MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Room Service Diaries Davis-Santa Cruz: WE BACK!

Episode Date: October 31, 2020

Luke and Brian are back with Room Service Diaries which details their night in Jersey City together ahead of the Gervonta Davis vs. Leo Santa Cruz Showtime PPV this weekend. They talk boxing, MMA and answer the questions you submitted in the apple reviews. --------------------------------- '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: store.sho.com   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat  To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, everybody. It is, let's see, what is it, Thursday the 29th. It's going to be episode one and the only episode of Room Service Diaries. By your choice. Jersey City Edition. Well, you barely made it to this one, guy. My name is Luke Thomas. This is Brian Campbell. We are the hosts of Morning Combat. You can go to youtube.com slash morningcombat for more information. You know about us. It's MK all day, nearly every day. Right, Luke? You say that a lot.

You certainly say that a lot. We will do this for about an hour and some change. And this is where we just go off the rails and say things we'll later regret. That's really the aim of this podcast. I never had a 40 out of a plastic bottle. They call these shatterproof, but I don't really need my 40 to be shatterproof. It's not even a 40. It's a 42.

Is that in honor of Jackie Robinson? Well, the key here is that and what you fail to realize is this is actual malt liquor, other than that swine fluid that you've been drinking previously. So let's crack it open, shall we? Yeah, this one's for all the people out there

who supported us, especially the ones who hate us, like Snarky ginger and uh she likes me and uh kyle gushu that guy hates me right let's yeah who was the second one you named he's just some guy every single show he he tears me down but he watches so you know i mean look listen when it's hard to tell it worked for a bit a lot and he still had a regular audience after some atrocities, right? Yeah, yeah.

Are you planning on flying any planes into any towers? Or what kind of a comment is that? What do you think? Disgusting, right? See, here's how you know it's not beer. Right? You can taste much more alcohol. I mean, you can act tough.

Like, I haven't drank in a shitload of malt liquor. I'm not acting tough. We're two dudes in their 40s. We're the opposite of tough. I mean, you can act tough. Like, I haven't drank in a shitload of malt liquor. I'm not acting tough. We're two dudes in their 40s. We're the opposite of tough. I'm just saying. It tastes like, you ever see those ice luges that, like, at parties, that young white people, they put their mouth to, like, imagine if you used my ass crack as the luge point, as the point of lusation. You know what I'm saying? No.

And you poured, you know, this is what it tastes like, okay? I'm going to turn yours up just a little bit. All right. And we're back. Room service diaries brought to you by... Did you nap? How was your nap, you old bitch? I'm going to tell you about the job right now.

People don't realize this. To be in front of a camera, Luke... Look, whether you believe that what we be in front of a camera, Luke, whether you believe that what we do in front of a camera is... Look, I've described your style as very masturbatory. Yeah. Okay? You know what I mean? I see it like it's a bad thing. My style is very predatory.

I'm looking to enter your face hole or your ear hole, however you're acquiring this, and I want to feel like a blind man in an orgy. I want to feel around a little bit in there, okay? It takes a lot of effort, right? To do what? It's hard goddamn work making something this pretty, look this washed on camera.

What I'm saying is taking it from the inside and throwing it at the screen. There's a price you pay. Imagine doing that all day. MK, Show Malka is filming a documentary on our return to the bomb shelter. That's right, they are. Okay. You know, we're doing live streams with Showtime. By the end of a workdayday screaming into a microphone, Luke, there's very little left in the tank, all right?

I stopped listening to you five minutes ago. Just want to point that out. We will be freestyling right now, but we do have questions to answer from the listeners. We appreciate everybody who went out to apple podcast and reviewed our show and asked their question through that prism that's the only way we will answer you and as i said luke we're going to answer every single one well we've got some work to do if you want to do that so you want to get started yeah let's start tickling tickling the rim a little if you know where I'm going with that. Let's see.

Here we go. What fight or fights inspired your combat sports fandom? I love that question. Do you have an answer, Luke? I mean, the original UFC that I saw was UFC 4. So probably that on the MMA side, on the boxing side. We talked about this, I think, the last time we did this. It was the Mike Tyson era.

I grew up in the Mike Tyson era, and it was, you know, it was just impossible to talk about how big he is. The first memory I have of watching a fight was, like, replays of Hagler-Hearns, which obviously was like a three-round absolute slugfest war. That would play a lot on replay, ESPN, ABC's Wild World of Sports. And I've talked before that the Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler 1987 pay-per-view was the first big fight that sucked me. All right. I got into early UFC like you.

But let's frame it like this. Because UFC was a different animal, it was watching it in the beginning was like, I always say, it's like watching Faces of Death. It's like you're watching for the raw ridiculousness. What was the first big UFC fight or MMA fight in general that wasn't like Fat Guy versus that guy that got you fired up? Like, I was certainly fired up for the Ken Shamrock-Hoyce-Gracie rematch, but in hindsight, Luke, I had a pay-per-view party that night at my house. It was like 36 minutes of hugging. It sucked.

Honestly, I'm not sure how to... Do we have to forward it until 2002, 2003, 2004, where it was the first big MMA fight that you were legitimately excited about? Not just curious. Not just, hey, this is pretty cool. The problem was I was always playing catch-up until the aughts. I would go long stretches without watching and then go to blockbuster because you couldn't watch it can we remind people that there's long stretches where you couldn't watch that and so i would catch up

long after the fact so you're talking about like one where i knew it was coming destination fight where you're yeah okay so um wow that's a great question. Because I'm going to be honest with you. I caught up like you did on the years that I was in and out. The first destination fight for me was, and even though I've been watching since UFC 3, 4, 5 and all that, it was Chuck and Rampage. I'm talking destination. I'm talking where, like, you talk random people. You're like, dude, are you going to watch this fight on Saturday?

It was one of the Rumble on the Rocks. I think it was Penn and Gomi on Rumble on the Rock, and Penn fucked him up. And this was when Gomi was kind of like the man. It was a little bit before he was the man, the man. But he was still widely regarded as a top lightweight, and Penn absolutely wrecked his shit like it was nothing. I think it was that one.

Wrecked his shit like it was a strip club parking lot fight, which is what Penn is known for now. No, he won this one. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Sorry, I should clarify that. He got his hand raised as the victor in the end. Maybe that one. If you're talking about big UFC fights, I'm going to say the first. It's funny you mention it.

I'm going to say the first. Evan Tanner, Robbie Lawler was a big one I was waiting for. And that wasn't even a main event. So main event, main event. And the reason why I use Chuck and Rampage, because that was my- Penn St. Pierre won. USA versus Canada. That was big. That was big. That was on the card. I remember Chuck and Rampage, because that was my first year working at ESPN, and that was the first time I saw casual sports fans be excited about an MMA fight. I remember it being on ESPN, like to wall yeah that week and i was like

holy shit this thing is really this thing's really come around can you be rampage is still fighting sort of yeah sorry i mean he's very fat you know what i mean like he's yeah yeah he wasn't in the best you know all right you know i like shitty old guy freak fights we got anderson sil this Saturday, which were, you know, Friday's morning combat. We're certainly going to break down. We did a nice little deep dive Wednesday on his impact of his career. Dude, I'm telling you, from the idea of shit fights, Anderson Silva versus Fedor right now, I would be so freaking. I would have a phoner. A phoner for that?

Yeah, because it's so weird, right? Who would win? Who would win? Who would win that right now? I'm not sure. But that fact alone that you don't know is what makes all the weird different colors that make up your beard whole. It makes you who you are.

I am waiting for my beard to just turn completely white. I've lost interest in having any color anymore. And this conversation, apparently. And this conversation. All right, next one. All right. Do your higher-ups at Showtime ever ask you to dedicate 25 minutes

to dong review segments every episode? No, I can't say that they do. Okay, they don't, but let me tell you this about Showtime. They are the label that pays me and you, Luke, to a large degree. Shout out to CBS, ViacomCBS. Shout out to everybody that pays us. Luke,

true or false? There are many times that you and I F around on camera. There'll be dongs bouncing off people's faces. And I come back off camera, or if we're doing it over Zoom from our house, we do a little wrap-up meeting, expecting people to say, all right, good show, but that was too far. Not only is it never too far, except for that one time where legal got involved over that pat tillman joke we'll forget that ever happened right um you think i will i'm gonna hold it over your fucking head forever our friends at showtime usually encourage us to do more usually they're like it's true you know so so you i mean this ain't a show we're not doing

you know we're not doing weird stuff like that because this is our natural sense of humor. Someone's going to jiff that. This is our natural sense of humor coming out. And Showtime's like, I see your humor, and I raise it in an erection to be even larger. So, so far, and these are famous last words because one day they'll fire us. So far, we're on a good run with them. So far. we're on a good run with them. So far. All right.

Do you think UFC would be even larger if not for their inability to get the biggest fights made? Trick question. Trap question. They said. I mean, the way in which this is worded is not fair. UFC is pretty fucking big. And you could maybe make a case that they would be somewhat larger. But they make every biggest fight they can.

No, they didn't. They didn't make a case that they would be somewhat larger. But they make every biggest fight they can. No, they didn't. They didn't make GSB Silva. Looks like they're not going to get a chance to do Khabib-Connor 2, although one never knows. But, you know, they didn't. There was big fights they could have, like, co-promoted. They didn't get Brock Fedor because Dana wouldn't and couldn't sign Fedor. All right, what about this?

Are you ready for this? But here's the thing. Are those really limiting factors in the growth? No, they make 90% of the fights you need to see. Exactly. You know Sakuraba, the legend, the Hall of Famer. His legacy is the Gracie killer, true or false? Well, the Gracie Hunter was his nickname.

Okay, okay. What if Conor McGregor made it his life mission to become the Nurmagomedov hunter? So let's say he doesn't get... So he has to fight Saeed. So let's say he beats Saeed. Let's say he beats Usman. Let's say he beats...

Keep going. Abdulmanap III. Let's say he keeps going because there's a lot of Nurmagomedovs in the game right now. And that's not me racially saying there's a lot of daggies. Dagistanis? What? That's me saying... There's a lot of Nurmagomedovs in the game right now. And that's not me racially saying there's a lot of daggies, Dagestanis. That's me saying. Can you be racist if you're a European white versus Slavic? That's me saying there are many people in that family.

Or Anglo-Saxon, I should say. What if he went on a run of beating all of them with hopes of dragging Habib out of retirement? Your thoughts, Luke Thomas? That might actually work to go on the Nurmagomedov scouting tour, hunting tour. That could actually get him. I think honestly that probably would. Because if you did do it, you'd have to be in a different era of MMA. But let's say you could actually get it done and he went there and made it happen. And knocked them all out.

Knocked them all out. And then not just that, the whole time talking a gang of shit about Habib. It would be like Clubber Lang and Rocky III. What's his face? BJ Penn did that towards the Gracies four times, even though he was a half-Gracy black belt. But he was going there and beating Rodrigo. I remember he was talking shit about Henzo. And Henzo was like, BJ Penn was in his father's nutsack when I was out there doing arm bars.

And then BJ goes out there and beats all the Gracies. When is the last age that patriarch Helio Gracie could have tapped me out, realistically? Literally on his deathbed. There's no strength left at that point. Is it just the technique is too tight? He could have just thrown his lifeless body on top of you and still would have gotten you.

All right. Where are you guys with these new karate combat events it looks like guys are fighting in front of a green screen with baz rootin baz is spelled boss or sorry excuse me they spelled it base base rootin yeah lance base uh marshall lynch and brian callen come he's commentating wow i like are you guys down with this uh i haven't watched i like karate combat but the dude who runs it, you know, he's a nice guy, but he... Did he pull a yoana? Is that what you're saying?

Not on me. On somebody else I know. He pulled a yoana on me. Yeah. That did happen. That did happen. So, you know, I don't wish him ill, but I'm not going to go out of my way and say, you know...

I don't hate the concept. There's exciting highlights. I don't watch it. Their shit looks cool. I don't know what channel it's on listen it looks cool we ever watched it it looks like an 80s movie like they definitely have a flair for the dramatic which i think the game needs but in the end it's like how much do i care about this kind of fighting a little a little you're you're regularly touching me with this leg right here i don't know yeah well that's i mean be glad

it's my leg and not something else. Anyway, the point being is, yeah, you can scoot over a little bit if you want. Yeah, I mean, so you're like squatting like a catcher with the base very wide. A man spreading. Yeah, I guess so. A man spreading. Okay, so, yeah, I mean, their stuff looks cool, but in the end, you know, I don't care that much. All right, what do you think about Holloway moving up and putting cool but in the end you know i don't care that much all right what do you think about holloway moving up and putting his name in the lightweight mix bc i still think it's a shorter path back to the title should he stay at feather and the fact that i thought he

beat shitty cock boxing star volkanovski and the rematch tells me kickboxing please you can only say cock boxing if you're making fun of me telling me it tells me that he's not far off so what i would do is stay at feather as long as you can keep making it and be that celebrity fighter that could fall into a title shot and could win it back at any point luke tell me if i'm wrong tell me if i'm wrong unless he looks at ortega and says he's gotten too good i wonder if he's looking forward to see what happens at Feather. I still think Volkanovski is a bad matchup for just about anybody. But, I don't know. Ortega looked fucking great. I guess we'll see, dude.

I don't know. I don't know. But, you know, I think moving up, it would make it super interesting. You know, a Max Holloway versus a Tony Ferguson fight. Yeah, volume-wise, that'd be sick. They both can take beatings, yeah. Do you realize, Luke, that we are entering with a bebout, we've said this on Morning Combat,

like a golden era of orgasmic lightweight fights because we don't know who's going to win. It's about to end, too. Like, it's not over yet. There's still a bunch on the horizon. No, I think it's going to start because the belt can fly around. You think so? Yeah. i think there's going to be a few more years of it and then i don't know dude bantamweight is i know some people already think it's the best one it's

in many ways you can make the argument it's not as popular and so therefore some of the size of the fights can be um not undercut but they can't quite hold up to the grandiosity of lightweight. But fucking A, man. In three years, I don't even know where bantamweight is going to be. Who's more of an honorary South American? You or the Shevchenko sisters, being that they have Peru citizenship? Them, for sure. And their Spanish is better, too.

Apparently, at the last UFC event, Valentina was commentating for the Spanish broadcast. How about that shit? Wow. That's pretty good. I'm wondering if there's a different era, if I can come back at a different point in my life, and marriage rules were different, and there was maybe, I mean. Marriage rules were different? Could you be the meat in the Shevchenko sandwich at the same time, just universally and just be a happy family of three?

I like how you're like, I wish I could come back as a sultan and have a harem, including but not limited to. Do you realize how our children would be? First of all, they'd be they'd be badass fighters, but they'd also be really funny and smart, you know? Okay. With factory town intensity in terms of their work ethic. No one cares about factory town intensity. fighters but they'd also be really funny and smart you know um okay with with with factory town intensity in terms of their work i think no one cares about factory town intensity all right can luke and bc give your top five greatest rock bands slash artists of the 90s all right so this is who our personal top five favorites are who we believe are the five best of the 90s there's

just a difference there's a difference. It says your top five greatest. Okay. Answer that however you want. The best artist of the 90s for me is Pearl Jam number one. Okay. Are we extending into hip hop? He says, or whoever wrote this, wrote rock bands slashed artists. All right.

I'm going to stay in rock then. Okay. Stay in rock. Otherwise, it just gets a little lost. Do I have to go in order or can I sum it up? I got Pearl Jam. I got 311.

I've got Sublime. 311? Yeah, you're damn right, okay? Wow. I've got Sublime and Radiohead

would be the fourth. I got one more. I was never a big Pumpkins or STP. I love STP, but I was never a big pumpkins or STP. I love STP, but I was never like a giant massive fan. Never a massive

Soundgarden fan. Oh, maybe I'll go Rage for the fifth. That's a solid starting five right there. I'd go Soundgarden, Rage,

STP. I think you can't forget about them. I left Nirvana out purposely. Are you going to add them? I'm not a Nirvana hater by any stretch. I love their stuff. It comes on, I'm like, all right, yeah, cool, great.

Put it on, turn it up. But I was never like fawning at the altar of Nirvana. That I never did. True or false, Cobain saved himself from an Anderson Silva-like 2013 to 2017 when he was 1- six in one with no contest I'm not one of these folks who's like you know what it's good that he offed himself I'm not saying that

I'll say this it's the same thing you can say about the Notorious B.I.G. you never got a chance to witness the decline as an artist and especially in hip-hop which is in rock you can find acts that have like serious longevity yes hip-hop is a young man's game and you know eventually even the great biggie was going to age look at jay-z jay-z found a way to age out but like he can't come on there

and be like you know young ho fucking by my s dot carter's where the fuck no one gives a shit he's not cool anymore yeah he's cool in like the behind the scenes way he's not cool in like tastemaker kind of way you know do you consider yourself a combat sports tastemaker no i don't give a fuck people like my like i know my shit is good like oh wow i know i know that the shit that i like is absolute quality i know it is so suck a dick oh wow there's you know you so I wouldn't paint you with the brush of a cocky bastard, but there are times when you pull that sword, Luke. Hold on. Who did I get?

Sound Garden? Rage. Rage. STP. Radiohead? I'm not the biggest Radiohead guy. Dishwall? No, I'm kidding.

Please, tell me all your thoughts. Boy, that's tough. I would go Rage as well. Rage was very, very big for me. I'm going to go a little bit sideways on this, and this is not to say that there were not many bigger bands, but it's like your top five greatest, right? Yeah, that's why I have a 311 in there.

Come on, you know? I'm going to go Helmet. Helmet was one of my... Helmet. Helmet. Helmet had a bunch of albums in the 90s, but the two biggest ones... I think Betty came out in the 90s,

but the one that really got me as a huge fan was Aftertaste. Yes. And that album is 1,000% listenable from the very first notes of the first track to the very last ones of the last. It's a masterpiece. My version of Helmet is to put Whiskey Town in there.

They kind of started... I don't know much about them. They kind of started Alternative Country. It's Ryan Adams' band before he went solo. I like him all right. My wife likes him. I love him. I love him.

I mean, he may have done bad things to my... Is there a musical act that you did not know of until someone took you to a concert, and then you're like, you know what? I can get down with these fools. Any genre? That's a great question. then you're like, you know what? I can get down with these fools. Any genre. That's a great question.

I got one. Ready for this one? That I didn't really know anything about them. Maybe you had heard of them, but you really couldn't say you knew a whole lot about them. And it wasn't until you saw them at a concert that you had a eureka moment about them. Not really.

I got one. You want mine? Well, of course I do. Drive-by truckers. Dude, I love the shit out of the drive-by truckers. Dude, drive-by truckers? Fucking Christ. Well, let me say loved. I can't support them post-Jason Isbell leaving because he was too big of a role.

But, dude, I was on them early. How many albums did they have? A hundred? They've got a gazillion albums. Well, yeah. I started listening to them around 03. I've seen them in, I think, seven different states. I've seen them all over the country

And they're incredible Especially when Jason Isbell was there Here's a great trucker story I had a guy at work in 2002 That was trying to get me into them And he was like dude they're going to play Central Park They're going to open in that free outdoor summer series For Charlie Daniels Band

I'm like dude I'll see Charlie Daniels Band That's great So then they were touring the double Southern Rock Opera the third one the double one and we walk up before the concert starts and there's the sound area on the side like the guy you know running the engineer and all that and there's a bunch of ragtag looking like people that like came out of a dark lit bar at 4 a.m okay and i go to my friend dude who are those absolute dirt holes he's like oh those are the drive-by truckers i was like oh okay we're

about to see them luke they blew me away with the triple guitar skinnered-esque attack that they had and i followed them ever since did you get into jason isbell's solo career at all no all right there is one album you want to see joe rogan's 14 million dollar mansion southeastern that i need you to listen to luke now you wouldn't appreciate it you're like you see that's the thing luke do joe rogan's new mansion is something happened to you along the way where your taste in art of music changed changed to shit changed to like it's quite good actually you can't defend your palate knowing that you that you lean so heavily on the dark side sure i can you don't know about any of the good stuff that i like uh when i would say

good stuff you don't know about the stuff that's not like that you've never bothered to ask see i don't need and all the hip-hop stuff you don't know anything about that either so suck a fat one yeah yeah dude jo Joe Rogan's fucking new house is huge. Look at this shit. You should go on his show one day. Maybe inside the house. Maybe eventually. Good Lord, this motherfucker is living large.

Well, dude, he got like a $4 billion from... I know. They gave him like six countries and the harem you were looking for. Here's what I'll say about Joe. And he's a real nice guy. I've met him in person a couple times. He's really short. And you don't see it coming.

Luke, you don't see it coming. He's got to be like five foot one. I always see it coming. I don't see it. Every single time he's surprised. You're pretty tall. How do you not see it? Dude, look at this fucking guy's house.

Okay, that's great. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to get hard over it? Do you want me to get a phoner? Home invasion. Just steal all his shit. Good Lord. All right, let's get back.

Can you believe podcasting can get you this? Well, this is just the beginning for us. You know that MK Rocket chip I talk about? Yeah. It's taken off. I thought that was just you making shit up. No, no. I'm very passionate about that.

All right. Oh, here's another honorable mention for that question. Top five rock bands? Of the 90s. Yeah. I'm going to go Deftones. Yeah, I know you love the deftones i don't think are they the deftones or just deftones the george washington university like

okay you want me you want me to call genesis the genesis dude i don't care what you call them okay i just hope that if you're gonna call them you'll be in their prime now on your not fuck face your fuck face how about that and i got a lot of flack for saying i like the phil collins era which is similar to saying i'm a big sammy hagar van halen fan well you know i mean of course our us roth heads would be all over that luke right uh most disappointing concert you ever been to where you just loved them on record and then you saw them and they were like man that just sucked um i saw kings of leon in 2004 at toad's place in new haven they uh were so freaking high that they came out they didn't even do an encore.

They did 30 minutes, and every song sounded like the album, and there was no jamming, and the guitarist was falling asleep standing there, and that was incredibly disappointing. Can I tell you my most disappointing? Please, please. And I love the Kings of Leon, by the way. I've endured in there.

Here's the other part. Some bands just are better live or on record. Yes. Very few can do both. So you have to understand there's always going to be a tradeoff one direction or the other. But the big one for me that was just heartbreakingly bad. Besides every rap concert you've ever been to, keep going. No, I've been to some good rap concerts.

I don't think it's a thing. I don't think it's a thing to be, there's no such thing. Because you don't know what you're doing. I happen to have a little bit more understanding. I'll say this. It was a rap concert. But hear me out. It was when Rage Against the Machine was playing with the Wu-Tang Clan.

That tour created more rage riots and people pissing on each other. Dude, Wu-Tang opened for rage. This was in Atlanta. And Wu-Tang had, I'm not exaggerating, 75 people on stage, maybe, on the conservative side. They were yelling over each other. You couldn't even tell who the fuck was playing it. DJ would start a track for a minute and then flip to another one. He'd be like, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up.

Atlanta. Peace up, A-Town down. Everything. And they were just going these fucking soliloquies. They maybe played three songs from beginning to end. It fucking blew. It was terrible. Terrible.

Yeah. Yeah. I went to a Guns N' Roses show in 2002 in which Axl never got on the plane from L.A. to Philly. So the fans rioted and burned the inside of the arena. It was incredible. Fucking Philly, dude. You can rely on them, bro.

I've seen Guns N' Roses twice. Once with Axl and Buckethead. Ooh, dude, Buckethead's incredible. Dude, Buckethead can fucking shawr. And he's so technical and classical. You're like, we're going to call this guy fucking Buckethead. And then you watch him play and you're like, no, he's good. I watched on PBS one time an hour-long Buckethead special,

which was all instrumental songs. And it was insanely good. He got a violin bow out, like Jimmy Page style. I mean, it was... And then I saw them do the summer tour back when they reunited. And they played FedEx. How bad was Axl's voice at that point? No, they figured it out.

They had a system in place. So it was the same system that Axl used when he was playing with Buckethead, which is he would do three or so songs, maybe four, and then he would start a fifth. Then he would do three or so songs, maybe four, and then he would start a fifth. Then he would not finish it, get off stage, and Buckethead would just begin to shred and just go to work. See, I don't-

And then the summer tour, it'd be the same thing, but here's what they would do. They would be like, the fourth song would be like November Rain. So Axl would shred for however long- Well, Axl doesn't shred, but yeah. Okay, but this is a long song, and he would go on his own thing. Axl doesn shred for like, you know, however long. Well, Axl doesn't shred, but yeah. Okay, but he would, you know, this is a long song and he would go on his own thing. Axl doesn't play guitar. Sorry, not Axl. I'm sorry, Slash.

What am I saying? Right. He would play the whole thing, blah, blah, blah. And then Axl comes back out with a change of wardrobe. Yes. And he's rested his throat and then he just goes back and forth. Or it's just playing lip syncing. Yeah, but okay, either way.

All right, so I don't like seeing people when they're too washed. saw i'm a i'm a massive bob dylan fan and i saw him in o2 i saw one really good concert one really bad but i knew that that was the end he was 60 years old it was never going to be better i had to stop i got so into the rolling stones around 05 luke and they did the stadium tours but you know the charts like 125 bucks and you got to sit 80 yards away and i found out that they were having guitar and bass players behind the curtain playing to like fill in the gaps where the old shits couldn't i don't need to see that you know what i'm saying i want to see i want to be intimate i want to be in a club you ever go to a club and see your favorite band and the stage is like two feet high and you're standing right there staring at his guitar

i've done that for this is why i tell folks like, oh, the fights are better with an audience. Motherfucker, on what level? Okay, they are better with an audience in every category. The only people who think that are the people who get their highs as media from constantly going to events. But if you're like me, and my...

You're such an asshole. I'm not an asshole. This is for people who... You're the asshole. You're the one who says, you two idiots up there fighting, my enjoyment of this is contingent upon everyone else. And I'm the one who says,

my enjoyment of the fight is not contingent upon everyone else. You're basically framing at people that think a crowd improve a fight are people that can't appreciate what they're watching, so they need the soundtrack and energy of a crowd to lift them up. Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. That is a thousand percent wrong, Luke. There are certain fights where a crowd will elevate the general atmosphere especially on the higher higher higher end and that is especially true in boxing relative to mma but the overwhelming majority do not need them and in fact are made worse by them that is

the worst attempt at a hipster i'm smart it's not a hipster thing even for you who who has cornered the market on the i'm smarter than you thing, let me pull that word out, that sword out. Those are just natural words. Buy a dictionary, motherfucker. Those are natural words as part of my daily usage. Because of the College of William & Mary? No, because I make a lifelong effort at learning.

You should try it sometime. Here's the point I'm trying to make. Understand something. I have made the point for years that if the UFC is too expensive, and the tickets are not cheap. Like, they're pricey, okay? Like, a decent ticket at UFC is going to be $300 a pop in certain cases. That's probably true. All right?

So it's a lot of money. So what I always tell folks, and this is not possible now in large part because of the pandemic, but let's say pre-pandemic, what I always told folks was, listen, you go support local MMA because, one, it's good for the MMA economy. And, two, you don't have to spend a lot of money. And somebody might die. Somebody straight up might die. You might see Dada 5000.

But here's my point. You can go and spend $50, $100, and you can get basically nearly cage-side seats. Yes. And if you've never done that and you begin to see the fight up close and you can hear it for your own, you can feel the weight of the fight in front of you, it takes on a much better, and I think it's a much more fulfilling experience. Local fights, for that,

I would love an audience to be there. In that case, I would say that the lack of an audience would really make a difference because those are your training partners and your friends and your family and only them. So let me say this. What you get with a situation like poirier versus hooker is you lose the audience for the upgrade of the larger weight of the fight you cannot make the case to me in terms of what does larger weight mean larger weight of the fight what the hell does you watch a fight if you watch it on mute, you lose something. Yes.

Watching a fight is it fulfills most of your senses. Your sight, your hearing, if you're there, the sort of smell of it sometimes, the crowd, the blood being splattered. All these things have mattered if you're close enough. I don't need an audience to support this.

That fight is so pure as an experience on its own, I don't know that the yelling would necessarily detract from it, but it certainly, in that particular case, does not improve it. The opposite, I think, would be Fury versus Wilder. That one needed an audience. I think you're 100% wrong. I appreciate what you're saying, that it brings out the sounds of the fight more

a little more than that but okay but uh it's this debate too luke i'm not a big steak guy i can appreciate a really good steak i buy steak when somebody else is paying at times for big restaurants you had a steak when we went out last night it was good okay but i don't crave it and i for me burgers you know you like a gourmet burger to me i can get all nerdy with you and gourmet that shit okay grass-fed all that shit i like good burger but it's not a replacement for us yeah no it's it's amazing um i also am the biggest fan of ketchup ever i don't and so my wife will get on me she'll be like you know you love beef you love to cook it on the grill you love a really well-made burger with this and that in it. Why are you putting ketchup on it?

You're going to ruin it. No, ketchup is the enhancer. Ketchup takes it to another level. I'm not saying you should be an absolute weirdo and eat an overdone steak with ketchup. That's treason, right? That's treason. Okay. You could probably be killed in medieval times in England probably for that.

But putting ketchup on a gourmet burger, are you kidding me? This is like... I'm not opposed to that. Right. Ketchup doesn't make meat taste more like meat. When you say enhancing, you mean as a more complimentary whole? I'm saying that if you're a purist who says, I don't need ketchup on my burger because I just want to taste the burger,

I appreciate that, but I believe that ketchup... It's a great example of you and I. Stack a burger. What goes on it? Bun, patty, then what? Well, you've got to have blue cheese if you're going to have a great burger. Okay, keep going.

You're going to have to have onions of some kind. I'm going to have the crispy kind. Caramelized? Oh, caramelized. There are the balls, right? You're speaking my language at this point. Okay, okay. I don't love the lettuce, but I'll accept it.

I don't know if I don't put a lot of ketchup on that, though. I need a juicy tomato on there. I need a juicy... Like a beefsteak tomato. Okay, okay. You know, I don't love the lettuce, but I'll accept it. I don't know if I don't put a lot of ketchup on that, though. I need a juicy tomato on there. I need a juicy... Like a beefsteak tomato. Yeah, yeah. One that could be... You've said nothing wrong to this point.

Okay, okay. I understand why we disagree. I eat it naked. No, just kidding. No, it's so hot. So here's the thing. I'm with you on burgers being... Like, who the fuck

says I'm above eating burgers? Go fuck yourself. Burgers will forever be a great and a true joy. But it's better than steak. Because it has the full dressing. No. It does, bro. Dude, who is making the fucking steaks that you're eating?

Steak doesn't have blue cheese on it. They can, by the way. The two are not mutually exclusive. Dude, I've had great... I love steak. I have had great steak. No, no, no. When you say you've had great steak, what the fuck does that mean?

But there's a difference. You didn't even know what chimichurri was. You think I trust your steak opinions? Great steak is great steak. You're like, I've had great steak except from Argentina, who arguably have the best steaks in the entire world. Steak is like barbecue ribs, though. At the elite level, it's an orgasmic experience.

Yes. Anything short of that is a waste of your time. I wouldn't argue too much with that. Whereas a cheeseburger is like pizza is like sloppy sex. A cheeseburger is like a seven, but it's a solid seven. It's a consistent seven. I've been living in the tens. I live in a snooty area where the cheeseburgers are gourmet.

You think of gourmet fucking burgers and no other town in America? Every town in America has gourmet burgers. Here's the thing. Come to D.C. We're going to get $100 haircuts. Can you get your brother involved? He blows me off. My brother makes out-of-control burgers.

Does he like edibles? He does, actually, yes. Then can we make this work? I don't want to make out with him at the end. What would your brother and I have a common ground on? Music, maybe? I bet she's got a better talent. He probably likes nerdy shit, though.

He probably loves R.E.M. and the police. Police, no. R.E.M., yes. I knew it. What year did he graduate high school, though? 96. Oh, that's my age. 96. Is your real name Luke Thomas?

Is that a real name? What's your middle name? Something weird, right? Like Wilhelmina or something like that. Wilhelmina? Buchanan or something named after the only gay president? No, it's none of those things. Okay, okay.

It's quite normal. A little factoid. Yes. Who was the only president who was so fat he got stuck in the bathtub? Who were the fat guys? Taft? Taft. Taft's the one, yeah.

All right. Shout out to the fat guys. All right. Let's move along here. By the way, Jose, here's what we're going to do. So a buddy of my wife's, his name is Walter, but he's actually Argentinian, like full-on Argentinian, to the point where his English is pretty limited lucas matisse's brother's name is walter he was is that right yeah you'd be surprised you go to latin america there's some jeffersons down

there but it's spelled with a y but you know how they pronounce the y the english y like a j i don't really know that so they don't say yogurt they say yogurt for example uh not in all places it just depends on the dialect but i've seen a bunch of dudes down there named you look at it says jefferson but it's jefferson so my wife doesn't call yoel romero yoel romero she calls him joel that's how she pronounces joel homero no she calls it romero then she's wrong because in brazil it's jose the correct pronunciation is always how a native would say it henan and there are uh plenty of people across spanish-speaking latin america who would say it. And there are plenty of people across Spanish-speaking Latin America who would say Joel Romero. Anyway, here's the point. When you come to the city, we're going to get steaks.

We're going to cook them. And Walter is going to give us his. I mean, Walter is like proudly Argentinian. How is his English? Good enough. I remember one time I asked him, I was like, can I have the recipe to your chimichurri? He was like, no. And I go, why?

He goes, Argentino hasta la muerte. Like, to the death. I'm Argentinian. No one else can have it. Wow, wow. Blah, blah, blah. But he'll make you a bunch and then give it to you. I got something to show you, Argentinian.

Keep talking. I got an Argentinian thing to show you. One of the weirdest moments in boxing of the modern era. Is this some Instagram fit model with a big ass? No, hang with me here. Do you remember a little bit of business on Showtime pay-per-view called Mayweather Maidana 1 and 2? Do you remember before the first one that Maidana had a traditional Argentinian national anthem player? And so the people can see it first.

Let me see. I actually haven't seen it seen was he playing the flute i think he's going down on some guy there and you know he did the argentinian national anthem on a uh you're not into that you're so racist why is that racist people let's make fun of the let's make fun of the others 2020 any race could. Any race could go down on their own. Yeah, and Argentinians are mostly white, for example. Although it's apparently hilarious because if you find all the teams that have countries on the coast, they'll have black players inevitably. But the Argentinian team, you ever looked at them? Like Messi, for example.

You don't understand about soccer, but you know who Leo Messi is, right? Yeah, yeah. He's as white as snow. He's real short, too. Yeah, they don't have any black players in Argentinian teams or the Uruguayan teams. Do they hate black people? No. Brazil is a lot of blacks. Brazil is majority black what about colombia pretty black um it's about like america it's about like 10 plus percent okay but but but here's the key it's super concentrated so for example if you go to where my wife is from in bogota you'll see

like the occasional black person it's not like a rare thing, but it's not common. Edison Miranda? You got to go to the coast. Okay. And when you go to the coast, it's like 90% black. So the coast of Columbia is like Atlanta in our country. Significantly more so. It's Atlanta on Black College Spring Break weekend.

East St. Louis. Something like that. Something like that. Something like that. Yeah, it's super, super. What about D.C.? That's a fairly... D.C. when I grew up was called Chocolate City, and now it's actually a majority not black anymore.

Oh, it's gentrified. The Brooklyn bullshit happened. The black population still represents the single most in the plurality, but they don't have the majority anymore. Okay. Which Drive-By Trucker albums did you own? I forgot to close that conversation.

I've owned... Or were you more into the live game? More into the live game. But it was... God, I'll play some of their songs here in a minute. What's your favorite one or two tracks? What's not... I love Zip City.

Hold on, I'll play it for you. You know what? Because here's the deal. I know a lot of DBT fans, and there's people I know that are Patterson Hood fans. He's their lead singer. I'm much more of a Mike Cooley fan. He's the skinny lead guitar player.

And then, look, Jason Isbell is the best thing that ever happened to them. Alright, I'll tell you which one I got. These are the ones that really move me. When the pin hits the shell, it might be my number one. Okay, so you're more of a Patterson Hood guy, I'm going to say. It's like you can lie to your mother, you can lie to your race, but you can't lie to nobody with a cold steel in your face.

Women in Whiskey, you know that song? That is so good. It's just so fun. Bam, bam, bam. If I make it through this year, got to put this bottle down. Yeah, right? If I make it. I've been in my put this bottle down. Yeah, right? Like, if I make it. I've been there.

I've been in my 20s. You know what I'm saying? Don't need to tell me about what the bottom of a bottle has for you. Gravity's Gone is one of my favorite ones. Gravity's Gone is so good. And that was the last album with Isabel. That song. Yeah, that's right.

That was the chick who played bass? Shonda, who was Jason Isabel's wife. Now he upgraded. He's married to that country chick. What's her name? You know what I'm saying? No. Who?

Isbell married to. She's hot. I can't believe you don't know Isbell's Southeastern album. It'll change your life if you let it, but I haven't heard it. Dead, Drunk, and Naked? I haven't heard that one amanda shires is her name um she's like famous or yeah she's kind of like a country bluegrass uh singer dead drunk and naked is a good song too but that's more uh the early stuff anyway

let's get back to the show luke okay people don't really want to see you searching for shit and i don't give a fuck it It's the Red Shoe Dyers. What are we doing here? Pin hits the shell. Where the Devil Don't Stay might be their best song. That's so heavy. That's heavy as a ball bag. Listen to this shit.

It's great. I'm going to speak to this fucking thing. That's a little aggressive. Luke, when you were your drunkest, what was your full-time job? Was this a sad drunk period in your life or a happy drunk period? No, sad. Okay, so were you functioning or barely? Barely.

All right. I'll turn this down. Sadly, I don't want to talk more about it because I'm sick of talking about it. You talk about your drunkenness a lot? No, but this part. When my mom passed, I nearly drank myself to death, bro. I don't really want to read all that shit. Yeah.

What? I'll give you one question. Go about, go ahead. What do you mean? You're going to ask something. I'm not going to ask something though. All right.

I appreciate that. Okay. I respect you, Luke. Okay. All right. Uh, I mean,

you're in, you're, you're an a-hole, but I, I certainly respect. You're a fucking a-hole. You think that it's you and like half the audience on YouTube comment section versus me. And you don't realize it's me and you versus the world.

You're saying we're not unified enough? Can you not text during the podcast? No, you're saying we're not unified enough as a front. I'm saying you have weird allegiances that you don't need to have. Name one. Name one. You parsing the YouTube comment section for weird measures of support or even the weird parts where they're insulting you and you're like, hey, you know what someone said in the YouTube comment section for weird measures of support or even the weird parts where like they're

insulting you and you're like hey you know what someone said in the youtube comment section about me and i'm like no well the reason why i do that is because from day one luke from my first episode on the mma beat i talked to you like i don't fucking read any comments and all those people can die like that was like i read them on occasion that was your like, I'm going to overbear and go overboard on this. I'm like, really? You don't read any comments? I read some, of course. I'm not going to sit there in vanity, search myself 12 hours a day.

But if you're. You know who does that is Jalen. What's his face? Rose. Jalen Rose. Yeah. Try it. Have a tweet about him and then see what happens.

You'll get a response from him. I thought you told me Mike Goldberg's like that, too. He might be. Bruce Buffer? I don't know. For griffin he blocked me i have three voicemails from forrest griffin from china right here china yeah i had an interview set up with so do you well who do you have saved in your saved voicemails like i got probably 15 from my wife three from my kids i think i got one from my grandma or something. I got Forrest Griffin, yo. Oh, I don't know how to work this.

Hold on. Hey, Brian Campbell. It's good to have Forrest Griffin here. I was trying to call you on the other number, but I could not get through on that. He's being a professional. Yeah. Want to crank call him? No, I don't want to do that.

I'm 41 years old. Please. I love Forrest Griffin, by the way. Even in that Toyo Tire commercial, the weird one with Dom Reyes. The only thing I don't like about the commercial is, like, why are you drinking water out of a coffee mug, you psychopath? Well, he is a little bit of a psychopath. Do you know what Forrest Griffin accomplished? Something that I do, Luke.

Like, you used to always say, you leaned pretty hard into that factory town bit didn't you just use it as an excuse for your imperfections is it an excuse though or is it a justification no it's an excuse the way you do it it's an excuse well what i'll say about this is why did we love forrest griffin because he wore his heart soul and intention on his sleeve and said look i'm trying my best to be best to be an elite fighter here. I'm an ultimate fighter, ex-factory worker, right? That's what I am in this space. He's not an ex-factory worker.

He's an ex-cop. That's what I am in this space. No, you're not. I'm saying I don't belong here and I don't want to belong here, but I'm going to show you that I can linger, okay? And I can hang and I can climb and I can get to the top.

Do you have to? Do you have to do you have to where you're like all frat boy super elites magna come often you know from william and mary right no bro i'm back door in this shit i'm john starks give me another 10-day contract you know what i'll do raise your ratings okay i'll put the sizzle on your steak luke without me do you know what you are very popular dead dead animal okay dude i've got four times the audience you do what you are? Very popular. Dead animal. Dude, I've got four times the audience you do, and you seem to think that without you, I'd be just foundering. Here's the difference.

You have to know your role in this game. Tell me if I'm wrong. There are roles that we play. You're a rock. You're a foundation. You're a guy that draws an audience, has a take, is more than happy doing masturbatory stuff in front of the camera for hours on end. I'm a steak and sizzle.

I'm a ketchup guy, right? You put me on something established and you can add. Okay, but the ketchup you can't eat alone and the meat by itself without seasoning you can't eat alone. I'm Mariano Rivera. It's the marriage. No, you're not. You're not asking him to start. You're not Mariano Rivera.

You're just the ball. No. You're nothing. You're nothing. You're the big white guy're just the ball. No, you're nothing. You're you're nothing. You're the you know, you're the big white guy who could pitch seven innings. Great. But I'm going to come in and shut the door. Who is that?

Who is that? One of the what not Andy Vance like. What am I? I'm petted. Am I petted? You try the HGHS. You're Andy Pettit. All right.

I'm petted. And you can be you can be the greatest closer in the history of the game. Motherfucker, you overstate your importance in this equation. I don't understand what I bring here. I do. I do. Dick jokes and fucking odd rapist smiles. All right.

Do cucumbers taste better pickled? Which, of course, if cucumbers are pickled. Bro, I fucking hate cucumbers. Cucumbers and vinegar are pickles. I hate pickles and I hate cucumbers. My parents, we went through a healthy. Yeah, because we didn't eat salads as much as a kid. I got screwed up, okay?

Most people, like, gradually get into salads and the healthy, and, you know, by the time you're an adult, you're like, I want to eat this stuff because it helps me.

I got... I had no greens or salads or anything until, like, third grade, and then my parents were like, we're going to eat clean from the earth, right? You know?

And you're good. And so for two years, we weren't allowed to eat anything but plates full of cucumbers, and I was just gagging i see i see what they did and so it's it scarred me my relationship with vegetables is very much like my relationship with man on man love dude you could eat all the cucumbers you want it's just not for me bro all right but to say you hate it, you said you hate cucumbers. I don't hate man on man.

I don't. It's not man on man. Until I try it, right? It's not necessarily for me, but I don't hate it. I have two differences. I have tried cucumbers and they're in disguise. My wife loves pickles. I'm like, they're fucking cute.

Well, here's what I would say. Bro, bro. I'm going to challenge you a little bit on your burger. I'm going to say this a little bit because everything you mentioned was good. But most burgers, what do they need? You need the animal protein. You need the carbohydrate, which would be your – you can put stuff in the middle like fried onions, but it would be your bun. You need the fat, the creaminess, which would come from like mustard or Dijonais or for some people it's mayo.

It's not for me, but okay. And you need also a little bit of acid and that's where the pickles come into play a little bit of that a little bit of that really makes it go a long way no see here's the thing people are like well if anybody who's a chef is watching they're gonna go the guy on the left is right the sorry your brother once owned in a restaurant I get a simpleton the right, who may speak for more people, still doesn't speak for the correct people. In this particular case, people know what they're talking about. Okay, let's say you love chocolate.

I'm like, all right, I'm going to dip my penis in chocolate. It's still dick at the end of the day, right? That's the dumbest comparison I've ever heard. That is the cucumber's evolution into a pickle. The idea of adding acid is to add all the different things your tongue could reasonably get a hold of, and it completes the full palette of flavors. And to a degree, they balance each other out. The fat, the creaminess with the acid, they cancel each other.

One of the best things you can eat is like rice with some kind of... Why do you think the Japanese do it? They have rice and they have soy sauce. The carbohydrate cuts the acid and vice versa between the two. Or the salt in that particular case. It's vegetable lasagna at the end cuts the acid and vice versa between the two and or the salt in that particular case it's vegetable lasagna at the end of the day you take my favorite thing but you stick the thing i hate the worst in it no so oh pickled juice is great yeah well there's a freaking cucumber underneath that all right i don't i don't do that you know we went to a nice restaurant

yesterday and this dude of all the things in the menu, he's like, yo, let me get the lamest shit you got on that menu. I want to get shit you can get at any fucking restaurant. That's not something that happened. Bake that chicken, put some fucking salt and pepper on it, and bring me that shit. Meanwhile, we're having Italian gnocchi and fucking... What I was going to order, you ended up ordering as an appetizer for the table. Which one? I was going to order that gnocchi and fucking... What I was going to order, you ended up ordering as an appetizer for the table. Which one?

I was going to order that gnocchi and sausage. So order more of it and have it for yourself. Instead, I housed the app. All right? I took them downtown, bro. I was like OJ with Ron Goldman on those apps, right? You were slitting their throat. So look, as bad as that joke...

Hiding in Kato Kaelin's. So look, hold on for just one second. As bad as that joke is, and shout out to the Goldmans. Luke? Yeah, shout out. You're false. He was. My peeps.

I mean, I'm not saying OJ should have went to that level, but this guy was sleeping with his wife, right? Or were they officially divorced at that point? Does it matter? I don't know. I don't know. Okay. Honest opinion of Dillashaw's return. Do you think he can

recapture the bantamweight title and his pound for pound spot it's unlikely that he recaptures both the problem is uh bantamweight moved on without him yeah you're right so even if he is just as good the talent got way harder i i don't see how he can be just as good even though i believe that most people are using he might be better than you think he is. I tend to think he's somewhat not as much as people think. Do you realize that I was the protector of all things Dillashaw, Killashaw? I was the guy who came on. You remember the MMA beat?

I came on there, and I boldly said, he's going to knock Cody out to get that title back. And you and Danny Segura and Chuck in the hat were like, you know, bro, I don't really know about that. We don't make predictions on this show. We're very sensitive about that. We're not about sensitive. We just don't like lying to the audience. Do you realize what happened next? TJ won that shit back, all right?

Yeah, he did. Although there's a question about how he did it. I was there. Were you in New York that night? 217? Great pay-per-view. Great frickin' pay-per-view. Which one was this? That was the GSP, Bisping, Rose, and JJ. I was there. I was there.

You know, you probably didn't celebrate Rose's win over Young J-Check because she hadn't broken your heart yet. I'm not that petty. Dude, I always said this. Just because you don't like certain fighters, you really can't let that affect the way in which you give pre- or post-fight analysis about them.

So, for example, I didn't know what was going to happen in the Wei Li Zhang fight because it was hard to tell. I mean, going in, I just didn't know. I think I leaned slightly towards Zhang just because she was younger and fresher, but she was unchallenged in the way that Ioana could challenge her. But dude, after the fight, A, I thought Ioana won. I stillana could challenge her. But, dude, after the fight, A, I thought Ioana won.

I still think Ioana won. Two, dude, she got fucking disfigured on there. You can't be a normal human and look at what she did and not honor, A, the performance, whether you think she won or she lost. And then, two, what she sacrificed. Like, holy fuck. Do you remember, like, a week later when she took a picture and it looked like she was fucking black? Yeah, yeah. Because the swelling had gone down, but the bruising was still everywhere.

Like, holy shit, man. And she only got paid like 200 grand for that shit. It's a fucking crime. So like that I personally don't have an enormous amount of affection for her. Okay, I don't. But I have an enormous amount of respect for her as a fighter. And I am, I think, reasonably able to differentiate the two. And as a fashion model um i will say this i i kind of fancy myself as the iwana of the uh combat sports media

space are you just saying words i think you're just saying words no no i meant that i didn't mean that uh do you have any fun stories of attending or watching combat sports events while inebriated i mean virtually all of them have been in that state So I don't have any one in particular Yeah the first Fight card I ever went as a fan And I think it's the only one It's actually the only fight card I've ever been to As a fan not working It was a show box

2005 Friday night Mohegan Sun Arena It was Did you and the rapper Apathy go? David Estrada against Chrisith in the main event not that important andre berto on the undercard but in between fights so when they chance when they transformation luke from the undercard to the showtime main card all these dudes come in and they start they start putting up the banners and changing them and get the showtime banners out

and there's a dude in on the in the center of the ring on a ladder. And he was like a roadie, right? And he had this ridiculous long ponytail and he's this fat dude. And he got up to the top of the ladder. And there's probably like 1,000 people in the arena. And I'm like, yeah, fat dude with the ridiculous mohawk or whatever. And I just ripped his hair so bad. But I underestimated how little the noise

was in the arena and it was like he stopped he turned around and he's just like fuck you and then gave me a look like i'll be seeing you later and i at that point i was unable to hide because there was just nobody in the arena you know there's also a guy sitting behind me in a suit but no front teeth as if he'd been like knocked out and he was and when there was andre burdo in his pro debut knock somebody down he goes he went down like the twin towers and everybody in the crowd was like yeah the old adesanya joke yeah that's not not a good one uh the only one i have would not be a combat sports event but i got uh i didn't get drunk but i was just an asshole in high school and me and my friends

went out to a Braves game and I remember Ron Gant was playing was it left field and I'll never forget there was this woman like three rows down who had she had large breasts and where I come from we'd say she had a nice rack yeah she had a big ass titties it's the way it's the way i commonly believe she had a nice rack yeah she was doing a lot of yard work yeah would you take that to the debutante ball with you uh anyway so we proceeded to make you know unbearable comments that went on for about seven or eight innings until the point where the husband got up and looked at all of us and was like it just straight up threatened us i mean if you don't shut the fuck up i and looked at all of us and was like, just straight up threatened us. I mean, if you don't shut the fuck up, I'm going to fight all of you right here.

You're all pieces of shit. And he was completely in the right. Like, I look back on it, like, quite ashamedly. The only thing about this that was funny was what happened next, which was we were like, okay, all right, man. You know, we're just here having fun, but you want to fist fight. We're teenagers. Do your thing.

Okay, we're, you know, we're, all right, you win. He would have kicked your right you win uh he would kick your ass oh he would have totally kicked her ass i mean he was like even even just because he was more heated if nothing else yes all right he was super heated i was eating some you know this was a fulton county stadium before even turner had been around and i've been around then uh turner stadium was the one they replaced with that. We tried to make himself the manager for one day. Can I please finish the story? Anyway, and then somebody in my crew finished their hot dog or something

and then took the wrapper and then just threw it in the air and it hit me. And I go, oh, shit. Because remember he had said it. One of you curses one more time, it's going to be on, blah, blah, blah. Because it wasn't just that we were making other totally inappropriate references. Anyway, I say, oh, shit. I didn't even...

I didn't yell it, and I definitely wasn't directing it at him. He hears it and stands up and turns around and thinks it's my friend to my left who said it. He goes, tit. He goes, tit. He was it, he goes, he goes, he was like,

I mean, you could see the fucking steam coming out of his ears. He goes, did, did you just tell me to eat your shit? So I did that bit like Jim Carrey, when sea bass comes over and dumb and dumber, he's like,

who's that? Who threw that? And I was over there like... Looking around. And this guy gets up in my friend's face. Spittle flying everywhere like, fuck you, I'll kill you. And I was trying to contain the laughter.

If he had thrown punches, I would have intervened. But I loved... He was like, I didn't even do nothing. I didn't even do nothing. And the guy was still up in his grill. he eventually left because we were complete dickheads wow would you sell me out that same way in front of a fighter if he was now i would not do it but back then i did it because phil barone slid in my dms the other day and threatened my life i love phil barone i mean dude i love the badass what'd he say uh he said I like men, basically, at the end of the day.

Oh, did he use a six-letter F word? It may have happened, but I love him anyway. You know, he's going through some rough times right now. Remember the fight with Shamrock? BC, where is your favorite hot dog from? It doesn't have to be a gas station. That's a great question. I live in, I come from, sorry, I come from Naugatuck, Connecticut,

in the industrial Naugatuck Valley. Nobody cares. They have an Al's Hot Dog standugatuck Valley. Nobody cares. They have an Alice hot dog stand there that's legendary. But I think the best hot dogs in the world are in Waterbury, Connecticut, of all places. It's at a place called Blackie's on the Waterbury-Cheshire line, okay? And Blackie's is this old school place, Luke, where when you walk up, you have to speak the lingo, you know, soup Nazi style. You know, you have to go up there and be like, give me two without or whatever. And if you don't speak it, they're mean to you or they're probably mean to you anyway.

But, yeah, they're smaller than normal. So you can go in there and eat like 16 of them. You're going to laugh at this, but we've been over this a little bit. The best hot dogs in the world are in Colombia. I did see your photos on this. Their game is out of control. And here's the thing i'm with you my wife told me that and i did the whole american thing i go listen lady in los estados

unidos we invented the hot dog there's no fucking way that some south american nation has got it on lock and she goes okay bitch okay okay oh and so we went to a place that served what they call perros. Perros, dogs. Same thing, same word. All right. And we went there, and I was so blown away, I couldn't even front. I was like, okay, all right, you win. Now, let's talk hot dog etiquette here, in a sense. Okay.

I'm a ketchup guy. I love a ketchup on my dog. My dad, who's old school, says that's a crime. You should be jailed where I come from, meaning the 1950s or 60s. It was mustard and relish or both or nothing else. Okay. Dude, ketchup on a hot dog is like America. That's like breasts on a woman, right?

Strictly ketchup? Yeah. If I've got a chance to put the onions on, I'll do it. Okay. So we're talking about an ideal situation. I chance to put the onions on i'll do it okay so we're talking about like an ideal situation i would not put strictly ketchup on okay if you were going to cumberland farms or 7-eleven and you're like you know fuck it bro i'll get two hot dogs what are you putting on there from a gas station yes because those are great by the way mustard and probably that's it

you know it's great well okay there's a place in new britain connecticut new britain connecticut a place called capital lunch shout out where they do the full coney dog style with the you know with the chili on it i love that shit you get the chili and the fried onions that's great but if i'm going to the gas station i'm just putting ketchup on you you really can't do anything about that i think you need to work on your palate that's's what I think. You've got a little bit of a limited palate. Are you tired of the Diaz brothers having the power to dip in and out as they please? I don't think they have that power. They are solid fighters.

I think they're just roadblocks at this time, this person writes. What do you think? I mean, you're not wrong in a sense. The roadblock element is that forever UFC didn't want to pay them, and now it appears that they do but it appears that the Diaz's are still still need to be coddled Luke and Dana and company are not going to coddle them right no they're not the coddler they need to be coddled they need to be you need to make the Diaz it's like dealing with an in-law you need to make the Diaz's feel like it's their decision

right when in reality you have the plan all along you can't just say hey Nate we want you to fight Dustin Poirier at Madison Square Garden you have to like trick him into it in a way true or false we gotta move through these questions why'd you put Crawford at number three on your pound for pound ranking

why'd you put Crawford at number three on your pound for pound ranking okay it's a little bit controversial Terrence Crawford the unbeaten welterweight champion. I'm saying this because of the competition Crawford fought and was lacking and then put Inouye at two. I can't even name many guys Inouye fought. Okay, then you're not a hardcore, first of all. But here's what I'm going to say.

It's a rare time right now for boxing pound-for-pound where normally there's one guy or there's Manny or Floyd and you pick. There's like four or five guys right now. Canelo's not number one? Canelo's my number one. Okay. Before Lomachenko lost, a lot of people had him. You're not wrong if you have Crawford, Inouye, or Spence as your pound for pound number one.

There was even a rare period where Usyk was in that discussion, okay? But, Luke, when it's all said and done, Crawford's on the other side of the street at top rank in ESPN. Tell me if I'm wrong. And all the really good welterweights are with the PBC, right? Correct. So he has had a somewhat limited number of elite opponents. Whereas, you know what, Naoya Inoue, the Japanese monster, do you know this man?

I did because of what he did last year. He came across my radar last year. Dude, he went for a title in like his fifth or sixth fight. Every time he moves up, he carries the power with him. He is incredible. That power, regardless of weight, would F some people up. This is a man coming out of Japan. You're going to see him this weekend.

And he's got tons of heart, too. He does. He fought with a broken orbital bone against Donair for ten rounds. Basically, yes. And he got rocked in the ninth. And not just that. He won the fight against Donair. He said this week when he got rocked in the ninth. And not just that, he won the fight against Notre Dame. He said this week when he got rocked in the ninth,

he just kept thinking about his children, about their future, and it brought him back from the dead. All right, if UFC was a weird Russian tag team match fight and Habib and GSP were on one team, who would you put as their opponents regardless of weight to stand a chance? Okay, let's think about this. Wrestlers who have gas tank for days good defense I think they're talking pro wrestling and you're thinking amateur

no no no they're talking Russian MMA where you can do multiple like fighter on fighter oh okay Colby Covington honestly is one name that kind of comes to mind because of the tank the tank is ridiculous and he is offensive minded but he doesn't have finishing power no

and his boomerang defense is suspect how good is yours mine's pretty bad But he doesn't have finishing power. No. And his boomerang defense is suspect. How good is yours? Mine's pretty bad. Regardless of size, I mean, would you do Kane or some shit? I mean, you know, I'm trying to think somewhere in the ballpark of where he is. Would you do Weidman? Is Khabib or GSP a knockout threat for Weidman? Can probably be more i'd pick a knockout can i can i pick dagastanis because they're because those guys have gas tanks for days they'll wrestle you through the ground

yeah they're pretty fucking tough i'm picking everyone named everyone with the murga medoff or islam or uh some variation of medoff in their name. That's not racist. That's actually pro-one race, right? Don't you find it a little bit weird that, like, all the rules of... That's not the rules. How do I say this? Those dudes who come out of that region, they're not...

Nothing that would intimidate Americans intimidates them. Yes. Can you get off slack, motherfucker? Dude, I gotta see if this Bellator card's heating up. It's not heating up. It's on the prelims. How could it be heating up? After Gastelum lost to Till and Romero to Izzy,

why don't we see those two put together? Gastelum versus Romero. God, yes. Yes. If you could navigate the end of Romero's career not knowing how many elite fights he has next, who do you really regardless of weight, who do you

really want to see him against? 205. Could he survive at 205? Sure. He can box. He can box. His brother, right? What's his name? Yoan Pablo Hernandez? Yeah. His brother?

Yeah, yeah, all right. If you guys never became combat sports analysts, what profession do you think you would have gone to? My freshman year in college, I was a physical education major under the guise of thinking the quickest path to the majors, meaning the shortest amount of care you can show in college to still get a functional job that you can raise a family and own a house was gym teacher, I thought. So I did that.

Changed it to journalism. I mean, if I wasn't covering combat sports, I don't know. Would I be covering? What did your folks do for a living? Would I be covering high school football for a newspaper for 40 years? Maybe. My dad was a fireman. My mom.

That's a super noble profession. Damn right. Did he retire? Yeah, retired at 46 and moved to Florida and was a fireman. My mom... That's a super noble profession. Damn right. Did he retire? Yeah, retired at 46 and moved to Florida and has a giant pension. He figured out the system. Dude, he gamed that shit perfectly. My mom was various jobs, but high-level office stuff. Could do office manager type stuff.

Good for your dad, dude. Your dad's killing the game. Yeah, he is. He looks like an older version of you, actually never thought about doing that shit um i i did take the test um i took the physical fireman test when i was like 28 just in case and i came in fourth and i passed it you got to carry dude that fireman test is hard you got to carry that 130 pound dummy for like a long ass distance you got to crawl in the dark on your face through some shit there's a lot of easy bro you got to be i you got to go on the um on the treadmill on the stair machine with a with a weighted vest and i

was watching these giant dudes just pass out in front of me and fall over it was pretty scary all right all right if you guys never became combat sports analysts what profession do you think you oh that's what i asked you. What's your answer, Luke? I definitely would have done political communication of some kind. I was already doing speech writing, and I gave that up to do basically full-time this. I would have just kept going with that. Luke, I don't think you're long for combat sports. Everyone tells... You're like the fifth person to tell me that, and I don't understand why,

because I don't really have any designs at the present moment to do other things politics is a beat that never goes out of style yeah that's true and then in your self-sufficient a meaning you buy your own technology you upgrade you evolve shouldn't you be in the political sphere? I mean, I need you. I don't need you to go. I mean, you know what I'm saying? I could do it. Yeah. I could do it, but I don't really... Would you look yourself in the mirror at night

and be happy with who you see on the other side? No, I hated that job. I really hated that job. Would you consider your dad in politics in the job he had, or no? Or just government? Yeah, more government. More government.

What was your middle name again it's uh let me tell you what was the name i can think of that did you have to think that hard for your own no i know what it is i'm trying to not tell you and tell you something else my middle name is lex the impaler so you got a really bad middle name so you're afraid to share it search that on youtube have you gone public with your middle name, and you're afraid to share it. Search that on YouTube. Have you gone public with your middle name yet? Yes, of course. I mean, I'm just doing this as a bit. All right, let's see.

Someone writes, I'm a theoretical mathematician with degrees in discrete structures, and I plan on submitting a new system for scoring in MMA that takes a minute-by-minute basis into account, as well as initiative. Are there any other variables that should be looked at for scoring besides what is announced at the beginning of the event? I guess he means like tail of the tape? No, variables for scoring.

Tail of the tape wouldn't affect your scoring. No, no. Are there any other variables that should be looked at for scoring besides what is announced at the beginning of the event? He's saying, are there elements of a round that we're not scoring that we should to better allow us to get an accurate score? I don't think that's what he is asking. Are there any other variables that should be looked at for scoring

besides what is announced? So that is the basis of what our conversation is, is what is announced. So what has been announced that you're scoring in MMA? you're scoring damage you're scoring damage cage control to a only damage uh effective grappling effective striking first and then after that okay because boxing you have more there's defense there's effective aggression there's like different sort of things um mma's a little more so he's asking i think what he's asking is are there elements of the mma game that we're not weighing enough in terms of who wins?

You know, we used to overrate takedowns, right? Now if you don't do anything with a takedown. Well, now I think we underrate them personally. Yes, I agree. But I don't know how to answer that question without getting better clarification of it. A punt, a straight-up punt from. Also, did we need to know he was a mathematician?

Well, like you. Couldn't you have just asked the question? Like you, people that have, you know, they like need to know he was a mathematician? Well, like you. Couldn't you have just asked the question? Like you, people that have, you know, they like, you know, I pulled that, so I got a producer credit. I went to William & Mary. My dad was a politician. The only reason I brought the producer credit up is because you tried to challenge me in a way that you couldn't.

You forced my hand. What way? How did I bring it? I forget what it was at this point, but I remember the time being like, all right, I got to pull it out now. I got to pull it out. Bro.

Bro, I'm the ketchup in this burger, right i'm the blue cheese no you know what i'm saying like you know and i'll just catch up i'll find another piece of meat bro okay i don't need you i don't need you is that what it is okay you know what i'm saying mr 25k on twitter do i care do i care that? That's just the problem. Like Forrest, though. You think, oh, I'll just align with these major corporate brands, and by virtue of magic, their big audience will just translate into awareness of my content. Or maybe I'll just live my personal life. At all.

Maybe I'll just live my personal life and be real happy listening to Genesis Records in my basement and not trying to improve my social stature. Has there ever been a time when you weren't able to be completely honest on your thoughts about a fighter uh due to pressure from higher-ups managers of certain mma league presidents all right yes and i want to preface it like this not specific pressure of don't say this but i think that look if you're a journalist there are some lines that traditionally you don't want to cross here's how i'm going to frame this luke there are people who think i just appeared on the combat media scene like in the past year yeah that's because i blew up your spot that's why because your bland meat finally got the uh the you know the the wrapping it needed this whole time um so and and you know

the thing i'll say to that is i went a lot of years luke trying to belong trying to prove i fit in but not being me and tell me if i tell me if i'm incorrect on this okay you know when there's a big fight that crosses over to the level that your friends from high school or college or whatever are texting you about it right yes and they always want to know either who should i bet on who's going to win this whatever and there's two answers you can give them. There's the I'm on camera for a major corporation answer, which would be to not necessarily overexpose certain things, but just sort of say, well, if this guy outboxes this guy.

And then there's the thing you'd tell your friend, which is fighter B is washed. Fighter A might actually be on roids. So if the fight goes into the late rounds, don't favor him. I one day woke up and said why do i have two different opinions why can't they be the same luke man that's real noble and brave that's deep right that's deep as shit you think that that is somehow some interesting revelation and the moment the moment i bridge those two caps together luke the phone ringing

yeah how come you're not blocked by dana why I'll tell you why. Still ringing, bro. Because you got generic opinions. Still ringing, bro. Okay? Still ringing. The answer is not in the way the person has framed it, but I have definitely had moments where I have let personal like of a fighter affect the way in which I viewed them.

Yes. And it took wake-up calls for me to be like, you know what, I was wrong for that. But not to like curry favor. Not in that way viewed them. Yes. And it took wake-up calls for me to be like, you know what, I was wrong for that. But not to like curry favor, not in that way. No, but... But there's definitely times I'd look back and I was like,

I was drinking the Kool-Aid a little bit. And there's also times, you know, if I play up this certain element of the larger storyline, it doesn't favor anybody and sets me back.

But also, here's one thing I think folks don't understand about the show. We're not, we don't say things we don't believe, but we will go through the process of debate such that we'll air views that we may not necessarily espouse for the purpose of having

a broader conversation about these things i disagree with that are you saying that you've done it to me motherfucker how can you say you disagree what have i done a fact what have i done to you no in the it's a routine exercise well look what about the idea that blah blah blah blah blah blah what about the idea is different than hey you know what even though i don't really believe it i'm not saying i'm gonna bail us your ass all right i'm not saying you're skipping this i'm saying we'll give oxygen to ideas yes for the purpose of conversation plus also for the look a lot of times we're wrong a lot of times the betting odds have been wrong a lot of times you don't see something coming, so I want to paint the full picture.

But, yeah, I don't take on a certain stance to fill a gap, though. All right, let's move this along. What do you make of a Wednesday night card four times a month with no headliner, which is to say no names except incoming contender series debuts, and one stacked pay-per-view a month, and another ESPN card plus per month with only one to 20 ranked fires on the card.

Motherfucker, this sounds way too complicated and unnecessary. How about just making available fights to the extent that they are available? You have no care that that man's a dedicated customer of our shop, and he loves us, and he had a great idea, and you're like, motherfucker, you know. No no this is somebody who is earnestly asking a reasonable question but it's a question born out of i'm gonna guess and i could be wrong relatively modern fandom or maybe he trying to answer the question about like how what do you do with so many different

fighters and so many different events is there a better way to organize it? And the answer is the matchmaker model has lots of problems, but the freedom to organize in the way that they do is one of the things that on balance is better about it. Luke, how do you sleep at night? Easily. No, with drugs. Not easily. With drugs.

Drugs is the correct answer. Thank you. Is there anyone else in here? Ask that question. The guy wrote it. I'm going to answer it, all right? What do you got? Why isn't GSP versus Adesanya talked about or hypothetically discussed more?

In theory, it offers a lot of the same benefits as GSP. I'll tell you right now. Go ahead. Because there's nothing for GSP to gain in that fight, and he's more likely to lose it, meaning he would fight Habib because he would have a shot at becoming the only three division champion in ufc history and the fact that gfc gsp believes that he can make the weight

and win it was the driving force in it why did he move up to middleweight to prove to us that he is you know look the guys that are at the goat table it's hard to get there it's harder to separate yourself from the others gsp wanted to do that look you have to give that man a ton of respect gsp i do his whole career plus him saying you know what i'm gonna cut down to 55 at 39 you know who does that bro gsp yeah well he's not gonna get a chance to unless hey unless dana this is a question for you you fucking creep if you could have a date with any fighter who and why we can't have that talk maybe on our patreon let me say this let me say this yeah we'll put this on our patreon show we don't have a patreon number one number two you think i want to go on a date i would i would oh really i want to go and make

conversation to pretend I'm somebody I'm not and spend a shit load of money well a date has different chapters to it Luke there's different things that happen on a date let me tell you something

there's a lot of reasons why I don't want to get divorced what is it I love my wife deeply oh dude that's what I'm saying in another hold on hold on

yeah I love my wife deeply alternate universe you know I could never imagine myself with anybody else exactly blah blah blah blah okay

the other at the bottom of that list is also going to be, dude, dating is fucking taxing. Fuck that. It's also exciting, Luke, but it is taxing. It is taxing. It can be exciting. It's a lot of, listen, it's like hitting the lottery. It's like there's no difference. I mean, there's no, either you hit it or you didn't, right?

And so most of the scratch-offs. Well, dating is a lot like either you hit it or you didn't as well, most of the scratch offs well dating is a lot like either you hit it or you didn't uh as well you know not for me i don't really have that history but yeah how many women have you slept with really really we're here i'm gonna guess my numbers not that i have anything to brag about i'm gonna guess mine is slightly he had two swords in his satchel the producer sword in the uh you. At the end of the day, I bet you I bang more girls than you. I'm just saying. It's a relevant thing.

I would never want to go on a date. But if we're just going straight to the booty, what do you think? I've got to go straight away. If I'm going... Sorry, nothing. I'll just say... On our OnlyFans after show, I got a lot of comments. We should have an OnlyFans channel.

It would be absolutely filthy and awful. And totally of ill repute. We would get a lot of male fighters in our DMs threatening us like Phil Perroni did to me, right? Or just egging us on. Remember when Forrest Griffin tried to fight you? He didn't try to fight me. He just threatened me verbally. Oh, boy.

I love that man. All right. Although Chandler and Ferguson... Excuse me. Chandler versus... I can't read for shit. Where are my glasses? Although Chandler versus Ferguson seems more likely, are we sleeping on what a dynamite matchup Ferguson versus Oliveira could be? Well, in theory, can I?

People are sleeping on Oliveira could be. Well, in theory, can I... People are sleeping on Oliveira. Can I close this conversation by saying anyone in the top ten of lightweight against each other is sex. So, first of all, that's that. People are blowing Oliveira... People are going to Dobronks a little bit too hard right now. I disagree. I mean, he's great, but, like, there are other...

The issue isn't that you can go to him as a guaranteed winner. The issue is win or lose he'd be exciting and given his recent improvements there's at least reasons to think he'd be more competitive than he had been in his early start long term does he take barbosa's old role as the elite and exciting lightweight who never actually wins see that's the thing i don't know so i think some of these questions being answered with more match-ups will tell us. I love Barbosa. Yeah, he's great.

No, no, no, Luke. Take it to the next level. I love him. I love him. Now that Max has fought Volkanovski twice and the lightweight division is more open, does it make sense for him to move back up and kind of win over that?

Luke, I just moved from the Netherlands to California. Why? Jesus. And I was wondering if you think that Dutch kickboxing could be a potential base for a fighter in modern MMA. Yeah, it could be. This is a good question for you, Luke. Please answer that.

It could be. I love the Dutch. Have you ever been to the Netherlands? No. Wow, dude. You don't know what you're missing. You don't know what you're missing. You don't know what you're missing. Let me explain something

to you about the Dutch. Are you talking about the red light district? You could get rid of it and it wouldn't change my opinion. Are you talking about the weed district?

First of all, it's not even legal. They don't prosecute it. There's actually a thing called coffee shops and then coffee shops, two words versus one word. You want to find the one

that's one word and that's where they have the weed, but okay. That part's not that great because laws are changing here slowly but surely and whatever. It's still pretty great. It's still great, but that's not what makes the Netherlands the Netherlands. I've

talked to this about the Dutch and they don't appreciate this, at least not as much as I do. The Dutch basically have... The Dutch are Holland and Netherlands but not Denmark. They're the Danish. Correct. Denmark are Danes. So that awesome guy, Callie Mathisen, he's a Danish fella.

Who's the new guy, the Olympic wrestler? God, what is his name? I had him on my show. I forget his name now. Mark O. Madsen. Yes. He's a fucking beast. He's out of Denmark, too.

He's Danish. Got it. We're talking just the Netherlands, okay? The Dutch. The Dutch. Talking about the Dutch. Those are wooden shoes and windmills. Correct.

In Bas Ruin. Correct. Okay. I've never seen a place where I was there and I thought to myself, they've just figured out how to arrange society here. This is how it should look. So if this country went to hell, and I know you're saying,

well, it actually already is right now. I've actually said nothing of the kind. One of us served this country. One of us didn't. I forgot. One of us got the nation's capital tattooed on his flesh, too. One of us actually put our money where the mouth is. One of us didn't.

And one of us is well more adjusted to regular society because of that this guy right here right oh but i will say this though luke um where were we going oh so you're asking like if shit went like hey oh yeah what would be your country of of uh of run would you join would you join the bronstetter helwani clan up north canada is great you've been to canada there are elements that i love of canada you've been to canada really i'm asking you've been to canada yes i've been to montreal twice montreal is one of the great cities of the world okay let's actually be honest about this i've been to montreal twice and i actually have never been to canada beyond that my people are from

do you know i'm 50 percent luke french canadian right my people people are from Quebec. You're not 50% French-Canadian. All right, you're right. You have no connection to them other than some kind of ancestry.com. No, no, look at me. Look at me. Look at me. I'm the captain. Every person, in theory, has eight great-grandparents, right?

Yep. Because each of your parents has four grandparents, right? You can tell this story quicker, yes. So I am four-eighths, one-half Lithuanian, three-eighths French-Canadian, and an eighth Irish. Just genetically. You are culturally none of these things.

Okay, I didn't say that. I'm talking about what fuels me. Then what are you, Luke? 50% Armenian? I'm 100% American. No, Luke, first of all, really? You're going to doubt my credentials, bitch. Armenian? I'm 100% American. No, Luke, first of all, really? You're going to doubt my credentials, bitch.

My credentials as, like, gung-ho American, they outweigh yours, amigo. I went to Parris Island. I stood on the yellow footprints. I earned that shit. You're not going to take it away from me because you live in a factory town. You don't know what I had to earn there. You don't know what I had to earn there, motherfucker. You're not going to take it away from me. You're not going to take it away from me. You're not going to take it away from me.

So what are you? You're 50% Armenian. No, because my mom is nominally Armenian. She grew up with an Armenian. But her parents are Armenians. Yeah, but in Lebanon. I don't know how much Armenian she even spoke. They spoke French, German, and Arabic at home. It's about the blood. It's not about the culture.

That's not quite true. And then what is your dad makeup? American. a good bro dude obviously what is he what are his ancestors european they are from we think england or ireland we're not quite sure all right that makes anglo-saxon of some makes sense dude you are trying to stiff arm europe and say i'm american motherfucker like because you watch a stiff arm anything but you live in washington people like people claim like oh i'm a fucking quarter german you know nothing about germany you've never been to germany you don't speak any german you have no connection to it i don't have any real connection to armenia in that way i have much more of a connection to lebanon in that way

culturally anyway hang out with tarverdian for a week you'll have a deeper connection all right uh yeah maybe but you know i don't have it in the same way. I don't reject it, but I can't claim it. It's not like a thing I did. And so I think when people, I think when Americans are like, I'm fucking a quarter Irish. Why?

Because you had an Irish car bomb on fucking St. Patrick's Day? Is that what makes you Irish? You fucking move? Because you banged somebody named Jane one time? Yeah. Yeah, all right.

You know, none of this makes you Irish. You have to be a part of that land and that culture yeah anyway yeah yeah um do i think dutch kickboxing could be a base for a modern mma maybe a little bit but that's not the way i would go modern mma striking the best ones take something and then just it's you have to have a striking style specific to mma not something that's good for something else and then you're going to retrofit it. I wouldn't recommend that.

Luke, whose UFC legacy has most been forgotten because of the Zufa changeover from SEG? So Frank Shamrock's probably number one on the list, but is there anybody else? So is it getting fucked over? In terms of not getting the historical respect. Well, Frank Shamrock's number one. Is Boss in there or was it too short of a window?

Because they don't tend to blow Boss. The Boss was Boss is relevant because he takes a lot of gigs, you know, and people love him and he's got good modern opinions but he got out of the game pretty, I mean the win over Kevin Randleman, it was like, he was moderately more like jujitsu-y than Kevin, so he got the

win but he didn't really deserve it. I don't know. Frank is the obvious one. Tim Sylvia gets shit on. Tim Sylvia was pretty accomplished, actually, for heavyweight. Yeah. I mean, Ken Shamrock, too.

I mean, they support him. Ken gets a lot of, like, world's most dangerous man and blah, blah, blah, you know? All right, Brian, if you had to choose only one combat sport to cover what do you do for the rest of my life yeah that's it so i love boxing more than mixed martial arts i don't think that's a surprise but mixed martial arts is a more sustainable full-time job luke is that right and i think

you will get more entertainment if you're into this job for the entertainment factor, which, not gonna lie, a large part of why I do this job, why I have the passion, because I'm a super fan, and I just happen to get really good seats at these fights and get a camera to talk into. I think, yeah, I would. I would be

a mixed martial arts journalist. I get really great seats at it. I'm like, like i never think about it on those terms i don't care so let's talk about i don't care about let's talk about intention which is why this which why was it the crowd of there is not i'm not gonna say it's immaterial because that's an overstatement but it's overstated they're important let's talk about journalism you know who i respect a lot for their their their core beliefs and what makes them up somebody like a grot josh gross right now you know josh gross of course i was his editor at their core beliefs and what makes them up. Somebody like Josh Gross. You know Josh Gross.

I was his editor at ESPN for a short season. I really like the guy. When I think of that guy, I think journalism, right? That's his passion. He did great work. My passion is entertainment, Luke. I like to talk into a camera. Yeah, so then what are you?

And fights give me phoners. So are you saying that, what are you saying about me because of that? I think if you're going to do something like that, then you just sort of have to be honest and say what you're not. So you're telling me that when I look in the mirror, Spider-Man meme, I see... What's the guy's name?

Carrot Top. No, no, the other guy. The other guy. The damn guy. The guy with the glasses. Carrot Top. No, the other guy with the glasses. The damn... What's the guy's name? He's a character. You know the guy. The guy with the glasses. Carrot Top. No, the other guy with the glasses. The damn...

What's the guy's name? He's a character. You know the guy. Carrot Top with glasses. Schmo? Schmo. You're saying that the Schmo and I are the same. We're both entertainers.

No, you're not the same. I love the Schmo, by the way. You try to straddle a line where you get all the benefits of being the Schmo without actually being somebody who is sort of understood to be not in this for strictly journalistic purposes. I'm in this because... Schmo is... Am I the number one consumer of his product?

No, not necessarily. But what Schmo does is very honest. He's a hard worker. I'll give him that. He's a super hard worker. I don't love everything about this schtick, but he's a hard worker. It's not for me, but it doesn't matter.

Lots of things are not for me that are good. Schmoe's approach to the game is the most honest because there are people that do hardcore journalism and there are people

that are mostly in the middle like you and me. We're somewhere in that middle space where you do want to be entertaining, but you want to stick

to some principles and you're always kind of wrestling with how to do that, especially in sports where you're like, how serious is this? Blah, blah, blah.

And then there are people who just say, you know what? Here's what i'm going to do i'm going to provide entertainment and information and i'm going to do it as a representative explicitly of the fan and it's okay it's so i'm not fully that right you know so he is and there's i'm not judging it i'm saying that's an honest thing to be people respond to it i think the fighters love it i think the fans love it and frankly i it more than, I respect it way more than people are like, I'm a journalist. And then what they end up doing is just sucking

the dick of power over and over and over again. Would you say I'm a libertarian as it pertains to MMA media? So here's the deal, Luke. I don't know. I'm not in there to break news. I'm not in there to, although I respect journalism. Do you know what I like doing, Luke?

Getting to the heart of the story. Writing a good-ass feature. You don't write anymore. You don't care. I like to write a... That shit doesn't mean anything anymore. I like to write a good-ass feature. I like to get on the mic and tell you that this fight rules. You know what I mean, Luke? No one reads it. Luke, you know, I'm probably going to get out of the business

after this show, after this episode. You know what i mean no but no one reads it look you know i'm probably gonna get out of the business after this the show after this episode i mean yeah i got out of writing because i realized it is so overrated as a a means of career advancement of like taste making advancement it doesn't matter unless you're unless you're unless you're super good at it. You're not wrong, and I'm not super great at it. I just really like it. Luke, do you think that... Do you think I should quit this business? No, I think you're good at it. I don't always feel you respect me, Luke.

You look at me as a condiment. Why the fuck would I attach myself to you if I didn't respect you? You look at me as a condiment to your meat. You said you myself to you if I didn't respect you? You look at me as a condiment to your meat. You say you were the blue cheese. I'm the ketchup, motherfucker. All right. All right. I didn't fucking say you said that, not me.

All right. Let's get back on track here. We're done. We're done with questions. No, we didn't get them all, did we? Yeah, I think we did. By the way, we've also been going for a shitload, and I have to upload all this. Yeah, I got to go watch Bellator and stuff.

Luke, do you have a favorite hot dog? Gosh. Oh, you missed the last question too. Which was? Who had a better middle rate run, Weidman or Whitaker? Whitaker's still in his 20s. So you can't say it's over.

But who had a better one? Up to this point? Obviously. I mean, were we going to project the future? I'm going to say Whitaker. Didn't take as many Ls. So we had this debate at CBS Sports over the quarantine when we re-ranked the best in division history in UFC.

The problem was, Luke, there's no clear-cut number two middleweight in UFC history. Am I right or wrong? You're going to end up at Weidman. You're going to argue for Rockhold. Well, at this point, it might be Adesanya. Okay, now it is, yes. But you're going to end up at Weidman. You're going to argue for Rockhold. Well, at this point, it might be Adesanya. You're going to... Okay, now it is, yes. But you're going to argue for Rockhold.

You're going to... Actually, you're going to make a sneaky argument for Vitor Belfort. Tell me if I'm wrong. No. I would not. No. That 2013 happened.

You can't take that away from him, Luke. Right. You just can't also overstate it. Anyway, you're going to end up at Weidman. But number three now, after Adesanya, yes. Oh, it's Gene Wong. Hang on, I want to hear this. He's a Washington guy.

Yeah, DC, Washington Post. Hold on. Let me hear this. It says someone hacked into it. Let me hear it. As far as media questions are concerned, let's go to Gene Wong. Oh, my God. That's my YouTube channel. It's Wang of Gene Wang. Oh, my God. He's got a new channel.

It's called Fly Rock. Hey, Mike. I wanted to ask you about your last fight, which was in Washington. Next, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel. It's called Fly Rock and 8-8-0, man. Not so much the fight. Mike Tyson is going to win. Manuk Akpoyan.

Love that guy. Oh, yeah. Jason Isbell. Yeah. I don't care about none of that shit. All right,. Oh, yeah. Jason Isbell. Yeah. I don't care about none of that shit. All right, Luke. Let's wrap this shit up, okay? Let's wrap it up, bro.

We didn't go off the rails in this one. I don't think we got fired at all. We tried. I got that swill, son. Yeah. Ugh. That's all the spit and the ejaculation fluid. Yeah, that's...

Oh, it's disgusting. Yep, that's malt liquor. Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker. Just as a lesson, I am that last swallow there of the malt liquor, because if it was actual beer, you wouldn't necessarily feel that way. But it's not beer.

It's malt liquor. So, Luke, I'm the Ioana Young J. Chug of MMA media. Who are you? Are you more of the you fancy yourself as more of like the Chris Cyborg? That's who you fancy yourself. I don't know what that means. In female MMA, you fancy yourself as the chris cyborg of mma media i'm a little bit more you wanna post-surgery ready for action

you're so stupid uh i am who am i i don't know you're not amanda i'm sorry you're not i didn't say i was amanda i don't know you know what you Amanda. I'm sorry, you're not. I didn't say I was Amanda. I don't know. You know what? You were your cat, Zingano, before she ran full speed at Ronda. Like, that second before, right? Pre-surgery, right? It all went down from there, huh? Well, we'll see.

We'll see how things go this year. Would you rather be right now, okay, for the rest of your life, starting now, moving forward, Travis Brown or Edmund Tarverdian? Jesus. You got to go Armenian on this one. But he has money problems, right? I guess I would go Tarverdian. You got to go Brown.

You got to go Brown. Yeah, I don't think so. yeah not my steez yeah not my steez all right all right well brian campbell or brian carraway which one you're so stupid uh luke thomas or luke rockhold if you want more of morning combat youtube.com slash morningcombat. If you could be Luke Rockhold for a half hour, where would you go with that? I told you the story before. Do you remember when he went on

Millionaire Matchmaker? Yes, he got sent to hell by Patty. He got super sent to hell except it didn't really work because after the show aired, I woke up one morning and I had like 15 or 20 DMs

from, okay, some zeros, some sevens, a couple eights and nines along the way. Yeah. And they were all like, I don't care what happened on that show. LOL. You're so great. And I'm like, wait a second here. They confused you?

Yeah. They thought I was him. And I thought to myself, oh, honey. So Misha slid in my DMs one time for that same way, thinking I was Carraway. What did she say? I'm kidding. I'm deeply kidding. No, they must have only done it because they had a superficial, like, checking.

Yes. It's like Luke and MMA. It must be him kind of thing. Your handle was probably Luke Thomas MMA at that point. Something like that. What are you now, L Thomas News? Yeah, I got all fucked up. You're better than that. I got all fucked up.

Anyway. Okay, but you need a better handle. You're just B. now, L. Thomas News? Yeah, I got all fucked up. You're better than that. I got all fucked up. Anyway. Okay, but you need a better handle. You're just B. Campbell, bitch. What do you think? Yours is some artistic... Guess what? That's my name. What are you, Prince?

You're just an expression now? You're L. Thomas News checking in, you know? From Washington, D.C., it's Luke Thomas, Channel 5. Right? That's bullshit. You've had too much to drink, and you need to leave the bar, sir. All right. That's Brian Campbell. I'm luke thomas this is close in time room service diaries jersey city it's been good to be back i guess 42 ounces 42 ounces to 40 ounces that's about 41 well i did want to honor jackie robinson by going the full 42 right no one can wear this jersey

all right that's brian i'm luke thanks for watching good fuck yourself