MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 262 Recap: Oliveira KOs Chandler, Ferguson Loses | Figueroa Stops Nery | Ep 157

Episode Date: May 17, 2021

NO better way to start the week then Monday MK. Luke and Brian recap all the action from UFC 262. Charles Oliveria is your new Lightweight champion after knocking out Michael Chandler in round 2. How impressive was his road to the title and for Michael Chandler, how big of a setback is this (8:10)? Plus, Tony Ferguson got dominated by Beneil Dariush. Is Tony done as a contender (23:10)? Also, in boxing. Brandon Figueroa stopped Luis Nery. Whats the biggest takeaway (48:20)? 'Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit: store.sho.com   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat  To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Rise to rewards with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card. Terms and conditions apply. Reveille, reveille, dogs. Look at us now, tip to tip. This is our life. This is our passion. That's the spirit we bring to this show. I'm Luke Thomas. I'm Brian Campbell.

This is Morning Combat. It is Monday, the 17th of May, 2021, and it is time, donks, for Morning Combat. Hello, everyone. I am one half of your hosting duo. Both of us are from CBS Sports. My name is Luke Thomas. That there is Brian Campbell, the King of Connecticut. And back freshly from the left coast. BC, how was your time moonlighting as an actual, you know, a member of the media, sports media that people care about? Financially productive, Luke, okay?

Despite the regular claims online that I wear pants that are way too tight. I saw those remarks, everyone. You know, the pandemic hasn't been easy on my diet. Thank you very much, Luke. I chose to wear what I call the Motel 6 pants. You know what I mean? No ballroom, Luke.

So it was a long night there, but I pulled it through, okay? Thank you. Good. Well, I'm glad you're back. You have seen it in UFC 262, yes? I just literally just finished it, Luke. I spent the whole day yesterday traveling. You know, it's weird when you travel and you got your phone in airplane mode

and then you turn it back on and you got alerts and reactions. Like, I had like 60 likes from Caitlin Chukagian alone. I had to, like, DM her and be like, wrong BBC. Just, okay. Hey, it was easy. It was low-hanging. You know, it was just, you know. Yeah.

Oh, that's going to get us fired. Or maybe not. I don't even know anymore. All right. Well, listen. That's your bomb to deal with later. Okay. On the show today, UFC 26 262 reaction some Showtime boxing reaction

we'll look ahead because there's some fights this weekend both with Bellator on Friday and then UFC of course back in action on Saturday and everything in between if you are watching and you're new to the channel maybe you picked us up from the UFC 262 post fight show welcome thumbs up on this one hit subscribe if that's not you uh you can see all of our social media outlets there. Morning Combat name is the same everywhere. BC and I have slightly different names between Twitter and Instagram. You want to email the show. Wednesday, we do fan submissions.

Friday, we do Dead Wrong. MorningCombat at gmail.com. Hit us up right there. That's your place to go. And BC, we do have merch right now, which will be at show.store.com you are much more invested in this process than i and i know you have well do you have an update what do you have you're like all that shit i don't care about like documentaries and merch uh yes our our new merch 2.0 website uh which will be different than the first we'll have uh much more uh an advancement in terms of

creative direction within the week. I mean, we are dead close. Look, we've gotten people maybe a little too excited ahead of it. That's because they got us a little too excited. All the T's are getting crossed. The I's getting dotted from a legal standpoint. Though we are very close, you will not

be able to get this apparently on first launch. But maybe one day you can wear this yellow shirt. But in the meantime, please go to store.show.com. You want to dress like Bill and Jen in the RV, and why wouldn't you, okay? Why don't you get yourself a green hoodie? But Luke, the new stuff's coming.

I can't wait. I can't wait to see our people outfitted once you and I hit live fights again, because Luke, I don't know if you saw, but Las Vegas is wide open. No masks, no rules. You I don't know if you saw, but Las Vegas is wide open. No masks. No rules. You can walk around with, you know, if you got a big, they're going to search it, right?

You know, it's back, baby. So I hope to see people in Vegas for Conor Paulyway 3 wearing our shit, Luke, especially the international folks. I can't wait. I can't wait, brother. I don't know how much international folks are going to be. Oh, there might be some. I guess there'll be some capacity for that that i don't know exactly what the rules with that would be but in any case um two things one i said it was put up put up the website for the

the url for the for the store please one more time because i know i had stated it incorrectly i'm going to do it again yes i think i had said show.store. As you can see here, it's store.show, not the other way around. Two, your sign says Factory Tough, BC, yet as we've established, you've never actually worked in a factory. Not true. I feel like you're appropriating a blue-collar work ethic that you don't really have the background to promote. I was the shipping and receiving manager at a factory as recently didn't

work you didn't work as recently as 2006 okay i did i i i did some work on there i i was the delivery driver sometimes too i've done a lot of bad shit well great you know i was the janitor stop and shop so come talk to me luke okay please i didn't say you didn't have other bad jobs i'm just saying if you're a factory tough, shouldn't you have worked on the assembly line? I feel like that's a lot of unique. My community was built upon factories, okay? You know, they fell apart as I was coming of age,

and it really explains my personality a lot and my makeup, but that's another topic for another day. Luke, it's great to see you looking so young and alive. You're really, to be honest, you're probably a just-for-men package away from passing for 35 and i'm proud of you for that 3500 motherfucker i look someone put up a picture yesterday i retweeted it i think it was like ufc 144 ufc 145 something like that this is the one that was if i'm not mistaken jones versus evans in atlanta and when i had shocker i didn't have a full head of gray hair.

I was like, wow, I've not always been a completely washed POS, but those are distant memories. Yeah, when you hosted MMA then, you were a good-looking guy looking for some foreign bootay. True or false? Whatever I was, I'm not that. I'm not that anymore. All right, let's get to the show here.

Let's kick things off. UFC 262 was the crown jewel of the combat sports weekend. And we start with your main event. Topic number one, if I may, Charles Oliveira. Can you believe it? Doe Bronx is your UFC lightweight champion. He defeats via, I think it was TKO is the official way. Maybe you have to look again, but stops with strikes. Michael Chandler in the second round. OK, BC. There are a lot of

different questions about this, though the first thing I would say is, or I would ask you rather, what can we say about his performance, Charles Oliveira? What can you say about his road to the title? What an incredible performance. What an incredible fight. You know, this wasn't the lightweight title fight I would have booked, and we've been up and down that. But I did, you know, course correct later in the week last week and say at the same time, this fight might be like, you know,

explosive theater. And it was. And I thought Chandler by KO was the right bet, Luke. And it nearly looked like it was at I thought Chandler by KO was the right bet Luke and it nearly looked like it was at certain points and that speaks obviously to the talent in this division the incredible fighting spirit and exciting styles that these two guys have but ultimately for Dubronks uh just you know a guy who believes in himself so much I mean what a freaking finisher. Luke, we remember guys like this in college, skinny guys, not overly good looking, decent personality, not a lot going for them,

but they finished and they finished in a big way, Luke. And I always feel like the deciding factor in that regard was confidence. The confidence to turn his career around, moving up from featherweight to lightweight. I don't know his finishing status in his real around, moving up from featherweight to lightweight. I don't know his finishing status in his real life, but in the cage, it's incredible. And he stuck to his game plan. And even in a guillotine, even after being knocked down with punches, he never buckled. And that's why that celebration afterwards was so genuine and real. And I think a lot of us connected with it, similar to when Rose beat Zhang Weili a couple weeks back.

It just had that, like, long road to get here or for Rose to get back here type of feel. What a performance, and, you know, he don't look bad with that belt after seeing what he did to Michael Chandler. I may think Dustin Poirier is still the best of among the active 155ers in the world, but we're going to probably have to find that out if he gets through Conor the third time and maybe we set up a match with him, with Charles. But in the meantime, Charles was as advertised, Luke. What a great fight. What a great performance.

In a weird way, I'm proud to have him as champion. I don't even know how I can fully explain that. But, you know, we never really heard his story because his win streak came in the shadow of everything going on with Habib and Conor and all that. So to see it come full circle right here, it was a great moment. Yeah, it was a really great moment. I said one thing on Saturday night, which I would repeat, which is, you know, if you look at like why Michael Chandler jumped the guillotine,

other guys have done that on him and had some decent success or at least, you know, made some progress in the fight with it. Some have won outright with jumping guillotine on him. And if you look at the way in which, for example, he was able to survive that onslaught at the end of the first when he got clipped on the feet and then followed up with a ground and pound underneath, he didn't always show the kind of awareness and situational resolve in the past that he did this time. That was a very experienced performance. I mean, you get hit like that by Michael Chandler, who's a devastating finisher

inside the first and second round, and you find a way to hang on. Man, that's pretty impressive. We already knew his jiu-jitsu was good. You saw that come to life here a little bit, but I was more impressed by that. But I think the bigger lesson here, BC, something I've thought about since Saturday night was, listen, it wouldn't be exactly fair to call Oliveira like a lightweight Demian Maya Demian Maya was decorated in jiu-jitsu and then came over to MMA Charles Oliveira obviously has really good jiu-jitsu but that's not exactly been his path he's been doing MMA as we know certainly been in the UFC the last 11 years at a very young age so so he doesn't have that exact same comparison. But what I mean is, if you just want to be that guy who's really, really, really good at submissions, dude, you're going to get some big wins. You're going to be in some big fights. You're going to

break some big records, and you're going to be memorable. But if you want to be champion, there's got to be, for the most part, Habib notwithstanding, there's got to be some serious dimensionality to your game. BC, he has real dimensionality. He is attacking everywhere from every position, from every range, and from conceivably almost every scenario, except the one where he's getting bombed on. But as we talked about, he showed incredible resolve. That corner he turned, and it's a big one, not a small one, but that corner he turned when he became a dual threat, it changed the trajectory of his career forever. It did, but I don't want to underscore the turnaround in confidence and the commitment because think of where he was, Luke.

So he's on this eight-fight win streak, but just think like two years ago where he was, not in our collective consciousness from the standpoint of viable, lightweight title contenders. He was in a long line behind so many stars. And I think, you know, I'm here to raise the flag and say his confidence, his mental strength, you know, it's a big part of this. His ability to function within chaos, though, and you certainly saw that in the first round against Chandler,

seems to be next level. And that's such an underrated part of the full package when somebody gets to this title level especially in a division that that is always this batshit crazy in terms of the type of opponents you have to face the danger that they bring and the the crazy chaotic nature that some of these fights in this division can take I mean his ability to not get finished to not get stopped I mean did you see the little head swivel on the ground after he was dropped by Chandler's punches? Just very aware and very, you know, cognizant of everything. It was such an impressive performance. And yet at the same time, Luke, this was a great advertisement for the division, for the UFC brand, and even for Chandler. I mean, you know, this is one of the

better losses, I think I think you know a guy that we argued had he deserved it he came in there guns blazing he's done everything right in his UFC run he showed you at the end who he is same guy in the Eddie Alvarez fights he's vulnerable because he's a gunslinger but if he can get to you first and he did against Oliveira more often than not he'll finish you it just didn't happen here. So I think Chandler actually, in a weird way, gets elevated from this. I want to ask you, though, something very small. Maybe you didn't feel it. I felt it.

Maybe I'm a closet Chandler superfan and I haven't realized it yet. Was the stoppage just a little too quick considering how crazy the fight was and Chandler's history of getting rocked and coming back? In real time, I did not feel that way i went back and i watched it a couple more times and they're right when the fight get the instant the fight gets stopped that one moment you can see chandler trying to get an elbow through and a forearm

like he's still trying to get to his feet so i'll say this. I think that's a very difficult call. I think you can make an argument that it probably should have gone on a little longer, but I don't want to hang the referee over this one. We so often reflexively are like, the referee didn't get it right. The judges didn't get it right. I think we've got to make those arguments

and make it a point when you've got a really strong case. There is one here, but in real time, I think the referee made the best call that they could given the circumstances. It's so close. The referee had enough facts in front of him to make that call. The repeated shots, the setup that led to that. But I just think, even though I do believe Chandler was concussed

and not fully with it, I do believe he could have kept going. Sometimes in title fights you want to see that a little more. But with the facts in front of the referee, I'm not damning him. Who was that, by the way, Luke? Was it? I forgot. I forgot. I've forgotten, too.

All right. Well, hey, shout out to that referee. Let's get back to Oliveira for a second. So here's a question that I also got on Saturday night. To what extent, not even do you think he's the best lightweight, because we can just play with that one forever but a better question which is do you imagine he's going to hold this belt for a long time i don't and that's nothing that's a knock against him that's just this division is great i think poirier could beat i mean look anybody could beat each other at this very elite

level especially when you remove the that big block that was Habib that was a problem for everyone. I'd favor Poirier to beat him, but the reason why I think it's going to be passed around a little bit is with Habib out, I think we're going to have, and you mentioned this in the past, a similar situation to where the light heavyweight division was before Jon Jones, where you have all-time great fighters, Machida, Sugar rampage uh you know etc forest but they're going to pass the belt among each other and anyone can win at any night i think that's what the future is going to bring for this division because you're telling me a retooled justin gaethje can't come in there and you know and potentially finish uh oliveira all of these possibilities are

on the table i give charlie olives the full credit for maximizing his greatness, carving out his name in history, but it's probably going to be batshit crazy from here on out each title fight, and that's going to be great for ratings and great for our interest level for sure. I just don't see a long-term champion coming out of the group we have right now, Luke. For any of them, even if Poirier

wins, do I think he's going to hold it for a long time? I don't think so. McGregor, definitely don't think so. Who else you could throw in there? If Chandler had won, I probably would say the same thing. Do I think he's going to hold it for a long time? I don't think so. McGregor, definitely don't think so. Who else you could throw in there? If Chandler had won, I probably would say the same thing. Do I think he's going to hold it for all that long? Probably not, because he's 34, almost going to be 35. One thing to point out here about the career of Charles Oliveira, BC, he's 31-8 with one no contest. Can you imagine? And again, everyone in MMA loves to bash boxing. I don't mean it in this way. What I mean to say is if you was 31 and 8 and you were watching a boxing main event, you'd be like, that's almost unheard of that this is the most important feature.

And that in that moment, the 31 and 8 moment, they actually have one of their better performances and they show all this incredible promise fulfilled. It's just unheard of. But all I mean to do is draw attention to the fact that this guy's road of development is not the normal road that we see in sports which is incremental somewhat safe managed as they climb through the top this guy was thrown to the fucking wolves right away and he stumbled every time he tried to get near the top of that division. Look at his losses. Donald Cerrone, Frankie Edgar, Cub Swanson, past a few years, Max Holloway, past a little more time, Pettis, Lamas, Felder. Anytime he tried to climb up a little bit, he just couldn't get it done

until he figured it out. To your point, BC, even in 2019, he was still fighting the Jared Gordons of the division. Good fighters, but at the very cream of the crop that we know of and then everything just kind of came together it's a very unusual way to achieve real greatness but real greatness achieved a very very special guy I don't think it would have been wrong or negative hipster coming into this fight if you had picked Chandler which I did and you had said look Olivera may have an eight fight win streak in the best division possible to have that win streak, but it has come against, to your point, like the Jared Gordon levels of guys. Okay, then he beat future champion Kevin Lee, but that was a period of, you know, question marks on him. And then he beat an old Tony Ferguson, but who we didn't know was necessarily too old.

But that, you know, there's a lot of what-ifs in that run. Yet he just went out there and finished Chandler and won the championship and did exactly what his reputation is known for, getting another finish. So, you know, that's why this sport is such great theater, and that's why you can never count anyone out. But, you know, again, I just want to sit here and tip my cap and celebrate what he's done, because it's great to see someone learn from those L's, Luke.

It's great to see someone when they put that belt on him, dude, did he not look like the happiest man on earth? Because he knows what he put into this. I don't want to compare us to these fighters. It's apples and oranges, but I certainly can be inspired and can relate

to Oliveira's ability to use his L's in his career as fuel, as a chance to recharge. But what these guys do physically and mentally, the taxation of representation here, Luke, to be a fighter at this level and to go through that turnaround that he did, that's why you saw that emotion come out. I mean, it's crazy. Especially in this division, Luke.

I just kind of put him down and said he didn't have to beat the murderer's row to get here. But anyone in the top 15 in this division is a horrible night at the office. Yeah. Yeah. No, there's no doubt about it. And what I loved about this fight was how back and forth it was and how kind of crazy the ending was. But also to your point, it's something we've been underscoring.

You know, these guys showed vulnerabilities. Both of them showed vulnerabilities quite candidly. You know, Oliveira didn't show that he was invincible. scoring. These guys showed vulnerabilities. Both of them showed vulnerabilities, quite candidly. Oliveira didn't show that he was invincible. He showed that he had perseverance, two different kinds of things, which means he's going to be in exciting fights, I think, no matter what. And he may win or he may lose against the top of these, but I really like what he's become. I'll put it that way. One last question about Chandler, BC. Someone, I think I retweeted this morning, a buddy of mine, Raphael, was tweeting that he wanted to see Justin Gaethje fight Michael Chandler I don't know if the timing of that works out but I gotta say I love that fight what do you think makes sense next for

Michael Chandler yeah I think that's a perfect fight because you want to you don't want to see him get take a look like a an overly large step down in terms of the matchmaking level just to refreshing him with a win it's not his style it's certainly not UFC style uh that fight would be I mean look that's one of those non-title pay-per-view main events UFC probably wouldn't make that a pay-per-view main event but if they wanted to and just sold it on the action potential alone and the idea that the winner you know takes a large step closer to a title shot I mean it's such a great and perfect fight I hope it's it's no worse than that and winner takes a large step closer to a title shot. I mean, it's such a great and perfect fight. I hope it's no worse than that, and that's a great fight.

And you said the vulnerability. Everybody in this division is vulnerable right now. It's wild. And, Luke, really, we never do this, but can we just stop for a second and really give credit? GSP, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Amanda Nunes, the fighters who have been able to go on runs, like frigging runs, you know what I mean, where you are the champion for long stretches of time

and you're fighting constantly every type of style. There's so many damn ways to lose in this sport. And for them to go on those type of runs, it's so rare and so incredible comparative to really any other sport in terms of how batshit crazy you can get in there and how you can lose by accident. This is why I always believe, BC, it's a broader debate. And I'm not saying being a champ champ is easy. It's not easy. It's exceedingly difficult.

And it's a special achievement. But gun to my head, if you had to ask me, what's the toughest thing to do in mma i'm gonna say by and large it's to be a champion of a ufc weight class and then stand a post and let wave of contender wave after contender try and beat you because those guys yeah those guys are all ready to have their best night and they're waiting for you to slip up just a little bit you know yeah habib dj also in that same conversation don't want to disrespect them yeah 100 okay let's go now to point number two we'll go to the co-main event tony ferguson losing in the co-main event is probably the bigger story i do want to get to that but i want to be fair to

the winner first not the most exciting fight in the world bc i think that's pretty fair to say although i did think the first round was pretty good. Second and third rounds, if you look at the numbers, we went over this on Saturday night, BC. Each round, Benil Dariush accumulated more and more control time. I think he had three and a half minutes in the first round. He had four and a half minutes in the third. So not especially exciting, but not especially controversial. One guy was just clearly better than the other. Okay. Did you, out of this performance, get the idea that Benil Dariush is a real title contender? I should. I should, right? Because the performance was so one-sided and so competent in every category and really damn good. and the win streak he's putting

together is great but you know i am stained by the moment of the consecutive losses to tony for for tony excuse me and you know i know that that's the conversation we're going to pivot to in a second but it's really hard for me to separate those two i i feel like it was more tony than benil in this case but you can't even say that out loud because people take it out of context and don't really get what you're saying obviously Benil won this fight because he proved he was good enough

that's why I said he was really the worst kind of matchup for Tony if Tony wasn't back to being Tony again because he's aggressive he's going to go after it and it turns out he had every facet of the game to show here to pull it off but is it wrong for me to say I still need to see a little bit more Luke before I'm gonna think he's got a shot to to beat any of those guys atop there that we mentioned in that upper core I I think I think this if he gets ranked inside the top five I don't think that is scandalous. But based on this performance, and of course his career is much longer than this performance, but to the extent that we have his

most recent performance, I think he is a tough fight for anyone in that top five. And on a good night, maybe can beat them. I did not get the sense that we have a new force at 155 pounds in the top five that we have to really measure their impact in that space just yet. Is that fair? Oh, we agree then. I thought you were going to be coming at me here. We agree, Luke, then. Okay, we're on the same team.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't think it was in any way a bad performance. I just didn't think – I wouldn't call it an outstanding performance. Fair, very fair. But you would say it was well rounded and you know how about him going to bat for his spouse to to produce that follow-up tweet from Elon Musk to say oh crap you know we screwed up that car is coming Luke I would have loved that same type of spousal protection during our uh domestic dispute with Josh Thompson just to be honest with you dude I've never seen someone who just needs their

back rubbed more than you. Okay. One thing to keep in mind, BC, I looked at the numbers for, because if you think about it, this is not the craziest thought. The Tony versus Charles Oliveira fight is not all that different. There are some differences of course, but not hugely different

from the fight between Tony and then Benil Dariush all the way to the point where remember he got his arm nearly snapped by DeBronx and then toughed it out nearly got his knee shredded to pieces may have in fact but somehow found a way to tough it out um and then of course getting controlled all three rounds the one big difference though is if you look at the significant strikes landed for Olivera it was more or less 2-1 on Benil Dariush. Now, even that 2-1 is not a huge amount, but it just kind of shows you a big reason why I think people are upset with Dariush's. He didn't do a lot of ground and pound.

There wasn't a ton of very effective passing. Some, but I thought Tony had a great defensive guard for the most part. Inverted the last two rounds. So it just wasn't heavily offensive in a damaging kind of way. And I think that upset people. Is that a fair assessment? I think that's fair. I think that's fair.

But, you know, at the same time, biggest win of his career, I think he sort of won the moment. You know what I mean? He gave respect to not wanting Tony, I mean, not wanting, you know, anything to happen to Tony's connection with the fans and his legend and all that, but he did what he had to do, though. So it buys him an opportunity, Luke, to prove us wrong, and that's what you want at this point. Fair enough.

Yeah, I think that's right. He definitely deserves another opportunity against a really, really top guy, and then we'll see what he does. Before you – Last thing I'll throw right back to you. I apologize. It is worth saying out loud benil daryush is usually usually quite reliable for action oh yeah oh yeah very he's not i want is it wrong to want to see him against vicente luque isn't that a different division

oh crap you're right i screwed that up i was thinking he was because they remind me of each other so much in where their stance is in their division in terms of their reputation compared to the elite but you're right i totally screwed that up in my head but it's kind of like it would be like the perfect sort of bombs away scenario that i think their paths to contention has mirrored each other and they both just put away a big legend to uh to sort of you know take that leap forward and uh they still have a lot to sort of take that leap forward, and they still have a lot to prove, though, that they belong there. So let's get to the bigger story here, which is Ferguson.

And that's where I was going to interrupt you and ask you the first question, Luke. Are you ready for this? All right, let's do it. Look, this is tough to take, another wide loss for Tony at this age, knowing the damage he's accrued, all that. But does it make you change your Habib conversation and thought of what that fight would have looked like? I think it does. And if it's yes, is that unfairly? Is that unfair?

I don't think so. I don't think so. And I'll tell you why. This is a question I had some opinions about, like everyone else, immediately in the aftermath of the fight. And then I thought about it a little bit more. And here's where I've come down. There's a question about what has happened to Tony and why is he on a three-fight losing streak.

And as we indicated, yes, he got beat up badly on the feet by Gaethje. I do think, dude, that beating really, that did him no fucking favors at all. I think that we just really got to say that out loud. That was a terrible beating that he took. And then the last two, getting his limbs stretched is no great sign either. But let's focus on those last two. Here's where I'm at. I am perfectly willing to believe, and I think the evidence is clear, that being 37 years of age at 155 pounds, it's a very difficult position to be. I don't think he's got the exact same zip and pop athletically that he used to. I think that's really clear. He's also absorbed,

as I mentioned, a metric ton of damage. That has to play a role as well. But I think the bigger problem for MBC is not that he is so shopworn, he's a physical shell of himself. I actually don't think that's true. I think it's taken a toll, but I don't think it's gone that far. Here's the difference for me. I think the division has just really, really, really caught up with him. Even in previous fights, he did not necessarily have the best wrestling. Kevin Lee took him down multiple times and then passed his guard, even moved him out. You can go all the way back to the Abel Trujillo fight or even Danny Castillo, right? The Danny Castillo fight is a big one where he got out wrestled. The difference was while he was thoroughly out wrestled, he wasn't thoroughly out grappled. Well, if you, if you go

past those points, a lot of the other elite fighters he faced, Dos Anjos tried to take him down, but no one really tried to put him on it, put it on him, excuse me, in a wrestling grappling top control kind of way at the upper end of the division. Well, now you're getting that. And so to me, it's like, A, he's getting out-wrestled by a better part of the division, and also that the division over time has naturally moved into a bit of a better space. He had advantages, BC, where even if he got taken down, he was a real submission threat underneath. But Charles Oliveira is not going to fall for that stuff. Benil Dariush, for folks who may not

know this, he has extremely good jujitsu. He's not going to fall for that stuff. And so while I don't want to under represent BC, the damage and the age, I also think it's fair to look at the history of some of his weaknesses. They didn't cost before now they are but they've kind of always been there so it's interesting i came to the same conclusion that you just did where you're saying it kind of it's kind of always been there you you framed it in the beginning although you as as the division catching up with him which which would suggest his style didn't evolve at the speed of everyone else and that might be true but i got to the same conclusion just by looking at it ultimately, as he was able to cover up those deficiencies in the past, not only with, you know, crazy athleticism, awkwardness, uh, savageness, meaning he would take

on punishment almost willingly. And then within that chaos do dramatic shifts of momentum that would win him the fights and you know that chaotic style can only last for so long and once you slow down once you are not as dynamic in those special intangible categories that help you carry out that dramatic style you get to become a little bit more ordinary so we ended up in the same spot luke i just feel like it's the diminished skills that is making it uh easier for everybody to catch up than necessarily a lack of evolution but i'll also say that you know we mentioned the what go yeah go ahead just real quickly i want to be i don't think it's a lack of evolution per se what i mean to say is bc i think he achieved greatness by getting out in front of the pack. And listen, if you're fighting the 15th best fighter versus the fourth best fighter,

chances are the grappling is going to get better at number four than it is at 15. You know, a couple of examples notwithstanding. So yes, in that sense, the division got better, but I also think he innovated a style that the division didn't really know what to do with. I think even now in that 10 to 15 space, they're going to have a lot better understanding of how to deal with that. That wasn't the case five years ago. No, that's certainly very fair to say. And while it still falls under the category of age and mileage,

I do think it's important to mention that his pursuit of Habib at the peak of his win streak, which was also the pursuit of Tony finally getting what we feel like he deserved, and he felt like he deserved a shot at the full title, right? Something he never got, something that, excuse me, he tried and UFC tried many times, right? You know, he ended up, of course, with the interim strap at one point, and then it got stripped from him somewhat unjustly. So it all combines together that he was operating at such a, I have to be at my very best right now,

peak level for a length of time at the end of that win streak, that when you mix in the grind of that, the mental, you know, price of doing that with the fact that Luke, I mean, he turned around that knee injury, the one where he slipped over the court at the Fox studio into that

comeback fight. What was it? Was it Pettis or Cerrone that comeback fight was? Pettis, I think. Such a stupid turnaround record time that while the rare ones can do that for a window

and then still be at their best, which he was against Pettis and it was a batshit crazy fight that I don't even think gets the love it deserves. I love that fight. But you knew there was going to be a price for that, Luke. You know what I'm saying? That tax that he put on his body, mix that with the strain of the outside the cage stuff with his family that he was going through, all that built a bubble that as long as you

can keep that bubble together, he was going to be a threat to beat anybody, and that's why we, me, I really believed he was the only guy that could be to be like i really freaking believed it um that bubble burst luke and when that when that burst you can't put it back together and it could burst because of injury wear and tear but but there's a lot of different strains within that window is what i'm saying i think that's fair i also think you just have to look at the situation i was going back and forth with danny saguro on twitter about this saying know, I'm rethinking that, like, oh, was this the fight that really got away we really needed to see? I'm not so sure anymore.

And again, for the reasons aforementioned, he was like, it's a different Tony. Fair enough. It's a different Tony. But the question is, is it a different enough Tony, let's say five, four years ago, whatever the time frame that you want to put his peak at, is that enough of a difference to still matter

against that version of Habib? I strongly question that. The guy has had, in the case of Tony Ferguson, not lethal deficiencies in wrestling or grappling. That would not be true. And in fact, has some decent submissions. We know, especially with his diaries, it's incredible. It's not like he's out of his element there,

but you're talking about a generationally special guy. mean did anyone ever take habib's back have you ever seen him in a leg entanglement have you ever seen anyone hold him down like dude hey he's just had some completely different level even if the judges didn't recognize it all right put get take the knee and give tebow his due there in that regard um but also let's not forget i didn't say take him down i said hold him down. I mean, remember. I'm having fun with you, Luke, okay? I know, I know.

But it's just worth pointing out, Biladar Yush controlled him for 340 in the first round, 404 in the second, 431 in the third. I mean, can you imagine? Could Kamaru Usman, serious question, could Kamaru Usman control Habib for four minutes and 31 seconds of a round? I actually don't think that he could. That, to me, is the big difference here.

Fair, fair. Final point on the whole idea of lamenting the fact that Tony and Habib didn't happen. We also can't forget that Habib improved dramatically, I think, especially in rounding out his stand-up game in the last couple years. Confidence level, I think, you know, especially in rounding out his stand-up game in the last couple years, you know, confidence level, I mean, everything, like, you know, he became such a ridiculous force against Poirier and Gaethje by that point that I wonder if the Tiramisu night, that fight, Tiramisu weekend, 2017, I wonder if that would have been Tony's best chance, Luke, and I wonder if that would have been the best chance for us as fans to have seen that. I argued in print before that

it got to the fifth time, and that became the largest possible stage it could be. Habib's unbeaten record and maybe potential retirement in the future against Tony's win streak. Is he the only style that can beat him? But maybe really 2017 Tiramisu would have been the best time for that, Luke, in terms of...

I was there for that one. That was the rematch, I believe of woodley and thompson and i remember we did a friday show because he never went to the weigh-ins that's right he went to the hospital i think that night i do you were you there for media day the day before negative no so i was there for media day and i i think i told the story on air i remember remember putting a microphone in Habib's face to do an interview and he had, and dude, I've been covering the fight game for a long time. He had the worst cotton mouth I'd ever seen. He could barely open his mouth. It was really, really bad.

The fact that he ended up going to the hospital ended up not being surprising. So you're right, dude. Not only like in that moment where their skills were, but in that moment where Habib's weight cutting and health was that i think that i think would have been competitive but gun to your head given what we've seen since then it's very hard for me to conclude that habib would have made some kind of fatal mistake against that guy i would have taken 2017 tony

for the record i still would have taken 2017 tony. Final point on Tony. A lot of final points here, Luke. Did you feel that this was like by far the most Tony Ferguson was beloved by the UFC fans? We knew he's a fan favorite. We knew that already, but this was like extreme, almost like Chuck Liddell level love. Did you feel that?

I did feel that. It was weird. You know what it felt like to me? It felt like the fan base has always loved, well, not always, but I mean, they came to a point where they really loved Tony. That has stayed, but that response,

partly I think the Texas fans were just happy to be at an event, but beyond that, they were trying to will him to back to winning. They were trying to give him all the positive vibes they could to get him back in the w column but benil doryusha is too good that is by the way that any sport when you're

a fan of a legend and you're watching their waning years and they're like you know my favorite times as an nba fan was larry bird's last two years with the celtics 91 and 92 it's like you didn't know every night if he's going to play but if he does if he's going to play, but if he does play, he's going to be the old guy again. He's going to have these magical nights, and then the rest of the week he's going to not be able to stand up, right? You love, Luke, that moment as a fan to try to be a part of that.

Luke, when I go to concerts, if I'm standing close enough, I believe it's my responsibility to try to take part in willing the best possible performance out of the act. Is that crossing lines of art or that's intent? Yeah, that's part of the deal, right? I don't know what rules of art are applied, but I think that's not an uncommon feeling.

Look, I've succeeded. I just want you to know that. I've succeeded, okay? I've played a role in that. You go see The Head and the Heart at Toad's Place in 2014 on a night where college is out on a monday night and you're like okay they're gonna mail in the set but no bc's in the front row he's gonna make you play two encores i mean he's going to pull that out of you and luke i try to believe that at least in this show

uh i'm doing that with the emotions of our of our listeners i think that's why they keep coming back all right topic number three if we can uh there were some other stars at ufc 262 bc give me one of them what is another fight from it could be main or prelim or early prelim whatever you like give me another fighter from this card you'd believe deserves a shout out yeah let's give the guy in the picture right there edson barbosa luke i you know i may i may make horrible predictions all the time but i really you'd believe deserves a shout out. Yeah, let's give the guy in the picture right there, Edson Barbosa. Luke, I may make horrible predictions all the time, but I really felt good telling you ahead of time that was going to be your fight of the night

against... Shane Burgos. Thank you, Shane Burgos. And it's not like that's some sage-wise pick. I mean, we knew that coming in, but it's just the perfect time right now for Barbosa to win that with a guy who's going to come at him and bring out the guns. And it turned out a guy coming off a really tough,

physically damaging loss that Burgos had a year ago to Josh Emmett. I felt that there's a little bit potential vulnerability there, but let's give Barbosa the full credit. At this weight class, Luke, he's an absolute killer. His body is just a machine, but he's got to be more efficient and his power seems to carry more. I mean, when he went after Burgos' leg in the opening minute, I mean, that was a destructive Luke. It was, you're going to mess with this guy's future. It was intense, but the counter shots were clean. I mean, you know, he was, he's always been wild and crazy and unpredictable at lightweight. And that's why we loved him. i feel like i'm watching a much more mature version of him now he i believe at the very elite level he's going to need opponents like this who

are really going to bring it out of him i mean i felt on the broadcast that rogan was saying that he almost felt the opposite he felt like if you you have to rush edson to to to have your best shot i'm thinking you rush edson you're going to bring that thing out of him and the fact that he's doing it at a more uh pinpoint efficient level as a counter puncher right now he's dangerous as shit Luke and with that name I'm he's going to end up in a title shot he doesn't deserve it's going to happen because the UFC loves him fans love him this is a great win for Edson Barbosa at this point of his career yeah folks right I mean this is just my opinion but like what was the value of going to 145 because sometimes people change weight classes and it's transformative and sometimes they change weight classes and it can be good for a time but it doesn't really work out it can be a disaster certainly a time so like what separates

what is you know a good weight class change and whatnot part of it can be a weight cut although he's actually making a more drastic cut here uh so you know he was a physical force at 155 I would imagine he'd still have most of that at 145 but I just feel like he's also kind of sort of figured out like how people want to beat him and worked a way around that it's kind of like an adapt adaptation to an adaptation but I don't want to like say like oh do i was i convinced he's going to win a title at 145 like in that sense i don't feel like this is a new lease i think if i feel like it's a meaningful extension of the kinds of things he did really well at lightweight now 145 no i think you're right would you agree with me that and this is why i thought this was kind of

a trap fight for burgos and he was going to be too consistently aggressive against his own good if you're if you're going to get somebody who can who can be quicker and commit to the jab and commit to trying to out point fight Barbosa the elites are going to beat him in this division it's the truth at the end of the day right I mean here's the thing it's like you're talking about pressure of Barbosa you can do the Habib thing but that's you know that's kind of unique to his skill set. But you can do the Justin Gaethje thing. Justin Gaethje, the reformed Justin Gaethje, he stopped our Barboza in the first round, I think after two and a half minutes, and put insane, intense pressure on the guy. Now, I'm not saying that's the only way to beat Barboza, BC,

but that kind of pressure where the guy can't set his feet and he's getting backed up to a ridiculous degree, that guy has a hard time winning. Burgos left him way too much space. Don't you need two things to do that, Justin Gaethje style? You need elite-level balls. Actually, three. You need elite-level balls, the chin to back it up, and the firepower to make the pressure worth it.

Yeah, but Burgos has all three of those. There's not a moment to damn Burgos, but no, not at the super elite level he doesn't, Luke, and that's why he loves his fight. So far at the super elite level, he's not shown us that, but he's got firepower. He's got a keen understanding of the striking game. He's very well-rounded. And, dude, Burgos

takes the shot. Dude, people land on Burgos. He's in firefights. It's just that you've got to... If you're not Gaethje, you can't pull that off, okay? So I think if you're elite, you've got to be a little more finessed and use your speed and try to make Edson miss and frustrate him. And we do have people in this division that can do that beautifully, by the way. So it's probably going to be hard for him when he gets to the top.

But to your point, this was a veteran getting a big win to get himself another big future payday. For sure. And, you know, the Burgos knockout was scary and different, but he performed ably too. He landed on Barbosa. That was the thing. Like Barbosa ate some big shots too.

There's no doubt about it. It's just Barbosa at kicking range, forget it. He's going to light just about anybody on fire. And then, dude, his counterpunching, when he could see on that right side, especially Burgos entering the space and then trying to stay in the pocket and go, man, he was getting set on fire.

It was incredible. It was a really great job by Barbosa. That's one of those things where it's like, I don't think it's going to necessarily change his fortunes ultimately, BC, but he might win or do better in fights by virtue of some of the extra handwork he's got going these days. I mean, have you ever seen him that sharp?

Seriously, I know you watch that stuff a little bit closer than I do. On his punching? No. No, no. He looked great. And then I'll just shout out Lando Venata real quick. I did not think that was a split decision win for him. I think that should have been unanimous, which I know is a weird kind of comment to make,

but someone had 30-27 for Mike Grundy. That card sucked, but I gave Grundy the first round, and I thought he had a shot at winning the second round. It's a little bit of a stretch, but I thought he has an argument, so I wouldn't have gone 3-0 for him. No, no, no. You can give him a round. I don't think you can give him much more than that, candidly.

Anyway, Lando Venata made 145, looked smooth doing it. I thought a lot of his strengths were dialed in. He had great takedown defense, breaking the hands apart. He was really good at that. You know, he's still chasing a finish that he hasn't had in a while, but to me, 145 looks like a great weight class for him, and I have a bit of a renewed vigor for what might be possible down there. We'll see.

I think that's sober and fair. He didn't look as vulnerably wild as he has in the past. So the more he can, I mean, you know, he's probably due for a Jeremy Stevens run type run where you're a wild man, but you put enough craft on it in a season of intense focus to improve, and you can get pretty high. You won't get to the title shot, but you can get pretty high before you get sort of brought

back down to earth. Is that wrong, Luke? No, I think that's right. And also, Andrea Lee having Antonina Shevchenko in a triangle for almost four minutes, it appeared, and then in the last 10 seconds extended, tucking the arm behind her and extending for the arm bar i gotta say i know that was a sad moment for you bc yeah yeah tough tough loss i consider myself you know the the the third chevchenko sibling a lot of way the only male in in the uh in the family there no uh i mean look antonina's she's tough if she can control the terms of the fight she'll over exceedexceed and be better than you think she is.

But, man, if you take her down, Luke, it's almost remedial level at times, right? I mean, she's been dominated by people on the ground. Yeah, it's not a high level of grappling. It's not a high level. Okay, that was fair. That was short. All right. What do you want me to say?

Did you like the tweets and messages from Valentina? It was very heartfelt, like you're still my hero, and a string of pictures of them together. I was moved by that. Am I just too close to the product at this point, Luke? Yeah, I think so. I didn't care. All right.

Let's go to topic number four, if we can here. BC was out there live, and I caught it and I watched it. Brandon Figueroa beating Luis Neri on Showtime Boxing in your main event. And not only that, stopping him in the seventh round. Guy couldn't make the 10 count after eating an absolutely vicious, vicious body shot. Okay, BC, 122 pounds. Brandon Figueroa is doing good stuff. Your biggest takeaway from that win on Saturday night is I don't like

a style historically people have had you know criticisms of the Figueroa brother style because of their size and their length that they just don't stop coming in almost reckless fashion but Luke he's really damn good because I didn't think this was a fight that he was going to win once I saw

how the first couple rounds broke out and I'm like okay Neri looks crisp he's landing hard clean shots you know there was that thing in the back of your mind of course of with Figueroa's pace could he gas out Neri and I think uh you know there was a big shift in the middle in the in the you know fourth fifth round that set up this finish here that I think you know Neri really started to hit a wall of fatigue but it's because of the suffocating pressure of Figueroa and to see him finish it with a knockout I mean like that Luke of all the options on the board that would not been one that you would pick and to do it with such a clean and perfect body shot his celebration

would have a genuine feel to it and I think he's going to be a very fun it's going to be a fun ride to see how far he could take this style is really what I'm going I think he's going to be a very fun, it's going to be a fun ride to see how far he can take this style, is really what I'm going to say. He's going to have, obviously, a tough fight up next against Stephen Fulton Jr. We know Akhmadaliev is the other guy in the division with two belts. Danny Roman had a big win on Saturday. I mean, this division is great, and Showtime is really putting the clamps down on it, and I love that, but Figueroa's style is eventually going to get him where he's going to regret it Luke and I thought he was regretting it at certain points in this fight although the fight was so close and impressive that as you saw in the end the judges were very split on it but it didn't catch up with him Luke and you know he's going to have no reason not to just keep

doing that but Luke that can't be the best style for for his skill set in his I mean I think he's better than his brother ever was skills wise yet he's given up a lot of a lot of damage that i don't think he needs to take yeah i'm looking at that body shot he landed that left uh sort of uppercut that shovel punch right to the rib cage i'm going to say something bc and i wonder how you're going to take this because i i want to make a plea to mma fans keep rolling the highlights if you can there, Gaff or Maniche, whoever is running it. Just let it go. Not the slow motion ones. I mean, you can run it through, but if you get a chance, run the normal speed stuff through as I talk this

out. BC, I have not paid attention to Figueroa too, too much in terms of the details of his game, but I wanted to see how he would handle this one because you watch the first round, they kind of just fight apart. There's not a whole lot of along the ropes or in close quarters like they did here. There's a little bit of it, but not a ton. It's from the second round on that you begin to see that. Folks, if you're an MMA fan and you like MMA striking, let me introduce you to Brandon Figueroa. Here is a guy who uses frames, collar ties, and endless, very well disguised stance switching to give his opponent fits. I want you to watch these replays. Watch how many times he's in Southpaw. Watch how many times he's in Orthodox. Look at here. He is in Southpaw and he'll move and switch on a dime here he is staying in

southpaw look at that and it just uh throwing back now stays in southpaw here keep rolling it through watch you'll see a switch almost gets square for a second there he is now he's now he's orthodox using a frame and a collar tie this guy would keep his hand on neary as neary tried to exit to not let him get away, which would reinforce the clinch. Here he is. You see more of the collar tying and the clinching. He has a very, and I do mean very, unusual game. To your point, BC, I don't know if this takes him to the top of the 122-pound division. In fact, probably not. But I will say the fact that he does what he does in the unique way that it does,

Neary had no answer for it. If you actually listen to the commentary, and I think they were right. Neary's punching early was having a pretty big effect. You could hear it. It just looked more substantive than what Figueroa was doing. But Figueroa was beginning to make all those changes, side to side, collar tying, pushing, pulling, overhooking, underhooking, changing stances, not letting him get away, putting a hand on him.

Dude, I was very impressed by Brandon Figueroa in this fight. It worked. It worked. And I just don't think it should. And here's what I mean by that. So he's got long arms and he's tall for the weight. The same thing his brother Omar was when he was back when he was at lightweight. But you want to, so it's like, okay, so what do I want? Do I want to see him stand back and use that length and use his jab from

distance? Maybe he could do that, but maybe he won't have that chance to be as good as he can be without this crazy style. So obviously I think there's a middle ground and that would be reforming the style just a bit. I think right now he does get hit too much and puts himself in a spot to get hit too much. It's part

of getting off those those punch combinations now he didn't pay he didn't pay for nary's power though and that's maybe it's another discussion in a moment on nary's future based on his own if he proved that he can punch at this weight class but you know figueroa showed us a great chin and okay when he commits that style it makes you brawl because it's constantly in your face he's in better shape than any of these guys he will go 12 hard rounds i don't think he has elite power though, Luke. So I think that though, that he can learn some more power. His best punches are when he gets down, bends over and throws those looping hooks. He was catching Neri left and right with those. I think that the

problem though, is there wasn't a ton of power on them. If he can learn how to really sit down and generate better thrust and just be a little bit more judicious and efficient, I think that's why they brought in Joel Diaz to be his co-trainer behind his father, Omar Sr., to try to help add some wrinkles to him. I think if he commits to this, which he will, that's what the family does. They love this style. There's still a shot, Luke. I don't know if he can prove he's the best in the division

at any point but there's still a shot i think given his athleticism his uh you know his age all that his commitment to this that he maybe could be a puncher if he can change some things and figure it out but as of right now you know that's why i thought this was a such a shocking ending is we don't look at him as a puncher until that body shot really that that got him the win yeah no doubt about it the the commentators uh again i said as i said before rightly were like wow neary's doing great work and i think they had neary ahead on the scorecards after six although not not substantially i think 58 56 is where farhood had him that which is which is fair um i i just i just yeah listen i i don't know what the championship potential is for him. I do want to say though, I thought at least after the third or fourth round, most of the

garbage inside punching, it came from Neary. What was, what I saw was Neary would land a hard shot and then they would kind of get closer together and then they would begin exchanging. And once that exchanging was happening, it was Fueroa who was taking more but he was then finding better openings so he would land less but he would land more authoritatively go back and watch neary dude again he would start with a big crack okay nice and then he would just kind of follow up with a ton of nonsensical just garbage punching that didn't do anything when i say garbage i don't mean to disparage him although it sounds that way i mean like kurt cousins would put up a lot of like great

stats in garbage time when you can't really win i'm sort of pointing out it just wasn't very fruitful it wasn't it wasn't very effective yeah you like that i'm just trying to say there he had a lot of action going on some of it was meaningful Don't let that fool you into thinking he had the most meaningful inside body work, even up until that left hand he took to the ribs. I thought Figueroa had more quality work. I agree. I liked Neri. I had the same score as Farhood, so 58-56,

four rounds to two. And although it was very close and they could go either way, and one judge had that same score in the direction of Figueroa, I thought Neri looked great early. I thought he was landing hard body shots. But, Luke, I think when you take everything we saw and put it together, he gassed, and that was a big part of it. He couldn't keep up with this pace.

He really couldn't. I think that's why he was boxing more and doing almost a defensive jab, running away. So this leads into our obvious brief transition here for all you MMA fans that are getting the hives over this. I'm loving it, though, is that Neeri's got some explaining to do, Luke, because Figueroa moves on to a fight with Stephen Fulton Jr.,

and that's a sensational fight. I love that Showtime's already put it on the docket for September 11th, and we know, you know, connective tissue's there. It's a great fight. Also, Akhmadaliev's on the other side of the division with two of the four belts.

He's trained by Joel Diaz, though. I don't know how that's going to work if Figueroa has to end up fighting him, which could be interesting to see there. But which direction? Oh, I was going to Neri, but Neri's got, I don't know, Luke. I mean, the narrative coming in from the Figueroa team was that Neri's not the same puncher at 122. And that explained his, you know, passive, almost technical win over Alameda in the last fight when he had Canelo's trainer and then Neri didn't like the way that felt so he went back to his original trainer and he was going to come in and be the KO looking badass again he wasn't that guy and he wasn't that guy for long if he showed any flashes of it early

uh I don't know if his powers carried up it doesn't feel like it I think he's got a lot of explaining to do now because he didn't really seem comfortable as a boxer he didn't go nuts in brawl and try to you know get uh figueroa out of there uh i don't is it more hype luke did we get did we watch that that's that run he did at 118 and just say this guy's the next unbeaten killer he's amazing uh he he don't look at anymore luke he. 122 is not a good fit. I don't know how hard it is for him to get to 118, given some weight cut issues, but he's not...

If you're not yourself in the weight class, there's a question you should ask yourself about whether you should be in that weight class. What brought you to the dance? Oh, you're a devastating puncher, but you're not at 122? You've got to maybe find a way around 122. We'll have to see.

Okay, BC, last but certainly not. Yeah, but you know who he's going to find down there at 118 if he can figure out how to make it? Inoue, the damn monster. And I don't think he wants that smoke, Luke, okay? Yeah, not many do. Okay, BC, last topic but certainly not least. A lot coming up.

UFC is on Saturday this weekend. Bellator is back. Cyborg vs. Leslie Smith 2 is on Friday, but there's a whole other card behind it. Alright, BC. Most intriguing fight coming up this weekend. Very easy. Boxing, ESPN, Junior Welterweight

Unification. Undisputed champion will be crowned. Two unbeaten champions that are battle tested and proven in Jose Ramirez and the tartan tornado Josh Taylor Taylor went through Rougarou in that 12 round split decision

classic that they had in the world boxing super series tournament in which Taylor showed any questions you had about this kilt wearing dude no he's for real and by the way I chatted with him for Morning Combat. That interview will be up this week. This guy proved that he's for real in that fight. Yet, Luke,

Jose Ramirez is that little engine that could. That, like, he just keeps doing great things in his community in Fresno and raising money for research and cancer and all this. And then he goes out and he just out-guts people. This is a 50-50 true showdown fight.

We're going to get into the X's and O's later this week to preview it for Saturday, but Luke, it does not, you know, in all this talk, and I know even Showtime's in the Paul Brother business and that's fine and great. Like Saturday's main event that I was, you know, happy to work in Nary Figueroa, which was such a great fight for hardcore fans, Taylor Ramirez

this Saturday is one of those hardcore fans Super bowl so luke i'm gonna be uh you know i'm gonna be i'm gonna be fired up for that uh for me i'll go two in two different directions for ufc obviously the main event rob font taking on cody garbrandt rob font has always been looking to turn that corner against the top of that division this is a big opportunity to do that Cody Garbrandt is back after dealing with some of those long haul COVID issues I tend to think he's obviously over them now but uh we'll have to see what he's got also BC that co-main event Carla Esparza taking on dot dot dot Jan Schaunan Jan Schaunan if I'm pronouncing her name correctly which I'm sure I'm not dude she's like the quietest pronounce it but she's amazing yes keep going yeah that's a huge fight for women's straw weight she might if if yon shanon wins she might be your next title contender no doubt about it so one to pay attention don't forget

this don't forget this even though i think espars has been a she's she's really good right but she's been a little bit of smoke and mirrors there's been split decision wins across the you know in a lot of places there. I think if she wins this, which would be a huge win for her, she might just cut a line and get a title shot because of the history of having beat Rose for the inaugural title to begin with to start this division. So you know that both have a lot to fight for from that standpoint. This division's crowded with top-tier talent,

yet they get to kind of make a big move to that front of the line. I don't know. It's going to be a tough night for the Cookie Monster, Luke. If Xiaonan is what she looks like, this could be a big moment for, you know, China's starting to put some names together here, Luke. 100%. On the Bellator side, Cyborg versus Smith 2.

First fight was not especially competitive. I think this one will be a little bit more competitive, but I'm not, I don't have the highest hopes per se. I will say Darian Caldwell taking on Leandro Ego in the co-main event. Darian Caldwell desperately seeking to get back in the winning circle and reassert his name in that division at 135. This is going to be a great opportunity for him. And Fabian Edwards taking on Austin, the undefeated BC.

Austin Vanderford on that card should be fun as well. Yeah, and Vanderford could seriously find himself in a title shot with a win here. Seriously, he's like 10-0. I mean, he's climbing those rankings quick. Luke, you know who's super excited about that? He goes a very good fighter. I'm looking forward to that. Eric Albarnacin.

Luke, we didn't mention in that rumble comeback in Big Win, he sent our boy to the false subfloor below the wood and dirt in hell luke uh after that fight remember that that randy went on no what what rant was this in the cage afterwards during the post-fight interview rumble was just like swearing like crazy calling that that uh that fancy neon glass wearing guy whatever oh yes yes yes that wrestling coach yeah yeah i mean he buried him but by the way um our doc cameras i don't know if this third doc's ever coming out i hope someone's working on it uh they picked up a footage of albur a scene explaining to me this mask that he goes gonna wear uh uh down to the

cage so luke it might be up your nerd comic book movie alley. Was Eric wearing white glasses that had no lens? Yes, he had a Furco, and he had bedazzled jeans, Luke. They were, it was, it's, Luke, what? He's a different one. How do you describe that man? How do you, I mean, like, he's pretty smart. You know, obviously you get the feeling like he's like the engine behind, like, Cejudo turning himself into a thing on social media and really building his name do you think

this guy's smarter than we realize or or no we know exactly how smart he is and he dresses ridiculous which one is it um i would say see someone asked me on the live chat bc like oh are there other folks like joshua fabia out out there in MMA that no one really knows about? This is just a famous example. And I was trying to tell folks, it's like, dude, when you say that, what do you mean? Because this is the point. Fabia says and does all manner of weird shit, but he can't really back it up with results in the cage. Albert Acene can back up all of his results in the cage albera scene can back up all his results in the

cage so like is he less weird he's weird in a different way luke fabia thinks he's like a shaman i don't think he actually thinks he's a coach and he might be a he might be a shaman for all i know but like he wants to come out and burn some incense instead of mood and stuff um so yeah i know it's not it's not really comparable up to this point. Lukey, would you be down for like a WWE-type heel turn here for Fabio where he somehow gets a big clientele of top fighters and he becomes Dana's biggest villain? Would you be into that storyline? No, don't care about that.

That's great. All right, let's get to the part where we don't ask each other questions. You guys get to ask us questions. It's time for DMs from donks. Let's do it. Hi-ho. Hi-ho. All right.

First up, BC. From at the infamous 05. Do you think an unbiased hardcore MMA fan, there's no such thing as, I mean, a hardcore MMA fan is heavily biased. Could judge fights at a higher level than the typical judge selected by athletic commissions? Absolutely not. No chance.

No, but they still have a long way to go at having a higher level of consistency. And now, coming from a boxing guy, who am I? No, boxing's got a shit ton of judging issues from incompetency to probably you know the opposite straight up worse situations but uh we're still not there luke there's still not a a strong group like nationally of like solid i love this dude no one in mma

mma is so funny because they don't respect anyone's expertise on anything you mean to tell me an untrained ass wife can do better than someone with actual training on what fucking planet are you living on like the argument is not bc that judging couldn't be better or that you got some old bastards in there who just have no business being there. A hundred percent. But on average, could an untrained fan do better than a trained judge? You're delusional.

If you think you could do better. Don't take that too far because you hate people, including all Americans and all white Americans, apparently. Don't take that too far. There's a lot of mouth, as you would say, mouth breathing, you know, I mean, look, there's a reason of mouth, as you would say, mouth breathing.

I mean, look, there's a reason why Affliction had a great run as a t-shirt company. I mean, look, there's a market out there. But there's a lot of really educated fans, Luke, that yes, they would be better judges than some of these, whether they're ex-boxing guys who don't know the nuances of the sport or they're just not ready for primetime and the pressure stops them from understanding what they're doing. Jose, let me distill this. I'm saying it. Let me distill this argument.

Could a hardcore MMA fan with requisite training be better than some existing judges? Yes. No, because the system is still pretty simple. I'm not saying the scoring criteria is simple, but the system is watch two guys fight for five minutes and write down who you think won. No, it's a lot more.

That's so demeaning of actually how hard it is. That's not how it goes. I'm obviously giving it to you as generically simple. So even if somebody didn't have the nuances you want from them, there are some judges who just come up with scores, Luke, that are just not like, you know, when you see 30-27 in the exact opposite direction, that you're like, you do not understand what you're watching.

I think even the same knucklehead. But that's not the argument. The argument is not, is that a good card or a good score? No, but you're not letting me finish. The argument is not, is that a good card or a good score? No, but you're not letting me finish. The argument is not, is that a good judge? The argument is, can you pull a fan who's really into this from the stands, plug him into that spot, and on average get better results? No, you cannot.

No, compared to those bottom-dwelling judges, yes, because they could just rely on the simplest form of how to judge a round, which isn't always right because you're not taking into account criteria. Yet, for the most part, even a simple fan would be able to tell better than some of these ridiculous judges. Yes, Luke. So, you know, you are wrong at the end of the day. No, they wouldn't.

Listen, would you get an example? Could you find a situation where a fan is better than a judge? Of course. Luke, you're just that let me bc on balance is it true about hey an untrained fan who has never gone through a scoring criteria class and formal training it's more than a class by the way it takes forever are they better uh than a person who has done all that training and has experience at a high level no could they be better of course of course look you know what you are to mma you're a closet nickelback fan you're like you know what man this band's actually pretty freaking good but i can't

publicly say it this is a common tactic that you have their fan base their everything just so you love the science of the sport but you're just unwilling to accept with that science you get dana white you get some capital stormers bc in no part of your life except task rabbit do you ask untrained people to do things for you versus trained people it doesn't work more about you than the question luke at the end i know because when you can't win an argument bc you like to make it personal but i got news for you the argument is not that judging could not be significantly better or that you couldn't get hardcore fans give them some training and get vastly improved results of course on average luke on average i get it but but i mean you're

right that you can randomly pull fans from attendance and they can do better in that particular seat than a judge is lunacy no they could not you know it's a dilemma luke just like nelly and kelly right okay at talal underscore aa 767 bc do you think if Tony, we got to this kind of earlier, but do you think if Tony had fought Habib last year instead of Justin, we would have seen the same decline? In other words, absent the beating. Well, specific to the part of it saying last year in there, last year in there, I think it was Habib figuring out

that he's freaking amazing and I think he would have handled Tony in the same manner in which he beat Gaethje and Poirier which was wide and dominant and and just cast that shadow the argument for me as we talked earlier was more of when they were at different times maybe 2017 still give me Tony I think that's right I think that's right. I think that's right. I think if it had happened, when were they supposed to fight? April of 2020?

Because the whole thing with the COVID shutdown and shit, it was April, right? In Brooklyn, something like that? Yeah, same spot as the bus incident and all that. Yeah, exactly. I think if that fight had taken place, well, the question is not whether Tony would have won or lost. The question is, let's say Habib even wins.

The question is, does Tony come out of that loss in more or less the same state that he came out of the Gaethje loss? Would we have focused exclusively on, like we don't hold it against, well, some people do. I see the comments on Twitter. But I don't hold it against Poirier or Gaethje for how one-sided their losses to Habib was, right? You're like, no, dude. Not only is that freaking Habib, but don't forget he was one kick away from peril.

Like, it's in play. It's part of the deal. But, you know, that's Habib, dude. That would have clouded our way of looking. Yeah, we probably wouldn't have realized where Tony was until he fought the next guy and then then you know had a performance like he had against olivera right then we've been like oh holy shit i i think that's right i think that's right all right um from at telvin kai papa yeah you're more disturbing understand you refuse to just understand that this guy's a part of our universe we like him we know how to pronounce his name you're just like i don't know who this i literally don't know who this is telvin kipapa i

don't know uh at more disturbing bc two girls one cup which you've never seen because you're a coward or blonde fighter twitter likes which you probably have seen extensively yes yes by the way that i did check her likes it was alarming how uh non-discreet those those uh i know just for full full disclosure, Caitlyn did speak at the press conference afterwards, and yeah, she got hacked. What did she say? I didn't hear.

Oh, she said she got hacked, and she said she gets hacked a lot. They've just never done this before, but she realized she was hacked during training camp and just didn't care enough, was so focused on training, isn't a big social media person. She didn't realize that all those likes were collecting and all those follows were collecting and it all just exploded when it

was time for her to be back in the spotlight so it's actually pretty funny she handled it well so uh but no more disturbing i mean come on like you know it's a funny joke you know we had a little thing and then they actually made it somehow they thought it was appropriate on morning combat social to make a twitter clip or Instagram clip about that debate as well. But, Luke, I wasn't acting. That's a full-on outright betrayal of human decency. It's not like I haven't been. You ever see the one with the lady and the horse that has Aaron Pico's size?

We've all seen some foul stuff accidentally, like someone's playing a joke. Oh, hey, watch this. But, Luke, what you were setting me up for was, I really it's just it was betrayal you're you're really you're going to do it i'm not even fooling around here you're going and i'm not doing this to try to build up it when it happens it's not look i always said this okay because you know growing up people like hey man how much money would you take to get knocked out by mike tyson or would you eat this pile of poop and you know someone go yeah dude you know two million dollars i'll eat it right now and not have regrets look i'm not one of those people that's what it is at the end of the day you're a cat

you're a coward who loves to malign the lack of commitment of others but when it comes to you you don't simply have it in you i'd even do the challenge again here are we putting the words commit commitment close to sitting down and watching this video? There's no commitment. You're committing to the dark side, Luke. That's what you're doing. You're committing to cowardice. You are no better than Dana White at the edge of that cliff,

unwilling to jump off into beautiful waters. I've only read about it, but would you say that's the most foul video ever? It's up there. It's up there. Citizen Kane it's like citizen kane of of just full-on just yeah i mean so you get my point here okay it's like listen like you know but the point is it the bit only works because it's bad you can't i know but this is like this is like you know you can be like hey bc you know i got some friends coming you want to party and i'll be like yeah what do you got dude you're like heroin i'm like well dude i'm i'm really not

committed to that level of like you know like you know i have like there's levels to this right luke i'm not your comparisons are getting knocked out by mike tyson doing heroin or eating feces when all you have to do is watch someone eat feces not worth it, Luke. I try to protect this soul, okay? There's enough out there. All right, thank you. All right. From at St. John's underscore Canada, I'm guessing. BC, great job in the ring.

Future Max Kellerman. More like future Stephen A. Smith. Okay, which was your favorite fight out of those crazy battles? And did the booing throw you off any back to ringside LOL? Yeah, the booing did so the first the first time i appeared on camera was after the first televised bout on the triple header and that was uh xavier xavier martinez uh floyd mayweather's unbeaten young uh prospect there well look at that guy luke wow wow god he went in there against hell hell awashed let me see your dong picture here

where are they pulling these pics right here you got you might see the bulbs but i mean that was those are them pants were tight um but luke what i'm trying to say is uh juan carlos burgos the late replacement for title challenger made this a war it was great martinez won he grew from it and the crowd booed the shit out of him he didn't deserve it but because of the score the scores were wider than they thought and yeah that was that was hard to do uh look this is the first time, you know, in a while we've been in front of fans, you know,

journalists as well. And then to have aggressive, real Southern California fans, uh, come at the, you know, with the booze there and then to have the interview pipe to the, uh,

you know, to the stadium. Uh, yeah. And in that moment it was like, Oh shit. So, uh,

it was, it was fun. That fight was great. I think the first fight was probably the fight of the night. But, Luke, did you see Danny Roman's performance in the co-main against a very aggressive Espinosa? Don't bury the lead here. What did you think of Cool Boy Steph's got your hat moment?

We may be seeing that later in the show. It was cornball as shit, but I think it was expected to be, and I did pop in the moment. Like, you know, it was well- be, and I did pop in the moment. It was well-timed. It's not a great bit, but it was well-timed and performed. Look, okay? All right. From at DJHi underscore C,

what are y'all's top five favorite subreddits? I don't know if I have five. Do you have a five top favorite subreddits? Well, first of all, how about the Morning Combat subreddit, huh? That one's starting to fill up a little bit. Oh, you're checking. You're reading your fan mail. You're reading the reviews.

Is this what's happening, Luke? No, no, no. But I check it once a week. Once a week. You head on down to the alley behind Chang's and check in on them, Luke? Why are you being weird? You don't have to be weird. You're making a choice about this.

You don't have to make this choice. You don't have to watch the video if you don't want to at the end of the day bc uh so yeah there it is uh no i don't i don't really play around much on on reddit luke no seriously i you know i come across people send me links but i don't i don't tend to head to reddit i'll say once in a while check check what they say about us just you know curiosity but you can't read that stuff too closely good or bad luke you know that yeah it'll go to your head yeah you know what john wooden said about reddits yeah yeah uh i'll say um obviously the morning combat shots but but shouts to all the folks at the morning comments subreddit uh one of my favorites is advice animals this is where they use memes of

animals to like uh talk about like good ideas or like you know pro tip kind of a thing it's really funny um i follow the science one i follow world football i follow real madrid that's about it that's about it okay oh luke i don't know if this is gonna end up in dead wrong on friday but people are really upset at your dallas cowboys take in comparison to whatever soccer team you like now i couldn't care less whether whatever soccer team you like? Now, I couldn't care less what soccer team you like, but people are claiming you basically bandwagon jumped onto the Yankees of whatever team soccer that you watch and that you have a lot of temerity to plant the Omerta bomb

that you did at the Cowboys fans when you're basically a Cowboys fan. Let me explain something to you. I don't have to explain my Madrid. Let me say, I'll answer it. I don't have to explain my madrid i don't have let me say i'll answer it i don't have to explain my madrid fandom to anybody second of all every cowboys fan can uh you know chupar may mis pelotas how about that i don't give a fuck what y'all think and you can say what you want you're a cowboys fan you're a human turd that's what you are okay wow luke you're protecting the origin of your fandom of that team on like a religion and politics level you're like sorry we don't talk

about abortion on the morning defend your defend your like of something here's my answer no no eat shit you know what that is though that's that says the kids would say sus luke there's holes in your story and your makeup do you think i give a fuck if they're on fleek or turned up i don't give a shit what kids think you got the turtle not very smart they're not very smart so i don't really care what they think oh luke i don't like that you're a fan of real madrid i don't care luke what if one day people let you know that this show is very truman show centric in terms of being a psychological experiment of your makeup luke and i love experimenting on you are you under the impression that this is not a revelatory experience about the deep layers of wounding and

psychological who's your least favorite cowboy player that represents what you hate about cowboy fandom oh that's a great question um would it be irvin he's so loud and annoying he can't hate him he's pretty cool luke you know he's he's a great broadcaster but he's really loud and annoying um i liked it when emmett smith flamed out as a broadcaster too that was fucking great to watch um god who is my all-time that's a passionate take right there luke that was uh wow all right yeah now i'd have to think about that a little bit because there's been so many reprobates but maniche is saying jason whitton should be your be your pick there. Yeah, God. He's been... But the problem is, yes, but Jason Witten, to his credit, has been kicking the...

Well, historically, the Redskins asked for the entirety of his fucking run. So it was really annoying how effective he was. And honestly, he wasn't a bad person off the field. But folks don't realize this. They have a full-time fixer on staff at that uh organization god there's some bad ones um i mean you can't like troy achman you can't like him if you're you know no yeah but lavar errington took care of that you know so i don't have to worry too much about that what do they do all right i'll figure something out bc your turn on the show good sir take it away all away. All right, so what I do every weekend, guys,

is I scour the globe for the good, the bad, the ugly, and the in-between in the worlds of combat sports and beyond. And then we show them to you every Monday. It's called Have You Seen This Shit? Yes. UFC 262 in Houston. Luke, we referenced it earlier, the Charles Oliveira celebration. Can we show a few seconds of it?

There's no fight footage in this. Can we show that now? Can we go there? This was something special, Luke. I mean, did you think he was going to tongue Joe Rogan, Luke? What is going on right here? I did not know. I mean, that's a little bit in his face.

I think he bled on Dana. I mean, this was wild. You know what? God bless him. You got to be happy for him. And that was so... Whatever he said must have been really important. Yeah, and then he does the victory lap.

I mean, this is up there. This is up there with Conor jumping the fence and getting in Jose's face, right? It's up there. I think they had mentioned it previously. When Aldo jumped out of the cage the first time he beat Mendes and then ran into the cage and was held up like a town hero. It's not quite like that, but it's cool.

Yeah, that's a great reference. Wow, good one. All right, let's keep it going. We talked about the KGB Lee. Big win over Antonino. Luke, are these judo throws here? This was a great sequence for Andrea Lee. Yeah, I don't know which

one that is, but throwing from an overhook like that, it's not quite a Sayonagi. I'm not sure which one it is. They've got all these different names, but for sure, that is. And she gets a second one here as well. I mean, this was like... That's just a throw off the whizzer. Ragdoll. Better end of movie. Alright, let's just a throw off the whizzer. Ragdoll, better than a movie.

Alright, let's go to... There were great fights up and down this card, but also, big fight in the crowd. Check this out. Houston, get after it. Where's your mask, bro? Bro, look at the guy on the left. You can't see him now, but when the video first starts out on the left of the screen, just cheering, you can't

see him. When it starts over, you'll see it. He put hands on an officer right there luke that's yeah but now he's good now he's good look at the guy on the left just cheering like he's on a city of a hall 1992 look you look like in the movie titanic in the opening scene when people are going nuts that the ship's just taking off i mean he's just loving it yes all right cormier gets distracted by every crowd fight every time. Have you noticed that? Cormier loves crowd fights.

Look, I've been a broadcaster. I don't know if you know this about me, Luke. So, you know, I got a lot of, like, Cokes or, you know, Red. I mean, you got stuff there to jazz yourself up caffeination-wise, but DC's just eating stuff all night. He's always referencing it. It's a great bit, only it's not. Luke, let's keep it going.

That wasn't the best crowd fight, though, of the week. You know this Padres highlight I'm going to show you. Everyone sending it to me. This was a much-requested one, Luke. Oh, wow. That is a one-punch KO, if I have ever seen it. There's another angle of this from the profile, from the side. And you watch.

Oh, look at this. I mean, he just walks. he literally almost runs into the punch and then he gets i don't mean i don't mean i don't mean the guy getting hit bc i mean the guy literally is running into his punch yeah there's actually a whole blog about how why the fight started one of the witnesses called there like a radio i didn't get into it that deep you know i have my limits here of what i'm willing to handle but uh but yeah great great punch uh feel bad for that you know it's probably over some insult luke like uh you know trump in 24 you know and that's probably what started it luke probably lots of i think both guys the fans are back yeah it's tough to see those two as enemies, though, since they teamed up for the Capitol storming that time, Luke.

DAZN Boxing in Manchester, England. Hey, big win for light heavyweight. You need to know this name. Josh Buozzi. He's a rising light heavyweight from Eddie Hearn's team there in the UK. Luke, he had a main event here. He's now got Virgil Hunter as his trainer, Andre Ward's guy. So he's been training in the U.S. this was a uh

destruction of Daniel Blenda Dos Santos in the DAZN main event uh he was fine but Luke did you see that shot good god man I watched this on social media over the weekend I'd not heard of him either that was a hell of a shot do you see that you see that second punch as he was dropping? Yeah. That's the old. Who did that? Dave Tua on John Ruiz, right? Yes.

Oh, yeah. Caught him on the way down. Ray Mercer against Tommy Morrison when he got hung up on the ropes there. That was some bad shit. Wow. Okay. Let's keep it going. Hey, Luke, what do you think of this video? Former UFC fighter Pearl Gonzalez is preparing for her BKFC debut

with the Serrano sisters there, yet she's using this wall structure as a way to... It looks like a locker. It's metal. Yeah, is this a good strategy to, like, harden your knuckles? Probably not. All right, that was a little bit... That was something. That was something, Luke. All right. That was a little bit, that was something. That was something, Luke. All right.

Hey, let's go to the gotcha hat. If people didn't understand what we were referencing earlier, here's what took place after Brandon Figueroa's win on Saturday inside the ring with myself and Stephen Fulton Jr. Cool boy, Steph. Your thoughts on Brandon's performance. Hell of a performance. I'm tall.

I'm tall. Hell of a performance. I predicted it. Like I said, Neri's a 1-18 pounder. He needs to stay back down there. It's my time now. I've been waiting for this moment. Did Brandon surprise you at all with his ability to finish such a devastating puncher in

Nettie? It didn't surprise me at all. You know, I knew he would fight the way he fought. As you can see, he gets hits a lot. I'm just ready for my time. Do you have a message for the new champion heading into September 11th? I do. Got your hat. No, we're going to put on a hell of a performance and once again congratulations to the WBC and WBA champ I'm coming I got the WBL baby can't wait for September 11th congratulations Brandon Figueroa

you'll be taking on Stephen Fulton June kill the video Luke that was ill timed with the can't wait for september 11th comment wow um apologies for that but luke great job bc i can't wait for the anniversary of the death of 3 000 americans no no not cool uh but look you you and i actually you know i've talked to steven fulton jr and we're you know fans of him rising he's a great fighter luke but a lot of people thought this was adrian bronary

ish do you think that was a good look overall no because he was trying to have fun i mean the i'm tall thing was broner ish all right but the got your hat thing it was corny but he was trying to have fun yeah broner is usually trying to be insulting you know what i mean broner's usually trying to like stab someone in the eye with a toothpick, metaphorically speaking. So, no, I didn't get quite Bronner vibes from this. These two were gentlemen on Saturday. But still, their fight is going to be a unification. Two unbeaten guys in September.

It's going to be fantastic. But let's keep the train moving here. Luke, there was a weird one championship celebration dance here. You know tip to tip. Are you down with navel to navel? We have to do this next time we see each other. That is Sean Clancy is one of the two. I couldn't

get a name on the second guy, but that's something, Luke. You into that? We have to do this together, you and I. That's a lot of close contact, Luke. I don't know if we're that good of friends, you know? I think we need to... It's this or two girls, one cup.

Take your pick. Oh, that's not fair. That's not good. All right. Hey, T-shirt of the week, Luke. We went to Wrigley Field to get this one. I bet you are, honey. i bet you are honey i bet you are look i i need to know the story like i can't do anything else i need to know the story of like where do you even get a shirt like that like

if you're in on the joke which obviously you are lady how in on the joke are you because this is uh this is something else luke bc can i tell you what my daughter did yesterday and i had i had to i corrected her great i didn't let it go very very smooth transition dad hold on it's not about my daughter per se well it sort of is but you see this lady here i'm here for the gangbang you as you know she has a father somewhere i'm sure who is distraught about this but neither here nor there my wife was watching 90 day fiance yesterday and there's a woman there quality television i'm sure yes very very high level uh thinking going on there but you have to understand that there's a woman on that show who weighs probably you know you know she's probably three maybe four bills i mean she's giant okay and my my daughter is

oh what why is she a great big fat person yes and my daughter is learning Oh, what? Why is she a great big fat person? Yes. And my daughter is learning new words every day. And I swear to God, this is actually happened. That big lady came on the screen and I corrected my daughter, but my daughter looked at her and goes, this is true. She goes, cow, cow. No, that's not a cute story. It's actually, uh, you know, it's like, oh, that teenager made racist comments.

It caught me off guard. I'll just put it that way. Look, leadership starts at the top, okay? That's all I'm saying. Listen, I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not a cow. Then I showed her what a real cow looks like. I didn't let it go, but did I chuckle a little internally?

I'd be lying if I said I didn't. That is pretty funny but uh i learned it by watching you let's keep it going hey luke mma twitter is going sick right now i didn't you know i didn't add this in they they demanded it do you know what brian ortega is doing in his free time right now luke uh alex cortez apparently yeah good for him good for him not only did this picture come out but then uh this this uh ig live video went out from alex cortez so uh luke it's not my business but this got the interwebs jumping um your thoughts on his growing resume luke hey man he's gonna have some gems on there you know can't be mad at it let let the man live i say

let him live all right all right god bless him that's well said uh brian ortega is having a great week i don't think anyone had a better week than this asian fellow here luke uh this is incredible stuff isn't that tape played backwards? Probably. Probably. I mean, because if it's not, it's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Obviously, a big man can move here, but... It's probably physically impossible, yet this is pretty impossible as it is, Luke. Yeah, he's obviously athletic as shit.

He's awesome. I mean, there's just joy coming out of the screen here. This guy... Oh, wow. I didn't... Wow, spread eagle at the end there, Luke. That was wild. Okay. Maybe it's not played backwards. I don't, well, spread eagle at the end there, Luke. That was wild. Okay.

Maybe it's not played backwards. I don't know. I don't know. It's amazing, whatever it is. Hey, you're a very strict judge of people's choices in life. Let's go to some questionable combat clothing alert, Luke. Here's number one. Teofimo Lopez Jr. preparing for his trailer main event wearing lifting gloves.

Luke, your thoughts? Yeah, it's heartbreaking but he might have a reason for hand protection that the 99.9 of men don't need so you know obviously teo gets a pass but disappointing nonetheless okay all right uh let's go to 41 year old glover tashara who's also preparing for his title fight luke while wearing cro Bro, fuck anyone who wants this man to change a single thing about himself. I want every guy who fights showing up, no wrapping on the hand, just hitting fucking wood and steel posts, and they're doing it with Crocs and they haven't showered yet for the day. Fuck all y'all.

The other questionable combat clothing was Tyson Fury posting this video that went hot, wild, viral of him wearing Nick Diaz. Luke, this is a very interesting pairing of personalities I never would have guessed would have a day where they train with each other. But as this video keeps going, Luke, they were rolling. They were really, really training, Luke. Dude, listen. You're showing me a lot of really happy things i'm wondering where the people are who fall off boats and jump off roofs

and get hit by animals because these are all nice heartfelt things yeah but isn't this the the the jiu-jitsu between these two a little a little weird it's just a little like awkward to watch i didn't see the jiu-jitsu i saw this one the previous one. I think it's coming up, Luke. I think it's coming up, but I know that these aren't perfectly timed between when we see them and then when the people see us. It's just technology, I guess. Does someone have the

pro-police flag built into the Spartan mask back there? It's not wrong to support the blue, Luke. I don't know where you're going with this. I'm not necessarily saying it's not. I'm just saying that's interesting imagery. Yeah. Yeah, okay. I guess it got

it was weird the first time I watched it apparently. But no, I think they keep going. I think there's like... Oh, I see. Oh, yeah. Fury was about to put him in like a pile driver. That was a little interesting. Hey, Luke, you like gross videos that turn out to be pranks. Did see this one this one's wild just gave away the ending that's no problem but so luke we have a blindfolded girl who's putting her hand through a busted open watermelon that's

filled with chocolate and hair apparently and other stuff and then they lead her on to believe though luke that it wasn't the watermelon in the end that she put her arm through um i mean that's that's going pretty far with a prank, right? I mean, that's pretty aggressive. I'll say this. The payoff is not as much as I would like it to be, but it's pretty good. Pretty good payoff.

The sound is wild. She swears like crazy. The sound's a lot better. I should have played that, but it is what it is, yeah. Yeah, and her look of horror is interesting as well. Hey, open field tackle of the week, Luke. Let's go to the skateboard bowl. Oh, God.

Look like Steve Atwater and Christian Akoye, Luke. That was wild. Wow. Jesus Christ. She got leveled. Luke, we got a lot of good news this week. Yeah, I know you like people getting injured, but let's see the bowler of the week. What do you call this,

Luke? A 7-8-10 split? This is insane. Oh, little man did it. Are you much of a bowler? I don't think he's a good bowler. I think he's just lucky as balls, but that's a hell of a pull-off there. What's your highest score in bowling?

That's what I was going to say. I don't even know my highest score. I'm so shitty, but I do like to play. Are you as equally shitty where we should face off maybe on camera for some impossible victory? Yeah, I'm not good at all i would love to be also not good and we could see who's the least shitty among us that'd be fun that would be fun yeah all right all right let's keep this thing going here uh luke i saw that you like this

one on twitter uh this is actually my least favorite thing about basketball when this happens the only time i'll come up ready to throw luke this guy got shoved to the ground and you know he was not gonna i mean yeah he's like oh it's all good it's all good i don't want to fight you guys cool you just you just tossed me across the parking lot it's cool it's cool yeah you know what i ain't got no hands so i ain't got no fight there you go but you know when people push you on a breakaway that that's... It's just the lowest, shittiest thing. It really is. Hey, Luke, we love everyone who works on our team,

from Gaff to Maniche and Sally and Al Wendling and all them. Our lovely and entrusted producer from CBS Sports, Mikey Mormyle, turned 30 over the weekend. And I don't know if you've been following him on IG, Luke, but here's how he celebrated his 30th birthday. Look, him and his friends would later storm the Capitol. Luke, there's a lot of We Built This City vibes to that, isn't there, Luke. There's a lot of We Built This City vibes to that, isn't there, Luke? There's a lot of We Built This City vibes. I want you to show these heterosexuals again.

This must have been a great 30th birthday without a girl in sight. Show that picture one more time. Put it up there. You don't have to play the audio. Just put it on screen. Look at this gathering of the Juggalos. I mean, you got to be shitting me. Oh, that's harsh.

That is harsh right there. Wow. Wow. Look at the guy in the back. Look at the hype man in the back. He's like, fuck yeah, dude. Sweet home Alabama. Just say it 15 times.

Oh, smooth. We built this city. Yes. It was better than my 30th birthday where I was dumped on my 30th birthday. Are you serious? That needs to be a separate podcast. Are you serious? On your 30th birthday.

I'll tell it to you next time. Did she know it was your 30th birthday? Clearly. Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. Wow. No, that explains a lot. Damn, Luke.

I feel bad. Damn. I drank the last decade away. Really, a lot of pain. A lot of pain. Wow. You know, me coming into your life, Luke, what a turning point for you.

Wow. Yeah, more pain. A lot more pain. That's all the shit I got, okay? Thanks. Good stuff. Odds and ends, BC. We didn't really go over too many details with this,

but we can share one, which is that how about shout-outs to Arjun Singh Buller, who is now your one heavyweight champion, defeating Brandon Vera, I think in the second round, if I'm not mistaken. Similar to how Chandler almost finished Oliveira. It was sort of like both facing facing the mat kind of pounding on him from the side big win that guy didn't have necessarily the best run out in ufc but he what we knew he was a good athlete obviously he wrestled at a high level and brandon vera i'm not sure exactly where he is in his career obviously closer to the end in the beginning and by a wide margin oh yeah still pretty decent as a talent.

But Bullard got it done. Yeah, that was a big win. I'm more of a Risen fan. I didn't necessarily watch this live. I caught the interview afterwards, though, Luke, and while I certainly liked a lot of the Twitter reaction of a fighter of Indian descent winning a heavyweight championship with a major promotion, did you like the interview, though,

and this is the only thing I've actually seen of it where bular said uh i've reached the pinnacle of my sport so now i'm going to go after a new one in pro wrestling hey aew and wwe like i'm coming were you were you down with that i mean i don't care you know i don't care about that stuff he reached the pinnacle of his sport luke good yeah he did really well but i don't know about i mean like pro wrestling like you know i'd rather watch two girls one cup than pro wrestling so there you go i i'd rather watch unspeakably foul acts involving human feces, but, you know, it's fine. I mean, think about the actual, like, equation of that statement. That's wild. That is, okay.

Yeah, well, it's also true. That's it, BC. I think that's it for us this week. I've got an odd and an end, Luke. You got a what? I've got an odd and an end. I sent it to our producers. Oh, let's hear it.

People might be surprised that we didn't lead off the show with this as breaking news that Tyson Fury tweeted out yesterday a video message basically saying, and this is, you know, really the first time from Fury's side of it, the fight with Joshua is on. Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, first chance to have an undisputed four-belt champion, August 14th in Saudi Arabia. Now, we'd seen Joshua and Hern's side confirm it over and over and over again. And then Arum and Fury's side debate it.

This is the first time they're saying yes. And it came after Fury had a meeting with some prince in Saudi Arabia that basically confirmed that they have the money for this record-breaking $150 million site fee that they're going to pay uh to have this fight there um the reason why i didn't make it a lead story is because it's still not done we're a lot closer but it's still not done and i'm sick as you know already of talking about

it and updating along the way like it's the best biggest fight you can make in the sport and it's like entities coming together that don't typically do it's like perfect but just make the freaking fight and then we'll put it as our lead story and obsessively celebrate how great it is going to be for the sport and how good of a fight it can be too but uh for now that's my odd and end luke that we've crossed a major hurdle yet it's still not done fair enough all right um bc if folks want to get in touch with us and follow us on social media, there's a place they can do that. We'll put up the graphic.

Of course, Morning Combat exists. Morning Combat on Twitter. Morning Combat on YouTube. Morning Combat on Instagram. The name stays the same as you can see there, though. Between Twitter and Instagram, BC and I have some differentiation there along the way. So give us a follow if you are so kind. Email the show.

Wednesday's fan submission. Send us what you got, even if it's just a picture. We do love those, too. It doesn't have to be fan art, per se, although art is certainly not only just welcome, but appreciated. And then Dead Wrong will go on Friday, so morningcombat at gmail.com.

If you want to get Showtime, you certainly can try Showtime, because, by the way, Cyborg fights on Friday. So showtime.com for a 30-day free trial, and you're ready to take that leap. There you go. Show.com slash Bellator MMA. You get, for the first six months, $4.99 a month for just not only live Showtime,

but everything on the app as well, all their catalog of greatness. And by the way, I think in just a couple of weeks, we see the Four Kings documentary comes out. Super pumped for that. That is debuting Sunday, June 6th the same night as uh mayweather and logan paul 8 p.m eastern on showtime luke i have got i have received an advanced copy of all four episodes of the kings documentary focusing on the four kings of the 1980s sugar ray leonard roberto duran thomas hearns and marvin haggler and lu Luke it is fan-freaking-tastic who gave you an advance copy?

I have I've got people there, Luke you better believe that it's fantastic Luke, I could get you hooked up with this advance copy you don't, motherfucker I know the same people you do, just tell me who gave it to you I mean I'm the guy with all that Bellator merch

Luke, that's all I'm saying yeah, that's right, this is not on bellator and i also don't shill for them so there you go take that yeah yeah you just wear their merch that's all um all right also what do we have there uh speaking of merch speaking of merch i think it's let's see if i can get it right is it store.show.com which one is Is it store.show.com? Which one is it? Yes. Store.show.com for the existing merch. Although, again, we give you weekly empty promises of more new merch coming. I don't know what the story is there. The fans should be, the listeners, the viewers should be on the lookout for some bonus interviews this week. I've already got one in the can with Josh Taylor ahead of the undisputed boxing fight on ESPN Saturday against Jose Ramirez.

Also, Luke, I'll be chatting with the great Chris Cyborg today. So people will be on the lookout for that to preview her rematch with Leslie Smith on Friday on Showtime and also everything else going on in the world of Cyborg. Luke, will you have any interviews this week? Yes. They made me, but I'm talking to valerie loretta today and i think that's probably it but i will have some other stuff later in the week i'm working on so stay tuned will you will you bring up uh her dms at all in this in this particular interview look

no because i've already done that you've already been there yeah yeah you've already all right i gotta i gotta get out of here bc does too thank you guys so much for watching again if you're new welcome we do this three times a week we We'll have Wednesday shows, Thursday live chat, all interviews from BC that he's doing, plus me as well. So tons of content, tons of content coming your way. Thank you guys so much for watching. Thanks to Malka, CBS Sports, Showtime, and everyone else involved. For Brian Campbell, I'm Luke Thomas.

May all of your gains be loyal.