MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Thanksgiving Mailbag: Top 5 Foods | PFL Buys Bellator | | Morning Kombat

Episode Date: November 24, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving! Brian and Luke have you covered with a bonus mailbag on this Friday. The guys answer all your questions. (00:01:20) - Thanksgiving Plans (00:09:30) - Top 5 Thanksgiving Foods (00:18:00) - Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou (00:21:00) - Next Big Change in MMA (00:25:20) - Changes for PFL (00:46:25) - Create the Greatest Book, Movie or Song? (00:50:10) - Michael Venom Page (00:52:10) - Hunting/Fishing (01:00:05) - MMA on Holidays (01:04:00) - Books about MMA (01:07:15) - BC Choking out LT (01:11:40) - Bellator Fighters to UFC (01:14:15) - George Foreman vs. Deontay Wilder (01:16:30) - Bellator-PFL Merger (01:19:40) - Cooking/Grilling (01:25:00) - Gratifying Career Moments Morning Kombat is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts.     For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

a gobble gobble to the oh friggin yeah hey how about it Thanksgiving holiday edition gonna put our hands on the mail bag well we do have a lot of male viewers so I guess it would make sense hey it's morning combat welcome in Brian Campbell right here you know the guy next to me Luke Thomas from the nation's capital it's the day after Thanksgiving 2023 it's a Friday you're probably in line at Best Buy because that's how you get down but I'm sure our competitors in this space are at home with their family Luke Thomas you know

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and as people watch this right now it's 24 hours away by the way from the final Showtime Boxing Pay-Per-View on Saturday go Showtime Benav Pay-Per-View on Saturday. Go Showtime. Benavidez versus Andrade. But, you know, you fancy yourself a Turkey Day connoisseur as well, Luke.

We're recording this in the space-time continuum after before to be seen after, but it was recorded before. How fired up were you for this year's Thanksgiving? Pretty fired up. It was hosted at my house. You know, as we mentioned today, we're recording it. It is pre-Thanksgiving. You are watching it post. So I don't know exactly how it's all going to go because we're trying something a little bit different with the turkey, but I'm hoping that it has not been calamitous. And I guess we'll see. I guess we'll see see forgive me for being a gringo and being an ignorant jobber here but are you going is there any was there any thought or attempt potentially

here from the family to columbia eyes thanksgiving this year because that's not quite not quite cute cuban style a little bit actually yeah what does that mean what does that mean in terms of turkey turkeys serve two ways one will just be baked relatively as normal um but then the other one we're gonna do you ever have you ever had ropa vieja i mean i'm saying it like a gringo have you ever had ropa vieja no no no so it literally translates to old clothes but it's basically when you get shredded beef and it's really tender and you can pull it apart oh yeah and then you serve that on like tostones or you can serve whatever you want really you can serve it in in any kind of thing we're going to take half of it serve like the legs and like the wings we're going to just bake and then for the breast we're going to turn turkey breast we're

going to we're going to you know chop it up real nicely and we're going to rope a vieja it and we're going to have tostones we're going to serve it on which we're going to chop it up real nicely, and we're going to rope a vieja in it, and we're going to have tostones we're going to serve it on, which we're going to hand make. It's currently sitting in a brine bath right now. You know what? This not only sounds delicious, it sounds a little sexy, Luke. Mikey says that sounds fire right there. Yeah, it does.

Here's the thing. I always say this, dude. Turkey's not a great bird. It's just not. It's hard to make it tasty. It's lean, and so therefore, I mean, here's the thing. I always say this, dude. Turkey's not a great bird. It's just not. It's hard to make it tasty. It's lean, and so therefore it's not the fattiest thing on earth, but it can be hard to make good. And I've been to so many people's homes.

I'll go, well, you should have my Meemaw's Thanksgiving. Your Meemaw's Thanksgiving tastes like fucking dry wool. First of all, that's what I called my grandmother, my Meemaw, okay, French-Canadian in the house. It all tastes so bad. It tastes so fucking miserable. No, it tastes so good. That tortillera, Luke, the meat pie, come on.

You got to get in that. You know what I mean? You got to get in it. Everyone just pretends it's tasty, and I'm like, dude, why don't we just make tasty food? How about that? Okay. Let's just make food that tastes good. Turkey blows.

Turkey has always been lame and overrated. My family loves turkey sandwiches and turkey soup the next week. I'm like, you can keep that crap away from me. Everyone knows, Luke, it's about the fixings. We'll get into that on this holiday mailbag edition where we have solicited your questions, curated by our own Mikey Mormyle of CBS Sports, on the ones and twos.

We hope that you are in the process of enjoying a fantastic holiday weekend unplugging from the job if you can and uh following us and liking us right there on the social channels uh i know turkey day luke is an intrinsically american experience but is there a colombian correlation to a celebration of breaking bread with the indigenous people of your nation before stealing all their land uh for alcohol essentially right i mean let's be honest about it i don't think there's a direct corollary that i know of um yeah they're not too big on this one the big one for them as you can imagine christmas christmas is like it's next level for them so uh so this one they you know they participate they do they they help

out but they're every all eyes are on christmas in this household let me just tell you oh yeah just like that great tupac double album you know what i'm saying all eyes on me that was i mean i think on the cover he's doing something like this is that west coast luke or did i have the blind stares of a million pairs of eyes looking hard but won't realize that they could never be damn yeah i think you just tripped over those hard-ass bars over there yeah all we need is fucked it up look is that uh drink cup you were drinking of a uh coconut a pineapple what do we got going on there it was a take on uh chewbacca about it about it and then my daughter broke the handle of course yes yes yes oh tuki uh luke does has has the toques found joy and thanksgiving is it something she's into because

at that age let's be honest christmas has got to be in her in her front you know view here no she doesn't give a shit that much i mean she's she loves her she has a baby cousin my brother has a baby boy. So she's pumped to see him or have seen him at this point or whatever. But that's about it, man. Everything is like, hey, she's asked me every day this week, when are we getting the tree? Like I said, man, you know, I'm keeping the American traditions alive here.

I'm the last of the Mohicans. And everyone else just cares about Feliz Navidad around these parts okay okay well where I come from Luke we care a lot about Thanksgiving mostly because of the high school football tradition and this year my Naugatuck Greyhounds will be facing Ansonia again on Thanksgiving for like the 130th time or something like that and this year both teams are 9-0 so the NBL championship will be at stake where it belongs. But, Luke, that school has royally kicked our frickin' ace hole over the past three decades. How many kids go to that school, your school?

Yeah, I had a big high school. It was Class L, so it was, I think it was like 1,500. Yeah, that's about right, yeah. How many in your graduating class 333 okay so yeah at least half of those are dead size triple a or size 4a in georgia not 5a okay okay where when you went to valdosta luke how many kids were thousands like just a huge graduating class was at least 500 at least yeah all right all right there you go i can't get my kids to care about my high school alma mater you know they literally go oh they don't go to nogatuck do

they no no we live in like we live in like the bougie harford suburbs now but they just don't have that same that same care level even for their own team you know they're judging listen if you go to a high school where you know that on a random thursday you could get knifed it changes your perspective on things you learn to appreciate the small stuff you know yeah you look yeah okay wow i mean well i won't say that's untrue luke to be fair but yeah that was a little aggressive and uh there you go all right we're gonna get into it i told you when i when i went from washington dc schools to northern virginia schools they were amazed at all of the like the very graphic insults that I knew they had literally never. I was like an exchange student.

They had never heard. They're like, we had never even thought of this concept before. I'm like, dude, they've been saying that since first grade, you know? Yeah.

Well, you, you took from them though. You took a y'all, you've got a little South in you. A little bit. Yeah. A little bit.

A little bit. Yeah. I did pick up a few things here or there but not too many well that's neither here nor there as luke thomas would say let's dig into this here mailbag but before we do a reminder folks because it is black friday freaking right now when you're watching this morningcombat.store we've got according to rj dunkel gangbang uh cyber monday deals black friday deals white wednesday deals whatever you know whatever you're into we got it right now and i heard that he looked he told us he's trying to get rid of all the old merchandise like all of it all the early

generation everything must go i don't know if we're selling toasters i don't know if we have an aisle to fight over it but we want it out of here so go get it damn that's what i'm talking about morning combat dot store get this mug actually this mug's too small don't get this one get the bigger one that they don't like that mug i don't use that yeah rj how about you sell all these are right here okay let's get rid of these off the table just check them out the window mulca won't notice uh this one's from at johnny 138 138 which is hopefully parts of his social security number uh he wants to know he says happy thanksgiving to both of us so that's great uh he wants essentially a power ranking of our top five thanksgiving foods this included concludes he says main courses and sides i always appreciate the content and laughs and by the way cannibal corpse's

best album is tomb of the mutilated yeah you agree with johnny there yeah it is he's right now serious question here luca seriously what makes that better than the other one seriously what is it that you're gonna laugh at, but honestly, their lyrics have gotten significantly tamer over time. Okay. If they're not talking about urine in the bloodstream, Luke, what themes are they on to now, right? Or blood in the urine stream. Let me pull up the Tomb of the Mutilated track list. I'll tell you so this album is the one that has their biggest song hammer smashed face

which is literally about it is literally a song let me put this down a little bit it's literally a song about a guy um expressing his joy and need for smashing another person's face with a hammer uh then they also have i come blood on this album as well post-mortal ejaculation is on this album okay on the cemetery while you certainly have offended and appalled me with the song titles what makes this record better luke is it the songwriting so i would say i would say that they had again this was them peak is not quite the right word but this was them at their most unrestrained which is why you'd be listening to this kind of music to begin with, is for its lack of restraint. And they were heavily leaning into the darker imagery. And also, if you listen to

Hammer Smashed Face, just from a musical standpoint, it's very rhapsodic. It changes in a lot of different tempos and directions and sounds, and it kind of is all over the place. This album and the better songs on this album they're much more playful is not the right word but they were doing more from a musician musicianship standpoint than i think they have been in some of the more recent records this was a big one this was a big one all right well done right there i'll look to get back into the spirit of the question from johnny 138 138 which is as luke would say just a horrifically bad name um just the worst our top five things and we're both saying turkey way overrated so luke what what would be your top

five pump for pound list and when you look at the spread whether it's a your house your brother's house whatever what are you looking for what stands out the most in order i'll just i mean here's the thing most americans are like i'm to eat green beans that my meemaw made. And I'm like, just rummage out of the trash like a raccoon while you're at it. If we're talking about non-peasant foods, I'm going to say shrimp cocktail. I think a shrimp cocktail. Not with the dinner itself. Hold on, hold on.

Not with the dinner itself. But when you show up to the party, what kind of foods do they have to nibble on? All right, all right. A little shrimp cocktail. A cheese, some kind of decent cheese plate, you know? Probably number, that would be five, four. Three, I'm going to say, ooh, this is when it starts getting tough. Mmm.

Are you a big Brusselsussels sprouts guy i'm not a big brussels sprouts guy who is there's not a single damn person like maybe 60 year old polish women that's probably it that's probably it right so i don't i'm not that guy either i will say i don't mind the arcade i can eat a green bean casserole every once in a while i don't think it's i don't know if i'd rank your top five blows what kind of plate is this what are you doing oh look at mikey i'm team brussels sprouts dude that's because you're you got 75 000 milligrams of marijuana in your tummy when you eat it um so i'll say this number one is going to be mac and cheese number one is just me mac and cheese like eat shit it's the best. Turkey, I'll put two or three.

Something like that. This is the worst Thanksgiving list of all time, Luke. It really is. I mean, look. No, because what you're going to do. No, here's what you're going to do. Here's what you're going to do, because I know you. I know your bitch ass.

Here's what you're going to do. What do you know? What do you know about this? You're going to name foods that sound really great and sound very Americana, and then when you actually get those foods foods the vast majority of them taste like the backside of barbis's nutsack that's that's the actual reality here a good legitimate memos turkey dinner and my mom makes a great one too i got a lot of i don't i just don't believe this i don't believe this all right well that list is horrible and while i certainly love myself a

good mac and cheese and don't doubt that you were raised eating phenomenal mac and cheese on Turkey Day, that's your number one pick of like ranking the foods in order on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving foods are not that good. They're not. They're the best. That's not the only issue here is that the main course, the turkey is the most overrated thing ever. Everything else is through the roof and saying, hold on. Here's here's, here's a real basic litmus test for you.

Ready? Do you like the gelatinous cranberry sauce? Oh yeah. You got to go as poor and off the can as possible. Anytime. I mean, you're, you're,

you're a, you're a raccoon eating out of the dumpster. That's what you are. American Luke with pride for my high school's football team okay all right that's what it is you know pride to try to win the backyard annual touch football game at uncle tony's every year that's what matters on thanksgiving luke okay who can forget the bloody toe game back in like 04 all right who can not are you also going to turn ultra maga like kurt schilling i was talking about the bloody toe game that i had in the backyard oh right right right right

all right here we go luke the only problem is trying to actually rank these in order let me do it reverse i'll tell you number one is meat pie tortilla luke that is the centerpiece of my thanksgiving growing up yeah the turkey was there but when mima rolled out the meat pie and now aunt judy and aunt gail and aunt di they can make a mean one too luke but when they roll that out i mean it's all that's often it's like it's like beef pork chicken there's probably like pieces of the late john madden in there too luke there's just all kinds of meat in there and it's just that thing on frank beamer's face you know exactly exactly that thing wow that thing's fantastic uh number two is stuffing and again there are certain things in my life that need to be elite or i'm not touching it when it

comes to food barbecue ribs is that category by the way but for some reason there's just comfort sometimes in cheap, cheap cranberry sauce right out of the can with no with no no physicalness in it. Right. Give me the give me the weak stuff and my number two stuffing. It could be cheap stuffing, but do it right. And it is a number two and it will make you take an excessive number two. Number three here, box stuffing like you're damn right. It's great. Thank you. Number three here box stuffing mike you're damn right it's great thank you number three here is um chocolate cream pie because it is the the go i didn't know we were doing desserts all right it's the winner it's the absolute winner i agree with that i agree with that number four would be

it's a tie because they're so they go together luke like simon and garfunkel um it's it's corn and mashed potatoes and then obviously you have to add the and Garfunkel. It's corn and mashed potatoes. And then obviously you have to add the gravy on top of that, but just corn and mashed potatoes together. Essentially it will make up 65% of my Thanksgiving plate because you know what I'm saying? Everything else just kind of flows off of there, right? It's fantastic.

For number five, I'm going to go with when done right, a green bean casserole can absolutely win and actually make you feel like for a second you're doing something healthy when you're really not. If you do that right, it can. But, you know, some people like weird stuff like fish or lasagna on Thanksgiving. Stick with the American basics is where I'm going there. And that's the countdown. That's what it is.

Are you are you which one are you pumpkin or pecan pie or pecan, however you want to say it? I mean, I'll eat them all, but neither of those two really make my go-to list. But pumpkin's fine. I mean, a good-ass pumpkin's fine. Pumpkin's better than pecan pie. Pecan pie or pecan, again. Yeah, that's for women, Luke. And that's no disrespect to women who eat pecan pie, but it's for them.

That's a little much, but okay it was at a very 1957 line for yeah i mean that wasn't really accurate in any kind of way but you know that's what this show was really morning combat not really accurate in any kind of way yeah yeah not representative of the opinions of most of the people who pay us but let's go to question number two This is from at Grudem Cheeks, 1775. You know this guy watches an unbelievable amount of pornography. Run, Dim Cheeks. Yeah. This guy's been running Dim Cheeks since before the American Revolution.

I mean. Do you guys think Jon Jones is at all envious of Francis Ngannou outside of the UFC, the success Ngannou has had outside, especially now that even if John beats Stipe, he will likely have to beat Aspinall as well to be seen as the best heavyweight in MMA. Luke, do you think there's any part of John Jones that is like, damn, Francis just went and blew up

getting Deontay money now? I'll say that not that he'd ever admit publicly, right? Like, do you think he's got a certain amount of jealousy such that he'd be willing to say as much on the record? I don't think so. But, you know, because, dude, fighters are weird, man. They've all got Stockholm Syndrome, you know, or not all of them, but like a lot of them. You know this too. Like, I'm not telling you anything you don't know.

It's just so many of them get wrapped into the system and then all they ever really focus on is success within that system, that that system is all that really ever matters to them, which in a big part of that you can certainly understand, but then when you get these outliers, I would say that there's probably a part of him that is not thrilled that Francis, or not thrilled, but wishes that he could have some of the latitude that Francis has been enjoying. But here's the other part too.

Dude, John had a great career. John's career is not really lacking for much at this point. I mean a couple of things here or there that could have gone better. He did in the end, I'm sure, make a good amount of money. Not what he should have made. But probably, I don't think he's poor. Let's put it that way. So probably somewhat is my answer. But he's not somebody who never really reached their full potential.

I mean, even with all his fuck-ups, he reached his full potential. It's like he's the outlier of all outliers. So probably a little bit is my answer, but not much. Luke, we ask the really hard questions on the show and i think in some ways that's what separates us from the others that's why we hoist them awards so i have to ask you a really hard question would you be more comfortable allowing the john jones of his 20s or of his 30s to house sit for you while you're on vacation i don't know i'm not i guess 30s um all right but you know not like that one's been the mark of the straight and narrow and stability either i didn't enjoy asking that question i don't

enjoy hearing the answer luke but you know brian campbell i really don't like you so i'm not going to answer your question let's go over to the next one this is at Hulkman 245 this guy's got the worst physique on earth I guarantee it go ahead what is going to be the next big change in the UFC or MMA well look I think Bellator and PFL getting together is a pretty damn big change Luke um I was at did you hear don davis chat with ariel did you actually listen a little i didn't hear the whole thing but i did hear parts of it i look promoters at their best are used car salesmen that that just can charm you and and fire you up or whatever right like i get it this guy's a successful businessman, no different. But he really made me want to like believe in his cause and like the company and the vision that he has after that. Like it was a

really strong presentation in a field where we normally just expect these guys to be crooks and we're just waiting for the lie. I'm not saying he lands this plane perfectly, Luke. He may not be Sully Sullenbergerberger but he he does have access to a lot of money and i just think the presentation like for all you and i did to react to pfl and bellator merging we didn't really know all the facts we're trying to figure it out hearing him lay it out it almost made sense is that crazy it didn't make much sense to me um but you know i've got some more questions for... Well, as you're watching this,

probably today is the day of the PFL event in D.C. So maybe today I'll get some answers to those questions. I mean, I think some of it made sense. But, I mean, in general, it's like we have five fighting franchises. It's like, dude, you don't need that. You just need one successful one because all five don't work. Yeah, but they all feed into each other. That's just posting and walking around.

Tell me your favorite fight from their version of the Contender Series, the one that aired on Fubo. I'm not going to watch it until they give me a reason to watch it. Then what is this? Then what is this? It is nothing. It is behind a paywall that no one saw. That's extraneous parts of the overall presentation, which is we've—

He listed it as one of their five subsidiaries, which is we have inhaled this Bellator roster. And even though I know you guys don't want us to have two brands because you're assuming that means we're just going to split the roster. It seems the reality is that he said the fighters will have the choice of either entering the tournament mode with traditional pfl or being a one-off fighter for bellator and you know where you could fight for titles or whatever but you're you're only fighting twice a year on that side like the fighters are going to get to decide what is the best path for them that's that's kind of interesting that's not all like that's new and fresh and not awful is what I'm saying here, Luke. That's what they say.

I'd be very curious to see what the actual reality is because they'll have to manage that. If everyone decides they don't want to fight in Bellator, or if everyone decides that they do, your system doesn't work. So that's going to have to be managed and leveraged. I don't quite believe that. All right. Well, whether or not this pellet or pfl discussion

signifies the next big change in the ufc or mma luke how would you answer hulkman's question what do you think is the next big change and that seems very generic so which way are you going to go with this i think that the next big change is all likely going to be a function of what happens with this lawsuit the fighter the fighter class action lawsuit just this week we found out we thought before there would have to been a secondary case the cajun johnson case that they would have to win in order to get injunctive relief and if you're asking what that is that's what that's the ability for the court to then change the ufc's business practices not just award a certain amount of money but now it turns out that they don't they only have to win the lee versus zufa case, the original one from 2011 to 2016, basically.

And if they win on those terms, they will be granted injunctive relief. And again, maybe they all settle, and that's NFR 2, BC. Maybe we don't even go to trial, but we get a settlement, and in that settlement, we get some measure of financial compensation

for these guys, which I don't think is that big of a deal, but some measure of a change in business practices as they seek to avoid, which I don't think is that big of a deal, but some measure of a change in business practices as they seek to avoid trial. I don't know. One way or the other, some resolution's going to happen there, and I think that's going to be the next big change.

Yeah, it could be. It could be very well. And a good transition from this point back into the PFL discussion comes to us from at SenseiJohn84. Question for you both. If you ran the PFLfl what would be your plans for bellator in the first year of acquisition immediately folded immediately emerged the

rosters so but look the way that he broke it down meaning don davis when talking to uh ariel on the mma hour was that the fighters like i said would have the choice to go either way and that they still want to employ. They still want to have it all. Basically, they want to have their regular season playoff meritocracy thing so they can boast that they're a fighter first and all that, which is cool. I like that. But then they also want to be able to pair exciting names against each other in the in the two pay-per-view cards that they promised, and then they want to have the ability to roll out really fun fights for titles using the already established Bellator brand. And I think that's the reason why they've kept it around is because, and we hinted at this the other day,

Bellator has made successful inroads throughout parts of Europe where the brand means something. I mean, look at the shows in Dublin and stuff. It's like a packed house. I'm not sure I believe that. Hey, whatever. That's the way they're saying it.

So my point here is, I don't know what my point was, Luke, but that's what their plans are for year one. So this question is, what would be our plans? You're saying, so you see no value. Okay, here's the question I'll ask you. Do you see any value in the way Don Davis is laying it out that they essentially want to be just that, all those things at once, but still be the same company?

You can't. You have to pick. Dude, I mean, this whole strategy is quite ludicrous. And let me just put my chips on the table now. It will not last. It will not last. This is not a thing that they're going to scale up from and if they scale up from it that's not going to last either this there will be a contraction they will remove several of these pillars if not nearly all of them to protect this brand it doesn't work it's so confusing and so myriad you have no idea as a

fight fan what actually you're tuning in for or what you're discovering when you do this you're not finding a single solitary identity. And of course, the UFC at this point has a vast array of different types of products. That's also true, but they've only done that after they had a single solitary product that took off first, and then they began to branch out. Just branching out in the way that you're doing and having this confused, mixed product, which you're not sure which end is what and what matters more than the other, this is a doomed and failed strategy from the word go. Also, let's be curious about,

let's be clear about something too. I looked up how much Viacom bought Bellator for in 2011, and the answer was about $50 million. They sold for not much more than that. In fact, Don Davis told Ariel Helwani that they didn't even put up any cash. They just gave them stock options. Dude, Bellator was not a success. It was a failure. We should just say that out loud. It was a failure in basically every way. It did not achieve what it was supposed to achieve.

It does not have a fan base. And this idea that you can go to Ireland and you have to have the Bellator brand on there to do well is just total bullshit. All you have to do is have the same fighters you had on there and then a decent promotional effort, and you'll be just fine. You'll do as well, if not better. Also, I looked up Bellator's old ratings on Spike. Dude, they were clearing well above 900,000 at times. They were doing 15% of that by the time everything wound its way to Showtime. Why on earth why on fucking earth would you keep a brand that damaged that dead alive it

makes zero sense at all fucking close it fold it and do something else i'm not as pessimistic as you are but i understand your pessimism and i think you successfully laid out the reasons why and also let's look at history of people who have tried to compete this aggressively against the ufc that literally what don davis is saying he wants to be like the co-leader in the space and he expects to be so some of this seems like a wing and a prayer i understand what you're saying about the brand confusion but also he's saying that they expect to get separate tv deals for both brands so is that a smart long-term? So as I said previously, as I said previously. Hold on, to build the financial infrastructure.

Yes. As I said previously, the one exception to what I'm saying is if by dividing the product, you can at least in the short run. Introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich, but it's actually a spicy chicken

sandwich. McSpicy, consider yourself warned. Limited time only at participating McDonald's in Canada. Make more money by virtue of having different television rights deals in different places and using that to make more money than you would if you just had a single pot. I can understand that. I can understand that as a short-term play. But even that short-term play still doesn't solve for the brand. I had to ask you what the PFL brand is. They're telling you it's five different things. Oh, it's the tournament. It's the tournament.

But really, it's not just the tournament. They want to get the pay-per-view thing going. That's part of it. They want to now have Bellator. That's part of it. They want to have international series. And by the way going that's part of it they want to now have bellator that's part of it they want to have international series and by the way remember part of what francis is supposed to be doing is not just you know being part of the the pay-per-view side but till now launch pfl africa is that actually going to be a thing are you going to launch pfl south

america are you going to launch pfl timelines do you hear the timelines you gave ariel that they would be popping up around there'd be a Middle Eastern one that's going to launch what next year. He thinks the Africa one will be two years. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, it's just this enormous brand confusion that doesn't make any sense. So I do get that in the short run. Hey, if we split this up, we can make more money while we figure out our next move.

Fine. I get that. But that doesn't solve the other problem. It's only a short term let's say two years or less only a short-term play that you could do beyond that you have to fold the brand it doesn't make sense yeah I mean we got to see I think you know we do have to see the TV deal that he said that they would be announcing two weeks after this weekend's championship and did tell Ariel that they want to do that bellator versus pfl like

launching pay-per-view in like february ideally but or did i don't know if it's going to be a pay-per-view that wasn't uh but i i get it i get everything you're saying across the board of we got to wait and see and boy is this ambitious but like think about it i i've already declared that like they either pass or fail based on their ability to draw free agents. So brand confusion aside, and also financial reality aside for a second, because it only makes sense if they're actually making the money to keep all of these boats afloat and do this. But if they want to become an attractive base as a free agent landing, I do feel like they're making the right moves by presenting themselves to be so fighter-friendly. By then saying, okay, he acknowledged what is true.

Their regular season format is a freaking, you know, it's walking into the propeller in Raiders of the Lost Ark that that dude took the L on against Indy Luke I mean you're gonna you're getting chewed up and spit out that is not for everyone especially not fighters that could be leaving the UFC was still something left in the tank but why are you gonna just put them siphon them through that meat grinder so aren't they presenting a potential home where it looks like they have deep financial backing in Saudiudi arabia celebrity investors and on top of that they're saying if you get to the pay-per-view level you get 50 50 revenue split and whether or not you want to be in this meat grinder season we can give you a space to fight twice a year in fun creative matchups under the bellator brand again

i don't know if this works i'm just saying the presentation it doesn't deter me or make me or make me automatically feel like yeah good luck to you i kind of want to sit back and see if they can do it because this is bold as shit luke the way they're setting it up but only one of these things works to save them only one of these things works we know for a fact the bellator model doesn't work. At least the model as, I should say, that's not quite right. We know for a fact Bellator is a dead product. We know that. We also know that PFL has no audience either. No genuine built-in, big audience where just the PFL brand itself can do anything.

Those seasons are interesting, but as we've talked about on MK a million times, it's a bridge to nowhere. So you've got this international series, which I'm not saying that couldn't become anything, but as we've talked about on MK a million times, it's a bridge to nowhere. So you've got this international series, which I'm not saying that couldn't become anything, but right now it's not anything, right? Can I stop you? Do you actually know what it is? The international series will be eight shows, seven of them outside the U.S., in which you're guaranteed to get a Bellator title defended in the main and co-main. They'll keep the same divisions as they have now, it seems. And if you don't want to go into the regular season tournament format,

you can fight in Bellator. This is all complex, ridiculous bullshit. What they're trying to do is like, here's what we're going to do. The UFC is restrictive, so we're just going to give you every option. We're going to give you the Bellator option. We're going to give you the overseas option. We're going to give you the tournament option. We're going to give you the Bellator option. We're going to give you the overseas option. We're going to give you the tournament option. We're going to give you the pay-per-view option. We're going to give you all of these options. The only part of that that

meaningfully changes their future is whether or not the pay-per-view division can get going by having access to the top tier stars of the sport. That's it. None of those other things make this product work. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever. Not saying you couldn't get interesting fights. You can get interesting fights. Not saying you can't get a quality product. You can get a quality product. You cannot sustain a mixed martial arts business without access to the, or I should say, international class business. Because you can do like a King of the Cage thing. But an international class business, you cannot do that without access to of the Cage thing, but an international class business, you cannot do that without access to the very top pay-per-view stars.

So this idea, like, we're just going to throw the book at you, and you have all these different options. Dude, if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. If you have five business models, you have none. You just echoed what I think is true. The success of this long-term and this bold attempt to actually go head to head with the UFC, which is exactly what they're saying they

want to do and expect to do. I understand the reticence to believe that it will happen or that all of these boasts will happen, but we're both agreeing that the free agent market will define it. Whether they can become a legitimate free

agent landing, especially if they're Saudi backed to try to get the real big names when they become free agents, that we're saying that they're going to need pay-per-view stars to make all this work. We all agree in that because you make your money in pay-per-view in the long run, right? That's how it works, right? All the time. You know, that's worked for Showtime Boxing too, when they were in the Mayweather business. That's how it worked. You made your money on worked for Showtime boxing too. When the May, when they were in the Mayweather business, that's how it worked. You, you,

you made your money on that. Those really big ones and everything else evened out. Um, I believe what I just explained to you, whether or not you believe it'll work. Isn't that like the perfect landing you would want as a free agent? They're telling you, you can box on the side and we're not going to get in the way of that at

all, which is how they explained it. And they're offering you a 50-50 split. Now, again, question all you want, whether they'll be able to acquire the big enough stars to actually make that a thing. But if you're a free agent, Luke, why wouldn't you want that? I don't know. Ask Derek Lewis why he didn't want that.

Why didn't Derek Lewis want that? Especially if you were under a restrictive holding with the UFC and you've experienced some of these. BC, why didn't Derek Lewis want that especially if you were under a restrictive holding with the UFC and you've experienced some of these why didn't Derek Lewis want that what you're telling me is they're going to make an offer so attractive they're going to be able to attract free agent signings of a big of the of the of that upper tier of the pay-per-view market okay well why haven't they because why haven't they because the launch in my opinion is now not it's not no i don't look at it the contracts the ufc has are so restrictive that getting out of them on a reasonable time frame is for the top going not not the not the we're not talking about the rank and file the top top guys

they're hard to get on a free agent basis they don't they don't exist very often um and the right to match that the ufc can match any offer that anyone else makes the only question is whether they want to or not so like this is the point i'm trying to make to everyone unless there is some kind of regulatory change some kind of government top-down authority that changes the way the industry functions none of this shit about we got this bellator approach we got this international approach we got this Bellator approach, we got this international approach, we got this. None of that shit's going to work. None of it. Your doubt is essentially rooted in these guys don't become free agents.

Look at what Francis had to do to become a free agent. How much money? Think about this for a second. You had Bellator under the Viacom ownership. So they had what? They had backing by this multi-billion dollar company which is now paramount but at the time paramount's a better way different structure too than just viacom they're not identical companies there's been some change in terms of uh all the different holdings within

it but in 2011 in viacom think about how much money was pumped into that brand in terms of all of the attention and hours on Spike TV and all of the places that they wanted to go. We're talking enormous amounts of manpower, enormous amounts of money, enormous amounts of capital and resources. And what did it amount to? They ended with a whimper. You cannot make an alternate set of MMA heroes.

It doesn't work. I've seen it too many times. You cannot do it. You can only do it if you take your heroes and mix them with the group that whoever the public perceives is to be that way. And as long as they remain under large lock and key,

none of this shit is going to work, dude. The lesson of Bellator for everyone should be it doesn't matter how big the corporate backing is, is going to work dude the lesson of bell the lesson last thing the lesson of bellator for everyone should be it doesn't matter how who owned or you know how big the corporate backing is who owns you it doesn't matter how much money you spend it doesn't even matter how good your roster is because their roster was really good it doesn't matter the only thing that matters is your access to the top stars right but you said it doesn't matter how much money you spend well i think how

much money you spend directly correlates to your ability to grab those big stars. And I just don't think we have had a financial partner in the combat sports space that could as dramatically shift the balance of power. And I don't mean shift it to where PFL is number one ever. I'm not looking for like a WCW near takeover of WWF historically and how we look at this, but like, could they have moments? Could they make an inroads here? I think that the times have changed. If a fighter is going to try to, in some form,

do what Francis did and take a stand and go through the free agent process. I'm not, I agree with you. It's not easy, but if anyone was ever going to do it, it would be now after the success Francis just had. I understand how much the UFC would aggressively try at every turn to resign them before their deal is up, offer them the world, go above and beyond all of that. Like I'm sure they would aggressively play in that space but we've never had this discussion when the other side had had the saudi connection because look that is next level money they have the saudi connection now why didn't derrick lewis sign okay that's one person who i okay when did when was the uh company that he knows he can get us what i'm just i'm actually i'm because i don't remember when was

the francis pfl announcement how long ago was that was that like six months ago something like that something yeah i mean it was a long time ago yeah yeah i mean they haven't signed one fucking person and it's not because they don't have the money it's not because they don't have the money this is the point i'm trying to make to everyone people are like oh well no one else can afford like who could afford a nate diaz dude, PFL can afford Nate Diaz. They've got cash, dude. They've got cash. They can afford him.

Now, Nate's a different situation because he is free, and I don't know how he wants to pick his time. And maybe he goes to PFL. I don't know. But, you know, he's a bit of a separate case. $15 million at stake if Nate wants to fight. This is my point. Dude, if they want to pay for you, they can pay for you.

But the issue is if the contract makes these guys on the carousel of availability so few and far between that it basically doesn't even matter what it doesn't matter how much money you have. But also, look, one championship has a product. I know it's all called one championship in the end, but they're mixing different sports in there. You're saying because it's the same brand, the same no confusion, that it doesn't matter comparatively to what they might try to do here? I would just say this. Let's posit a different question. Let's posit a different question, which is imagine that the fighter lawsuit already finished,

and then the judge came down and said hey every ufc contract is going to have an expiration of two years no matter what right i mean you can you can choose you can choose to extend like you could you could stay with ufc all you want but the contract has to end after two years now what does that do well now motherfucker that's a different ball game i mean that's a completely different ball game because now guys are going to be able to do the canelo thing a little bit not quite like canelo he's a special case but in the sense of i'm going to give you three fights that i'm going to give you three fights that i'm going to give you three fights people i made a point on twitter i think yesterday or tuesday and i had said you know like if you look at bellator pfl

and one one appear appears to be in like serious financial peril. And they may not make it out of the year unless they get some other Qatari investment. And so you're like, dude, the three biggest shows outside the UFC don't make money. And people were responding, well, then this should tell you just how good Dana White and Co. are. I'm like, no, let's flip it. Let's flip it. Imagine we have the exact same scenario, exact same rules, exact same contracts. Dana White all of a sudden gets fired from UFC and decides to run one. He can't save them. Have him run PFL. He can't save them. Have him run Bellator. He can't save it.

These things cannot be saved because the industry is so tilted in such a way, it's almost, I'm not not gonna say impossible for those brands to make money but very very very very difficult that even the best minds with huge financial backing even they can't make money that's a scary proposition about how the industry is regulated can though can pfl have a flash can they have a four or five year period where they're not, they're not competing. They're not on even terms with UFC, but they're making so much noise and they're splashing the pot so aggressively that maybe financially it'll never work out. It'll never be able to be sustainable, but can they,

or do you think they're willing to go like all in, all in to like have a three, four year run where they're making progress, where they're knocking hard on that door? They don't get there, but they're – Listen, they've got Jake Paul. I don't know what that's going to do for them, but it remains to be seen. He has done well-ish.

He's done well on pay-per-view, I would say. He's done well. They've got Francis. That's something. If they can sign Nate, that'd be big. There's a couple of different well they've got francis that's something if they can sign nate that'd be big you know there's a couple of different moves they've made that i do think are pretty interesting and i do think by the way i'm not like poo-pooing the idea of signing bellator like or buying it or whatever like i don't think that's a bad thing it's just a question of what you're supposed to

do with that you know i do think that buttressing your your roster with what they've got, dude, they signed a bunch of good fighters all like that. I mean, that's a very valuable thing. But that is not enough to really get you over the hump. The question you're asking is, like, can they take that into overdrive the next few years? I think that they have to. I think that they have to. I don't think they have a choice.

You're not going to be able to just get venture capital money forever. You've got to do something with it. So, yeah. And Davis was saying in his perfect world, it would be in Ghanu versus Wilder first quarter in a mixed rules match. And he did seem because here's how he said he said they're going to do two pay-per-views, one early for one in the first quarter, one in the fourth one. And he already said Jake Paul needs a full year to train MMA. So he would be the last one. And he said, even though Francis can make his own call on whether he's going back to regular boxing or doing this, that he feels confident, which probably if you read between the lines means they feel like they can offer Francis enough to get him to turn this way. I'd be more interested in Francis versus Wilder in a boxing match right now than I would be in this equally as weird,

but also I need to see mixed rules, four-ounce glove, basically an MMA. What would you think it would be? An MMA fight with no takedowns or something? Something like that. And by the way, people are like, oh, I don't know what that would mean. What would it mean? You know what it would mean?

Motherfucking chaos. Godzilla versus Mothra. Yeah, it would be chaos. Count me in. People acting like they wouldn't want to see Francis Ngannou and Deontay Wilder in four ounce gloves get the fuck out of here yes you would okay but would you rather see a boxing match right now I'd rather see a boxing match yes yes yes I'm not saying it's the best choice I'm just you know it's like Thanksgiving

right you go over there okay it's not the number one or number two seed but if number three is all you got i'll take a number three seed sure all right your top five look like it look like more like a 16 seed luke okay it looked like prince hey sometimes sometimes the 16 seed can upset the one seed huh how about that you remember that what what was it the 89 tournament where number 16 Princeton lost by one to Georgetown. Do you remember that game? I don't. I don't.

That was a big deal back then, Lou. Alonzo Morning's freshman year. Whatever. Hey, let's go over to at UFC12355. This is Dana. Would you rather write the greatest book, the greatest movie, or the greatest song of all time? Luke, you've got to go greatest song right there because people like, dude, a great song, you feel it.

You wear it. You spend portions of your life living it. You know what I'm saying? I know a damn book can still move a mother effer, but I don't have the stamina anymore to do that old school technique. Okay, Luke look give me the song that's cooler obviously it's cooler okay so it's definitely i agree with you that it's definitely not movie but i am torn between book and song um because a book dude i don't know like you don't read books so this is hard for me to explain to you, but like you've, okay, well, let me ask you, like,

have you, do you have a favorite book? Even if it was a long time ago, was there a book that you read? There was a question is this question is this, was there a book that you read that really changed your perspective on something or made you like it sat with you for a while? Did you have an experience like that? Even though it never led me to attempt to shoot anyone uh a catcher in the rye had had like that turning point impact of like oh man this is a different style of writing that i never necessarily considered and there was a little bit edgy and you know appealed to that

wayward teen inside of all of us that uprising um uh 20 000 leagues under the sea as a kid was was like phenomenal oh i cried my eyes out after reading charlotte's web luke um i don't think that's corny i don't think that's corny at all thank you thank you um you know a merchant of venice was my introduction into shakespeare and uh while i did not go deeply down that road uh it was it was something luke it was an event it was it was all right you know but um i will say even though i'm only about a what a third or maybe maybe my math isn't good the way through the dune book by frank herbert uh look it's so insanely great the way he wrote that the detail the attack i mean you know everyone has their a great favorite novel luke but that

thing is just gripping so i hope it keeps gripping me harder you know what i'm saying um so book and song i gotta admit the song is pretty great i'm gonna go book i'm gonna go book okay i think the book having something physical you can hold as well you know um and being able to go back to an individual passage and get something from it. And I mean, you know, if you think about it, what's the greatest, or I should say the most influential between books, movies, and songs, what of the three has been the most influential? I would argue the Bible, the Quran. These have been enormously influential factors over human existence in ways that songs simply have not. So I would pick book. I would pick book.

Oh, Luke, I read a book once where a guy froze to death outside. It was like a real famous one. You ever read that one? It was like a Robert Frost poem? No, no. It was like a, it was an actual book. I don't know. Yeah, whatever. Who's the guy that did that? You mentioned Jules Verne and J.D. Salinger as two of your favorite authors. Well, I mean, I read part of their catalog. I don't know if I was, you know, whatever. Enough on books. Who's got time for that, Luke?

You know what I'm saying? Everyone has time for books. Everyone. Literally everyone. You're like, who's got time for that? I'm like, prisoners uh podcast hosts we work five minutes a week you don't have time for books no no uh this one's from at dan wesley 29 13 dan wesley wesley any word on mv MVP signing with the UFC and if so how does him versus Conor McGregor good lord sounds fantastic sounds like UFC 300 to me hey Don Davis told Ariel Luke that he was under the

understanding that MVP had signed with the UFC or was about to or something like yeah my understanding is that as well that if he hasn't already it it's imminent. But McGregor. You wouldn't like that, dude? Are you kidding me? McGregor's one of these guys. It's like, he's like Lesnar. You could pick, not like current Lesnar, but peak Lesnar. How would peak Lesnar do against peak Tom Aspinall? How would peak Lesnar do against Daniel Cormier?

It's like one of those ones you could roll out, and they're all going to be pretty good versions of something. Don't we want to see MVP versus Wonderboy? Isn't that the move? Okay, while that would certainly be a move that I wouldn't have an issue with and would obviously get very excited about for the same reasons you would, him versus Conor at 300 would be incredible, especially as that old UFC veteran has a chance to knock out Bellator upstart,

who thinks, even though he's not an upstart, I mean, MVP's going to be 36, 37 at this point. Yeah, but still, it's like career Bellator guy coming on in, old UFC brand guy who needs a win. And it's a matchup that either one can win, for sure. I mean, you could see MVP lighting him up in some can win for sure i mean you could see mvp lighting him up in some ways just as much as you could see connor flatlining him luke uh i don't know if that guy's still in connor anymore is it i mean can connor still knock a dude out with one punch you think in the octagon i don't know probably probably i wouldn't i wouldn't bet against it um it's not physically impossible but i'm saying would it happen you know would it happen

i've got to say i was gonna say you know mvp versus mike perry would be great in mma but they already fought bare knuckle and fucking mike perry is something else um yeah yeah again i'm i'm i'm great on mvp signing with ufc like that's great but like the mcgregor fight was not like wouldn't be my top five choices you know i don't know all right this is from at joshua low 7376 hi luke and brian have either of you ever killed an animal cooked it and ate it yes uh hell no what are you what are you kidding me you've never gone fishing and then cooked the motherfucking fish okay well i have gone fishing like twice i did not catch it or no i caught a one once with rape yeah my guy rape and i caught twice

i okay i've appeared at fishing spots highly intoxicated many times i've actually like tried and held the thing like two and a half times in my life dude i i've i have i have i lived a thousand lives i can't believe some of the differences in our lives sometimes dude first of all i've been on a 50 mile canoe trip in the okie finokie swamp that's a real fucking thing i did yeah rained rained rained every single day morning to night no rest no respite no nothing it was the one of the worst most difficult trips i've ever been on it was fucking horrible um so i went fishing there a bunch caught a bunch of stuff scaled it the whole bit ate it um i've killed deer and eaten deer uh butchered it um um what else have we killed uh

actually i killed a rattlesnake once and ate it that wasn an interesting it was not very good was not very good so look it sounds to me that you almost could like compete on survivor the the game show now i know in reality you couldn't because like one night of not sleeping you you'd turn into a bitch and then you'd be like rage against the machine and somebody would die but like short of that um it sounds like you have some of those like Scout natural early man skills. I guess I've never told you this. This will make you laugh at me. I reached the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts.

This is a revelation for you? Oh, my God. I didn't know this. Now, it makes a lot of sense in reality, knowing you. But wow, that's a pretty commendable sword to pull. It actually is. Luke, will you say that? That's how I learned archery.

That's how I learned how to make fires. That how i learned i mean any number of things you can think of true or false did your lengthy time in the scout system in some ways provide a foundation for the transition to the military not being too much for you when you're like you know what i could do this i'm a freaking eagle scout bro but i gotta tell you like yeah yeah it might have like played an influencing role like yeah i can do that but then you get there you're like oh shit this is uh this is just way fucking harder like it's not even like people treat it like oh if you could do well there you could do well there no no like that's not really true uh yeah but i did it i will say i stopped around i think i want to say I stopped at the end of ninth grade because that's when I.

But it runs through senior year, doesn't it? It does. But then, A, I moved after my 10th grade year anyway. And I think I'd stopped before that because I had begun to be, you know, I was like, well, I think I like women more than the company of just other dudes. So you reached Eagle Scout like on a three year advancement plan, like ahead of the normal age. I got Eagle Scout. I started doing boy scouts in fifth grade i reached eagle scout by the end of ninth grade yes you must have some like bootleg south system where it's like it's like a ged equivalent of the eagle scout no i did it all um dude you you underestimate me consistently and you

well you told me you can dunk in high school, which is obviously bullshit. I don't know why the basic realities of my life and the contours of it are hard for you to... I accept your story as it is. Granted, your story is the average American loser. And so in that sense, it's very easy to... No, it's the loser made good story. I know, I know, I know, I know.

It started here and it ended up here. Like the stock is high, I get it. I'm just saying like, this is what I mean,'ve lived i've lived a i guess i've lived a weird life i don't know but like because my life went in so many directions because of who my parents were and then what happened to them and where they went and i followed it just went in a bunch of bizarre directions that it probably would never have gone in um but i got experience through all of it kind of got a taste of what i like don't like and then you know went a different direction where i was able to like forge my own adulthood

after age 22 or whatever um but yeah i've done all that shit i've done all that shit man yeah it's that canoe trip that canoe trip dude that one sticks with me i remember getting home and like showing all of my like uh gear to my parents or my mom and my stepdad at the time and uh we washed it and washed it and washed it and we had this happen in the marine corps too And showing all of my gear to my parents, or my mom and my stepdad at the time. And we washed it and washed it and washed it. And we had this happen in the Marine Corps too with mom in my uniforms. We could not get it clean. There was nothing we could do to get that shit clean.

We had to throw all of the gear away. All of it. It was all garbage. It was so mildewed ridden. It was like a sponge sitting on your counter it was awful did you ever seriously consider a military career luke i thought you would be somebody who could have thrived in that and then retired at like age 40 or something right here's here's what i thought i thought i was going to do was i'm going to try out the marine corps enlisted as i go through

college right that's what i'm going to do. And I thought by the end of that, because there was a lot of guys in my unit who were doing the same things. There were guys who I, when I served with, I was, again, I was hotel battery 314, 4th Marine Division in Richmond, Virginia. And it was an artillery battery. Then I think it got converted to a rifle company after I got out. I don't know if they got converted back to artillery. So I think it's just an infantry company now. But back then it was an artillery company. And there were guys who I served with who went to like JMU, guys who I served with who went to like JMU. Guys who I served with who were students at like Virginia Tech.

And I would ask them like, hey, what is your plan when you graduate? And they were all like, I'm just going to go become an officer. And, you know, because they were already Marines, they kind of already knew what to expect. And, like, you know, they were able to go really well through OCS, Officer Candidate School. And I thought, oh, I'll just do that. But then I got to my senior year and I was like, man, I don't want to go die for George Bush. Like, I just don't, you know, I just don't want to do that.

And so it turned me in a completely different direction at that. 9-11 really changed a lot, probably. And so I just was like, fuck that, I'm not going to do that. So I just went and figured something else out. And, you know, here we are. I was, you know, I had gone to the 9-11 Museum over the weekend in new york with my family and it was insanely moving but like my wife and i were trying to describe to my kids like you know why it would be so moving for someone our age you know that they were like oh were you were you around the buildings what happened we're like

no you know we're an hour and a half away but you know it was obviously like the fear of entering war and having attacks on your own uh land but um what i was really starting to think about was how many people i knew who like had regular lives before 9-11 and then like quit their jobs moved back home and became like full-time drunks in like the one to two year aftermath of that now that was like a reality of like a lot of people you know what's funny so many people from 9-11 you know they like went and joined the military after that and you know i don't want to disparage anybody else's service like if they feel like they got something out of that and um you know that's what they wanted to do pat tillman right i mean i know it's a joke here on the show but that's exactly what he fucking did but i gotta tell you dude all the marines i knew all of the marines i

knew who joined after 9-11 because they felt like there was a sense of purpose they all regretted it like every fucking one of them every one of them not so much the ones who went to afghanistan although i would be curious to know what they feel like now but the ones who went to iraq like i don't know and i must know a hundred people who served in iraq i don't know one of them who thought that was a worthwhile use of their time. You know, people wonder why so many trains break out in those parts. The first time the first time that happened to me, I'll tell you exactly where it was. I was a 29 palms.

I was at an M.O.S. school there. And this dude, he was he was named was Lance Corporal Vitale. He was from Brooklyn, New York. He woke me up. He was like, yo, do you want to go do this with us? And I was like, dude, his name was Lance Corpo Vitale. He was from Brooklyn, New York. He woke me up, and he was like, yo, do you want to go do this with us? And I was like, dude, I definitely don't. Whoa, no. I definitely don't.

Excuse me, sir. Could you take the sex trade with it to another barracks, please? Wow. Yeah, I was like, I don't want to do this at all. Yeah, no. Yeah, thank you for that. Okay, let's keep the show rolling on that note. Wow, I don't know where we're going at gary g 18 18

do you think they'll ever be mma on the holidays like the nba on christmas or the nfl on thanksgiving that's a great point do you like what i know the pfl championships isn't like really big enough where people would like a you know, where people would think of it in those terms. But what if an event like that took place every year on January 1st, like a bowl game or. So we used to get Japanese new year in MMA when pride did it and stuff like that. And then that,

and then you obviously dreamed it for a little while and even rise and tries it. Yeah. I see you. But you know, the reality is those are fun, but they're just not what they used to be. They used to be gigantic. They used to be huge in MMA, and they had relevant MMA.

Now they've got, like, fun MMA or, like, semi-relevant MMA. It's just not the same thing. But that used to be a big thing. I mean, the guy's kind of answering his question by himself. As long as the NBA is on Christmas and as long as the NFL is on Thanksgiving,mas and as long as the nfl is on thanksgiving no fight is ever going to compete with it right nfl is a juggernaut here and i don't know how europeans feel about but it's fucking big here nba you know and they're not putting bullshit games on they're not putting wizards versus you know pacers they're putting on lebron steph curry

all the big stars so as long as they're doing that, no, it's not going to happen. But would it be cool, BC, to have a holiday where fighting was the focus of it and everyone rallied around that? I think it'd be sweet. I think it'd be cool as shit. Yeah. So you wouldn't count 4th of July, which is typically the early part of International Fight Week, or sometimes not at all,

but you know what I'm saying. It's around the same time. You don't think of 4th of July and think UFC of International Fight Week or sometimes not at all but you know what I'm saying it's around the same time you don't think of Fourth of July and think UFC International Fight yeah I don't know all right well they used to do the the final remember when the final UFC pay-per-view was always like real close to New Year's Eve yes yes there was a year there there was a year there I forget like they put out this great trailer for it where uh clay guida was like burping in it and all this like action was happening and they had a ufc i think it was not a pay-per-view but i think they had like a fight night card on january 1 and that was awesome so it was the morning of january 1 and you had a brand

new ufc event to look forward to that night that was or that that day that was great that was awesome yeah would you say that the uh lacrosse national championship game has memorial day on a lockdown you're messing with your poster yeah it's or maybe it's messing with me Luke that's that's uh that's something to think about um all right uh Luke you want to keep going are we going to roll this thing up we talk so much bellator we can we should be able to fire through a few more of these okay at brendo 1136 do either of you have uh any book suggestions on the business of boxing or mma history and structure etc on the business that's a little bit there's no book on the business of boxing

there's probably a million great ones i just haven't read them um you know do you have a favorite boxing book yeah i'm not as deep in the because i don't read luke's i'm not as deep in this field as like you would hope i would be I definitely have read some of the classics and I've enjoyed them. I mean, The Four Kings by George Kimball stands alone in most of my brain, Luke. But no, I don't have like a business of boxing go-to. This is the great one. I will say this.

So if you're talking about the history of MMA, which is not exactly what he's asking, but how it got built, Let's Get It On by Big John McCarthy, his book is pretty good for that. I like that book. BC, I just started this one. I cannot give you a review because I don't have – I can't review it yet, but I literally just started it this week. Hang on.

This one. Cage Kings by Michael Thompson. hang on this one cage kings by michael thompson um and this guy is was a hardcore mma fan turned writer and he's supposed to go into the whole industry and how it got built and everything else so i'm not recommending it or not recommending it i just don't know enough about it because i literally just started it i would read the shit out of that because that's that that's the story of the last couple years leading into the Zufa purchase and you know the next couple years after that does not get told like the subheading of this book it's called Cage Kings the subheading is BC how an unlikely group of moguls champions and hustlers

transformed the UFC into a 10 billion dollar industry it sounds pretty good it sounds pretty good so we'll see how it is I will say this the one book I always recommend in martial arts that Transform the UFC into a $10 billion industry. It sounds pretty good. It sounds pretty good. So we'll see how it is. I will say this. The one book I always recommend in martial arts that I read that I love was on the history of judo. It's called Falling Hard. And it's fantastic. It is so fucking good.

And they get into the history of how Sambo was made. And you may not realize this. The guy who invented Sambo, Stalin, eventually had him killed. Because Stalin was, Joseph Stalin of the USSR was obviously very paranoid. may not realize is the guy who invented Sambo, Stalin eventually had him killed because Stalin was, Joseph Stalin of the USSR was obviously very paranoid and would often have academics or other influential people in society that he felt could be perceived as a threat killed or disloyal or whatever. And so this guy invented Sambo essentially for the Russian military, or at least developed the first set of techniques

and the set of ideas that I think eventually became Sambo, and then Stalin eventually had him killed, which really sucks, but it's a great book, man. Falling Hard. You can get it on Amazon. Except for the way that guy got brutally murdered. It's a fantastic read, though. I mean, it's not a Hallmark Christmas movie, you know what I'm saying?

By the way, BC, I meant to ask you about this. Now, I know this is Thanksgiving, but now we have to pivot into Christmas a little bit. My local theater, the one I can walk to, they're showing for the 20th anniversary of the movie on the big screen, Elf. Thinking about taking two keys. Is that an okay call, you think? Yeah, there's three theaters, not one all that there's a there's three theaters not one all that close to me but three theaters in this area that are doing that same thing and one of my kids was real into that idea and wants us to do it i told him that like that movie's not old enough yet to

demand that type of reverence in service even though it is obvious even though it is obviously not only a christmas classic but like arguably the best Christmas movie ever that you could just watch shamelessly. Cause you know, that used to be the Christmas story and then TV TBS ruined it or TNT. They probably had a hand in that too. But I think that that holds the thing, but I'm also like,

I don't know that that movie still feels like kind of new. I don't want to go to the movie theater for it. You know what I mean? It's not, I'm not there yet. Like if you're like, Hey, let's let's go see it's a wonderful life i did that a few years ago in the theater luke and it was it was awesome you know it was like old timey elf's not old timey right 20 years ago yeah i guess if you're young but you know people with old balls like us luke 20 years goes by like that right yeah i was, I was already out of college by 2003.

Like, ooh, you know, I'm slowly dying in front of everyone. Yeah, no doubt about that from the inside out, Luke. This is from HamSlicedMcDougal8080. Luke, since you don't drink as much anymore, how many drinks would it take now for BC's rear naked choke to get the tap or nap scenario four four i'll i think the over under it right now is clearly three margaritas luke right you know what i mean that's like the uh the mendoza line right there the you know yeah three or four yeah three or four i'll tell you what guaranteed three

long island iced teas and it might be curtains for your boy i gotta be honest yeah yeah wow wow um all right let's go to add edward scape hey brian do you watch tape or instructionals. What is your favorite on BJJ Fanatics? Well, I mean, why don't you just ask me to read a book? I mean, really, right? Or do SAT math live on MK from the eighth row. Yeah, that's not happening. Dude, I told you I bought that Ray Mercer. It wasn't on BJJ Fanatics, but I bought a Ray Mercer tutorial.

It was cheap. It was like six bucks or something. I was like, fine, whatever but I bought a Ray Mercer tutorial. It was cheap. It was like six bucks or something. I was like, fine, whatever. I'll just buy it on Amazon. And then he literally tells a story about how Tommy, he was trying to explain the depth of the body punch. And he literally explained that Tommy Morrison punched him so hard that it caused him to fart audibly in the match.

And he goes, I'll just be honest. He hit me so hard i farted i farted so loud yo that's a hilarious story which is always offset by the fact that that ending of that fight was one of the most brutal endings of any fight of all time remember the ref let mercer get like seven unanswered unnecessary shots yeah i don't know what was going on there but that was a great fight because happened in a couple Tommy Morrison fights even ones he lost he would come out like a house of fire

and light people up but if they didn't go down he could get caught he was fun Luke and he definitely fought with HIV that time I said New Mexico what was it Arizona? I thought it was West Virginia

but I could be wrong we looked it up it was definitely Arizona at the end of the day. So no tape. Maybe I should start watching some instructionals on like. No, I won't do that. You know what?

If Cody McKenzie put out one specific to the McKenzie team, I would actually watch that. I'd be down for that. Okay. Yeah. It wouldn't be that long of an instructional, but yeah. Would you help narrate that or co-host it with him? Can we make this an MK project?

No. Dude, I got it. You and I get the MK camera once we get a big budget and stuff, and we hit the road and go to the inventors of famous moves, like the McKee-a-teen, and just them like roll with you and break it down but then like i'll hover over you and at some point eventually you'll be in a point of no return hold that where you're gonna have to like tap or nap and then i'll get in your face and like teabag you and crotch chop luke but that'll be like the gimmick of the show and then like sounds go off

and like uh we get it pre-set up where like confetti falls down luke and that's like the moment in the show you know i gotta tell you a a segment where you just ritually commit sexual assault on me i don't think is gonna sell too well to sponsors luke it's what sets us apart though it is at the end of the day yes so tell us about your podcast well we talk about combat sports and we sexually assault one another. And the audience seems to respond. I don't quite get it. Wow, it's going to be wild when we get Tom Espinel on here, Luke.

Believe that, you know. I still can't get over that, that he did that. Oh, yeah. I'm told that we didn't frame it properly and that she had asked him an equally ridiculous question right before that. And then he kind of countered. But either way, Luke, you can't really say that on camera. I mean, someone's going to cut it out and do exactly what just happened right there. I mean, all right, let's go at TigerKuma10111011. I don't know. What is that?

If the UFC could take any three Bellator fighters, would Aaron Pico be one of them? I hope it would be, right? Okay, so let's think. If you're Dana and you can pick any three, got to be Pachi Mix's one, right? Yes. Yes. Who else?

Nemkov? Usman Nurmagomedov. Usman Nurmagomedov. Okay, that's two. And then you could argue. No, it wouldn't be Pico. You're right, because you'd have to go AJ McKee as a possibility for that third slot. You'd have to go Nemkov possibility.

Johnny Eblen is not bad, Luke. Good call. Not bad. Good call. Yeah, I don't know if it'd be Pico, to be honest with you. Yeah. I would have said Amosov until that loss, obviously. But, you know, there's certainly uh i

mean i know it'll be short but do you think okay here's how i'll set it up michael chandler came to the ufc under the premise that he's going to be there for a short time great time whatever the phrase was not a long time and he's been a firecracker that has just set himself off in really fun fights some for titles some not but he always brought it could patricio pitbull have the same maybe not success but a similar two-year run three-year run in the ufc no doing that same thing i think he's too many i think he's too damaged and um probably further along in his decline than chandler was at the same time he went okay dude, what division would you want him if he was doing that? Fucking Pitbull was in tournament after tournament,

war after war, rivalry after rivalry. You just don't walk out of that very easily. It's just not. But imagine inserting him at featherweight in the UFC for fun. Imagine him and Max. If you had told me that two years ago, I'd be more interested. But now I'm like, I don't know. I would see a rematch with him and max you wouldn't be like you told me that two years ago i'd be more interested but now i'm like i don't know you know i would see a rematch with him and chandler but they're too chandler's too big now but right too big yeah yeah yeah whatever uh let's go over to at luke locosta

locusta 199 prime dionte wilder versus old big george so he's saying the george foreman of the 90s who knocked out michael moore to win the heavyweight title at 45 or prime how good of a boxer was big george in his 40s like just pure boxing how good was he uh well he certainly wasn't known for it but dude he still had it in that area like in that comeback was like a slow build comeback like that comeback started in the late 80s and he took a shitload of fights and was went through wars and don't forget he originally fought holyfield for the title and fought well but lost and everyone thought he was done then and he made another turnaround and put fights together and big wins but like um yeah he could box he could box dude he's gonna win this matchup because George has a great chin, a great chin. I mean, when Ali got him, it was more like exhaustion and embarrassment

for that knockout that actually happened there. And, you know, I know George Foreman has been, you know, I just watched the other night. Have you ever seen this fight with Ron Lyle, Luke Foreman Lyle? I don't think so. It was after Foreman lost the title to Ali and was trying to make another run. And they knocked each other down like three times each in the first like four and a half rounds. Like just ridiculous mayhem.

Dude, you've got to see that fight. It's insanity. It's just it's two exhausted men throwing bombs. It's like a school fight in the hallway that no teacher is there to break it up and you're like we've been here for 15 minutes now like it's down to like stamina and will who's got that dog in him you know what i'm saying luke and where's the damn teacher right what kind of school is this that happened in my school a lot dude but a lot okay yeah there were fights in my school not my second one so much but my first high school valdosta high school oh yeah you can get up at valdosta you have to knuckle up early in that

fucking did they have a lot of pregnant girls there too luke or am i going out about no but my second high school did my second high school had like several i mean i was like these girls are they're out here fucking huh early okay i mean that okay i not you see you can't say that after i make a questionable offering and then look at the sandwich we just created, Luke. You know what I'm saying? I just couldn't believe kids at my age were like, how do you not use birth control or protection? How do you not punch your life?

Who does that? I could explain the reasoning to you, but it would take a few minutes here and it would probably involve – it would probably be cleaner than two girls in one cup. I'm so lucky I didn't walk into that bee's nest that time.'re still gonna watch that no no no i'm just gonna make that if i win okay bet i'm just gonna make two girls one cup my concert i'm just gonna make you watch my concert dude i bet you would would cannibal corpse score the soundtrack to that film luke probably right no no probably i don't know r kelly i don't know. R. Kelly? I don't know who. I don't know who that would be.

Oh, wow. R. Kelly and the Cleveland Steamers? Yeah, great band. Great band. Okay. This one's from at TimYosho650. Quick hits. His quick hit number one.

Will MMA be better off in five years because of the recent merger? Yes or no? No. Will MMA be better off in five years because of the recent merger? Yes or no? Will MMA be better off in 2028 because of this PFL bell? He's asking about will the sport be better off. I don't know if the sport will be better off. I'll say no. You'll say no. Will UFC, PFL, or others benefit the most from the merger?

Who will benefit the most from this merger? PFL. I mean, you know, yeah. I don't think UFC is going to benefit from it, but PFL definitely will. I counter that. UFC will benefit from whatever level of success, in my opinion, that PFL has. Look, you said it yourself. You were kind of dismissive saying, well, up to this point,

who have they gotten besides Francis? And you're right but i think everything changes early next year when they start this new deal at the new network they have the pay-per-view ability now they've you know they had to wait in ganu and jake paul to be closer to ready now they got cyborg look they got the things that they've been trying to set up so i think's more like, let's see how these things hit and whether they will lead to, you know, potential advancements in free agency. But I think any success

they have in the process, it's going to make UFC just tighten up just a little bit more and bring it a little bit more. In my opinion, Luke, unless they are like, so like asleep at the wheel

and so tied to like the numbers and we must hit this mark. I mean, they're really smart from the endeavor angle. They're making a shit ton of money. But do you think they'll fight back? I think they fight back if PFL starts having some moments. Yeah, of course. Yeah, I mean, the competition could be...

I think the person or the entities that might benefit the most if there is real competition is you and me. And the folks out there watching, the consumers. That's who's supposed if there is real competition is you and me and the folks out there watching the consumers you know that's who that's who's supposed to be benefiting from competition is us right yeah i like when we win luke i declare victory there and finally will this merger and the pfl framing as one b lead to ufc upping their game yeah we just said it we think they will so that covers that uh we got a couple more and then we can let you guys go back to chokeholding someone over a PlayStation. I see you. I know you were. I know the look. Do you think you know, we always debate like what percentage of our audience was there January 6th or at least we're willing and able if the reserves

were called in, Luke, what percentage of the audience in this case do you think have done dirt bag level black friday weights where they were willing to like run in and elbow grandma out of the way to like get to that piece of electronic solid 97.3 percent oh that's aggressive that's aggressive solid solid there's definitely people watching this right now who have punched a lady in the head over a microwave 100 all right all right yep there it is uh at jaeger meister jaeger 7794 how are your guys barbecue cooking skills any special thanksgiving meals you prepare we already did the turkey day talk, but Luke. I will say the fried turkey I did a few years ago

remains like the apex turkey prep that's ever happened in my family, no matter what they might tell you. Oh, you're declaring this a victory for the Luke Thomas household in the family hierarchy. Oh, yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong. Let me be very clear about this. My sister and my brother are infinitely better cooks than me.

Like, no question about it. Skill for skill, dish for dish, they crush me. I cannot touch them. But I'm the only one who's ever tried a fried turkey, and I did a lot of prep. I mean, I brined this thing and salted it the whole nine yards. I got a heritage turkey you know what a heritage turkey is no you just get the regular old bitch-ass turkey from

piggly wiggly i don't eat much of the turkey i'm a meat pie guy all right hair pie well i mean i get i get a heritage turkeys which is which is much better um and i fried that motherfucker with all the special gear that I bought in peanut oil. And I mathematically had everything down precise. I did it exactly as they recommended it for exactly how long. I pulled that fucking thing out, and we sliced it. And when the knife went into the thigh, I mean, juices flying out that bitch. Oh, it was like, is that you, Peter?

You know what I mean, Mr. North? I know, no. Mr. North, this is a public event. Yeah, I was like, you know, I don i know no it was like this is a public event yeah yeah i was like you know i don't know what gender this turkey was before we killed it but it's squirting now boy let me tell you anyway wow wow luke you know what i just realized turns out it's just pissed did you know that you think that was r kelly's defense. Look, the thing about you and I is you always think we're so different, but we're really the same. You claiming victory on that one year that you outcooked your brother and sister

is my bloody toe game from 2004. Come on. Yeah, that's fair. Like I said, dude, there's just no chance I could ever, ever, ever, ever compete with them dish for dish. I would lose 99.9% of it, but I'm the only one who, because the thing is this, frying a turkey is in a way easy, but you do have to have all the right materials to do it, the right drum, the right oil,

the right temperature, everything, the right thing to pull and push the turkey out. And by the way, but this is the best part about it like all it goes into the prep i believe the turkey that we cooked only was 18 minutes so 18 minutes into the fryer out and then you serve it and it was done dude it is if you've never had real fried turkey you just haven't had turkey you haven't had turkey it's a fate that's one of our greatest moments for the show the luke fried turkey rant yeah we've been there are you do you think you're in the top two of your dad's favorite kids at the moment no no no bottom third bat and clean up i mean you gotta be you know i'm not top of the order let me tell you okay here we go i told my dad the other day

my dad let me so it's not just my dad like my family they've never asked me or commented on any of my tattoos like none of them ever not once they've never been like hey why'd you get this where'd you get this like hey you know what is this they just never just never and that's fine like if you don't care and you don't want to talk about it i'm okay but then the other, my dad was asking me something. We were walking, and he asked me, and he goes, you know, he was like, I forget exactly what preceded what he said. And then he was like, yeah, you know, and then the people who like the less attractive parts of society, they seem to also love tattoos. And I was like... And cage fighting, Dad.

They love that, too. And he was like, and he goes, I can't even fathom why they might get them, but, you know, it can't be decorative. And I'm like, well, it actually can be, you know. But anyway, so that was... Did he not take the bait, or you were just trying to keep it civil? Little column A, column B. the bay or did he not take the bay or you were just trying to keep it civil um a little column a column b i was like well you know that's a sort of an absurd statement but um but yeah okay that's this is incredible i would love to be uh planted with a hidden mk documentary camera during

your thanksgiving dinner and just kind of keep the audience abreast of the direction the flow of the conversation who's winning, who's losing. That would be fantastic. I'm always losing here. Not that I deserve to be losing, but I am always losing. They want to know if we can barbecue and how our cooking skills. So I'm a horrific cook. I'm okay on the barbecue grill.

I would not say I'm very good. I can have disastrous moments. Just watch. I can have disastrous moments. But once. I can have disastrous moments, but once in a while, I land the plane on the grill. Not a good cook in the indoors. Luke, you're a renaissance man in some regards. You're an Eagle Scout, and you know how to cook, right? A little bit. Not that much. I mean, I'm like you a little bit. I can definitely cook a steak really well. I can cook not all fish, but I could like a big chunk of tuna or something

like that you know i can do that i've never been able to grill poultry all that well i've always fucked that up um so no so listen if you got like chorizo if you've got like flank steak if you've got some kind of you know meatiness in that way i'm probably good for it but short of that i want to fuck it up yeah i'm with you on that from donagan anderson 3561 says uh day one donk here what was your most gratifying career milestones and what was one of your bleakest moments in the industry great question luke they were on our highs and lows um i gotta tell you i you know i didn't think of it this way necessarily at the time but like us winning the first mma award that we did yeah that felt big right it felt pretty big felt fucking great to be honest with you if i could you know i and and you know that's not to say that it is the most,

because it's all a matter of perception a little bit. Bleakest. When MMA Fighting never let me say goodbye after being at the company for nearly 14 years and just closed out all my accounts without telling me. Even though I had offered them the opportunity to match showtime's offer and they just didn't and then they locked me out of my email locked me out of everything and never even let me say thanks to the staff or anything i thought that was uh

and also you know the mma hour had not gone how i had wanted it to um yeah that was probably pretty bleak or john jones dunking on me those two days were both like really like okay these are very honest moments from you Luke those those those were uh those were turning point moments because look they can break a person Luke but you have persevered and elevated through that I mean are you you're a survivor Luke right survivor but like you know have you ever seen like an animal survive in the wild it's not really mentally stable you know it's all hardened and fucked up and uh and angry and everything yeah yeah i'm with you um you know i could say either us winning the the first mma award or when we were when we found out in the moment that we were like the sports podcast of the year from

the sports podcasting group which led to us uh main eventing their their london uh podcast festival which like that all to me is one thing that's probably it that's probably the the best highest moment i mean um you know i mean when like when i fill in for jim gray a couple times and i'm on like the major leagues that also is like this moment of like oh shit they called me up from the, you know, from AAA for the day. And look at this. Lowest moment, I think it's definitely, there was a point at ESPN when I was a editor making nothing, but writing a ton of content all week,

going to fights, covering it, working on TV, and then like not getting paid in those areas, but like getting opportunities, getting reps, getting gigs, but at the same time, like unable to pay the rent. Like, you know what I mean? When you're starting to go like, is this, is this the best use of my skills in this current situation? You know what I mean? Like the heat is due. And then to find out at one of my reviews that like a promotion or this thing I thought I was building toward for three years and was told along the way, oh, not this time, but like six months from now. Definitely. We've all been through that where there's a little bit of a carrot hanging in front of you. But you know what? You can get over the walls and the hurdles and you keep coming.

Well, I had found out like behind the scenes that like the boss who was telling me all this, like had never actually gone to bat for me once. Once I found out like how the hiring and promotion process like actually works and how you have to like nominate somebody and then go to bat for them repeatedly just to get them in the mix for that. And it was like, wow, all that work I put in for nothing. Now, I didn't I knew it wasn't nothing because, you know, I had some reps. I had great opportunities. I grew, but you know, that moment Luke, where you're like, I don't think I can financially do this anymore. So am I being selfish to my family, keeping us in this rental

house that we can't even afford to live in? And I literally just had to borrow money from the church to pay the heating bill. Like you, there's those, there's those moments. That's the lowest moment in this, in this walk so far, hopefully it it's low it'll stay the lowest luke but those are the moments where you do a lot of soul searching because that's all you got left i will also say just as we wrap up on this you know when we officially behind the scenes i mean we kind of found out what everyone else did but when we basically got a heads up that like showtime was going away i don't think it kicked your ass as hard as it kicked mine but dude it kicked my ass it kicked my ass real bad i was fucked up for a while off that you know uh just the amount of questions that it raised in my head about who i am and the choices that i'd made and

what the fuck i was gonna do and you know again everyone wore everyone wore the the difficulties of that situation in the last year differently and i'm not saying i took it well i probably didn't but no i know i didn't but um it fucked me up real good dude that was that fucked me up for a while i was off for a while from that but so you know we but like we persevere like here we are we're on the other side of it it seems like or mostly on the other side of it anyway so that's why you know what if we get this award and we don't know if we are the third straight world mma awards best mma programming you can argue all you want if we deserve it after a tough year we didn't have the same resources we had but we also had some of our highest moments and some of our lowest moments i'm starting to think luke that we actually deserve it as we've

talked about that this actually is the year that we dug in and fought for it the most because you know what that's all you can do like okay if you want to know post script what happened after my lowest moment a couple months later i was so frustrated and just ready to run through a wall and get noticed and accepted for the work i've done and all that that i had a jerry mcguire moment accidentally i would get poison ivy like easily when I would weed whack, like I just get like, you know, a splash on you and my whole body would start to get covered and it would like come up and threaten to come up like my face too. So I got on a pretty good rhythm of getting prednisone, you know, the steroid that like

kind of aggressively turns it away. The only problem was it would make me like aggressively unkept emotionally. Like it would just make me like extra argumentative. So the family knew to just keep distance for a week. I took a double dose because I had a big on camera thing coming up and the thing was crawling up my neck. You know, you've seen me before, Luke, with that where it's crawling up. It's trying to come out. Right. And dude, I took a double dose and I lost my ability to hold my emotions. I'd be working in the office and just start crying and then like hope no one's looking at it. Or then like I'd be, you know, over the top excited that night.

I couldn't sleep was was like, you know what, if my career is going nowhere, I'm going to go out swinging. And I drafted an email to the head of ESPN.com literally at 3 AM. That was this aggressive, like ambitious, but like also like, I don't want you guys to miss out what I'm about to bring here. And I didn't know if I was going to get fired or told like, there's the door.

And I ended up on that dude's couch the next morning, half apologizing for kind of losing my mind there in the moment but i think he respected it and it and it started to open the door to new opportunities for me maybe because i was that bold and crazy and out of my mind literally like just full emotions and uh look where i am today luke so maybe a couple breakdowns along the way it's okay if you can make it to the finish line you know what i'm saying yeah i mean after i got the door shut in my face by mma fighting for doing nothing other than carrying that place when no one else would um you know i ended up in the arms

of showtime so like yeah you know sometimes you get these really low moments you're like jesus fuck how did i end up here and then then you just be like, life is funny. It doesn't work this way for everybody. We've had our asses kicked. Life's kicked our asses a few times. We've had our asses kicked. Don't doubt about it. But we've managed to pick ourselves up and keep going.

That's all you can do. We're all in this together. We hope you enjoyed our holiday mailbag this Turkey Day. Maybe you don't celebrate it in your country, but happy Thanksgiving to you just the same. If that means anything, thank you to Mikey Morms on the ones and twos behind the scenes, and we appreciate all your questions. Continue to send whatever you want to morningcombat at gmail.com.

Fan subs, dead wrongs, all that. Maybe just say hi. Just try to keep your extremities clothed in the future. That's about all I got. Luke, any message here on the way out? Be sure to check my coverage of tonight's fights for PFL. I'll be there. I'll do what I can.

I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to get, but I'm going to get what I can and should be kind of fun. So be on the lookout for that youtube.com slash morningcom. There it is. There it is. Thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend. If you did something awful and a best buy, email us with more details and pictures. Thank you. We love you. We're out of here. Happy holidays to you.