MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 264's Five Biggest Questions

Episode Date: July 5, 2021

Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell are here to discuss the 5 biggest questions heading into UFC 264. Is Conor McGregor still an elite fighter? Are we undervaluing what is at stake for Dustin Poirier? Can Stephen Thompson get a title shot with a win at UFC 264? Tune in to find out the biggest questions heading into saturday. 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. Well, happy July 5th to you, everybody. It is the day after July 4th. My name is Luke Thomas. The gentleman on the other side of your screen, that is Brian Campbell. We, of course, are the hosts of Morning Combat. Now, there is no live Morning Combat today. We're usually live Monday, Wednesday, or Friday at 11 a.m. in the east.

Not today because, well, no one's really on the internet today. Plus, we're headed out to Vegas tomorrow, BC. And it's a big week. It's UFC 264 fight week. Good, sir. Yeah, but we still had to come in, unlike all of your other shows and your favorite hosts, American or not, who are probably roasting a hot dog, right?

Because their livers are a lot healthier than ours and enjoying their family. But we've pre-recorded this because we know that some of you, some of you P1s, day one-ish folks, you can't get enough. You need the injection. And this is a big enough frigging week, 264, Connor, Dustin, Trio, and maybe, Luke, the biggest week in the history of our great brand here of morning combat. As we approach our two year anniversary of the show and a blowout week of coverage across morning combat, CBS sports HQ.

And I don't know wherever else we will be this week is going to be special Luke. So I need you to get ready clear your schedule clear vices clear your evil thoughts and just bring it this week if you're going to come this week Luke come on okay all right fair enough now today is Monday we're going to start things light so BC and I thought okay we can't do a live episode today but maybe what we can do is let's set the tone for the rest of the week now Now, this card, UFC 264, doesn't take me or BC to tell you it's stacked. It's obviously got a huge main event. So we thought, okay, there's probably going to be a million stories we talk about this week and a

million different story lines. But we thought, let's start the week, BC, with the five biggest questions that we have around 264. That's to say that if our five uh don't match yours that they don't count there's a million different ways you can go we're just thinking about our five biggest so i'll go first then bc will go but we'll talk about each other's question try to answer the best we can of course we won't get an answer until saturday night you ready bc oh i'm so ready all right thumbs up on the video hit subscribe let. Let's get into it. Question number one, BC, and of course, there's nowhere else to start with this card, but the main event. Here is my question, and I'm going to state the question and why I'm asking, BC. I'd love to see what your reaction is. Here's my question.

Heading into UFC 264, is Conor McGregor still an elite fighter? Here's why I asked that. we obviously know he has done absolutely incredible things in his career beating Jose Aldo the way he did insane that whole run remarkable becoming the first person to wear a belt in two different weight classes simultaneously the winner Eddie Alvarez he wasn't just elite at that time he was the king of the universe maybe maybe the king of the sporting world at least for a brief window in time but since then it has not exactly been that while he made a lot of money against Mayweather he certainly lost that bout which was to be expected but okay but there was a lot of issues outside of the cage there was a lot of time off he came back he fought Khabib and losing to

Khabib is not the end of the world he is the best lightweight maybe we've ever seen and he had some time off so okay well then he fought with some more time off Donald Cerrone that was an easy one we came to find out that like Donald Cerrone was maybe on his last legs as a fighter at that point and the fight was too short to take a whole lot from although there were some lessons from it and then he fought BC we did a resume review for it certainly cursing him according to some of our viewers yeah he fought dustin poirier the second time back in january and in the words of dustin poirier he got put on airplane mode bc is just important excuse me is conor mcgregor still an elite fighter i mean certainly that can only be answered by saturday night but for the first time luke I have very strong suspicions that

he isn't. And what I mean by that, Luke, is it's not that I'm some Connor super fan. I've just really believed in one special skill that I really feel like people, I don't want to say they missed, but they undervalue Conor McGregor's ability to he's we know that he was elite, right? At least at some point, but his ability on the big stage in the big moment when it matters most to raise to a level that is above really what he should be is almost unparalleled in UFC history when all the stakes are even and it's Conor versus Aldo and it's this huge fight and can he deal with it well he we didn't even know if he could deal with it because he raised his game to such an absurd level that the first punch that landed knocked the legend out cold.

This is what he used to do. And I think because that was so strong, and whether you believed in the mystic Mac or what I like to call quote-unquote magic, meaning when you build momentum and you believe in yourself so much, you are just operating at a level that it's like things happen that maybe shouldn't, or maybe that you aren't really that great enough to happen. No one's going to doubt that from 2015 to 2016, the magic was strong. Connor was active. He was super elite.

He was, and you know, there's a guy, of course, that you can overrate and underrate at equal measures because he's so polarizing but he was special then so all the things that you said in that lead up he hasn't been special since but he's shown little flashes and i think i've been one who's always been sort of leaning to the idea that there's a chance he could reactivate that magic i get drunk off the idea that you know is the legend gone well there's a great line that matt dylan's drunk off the idea that, you know, is the legend gone? Well, there's a great line that Matt Dillon's character in the 1995 movie, Luke, beautiful girls that often gets forgotten. It's a fantastic movie. There's a, there's a great line. Matt Dillon said in there,

you know, you're still living off the legend. Dillon was a former high school, tough guy that now is just a nobody. But he said to Michael Rappaport's character, be careful because that legend can still kick your ass. And, you know, Conor is living off the legend. There's no question about it, Luke. He is not the same guy from 2015 or 2016 anymore. He's older. He is less evolved in the overall parts of his game

than he should be, to be honest, for his competition level. The sport has caught up to him to a certain degree. The lifestyle he's lived outside the ring from layoffs to excess, should be, to be honest, for his competition level. The sport has caught up to him to a certain degree. The lifestyle he's lived outside the ring, from layoffs to excess, haven't been the best thing for him. But Luke, can the legend still kick Dustin Poirier's ass on the right night? I predicted Connor Wood ahead of that one.

I was drunk enough on the magic I predicted he would be to be, but even though it was largely one-sided, I think we can't say in hindsight, his performance was stronger than much of his, you know, his compatriots have done against to be on the title level, even though he was stopped by strikes by Dustin Poirier, which was an eye opening sort of like, Oh shit, no, one's done that before. I don't want to go too far in either direction. I don't want to go too far and say, well, oh shit, no one's done that before. I don't want to go too far in either direction. I don't

want to go too far and say, well, you know, it's not the same guy anymore. When in the second round, he was walking Dustin down and landing big shots and looked a little bit like that old guy again. I don't think he's that old guy anymore, Luke. So I can still give you an answer that he's no longer the same super elite guy, but can he muster enough of what's left of that elite guy to put forth a performance to beat another guy in Poirier who is on his way to be an all-time great? For the first time, Luke, since the long layoff, I have too many doubts to favor him, and I'm really of the belief,

and we've talked about this in terms of what's the biggest storyline coming in. Conor McGregor is doubling down on what's left of his elite legacy it's it's now or never he's going all in he beats Poirier he's back in the title picture the star has been revived all is well and in Crumlin if he loses he's going to be looked at as an old celebrity fighter I tend as we enter this fight luke where the answers can only be given inside the cage to for the first time believe the latter that whether you think the sports passed him by or he just didn't catch up enough or he's just older and not as great as he used to be luke i think he can be in this fight i have heavy doubts to believe that he can win it. I am two things stand out to

me about this fight real quickly be seen. We'll move to the next question, which is one, the amount of time off he's taken. So after the Alvarez fight, he fought three times in 2016, March, August, and November. That was just an incredible year for him. Even though he lost the Nate Diaz fight, he obviously got the win on the rematch and then beat Eddie Alvarez. Incredible, right? So he's going from 145 to 170 to 155 and amazing then he takes basically two years off and fights Habib and loses and again understandable given the circumstances takes about another year and some change off and then fights Cerrone but that fight lasted 40 seconds and then took another year off and fought Dustin Poirier there's a big question about can anyone Conor McGregor or otherwise uh take time off that kind of time off in their game and obviously there was the I should

point out there was the Mayweather boxing match in between but can you take that kind of time away from MMA at the elite level and maintain your ability I don't know that you can but Conor McGregor's going to tell us that the second thing we see before we move on to the next question is and he's done this a couple of times in the past. I don't get it. It's like, dude, you fight in MMA.

Why are you taunting your opponents about being the first ones to shoot? Dustin Poirier shooting in the second fight was not the reason that he won BC, but you saw that fight with me. We both remarked that was so smart of him to get Connor on the back foot, mentally speaking speaking anyway, drain him a little bit, and then turn on the afterburners a little bit later in the fight. It was a game plan that worked to perfection. Like these taunts about, oh, you're not going to be the guy who strikes with me.

It feels a little off to me. Yeah, he's still using a 1.0 mentality. It's almost like we're going to go in there and fight, and I'm going to knock you out. Cause I'm more of a bad-ass than you, but you know, modern MMA is not that Luke it's not black or white. Who's the tougher guy of the two or who's got the bigger punch. It's who can adjust and make the, you know, adaptions.

And I think what Connor showed us in that Poirier fight, okay. The pandemic got in the way of what looked like was going to be a strong comeback. We can, we can overvalue the, the, the way of what looked like was going to be a strong comeback we can we can overvalue the the 42nd cowboy win a lot but look i think the best part of that win and not only is was cowboy washed from a chin perspective you know he he didn't show up in the big moment either but connor looked like he had added wrinkles to his game it looked like okay if there's going to be a connor 2.0 in a second prime, he looked poised to get it. What did he show us against Dustin?

Even though, yes, he walked him down and landed some big punches, which showed you maybe he's two more strikes away from winning this fight. There were no adaptions. He adjusted to calf kicks like they were something that had just been invented the day of that fight, Luke. To your point about the takedowns, if he's not going to come into this trilogy, I don't want to say with a completely different game, but with that urgency that says it's not about getting in the best shape of

my life. It's not about putting away the potential drug use or any other thing that may have held them back. Although obviously at this level, you automatically have to do that. It's going to be about Luke, how much between fight two and fight three could he, and would he have been able to add to his game? Because you cannot beat a guy like Dustin Poirier with Conor McGregor 1.0

and just think, I'm going to get to your chin quicker than you're going to get to mine, and I'm going to win it. There's going to have to be major adaptions. If he's not thinking that way, Luke, Saturday night, it's going to be a bad night for him. It's gonna be a very bad night for him. All right, BC, that's my first big question. What's yours? My question number two here, Luke, is are we undervaluing what's actually at stake for Dustin Poirier? And here's how I want to frame that to you is obviously Connor and his constant

redemption angle. And look, he's going to dominate the headlines no matter what. And this whole angle of Conor, all or nothing, we've seen it before. We've seen it in the Nate Diaz rematch. We've seen it to some degree after the layoff against Habib. We've seen it against Kyle. I mean, it's the same narrative every time. Yet what we're not talking about is that we know Dustin Poirier chose the money and the prestige of fighting Conor a third time, overgoing for the vacant title after Habib retired. So right now, Charles Oliveira is

rightfully so your lightweight champion. But Luke, until I see Dustin fight him, I'm not going to believe that Dustin isn't the best lightweight. So we already know beating Conor a second time in this trilogy will get Dustin money. It'll get him increased fame and it'll get him a title shot. But are we missing potential other historic things here not only would a win tie him i believe for second place all-time in wins or maybe it's third in ufc history but the point is it would tie him with john jones anderson silva and i think two other very high luminary names that would put him up there it would also if we're being honest luke there's been a long time sort of like list that people don't want to show up on but the list of who's the best fighter in ufc history the most

accomplished who has never won a title biz ping used to top that list benavidez is high up on that list but we typically always debate it's like a dan henderson maybe uriah faber two guys that won titles and other promotions that were big but not ufc. Dustin Poirier with a second win over Conor McGregor here, adding that to wins over Max Holloway and Eddie Alvarez and Justin Gaethje. And I mean, the guys put together such an incredible run. I think might change conversations, Luke, of is he the second greatest lightweight of all time, looking at the totality of his resume?

And is he potentially the greatest fighter who up to this point has yet to win a full undisputed UFC championship so my question to you Luke is are we missing the boat completely of what's at stake for Dustin Poirier and spending too much time looking at the financials well that is interesting that's a huge question too I don't think folks have really thought about it that way I think the biggest question has been well if Dustin wins does he get a title shot which I would imagine at this point I don't know how you could thought about it that way. I think the biggest question has been, well, if Dustin wins, does he get a title shot, which I would imagine at this point, I don't know how you could even – well, he should have got a title shot long ago, but you get my point.

That's what most people, I think, are focused on, not without bad reason – or not without good reason, I should say. Wow. Well, he does have the interim title because he won that against Max, lost it against Habib. So if he ever got the title again because he won that against max lost it against habib so if he ever got the title again he would not it would not be exactly the same kind of coronating moment that bisping got by beating luke rockwell the ufc 199 but i get the point still the question is where he would fit into that larger pantheon of lightweight greatness i think you're i think that there's a there's a

real debate to be had about that i think you might might be on to something. Because, Luke, to set you up, I think too many people are looking at it like, okay, it doesn't matter if you beat Conor. He just beat him before. Dude, a second win over Conor McGregor before he's completely washed just adds another thing on top of a career of accomplishments for Dustin in terms of names that I don't think people really understand how great his last five years have been.

And also, whatever you want to say about the last win he had over Conor and the stance and Conor's time off and everything else, we do know that one against Nate Diaz, he made enough corrections where I think it was a majority decision, but either way, he got his hand raised. So he got the job done when he had a chance to do it differently more to that point this will be a fight for the first time in forever I think since 2018 or so where Connors had less than a year in between fights just six months and that last six months assuming he was doing what he was supposed to be doing has all been geared towards one opponent one moment one fight one night that's something he hasn't had or at least hasn't done anyway,

in a really long time. So if Dustin's able to get that win, in many ways, BC, that might be the most impressive of the three, right? And for Conor to come back and get the win, maybe the first win for Conor is still the most impressive given the circumstances, but I don't know. I might argue that the third one is actually the most important one and the one that really is, beyond being a tiebreaker, the most explanatory one about what has happened to their careers. But let's, let's imagine that Dustin wins. Yeah, man.

Like we talked about it. It's not out yet, but we have a resume review coming out for a certain fighter. And, and in it, we both looked at his resume and we were like, well, there's got some blemishes on there, but it's not about the blemishes per se. A they're few and far between, but more to the point, there's like this accumulated greatness. There's this learning from mistakes. BC, I don't want to give everything away, but I feel like Dustin Poirier's story to this point, in many ways, is kind of similar. There are blemishes on there. The first Conor fight, the Michael Johnson fight, the Khabib fight, you name it. He's not a perfect

fighter, but he's got enough wins over former champions that even now folks are like, why doesn't he have a title fight already? Number one. And number two, to beat the guy who was your nemesis the last time, that's important. To then do it again when he has all of the wind at his back in a way that he hasn't in years, to be the guy that denied Conor redemption, which really no one else has been able to do, man, I don't know. I don't know if that makes you – I don't know exactly where that puts you, but if Dustin Poirier is not in your top five, maybe top three lightweights of all time with a win on Saturday, you might want to rethink your list.

I mean, that's the thing about what's really at stake. And no one's going to put a crown on his head and say, congratulations, you're now the third greatest lightweight ever. But just take this into the matter. Since 2015, when Dustin returned to lightweight, he's 11-2, Luke. And among those 11 wins, or let's say he goes to 12-2 with a win over Conor in this, that would be two wins over McGregor, wins over Dan Hooker, Max Holloway, Eddie Alvarez, Justin Gaethje, Anthony Pettis, Jim Miller, and four others, including, you know, Carlos Diego Fajita.

I mean, you know, some credible names. I think you have to ask yourself, Luke, OK, he didn't beat Habib when he stepped up to the highest level, but nobody has. Has what he's done at lightweight in the past six years without winning a title, but yes, holding an interim, is that better than Frankie Edgar's run as a lightweight? Is that better than BJ Penn's run as a lightweight? And you do have to realize that his legacy is split between two divisions, meaning BJ Penn. I just think it's when you look at total wins, you look at everything Dustin has accomplished, there's a lot more here in this second Conor fight than just cashing in the money.

Who does this to Conor? Who stops him on strikes? And if he wins on Saturday, who beats Conor twice? Nobody. So it's wild. There's a lot there for him in addition to a title shot at stake, money, and all that comes with that. All right.

So that takes us now to question number three. BC, I'm going to go to the co-main event, obviously. Don't worry, we won't just pick from the main card and then the main and the co-main event, but it is a big fight. Obviously, it's the one that's top of mind. We'll get to all these stories all this week. But it's about Stephen Wonderboy Thompson, BC.

He's got a hell of a fight against Gilbert Burns. And he currently, you know, he was born in 1983, BC. He was, he's not a young guy. No, he's not taking a ton of damage. But even in that Jeff Neal fight, it was a little bit more blood and guts despite being one-sided. Vicente Luque fight, less so of that, but he lost the Darren Till fight. Okay, that wasn't blood and guts, but then he got dropped for the first time and finished.

And I shouldn't say dropped for the first time. He got finished for the first time with strikes by Anthony Pettis, or I should say knocked out cold, because I think he got beat by Matt Brown. But the point being is he's still able to maintain relevance, BC. He's still able to get wins over big names. Here he is. I think if he wins this, I'm looking at the rankings right now.

At welterweight, he's sitting at five. Leon Edwards is four, so he might get it, but we'll see how that goes. Burns is sitting at two, but he got the title shot close enough with the loss, but I don't think even a win over five gets him back. Covington is sitting at one. He's probably next. I'm just saying you win this fight, you probably are on the on-deck circle, right? But is this the last one? If he doesn't beat Gilbert Burns on Saturday, BC, question to you. And again, we won't know until Saturday. Does that effectively close the door

on Stephen Wonderboy Thompson UFC title shot future? It does. And the major reason is the age, 38 years old. The other major reason, Luke, is kind of what you alluded to Colby Covington getting pushed by Dana into the next spot. Leon Edwards. He may take another fight in between. He may just sit out and wait because of everything he's accomplished.

You got two big blocks ahead of you, a loss. You're just not coming back from that Luke. Although they're obviously there's different kind of losses. And obviously with wonder boys name as a former former title contender you know how it works sometimes you just stay healthy and somebody falls out last minute and then you get that call but for for all intents and purposes yeah this is it and you know I give him a lot of credit at 38 for in a division where again you don't see a lot of when it fell off for Tyron Woodley it fell off you don't see a lot of late 30s guys at welterweight against this elite era staying relevant he's done that i never thought he lost a till in that close

fight he was beating the bags off pettis before he got knocked out but outside of that there hasn't been a lot of blemish since the two very very close fights with woodley where either one had a tiny bit of momentum going in the other direction, he could have already been champion. He's been a very, very good fighter. Never great, but very, very good, Luke. This is his time, given his name and the fact that Usman has already fought everybody and he's entering a second straight rematch where the doors might open. If he beats Gilbert Burns, which is a very, very credible win, no one's arguing that the doors just might open you never know if UFC is going to try to force Leon Edwards into a Masvidal fight you just never know what's going to happen here Luke as much as I say a win really puts him on the on

the doorstep a loss completely removes him from the conversation and I don't see how you're going to argue that Luke I'm not but I will say no you know what I'll just be honest if he loses to Gilbert I don't I don't I don't see the path you're barreling down on 40 you're not far away from it it's not like he looked bad against Jeff Neil BC wouldn't you say that Wonderboy Thompson for the most part look I mean he had Jeff Neil confused and and and and behind the eight ball constantly. But I just, even with Kamaru being as dominant as he's been, where he's gotten rid of all these contenders, making a chance for Wonderboy to squeeze in if there is one,

you lose to Gilbert Burns. And I just feel like, I don't know where you go from there. I really don't. It doesn't make you irrelevant, but it doesn't make you relevant to the title picture. And i think that's a serious issue that is really going to hopefully light a fire under wonder boy thompson's rear end if he if he wants to take his future as far as it can go what do you got for the next question bc if you have any more real quick sneaky sneaky resume on wonder boy when you consider that as a ufc welterweight he has wins over robert whitaker

patrick cote jake ellenberger johnny hendricks rory mcdonald came as close as you can come in a draw with woodley beat jorge masvidal luke and neil i mean that's a if he never gets back to the top luke and does you know lose here and then eventually phase out it's a hell of a run for a guy who never got there who came pretty damn close my question number four luke as we look ahead to UFC 264 on Saturday, is a giant bullseye circle around the name of Greg Hardy, who will get another push and featured heavyweight bout on this pay-per-view card. We know the story of how the ex-NFL All-Pro,

who has had plenty of sidesteps outside the ring, but has kept his personal life largely together since coming to fighting. He went on Instagram and was like, yo, Tui, let's bang. Luke, they're going to bang. And we know Tui Vassa's limitations. We also know that he comes in there to go for the KO. So I want to ask you,

as we look at the Greg Hardy experiment, which has really seen him get incredible placement on cards before he has proven that he's deserved it at age 32 only, I would have argued he's much older. He's four and three with one, no contest since making his UFC debut just two years ago. If he loses here to Tuivasa and let's say it's by stoppage which he got knocked out by marchin tabura in his last fight in december is this the end of the greg hardy experiment i don't necessarily mean a cut but is this the last time that we're taking him as celebrity fighter with the with the background and the name value and we're putting him high up on the card

for the chance to see if this experiment can work out it's a great question wow i hadn't even you know what i'd put no thought into this fight because i i guess which you know what by itself that kind of tells you something doesn't it um here's my read on greg hardy i don't think that winning and losing per se, obviously it matters, BC. You know that as well as I do. But what I mean to say is this. When he is on the feet in his recent fights, I thought he's looked at, and I'm not going to mince words, awesome.

For a heavyweight, I thought he was moving really well. His shot selection was good. His defense was good. He's not afraid to throw. You can say that pretty was good he's not afraid to throw you can say that pretty clearly he's not afraid to throw but then the problem becomes as you know you take him down and the whole shit collapses like there's nothing to it and it's partly it seems like some kind of cardio issue partly uh take him out of his game issue. Maybe obviously it's a skill development issue on the ground. I'm not saying that what he's shown in fights is exactly his limits. I'm sure his

training partners and, you know, Rashad Evans, obviously you could probably tell us in training, he's seen a lot better from him than he showed in that fight. But what you show in the fight is ultimately the only thing that really matters. You can show whatever you want in practice. And yes, those might be your abilities for those scenarios but the scenario of fighting is the only one that really it matters in the end and it's been dreadful i honestly feel like if he loses but he shows a real improvement on the ground if he shows that he can stuff takedowns and not gas or if he can get taken down he can kind of get back up he didn't just lay there and then succumb to the inevitability of ground and pound then there might be some charitable things the UFC could do it extends

the leash a little bit but I'll say this BC if he goes back out there and he pieces up to Ivasa and he wins maybe he's buying himself time but the biggest question is dude when the next heavyweight takes you down because they will what is going they will, what is going to happen then? I don't know if Tuivasa is the guy to make us answer this question, BC, but I will answer your question in this way. Assuming he tries and Hardy looks the same as before, I think the UFC is going to really rethink the Greg Hardy experiment. And you make a great point.

Tuivasa is not one that's going to expose the cardio and takedown defense and ground game. But, you know, Tui Vasa might linger with power should Hardy, who has looked great early but has faded in many of these, should he start to fall apart. And, you know, if he loses here, Luke, that's four and four with one no contest and two straight defeats. When your best win is a loss to Alexander Volkov,

mostly because you didn't, you didn't fall apart. You didn't get KO'd. I mean, you know, you, you were tough and you, you know, I mean, it was a tough outing that night, but you know, what's his best win? Maurice Green. Like, like this is really, there, there's a lot of now or never in this fight for Hardy that I think it would be hard to continue to go on this experiment, especially, especially if old two, we Luke can KO him and then drink the blood and urine out of the guy's shoe

afterwards. I mean, you know, or whatever, whatever that, whatever they do down under, whatever those guys that, you know, shit and shoes and, and, and pour one for their homies. I don't know. That's a culture Luke that I, I, you know, people say, Oh, that's not all of Australia, BC. That's only the okay that's cool yeah that's great that's great but uh I ain't drinking beer or any other but the fact that they spit in it before they pour the beer in look look you know why don't we why don't we all just make out Luke okay right you know what I'm saying hey Chewy why don't we just spit in each other's mouths yeah yeah I mean what do we

do what are we doing here uh all right luke uh fifth question what do you got you see real quickly would it surprise you to know that tui vasa is according to our friends at william hill a slight favorite minus 140 to plus 120 that would not because luke let's be let's be honest here he's a better finisher than hardy and would you say that if either which fighter is more prone to give the best performance of their career where you go, oh, wow, Tui Voss is not out of the conversation for the fact that he hasn't figured it out yet.

We still might be on the verge of seeing his best performance, right? It's not over for him. So I believe in those odds. Yes. All right. Fair enough. Now there's a bunch of different ways you could go for my last one, BC. And if you want, you can throw in an honorable mention.

So we have the same number of them um i'll actually go backwards i'll say my honorable mention would be carlos condit max griffin because carlos kind of remember he had the five losses in a row and i thought he was donezo he had the win over court mcgee but i was like and then he had the winner for matt brown and i was still like yeah but then matt came back and looked awesome against jago lima so it got me to rethink. You got two in a row. Matt Brown's no pushover, even at age 40. You know, he's still got it going on.

That's a nice win that he got. Max Griffin's a different kind of guy because he's just going to be in your face wrestling the whole time, I think. At least we'll see, I guess. But if Carlos Condit can get three in a row, I have utterly dismissed the idea that, and I still don't think he can contend for a title title but could he enter back into a fight don't even put that qualifier out there Luke he's so slow I'm sorry like it's I know I know I know I know I know I know I'm just saying three wins in a row and the last two being Matt Brown and Max Griffin if it comes to that is is a big deal we'll see what happens but the one I wanted to point to bc this is for my fifth which is when i think about

this fight my question is is ryan hall coming or going ryan hall is taking on ilia toporia now this is a super interesting fight ryan hall i've known him for years and years i consider him a friend um black belt under uh i think felipe Felipe Costa from years and years ago, medalist at ADCC, the whole nine yards. He comes into this fight. He has wins over Artem Lobov, Gray Maynard. He subbed BJ Penn, and then he decisioned Darren Elkins and has done it in the most confounding style imaginable,

where he'll kind of strike you a little bit from kicking range on the outside, and then he'll just pull guard and invert constantly, and people don't want anything to do with him on the ground. Well, why is Topuria an interesting challenge, BC? Well, he's a black belt himself, which doesn't mean anything necessarily against Ryan Hall, but is an absolute buzzsaw, one of these Georgian guys who's good everywhere,

dynamic and unafraid. That may be his undoing, but here's what I'm saying, BC. Ryan Hall last fought in 2019 July. It's been two years since his last fight. There's been some injuries and some pullouts, whatever. But, you know, he made his UFC debut in 2015. This is only his fifth fight.

He's basically averaging one fight a year, and he's not getting any younger. Now, he's still not on the wrong side of, I think, damage and being shopworn. But this is my question BC to me a win over this guy is very validating I think a lot of Ilya Toporia I think he's very very I don't think it's any way give me in fact the odds on this one very quickly BC according to our friends over at uh uh William Hill they've got Toporia as a big favorite, minus 230.

Wow. So keep that in mind. But this is my thing. It's like if Ryan Hall is going to build on what he has to this point, which is something kind of interesting, so he's got all the hipsters foaming at the mouth. Not only does he got to get a win here, but he's got to get the kind of win and the kind of momentum that builds into something where they want to see you in three months.

Look at Adesanya. every three months, six months, three months, six months. I mean, that does a lot for your career. I don't know if Ryan Hall's got that in him by either schedule or injury or anything else, but this fight, if he loses, I feel like it does a lot to stall the momentum already that's been stalled by injury

and time off and fight changes. Yeah, like reputation-wise, it's like the hipster comment you made is so right on because it's like he's been living off a reputation that like, A, we've never seen him lose. He lost his pro debut, but he's won eight in a row since. He won all of his UFC fights. And it's like on any given night, he does have the style

to give a ton of people credit, or I'm sorry, to give them trouble and to possibly beat them. But I've never had a handle, Luke, on how good he actually is or where he actually is. And you can't build momentum through inactivity. So you're right. He wouldn't just need this win as an underdog. He would need to come back another time and then another time, three months after that. And he hasn't fought in two years. He only fights every year and a half. I mean, it's just, it's a wild for a guy to be 36, be unbeaten in the UFC. And we're still not really sure you can hipster it and go from what I've

seen. I think, you know what I know? You only know it when you get in the cage. So I like that you pick that because him showing up on this card, we're sort of like, Oh, okay. I forgot about him. We often forget about him. And then he comes back and does weird Ryan hall things and gets a win. And then you're like, is he a top 10 fighter i don't even know so right i think that's

very interesting i don't know a ton about his opponent luke why would that man be um favored in the spot that highly yeah dude ilia toporia is a fucking beast i've only seen him fight i think a couple of times and every time i've seen him fight yeah he's only got the two fights he beat yusuf zalal who is a hard guy to do anything to and he did beating him over the course of three rounds and then he knocked out Damon Jackson in the first round of 238 he's one of these guys out of MMA masters perhaps one of the most forgotten top gyms in all of the country they're in Miami and everyone's like oh you think of you know I guess it's uh Sanford MMA now and then ATT dude MMA masters they produce absolute murderers out of there and uh he comes from them black belt jiu-jitsu he's only the dude was born

in bc when did you graduate high school what year 96 okay he graduated in 97 he was 97 he graduated um so he's super young i think yeah sorry what am i saying graduate he was born in 1997 he was born in 1997 so he's super young he only absorbs 1.87 strikes per minute people can barely put a glove on this guy 100 percent takedown defense grant a very small sample size i'm just pointing out on tape you look at him he's athletic powerful ripped black belt in jujitsu young dude he's a handful ryan hall does not have an easy fight here whatsoever dude that makes me feel so old i mean we've already seen it when you like see like a hot chick show up on the celebrity scene and you're like oh my god you know how old is she they're like you look at the birth date

and you're like oh you're right i was like a junior in college when she was born i guess i should end this conversation now but even this guy like i legitimately have t-shirts that i still wear that are older than this guy look and i'm see i got i got news for you he doesn't make you feel old we are old so here's what i'm toying with right now at 42 am i actually old or am i just washed like there is a difference luke there is a major um you're not quite washed because you can still do pickup basketball and shit like that so you're not washed in that sense. But you're definitely a young, old person. All right.

All right. Luke, my honorable mention. I was going to say, your honorable mention. Take it away. Final question. It's not that we didn't mention Sean O'Malley for a reason, but he's coming in there against a last-minute guy, and Chris Moutinho is making his UFC debut.

There's not much to that fight. You know where we're fight there is a lot to this welterweight duel Nico Price versus Michelle Podeta and the reason why I bring this up and the question I want to ask is Luke Podeta the last two fights has really two straight wins have has really turned around his reputation and really the direction of who he might be. We we've seen some theatrics, but it's been more about a high motor and a guy going for finishes and really trying to like max himself out, which again, to the criticism that I used to give him for being a circus clown. If you do that flying shit and all that weirdness,

but you do it centered upon the idea of winning the fight, go for it. But if you're just dancing and doing weird stuff, cause you're weird. And then you gas out, you're a clown luke nico price has the ability to take any fight and turn it into a spat shit crazy sloppy video game super bowl it's like we all have that friend who no matter how much we've turned our life around sometimes i say todd grisham's that friend who no matter how much we've turned our life around sometimes i say todd grisham's that if we hang out with him we're gonna end up doing things we didn't plan on doing luke okay um is does can nico price be the the the bad influence on the direction of michelle potato's career where we could see something truly weird and truly special on the prelims on Saturday night with the kind of just craziness that you don't typically get at this level I think he's gonna do our MMA fans who

watch us won't like this comparison but he's gonna do a Jarrett Hurd BC he's gonna come out boxing at range and then Nico Price is gonna be like fuck that no you're not and then I honestly feel like he's gonna pull him right back into who he is. Because that's who he is at his core. All this other shit. And he's winning this way. To be clear, he's winning this way. Is an adjustment.

And it's the smart adjustment. And it's the right adjustment. But BC, you got to make art. If anybody knows that, it's you. And if you're going to make art, the way to do it is to be honest about who you are. I think if anybody can pull Michelle Pareda out of of this sort of you know not risk averse but careful style that he's got it's going to be nico price but we'll see adult women say luke you know i'm not that type of girl i don't do that but then if like the guy from dawson's creek walks around the corner they're that type

of girl right that's what it's like fighting nico price right i think that's that's a reasonably fair comparison although it depends what you're asking these people to do bc i don't know i don't know what you're asking them yeah yeah there you have it all right well that's it for us today now we have tons more coverage coming your way all week long so don't go anywhere in the meantime thumbs up on the video. Hit subscribe. It's a little bit late, but happy 4th of July. Happy Independence Day to everybody. And get ready. We are headed on a bird to Vegas very soon. And when we get there, it's balls-to-the-wall coverage for everything UFC 264 related.

Here's the deal, folks. You're going to get our instructions over social media or maybe on Wednesday's morning combat show. But we're going to be live in Vegas beginning Wednesday morning. And the location, which we'll tell you soon, is right in the heart of it there. And you can come watch live MK if that's your thing. Come grab a beer. Come make a few sports bets, whatever you want to do. We're going to have a live spectacle.

It's MK all day, nearly every day in Vegas for 264. And this should be fun and wild. We'll get Uncle Rashad in there. Maybe we'll mix some old friends, too, nearly every day in Vegas for two, six, four, and this should be fun and wild. We'll get uncle Rashad in there. Maybe we'll mix some old friends too, that are in the city for the week and we'll make some fun content. There you have it. All right. Thumbs up on the video, hit subscribe, enjoy your time off and get ready for the weekend for Brian Campbell, CBS sports showtime and Malka. I'm Luke Thomas. We will see you guys in Las Vegas. And until then may all of your gains be loyal.