MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 269 Recap | Oliveira-Poirier | Nunes-Pena | Lomachenko | Donaire | EP 240

Episode Date: December 13, 2021

On Episode 240 of Morning Kombat Luke and Brian are back to break down UFC 269. The guys start off with Charles Oliveira vs. Dustin Poirier, What are the biggest take aways from this fight? Next up the guys matchmake the lightweight division. Who gets the next title shot? Julianna Pena shocked the world by defeating Amanda Nunes on Saturday. How does this change the lanscape of women's MMA? The guys close out the main topics by talking about Vasiliy Lomachenko and Nonito Donaire's wins this weekend. (19:00) - Oliveira Submits Poirier (34:00) - Lightweight Division (42:00) - Pena Shocks Nunes (71:00) - Vasiliy Lomachenko (80:00) - Nonito Donaire 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  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich, but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy. Consider yourself warned. Limited time only at participating McDonald's in Canada. 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. On this 13th of December, 2021, you're not watching Morning Combat. You're watching the award-winning Morning Combat. Hello, everyone, on this Monday, back from Las Vegas, off of UFC 269. We have so much to discuss, including a little bit of a trophy that we picked up on Friday night.

My name is Luke Thomas. I am merely one half of your hosting duo, based here in the capital of Los Estados Unidos in Washington, D.C., joined by the prince of Connecticut, the viceroy of Naugatuck. Yes. He is my friend and yours. We're both from CBS Sports. We're both from Showtime. It's Brian Campbell. Hello, sir. Luke, the sun shines on a dog's ass even once a day on a broken clock. Something like that. Luke, wow. What a time. What a time, bro.

What a time to be alive. Luke, wow. Gratitude, humility, joy. These are a lot of the emotions that I'm feeling after a while. Not just us winning Best MMA Programming at the World MMA Awards on Friday, but Luke, for me to get a chance to really do the reason why I'm in this game, because I love the art, okay, a little bit, yeah,

but I catch a feel every once in a while from sitting cage side or ring side at these type of special events in UFC 269. Dude, it was hellalla special as we all saw on Saturday night so uh getting to be cage side for that I'm still flying high Luke okay I'll have what he's having wow yes I mean give me that so much to discuss even if we had lost UFC 269 as you indicated what a phenomenal end to the year well there's one more UFC show but for the pay-per-views anyway the big events,

those are all in the books, and it was just an unbelievable show. Plus, you had Nonito Donero on Showtime winding back the clock, and Lomachenko just letting everyone know he is not to be forgotten whatsoever. So we have a lot to get to. I want to talk about the show real quickly. Let's pay all of our advertisers and everything like that. First things first, if you're watching on YouTube, like the video, hit subscribe. If you're listening on an audio podcast, please give a review on whatever format that is.

And here, of course, you can see the Lower Third Morning Combat is on social. The name is the same everywhere. If you missed Showtime, I don't know what you're doing, but you still have a chance to go out there and get it. Showtime.com, you can get right now a 30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, you can pound sand. And, of course, if you had it, you saw Nonito Donair continue an amazing run at 39 years of age. BC, I know that we have some stuff coming down the line for merch, for holiday stuff.

Where do we stand with all of that today? Yeah, let me tell you this. Look, the Cyber Monday deals are still in effect if you're looking for a nice holiday discount but like we've been pushing the last few episodes it's basically about now you want this under your tree on christmas or whatever it is you're celebrating order now at morningcombat.store uh we got some big merch surprises this week but our holiday stuff is there factory town mma luke's dead face on your chest. We got it, okay? You want Luke and I on your ass cheeks?

We got that, too. So please head on over to morningcombat.store. Don't wait. We have it. All right, don't wait. Look at that bulge. Don't wait. By the way, are we doing the – I should have clarified this. Are we doing the DK read?

I can't remember. No, we are not, Luke. We're reading a we're reading another another uh one of our fine sponsors luke i mean are you into this body bro are you into this manscape body wash i can't stop putting it on me brother okay so i have been using it probably not as consistently as i need to have been but uh certainly it is happening i want to remind everyone for manscaped who is so kind to support the show it's the holiday season and you don't know what to get as a gift or a stocking stuffer

boy do i have good news for you manscaped is the leader in men's below the waist grooming and they have served more than four million people worldwide bc yeah they they really clean up our award winning packages and manscaped's got a best-selling product they call it the performance package 4.0 and it's got everything you need it should be the top of every man's wish list this year i definitely will be looking at these products to gift out luke because uh nobody really if you're a man you try not to care about your your stuff too much but uh if you're walking around with swamp bass take care of that shit the the Performance Package 4.0, Luke, it's got it all, bro. It does have it all. The Performance Package 4.0 has a ton of stuff.

You'll have the Lawn Mower Body Trimmer, which is the best trimmer for your abyssals and everything else. You get the Weed Whacker for your ear, nose, and hair trimmer. BC, just to move this along quickly, they have the Crop Preserver Ball deodorant and the ball toner plus you can receive two gifts the manscaped boxers and the shed travel bag bc tons of stuff luke the dads can't stop talking about this the teens are secretly buying this and the women luke they'll love you for it wow that's not a very natural the way i delivered that make sure you hurry up to their site right now to ensure the gifts show up before the holiday season get 20 off and free shipping if you go to manscape.com with the code combat k-o-m-b-a-t 20 off free shipping for your partner dad brother friend

whoever has disgusting male genitalia you can get them this well said luke well said okay uh all right so let's do this here very quickly bc because ufc 269 is of course a lot to get to but we have to start the show where it does start which was our epic friday night we gave a speech it's available if you want to see it on the espn plus platform we thanked everyone on the show well we should have thanked everyone on the show i fucked that up so have thanked everyone on the show. I fucked that up, so we didn't do that. Let me thank from Showtime, Stephen Espinosa, Brian Daly, Matt Snyder, Courtney Mogg. We didn't

mention this. Rich Krizzle, Matt Ryle, Caitlin as well. There's a bunch of folks from Showtime who do good work. From the CBS side, of course, Kieran Portley. Let's make sure we don't fuck this up twice. Mikey Mormile, our intrepid CBS sports producer who is, you know, day one, A1, and me rushing things along.

I forgot both Espinosa and I forgot Brendan Chobb on Friday as well. So shouts to Brendan for helping us all around. Mikey's done a great job keeping the parents married, so shout out to that. We love you, brother. We mentioned Gaff and Corey Maneach, our guys that hold it together. Sally on the squad as well. Al Wendling. RJ Dunkelmaker, our fantastic new merch man.

I mean, we've got a – Luke, we have built a dream team here. So this is about shouting them out. It is about shouting our bosses who believed in us. But, Luke, the thing about what made this so humbling and this specific award so interesting is that this we didn't do this as luke would say y'all did this uh the wild crazy imperfect family that we've built here the fans got us this award we get to spoil in the riches of these ad reads and all this, you know, Vegas Steakhouse, all that great stuff, the party van. But Luke, these fans, how did we take down Rogan, Helwani, DC, Dana White?

I mean, Luke, I don't know, first of all, how we did that, but we did it because of these fans. This is your gift to us this holiday season. You created this monster we just put out this show you're the ones that that went out there went to bat for us we are humbled we say thank you um this is the type of like love gift that i don't really know how to properly frame or accept or say anything else then thank you because uh this is organic this is this is the wholesome good shit right here thank you yeah i mean they put us on that stage that's just the fact they put us there um organic. This is the wholesome good shit right here. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, they put us on that stage. That's just the fact. They put us there. We can put out all the shows that we want, but until they decide that that's something worth celebrating and spreading the word about, they are just shows.

They don't exist on that award stage. And we were up there and I, dude, you just I, listen, I have to cop to it becausec you'll see it you know we had the doc cameras there i was negative on our chances from from day one on this and maybe you know what listen i i can accept that maybe i was a little too negative obviously we won so there was something to be said for that on the other hand dude like you have to just recognize we were up against every heavy hitter who was as like establishment it was espn it was shit my fucking thing fell god damn it hold on like my coke fell over my my screen just ruined a great moment luke you gotta i'm gonna finish it i'm gonna put you back to you but the the the sentiment is what it is dude it's

like we have found a way and i don't know how we did it, but here they are, to have the most loyal, giving, dialed-in fans that ever were. I've never been in a program where they were this hungry for our kind of content and then celebrate us in this kind of a way. So really, while I go get a towel to clean my desk here, I do mean this sincerely. Dude, MK fans, and I'm not doing a bit, you're going to see a testimonial we did right after we won outside the awards show. They are the best fans in combat sports. They elevated us. Dude, like we were not the most popular product nominated there.

We were not in terms of like commercial appeal. We were not the biggest winner, but we ended up taking it because the fan base is they're just good to us. And I don't know if we deserve it but we got them and i'm incredibly grateful i'm gonna go get a towel you fix you get the towel uh but i just got an interesting text from a guy that we shouldn't overlook as well jay aaron uh uh may be a controversial figure in this show's history for a lot of ways but he really was uh championing the technological advancements for this show off the start he can be a villainous character in our overall universe right now. You know I love you, J. Aaron Pennington James.

Thank you very much. And, you know, I thank God. I thank God for this opportunity. It's wild. I had visions of this show in, like, my subconscious years ago, and there were different projects I was on that I thought maybe that was the one. It wasn't until I got matched with this guy, though, that it really all came to fruition.

So as Luke cleans up another mess, which is real. I mean, this is so on brand here. Let's give our long, bloated acceptance speech a second time as we have technical and personal issues. But thank you, folks. I obviously mean that heartfelt and deep. I'm not done cleaning it, but I am told, BC, that they have a special video for us. So while the towel is on my desk.

Anyone that missed it on Friday, CBS Sports Network is going to run a replay on December 21st. You can check out the live stream on ESPN+. Here's a little taste of what went down in something that can only be compared to, Luke, like a MMA prom. It was weird as shit, but it was fun. Yeah, a lot of porn stars. A lot of porn stars. Ready? Yeah, let's see.

This is tight. And the winner is... Morning Combat. Woo! Woo! lumber to that stage more I thought you were going to take their order Luke upsets do happen in MMA the tuna tartare.

Because I don't know how he won that either, except the MK fans, who are the best fan base in the world. I don't know what we did to get them, but we got them, and we are better for them. Thank you for putting us on the stage. Thank you from Showtime to, let's see, Brian Daly. Thank you to Matt Snyder from CBS Sports. Thank you to Kieran Portley, the whole MK crew.

Some of them are here. Courtney, Gaff, Corey, all the people who work on the show. And let me just say as well, thank you to my wife, Luzita, who is watching. Thank you to my daughter, who we'll see this tomorrow, Violeta. I love them very much. I love you, Luke Thomas. All right. Quickly, thanks to my beautiful wife, Jen, my sons, Isaac and Christopher, for putting up with me.

All that noise coming from the basement, but this is what hard work looks like. And Luke, it was UFC legend Harold Howard who said, if you're coming on, come on, we're coming. MK's coming. Let's do this. Oh, and thank you to the fighters and coaches who spend their time and talk to us. Thank you very much as well appreciate it well i don't know if my keyboard works but my heart does because i uh it's uh you just can't believe it by the way we were the lady who uh who gave us that that trophy as i still hear myself in my ear is um she was from shark nato and then bring it on

i don't know if you know that bc yeah don't don't forget about former UFC starweight Emily Whitmire, the Spitfire that was there as well. Who kind of insulted us outside. Well, she'll make a fun cameo in our doc. So again, of all the people we shouted out, Jake Roseman, the documentarian, thank you as well for being a huge part of this weekend and our show. Luke, to close on this self-bloated congratulatory victory lap that we are gladly taking,

our staff has a gift for us, Luke. Now, I kind of found the present in the closet before Christmas, but holy crap, are you buckled in and ready for this, Luke? Yeah, I have not seen this, so this will be new to me. Now you have my semi-undivided attention, so let's see. Luke and Brian at Morning Combat, man, we want to say congratulations for winning Best MMA Program.

Hey, congratulations on beating Joe Rogan, ESPN, and the UFC. Hey, I just got something to tell you, Luke and Brian at Morning Combat, y'all whooping ass, beating ass And snapping, ain't no really capping Really in the cage with it

Showing off some rage with it Punching on that face with it Y'all be out to really hook it And just living and just glitching on the cage Oh yeah Brian has a bad liver But each guy's station hot dogs That's not really good

Together they host the morning of the comeback And they won at the world MMA Brian has a bad liver, but he's got station hot dogs. That's not really good, yeah. Together they host the morning of the comeback, and they won at the World MMA Awards. Shout out to Luke and Brian. Congratulations. Wow, dude. Wow, that is pretty fucking awesome. Why do their hair look like matchsticks? I don't quite understand that part.

I love that. I mean, those are two finely trimmed athletes right there. And shout out to the Island Boys for doing this, by the way. But I love that the guy was like, you know, BC with the bad liver, gas station, not good? Not good? I was like, you're right, dude. You are right about that. So thank you, Team MK, for that. BC, I have one one request thanks someone else one more second i just need to close my door and grab something here uh thank you for that incredible gift right there luke is going to clean up but uh if you've got with us this far on the journey

uh thank you now we're going to transition in just moments to like i mentioned what was an epic weekend the final pay-per-view on the ufc calendar for 2021 and i mean there are there are special nights in the business folks uh this this was one of them whether you're watching at home or lucky to be uh cage side like myself um that like as bill parcell said that's why you lift them weights in the offseason like that's this card was I mean, I can't sit here and damn Luke's lack of even a droplet of optimism or faith that we can win that award because I didn't have any for, uh, Juliana Pena. And we saw the finest, uh, unscripted theater go down on Saturday.

Uh, Luke's going to take over the coverage shortly. If he's not done, uh, you're there, Luke. All right, here we go. Yeah, I'm good now. Sorry. I spilled, I spilled Coke all over my desk. So maybe that's's a sign luke that it's time to transfer to seltzer you know maybe it's a sign maybe maybe uh all right if you're ready i am ready thank you to the mk fans one more time but we do have to get to ufc 269 stuff you'll see more on the dot cameras

for now let us start with topic number one okay bc BC, you were there, Kate Sott. I flew home on Saturday morning, but we were watching it just the same, mesmerized just the same. Charles Olafera defeats Dustin Poirier via third round near Nickachoke. He retains his title. He now has a full-on title defense after beating Michael Chandler, and it came to a guy who we both thought was going to win. Here is my question to start today's analysis. A, how impressive was this win? How well did he perform? And B, would you argue that this is actually the best win on his resume?

I'd argue. Good Lord, no. This is the best win on his resume. Look, holy crap. If the incredible upset in the co-main event wasn't enough, this one, which wasn't as much of an upset, but from a betting odd standpoint was, was just validation. Look, we had been guilty. I had been guilty. You know, it was based on my belief that Dustin Poirier was the uncrowned champion. And I think that was the feeling of a

lot of people coming in, but I certainly was guilty of overlooking the opportunity for Charles Oliveira to raise his game to an even higher level than what we've seen during this insane 10 fight win streak that took a while within the win streak for him to start really facing top level uh competition but what the hell has he done look for a fighter already the champion in this elite to be entering the biggest fight of his life and have legitimate questions where we're saying, okay, you've been great up to this point, but do you have the dog inside of you

to go in there against one of the most battle-tested guys in UFC history and potentially win this fight in deep waters? When you get an opportunity for someone in their prime to take those questions and answer them this strong of a profound response. Dustin Poirier's best chance of victory, sped up the pace and lured him into a fight, and then took Poirier's best shots to flip the script, take the fight to the areas where he's dominant, and destroy this great probable future Hall of Famer. Holy crap, you're talking about humble? Juliana Pena humbled me as a critic and MMA fan, but Charles Oliveira was right there with that this weekend, Luke. You love, you love to see when somebody can do something that you didn't

think was possible. Again, more profound in the Peña situation, but let's not overlook, Oliveira's getting better every fight. He is a bad, bad man, Luke. He's got such a different appeal to me than Habib. You know, Habib seemed like this unstoppable force, or, you know, pretty much unstoppable force, at least over time. Like, you could stuff a takedown here, you could get past a certain situation there, but over time, he just felt like he was inevitable. Charles Oliveira is funny, because for a guy who is a devastating finisher, he doesn't feel nearly as inevitable.

Here's what I mean by that. This is actually a compliment, not in any way an insult, right? First of all, he gets the finish, which is just remarkable that he can do that. Dude, he has faced adversity in the Chandler fight. He got dropped in this fight. Two hard dominant punchers in the case of Michael Chandler, a guy who just comes like he's shot out of a cannon, a bit of a wrestle boxer. And then something very opposite, in many ways anyway, from Dustin Poirier.

He doesn't have that wrestling kind of sensibility, but loves to box in that mid-range place as best he can. And is certainly just incredibly heavily experienced all the way around. Dude, it was not like he just washed over them like waves crashing onto a shore, as I mentioned, with the inevitability that you ascribe to someone like Habib. He's got to earn these. He has to actually fight out of bad positions or moments where he's hurt or someone is doing something to make him uncomfortable in some kind of way. And then he rises to that occasion and then exceeds past it.

I mean, we'll talk about this idea about him being a quitter or something else like that. Whether you want to say that's a true thing or not or he's outgrown it or not, whatever, what you can just look at in this case is not just a talented MMA fighter, but a talented MMA fighter with a lot of character, with a lot of competitive fire and spirit and willingness to engage in not just difficult challenges, but when he is pushed by them. He is not, for lack of a better description, immune to those challenges. He just simply finds ways to answer them when he is pressed.

It is extremely impressive how he has got this ability to hurt fighters on the feet. He can play with range. When he finds someone who hurt fighters on the feet he can play with range when he finds someone who can engage on the ground he is just dominant to the point where Dustin Poirier had to just punt a round because he didn't even want to risk yeah something offense for Oliveira tells you a lot about his skill tells you a lot about his character I don't want to miss that second round I want to get to that in a second to employ employ the style he does. We've seen people before be dangerous finishers, but they have to be, you know, sort of reckless all or nothing. And he's not reckless, but he's obviously, as you can see, my light situation here is just dimming and haunting me.

He's found a way to stay that daring. I mean, he's a predator, right? He found a way to stay that daring, but to still be able to cover all of his bases at the super elite level and force somebody else to fight his pace. And then, like I mentioned, fight Poirier's fight. That's what Poirier wanted. Now, look, Poirier didn't want to be that reckless. Oliveira succeeded in giving him reason to lure that into a high-paced brawl. But that's also the best chance for Poirier to win standing in close range landing clean shots he landed those and Olivera either popped back up after getting dropped or just walked through it so it takes us to round two Luke where we saw the nasty backbone of who this guy can be I know we find out afterwards that Poirier was a little bit content to sort of

just give up the round and not put himself in a bad spot submission wise but Luke not only did did he get mauled in a in a round that could have been 10-8 and i think two of the judges had it that way but did you see those those grimy tactics you know messing with the breathing pattern that's the kind of stuff habib did to really take the life out of uh poirier in their fight in abu dhabi olivera learned from that did a lot of that and when it came time for round three he had a broken man in front of him. He did. He certainly did. I just find it pretty incredible that he, um, that he's got this well-rounded

skillset at this point that it's not, it's not without its limits, but it's upside is just tremendous. And for him, like, honestly, I went back and I rewatched the fight this morning. Dude, by the third round, he did it pretty easily. The first round obviously was a tough one for him because he got dropped. But I also have to say, dude, why is Oliveira doing so much better? Part of it is the skill set is more well-rounded. But I think actually everything is feeding on itself. So because he's more well-rounded, but I think it's actually everything is feeding on itself.

So because he's more well-rounded, he's more comfortable, right? Like he understands how to apply skills in all these different scenarios in ways that he didn't have before he's in the right weight class. So I think he feels better, right? He can physically bring his,

his talents to bear. He's not the strongest guy, but still he can be the most that he can be at one 55 as opposed to one 45 or some kind of terrible cut along the way and then that gives him the confidence to like really lean into his technique and then everything just kind of works feeding itself back like that like he really has become so dynamic and a believer in himself not that he can't be touched or hurt or dropped or affected but that he has this resiliency and these other gears to go to that maybe just weren't there before.

Everything is kind of lifting every other part of his game. A rising tide lifts all boats. And you're just seeing evidence of that. He's a tough customer, man. Like, if he fought whoever he fights next, whether it's Gaethje or Makachev or whoever it ends up being, like, you know he might get hurt in that fight. He might get dropped. He might get really bloodied and banged up and his eye might get swollen and that may have been caused previously

for any fighter to be like well that things are looking bad but for Charles Oliveira dude this guy doesn't have a rabbit in his hat he has a full array of magician's tricks and he's got him late into fights when he needs them too he's got balls I mean look look the co-main and main event together was certainly like a celebration of the human spirit but it was like you saw that in the aloe vera fight where you're talking about the mental strength he has gotten to a point through this win streak like juliana pena was to pull that off we'll get to that shortly where he has maxed himself out he has found out to to a way to raise his game in every level and find out how great he can be.

That's scary. That's also super inspiring. And, you know, he's blown. He's kicked in our doors. As a cynic or a critic of him, if you were holding on late and just saying, I need to see one more piece of proof, this was a lot of proof spilled on top of you. I mean, Luke, I don't think there's a limit to how much we can sit here and praise him because he deserves it um he has made himself into a dangerous player and that whole habib debate that i that i mentioned last week that some people you know poo-pooed and other people said damn and the mythic mythic matchup you know matchup

monday in my head god could you imagine this version of do bronx against prime habib it'd be fun theater luke Luke really was super fun. Also, I have to say, like, I thought he had a pretty good game plan. Like he got in trouble in the mid range in the first round, but I love the way he was clinching and going to the body,

constantly making Poirier pummel and wrestle and clinch with him and try to wrestle in those, you know, it's, it's, it's wrestling, but it's standing up essentially all of those spots. And then,

you know, just doing phenomenal work. I really wonder to what extent of Paria, yes, having some success in the first round, but then just having to punt and kind of getting lit up a little bit in the second round, to what extent that it contributed to him maybe getting a little bit swinging wide punches, not desperation, but kind of wanting to get one back, that Oliveira was able to get under it, then get the back. And then once he got the back, it was, it was clinical.

So let's answer, let me ask that or ask the question and then have you answer it. Are you after Saturday fully willing to say that Olivera's reputation as a quitter needs to be stricken from the record? Yeah. Yeah. Look, he has raised every aspect of his game within this win streak going back and re-watching it as i did heading into uh friday show it was humbling to see that he's raised his game in every single level i think he has erased this luke and i love that

you set this up by shouting out his iq because if we're talking about what went wrong for poirier or or has the battles caught up with him no i don't don't think it was any of that. I think that you have to give Charles Oliver credit for his IQ. He, like Luke finding that spot in the Death Star, Luke, in episode four to get truly nerdy, he realized and knew Poirier's weak spot, his self-destruct button, and he walked through hell to get to that button and he hit it, Luke. And that's the, you know, that's the essence of somebody who is a true student of this game on top of being a daredevil and figuring out how great he can be. So, yeah, Luke, I think he has successfully turned away that old talk

in some ways that I think Sean O'Malley has also done, which we can talk about in the future. Yeah, we will. But what do you make of the idea, though, that in the Chandler fight, he did get dropped? In the Poirier fight, he did get dropped? He has shown, there's just no denying it literal championship level resiliency that is what he has shown to get that style that's so dangerous and he's willing to take those risks and and

that's why it's like how long can he sustain this i don't know luke because he's gonna have to take punishment to win these fights. But he's doing it in a daredevil, but he's smart, you know, a smart way at the same time. So it's like he's literally figured out the most efficient way to try to win it. It just so happens that that line of efficiency crosses some very dangerous neighborhoods, Luke, on the way home. There's no question. We'll talk about what happens to their reputations next but what does this do to the reputation of Poirier because he was setting himself up here for a really nice situation where he was going to get the belt maybe not fight much longer again you achieve all your

goals reach some financial ones as well and then call it a day but now he said could I get back to another title shot I could scrape together a winning streak. Do I want to? We'll talk about his future. But for the moment, what does this do to how he is viewed? He still has the interim championship on his record, but not the full one. I think it hurts more in the initial aftermath, 24, 48 hours, than it will ever linger at all or cause anything.

I think the greatest effect that it will have is making him make the key choice that you just mentioned. I loved how open he was about this after the press conference on Saturday. By the way, I love any time someone at this level takes a loss and even one as humbling as this, and then, by the way, comes to the microphone afterwards and actually, you know. You always have to give credit to those guys. I mean, look, we already know he's made of this type of stuff. He's an action hero and he's like salt of the earth in terms of what we want a fighter to be. So full, you know, high five for that.

But for him to openly be like, you know, I have what it takes to do that again, but do I want to? That tells me, Luke, that I think he's a little bit more likely to play big purse, big game hunting the rest of the way. It doesn't mean he won't ever fight for a title again. Sometimes just being a super big celebrity with a high level of critical value, still you can luck into that enough. But I think he's going to want to test some waters at the welterweight level, you know, the Colby Covington trash talk. And I think there are some big purses, big fun fights to make.

And I think he learned that from the chance he took on himself this calendar year by going the Conor route twice and realizing that, you know, what does this loss do to the way we remember him? He's one of those rare guys that if he doesn't ever touch the full gold, which I think he's deserving of, even though he's lost twice now in undisputed title matches, is that he's one of the rare people who can backdoor that where, OK, even if he doesn't win that title, he's still got this Hall of Fame resume, this Hall of Fame reputation. He was an interim champion at one point. I don't think it's going to kill it in the long run, Luke,

because he's done so many other things to make up for not having that one giant championship. Yeah, it's an amazing win by Charles Oliveira. To claim the title, he had to beat Bellator's best ever lightweight, right, in Michael Chandler, had a previous champion uh and then to to get this one he had to beat the previous interim champion and maybe one of the best lightweights to ever do it uh certainly one that never held a full-on weight class title it's an amazing amazing run look how good is this gaethje fight going to be how good is olivera gaethje going to be good god? God, we are in an embarrassment of riches. Let's transition a little bit to the second topic,

which is still part of this, but because this is actually a pretty big shakeup, we had kind of expected Poirier to win, and there was going to be a series of fights you could have made from there, Poirier versus Gaethje, or who knows if McGregor's going to come back and jump the queue. We still don't know that, but let's talk about point number two. Now let's talk about the future of the lightweight division,

because there's actually a lot of moving parts here. We'll get to the co-main event next, but we really need to dig into this for just a second. Okay, BC, let me ask the question this way. Do you think McGregor comes back and fights Oliveira, or maybe the winner of Oliveira versus Gaethje, or does Poirier losing make a fourth fight between them more likely next? Yeah, it would seem that the Poirier loss could have a ripple-down effect

in pointing Conor down that same avenue, and like you said, maybe against each other, because it's just such a big payday to cash in. If you're Poirier, you'd be dumb not to keep saying, you know, this rivalry's still real, it still matters. But, you know, Conor did try to cover his bases by tweeting out, you know, when do I fight Charles Oliveira? And do I think Conor could talk himself into believing even how scary Oliveira is that he can find that chin and stop him in the ways others couldn't? I think he could. But yeah, Luke, I think this is more likely that we actually see this fight, whether you like it or not.

There'd be better incarnations we could see.irier against a Nate Diaz could be something special potentially but um it's interesting that Conor's connected to this uh because Poirier and Conor are two of the biggest brands in this you know just off the title line superstar doesn't need the title will make big pay-per-views so uh it feels inevitable even though I don't want it i don't think you want it luke right i just don't know what to say about it everyone's like oh let's stop playing games you know connor's gonna get it i mean you know it listen it is i can agree i can obviously agree that connor is going to be in almost every case a special case scenario and that the ufc is going to have a lot of incentives to put him in a title fight especially if it ends up being like with gaethje i don't know how if

that's the best fight for connor anymore the old version of gaethje maybe the new one i don't know yeah no he don't want that luke he he'll be limping around the cage if he wants if he tries but here's the part with olivera like i think you would you and i would agree olivera is much more well-rounded than connor like by a long shot. However, Conor's ability to start strong historically, and again, who knows what version he's going to be next time he shows up, but the one that was like in 2015, 2016, you know, he was a fast starter, ready to go. He's got big power. He's rangy at times. You know, dude, that could be, again, if it goes long, you favor Charles Oliveira by a lot, but I think you would agree. McGregor versus Oliveiraa if he's even anything close to what he was in 2016 a big if but if that's that thing in the first

round dude that's a that's a toss-up fight right there connor can win that one and i think even his critics should acknowledge that well see in the first yeah in the you're not incorrect in saying that but but the hourglass is running out on us being able to justify that because if he doesn't do it in the first two and a half minutes of that fight luke he's gonna lose badly you know i mean if i'm if i'm if i'm oliver i just double leg him off the opening start of that that fight and just get right to the point but um anyone who's throwing up in their mouth why are you guys wasting this time talking about mcgregor olivera god that could be in play at any point for the ufc let's wake up to that but yes luke i think it's more likely that we go,

but what's next? Let me ask you, because I think that the McGregor fight is inevitable, but I think it's, it could be just as likely that Conor would come back against a Nate or Tony Ferguson. So what, what are the possible best next choices for Poirier in your eyes? Do you go right for a Covington type super fight? Do you try to get in the welterweight title rankings? What the hell do you do, Luke? See, here's the thing. right for a Covington type super fight do you try to get in the welterweight title rankings what the hell do you do Luke see here's the thing I think a Covington fight at 170 is a terrible matchup for Dustin maybe Dustin could do well enough in that fight to like make you go okay um you know he certainly can hold his own in the right moments but you know at 170 we know Colby is strong enough at 170 we know he's got cardio for days. At 170 and even without 170, he's going to be the better wrestler of the two

and by a pretty considerable margin. That is a fight that maybe Poirier could win, and if he took that risk and got it, there would be huge accolades for him. I think that's a bridge too far. So if you go back to 155, what are some of the available names? We know Makachev and Dariush, they're taken up. So we look around, here's who's left. Gaethje is probably going to fight Oliveira next.

Conor's that wild card that we discussed. To me, what makes the most sense for Poirier, assuming he wants to make another run, and that's a big if, I'm going to say it's Michael Chandler. I think Poirier versus Chandler, two guys who just lost to Oliveira, would be a hell of a fight on its own right and would be a good get-back fight for either one of them. That would be a massive fight. Huge fight, right? Dude, is that not an action fight?

That's an action fight guaranteed. Or you could go Poirier versus Ferguson. Another fight I think would be a lot of fun. It would be a lot of fun. Which guy has got a little bit left here? Okay, that would be a lot of fun. There's no doubt. But I think that's a waste of whatever the damaged goods tony has left and it's not that tony i don't think still can't pull off a win on this level but i would hate that

matchup for him i'd rather use tony against connor so it's like the fight i think what is actually most likely for dustin is nate i think it makes the most sense i just think connor's comeback at the same time could get in the way and cancel that out. But what if we just gave Conor Toney, gave Dustin Nate? Seems to make a lot of sense, right, Luke? Conor to Toney, Dustin to Nate. So who does Michael Chandler fight? The loser of Makachev Dariush? Yeah, that's fine.

That could work, right? That could work because the winner of that's going to be your number one contender. Gaethje's going to get Oliver. Yeah, that's fine. That could work, right? That could work because the winner of that's going to be your number one contender. Gaethje's going to get all of it. Yeah, that could work. I mean, the good news in this conversation is that Chandler versus anybody is great. So I'm not worried about that, you know? You know what's amazing about this conversation? To your point, bantamweight, I think we both agree, is the most ascendant division in the sport.

But, dude, lightweight, you know, there's been a ton of guys leaving. There's been a ton of shakeups. Some are 170. Some are retired and dude you still have five or six or seven permutations you can make with just the top five guys that are all bangers that are all incredible that are all good and valuable in terms of learning experiences and for their resume lightweight maybe is not exactly what it used to be but it's still fucking good as a division you're damn right and we got some physio which we got a cut i don't want to say

cost it in a bad way i stand a good way luke we got we got called out by the way there were a few receipts being handed out at the world mma awards this weekend brian got sent to hell by anthony smith to his face which was pretty fucking great and danny and our guy danny rube damian rubenstein there's no question about that look he came looking for receipts about that hairline joke he's like which one of you tell the folk tell the folks what anthony smith said about you said to you dude i'll say this anthony smith is a good guy in person and he definitely was like you know i could be really mad at you if i wanted to i'm like i'm sorry bro you became a prop in this dangerous comedy sketch that luke and i are pulling off but uh that's what it was um he you know he could have been worse luke he could have put me in the rear naked right he could have here's what he did you're missing a part he put his arm around you like

a little bit of a big brother and they kind of looked over you it was like i could be really mad at you right now i was like oh shit anthony get his ass but then he laughed about it and then was uh and when i explained to him like yeah I want to explain to him, like, yeah, I tried to explain to Anthony what really is happening is, Anthony, he's not actually insulting you. He's shitting on me through you by my attachment to you. So really, it's all about him insulting me. I accidentally got into a war with Japan over that, Luke, doing the same bit. I got to be careful. But, you know, it's not going to stop me, Luke.

And Anthony Smith, good guy, great fighter, right, Luke? As Luke said, must see as luke said must see tv so yeah uh he is a great fighter and certainly must see tv anyway somebody came up to us somebody came up to us as a big fan of the show and as a manager in this game high level and they were like you guys better get fazaev's name you know correctly get it right you know fazeev fazeev fazeev fazeve fazeve there you go the i is not pronounced like uh the way we were doing it it's a little bit different um uh okay all right so that's it for lightweight and 155 and your incredible main event let's talk about this co-main how about that point number three because this one is just you know from the incredible. Okay, BC, how do you explain what happened?

Amanda Nunes loses to Juliana Pena, gets submitted in the second round. Some are calling it without, with good reason, I would actually argue, one of the biggest, if not the biggest upsets in MMA or UFC history. What happened? First of all, this is one of the greatest feel-good wins

in the history of the sport. I mean, you talk about hashtag humbled for any of us to just witness this. But what happened, Luke? This was a triumph of the human spirit. This was somebody who had yet to be able to fully unlock the greatness within them. Maybe she had been missing or hadn't fully updated some of the intangibles that could have gotten her to this title fight earlier in her career but when she got here luke when it finally happened we found out that juliana pena had had next level and other intangibles and luke i mean i gotta give you so much credit for sniffing this out right when this happened my first thought my first tweet everybody's first thought i was like

this motherfucker luke thomas i mean he's he sniffed this out he saw it coming and then number two i was like damn latin fauci's undefeated right now so you know i'll never just underestimate a bbl again luke but uh okay real analysis time what happened here juliana pena in a in the type of performance that i think we all should take notice of and put a mirror up in front of our own life, went up against the biggest fear she could have in this sport, the biggest obstacle, and refused under any set of circumstances to take a step backward or back down.

Was willing to do something, Luke, that we often throw around easily but is hard for even sometimes the highest level fighters to do. Be willing to risk it all and lose it all to try to win it i mean she was standing in there against the biggest puncher in the history of the sport more or less on the women's side and took the shots and kept coming and kept carrying out a game plan i thought there was a quote afterwards from pena that summed it up and nailed it when they're asking her about her strategy for this fight she kept saying look i didn't have one my style is to react to the situation in front of me. Luke, I wouldn't say that's a foundational good trait for fighters to have. A lot of times as a

fighter, you want to establish some level of control and dictate the terms of this fight. But for this upset, for the timing of these two ships coming together, that was the perfect attitude for Peña to have. Because no matter where this fight went, she was adaptable. She welcomed the chaos. And it could be easy to say she lured Nunes into a war and then just outlasted her. But there was some smart IQ veteran type stuff going on here, including Luke during that sequence on the ground in the first

round where yeah pena got dropped yeah she tasted some power but she did something to amanda's well gas tank yes but she did something to amanda's fighting spirit by holding on to her arm and provide you know throughout every change and sequence and i think that not only gassed amanda out in ways that she never fully recovered, but Pena did something, you know, spirit to spirit in that notion that said, like, I'm coming for this. Like, you know, if you're coming, I'm coming for this. And sometimes, Luke, a high pace can provide a fatigue, a vulnerability in somebody. But sometimes also you mix that with, I'm not leaving no matter what.

It wore down at what used to make Amanda Nunes great. And it became where that set the foundation. If she didn't have that on the ground to wear down Amanda, she wouldn't have built that foundation. That built the foundation to do what she did to actually win it, which is stand in there, take huge shots, keep countering have built that foundation. That built the foundation to do what she did to actually win it, which is stand in there, take huge shots, keep countering, and not back down. Look, she didn't win that with skills,

the same skills that I questioned, were they on Amanda's level? She won that with will, with the human spirit. I mean, this was as humbling to see somebody not only kick the door in, but raise by multiple levels what we thought was possible for them. If you're not watching this and they're not humbled in looking at, damn, have I figured out how to get the most out of myself? This is why we watched this shit, Luke. This was incredible theater and you called it. You saw that shit coming. Sort of. I mean, I can't take credit for it because in the end, when I was asked to formally pick, I picked Nunes because I said to you on Friday, like, I just don't know what I could look at in the tape and be like, oh, this is the path.

But this is the thing I think folks need to, like, wrap their head around. Like, one of the lessons. We talked about it on Friday a little bit. I'll reiterate it and give it a little bit of a different twist, which is people assume when you get to, like to a really great place in MMA, if you've been dominating your peers and you have another challenger come up and you can't really make out a reason why this would be any different, you start to get to a place of what I like to call comfortable inevitability. You can just comfortably not even really think about a fight and this person's going to win.

When you see that after someone's been a champion for a while, like several years or something, that to me is usually a bit red flag, I don't know, but pretty close to that one. That's when people are not really paying attention the way that they need to be. And here's what I have noticed over the years in MMA. People think that elite champions, if they stick around long enough, they lose. Everyone agrees there. But what they think is going to happen is, if they stick around long enough, it will be a gradual, sequential, staged decline. You can just sort of watch it happen slowly over time.

People will have to chip away at all that they have made for themselves. Sometimes that, of course, is true. A lot of times it happens all at once. When you do not expect it, when there is a comfortable inevitability about who these people are, when they have been at this place for a long time, and the reason why it happens all at once is because the difference between a champion on an off night and a challenger rising to the occasion is basically indistinguishable, or it even favors the person rising to the occasion. Now, we have to see exactly what happens to Amanda Nunes.

But, dude, when the world is telling you you're the best talent ever, now you have a family, now you have money, you might feel like you're the same fighter you always were, but life is now pulling at you and giving you a whole different set of experiences and incentives that are not the same scenario that got you to that place. And if you don't inventory that as it's happening, it is very, very easy. Not that Amanda Nunes is some like dramatic decline, dude. It just takes a little bit of an off night for there to be dramatic consequences to it.

I don't think people understand how hard it is BCc to be a ufc weight class champion and then to hold that space over time it is difficult and it is to put it more succinctly it is precarious and when you see people being like oh it's inevitable they'll win that's when you start to get the spidey sense that's when i got it yeah that's so well said and it's why i always have to remind myself what gsp did what anderson sil Anderson Silva did what John Jones did those long stretch what Amanda just did with a 12 fight winning streak man that's hard and the problem is like what made Amanda great beyond being a savage finisher becoming a completely well-rounded fighter and having a drive and I mean she has everything but it was like if it got down to it oh she she would go there there. She'd go to hell and she'd take you out there.

I think it's like she was the last to know that maybe all that success had left that tank a little bit unchecked upon. It's another way of saying it. And it's like she was willing to go there and she went there with Juliana, but she found out she no longer had that same amount. Now, it can be rebuilt without question, Luke. So was this a bad night at the office for Amandaanda not a complete not at all a representation of who she actually is yeah this was a bad aberration it said it was the perfect storm for juliana and this was a bad night for amanda but but sometimes i think luke at that level as you said like you don't you don't know you don't have it there anymore until you get there i also want to make a point here and i'm not sure that this was fair when it was given to Amanda,

but I've been around long enough to tell you that Amanda used to have a reputation, something similar to what Charles Oliveira had, where hers was a little bit different. Hers was she's a bit more of a frontrunner, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, stamina. Because of the Kat Zingano fight. Yes. Even before the Kat Zingano fight. Even before the Kat Zingano fight, for example, she won against Shevchenko,

but she just fell off the map in the third round of Shevchenko. That was after. That was after, yeah. No, I understand, but I'm saying even in a win like that, that fed into reputationally some of the things she had suffered from. We had forgotten about that in part because it was somewhat a little bit unfair, but also, to your point, she had that crazy win streak from basler to anderson that went on for years and years and years and so folks just went away from it but i think what you saw a little bit was again we'll find out over

time if amanda had a um had a off night or whatever the case may be but it all is also true that like yes pena took you know her face got lumped up and she got dropped but she stood in there with amanda and she put that jab in her face we should talk about that the jab of juliana pena she had these high elbows and i thought she was going to get lit up but she didn't she kind of just dude she pressured amanda nunez in a way that even duran to me didn't when they fought and it clearly had an effect over time you just can't take that away from her i mean she fell apart when she got exhausted amanda and and look i think it's because of that holding onto the arm look that was it was not like a textbook type scenario but pena just held on to that limb it was like an old school pro wrestler just worked the same body part over and over again look what impact did that have i

think that was what turned i mean it half of it gassed Amanda out, but it just took something from her aura, dude. I mean, have you seen something like that? If you go back and examine the finish itself, the commentators called it that there was no hooks in at the time. But do yourself a favor just before that. Just as Amanda is going to the ground, look at her face. There was a little bit of blood on it, not too but she had that thousand yard stare and so by the time that she went on all fours or i guess on her hands and knees and then pena started locking in the choke yes of course she didn't need it because she was beaten even before she went to the mat

that was merely the ceremonial uh end of it all so she really put a beating on her what made this theater so extra crazy is it had that mcgregor Diaz one feel or that Lesnar Carwin feel where you could see the change coming. And then it's just like, can Pena finish it off? And like, once again, she built the foundation, but she still had to stand in there and take those shots. And her face was a mess. And that building of suspense leading to her, you know, that explosion moment of winning it, Luke. God, what do you put that up again? That's like, you know, that explosion moment of winning it, Luke. God, what do you put that up against? That's like, you know, the finish of Tate versus Holm.

I mean, that's one of the greatest moments in just explosion and momentum building that I've ever seen in this fight game. I mean, that was crazy. Shout out to her on every category. But you already see the odds of a potential rematch. I've seen Amanda as like a minus 330 favorite. A lot. You know, it's telling you that's a lot, but I think it shows you, Luke,

this is the very best that we ever imagined Peña could be. But to be fair, this was among the worst we've ever seen Amanda. So it creates the interesting storyline if they go right into a rematch, which I think they should, Luke. But obviously, Kayla Harrison plays a big part in this discussion. So let's talk, let's talk about that. So Kayla Harrison was who of course is now a free agent.

We saw her. I talked to her for a little while, the MMA awards, by the way. Now that was on Friday night. And I, and I asked her like, when are you going to make an announcement about your next move?

And she seemed to think before the end of the month, I don't know about that now i don't know what she's gonna do because dude like yes there's no denying that even with this loss you would agree kayla versus amanda still and especially by the way she's still the champion at 145 that fight would be at 145 so a belt would still be on the line still be five rounds the whole nine yards that is still a bigger fight to me than kayla versus cyborg but it ain't nearly as big as it used to be do you know man no it is losing to juliana pena fucked up kayla harrison's and that's why she screamed well we'll show a video and have you seen the shit of kiesa jumping the fence but big part of

that video is kayla screaming like oh like you, the money just fell apart right in front of her. I mean, they featured her on the broadcast and she's kissing her muscles. Like, they didn't used to do stuff like that. There was an obvious courting going on. And yeah, there's a separate topic here, but I hope she still comes, Luke, and challenges herself. And I hope that the promotion still tries to get her, but this changes everything. So, Luke, I think what we're going to see is a rematch, and I think it's the rightful call, and I love... By the way, shout-out to Peña in every category, including the humility she showed after this fight.

That was like a model, as was Amanda, taking the interview and being humble, but, like, Peña was a true champion in this moment. In that regard, and she said, yeah, you know, give me some time off let me be a mom and then i will be ready for this rematch so luke that's big money with the storyline and um it still could get us there meaning you know who knows if amanda comes back and wins this we don't know we got to see but if she does come back and win in it's just a bad night at the

office gsp versus sarah you could still get there for kayla harrison and also chris cyborg put that weird tweet out with what looked like dana white calling her and it says you know answer or no so uh does that mean she wants to get back into this conversation luke back in the ufc i did you see the tweet it says something luke you know i didn't see that i didn't see that i mean i think she's dude she ain't going back to ufc i would be very surprised to see there is big money to make in these big fights though uh luke are you agreed though that it has to be nunes next or do you see uh you know for for pena yes yeah but then dude what happens if you do that and then kayla is facing a situation where i mean i guess's going to have to sign at some point. But what I'm saying is, if Kayla never gets a chance to even fight Nunez, and now Nunez loses twice, granted, at bantamweight,

she would still be the featherweight champ. None of that would change. But the aura of what that would mean is, you know, at that point, all together gone, I don't know. Right, but she could reclaim it. Just a dramatic hit. You know, Amanda could also reclaim it. And that's usually how the ufc does it they make you go run it back and and you know take your swing

to try to reclaim it and you wonder if she could reclaim a ton of it by winning the rematch i get what you're saying but you know you gotta make the biggest fights how much does this meaningfully change kayla's calculations about a potential deal with bellator i think it opens the door back up i don't know the situation. I don't know how much she's talked to Scott Coker, but this seemed to open that door because it says that maybe my money fight with Nunes will never be, maybe it needs more time to fix,

but either way, I've got to fight the best now. So if I go over here, I could get a ton of critical and commercial appeal. If I find a way to beat cyborg, I mean, I could really look cyborg to be fair, even though the Nness fight was bigger

cyborg fight is still very valuable for kayla's rise yes that is that is certainly true um i can't argue with that it'll be interesting to see but there's one more name i'd like to add to this conversation before we move along yeah and that's valentina shevchenko shevchenko had two cracks at amanda now the first one she was beating the brakes off of her in the third, but the fight ended. It was a three-round fight. Now they were champion at the time. There was a subsequent rematch, which was not very fun, very close.

I thought Shevchenko edged it, but the judges disagreed. And so there's been a lot of talk about what about a Shevchenko and Nunes third fight. Previously, Dana didn't have interest in it. Two thoughts for you, BC. One, is there still an interest in Shevchenko versus Nunes at this point? I guess it depend on if Nunes wins and then secondly you know it's kind of funny dude Shevchenko was very very very careful in how she managed risk towards Amanda Nunes and especially in the second fight and I'm not saying she should get out of that but it does seem to me there's a case to be made if Amanda had an old reputation and then in this fight someone kind of got in her face a little bit and put it on her it had dramatic results now she may take that away

the second time we'll have to see but could you make an argument BC that Shevchenko maybe should have stepped on the gas a little bit more yeah I thought that they thought that would have yielded different results I thought that was a great analysis of it and obviously Shevchenko was a small bantamweight and still fought so well at the highest level, and Amanda's a very big bantamweight, so it's a hard thing to say. But I don't know, Luke. I'll also say, look, the way that Amanda yielded in this fight for all the ways that we framed it, I don't, you know, this was a bad version of her, meaning, you know, she got to the deep end and was like, oh, crap, you know, I might not have prepared to swim at this level anymore.

She was prepared in those earlier fights, So it's easy to say in hindsight, man, if Valentina had only pushed it, but Valentina also could have been walking into a, you know, a KO in that situation. I do think this kind of kills a third fight. Obviously, if Amanda would win a rematch with Pena, it could bring it back up. But Dana said afterwards, Luke, that he was, he kind of admitted that he was never really going to make a third fight anyway. He could, you hear that in his, in the way he responded to that question? He was like, well, I never liked that fight to begin with, and I wasn't going to do it.

And I was like, oh, okay. Either way, that's not happening. I wonder, though, okay, let's say we don't know what Peña's or what Nunes' future is here at 35. But let's say her future is not as a champion, Luke. Does that open a door for Shevchenko to come back up and try to become a two-division champion no matter who is the you know whether it's peña or whomever else if it's not nunez because i guess dana doesn't want it then let's let's say let's say uh peña wins again which should not also be surprising although i think it'll be more difficult for her the second time um dude didn't Shevchenko already beat Pena like oh she dominated her she's yeah I think she finished her off she also beat Holly Holm but

she also beat a still prime Holly Holm you know in a great fight so or I'm saying a great performance not so like dude if you're like on the one hand this has got to be a little bit frustrating if you're Shevchenko because that third fight again was a big question about whether it was going to happen but you know Shevchenko wanted it right there's that on the other hand if it ends up being Pena like do I think that Pena is this new transcendent champion I think she was a better person on that night no doubt about it but dude that's you know Shevchenko is a motherfucker like that's going to be a hard fight for her if I'm Shevchenko I would consider the only thing for shevchenko is i do think she is trying to have a scenario where she can like if you're the bantamweight and the flyweight champion

you would have to defend it's easy to defend bantamweight and featherweight because featherweight barely exists flyweight and bantamweight both exist and that might be a little too much for her so it is a way though to to potentially potentially maximize her legacy options, right? Yes. Yes, that is true. No doubt. Yeah. So it's hard to say exactly, but all of these features and figures have been affected by this dramatic turn of events.

And, yeah, the one thing I'll say also about Drillian Apena before we move on from this, BC, is, you know, when a person has a lot of inactivity, you, you always count that against them and you have to, on some level, you can never look at inactivity and be like, this is always going to be superior to having activity usually is not, but it doesn't necessarily mean that a lack of activity is in every way negative. There could be a lot of things that are happening in terms of healing from longstanding injuries or just getting a mental break or, you know, whatever you leveling up in in the gym just not spending time out on the playing field so to speak and i think she had some of those with her i think she had a steeled uh intensity about her i do think she had um somewhat of an improved uh striking although i think that's not not necessarily her best you know uh skill set but in other words i do think that's not necessarily her best skill set.

But in other words, I do think that there is a tradeoff between the time off. But it also should be noted that it's not a 100% negative thing. She did value from parts of it. And that was a little bit hard to measure on Friday heading into Saturday's contest. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. I also think, obviously, she's going to have a lot of questions to answer in her first defense against anyone. Because of how storybook this performance was and all that angst built up to try to show how great she can be and it was a perfect storm you know can that storm continue it's gonna be fun to find out this is what this

division is needed and to close on this luke do you agree that this is the greatest upset in ufc history it's up there with home rousey with sar with Sarah versus GSP1. What do you say? So this is a tough one because it will depend on how you want to look at it. I will tell you personally, and this really is no answer to your question, but I'm just trying to lay out how I understand the situation. GSP losing to Sarah and especially the way he did was at the time inconceivable to me. And also he tapped the strikes, which a lot of folks don't know in that one. For me, that feels way different than this one because I kind of had a sense that this was certainly a lot more possible

than the rest of the field. Maybe Rousey's because the one thing that Sean Sheehan pointed out over at Severe MMA that I thought was fair was GSP was a budding star, but he wasn't like the goat yet for welterweight when he got dropped and finished or you know tapped anyway and amanda was as established at two-weight world champion was as established as could be that makes it bigger the rousey one was the biggest spectacle i've ever seen so i'll say this i think if you have amanda losing to pena as the biggest upset that's a fair claim.

It doesn't feel as big to me, but I can recognize, man, this was fucking huge. Yeah. The right way to frame it is to say the Rousey one, Rousey, Rousey was a bigger moment culturally, crossover, all that. But, yes, this is the biggest upset in terms of what we're looking at because, you know, Ronda had been so dominant, yes, but there was still some of that air of, like, let's see her against a specific style,

and then also the whole upset had that hindsight feeling of, oh, we should have saw that coming. This one didn't have that, Luke. This was somebody with a performance that, again, I want to see if she can do it again, you know? I mean, this was the perfect storm. So I think given that Amanda was the GOAT and had been a two-division dominant champion,

this, without question to me is the actual biggest upset in ufc history yes i i like i i don't even know if she can do it again i still don't know afterwards you know where uh in in the because to see someone that dominant implode in that way it did have a tyson douglas type of error to some degree to it luke it was it was you're talking about inconceivable it was insane all right before we move on from 269 uh we're going to get to all of these on extra credit but i did want to give you a chance you want to talk about sean o'malley or cody garbrandt very briefly um i think so tell me tell me what you think about this it's not that sean o'malley has has you know fought the necessary ranked guys

to redeem what was ever lost from that Marlon Vera loss not only the fact they lost but you know some people not liking his reaction to the injury and what really caused it and how he's framed it post I feel like the dominance that he's showing again against a certain level of competition but but just looking like a million bucks it's kind of put that to bed luke maybe there's you're gonna find the cynics who are still like man i need to see that backbone tested and rightfully so i want to see it too but i mean his management of his brand and star value and the way he works a crowd i mean this like i think the magic is back is what i'm saying. I don't know how great he is. I need to find that out.

But I feel like he's going to enter into this second run at finding it out. He's in the right place is what I'm saying. You know what's amazing about Sean O'Malley, and I'll save the analysis of his fight for extra credit. We'll lean heavily into that, dude, because I watched it again last night, and I was even more impressed the second time. I picked up on a couple things I didn't see in real time. Dude, he's fucking good.

But I'll say this. You know what's amazing about Sean O'Malley is, if you think about it, Scott Coker, when he ran Strikeforce, had a certain way of matchmaking. Now, if you were a champion, they did give you tough fights. But if you were somebody who was good, they also gave you tough fights. But they also gave you fights in between to make you look good. They had a certain way of giving you a guy who was a credible threat but if you could style on them in the way that you would expect one of their a-list fighters to do then it was this sort of not predictable scenario because mma is very difficult to predict and you know and and engineer outcomes but you get the idea your chances of it are much higher and then

more often than not that system worked sean o'malley by refusing to buy into the way in which the UFC wants him to fight and by declining around that, so in other words, having a different sensibility about matchmaking, he has strike forced himself to the point where he is now reliably in A, action fights, B, that he can win. He delivers memorable performances and stoppages that the fans love. And he hasn't really been tested against the elite of that division in a full-throated way that you'd have verified notwithstanding. It's like, dude, this guy is just making himself out to be the Strikeforce fighter in UFC. If Strikeforce was around, this is how they would match Sean O'Malley up until he got good enough where he couldn't look back. But for this moment in time, this is exactly what they would do,

and it's fucking working. I don't know if it's going to bring him the dollars he wants for the contract negotiations, but in how he is setting himself up and apart, it is absolutely working. And we don't normally support this level of matchmaking, and I don't think we should, but in this case, it not only worked marketing brand-wise

to resuscitate whatever was lost, like I said, but, Lukeke he looks like the swaggers there like like that loss never happened and that's where you would want him when he's finally ready now and can we not wait any longer let's put him in there against a competent top 10 guy who would you pick luke what's the fight to match right now man there is it's hard to go wrong at bantamweight i mean there's just a lot of different ways you can go. For the nature of the question, ooh, you know what? Do you hate Faber? Tell me if you hate it.

Do you hate Faber? You hate it. Yeah, Faber's not even ranked. I don't know what that would say for you. Okay, I just wanted to know. I was trying to get creative, but if you hate it, let's end the conversation. Chito is sitting at 11. I'll tell you which one I would want to see.

Frankie Edgar is sitting at 13. No, no. Hold on, hold on. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I think he should retire. But if he's going to stick around, you want to be part of the action. This is a really bad idea, Luke. I mean, look, I'm not saying it's too different from the flavor. You mean bad for Edgar or bad for O'Malley?

Because it ain't bad for O'Malley. I know I just put out a favor option, so I know you're already looking down on me and you should. But no, Luke, I don't want to see this happen to Frankie. Come on. I know what it would give him. All right, let's go actual. Forget old guys. guys what we want to see a top 10 guy in his prime Edgar is sitting at 13 I'm not making this up he is literally on the rankings it's going to be gross

I don't want to see that all right come on all right well here's the other choices in the top 11 to 15 Marlon Vera who he already fought is sitting at 11 a Sun Tzu at 12 you could do those if you wanted Edgar at 13 Song Yedong 14, and then Cody Stammen at 15. But if I'm Sean O'Malley, why am I fighting a very tough Yedong or Stammen at 14 and 15 when I could fight Edgar, much more winnable, I would actually argue, and bigger name, and they're ahead in the rankings. Like, you know, it's fairly, you know, I don't know what to tell you, but, like, you could do any of those, I think.

Okay. And then lastly on Cody Garbrandt, I have some thoughts on that after watching the fight. Do you have anything you wanted to share before we move on? He's become Amir Khan in a boxing term, you know, where it's like. He's in a tough space. He can get, you know, and I mean, Amercon's more of a joke now, but Amercon had that rush, that run, excuse me,

where we all knew he was damaged, but he could still get in great shape and command a big-name opponent and look great for four rounds and show you, oh, my God, if only he had that thing. He doesn't have that thing, and Cody has lost that thing, and maybe it's the chin. I don't know exactly. I mean, probably the chin.

But whatever it is, there's a gaping hole. There's a major malfunction. And it's a shame, Luke, because he can get you pretty excited around that and get in great shape. And I thought, you know, he cut down to that weight and was like, oh, maybe I could become a believer here. And then it self-destructed again. And I don't know what the UFC or him should do I mean he's he's he's young enough where another

one more attempt at some kind of resurrection is is probably the path of least resistance to be fair um but there's there's an issue there Luke a major that it's a miracle all over again it's you know that that that wounded bird that's so beautiful but it's not going to arrive safely luke we'll talk more about this on extra credit we'll have a breakdown of the o'malley fight garbrandt and everything else dominant crew is looking great it'll be a big episode that'll be out later today so be on the lookout for that all right bc we cannot forget about it because it's part and parcel of what morning combat does let's talk a little bit about boxing vasily lomachenko defeats richard comey in what can only be described as almost embarrassing fashion to the point where he is

begging during the fight lomachenko to comey's corner to stop this on his behalf because it's only going to get worse bc since losing to lopez we have seen Lomachenko rebound against Nakatani and then absolutely style on Richard Comey. Has he fully reasserted himself as a driving force at 135 pounds? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Luke, remember that version of him a couple years ago, no Moschenko? Maybe ESPN announcers had made us grow to hate it because they put it in our face so much, but he was called that because he can be so sublime

that he can make you literally quit on the inside. Like when he fought Nicholas Walters, we're like, oh my God, I want to see him against the slugger. Walters got a taste, Luke. He's like, no, I'm good, guys. You know, I'm not going to, you know, save you. I mean, Rigendall did the same thing, but it's like, you know, I'm not going to give you that satisfaction of watching this guy just break me.

That guy's back, Luke, at 33. And I think sometimes we just get stuff wrong. Obviously, we're not perfect. We can't see the future. I look back and I go, man, I should have believed that Charles Oliveira could be this great. I should have believed that Lomachenko might still be the best lightweight in the world. Do you know what I mean? And I had downgraded that belief from seeing what was a a a perfect

night for teofimo lopez a riot you know it's an alien that that that rose to the highest level of what he could be and is now humbled back down a bit we'll see what happens for lopez moving forward but on that night luke someone had had greater magic than him and and and i took away a little bit too much of of what he still had even though I still have him in my top 10 pound for pound, but he reminded us. He resuscitated any remaining questions, and I love that. I love the way he reacted to the loss against Tao. No, Luke, I mean, there were some moves that were highly sus, okay, as the kids would say, but his mindset is back to where it needs to be. Did you see those video packages? All he cares about are the belts.

Luke, some guys are lusting for the fame and the money or whatever. They want easy fights to look good. This guy just wants the royal side of this game. He wants the belts. He wants Cambosos for all four. He would fight Stevenson for all four 130 belts, but he just wants the fights that give him the most prestige in that lane you have to respect that and I thought it was very interesting

his little uh pre-fight video where he was giving his take on every other lightweight in division and some of it's trash talk heavy some of it's just confidence look he pissed all over Gervonta he believes Gervonta is like an actual clown, which shocks me that he's that critical openly against the guy who's so good. But that's an interesting take right there. Yeah, that is. Obviously, we have a higher opinion of Gervonta than that. But here's the thing for me, for folks who didn't see this fight. Two things really stood out to me. Well, actually, one, one and a half. The the basic thing is this I never thought he lost his skills after Lopez you would still imagine them being around but you know in that 12th round

there was a moment where the fight was kind of hanging there when he fought Lopez and it was Lopez who dug deeper like far deeper of the two and really like showed his competitive fire to win that which is why to me I don't really have any problem with that scoring in that fight in a way that Lomachenko still does. Dude, here's what I saw in this fight. Nakatani won. It was a lot of skill and razzle-dazzle. This one was skill and razzle-dazzle and a little bit of meanness.

A little bit of like, fuck you. And him and Richard Comey, they were gentlemen before. They exchanged the nicest of congratulations to each other in their own ways, obviously, because then Comey lost. But tons of respect shown post-fight. But in the fight itself, dude, he was not angry, fired up. It was totally missing for half the fight with Lopez. It's the perfect pivot right now. This guy's a genius, right?

He's 33, and he has a style, Luke, that on its surface is so reliant upon athleticism and footwork and speed and quick reaction that naturally you're like, oh, man, when that thing starts to age, people are going to catch up with him. He's going to have to be in wars he's getting ahead of that luke kind of like you know in 1993 michael jordan started adding that high post game with that fadeaway jumper he was getting ahead of what was coming in terms of you know just age catching up with you luke did you see his commitment to not just being nasty which you're right and pushing kami constantly but owning the clinch game luke he worked in a level of offense in close he's still trying to get around your shoulder and make you miss but now he's digging in and really going to town with the uppercuts and willing to be physically a force in there he's not he's basically saying i know i'm going to slow down but i'm not going to get manhandled in there uh he's in great

shape obviously luke he seems a little bit bigger than before, but his commitment now to trying to offset that and saying, okay, I'll fight you on short distance, but I'm going to make it completely on my terms still, that's something to watch, Luke. His fights moving forward, win or lose, they're going to be really fun. And if people don't know how good Richard Comey is

and for him to be able to make him look that, make him get to the point where we're questioning if loom is just carrying him um he's still there luke it's still there in a big way it's there in a huge way i was i was so impressed with uh as i as i indicated the competitive fire in this and as you indicated you can see it from the point you raised not just in the ring of course but then outside the ring with the video packages and like paulie malinaggi you had a great tweet it's like dude this guy in uh vasily lomachenko in terms of you know the kind of effort he's putting and the kind of fights he's taking he's out there doing it all at the best he can anyway at lightweight he doesn't even have any belts he's out there just taking these kinds of

risks and putting on these fights without even the belts being sort of on the line here. Imagine what he would do if he actually had that in his place. We'll see if they can make those fights happen. By the way, you also mentioned the clinch game. How about that left hook that dropped Comey? He had an under hook and as soon as he began pulling it out

and Comey retreated, he timed it perfectly and then circled a left hook over the top. Sat him down right along the fence line. You'll be seeing that shortly on Have You Seen This Shit. Luke, he's amazing. Amazing performance. Hearing his comments on the other fighters, like I said, was interesting because he doesn't pull any punches.

And he gave Ryan Garcia, by the way, a ton of respect for getting off the canvas against Luke Campbell and showing him that hunger. But he's going next level piss job on Gervervante so that makes me think it's it's sort of a long play of like trying to lure them to get you know to to accept this fight luke there were times we thought teo was bigger and better and and he would have been a part of this conversation but right now teo fimo is taking a back step the best fight you

can make in this division it's tank versus loma it really is i mean it's probably the hardest fight to make in this division but dude that's the best fight you can make right now even though i think haney is is really finding out where he's going the best fight you can make is could you imagine could you imagine the theater of dravante against um against loma chanko are you kidding me? That's a huge fight. That's a huge, huge, huge fight. I hadn't even thought of it, really. I mean, obviously, we've sort of contemplated it,

but now that you're selling it to me, it sounds so appetizing. That is an amazing contest. Even if Loma's right, meaning that we think the skill between the two is fairly close, although I think, look, Lomachenko's a wizard. He's got a deeper level of skill and ring generalship and all that but we think for gervonta can box even if

he gets completely owned in the in the in that level of it he's got that power luke and that in multiple ways to deliver it that he's going to discipline loma with with the threat of that there's no question about it so to see what would happen next is it would be wild uh do you think lastly on this then we'll talk about uh no no need to don't air do you think that after this performance how likely is it that they actually make the shakur stevenson fight in 2022 and i i think uh shakur to me it's to me to me it seemed like it actually became less likely. Yeah, I'll say less likely. Because he really said the only way he'd go back down to 130

is if Shakur could bring all the belts there. I think Loma, he's focused on lightweight, man. He wants to be the Undisputed Champion again. So not likely, but the future's fun. The future's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be good. And last, but certainly not least, we move to point number five now here. It wasn't necessarily the biggest fight over the weekend,

but you want to talk about feel-good events in combat sports. We saw them at UFC. You should have seen them on Showtime on Saturday night as well. How about Nonito Donair, 39 years of age, going back down in weight and giving Raymart Gabayo, Gabalio, I can't pronounce his name correctly. Gabalio. They were saying Gabalio on the broadcast.

They were actually saying the L and the Y, so I don't know. In any case, with a fourth-round stoppage, vicious body punching, BC, what can you say about Donair at this late stage in his career and then i want to talk about whether the in a way rematch should be next but guys please review this please this is something special this is really something special it's not going to get the headlines of even you know look don't know you know donair has always been under the shadow of manny pacquiao as philippine you know icons and fighters that have accomplished so much. Rightfully so, right? Manny Pacquiao is a force commercially. But what Pacquiao has done in recent years,

staying so relevant late in age, this is right on par with what De Niro is doing. I mean, to be able to move down two weight divisions even further to a weight class at 118, where speed is such a dominant factor, and still be this much of a threat as a puncher and already proved you can go in there against a you know a guy who's number two or three pound for pound in a new way who probably in all i mean should a new way should have destroyed him luke we were like nervous for donair's health by accepting that fight

and he went in there and was like the bigger man in key moments. That's one thing. Okay, that's the last of what he's got left in the jar, right? No, he's taking on all comers. Gabaya was 24-0 with 22 KOs coming in. I mean, he's fighting these hungry, tough guys in this division. Real quickly, you can see, I just want to point out for the audience's sake, they show the highlights here. Look, he actually waits until the eight count and then stands and realizes he can't stand and then goes back to the knee,

even though they were at the end of the round. All he had to do was hold on for a few more seconds. Look, watch him. And he just, ah, he can't do it. He has to go right back down. Dude, Donair must have stuck him with a heavy punch. I mean, he's in insane shape. He's really in a great place, you know, mentally, spiritually,

in terms of what he feels like his role is in the game right now and all of that. And I respect all of that for sure. But, Luke, just to deal with the speed and to rely on his craft so much in wily veteran stuff, not in a dirty way like we sometimes use that term for, but in a smart way, he's a factor. And this is, again, something that's only going to get so much attention but should be getting more across even the entire sports world. I mean, this is a truly remarkable run that he's on right now, and he's a credit to boxing and does not get the respect overall

for who he is and what he's accomplished that he deserves. Okay, but Donair is fighting right now on on a separate network and promoter than what in a way is on with top rank in espn so how likely is it that there could be an in a way rematch uh you know it depends on likely right it yeah not not you know it that wouldn't demand the money that would necessitate two networks coming together to do a pay-per-view fight so that's where the difficulty is in making it. I don't know the specifics of Donair's Showtime deal and how many fights he has left or whatever of that.

I would love if both parties could come together and have a conversation, but it doesn't seem likely under boxing's current business structure. But he keeps saying, that's the fight I want. So let's see what happens. Look at that liver shot, boy. That is just a well-placed punch. Oh, by the way, John Riel Casimiro did not end up having his fight in Dubai. He ended up having to pull out of it.

That's still on the table as well, right? Absolutely. That could still be a unification fight. That would be fun as heck, and Casimiro goes after it, so that would be a war. All right. Well, that is it for us on our top five topics now it is time for you to ask us questions it is time for dms from dogs hee haw hee haw hee haw as everyone knows we put up a post on morning combat's instagram page every sund, asking you guys for questions. You then fill them in. The producers select them, and then we answer.

All right, so first, at Z to the N7, who's going to let this huge MK win get to their head first, and why is it Brian? Will this be a destructive boost to our ego? You're damn right. You're damn right it will, Luke. I don't think so because I think we're going to go to Tampa. I plan on doing a great job there.

But the MK, you know, that audience who goes to those fights, like, for example, the audience that was there for Jake versus Tyron 1, those were not typical fight fans. I think we're going to be back to Cinderella's going to be back to without a slipper here pretty soon. Yeah, but you're damn right, Luke. We're going to carry this BDE even further. And look, it's not going to forget stopping us.

We didn't level out here. This only lights a deeper fire for us to push and go after it, Luke. And if we get a little arrogant along the way in doing that, Luke, um, that's okay because we're coming. I will say that our post win celebration was not as good as it could have been in large part because we didn't plan to win. So we didn't have any champagne ready in the limo. Uh, the limo was procured last minute, although they did get it. I was actually pretty impressed that they got it. Um, we went to dinner and then both Brian and I left the dinner early so we could go to bed.

So, you know, not the most outrageous partying ever. I mean, we're still two old whitewashed dads, and that's, I guess, the appeal of this show, Luke, right? I guess so. All right. From at Dylan Magnuson1, is Dustin now a gatekeeper at the lightweight division? See, I really don't like this framing

about gatekeeper gatekeeper yes dustin is at a position where he can't quite ascend to the level he wants and so he kind of operates into space a little bit outside of that in that sense he's a gatekeeper but that's not really what gatekeeper means gatekeeper is designed to mean somebody who's actually much further down in the rankings list, probably even outside the top 10 or top, even top 15. Well, to argue that. You don't get into the good space until you beat this guy. If you're just outside the title space, BC, just to wrap this up, that's not typically a term where gatekeeper is applied or a position rather.

I mean, you're being literal and you're right. But there are levels to gatekeepering. And I think the spirit of this question is really, will he be the celebrity gatekeeper? The guy, you know, a guy who still takes big fights, but is serving himself up in some ways to the next risers. No,

I don't think that's going to happen. Even if he goes down the road, I sort of said earlier about more chasing big fights than trying to get back in line. He's still, I think good enough. Luke, if he decides to get back in line,

he'll be there and he may end up there anyway, just for being a competent ready name who takes on big fights so uh no to all of the above even though luke this this is the type of spot where most guys break out and become that celebrity gatekeeper i just think there's still more fight left in them okay that's fair that's fair um From TVGC MMA. With the Nunes defeat, can we now stop calling people the GOAT until their career is over as opposed to claiming it while they are in the middle of a good-slash-great run? Well, that was more than a good-slash-great run. Let's go back through this one more time. Even prior to the Kat Zingano loss, for example, Amanda Nunes had wins over Jermaine Durandamy, Sheila Gaff, Julia Budd, Vanessa Porto.

She had some good wins before that, but this is the run that made her, right? Shayna Baszler, TKO. Sarah McMahon, submission. Valentina Shevchenko, decision. Misha Tate, submission. Ronda Rousey, TKO. Shevchenko, again, decision. Raquel Pennington, TKO.

Chris Cyborg, KO. Holly Holm, T tko jermaine durand to me decision felicia spencer decision megan anderson submission dude that i mean that is a fucking all-time hall of fame run sorry this was a special case scenario with a special you know athlete and performer where i felt okay doing that but the spirit of this question i think is interesting i usually lean on the idea of saying, who cares? Let's have these debates. But sometimes that's work-related. We're always thinking of, you know, filling podcast or radio time with interesting conversation. I do agree that we do need to take a little bit of a step.

I wish there was another way, another term that we could use in this situation where someone, you know, might've gotten themselves up to a high level. Cause the thing is sometimes one fight can have such a meaning on where somebody in that moment ends up, you know? So it is unfair when, when Daniel Cormier knocks out, uh, Stipe and I'm like, you know what? I think he just joined the upper room, you know? Like, and then he loses the rematch. And I'm like, oh, I think he just fell out of the upper room that's not fair we really shouldn't i like the idea of having one go we should take more time and step back and let someone finish authoring the entire career before we vote on that it's just not the new cycle the way we operate today i wish there was another term luke that you know it's like they're in the

holding queue they might be getting ready but they're not there yet, you know? Maybe we need to create a meeting. The situation was weird when you had, I think Silva or GSP may have been retired at this point, but Silva was kind of still going but then losing a little bit. And then Demetrius Johnson was winning when he had that big, long win streak. And so there was this constant jockeying where Demetrius would get one win and then Jones would fight. And then, you know, so there was this constant changing of position about who might be goat in that case that I think is a certainly a fair point where you should just back off until wait till these things are turned in a little bit more before you can say with Amanda as you indicated that run is so uniquely beyond anyone else's run in the women's weight classes and in the history of the sport that I don't have nearly the same trepidation about calling her that.

And I don't think that this loss, by the way, changes that, to be honest with you. But fair point. There is too much goat talk too early, and we could probably use a little bit less of it. Yeah. All right. From Lewers87. Regardless if Cody Garbrandt gets released from the UFC or not, which, by the the way is a thing

we should think about do you believe he can still compete at a high level of MMA what changes does he need to make to find success again BC well if the the issue is what we think it is you know a major glaring uh punch resistance issue or strike resistance at the moment I don't I don't think it is fixable. So look, he can still compete on a very high level and it might win some of those, but, but he's a threat to lose, you know, like American was where it's like every step it's like you're on pins and needles and that's a spot where you get hurt and you get hurt a lot. So I'm not saying he has to quit. I'm not saying the UFC has to cut him, but he's in a very tough spot. What could, what could change? Could he go back and

reinvent himself as a wrestle first guy, Luke, who punches more when he needs to? I don't think you, I don't think you could change somebody who's had such a high level of success and believes in themselves. And he was in great shape. Like, uh, you know, it's, it's, this is one of those really hard moments, Luke, when, you know, I, yeah, know, yeah, it's tough to even talk about, Luke, because, you know, sometimes people make changes and they make runs and they put a losing streak behind them and they change things in their life behind the scenes that we didn't know was an issue. And then they fully bloom. I hope I don't want to close that door on that being possible, but I don't see it, Luke.

Yeah, I would agree with that i think it would be having seen some of the situations i've seen previously i would not want to be in the space today nor am i going to be of saying i don't know if cody can fight high level anymore i think that's a little you know i'm not saying it's an altogether unfair question to ponder but even to a hazard an answer seems a little bit unfair with what we're at right now. Plus, the guy just fucking lost. Let's give him a bit of a break. But, Luke, it's rare that we see it, but we did just live the end of the Hennon Burrell run

where he went from champion and almost pound-for-pound king to being knocked out every time. You don't want to see that play. Even Anderson Silva, after he beats Stefanhen bonner in like this way of total ease then he loses to weidman and he did have so you know wins after that obviously this new boxing thing is great but in general mma i mean that was it like he went from beating bonner with like the most incredible uh display of skill to just the slow over actually not slow but overnight and then continued to climb like it can happen that way but i, I mean, you know, the difference would be, like, Anderson had this long record before.

Yeah, Anderson's is a little different. I mean, Johnny Hendricks is another comparison. Sometimes when it falls off, it's gone. It's immediate, yes. I mean, here's the thing. People are making this out to be about his chin, which I do think is a relevant factor, especially, like, it wasn't great at 35,

and then you're dehydrating down to 125. Like, this is not doing you any favors. But to me, the other issue that we just kind of have to recognize, and this is why the problem is very significant to me, he gets hit clean, man. He gets hit very clean a lot. People who throw big punches land on him early and often. And that is in part some of the way he is structuring his defense i think in part it's like understanding what's coming he doesn't have i think a lot of the skills necessary from an anticipatory standpoint to make reads about again with a quarterback that's under center and he's looking at the field about where you want to throw coverage and what the defense is setting up

if you're you're winning that game or winning that series in that particular down by what judgment calls you make it the line of scrimmage then you fall back and you see what kind of he doesn't have the great reads at the line of scrimmage yeah what i fear is that i think i think they already tried to make a dramatic change i think he came out much more like he was circling away early in this fight luke i thought there was much, I thought he was trying to show that he had really worked on not, you know, doing everything to avoid getting into a war. I think he was even overcompensating to show you that. So if they've already tried that and we're here, yikes, Luke, yikes.

So then not to beat him up anymore, we'll move on. At MT Booble, if SNL Saturday Night Live were to do a parody of mk who would you want to play you oh god i don't i don't even know who's on the snl yeah i don't know who's on the cast these days but is there anyone in recent history luke that you think i mean could uh could pete davidson put on a beard and play you luke no um I wonder if that fat chick could play you. I'm teasing. I'm teasing. Why don't we get a, who's the guy that does Jason Sudeikis?

You know, Luke? Sudeikis. I was going to say he'd be a guest, but you know who my fraternity brothers call me all the time? They call me Kenny Powers because I'm so dismissive of everybody else. Yeah. I wonder if you could get, who's the guy who plays kenny powers it is um it's tip of my tongue danny mcbride danny mcbride danny mcbride you could get him as a guest to play i think all right it'd be kind of funny that's it um uh someone says on the we have we have our staff cutting jokes in the chat here can pete dav Pete Davidson play me so I can have a shot at some Kardashians? Very funny.

All right. I mean, look, that's a different. Yeah, I'll end. No LBB conversation. Keep it going. All right. With that in mind, it's time for your shit. Let's see it.

Wow. You know what we do? We search the globe, the highs and lows, the good and bad, the ugly, the in-between of combat sports and beyond. Yeah, it's called. Have you seen this shit alright Luke UFC 269 in Las Vegas opening fight of the night how about Priscilla

Kachawaya if you ain't did you go to Camp Hiawatha and get the plate Kachawaya NASDAQ 500. If you ain't cheating, Luke, you ain't trying. This is dangerous as shit. Putting her thumb deep.

I know. Deep into Jillian Robertson's eyes. Robertson would get the win. But that's grimy, Luke. That's dirty as shit. That is hella dirty. Yes. Wow. Somewhere.

Who's the ref that tried to let her go out on her shit? And it nearly works too, right? Because if you don't understand this, your head has to be on the opposite side of the choking arm. And she was, because you can't have your head and the choking arm on the same side. The mechanics of the choke won't work. It has to be on the other side. So watch, as she pushes the thumb here,

she actually pushes it almost over to the other side. And then Robertson has to bring on the other side. So watch. As she pushes the thumb here, she actually pushes it almost over to the other side, and then Robertson has to bring her eye back. That actually would have released the choke mechanically, but Robertson hung on. That was dirty as shit from Priscilla Ketchler. Head like a hole, black as your soul, Luke. I'd rather die than give you control. And, you know, bow down, right, Luke? Okay, you can move on to the next one okay

all right got weird uh also there luke real recognizing real as justin gaethje may be the next opponent for charles olivera giving him some love this got me giddy this got me excited luke to see these guys standing can we also say we got to give a shout out to justin gaethje justin gaethje was actually at he was at friday's world mma awards brian and i were not together this time i was outside and he was inside and we had switched places for a little while because we're running all over the place trying to find people and whatnot independent so brian and i were not together just engage he stopped both brian and i by name to congratulate us on mk he stopped me he He's like, hey, Luke, he shook out his hand. He's got meaty hands for a 155-er.

He was like, congratulations. You did a great job. He was enthusiastic, so shouts to the savage Justin Gaethje. That was well done from Justin Gaethje. You want to be in the upper tier of the MK Favorite Fighters Guild, Luke? That includes Billy Q and Ioana and a few other Latin Fauci's.

That's how you do it, Luke. Am I Latin Fauci or are they Latin Fauci? few other Latin Fauci's, that's how you do it, Luke, okay? Wow. Wait, am I Latin Fauci or are they Latin Fauci? You are Latin Fauci. I'm just getting totally confused. Because you are protecting, yes, under all circumstances. All right, let's keep it going here. Sean O'Malley at the finish of Halleon Pava, Luke.

But how about the celebration? Can you grade this, Luke? Yeah, what is he doing here who's this like is he doing the steph curry yeah thing that's his thing now he's got the tat on the neck of him doing that is that cool luke is that what the people want i guess his hair matched his owl tattoo chest piece which i thought was kind of i will say like i underestimated how much this crowd would go nuts for Amanda Nunes. They love her, but they love them some Sean O'Malley.

I mean, this is working, Luke. That's what I'm saying. Like, he's got the whole crowd in his hands. I'm telling you, man, the crowd popped big for him. And, dude, he delivers. Sean O'Malley fucking delivers. So we'll see what happens when he gets to the upper tier of the division. But what he's doing right now, it is working.

All right, wholesome moment. Before the start of 269, Luke, as Amanda Nunes and Nina Nunes come out with daughter Regan, the bus. Luke, I love that she, I mean, look, obviously the fight was a disaster, but that she really tries to include her daughter in this and get the experience. Look, there's some wholesome stuff within UFC once in a while, okay? Yeah, this is super, super cute. And as somebody who was just in this kind of place with their own daughter i know the feels man it is a awesome awesome feeling so congratulations to the nunez's there

and to this little one very very cute but once the pena upset happened luke stuff went wild including michael chiesa who's a teammate of Juliana Pena. Wrong video here, but we'll show it. This is him celebrating. This is fine, dude, because we'll talk about it. I know which one you're talking about. He was feeling it. He was feeling it for his teammate.

I don't want to say he's not. Shouts to Michael Chiesa. He likes chocolate hummus because he's an animal. But other than that, he's a good guy. He was also drunk as a skunk. And it overwhelmed him like it has you and I many a time. But it got him here. Congrats to him. Do we have that video, Corey, or are we skipping it?

Anyway, he jumped the fence. I saw him in front of the media table as security was dragging him out, and he had a huge cut. Apparently, Dana said afterwards that he tripped and fell and hit his face. But he got the – oh, we don't have that. Okay, that could be my bad. But either way, he got the hug. They are longtime teammates and friends, so it's great to see. All right, Luke, let's keep it going.

Ty Tuivasa got a big knockout of Augusto Sakai to win his fourth straight, and he gave the people what they wanted atop the cage. Luke, this has become, you talk about a crowd embracing someone. Dude, Vegas gets this guy, and he delivers, Luke. Yeah, I mean, I'm a little bit over the shoeie thing. I think I've said that before. You know, it was fun to do. It's played out a little bit, but I'll say this.

I couldn't find the tape, but he ended up doing about three or four shoeies as he's walking down the aisle, and then he got it in his eye on the last one, and he was like a mess. He was staggering around as he went backstage, Luke. I and then he got it in his eye on the last one, and he was like a mess. He was staggering around as he went backstage, Luke. I mean, he was like a legit mess. This part is gross, and I don't really have a lot to say about it, except it's a little bit played out. But Tuivasa, four stoppages in a row, I believe,

and he's only 28 years old in the heavyweight division. He's changing up his training scenario. Dude, keep your eye on old tai tuivasa i didn't know exactly what he's making i thought he was just i thought he was just kind of like a heavyset brawler from australia and he started out that way bc but he might become something pretty special keep your eye on him he may become that again and just be a fun tv guy but for now he's going to try to find out how good he can be this is fun to watch luke we mentioned the world mma awards that went down friday. Shout out to Fighters Only Magazine. We got a great mix of D and E-list celebrity.

We got the Ocean Spray guy from the Fleetwood Mac song. That guy was there. The guy who went viral for a TikTok video or whatever it was. Yeah. And Luke, we also had host Chael Sonnen out here slaying with the one-liners. Here's a little piece if you missed it. I got my eye on Hazmat Jamai. If this guy is avoided by so many fighters, they should nickname him Child Support.

But we're not going to talk about Conor McGregor. This is the award show. I said that. Yeah, that was a good one. That was good. uh luke uh my wife and kids by the way watched this this stream live and we're just like what planet are you on with some of those performances but they didn't enjoy uh chael's humor but i thought he nailed it luke across the board yeah dude he there was definitely some audible silence and groans but you me and Courtney from Showtime we were we were lol-ing back there he was going for dude here's who took

a beating from like all the jokes at the MMA awards um Sjw's there's a lot of jokes at their expense yeah Tito Ortiz Tito Ortiz got just bludgeoned by the jokes that were there. John Jones got bludgeoned a little bit, but definitely Tito. Poor Tito. He took quite the L there. Oh, he came at Schaub, too. He came at him. Oh, at Schaub.

Yeah, Schaub got a bit of a beat in there, too. Yeah, a lot of January 6th material, but Chael delivered overall. Let's go Top Ring. If you guys didn't see it, he was like, you know, Colby's so fast, he got such good cardio probably from running inside and outside the Capitol building on January 6th. Me and BC popped for that one. We thought that was a great joke. Top break boxing from MSG.

You mentioned that hook that Loma had to knock Richard Comey down off the clinch. Yeah, look at that, dude. Look at the timing and the window. And, dude, mechanically, it's not a super efficient punch. There's no windup. Bah at that dude that is a master craftsman against not some chump against very good opposition he's old school he can box he can punch i mean he got made to look like an amateur in this fight holy crap that was wizard like stuff-like stuff. On the undercard, though, Luke, John Baza

going in against Michael Williams Jr. and congratulations, you've got a one-way ticket to hell. Do we have the video, or can I elongate this awkward pause even more? Is there any shit back there that we can inspect?

I'm waiting on it. Oh, here we go. Oh, got him stepping backwards too yikes yikes i'll tell you what the top rank undercards they give you they give you the knockouts you're looking for there's usually yeah dude it's like the bellator undercards there's a lot of death and destruction on those things yeah look at that wow all right luke uh real recognizing real at ringside. A very intoxicated Tyson Fury came to sing happy birthday to 90-year-old Bob Arum. And Alexander Usyk was there in the front row. So we got a little sizing each other up, Luke.

A nice little moment here. I got fired up. You? Yeah. Usyk not being weird about it in the sense of he's still a weird person, but he wasn't being weird about like them fighting or something you know yeah did you see when fury sat on the desk with the uh with tessitore and all them and tried to do like an absolute mess it was like an snl segment it was hilarious

to watch uh fury was just he was he was like chael sonnen in that moment luke all right let's go back into the ring uh silver medalist at the olympics quichon davis improves to four and oh look he's just 22 look at how uh wow we are out of order here uh do we not have that one guys which one is this uh we're trying to show me the boxer in the pimp walk there we go yeah all right here we go here's quichon davis in the black tr trunks Luke look at this body shot to just break Jose Zaragoza wow Zaragoza yeah wow man he is someone to watch just 22 4-0 his brother was also on the card and had a nice knockout win but uh be on the lookout there another name Luke big baby Anderson Jared Anderson the unbeaten heavyweight prospect. He's got his own section here of have you seen this shit.

Let's start with the walk to the ring. Looking like Samaki Walker on draft night, Luke. Look at this. This is BC walking up to his accept his award on Friday right here. I mean, that outfit should come with hose, Luke. That's fantastic. I love that right there. It really should.

It's quite the scene. He continued the drama inside the ring against Alexander Teslenko. This is Big Baby putting it on him. Double jab. Oh, got him with the old stanky. He's a good-looking prospect. And some people say, hey, ain't there too many people named Big Baby? Luke, when I think of Big Baby, I think of Glenn Davis, 2008 Celtics NBA champions.

And the two babies got together before the fight in the locker room, if we could advance the slide. See, I was thinking about Jarrell Miller. Yeah, there's too many Big Babies. You're right, Luke. There is. Okay. All right, let's keep it going. Let's check out MMA from around the the globe we head to to uh one championship and luke check out this uh the

jiu-jitsu on this referee after this finish oh yeah dude oh no oh no it's a heel hook oh jesus tap or snap sorry it's not a heel hook it's like a knee bar, but he's a little bit off. He's stretching it a little bit. Yeah, that guy tapped quick. He's like, come on, let's go. Come on. Yeah, none of that. All right, let's go over to EFC 43.

Mehdi Dakar, Luke, with a diving KO. Are you kidding me? I saw this. Are you kidding me? I couldn't believe it. The narrowest of windows. Off balance. A literal arm punch, but he just found a way.

The guy didn't see it coming, and it had an effect. Unbelievable. Dude, that's like a full court shot to win the game or something. That's just wacky. And he did that Tyson shift. Watch where he throws the punch and then pivots. Watch, he throws it, pivots off to the side, and then just dove into it. It's a powerful punch when you land it to the body from that southpaw stance. But see, watch, he pivots off to the side, and then just dove into it. It's a powerful punch when you land it to the body from that southpaw stance.

But, see, watch, he pivots and then throws. That's crazy, man. Luke, let's go back to one championship. He may be pushing 50, but Seksayama is still throwing dudes around. Luke, check out this high-level judo work. Yeah, that's just an outside trip, looks like. Let me see. One more time.

Yeah, no, I'd say Harai Goshi, I think. Both legs he's got there. He's still jacked, Luke. This guy's still jacked. I would love to see his DMs. You probably couldn't read them because they're going to be in Korean or Japanese, but yeah. Wow. Okay.

I don't know how to field that. Let's go over to FAC11. Here's Van San making Justin Little throw up after. Look, that's an immediate TKO. Yeah. This is me after you record, like, wrestling content. Yeah. Well, did he roll in the...

Yeah. All right. DAZN Boxing from England. Luke, big day for Connor Benn, right? Son of royalty, 25 years old. He keeps his unbeaten run alive at welterweight against the veteran Chris Algieri. Good God. Let me tell you something about Chris Algieri.

Vinny Pass from Jedi Mind Tricks made this point on Instagram. You know, Chris Algieri, we're not saying he's the best fighter ever, and he is 37. But, dude, he's always in impeccable shape. He's like a strength and conditioning guy for other boxers now. And I don't think I've seen anyone put it on him with a one-two like that ever. Have you? Even Pacquiao didn't do it. No, I mean, Spence ate him up, but a lot of that was to the body.

But not like this, dude. I mean, a lot of people comparing this knockout to when Marvin Hagler knocked out Roberto Duran with one. I'm sorry, Thomas Hintman Hearns knocking out Roberto Duran with that vicious shot in round two. Just by the way Algieri fell, it was just like, oh, I mean, that's a shotgun going off and it's over. That's beautiful. Look, Connor Ben's making noise. A lot of people trying to get me to ABC. Is he for real? He's starting to beat the guys. He's getting closer to them. He's got wins over Sebastian Formella, Samuel Vargas, Adrian Granadosados and now you put this type of destructive win against algeri he's certainly not there yet

but he's he's showing signs i i'm excited to watch this guy rise he's he's pretty nasty so uh luke let's keep it going uh showtime boxing brandon lee luke just 22 years old brandon lee can thump dude we know he's a puncher but this was the fight against juan araldes to show how good he really is dude he passed this test with flying colors he sure did this guy has been on the he started out on still in 10 rounders but um you know you're seeing right away why like pbc and showtime have kind of spotlight this spotlight this kid he can absolutely bring the hammers and and he can box, too. He's quick.

He's young. He's definitely someone to watch. Yeah, 24-0 with 22 KOs, just 22 years old. That went down on Saturday on the Donair undercard at the Punch Bowl, as Morrow calls it. Let's keep it rolling here, Luke. Patricio Pitbull. Dude, I mean, this rivalry between him and chandler it's never gonna die you see him send chandler to hell on twitter here luke

we zoom in what does uh i would never ever quit chandler says i went out on my shield after being separated from consciousness congrats to olivera so is he i don't know if this is chandler sending a shot at poirier and trying to say he he quit but pitbull comes out with you turned your back to charles and run away after being clipped you quit against gaethje also let's not forget you asked will brooks for a time out shut your damn mouth you've been pathetic look he just that's like oz where the guy shat on the other guy that i mean he just dropped that that dump right there i know and the part that's weird is like pitbull got the best of him, and he's still bitter at him.

You know what I mean? I mean, that's a real blood feud right there. Fuck yeah, it is. Is he right, though? Is he right, Luke? Not really. I mean, yes, he did ask for the timeout against Will Brooks because he must have been so rattled.

But I don't think he quit against Gaethje. And he ran from Charles because Charles was punching him in the face. So, you know. All right. I'm a little bit more forgiving of Pitbull than Pitbull is. Luke, if you look for Easter eggs, you'll find them. There's hidden Mickeys everywhere. Check out this town's Christmas lighting, Luke.

What have we got? What are we doing here? I mean, what is this? I mean, is anyone fact-checking quality control here, Luke, for this town? That's my neighborhood. I didn't tell you that, but that's my neighborhood right there. Yeah. Dick City.

Where are you from, Luke? Dick City. Shaftsville? Dick City. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Okay.

Luke, anytime there's a brutal Rolling Thunder KO, we'll find it. Here's a karate match. Oh, son. thunder ko we'll we'll find it here's a karate match oh son this is bc when he says yo i got cold fries when i when i ordered them at arby's don't be doing that shit you know the world mma awards had some cold sliders luke i mean that shit was not dude they they were mma awards which by the way was in generally a a great event and I'm very glad we attended. But they served catering food, which tasted fine, but they didn't have any heating elements under it. So by the time you got to it, I was like, did you guys refreeze these? What happened to this food?

It was ice cold. I do like their idea. They're like, what do we feed these people? Let's get 4,000 sliders. They'll love that. You know what? They weren't wrong. They were not wrong.

Yeah, they weren't wrong. All right, Luke uh you ever hear a ghost ride the whip how about ghost ride the spinning truck uh either way luke it's bound to catch a few lols oh boy oh wow this is just i love seeing the idiots like hey everyone bop there you go there There we go. All right. Luke, BKFC shenanigans. Julian Lang of Let's Bang, Let Me Bang Bro successfully baited Mike Perry on the broadcast into a fight. You asked for it. You get it with MP here, Luke. Did you see this platinum dust up? Let me ask a question.

Who goes to a BKFC event event and wears a mask that seems like uh i have a second view where you can actually see the fighting here as the broadcast chose not to show the live tape of the fighting luckily fans saw it wow look you know grubaka hitman put this the best which is mike perry is home this really dude i'm not i'm not i'm not doing a bit he is going to elevate his brand this way this like this is so pro wrestling i can't i love it i mean look this is this is some of the things that bkfc does does really well they basically put crazy people in there to create pro wrestling like moments that are like i mean it's a little jerry springer it's a little ridiculous but uh it does get you to care about the fight, Luke, or at least, I mean, it's,

pay attention anyway, yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's not bad promoting, I'll tell you that much. They got the right people for that over there, wow. All right, Luke, let's keep it going here. This video's made the rounds, this guy takes a hard L, I'm not saying this isn't fake, Luke, but eventually it was gonna make the show. Either way. No, it's fake. It's fake. It's not real. This is me most times

at the gym warming up. Just what the fuck is happening to my life? It was right there. Alright, Luke, I got one more for you. We're going to have to play the audio on this one. There wasn't nearly enough drunk chicks for this one. I'm a little bit disappointed. And no elder abuse. What happened? Here you go. You want drunk chicks? We got them, Luke. Alright, here we go.

Magic Good Magic Good Magic Good Magic Good

Magic Good Magic Good Magic Good Magic Good

Magic Good Magic Good Magic Good Magic Good

Magic Good Magic Good Magic Good Magic Good

Magic Good Magic Good Magic Good Magic Good

Magic Good Magic Good Magic Magic Magic Magic Magic Magic Magic Magic Magic Magic Magic Magic Magic Magic Magic wow it's over it's over ladies and gentlemen white girl summer has been canceled i can't hear bc now i can hear him yeah dude that is um let me ask you what's more annoying

if you're at a bar and you see a van pull up a van full of drunk dudes or a van full of drunk chicks what's more annoying if it's a bachelorette party then the the band the the drunk chicks without question dude i got these these bachelorette i mean vegas is just so gross these so gross they're so it's unbelievably fucking gross these bachelorette parties at vegas where like the by the time the bride-to-be is done and she's walking around mgm at three in the morning like this and none of none of none of the bridal party has shoes and they're walking around and like things are slip. These women are heinous creatures.

I just want to point that out. By the way, it was rodeo weekend. Look, I always get stuck in rodeo weekend in Vegas. Always. Okay? You know what? I said this on Friday. You know what's interesting about these guys who are in the rodeo? They love wearing masks.

They love that shit. Yeah, that made Luke Fauci very happy. Wow. Yeah, that's all Fauci very happy. Wow. Yeah, that's all the shit I got this week. Thank you. That was good. That was good. All right, BC, we have time now for maybe a quick story worth mentioning

that we maybe have missed. It's time for Odds and Ends. What do you have for us? I just want to say this. This year for the UFC, which is not over, we've got one more fight card this Saturday, but you know, the pay-per-view season's behind us. We know it's their number one year financially ever. This is, this is the ESPN deal come full bloom in terms of what they're capable of. And

this year has been incredible. Savor the flavor, like really enjoy this might this is the this is the time right now like this is the best it's ever been you may have more you may have a certain love that came with where this brand was you know in the in the mid-2000s and coming bloom that may be more romanticized 2016 as I always say you know covering going on the road for all those big Conor fights it was something I never experienced but Luke the sport is like as healthy as can be not just in UFC but with you know PFL making moves Bellator's got a huge TV deal like all this stuff um this is this is I don't know if it can get any better I mean there's just badass fights every week and this year has been incredible for the leaders UFC at the top. And I want to give them their just do. Um, do I feel a storm

is coming one day with, with the, the fighter pay thing? Once that comes full bloom? Yeah, that's going to be a, that's going to be a tough time to navigate to, to see if, if the business could still operate this fan friendly once, once the pay gets where it should be to be fair um i don't know we'll see what happens then but until that storm hits luke like let's take a moment here like we we benefit from this sport being this thriving this much absolutely of course you know this show is built around that but you know yeah i got to tip my cap to dana and company and it was great uh great getting a chance to sit cage side again for a fight card this amazing. But, Luke, this may be the best of times.

It certainly may be. There is one more UFC card this upcoming weekend, which we'll talk about as the week goes on, although we're going to be in Tampa for the Jake Paul fight. But they have, dude, UFC has not had a bad year. They have had an absolutely murderously good year, and there's no reason why in 2022 that should not continue. So we've said it before, we'll say it again,

for not just this reason, but for many reasons, I do think this is the golden age of combat sports. For my odds and ends, it was briefly, I think, challenged for a little while, but subsequent reports have shown that it is true. UFC 271 will be headlined by a middleweight title bout between israel adesanya and robert whitaker of course they fought previously whitaker has since rattled off wins over gastelum over cannoneer over uh till and has brought him

back to this position we don't i think it's not i i believe it's going to be in Houston, Texas at the Toyota Center. Also on that card, another fellow Kiwi, Carlos Olberg, will be on it, and we'll see how else it fills out. But initially there were some questions about Adesanya saying it wasn't true. The reporting is that the contracts have not been signed, just verbally agreed to. UFC went ahead and announced it anyway, but you get the idea, BC. You excited for the rematch between Adesanya and Whitaker? It's the number one fight I need to see next year.

The fact that it's happening makes that even sweeter. Luke, this is in the U.S., as you're saying. Dude, we may have to go to that. I haven't been to an Adesanya fight in a long time. I mean, that's like a fight like we may have to be there. This could be special, Luke. I could talk this this up and it could just be another day at the office and and maybe out of sunny does that all over again i don't know but i think this is going to be a an epic fight and these two are you know historically all-time great guys uh in this

division in this sport i think but we know when all said and done is you know these these guys are the goods this is going to be great theater. I cannot wait for this fight. Yeah, it certainly is going to be pretty interesting. Okay, BC, that is it for today. Just want to remind folks, Manscaped, go to manscaped.com, use the code COMBAT. You can get 20% off plus free shipping. That's a big and important thing we want for you guys to take care of.

If you are, like many people, full of gross genitalia yeah this body wash this is an option for you this body wash is legit all right it's absolutely legit i use that that uh lawnmower luke they got the guard on there so you can't cut yourself i mean that's what you really want to know as a guy okay i'll buy your guy products do they you know will i not get cut when i clean up that you know you'll be fine you'll be just fine so you have the ear you have the lawnmower you have the thing for trimming your ear hair go to manscaped.com use the code combat k-o-m-b-a-t and uh there you have it that will take care of you uh for the holidays or your your male friends or whoever um also you can go to morningcombat.store you can get our merch holiday is here. Order now to make sure you get it on time.

But BC indicated we have crazy sweaters. We have crazy underwear. And by the way, they didn't nominate Factory Town MMA for Gym of the Year, BC. But we have Factory Town MMA gear. You're damn right we do. BC, we're sitting next to each other at the awards ceremony. And they're like, an NLL nominees for Gym of the Year. And they went through them all and BC goes, yo, Factory Town

MMA got robbed. I was like, yeah, maybe they did a little bit. Let's see. Showtime.com, get a 30-day free trial. Plenty of combat sports coming your way in 2022 on Showtime. No time like the present. Get a 30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, you can go pound sand.

Of course, like and subscribe if you're listening on YouTube. Give us a nice review for the podcast side of things if you are listening on the audio side. And, oh, yes, for Wednesdays, fan subs, and for Fridays, Dead Wrong, morningcombat at gmail.com. Morningcombat at gmail.com will be the place for that. We do, you know, we have Dead Wrong every Friday where we take the stand and we own up. We haven't always been perfect on our communication over social media to you guys when our show schedule changes due to travel. This weekend is obviously a big pay-per-view Saturday night, showtime pay-per-view when Tyron Woodley gets a second chance at Jake Paul.

Luke and I will be there in Tampa this week beginning on Wednesday. We will have some alternate times for our shows, at least Wednesday afternoon, definitely. So we'll keep you abreast of that. Hopefully a full cup, right? And on Twitter, on social media, on IG. But the show could be fluid on Wednesday based on what time we get it going. But Luke, expect great content from us this week when we're on the ground in one of our country's beautiful areas there, thata st pete white sand beaches luke that's i love that that's an under underrated hang that area luke yeah i'm probably gonna get covid but that's okay what are you gonna do um uh so yes we're looking forward to that but yeah our show

times might be adjusted a little bit on wednesday and Friday. We will do our absolute best to keep you informed. But don't forget, BC and I are going to be hosting the workouts, the weigh-ins, the pressers. We'll be there for everything. We got you covered for the second go-round on all that madness. So if you're out in Tampa, come say hi and blah, blah, blah. All right, BC. One more time. Let's thank, of course, all the CBS staff, all the Showtime staff,

all of the Malka staff, if we haven't been clear about how much they do for us as well. And let's thank those MK fans. I didn't believe we could do it, and we did it. Let's take that momentum that they helped lift us to, and let's have a big 2022. Yeah, look, you guys put the spotlight on us. This makes us have to raise our game even more. If there's going to be a shot at, you know,

more eyes on this product from this great success that you gave it us. Thank you. We're going to rise to the occasion. And that's what we do here. MK all day, nearly every day. So, uh,

yeah. Thank you. So thank you for, for Malka, for CBS sports, for Showtime, for Brian Campbell, I'm Luke Thomas. Until next time, we won and we're not surprised, motherfuckers.