MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Recap: UFC Fight Night 203 & Bellator 276 | Wood vs. Conlan | Ep. 276

Episode Date: March 14, 2022

On episode 276 of Morning Kombat Luke and Brian recap UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Ankalaev and Bellator 276. Magomed Ankalaev earned the unanimous decision victory over Santos. Can he be a title contender? Is this it for Thiago Santos? In Bellator, Adam Borics scored an impressive W vs. Mads Burnell. Did he show enough to think he has a chance against either Pitbull or AJ McKee? Join the Morning Kombat Bracket Challenge at: www.cbssports.com/morningkombatbrackets 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, reveveille, 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. Happy Monday to you.

Top of the morning. Let's start the week the right way the mk way the morning combat way hello everyone and welcome to morning combat the only show you really need in your life i don't care what's going on in it really this is this is it you can begin here and you can end here alpha and omega speaking of, I am merely one half of your hosting duo. My name is Luke Thomas. I am joined by my cohort, my partner, my Connecticut dirtbag friend. He's also your Connecticut dirtbag friend. It's Brian Campbell.

Hello, Brian Campbell. I mean, Luke, those insults are fine, but you might as well call yourself Omega because you're dealing right now with the American Alpha in the flesh. Okay, bro? Okay? That's what it's. Okay, bro? Okay? That's what it's all about, Luke. Okay? That's fair.

That's fair. Luke, you almost lost your shit about a minute before this show today. True or false? People just like fucking with me, and then, you know, I don't understand. Listen, I'm very particular about my office. Don't fuck with my office. And I don't know what happened, but things got moved. If you find out that was Tukey, you ain't doing shit if you find out that was Tukey, dude.

So don't even try to act all tough for the listeners right here. Luke, great to be back on, I want to say, U.S. soil. I mean, you know, Deadwood, South Dakota did feel a little second world, but I want to say thank you to the fine people and the staff at Deadwood for Showbox on Friday who won me over in the end, Luke. Is the place a little weird and off-putting? Yes. But the donks showed up Friday night, Luke, okay? Including our guy Chance with an S who said he was going to ride horseback, Luke, to come see me. Do you know he showed up with a Country Time Lemonade wrapper

to make fun of my skin tone, Luke? And, yeah. And his father-in-law had a braided beard, like, down to his waist and looked like he would shiv a motherfucker. So I love our fans, Luke. That's all I have to say. Thank you. And you're like, if he was more ambulatory,

I would have thought he was there on January 6th. That kind of a thing. There it is. Well, glad to hear it was a big success. I watched the fights. They were fun. There was one fight that was, I don't know how that kid got on TV, but okay, neither here nor there. Oh, you mean the guy that trains in his backyard, Luke?

I'm sure that was a recent distraction. It looked like it. I was even texting you during the middle. I'm like, this kid's mechanics are a huge problem. And then he gets dusted like a minute later. But neither here nor there there was a lot that happened over the weekend not just friday's showbox of course saturday's ufc saturday's bellator friday night's eagle fc and then saturday morning depending on your time or afternoon the mick conlon and lee wood fights we have a lot to get to thumbs up thumbs up on this if you're watching on youtube

and uh hit subscribe give us a nice review if you'reumbs up on this if you're watching on YouTube. And hit subscribe. Give us a nice review if you're listening on the podcast. If you're looking at the screen right now, these are all of our various social channels. You can give us a follow wherever your heart desires. Of course, you can give us an email, morningcombat at gmail.com. We are going to be in studio on Wednesday, by the way. We'll be in studio the next time you see us together. It'll be in studio, so that should be a good time.

And then, let's see, BC. Oh, if you want to try Showtime, I mean, you had BC Fridays, Showtime, excuse me, Bellator Saturdays. Pretty potent combo. You go to Showtime.com, get a 30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, pound sand. And, oh, BC, what's going on at the merch department,

sir? Ahead of Thursday's March 17th, St. Patrick's Day holiday, we continue to roll out our MK-inspired shout-outs to drinking, to the Irish Luke, of which I hold one-eighth of my body. Luke, hopefully it's not the spot in the middle lower, the front the front facing spot but uh you can get your MK Irish gear yourself by going to morningcombat.store support the show guys it's high quality look are the designs classy never okay neither is the show

but the quality of the merch is pretty damn good you know it's not gonna it's not gonna be thrown away within a year okay uh so So step right up and help. Help us help you, okay? Right here. Thank you. And by the way, I get questions about it all the time, BC. We got to talk about our next partner, which we use basically every day.

I'm talking about things where it's good for your gut health. You don't have to take a ton of vitamins and minerals and pills and everything else. You do it just in one go. I'm talking about Athletic Greens, partner. That one go i'm talking about athletic greens partner that's what i'm talking about bc yeah luke we love it i love it i mean it's right here luke okay and the thing that is number one about this is we already know it's good for you you read the ingredients you know that but it doesn't taste like it's super healthy luke and that's the trick

i'm trying to do to my mind and liver and all that uh it has kind of a mild tropical taste that i actually look forward to luke you know what i do luke okay i pour that scoop in but i don't mix it so then throughout the day i just keep refilling that bottle and it's like i'm drinking you know 10 cups of athletic greens even though you need just one per day in the morning it's fantastic okay that's a little gross You're just drinking like backwater on top of Athletic Greens. But if you want to know what's in it, it's 75 high-quality vitamins, minerals, whole-sourced superfoods, probiotics, and adaptogens to help you start your day right. Yeah, this special blend of ingredients supports your gut health, your nervous system,

your immune system, your energy, recovery, focus, aging. I don't think it cures hangovers, Luke, but I'm willing to try. Uh, and you know, listen, once in the morning, that's it. Or whenever you want, it is at one point during your day, you can have travel packets. So BC, I'm probably going to take one with me when we go to JC to record together. You're damn right. Okay. It's that convenient. So I'll do the same. Thank you. All right. It's lifestyle friendly. Whether you eat keto, paleo, vegan, dairy-free free or gluten free contains less than one gram of sugar no gmos no nasty chemicals or artificial anything while still tasting good and it costs you less

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All you have to do is visit the website, athleticgreens.com slash morningcombat. Of course, that's combat with a K. Again, that is athleticgreens.com slash morningcombat to take ownership over your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance. All right, BC, with that out of the way, to take ownership over your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance all right bc with that out of the way would you like to get this party started with that weird molester smile of yours i mean i mean that's a little that's a little much luke luke uh uh your wife made it home we're back we're happy family is life yes yes everyone everyone is finally back in place and uh

i'm not i'm not you know just juggling chainsaws and bowling balls on fire now oh luke real quick 10 seconds uh scott hall the you know nwo razor ramon pro wrestling he's uh he's fighting for his life luke after i believe multiple uh heart attacks and some other issues and uh it's not looking good but luke the you know uh what do they always say? Bad times don't last, but bad guys do. That guy is among the best ever, Luke, in this damn weird, addicting genre that they do there. So shout out to him and also Luke, Tom Brady's back. So I just want to make sure you were completely up to speed on everything.

I mean, I'm so sick of this zero. All right. But anyway, time for a different discussion bc let's turn the page towards mk topics topic number one we start with ufc vegas 50 we had a main event on paper which we discussed ad nauseum last week magomed and kalayev taking on tiago santos winner here probably moved into a top or solidified a potential top five position. And more than that, with Onkelayev, it would be a sort of close-ish spot to a title for Santos had he won.

It would be reasserting himself in that division. BC, Santos did not only not win, but the victory was kind of ho-hum after the fact. Not all that exciting. So how much confidence, based on this performance, do you have that Meghamed Onkelayf could actually be a real title contender? It's easy to miss what we learned from this as a result of the fact that it wasn't a showcasing win. It was a safe win.

And Luke, you know, at times it's like I always go back to Jan Blachowicz when he was rising and he took on that main against Jacare Sosa and it was just as boring as safe as shit and I'm like that's your moment to announce yourself well look he kind of needed that for whatever reason to survive in advance and eventually got his title shot he won the damn belt and Goliath now with eight in a row afterwards saying I want a title shot look you're not going to get it with a performance like that but Luke after the fight he did mention that his goal was really to show everybody he can go five rounds. And you add in the fact that however you think of Maheta's stock right now, he's one strike away at any time. And he did drop Ankulayev at the end of round two. And maybe if he had another minute, could have done some serious damage, but you know, there's that part

of it. But Luke, um, I don't think it changes, you know, look to do a whole home fight against Tiago Santos and control him and win like this, you have to be impressively skilled. So he failed to grab our attention. He failed to link his name with the others coming out of the Shmesh factory as having not only next for the title, but like next for the sport. But he didn't really show a lot of holes though. And if this was a focused effort on him to avoid the big one and show he can go five rounds, is there a price to pay marketability wise, placement wise for that? Yeah.

To a degree, yes. But as long as he keeps winning and surviving and advancing, Luke, he's not a big trash talker anyway. This may be exactly what he needed to get to that next level. So I'm not going to defend the entertainment value, but I don't think he's any less of a fighter from taking it safe against

one of the most dangerous sluggers. You know, this guy will, in terms of UFC, Tiago Santos will either knock you out or knock you up, Luke. And that's a proven fact. Yes, that is a proven fact. You're right.

The comments afterwards where he said he was dedicatedly looking to go the full distance put this in a somewhat different light, which is to say the real victory here for Ankhalaev is the internal one, that he had a real question about, not a doubt per se, but needed to see it lived out that he could go five rounds with another high-end UFC light heavyweight. And in that sense, he accomplished it without much of an issue. He did get knocked down once, but it didn't amount to much in the end, right? The guy still won 49-46, 49-46, and then 48-47 at worst.

So five, if that was really the goal, if the goal was to get the win and then to do it over the course of 25 minutes mission accomplished because there were times where the takedown he got in the fourth he got it like relatively easily we had talked about this before on friday like if he had not like gone all the time for takedowns but just weaved them in a little bit it would have paid dividends and he didn't really go for it until later you know it was a very subdued performance. There also, though, BC, might be a question of like,

he's a little bit matchup dependent, right? Certain matchups are going to allow him, when he can really lord over all of those many skills, the very precise boxing. But when he's got another heavy, dominant puncher in front of him, who also wants to counterstrike, he's a little bit limited in how much he can move the fight forward in that case now how much is that well if he fights Anthony Smith or whoever

ends up being the champion because that was discussed I don't know specifically but it's hard to say anything bad I guess my only point is there is a boost here just not really all that tremendous of a boost right and certainly not in terms of UFC matchmakers wanting to reward him for that. But, you know, again, it's like he kind of, you just made an argument, you know, maybe you would have liked to see more takedowns. Maybe that could have been a potentially even easier road for him.

I like the fact that he didn't rely on his wrestling, which is certainly more of his calling card than not, Luke, and stuck with that accurate, hard counter-striking again, part of why this wasn't entertaining. Most of why this wasn't entertaining certainly was the choices that I've made. Although by making those choices, he completely controlled the fight,

right? Except for the, the one sequence, but this is also two counter-strikers going against each other. And if both are going to remain stubborn in that role, you're not going to get anybody leading and leading the dance and making it a fun fight. And that's kind of how this turned out to be.

But what did we see? Ankalayev striking Luke, which was full on display. Yeah. One punch at a time or one, you know, counter shot, but damn the dude's accurate and he does hit hard and he seems to have a

mind for this game. So I'm not going to come out here, Luke and do what you want me to do, which is to say, line them up. Anthony Smith. He's going to smash your boy. No, Luke, I have respect for that me to do, which is to say, line him up. Anthony Smith, he's going to smash your boy. No, Luke, I have respect for that man as a man,

as a journalist, as a fighter. But, Luke, he's going to smash your boy, and then he's going to fight for the title, okay? I'm telling you that right now. I was going to ask you, is that what you think is next? One more fight and then the title, and if so, you like the Anthony Smith one. Tell me why you like that fight.

No, I do like that fight a lot. And all jokes aside, Anthony Smith is a tough, very tough, as we've seen so many times. So that makes him a tough out, but he's more active than a Tiago Santos. He's not going to just rely on the hope of one big shot, right? He's a well-rounded fighter who can compete with you in every category, and I think that's the perfect sort of test or showcase or both, depending on the level of difficulty that Ankaliev, if he wins,

ultimately has, that it makes a lot of sense. Because he doesn't deserve the reward of the title shot next. It's a little bit crowded at the top at the moment. I want to see what Rakic can do after Prochocka gets that opportunity. But yeah, and Anthony Smith, he said it on the broadcast without trying to be opportunistic. He made the call, and he's right. The win streak Anthony Smith is on from his last loss

and how solid he looks, look, that's a heck of a fight. Now that's a damn main event. Not the Ryan Spann fight. This fight, that would be a damn main event. That's a much closer pairing of ability, obviously. I agree. I like it because here's who's at the top right you've got glover as your champion but he's got a date with prahachka blachowicz obviously just lost and i think has to take time off with injury or something along those lines but it's not ready right away now there is rakic sitting out there but he could be maybe in a number one contender spot he does obviously have the win over

smith who's sitting at four and then i'm going to guess that Ancalayev is going to leapfrog Santos which will put him at around the five spots so at a bare minimum one more win is absolutely necessary the Smith one is good the Rakic one would be good too like I would I don't understand what the problem with that one would be other than Rakic might perceive himself to be further along than having to do that but either of those would be good and also I would say if Rakic is still hanging around waiting for a fight and then Smith and Onkalayev get it done the winner of that could face Rakic for a true number one contender uh because Rakic obviously was supposed to fight Blachowicz and the whole thing fell apart so hey Luke I don't want to count out I don't want to cut out

my Connecticut uh brethren uh all over to share because, you know, if his story is going to continue, damn right. I want to watch it and enjoy it. But, dude, how great is the next few fights atop this division going to be? I mean, if it ends up being Prochazka and Rakic for the belt, you know, contrasting styles and personalities. I love the shit out of that fight, Luke. And you certainly want, you know, what if Akkalayev ends up facing the winner, you know, if he gets back past Anthony Smith, which obviously is not a foregone conclusion.

I like the future at 205, even though it's not star studded with the loss of Jon Jones's name. They're filling it out pretty quick in terms of giving us people who are legitimately in the title content. I mean, look, is Dominic Reyes completely out of the title conversation for good?

No, right? I mean, the guy still walks, right? Yeah, for good, no. He's obviously in need of a rebound performance and then a little bit more than that, but not out of it. It is kind of funny, though, if you look at the top five,

including the champion, only one American, which would be Smith in there, just sort of speaks to the... This has always been somewhat true with light heavyweight whenever you've had big stars like when Overeem was at light heavyweight this is years and years ago early 2000s obviously you had a strong Brazilian contingent of good light heavyweights Arona for a time Vitor Belfort you have to go I mean Americans Rampage Tito blah blah blah but to see how much you have it, like with, let's see, Blachowicz is Polish.

Brahatka is what, Czech? Rakic is, he lives in Austria. Is he Croatian or did I just make that up, Luke? He might be, but I know for, I follow him on Instagram. He lives in Austria. And then obviously Tiago Santos is Brazilian and Ankalayev is Russian. It's really interesting to see how internationalized

the top of that light heavyweight division has become. Sort of a smaller note, but this was a makeup where if I had asked you, where are the top five, top six light heavyweights in the world for at least the UFC light heavyweights, and you could tell me Vienna, Austria, and wherever else, 10 years ago that was impossible. There was no way that was going to happen, and now it's just a matter of routine.

So you're right. You get some new youth as well. Go ahead. I have three important questions for you about light heavyweight, all right? All right. Will we know for sure, following the conclusion of Nemkov versus Corey Anderson in the Bellator light heavyweight Grand Prix final and Glover versus Prochockotska after those two fights do you think we'll know for sure who's the best 205 pound fighter in the world

um consensus number one right yes no i don't okay what if nemkov what if nemkov bulldozes okay anderson and which is i don't think that he's going to have that type of ease even if he wins that's a great fight in terms of competitiveness i don't as long as nemkov is sitting on the outside looking in i just think there's going to be a a lot of mma fans are in. They think that they're MMA fans, but they're really just UFC fans. And that's fine. Like, dude, like what you like and don't watch what you don't want to watch.

If MMA outside of UFC doesn't interest you, then it doesn't interest you. But it's hard to call yourself an MMA fan if you only watch UFC. And so I just think because there's enough of that group, however ill-informed they may be it's going to be hard for Nemkov I do think though if he goes in there and just dusts Corey Anderson at this point which I also don't think is likely that would it would make the it

would make the PR campaign behind him certainly significantly more than it is now a lot of people don't even know what know about him so no I don't think it would. Super important light heavyweight question number two. My favorite 205-er, Maheta. Is he having lost what? Three in a row? Four in a row? Four or five? Something.

Whatever it is, it's bad. Okay? I know you had the Johnny Walker win in between, but I think it's four out of five. All against elites. Four out of five. One and two in his last three luke is majeta santos washed or just a firm step below elite um i don't know if he's washed in the sense that you that we typically imply i think that the injuries he had were for a professional

fighting career um not quite catastrophic but something pretty close to it. And there was no recovery that was possible that was going to put him back on a path to success, especially given his age, which is now 38. Obviously, he was injured in the Jones fight, which was all the way back in 2019, so three years ago. But even then, 35 is pretty old to, that's pretty old to get, you know, extensive reconstructive surgery on both knees.

There was no coming back from that in a way that were, not that he couldn't win again, he beat Johnny Walker, but to be what he was, that's just way, way too much damage to try and reconstruct a physical game behind. As much as I want them to put him back together, they can't. But Luke, I'll give him the finest compliment i can to me tiago santos's first team all ufc fight pass which means if i'm sitting in the eighth row on delta and you know i'm just looking to chill out and watch some fights that's one of the first five guys i'm randomly going to because i just

love this whole run and just picking a fight, Luke, and you're typically entertained across the board. Finally, number three, Luke, I don't think Lil Nog was ever elite, dude. Deal with the consequences of me saying that. No, I think you will deal with the consequences, Paul Buentello. Don't fear me. Fear the consequences.

True or false, Luke? I don't know. I don't know about about that but real quickly on tiago santos oh wow wow let me go back let me go back tiago santos is this it for him like is this idea that he's ever going to beat a very top-end guy is that over uh for the fans yes for ufc matchmakers yes for him maybe not maybe he thinks luke he's one more knockout win away from being right back there um i don't think he should walk away i don't think they'll tell him to walk away um he still serves an immensely large purpose as being a gatekeeper right now an elite gatekeeper do i want to see him you know stockpile l's or trade wins and losses for five years as a real gatekeeper? No, but I think he's got to, in his mind, Luke,

when you get to this point in your career, until somebody solves you, and I know you say, well, well, you know, to us losing a five round decision, which you were completely, you know, dominated almost every turn that's solving, but to the warrior inside Maheta, until somebody takes his soul, Luke, until somebody knocks him the F out at this level, he's

not going to believe he's not that guy, or he can't be that guy for one night. So, you've got to downgrade the matchmaking next for sure, but we're going to have to find out a lot of what that fight looks like, Luke. I think he can bounce back and win on a step-down level for sure,

but he's going to have to take some punishment, I think, in these fights to try to do that, Luke. The step-down part is right. I mean, here's the thing. The losses are piling up, but the one kind of caveat is Jon Jones, Glover Teixeira, Alexander Rakic, Magomed Onkolaev. He's not losing at light heavyweight at this juncture to nobody's, but he clearly can't compete with the very best of that division.

Not right now. Probably not ever again. Obviously, that remains to be seen, but a step down is not really warranted. It is, I think, necessary at this point. BC, in your co-main event from that ufc car bro so are you are you punting stepping up to the microphone and telling the truth about little nog okay are you are you outright dude it's a very very stupid thing you're saying can we move on to things that are more was the man elite or not and your masturbatory ideas about a light heavyweight that no longer competes? Wow. Wow.

Luke, I mean, feminine products all nine, Luke. I mean, come on, bro. You know? I don't want to talk about little nog. We got shit to do. Why are we talking about little nog? One of us fueled by AG1 was man enough to bring facts to the table. Okay, Luke, thank you. All right, enjoy your delusions.

All right, point number two. Song Yedong was in the co-main event and not only won against Marlon Marais, he easily dispatched him inside the first round. Mike Bond made a point about the losses of Marlon Marais. They're becoming quicker and even more brutal over time. BC, we'll start, though, with the winner, with Song Yedong. Dude, it could not have gone much better for him.

How impressed are you, and what do you take from a victory like this? What does it signify to you? Well, I think you can take everything we learned until the big one landed. And once it landed, the fight was over. And obviously there's a lot to say about Marlon Royce's future from here, but focusing on Song Yedong, I liked it a lot. I thought it was a solid step. You can only take so much again from it, but poise setups, combinations.

Luke, you know, I'm, I'm certainly not ready to stamp him as, as a, as a guarantee, but dude, he looks really damn good for future potential, Luke. And I think getting this name, however damaged that name is, and it's, it's pretty damaged. We're getting there. um it is a big win a big step forward so uh yeah we got to find out more let's let's get him in a more even matchup next but dude i mean what can you say negative about this performance look just try it uh for song and dog i don't know what we could have said other than i guess he didn't like he got hit at least once or however many times not many so it wasn't perfect but it was pretty close to that here's the thing though we

already knew he had big power we already knew he had good combinations we already knew his striking reads and setups and accuracy had gone uh or gotten much better in that sense this fight didn't tell us anything but what this probably does is solidify that in like this concentrated moment when you can be like wow look who he beat he beat a guy with a name and he did it with these skills that had been revealing themselves in in bursts or in larger parts um previously to this but he has this crystallizing moment where he can now leverage this i think he enters the top 10 by the way with this because i think morice was sitting at 10 so now he's going to start being in there with some names where they also have names. Potentially they have a number beside it, but they're going to offer potentially

stiffer resistance. This to me was the culmination of some work he's been done that has been somewhat unheralded, somewhat under the radar. That's the big thing for Song Yun-dong. He's been, he's had a couple of moments of, moments of you know grabbing attention but the more recent work has been very much under the radar this was the time where he put it all together against a guy fans recognize as being troubled in marlon morice but still of previous i mean it's just crazy that this guy knocked out sterling stopped jimmy rivera stopped hafei el sunsao and just can't buy a win. But to this point... Yeah, and just to quickly on Yudong, and no, I'm not setting up a joke,

I'm saying that... Do you like the call out of Dom Cruz? Well, so there's the Team Alpha Male there, right? The Team Alpha Male connection, they all want it. Dom Cruz, still a relevant fighter, still a difficult fighter to beat with obviously a tremendous name. And Cruz will promote that fight.

We would learn a lot about Yedong if he took that fight next. Because of Cruz's unorthodox style? Because I was ready to count out Cruz the last two fights. In both fights, he showed me that that unorthodox style, even as it's slowing down a bit, and even though he's never going to be a knockout puncher, he'll still expose you if you're not ready, Luke, if you're not ready to win the fight with your mind.

You know what I'm saying, Luke? Yeah, and also he, I think, I got to look at the numbers on this to be sure, but I feel like he goes to the wrestling a little bit more now too, Dominic Cruz, which he always did, but just slightly turned it up on the dial to get a little bit more out of it. But this was to me Song Yedong announcing, I'm a top 10 bantamweight. I'm ready for big challenges.

I have beaten people now with names that folks should recognize. A lot of times you can ask of a rising prospect, ask a fan, name their three best wins, and they may struggle for names. This is one of those ones where you're like, oh, right, didn't he knock out Marlon Marais in the first in a year or two or three we'll be talking about this but bc i i hate to say this i don't i i don't like focusing on a fighter's losses this way but we just simply have to and i'm going to ask it as plainly as i can is this it for marlon morice i think it should be yeah yes luke and and now i wanted to ask you because you know i i watched

this piecemeal after the fact. I'm sure you were watching this card live. Did he take off the gloves signifying retirement? Because I saw some tweets from Ariel, but I never quite put it all together. I didn't. I don't know. In watching real time after he got stopped, I went back and I rewinded it a bunch just to rewatch it. So I may have missed that part.

I don't know if that's confirmed. I think he should. What did Ariel tweet? I missed that too. That he took his gloves off. Yeah, which, you know. Ah, okay, okay. So look, I think he should

because the fatal flaw that he has right now, Luke, I don't think you can fix it. And it's just going to keep repeating itself on every level. And you know what I mean? Like, is he talented enough to pull off the Amerir Khan act for a while, which means I can beat the lower level guys, although I'll get rocked a few times and have a scare and then I'll sell my name to the bigger names and get sent to hell. Maybe, but it's not worth it in this game.

It's a different matchmaking style in UFC, which makes it less valuable, but it's not worth it, dude. Like he got to a high level luke but i there's a major malfunction that that is once it's gone it's it's it's gone luke i mean it's gone here here's the thing that everyone has to kind of wrap their head around this is less true in the dewallish wheelie fight where you know he a marlin nearly won it and then b dewallish wheelie just kind of you know as a as a a terminator but in the font Sandhagen and Yedong fight like what's the

common denominator there the common denominator there is that strikers looked a little bit made some reads and here understand just think about it this way BC especially true in boxing less true in MMA but when you have knockouts like this consecutively now

the question becomes relevant. Elite, high-level pro fighters, especially ones with a striking kind of based game, they don't get hit cleanly all that often, especially in boxing. It's less true in MMA where things can happen. But if you get viciously stopped several times in a row with pinpoint accuracy,

dude, it tells you that they're reading you, that they're able to pick up on your movement and your timing and either create traps for you to fall in, which is what Song Your Dog did, or in the case of Sanhagen, they can just sort of know where you're going to be and then Rob Font, the sort of accumulative striking ability that he has, dude, they're just looking at him and they can read it wide open. That is a hard problem to solve. The question I have is how come no one was able to do that beforehand?

It seems like the game didn't change. Everyone's approach changed, and that is a much harder thing to solve for. I agree, and you should probably figure out how to set traps with your dog luke i mean did you take french what foreign language did you take in high school let me ask it's not like i'm saying it's not like i'm saying little noggin's jeremy giambi though like there are you know what i mean like i i think i i think i nailed it luke okay i don't think you do what foreign language did you take in high school i took uh french in seventh eighth nine ten and eleven luke i almost took french for honors senior year but then i said to myself what am i doing what am i gonna do with this luke nothing okay

nothing so how do you say 19 in French? I don't even remember. Okay. Oh, bullshit. You took five years of French and you don't remember how to say 19. I went to Montreal on New Year's Eve when I was like 20 and I thought, oh good. I'll put all my French education to work. I'll have real conversations with hot French chicks. Luke, I couldn't, I dude, I could. It was like my English now, Luke, okay?

It was like, you know, trying to get to the. I could put three words together, but to get to that fourth, to actually make it sound like you're saying something, no, Luke, no. So you're the guy who went to McDonald's and you were like, I want that quarter pounder. I don't know if you know what that is with the metric system. Avec fromage. Is that you?

Yes, yes, Luke, yes. That was me. You were also the kid who when you had to say 19 in french you instead just said these nuts back to the back to the teacher weren't you because there were kids in my school that did that and i'm imagining you might have been one of the ones who did it in your school uh true or false you said no i mean these nuts no i wouldn't i wouldn't be that that alarming you know i'd have a moment a year like that but no i wasn't that out of control all right all right all right back to the story at hand uh so for let's let's recount this we'll

move on from marlin the loss to suhudo the win over aldo however controversial then the loss to san hagen font wallace wheelie and now Song Yedong he has lost five of his last six and all five BC all five by way of stoppage um for his own health he probably should stop for at least a little while but I would imagine the UFC will part with him for now yeah and I really hope he doesn't end up on Eagle FC's undercard you know what I'm saying little guy just really hope which he might which he might god god help I really hope he doesn't end up on Eagle FC's undercard. You know what I'm saying? Luke, I just really hope. Which he might. Which he might.

God help. I mean, is he fighting Ray Borg next, Luke? I mean, is that what's happening? I don't think that's an unfair question. You know, Eagle FC is going to be an interesting addition to the larger body of regional promotions, and I think for some people it will work out well. For some it won't.

That's prize fighting but you know um it'll be interesting to see who gets a second or tries to get a second act on there in sadness booking um especially if there are already clients of uh that whole dominance MMA group but we'll see how that yeah yeah Junior Dos Santos just took the leap Luke okay yeah against Jorgen DeCastro but see that's still a winnable fight for him. That's not like... I don't know if he should still be fighting based on the damage, but that's... He can win that one.

That's not so crazy. Now, if he loses that one, then whatever. Okay, if Eagle FC signed Little Nug, would you... Yeah, I respect a guy that trained with the Cuban boxing team. Like, you know... Maybe I'll see you on high court one day, Luke, okay? I respect a guy that trained with the Cuban boxing team. Maybe I'll see you on high court one day, Luke, okay? Yeah, maybe I will. Get your Delta 8s.

All right, point number three here, BC. This was, I won't say the best combat sportsman event of the weekend because there was a lot of competition for that. But certainly on the MMA side, if you go to Eagle FC, Bellator, and UFC, to me this is the runaway best main event of those three, certainly of the weekend. And what a fight it was. In your Bellator 276 main event, a featherweight contest between two fighters,

both 28 years old, both tied at the time. We'll see where it ends up. But both at the time of the fight, tied for second in that division at featherweight behind Patricio Pitbull, who was, of course, behind AJ McKee and BC. These two guys went to absolute war. Now, Boric secured the unanimous decision victory,

and I thought the 50-45 scorecard was atrocious. At a bare minimum, I thought that, bare minimum, Burnell got one, maybe two of those rounds. I thought Boric was the rightful winner. Please don't misunderstand me. 50-45 is a little egregious. what a fight what a pairing what a style of fight this is one of those like phone booth fights that you see much more commonly in boxing where two guys are literally head to head and just digging punches to the body bc not a brawl it was like

but not a brawl so let me let me pitch to It was too technical, which made it even better in a way. Let me pitch it to you. BC, did Boric show you enough to make you think he has a reasonable chance against the winner of Pitbull-Mikitu? That was the key question you wanted answered, Luke. So did it show me that he's on the same level? No, but it showed me that he's got a fighting chance at whoever that is. And it showed me that it's going to be a, we're in, we're in a great position.

You know what I mean? Obviously if Pitbull beats McKee, that could go right back into a trilogy and we have to, we may have to wait a bit, but to get Borich against the winner, that that's a great fight and Borich, I think without question, stepped up to another level. But Luke, before I can go too deep into this, I want you to answer one question, though. Because we just talked about how it was so enjoyable to watch. It was a high-level, skilled, almost brawl, but just really a great, fun fight to watch. But it was that way because Burnell bit down on the mouth guard and was basically like,

I'm going to box life or death with you here. And to his credit, Luke, he's a damn good boxer. But he wasn't shooting, Luke. So do you go back and say, great performance by Boric? Hell yeah. It made a great fight to watch. Hell yeah. But I'm not sure Burnell gave him himself the best chance to win.

And I don't say that to dock Boric. I just want to know if you believe that's fair based on the skills. You know, on the ground is where he was going to have potentially the most level of success, and he didn't willingly try to go down there. I don't think more than, what, once? Did he even shoot, Luke?

He tried for several takedowns along the fence, yeah. But they got stuffed. You don't remember that? Apparently not. I was speed along the fence, yeah. But they got stuffed. You don't remember that? Apparently not. I was speed-watching, Luke. I saw one takedown attempt. I will say this for your question, because I do think there's a little bit of element of truth to it.

I'll tell you how I scored this fight. I saw it as 4-1 for Boric. But, BC, we've talked about this. It is possible to lose a fight 50-45, and for all five of those rounds to be razor thin. You could see it for the same guy in all five, but a 50-45 doesn't tell you that the guy necessarily got his ass beat or that it wasn't close.

So I did score 49-46 for Boric, but that wouldn't tell you about a lot of the great work that Boric was doing, particularly as you saw, BC, he would slip off the center line and then rip those left hands to the body. He was chewing Boric up. He actually got away from it which i think cost him maybe that fight a little bit late but to answer your question these guys were pretty evenly matched borch a little bit ahead and really pushed it on late in that fourth and fifth round

but i will there's a takedown right there you just saw it or at least the semi-attempted one i don't know luke i i mean i get I get what he's trying to set up here. What I was going to say, BC, what I was going to say is, if he went at it a second time with a much more wrestle-heavy approach, do I think he could have better success? Yes, I do. I don't think it's fair to say that he didn't try in the wrestling, but I do think that he didn't emphasize it maybe enough as he could have.

He was focused on winning the fight on the feet 100% if that was what he had to do. I just think he didn't have to do that. But to his credit, Luke, I'm sure he stuck with it because he thought he was winning. And even though I don't think 50-45 is an outrage because it was, each round was so damn competitive, I do feel like Boric had a stronger argument in every single round to have won it. So I wonder if Burnell, I don't know, did he think he was just going to outlast Boric? Did he think he was going to take him into those championship rounds on the feet and just wear him down to, you know, exhaustion and to set up for a knockout? I'm not sure, Luke.

I love the body attack from Burnell. But, I mean, I guess he thought he was up, Luke. I guess he thought he had a stronger argument for having won it because he stayed in that pocket and just committed. His face told the story, I think in a lot of ways, but as much as I love the guts of Bernal and I love the body attack,

it just didn't seem like that was the most winnable path for him. Maybe he felt something I didn't in the clinch that would let him know that the takedowns weren't going to be as easy, but all in all, Luke, wherever you stand on that petty side argument, Borch made a leap 100%

against lesser skilled guys. He's going to finish him with something crazy because those knees are potent and they come out of nowhere, Luke, but he's showing, I think, a much better, well-rounded game, even though he wasn't on his back in this fight. He's ready, okay? Would you favor him to win? No, but but he's ready luke and that's going to be fun to watch his next step so the question was did he show you enough to make you think he has a chance against either

pitbull or murky yes he has a chance yes and more than just a puncher's one that's absolutely you know did he overwhelm and just absolutely bludgeon mads brunel and put a huge distance between himself and the rest of the division? No, not in that sense. But the way he turned it on in rounds four and five with the offense was big. The way in which he was able to adapt and change some things about how he was fighting for the third round on was big. Now again, Mads Brunel not going back to the leg kicks as much as I thought he could.

Letting go of the body shots, I don't know what happened there. He has a high guard. I'll tell you what I think happened, BC. He has a high guard. He's actually pretty good at slipping punches and encountering. I think he thought, I'm going to put in a certain amount of effort on takedowns, and if they're not there, that's fine because my standup is very good. And to be fair, Mads Brunel does have very underrated standup. I thought this fight showcased that fact, even if he came up on the losing end of things. But it just so happened that Boric not only had leveled up as a technician,

he had also leveled up in terms of intensity and was ready. Dude, Boric fought the overwhelming majority of that fight backing up and then kind of at least doing lateral movement side to side. That's an awful, difficult way to fight. And he was still the one who was able, at least to me movement side to side that's an awful difficult way to fight and he was still the one who was able at least to me bc from that third round on

to put some distance between himself and mads brunel a little bit more of a jab a little bit more of a push kick and brunel just couldn't adjust around it that kind of stuff that borich was showing at age 28 do i favor him to beat pitbull murky no but you bet your ass i take his chances very seriously and and i agree with that and but the argument is is really based on the striking and his just full ability on the stand-up because even though he has the threat of the kicks he won this fight with his boxing i mean it was brilliant it was it was smooth it was crisp everything about it i loved but luke as much as look he'll be an underdog against pitbull or mckee do you think

there's potential he gets like solved like that on the ground though because that's kind of what happened in the caldwell loss correct yes caldwell was on him like like white on rice yeah you know you wonder if we get all excited about what him and mckee for example might look like and mckee just looks at that and goes oh i'm taking this taking this MF down right away and throw some Spider-Man jiu-jitsu at him. And, you know, I don't know if Borch has fully, fully proven that side of it yet, Luke, on this elite level before that fight. But guess what?

He got here anyway. So let's see what happens. Fair enough. For Mads Brunel, 28 years old, what would you say would be an appropriate next I'll pull up the rankings here real quick for the Bellator featherweight division if I can I would love to know what you think I made this point BC if you take out Patricio Pitbull which of course is a very relevant name what I'm trying to point out is from the champion to the first and there's two tied at second third fourth and fifth here are your oh your featherweights they're all from five on up

they're all under the age of 30 pedro carvalho aaron pico adam borich mads burnell patricio pitbull aj mckee bc a burnell pico fight i know i think pico's got business coming up but if he gets past that burnell and pico that is i mean hell i mean that's Burnell and Pico, that is one hell of a contest. Dude, that's a fight, man. There's some gamble on the... Even though Pico, it's like how many more wins do you want Pico to get before he's going to really step up? That argument is in play right now. 100%.

But that is pretty damn dangerous for Pico, you know? Because it's going to be... Dude, that's going to be on the feet. That is going to be a slugfest, Luke. And Burnell's going to believe in... Dude, that's going to be on the feet. That is going to be a slugfest, Luke. And Brunel's going to believe in his boxing and be swimming on the inside. Damn, dude.

That's aggressive matchmaking. I like that. Luke, let's do it, okay? You know what? There's no reason to potentially be Smirch Little Nog any longer. Let's take that out of the equation. I agree with that, Luke. Fair enough.

BC, anyone else from this card impress you at all? I thought you were going to go in terms of their looks or performance. Luke, that was a frickin'—okay, look, you can't go too much farther down before—obviously, shout out Phil Davis. Did what he had to do. Luke, I didn't see any holes. He's 37. He's

not overly exciting, but I think Phil Davis still contends with everybody in this division after that Julius Anglicus win. I don't think there's much more to say about that. But, dude, Johnny Ebelin is everything you said he was, Luke, and then some. And this was a good-ass, strong, solid performance against John Salter. And I like that. You know, he had to fight off a submission there, but, like, this dude's country strong, Luke.

He's coming. He's coming on, dude. He can wrestle. He's full of confidence. Did he just win a damn country strong, Luke. He's coming. He's coming on, dude. He can wrestle. He's full of confidence. Did he just win a damn title shot, Luke? I think he did, right? He beat the number one guy. Yeah, you know what?

And I got to give credit to Josh Thompson. A lot of times MMA commentators are always like, a fighter is never bad, they're only good. And of course, there was only good things to say about Johnny Ebelin after this. But I agree with Josh Thompson. Even if he's at the top of this division by virtue of the win, because I think Salter was ranked number one,

and Ebelin I think was ranked two or three, something like that. He moves to that top spot, but I don't think he's as good as he has been, and he has been one of the most unheralded top contenders in MMA. If Mousasi is next, that is a gigantic step up, and I want to be fair to a gigantic step up and I want to be fair to Musashi and I want to be fair to Johnny Ebelin but as good as Ebelin has been you know to go from what he's been taking on where Salter understand something Salter was by far Ebelin's toughest test to date and Ebelin passed it basically no problem but Musashi is several levels above even that that seems like a little

he needs maybe one or even two more even if he's sitting at the top spot BC before he's ready for Musashi I I think that's right you know you wonder though if if he if he if it just makes sense and it's him next but um that's a strong-ass performance Luke and we probably don't have footage to put with it but Cody Law dude I know this is lower-level prelim matchmaking, but that featherweight, minute 17 to knock out James Adcock, he seems like a guy to watch, Luke. Cody Law is a hammer. If you guys are not paying attention to him now,

you're going to hear about him soon enough. Right there. Yeah, I mean, he's athletic. He can wrestle. He's with a good team. This dude has everything you would want at this stage of his career. Now, granted, he's unranked, and it's very, very early. This is that comparative advantage that Bellator has.

Find the really good ones early. Give them some time to get good like they did with A.J. McKee. And not everyone's going to turn out like A.J. McKee, but A.J. McKee turned out pretty good. So you can follow that blueprint. You can get a lot out of it. This guy's a motor bro he this guy can go man I would also say BC uh New Zealand's JJ Wilson did lose against Godsey Rabotinov or Rabotinov however you say it but I'll say this he showed a lot of a lot of a scrambling ability a lot of promise. Robotinov is a very tough customer. Had we talked about,

had twice as much experience as JJ Wilson, but JJ Wilson found ways to persevere, hang on and show that like, okay, this was a little too much right now in his career, but it may not be in a couple of years when he's got, you know, let's say three,

maybe five more fights under his belt. He has some ability, even though congrats to Robotadonov you know the better wrestler the the veteran experience definitely you know showed itself here and wasn't rabadonov a team habib guy yeah he had an abdul manap shirt on afterwards in the cage yeah i agree dude what am i choking on success luke um i i agree what you're saying about the uh do you pronounce that may maori kid maori kid luke i can't pronounce anything maori maori maybe mallory uh luke the the maori kid he's got that um that spark he's got so so yeah this was you know you got to learn from this and it was his first fight at lightweight but i think that he's

going to be good in this division and i think there's that he's got the fighting spirit man he's got to round it out a bit more but i i think we're going to hear from him luke so it was it's weird it's weird to be like okay yeah i lost but hey all good moving forward but it kind of feels like that yeah uh and again phil davis it's like, he went, I mean, on the feet, him and Angliscus were pretty even, but on the ground, dude, you know, Angliscus stuffed a couple of takedowns, but like once they got there, like Phil is still strong as shit. He was going for knee on belly, which, you know,

that's hard to hold, hard to do. That usually indicates a big skill differential. I was still, Phil Davis is still impressive. I'm going to say something, and you're going to think it's me insulting him, but hear me out, Luke. Do you think, first of all, he's in absurd physical shape right now. So shout out to him for first remaining just, you know, elite as hell across the board.

But for as frustrating as he could be at times during his UFC run and during his title and then this most recent run here, you know, with the Nemcoff fights at the highest level in Bellator. You're always like, man, I wish he just did more. I wish he threw more. I wish he tried more. I wish he emptied the tank more. Do you think all of those have added up to where he's going to have one of these careers where he can just hang on and be elite for a long ass time? Maybe into his 40s because he always kind of held back just a little bit luke

and he's responsible defensively you know i think you think that right i'm just i know that's like unfair but that might be true look this is a today of truths okay i'm sorry if dude if if i get i mean do you think i'm afraid little nog is coming after me is that the situation right now look i don't think you're afraid little nog is coming after you okay i don't i mean it's okay all you have to tell is the people elite or not elite look just say it okay you are not elite all right we move to point number four here bc this was an interesting one all right so kevin lee maybe got injured from the very first kick. That's not an exaggeration. We don't know what the full medical diagnosis is, but he was on shaky legs almost immediately. against Diego Sanchez. BC, how do you interpret a result where Diego lost and lost fairly, but overperformed relative to expectations,

and Kevin Lee won but underperformed, but was also maybe pretty badly injured? Remember when we both agreed the J.J. Wilson loss was almost like, don't worry about it, it's kind of a win in the long run? This is a win that is kind of a loss in the long run because you're not, you know, you're only supposed to knock Diego Sanchez the hell out and not take anything in return.

And then you package, you know, I mean, Lee won and he was dominant, but, you know, he didn't maybe do what you expected him to do with this type of matchmaking. And then you get seriously injured on top of that. Dude, I mean, I'm the last guy along with you holding that flagpole atop the hill as the storm's coming down, Luke, and the beaches of Normandy are being invaded,

and I'm saying, nah, brah, future champion Kevin Lee. And I know that's comedic, and we have come down to earth on this run, you know, and saying, look, I mean, he's young enough to still make something happen. But, Luke, you know, you put in bad luck like this, it just felt like a flat tire, dude. I can't get excited. Yeah, I got to tell you, I didn't love this bout either.

Listen, okay, I thought Kevin was going to go in there and dust him. And on the ground, Kevin did look good, even with that banged up knee. This is the only thing I'll say about it. Not the only thing, but the major takeaway I have is that congrats to Diego he definitely overperformed he definitely only had a very short camp I know he was training with Frank Lester and a couple other guys and you know given all those considerations he turned in what I would consider to be a very admirable performance I'll say that and Kevin again, on the ground was just, you know, significantly better here. I'll also say I'm willing to give Kevin Lee a mulligan for a lot of reasons, you know, getting cut from the UFC and new weight class, and he got injured right away,

and that injury could be real bad. We'll see. The only thing I want to point out is I can't tell if the way Kevin Lee was striking was fully a function of the injury he had suffered or was some accommodation for it but like he's still not fainting at all and again I want to be clear about this it is not that I know better it is not that I am anyone's coach it is not that anyone needs to take the specific advice I recommend or things I say and put them into action i'm merely voicing an opinion based on observations but my observation is bc there is a it's not that the best ones only do it and the and everyone else doesn't but

one of the problems he had against ally quinta he was just jousting with him there was almost no setup and al was over time able to make all these reads and then tear him up as a consequence now kevin might have gone back to that because of this injury that could be real time off who knows but i didn't see any change from that and i think while i'm certainly willing to say this fight you can not throw it out but it's hard to make a whole lot of it given all the factors nevertheless that did catch my eye and it does make me wonder about the future where kevin on the ground is a nightmare but on the ground on the feet i'm just not to this point injury okay you know makes it difficult to make a read bc but i'll just say i'm a little bit worried

about the development in the striking department at this point like officially worried and i need to see more to see what happens and it it's hard because, you know, this win or even potentially, depending on the level of competition, of course, let's give Habib credit. He is finding some names out there and he's going to obviously produce some smashers coming up that we never heard of that are going to end up going to the UFC one day. But this, you know, going down to this level for Kevin Lee and,

you know, he may be their Eagle FC's 165 pound champion soon if they have that and he comes back from injury but he's got to really use this as JV, as minor league baseball, as training camp, as like I got to retool myself and look the knee injury again, it's not his fault Luke and he fought through it

and didn't have a disaster in the end but the matchmaking didn't necessarily do him a lot of help in any situation, even if he looked great the matchmaking didn't necessarily do him a lot of help in any situation. Even if he looked great, the matchmaking wouldn't have done him a lot of help because people would have not counted it as a good win. But yeah, I got to see all these changes at this level

and I got to see them look... You got to make me fall for those changes at this level. You got to make me get back out on that hill with the flag and tell you, no, Kevin Lee's coming on, he's back. And certainly for all the reasons we mentioned, this performance didn't accomplish that. But damn, dude. I mean, Luke, in three years, is he back in the UFC or headlining BKFC?

Don't answer that because it's an unfair question. It's not fair at all, Luke. Life isn't fair. Damn. It is an unfair question. By the way, I didn't realize this on Friday because, you know, I can barely keep my brain working properly. Did you realize Eagle FC will not sign women?

They don't have a women's division or competitions at all? I never thought of that, Luke. I never thought of that, but you appear to be correct. Yeah, I mean, listen, it's his fight promotion. He can do what he wants with it, and not everyone has to have women but you know i'm guessing that the reasons for their exclusion under scrutiny would not necessarily hold up all that well but you never know i mean like in boxing pbc doesn't have a women's division you know just sort of is what it is yes are they doing it because of um

fealty to relate religious edicts or because they can't yeah i get i mean i obviously get the extreme of what you're saying luke i'm just trying to i'm trying to give habib a chance a benefit of the doubt it's his fight promotion he can do what he wants you know look in the court of public opinion what do you think like what do you is habib you think in the court of public opinion among like fans like he's not teflon by any means and you know there's going to be people that just look at him and because of where he comes from or religion, he was going to hate on him.

He was the only Russian who didn't get booed at UFC 277. Well, that's what I'm saying. His like, he's so respected for all the right reasons, loved for all the, like all that. And his,

his record in the cage and the way he handles himself, but like, he doesn't really have too many black marks. Like, would you call the two 29 brawl afterwards, a black or do you go no that's justified i mean it's a little bit of a black mark you know taking picking the law into your own hands listen here's the thing ultimately what happened ended up not being the biggest deal but those type of situations can escalate into something truly terrible. It didn't this time,

but that's the risk you run with something like that. So in that sense, yes, I consider that a black mark. And, you know, I think he's issued like proclamations about, you know,

like rock music or something like that in, in Dagestan that he didn't like that he thought was out of character. You know, I don't, I wouldn't put that on the same level, but certainly that's a point where I feel like. Was it death metal? Luke,

was he talking about death metal? No, I don't think it was. I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, yeah, I don't think that on the same level, but certainly that's a point where I'd be like, eh. Was it death metal? Luke, was he talking about death metal? No, I don't think it was. I don't think it was that. But the point I'm trying to make is he stays, for the large part, very much out of trouble. He doesn't, for the most part, bother anybody. He doesn't have run-ins with the law. He doesn't live a life where he's eating a hamburger that's falling apart as he's drunk on a carpet like David Hasselhoff. He lives a pretty straightforward and clean life, and so he gets to stay out of trouble

as a consequence. I keep killing Hasselhoff for that, but I'm sorry. You know, what can you do? Wow. Him trying to navigate that sandwich was something, Luke. I mean, that was, wow. Yeah, man. I know. I couldn't tell if I wanted to buy a burger or if I wanted to just hose him off and de-louse him. I couldn't tell. Luke, did you like the Ray Borg-Ricky Bandejas extravaganza? Because it was a spirited effort. Yeah, it was a back-and-forth affair for a little while.

Ray Borg proving to be a little bit more of a competitive talent than I think what has reputationally followed him given some of his tragic life circumstances and some difficulties in the cage. But he's a talented fighter. Ben Dehaas too, but he's a talented fighter and that win was not surprising. Indeed.

And Luke, I'll say this. And by the way, our guy Ray Flores was announcing for this promotion over the weekend, so shout out to him. But they assembled that all-star cast. Does that mean anything to you? I think it's a strong move by Habib to have Cejudo, Usman, Chael all up in the video, so to speak, all hosting that roundtable thing they do, being the commentators and such. I know there's other people as well that they rotate in.

But dude, you're only going to have a certain level of matchmaking at this. It's not that this is day one of Habib's promotion. It's already been going on, but bringing it to the U.S., it's day one on Habib's promotion in a lot of ways, Luke. So far, for the hand he's dealt and the limitations of his size and the fact that, yes, he's putting out wash fights to try to rely on that to move the tickets. He's done pretty damn well, Luke.

I like it. I like what I've seen. Yeah, I thought the first event was, I mean, it's 46, but I mean, under this, well, it's not even the first event, but this sort of, this was the first bigger event I think they'd put on since some of the new deals and with this 165 pound main event. Yes, I think that they have done some very interesting things so far. I don't really have much of an issue with it at all.

Again, they're a good entrant into this larger regional market. Getting back to the question about the booth, though, there was too many voices. You had Cejudo, Usman,man chale and the play-by-play guy and not that the four of them couldn't do it well in the sense that like we keep a conversation flowing and say interesting things but it ended up sounding directly like a fight companion because there are four voices that's way too many also you can cut your costs by axing a couple of those guys and just having a play and a color, and you could save on that. But the thing is, though, Luke, and this is why I defend it,

is it perfect? Is it hilarious? No. Is it better, though, than I don't know who they would have gotten instead, but let's say it's a step-down level. It's more entertaining than that to me. I don't hate it, Luke. It is a fight companion. You're damn right it is. Which is great if that's what you want. But the transition, obviously, for for her babe has to be away from the the carnival fight and you know

but it takes time to build up names let's see if he can ever get a free agent who's within their prime still that's the big get for any thing though like just to tell fans why would you set up business in florida a couple of reasons one i know folks don't want to hear this and we'll see what happens but there are some indications that a not a new wave of COVID is coming in Europe which means it'll probably hit here at some point what it will look like and how bad it will be I have no fucking idea but the point I'm trying to make is Florida will be I won't say like you know uh it won't be COVID resistant but it in terms of the business practices it will allow you to stay open in the event that

there is another flare up seasonally or whatever the fuck happens. That's one. Two, they're obviously going to be accommodating from a business standpoint. They had the mayor of Miami making several remarks directed just for the Eagle FC audience and Eagle FC event. So they clearly have a good relationship with the city there.

But the point being is here, you don't go to Florida. If you're not interested in putting on fights that maybe other commissions wouldn't put on period that doesn't mean all of them that doesn't mean every time in fact the vast majority of them i thought were fine and will be fine again jds versus jordan de castro i think that's probably winnable in either direction so it's okay but dude you don't set up business in florida if you're like we're gonna put on you know we're not going for the carnival fights that's what you go to Florida for man that's that's why you go there that's what lives there

don't you think um a little too ironic no I mean I it makes everything you're saying it makes sense Luke I've been there um I did want to ask you does it make any sense though in terms of Habib's endgame like is the best end game scenario him like merging with a pfl or bellator you know what i mean or is it or is it to be a regional one that sets people up for the ufc it's a good question well here's the thing this is why i like the 165 division one is just good to get these tweeners, but BBC. Oh, I caught myself in a Peter Griffin moment. Did I not? Yes, I did a BBC. Okay. But number two, Brian Campbell, um, he's got to do something different. He has to do something different. If you're just trying to do what Bellator is also doing,

or PFL is also doing, maybe you try some tournament bullshit or whatever. You're just going to be repeating what they're doing. What is a meaningful alternative that you can offer? Well, one of those things can be among others, you can recruit from a certain part of the world and give them access to this American market that can help your talent pipeline. The other one can be, we're going to play with weight classes a little bit in areas where it might make sense 165 is the most sense possible and we're going to sort of market that as a potential alternative for for burgeoning fighters that to me is very interesting in a real path to something not by itself sustainable but part of a

larger effort sustainable so don't be like indoor football league and change all the rules radically and let that be your gimmick don't do that yes yes don't do that shit but okay but playing with the margins a little bit i think um can be impactful yeah all right bc last but not least people are calling this mate but now granted we're only in march but it's an early contender for at least on the boxing side of things fight of the year lee wood and michael connell what is this bc 126 what is that feather weight in boxing this was for woods uh wba featherweight title and it's not that like this wasn't on our radar but we didn't preview it last week for a reason we just thought it would be like you know another fight it wasn't another fight luke holy shit dude oh my god not at all not at

all so first of all the the zone i thought did a great job i don't know if carl franche has ever commentated a british fighter he thought was losing but neither here nor there he and the other dog did a good job like making the atmosphere what it was the fans were fucking bananas the walkouts were bananas dude tell me when you're watching that you're like i'm not high but i'm. Like, this is everything I wish life was. Yeah, I want to be in a crowd like that. I want to be in a crowd like that. As great as UFC crowds are, Luke, and UFC crowds at the highest level, Vegas pay-per-view are insane.

They don't have that, though. They don't have that organic thing that the UK and Ireland has right now for combat sports, Luke. And damn, do they love their boxers. Holy shit. This was a Nottingham, England. So Lee Wood's the champion. Michael Conlon, though, from Ireland is unbeaten. And Luke, he's that guy from the 2016 Olympics

who gave the middle fingers to the judges when he felt he was screwed. I've had Conlon in studio a couple of times. I like him. And look, he's a great kid, but he was getting to this point while still unbeaten where we were all like okay dude he's a fun boxer but i don't see finn you don't see knockout power and i just don't see him making that leap like like he may never really really

really get there and then he comes out in this fight luke his first title fight got to travel to england for it and and he's in his opponent's backyard but yet there's fans of both there and they respect all um dude he that knock down he scored in round one like he came out power punch and you're like this is a different dude and Luke dude I don't know a ton about Lee Wood I know I've seen his fights I don't I'm not a Lee Wood historian I didn't know he was made of that same metal though Luke to be able to rally back and I mean he's down on the scorecards in round 12

and he scores one of the most storybook knockouts that we're going to reference for years to come and knocks the guy the fuck out of the ring dude on his head basically in front of the lap of his dad and brother. I mean Luke it's just like you could look at this from like title fight

between two top guys and it ended awesome. Or you can look at it just from the Rocky movie bat shit craziness of it. What a freaking fight. The crowd was into us back and forth. That seventh round brawl they had was insane. It was chippy. Like this was a freaking fight. This was unbelievable. this was the atmosphere was

unbelievable and Conlon comes out drops Lee at the end of the first round and let it be known even through like the third and well beyond that but certainly through the third and fourth round several times not knocking Lee Wood down but rocking him on his feet where he you know he gets visibly shaken and his feet are unsteady and then the crowd starts to roar and then Conlon follows up a little bit. That happened several times throughout this bout. That left hand from Conlon was giving LeWood fits all the way through, I'm going to say BC, 9th, 10th round it was still landing.

And in fact, I watched the after show and they got the scores from the judges. All three judges had Conlon winning heading into the 12th. was still landing and in fact i watched the after show and they got the scores from the judges all three judges had conlan winning heading into the 12th but he needed the 12th three points but i think conlan needed to win the 12th to make it a split decision win right um or or maybe making a majority decision my understanding was two of the judges had him up by well see he was losing the 12th but my understanding was two of the judges had him up by well see he was losing the 12th but my understanding was two of the judges had him up by one one had him up by three so he okay so he would have lost the fight he would have lost the fight by split decision if he doesn't if if he loses that 12th round and oh by the way gets knocked out of the ring luke

yes i well yes i mean it depends on what happens at the end of the 12th round but the point i'm trying to make is heading into the 12th he was up on all three for whatever that's worth so had he been able to take the 12th which he was not on his way towards then he could have coasted to a decision the point I'm trying to make here is BC he was doing really really really well through 10-11 rounds

but dude Lee Wood he did not impress me so much with his tactical acumen although the body work late in that fight was really what set it all up. Conlon had nowhere to hide. Conlon's evasive movement, it reminded me of a very different version,

but the same kind of core concept, BC, between Canelo and Caleb Plant. Again, two different fighters, two different weight classes, two different, everything's different about it, except Canelo had to do a lot of body work to finally get to a place where he could do the rest of what he wanted to

to Caleb Plant. Dude, Lee Wood had to go over and over and over to the body, and a lot of that meant putting himself in the line of fire and getting buzzed and tuned up and just crushed with heavy shots, but he stayed with it,

finally was able to pressure Conlon against the ropes in that 11th and 12th round, and then you saw the ending there, dude, in front of his family, sends him through the ropes, after being down on the cards, the kind of competitive will and mental fortitude Lee Wood had to have in that moment is shared by only, only, only,

not the skill so much, BC, although that's there too, but that will, that dog in him is exceedingly rare, and it paid off big time. Holy shit. I mean, and then just to show you his character, then he was, they didn't know if Conlon was okay, and Conlon was down for a long time and got, you know, medical personnel and got removed, and luckily, the videos afterwards, and he wants a rematch,

you know, you know, he's bad, he's good, but he fell out of the ring on the back of his head, more or less where, you know, there's no video of it, or at least that they showed.

But, um, and you had the winner refusing to celebrate and telling the crowd to go down. And even in the post fight interview being like, you know, we hope Michael's okay. And not really focusing on himself so

shout out to him as a sportsman for that first of all but damn Luke I mean like it's easy to see why a fight like this is great for boxing and it builds momentum but Luke right now and you can argue last year was great for boxing right right now we're in the season

that part of why boxing is so good right now. And don't, you know, oh, boxing is dead. Okay, we'll hear that every other year for sure. Right. Believe it. Believe it. And some of those other years, I might believe it, but you get my point. It's because we have a large group of sub elite fighters who want so badly to prove that they're elite. George Kambosis, Lee Wood. want so badly to prove that they're elite george cambosis lee wood uh you know i mean like we're seeing this happen more and more people are going for it right now and i don't know what happened

luke it's not that there's never you know a sub genre of of active boxers that are willing to do that you know obviously when it gets to the elite level, though, it wakes you up more. And we just have a badass bunch at the moment. And there's an old school spirit that's coming back around again right now in the sport that was gone during the Klitschko and Mayweather era, even though I'm not blaming them for it. But it was sort of like a somewhat sterilized run where we had a lot of guys get into elite fights and just go oh i'm not going to win this okay i'm just going to not get hurt you know what i'm saying we get people that are going for it right now that's interesting what so why do you think it does it turn like that often like every 10 years it just kind of changes or what i mean what do you estimate is the reason why

everything has turned in the direction that it has well first of all everything's cyclical and in general right second of all know, sometimes trends can change. I mean, why is the UK on fire right now for boxing? Because, you know, you could argue that 20- Dude, we've got to go and do an MK show in the UK. We really, really got to do it. Remember the last gimmick thing? And I said, Luke, over under 5,000 fans,

can we put 5,000 in for a live show with big name guests? You're damn right we could, okay? I bet we could, yeah. Okay or under 5,000 fans? Can we put 5,000 in for a live show with big-name guests? You're damn right we could, okay? I bet we could, yeah. Okay, but look, like, okay, everything's cyclical. We know that. But sometimes, like, trends happen. Like, why is the U.K. so on fire for boxing?

Maybe you go back to the 2012 Olympic class, and Anthony Joshua was just this wave of momentum, and look at what it's doing now. You know, sometimes you get that in boxing boxing and it gives birth to different things. I think when Floyd Mayweather and Al Heyman learned how to beat the game for the truly elite number one guy, and, you know, obviously, like, they didn't invent that. Sugar Ray Leonard was paid more than anyone, you know, in his time ever. You know, I mean, he had a smart manager.

They were ahead of it. But this era's version of that, when Al Heyman figured out how to minimize the middleman of the promoter and put a star fighter like a Floyd in more position to call the shots and get more of the purse, which are all very good things. But the negative fallout of that is you get a new generation of people that want to be boxing businessmen. And, you know, who is going to stand there and say, don't be like that when you know how dangerous the sport is and you know how many after the sport are financially and physically damaged for as long as they last. Right. I mean, it's the grim reality of combat sports. But I think that era, Luke, created a trend. And again, it wasn't in every pocket,

you know, I mean, I'm sure if you're a Mexican American boxy fan, you're like, what trend, what trend are you talking about again? You know what I mean? Like I've never heard of that for sure.

But I think it, it was a trend Luke. And I think it's coming back around again in a, in a good direction. Hopefully, obviously we get more promoters and counter networks being willing to work together for the super big fights, which is,

we've been on a good run of that lately. So let's hope we're, we're going somewhere this fight. Great. Do we see a rematch though, Luke? Because I think that's like, that's about as great as Conlon can be. Right. And he still had a heartbreaking defeat. So I looked at the rankings. I've got them up here for one 26 BC. Obviously Mark Max, IO has the WBC belt. Leo Santa Cruz and Lee Wood are at WBA. IBF is Kiko Martinez, and then WBO has Emmanuel Navarrete. BC. Michael Conlon is still, well, I mean, this is not updated, but was ranked one in WBA.

He loses. He wants a rematch. First of all, I don't think that's the worst call in the world given he takes time off and there's medical supervision about this. Under that consideration, I I love a rematch. But if Michael Conlon can't get that fight BC, what do you make about him taking on number two, Brandon Figueroa? Well, well, of course, of course you'd love that.

I don't know if it's how makeable it is. Now you can counter that and say, well, isn't Conlon a top ranked espn guy and he just fought in the zone for the title yeah and that's keep it up folks let's hope we can keep doing that uh could he fight figueroa next uh no i mean that that's that's also that's also a weight class above and depends if if uh figueroa is leaving well i guess he's still ranked number two at 126 if he wants it but i mean here's the thing bc like people were asking what's next is he going to get a title shot in the WBO, IBF or WBC? I don't think that he would.

Granted, these are more along the lines of, uh, the, the, the, the networks and then the promoters behind them. But I'm just trying to figure out who else on this list.

You would like to see him if it's not a rematch. Okay. You know, do you give a guy a little bit of a get well fight after a knockout loss that vicious that's there's potential in that for sure. It may end up being, it may end up being a fight we wouldn't want, but I think there's a reason why team Conlon should be so aggressive to try

to make a rematch, not only for the financial potential of cashing in on how crazy that fight was in the atmosphere. Of course. Yes. And if you're the promoters, as you mentioned, this is kind of hot right now. You might as well do that, because if you're Lee Woods promoter, you're going, man, no one, you know, people weren't really talking about him around the world, you know, a few days ago. Now they are. Of course, let's do this rematch. But I'm wondering, Luke, if you're Team Conlon and you consider how aggressive he was, because I think in his mind, Luke, to win the title, I got to be more than I've been in the past, right? I can't

just be a boxer or even an aggressive boxer. I've got to stalk him. I got to walk him down. I mean, he was, as you said, slinging with that left hand. I thought there was times I thought maybe he had Wood close to being hurt again, and he's not a puncher. He just put together the accumulation of all of that in well-timed shots that Wood didn't see coming. But Luke, I think if you're Team Conlon, you wonder in a rematch if they committed to boxing and you tried to, look, it's not going to be nearly as exciting of a fight, but you tried to slow the pace down and control it as a quick southpaw and jab and get out and all that. I wonder if that's a potentially strong counter strategy that we often see, by the way, in rematches.

Anytime you get an action fight with non-action fighters, and I'm not saying that Lee Wood isn't, but you get my point, the rematch is always going to be way more tactical and not as fun. But I wonder if Conlon can win a rematch by boxing, Luke. What do you think? Dude, he was every much his equal or slightly better for the majority of that fight I mean that's the reality right for as long as that fight lasted if you had to add up who was better than who in terms of the amount of time they took up winning exchanges winning rounds you know

essentially lording their skill over their opponent. It was close. Don't get me wrong. It was close the whole time. But Conlon was better up until Lee Wood just kind of took that fight by the scruff of the neck. Again, Michael Conlon's medical situation, I think we need to take a wait-and-see approach. I definitely feel like both guys can make adjustments. And yes, there could be a war. Listen, Lee Wood's finish in this fight, I'm not saying that he has peaked in terms of he'll never,

he'll never do other good fights or have other big wins. He'll never have a win like that again. Not many boxers ever will in their fucking lives, much less after the fact of one like this. But do I think Conlon and Wood might actually be an interesting pairing that gets you several iterations of similar, but maybe different kinds of action? You know, again, those adjustments adjustments but still good i i maybe so i i think it might be worth

considering that and i don't think we should go too much further as much as we are here to play up that the chances would took to be able to win this fight and have this poor man's corrales castillo rocky movie type ending right like just. Dude, Michael Conlon showed such a dare to be great will and obviously toughness. Didn't Conlon get dropped, Luke? It was like a questionable slip, knockdown. He got hit, but it did look, his foot is literally on top of this,

like, you know, you could see water had been spilled in the corner and his foot was on it and he does get hit, but his foot slides out backwards, not even in the way in which he was hit. So it looked more like a slip to me, to me. Well, he showed an incredible heart in his spirit and fight. You know, I mean, he was willing to risk it all.

The knockout obviously was so surprising because of the ropes, but look, because of that one punch, Conlon looked not, you know, not prime before that. I mean, he was, he was tired and, and wood was walking him down, but he looked with it. Dude, that one short right hand was,

you talk about perfect timing, right on the chin, short and powerful. It, it turned the lights off, Luke. I mean, it just,

you know, the parachute came out like that was, and that's, you don't see those type of knockouts often. You know what I'm saying? That's like George Foreman, Michael Moore shit, you know, dude, that's also why, you know the parachute came out like that was and that's you don't see those type of knockouts often you know what i'm saying that's like george form and michael moore shit you know dude that's also why you know being up against the ropes man like tyson fury can get away with it because he's so tall and so uh uh you know rangy he can really lean all the way back and then use the ropes to give to give himself like in the octagon there's no give but in the ropes there's some given the boxers of course know how much give you can lean into the ropes with the point i'm

trying to make here is he if you're evading and moving your head the whole time eventually they might be able to especially as you slow and your reactions get slower they get a little bit more predictable they can tell which side you're going to go to he didn't just move into his own left the right side of lee wood uh sorry he he didn't just get over this way. He literally moved into the punch, BC. He dodged into it. So it was a perfect placement, good read by him, and just bad luck in some ways, I suppose, for Michael Conlon.

And you saw the result, dude. That is a... You just won't see finishes like that, not only every year, but not very often at all in your entire consumption time how many times can you say bc in the 12th round of a world title fight you saw a guy after winning most of the fight get knocked square through the ropes it almost never happens yeah and by the way he was he was out before he even got to the ropes which is why he fell through it's so crazy i mean that's i mean like that's like Joe Smith Jr. finishing Bernard Hopkins' career

by knocking him out of the ring. Only this was a title fight and, like, two guys in their absolute prime and, you know, maybe not as sad in that regard because of how ridiculously competitive this fight was. But wow, wow, wow. Thank you to these two. Thank you, boxing. Thank you to that crowd out there, Luke.

Real quick, though, on Conlon, when he turned pro, he turned pro with Shakur Stevenson under the top-ranked banner, and they were from the same Olympic year, and there was this narrative in the beginning that they were eventually going to fight each other, Luke, and even though Conlon hadn't lost until this fight, Shakur Stevenson started lapping him quick in terms of the eye test, And that's why everybody stopped talking about that for a while, but shout out to Conlon for, for, for still putting, you know,

look, he exceeded my expectations and that's why I think he deserves a rematch. Fair enough. Well, that is it for our top five BC. It is time for us to answer the questions from the viewers. It is time for DMS from the diggity. He, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, it is time for DMs from the diggity dogs. Hee haw. Hee haw. Hee haw.

We do it every Monday. We put up an Instagram post on Sunday, and you give us your questions. The producers then send them to us, and then we answer. All right, BC. Let's go first to, let's see, from S. Capitalism.

I guess this must be somebody who doesn't like capitalism. After what Khalil did on Saturday, why don't we see enough knees, kicks, and punches to the body in a ground and pound context? BC, may I take this one first? Please, please. It is harder to maintain control so if you're inside control there's a lot of ways to maintain that pressure for example you could do

it with head pressure or shoulder pressure rather controlling the head you can reach through all the way behind them grab their armpit pull them into you and you can isolate the neck and the the spine that part of it you have to isolate the hips too that's the two ends of the rope you have to you have to control there's a lot of ways you can do that but one of the ways is you could take your elbow on the opposite side and then your knee on the inside and then you kind of just wedge the body in between although you don't have to do it that way people with the gi will grab the belt and force on top knee on belly is that way you have such control on the hips that you know you can you can sometimes relent some control up top. You get the idea.

You have to control for both of those. When you begin to move your knee away, if the rest of your control is not airtight or where it needs to be, they can begin to move underneath you. So you have to do it in context where if someone is super squirmy underneath, they need to be controlled a little bit more, and I think that's why. But also, BC, people just don't use it as much as they could even in open circumstances like kareel roundtree had a guy he pushed away who was getting up a lot of guys wait until they stand to fire a head kick

kareel roundtree just does it he goes right to the body right away right just before they even have a chance to move yeah it just kicks him right away so it's just it's just also a prioritization thing yeah i mean i would have to think the the fear of submission or being you know caught badly out of position uh is part of it but um dude that's just some i mean look you'll we'll see the highlight and have you seen this shit but can we just talk now about khalil roundtree who had a great win in this fight, a violent as shit win over what, Karl Roberson? His sharing his story and doing it so impassionately in the interview, then the post-fight presser, and I know a lot of the people, like Aaron Brunsteader,

on Twitter started to tell it. I've never heard any of that stuff, Luke, in terms of ever hearing his, like, I've covered his fights. I just don't remember seeing that deeply or maybe watching long interviews where he got into it, and maybe he didn't get into it before or sorry i missed it but uh it's an inspiring shit luke super how to you know a lot of these guys have not had it easy one one way or the other for whatever thing life threw at them and have had to find ways to overcome his was the tragic death of his father i'm sure there were a lot of other things that went along with that,

including but not limited to the weight gain, which compounds other problems about self-doubt and everything else. And he has worked through to get to a point where, and by the way, he almost retired as well. He has found a lot of times some difficulty has found him, but he has persevered through not merely self-belief, but just through action, by getting out in the world and

finding salvation through effort when you hear him say I was 300 pounds and doing nothing and depression there's two ways you go when you hit those crossroads, Luke, and,

and to see him make it, but, but be that, be that emotional, rightfully so in sharing it. God, that's, I mean,

Luke, you know, it's like, it's forget so damn relatable. It's like, it just makes me want to put the running shoes on and go out there. You know what I'm saying? I hear you,

bro. Also one little note on the ground and pound. I forget who Kevin Randleman did it too, but it was in pride in pride remember in pride you can need the head of a downed opponent not just the body the question here is the body i forget who it is i'm going to try and find it if someone knows it leave a comment there is one fight that kevin randleman has in pride where he not only knees the head of a downed opponent he actually goes vertical while on the ground and then knees straight down bop bop back to back two knees one right after the other one of the more athletic incredible things you'll ever see i'll try and find exactly who that was he did that too uh bc from z rigs would making all high

level mma contests five rounds lead to better scorecards championship fights staying the same non-championship fights being five three-minute rounds what do you think no i mean would you get a would you be would you be more likely given the distance to find out answers in fights that could create finishes or a one-sided finish that wouldn't matter on the scorecards, maybe percentage-wise, but when the very elite face the very elite, it doesn't change whether you go three or five in terms of the potential for odd-numbered scoring here, Luke. No.

And no. Well, you might in this sense, BC, you might in the sense that if you have three minutes, it might be easier to judge in terms of the action than five. It's two less minutes you have to judge, so there might be a little bit clearer a complexion of what's happening, but you'll probably get worse MMA. So yeah, your judging might get somewhat more clear-eyed,

but it'd be clear-eyed because you made MMA shittier. So no thanks, right? Clear-eyes, full heart, can't lose Luke right Texas forever street Texas not for me um all right at David underscore Spangler you know what they do in Texas I respect Luke you ask them a direct question about little nog they'll tell you the truth I mean that's just a you know that's the Texas way right there notch above everything's bigger in texas and we tell the truth about little nog that's what they that's what they're known for in that state all right what meaningful differences do you see in pereda style compared to izzy striking wise for better or worse in terms of mma yeah luke are

you doing an extra credit can we talk about this man uh we can talk about i probably will do an extra credit on him but yes uh we can talk about it what did you think of the of the performance against bruno silva i thought it was yeah i mean listen um there's a great video by uh gabriel vargas or varga varga that's his name excuse me var. He's a Canadian kickboxer, and he explained that that style of kickboxing that Izzy has, that evasive style, it's not so suited for kickboxing as you might imagine, but it is very suited for MMA. The reasons he goes through them about in terms of combination work and the defense and everything else that goes behind it,

there are reasons why guys don't do that as much in regular kickboxing and why people who have that style, they can have great success, but it will maybe potentially limit them a little bit. But it's very valuable for MMA. Conversely, I guess one point I would try to make is I am in no way an expert on Alex Pereira, although it's funny. I covered him in the Last Man Standing tournament. I was there, and the hype in him at the time was not nearly as big.

He really turned himself into something, not so so much in that tournament but after that fact but his style I think is much better for kickboxing but it I'm not gonna say it limits him in MMA that's not quite right but um I don't think it translates quite as nimbly it doesn't do him as many favors even though he has significant ability uh relative to the the style that Adesanya was importing based on some of that defense, which means he had a bit more of a blood and guts affair with Bruno Silva, but you can see his offense is fucking dynamic. I mean, super dynamic. I mean, when he's in gear, he's going to get some highlight reel knockouts.

I mean, he's the real deal in that regard, but you don't want to say he gets hit a little bit he gets hit a little bit right yeah yeah he take there's some lulls too luke yes yes again those are things i think he is importing from an old style that is extremely good in the sport he came from which is still quite good but doesn't have the same level of significance and meaning also i will say though in defense of him i thought you know not that bruno silva was testing it to the max or some shit but i thought that like for what he had to show in terms of takedown defense and hand fighting and whatnot not bad not not bad at all right i

thought that was pretty fair that's that's definitely fair luke as fair as me saying it out loud right now. In our brotherhood, historically, how people will look at it, you're Little Nog. Great. Does that mean I have less CTE? Okay. It's Tell the Truth Mondays, okay?

It comes right after fucking Fridays. There you go. I mean, Big Nog had a better career, but Big Nog, I mean, people knocked him out a lot, you know? So there's that, too. All right. Although Little Nog got knocked out a lot as well. All right.

From my co-prime, will Chris Moutinho get another fight, and will he replace Artem as what, the GOAT? No, I don't think he's going to replace Artem as the GOAT. BC, Chris Moutinho, dude, I appreciate how fucking tough this kid is. Abs tough yeah we're gonna see it we're gonna see footage shortly luke of what happened yeah dude guido canetti was chambering a punch visibly chambering and then holding it for a split second before firing just so he could like

make sure that thing landed with all the mustard that you know fucking french's can make and it did like dude if someone is physically cocking a punch back and then waiting a beat to go and then landing clean you know ufc ufc fighter should be hit routinely with those and he has hit routinely with those. Yeah, yeah, routinely, in fact, Luke, yes. I wish him well, dude. He showed incredible heart in that fight against O'Malley. But look, you know, we'll see what happens. Yeah, he will get another chance, and I think he deserves another chance, Luke.

And then I don't know if he lives past another chance, though, if he doesn't turn this around. Yeah, it didn't go too well. Nice one by Guido Canetti, but that's it. All right, last but not least, BC, this is probably a question I can handle more than you, although you are certainly entering territory where you might have to answer it more than normal.

You're talking about my colon? You're talking about my colon right now, Luke? Yeah, at Bicera, or Bicera, A-T-L, or Bicl or basara tl how do you get over people not liking you i mean i i really yeah well usually when i see my family i ask them to be nice to me yeah yeah yeah it's like how do i ask my neighbors not to urinate on my lawn? You just do. All right. You're not going to feel that seriously, Luke.

You're just going to flip. How do you get over it? All right. Here's what you do. You have to ask. Okay. No, no. This is very simple.

Really. You have to ask yourself how much you would like to tolerate people not liking you. Some people can tolerate it a lot. Some people relish it. Some people dive headfirst into it. Some people get all the way away from it. First of all, you have to decide what you are comfortable with, number one. And number two, you do need to reflect on to what extent, what contributing factors you may be putting out into the world about why people don't and reflecting on that. And you might decide some of that needs tailoring and some of that doesn't. After that, you just live your life.

And if people like you in the way in which you feel, if you feel like you're being honest with the world and you feel like you're trying to be pleasant and you get results that more or less you're comfortable with, I don't know what else you're supposed to do. BC, you got any best practices? No, that was genuine. I mean, obviously you can't let it kill you,

but if it becomes a pattern, yeah, you got to figure out what causes that. And we all have our blind spots and look like we're all non-self-aware in a giant way in at least one category, right? I mean, you know, unless you're a robot, right? So you just got to figure out what causes that. Okay. Luke, I mean, you know, I'm sure people look at me and go, it looked fairly successful guy,

probably in his day could have, could have been in shape and good looking, you know, if he took better care of himself, but you know, they, you can't see my liver on the outside, Luke, and all the gas station abuse I put on it. You know what I mean? So they just, they, you know, they just assume I've got it all together. We, Luke, I've got emotional blind spots too. Luke, I say bad things on camera about my best friends while they're also on camera, okay? Yes, you do. I'm sorry.

Thank you. You also do it when they're not on camera and they're on vacation, and then you badmouth them and then ask the co-hosts to ask them why your other co-hosts previous show failed i mean that's i caught that one by accident i was like wow they really had this discussion on there you know that was a test to see i'm going to be honest with here you ready for this those were like chewbacca tryouts that was a test that i personally did and didn't tell chuck about it or

anybody else to find out if chuck was really about it about it. You know what I'm saying? And it turned out he was, Luke. Okay. Okay. The answer is at the end of one year with MMA Fighting, I was offered another year to do another show. I was supposed to do the same show, but do it for another year.

And there wasn't a chance in hell I was ever going to do that, ever. And by the way, they had green lit this project. Well, not this project, but a similar kind of project. But then, you know, we took our talents to South beach.

So there you go. All right. You're damn right. Yeah, we did. Yeah. All right. BC with that in mind,

our talents, uh, South beach or otherwise, we are put them to the side for now. Well, not all of them because I want to see your shit. Yeah. And look,

you're not Chris Bososh in this Miami Heat super team. We're LeBron and Wade. That's what you and I are, okay? Alright, I can live with that. Yeah, we scour the globe for the good, the bad, the ugly, the highs and lows, the in-betweens. In combat sports and beyond, this is called

Have You Seen This? Oh, God. have you seen this oh god luke have you seen what khalil roundtree jr did at ufc fight night in vegas when he was fucking carl robeson up luke good lord this was watch how it watches look the knee throws him off that was the part he throws him off you know and then of course these other punches to resist but it's like that kick the knee as he gets up the stomp look at him see how he just he's twisting him like a tornado left to right and up and down and it's so it's when hardcore MMA fans take a step back and go, wow, that was extremely violent. You are summoning heavy offensive forces in what you're doing. True or false, that was the most bad shit violent UFC moment

since Dan Henderson finishing Hector Lombard at UFC 199. False. But it's up there. It's up there. I mean, it's not quite Bizping Hendo 1, but it's up there it's up there it's it's not i mean it's not quite biz ping hendo one but it's up there luke all right uh potato luke alex potato got that victory over bruno silva love it or hate it but luke what is this walk he does what do you call this the strut on his way to the damn cage he did it the whole walk i don't know aren't the kids all doing some dumb shit called the gritty i don't

think this is look i don't know is he walking me to my truck what are you like where's he going like who walks like that i don't get it luke is he walking you to why would he be walking you to your truck bc i don't know is he why i'm not gonna blow him i mean this is ridiculous luke i mean come on um i don't know let's go on to the next one, all right, before we get shut down. Luke, you mentioned Guido Canetti put it on Alex Moutinho. This is the gruesome footage to prove that, that it actually happened. Yeah, this is bad. I mean, he's just getting hit.

Dude, when do you ever see UFC fighters get hit clean like this? Yeah, that's, well. What a watch. He's going to hit. What a watch. He's going to throw him here. That one. Look, shades of Nunes. These lefts, he's cocking back. Shades of Nunes Rousey or what?

Yeah. A little bit. Yes. Yeah, good call actually. Felt like that a little bit. Yes. Yeah. Man, we're just bringing it on Mondays. Alright, Luke. Also, you saw the opening bout. Light heavyweight Azamat Mirzakhanov. Where'd he get this flying knee from against Tafon? Wow.

God, Luke, I know I missed it. I think that's how he says it, Enchukli? You know, I know I butchered that, but it's really about Azamat, Luke. Is this guy someone we should watch, or was this just one shining moment? Well, Enchukli was the guy I was shouting on on Friday. He trains over here in Camp Springs, Luke. Is this guy someone we should watch or was this just one shining moment? Well, Nchukwu was the guy I was shouting on on Friday. He trains over here in Camp Springs, Maryland. And he was winning this whole thing. Dude, the previous round I think

was a 10-8. And then he came out and then just did this. I think he had seen Nchukwu was dipping to a certain side. And if you watch, he comes at an angle and he puts his hands like this. And Nchukwu goes the other way which was all he was designed, or the way anyway and it's all designed to make his head go that way and then he forces the knee on him so uh it was set up it was planned but it just shows you an

mma man this it's so effing chaotic yeah indeed uh bellator 275 from st louis luke mads brunel i do give him credit for this mid exchange with one adam borich rocking the robot luke what do we do that round though yeah i know you're right you're right so so in reality what are we doing here but i i enjoyed it though okay i mean dude don't get me wrong mads burnell turned in a hell of a performance and if you can't win you might as well go out there and dance so i'm not mad at him but in real time i was like bro you're not winning this round less robot more punchy kicky you know uh luke uh eb and len were at it again and here's johnny's strong call out post fight after his victory over john salter musashi said he didn't know who the f**k i was i'm right here dog i'm ready to take your ass

out you're old ass lion i'm a young ass lion let's get up in here let's make that fight happen he borderline called musashi a bitch there luke i love that i love that spirit what are we two old ass hyenas is that what we are luke i'm just a lion i was once a young lion and now i'm just still a lion right now look okay you're an old ass lion i'm a young ass lion we're ass lions what are ass lions oh i've seen a few of those i'm sure uh uh luke uh did you see him in that montreal strip club you went to you fucking degenerate yeah dude that there's wow uh i don't i don't like to glorify those days at all, Luke, okay? You do offline. Luke, I told you the BC super sloppy special was going to be easy,

Polizzi and Jose Augusto in that prelim featured bout. And boy, did that deliver as Polizzi, Luke, was nearly stopped in this wild flight. Dude, how the hell did he absorb this? Look, he goes on to win by submission in a wild flight dude how the hell did he absorb this look he goes on to win by submission in a wild finish but that's like anderson silva michael bisping right there dude come on i mean this is what i mean when it's like you know you want to do this shit dude the guy who gets his knee face caved in there or his face caved in with the knee he wins the as you indicated he wins the contest look what he had to do early

in this fight look what he had to go through who wants to do that and then keep fighting fuck that man yeah michael bisping that's about it luke um that's about it that's about it and by the way dude there's other wild moments i could have put in this remember when augusto got on polizzi's back and they were doing like a reverse 69 and then he almost dumped him on his head and had that side slam? Dude, that was some wild shit, Luke. Those are 69 just two people standing up?

Or a 96? Wouldn't it be a 96? Yeah, I guess it's a 96. Wow, did you just invent that or should I check Urban Dictionary, Luke? No, no, I swear to God. I mean, I'm asking questions like, what is an upside-down 69? It's just a... No, I guess it's a 96, yeah. Sort of?

Kind of? I don't even know. I think Bellator should... Their featured prelim should be a part of the wild chit division, and just throw fighters in there that are relatively close in weight. Luke, welterweight Roman Ferrado improved to seven and oh with seven knockouts by jabbing kelvin rayford to the uh bottom shelf there luke wow yeah dude

bellator has a winner with this guy he i don't know how far he's gonna go dude he is you know what i'm talking about bc where these fighters were like you know they're good you don't know exactly how good they are yet because they're in many ways kind of untested but what you do know is who's the guy you're going to point to on the roster we need excitement we need somebody who delivers fight ending action fight ending power yes but just really has this offensive you know dynamism to That guy. That's the one you call every time. This guy's becoming must watch quickly. Luke, despite your misgivings and mistrust, I'm here to report that Jesus still saves.

I mean that both seriously and in the context of this tweet from Helen Yee, Luke, that says Diego Sanchez said Jesus Christ saved him from Joshua Fabia. Thank God, Luke, right? You know, yeah. People believe lots of strange things, yeah. I mean, I'm happy to report that news to the world, Luke. And by the way, shout out to Helen Yee on her swimming hopes and the career change there.

Big support, Luke. And I think the schmo just turned 32, Luke. I think I saw that on the old IG, luke uh and i think the schmo just turned 32 luke i think i saw that on the old ig all right shouts to the schmo happy birthday he's far from being the old bitch you are luke right yes well at 32 i was probably still an old bitch but i'm like yes you know uh luke here's the proof interest here's the proof that lee wood michael conlon was as insane as we said it was but here, here's that end of the first round knockdown on this beautiful looping left from Conlon. Yeah, he faints low to the body and then comes over the top like that.

I mean, that's just. And he hit that same shot like three more times. Yeah, dude, he hit that shot three, how about 30, 300 more times. Yeah, no, but I mean, there were a couple times with some pop on it, not to that level, but I mean, look, that came right through the guard. He couldn't even see it coming. And then here's the ringside view of this now iconic knockout loop. Let's remind people, round 12, LeWood down on the scorecards,

and this is how he finished it. Collin's going to back up to the ropes here. See this evasive style? He's covering there, but the head movement thing, he's going to, like that, he just ducks right into it. Boom. And I know it doesn't look like much. You have to watch the replay a couple times,

and then you realize, oh, he hit that directly on the reset button. Yeah, like, holy crap. That's short and powerful. Damn. Some Rocky Marciano shit there, Luke. You know what I mean? And a lot of times, if you notice, he was doing the Pacquiao. Pacquiao does this.

Whenever he blocks, typically punches from that side, he'll put the glove up and then kind of turn into it like this. He'll roll. I mean, a lot of boxers do it, but Pacquiao is sort of famous for it. He tries to do that with one of them, but then the other one he just of turn into it like this. He'll roll. I mean, a lot of boxers do it, but Pacquiao sort of famous for it. He tries to do that with one of them, but then the other one, he just goes right into,

and it gets drilled, you know, uh, Luke from three years ago, more, uh, Marab Davala, Shilly's, uh,

sharing on his IgE. You said he's a hammer Luke, but he used to be a carpenter by trade. Look at this. Look at this. That's one way to take out drywall. Yeah, this is, this luke that's one way to take out drywall yeah this is this is me before mk to the porcelain and the in the uh toilet luke is that where you're going with that no

just screaming and ranting in my room about how i can't find anything because i'm old and pathetic yes uh luke let me set up the next clip so carl frampton is of course the retired former great champion from Northern Ireland and now does some analyst work and what have you. He said on the air, Luke, that if Jake Paul fought Tommy Fury, that Paul would win by knockout. But Luke, just like your public avoidance in telling the truth about Little Nog per possible future reparations, the Fury family keeps receipts, Luke, and Tyson Fury's dad, old Big John, caught up with Carl in public. Here's the result. Answer the question now. Because you disappoint me and I looked up to you.

I'm just trying to be honest, John. Honest? Honest? I'm not personal. I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to talk to you at all. Get your facts right. Get off the job.

Wait, what did he say? Get your facts right or get off the job and if you don't think john was ready willing and able to throw down right there despite their size difference luke or if he was the smaller one john fury as he tells the world luke is willing to fight any man bare knuckle right now for all the money he has like like right here, right now. I believe him. I 100% believe him. Remember that time Tyson Fury hung up the phone on me because I referenced that Big John got put away a few years back for removing a guy's eyeball in a bar fight, Luke? Yeah, see, all of your getting sent to hells happened on your podcast,

which people may or probably more likely may not have heard. But the reality is it does happen. You get flushed quite a few times. And one day I'll be that Carl Frampton right there, Luke, okay, looking up at Big John. Like, yep, I said that shit. You want to know why? Because it's the truth.

And that's what we do on Monday. Was he mad at him because Frampton said he could beat Tommy Fury? Frampton said Jake Paul would knock Tommy Fury out. Oh, okay. Well, that's more of a controversial claim. I thought Carl, because it's like, dude, Carl Frampton would, you know, beat the fuck out of Tommy Fury, I would imagine, right?

I mean, that's an incredible size difference. That's like 126 versus 190. Even then. But yeah, yeah, you're probably right. You're probably right, Luke. Luke, it's hard to do trust falls if you don't have any friends, Luke. So maybe your friends are garbage.

But Luke, you can still use garbage to perfect the act if you want. No wonder these people are unionizing. I mean, can you imagine having to do all this shit and deal with customers? And dude, let me tell you, you know who the worst Starbucks customers are? I'm going to get on a rant. Yo, fuck you ladies out there.

Yo, if you drive a minivan and you live in a suburb, you're worse than Osama Bin Laden at Starbucks. You understand that? You're the worst person on earth because you fucking house frowns. You get in line and you order can i have seven splenda shaking on the side a little bit of whipped cream seven pump upside down white flat oreo mocha chino with the sprinkles bitch is there coffee in there somewhere or did you come here to get sugar shot into your fucking eyeballs what are you doing no one can

follow your fucking order can i have a black coffee oh look at me look at me how fast i am at the register so other people can get their fucking coffee stop going to starbucks thinking it's baskin robbins and my baby maybe walk to the fucking starbucks how about that get out of your fucking dodge whatever the fuck that you carry a billion kids in all of them who get probably have fucking snot nose. Fuck all your kids and fuck you lady. And when you go to Vegas, you stand in the line and you make people like me who just want black coffee. I have to sit there and wait for you to articulate your suburban fucking sugar order. Fuck ladies fuck you how about that wow wow mountains just came to you stand up next to a mountain and you chop it down with the edge

of your hand yeah luke that's what i'm talking about biatch wow tell me i'm wrong how many times have you been in vegas and there's some lady you know listen let he who is without sin throw the you know cast or let he who doesn't cast the first stone what all that shit overweight they're all overweight and they all order no coffee just sugar it drives me fucking insane look is it true that you like your coffee how you like your women i can neither confirm nor deny these rumors all right uh hey luke life comes at you fast sometimes it comes at you fast and furious oh my god okay that was pretty cool for losers i can't is this a trick or was this luck what happened here Luke I don't think these people are signing up definitely a trick definitely for

Instagram they'll probably be dead in a week but and they definitely were not you know valedictorians of their high school class of this we can be sure but otherwise it's pretty cool

Luke let's play a game called which food would you least rather try i'll have two options here's the first one luke they call it ramen coffee dude people are sad what the fuck is this but they're not actually putting coffee in if you watch it closely. Did they just reinvent the wheel here? I don't think

people understand what food is. I mean, it doesn't look good. This looks like my toilet bowl. But is it effective in the end? Okay, Luke, here's your second option. All right, all right. Dude, that top ramen is currency in the poke.

Genital sow chicken. You know what? I'm going to go with the buffet genital sow chicken to be perfectly honest with you, dude, that I would at least, I'd try that at least once general sow chicken. No question about it.

I mean, wow. Is that like, is that like, is that like Rocky mountain oysters where they just call it that, but you're eating someone's testicle? Yeah. Yes.

Yes. And I mean, why, why do I envision one day? That's an MK doc bit that we're like covering a fight in Laramie, Wyoming? You know what I'm saying? Oh, boy. By the way, they're saying you skipped the number 11.

I did skip it. All right, let's go to number 10, though. Number 10. Luke, this video has made the rounds and then some. Have you seen this referee rolling thunder bullshit, Luke? These must be amateurs, right? Because they have the shin guards and everything. This is the immaf super

cup semi-finals oh and referee scott marhart not only takes a rolling thunder flush luke he got knocked out and finished the fight luke oh shit we don't get the full video but but he was like let me ask you a question let me ask you a question don't the referees whatever they call them in hockey they have to wear the the helmets and the the visors and shit too right yes yes now granted the puck is flying the sticks are flying grown men are flying it's a little bit different i feel like if you're going to be a referee in an amateur fight you might want a hockey you might want a hockey helmet i think he's still getting ko'd with a hockey helmet on i mean that was pretty flush wow all right all right still luke i just want to let you know that if i ever accept your offer to go to a cannibal corpse concert for

documentary filming only this is the car i'm gonna drive to the venue luke thank you very much okay dude there's a there's a church there's a church near my house and they've had it since i moved here in 2004 um they have a giant sign and it's not moved at all it's been there for however many years at this point and it just says all sinners welcome and when you think about it's a very christian message right also yeah but then when you start to think of like all sinners you're like bill cosby like bill cosby's welcome oh wow wow wow you know i'm saying i watched the documentary all of them really all of them yeah yeah war machine look no come on i mean come on luke all right i mean what are we doing um luke i'd say this is a pretty good rule to live by this next one okay i guess we'll move on luke what's scarier why why are you the way you are

luke what is scarier uh parasailing or skydiving? What's a scarier thought? Ooh, I have seen some disasters parasailing. I have a feeling we're going to see some. Yeah, well, the correct answer is how about both, Luke, at the same time? These guys think they're the Wright brothers. You motherfuckers aren't even the Marx brothers. Oh, God.

Yo, he fell into, like, you know, two-inch deep water. Good Lord. Face first. Watch this. Oh, wow. God. You know what? That's karma.

I'm just happy we got that past the quality inspectors, Luke, who one time wouldn't let me show that circus performer get killed by the snake. Yo, BC's like, I want to show death. All right, Luke, time for some football fails. I think the play was out pattern cut left here, Luke. Or maybe we'll just call it lights out. Oh, shit. Yikes.

Sideshow Bob can move. Yeah, that was a good breakaway move, but wow. There was Steve Atwater waiting for him, Luke. Yeah. Remember when Steve Atwater stood up Okoye and dropped him with that forearm, dude? That was like the manliest moment ever.

I don't think it was the manliest moment ever. Luke, I got one more football play for you. Let me see it. I think they call this the Hail Mary. It's the Jesuit juke for six, Luke. Oh, shit. This friar had a... Yeah, dude, let me see that again.

Okay, here he is. Well, he had a lead on him, too. Oh, man. Yeah, that's great stuff right there. That is great. Notre Dame wins, Luke. I'd like to make a joke, but you'd get real mad, so I won't. You're damn right I would, okay?

If it has anything to do with Little Mug, please do it. I want you to know it's in here, right here,'m replaying it over all right luke luckily uh for our listeners it's america's favorite game show time rate my tat luke we had an awful bruce buffer tat two weeks ago um do you like this one any better um he he looks like joey buttafuoco people even know who that is he loved him a long island lolita luke yes no i don't love this i mean dude the saturation on the on the on the red circle behind is not great. The UFC lettering is not great. The face is... It's not great.

Do you think the actions of Joey Buttafuoco's wife was understandable, relatable? When she stabbed some chick in the head? She tried to shoot Amy Fisher, right? Oh, Amy Fisher, that's right, yeah. Who's the one who got stabbed in the head, she tried to shoot Amy Fisher, right? Oh, Amy Fisher. That's right. Yeah. Um, who was the one who got stabbed in the head?

I don't even remember, but, um, not John Wayne Bob at Luke. He took it. He took it down downstairs. Luke. Yes,

he did. These are all early nineties references that our audience probably has no fucking clue what they are. Hey, back to the tattoo game. Luke rate, this UFC related tat that can't be that's not a real tattoo is it yeah i think it is luke i think it is wow i mean i've got

i don't know what people are doing with their money i mean this makes let me explain this makes mr he boss come off pretty good right luke yeah let me let me yeah much better let me explain something tattoos don't need to be expensive per se like you don't have to spend a thousand dollars on a tattoo but if a tattoo costs let's say 300 don't think you're getting a deal for $100. You're getting a much lower quality tattoo. Trust me. Don't cheap out on them. All right.

I believe you. This is the last tattoo. As a general rule, it should be about $150 an hour for a tattoo. As a general rule. Luke, this last tattoo is a little bit more aggressive, but what are your thoughts on the idea of it, the positioning? I saw this one. This guy is so fucking

gross look this guy these are the people that just end up on the street dead you're just not sure how it's like wow it's like did the organ shut down yeah yeah you know the fact that the dude's got no teeth is the best part of this. Yeah. He's all proud. He's like, bro, I got no teeth, and I got a cooch right here. We close with one, Luke, that I've gotten so many requests to show this. It's a few weeks late, but did you see this regional kickboxing Showtime Pettis attempt here, Luke? Is this you and me?

Pretty much, yeah. Dude, if we... I would do nothing but video game moves on you if we fought, Luke, in an octagon. Also, why is why is 2002 Triple H reffing this match? I got that one, right?

That's a good one, right? I got that one. I got that one. Yeah, that was a good one. That motherfucker's got a bigger ponytail than any thoroughbred horse you've ever seen. Look at that thing. Wow. Fuck how outdated my hairstyle is.

That's the shit this week, Luke week i keep telling y'all i keep telling y'all you gotta go to regional mma you don't understand mma until you've seen that side of it because that's frankly the real side of it the ufc and all the belt or all the shit we talk about is at least semi kind of polished you know absolutely uh bc time for odds and ends. People can, you know, you might see somebody parachute into the cage. A live bear might enter at any point. Like, like regional MMA is wild, Luke. But yes, we close with O and E.

Luke, let's, let's do this quickly. But this whole, look, it's easy to, it's easy to throw your name in the hat for a Conor McGregor fight that'll never happen, or you think it could happen. And look, we put up a fence or a line at what we're willing to tolerate. So, for example, Luke, this Henry Cejudo, Conor McGregor back and forth little thing that happened and suddenly Conor's challenging him to a fight. I don't know, as shitty and off the menu as that, I can get excited for something weird like that. But Jake Paul doubling back down and going after Dana

and trying to say now he'll fight Conor in the octagon, but if he wins, all the fighters have to get paid. Dana stopped responding a while ago. I'm over this, Luke. Jake Paul still, I get it. This is... You got to set the traps to get the opponents. I just think this trap is closed right now, Luke. Okay?

Okay, let me ask you a question. He says, since you like me now, what did I miss where Dana White says, I like Jake Paul? Yeah, so I was going to ask you, do you think that's some kind of cryptic, like, did they have a meeting? You know, I don't know. I hadn't thought of that that's interesting i hadn't considered that i don't know if that's true or maybe there was some correspondence between the two that

was unexpected i don't know i wonder i wonder i wonder a little bit that's that's interesting i hadn't thought about that i wonder but i wonder are you right me on this like what are we doing here what are we doing like connor's not going, dude. Like, if we knew that somebody's a free agent and they got one fight left, then if he was going full bore on Nate Diaz right now, it would be desperate, but you could get it. You get it. Dude, it's not like Dana White's not opening the door to let Conor McGregor fight him.

Or vice versa in the UFC, right? I mean, come on. Stop. Yeah, it's a little silly. But, you know, as long as they can get cheap publicity from it they're going to keep doing it so here we are talking about it bc good job putting that in the in the run of show oh they got you're right i got i got caught in the way yeah i got caught in the spider web luke leave a message and i'll call you back yeah there it is okay uh for my odds and ends there is no doubt that greg hardy

oh that was did you see that you know what that was really you know if jay aaron would have loved that where's the 90s reference counter okay back to you that was jay aaron was the referee in the two fat guy match um in all seriousness my odds and ends it's no doubt that greg hardy is now gone from the UFC. He put out a message on Instagram or a post anyway, basically affirming that it was true. He thanked everyone. What a run.

Your boy is far from done. Just got some fine tuning to do. A little more than that. But thank you to all my fans and haters. I appreciate you all. Mostly I appreciate the coaches, family, and the UFC for blah, blah, blah, blah. BC, we kind of thought this might be coming. Listen, they gave it a shot.

And I will say this. If you go back and watch Greg Hardy in the Austin Lane fight. By the way, Austin Lane, I think, is a champion over in LFA or CFFC now. I forget which organization. But he has rebounded a little bit and done quite well for himself. He might get a UFC call-up before too long. But if you watch that fight, Greg Hardy looked awesome in that fight. Now, granted, that was super early in his development.

But at the time, my thought was, looked awesome in that fight. Now, granted, that was super early in his development. But at the time, my thought was, there is some potential here. This looks interesting. It never materialized. And then it got worse as he tried to fight anyone good. And then you add in the domestic violence. I don't want to call it baggage. It's a real thing that happened to people and obviously everyone affected. But what I mean to say is he has this issue

following him i think everyone saw what they needed to see at this point no oh yeah yeah justified and the right move all in the same all in the same package luke um i had a counter question about him moving forward because he did say that he's what you know he wants he's going to keep on although look he's also throwing out ideas for celebrity boxing matches or crossover boxing matches that probably won't happen. Who knows? He could get an offer from everyone from Triller to BKFC to any other MMA promotion. Do you think, though, his best potential chance to get back to the UFC as quick as possible by making the most positive PR around him and his accomplishments in the meantime is by going to Habib's promotion getting a huge push and getting opportunities to fight some of those wash names

that are walking through the turnstiles one last time now that doesn't mean I think he's going to be Junior Dos Santos per se but I'm saying is that potential there his biggest chance to to come back and grab the attention of Dana White and company to want to try this again he's not valuable for the UFC at this point but for people outside of it for organizations outside of it and not all of them I don't think he'd be a good fit for PFL at all that tournament system seems not ideal so what he has to find is who is willing to overpay the most. Simple as that. Because someone is going to overpay for him relative to the regional level,

not relative to the UFC level for his services. BKFC seems like a good one. Eagle seems like another one. But here's the problem with Eagle. Dude, they're going to, there's a pipeline from like, they had Russian heavyweights.

They're going to probably have there that they're going to recruit that, you know, are still early in their development, he's going to get smushed by those guys. Yeah. So, yes, that is a real option for him. And if they pay him dumb money, then, yeah, you take it. But I think BKFC is actually a, dare I say, BC, good fit.

Good fit. Two-minute rounds. All stand-up. He's still pretty athletic still pretty quick it's not the worst okay then the reason why i make a facial reaction like that is not that i don't think it could end up being his best financial option or even that argument i just tried to make of you know what's the best chance to stay relevant that it may be that as well but do you think the the same thing the sport of mma had to stay relevant that it may be that as well. But do you think the, the same thing,

the sport of MMA had to go through, but successfully passed through that BKFC isn't quite there yet on this, not looking like fight pornography. Where you sort of like, okay, you're on the way out. Cause that's what it says right now. With the exception of like a Mike Perry still says,

yeah, but like, it's still really says it to with the exception of like a mike perry still says yeah but like it still really says it to for both of their absolute futures but at least you know there's a there's a interim category so you're asking who from mma has gone to bkfc and improved their stock dot dot dot as an mma a talent attraction where it doesn't just smell of desperation and your final chances like giving getting a payday you could actually tried that but it backfired but she's still to her credit if she's going to go the pro wrestling route and i think she assigned with aew whether we care about that or not she may have used bkfc to pivot properly even though she lost yeah it's fine i'm just saying the wins didn't the wins didn't materialize in the way that i think some had

imagined um yeah you're right there is something to that there is something to that i do yeah you're right you're right you're absolutely right it definitely like you can still do stuff to make money and you can still do stuff to get attention. And even in that world, you can find interesting and fun matchups that people would want to see, but I've yet to see the MMA to BKFC to rebound to MMA that you shape where the MMA on the other end doesn't suffer. Mike Perry might try. Mike Perry might try. So it's still a case by case basis,

but you're right. We haven't seen that yet. It's a fair point. It's a fair point. Yeah, that's it. That's all I got PC. All right you're right. We haven't seen that yet. It's a fair point. It's a fair point. That's it. That's all I got, PC. All right.

All right. Hopefully you'll hit them hard with an extra credit, Luke. I'm going to hit them hard with an extra credit. And why don't you tell the folks what's going to happen in studio this week? Yeah. Look, Showtime Boxing is going to have their big announcement this week on the upcoming schedule. So Luke and I will be reacting to that of course and also uh

that's that goes down tomorrow luke and also live morning combat on wednesday hopefully we can f around and you know post a triple double of some other content as well but you know the whole point is luke that studio is just it was made for us so our shows are i don't know 46 better in the studio luke what at least let's make a 90s reference by accident i don't think so oh yeah i did of course i did great great pickup there i'm see i'm so used to not seeing the 90s counter pop up luke that when it does i instantly have to be like wait was that justified all right uh yeah luke so what was the best thing about the 90s the the best thing about the 90s? The single best thing about the 90s? The number one.

Don't give me two through five. I don't give a fuck. Number one. The white college baseball caps made by the company called The Game. I thought you were going to be like white people. I was going to be like strong. White chicks. Luke, you obviously remember these hats, right?

They were the 90s. And you could get like, I bought the University of Colorado hat that said Buffs. And of course, everyone bought the South Carolina one that said Cox, right? But if you wore that, you really had to live that gimmick, right? So I didn't go that route. But I had some cool ones. I had the Xavier X-Men ones. But then, Luke, if you were next level, you'd take the little mini scissors and sewing kit

and you'd remove certain parts of the letters or the bars to make it... I mean, it was, Luke, I had a girl... You had a Xavier one? Was that some fringe Big East team we were led to believe was good and they weren't any good? Xavier? Yeah, but they proved themselves a few times. I mean, they beat

Georgetown in 1990 in the second round, Luke. I've seen Georgetown recently. Dude, that was the... I haven't seen Georgetown recently. Dude, that was the Derek Strong and Tyrone Hill team. I'm teasing. That beat Mourning and Mutombo. People of the old school Big East thought Big East. The sun rose and set in the Big

East, and it was good. It was very good. It did. But the sun didn't rise. It wasn't quite as good as y'all imagined it to be. It did exist. It was very good. It did, okay. You it did okay you know it i know um that's it that's it for odds and ends that's it for all our stuff uh bc if folks want to get merch they can go to morningcombat.store st patrick's day merch is up it is available it's ready to ship to your house anywhere you live in the world mostly i would imagine right

indeed indeed so get that shit okay try try it try it one time if you don't like it you can get a refund and but but you know prove me wrong right i don't know if you can yeah wow look at two keys like yo she's like two keys like motherfucker you said 90 minutes it's two two and 215 right now what are we doing yeah i'm turning the house is turning into a pumpkin so we got to get out of here but uh showtime.com 30-day free trial if you like it you can keep it if not you can pound sand athletic greens folks athleticgreens.com slash Morning Combat. That's the place you got to go to get your health situated as it needs to be. AthleticGreens.com slash Morning Combat.

We're not kidding, guys. It tastes great. It's a very easy way to add some needed elements to your diet and lifestyle. So do it. No doubt about it. And, of course, MorningC morning combat at gmail.com will be the email to reach us and you can follow us on all the socials blah blah blah blah blah the next time you see us brian and i will be together in studio we look forward to reuniting

and uh that's it so for mulca for cbs sports for the viceroy of connecticut brian campbell and showtime i'm luke thomas we'll see you guys next time and until then may all of your gains be loyal