MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Nate Diaz vs. Dustin Poirier? | Fight Announcements | Quick Hitters | Ep. 248

Episode Date: January 5, 2022

On Episode 248 of Morning Kombat Luke and Brian break down Dustin Poirier's recent comments about fighting Nate Diaz in the next six weeks. Would the UFC really make this fight this soon? Next up the guys discuss a bunch of fight announcements made this week. Benson Henderson vs. Islam Mamedov, Ryan Spann vs. Ion Cutelaba, Marina Rodriguez vs. Yan Xiaonan and Irene Aldana vs. Aspen Ladd. The guys close out the show with some Over/Unders and Fan Submissions (10:00) - Nate Diaz vs. Dustin Poirier? (17:00) - Fight Announcements (30:00) - Quick Hitters (49:00) - Over/Unders (67:00) - Fan Submissions Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Reveley, Reveille, dogs Look at us now, tip to tip This is our life, this is our passion That's the spirit we bring to this show I'm Luke Thomas I'm Brian Campbell This is Morning Combat The question of the day is

How many Delta-8 gummies bc hiding in his tummy right now that's really the only thing that matters and what i want to know hi everybody on this wednesday edition of the show it's the 5th of december 2022 electric boogaloo my name is luke thomas i'm one half of your hosting duo for morning combat episode whatever the fuck it is and I'm here in your snowy nation's capital Los Estados Unidos in Washington DC and along the alongside the viceroy of Connecticut it's Brian Campbell Brian what is the what is the number of Delta A gummies currently digesting in your tummy if you think there's a chance I'd buy over-the-counter drugs from a gas station for my recreational use, come on. Luke, I was nervous that we'd have to do this show, or at least on your end, from a shutdown I-95 in the state of Virginia somewhere.

Could you teach the people in your greater metro area how to handle a freaking snowstorm? What a debacle, Luke. Are you kidding me? No, dude. So here's the thing i i was my parent my well my parents when they were together lived in dc but even my dad when my parents split up stayed in the area and i've had girlfriends who lived in richmond i've i went to william and mary so i've traveled that 95 corridor for the better part of my life and let me just tell you i was

not the least bit surprised that it turned i I mean, it was a horrible situation, but that turned into the way it turned into. There's too many cars. There's not enough road. If the road, like I said, they're bad roads. They're well maintained, but they're hilly and shitty enough where, you know, if something bad like that happens, dude, you're not going to move anywhere. It's taken me one time. It's a two- drive from DC to Richmond. No traffic.

It's taken me seven hours before on a Friday, seven hours to make it two hours. So, I mean, you know, get, Hey, Hey, uh, parks and rec in our street department, whatever in that area, get a clue here. Come on. I mean, there's people, people dying in their car for 27 hours. No heat. Come on. I know.

Do you imagine if that's the way that you go on 95 in the middle of a snowstorm? Because the Virginia Department of Transportation sucks ass. Is that really? That's a sad, that's a terrible way to go. Yeah. Well, hey, back to MMA, Luke. All right, yeah. Anyway, neither here nor there.

You know, it's a Wednesday show. The fights haven't really kicked off again for the new year, but there are some stories floating out there, so we'll get to those. First things first, as always, thumbs up on the video. Hit subscribe if you're watching on YouTube. If you're listening on podcast, leave a nice review on that podcast platform. NBC, everyone knows that we've got stuff cooking in the store, morningcombat.store. What's the latest on that, if there is any?

Oh, look, there is a whole new launch of fresh products.'re about a little bit more like a week or two away but uh the holiday merch has been moved shout out to all of our fans for jumping in whether you bought it on discount after the fact or ahead of time we're getting that shit out of there because there's new stuff to come so for now you have to you know purchase the classics if you're interested but you know today is wed, Luke. And as everyone knows, there's nothing better than to buy our merch and then on Wednesday send it in to morningcombat at gmail.com, a picture of you wearing it so we can criticize everything

from your physical build to your cable management to maybe even the status of the beauty of your significant other. So today's going to be a fun day. Luke, nobody makes a healthy batch of shit salad out of shit like we do when there's nothing going on in combat sports. So we'll do a little over under today. We'll do submissions. We'll do all that,

all that shit that just fills time and makes people laugh. All right. Now I noticed you shaved your face. BC is the look. I want to be big boss, man. You know, one week into chemo.

What is the look here? Yeah. I saw, I made them. It's not, would not be the first time be big boss man you know one week into chemo what is the look here yeah i saw i made them it's not would not be the first time that i had you know grand illusions of what i could do with my own my facial hair just to find out after doing it wow so you know i was i've been watching luke so many dark you know neo-noir 70s thrillers you know these these gritty street crime movies and everybody's got the big bushy sideburns and I'm like, you know, Luke, you and I we lived in the 90s, our high school age, in the

sideburns, you know not reunion but like, because of because, seriously, because of Dylan Walsh, or Dylan, uh Brendan Walsh, what the hell am I talking about because of Dylan and Brandon from 90210 Luke, Brendan Wall. What the hell am I talking about? Because of Dylan and Brandon from 90210 Luke, they kind of brought sideburns back, back in our day, right? Brady

Anderson of the Orioles had them. And I'm like, nobody does that shit anymore. So Luke, I shaved up the beer the other day and was really going for it. And then, um, you know, my wife reminded me what I actually looked like. So, um, now the only repair luke apparently was this because if i go completely clean shaven i look instantly like a pedophile so uh i had to go with this you know sort of elite trailer park look just for a few days uh until it all grows back you know luke we live we learn we make mistakes you know i got jay aaron texting me right now i'm it's a what a what a time to be alive what What does Pennington Failure want? He says, fuck yeah, it's actually Dylan McKay, rest in peace.

Of course, he's referring to the late Luke Perry, Luke. Hey, instead of Pennington James, can we call him Failington James? Oh, wow. See, here the thing is, like, you know, I'll throw some trash on top of Jay's grave because, you know, he probably deserves it. But I kind of like the guy at the end of the day. You know, I got a soft spot for him. I actually do too.

However, he's like Meg from The Family Guy where I actually enjoy making fun of him even when it's utterly unfair and unreasonable. Yeah, I mean, he's ridiculous, but I respect the ambition, Luke. You know, he goes after it, bro. Okay, well, there's that, I suppose. Showtime is the label that pays us. Showtime.com, 30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it.

If not, you can pound sand. Of course, we'll do, as you mentioned, fan subs today, dead wrongs on Friday. Morningcombat at gmail.com is the place to get those in at any time of the day, 24-7, 365. Morningcombat atgmail.com. BC? Look, I do look younger, right?

With the Timothy McVeigh look, I do look younger at the very least. Yeah, you're a little bit like Timothy McVeigh if he spent a week in Cancun or something. Okay, all right. I got the rock lobster skin. Oklahoma City bomber with a couple of Mai Tais. Yes, yes, yes. Like, if I went to high school in middle America, I would fuck Luke with this look, right?

No, you'd be the substitute gym teacher. That's what you would be. You'd be the guy that has the big giant sack of red balls that you would just throw out in the middle of the floor and be like, hey, figure it out for the next hour. That's what you would be? out in the middle of the floor and be like hey figure it out for the next hour that's what you that's what you would be probably probably yeah i don't think you know i'm not really in the mood to do a real show today you want to just fart a lot and tell jokes what do you what do you think yeah i mostly do i listen we have a job to do otherwise we'll get fired but

like just put peeling back the curtain my desire to do a real show today is somewhere beneath zero and anything less than that, actually. So it's pretty low. Pretty fucking low. Hey, did you see 2021 Donk of the Year? Damien the Donk's highlight videos he's been putting on YouTube of all of our funniest moments? Luke, it's well done. I'll shout them out there.

I have not seen it. What's so good about it? He's made some nice compilation videos of all of our wackiest moments okay he's a big fan Luke okay that's cool yeah that's a great great great conversation all right yeah we we have to do a little bit of the show anyway we can just sort of make it pretty simple and have a little bit of fun with it all right BC topic number one it's already kind of off the table MMA fighting even reported that the UFC has moved on. I guess what they wanted to do was see if it was possible, maybe to get a quick turnaround fight for Dustin Poirier to face Nate Diaz in like six weeks or

something like that. We actually have some of the tweets about it where um dana excuse me dustin poirier said he was offered it and took it wouldn't have liked to done it ordinarily but didn't want to pass this opportunity up and that the ball was basically in nate diaz's court well nate diaz the video luke rather than steal the thunder of of paraphrasing all right yeah fine fine fine fine roll the video of dustin talking about this on the Tiddy Out with Podcast. Alright, that's why we do it, yeah. I need eight weeks, ten weeks. Will it excite us? Will it excite...

We're your friends. We're behind you. But will it excite the fans? Oh my God, yeah. Yeah. You got... Ken, hold off. Hold off for a minute, Ken. Hold those questions. They're irrelevant.

It'll be a bar burner. I'll announce it right now. Dustin Poirier will be fighting Nate Diaz. This is the early announcement. I know it's coming. So flashback to this. It better not be Nate Diaz. Otherwise, you just blew.

There will never be a UFC fight allowed on our show again. This is pure speculation, but I'm betting all my money that it's Nate Diaz. I don't owe these guys nothing, man. I'm not biting my tongue. It is Nate Diaz. And just like he got on Twitter. Listen, just like he got on Twitter.

I'm not going to say what car. I'm not going to say a date or whatever. But he got on Twitter talking, you know, everybody's a tough guy. And this guy really fights, and I'm a fan of him. But everybody's a tough guy. And this guy really fights and I'm a fan of him, but everybody's a tough guy on the internet. He said something like, let's do it. I said, okay. I said, I'll fight you this month. I don't know if you saw that, Ken. I said, yeah, sure.

I'll really fight you this month. Yeah, no, no. I look low. Oh yeah. Yeah. Less than six weeks for sure. But I said, yes, now we're waiting on him. Okay. So here's the story. I just wanted to play the whole episode, right, Luke? Yeah, let's just play the whole episode. Well, listen, just change the name of this podcast to the Teddy Atlas Podcast, you know, regroup. You got to put some water in the basement.

Yeah, yeah. Okay. So then Nate Diaz takes to Twitter twitter and i actually found this pretty funny believe it or not i usually don't find these back and forth funny but this one i did i just talked to ufc bc i said what's up with the dp fight dustin poirier i want to fight asap but they said dustin sucks and they don't want it sorry dustin Dustin, you suck. Hope to fight ASAP, though. Let's do this. Fist emoji. P.S. Oliveira, you suck, too. Well, the Grinch came to Christmas, huh? Love it. Love it. And by the way, shout out to that Teddy Atlas show. I know they just had a very,

you know, kiss the balls of Dana White interview on there, but I do respect those guys. Remember we ran into Ken Rideout, the co-host there in Vegas? Yeah, Ken's a beast. I love that guy. Love that guy. Anyway, back to this. Luke, here's the key question here, because we all love this fight. We love what it means for both fighters right now in their careers. It's an instant fan sensation.

It'd probably be a fight of the night on top of it. Why the cold feet? Does this just come down to money? Is Nate asking for too much? What the hell is really going on? I don't really understand. It's a great question. I really don't understand where they were trying to put this in the calendar.

Obviously, the 22nd, or whatever it is, the 23rd, or whatever it is, they have the heavyweight fight, but we've already talked about why they don't want to be there with Ariel, because it would just enrich Francis if Nate Diaz was on this card, which they probably don't want to do and don't even really need to do anyway. So it'd be somewhere in the February card, which is fine too, I suppose.

But what I just don't understand is why they were rushing it all of a sudden to back out from it after both guys said they wanted it. Who really didn't want it here is the question. You know, if I could speculate, maybe it was the idea that they thought they needed it to save a specific card that they were planning. Because this is the perfect. This could headline a pay-per-view in a second, obviously.

It's also the absolutely perfect co-main event for any type of card that you're looking to add buys to. So it could just be a situation where they sort of panicked and thought they could shortchange it and turn it around quick. And then it fell apart. Maybe they don't need it anymore, but this Luke, you know, I've talked myself into it. This is the perfect fight for both guys. Next 100% across the board. I don't want to see Connor Dustin again. I don't think there's any need for that. Give Dustin a big money close-up his brand is strong right now opportunity to make good on the recent title loss because it still seems Luke that he's got a ton left in the tank to make big fights whether it's at lightweight or welterweight every part about this fight makes sense is there any connection Luke to this being the last fight of Nate Diaz's contract though and is that still true because you do see different you see a lot of

shit on the internet luke most of it's untrue apparently i don't know but uh it seems like is this ufc just trying to get to that point to figure out if nate's coming or going i don't know luke it might be again here's something else to think about i wonder if nate could do nate and his team like they're smart people man like they man. They're not dummies at all. I wonder if part of it was, hey, Dustin is coming off of a loss to Oliveira where, I'm not going to say Dustin looked bad, but that was hardly Dustin's best effort or something. You know what I mean? I've seen him in losing bouts even where he got finished as well, like even the Korean zombie,

but he had better moments even in the Korean zombie fight. This one was not, he had a good first round obviously, but after that it kind of went sideways, so it wasn't really his best performance. I wonder if you're the Nate Diaz team, if you think if we can catch him in whatever state he's in that produced that fight with Oliveira, if we can capture that we have a much

better chance of beating him versus if we start this whole process from a 12-week camp one more time I wonder if Nate likes that short notice catch this guy where he kind of already experienced the highs of the year he's bottoming out a little bit catch him right then but it didn't work I do think that might have played a role. It's interesting. It's interesting. Obviously, all the contract situations play a key part of this, but make the fight.

I mean, look, I don't know. I'm at the point, Luke, and I know everybody's sick of even talking about fighter pay right now, and it's not like we have much new to say about it, but I am of the point where we all realize how much money the UFC has. If it just takes a little boost to make a big fight like this that you know is going to sell you know it's going to be fun as hell uh make make the damn fight already please by the way and that February pay-per-view that we're thinking of is 271 Adesanya Whitaker that'll be February 12th in Houston Texas do they need to be

on that I guess how well do you think Adesanya versus Whitaker is going to sell? Pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you think a Diaz versus Poirier fight, if you add it to that card, now you've got some real promotional heft.

You could get maybe not a million buys, but you could do really, really, really well. I guess they said, fuck it. If they did that, you and I might have to get in a van and drive across country to see that card. I mean, you've got to be there. That's a great fight night. That would be a great fight night, yeah. And also it has Jared Kananier versus Derek Brunson

and some other ones as well. So that could be a really fun contest. All right, well, we'll see what happens with that. Topic two, just some fight announcements bc bellator 273 this will be january 29th benson henderson taking on islam mamadov bc your reaction okay cool i know it's like what's benson henderson up to i'm not even hating but i'm not like i'm not checking for it. I didn't think we would open this segment with it.

I don't hate it, Luke. It's sort of where Benson Henderson's at. We're using his name and what's left to gauge the new up-and-comers. And if this is a guy straight out of the Shmesh factory that's ready to add his name to the, you know, recent big-time shaking and move-making that the Russian, the Dagestani, the greater region fighters have been doing in Bellator, then, hey, then it's good matchmaking.

We'll see. All right, here's one that I find a little surprising. Sadiq Youssef taking on Alex Kassaris. Boy, I got to tell you, they're trying to get old Bruce Leroy hurt, huh? How good is Sadiq, Luke? Let's be fair. He's very good.

He obviously, I think, has learned as he has moved through the featherweight division that while he is a very talented and powerful striker, there is some managing of his resources through experience that needs to happen and you know some overall skill development but like do i have him as a championship level um fighter or at least what he could eventually become one i do think very highly of sadiq i don't i don't think alex is of that of that ability look i didn't want to go too quickly past that first fight only because you know i had to look up Islam Mamadoub to remind myself,

but he is 20-1 when completely unbeaten through his run of World Series of Fighting and PFL and just former champion Brent Primus. So do you think he's ready to make some serious noise at this weight division? Yes, but he doesn't have a super dynamic game. He's very well-rounded, as you can see. The wins and the overall body of work speak to that, but he doesn't have a super dynamic game. He's very well-rounded, as you can see. The wins and the overall body of work speak to that, but he's not like Islam Makhachev or Habib that are not only dominant,

but have this ability to wow you with their control and overwhelmingness. Mamadov is a little more Phil Davis than Habib, if that makes sense. Luke, I'll break up the flow of this show you think i care i'm trying to get what who are your like everyone's got their fighters and we sometimes heckle i'm trying in the moment luke's elite upper crust core of favorite fighters i'm gonna go for it right now you ready for this luke you ready all right let's see it all right here we go. Anthony Smith. Israel Adesanya.

Of course. Alexander Volkanovsky. Sure. Brad Riddell. Not as much as you might think, but yes. All right. Well, he comes from the family that you're invested in. The guy.

The guy. The guy that you think's next. Luke, what's the guy's name again? Shavkat Rachmanov. Rachmanov. Yeah, that's the guy's name again shavkat rakmanov rakmanov yeah that's the core am i missing anybody in terms of who at the moment has your heart uh at such a extreme elite level uh for a long time still is but you know i would i would say the guys whose games i've broken down

the most will tell you who i just am most intrigued by. Max Holloway belongs on that list as well. Forget intrigued by. These are your favorite fighters, Luke. You love the shit out of these guys. But that's what it means. I don't love fighters like fans love fighters. Fans love them as these people of worship. I don't view them like that. I view them as skilled operators of an

activity I care about. In that sense, I do value what Max does quite highly. All right, Luke, let's play know your co-host. Who are my favorite fighters? Joanna, Cheyenne Vlismas, Emily Whitmire. Luke, I like male fighters too. I mean, I don't know where you're going with this, Luke. All right.

Come on. Let's see. Valerie Lorena. No, no, no, no. That's not. No, no. Who are your favorite fighters? Okay.

Like, for real, for real. Andrei Koroshkov. Yes. Yes. Andrei Koroshkov. I'm a big Adesanya guy. We know that. Okay. That's fair enough. Adesanya. Kevin Lee. Kevin Lee. Yeah. Yeahrei Koroskov. I'm a big Adesanya guy. We know that. Okay, that's fair enough.

Adesanya. Kevin Lee. Yep, yep. Yeah, yeah. Kevin Lee's another one. Dude, Usman Nurmagomedov. I am on that train. Not just in the I think he's great.

Are you really? Yeah, I love that guy. I love him, Luke. Love him. Okay. Usman Nurmagomedov is another one. He's great. Cheyenne Vlismas.

Definitely don't want to miss that name. Twice. Iyenne Vlismas. Definitely the one who missed that name twice. I'm a Day One Rose guy. People know this, okay? Day One Rose is another one. Yes, that's true. DJ Dillashaw also. Yeah, there's a lot. Dude, you like, at a bare minimum, you like a lot of the fighters.

Like, there's not a lot you don't like. Well, Luke, this is, you know, whether you think you're a journalist or an entertainer, we're all fans Luke so let's not let's not ever forget that okay I don't want to forget that all right we got more of these to get to by the way this is probably setting your uh world on fire Henry Corrales versus Aiden Lee on that same card Bellator 273 January 29th I mean Corrales is cool it's a fine fight it's a fine fight um i'm imagining you're gonna have say nothing to say johnny walker versus jamal hill february 19th ufc fight night what do you think yeah this is

the kind of match making this kind of match making we want for johnny walker this should be high thrills uh look he's still high he's still high in him you still think he can make a legitimate legitimate title run um no no all right do you see him as just explosive tv fighter who does really weird things yes but you know is capable certainly of some growth i mean i don't think that that's all he can be but i think it's mostly what he can be uh and by the way jamal hill you know certainly a skilled boxer and accurate puncher that fight could go long or it could be real short too you never know so uh an interesting one Ryan Spann taking on Ayan Kutelaba this would be the fight night the week following February 26th BC uh Ayan Kutelaba he's a maniac no I mean that that'll be an action fight but also Spann's got a lot

explained to do because we did do the whole, hey, man, he looks ready. He might actually be ready for a contendership here when he had that main event fight against Anthony Smith, and he didn't look the part, Luke. So it's always interesting to see when people come down from the high of are they ready to break through the crust, can they bounce back, or who are you?

So I like this fight. I agree with that, but the one that's really interesting, this is a great one. Marina Rodriguez taking on Yan Xiao Nan. This will be UFC 272 the week following that fight between Span and Kutai Laba. March 5th is the date of UFC 272. And BC for women's strawweight, dude, that is a sick fight.

That's an important one. Honestly, if Rodriguez wins that one, correct me if I'm wrong, she probably gets a title shot. Yeah, look, I had multiple people reach out to us and say, well, they said a lot of things about our award picks, Luke. Number one, how many times do you think I'm going to get dead wronged Friday for saying Alvarez when I meant Gaethje and Chandler? Number two, people just can't believe, Luke, that you're still willing to think that there's anything but Peña as the upset of the year.

But number three, they think we overlooked Marina Rodriguez, at least for saying she's in that? She stopped Amanda Hibas and then took fairly convincing, if not one-sided decisions over Michelle Watterson and Mackenzie Dern. We all know she's ready for the big time, but you look back on those three fights in particular, she grew a ton. And Shaonan looked to be, like her, one of the potential next big things, but then had that one loss. So this fight has so much at stake and this could this could really be special yeah you're right about uh jadriguez's year was a very good

year we certainly overlooked it and even the darn win showed that she's not as well rounded as she could be but she is patient and careful enough such that her deficiencies don't cost her in ways that they might otherwise cost her she She's very, very careful about managing risk in positions where she doesn't have the same kinds of strength, and it shows. Last but not least, Irene Aldana taking on Aspen Ladd, UFC 273. This will be April 9th. That's a tough fight for Aspen Ladd

if she doesn't get that one to the floor. Dude, we already know Aspen Ladd's at the point where it's almost now or never, Luke. You know what I I'm saying like it's like how many times are you gonna dangerously miss weight or or get hurt or not come up big I mean you know I'm sure the UFC thought she would already been uh you know would have already had a shot at the title at to this point but the career has had some missteps and she's got a lot of explaining to do after that disastrous loss so you talk about uh a big fight I mean Aldana's one of those rare legit one punch finishers on the female side so it's a great style clash luke and we're going to get a lot of answers in terms of uh

where the winner's going to go up that that that short ladder to the top for for the title which obviously has got flipped upside down by uh pena pulling the upset but you know lad had that one fight at 45 if she's going to keep making 35 and actually figure this thing out luke a lot it seems like there's got to be a lot of changes outside the cage so hopefully that is what's happening all i see on instagram is hiking and dogs you know yeah fair enough uh obviously she only had the one win she only had the one fight Aldana did in 2021 against Yana Kunitskaya which she won inside the first round I don't know how I'm not gonna say she's that close to a title shot BC but honestly if you beat Kunitskaya and let's say remember that was inside of a round so let's say she beats Ladd in a similar kind of way inside of a round so you'd be having two first round

finishes again let's just imagine that that's the scenario I don't think under that scenario she's all that far from a title shot in part because they just need fresh names than somebody new sure and Aldana as a Mexican national could be quite valuable to them as a contender not just that but before Amanda just had that upset loss you know Aldana was starting to be one of the rare opponents you could put in there against Amanda where you're like, okay, I can't favor her, but I see a path to victory. She is a big puncher. She's aggressive.

She can handle herself on the ground. She goes after it. I think, though, Luke, the question she's going to have to answer, which, again, is why matchmaking-wise is such a great fight, is she didn't look like a killer against holly holm you know and then that's that was the test to find out if she was ready to your point it's going to be such a short leap to get a title shot in this division that all she has to do is package a couple great wins and this would be you know this probably would be enough but luke are you concerned

by what you saw that whatever whatever was dynamic about her got snuffed out against Holly's well-rounded technical game. In terms of Aldana? Yeah. Yeah, maybe. Certainly, that was five rounds. That was a little bit more of a thorough showing about the limits. I think that's fair. But that was also a while ago.

She's had lingering injury issues. She had a really tough bout with COVID as well. Like I know it really knocked her on her ass and she had lingering effects, which is why in part she was out for so long. So I guess all of that is to say that's a fair point. Certainly the home fight could be something that shows you what the limits are. At the same time, if someone's had those kinds of setbacks in that amount of time off, you also need to acknowledge there could be a little bit of time before they get themselves back. At the same time, she is only, she just turned 33. She should be primish about now.

Whatever limit you're going to see, I think you're right to note that the home fight, when I tell you about some of the more real limits, at the same time, I also feel like because she's getting back from so many things, while there may be some fits and starts, I do expect her to look pretty good in her next bout, whether she wins or she loses. I guess I'm just saying I don't take that as the ultimate arbiter of how good she is. I feel like, I mean, I'm not going to say it's her worst loss, BC,

because she's had some other ones that were worse, but I tend to think of UFC fighters as I throw out their best wins and worst losses and kind of see where they are in the middle. And if you take those into consideration, she's got a little bit of space in the middle that makes you think she could still be competitive. So that's it. It's going to look, look, however it plays out, whether Pena Nunes do an immediate rematch or whether something like Valentina slides in or like this, suddenly this division is

going to be a lot of fun over the next year plus. And it needed it. It needed something, Luke. All right. Topic number number three BC quick hitters this one I find unbelievable but I guess it is true the Awani and Jacek expects to come back and fight Zhang Wiley yes she told a outlet in Poland quote everyone thinks I'm not in UFC anymore because I haven't fought in a dozen or so months. Well, she hasn't fought before the pandemic, but I'm coming back and fighting number one. It will probably be Wiley Zhang. I thought it might be Carla Esparza, but it's already

confirmed that she is going to fight for the next championship. I don't see any other fight just going for the belt. Dana made me an offer to fight for the championship, but I would have to wait until November or December and I don't want to wait. I want to fight. Dude, let me just say this. I get why she's taking this fight. I understand that. There might be enough of a calculation between risk and reward that it's the valuable, effective, frankly, the only rational call you could make. I understand that. But BC, here is what I am saying. Even prior to the first Zhang Wai Li fight, because this will ostensibly be the second whenever they make it. Even prior to that, she had been in a fair amount of long, grueling fights. I think after that fight, I had noticed she had taken, everyone had noticed, a huge amount of damage.

She hasn't fought since. Let me see if I get this right. You already had a lot of damage before that fight. You took a shitload in it and now you're coming off of a layoff to fight the same person you just fought the last time. I can see why A, she'd want to raise and B, dude, they're going to grind her into dust. Like you cannot have that kind of schedule against these kinds of opponents and have those kinds of fights and come out the same on the other end. It's just not going to be that way i wish her the best she might win i thought she won the first time bc

but that is a tough tough schedule to compete i'm trying to figure out her motivation is it because i was surprised to see that dana according to her offered her the winner of esparza versus rose too but she would again had to sit out another year she's at the point where she's probably only got you know one or maybe two sort of elite performances left if that because I don't think your fear in this case is overstated because

she doesn't have fight ending power she never has outside of that absolute destruction of Jessica Pene right she's a volume person who outworks you think the Goodell rematch. And it was always fearful that when she got old, if she kept trying to stay at this elite level, that she was going to have to be in this spot

where we're fearful of her taking up too much punishment. Because look, even in her best wins, because she's not a finisher, do you remember the Kovalkevic fight at UFC 205? Ioana went right to the hospital afterwards, even though she won a clear decision. I mean, she went through hell in that one. You're right. But I wonder if her mindset is, I don't want to wait that long because maybe I don't plan on fighting more than once. And if I want to come back for one more giant payday

and I can't get the title right now, you have to look at it from a financial standpoint, Luke, and this is where fighters are in this spot. A lot of times they're like, let me just get the biggest bag available left. This is probably the biggest bag available for her with the storyline, with the expectations of violence, and maybe, Luke, aside with being a competitor and wanting to run back a fight in which she just nearly lost while giving every inch of herself maybe she thinks whaley's compromised following the two defeats and of course the head kick defeat uh it's interesting luke you know

you're right but this is unfortunately the reality of the game where this is how she's going to make the big time money that she wants to and damn we're going to benefit from it luke i mean could you see this fight being even if it's more, it's going to be a damn thriller. Yeah, dude, like even in a situation where you win, where let's say, again, I thought she won the first fight. And let's say she does enough to win the second. You know, even in winning scenarios, though, dude, like it's just going to be grueling work. Obviously, there's a scenario where she goes in there and one punch KOs Zhang Wai Li, who, by the way, is grinding herself into dust with all the fights that she's been taking that are difficult in the way that she has.

So, you know, hardly JJ is alone here. But I just mean to say, like, dude, there's not a lot of, you know, let's say there's a hundred scenarios, likely scenarios of how this fight could go. The vast majority of that hundred, win or lose, are going to be scenarios where you have to take a lot of damage and put in a shit ton of work to get your hand raised. It's just really, really, really, she hand raised it's it's it's just really really really she can get it done and it makes sense reasons you would you would articulate it but either way a pound of flesh is going to get taken well if this would be a huge win on the you know in the second half of the resume this would be a very very huge win i mean i sort of thought after

the last jang wali fight given how brutal it it was. And again it's the best women's fight I've ever seen. I thought that was for sure it. For title implications. But MMA is funny. Even if we're right. That that fight grounded her down. She's still got a little bit of life left in her. So we'll see how things go.

Alright. I don't know if this is a Showtime thing or not. I don't think it is. Because no one at Showtime said anything about it to me. But Floyd Mayweather is going to have some kind of exhibition on a dubai helipad this will be on top of the iconic burge owl hotel in dubai it's an exhibition on february 20th bc you want to see floyd hit pads on a helipad no he's not hitting pads luke do you see the youtuber that they're rumored that he's going to call out do you have the name in front of you is it me no no no i there's some name it's like uh some guy never heard of you know this is when you

realize when there's firm confirmation that you're old and washed and that this is not your era anymore uh who's the guy can you somebody look it up i'm trying uh i'll look it up well let's see mayweather dubai boxing here we go yeah i don't know the guy he's talking about youtuber money kicks money kicks all right money lion you need a cash advance luke um this is uh look it's a even though floyd said he'd never do this again after the logan fight was tougher than he thought um i'm not saying money Money Kicks is the son of billionaire Saif Belhassa, whoever that is. Okay, okay.

This appears to be right in Floyd's playbook, a really calculated move in a fight that he probably has no chance of getting hurt in, in a unique location that's at least worth, you know, seeing what it looks like. I know Anthony Joshua has hit pads on there before. I know they did a big-time tennis match with Federer that time on top of that thing.

But, yeah, Luke, this is what Floyd Mayweather's great at doing, these type of events. He kind of has no shame in this category. So, you know, we'll probably at least throw an eyelash at it in terms of what the hell does this thing look like. But gone is the day where he's going to put himself in a position where he can get hurt at all. Yeah, well, he's fighting a dude named Money Kicks, who is a 19-year-old YouTube star. His name is Rashid Belhassa. And again, is the son to billionaire tycoon Saif Belhassa. So, you know, the rich just don't have enough things going well for them, I've noticed. You would guess this is Money Kicks' dad arranging this

so that Money Kicks can become a global superstar in his own field, right, Luke? Could be that way. Certainly nepotism is a problem among elite societies everywhere. All right. Scott Coker is trying to make an MVP versus Amosov fight. To MMA Junkie, Scott Coker said, I know MVP was kind ofosov fight. BC quote, MMA junkie Scott Coker said, I know MVP was kind of back and forth. Do I want to fight Lima again?

Do I want to fight Amosov? And then we just said, hey, you go think about it. Our opinion as a company is you want to take the next step. You want to go fight for the belt now. This is your time. If you don't want to do it now, what are you going to do it? And then you can come back and fight Lima again in the future. So to me, it's the right fight to put together. I think it'll happen in the second quarter it'll be in London it'll be a big massive

fight over there because he's such a big star BC why wouldn't MVP want to fight Amosov exactly Scott Coker nailed it if you're not going to do it now then then what are you doing look you know let's give MVP a lot of credit we had legitimate questions each of the last three, four fights of can he ever truly put it together? Is his highlight real flashy, almost one-dimensional side truly enough to beat the elites? Well, credit to him, Luke. This turnaround has been great. And 34, is he pushing 35? The window is right now and Luke even though Amasov is an absolute you know hammer and truly the wrong style matchup for MVP MVP's also that wrong style matchup for him from the standpoint of being dangerous to land that one big strike I love this fight we all love this fight

it would tell us a lot it's about time we find out exactly who MVP really is uh why the hell would you have to go back to Lima I mean again like Scott said you can get that fight anytime okay let's do this now okay let's let's yeah I mean this is a this is a pretty serious knock on MVP a little bit obviously he's quite talented but Amosov is you know listen is Amosov here's the thing Amosov is a bad fight for him. Let's just be honest. It's a bad fight for him because he can wrestle and he can wrestle for 25 minutes. That's just a terrible combination for him.

On the other hand, dude, Amosov is a tough fight for everybody. Logan Storley wrestled all his life. Amosov was still a tough fight for him. There's really no way around it. And he's the champion. You know, like MVP and I think Bellator have been have been very fair to MVP is the way I would put it like very fair and giving him just the right kind of fights for him to look good and to make incremental progress but what is he 34 at this point maybe a little bit older than that like it's time to fight the elite of this division and nobody else this

guy is the champion you've earned a shot go get it like there this is the time to go get it I even if I understand that Amosov is a very inconvenient fight not so much by virtue of his status but by virtue of his fighting style for everybody and look to be fair look you got to give MVP the respect of what hit what the danger is he brings to the table he may be a highlight real can crusher but the more he slipped stepped up in competition, he's still proven he doesn't have to go away from that. He doesn't have to sacrifice the threat that he can end the fight at any time,

which we thought maybe would happen the more he climbs this ladder. He's still, like, look, if you're Amosov, yes, you'll be favored. It's a style matchup. You should do it, but you've got to be on your toes, man. This fight can end at any point. So, why are we having this conversation this is you luke herm edwards right we play to win the

game that's why you're in this game to win the damn lots of weight championship right and if you're fedor you want to go out with the heavyweight title up for grabs uh apparently um scott coker also telling MMA Junkie, that's what Fedor asked me for a Bader rematch. Quote, if Ryan Bader beats Valentin Moldavsky, I want Bader. That's what he said. I'm going to give him some other options

for the beginning of January and go from there. So we're going to see how that fight plays out and then make a business decision. How much more interested are you in Fedor Bader 2, Brian Campbell? Now, is it Fedor Bader in Fedor Bader to Brian Campbell? Is it now? Is it Fader Bader or Fedor Bader? I'm having a lot of trouble. It's like my wife gets mad that I can't say it. Is it ear hair, Luke, or air hair? All right. I'm going to go back and work on a tight 10, Luke. I'll be back in a little bit. You'll definitely be surprised. Luke, yeah, look, if you put this fully together as Fedor officially saying goodbye

and he's going to go out against a guy who knocked him out for the Bellator Heavyweight Championship, I'll get behind it. Why? Because Fedor's victory over Timothy Johnson in Moscow, which we sort of maligned coming in as being maybe like too dangerous for what it was, which was just a hometown. We love you, Russia, you know, from Russia with love within Russia with love to Fedor. But Luke, he looked like he's back in shape and caring again, where he's still pretty damn dangerous. The problem with this scenario

is this Luke Valentin Moldavsky, I think is going to, he's going to, he's going to grind Bader up. Wow, bro. Wow. Really? Yeah, I think, is going to grind Bader up. Wow, bro, wow. Really? Yeah, I think it is, Luke. I think he's coming. So he may have to rematch Bader anyway without the title as that's his goodbye. But, you know, are you feeling what I'm feeling here, Luke? Not necessarily.

I think Bader beats Moldavsky without a whole lot of issue, actually. You think that's like a one-sided, like Bader gets back. We're all good. One-sided is maybe a little strong, but definitely like if they fought, they're going to fight five. But if, you know, I'll put it this way. If they fight five and it goes the full distance, there'll be no doubt in your mind that Bader clearly won at least three of

the rounds, if not more. That kind of a thing. All right. Okay. So then if it happens, Luke. I'll say I'm marginally more interested. Bader is certainly slowing down a little bit.

I think as he gets closer to 40, even at heavyweight, obviously he won the Grand Prix and they didn't lay a glove on him, but it's been some time since then and he, I think, is going to be slowing down exponentially, obviously from the athletic highs of his late 20s early 30s so um I still would favor Bader to win but I like kind of where Fedor's head is at and I say it's a little bit more winnable than the last one where

he lost in what like eight seconds or something whatever it ended up being see Bader he can't do any worse I feel like when when it when it goes with Bader, it's going to go. And I feel like he's getting close, and I don't want to be the last to know, Brittany. I want to be the first to tell you what's happening. I like Moldavsky in that, but also, Luke, what the hell would we do with Fedor's legacy to add that extra little trinket on top? I mean, to do that at his age, if he won the Bellator Heavyweight Championship and said goodbye,

it's not like he'd be, he's already in the GOAT category, but that'd be pretty damn nice. I agree. All right. AJ McKee wants to box Conor or Floyd. He tells TMZ Sports, hell yeah, I'll box McGregor. What's up? He's got a couple fights left. Showtime boxing. Let's do it. I'll box anybody. I'm a fighter. I want to test my skills against the best. That's why I've always called out Floyd. I want to test my skills. Hand-to-hand

combat. One of the best athletes in hand-to-hand combat. I'm down for anybody. 45, 55, 70, boxing, blah, blah, blah, BC, do you care? No, because he's so great at MMA that I'm actually, I almost want to call up Scott Coker and be like, why has this guy not fought again since he had the big breakthrough win in, what is it, July over Pitbull in the biggest fight in Bellator history? Now, look, maybe there's contract squabbles. Maybe they want to do the rematch with Pitbull and they're waiting to set it up. But, you know, I would have,

McKee seems so ready to be the next big thing in the sport that I would have put him in the next guy in line to defend that title. I would have been making plans behind the scenes to how quickly can we get him in a lightweight title bout. The only thing I would care from the standpoint of that crossover thing is if he said, if they tried something crazy

in the Showtime pay-per-view silo and said alright, let's lean into Jake Paul fighting MMA fighters who are much smaller than him. Let's take a small as heck but in his absolute physical prime, no doubt, and put McKee in there to try to box Jake Paul.

Luke, with the size difference, you could kind of talk yourself into that, right? Hmm. No, I don't care about those stupid fights. I'll say this, though. Here's the funny thing about it, dude. He's been fighting in the Grand Prix literally since September of

2019. That took up all of his time because he fought Karhanian, Kampos, Caldwell, and Pitbull. He fought one time in 2020 and one time in 2021. I talked to him in Cleveland, and he sort of gave me an indication about where things were headed and what might be up against it. I think some contract renegotiation is really what they're doing. So I don't know what the holdup is, BC, but it's a fucking crime that we've got this guy at 26 years old, peak of his powers in the sense of

where he's been not where he ultimately can go but certainly the peak of his powers to date anyway and he has fought one time in each of the last two years it's a crime it's a crime he should be much busier than he is and they need to figure that out right away would you call it promotional malpractice luke that's a pat that's a is that do you have the trademark for that luke i have producer credits you know similar it's a similar kind's a is that do you have the trademark for that luke i have producer credits you know similar it's a similar kind of thing yeah okay great i haven't seen that one or uh what's the other thing you used to do bro sected i haven't seen that in a while luke come on bro sected oh dissected yeah well that wasn't my call motherfucker so what do you want me to do about it

all right i haven't seen you go to the executive's office and say we gotta we gotta find a way to make this work oh because there is no way to do that. All right. By the way, I'm also like, who's the guy from, what do you call it, with the red stapler down in the basement? Yeah, from Office Space. Yeah, from Office Space. Yeah, I'm that guy at CBS Sports.

All right. BC, last but not least, they were fighting on air, and now they're going to fight for real. The event will be known, and I'm not making this up, as Knuckle Mania 2. Knuckle Mania 2, Luke. Get it right, all right? I've seen Knuckle Mania.

They didn't involve Mike Perry and Julian Lane, but this one will. February 19th, they're going to face off in bare knuckle. BC, Mike Perry is living his best life, is he not? Yeah, this is great. Look, this is a fight that he's going to face off in bare knuckle. BC Mike Perry is living his best life, is he not? Yeah, this is great. Look, this is a fight that he's going to win under any circumstance. Let me bang bro indeed. I've said it before. This is the perfect.

This is like if you're going to take pro wrestling and try to assign it to real combat sports. And like this is it. This is carnival pro wrestling at its best within the actual fight game. So is it a gas station hot? pro wrestling at its best within the actual fight game. So is it a gas station hot? Yeah, damn right it is, Luke. So let's just put it in the bun and pray for our livers on the way out. This should be fun.

Luke, you can't tell me this won't be worth tuning into. Oh, I mean, listen. This is what I love about BKFC. BKFC does not pretend to be shit. It's not. You know what I mean? They are what they are. They're knuckle mania. You know, it know it's fighting this fucking who's to say you know what i mean it comes and it goes it is what it is it's like the monster trucks of combat sports right now now now now now

yeah it's like the monster drinks of drinks like dude i don't drink this thinking i'm getting like perfect hydration from water or you know this is these are all chemicals that are probably good for me I do it because I'm sad and tired and 42 and depressed I need something that gets me going and it solves that problem if what you're looking for is just a base desire for violence well I have great news for you Mike Perry and Julian Lane are going to give you that on February 19th at knuckle mania you know what i'm saying look interested interesting that you would support monsters so openly luke aren't those uh isn't their logo like 666 in hebrew or something luke if you're stupid yeah all right all right just you know yeah no for me in my house luke okay

all right thank you thank you oh wait you're Wait, you really don't drink Monster because you think it has something to do with the devil? Well, also, it'll kill you, too, Luke. But, you know, it gives you a reason to stay away, right? Yes, there is that. There is that. All right, well, that's it for us, BC, for the topics. It's time for your side of the show, good sir. Yeah, look, we create fun segments to kill time.

That's what we do on Morning Combat. one's called over under over under oh look at that that's where you gotta that's where you gotta rub the loofah over and under your disgusting untrimmed genitals uh i've got 10 of them luke i'm gonna read you a number tell what it is. You tell me simply over or under. Here we go. One and a half, 1.5. The amount of times that the UFC's light heavyweight and middleweight titles will change hands combined in 2022. Okay, so your heavyweight champion is... No, light heavyweight and middleweight, Luke.

Get it together. And middleweight, excuse me. So light heavyweight. So it's going to be Glover and then it's going to be Adesanya. Between those two weight classes, will you have at least two change of hands? Yes. I'll take the over. I will take the over.

What do you predict happening in the title picture of both? You know, sort of looking. What fuels that answer, Luke? So Glover, I don't feel like. He might win his next one or whatever, but I don't feel like he's going to hold it within a year's time. If he defends it at least twice, he'll lose once. I mean, he could defend once and retire for all we

know, Luke, right? That's true, but he's would that count as changing hands? Yeah, if somebody else gets the title. So either by hook or by crook, it ends up being the same. And then I do think Adesanya will beat Whitaker the second time. But after that, it becomes a little bit harder to say.

Yeah, I think even though no one's given indications to this, I think once he gets through this Whitaker rematch, you have to ask yourself, like, what is there at middleweight for Adesanya? I think he moves up to 205 full-time, Luke. He might. That's a great point. He might. He really might. You have to change his body a little, change his outlook on the game. He learned a lot from the Jan fight. You know, it would be him making a run at a second title would be the best move for him, I think,

you know, historically with what he's accomplished so far. You might be right. You might be right. All right, Luke. Our second one is this uh 0.5 the amount of times your tweets will appear on the screen during ufc broadcasts in the next year well considering that the number has been zero for as long as they've been doing the practice i don't know why that would change clearly Clearly, either Dana or somebody involved in the production does not like me,

and so they have boycotted me, and I don't imagine that will in any way change. No, Luke, I've got to take the over here. Things are, you know, ever since you met me, Luke, things in your life have just been looking up, man. You know, so let's stay optimistic here. Yes, I've only been to the hospital four times since I've met you. Reform, Luke. I've brought on the need and the understanding.

Through my being so open about my setbacks in life, it's woken you up. Luke, I'll say this. We just won a major award. And I think a lot of people are going to start taking notice if they haven't before, if they wanted to avoid. I know, Luke, you've been around in this game before Morning Combat. I'm not saying that, but were you well-liked before Morning Combat, Luke?

I don't think I'm well-liked now. So I don't know if that really changed. I think this year, you're going to be surprised, bro. It's a big year for you. Certainly there's been a lot more positivity this year than in previous years but in terms of outright attention I mean you saw who we talked to there's UFC executives I talked to when we were in Vegas that last week and or two weeks three weeks ago whatever it was and they were nice to me so it's not like everyone at UFC doesn't like me but there's definitely like for sure Dana doesn't and then there's a few along the way that don't as

well but there's there's a bunch along the way that don't as well but there's there's a bunch that do too it's pretty split all right our next one luke three and a half the number of ufc fighters who would be betting favorites in fights against john jones right now oh wow okay so anybody from any weight class provided they could get the betting odds nod, right? Yep, and it would have to be next. For whatever you think John is physically right now, you could do the fight at 205, you could do it at heavyweight, either or, but who do you think would be betting favorites against him?

Okay, so let's think about anyone who could possibly be betting favorites against him. So the three that come to mind right away would be gone and ganu and then mio chich what about yeah yeah i was gonna say you gotta have steepay in there for sure right right you would have to have one more for this to work and even by the way even those three might not be favorites but you could at least imagine a scenario where they would be who would be the fourth would it be derrick lewis no would it be oh you know what well no because the question is betting favorite but I'm telling you right now I'm telling you right now I would I would put money on Magomed on Kalayev to beat Jon Jones I would put money on that wow but that's not what the betting

odds would say so I'm actually you were gonna say Prochaska by knockout I thought you would say no Prochaska is too wild he's too wild he's he's very very dude Prochaska by knockout. I thought you would say that. No, Prochaska is too wild. He's too wild. He's very, very, dude, Prochaska is very good, and he's going to beat Goodfire. He probably beats Glover. We'll have to see. But he's still a little too wild. Someone is careful in calculating his Jon Jones.

There's going to be problems for him. But somebody like Megaman on Kalayev, I could see being a real problem for him. A Glover to share a rematch. A lot closer than their first meeting or the same thing? First one went the distance. I was there for it.

He twisted his arm early with that standing Frank Miralock and his arm was never the same. I'll say a little bit closer this time. I'll say a little bit closer this time. Yeah. I still think John wins, though. Adesanya versus John at 205.

You don't think the oddsmakers could go the Adesanya way, thinking Jones is going in the other direction right now? You know what's funny? I've actually had to watch, even yesterday I rewatched it again, the Adesanya-Blohovic fight, because I'm really trying to do something for my personal channel on why that fight went against Adesanya. It's pretty funny for the reasons why, but I don't think you're talking you're talking about who the who the odds makers would pick I

think given his performance in that even though I still have questions about John at 205 the current state of him anyway not like obviously his resume but um I still don't think Adesanya would get the odds favored in his and even if he was champion, I don't know if he would get it over John. So no, like, can you find four fighters for odds makers to pick? I don't think you can. I would take the under on that one. So there's a lot about what he's done in the sport. Absolutely. All right. Eight and a half. The number of times Brock Lesnar has competed in MMA with PEDs in his system over his nine bout career. I would take the over. It's got to be all nine. I don't think he's ever done one, Natty,

and I want to be very clear about this. I absolutely do not care. Whatsoever. Doesn't impact my judgment of his abilities or anything else at all. Alright. Take that. Four and a half, Luke. The number of ranked UFC fighters who watch

at least part of all three weekly MK shows. Oh, I'll take the under on that. I mean, Emily Whitmire, who's not even ranked, walked by us and we were like, hey, we're used to prizes we watch. She was like, you fucking bitches. I was like, wow, okay. I was a little strong, but all right. She was like, I didn't think you guys had a chance in hell I think was her exact quote so yeah she was like I have 20 bucks in my pocket

and I wouldn't have spent it on you and I'm like oh all right that's uh that's a nice thing to say for two award winners but okay I mean that's okay maybe the ranked part of this question made it made it obvious okay you're taking the under do I think four UFC fighters watch all three a week at least four yeah and I know for I'm almost dead certain for ranked though i don't know about that all right who's in our who's on our team right now uh billy q sean brady sean brady listens a lot uh adrian yanez has come out as a as a as a donk right adrian yanez you know who listens a lot as well alexander rakic really dude that guy's a badass. I take that as a compliment.

Yeah, Rakic is a beast. No, Rakic listens for sure. Oh, apparently Anthony Smith too, Luke. Whoops on that one, Luke. Yeah, when he was up in your grill reminding you of shit you said, it was pretty clear he watched the show, actually. Yeah, Danny Rube too. All right.

Luke, let's keep it going here 15 the number of months until we finally see geron boots ennis challenge for a welterweight title now when you say a world title you mean one of the real ones like they're not going to create for him the wba super philly cheesesteak title yeah i guess in this take you know a vacant one would count but it has to be one of the big four real titles i'll take the under i'll take the under i think there is just way way too much momentum around him i agree that right now he's in a bit of a weird spot because he's obviously crazy talented and the people who have belts don't want to see him at all and they're going to try and find ways around that, which is why I think the question is quite fair.

But with the promotional push around him and what he's capable of, I think it'll be in this year he has a belt around his waist. In this year? So you're taking the – wow, okay. I'll take the over, yeah. I was going to take the over because – well, look, I don't want to take the over because that means that we go a year and a half. But it's like, you know Spence is going to unify against Ugas.

In fact, I think Spence on a live Instagram said it's going to be in April. And also, we know that, you know, if Spence wins that, you got to do the fight against Crawford if they can do it. I wonder if that'll push it off. But, Luke, you know what I think the fight is for Ennis is we got Keith has been off forever since the Pacquiao fight if Keith Thurman wins that that's the perfect big name former champion still something in the tank but welcome fight instant uh and we find out really how great. That'd be awesome. Listen, you know boxing better, so you're probably right.

But I also just am so high on him that I feel like promoters are going to try to find any way they can to start putting some hardware on him. Yeah, absolutely. All right, Luke, 125. 125. The amount of thc 125 seems comically low i mean just mikey is probably housing somewhere around 500 right just mikey i mean for breakfast it was like you know breakfast i mean he's like he just you know how some people put like ketchup on their eggs? He just has THC in a salt thing.

So he's probably high as balls right now. Gaff and Corey, they're probably each at like 75 milligrams of. I wish we had like a, like, you know, when you're playing a fight game, there's like the meter on top with your energy. I wish we had that for THC going at all times on this show. Do you know who's just absolutely high as fucking balls right now, though?

Like, right now, just sitting in that control room, unable to function? Sally. Sally just stays high, bro. Just... You know she's soft-spoken. She's... Maybe, Luke, maybe that's her superpower. stays high bro just you know you know she's soft-spoken she's uh she's there's not maybe maybe luke maybe that's her seat her superpower she tries to hide it in that like oh i'm here

to help i'm gonna be quiet and be nice to everybody she is nice everybody she's great and she is quite helpful she's probably also high tripping balls right now yeah so the answer is definitely under a lot of people ask what's the what's what makes this show so great? What's the secret? You know, sauce. Yeah, it's probably that. All right, Luke, 18. 18. Oh, God. Please don't make this what I... Okay.

No, not in age, Luke. The age you'd be... I thought you were Phil. It's like, Phil, what kind of women do you like? He's like, preferably alive. Luke, the percentage of MK fans who agree with your take last year that anthony smith is quote must see tv every single time okay so how many mk fans are actually smart you want me to answer that i just answer the question over under luke i'll take the under but i don't make i don't make

content for the masses i make contents for the special people so okay you know for the masses. I make contents for the special people. For the record, as I told Anthony Smith, he's a great guy. I like him a lot, Luke, okay? Yeah, you like fucking with him is what you like. I mean, what are the odds I see him again in person, Luke, right? Probably pretty good, although he might be retired by the next time you see him. I don't know how much time he's got left in the game, but we'll see. All right, Luke, we got two more. Here we go.

One and a half, 1.5. The amount of UFC female pay-per-view main events that will be booked over the next two years. Female pay-per-view main events over the next two years. To give you reference here, Luke, there were zero female pay-per-view main events in 2021. One in 2020, one in in 2019 three in 2018 uh so it's been a while since it was uh a regular thing i'll take oh this is a tough one. I'll take the over. I'll take the over.

I think there's a decent chance they sign Kayla Harrison. And I think if they do, they will find a way to put her in some big main events. What we either with Amanda or two times or whatever, something they're going to find a way. So I'll say, I'll say, I'll take the over. It's a great question.

What is the last female ufc pay-per-view main event i had to look it up what was the last one we just the last one we've had yeah um what year was it 2020 2020 shit I don't know. Amanda Nunes versus Felicia Spencer, Luke. Ah, which was, yeah, a bit of a dud. Felicia got her ass kicked. Yeah, indeed. I think that's why, you know, look, there are plenty of matchups that you can concoct involving Rose.

It'd have to be probably Valentina against Amanda to be a main event. But I think there's a few that can be done. It's possible. Yeah, you get Misha Tate in a title fight, Holly Hall. I mean, there's some things that can that can be done you get it's possible yeah you get misha tate in a title fight holly hall i mean there's some things you can do to to push that over all right finally luke here we go two and a half 2.5 the number of times tied to ivasa has shit his pants since the age of 13 oh now that could be for anything like he could have done it because he was just drunk or he could have done it because he was just drunk or he could have done it because he had like the flu or he ate just something ridiculous and didn't

make it to the bathroom in time there's a lot a lot of ways this could work luke because if shitting your pants is cool you know he might be miles davis and we just don't know it luke right he probably is duke ellington you know what i'm saying duke ellington of just sharting you know i mean look you do have to understand that you never know the meaning of never trust a fart until you know it. Once you know that meaning, Luke. Oh, brother, you should have done this question with me. I don't know if I could do two and a half over under in the last week. Are you kidding?

Come on, Luke. It's got to be the over. I mean, there's no chance. Like full on shitting his pants? Yeah, probably. I mean, listen, let me just say something. The answer is over. Okay, it's over.

It's just how over. A, it's how over. And B, just in the interest of transparency with the audience, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. I mean, I don't want Taito Iwasa to feel alone here for any reason. Like Cabbage Correa, he's probably still shitting his pants, Luke, right? Yeah, when he's not, he's probably going to run for governor with BJ. Yeah, there we go.

All right, that's it for Over Under. Maybe it comes back again. Who knows, Luke? We got another one. I like Over Under. I like it. Okay, all right. Better than The Wheel? again who knows luke we got another one i like i like over under i like it okay all right better

than the wheel the uh week to week i like over under better but the wheel has just much bigger you know the week is your pay-per-view you could have a pay-per-view every week but you know uh look we got another segment morning combat g at morning combat at gmail is the email address to send your fan subs Wednesday. You're dead wrongs on Friday, but today we get to see your artwork, your picks, all that good stuff.

Yes. That was that. Yes. Corey, that was my Roy Ray Flores voice. Uh, it's called fan submissions. We've got mail. I'll tell you what, Luke. We've got mail.

I'll tell you what, Luke, we've got mail fans. You better believe that. Pretty much all of them. Luke, do you think this will be better than last week? Do you think Mikey got the whispers in his ear about quality control on these? Yeah, but he's fucking so full of THC that they probably fucked it up again. So let's just see. Hey, did you shout out? I watch that David A video again from France? That was ambitious, Luke, with the Harvey Weinstein and Epstein.

He put a lot of effort into his jokes about rape. Yes, I agree. Yeah, I mean, he made a run. You got to give him his credit. He shot his shot to become the donk of the year. It didn't pay off. I was thinking about this, too, by the way, because I took my kid to Universal Studios over the summer

and I watch a lot of kids' programmings, obviously. Boy, they have scrubbed Pepe Le Pew out of Looney Tunes. Have you noticed that? No, I haven't. If you watch Looney Tunes anywhere now or you see how they're featured today, boy, they've forgotten about old Uncle Pepe.

Pepe the Pew. Y'all can forget about him. I saw him try to rape cats for 30 years. Y'all can forget about him now. Yes, I was going to say, nowadays, if your name is Pepe, you probably get it done, Luke, so there's a tie in there. Yeah, but his is all consensual, so it's different. Yeah, all right.

Luke, fan submissions start with Adam C. He says, Happy New Year. Please ignore my mediocre cable management, but I had to capture the moment of catching the MK 2022 predictions with my less than one-day-old daughter, Isla. Unless it's... Yeah, I-S-L-A. That's an Isla, right, Luke?

Isla, see. This photo was taken December 30th. My wife gave birth in this very living room about 12 hours ago. Wow. They get the carpet. Bro, how did she give birth there and there's not blood and crime scene everywhere? I mean, you know, if you've seen the birthing room floor once, Luke, you'll never forget it. I saw the birthing room floor and I'm like, wait, you gave birth

or you took a life? Which one here happened? Because it looks bad. Was Tai Tuivasa here? Yeah, it's a mixture of all kinds of sin, Luke. Alright, she is resting upstairs while I spend some time with the little one. All the best to you guys. Hope to see you guys thrive.

P.S. Shout out to the Morning Combat subreddit. Brian might not like it as much as lurking as a homeless cat on other subreddits but we hope to be able to spread the mk sauce to the masses oh luke this guy adam c must run that subreddit all right well shouts to adam c for being awesome and taking care of us over there on reddit and by the way i do check that reddit on occasion about once a week. So, um, can you blow this picture up? I mean, how's this guy's cable management, Luke?

How is his, uh, fluid management? Where are we at here? Hard to say exactly. Cause I can't see much, but it looks pretty good. And for the fact that a child was born there and the fact that it's not

covered in feces and blood is its own little miraculous wonder. Um, do you think they, they, they did the birthing in like a, in like a kiddie pool in the middle of the floor luke even then i'm surprised it didn't spray all over the blinds and ceiling it's like the ending of taxi driver look it's yeah it's out of control wow all right

uh let's get out of this before we uh before we lose our sponsors luke uh andreas number two says dear luke and brian a genuine a genuine holiday greeting from little old Denmark. Last time I wrote to you, I apparently made Luke upset by indirectly stating that William and Mary wasn't as good of an educational institution as Tufts, which is true, by the way, Luke. Sorry.

Wow. To make it up to Luke, I wanted to order the dead Luke Christmas sweater. I made the mistake of listening to Brian, though, when he said in the beginning of, that if you ordered before a certain date, it would be shipped so that it would arrive on Christmas. I don't know if I meant that for people living in Europe. I just say stuff. All right. Um, also for international shipping, the Christmas sweater didn't arrive in time. So December 23rd, my wife felt so bad for me

that she gave me one of my presents for Christmas a day early. As you can see in the first pic where I'm cooking Christmas dinner with my dad, when seeing the t-shirt, my five-year-old daughter pointed at dead Luke and asked, Is that a monster? To which I replied, No, it's an actual man and his name is Luke. She responded with, Is he evil? And I said, No, and told that he had a daughter about the same age as your younger sister. She said, then he's not evil? Luke, the Christmas sweater arrived just before New Year's

so I had to wear it that day, as seen in the second pic, where I'm enjoying that the kids finally sleep and can enjoy a good beer. Anyways, Merry Pagan Holiday to both of you, and a Happy New Year as well. If he says if we ever go to denmark luke he'll be our tour guide would you accept that offer yes i've heard good things about denmark i

really want to go i would love to all right maybe yeah let's do it i'm into this uh i i'm sorry about the international shipping it's i think it's more luke of a uh of a global shipping issue that goes even beyond the folks at Malka. So to be fair, right? Listen, we're doing our best. If it's not good enough, just wait longer. There you go. All right, just buy another one.

Yeah, this one's from Brett. Luke headed to the bathroom at the end of every MK episode. Not quite, but it's also, oh, I see. Yeah, Luke, that uh me right there remember that time that person made the video game characters of me and you're really funny you're wearing the bde hawaiian shirt with the lifting gloves yeah that's great that's great giving you the rikishi stink face uh there's a second photo here luke i think Is there? Does Brett have a second one? Team? Well, we're just going to watch this one over and over again. Am I talking into a...

Alright, he's got the same one twice. Let's move on. Andrew has some memes for the MK crew. Hope you guys like them. Shout out from Northwest Georgia, even though Luke still hates all of us down here. I don't hate people from Northwest Georgia. I just hate most people from Northwest Georgia, even though Luke still hates all of us down here. I don't hate people from Northwest Georgia. I just hate most people from Northwest Georgia. All right, all right.

Yeah, Luke, let's go to the second one. BC says, I'm telling you, Dana pays him behind the scenes with unmarked bills and keeps that shit off the book. How do people not realize this, Luke? Do you know who this is? The picture? Not John S. Nash. It looks like Moutinho, the soccer coach?

Mourinho. Jose Mourinho. I'm not sure how I pronounced the first name. Ted Lasso? I don't know, Luke. Joe says no country for soy boys, Luke. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Is that Helwani luke you know full well who it is yeah luke that movie's uh that movie's good it's good ass movie look i like that movie don't

you like that movie yeah that's it was really good really good yeah nothing bad to say thank you wait wait who is that coen brothers made that joint yeah it felt like it if it wasn't it felt like their style for sure uh who's the spanish dude who plays the um what's his name the leads the lead i don't know offhand but he's great he's great i'll find it i'll find it he's good uh the fighter kid is here not the fighter and the kid not brian callen he says live look live look at Luke using his new pull-up bar. So tomorrow we start working out. Okay? Let's see.

Maybe I'll even show you a few pull-ups on this bad boy here, huh? You see that? Pretty soon that's how strong you're gonna be is that me talking to my kid yeah yeah it is luke that's perfect that is perfect by the way the guy from the movie is javier bardem that's his name yes luke i mean i still have my doubts again that that your walls are uh they're not to come crumbling down, Luke. Well, here's the thing. When you visit me, which you say you're going to do, I don't have anything to hide.

You can just come do it. All right. I'll go through your drawers. Yeah. All right. You can find all my Delta 8 gummies. Yeah. Rui's here.

Hello, Luke and Brian. Shout out from your P1 fan from all the way down in singapore congratulations on your award i'm a man of few words but you get where this is going keep up the good work good health and good wealth to both of them are there are there gross dog dicks touching yeah i'm not i don't know here for this thank you ruey for the sentiments but i don't need to look at that anymore yeah this is um this is this is really kind of uh appalling we got to draw a line somewhere please this is the line okay on this side of the line is the birthing room floor but on the other side being like can you imagine working on this and like

someone normal comes into your computer while you're putting this dog dick touching thing together it's like oh no no this is for a podcast I listen to. What the fuck podcast are you listening to? What the hell? Luke, Tyler is here from the 412. Where's that area code? He says just a couple of images here. The first is Steve Farhood, 10 minutes into show box, finding out that BC has the dick jokes on lock.

Wow. I do have a serious side note. It's like, dude, Barry Thompson's going to be like, so, Brian, what's your assessment of why, I don't know, I wouldn't make up a name, Sanchez won this fight? And you're going to be like, three letters there, Barry. B-D-E. Huh?

Where do I start cashing these Showtime checks, huh? By the way, I love me some Steve Farah. The nicest man. Steve's the man. The best. The second meme is Luke's 2022 Xmas card after cycling through his dream Christmas present. Yes. If my wife was smart, she would have gotten me steroids like I've been asking for.

I'll take Stanazol, honey, please. The wind drawler. I want wind straw and anything else that'll kill me before 50, please. I'll have what Alzado had. Yeah, yeah. All right. Luke, he says, also, I tried to up my game after LT roasted my lack of skills when I just copy and pasted his head onto Darth Vader.

Looking forward to a very weird 2022. Luke, I don't think his skills are much better, to be fair. Yeah, they're still shitty. He still did a real bad job. Tyler. He still did a real bad job. Tyler, you still did a real bad job. Yep. Our final one is from Took. Took, T-O-O-K.

I don't think Luke wants to hear BC's thoughts about Encanto. Would you guys ever try to get on Queer Eye? You both talk about being washed and not being satisfied with your hair and wardrobe. Wow, Luke. Wow. Okay. Where's the Coke? Where's the boobs?

Where's Pablo? Isn't this about Columbia? Yeah, that's about right. That's about right. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. You still haven't seen it?

You still haven't seen it? When am I going to see that? Come on. For me, maybe. You want to do MK homework and Kanto version? You don't want me no no it's not it's not worth it it's not worth it plus half the you know what you know what i realized about this movie like if you don't already know the references you're not going to learn new references about columbia so like when they put these references in the movie like the only people who are going

to get them are either columbians or people who have visited a bunch. Like, it's not, you're not going to get the significance. It's kind of weird, but. Alejandra Lara, Bellator Flyweight. Luke, she'll get it. She'll get the references, I would imagine. And then some. Yeah, wow, this was a shitty show. Yeah, this show was terrible.

We didn't even do it. I mean, this could have been a good day off in hindsight luke way you know all right that's great we probably should have just uh you know this they got a reality star selling her farts in a jar for 38 000 we should do that um do you want to do one friday luke i'll be on location i'm gonna bring yeah we'll do one friday we'll do one friday we'll talk to you about the Roach Motel you're in or whatever. What, do you want to do a homework assignment for Friday? You want to get the donks busy?

Yeah, why not? You want to do that? Why don't you set it up? Because you've seen this movie. I have not. So I kind of set the table for us a little bit. If you remember, we've done some MK homework in the past, listening to music. But mostly we've settled on movies that one of us particularly has not seen and the other

one can't believe it so for this week's mk homework meaning you need to watch this again or for the first time in the next two and a half days is to watch almost famous yes the cameron crow film uh you know based in part on his life story. Luke, I can't believe you haven't seen this shit. I know, I know. It's one of the most rewatchable movies of all time, but we'll break it down in detail. Friday, whether I'm on to something here as the rest of the world found out, or whether this is a pussy movie that Luke will shit on, we're going to find out, Luke.

It's going to be great. Yeah, it's a good idea. I've never seen it. Sometimes you find yourself in life like, have you never seen or done something? I was never boycotting it. It wasn't a choice. I just kind of ended up in a place where I had never seen it.

You were incredulous at the idea that I had never seen it. Let's see it. Let's watch it. I will watch it and we will report back on Friday and we will discuss it. If you are a member of the show by the way if you want to send your thoughts about it as well morningcombat at gmail.com you can do that too we'll take any reactions you have to the movie especially if you're like me by the way BC if you're like me and you've not seen it or it's been a long time until it's relatively fresh for you send some thoughts to us we'll read them out

on the show on Friday morningcombat at gmail.com Philip Seymour Hoffman has a great small part in that. He's in this movie? Yeah, he has an important minor role. Okay, all right, that's something. Who doesn't love Philip Seymour Hoffman, honestly? So I'll take that. Okay, BC, everyone knows morningcombat.store for any kind of merch, any kind of shit.

Yeah. I want to let people know, Luke, the tie-dye shirts that we have there, a lot of people don't know we have it. I'm going to be honest with you. The quality of these T-shirts is almost too good. Seriously. Not only do you get the great patch on it, but these are legitimately awesome. I wouldn't put shit on our website, Luke, okay? I'm telling you the truth on that.

The quality, RJ Dunkelmaker went for it. So don't hesitate to get those. They're cool as shit, and no one has to know it's even about Morning Combat, you know? You can just say, I like Tidehike. I'm a free baser. I love this shit. Okay, fair enough. All right, so then we're back on Friday for Dead Wrongs.

Of course, get those in at morningcombat at gmail.com as well. Showtime.com, if you want to try it, 30 days for free. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, you can go do whatever you want with your life. And yeah, BC, that is it. Should we tell the audience? It could all get blown up because our nanny showed up today with COVID. So I might have COVID.

We'll have to see. But if I don't have COVID, I might have COVID, we'll have to see, but if I don't have COVID, I might have it. I'm just saying, if I don't have it, then we will be together in studio next week in the brand new studio. There may not be much to react to, although obviously I'll be in Orlando Friday night for Showbox. We'll talk a little bit more about that on Friday, but that's a good fight to check out this weekend. Outside of that, Luke, there's nothing going on. So next week, you and I, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Jersey City, Luke, and the brand new for the first time, MK Studio, which you and I had a very large-handed designing,

unlike the past, where they're like, where are we going to put these guys? In a bomb shelter? No, no, let's put them in a massage parlor. No, Luke, this time was you and I saying, no, let's do it the him in a massage parlor no luke this time was you and i saying no let's do it let's do it the mk way i completely agree so i am excited to see what happens and we'll go from there um we'll let everyone know you didn't hear a word i said luke you didn't you know you it was like i did you said no no i did it's just not very important but what you

said was like you know previous studios they made for us with this one we kind of had a hand in it i'm like dude again you seem to think that when you say something it's like every time gold and i'm just here to tell you i was like sometimes it's gold sometimes it's just ordinary you know what i'm saying so with that in mind um yes almost famous for friday studio next week provided i don't have covid all right that's what we'll do okay that was a that was a saint anger like performance for me today is really what you're saying you know like hey arnold uh maybe you don't have COVID. All right? That's what we'll do. Okay. That was a sane anger-like performance for me today is really what you're saying. You know, like, hey, Arnold, maybe you shouldn't have given birth in that movie. You know what I mean?

Maybe you should have rethought that direction in your career. I feel like the first hour was load and the second hour was like reload. You know, it was just... All right. All right. Great. With that in mind, with that in mind with that in mind for

mulca for cbs sports for showtime for the viceroy of connecticut uh brian campbell i'm luke thomas we'll talk to you guys on friday go watch almost famous and until then may all of your gains be loyal