. Like I'm thinking, you know, summer, we get the gone rematch and then maybe once more towards the end of the year. But your guy's prediction, I feel like, will not be in the title conversation. by that second title defense.

Oh, we'll get to that in a second. By the way, Aspernel just said he had surgery on one eye, and he's going to have surgery on the other. I don't know how long he'll be out because of that. Luke Thomas, you and I both have the same pick, and it's a bold-ass one. Who's closing the year as heavyweight champion? All right, this is where we go bold.

This is where we go bold. I think Gable Stephenson might be your champion by the end of the year, to be honest with you. I realize he's a controversial figure for a couple of reasons. you know, charges related to alleged sexual assault in college, among other things. However, if you just look at the, oh, not however, but like now looking at his athletic life, he just seems like a much better athlete than basically everybody. He is an Olympic champion and NCAA champion in wrestling.

He is fast. You saw what he's already done in the LFA. Like, I don't know that it's true. I mean, could he win the title now? maybe that's maybe that's a little early but by the last quarter of the year I don't know that it will be I think he's going to steamroll these people dude heavy weights the only division left

where you can kind of come in with one dominant skill and potentially not get exposed I mean I know it was a long time ago but we saw Brock Lesnar do that he's got some Lesnar S qualities to him you're right about the athleticism you're right about the wrestling what we don't know about his chin stamina and striking ability

we may not have to find out This division's all over the place. Could he beat Poetan? Maybe. Could he beat Aspinall? Like, if he wrestles him, maybe, like, it's possible. I think he's going to get a massive push that begins with the White House. So I don't think it's improbable or, like, let's say he goes to the White House and fights a legitimate fighter in his debut.

Like when they brought in Brock and made him fight Frank Meir. And let's say he wins. You're telling me he doesn't headline MSG for the heavyweight title. Like, it's very, very possible because the U.S. The UFC wants and needs dominant American champions, people to market. This is the guy. He's not going to fight John Jones, who is his mentor. Luke, you put Gable Stevenson as your breakthrough fighter at heavyweight.

I'm going Walter Walker, who is, you know, on a nice run of foot submissions right here and is breaking through a long island. Luke, Mario Pintuck and bang. You're a big believer here? I mean, yeah, he's undefeated, 11 and 0, 2 in the UFC, just beat Jonata Denise, which is like actually a really good win. and he also has gone five rounds before, and he's still pretty young.

I mean, yeah, heavyweight sucks, too. Let's just be right. All right. It's very easy to make a very big, quick splash of heavyweight. My bold prediction of heavyweight is that John Jones will suffer a training injury and never fight again, and it will coincide with the rise of Gable Steven. John will become the head coach.

He will use this to build up his legacy as not just the greatest fighter of all time, but look, my first guy I coached I took to the top. That's my bowl prediction. Where are you going here? Just that I don't know who the dance partner is going to be. And I know there were rumors or at least an Instagram post where it suggested it wasn't going to happen. But, you know, these guys play games on social media. Poetan versus some other heavyweight.

And I don't know who that's going to be. It's going to headline the White House card. I think that's going to be your big one at heavyweight, obviously, not a 205. I think that's going to be your leading fight on that card. What could throw a wrinkle in our Gable champion plans are, let's say Aspernal's not ready for the white house so they throw gone in their poet on beats gone maybe or or either way the winner's got to fight aspirin all right if he's ready so i don't know i don't know what's going to happen we'll see yeah we'll see long island luke believes that rug rug umar con will come to the ufc i like i like that prediction long island thank you i kind of forgot all about gable steveson and i was just trying to think

of who's a big heavyweight splash they could sign and that was what i came up with all right let's how sad it is like if you don't consider gable steven it's like you know you're you're not too far from, you guys won't even know this name, but Zulu Zinho. I mean, it's just, it's slim pickings out there. Shout to Alexander Volkov. He's still in the mix. You never know what's going to happen right there. I mean, Cyril Gong could be the next champion for all we know. That's where it's at. Hey, let's go to the women now, the 1-15, the straw weights, a division that has seen better times, but now sees McKenzie Dern as the champion. And my bold prediction

entering this year was that McKenzie Dern will go one-in-one and continue to tread water in the division that's an error but nobody i guess knew that way lee would move up and open this opportunity no cita did not make a prediction l ttu said tatyana swares will win the title but won't be able to defend it due to loss it yeah it wasn't meant to be it wasn't meant to be as we look at who ends the year at champion i i can never remember a time that this great division was this poor all three of us believe that jean we lee after getting completely shut out by my Valentina will come back down, regain the title at 115. It seems like the right play for her in every possible way.

Yeah, I mean, and also just, you know, when I was looking at the list, I'm like, okay, well, if she comes back, who's like the biggest threat and I don't even know how to answer that, you know what I mean? So why wouldn't she? It's like, you might say Tatiana, but, but Whaley destroyed her in their fight. Exactly. So it's like, who would that even be? So, yeah, I just would be shocked if she's not champion of the year.

all right breakthrough fighter of the year at women's straw weight long out of look going jillian robertson and i got to give her credit she's really put on a nice little run right here honestly the names that we got on this was part of long island luke it's basically you're being your choice bc or his i don't even know who else it would be in this division i was going to say i think every other uh weight class i picked someone not ranked this was like so hard so i picked someone who's already ranked but i think jillian will like either be at a title shot or have already gotten one by the end of the year next year And L.T. and I both picked Fatima Klein and Klein as our breakthrough fighter.

She's coming on a very good, well-rounded game there. This division, not deep. We'll see what happens. Bold prediction time, LT. What's happening in the 1-1-5? At the 1-1-5, Waley is going to recapture the title, BC, but it's going to be more problems because she's only going to fight one time next year. And I don't know how much people will care in the sense that this is not the most loaded division

and the movement doesn't really matter. but, you know, Jean-Wiley has just not been very active for quite some time now, and I expect more of that in this year, not less. All right. Long Island Luke predicting that Jean-Wei Lee will not get the first title shot at McKenzie Dern. So you think they'll put Dern in a position to use her marketability to sell another fight? Exactly. They'll get her. I don't want to say a winnable fight so she could arguably get a title defense and then you do

the Waley, but you give Waley some time off. Like, here's a He-Boss trilogy for you. Go for it. My bold prediction, you know, I can't make one and not involve Rose Namibunis. She will decide to cut down to 115 for one final time after Wei Lee wins the title back. They'll have their trilogy to crown the greatest fighter in women's strawweight history. So we'll see if Rose can even physically do that. That's my bold-ass prediction. Let's go to flyweight, the deepest women's division.

No, Seer did not make a prediction. LT, you predicted that Valentino will not be the champion. at the end of the year. Now, did I predict that she would lose or just that she would not be champion? You just said not be. We've talked about the possibility of her going to 35 for years. Maybe that was part of it. I predicted she would close the year as champion.

And that was true. Let's go to our championship predictions for the new year. I'm going to go Manuel Faro. Her only loss there was to Valentina. She showed some great toughness to battle back in that one. She's 35, but she's on top of her. her game. We saw that in her bounce back fight. I think Farrow, which is good. Look, it's going to play into my bold prediction, so I'll say it right now. I think Valentina will vacate the title,

not defend it this year. She's going to move up and fight at 135 for the rest of her career. And this will open the door for Manuel Faroe to become champion. Luke, who ends this year as the flyweight champion? Well, like, going back to like men's 55, Manuel Torres, I do think is going to have a great year. And I feel pretty good about that. I feel like there's good evidence for that. and I have a strong feeling. This one I don't, man. I just don't know what to say. Like, this division kind of sucks.

I went to Talia Silva. I know she, you know, I think she fought what just one time last year. She did look good for the most part. She does seem like, you know, a credible challenge to the title. I don't know. I just kind of went with her on this one

because I didn't want the same pick as you. And it seems like it's plausible here. Yeah, it seems like you put a lot of, you know, thought and belief behind it. You're like, I just threw it up in the air. Well, dude. Like, I mean, the, the Furo one, like, I kind of believe in her.

But at the same thing, time her game is limited and she's kind of aging even though she's a good athlete and sylva's a little bit more offensively active so i mean you know there's reasons to think that i don't know you know the vision sucks all right no see that you're staying with shevchenko which i think is possible so do you believe that the 135 opportunity will not open for her yeah because i think they run that fight back the amanda kala fight no matter what happens and that ties that up i think val probably fights natalia Silva beats her and then I think she either gets like a macy barber or an erin blanchefield to close the year and those are her two title offenses remains true very well could happen obviously my

bold prediction was that she moves up uh to fight the winner of kela versus amanda which is either way it's a huge fight breakthrough fighter of the year l t and i both go in macy barber who bounced back had a tough fight won it seems to be healthy is on a great winning streak overall that's a great pick no see a friend of the program veronica hardy gonna make a run here yeah Hell yeah. I mean, dude, she had that nice little resurgence where she won three in a row. Then she lost one. Last year, she only fought once. It was a win. But I feel like if she's just a little more active, she can totally jump into the top 10 into the conversation at least. All right. Let's stay with no seat here. Give me a bold prediction for this division.

Sorry. All top five fighters, six, including the champion, will remain in the top five. Not in their exact spots, but no one is going to exit that top six. interesting interesting LT where are you going I'm sure you're excited about this Schochenko is going to go to 35 and I do think that a potential fight for a title up there either with Kayla or Amanda

is actually one of the better fights you can make in women's MMA for sure but I'm not saying she's like automatically going to go she might have one more in this division something like maybe even two more and then goes at the end of the year I don't know but I just feel like she's going to she's going to move to 35 yeah I think that's going to go the same way

let's go to women's ban on weight where last year. I predicted that three different women would hold the title in 2025. That was wrong. Nocita predicted that Holly Holm would headline a UFC event. I believed in that, but that was wrong. By the way, Holly Holm, this Saturday, fighting for a women's boxing title again on that MVP Amanda Serrano card on DeZone. So shout out to her. LT, you predicted that Kayla would become champion. Well done, dude. Well done. That one felt like fairly straightforward, but yeah, there you go. All right. Who will end this year? as women's Bannamweight champion.

That's the real question. Will Shevchenko move up? Who wins Kayla versus Amanda at 324, which is one of the best fights in the sports history? I'm predicting that Kayla Harrison will close this year as the champion, and I'm going to play it once again right into my bold prediction. Not only will Kayla Harrison defeat Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko this year, she will end the year with the UFC broadcasters,

hyping her as the new greatest feat. female fighter of all time and me trying to set up a fight against cyborg to cement it, although I don't have that power. So that's my boldness and my pick on champion. Luke, who ends this year as the champ at 35? That is, that is very bold. I'm going to go the opposite direction. I'm going to say it's Shevchenko. I think she moves to 35 and BC, if it ends up being Nunes in a third fight, I think she might have her number at this point, although, you know, certainly Schenko was older too and in some ways less dynamic. But I feel like she just doesn't mind grinding out slow winds if she has to and she knows how to do it she keeps herself safe

she doesn't take big punches for the most part um i think she might be quite formidable for some of these ladies and again like you know with kela harrison her if she can get into the clinch with you yeah it's it's it's it's trouble but um you know shevchenko is going to be quicker going to be lighter on her feet able to keep distance might get a takedown of her own i don't know you know i'm going to go bold bc i'm going to say chifchenko no sida your pick on who ends the year as champion does kind of play into your bold prediction where are you going here yeah so my bold prediction is that kela and amanda are both going to retire at some point in 2026 now i think one of them is going to go two no against the other i don't know which one it's going to be but it's

going to force them both to eventually just go i won both i have nothing left and the other one who lost both go why am i still doing this whether it's the way cut whether it's the age whatever so i think the title will be vacated i don't think the division will cease to exist i think they'll have like a, you know, and what am I look for? Vacant title fight booked in early 2027 or something, but at the end of 2026, no UFC women's band-of-weight champion. All right. And LT, your bold prediction was that Sheffchenko has the trilogy with Nunes.

Yes, I think that's the one that might be more likely of the two. Or she may just end up getting it. I don't know, but, you know, one way or the other, I think that that is a great possibility. And you put that she gets revenge, so she gets the win. That's right. right yeah that's right she was getting revenge in the first one before it ended she arguably got it in the second i don't know if she i don't know if she messes it for a third dude i really wish that the ufc would sign both cyborg and pacheco and then we could have these five women in the same division and i know pacheco is not in this discussion but the other four could have a claim for go if they kind of run the table it would allow it to happen my breakthrough fighter of the year will be lorissa pacheco in my opinion now look she has not fought at bannamwait since that short-lived run in the UFC in 2017. She's fought at featherweight and lightweight.

But the desperate plea she made on Twitter for Dana White to sign her would tell me that she could follow Kayla's lead, trim down the weight because it's the only place that can employ her at this level. So I think that happens. Both of you guys, though, are picking one, Bia Mesquita?

Bea Mesquita is excellent. Her style is translating very well to MMA. She's got some subs. She's got some ground and pound. She's got physical style. I think she's going to have a great 2026, and I'm sure LIL agrees. She's marketable, too, if you know what I mean.

Yeah. Hey, BC, I went to a strip club. They had a bunch of marketable women in there, if you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, future waitresses, just like the strawweight division. All right, our women's featherweight picks. There's no such thing. That business idea you've been sitting on this new year. Stop waiting for the perfect time.

GoDaddy Arrow uses AI to build your website, logo, and marketing in minutes, not months, no tech skills, no excuses. Just your idea made real. Get started at godaddy.com with GoDaddy Arrow. Let's go to our awards and MMA to close out the year. First category is event of the year. your nominees are ufc 311 ufc 317 ufc 323 and the ufc fight night paris card with the main event involving nasserdeen imov against kio bohalio and the winner is on voting done by two luke's bc and if we needed mikey or matt snyder they could have broken the tie uh here's the results

Madison Square Garden headlined by Isla Mahachev defeating Jack Della Madelana. You had Valentina versus Wayley in the Comain and then you had that four or five straight run of big time KOs. You had Dylan Danis getting beaten up in the crowd.

I think that's the right pick here. But Luke but Nocita, you had this on your ballot as number two. Can you argue against 322 here as the pick? I just remember you saying to me, BC, if you guys remember, I was camping for 317. I was super pissed about it. I barely

got to watch it. I didn't get to watch any of it live, really. I had to watch it all the next day. You told me you were like, it made me a fan of the sport again, man. That's the UFC. That's what it was. And I kept thinking of that and I was like, damn. And even when I was watching it the next day, which always takes a little like,

I don't know, pizzazz out of it. I was like, damn, this is still actually like really fucking entertaining, even like kind of knowing what already happened. 322 I was at but I was backstage most of the time. might have taken a little of the shine away from it. I was front row for the first time in like

four years. So that played a part. I know. We did have like four straight knockouts in a row between like Bo-Nickel, BSD, Prattas. Morales, Prattis. Then you had Islam and Valentino looking historically dominant. Yeah. It was my number two. And I want to give a shout out to UFC Paris, which people

probably don't remember, but it tied the record for most knockouts on a card. There was like nine knockouts. So it was a pretty entertaining card. More finishes than me watching wild things on VHS in the 90s, for sure. And UFC 317, for those wondering, was the International Fight Week card headlined by Ilya Tuptorio against Olavera.

You had Josh Van against Royval on there. You had Pantosia KKF. Very good card. And I think 311 was very good, too. Great band, pretty damn good card. I know the disappointment in not getting Armin in the main event. We had Moikano instead. Deluded it with that Umar versus Marab, Colman, was absolutely fantastic,

big time knockouts up and down let's speak in to knockouts let's go to knockout of the year where your nominees are toporia olivara almeda alhassen quill and salkhild nasrat hotpressed lorone murphy's spinning shit against aaron pico hoofy versus green and you versus sarahee and the winner is Mauricio Hoofey's spinning back kick over King Green, shades of Terry Edom getting sent to hell, narrowly wins the decision. Luke Thomas, you voted for this. Why? Well, I try to take into consideration in the context of the bout itself, as well as the skill level of both opponents.

And I think there are some other choices you can make, depending on how you value something like that. in this year but this was on a on a fairly big platform for the terms of the card it wasn't an apex fight as I'm trying to point out yeah you have seen her 15 yep it had big it had no names I'll say that and then some exciting up-and-coming names sort of mixed together but really what took this care to the next level is just how fucking acrobatic it was and and also in the in the moments leading up to the K.O in the early parts of the fight who he was kind of styling on him to begin with like it felt like almost like a dance number or something it was just really a guy in complete flow state with a devastating KO you know of a known puncher and a very you know

respected veteran KOs do come better but not much better than that it was very very good I think it was a close vote I ended up having that pick as my third I have no problem with it winning my number one was Lauren Murphy against Aaron Pico with the combination of Pico we thought could end up getting a title shot with a win and he walked into something that we just never expected from lorone murphy so it was so just breathtaking and shocking uh i also love that quill and sack killed uh ridiculous knockout of has prasperas long out look you went off the board in a completely different direction speak of it all right well the first card of the year i know it takes a lot for people to remember all the way back to like january 12th whatever it was but caesar almeda abdul rizak al hasson

abdul rizak al hasin's rushing in with all these shots saizers just taking his time taking this time counter left hook rosacol hasn't dropped like a sack of potato smash it like it was one of the most aesthetically pleasing knockouts you'll ever see i had the rome murphy pico number two and then zombie junior jew sang you with the left hook on jekosaragi at ufcc three 16 where he just hits him with the counter left and he face plant chaos them i mean to me it's all about the aesthetics not as much as like what's on the line who the fighter is and those two were beautiful yeah we had a lot of really cool knockouts this year was hard to pick let's go to submission of the year where your nominees are, Jan Silva, Bryce Mitchell, Sean Brady over Leon Edwards,

Costello Van Stenis over Johnny Eblen in the PFL, Anthony Fluffy Hernandez against Roman DeLizze, Walter Walker getting the ankle of Sutherland, and Mahachev Moycano from UFC 311, and your winner is the rear naked choke of Costello Van Stenis upsetting Johnny ebblin Luke Thomas you went with that but why the last you know the relative last minute nature of it the surprise factor I did not like long on Luke I did not watch this fight live and then I had people hitting me up being like yo did you see johnny eblin got choked up in the back like vans denis that was last second blah blah blah I was like oh I got to go see this and in a five round bout you know bloody tired and the whole nine yards uh found away at the fucking

basically right at the buzzer pretty close to it anyway to take the title from a guy who was a very very dominant time it was just so this is why to me like aesthetics matter and again there's no wrong answer here but for me aesthetics matter but context matters too this choke by itself if it happened in the first minute and 30 of a fight maybe it doesn't win anything but the context of it puts it so late big upset you're like wow holy shit this guy really did something special it's got to be him both luke's had that number one i did not have it my top three i've no issue with it being in contention. Dude, I got to go Fluffy Hernandez against Roman Delizze.

And it's not even because the wear naked choke was so beautiful. To me, it's the context of the one-sided ass kicking, the fact that he just like dragged him, dropped him to the ground like John Jones dropping Machita face first, and just like ragged out. Like, you're not even on my level. And DeLite is a badass for him to just completely beat him down and then just choke him out and drop him. I loved it. I love the way.

I love the impact of the silver one because everybody was kind of looking for Bryce Mitchell to get served and that ninja choke was beautiful. He put him out. It was a very big moment. And I just love the technique, even though I'm not a ground guy, Luke,

you know this, right? Of Mahachev's braw or a hater against Moikano was just efficient, brilliant, wonderful. Long out, Luke, we missing any here in terms of praise? Oh, Luke's got something. I don't think it should win,

but i do think it's worth mentioning sean brady the mounted guillotine or the the the from half guard mount or the top half guard guillotine on leon edwards was filthy highly technical he dominated that bout that's at least deserves honorable mention sure sure i was going to bring up uh the submission itself you like don't want to really highlight but walter walker with his fourth straight heel hook i feel like just the fact that he got four straight is fucking wild and i literally said going into that fourth fight. I was like, I don't even care what happened. I'm taking Walter Walker by sub. And like the fact that it happened. But here's the problem, bro.

I mean, this is the thing. Like, like Brady is out here finishing off champions. Like, if you're winning four bouts in a row be a heel hook, you're fighting dogs. I mean, I don't know how else to say it. The fact that he's won four in a row at heavyweight in the UFC and is still not ranked. Or if

he is, he's like barely ranked as fucking that. That's some McKenzie teen shit until you step up and then you find out about it. Luke, did you see that Volter Walker's going to be on karate combat grappling against that guy with no legs? This is a true thing. Yeah. Well, the good news is no one's going to get paid for who cares, right? Yeah, yeah, that's true. They're having

issues right there. Allegedly. Let's go to the fight of the year in MMA. And your nominees are Joshua Van, Brandon Royval from UFC 317. Marab versus Umar from UFC 311. Estabon Rievovich versus Elvis Brenner at UFC

Vegas 110. Lopez versus Silva, the bank at noce ufc and the dana white contender series instant classic of adrian luna martinetti versus mark volidon and your winner is oh it's the dana white contender series week nine it was donk versus donk but these hungry young guys went after it in a rocky movie style i voted at number one long island luke had it number two Luke Thomas, you had it number one. It's rare that something outside of Maine

UFC Fair would get this distinction, but these two guys were willing to die in the cage, that. Well, this is also rare for me. I typically don't select fights like this for five of the year. So, for example, the year that Brian Stan fought Vanjali Silva, I think that made a bunch of people's fight of the year award winner. And for me,

that wasn't the case. It was a good, I mean, it was an amazing fight. It was, you know, not rock'em, sock, it was crazy with a dramatic finish. It was great. But to me, it's like, if a Rockham Thackham, it's very, very hard to win that when you've got guys who can have action fights, five rounds for much higher stakes against much better guys, right? So that to me tends to be the way that I go. But this one is a little bit different due to, dude, Luna Martinelli is, was, you can call them both donks. I don't agree. The Logden actually

looks pretty fucking good. Now, he donked it up a little bit to fight fire with fire in this contest. But at the same time, I think he's actually got some real ability. I'm curious to see what he can do in his career. Obviously, that amount of damage that he took was fucking insane. Luna Martinelli to me is a little bit more. Did I say his name right? Yeah, Martinetti. Excuse me.

Luna Martinetti. He seemed to be scrappier of the two, and it took him to another place. But, dude, this is one of the most, this was Fry Takayama, kind of for 15 minutes. I mean, I know that's a comparison you're never supposed to make, but this one went on in ways that you thought un, surely it can't keep being this way. And it did minute after minute after minute, momentum swing after momentum swing, big shot after big shot, bloodied, bruised, battered, but not in spirit beaten. Oh my God, dude, this fight was in, I needed a cigarette when this fight was over.

This was incredible. It was, it was, I mean, I had to rewatch it to make my pick. And I'm like, yeah, I'm not picking against this. hard to pick against though Josh van overcoming Brandon Royval because it was a number one contender fight it was on a pay-per-view long island luke you had that at number one what you love about that one i was just that was my exact logic bc it was more important of a fight and like i felt weird picking a contender series fight number one as all action and crazy as that was but i really want to harp on my number three Esteban riebovich elvis brenner dude that was a banger of a fight that was the same

card as chris duncan matteus rambetsky and i was deciding between winning of those two to put on i ended up looking at the stats ribavitch brenner both had like more outputs i was like i'll pick that one i don't even remember which one was which but both those fights were bangers uh roy val van was the only fight i got to watch live on that said camping trip uh international fight week so i remember being like holy shit that was awesome and people weren't even talking about that at the end of the night they were talking about ilia so yeah even though roi val van was nasty like it was technical too and that's what i kind of like i mean roi val wasn't moving his head but there was a a lot of technical qualities. I want

to shout out the first Paul Hughes-usman-Nermagamatov fight that opened the year that was in the discussion all year. And even though it only went a round and a half and those fights don't normally make it here, my number three pick was Diego Lopez, Jan Silva, because it was just bad shit crazy, dude. It was just

back and forth. And Luke, I think another one in that conversation was the Khalil Roundtree, Yeri one. The first two rounds were timid, but that third round was my round of the year. It was absolutely insane. Well, Yuri was getting teed off on on those first two rounds i mean again he wasn't getting you know completely mangled but it wasn't going his way and then he just turned everything up in the third and holy

shit look what happened but i want to say this for my number two slot and this is kind of the direction they would more normally go i think marab versus umar is yes in contention and and for different reasons this is a case where you had a guy come out and put marab on his fucking heels a little bit and marab had to kind of battle back and battle back but by the end remember it was all the drama about him just kind of doing like what Cody Garbrand did Dominic Cruz where he's like doing the robot and styling and pointing and laughing at

him like the theatrics of it and the triumphant nature of it and again we all thought Umar was going to fucking win to go back to the predictions that we all made that dude that fight ruled now I couldn't pick it because it just wasn't as action obviously not as action oriented as the the one that

won that was so over the top I couldn't It was a technical thriller Yeah it was a that to me is more of a technical thriller where there's really on the line. I give both those guys a lot of respect for that fight. That was tremendous. Yeah, I loved it. So many fun fights this year. Let's go to Female Fighter of the Year

Across MMA. And your nominees are Kayla Harrison, McKenzie Dern, Fatima Klein, wow. And Valentina Shevchenko, and this winner was unanimous. The winner is Shevchenko. Luke, I actually think if we're going to put male and female together that she's the actual

fighter of the year across the board for what she did, beating unbeaten number one contender Manon Farrow and then completely blanking Zhang Weily in a fight that people thought was going to be 50-50. Shout out to the 30, what, 8-year-old, 37-year-old? 37, I think.

Come on. I think it's a little much to put her in that kind of space, but... Well, just because you hate women doesn't mean that should come into this argument, you know what I mean? No, no, here's the thing. I don't have other opinions out there that evidence that fact you know i i actually i don't do that but in a fair reading of it here this is this is how down the year was correct me for long island luke here's one of the things that i really struggled with how many women even fought three times this year very few

the team of klein did which bc acted surprise is what i picked yeah okay okay but this is my point there's levels come on but this is my point there were women who had like good solid memorable wins this year and then you look at the record and they fought once maybe twice there's three times was almost impossible to find. So it was not a banner year for that side of the sport. If we're just being honest, however, in looking at that side, B.C., I don't know who else would be it, but Valentina Sharfchenko. I don't know who else.

Kayla had a nice win, but that's it. Like this lady had a couple of really good wins. It's easy call. Turn had two wins, but that's a lower level. That's a lower level. Much lower level. Totally. I mean, Valentina was defending a title and or fighting pound for pound people.

like yeah come on no indeed it's a runaway in that regard but yeah shout out to fatima cline for breaking through i just i'm always against i remember when cynthia calvio had five wins in a year and people were like she's a fight of the year contender i'm like there's levels okay like i'm going to take champions that are defending twice over that let's go to mail fighter of the year this is going to be interesting because of what happened to marab in december your nominees for male fighter the year in 2025 are marab devalishvili Islam Mahachev, Joshua Van, and Piotr Jan. And your winner is Islam Mahachev, but the voting, as you can see, was incredibly close. I went Islam, Long Island. Luke went Marab, not surprisingly, as ESPN.com did.

LT went Islam. Now, look, for me, I love what Marab did. I love his ambition. But I can't give it to you. like what i remember when connor mcgregor you could make an argument in 2016 even though he lost to diaz he came back to avenge the loss in one of the best fights in company history and then moved up and wait to knock out eddie alvers to become champ champ in that case like the rabbi lullo case you mentioned you put the loss away from you maybe because the loss is so recent i can't

give a guy who just lost fighter of the year i can't do it that's just me also islam although he didn't fights are yuki and he fought moikano he moved up and wait and absolutely dominated to me this is a no brainer but i'm sure you can argue marab or is this just a long island thing where are you at no ceda it's probably a long island thing but i just want to note i just message you guys i've had a poll out this entire episode with a thousand votes 44% of the donks out there think of marab's fighter of the year as well he fought he defended his belt three times that alone should i feel like going into the yon fight we were all like yeah he's pretty he's all but solidified it and then like after the yon fight we're all quick to write him off islam sure moving up double

champ but like no disrespect to jd i feel like i've been disrespecting jdm all year no disrespect to jdm but like he never even defended the belt we might look back at that title reign and be like oh he was kind of a fluky chance maybe you know we don't know and moikano being the other one that's where's moikano right now 10 to 15 range you know like journeyman's that i got you i got you I got you Luke Thomas Here's the problem Here's the problem

The problem is If you're a pound for pound guy Like Marab And not just that But a guy who at the time Of the Yon fight Was arguably number one But he wasn't our number one

But you know At worst top three At worst top three You cannot lose 50-45 Which you know I know Some of the score cards

That Marab had two But only one of the other ones But you could score 5045 Fine let's just say 49 4044 whatever the fucking number is i can't 40s 49 46 whatever the fucking number is um you can't lose to a guy that thoroughly who's not even ranked pound for pound at the time of the loss and then expect to win awards at the end of the year that's my belief my belief is if

you're a pound for pound guy of course you're going to win of course you're going to lose but it needs to be better than that to then be like oh this guy is also the guy who was the best guy this year it can't be both to me um and i recognize that yon is this not an argument that yon is a scrub far from it former champion look what he did it was one the most impressive things but at the time that fight was made yon wasn't even on the fucking list and he got he he thoroughly thoroughly beat his ass sorry you forfeit awards in my book when that happens i kind of think it's the same thing about van even though the win over roi vall is so damn impressive and even though you could always argue that that injury was caused by

him for throwing pantosia down it was early it was freak he didn't beat him he didn't beat him so i can't give him that award he didn't beat him with martial art skill is what you mean right and in yon at the same time the first win was marcus mckey magee not on the same level it's a great story but islam's the best fighter in the world and all he did was move up and wait and shut out the champion so there you go is there anything to be said though real quick for the level like where marab's guys were ranked his three wins this year they were probably like number one number two number one yes so i think you can i listen i let me just say this long i look sorry to cut you off but i think you can make an argument for morab number one i think it's not like my rule as ironclad but for me

pound for pound if you want if we're going to do this whole shit where we're ranking guys pound it has to mean something and you should never lose to a guy unranked on pound for pound that way ever that's fair but but here's the problem morab had more good wins than anyone else had that's the other part of it too right i don't know maybe i i i guess i'm alone i mean ESPN gave it to him i'm not mad if people give it to marob i just have rules inside where i can't you know i don't date chicks that smoke cigarettes or have

tattoos on their neck look it's just what it is you know what i mean you know what i noticed who bc in the united states i don't know if i see people like hit cigarettes too much anymore everyone's got a vape but uh let me assure you cigarettes are alive and well here in south america yeah the rest of the world they're uh you know they're hitting those darts uh let's go those are our awards our predictions all that hope you enjoy them now we transition to where you can reach out to the show normally our email address morning combat at gmail dot com by the way this friday is oh wait no no we're pre-recording so look should we do one last fan subs on my last episode on Monday in lieu of DMs from donks?

I think it's your call. All right, because I've had some people reach out and say, can we do one more? I want to send you one. Your last chance for fan subs in the BC era will be Monday, January 5th, my last episode. So head on over to morning combat at gmail.com. 9-11 fans, let's be careful here, all right?

And let's send in your fan subs. I like, I like how it's like, listen, if you're a fan of 9-11, I need you to have some discretion. It's like, I'm sorry, a fan of what, exactly? Yeah, exactly. But every Sunday night at Morning Combat on IG and Twitter or X, we give you the chance to ask your questions. This is DMs from dogs. Wow, that climaxing farm animal.

Can you take that animation and sound with you? Is that possible? Yeah, I really wish I could right there. Let's hear from underscore G. Malik underscore which fighter? are you most excited about in 2006? I think that's a great question. In combat sports, which fighters arc or journey or where they're going?

I have to say Islamachev, because this division's so loaded, but then if I know he's probably fighting Kamara, I'm not that interested in that. So maybe that pulls away from it, right? Man, that's a great one. I'd say Shakur-Stevenson, for me, coming off of that breakthrough

win now he's got teo femo at the end of january if he wins that you know he's getting a massive one with turkey in the spring um i might say it's tough because there's big fights i want to see but i don't know about like a whole uh hmm maybe an mma i'm actually going to say even though he's kind of up against it just because we talked about earlier the count of monte cristo tour this guy's on maybe armin sorukin honestly um to kind of see what he can do and make with limited opportunities to an extent on the boxing side you see that one's tougher because right i want to see i hope a j's okay but the a j fury fight everyone wants to see that we talked about the all japanese showdown everybody wants to see that um but i don't know if i've got a single fighter i've

got my eye on um i don't know i'm going to see and gary too i want to see how he how he's going to do against the very elite you know we saw that loss to shavka but i want to continue to see that arc right there. Tom Aspinall coming back, Poetton at Heavyweight. I mean, there's some things there I want to see, but along out, Luke, you got anybody special you're watching? No, I feel like, I just want to see more movement

in the divisions rather than I want to see, like, one particular fighter, like, do anything. You know what I mean? Yeah. Armin was a good call, Luke. I'm interested to see what Armands doing. All right, our second question comes from, oh, come on, Reggie. From Sticks plays time, what's your wildest New Year's Eve party?

Oh, God, bro. i got thrown out of the mayflower hotel do you remember who was the governor of new york who was in the mayflower he had the scandal he was banging all the horrors what was his name julio no oh my god you too why am i asking you two dollars yeah like we know any i live in new york wadia i mean where we go prosecutor he was bald on top ed coach where he goes there's a mayor yeah i mean that guys does that guys guys Ross State even didn't work at this time. I forget the guy's name, but look him up. Just look up New York Governor Mayflower Hotel scandal. Anyway, so one night we went out to the 18th Street

Lounge. Elliot Spitzer. Ed Spitzer, him, Spitzer. Yes, that's him. So I went to 18th Street Lounge, B.C., and we got thrown out of there, and a buddy of mine got thrown out of there because he was urinating in one of the things that they openly used in the kitchen. So, So that wasn't great. We got thrown out of there. And then we went to a place next door and a buddy of mine got jumped there, a different guy. Actually, the other guy's brother got jumped there. And then we all ended up retreating back to the Mayflower, which is not just on the street.

And then they got in a fight with the people who were next door. So then the Mayflower just threw us all out. And we found our friend who got jumped later at the second place because we lost track of him. and he showed up without his jacket on and his face covered in lumps like he'd really gotten his ass whooped so you know

I used to drink a lot is the moral of the story don't do that yeah I got really sloppy ones I don't even think I want to share them I mean they've involved things I can't really share but um oh look at Mr. Corporate now I mean I've shared it before

I mean it was 2001 first time I had Red Bull and vodka and I drank like eight of them in a row after drinking 10 beers and didn't realize that the caffeine would turn me into a Tasmanian devil. I was stopping traffic to try to commandeer vehicles. The fire alarm happened at the hotel and I threw up right on the policeman's shoes. Like, you know, there were things that went down that night that were very regrettable. It's a miracle I was never arrested. I know.

I sometimes feel the same way. I'm glad those days were over. let's go to the next one from short underscore fluke what's a segment idea you each had that never made it to air on mk that you wish had made it i mean i've had a lot of ideas shot down that were dockwise where i wanted to bring cameras to places that the rest of the people didn't want it to like your meeting with ariel and doc number five like when jay got fired over speakerphone in the hotel room like there's been a lot of times where i'm like you got to record Didn't you want to do, it might have been a doc thing too, B.C., but five minutes of stand-up comedy, and we'd be like heckling.

That is it. In the peak of skits and bits, Luke, we actually, there was an idea, but I think our, we either ran out a budget or ran out of time before Showtime died. We were going to run out a comedy club, fill it with Malka employees. I was legitimately going to write the best 10-minute stand-up I could and probably bomb. and that was going to be the doc where it's like if shop can do it I can do it too dude that would have been epic I would have heckled you

like no one's fucking business I would have absolutely I would have thrown rotten tomatoes at you and called you slurs but yeah I would have been great to be honest like what ideas have we had that they I mean there was stuff we shot the shit about

but like if we ever had like a real ass idea you know mk in your house dude that would have been great not just for oh yeah not just for the menaja wife that we would have pulled off but like we kind of flirted with the idea for a while of going to the our houses of our listeners so besey could have sex with her wives and girlfriends more like so like chef mark mackett up in nova scotia could cook while j picket entertains us that would been great but uh they ran into some logistical and legal hurdles so we couldn't so yeah yeah we uh what a time man what a time you know look we had a fucking show you know

We had a fuck. Hey, bitch, I still got one. Let's go to ExoSol6, who says, what is the best advice you have for the new year? Luke, let me guess. Don't follow your dreams. Don't believe in yourself, right? You know what? I'm going to tell you something. I'm be truthful with you.

I'm actually glad that I'm on semi, not really full vacation, but semi-vacation here. Because it's been nice to get away. It's been nice to, you know, read for. pleasure. It's been nice to just be away from it all. It gives me a chance to decompress, which I think after a year like this I needed. Here's my motto for 2026. I cannot tell you anything that I know will work for whatever your problems are or whatever mine might be or any of us. Like these things are very, these are unknowable. But if somebody like me, a curmudgeon, a misanthrope prick, you know, you take your choices.

If someone like me can be a friend, Luke, okay? A friend and I can be a friend too. But if someone like me can say this to you, maybe consider it. I think it's time to try again. Try again. Dust yourself off a little bit. Yes. Let's go, Luke.

Stand tall. And here's the truth, man. None of this shit might work. I don't know. You know what I mean? I really don't know. But I know that it's always going to be better in the end to give whatever effort you have to whatever those needs.

that you might have might be. And I wish you all the best of luck in standing tall this year. I love that. I agree with so much of that. Let your losses be on the field, which means don't, you know, don't lose in the on deck circles,

hyping yourself out of it. Go all in. The fortune favors the bold. But this year, I'm really, really getting in tune with the, look, we all know it's a battle mentally,

us versus us. Like, that's really what it is at the end of the, you versus yourself. I'm really digging in research-wise into the subconscious, because, you know, I've had these times through the years where I could go to therapy and I could be like, I'm not upset about this.

I'm not harboring about this, but yet my family feels like I'm on edge. I'm not sleeping. I'm whatever. There's an internal battle going with our subconscious where if you're not reprogramming your own brain and your own subconscious with the right things intentionally and aggressively, you almost don't have a shot at winning. I read something that only 5% of our thoughts. are created by us 95% of it are by our subconscious it's that computer that's constantly running

that we feed with fear or whatever you know you know that what people say like your subconscious can't tell what's real or not so if you tell it you're going to fail and you're you're harping on that you're going to fail that's just how it works i am i've been reading books i've been listening to lectures i am so focused on getting out of my own way and uh and being as delusional as i can about what can happen to me in life because I've been the other way and yeah I might break through once in a while and have some good moments

but I'm sick of not sleeping well I'm sick of you know what I mean like all that stuff that you're just like well that's life no it doesn't have to be you got one more if I may which is I saw that I've seen this guy on social media I don't know his name forgive me but he's been talking about these works of this philosopher I'm not going to go into him but it's a French philosopher

for a sociologist talking about class and the difference between classes. And he goes on to say that there really isn't, like you can get the architectural design of a grand cathedral. And of course, it's going to be more complex than what you get for like government housing. But some, but it's all context dependent in how you see the beauty because somebody who came from a situation where maybe they didn't have indoor plumbing and they didn't have, you know, heated or their own, no, central AC.

Now they've got that. This is a beautiful thing to them. it fills them with joy they see greatness in it it can be quite subjective it can be quite subjective in that sense at the same time though that one of the things the lessons to take from this is is like if you don't invest in and i'm going to use the word beauty loosely here like you know the improvement of things trying right if you don't invest in that then you kind of get used to the idea that you only deserve the lesser and you kind of just brainwash yourself over time by just accepting more not just fate but the but the very material circumstances of that moment in fate

and it is always going to be better for your mental health for your life more generally for the enjoyment and the way you see the world if you try to make an effort at and again I'm using the word loosely at beautifying the life around you yeah in the ways that you can so I think also take that with you maybe don't give up folks keep keep going keep going if that is the work then just give up I mean just call it a day you know what I'm saying that's it great stuff right there finally from flannels and jits what are bc's top 10 well that's a lot what the fuck kind of question is this top 10 mk moments of all time i'm sure we're going to get into something like this in my final episode monday january 5th the week from today but uh obviously

look what what's the best moment in mk history you and me standing on in my opinion you and me standing on that podium winning that award and whatever that award is actually worth in real life to us, it meant legit validation. We beat Ariel in D.C. We beat three UFC produced programs. Like we went in there, we rocked the boat of what this art form can be.

We were true to ourselves and it caught up with us in a good way. People noticed, they watch, they joined, they supported, they stuffed ballot boxes with fake email addresses. The whole point is like, we shocked the system.

We made our mark. I'm never going to be more proud than that moment. because of that we also had dock cameras with us like what a time man yeah yeah i mean that one in the london one too yeah london one was pretty triumphant um for a moment of time now it all fell apart very very quickly after that uh but in all seriousness um yeah those are two memories that uh they can't take those from us can they and what in what sits with me beyond that are the times that we laughed our freaking face off you know what i mean the times that and there's so many you remember that time and

that basement hotel room in uncasville connecticut when i uh drank the water as you made fun of me and i spit it all over like moments like that where you're just like you know what it is look that's just that's just on unbridled joy and though and that's what i'm searching for in life you know really at the end of the day that's it that's it thank you for your questions folks as always we close with our second to last batch of the uh shiat this is uh have you seen the show all right a recap of the weekly wild viral videos let's go to saudi real recognizing real how about triple g and christiano rinaldo showing some love luke did this move you hell yes worth washing all right i mean triple g's looking a little thick but that's fine

look he's a hall of famer uh he's a he's a hall of famer and uh you know listen the big drama show That was it called big drama show? Yes, yes. You know, that can't go on forever, BC. You know, the electric daddy being fat as hell. It happens to the best of us. He earned it. He earned that girth, all right?

Also, in Saudi, we saw Usik congratulating his pound-for-pound brethren, Nayao Inouye after the victory over Picasso. I love long-haired Ousick doing the world tour. I just don't love that he keeps calling out Deonté Wilder. Enough of that, Ussick, okay? Yeah, great to see these guys together, but I don't need to see the Wilder Usoc fight. I don't care about that.

And Luke, you tell me, is this real recognizing real outside of T-Mobile? Hey, how about Mel Gibson and Patty Pimlet, Luke? Bro, what is Mel Gibson's mouth doing if not making a racist slur? I was going to say, cursing the Jews, most likely, unfortunately, but yeah, yeah, there you go. That's Mel Gibson. Also here, Usik snuck up on Eddie Hearn in the hotel with this giant penis gun. I don't get it, Luke, but I laughed, all right? I did laugh, yeah, there you go.

Don't ever send your family to an NFL game. Watch this young Eagles fan against the Bills fan here. oh philly yeah that was right before he threw batteries at santa claus that's great stuff uh the troll job of the week comes from joshua van calling out manel cop for the gyno luke too busy trying to breastfeed everyone he forgot his bra wow dude here's the here's the thing here's why here's why i support this in part because it does appear that you know cop has it but more to the point cop seems like exactly the kind of guy you could taunt out of a game to plan you know sure so might as well just start needling him to do it i think cop wins the championship and loses to horaguchi like i said look should be a wild year in that division but maybe josh fan's really the guy maybe maybe we'll see we'll see about that all right let's go to volleyball for your fall of the week watch that uh linesman referee closely nice spike right there oh oh my dude my man could No, my man needs to work on his breakfalls.

That looked like the thing at the county fair when you throw the softball and you hit the target and they get the junk tank. It did. Luke, do you remember a UFC fighter Mike Davis? Yes. Super athletic guy, yeah. Yeah, never forget this skit. Fuck your protein powder. What's next?

What's the next step? I love play. I've shown that before, but that was worth the second one. All right. This week in Boston, be a man. He's talking about Christmas time. Don't wear pink. Eat it.

Be a man. Okay. All right. Sorry. Did you just check out the nudes of a U.S. goalkeeper or what? Good Lord. Okay. Let's go over to our bees.

We have the needs. Look, how would you train for a prison shower? fight. These MMA guys got it right. Check this out. Yeah, right? You know? I mean, I know they've got weapons in prison. I didn't know they were like that. Yeah, nasty maid is waiting for you. Indeed. All right. T-shirt of the week time, Luke, would you wear this? Is butt cheeks one word or should I spread them apart? No? Where is the drive-by shooter when you need one? You know what I mean? All right. Would you you wear this one that in iowa in a way was pimping the most influential boxing figure oh my god dude turkey

get the fuck out of here with his shit luke bend the knee bend the knee oh my god get the fuck out of here all right let's see your christmas fall of the week let's see you later ladders i'm going to bye did she shoot her pants on the way now look dude talk about adding insult to injury my god Luke I'm not a big amateur wrestling guy is this legal tell me uh it is that's what's that called the rock bottom

that's just a basic mat return but he just fucking gave that guy frequent flyer miles you can't spike in jujitsu and there's certain spikes you can not do in wrestling but that one you can do all right uh luke i had to bring her back one more time from france with love here's seline the cake yeah why don't you eat feces you fucking boo-ha look look at that it looks tasty right yeah oh god dude why did she look like a i ever all her videos look like ai like i love what she makes that face at the

end she's like she's all like it it kind of turns you on like kind of right no it is revolting and I wish someone would run over her all right look it's time to rate that tat one to ten okay ten is a masterpiece let's go to charles olivera do bronx's new Pokemon inspired like me I don't love it

to be honest with you I don't know how good this goes as black and gray the animation's okay or the drawing is okay but like it's a little hard to read what do you got like a six on this? Yeah six or yeah so like six and a half maybe yeah i don't watch anime i don't want it on my body either look

look uh check out this back tat though i was impressed with this even if it scares me what do you think about this luke well i look again do we know if the camera was filtering it in some kind of way to make it look this way however if this is purely done from ink this level of detail this is a 10 out of 10 i mean this is a thousand out of 10 but where's the buck crack the line work the saturation of the color like that that is exceptional But does it go down to the cheeks, too? I don't really understand. Yeah, it must.

All right. Let's check out this, brother. Do you like this du rag head tat? I don't know if you're going to get hired at KPMG with the tattoo like this. All right. All right. That's fair. That's fair.

Luke, let me introduce you to my new friend. He's called Nunchucks. What's your name? Numchum. Numchum? Numchum? Yeah. Numchum?

num chuck yeah all right num chuck show me what you're working with that's like that's why they call you dumb chuck what numbsch do it again numb num num num num num knock knock out look rate that nunchug stat on his arm i think this man needs medical attention yeah yeah indeed uh look we found your license play from when you used to live in Maine. Ass boss. That's great. Go diddy. All right.

Luke, you ever wonder, you ever like, you know, that famous Windows XP background? You can, like, find the location

where it was shot. Watch this. We're at the Windows XP background in real life. You guys remember this from the screensaver. Super cool.

Do you have any Percocet? there you go there you go we got we got one more for you Luke never forget morning morning what are these bombs

doing everywhere that's all that's all the shit we can handle this week Luke okay I give it a C you had some bangers but it wasn't yeah two hours on the dot, Luke. Look at this. Look at you. I'm like Solie Solinger land in this plane, right?

If that's his last name, sure. All right. All right. Thank you very much for watching. Reminder, folks. You can follow the show. You can like and subscribe, but the show's not ending. All right. Just my current role. We'll see what happens in the future if I can can. You can follow us there. You can subscribe to our YouTube channels. One of those channels, of course, is the main card minute with Luke Nocita. LIL, what can we expect from the prop quiz? this week we got the what do we have the first semi final matchup this friday it's uh i'm not gonna oh i guess i'll really say it's oscar versus gaff it's coming out friday though so look forward to that

on friday and then i'm recording the next semi final matchup later today actually i didn't long island how is it possible i'm in remote parts of columbia and i have better internet than you i don't know dude i don't know what it is it looks fine on here but i see it on the front end there with the just terrible it is raining outside maybe that is something to do that yes internet but for the rain yeah yeah i don't know too i couldn't tell you uh long island luke do you have a uh new year's resolution you want to share with the people at all maybe give up resin oh shit there's a lot of pressure i haven't thought about it at all but no definitely not give up resin no that way resin is the leftover gifts bro i didn't i got to tell you this before we get out of here

like uh columbian uh new year's eve is like was wild bro so not only do they party roll it and all that kind of stuff but like they you make an effigy of yourself and then you burn it um at the at the middle of the night right and you have to eat a bunch of grapes and you have to take your wedding ring and put it in a wine glass and then drink it not the the the ring but the wine and then you have to take all your luggage and run around the boy dude i'm not it sounds like i'm making a bunch of shit up i promise you i'm not like it's a whole thing and we're supposed to be doing all of that this year so we'll see how that goes have fun with that i'll be doing nothing Luke okay nothing at all uh by the way programming schedule this friday january 2nd

we will have a pre-taped episode of part two of our mk documentary directors cut rewatch look it seems like people enjoyed that yeah i enjoyed it too uh except looking like a you know fat fuck but other than that um it was nice to go down memory lane and again i hadn't seen no sense the original airing so it was now have you seen documentaries five through seven that we're going to show. So which one is the one where they came to the house? That's seven. So five is Cleveland with Ariel. Six

is winning the award in Vegas. Seven is coming home. So I've probably seen six and seven multiple times, but that's it. Have you seen five? I've seen five. Actually, I'm not, I think I've seen five. I don't know.

All right. We're going to go behind the scenes and give you the inside. Look at that. It's going to be this Friday, 11 a.m. Eastern. Don't miss it. Don't forget a week from today. My final time in the studio, Metal Arc in Manhattan. What do we have planned for that? I don't think we'll have fights to recap, right? So what do we? Let's do what do you want to do. It's your show. Let's do what you want to do. You want to do you want to do. Here's what I'm going to say. Can I, can I, can I ad lib something here?

Yeah. I don't know if it will work. I'm not really not into that. Oh, hold on. I don't know if it will work. Put it back up, Long Island. Put it back up. If you've got like an interesting or fun goodbye message for BC send them in video 30 seconds or less i think that's pretty fair right 30 seconds or less and uh audio you know 30 seconds or less writing you know keep it to i don't know 250 words something something pretty manageable but uh send it in and we'll play we cannot play all of them but we'll pick and choose some of the better ones and we'll play them for bc especially if you've been on the show in some capacity before appy if you're watching this somewhere from a french prison try and figure this out uh you know somebody who has been a donk of the

year or you know part of the show if you just want to take me in the donk where's um web scream we need these guys to come out of the wood web screen dms me all the time i talk to them all the time over dm you know what web scream web scream you owe us one last one last piece of artwork you all right morning combat at gmail dot com also a final fan subs of this era for for monday we'll do have you seen the shit what do you got no seat i was just wanted to say shout out to web scream. I have his Hamilton poster he made of you guys hanging out. That's true. I still have the 1917 poster on the wall

with me above the head. That's the show for today. Hey guys, be safe. This New Year's Eve, okay? Don't drive. Be safe. Have fun. 26 is going to be a big year for all of us. Okay? So get, buckle up. Get in. Get ready. Get in shape. Get clear mentally. Take care of yourself.

Luke, safe travels home from Columbia. L-TBC, L-I-L-L-L-L-L. We say goodbye. We out of here. Thank you so much. New Year's resolution. Own how you show up online. It's easy with a domain and matching email from GoDaddy.

Now just 99 cents per month for new customers their first year. Ring in 2026 with a domain and matching email at goaddy.com slash new year. That's goaddy.com slash new year to own how you show up online. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.