MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 266: Volkanovski-Ortega, Diaz-Lawler 2 | Joshua-Usyk | Quick Hitters | EP 207

Episode Date: September 24, 2021

On Episode 207 of Morning Kombat Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell do a deep dive into the Xs and Os of UFC 266. They start off by previewing the main event and work their way down the card. Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk is also this weekend and the boys break down the fight in detail. They close out the show with quick hitters (Miesha Tate, Jake Paul, Dillon Danis, Masvidal-Edwards?), Dead wrong and Tip2Tip. Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat  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

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.

Oh, yeah. Can you feel that? Can you feel that burning itch we're back baby morning combat friday ain't got shit to do but set the weekend for big time fights across combat sports i'm brian campbell it is friday september 24th 2000 and 21 cbs sports and showtime the labels that pay me but you're not here for me, right? You're here for the damn meat. The guy that holds this sauce on top of it. The best fight analyst breakdown man in the game today, Luke Thomas.

Hey. Hey. Yeah, technical difficulties. Why don't you zoom in on me? Here's the deal, folks. Not going to bore you with a lot of things to sell because I have a, as Jake Hager would say, I am rock hard with emotion about all things Anthony Joshua, Alexander Usyk, UFC 266. So we're going to get to that in a moment.

But in the meantime, you may be checking out this fantastic wear right now that I got going on right here. A little factory town MMA preview that's coming to our merch store, morningcombat.store, over the next week. And we've got so much new great merchandise there that we wanted to give you another little bit of discount to add a little flavor to your saver. How about this code? FACTORYTOWN10 will give you 10% off all products on morningcombat.store during today's show. I believe 2 p.m. Eastern is our savings deadline. So we got the new Factory Town MMA launch. We got some great ideas of new merch coming your way.

The I Love MK mug, all that. Jump on it now. Get that shit going. 30 days of showtime uh bellator heating up in big ways showtime championship boxing why don't you get on we've got canelo yo we got canelo okay why don't you get on board by going to showtime.com 30 days or you can put your hand in the sand and spinning around a little bit uh luke are you back with us audio wise yes sorry about that i was just going to say that this weekend is a monster weekend

in combat sports. We have a lot of previewing to do. But I'm excited for the challenge because the fights are so freaking good. They are so good. So thank you, folks, for enjoying. Hopefully you enjoyed our three days in Jersey City this week, getting a lot of preview content done. If you missed it and you know you get live shows from MK every Monday,

Wednesday, and Friday at this time, head'll head on over to youtube.com slash morning combat. We've got interviews with the big fighters this weekend, including Valentina Shevchenko, Brian Ortega. We have also got a resume review on one Nick Diaz that is one of the more fun and enjoyable careers to have gone up and down with. Check that out. And also, Luke, a lot of buzz for the little bit of rooftop diaries that we call, for now, pregame preview, as the great Chuck Mendenhall joined you and I in Jersey City for a little bit of real talk on UFC 266 for this weekend. Folks, check that out. It is fun. It's informative. And, Luke, I'll apologize right now for the amount of times

that I interrupted you guys by saying bitch or yo i mean you get me sauced up bad things happen so i've learned a lot from watching that video okay i want to i want to snip that out and then just use that as a clip forever to hang over your head sorry for the amount of times i said bitch or yo to interrupt you so there's that uh final piece of business, Luke, connected to this weekend's fight, of course. How about DraftKings Sportsbook? It is the official betting partner of the UFC, of the NFL,

of all that good stuff, and there's an incredible deal that DK has joined up with MK for this weekend. You know 266 is a loaded card from Las Vegas, so how about putting a little bit of action on top of your action this weekend? If you download the DraftKings Sportsbook app, if you commit to $1 on any fight,

DraftKings is going to give you $150 free betting dollars to try your hand and test if this resume review curse is real. Of course, you're going to need our promo code. This is the most important part. Enter in our code. It's COMBAT with a K to get your $150 in free bets. So many good fights this weekend. Throw a little action on there.

Week three of the NFL, whatever you like to do. It's DraftKings. It's Morning Combat. A match made in heaven, Luke. I don't know how it gets better than this. We're previewing fights, we're getting you ready for them, and we're with our partners, our generous partners over at DraftKings, giving you free money to play with to then go make more money on top of.

I don't know what more you want from a show with just two washed dads, but this is about as much as you're going to get, folks. So appreciate it, okay? You want to be entrepreneurial? You want to have a little side income? Why don't you get hooked up with DraftKings using our promo code COMBAT. Of course, restrictions apply, and if online betting is not available in your state, DraftKings has you covered on daily fantasy contests,

including a chance to win $1 million. So do all that shit, okay? Support us with that code COMBAT with a K. Luke, I don't want to do anything else but get into all things UFC 266 this weekend. You coming with me? Let's do it, brother. Alright, let's hit it hard. Las Vegas

is the site for this weekend's pay-per-view. You got Nick Diaz, you got two title fights. You got everything you need. And you know what else you got atop that card? Pound for pound wise, skill wise, one of the best fights you can make in UFC and MMA today. The featherweight title will be at stake this Saturday

as Alexander Volkanovsky looks for his what? Second title defense following a pair of wins over Max Holloway and he's got a hungry ready Brian Ortega coming his way Luke I love this fight I don't care if it's gonna end up as a five-round chess match I don't care if Ortega is gonna be able to implement some of the things he does and we have a wild fight I just want to see what this looks like one of my favorite divisions two of my favorite fighters style wise as we cut through the bullshit although on thursday's press conference i gotta say that little bit of trash talk back and forth was a little bit lame yes but did it get me fired up hell yes as far as it comes down to the matchups the x's and o's

what are you looking for in this one on Saturday night now when you say trash talk do you mean when Volkanovsky uh said he was surprised to learn that his opponent was a with his words a drug cheat is that the one you're talking about yeah that was interesting I actually felt like Ortega was taken a bit by surprise for whatever that is worth by some of that okay you're asking about asking about X's and O's man. This is a, this is a, geez, this is a really difficult one in certain ways. In other ways, maybe not like it. I guess I would best explain it like this. And I've talked a little bit about this on my live chat, but not in grand detail. If you examine what Volkanovsky is just good at and what he is able to implement,

obviously he's going to involve a particular strategy that is related to the very specific things that Brian Ortega does. But from a very macro perspective, what he's probably going to do is, whether he's backing up or I think eventually he will lead, but sometimes he starts backing up on his heels, he's going to present a look. And when he presents that look, he is going to make opponents, in this particular case, Brian Ortega, he's going to try to make them think that whatever they think they see, they don't. If they think that they see an opening with X, he takes it away.

He makes them try to think he's going a direction, and then he doesn't. He tries to make them look high, he goes low. He tries to make them walk into him, and then so he can intercept them. It's all about misdirection. It's all about camouflage. A lot of it starts with hand fighting to take away the jab. The jab was a big part of Max Holloway's game. You saw a lot of hand fighting for him to take that away. I think you're going to see a lot of that because in the same, while Ortega doesn't have the same kind of jab that Holloway does, he does leave it hanging out there out front. And I think he's going to want to move that away from Ortega doesn't have the same kind of jab that Holloway does. He does leave it hanging out there out front, and I think he's going to want to move that away from Ortega

as a range-finding tool or whatever he uses to set it up for fame. So I think that's a big part of it, and I think the real key thing folks should really pay attention to, Volkanovski doesn't, I think, blow people away. Certainly the last three fights, the one with Aldo and then the two Holloway fights, it's not like people came out of that being like, wow, Volkanovski is a must-see, he's one of the best fighters on earth, but really the stats say a lot about him.

Listen to this. First of all, this guy became champion within three years of joining the UFC, which is fairly rare and impressive. How about this? Numerically, now that doesn't tell the whole story, of course, but numerically, he's never been outstruck in any of his fights ever in the UFC. No one has ever put more gloves on him than vice versa. It doesn't happen. lands versus how much he absorbs, not only does Volkanovski put pace and pressure on these guys, especially as the fight heats up, but more to that point, he actually reduces their output. Now, why is that important? Well, a guy like Ortega has been, he's been outstruck many times and still won. It's not like that's never happened to him before. But in the cases where there's a

wide disparity, there's no really coming back from that. BC I think with Vortiga taking his time a little bit which you saw in the Chan Sung Jung fight that's going to feed right into Volkanovski's strengths I said it on the rooftop with Chuck I'm going to go back to it now dude a straight up sort of striking match under mostly conventional terms not the stance but the sort of way in which they interact, that's not a fight that Ortega can win. It just can't happen. But if he can begin to take risks and then go that extra mile and really try to find creative ways around what Volkanovski does, that to me is a possibility. And it's going to be up to him to do because otherwise, I think Volkanovski is going to cruise to a decision. So here's what's most interesting to me about trying to handicap this fight. If you take any singular performance we've seen from Ortega in his biggest fights and use that as a map

to try to see how he does that to Volkanovski, to your point, people say I don't give Volkanovski the credit and I'm willing to take that criticism in general. He's a wizard. He's a mathematician. He is just genius at taking what he's expecting coming your way and decoding it and using it against you and all those great, smart, amazing things. The difference, though, for me having this much confidence in Ortega, aside from his incredible BDE, Luke, is really that I don't think we've seen the best of him. I think we have seen an unfinished, growing, evolving product

that just so happens to have had part of his prime a little railroaded by a two-year absence due to injuries and fights getting canceled. And even the build to this one had another unexpected delay where they became tough coaches and had to wait it out. And I'm wondering, and that's fueling my interest in this being a very close almost pick them fight if it's that unknown in Ortega and you give him time to add on to his game and yes when you look at him Luke when you look at his attitude and his swagger it doesn't scream ring technician and guy who can adapt to a higher level.

But go back and watch his last four fights and see how different he was in each one. Luke, obviously you and I will agree that there were polar opposite performances against Max Holloway where he was a walking, stalking brawler and nothing else and Korean Zombie where he was this next level, distance controlling, technical wizard. Okay, this ain't Korean Zombie, where he was this next-level, distance-controlling, technical wizard, okay? This ain't Korean Zombie, so we can't do that exactly to Volkanovski. But if he can mesh the spirit of both of those two styles together, and continue to evolve at the pace he has, and what I mean by that is, Luke, you remember he was a fun, unbeaten fighter who would get outstruck and then submit you late dramatically.

And then he came out against Frankie Edgar and viciously finished him. So here's a guy who's constantly evolving and adding new wrinkles and showing you who he is. I don't know why from you there's not the same confidence. Because clearly it seems there's the same confidence in the odds makers. Because if you look at this right now, Luke, DraftKings has plus 160, or Ortega as your underdog, minus 190. Volkanovski is the favorite, and in this game, that's close to a pick-em. I mean, that's really damn close. That tells me the odds makers see what I see.

The fact that if anybody is going to do better than their best performances to date in this matchup, it is Ortega and not Volkanovski. Volkanovski's great, but I believe, Luke, every fight, these elite guys are getting closer to figuring him out, which is why I thought Max won the rematch, although it was close and Alex came back in that one. And I'm sure if I watched it another 48 times, I may change my score but Luke are you discounting how great Ortega might be if you gave him which we did another year to go back in that lab and add to his game no I think he's a formidable opponent um I don't really disagree with I think the at least a better bare minimum the spirit of that analysis I mean I've I've

definitely sort of leaned pre-fight towards a guy's direction in part based not fully on what we've seen, but what we can expect might be new for whatever the circumstance may be. They're young and they're getting better. In this case, Ortega, you're right. After two years, he just looked completely reborn. Remember, he changed his entire training team except for Henner Gracie before that Chan Sung Jung fight. To me, it really paid off. He looked like a brand new man in many respects and still keeping some of the same kinds of things that made him dangerous from before. So no, I don't think that's a bad way to look at it. I just feel like if you're looking at the reformation, so from let's say Edgar to Holloway

time off then to Chan Sung Jung, what is the lesson that you take it's that Brian Ortega is a lot more thoughtful he's a lot more patient he is still quite dangerous and he can make much better reads and he can do his own level of confusion like that's real but if that's the way he's going that by itself even more so is not necessarily the best style to beat Volkanovski with the caveat, with the caveat that if he can make great reads and he can do great interceptions, where Volkanovski is charging in with something and he can read it a mile away, which very well might be possible, or he's willing to take a risk and try something that, you know, would end up in a bad position normally, but he'll do it because he doesn't care about that. I think that's real. I mean, understand something, dude. Volkanovski has never had someone in the UFC

attempt a submission on him. Like, they've never even done that. But I think Mendes had his back briefly. There's a, for example, I'm not saying this is the only way to get there, but one way to get there for Ortega, as you talked about with Chuck on the rooftop, he could pull guard. He could go for sweeps. He could find the back in some kind of transition. And then what, dude? Having that guy on your back? Jesus, that's a whole different ballgame than anything else.

So I think the spirit of your analysis is correct. Dude, you know as well as I do, if they fought 10 times, one guy is not going to win all 10. We're living in a world where we have to kind of accept that. I think if they fought 10 times, Volkanovski probably wins six, maybe seven of those. But what happens on Saturday, we shall see. Well, Luke, we had Brian Ortega on this show.

I'm not going to throw to any clips of it, but we had him a couple weeks back talking about this fight. And one thing that he really said, and look, he called Volkanovski a point fighter. And he, you know, did a little trash talk on trying to discount his opponent's potential greatness. But he did say, I need a finish. Because that's what I'm about. But I wonder, Luke, if that's also true.

Even if you were going to give Ortega the same benefit of the doubt I am, that he's going to come out and look a little bit different and more adaptable than we've ever seen, and really the best. There's no reason not to come out and be the very best of yourself in this fight. We know you can't out-point fight the point fighter. You can't out-chest the chess master. Does Ortega need a finish in your eyes to win this fight?

Yes. Yes, I don't know how he takes three... Again, he could be the... Watch, he could go out there and he could just decode everything that Volkanovski's doing and he could land a hell of a shot, a hell of a shot, and it could look something like the Chan Sung Jung fight. I just find the chances of that very low, dude.

This is not... Korean Zombie is a spectacular fighter. He's not, excuse me, Alexander Volkanovsky. And I know Volkanovsky doesn't, you know, produce the same amount of fan fervor that others might.

That's fine. But the results speak for themselves. In a five-round contest, if we are positing, if we are positing that it goes to the judges' scorecards, well, then I think you get to a case of Volkanovski being 9 out of 10 to win those. I think it would be very difficult for Ortega.

Ortega's got to get out there, and he has to really hurt this guy. He's got to take a risk. He's got to figure out a way through that decoding. And if he can do that, absolutely, it's his to win. But that is a tough challenge. I think in his favor, Luke, and tell me if I'm wrong on this, to Volkanovski because he sets traps, because he chips away at you, because he basically keeps you away from doing your best work.

It's not as physically taxing to fight him and go deep into rounds as it is other fighters, which does leave the door open for Ortega from the standpoint of he may need a few rounds where he has to lose them to read Volkanovski to try to find that opening. I think, Luke, we know he can do it on the ground if he can get it there, but I think people are wrong when they look at the Holloway-Ortega fight and what we've learned from it. Okay, did Ortega decide that fight? Then I'm going to come out and show you guys how freaking strong I am.

And I'm willing to die in there. And I'm just going to try to outman him. He did. And he lost because of that. But look, he also lost because his face fell apart. And Max stood in there and took it. But I felt there were moments. There were combinations.

Ortega was putting it on Max. And I'm like, Max, we've always known him to have a next-level chin and resolve and be able to fight her and be able to just be a warrior. Not everybody can fight like that. I think you're going to be a little bit surprised at what happens in pockets here if Ortega can close the gap on Volkanovski and can make it a bit of a fight. I think he's a much better striker in terms of damage

than we give him credit, Luke. Revisit the Max fight. I think people narratively go, oh, he got overwhelmed, dominated, and stopped. No, he had some big moments in that fight, too, and was going toe for toe, you know, against a true warrior. I think you adapt part of that style and you bring it in.

Luke, the odds makers are telling you he's got a big chance here uh yeah I I do think yes you should not lose sight of the fact that Ortega is probably a better striker than that fight might convince skeptics I think you can even argue he won that third round it was one of the rounds where he kind of did a lot of damage to Holloway the other problem though with that argument is Holloway will kind of accept that Holloway is famous for the amount of damage he's willing to absorb by virtue of his fight style Volkanovsky is not now he got dropped by Mendes briefly and he got up and you know you could go that direction but again this is what this is what long parts of the fight are probably going to look like,

no matter who wins. You're going to get a lot of stretches where Volkanovski is doing this, this, and then he's leg kicking and he's circling, and Ortega is just kind of waiting, waiting, and can't get off. Remember, it's not just about that his volume goes up. It's about that he suppresses what the opponent is doing. The reason why, against Aldo, by the way, he just clinched him and held on for long periods of the fight I don't think he'll do that against Ortega given the grappling risk

but the other part is that he just finds ways to confuse people for just long enough a two three second bit and then that plays itself over and over and over again and over time that adds up you are going to see that i think no matter what the question is then what ortega does to address that i am very curious to see luke when we're looking when we're when we're looking at a football game we're talking offense and defense and people might go how does special teams come into play is there a special teams element to this fight whether it's the clinch or on the ground, an area that you don't expect the fight to go, but if it goes there, could that play a part in this fight? Does somebody

have a specific advantage? I mean, you don't see Volkanovski trying to take this fight to the ground or lock him up against the cage under any circumstances, correct? No, and I think he's going to physically find a way to avoid that at all costs, which is why guard pulling to me is super interesting. Again, you can stand up out of guard. There's lots of ways to break guard, and who knows what he might try. I don't think that's either the likeliest thing or even if he gets it, the best way to maybe beat Volkanovsky. But that threat there, I do think that's real.

As I mentioned, in the Aldo fight, he would kind of do that whole thing at range for a while. Then he would look at the clock. There was like 30 or 45 seconds left in the round. He would just press Aldo into the fence like, fuck this. I'm not even going to risk it anymore. Dude, you could not do that with Brian Ortega. He will jump from an overhook right into something. And remember, he doesn't just jump guard. He might jump triangle. He might jump armbar. He might do all kinds of flying attacks so you just can't play with him in that space and so for those reasons I tend to think Volkanovsky's gonna have to be careful but if he gets rocked with a shot and is not really all there to defend

properly dude it's I'm telling you what what what or what Volkanovsky wants to do is establish his order it is up to Ortega to disrupt that order. And if he can, it is his fight to win. I can't wait. I can't wait to see what happens. I think the size difference, which is more in our head, because when they stood across from each other, yeah, Volkanovski's a bit shorter, but not by a ton.

Volkanovski actually has the longer reach, Luke, which is another underrated part of why he's able to control the terms of a fight so much. So I can't wait to see it. I think people can tell which way we are leaning here, Luke. But, you know, even though Chuck Mendenhall attempted to curse this fight by saying, well, I think it could be pretty boring. You know what, Chuck?

Why don't you leave our roof with that kind of shit? No, seriously, seriously. I love Chuck. Luke, even if it is a boring chess match, I'm going to be front row center in my office here with the TV, checking it out. I can't wait to see what happens in this one. Luke, that's your main event on Saturday. We broke down the co-main event at length on Wednesday, but then there's the people's main event.

And that's all things Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawler, no longer a welterweight fighter, as we talked about on Wednesday, officially now a middleweight bout. But Luke, the narrative of what we would talk about in ways how we could possibly handicap this fight have changed dramatically since you and I last spoke of this. Yes, it's a rematch 17 years removed from Nick Diaz's somewhat surprising second round knockout. It's also the first time in six years Nick will enter the octagon. 17 years removed from Nick Diaz's somewhat surprising second round knockout. It's also the first time in six years Nick will enter the octagon. But Luke, Nick gave a lengthy interview with Brett Okamoto of ESPN. And also, although I think he repaired some of it with Nick's performance at the press conference yesterday.

Bro, it's Nick Diaz. It's going to be a weird conversation that makes you really question what's going on in his head Luke from Wednesday's chat with Brett to Thursday's press conference how nervous are you that we might not just be seeing potentially a washed physically fighter but a fighter who

may not want to be there or like what do you even take away from this wild fight week for Nick Diaz? I'm going to try and do something. I don't know. Frankly, I'll be candid with you. I don't know what the most prudent way to view all of this is.

I, I tend to think a lot of the things he voices might be the things that fighters don't want to say. He's just willing to say it. They might be things that fighters believe and even deny to themselves. And he won't deny that to himself. He will be honest about it. And so, therefore, hearing it can be a little bit jarring

because it's just not the kind of rhetoric that is typically shared on Fight Week at all by someone in his kind of position. Okay, I'm going to just wait, dude. And no one wants to wait. We want to have answers now. We want to know what it means. We want the clarification. We want to be able to sort it all neatly. You cannot sort Nick Diaz neatly. He doesn't fit very easy into obvious

compartments. He doesn't fit easy into basic categories. He is kind of all over the place. I think if you're watching out there and you heard things that make you feel like he may not be able to give his best effort or his best days are behind him i don't think that's unfair i think beyond that if you're just looking at the six and a half years off and you're worried that this might mean he can't really perform up to the level i think that's fair there are by the way plenty of concerns for a four fight losing skid robbie lawler that we're getting here you know let's not forget about the fact that his time in the sport is very much coming to a close and probably pretty soon at that.

Just to interrupt you on that, Nick did say if Robbie beats him, he expects Robbie to get the title shot next against Kamaru. So I just want to put you back in your place on questioning Robbie's standing right now. Yeah, exactly. Who knows, right? I mean, that's kind of funny. Okay, but this is what I mean. Like, I'm just going to wait and say i think the best

course of action is to not play armchair psychologist is to not dig too deep into the details i don't want to ignore them either but what i want to do is say we just don't have enough information to make a big call here one way or the other maybe some people inside of his camp might who knows but you and i the people watching for, for the most part, we don't. We don't really hear exactly what might be going on. So I think let's look at the performance on Saturday. Let's see how he performs. Let's see what he can physically do. And then I want to cross-reference that with what he said pre-fight. Is there any relationship to some of the fears that he shared? Is there anything about the anxieties? Could you tell from a motivational standpoint based on the way he performed that there's any relationship? Because dude, part of

what has always defined him is that there has been a gap. He will talk like someone who is nervous. He will talk like someone who is dismissive of this whole thing. He will talk like someone who is nervous. He will talk like someone who is dismissive of this whole thing. He will talk like somebody who doesn't want to do this. It's not the first time he's done this at all. And then he goes out there and he fucking shines. Or conversely, like we saw against Diego, he was complete confidence and he got run over there a little bit. So there is often a wide gap, either pre or post fight from the kinds of things Nick Diaz says relative to his performance. You add in BC, a freaking seven year hiatus. I say, wait, that's me. I say, to be fair, the resume review you and I did, I was writing down some of those quotes that he gave in these

pre-fight packages ahead of these 2004, 2006, 2007 fights. And in so many of those, he was like, you know what, I didn't have a good training camp, I didn't think this was the right matchup for me, but we're going to go out there anyway. Where you're like, wow, that was weird for him to say that, but no, everything he says is weird. So Luke, normally we blast the media. Real quick, just to piggyback, I don't mean to interrupt you,

I'm sorry BC, I apologize, but the one thing, dude, in his UFC debutc debut against jeremy jackson he gets interviewed and says oh you know what i took him lightly i was really tired i had to i had to just figure out a way to win her i don't know how that happened in his ufc debut yeah yeah he was like i had a i had a much worse training camp than the last time so you know i mean look the guy's all over the place first of all normally we rip the media at these ufc press conferences because they can be more spectacle and show than, than journalism. But I got to give the people credit there for the way in which they worded

the questions to Nick on Thursday in reference to that Okamoto interview. And I also think Nick did a good job, Luke of at least softening the initial blow of what the Brett interview told you. If you had only watched the Brett interview and I had so many people in the combat sports game, text me and be like, BC, like, did you see that? Like maybe they should remove him. Of course, he sounded like open you know for the big fighters and Nick I think did

a good job at the press conference is just being like look I say things before fights you know uh I didn't think it was that big of a deal and you're right Luke he's openly anxious before all of his fights he's always been a really horrible or weird interview. Because he's uncomfortable in that spot. And I do think he voices opinions involving some of those things. That others wouldn't be as willing to share. The fears. All of that. Did it feel extra damning because he's 38 or whatever.

And has been gone for so long. Of course it did. Luke I think the best case scenario here. Is he's not in there against. I mean Robbie Lawler is a killer any day of the week. But he's not in there against, I mean, Robbie Lawler is a killer any day of the week, but he's not in there against an absolute prime contender looking to make their name off of him. To your point, four straight defeats for Lawler. I don't think he can pull the trigger the same way anyway. So this'll be probably what we thought it would be to begin

with. An old guy, nostalgic, little bit of a slop show. My biggest fear for Nick, though, Luke, is not that he takes a beating or gets one-punched. I don't really think either are going to happen, although I don't think we're talking enough about the potential that this is like a fun, sneaky, nostalgic war. My biggest fear is that this looks a lot like Hoist Gracie's return to the UFC after, what, a decade out when he fought Matt Hughes? And there was a lot of buzz around and excitement. Hoist is back against a new generation of guys, you know? How could he do?

And Luke, I mean, he was awful. He was never in that fight. Matt just laid on him, and eventually he sort of just succumbed without really anything happen. I think that would be the worst way. Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's not accurate at all. That's not what happened. Matt piled on him. Matt took his back and pounded him the fuck out okay yeah but what i'm saying is luke it looked a lot more like cm punk versus mickey gall where it's like we didn't

really learn anything the more dominant fighter no i don't know like dude this is not an accurate recitation of what happened i think it's an was resuscitation in fact of the fact but no i'm just saying i'm just saying this bc they fought at 175 remember because matt came in like fucking yoked and the whole point of that fight was a ufc 60 59 something like that the whole the whole point of it was at the time they wanted to prove that the newer generation of fighters were a lot better than the old ones dude that was like a prime matt hughes and he went in there and demolished my point is luke we didn't even see a breath of life from Hoist. So, yeah, he got dominated and eventually the fight got stopped. But, you know, worse than a one-punch KO, I think,

is if Lawler gets dropped, the fight goes to the ground. I'm sorry, Lawler drops him, the fight goes to the ground, he gets on top, and then Nick just sort of gives up and the ref waves it off. And then you got Nick arguing about a quick stoppage and then we're sort of like, wow, that was a shit show. I don't want to see something like this. I want to see Nick, weird enough to say it,

make good on some closure of the obvious disdain he has for the fight game to some of the things you mentioned in your live chat yesterday, Luke. How Nick tried businesses outside of the cage that didn't really play out. He told Brett that he thought people screwed him financially. I want to see him come back and win or lose, give his best effort,

look like he's having fun doing it, and, you know, win or lose, if he feels like he wants to do this again and can be a marketable guy against the right level of competition, then let's do that. I don't want to see something gross where it's like, man, should have been here Luke that's what I'm yeah I don't I mean there's I think if you're a Diaz fan again no who the hell knows what's going to happen tomorrow the one thing I would think you'd be happy about with this matchup is one he's got a win over this guy let's say you're a Diaz fan Robbie Lawler is well liked but Diaz has his his own little army and if you look at the last two fights, he fought Magny and he fought Covington, right? I think those were his last two fights.

You know, they kind of wrestled a little bit, and there's a whole second aspect to it. But what's a common theme from them to who we understand Diaz to be, whether or not that's accurate, which is volume, activity, pace. That might be something, even with just the striking, that a guy like Diaz could find a way to implement to win. Here's something we're not talking about, BC. There is a very clear, well, I'll say very clear. I think it's a legitimately plausible scenario where Diaz looks great for as long as it lasts, but takes a big shot.

His face, for folks who don't realize this or appreciate the depth of the problem, it is covered in scar tissue. Scar tissue cuts very easily. Dude, no one is talking about the fact that he could take one big shot from Lawler, the shit comes wide open. Granted, Vegas is a little bit more lenient with that than, say, his brother in New York City when he fought Masvidal. Still, a cut stoppage is very much in play here, even if he does well.

There's a lot of ways this could just go in a thousand different directions, man. Yeah, soft-spoken with a broken jaw, Luke, right? I mean, so much damn scarf tissue there. It's funny. There was a lot of what Nick said this week that year. Like, is that a crazy man talking? Is that whatever? I love that.

The undefeated spirit of the Diaz army that when talking about Usman, he's like, no, man, I'm the more well-rounded fighter than this guy. I mean, I would definitely. In fact, that's a better matchup for me than Law. I mean, I love that the Diazes are forever, Luke. Just like we're the best fighters of all time. Everyone else is a bitch. In fact, that's a better matchup for me than Law. I mean, I love that the Diazes are forever, Luke, just like, we're the best fighters of all time. Everyone else is a bitch. Put me in there with them and I'll show you.

I mean, that spirit, I'm like, war to that still being around because that's special. That's a special kind of delusion right there. But, Luke, I thought the odds would change dramatically after what we saw, especially with that Brett interview. It didn't. Right now we stand at DraftKings plus 135 Diaz as your underdog, minus 155 Lawler as your favorite.

It was basically a pick-em, I think, just three days ago. So, yeah. They've got Nick as the underdog. I guess I've got to tell you, I don't know why, but that is a little surprising. That's kind of funny. I think more importantly than that, Luke, our fans, at least, are wanting to see if the resume review can extend to 8-0. We just put it out there in the world.

It's up to the, you know. Just to stick it to these jabronis, I hope it goes zero and then 100, motherfucker. I hope we don't get a single one of these correct, just so everyone can stop, or actually can keep, rather, shitting their pants every time. I love seeing all of the wet diapers. I hope that, I'm wondering, you know what I'm more importantly wondering? How high does this streak have to go before you look in the microphone and go, folks, you were right, I was wrong. The streak is 100%.

Well, there's no such thing as curses. And as I've said before, you could watch the Boston Red Sox from 1918 up until, what, 2004, not make a World Series, or rather not win a World Series. And everyone was certain there was a curse. Dude, you're talking to a Washington, D.C. sports fan. I have lived through decades of abject misery. And then they come to a close and you realize there is no curse it is just the poverty of your own imagination bingo but but while i actually

think nick will probably win who knows i don't know what happened if he loses i am going to take some delight in the sadness that it causes the people who think that life operates by podcast jinxes. I hope it really makes their butt itch for a week. Didn't you tell me after you stood next to Oscar Willis at that urinal in Cleveland that you do believe in some curses? No, I don't believe in any of them. Oh, all right.

Great no-sell there. By the way, Oscar Willis plays a key role in documentary number five, Luke, which has been Morning combat documentary number five. It's been pushed off until next week, but we're very close. Luke, did you see the rough draft yet? I saw it. You know what? In defense of BC, because BC makes a lot of promises about when stuff's coming

and it never happens. But in defense of Brian Campbell, I personally have also seen the rough draft of cut five, and it is, I'll say this, it's a lot better. It's not St. Anger. It's a lot better it's not saint anger it's a lot better than three three was saint anger this is more like snm three was like yeah it's like you know we we've done rock and roll now we want to try country or reggae this is the opposite look this is deep introspective this is like the elliot smith documentary of our five right i mean this is like this yeah this is this one we tried a little harder on yeah it's very melancholy there's there's a few

few bits of infinite sadness in there all right luke do you have a prediction either way for real here do you have a prediction on this point i think it'd be very foolish to make one if you want one for fun i'll go diaz i tend to think gun to the head maybe diaz gets it done but dude i'm banking on the fact that this guy's been in parties on snapchat for the last seven years and that will just go away so that's probably the dumbest fucking prediction I got Rob I don't know but I'll go Diaz for fun Robbie hasn't pulled the trigger a lot lately but I think he will in this fight I like him but Luke this card has plenty of good storylines and matchups underneath these top three fights. So let's get into that. As you look up and down this UFC 266 fight card, Luke, you love styles, how they clash, how they match. What do you think is the best actual matchup beyond these top three fights on this card?

Well, one thing we should point out that I didn't even realize, so shame on me, shame on all of us. This will be, I believe, I believe this is right. This will be the 49th pro fight for Roxanne Modaferri, which would give her the record for most pro fights for, I believe, either an active or even in general. Oh, wow. A female MMA fighter. That seems like a big deal, dude. Yeah, I mean, it's not Jeremy Horn or Dan Severn level of prolif

or Anthony Smith level of prolifery but it's up there Luke obviously everyone's going to be paying attention to the Dan Hooker hackperast fight because both guys have been traveling across earth quite literally on the short notice to make this fight by the way if they miss weight who gives a shit I mean really the effort that these two

have put in is just beyond commendable okay do you think wait quickly do you think forget John Nash do you think wait quickly do you think forget john nash do you think these guys will get a an off the books bonus for being this company positive i mean this is ballsy what they're doing i really hope i mean i really really hope that they take care of them because they're doing something dude can you imagine an a-list boxer ever doing this they would never do this and i'm not saying that because they don't have the same internal constitution they're just so powerful and in so much command of their own

affairs they never have to right no no so you asked the question triller triller might make teo fimo do this soon luke you never know where that soap opera is going but beyond that no by the way on our show he's like no fucking way i'm going to move it to the 16th he signed off on moving it to the 16th yeah they must have gave him they must have gave him a giant bag but they can't they didn't get the other guy to sign off look what i know now cambosis won't sign off on it it's fucking hilarious okay but the fight we mentioned on the roof was marlon morais taking on marab Davalashvili, which is just incredible. BC, I'm going to go for a bit of a deep cut, though, as there's many good ways you could go here.

Pay attention to Uros Medich taking on Jalen Turner. This is very much on the prelims. Medich is a guy who looked phenomenal on the Contender Series and made his UFC debut, and I think that's all he's had to this point. I believe that's right. Let me see here. No, he's had two fights. Excuse me. Winning both of them inside the first round against Alon Cruz and Mikey Gonzalez. Jalen Turner is a step up in a big way. So I want to see how he looks. Dude, his strikes landed per minute.

Ready for this, BC? 19.91. I've never, ever, ever seen that from anyone. Granted, it's just two fights. It's a small sample size. All I'm pointing out is blue chip prospect times 1,000. Pay attention to him. The damn tarantula.

That was Chuck. When you were in the bathroom, Luke, during our rooftop clip, that was the one on the undercard that Chuck had his eye on. If you're looking at DraftKings odds, minus 120 is your favorite. The tarantula plus 100. So great fight on paper right there. Can't wait to see it. Luke, I did want to get your opinion on this heavyweight clash that nobody's talking about

in the shadow of all these other celebrities. Curtis Blades fresh off that somewhat surprising KO loss that derailed yet another hopeful run at a heavyweight title shot. It's going to be in there against Jairzinho Rosenstruik, looking to package two wins in a row. As we look at the odds right now, Luke, they're pretty strong in Blades' favor. Minus 335, the favorite, plus 260 for Jairzinho.

Is this as simple as rinse, wash, repeat, take down, spin cycle, Curtis Blades by decision? Hard to see how he stands with him, right? I mean, maybe I'm missing something dude but I don't think so like Curtis Blades can stand for a little while if you look at his strikes of sword per minute 1.7 that's very low like they don't put a lot of hands on him obviously the one that knocked him out you only need the one right if they're that good okay but in general he doesn't take a lot of damage you know it's the it's just of really big, heavy strikers, Francis twice, and now Derek Lewis.

They give him some problems, obviously. He has a hard time, I think, going, not avoiding the big punch, but avoiding the big punch for as long as the distance calls for it. And by the distance, I mean the time on the clock. You know, but I think Rosenstreich's not quite, he's the better kickboxer than them, but I don't know if he's exactly the power puncher they are. He's accurate. He's's quick he's good but he's got a real problem i think with takedown defense this should be curtis blades's fight to win unless i'm missing something am i yeah it should be biggie boy stopped your guy augusto sakai in his last outing following the uh the loss to what in ghanu there when he stepped up so uh don't count out Blades making a run at the title, Luke.

I think he has the goods. No one really has this same package of wrestling, and I think his striking's better than you even articulated there. I mean, did you not remember him against JDS? And, you know, I would have liked him to have showcased his striking more against Volkov to prove he's on that level, but he tired himself out going for the takedown. I think Blades is still a little mistake

prone at the elite level and still hasn't fully put it together, but Luke, he's very, very good. This is a big showcase chance against a dangerous guy to remind us of that. In opening this pay-per-view card, an interesting fight at flyweight where Jessica Andrade's coming off of her second round stoppage against Valentina Shevchenko in the flyweight title bout. Facing a confident, maybe repackaged here, Cynthia Calvillo, Luke. Well, not really repackaged if she just lost to Shukagian in that last fight. But did you see the comments from Cynthia that she thinks she gets a title shot off of a potential win here, Luke? No one, again, really talking about this matchup when you consider andrage coming in as the minus 235 favorite plus 190 is calvillo an aggressive volume striker i'd like to see andrage go back to to be in the bully though here luke yeah and their mutual opponent

in chukagian one's got a win one's got a loss that's a funny comment from cynthia um she's very good um but and maybe they're desperate for, you know, fresh contenders, or fresh, I should say, title contenders, rather. So maybe she's right in that sense. There is a possibility. You know, women's flyweight, man, it's like Bellator over there. Like, it doesn't

take necessarily, like, a five-fight win streak to get a title shot. At the same time, though, well, you know what? I'll say this, dude. If she beats Andrade, can't you argue that that's her, by far, best win to date? Like, wouldn't that say enough? She did have the draw with Marina Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, excuse me. You know, she beat the Jessica Eyes, that level. Yeah, she would really need a bit. I mean, you got a big win here until Tatiana Suarez is ready. I don't know. Maybe Calvillo does sneak in there. The division is unpredictable there, Luke. A lot of people, a lot of parity below Valentina.

So it's, you know, anybody can get hot, which is, look, sorry. That's why Lauren Murphy's here right now, because she got hot at the right time five in a row. And by the way, Luke, if you're looking for the updated odds on your co-main, plus 850 Lauren Murphy, minus 1,500 Valentina. God, it's so, I hate it. Like, I can't even say that it's wrong, but it feels so disrespectful to her journey, you know? How could something so wrong feel so right is really what you were feeling right there.

Luke, you mentioned quickly how much we're excited about that preliminary card main event on ESPN in which the Bantamweights square off, and it's Davala Shilley as your favorite coming in against, obviously, a Marlon Marais at 33 who needs to do something big. He's lost three or four. The losses are against the super elites of Cejudo, Sanhagen, and getting stopped in the first round by Rob Font last time out. But I think that one was like, oh, shit, now he's getting stopped in the first round by Rob Font last time out, but I think that one was like, oh shit, now he's getting stopped in the first round. Luke, the win in that-

And he has shown cardio issues over the course of the fight when it goes later against a guy like Davalosvili, dude, that is a fucking death sentence. And the only win in that was the, a good performance against Jose Aldo. He got the close decision win. A lot of people thought Aldo could have or should have,

and he ended up getting the title shot off of that loss anyway. Luke, the theme of this fight is obviously if Marais still has it, it's time to pour it all out. Do you see desperation coming out of him? Do you see a resurgent type of performance, win or lose, that reminds us that he's not done? I mean, there's a lot of pressure on him coming in here as about a plus 230 underdog.

He's not just lost. He's been made to look like a lesser version of how we understood him for even years. Like, it's just like the guy who we thought existed just went away. And in part because people realize if you pressure him, Jesus Christ, they call on me, if you pressure him consistently and move him back, he becomes just a very different...

He gases. He can't get his offense going. It just... It really neuters him in a way. I don't know what quite the right word is. And a guy like Davalos Vili, he does leave plenty of openings for people to take advantage of,

and he lacks a certain amount of polish to his game in terms of refined offensive skills. But as we've discussed, we are talking about a guy who's got a motor that cannot quit. I've never seen someone who weaponizes cardio at the lower weight levels more than him. It is extraordinary what he's capable of and that will break just about even the best technician if you let it crazy that marais and that vacant

title fight against the hudo just two years ago i mean he looked great in that opening round and since then except for some some good performance against aldo at times he hasn't been the same luke his four fight win streak leading up that title title fight was what Dodson Sterling Jimmy Rivera Asuncao I mean Marais has beaten some top guys once he entered the UFC from that run long run as WSOF champion so I'm hoping Luke win or lose he he at least gets a good performance out of himself here and I want to see if if Davala Shelly is the real deal Luke anything else on this card uh you know because we because we're rededicating ourselves coming off of this trailer, Paul Summer, to really breaking shit down for our hardcores. Luke, are you excited about Amanda Bobby Cooper's baby data,

Cody Brundage, coming back against Diaz product Nick Maximoff? No, not super. Don't care too much about that, but we'll see. No, I mean, again, Shamil much about that, but we'll see. No, I mean, again, Shamil Abdur-Rakimov, Chris Dawkus is important for heavyweight division. Chris Dawkus puts out a high pace on people. By the way, Dan Hooker is at the weigh-ins, apparently,

in great spirits, so that's fun. We've gone through what I think are the more interesting pieces of this card, personally. Okay, Chris Dawkus can put his hands together, Luke. I know some people are like, could it get his chest muscles in better working order? But he can put his hands together, Luke. I know some people are like, could he get his chest muscles in better working order? But he can put his hands together, Luke, okay? People love to fat shame, but he can fight. They're the worst. Those people are the worst.

This guy will knock you out. That's why if anyone made those jokes on a rooftop video, I would have them edited out instantly, Luke. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I understand. All right, all right. Sorry I lost you there luke uh look that's not the big fights of this weekend ufc 266 is huge but luke a little bit around dinner time i believe 5 10 p.m eastern time on saturday is the scheduled main event time for a big deal in the boxing game

unified heavyweight champion anthony joshua just won defeat against Andy Ruiz, which is Avenged later that year. Steps into a mandatory contest, Luke. That's anything but your typical mandatory fight. We consider this and the trilogy fight between Wilder and Fury that's coming up in two weeks somewhat of an unofficial final four semifinals to get us to an undisputed championship. They hit the scales earlier today. This fight will take place in Great Britain at Tottenham Hot Spurs Stadium, whatever the hell, you know, your English soccer buddies. Tottenham?

Hamburg? Tottenham. You just roll right over it. Tottenham. Tottenham. Tottenham. Tottenham. Luke, you know I love me some Alexander Usyk, the 6'3 Southpaw,

former Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion, undefeated, fresh off last fall. A big heavyweight welcoming win against Derek Chisora to prove that he can compete on this level. This fight is huge in so many ways, and they came in on the scales. I believe it was 221.5 for Usyk, 240 for Anthony Joshua, which is actually 7 to 10 pounds lighter than we've seen AJ of late, whether that tells you anything. Luke, I could go on for days about how good this fight is,

but we've already done the storylines and what the winner gets and all that shit. The real question we need to answer is does zusek have the punch resistance and the power to pair with his already great footwork in in technical advantages here to really make this a fight and be a live dog at the end of the day what do you need to see let's say in the first six rounds of this fight that's going to show you which guys could be on the way to getting his hand raised i don't say, in the first six rounds of this fight, that's going to show you which guys could be on the way to getting his hand raised. I don't think the first six rounds are the ones I'm going to be paying the most attention to.

It's the last six. So, you know, you've been hyping this guy up for a long time. And so the last few nights, more than that, actually the last couple of weeks, but especially the last few nights, I've been watching fight after fight and breakdown after breakdown. I found a couple of really good pieces that explain what made him so good, but I can't go into it. I don't want to go into all the stories there in part because I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen with AJ, who is, to me, I think you put it correctly this week. He is vulnerable. We have seen that. We have seen him on the canvas, but at the same time, he is quite resilient and he is a fantastic boxer and

technician himself. We should never lose sight of that. And as you indicated, you can see it at the face-off. You know, there's a difference between full-on heavyweight Anthony Joshua and cruiserweight, you know, moonlighting as a heavyweight in Usyk. There is a big physical difference. Okay. Here is what I'm looking for. I think your most likely outcome is that Joshua wins. So if we're asking ourselves, okay, what are some conditions under which Usyk might be able to win? He ain't going to win this fight in the first six. I would be very, very surprised if he just comes out and he's so much better than

Joshua that Joshua's getting circles boxed around him. That seems off off to me what Usyk really does so very well dude his jab over time not any one round not any one individual use of it but over time this thing is extremely important when people talk about having an educated jab they're talking about Oleksandr Usyk he is able to probe with it he is able to set up other shots with it He is able to probe with it. He is able to set up other shots with it. He is able to back fighters up from it. He's able to blind and change angles from it. Really, that's what he does. And he does that as they get tired and as he's able to move around them more and more. What you have to ask yourself is under what conditions would Joshua be so confused where he's constantly, or at least tired slash confused, where he's

constantly having to bring his guard up and down and he's on the defense. That won't happen in the first six rounds. He's going to be pumping his jab. He's going to be using his movement. He's going to be the bigger guy. You're going to see Usyk on the one, really on that outside, trying to find his way in. I think it's the last six. And in particular, if it goes this long, the last four, where I do think even with that weight change, a guy like Joshua is going to

tire. He is going to find his back along the ropes. I really believe that to an extent. Here's what I ultimately believe, BC, in my heart of hearts. Here's what I believe. They're very different boxers in very different scenarios, and AJ will be a very different person on each night. But I think that Usyk is going to start a process that only Tyson Fury can finish. Yes. I don't think Usyk has quite what it takes, based on all the disadvantages and everything else, to get this done. But I do think he's going to show you in those last four or six rounds

certain openings, certain boxing clever tricks that a guy like fury is going to take that baton and run with it later i could be wrong who the fuck knows but that's how i'm viewing this i mean look the great breakdown of that and i think you're right i mean it may you know could he could this just be a blueprint that tyson fury takes upon and builds upon and uses utilizes if they get to the undisputed round, you know, maybe. But here's the deal. At its core, this fight is obviously boxer versus puncher, full heavyweight, super heavyweight in Joshua, who has speed to go with the power against a classic technician, a smaller man moving up. But Luke, there's so many, you know, I think their vulnerabilities

really play a key role. For Joshua, as you teased, it's the stamina dumps from carrying that big frame. I mean, there are, in his big fights, moments where he's got to cover up and take a breather, where he got dropped against Klitschko and had to get up from that. You know, this could be an opening where Usyk, who hits so accurately, if he could, the best chance he's going to have of making AJ's sometimes vulnerable chin be a problem is in the second half of the fight when these stamina dumps kick in. So how does he get to that stamina dump? I think Usyk has to do a lot of what he did against Derek Chisora in the only one of his two heavyweight bouts up to date

that matter. Now Usyk won a close decision in a hard, somewhat grinding fight. And Luke, what Usyk does is he fights in such a daring style for a guy that's not a big puncher. He did that cruiserweight. He does it at heavyweight where he stands in front of you and swivels a lot like Canelo to make you miss, but is constantly hitting you with volume and creative volume, sidearm sort of sweeping slaps, you know, uppercuts, body shots. The thing is, he did that effectively against Chisora, who's a big puncher for sure, but not the Anthony Joshua level of puncher, not a two-handed finisher like Joshua who can get you out of there.

So for Usyk to get to the point to expose AJ's vulnerabilities, dude, he's going to have to walk through some stuff. Because, Luke, I don't think he can, like you said, straight up come out there and just outdazzle him footwork-wise and be up five rounds to one at the midway point. Usyk's going to have to dare to be great and go close to that fire. And the good thing for him, if there's a wild card with Usyk that could help him

win you know I don't think it's just that he has incredible craft and from that Ukrainian system he's unpredictable and all that look he has championship medal both of these guys are Olympic gold medalist in 2012 Usyk at heavyweight AJ at super heavyweight but we can't overlook what Usyk did at cruiserweight. His resume of winning seven straight fights against elite fighters in that division, winning the World Boxing Series Super Series tournament title,

unifying all four titles, becoming the first to do it in that weight class. Look, what he did against elite competition was incredible because a lot of these guys, Murat Gassiev, Myrus Brightus, these are punchers. These are guys that can get you out of there, and he stood right in front of them and in a lot of cases took their best shots

and came back. He went in there against Tony Bellew and knocked him out and retired him. He has proven that on the big stage, he can rise to the occasion. So while, look, tell me the truth. You watched the Chisora fight, or at least the highlights of it, right?

Mm-hmm. I feel like people came out of that going, okay, Usyk proved. You watched the Chisora fight, or at least the highlights of it, right? Mm-hmm. I feel like people came out of that going, okay, Usyk proved by outpointing Chisora that he's big enough to win big heavyweight fights. But I don't think he proved enough that he could do it against the next level size and skilled guys like AJ. Would you agree that there were question marks based on that? 100%.

No doubt about it. I went back and re-watched that fight again this morning, Luke. Some of the question marks, though, I think are style-based, meaning this. Chisora's an old-school, you know, roughhouser. I think what Chisora did from the beginning very well was use his offhand to hold Usyk and go to the body and club to the side of the head and just make it a physical taxing fight, which really wore Usyk down to a degree, at least when he went to the body on him and kept it away from being a track meet. Usyk had to stand in the pocket. AJ's not that same fighter

on the inside. Is he more dangerous to knock you out? Yes. But AJ's not an inside fighter. He doesn't do a ton of leaning on you like Vladimir Klitschko did. He's an upright guy who looks to land the combination to get you out of there. Luke, I don't know if it's going to be as physically taxing for Usyk as that specific fight was in the Chisora one, even though AJ's the better performer here. Obviously, Usyk's going to have to not get knocked out in the first half but I think he may surprise AJ at his ability to land big shots in the pocket and not have to run for cover Luke it's gonna be a dance like we haven't seen before but if we get into round seven or eight like you mentioned and it's not completely one-sided in other direction on the scorecards

Usyk's gonna be in this fight in the second half. It's going to be a hell of an incredible theater. I can't go as far as picking Usyk to knock him out. AJ would really have to have an implosion here, Luke, like he had against Andy Ruiz. But the prospect of us exiting these 12 rounds tomorrow

with the idea that Usyk could head to the scorecards and win this are not out of the question. And I think when you look at the odds, which really has Usyk could head to the scorecards and win this, are not out of the question. And I think when you look at the odds, which really has Usyk as less than a 3-1 underdog here, they're pretty damn close, all things considering. I think the odds makers understand. This is, I won't call it the fight of AJ's life,

but this is a style that until he fights Fury, who's got a little bit of this, but on a 6'9 frame, this is going to be the toughest test in the classroom for AJ to pass. Now, Luke, this is boxing. So we get bullshit. Bullshit can be scorecards that are mailed in and paid for. Bullshit can also be sometimes Luke judges that are affected by being in a soccer stadium with, you know, 50 to 70,000 people and them cheering on AJ like he's a rock star hero, which is a thing. AJ's fights are events.

Bro, that matters. That sways judging. Do you have confidence, whether it's on the, you know, whether it's good faith or not, that AJ.J. can lose by decision here at home. It would take a lot. It would take a lot. I'm with you. I think that if it goes to the scorecards, it's probably a foregone conclusion.

Short of Anthony Joshua just getting mauled and dropped multiple times, and mathematically there's not even a way to do it. Short of that that if it goes to the judges scorecards Usyk is losing I don't I don't know what you can say otherwise I mean people don't understand this like the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board has experimented with having judges in soundproof uh rooms in those little booths to judge fights to see what that does and if there's any differences with the judges who are on the floor they didn't make any of those results available but i'd be curious to know what they found and in any case we just sort of know how boxing works you see the

one thing i would go back to with a chisora fight forget about the styles and everything else dude usic has now had a little bit more time to acclimate his body to heavyweight we saw john jones last night, and Jon Jones was saying he was at 255. He wants to wait until he's 270 so that he can have as many physical advantages as possible, plus retain his technique and speed and everything else. And he's got guys in his camp, Stan Efferdeen, the rhino. I respect Stan Efferdeen a lot, the inventor of the vertical diet. He's famous in the strength world, the whole other stuff. Dude, that guy knows what he's doing big time. Here's what I'm pointing out. Obviously, we saw the weights, 220, 221, whatever Usyk was. I don't know that he made a big change in that sense,

but in terms of filling out maybe a little bit more, understanding what happens to him when the fight goes a distance, 12 rounds at heavyweight, just feeling out that process, having that under his belt, I do think that will aid him at least a little bit a little bit this time out with Joshua I mean Usyk has enough size not to be at an extreme disadvantage against the super heavyweights but maybe not enough to fully pull off his his craft work we're gonna find out I hate that I'm gonna make this prediction because I made it a lot sometimes in these big Canelo fights where you're like I I really like the guy Canelo's facing, Danny Jacobs, you know, Golovkin. But here's what I think is going to happen.

It's similar to the predictions I made in a lot of those fights, Luke. I think I'm going to exit this fight having scored it for Usyk, 7-5 or 8-4, and I still think he's going to lose a close decision because unless he can hurt or knock down AJ, it may be hard. And especially, you also have to consider, Usyk may get dropped himself in trying to execute this. So that, although a knockdown means one point, Luke, sometimes that can lead to a stretch for a judge or someone watching at home of thinking a fight is more dominant in one direction than it actually is. Either way, here's the deal. Usyk's a live dog.

I'm picking him to win a close decision here, Luke. I believe he can do it. I believe he's the better boxer. I believe he's daring enough to be great enough to pull this off. But there's a line that you come to in terms of greatness when you dare that you may end up on the canvas if you're daring too much against a finisher like AJ. So if AJ is the real and he's going to beat

the Wilders and Furies, Luke, when we finally get there, then he's got to beat Alexander Usyk and he's got to leave no doubt here. I'm not as confident in you about his chances, but I think he's going to show us something here that is going to be, it's not like Andy Reid, or Andy

Reid, Andy Ruiz. They look similar looks similar i suppose in certain ways uh it's not like andy ruiz who you felt like i don't know lucky is a strong word the first time out but you know could that be reproducible is really the issue could you do that a second time and i know that obviously ruiz sabotaged himself for the second time, but I'm pointing out the boxing things that he did. I don't know if Usyk's going to get the job done, BC, but my prediction is that the boxing things that he shows, someone else will be able to do that as well.

This fight will be carried by DAZN in the States. They're saying around 5-10 Eastern, the main event. Luke, I'll be doing an instant analysis for morning combat after this event. You'll be doing the same for UFC 266, correct? Correct. All right, good shit right there. Luke, let's close with a couple quick hitters. You mentioned that Jon Jones appeared at the UFC Hall of Fame red carpet last night,

and he was jacked and telling multiple reporters that he's, what, 255 now? He wants to get up to 270 so he can cut down those last five pounds to make heavyweight. So here's the interesting thing. He said he expects to be second quarter of 2022 making his heavyweight debut. He would prefer it comes against the winner of Nganou and Cyril Ghosn.

He only wants to get paid big and be in big fights. Luke, we already knew that coming in. He said Dana promised him a bump in pay from what he was making last time out so we'll see if hiring Richard Schaefer the boxing promoter as his advisor will help that but the key pickup is what we said Jon Jones specifically said I don't want to be the smaller man in any of these heavyweight fights so I want to come in the guy who's in better shape who's better fit and who is just as big Luke by the time he gets in here it will have been what almost two years correct in terms of

rebuilding his body for this heavyweight move is this the smartest possible way for John Jones to have anything close to the success he had a light heavyweight in a second division well I'll say this I think if you're going to go up as heavy as he wants to go up doing it the way that he's doing is probably the best way as I mentioned the guys he's got in this camp getting him ready for this um Stan Efferty and chief among them you know I'm gonna say just nothing but good things about them these are not chumps these are not charlatans these people know what they're doing. At the same time, am I really to believe that that Jon Jones, with all that time off, with all that change to his physical stature,

is going to be a better version? I'm very skeptical of that. Or even the right kind of version of himself for 200 and, well, potentially 65 pounds if he has an opponent that size. I guess we'll have to see how big Gon or whoever gets. No, I don't. I don't think that that's actually going to be to the best of his chances. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean he will win or lose.

I don't know exactly how that will all play itself out here. But I believe that Jon's strengths personally lie in, I think there's a case to be made for going 240-ish or something like that. But just trying to be the bigger guy every time, if you're not the bigger guy every time, you're not sort of fighting, I mean, what is natural? That's sort of an overstated

word. But to the extent you pack on muscle in that way, I think it reduces some of the athletic gifts that come about more naturally for him. And I'm skeptical of it, to be quite frankly. That doesn't mean I know for... Oh, I'm declaring it will be a failure. No, I don't know that.

But am I telling... I've said this before, dude. This idea, everyone says, oh, well, John's just always been good. He's just always going to be good. Why? Why would that be the case? There's been time off.

He's transforming his body. That division's gotten a lot better. There's plenty of reasons to think that that won't be true. let's see it's you know the speed thing scares me remember when luke rockhold went up to face blah oh it's a 205 luke and he got his body jacked up and he looked great but you didn't see the same movements obviously it's a different fighter with different vulnerabilities but i think you're right i think the muscle is important for punch resistance against these bigger guys, for clinch work, for wrestling, all that stuff.

But if he doesn't have that same speed reaction ability, he's not going to be the same fighter there. So, hey, I'll tell you what, it makes his debut when it eventually happens all the more interesting. Quick hitters. We should do a resume review on that. On what? On John's return after he is gone for so long

and then comes back at heavyweight. Yeah, that'll be sweet revenge for 2014, Luke, although that's not what you're after. Or 2017, sorry. Luke, Misha Tate has COVID and has pulled out of her, what, October 16th UFC fight night return. She was going to be in the main event. You were going to have Holly Holm in the co-main

against Norma Dumont. The idea that the winners would face one another. Who was Tate's original opponent, Luke? I don't have it in front of me. It wasn't at home? No. They were going to fight main and co-main. Anyway, it's not going to happen, so we delay the Tate comeback. Just put her in there against Holm.

That's the fight we want to see anyway. I was just thinking out loud what I wanted to see, not what actually was happening. Luke, Tyron Woodley told Ariel Hawane that he actually is going to get the Jake Paul tattoo and he's going to get it this weekend. Hey Luke, I'll take this one.

You're not getting the rematch, bro. Enough with this tattoo bullshit. You don't need to prove anything to anyone. You went in there and you tried hard. You didn't pull the trigger enough don't embarrass yourself with a jake paul tap for life you're not in the sweepstakes for another fight look am i wrong like i don't understand this at all it's like you had maybe that was bullshit too but at least it seemed like if you got the tattoo you could maybe buy yourself an entry into the second fight. Quite clearly, there's no demand for a rematch whatsoever.

Not that I've seen. There is some for Dylan Danis, but he's doing what the fuck he's doing. So Tommy Fury appears to be the, by far, likeliest candidate. Why would you get the tattoo now when it doesn't serve any of those other interests? And if you're doing it to try to gain favor, then it's kind of acting like a biatch, Luke. It is. It is. I don't like it at all.

Be better than that. By the way, Misha Tate, before I get dead wrong a million times, was supposed to be fighting Ketlin Vieira. Thank you. Thank you very much for that one, Luke. Speaking of Jake Paul, he put out an, I thought, incredible video on Wednesday roasting Tommy Fury for not accepting the offers,

which he claims is four times the amount of Tommy Fury's highest paid day, which came, according to Paul, on that undercard in Cleveland just a little while back. Luke, Jake Paul gave him one final chance to accept.

You an admirer of his troll game here on this video? Because it was next level. People were telling me, I was like, this is impressive. And people were like, why is it impressive? I'm like, you people have not talked to many fighters before, have you? For a fighter to assert A-level, A-side status so expertly while using metrics uh and then the fighters own words against them i've never seen a fighter ever do that ever ever they make vague references to things he had detailed receipts luke detailed receipts put it together in like a very quick

package understands how the stuff should be played made a joke about Dylan Dennis's expense made Tommy Fury seem on the one level wanted but also you know you're not that wanted guy um and then to do it so quickly so expertly like that I'm like dude how this is you you wish fighters could do this this is really what Jake Paul does when it comes time to fight it's like whatever man like he's not that great obviously he's not good at all really but on this side of it the promotional side of it dude he's kicking the fighters asses when it comes to this they don't have any concept of how to deal with it look i'm being told we have the video for people wondering what we're

talking about let's go to the videotape yes all right so this is the last time i'm speaking about this guy if we don't end up fighting because i'm starting to get pissed off tell me furious about the fumble the biggest bag of his life tell me i made you famous i gave you the biggest payday of your life you came to the u.s got your u.s debut for your dream to come true i gave you a chance to shine in front of the whole entire world and now i'm offering to quadruple the biggest payday of your life that i gave you to fight me for everyone home, this is what happens when you give someone clout, when you give them an ego. They start to think they're better than they actually are. I have dozens of other fighters calling me out every single week, Tommy. You're replaceable. It's the same thing

that I told Dylan Danis in our DMs. I told Dylan there's definitely potential to negotiate up to $1 million and if I have to take some of my own purse to get this done, I will. I told Dylan there is definitely potential negotiate up to 1 million dollars And if I have to take some of my own purse to get this done, I will I told Dylan I personally want to fight you the most but a if you don't take it right now the odds of us fighting in the future Are very slim and B obviously this is the biggest fight you will most likely ever see and see we have other offers out there So you need to make a decision less than 72 hours Dylan fumbled his bag He didn't want to fight and guess what I am never going to fight Dylan Dennis ever He missed the biggest opportunity of his life He thought I was joking around and now Dylan Dennis is in jail Tommy

Do you want to end up in jail take the fight Tommy? You're too busy taking Molly instead of taking fights I told Dylan Dennis you're replaceable as fuck and you have to accept that let's just take a look of the Google trends over the Past 12 months. I'm in the blue Tommy's's in the red. Only time Tommy spikes is when I talk about him. Tommy, no one gives a fuck about you. It wasn't for your older brother, who I respect, or your catfish girlfriend. We all made you famous. You didn't make yourself famous. Let's see what the people have to say. Timmy about to fumble the biggest bag of his career. How are you going to talk all that shit and then back out? LMAO, Tommy is really scared to fight Jake. KSI and Tommy both scared. There must be some UK shit going on.

Y'all are bitch made. Jake doesn't even need this fight, to be honest. He can fight if he wanted to fight someone better. My opponent busy beating his chest in the club. They're all dodging the goat Jake Paul. Tommy, it's like Eminem said, you only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime.

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Terms and conditions apply. Dude, that is, I mean, that's a slam dunk if ever there was one. Bro, we're not asking people to like him because we cash Showtime checks. We're asking people to just look at that and say, like, he's using his content creator skills. Like, love him or hate him, Lukeke he's a success for a reason that's a detailed like like them i mean he dropped bars on those guys luke dude he did that in what a minute and a half or however long that is two minutes or less and in that time he made i mean this is what he does right and people are going to get mad when i make this comparison but i'm i'm right on this one again dude jake paul we've said it before for

a celebrity he can box for a boxer he's a celebrity like that's really just the reality of it okay he's probably all only ever going to be that but here's why that was so good yes he took shots at everyone and he made Dylan Dennis look so bad and he goes after uh uh Tyson or excuse me Tommy Fury's girl but that that's not the point the point is here's what he does to his rivals. He makes them be just wanted enough to be interesting, only relative to his interests and tries to make the world believe in his opponents, believe quite successfully in many cases that without him, uh, you don't really have any other path to achieve a similar end. You are at once, you need

me, and at the same time, I'm going to beat your ass so you are cursed by me. So no matter what they choose, they either take the big fight with the big money and get their ass whipped, or they don't, and then they get forgotten about. That's the kind of message, and frankly, the kind of argument he makes, which in many ways carries truth. Dude, the last guy to really kind of do that in very different ways, obviously. Conor McGregor did shit like that, where you knew you needed him, and if you didn't accept it on his terms, you might just be

irrelevant in the end. You need to get into the red panty night while the getting was good. Now, obviously, Conor McGregor's an A-list level fighter, and Jake Paul is a content creator. They're not the same in that way, and they have their own methods. But, dude, that's a fucking slam dunk of a call-out if ever there was one. Yeah, I mean, Tommy, you don't want to be in jail, do you?

That popped me. Speaking of jail, he mentioned Dylan Danis and ripped on him. Luke, Danis arrested on the Jersey Shore in a bar following disorderly conduct, and the video is making the rounds that the submission grappling expert was essentially choked out by a police officer. Luke, like, everyone's clowning this. And, you know, Danis is such a troll that, you know, people are having their day laughing at him.

And I'm not saying don't do that. But this was kind of more sad to me than it was let me laugh at this, Luke. Yeah, that's sad. do that but this was kind of more sad to me than it was let me laugh at this luke um a guy who like i i think he's done a great job making himself important despite not winning big fights it's like get in the cage and win big fights to continue that or is this really all you are it felt sad to me luke so so what's funny about this is one of my friends who doesn't care about combat sports at all follows dylan on instagram because i I guess Dylan is sort of troll-y and kind of funny there.

I don't follow him, so I can't say for sure. But a bunch of us are on a WhatsApp group, and one of the other guys who doesn't watch any combat sports goes, who is Dylan Danis? And my friend who follows just him but doesn't really watch replied before I could,

and his answer was conor mcgregor's flunky dude that's what he's becoming known as i mean that's what that's not even me saying it that's not me endorsing it that's me just telling you what do casuals who have a sort of a you know a basic sense of what's happening here how do they talk about you what do they say about you that's what they're saying about him dude it gets much worse this. I don't know if you followed the story. So his chief rival for a time, now they're not in any way rivals because one has just ascended to the top and one hasn't in jujitsu. Gordon Ryan posted this video again and asked if anyone knew the bouncer. Well, guess who knew the bouncer or at a bare minimum tagged him in the comments of this Gordon Ryan

post none other than Al Iaquinta Al Iaquinta knew who the bouncer was tagged his Instagram handle on there and now Gordon Ryan is going to send that guy the bouncer who choked him out who by the way had his ankles crossed when he had the back which you're never supposed to do and Dylan didn't do anything about it now Gordon Ryan is going to send that guy to the abcc finals when gordon ryan returns to competition and whenever the fuck that will be it's it the story is unbelievable people have been waiting they have been waiting to i mean it is et tu brute season up in here they have been waiting to drive the knife in his back, and did he ever deliver that up for them in the easiest of ways? Let me dead-wrong myself.

Not a police officer, as you mentioned. Security guard there at the bar. Yeah, so the only way Dennis can repair himself, by the way, is get in the fight, get into fights, and back up your trash talk by winning. He's with Bellator. I thought he looked good in that, what, two fights? Have we seen him in Luke? Against low-level? Yeah, and also it's like, you know he's with bellator i thought he looked good in that what one two fights have we seen him in luke on against low and also it's like you know it's one thing like

conor mcgregor has more to lose if he gets into a fight at a club or a bar or something because he's conor mcgregor but at the same time like people are going to test him in ways that they're not going to test others dude dylan dennis is not famous enough to be like excusably fighting in bars now of course we need to wait for the full story here. Maybe somebody attacked him and this is defense and who the fuck knows. Probably not is the end of the story there. I will have to see. But like you're you cannot be doing shit like this.

Like, why are you getting arrested on Instagram and fucking bars? Well, you're like at least at least Mike Perry and Joe Schilling won their bar fights, right? Don't go down the BJ Penn road, okay? Please. When you're getting knocked out outside the lava shack, yeah, it's not great, man. To close our quick hit not-so-quick hitters, Luke, Dana White told Robert Fox of Barstool

that Jorge Masvidal and Leon Edwards is the plan. That is the next fight. No date or location or anything, Luke. Does that seem like a good call? And does that tell you that Nate and Conor are on a collision course for number three once Conor heals up early next year? Seems that way. Leon Edwards is a tough fight for Jorge.

But at the same time, I think Jorge, that's a very winnable fight for him. I would favor Edwards. But I don't know. I think Jorge could make that interesting. It's funny as both guys were like but i don't know like i think jorge could make that interesting i i it's funny as both guys were like i don't give a fuck about that fight i've moved past it fuck that pussy ass blah blah blah and then a week later like dan is like yeah that's the fight we're making that just shows you all these guys are like i keep saying i mean all these guys like i'm gonna i'm gonna make a stand for fighter pay if you're doing it alone you're

doing nothing other than just saying things on social media so yeah funny well luke rockhold told ariel he thinks uh you know usman in in adesanya should have had in ghanu's back informed a triumvirate of that of african champions fighting against the machine to change fighter pay luke i know it's a little nation of domination what about an interesting faction at the very least, Luke. We may be dead wrong for most of the things we say, Luke, because they allow us to yell into a microphone for so many hours per week. And look, I was wrong, Luke, on interrupting you so much on Monday's MK show on interrupting you so much on the rooftop shit diary show. You know, I'll change. change look i can be better but luckily our fans have an email address morning combat at gmail.com every week to hit us up with our own

dead wrongs yeah well the good news is we were so hung over on wednesday you just didn't have the energy to interrupt me it was great yeah lu I mean, that's more to come on that. All right, dead wrong number one. You better bring receipts, folks, if you want to wrong us out here. This one's from Chris. When Luke was discussing the lyrics that impacted him, he said the song Would by Alice. The lyrics?

Yeah, discussing lyrics that impacted you. Oh, lyrics. What did I say? You said lyrics, like L-A-R-X. Larynx? Yeah, apparently because of my factory town upbringing, my wife makes fun of the way I pronounce things, Luke. I have a problem saying, is it ear here or air hair?

Ear hair. Is it fader-bader or fader-bader? I can't figure this stuff out. Anyway, Luke, Chris says, Luke said Wood by Alice in Chains was written by Lane's Addiction. In fact, I guess you were referencing the late lead singer, Lane Staley. In fact, it was written by Jerry Cantrell, the lead guitarist, and is about Andrew Wood, the lead singer of Mother Love Bone.

Still love you guys, but Luke is dead wrong. People say that shit, but did he cite anything? Did he bring a citation around? You're like, I saw Building 7 fall, but until you can show me the architectural, scientific reasoning of how it did,

I will not believe in your conspiracy. Well, I believe that it fell. Alright, at least you believe that. Alright, you're like, yo bro, show me a receipt. Okay, Luke, that's fine. Let's keep it going. Michael, Blake, and Deacon all wrote in on this one. On the Friday, September 17th show, Luke

fucked up, as he tends to do. He said Zhang Weili never had a title defense when she, in fact, defended her title against Ioana in the 2020 fight of the year after beating Jessica Andrade to win the title. How the fuck does Luke forget about the Ioana title defense? Sounds like he needs to go the way of Benavidez and Condit. Just kidding.

LOL. That's fair. After a botch that bad? Yeah, that's fair. All right, I'll take that L. Please put some respect on JJ Champion's's name there please sorry sorry i don't know what you know what happens on this show and i don't like it people keep sending me pictures of you wanna and my my ig dms guys i already follow her okay i've seen these all right thank you very much

they're fire all right i've been there all right luke um in episode 204 this is christian caesar writing in at 110 37 luke says wow luke's getting hammered here luke says did pacquiao and marquez need to fight five times but as far as i can tell they only fought four times i'm not a boxing fan so maybe the wikipedia page is wrong but i think they only fought four times p.'m not a boxing fan, so maybe the Wikipedia page is wrong, but I think they only fought four times. P.S. Anthony Smith is must-watch. BC is dead wrong about that. Yeah, Luke, I didn't dead wrong you about the Pac Marquez

because they fought so many times. You're like, yo, do they have to fight five times? I've invented a fifth fight. That's fine. That's fine. They fought a ton, alright? Luke, apparently Anthony Smith is must-watch. What do I know? Alright? Jack shit. Alright. This is from They fought a ton, all right? Luke, apparently Anthony Smith is must-watch. What do I know, all right? Jack shit.

All right. This is from Sotak, Alex, another Alex, Emilian, and Petrit. Wow, people are ganging up on us. Hey, guys, I left this in the YouTube comments, but in today's Monday episode, Luke says at 49 minutes, from Cisinau, Romania, which is correct. Moldova. It's incorrect because Cisinau is in Moldova, not Romania. I would know because I happen to be from.

That part I must have misheard you because I did know that Cisinau was in Moldova. I thought we were talking about Moldovan fighters, and I was bringing up Maria Shafir, and then the guy from 90 Day Fiance now was in Moldova. I thought we were talking about Moldovan fighters, and I was bringing up Maria Shafir, and then the guy from 90 Day Fiancé is also from Moldova. Yeah, so take that. I'm not sure how Romania got involved, but for sure. I may have said it wrong, in which case I'll eat the L.

That's fine. But just to clarify, that's why I brought that up. All right, we got more Ls for Luke to eat here. This is from Dave, Mark, and Vu, V-U. On episode 205 during Have You Seen the Shit, Luke said that the Leicester versus Napoli game was Champions League. This, of course, is dead wrong because it was Europa League. Europa League.

Yes, I forgot the teams are so shitty. My bad. Look, get your shit together. It looks like, no, I think it's Bundesliga. I mean, it's like, for folks who don't know, this is like I said they were in the NCAA tournament, and they're like, no, they're in the NIT. I mean, you're right.

It's different. Okay. This one's for BC. Travis comes in at 129 during the Have You Seen the Schick segment of episode 266. Brian says the crowd fight for college football was during the West Virginia versus Virginia football game. It was actually West Virginia versus Virginia football game. It was actually West Virginia versus Virginia tech and a long overdue continuation of the battle for the black diamond trophy rivalry between the

same two teams. Yeah. Luke, apparently I was dead wrong. All right. I stopped watching college football. What city in Virginia is Virginia tech in Blacksburg? What about UVA?

Richmond? No. Charlottesville. Charlottesville Charlottesville okay okay all right I like the state of Virginia by the way Luke I would live there I would live in Virginia no Virginia is nice you'd like Virginia would you say it's got southern weather and northern ideals and New England like nature you see people say that but I mean Virginia is not what people think it is like northern Virginia is got you know sort of city slicker mentality kind of thing. Bro, you go to like Roanoke or Blacksburg or south of Richmond or whatever, and that's fucking red state America. You actually can get both depending on where you want to go. It really is a lot of variety for a lot of different kinds of people.

Okay. All right. Anyone we know live in Virginia in the MMA game or are you alone? Dan Stupp lives in Virginia. Yes. Okay. Did you know that? You don't technically live in Virginia, but you're more Virginia than you are Maryland, right? More or less? Yeah. I mean, I went to, I grew up, I went to, I lived in Falls Church when I was a kid and my parents got divorced when I first moved out of DC and then I went to college obviously in Virginia. So yeah, I'm a little more Virginia than Maryland.

Okay, all right. Wow, we got a lot of dead wrongs here. This is from Joshua. In the Nick Diaz resume review, right after discussing Diaz-Penn at one hour and six minutes, BC asks Luke, when did Diaz not show up to the press conference and lose his title shot altogether?

Was it before or after the BJ fight? Yeah, but hold on. We didn't know after the BJ fight? Yeah, but hold on. We didn't know off the top of our heads, right? Yeah. Luke says it was after this fight, and Luke is dead wrong. I didn't know. I didn't know. The whole reason Nick fought BJ at 137 to begin with

was because he was meant to face GSP in his promotional return for the welterweight title. However, he had no-showed the conference and fought his return fight against... Yeah, you got what I'm talking about. Yeah, I didn't know. Again, a couple of these I got totally wrong. A couple of these I was just guessing. I didn't know.

I did not know that one. I mean, I remember when it happened, but I can't piece it all back together. I was also wrong for saying that when GSP became healthy, that's when Diaz skipped the conference. So altogether, we were dead wrong, Luke, okay? Okay, fair enough. That's fine, that's fine. All right, we got one more.

On episode 206, Mike writes in and says, BC said George W. Bush threw out the first pitch at Shea Stadium in the first game after 9-11. Oh, it was Yankee Stadium, wasn't it? When in fact fact BC was referencing game three of the World Series that same year at Yankee Stadium when George Bush came out in the bulletproof vest and the big plumpy jacket and threw the strike in there yeah you're right I'm dead wrong on that I was linking that with the Mike Piazza home run game in the first game at Shea after 9-11 when this was the

World Series by the way Luke 2001 was an incredible World Series with dramatic twists and turns I was in bars I think for every game and specifically those two Yankee comebacks at home like people were so looking to cheer for something that there was a next-level element of America just won, even though I hate the Yankees. I couldn't give a crap about the Diamondbacks. But everybody sort of got together like, yeah, this one's for us. What do we win? We don't win anything.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't really remember that World Series all that much. Are you kidding me, Luke? Are you kidding me are you kidding me oh no i was but i was living in new york city when god what game was that where aaron boone hit that late home run that was uh the 2003 game seven of the alcs red socks at yankees when they pulled it sent it sent the yankees to the world series correct they should have pulled pedro right and the yankees so they i remember

my friend was living at 12th and 3rd at that time, which for folks who know, it's like between St. Mark's Place and Union Square. And dude, all 3rd Avenue were people standing up on top of their cars, honking the horn, no traffic moving. Manhattan was like fucking jubilant that moment. I was in a very dimly lit bar on that Aaron Boone home run night. I lost so much money on betting against the Yankees that year in the playoffs. I was at the bottom of my life.

And I remember when Boone hit that home run, Yankees and Red Sox fans instantly started fist fighting. It was like, look, there was so much tension in the bar. You know what I mean? Yes, there was. There was a shitload of tension. That's true. All right.

Well, you know where there's no tension at all it's our final segment every friday luke where we give a suggestion a tip of the cap a little bit of a you know tip your waitresses if you can if you can get that close to her a little bit of a tip to tip luke hit that tip about to give you my tip batch luke do you want to go first or second here to give you my tip, bitch. Luke, do you want to go first or second here? I can go first if you like. Okay.

First, if you're 42 and pathetic, you should stop drinking. I had a long look in the mirror and I was like, wow, you're an unbelievable piece of shit person. You need to get your fucking life together. And God, you're pathetic. So there's one piece of advice. Now, more practical advice.

I will say, BC, that someone recommended this to me. And I was like, let's see how good this is. It was cheap to buy. It was like $10 for a bunch of these. So I bought them. And they have been tremendous. If you might be noticing, BC, I don't really push my glasses up too much anymore, because I don't need to, because someone

recommended to me Smart Top eyeglass holders, wherever the fuck, I don't know if you can read that label or not, let's see, can you? Pull it back a little bit, maybe, let's see, pull it, yeah, Smart Top, you can kind of see it right there at the top of the logo. What is it? Well, I'll show you. They sit on the back of your glasses. You see that? These little hooks right here? And so they hook around the back of your ear so your glasses don't keep going and falling down. You put them on just like so. Mine are clear. No one can see them. They tuck behind the ear and they work amazingly now i don't have to constantly adjust my glasses so between realizing that i'm an unbelievable

washed piece of trash and getting things that fix my glasses i'm feeling you know a little more in with reality i can't wait till you're completely an old piece of shit and you go to the grocery store and buy one of those eyeglass repair kits that they have in like next to the gum and line at the register and you know look like while that's like you need that we see you you know 30 times a show i i don't have glasses here doing your constant adjusting um but that makes you look like an old piece of shit i'm not gonna lie to you luke you know can i just tell you one thing that i've realized over time about myself yes yes i used to look at people who had allergies and i'd be like damn look at that piece of shit with them inferior ass genetics hope he doesn't breathe thinking that i was

superior or like i had 20 20 vision god damn look at my brilliant eyesight and then you know i used to be able to party with the best of them now i'm 42 and throwing up in sinks at work yeah you know after after four appletinis i mean you know basically i've been kenny powers my whole fucking life i'm fucking in you're fucking out no one knows shit except me and i've been wrong about basically everything my entire life it's a sobering moment dead wrong in fact i mean luke you know i wish i could make fun of you throwing up in that sink but we saw what happened in the mexican restaurant later luckily you didn't see it because that was disgusting and then also uh you know all of our listeners were like hey love having chuck back but can we kill bc can we kill him because i can't

i can't be white girl drunk with that with that kid anymore and you know luke you can only read so many of those comments where you're like, you know, did I need to drink that aggressively during that show, Luke? Did I? Well, I drank too aggressively as well. By the way, a bit of a breaking news here. Nasrak Hackperast and Dan Hooker,

if you can believe it, made weight. Is that not just stupid? Unbelievable. Remember that time Chris Lieben fought twice in like two days? Remember? And he made weight for both. And it was just sort of like he just fought a war with Sexy Yama, and then he was back the next week, Luke.

Yeah, it reminds me of that in a way. It's like you don't need to do this. Nick Diaz, by the way, he just made weight 51 seconds ago, 185.5. All right, all right. Luke, my tip surrounds, first of all, the fact that we have the best fans in the world.

You already know this, but look, there's a wrong rumor that all of our fans are your old MMA fans from your personal channel. Luke, I brought some of that shit with me over here. That's true.

Luke, I've done a few things before I met your old ass, okay? I know, I know. I've never said that. I think you do bring a unique audience. One of my favorite listeners, going back to my boxing podcast days

with Rafe Partholomew up and down, is a fella from North Kakalaki named Enoch Marchant, the co-owner, Luke, of the Nice Price Books and Records Store in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Hillsborough Street. They got a nice tote bag they sent me right across from NC State University.

You want some good vinyl shit, go to Nice Price. Luke, I love my guy Enoch so much. What he'll do, which is awesome, every once in a while he'll, what do you call that in a museum? He'll curate, Luke, some vinyl for me that he knows I'll like based on things I say on the show. It'll shoot me out of package, Luke. So I just got a package in the mail the other day. I got this new, this Fela Kuti record

from 1970. I'm so fired up. I mean, I got my own copy finally of Harvest. I mean, look, I'm fantastic right here. But Luke, our fans, meaning my fans, are so good that they're even thinking about you, Luke. Enoch is such a man. He goes, I know Luke isn't into vinyl, but should he decide this quarantine like you, BC, to start his own vinyl collection, I've got the perfect one you can give him. So, Luke, my tip to you is I have the perfect record for you to start your vinyl addiction.

It's called Latin Booty Party Jams, Luke, okay? Right here. And I put it on, Luke, and I got to be honest, it makes me want to bang, okay? There are some killer, some killer tracks on here. So Enoch gets us, Luke. He realizes how much Shake a Little Something by 2 Live Crew would be up your avenue or

or Pabajal I want you to read a few of the song titles Mami El Negro Pop That C La Jora De Baler I Papi Mama Juanita Negra Chula

I don't know if I'm swearing here La Flocka No you're not Dude I'm telling you Here's what you don't understand. You would love Latin America for one reason. Dude, they don't, I don't know how to explain this. Like, if you're, like, kind of chubby, everyone will just call you, like, Gordito. Or if you're obviously black, they'll be like, oh, hey, what's up, black friend?

Like, every time they see them. You know what I mean? Like, hey, you know, amigo negro. Like, they'll just do it constantly. Likequito gordito whatever like they just however you look that's they will just refer to you for that for the rest of your life here in america you know we try to be like oh we're gonna look at the person as a whole man fuck all that bullshit down there your appearance is how you are defined luke you've got a friend in north carolina at nice price books and records so uh i'm i'm excited that you can start your collection luke

with this fantastic record i promise i won't listen to it too much i'll keep those grooves tight for you luke i mean it's gonna be fun explaining to my wife why you recommended latin booty party jams is a thing that i would enjoy i I bet you she'd love that record, Luke, okay? If you know what, I'm going to play you something next time I see you. You ever heard merengue hip-hop? No. It's different. Is this like reggaetron or some shit, Luke? You mean reggaeton?

Reggaeton? No, it's different. Merengue is like the fast-paced one. It's a really high-intensity one. Salsa's a little bit more medium-paced. There you go. Hi, Poppy. Hey, that's our show for today.

So here's what I want you to do. Go bet on motherfucking DraftKings. Yeah, probably about time you put a little cash down. We just told you who to pick and why. We told you why Robbie Lawler will keep the curse alive on Saturday. So why don't you download the DraftKings sportsbook. Why don't you take a flyer on Brian Ortega right along with your boy BC

and really see if that BDE is for real. If you put $1 down this weekend on any UFC 266 fight and you use our promo code, which is the most important part, it's combat with a K. The folks at DraftKings for new customers will give you $150 in bets.

Guys, I mean, why not? Oh, you like Volkanovski because you watch the show from down under? Oh, you like Casper and Dennis and all this? Okay, why don't you put that $150 right on Volkanovski to win by decision? Because he's a points fighter, bro, okay? Why don't you do that? DraftKings got your back on that, okay? God damn it. Yeah, the rules apply

if you're not in one of those states that does that. Why don't you play their daily fantasy games and try to win $1 million, okay? DraftKings has your back. DKMK, we put it all in one cup. You know the next word. Thank you very much. Alright, Luke, our merch, it's flying. I hear from RJ Grundlemaker that this Factory Town bullshit is flying, Luke.

So this is a new one that people will see in the next week. But for right now, for the next hour, in fact, you want MK merch? Why don't you get 10% off using our code FACTORYTOWN10. Tell them BC sent you, okay? Dress up in my guy Oteel Burbridge from Den Company, the fantastic bassist. Luke, he finally got his first merch in the mail. Can't wait to see him in that shit. You and I in the rainbow silhouette.

Not looking like a man love pancake at all, Luke. All right, so hopefully more of our people out there are getting outfitted in it. Luke, you got anything else to say? No, man. As you mentioned, though, the weekend coverage is not over. It started in Jersey, but it continues. You're going to be doing an instant reaction after Joshua fights Usyk, and then we're going to have a post-fight UFC 266 show as well.

Keep it locked on Morning Combat. Spread it around. Guys, if you like that stuff with Chuck or the Diaz resume review, whatever it is that you like outside of the show, send that shit to other people. Let people know because I gotta tell you, the Showtime folks, BC, true or false, the Showtime folks

took a look at some of the numbers on the Chuck video, took a look at some of the comments, and they said, you know, hey, is this something we should do as a franchise more regularly? They like that kind of thing. So if you want that kind of thing more there, you've got to do your part to not just consume it. Tell a friend. That's all we're asking.

Tell a friend. I promise I'll drink less in the future, but they want to make this a franchise thing ahead of the big fight. So I think, Luke, that first one, the future's not going to look a lot like it. I think we found some things we liked, some things we didn't, and I think we're going to make that a very special project moving forward. Because you know what, Luke? There ain't another show out there that'll give it to you like men do, that'll have real talk.

We don't just shoot in a bar. We vomit from alcohol poisoning on your behalf. That's different. I mean, Luke, I love Ariel. You think he's throwing up after his shows? No, no. Not from boozing, I can tell you that. All right.

Next week is Doc 5, Oscar Willis, Ariel Helwani, a lot of famous guests dropping in, the Jake Paul robots, so look for that. We'll have a teaser for you hopefully on Monday. Thank you, guys. Thank you, seriously. Luke and I hear the criticisms. We hear the love.

We hear the hate. We hear it all. We do this show for you, okay, also because they pay. Luke and I hear the criticisms. We hear the love. We hear the hate. We hear it all. We do this show for you, okay? Also because they pay us a lot of money to do it. I mean, look, we're really robbing them at this point. I mean, it's fantastic. It's great, right? You know, Luke's like, you know, my wife's thinking about getting, you know, we should get a yacht.

I'm like, man, that MK money is just so good. I got bills, bitch. I don't want to hear it. Yeah, yeah, it's great. Shout out to our fine team producing the ones and twos in the background. You know, Maniche, all them people. Sally, Gaff. Luke, you're a big fan of our new drug-dealing cameraman, Mark, too. Love that guy.

Love that guy, too. He definitely deals drugs. Yeah, good shit right there. Al Wendling, big fan. All right. That's it. I'm not going to talk anymore. Enjoy the fights this weekend.

We'll have you covered on the back end like we normally do. But signing off for now, may all of your holes stay filled. It's BC and LT, and we out.