MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Music | Gas Station Food | Revising MMA History | 90's NBA | BC's Live Chat Ep. 1

Episode Date: December 6, 2022

It's time for Brian Campbell's first live chat! BC answers a bunch of questions asked by the fans. Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Oh, we really did this thing if you build it apparently they will come well we're all coming right here right now it's the bc live chat inaugural on morning combat tuesday december 6 2022 you're looking at a smitten Brian Campbell right here. You know, the American alpha that BC with that BDE, whatever we're calling myself these days. Thank you for welcoming into your living room on this MK off day, nearly every day. Hey, maybe one day it will be every day, a BC live chat, but we're here. We made it. We've come this far i thank you so buckle up for you know what what could be an inspirational exciting entertaining educational 60 or 90 minutes or so or whenever your questions or my interest level runs out uh but this is a

long time coming we all know luke thomas is a very profitable And long running Chad and congratulations to him On that I give him credit for You know green lighting his partner And saying yeah let's bring this let's bring this to MK I mean we wouldn't be here right now If it wasn't for MK viewer Ethan Ross yeah I see you brother Jumping into Luke's live chat asking

The question well here we are So thanks everybody including CBS producer Mikey Mormyle for getting this thing going. We have a stockpile of questions that were collected on the Community tab of the Morning Combat YouTube page over the last 24 hours. You can continue, though, to flood your questions in live,

in the moment, in that live chat as it happens, so if you can eschew from the typical flow of misogynistic and racist talk in that and actually talk about this here, Chad, our producer, Michael Mormel, can get your voice heard and we can get it on here. you the listener yes it's a very masturbatory if you like that word uh you know vehicle by me to have you guys pick my brain and sit in front of this camera and waste your time but i do like this opportunity to give you the mk viewer a chance to uh you know ask an

oddball question talk 90s nba 70s rock i mean boxing mixed martial arts or life or the growth of men whatever you want to do within the grounds of reason and morals. Uh, we're going to do that for you. How often will the BC live chat be? Well, that's going to be dependent upon a few things. Will you guys click on it? Will you want it? Will you like it? How often can I make it work? Is it weekly? Well, let's start every hair in there, but, uh, hair, is it here or hair? Hair, hair? Here or there. But, you know, we'll see where this goes.

But I'm buckled in. I'm ready for round one. We've done a little bit of stuff like this in the past when Luke's been on his two-week South American vacations. And shout-out to Luke Thomas, my MK co-host cohort. If you're just entering the prism of bc at the moment don't forget every monday wednesday and friday live 11 a.m eastern it's the award winning it's the best damn combat sports show period with myself and lt uh my live chat though it's it's a little bit more price effective cost effective if you will it's a little bit cheaper though it's free okay free 99 so let's

do it let's get into it i thank everybody for being here for subscribing for following liking all that stuff for buying our fantastic merch here at morningcombat.store i don't think it'll do you wrong unless you live in a remote place in which our flat rate international shipping will put you over the limit but that's up to you i'm not telling you where to live uh the bc live chat could be many things uh what's it going to be that is up to, but let's not waste any more time. I'm not going to call you a Lloyd or Laird. I'm not going to sell you a loan. It's about BC and you letting your voice be heard right here. So let it happen on 12-6-22 that we begin this journey. If any of you are recovering addicts from the ESPN Saved by the Boxing chat that your boy BC once manned for many a year back in the day.

Well, welcome back. Here we go. This is the video audio version of a great vehicle. We're going to bang, do we? All right. So let's do it. Quick start, though. Thanks, everybody, for checking out our morning combat content this specific week, including our UFC 282 pregame preview with Chuck Mendenhall. High comedy, real talk, hard hitting analysis, like you want it. And also a little mea culpa to some regard off the top from Monday's MK reaction show. Luke and I were very harsh on Kevin Holland's strategic use,

ring IQ, all that stuff as it pertained to his main event fight of the year contender loss to Steven Thompson at UFC Orlando last weekend. I did get a lot of people after the fact going, BC, I appreciate you going hard in the paint, but don't forget he did have a broken hand and that not only could have likely affected his potential use of grappling there. And under that pretense, I certainly echo that. I'm not exactly sure where that injury took place, but yeah, that, that, that certainly could play a big part in Holland. Who's tough as nails. We all know that looking to survive on his

feet any way he can obviously, you know, hurt in the moment a few times by Thompson, but you know, was willing to, to, to, to bring his shield out there and just go after it until his body couldn't anymore. Um, if that's the case, I certainly give Kevin Holland a pass in that regard. Although, look, I said it in the buildup to that fight last week, I wanted to see him come in here and mix up the striking with the wrestling, almost do the opposite of what this fight was intended to be. What two gentlemen agreeing not to take each other down. Well, if Holland wants to advance in those rankings and be a legitimate contender, more

than just a fun action fighter, which again, I've also had some people say, if you see something out of the world, if somebody decides, look, I want to make money, be famous and have fun in there. No, it's not. It's not. If that's the direction Kevin Holland wants to go and we'll end up going, we can all certainly benefit from that. Is that the best use of his time and skills though, in his long-term life and the care and all that? It's another question for another day. So it's one he's going to have to face as him and his team look to regroup now. Two straight defeats. But now we transition after that apology or catch up there into the live chat.

Let's start right off the top here from Dylan. Hey, BC, what's your top five dunkers in the UFC all time? Well, to be fair, BC has not seen these UFC fighters dunk, but yet it's become a, a, a bit of a weird quirk in some ways in my MMA fandom where, you know, there's certain elements of manhood. Like when I was, uh, when I was in high school, we used to call dudes that were, you know, they may have been 15, 16, but they were, they were men. They were diesel men, guys that wear, you know, it was the nineties. So they'd wear, um, you know, the lumberjack plaid shirts to school font, you know, big muscles, a bad-ass attitude and an ability to drink a lot of beer, uh, after hours. And I think

sometimes we still look or, you know, we sort of look back on those manly efforts. Well, can you kick my ass? Well, can you drink more beer than I spilt? Can you dunk a basketball? Um, it's, it's become a quirky little question to think up or even ask the fighter. Six foot four, Anthony Smith can't dunk a basketball. That shocks me. That shocks me. But who could or who would? I mean, look, I'd love to see Jon Jones get out there at 10 feet and see what he can do.

What is he, six foot three with extremely long limbs? Doesn't have big calves? Maybe that's the reason why I've never been able to do anything more than touch rim with my fingertips at six one and a half. but I would like to see what's that. I bet you there's a lot of guys in that five 11 to six one zone that would shock us at their, uh, you know, explosiveness in that regard and ability to windmill dunk on top of people. I know, uh, Jamal Hill, the light heavy weight is a good basketball player as shown by the evidence of that sort of a charity pickup game or wherever that was in Vegas with the Schmoe and DC. But, um, uh, you know, could I create some type of quirky UFC all-star Saturday where we do tongue contests and arm wrestling contests

and Dana White slap deck, uh, maybe patent pending. We'll see. But, uh, who do I want to see if they can dunk the most? I want to see John Jones go up there. I want to see Ngannou with all that muscle at six, five. I mean, people forget this interesting vehicle the 90s used to throw out at us, which was that celebrity footlocker slam dunk fest where they'd take athletes of all different sports and put them in a slam dunk contest on a Saturday afternoon on ABC's Wide World of Sports.

And it'd be like Ken Griffey going up for two, Deion Sanders banking it off the window with one hand. And it was like Mark Henry, the Olympic weightlifter turned WWE star and I think he missed all of his attempts in that but it was clear despite being over 300 pounds and being a you know just a jacked savage that that guy's a real athlete that could get up there and come close so um yeah that's just BC being weird about dunking right there but let's keep it going uh Hey BC, this is Bryn E. Glad to see you finally doing a live chat. You're damn right, Bryn. Thank you. Thank you to the people. Thank

you to the people for calling it out. They wanted it, so they got it. My question is, who is your favorite boxer and or MMA fighter? And what particular part of their game personality, game or personality makes you like them the most great question um i don't know if you mean all time or right now but let's tailor this more toward right now uh as much as you know journalists who are impartial in theory we try to not let fandom get in the way and i think that's certainly you know uh part of the job and important you know from the foundation meaning you're not going to be showing up to fights on press row cheering. Although I have seen that bullshit far more times in boxing than an MMA to be fair. Uh, but you know, but, but to act like we're not

fans to act like there aren't characteristics in fighters that attach to us because we either see part of ourselves in them or something that we are lacking, you know, the, the courage and the fear and the lack of fear that these guys overcome and women to get in there that we identify, you know, sometimes it's nationalistic or, or just, you know, whatever. But, um, I tend to, I I'm certainly a fan just as anybody else. And like, it's like, you know, I'm not gonna be outwardly rooting on Twitter from, from my guy or gal to win, but I think it's also dumb to act in this modern day of journalism meets entertainment, which is essentially the direction that the podcast movement and this very show right

here has gone to act like though that we're not fans because of course we're massive fans or we wouldn't do this as a day job. I mean, look, I get that there are jobs people end up doing that they don't love because they either have to or have no other choice, right? Like if your dad owns a business and you take it over reluctantly because you got nothing else going on, you don't love because they either have to or have no other choice, right? Like if your dad owns a business and you take it over reluctantly because you got nothing else going on, you don't want to let the family down. Or if you're seven feet tall, but you hate basketball, but hey, you made it all the way to the NBA just on being big alone. That's great.

That's great. But, you know, the best is when you can be in a job that you're passionate about, that you'd be doing anyway for free. And that's certainly this job, which I've done in various forms for free anyway and been a super fan so you know i don't hide i'm a massive rosinami unis fan in terms of who's my favorite mma fighter and what are the characteristics that that make that up for me as a fan it's it's her ability to wear her heart on her sleeve as honestly as I've really ever seen a combat sports athlete do. That's why I could not recommend the Thug Rose documentary on UFC Fight Pass more from just the standpoint of showing a truly elite fighter.

The thing about Rose that's so cool and what made that moment so great of I am the best, I am the best, is when she is at her best, when fear is not getting in the way, when, you know, mental health challenges or anything else, life is not getting in the way. It's remarkable how much she's in the conversation for the greatest female fighters of all time. And maybe the best, you know, one 15 or the great division of women's struggle that we've ever seen yet. She's so open, honest, and real about the legitimate challenges. she goes through that all of us would be, you know, naive or lying if we didn't mirror in our own career walks, family relationship walks, life walks at that. Sometimes we wake up and, you know, we're not choosing violence. We're choosing survival or, you know, we've got something in front of us that is our very dream. Yet,

why are we so crippled with fear to try to take it on? I think Rose more than any athlete really I've ever seen in combat sports, just embraces that so openly that, you know, there's almost this pattern of her winning, you know, a couple of fights and a really big one, and then sort of losing one on, you know, in sort of a pattern and realistic way, if that's even a word that is sort of shocking but i don't know if it's a i wouldn't say it's a lack of focus i think she just deals with the elements and and certainly in such a real way but yet so honest about it to openly say afterwards if you're getting dropped down her head by androgyne i don't know if i want to do this anymore and rightfully

so you know and then and um it just all happens though, that she's got sublime ability coming in as a, as a submission master, uh, you know, UFC may be hoping upon her making the finals of the 2014 tough season to introduce the one 15 weight class that she'd be this Ronda Rousey 2.0. Well, that didn't happen, but to watch her come back from the ups and downs to shave her head, heading into the PVZ fight and almost alter her image in and enter a new level of focus and then round out those skills in such insane way by, by the great Trevor Whitman's teaching.

That's my favorite MMA fighter. There's no question about it. I love me some of you want it too, because she's a killer underneath that. And you know, when you look at the, the, the men's side of mixed martial arts,

I've been a big Kevin Lee guy. Cause I, I see that untapped fury and potential and want him to get there. Man. I love Mike Perry. It's train wreck TV. He's told me he'd kill me before on the phone and hung up and we made up over the next podcast,

but there's just something there's such a perfect combination in Mike Perry of like good enough skills to, to sort of be where he's at. Insanity in terms of a fighting sense, just a toughness level, tattoos around his eyeballs, just craziness, you know, real life trouble and disharmony at times outside the cage. But also if you follow him on Instagram, it's like a guy who's trying to figure it out in life.

And he's got a lady and a beautiful son. And there's something so real and raw and compelling about his personal journey. So what are my types as fighters? Sometimes it's, it's people that are so embracing the, the, the tough journey that they're on, uh, willing to walk it out in public because they're a public figure and they don't know any other way. And I think a lot of times we tend to internalize our biggest challenges, you know, way too much that, that put us at a disadvantage in finding answers and healing and ways out. So even if Mike Perry is considered wild and uncontrollable, and he is, he might be 2% African-American too.

It doesn't justify some of the words he said, you know, to be fair. But he lives his life as real and raw and upfront. And I think in my own way, I strive to do the exact same thing. Boxing wise, you know, it's weird. It's like, I always say about boxing, which is more of my real purist favorite combat sports. First one I got into, it's like, I always say you can't pick who you love. That's how I always defend Oscar De La Hoya being my favorite fighter. And he was my favorite fighter through, even though he's not retired, but still a major part of the sport. He was my favorite fighter almost through reluctance, almost like, man, who's this pretty boy. He's nothing.

He's, you know, like everybody said about him when he was coming up in the nineties off the Olympic gold medal and, you know, taking big fights and getting the benefit of the doubt, like he did against Pernell Whitaker or I corte and, you know, really good fights, but something through that process, I saw yes, a highly marketable pretty boy, but one with a real backbone. And yes, Oscar ultimately was his own biggest, worst enemy in terms of, he lost the majority of the big fights he made in the second half of his career, largely due to the damage he was putting on his body outside the ring.

It seems there was a lot of issues that he was dealing with and is still dealing with, with mental health leading to substance abuse and all that and i always wish oscar well even though he's also his own worst enemy and many times has made you want to if you're an oscar fan been like oh man you know fishnets really uh me you know the few times along the game but his ability despite what everybody thought he was to then stand in there and show us, particularly in the first half of his career through the Trinidad fight, which he lost and it was his fault, even though he got screwed, his fault for running in the second, you know, in the late stretch. You know, it's like, okay, we think we know this guy. No, we don't know this guy. He's a real, it's my favorite boxer of all time is because he always tried to make the biggest event possible.

No matter the weight clash with the opponent, it's, you'd have to dig deep to try to find people. He didn't fight maybe Vernon forest, but it really never worked out. You know, during those times he was already moving up to 54 and 60 and always trying to make the biggest fights. Today in boxing, I really identify a lot with a few fighters. Alexander Usyk, because I mean, look at what he's doing. Olympic gold medalist. First undisputed four belt cruiserweight champion. Now trying to become the first four belt heavyweight champion after beating Joshua twice and getting three or four belts. Yet it's the true definition of skills paying the bills with that guy where there are things that are naturally against him he's the smallest you can be in the

super heavyweight era to still have a chance to compete at six foot three and you know strong but but wiry doesn't have knockout power has shown in his heavyweight fights and even some of his biggest light or cruiserweight fights excuse me like that jam of a majority draw fight of the year contender he had against, um, my risk brightest in the semifinals of the world boxing super series, all the way through his first real heavyweight test against Derek Chisora. He'll take big parties, a big punishment in the first Joshua fight yet his ability to not show that as a tell hang in there, rely on his skills and mental capacity alexander usic who's not only hilarious despite the english barrier um he just is so mentally tough it's absurd that's a guy i watch

and go oh okay there's something you know there's something different there that i respect that i love uh without question roman chocolate tito gonzalez is probably my other boxing hero of this era the nicaraguan didn't really come into like full appreciation of how great he was on the American level until he was in like the twilight second half of his career. That guy ability wise pound for pound this right. Is as good as anybody that's that's walked in and out of this sport during his time.

And that's a monster statement to say when we're in the end of the Pacquiao Mayweather era. Roy Jones still lingering then and leading into the leading stars we have today. I'm not saying he's better historically than any of those guys, but in terms of complete pound-for-pound well-rounded skill, he's a contemporary of them. And I've always really idolized Chuck Latito's professionalism. He's a gentleman. He's a spiritual man. And, you know, I've interviewed him a bunch of times with a translator. And you really can't get that guy off script to talk bad about anybody, to try to make any boasts or claims.

He's as humble and sticking. That's why I was even surprised to play during monday's have you seen the shit that video where they asked him about the fourth astrata fight which i'd be here for and he's like well you know if they put enough money down you know i was like okay that that's a non-chocolate you know answer there that was pretty badass but in general you're looking at what like a soft-spoken man you know somebody that you know as the outside looking at an athlete, I'm like, I wish I could be a little bit less wild and crazy and ridiculous and a little

bit more humble and exactly who that guy is right there. But a great question, Bryn, I appreciate that. Maybe that's what this BC live chat is all frigging about. Let's go to 115th dream, which is, uh, I would have to assume a Bob, great Bob Dylan reference. Cause the question is what is your favorite Bob Dylan song and why? Great question.

Because I got into Dylan. I slipped into him. Took me a while. I think I, I think I bought his greatest hits volume two double CD and like 98 listened to it once and was like man this ain't this ain't like a rolling stone that i hear on the radio or hurricane these you know accessible great bob hits what the hell's up with these songs i think that cd sat on my uh on my shelf

for years 2001 area i just randomly put it on and it hit. And I had one of the most aggressive, all in on one musical artists stretches after that, that I could ever remember in my music fandom. I know there's a lot of you out there that's like, oh, BC sucks, his music tastes suck. Nah, they don't. They really don't. They really don't.

You know, I'm eclectic. I go across the board. You know, there are things that I don't like. It took me a while to appreciate just a female artist in a lot of ways, like a Joni Mitchell or somebody like that. It took me, you know, I really don't like commercial country. I mean, it sucks the horn. There are a lot of genres within this that I don't touch.

I do touch a lot because I try to be a well-rounded, open fan to, you know, the old working statement that good tunes is good tunes, man. You know what I'm saying? You know, and I've done some time in different genres that I didn't stay in to just find that out. But when I went in on Dylan, it wasn't like I'd made a decision to commit the next two full years to his catalog, but that's almost exactly what happened.

I think I bought – this is the most aggressive I've ever been. I went to Tower Records in Stanford, which was like a 45-minute drive from where I lived, but at that point before it closed, it was like the last mecca in Connecticut of like the, the great old school, ridiculous record shop. And I think I bought nine albums that day from, from Dylan. And I just listened to them all on a loop for like the next four weeks. Um, I liked Dylan's entire catalog. It's, it's interesting. The only thing I kind of stayed away from was that late sevents early 80s stretch where he went very non-commercially actually that was his born again run there um i just recently acquired those on vinyl um yeah bc has an atrocious music taste

as cole hughes i'm like low 20s so i just don't understand the era well bc's really going all in on the 70s lately and really through vinyl trying to get into various genres that that through classic rock radio i just dismissed thinking they sucked you know like progressive rock or or you know jazz fusion all this other stuff but when i got into dylan it was just full bore and what i realized is we all come to music for different things some people just for the the jamming and the live sound or you know or the way it makes them feel. I think I came to music as a, you know, for the poetry. You know, I'm a writer. I've read about sports, but I'm a writer at base, right? Dylan's poetry, it was even better than the Beatles.

I mean, I don't think outside of Joni. And when I call Joni the goat above Bob in the last two years, some people want to strangle me, but I actually think it's true despite her ways. But Chad Muska, MMA sliding in, you know, I listen to Cannibal course after two minutes i just don't understand i don't understand either that's a genre i just don't understand although uh luke's boy at the live show did give me a bunch of like progressive metal cds i'm

starting to welcome in on my drives and chip away and i i think there's a place for me in the larger metal area and there were times in the past i've got into you know metallica or metal or metalhead with uh mega death excuse me metalhead i really just called him metalhead, which could be gateway-ish at times if you think about it in a larger metal area. But Luke is extreme. And to me, Cannibal Corpse at this point, that's like one of the, some people just have major turnoffs. Bob Dylan's a great example. Some people will say, look, he's a genius songwriter, but I could never get into that voice. And that voice changes over his time. But yeah, the voice is a barrier of entry. There's no question about it.

To me, screaming, you know, death metal is a barrier to entry because of the vocals, not the music. Will I get around there? I don't know. But to answer your long winded Bob question, I pretty much love almost all Bob eras, but my favorite comes off of his second record and his, you know, first major one that hit and that's the freewheeling Bob Dylan. And it's the great song. Don't think twice. It's all right. Which is written from the perspective of somebody who's, you know, breaking up with a girl and sort of like, look, chick, it's not your fault. It just happened. But just so you know, for the record, it's not me. It is you. So maybe it is your fault, but you know, at the end of the day, don't think twice. It's all right. It's in line with some of those Bob, like it ain't me, babe type of lyrics. And as

much as I can definitely be historically more a sucker for, um, breakup songs that, you know, paint, paint me identifying myself in the lyrics as the victim. And I think sometimes we all can be, we all can get hooked on that. Meaning it's sort of like, okay, this is my depression, but, um, it's mine though. And I'm going to enjoy it. And I'm going to play this song at nauseam to make me feel better about where I'm at in life. I've been through those songs, but I really like these kind that's sort of from the aggressive position of the breakup. Uh, Neil Young has a lot of these songs as well um but don't think twice it's all right is so just i mean the poetry is beautiful the picking pattern that bob plays on the acoustic is just incredible i mean when you watch people at at a bar try to mimic that and the the rare sort

of you know bar singers folk singers that can do that in a great cover i mean there was a time where i went to the same local bar you know four nights a week in my early 20s like a lot of people do. I went to the old corner cafe in Alcatraz, Connecticut and the great Mark James, the Irish guy would be playing. And you know, we had a thing, we had this telepathic thing through, through, through many sloppy Friday and Saturday nights of requests where as soon as I would walk in and he would look over his shoulder and see me, whatever song he was playing at the time like think southern cross by by crosby silson nash which is like a sleeper early 80s hit tune he would weave that into don't think twice it's all right by dylan just upon seeing me walk in it's the little things in life that matter right

i mean that's a pretty sad story in general right dimly lit bar me walking in but that guy that guy gave me reason to hope right there so don't think twice it's all right is bob's favorite is his best song and And in my opinion, and it's also very well sung. And that's the thing about Bob that can be tough. And I, you know, I always wondered sometimes if he just sang a certain way just to turn

people away, but when his voice is clean, particularly like it is on blonde on blonde, which is, you know, my favorite Dylan record and one of the best rock records of all time, like it is on desire. You know,

you can't make those same accusations against Dylan. Michael, do we have any other follow-up questions related to this? I saw a note there in the chat. If we don't, I'll keep it rolling here. Look again, I'm just a disclaimer on the BC live chat. If you're, if you're jumping in and out, this may not be for you, but that's fine. You know, we'll see where this vehicle goes. You want to talk you want to talk pro wrestling it's on you you taught you asked me the questions bc brings so let's keep this going uh this is henry davis he says hey duchess of donkton if you could go to the past back to the future style and interfere with one moment in time

what's the one thing you would change in the history of MMA? See, I thought Henry Davis was going to ask this in terms of life, which is always a great question. I'm sure a lot of us in watching movies like Back to the Future are always like, you know, what is that one thing that you could change if you can go back and do it? Thinking about that in the sense of MMA is interesting. There's not a knee-jerk reaction because i think if you're gonna say you want to save somebody from something that either destroyed their career or turned the promotion in the wrong direction you know it's like was elite xc ever the same after kimbo ran into that seth petrozzelli jab with the pink hair. And then Seth accused, uh, the shaws of, uh, trying to pay him not to take the fight to the ground. No,

I don't think they ever did another show after that. They weren't the same with strike force. They ever the same after the Nashville brawl. No, no, they weren't either. What I use my get out of, uh, life's expectancy for free card to change the ways on those. I don't, I don't think so. Um, you know, I, I mean, I'd love to go to that intersection in Albuquerque and tell John don't run, you know, go see if the pregnant lady's all right. Like step up early into your biggest mistakes and own them and change them. Because, you know, I think that's the, that's the biggest reason why a lot of us for so long give John Jones so many get out of jail free cards. It's why when he does emerge from his own constant, you know,

sidestepping outside the cage, the public is just so ready to largely embrace him. And especially when he comes back and wins, like he did against Cormier in the rematch, although obviously it's a no contest now, but you know, it's still kind of stands. We saw it is we want him to be great we want every era you know we that's that's the floyd the in boxing you know i was i was an early and aggressive guy and maybe sometimes i did take it too far because floyd for his credit floyd mayweather with all that talk and criticism about his matchmaking did come around and end up fighting everybody i mean it was on his own time but but dude, he fought everybody. Right. But you know, there were definitely times, obviously the build of the Pacquiao fight where you're like, dude, like just put the sport first.

You're making them, you know, more money than anyone could ever think of printing. Just put the sport first and fight this. Um, we want to, and the reason is not because I hate Floyd Mayweather because I want him as a journalist and fan to lose. No, I want to exit this era saying I covered, you know, fight by fight day by day and his pay-per-view prime, one of the best fighters of all time. I want to say that about Floyd because I see under the hood and you see that there is just profound greatness in there, but we want to see that greatness have its chance to get to full bloom. Are we too hard on athletes when they take a chance at being great and then

they fail? Yeah. Sometimes we are. It's kind of why on Monday, although this is not comparative to Mayweather or anything, but when RDR, Rene de Ritter and one took that big chance and basically fought the interim heavyweight champion and was like on his way to trying to become

the first three division elite MMA champion. I'm like, dude, go for it. You get sent to hell in the most disastrous way, which you did Dutch night. I'm not, I'm not gonna piss on your grave. I'm not, you know, I'm gonna say, Holy, Holy crap. You, you done got KTFO brother. And you did, but you know, I want to reward that. It all goes back to the long winded, same thing about John Jones, which is

I want to, I want him to be the two-division goat without question because I've seen under the hood. I've seen him in dark times against Gustafson in the first fight, literally partying and doing cocaine and not trying that week. And, you know, when tested, like that's what really separates the greats. When tested, when things aren't going your way, what do you do to survive?

What did Floyd Mayweather do when Shane Mosley rocked him twice and round what two or three of their, of their famous pay-per-view fight, he recovered in, in, in some of the most smart, intelligent ways you've ever seen holding Mosley's arm, forcing clinches, getting his wits back, and then absolutely dominating the rest of that fight. If I could use this mythical thing, I think at some point, and maybe you could say, look, John's never going to change. He's how many more times, how many more chances do you need? You might be right. And it's a sad story, but I wish at some point, you know, I could go back in there and step in and be like, John,

put it back together and put it back together the right way because you have a certain level of gifts and greatness that i think the world needs and um you know there's still time for him to fulfill everything and say fubc i did it my own way and that's fine uh mikey morms my producer got a great one here on this topic uh glad you dropped that in uh tell anderson silva not to mess around in the first wyvern fight i agree with that as well. You know, I was never like an overly huge Silva guy, but you know, did I more love him than,

than chair against? Of course I love that. You can't not love Anderson Silva. I mean, it was like Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson coming together and becoming the greatest MMA fighter of, of, you know,

for a stretch of our lifetime and maybe to some people for all time. Yeah. It's sort of the reason why I carry out this continual joke that is birthed in some level of reality, which is I never saw Chris Weidman beat him. I saw Anderson Silva lose twice to Chris Weidman, one in freak injury, one in exactly what Mikey's message kind of represents here. And shout out to you, Fishburn. All right, brother. Thank you for soliciting this This is, uh, you know, I didn't want to see Anderson Silva's run and the way it did goofing off way too much to try to lure Weidman who to his credit never broke, never took a chance, never got caught up in the flashiness

and just stayed the course and got the knockout. I'll give Weidman his credit. Weidman has one of those resumes where I was always a little bit dismissive of him because I didn't see the true greatness, even despite the victories. I'm like, okay, this guy's good. And he works hard. Not great. It's weird in middleweight history. I told you that experiment we try to do during the pandemic at CBS sports rate, the 10 greatest middleweights in UFC history, just as a, you know, fun project division by division. It was hard to, at that point, Adesanya hadn't like become the clear number two behind Anderson.

He was in the discussion. But he was in the discussion with Rockhold and Weidman and a bunch of other guys. Musashi even had a sneaky resume at that point. And some of that is just like Weidman had better wins and dominant wins against bigger names than sometimes I give him credit for. Yes, he gets two wins here. Yes, it's Anderson Silva's fault that the first fight ended that way. Second fight, even though Silva was losing leading up to the injury, it's, you know, it's somewhat freak, but, uh, yeah, I'd like to see Anderson fight that version of why I've been straight up in that first fight before the leg injury and see what would have happened.

I don't know. Maybe, maybe why I'm in still wins, but, uh, that, you know, what I use my save there. No, I want to save John Jones for some reason. I want to see this guy fulfill it. And it's not, is it selfishly because I want to say that I covered this guy? I don't know. I mean, it's weird. It's like all of our division, our decisions in life are, are rooted to some degree in selfishness. It's like, you know, we have to look out for, for, for, you know, job one is looking out and protecting ourselves. And it should be to a certain degree short of selfishness, but you know, there is selfishness laced. The selfishness isn't me doing this chat right now,

wasting your time just by talking a lot. Let's keep these questions going. I'm loving, I'm loving the flavor of them so far. Let's see who else we got in here. Steve C off the top of your head, BC what's your all NBA team of the nineties. Don't worry about positions. What players first come to mind when you think of that era, Jordan is too obvious. So let's leave them out. Steve, see, I want to kind of go all over the place here. Cause I don't love the way you presented. I'll still try to serve you the best I can. Uh, Jordan is too obvious. I don't know if we can do

any kind of, you know, best of the nineties, all NBA team without Jordan, you know what I mean? Or all time, right? We couldn't, um um players that come to mind as opposed to what's the all 90s team are different conversations as well you know as my favorite players i also don't like doing it regardless of position and some of that is my internal struggle and fight against where the nba which a lot of you guys didn't you know know of bc or meet me in this sort of you guys didn't, you know, know of BC or, or meet me in this sort of weird sense of meeting me, you know, until I was covering boxing at a high level 10 years ago with ESPN or for some of you until I, you know, was, was on morning combat with Luke Thomas was the first time that you're like, you know, who's this guy, man, I hate this guy. I

mean, you'll, you'll inevitably love me again. The only question, like I said, in doc seven is, can I prevent the inevitable love from turning back into hate? I'm working on it, all right? You're inevitably, though, going to love me here. But when you first got into me, what am I even answering here? The 90s? I could lose my train of thought there easily. Where the NBA has become today is largely a positionless best five players best

talent for the most part you know you get a center today which is largely a glorified athletic power forward from about 15 20 years ago and that's you know maybe outside of joel and bead who's maybe the best him and yokich are the best pure centers of today although how pure in the sense that i'm comparing them to the 90s, are they when both can make threes, Joe Kitsch, your back-to-back MVP just has ridiculous assist totals. I mean, you know, Embiid can put it on the floor

and shoot deep, but something happened around 2003, 4, 5 area that altered my personal fandom. And it was, you know, the NBA looking at the lower, the momentum that began in the nineties, you can argue it started earlier with the Pistons bad boy teams, but led into Pat Riley taking over the Knicks

and going, look, my quickest path to the top is just barn door basketball. Just, you know, just gangster basketball. And I say that positively, you know, Mason Oakley, Ewing, you know, Derek Harper, I said positively, but that led to a trend in which defense was starting to overcome offense scoring was down. And then when Jordan abruptly retires in 98, you're looking for the next superstar culturally at the time, though, a largely white audience was becoming very cautious at accepting a largely, you know, edgy, think Allen Iverson, think of the crap

Allen Iverson had to deal with because he wore cornrows and had tattoos and was connected to the hip hop culture. You know, it's like they put the dress code in the, and be like all these things to sort of, well, let's not, let's not cross over and get too urban that were ridiculous. But what that all sort of led to, in my opinion, was David Stern looking at the insane international growth of the game in the 90s, looking at the way ball was being played in Europe, which was important because let's not forget that the rest of the world was catching up with the U.S., particularly since the Dream Team joined the Olympics in 92. And then you get all the way to 2000 where things are closer than they should have been.

And then suddenly in 2002 at the international games in Indianapolisianapolis you know argentina's beaten the u.s and that of course led to the 04 uh horrible horrible u.s olympic team that led to the redeemed team but my point is during that era you know that european game was starting to become more of the game and it's like i don't hate the european game you know at my primes of playing basketball is probably more of a feathery Euro than I was in, you know, a typical nineties banger, but your boy BC loves team basketball, pick and roll, you know, help defense, not zone. And I think when the David Stern and company looked at the NBA and said, we got to increase scoring, you know, you increase scoring, you make more superstars. And we also have to protect the superstars from this style of ball, which was becoming drive the lane and get hammered and lead to low scoring.

And, you know, I think they overcorrected too far. They opened up the lane, brought on the defensive three seconds, but basically allowed you to play zone, got rid of the hand check rule, which I cannot say enough. The success Steve Nash had in winning back-to-back MVPs, although I can argue both years, he may not have deserved it, through Steph Curry becoming a legitimate all-time great player. And you know my love to always say,

Steph Curry would have been Dana Barros in the 90s. Obviously not true. That's disrespectful. But you get the point of what I'm saying. The game has changed, and I, my old ass, is not willing to change with it. I play my son every other day out in the court one-on-one. He's the new generation. I'm trying to keep the old generation alive.

To keep that old generation alive, your BC basically spends a lot of his free time, especially on the road, re-watching great 90s playoff games. And, you know, it's like, it's such a stark difference between then and the game today. The game today is exactly what you're saying, regardless of position, just put out, you know, and maybe, maybe a guy like Don Nelson was sort of ahead of the curve on that, doing that in the early 90s, the run TMC teams, they were putting out natural centers. They'd like Tyrone Hill at center and they're just running out athletic guys.

And you know, that became the future of the game. Maybe it's because I'm slow and can't jump, or maybe I just really love the team game. But nineties is where the NBA and basketball in general peaked. I think it's as my friend Malz likes to say, the perfect cross section between where the athleticism that we know today. I mean, the athleticism today is ridiculous. The evolution of recovery and, and, you know, taking care of yourself better and extending your career, but, or just the fact that at all time, like eight of the 10 players on the

court can do something physically ridiculous that you never saw, like drive the lane and hammer a dunk or hit a fadeaway three, even when they're not a three-point shooter. But that's the key. You got to be a three-point shooter to play today. I like the specialized days. So I like to do it by position going back in the specialized days. So, okay. If I had a name, my all NBA nineties team, I think this is the way I'd go. I mean, magic was great in 90 and 91 before he walked away. And of course the abbreviated comeback in 96 was fun. But I think you got to go Jordan without question at shooting guard. And I think you got to go John Stockton. I think Gary Payton became Gary Payton more in the later 90s.

And especially when the team around him started falling apart. I love the Gary Payton from 2000. The guy that made first team all-embrace. People forget about averaging like 24 points a game. You know, he had lost some weapons. He had lost Kemp and Schramm and all those guys. And he was kind of doing it a lot of ways on his own with Rashard Lewis. So I'm going John Stockton, Jordan Stockton in the backcourt.

Stockton, of course, through longevity and success, has the record for most steals and assists. But you're looking at a guy who, it's funny, Isaiah Thomas throws some shots at John Stockton historically and says he should have been better. Meaning John Stockton was such a great shooter percentage-wise, clutch-wise, that Isaiah looks at him and says he should have been better meaning John Stockton was such a great shooter percentage wise clutch wise that Isaiah looks at him and says you should have been better rather than spending your entire career setting up Carl Malone I mean you can argue that but the reason why I think that point illustrates is that John Stockton makes this list as the best point guard

of the 90s because of that toughness the abilities and defense and steal and assistant steals are going to be there numbers wise, but he'll absolutely, when the play breaks down or when the game's on the line, as evidenced by the buzzer beer that knocked the rockets out of the playoffs in, in, uh, what was that? 96. Um, he can make that shot. Uh, that was actually 97. He can make that shot. Uh, the, the forwards I think are pretty easy. I've always been a big Scottie Pippen guy and people like to hate on him

because he's either looked at as the greatest sidekick of all time which you might be or you remember too harshly the migraine in game seven against the Pistons in 1990 fair or you remember too harshly when he took himself out of the game in game three against the Bulls in 94 and then Kukoc banks in the game winner yeah that that's that's one of those stains that is hard to remove. But how about this? One of the most effective lockdown defenders we've ever seen. A legitimate second-tier scorer. But what happened in 1994 when Jordan went away to baseball?

Pippen led the Bulls in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. And they won 54 games. Could have won the MVP that year. You'd argue he should have 94 was a large one. Great year. 95 as well. Probably how Kim should have won at 95 of a Robinson, but we wouldn't have got that takedown that he did have David in the

conference finals if he hadn't. But give me Pippen at the three, the four statistically, you can go call him alone, but he didn't have the range of Charles Barkley and he wasn't as clutch. I just watched that playoff game last night. It was a game six and 93 at San Antonio. When Barkley closes out the Spurs Barkley's 93 season with Phoenix,

once you won the MVP and got to game six of the finals is one of the most insane, great one man season. He wasn't a one man team. He had Kevin Johnson and Dan Marley as legitimate all-stars around him, but he took a level of responsibility as a star that was lacking at times in Philadelphia when, although his members were insane and he was an insane player got into trouble, wasn't always the, you know, the best teammate or, or, or,

or the owner's favorite, but he put it all together in 93. And a lot of that was because of what he learned from MJ in Barcelona about professionalism the year before. That version of Barkley is the best pile forward we've seen in the 90s. Better than a young Tim Duncan, better than an old Larry Bird. So, you know, or a three slash four, because let's not forget Barkley is six foot four. But I'm rolling out Jordan Stockton, Olajuwon at center over David Robinson or Ewing or even Young Mourning and Pippen and Barkley. I don't know if you're beating that team.

I really don't. I think I got it covered right there. Who are some of the, for the spirit of this man's question, some of my favorite players of the 90s, when I think 90s, who do I think? I think Arvide Sabonis, my Lithuanian brethren. We only got to see him in the twilight of his career with the Trailblazers after injuries and weight and all that had really slowed him down but what a skilled like forerunner of what a guy like jokic became as a do-it-all versatile europe i know they used to say about sabonis especially like the version of him

that knocked the u.s out of the gold medal in 80 at the 88 games you know he was a seven foot three larry bird some degree was i mean he's's also playing against a tier down level of European competition compared to the NBA at that point. But I love the fat old version of him. Could pass, could hit threes, was just a great teammate and was the only center. Listen to this. When Shaq became playoff Shaq, as my friend Miles and I like to call him, which is Shaquille O'Neal from the year 2000 to 2004 under Phil Jackson.

When Shaq decided to put it all together, the only real great start to finish season he had was 2000 when Shaq won the MVP. I'll put him at center in that season up against any center in any season in NBA history, including the Wilt Chamberlain 1962, who averaged 50 points and 27 rebounds a game. That version of motivated, defensive, dominating Shaq is ridiculous. But from Shaq from 2000 to 2004 was basically a guy who would come in fat, take games off due to injury, but purposely set him up for playoff time when he would turn into the kind of beast that we've rarely seen in the pivot. Seriously in this, this,

you know, before Jordan, it was thought that you couldn't win an NBA championship without a dominant center. That is well gone, right? You look at the game today, it's well gone now. But even through that run where you needed the dominance, I'm not sure anybody was more individually dominant than the performance. Performances Shaquille O'Neal put off in the finals in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Look at the average for the, for the finals across that point.

He's basically averaging like 37 points, you know, 15 rebounds, four assists and three blocks across those three years in the playoffs. The only guy who slowed him was RV to sub bonus seven foot three, not quick laterally anymore, but strong as an ox skilled, smart. That's why what's my favorite playoff series of all time. Even though I didn't have a horse in the race, the 2000 western conference finals between the lakers and blazers is is for my money i can re-watch that any day of the week that series was must see tv you had kobe shack and glenn rice and year one of phil jackson beginning the lakers dominance and and and then you had that

portland team which was so ridiculously deep. People forget that the second line, the second unit on those 99, 2000 Portland treadlers would have made the playoffs in the East. They were that good. It was like Brian Grant, Greg Anthony, Detlef Schrempf, uh, Stacey Augman. I mean, they had, you know, they had a second line that was just insane. Damon Stoudemire, they also had Rashid Wallace, Steve Smith, Scotty Pippen, and people forget again, how good Pen was. The 99 Pippen, the guy who went to the Rockets and that failed super team with Barkley and Oshwan, that didn't really work out because that team had no chemistry.

2000, they did. Maybe it was Rasheed Wallace who was taking the last shot each game, but that was Scotty Pippen's team. And that series against the Lakers, did they get screwed by the refs a little late? They got screwed in game seven late a little. Yeah, yeah, they did. I would have liked to seen if they called that foul when Steve Smith drove the lane with under a minute to go.

That was a bad call. I think our Vita Sabonis, I think Dennis Rodman. I was an insanely big Rodman fan, as a lot of us were of my age, when he went crazy. When he sat in the parking lot his last year with the pippins pistons in 93 you know fell asleep in his car with a shotgun considered ending it and just decided the next day to split take the whole world and spin it upside down um who he became on the spurs and then of course the eccentricities really came to bloom on the bulls right with the wedding dress and all that but even just the changing hair color often gets in

trouble but damn is he the exact piece that those 95 spurs needed under bob hill to be a legitimate title contender which they were um i patterned everything after rodman in my rec league i was wearing ridiculous tie-dye shirts fake tattoos i mean like like i was so 90s it was ridiculous what does this hat smell like? Is that what that person just answered? It's fresh. It's new. It's probably about the fourth time I've worn it.

So right now it probably smells like sweaty man. But in the future, all bets are off. But also I think of the 90s, I think some of my favorite players. People forget Anthony Mason on the Hornets, 97 and 98. That was a guy could have been the defensive player of the year in 97. He was a virtual point forward, backing down. And then basically being the point guard from the, from the post position feeding, you know, Glenn rice who could have won the 90 MVP in 97.

Great shit. All right. I've lingered too long on this one. It's clear. Let's keep it going though. The inside of my head smells great. Let's go over to Dan. Thank you.

BC is a longtime fan of LT. We wanted to thank you for bringing balance to the force. I appreciate that, Dan. And I think that that's a great way to sort of say what the show is. Two completely opposite forces. Light and dark, good and evil, going against one another and balancing. That's the one thing that sometimes BC gets wrong. When Luke and these docs.

See, the docs are a great prism or snapshot of real life. They're not often rooted in real. I should say more often than not, they are rooted in real life. Some of it's played up for, you know, drama, but you know,

Luke and doc too, it was like BC one day, you're going to wake up and realize that this show is good because of you, but because of us, you know, it looks right. It is. So he he so dan says uh as a longtime fan of lt i want to thank you for bringing the balance as i said my question is

how do you think mma gives more powers to the fighters without becoming the fractured mess that boxing is currently in also what happened to the silva paul fighters union bet um yeah good luck on silva and paul getting that union going. Yeah. Good luck on Silva and Paul getting that union going. Unfortunately right now, good luck on anybody, including Bjorn Rebney or GSP on getting that union going. Although I like, we've said it before ahead of Silva Paul,

whether Jake Paul's intentions, I know that live chatters, you don't want to talk about Jake Paul here, but Jake, if Jake Paul's intentions, even if they aren't pure Robin hood of, you know, stealing from the rich to give to the poor,

it's a needed conversation. And he's got a big platform to do it. Do I think that something will happen from that? No, I don't, unfortunately, but the power of this question is, um, is there like an in-between in the MMA space, particularly with UFC, which is where the fighter pay issues are the most prevalent that can give the fighter more power, pay, what have you, without turning into a shit show like boxing,

where there's all these cooks in the kitchen who work for themselves, aren't in a position to be motivated financially to help each other, and ultimately it takes so much longer to get the fight you deserve. I hope, and I think there is, because at the end of the day, when the dam finally breaks, when this era for the UFC of the dominant control that they have over the fighters in terms of matchmaking, although, let's be fair, Luke said it himself. When we ran into Sean Shelby that time at the World MMA Awards last year,

he was very upfront and honest. He was like, it's harder than ever to make fights because so many guys are turning them down for key strategic reasons. I, you know, it's one of those things that's like that becoming more prevalent is, is equally great and bad for the sport. It's great. Cause it's needed that the fighters aren't just, ah, who cares? I'm injured, but the company called me. I gotta be a company, man. I don't think we need to see that. I think the TJ Dillashaw incident is the, is the worst case scenario of that, but you like them to have more freedom to not, you know, lose their spot by turning down a fight or by delaying due to injury.

You'd certainly like them to get paid more. Is there a middle ground? I think inevitably there will be, it will take something for the dam to break a, a, this, this mainstream headline thing. That's become a big deal. When John came out and said, I want wilder money, John Jones, you know, it was a big deal in that moment. When Ngannou came out ahead of his contract, it was a big deal for a while. It's got to involve a major fighter still in his prime that I don't know, make some type of power move. It's hard to make a power move unless you've got a lot of people joining with you. Because if one person tries to stand out, all the UFC can tell you to use, bye, we'll offer you our minimum amount of fights each year. You'll probably turn them down.

So bye. I mean, they can control you. But whatever that big moment is that breaks the dam where we go, okay, from here on out, we're going in the good direction. And I think you can argue we already kind of started that. Remember after the last big public round of fighter pay headlines and suddenly Adesanya tweets out that he's got the biggest deal in UFC history. So, you know, for the 1% on remaining the 1%, I think that's going to be great, but obviously it's for the fighters just below that tier that are struggling. The people that are risky going all in on a daily basis, barely able to afford training camps or even the rent to try to get to that next level to make the money. You want to see those fighters taken care

of so they can take less major chances and be as fit as they should be coming into a fight. That's going to be slow. The best way to fix it for the UFC is slow increment increases in pay or negotiations or like while, you know, not while they're in Ghana is going to sit down at this negotiation table soon. It seems when his contract is going to be officially up at the end of this month. And, you know, they're going to have to have that talk. Is he going to move forward with the freedoms that he wants, the ability to go chase these other things like Tyson Fury for extra money or not? Will he get that? I don't think so,

but he may get more money than he originally asked for that makes up for it. Like most things, it's going to be a compromise. And I think you're going to see slow little compromises that continue to raise the value of the fighters. I don't think we do talk enough as a pro UFC thing to say what they offer with the, with the PI basically come in for free, eat, get taught how to do nutrition, train. You know what I mean? Like, you know, recover those types of things I think are a big plus that we don't, you know,

they often go underreported in terms of the great things UFC is doing for the fighters. But I think it's going to have to be slow trickles of more money. Because UFC is just not going to go, oh yeah, you guys were right. We were wrong. What does the NBA and NFL pay percentage wise to their athletes? We'll pay the same. No, it's not going to be that. But it's going to take more fighters taking a stand, you know, maybe not collectively joining arms and

saying, Hey, UFC 82, we're not all going out there unless you raise our pay. That's not going to happen, but something softer in that regard, it's going to be a slow movement there. Uh, sorry for lingering before in the nineties, NBA get on a great run there. Uh, I know a bunch of you were, you know, pausing your normally racist tweets to point that out. But, um, Sean, John TV jumps in and says, BC, have you been to a WrestleMania? I've been to nine straight myself. Would love to get that factory town energy in there. Um, I have, and it's funny. I made a comment the other day on, on morning combat of like, man, you know, I'm, I'm as far out of being a pro wrestling fan right now, past a year and a half, two years, like right now, as I've ever been. And it feels not only great, I feel free,

but I have myself kicking myself going, man, what did I get from the past years? And some people, you know, you were rightfully so DM me like BC, what are you talking about, man? I love following your wrestling coverage. Your career went to a, you know, another level and you, and you had all these great, you're right. Covering box covering. covering i'm sorry pro wrestling from 2016 when i was that person knocking on the door with the head of vspn.com going i think we got something here i think we can make a page here i think we can make coverage you know and everyone telling me it's impossible and then it happened through getting hired by cbs and covering that's that sport at as intense a level as you could through the beginning of the pandemic meaning you know i I was still,

I was doing morning combat at some stretches of that. I'm covering everything going on in boxing, mixed martial arts, and watching and in just a stupid, insane amount of wrestling per week to make sure I'm completely up on it for podcast purposes. That was a grind. That'll kill you. So that's what I kind of meant where now that that grinds over, did that grind consistently pay off the time put in? No, it didn't. It was really fun though, to reconnect with an element of my past, to get my kids involved for a short season, to attend so many big events. So what did I attend? I attended, um, a couple of WrestleMania's in a row, the Orlando one, which I believe was 33, I did new Orleans, which I believe was WrestleMania 34. And finally, um, I did the giant stadium one that had Rousey and the three-way female main event that went on like way past midnight.

And then everybody got stuck outside in the rain, waiting for the trains, which was a big debacle. Um, those three were fun. None of those in particular were great WrestleMania's. Um, the one in Orlando seemed to be on its way to be in something super special. And then it went downhill. And then of course, ended with that Roman Reigns undertaker, absolute debacle, which good old taker should have just stayed away after that point. Um, but you know, I've, I've got a lot of love. Thank you, Noel, for the shout out, Noel Copeland. Yeah. I got your back too. Whatever you need. BC cares if no one else cares.

You know, I've got some favorite ones. I was just a stupid diehard fan entering WrestleMania 1 back in 85. I caught the bug in late 84 through MTV, the Rock and Wrestling Connection. I was an insane fan through about 1990 WrestleMania 6. Fell off. Came back like everybody else through the Attitude Era. Fell off for a long time, came back hardcore about, you know, six, seven years ago. I don't miss it, but that was a fun stretch.

And I will say this about, I did, I was able to scratch off some real sort of bucket list fan moments of not just being in person at a WrestleMania and that weekend is a, it's a spectacle. It's a show. It's a dream. dream if you're a fan but getting to cover that and cover it what i always thought i always thought there could be real coverage in wrestling by mainstream outlets again never presenting it as real presenting it as a tief scripted tv show in which we are now analysts and critiques of the direction of it and of the performance and all that. Not this similar from being a rocker movie critic, getting to go to like the Royal Rumble in San Antonio in 2017 and go backstage.

And, you know, I was working for ESPN and Randy Orton wins the Royal Rumble and I'm in the locker room with him doing a, you know, shoot interview. Those are some fun moments that, you know, I'll savor. I'll savor being back there. So I was in the crowd at Royal Rumble San Antonio 2017. And in the media section, there's no outlet. So my laptop's about to die. I complained to PR.

They put me in the room, which is the last room before the wrestlers head to the ring. So this is during the Royal Rumble. All the WWE officials and bookers are in that room. Anyone who's not in Gorilla with Vince, this is the room next to it. It's everybody else. And everybody stops in the room. Anyone who's not in Gorilla with Vince, this is the room next to it. It's everybody else. And everybody stops in the room on their way in. So it's like Lesnar, Taker, one after another. That was a pretty interesting,

pretty fun scratch off moment right there. So thank you. Let's keep it going. Josue F says, any tips on how to become a more efficient and effective writer? Yes. E efficiency is the key it's it's obviously how to say more with less something i do a poor job on in this type of

especially this type of one man set you know i got mikey more mile here saying hey bc maybe we can you know but you know i'm kind of just running the show here, babbling and MK in general to form for babbling as podcasting has become, but I've done shorter scripted shows and I've certainly been a writer forever. And yeah, the biggest thing you need to learn is to say less with more. Um, we all want to put every thought we have out there, but it's, it's the restraint as Chuck Mendenhall likes to say, it's the, it's better to tease or better to sum up in one word or phrase than three paragraphs. You know, once you can get past that hurdle, once you can get past, you know, if you're used to writing 1500 words or 2000, but then you have an editor go, okay, I need this column, but I need it to be 700. You know, like a newspaper writing was great for

that. You know, the space you had was the space you had, right. That was a great teacher of that right out of college. But, um, in general, um, you know, it's, yeah, it's good to learn more big words, but you don't want to go too far. I mean, even Luke, who's way more educated than me, and I give him a lot of credit for, you know, how smart he is and the things he's accomplished. Um, but you know, I think sometimes he even speaks in words where I'm like, dude, what the hell does that even mean? All right. You, you just infuriated me by using that word around my factory town ass. Um, that's not the big thing. You can be clever with, with everyday words, but you know, try your best to avoid cliches, which is something I don't do in my podcasting speaking days. I'm a cliche Maven. And just try to, try to say more

with less. The more you focus on that, you'll look smarter. You're you'll be, you'll be easier to read. I think that's the key at the end of the day, because everybody wants to be brilliant. And there are some writers. I'm Chuck Minholz, a brilliant writer. I love reading him. I used to love Eric Raskin, co-host of the Showtime Boxing Podcast. When he used to write for ESPN and I was just a boxing fan or he wrote for the ring, he wrote clever, brilliant takes on the sport that I always felt like while reading it, that I've had that thought, but I've never articulated it before. And he's the first guy who did. And I'd always be like reading it jealous, like, oh man, he nailed that.

He nailed that. Nail that. Nail your points. Trim down some of the fluff and you'll get there. All right. But if you're not injecting it with passion, what are you doing? That could be your writing game. That could be anything. Guys, we all can't like wake up and snap our fingers and change our lives and get exactly what we want. Like everything in life is a process and you have to work for it, but take it from

somebody who was lucky to go down this long one-way road and end up where I am now. And sometimes I stayed on that road only because necessity to keep the lights on, right? There's sometimes, you know, that's the only, you got nowhere else to go, right? Sometimes that's sometimes the, the, the reason why you are where you are today, but I'm lucky enough to be in a job that is my absolute passion that maybe one day a year, two days a year, do I ever wake up feeling like it's working going, man, I don't want to do this today. Maybe it's sometimes travel wise, I feel like that. But in general, there's nothing I want to do more than sit right here in this chair and talk in circles to you guys. I mean, seriously. So if you can figure, I know this question was about writing,

but whether it's writing or anything, the quicker you can wake up if you're in an unhappy position. And I get that there's necessities. You may be selling insurance and you hate it, but that's the best job available to you right now. And you have to pay your mortgage and put clothes on your kids. And I respect that, but don't wait until you're 65, 75 to go, man, I never chased my passion in life. You know, you can get to your passion without it being your full-time job too, but whatever your passions are in life, I mean, drop everything right now and go in the direction of them. What are you waiting for? This is a very open-ended inspirational quote, and it may have hit the floor and meant

nothing to you, but is there anybody out there thinking, you know, what do you wait for? I'm sorry to report this, but we can all get cancer tomorrow and die. And that's a harsh statement, and it's happened to a lot of our people we love, but man, there ain't nothing guaranteed. So if you don't have the money, find a way. If you don't know what to do, go for a long walk and think about it. As soon as you take a step in that direction, you'll be amazed at how those doors just start to open. It's never easy. It's never easy to get to the next door. It's always way harder. You know that level up feeling? You know that feeling when you're in fifth grade and then you graduate from elementary school and you go suddenly you're in sixth grade, but you're like small and you're a loser and everyone's like knocking the books out of your arms and putting crap in your locker. Maybe that was more of the 80s than today. Or, you know, same thing. You graduate eighth grade, go to ninth grade or ninth grade, go to college. And you're like, man, this is so much harder than I thought. It's leveling up is always harder than you thought. But you'll get there. Okay. You'll get there. Thank you. Octopus with no friends.

I hope you gained some because you, there's a very sweet comment you made just there. Let's go over to this. Brandon, ABC, what are your top favorite five favorite nineties fans? Great question. Brandy's were an interesting era, largely dominated, of course, by the breakout of grunge, which eventually got too commercial. Even though I lived in that commerciality for a while,

I think 96, 97, 98, anybody in Hartford listened to 104.1 knows what I'm talking about. But when we look back at what was great from the nineties, there's certainly some outliers of great albums from different genres that didn't necessarily spark a movement, but that alternative rock grunge, especially the purest form of it was the, the decide. I mean, look, hip hop was great in the nineties, you know, whether the early nineties commercial run through some of the biggest names in history, launching their careers, Jay-Z, Tupac, Biggie, all that. But I look at the nineties, I think Pearl Jam. That's my favorite band from the nineties 10.

That's the best record from the nineties. Radiohead is in this conversation. I've still yet to complete like I don't even touch Kid A my best friend Bogus Bogo you're out there you he's always I'm always like every couple of you tell me again how should I go for it and when I do go for it I'm gonna make a it's gonna be a long run but Radiohead I mean I could live on just the Benz in okay computer and just you know I mean it's just yeah that's in that discussion uh three others i'm a county crows guy and and not not always through the commercial stuff it's more the first and third records but dude that first record august and everything after and luke always poo-poos it and

i get it you're like oh around here you know i mean i get it any band rem is a great example any band from the 90s that you only know they're two commercial hits if the commercial head is too commercial or too annoying you think that band sucks. August and Everything After is basically like modern day Van Morrison. It's as good as that jazz, folk, pop, rock, sweet spot can get. Their catalog across the board didn't quite hold up to the genius of the first record. I thought this desert life, the third one was a nice comeback with those first two,

those first three strong opening tracks. But, um, I'll put that band up there cause they created a mood that I hung with, with a long time. They put out that double live album. That thought was really good. One acoustic, one rock. I know I'm not going to win a lot of man points by saying that those are, uh, three bands right there fourth i'll go uh whiskey town which was a uh alternative country band which ryan adams started and really was the launch into his uh successful solo career beginning in the early 2000s but you go put on 1996 faithless street by whiskey town that says

despair dark and drunk a alternative country rock record as you can find and finally number five it's a great question here if i really had to narrow it down you know i certainly love specific albums from bands but does that band hold up across the board i'm going to say this and, and I'm somewhat surprised. I was a Monster Rage fan like a lot of people. In fact, my dad, I got to give my dad credit. He's a mysterious music listener, meaning growing up, he had an insane vinyl collection, which he's now gifted to me. Thank you, dad. It's as great a look through of 70s rock history than you can imagine. My dad became a universal music fan of the 80s 90s 2000s today where you know he welcomed a lot of what i call crap shameless pop you know contemporary

country just just a lot of just bullshit but he is a respecter of all good tunes and my dad was like day one ish in 1992 on rage against the machine like six months before anybody at high school was even talking about that record and you have to understand that record became like, I went to Naugatuck High School in the 90s when their swim team was, you know, a power. And we had the craziest coach ever in Jim McKee who would let them all come out and shaved heads with giant banners that say war and die. They'd steal the other team's mascot, throw it in the water, and then blast Rage Against the Machine's first record at the top of the things.

And parents were just like, yeah, this is normal. This is cool is cool i mean it's just as ridiculous as it gets and it's badass my dad was like way ahead of those guys just blasting rage in the basement and i've loved them i've always been a big you know first two albums are as good as anything came out in the 90s of any band but i've always stood by also battle of los angeles the third record which was a little bit more contemporary not pop but a little bit more commercial than the first two um all three stand up i'm gonna put rage as my fifth one because i loved them then but it's really now that i'm going song by song album by album and just really appreciating how you it's funny i don't consider rage it is historically historically like, like, like we say Nirvana's smells like teen spirit,

at least commercially launched the grudge movement. Sure. My middle school dances all had hip hop until, until smells like teen spirit came out. And then they would play like two or three times in a row, just cause like people like that, you know, in that own way,

rage against machine launched this rap metal movement, but that rap metal movement became such utter shit. Like I like three 11. I thought they had to with the Omaha style. I thought they had an interesting sort of cohesion with all that, but what became the rap movement? It's just such utter bullshit. You know, it's like limp biscuit and all that. And you know, there's some redeeming songs out of that and albums and even groups, but you know, it played perfectly. Like when I watched the Woodstock 99 doctor documentary,

I'm like both of them, not only the both documentaries, just like nail the average white suburban kids, just lost nature, which led a lot of people to the ridiculousness is that went on in that. And that this entitlement feeling back then of just like, I got nothing going on in my life. Like we're not in wartime. My family enough money but i'm just lost i could identify with that

there was some shitty rock in the late 90s the the rap rock into like even that whole like three doors down nickel back which you know some again some of that's okay but it's that's some shitty ass rock rage is like the almost the almost like the match for that era, yet nobody comes close from that run of anything as timeless, as unique, as genius as exactly what those guys did. So, yeah, those are my five bands of the 90s. Hate me all you want. Justin T says, BC, what is the fight that got you into boxing?

I've done this a few times in different bonuses here, but it was a combination. It was the Rocky movies because right when I became of age as a young child of what is boxing, I'm going to the theater to see Rocky 3 and 4. I'm watching 1 and 2 on VHS all the time. And then you cannot discount that after Hagler Hearns happened, how often that was replayed on regular television. It was insane. So I'd say Hagler Hearns and Rocky built the foundation. It helped that I had a grandfather in Pennsylvania who liked no sports, but boxing and would always play it. So like the night on HBO, that Holyfield and Tyson were on the same card. I think Tyson made his like

big time debut. You know, I was there on the playing card. I think Tyson made his like big time debut. You know, I was there on the playing with toys in front of the TV as my dad and grandfather watched it. But I always point out 1987 super fight sugar Ray Leonard coming back from that long retirement due to the eye injury, moving up to middleweight and fighting, in fighting Marvin Hagler. Um, that was the first fight that was like appointment viewing. My dad bought the pay-per-view. It was a Monday night back then. He bought it at my grandparents' house and set up a party with friends and family. And you'll never forget, I was eight. You'll never forget that feeling of like, who's going to win this big fight? And you had the comeback angle. It took something

huge for my dad, not a sports fan, to cross over into the realm of being like, yeah, let's get the pay-per-view and get people over. It was easier in the 90s when we had the illegal box and him and I would watch all the early UFCs and all the post-Jail Tyson pay-per-view fights. And I think looking back, that's where we really bonded sports-wise. We did watch one Super Bowl together, the Steelers-Cowboys one when Neil O'Donnell blew it. But outside of that, it's hard to get my dad in front of the TV for that stuff. Maybe that's fueled my sort of passion for boxing, but Hagler versus Leonard, which went 12 rounds,

which had one of the most, you know, disputed decisions in modern memory, not because people thought the guy that won or guy that lost got robbed and the other guy shouldn't have won. I think it was more like people thought it could have gone either way. And to this day, people want to even fight about it. There's just something to that. My dad taped that on VHS. I rewatched it a million times. I was a Leonard fan. I was sort of like trying every time I watched it to reconvince myself that yes, indeed, Leonard did win.

That really set the stage for what came a couple of years later when that 90s heavyweight division just went full bloom. Remember, like pay-per-view wasn't a regular thing for the most part i mean when when foreman fought holyfield on pay-per-view on hbo in the early night was in 91 92 like that was a big deal like i remember watching that through the squiggly lines so you know those were the foundations that were built i also veered out of boxing at times and it took fights like goddy ward to bring me back in it took you know there's been times when that's happened, of course. Now it's life. It's life and death. Let's keep it going here.

Mitch says, Bryce Mitchell versus Joe Rogan flat earth debate. Who you got? I'm going to go with Bryce Mitchell here. I don't know if you guys saw this. Yes, there's a UFC embedded series right now. There's also some other UFC series out there on YouTube that's about the Ilya Tupori on Bryce Mitchell fight.

I forgot what the title is, but it's basically like cameras follow them around their house. Same thing as all the other ones. But it's really good. And to really see who Bryce Mitchell is. I mean, like we all remember when he did that interview. Was it Rogan or Ariel? Where he did that interview and made somewhat ridiculous claims that a lot of people were like, whoa, this is getting conspiratorial. He's also like a standup guy believes in like loyalty and family and faith. And to see him as a farmer and the connection he has with his, uh, coach who, who,

uh, you know, Bryce didn't grow up with a dad and he kind of grew up in, you know, situations I'm finding out from the show that, that weren't promising. And, you know, he had this coach kind of step in and be that dad, and they're like best friends today. And Bryce is this redneck farmer, to be polite in saying it. I think that dude can get weird in ways that even could perplex Joe and could lead him to winning a debate in this. And I'd love to get Bryce Mitchell on the RSD.

And I think sometimes I've mentioned stuff like that. People are like, oh, be careful. No, I think I understand Bryce Mitchell's craziness. And I think I like it to a certain degree. We may not align perfectly on certain things politically or conspiratorially, but I'm really liking the personality of who Bryce Mitchell is becoming, even though he toes the line on certain categories there. He's a man of integrity, it seems. But the thing about that is like. I say this all the time, like I see debate in life, you know, whether it's fueled by politics or religion, like really right now is obviously the greatest in their take on abortion. And I'm not, you know, pooh-poohing any of the seriousness of these potential non-negotiable topics that people choose to live and die under. But people choose to, you know, they're willing to like end friendships over this. You know,

I look at Bryce Mitchell and go, you know, I might not agree with everything he says, but I do respect the integrity there and what he stands on. And I think he believes it. So I'm going to go in that regard. We're going to wrap up here. A couple more quick ones here on the way out. This is an experiment to be honest with you. I think the BC live chat, it's either going to fail miserably or it's going to slowly build and we'll, we'll alter the format. This is just a wait, try and see. We did it. Bullfrog actual says bc dazed and confused our american pie great question about two party high school movies from the same era i've got to go dazed and confused even though it was from the 90s it obviously was a snapshot of life in texas in the late 70s it has arguably

the best soundtrack in in movie history and it's got two cds of it. It captured high school weed culture and party culture, probably in a timeless manner, better than anyone ever. There's a ridiculous amount of one-liners in there. It's the whole high school hazing culture. It's incredible. Now, American Pie, I loved, and I think for the moment when it came out in 99, for where comedy was in terms of mainstream for that age, it was revolutionary. It hit hard. It was aggressive. It was great. I saw it on a first date, which is really awkward. And there was no second date, not by my choosing. It wasn't the movie that ultimately dictated that it may have been your boy

BC coming on too strong, but no surprise there, but it was really good, but I don't think it stands up. I think Dazed and Confused is timeless and I think it stands up and I think it's brilliantly written in that regard. Do we have time for any more of BC's rambles? Let me look it up and down this list, slip in one or two more. NCR Ranger says, yo BC, a few weeks ago i was flabbergasted to hear that you actually read so read any fiction literature or purely sports and such related books it's a question he just asked keep up being you man love from the netherlands so first of all thank you from the netherlands we have fans from spots that i you know didn't even know exist sometimes or just

hope to visit in a dream the fact that you guys are sitting at home right now on your phone or with your air plugs in or whatever listening listening to me is just insane to me, but I'm not an avid reader. And I think that that fits well into the characteral generalization of sort of like Luke as the intellectual and BC as the factory town college dropout. I just never been a big fiction guy in print form, you know, love a good movie, love all that. Certainly have read books that changed me to a certain degree, but you know, I mean, I love the classics that we're all forced to read, like a great Gatsby or a, you know, my, my son's reading catcher in the rye right now. And I was like, Oh dude, we can connect, you know? But no, I like to read

self-help books. Some that, that, that, that figure into the christian realm i like to read uh sports and music biographies to inspire me um yeah uh you know i i would like to do more it's hard to keep me there but uh you know i just read joni mitchell's insane biography and it yeah i tend to read more entertainment wise but maybe that makes me not an intellectual. All right. Final question here. Here we go. Silky says Fury versus Usyk. How do you see that fight? And can Usyk outbox Fury? Here we go. It's possible. It's certainly possible. Face value, you're going to favor Fury. Face value, Fury should win. He's six foot nine compared to the

six foot three Usyk. And I believe their speed is not that far off. Punching power wise, you have to give Fury credit for evolving by putting on more weight, which is always what his dad wanted. His dad never wanted him to be as thin as he was when he came back in the first Wilder fight. Big John Fury always wants his son bulked up fat and ready to hit hard. And I do think changing trainers ahead of the Wilder rematch with Sugarhill Stewart has opened up a next level of Tyson's well-rounded game. It's kind of closed that hole where, no, he's not like at the surface a one-punch guy, although he one-punched Dillian White in front of 100,000 people,

and that was pretty exciting. But when he's learned how to lean on his bulk more, and I think the lessons he learned in the Otto Wallin fight when he had that bad cut of how to fight more of the big man physical style and less of this, holy crap, look at that 6'9 heavyweight who's dancing around like a middleweight. He's still got that. But I don't know if that's exactly what's going to beat alexander usic i expect fury to win i think the real hook of this fight along with the prestige is is usic's boxing ability

game planning adapting is it so good that it could even give tyson trouble. I think it could. I think it could. I think that's the hook of what you want to see. Can Usyk outsmart Fury and give himself a case on the scorecards at the end of the day? I think he can, but I do think the odds are against him because it's obvious. You just don't have, there's no, this guy's like a unicorn. You just don't have six foot nine guys who can switch stances that type of reach that quick that's smart and then at the end of the day if it gets hairy fury has shown time

and again he is a fighting man i'm a fighting man he is a fighting man he will stand in there and take it so i think for for usic he took even though the two wins over joshua were brilliant i do think he you know he had to be in the line of over Joshua were brilliant, I do think he, you know, he had to be in the line of fire, particularly that first one. He did take some shots where I'm like, uh,

maybe against somebody like fury. Who's a little bit more accurate than Joshua and a little bit smarter of a game planner. Could we find that? Like, look, Derek, who just got absolutely dominated for the third time by fury,

but it is a good fighter. You gave, you gave her problems. It's styles, make fights. He gave us sick problems, got inside, made it is a good fighter. He gave Usyk problems. Styles make fights. He gave Usyk problems. Got inside, made it rugged, made it physical. Fury, if he commits not to boxing, but to leaning on Usyk,

what Joshua never really was able to do or even try, which was the shocking part, yeah, Tyson Fury should win this. But I think that watching it happen, two undefeated fighters, four titles at stake, guys, that's the best fight you can make in boxing today. Short of Spence Crawford. It really is. Tank Davis and Ryan Garcia is in that as well. And I can't wait for it,

but yeah, that's why that fight is so good. Look folks. I don't know. I don't know what happened here. I could go another three hours answering your fun questions. And maybe sometimes I go a little bit too long, but this is my life.

This is my head. And you all entered in it for 90 minutes or so. I'd like you to hit the like button and I'd like to comment you to comment in this comment section on you, on this YouTube chat right here on this stream. If this is your, your bag, baby, or not, if we, if the BC live chat has a future, because I want you to know I could do this all day, every day. One thing Luke Thomas said to me, he said, BC, maybe this was Luke being a good big brother. He said, you know, you got to feed this dog. You got to take care of it. You got to walk it. You can't just say, hey folks, I'm going to launch a live chat. And then after 30 minutes, be like, I don't know if

I can keep this up. Guys, this is not an issue. The longevity on this end, I can do this every day. You want to talk 70s music? I had albums prepared. I was going to break down if the questions got slow. I mean, we can make some fun segments in here and make this a thing. But it only depends on if you like that. If you want to get inside BC's head, it's up to you. You do?

I'm here. I'll do this. All right? We'll start slow. We'll see what we got here. But if this sucked the horn, say it. All't just sing it bring it all right um thank you I enjoyed this um it was a little trip around the mind a little trick back to the 1990s but um BC is here for you I love you baby thank you um like subscribe comment check out our bonus of course, youtube.com slash morningcombat.

Pregame preview with Chuck Mendenhall is up. We're always hitting you up with fun interviews. Luke Thomas sat down with Gervonta Davis yesterday in D.C. after the press conference to promote his fight. A lot of talk about Ryan Garcia. You're not going to want to miss that. There's some questions in there about Luke and I beefing. You know, people want the real story.

Got to wait until the next chat, okay? That's all I got to say. I do like me some Luke Thomas a lot. He's my business in editorial life partner in this regard, but you know, every marriage has its ups and downs, you know, look at Mike and the mad dog. Look at OJ and Nicole. No, that's just, sorry. All right. For my great producer, Mikey more mile for the great fans of morning combat and the great people that put on this show. This is yet another thing we do here. Okay. It's the BC live chat

one and done in the books. Thank you for joining in two words. Okay. Well, two things, one protect this. It's not, it's not a shame to go through a hard season. The only shame is not talking about it, not telling anybody and not figuring out ways to get better from it. We all struggle. We all do. And if you're in it deep right now, you got nailing family member, you lost your job,

you broke up, whatever it is. We've been there. You're going to get through this. All right. Spring follows winter guys, every single year. Okay.

Believe it. I'm here for you, brother. And number two, two words for the people right we out that's it i i'm done i don't want to that's it that's it