MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 269 Storylines | Vasiliy Lomachenko | Quick Hitters | EP 238

Episode Date: December 8, 2021

On Episode 238 of Morning Kombat Luke and Brian kick off the show by breaking down the biggest storylines from UFC 269. Next up the guys discuss Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Richard Commey and what type of implications this has on the division. Finally the guys close out the show with some quick hitters and Fan Subs. (9:30) - Charles Oliveira vs. Dustin Poirier (25:00) - UFC 269 Storylines (49:45) - Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Richard Commey (61:00) - Boxing HOF (71:20) - Quick Hitters 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

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Reveley, 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 Back like a bad habit from the belly of the beast.

Actually, not quite yet, but we'll be in the belly of the beast very soon. Hello, everyone. It is a Wednesday edition of the Best Show in Combat Sports. It is time for Morning Combat. I am merely just one half of your hosting duo. I am in the capital of Los Estados Unidos here in Washington, D.C. My name is Luke Thomas from CBS Sports. Showtime on occasion, as well as my friend, partner, I don't know, teammate.

Not quite my lover, but he is sensual just the same. He's the crown prince of CT with brain damage. He's my friend and yours. It's Brian Campbell. What's up, player? A little bit of the BDE. Just personally, I want a lover who won't drive me crazy. So let's draw the line before there

but great to be back Luke I'm not sick but I'm definitely not well and I'm ready to absolutely bring it today I do want to publish zines and Rage Against Machines I mean I want to pierce my tongue it doesn't hurt, it feels fine and I am here today to declare war on our competition Luke if you're coming on as they say come on It feels fine, and I am here today to declare war on our competition, Luke.

If you're coming on, as they say, come on. So we're bringing it. It's Wednesday. It's the hump. We're going to climb that hump, okay? We're going to do it together. We're taking over, all right? Tomorrow I'm getting on a plane.

I'm coming to Las Vegas for UFC 269. I'm bringing it, okay? I'm here. Well, as BC kind of indicated, it should be known. We're going to be in Las Vegas starting tomorrow. We'll be there for a short stint. BC is going to be there for the entirety of the 269 experience. I will be on a bird a little bit earlier. But we will have, by the way, plenty of UFC 269 coverage headed your way pre-game, post-game, during the whole nine yards.

So that should be a lot of fun. And if you're in Las Vegas, say hi, but please don't have COVID and brush your teeth. All right, BC, we have a lot to get to on today's show, including UFC 269 storylines, including some Boxing Hall of Fame controversy, and a whole lot more. So if you're watching this on YouTube, give a thumbs up, hit the subscribe button. Plus, if you're listening on the audio portion of this podcast, whatever system you're listening on, Spotify, Apple, leave us a nice review and tell the folks and help us scam the algorithm

that this show is just amazing, even if you don't necessarily think that it is. It would be very helpful if you did that. We still, by the way, are in debt to some of you for some of your five-star reviews. BC is the man who gets the dms about the merch you can get some of your own merch at morningcombat.store bc what's the issue over there why are people dming you about the merch oh you know there's international shipping delay we're in a shipping crisis right now but our our crack team there at morningcombat.store is uh they're pushing it and they're pushing it real good so if you're gonna want this shit under

your tree come christmas morning you really got to jump on right now make sure you get ahead of that you want it delivered in time for your loved one uh you want to hop on our website this week still got some fun deals going on for uh cyber money that is that monday that have been extended so check out that you get a little bit of discount on the back end if you spend enough and everybody likes a little discount on that back end if you know what i'm talking about uh you want factory town mma you want luke's dead face on your shirt you want a can't miss pair of boxer briefs with us pointing at your junk go to our website right now morningcombat.store suitable for the holidays thank you quite suitable in fact. If you want to get Showtime, go to Showtime.com, get a

30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, you can pound sand that is there. And, oh, by the way, it's MK, it's DKBC. We all know Saturday, of course, is going to be UFC 269 and DraftKings Sportsbook customers. Well, you're going to be in a good place.

So if you bet just $1 and win, you can, excuse me, if you bet just one dollar and win you can excuse me if you bet just one dollar bc you can win a hundred dollars in free bets if either fighter lands a punch hard to think of a deal that is more than free money than just them coming over to you and handing you yeah this is basically free 99 draft kings is the official betting partner of the ufc the nfl and so much more. It's safe, secure, and reliable. The DraftKings Sportsbook app is a joy to use. In fact, I didn't know you can bet on some of this stuff, Luke.

I've been having a lot of fun. So it's a no-brainer to put at least $1 on Poirier versus Oliveira for Saturday. You'll get that $100 back in free bets, but you're going to have to do one thing. And, Luke, you know what that is. Use our code, COMBATWITHAK. As a reminder, download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now. Use promo code, as BC indicated, COMBATWITHAK, K-O-M-B-A-T. If you throw down just $1 on the UFC 269 main event,

you can win $100 in free bets if Oliveira or Poirier land a punch. Folks, it doesn't come much easier than this. That's code COMBAT this Saturday at DraftKings Sportsbook. The official sports betting partner of the UFC must be 21 or older in New Jersey, Indiana, or Pennsylvania only. New customers only. Minimum $5 deposit and $1 wager required. One per customer. Restrictions apply. See DraftKings.com slash Sportsbook for details. Gambling gambling problem call 1-800-GAMBLER BC before we kick things off any final thoughts on this Wednesday show I mean I guess it's possible that Poirier and Oliveira could end without a punch landed we did see uh Matt Mitrione and

Sergey Karatanov kick each other in the dick to end their first fight Luke but I don't think it'll happen all right I'm highly skeptical that this will end on some kind of weird situation like that. This one's going to be nasty. I don't know who's going to win, but it's going to be nasty. Speaking of which BC, let's get things started here. As you guys know, we'll Friday, we usually say for X's and O's, but Wednesday's is our day for storylines. Let's start topic number one with UFC 269 storylines. BC, I saw an amazing tweet, believe it or not. He is mildly brain damaged, but he does have good tweets on occasion,

that being Mike Bond of MMA Junkie. And he pointed out something about this main event for UFC 269. Let me read it here if I can. Did it involve putting hands on a woman on an airplane, Luke, or no? I think that was consensual, but no, it doesn't. Okay, good to hear. The UFC 269 headliners, that being the current champion Charles Oliveira and Dustin Poirier, combine for the most UFC fights, wins, finishes,

and bonuses ever in a UFC championship bout. BC, because of that consideration, is this one more special than other UFC title bouts? And I mean that genuinely. Yeah, no, I think it adds into what is going to be an awesome main event on Saturday. And, you know, my favorite division, at least on the men's side,

and it has historically the last few years been so sick and deep. We may be in a new era post-Tabib retirement here, but we're going to finally find out from my standpoint who is the best lightweight in the world. And what I love about the career arc that both guys took, both being age 32 coming in here, both debuting in the UFC just a year apart, one year and age apart, is that both have had fairly dramatic turnarounds to get to this point. We all remember Charles Oliveira losing four out of six between 2015 to 2017 and kind of being considered a bust of a project for a short period, or of a prospect for a short period, and then turning it around with nine straight wins.

And now as he enters Saturday his fight for for real legitimacy I know he's already the champion having won the vacant belt over Michael Chandler but he's going up against the guy who a lot of us consider to be the uncrowned champion the real best lightweight in the world not named Khabib Nurmagomedov so I love those storylines we've already told Dustin Poirier's story so many times in the last few years of how he's turned his career around a little bit up and down early, but a lot of promise, but he is so dialed in well-rounded and, and really ready Luke to try to climb that final hill. So when I look at the, what are the storylines for this fight? Yeah. I love

Olivera's pursuit of, of, of true legitimacy, but even more, I love Poirier going up there. For his chance, Luke, to really achieve MMA immortality, to put that capstone on top of what is starting to really look like a surefire Hall of Fame career. I mean, when you look at who Dustin has defeated in the last five, six years, this resume is as good as any other UFC Hall of Famer I've seen in a while. And, Luke, what I love about his specific story entering this fight is how he bet on himself.

He could have fought for this vacant title earlier this year. He took the two big money opportunities and the grudge opportunity against Conor McGregor, and he comes off with two TKO wins, a ton of money, his brand at the biggest point it could ever be, and he gets to get his cake and eat it too, because I would not have ever been happy going to my grave seeing Dustin Poirier retire without getting that second chance to raise that belt. He's got that second chance on Saturday,

and I think it's hard not to love this guy, what he represents, what he stands for. Those storylines alone, Luke, would make this a fight worth getting fired up for. But how about just the styles of the two and the immovable object in Poirier against this irresistible force in Oliveira? Dude, I got the feels right now, Luke. I mean, I got rashes developing over how fired up I am for this fight. I mean, just listen to these numbers, right? 54 fights between them, Oliveira 28, Poirier 26.

That's just UFC fights, by the way. Wins. Poirier has 20, Oliveira 19, combining for 39. Finishes. Oliveira 17, Poirier 13, combining for 30. Bonuses. Oliveira at 17, Poirier at 12, sitting at 29. I tweeted this yesterday, BC, and I really kind of stand by it, which is you're getting these guys at basically, basically their peak. In the case of the commercial considerations, we're now going to get a Dustin Poirier who has fought Conor three times, two times basically in a year or so, right? So he has all of that halo that he stole from Conor. And when I say stole, I mean he got it rightfully.

But, you know, he snatched that thunder away and now he has it for himself. And I don't know that necessarily Oliver has transformed his popularity, per se, even by becoming champion. But you could also argue that to what extent he is a popular figure, this is historically his peak as well. So you're getting these guys commercially at a great opportunity. I want to see exactly what kind of buy rate it does now that McGregor or Habib are not really in the picture for this kind of woman. I think it will be pretty good on the whole. And then competitively, BC, listen, I do think there is enough damage between them. You're not going to get tenures like that in the UFC without something being taken from them.

That's just inevitable the way the fight game goes. But at the same time, I don't know how someone could argue that in terms of their overall fighting ability, that is also at the peak. Dustin Poirier has never been as well-rounded and has dialed in as a professional as he is today. And Charles Oliveira, weight cut issues and everything else behind him. He's in the right weight class. Look at how far his Muay Thai has come.

We already knew about how good his jiu-jitsu is. And then look at what he did in the Michael Chandler fight, having the kind of resiliency that he actually hadn't shown previously as much anyway as he did in that really important contest. Dude, you are getting two guys who have been in the trenches. And in the trenches at the time, their divisions, because obviously Oliveira moved around a little bit, but certainly for lightweight, they have been in the trenches of basically the most difficult division for the time.

That division was, they were around in it. Now they have ascended to the top of it, and they are meeting at a point where it has never been more difficult to beat Dustin Poirier, and it has never been more difficult to beat Charles Oliveira. If you're an MMA fan, how the fuck do you miss this fight? I honestly don't know. And Oliveira, three finishes by knockout in his last five. We already know he's got the

UFC records for overall finishes, most submissions. And Luke, he has just one fight going to the scorecards during this nine-fight win streak. So I was like, man, I wonder how many times he's been to the scorecards in his entire career. Just four times in 40 fights. Wow. Wow.

You gotta expect fireworks on Saturday. Obviously, Poirier's not as reckless as a Michael Chandler was, so it won't be that same type of, or, you know, we don't expect to be maybe that same level of theatrics, but this is going to be a great fight. So much at stake for both. And, Luke, I want to ask you this question. If Poirier wins on Saturday does that make him the

fighter of the year Kamaru Usman also has three victories and if Poirier wins on Saturday that would be his third but that could be a pretty heated debate similar to what we had in 2019 when Israel Adesanya got robbed of the fighter of the year award because of people like Brandon Wise at CBS Sports who just got all up in arms over what Jorge Masvidal did. Fair enough. I would say it's going to be, I would have to think about it more. You put me on the spot. But yeah, definitely the short list for that. I think it will depend a little bit on how the fight goes

because obviously Kamaru was going to have in his back pocket, not merely the wins, also as title defenses, right? So you could argue that he had to fight the best available guy, although that's somewhat untrue, depending on how you want to look at it. But here's my point. He had that vicious, vicious knockout win over Jorge Masvidal, right? A really, really important win in the way that he got it. Not just a heated rival, but an authoritative finish.

I think that if Poirier doesn't get something like that, then maybe Kamaru might edge him. But if Poirier goes in get something like that, then maybe Kamaru might edge him. But if Poirier goes in there and just puts it on him, again, we're talking about hypothetically, and now we're not declaring that will happen. Let's say he does it. Then I think you have a very, very difficult case for trying to decide who gets it in that spot.

But you see, I want to ask a slightly different question to you, which is we've spent a lot of attention talking about what happens to Poirier if he wins. And I think you're right. You look at how many UFC champions he's beaten. He already was an interim champ before. This would be the ascendance to the full weight class. And then the tenure behind it is pretty incredible. If that doesn't put him in the Hall of Fame, something else right behind it probably will. But I want to talk about Charles Oliveira. Let's say he loses. This would mean that he wouldn't have a defense on his record. I looked up the list of previous UFC champions who don't have title defenses. In some cases,

it's not a very distinguished list, like Dave Manet. Dave Manet was a good fighter, but a lot of MMA fans won't remember him. On the other hand, you have some fighters like a guy we love a lot, Rashad Evans here at CBS Sports, or a guy like Forrest Griffin. They didn't really defend their titles once they got it, but it did put them in the hall of remembered, celebrated, important fighters. And again, they all did something different to contribute to mixed martial arts. Where would Charles Oliveira go if it's just a one time and out? It would open the door for legitimate cynicism in terms of what he accomplished. I mean,

this ain't Nico Montano in the in the history of UFC champions or Dave Manet as you mentioned but look let's be fair at the very least I love Charles Oliveira what he stands for his turnaround and all that but of that nine fight win streak Luke really the last three were of a higher quality of of impressiveness and even those can be tiny bit picked apart considering Kevin Lee's no longer with the UFC. Tony Ferguson has shown that he's getting a little washy, and Michael Chandler, as much as we all love him, Luke,

that fight, vacant title fight, came immediately after Habib retired, and it wasn't against Poirier, who at the moment, or at that moment, fresh off beating Dan Hooker, had been the number one ranked guy, and UFC couldn't make the fight. Poirier chose a different road so Chandler was the next guy waiting and willing and that's fine and guess what Oliveira got up off the canvas and still won it but it's very easy for someone who's highly cynical to say that Oliveira was a paper champion

at the right time if he goes out there and loses against Poirier never regains the title you know you're going to look at him as not a flash in the pan by any means. He's had, you know, he's had a great run in the history books have shown his ability to finish and all that, but it's going to really take away Luke from what, what his career will say legacy wise. That's why as much as I opened with saying, Hey, Poirier's, you know, trying to cement MMA or more immortality, more or less, the Hall of Fame career, Oliveira's fighting, Luke, for respect here. He's the betting underdog coming in in this fight, and it would be easy, if you're cynical, to try to find holes and downgrade

who he is and what he stands for right now. And he is one of three Charles Oliveira current Brazilian champions, Glover Teixeira in the UFC, I should say. Glover Teixeira and Amanda Nunes being the other two. We don't really know how much longer Glover Teixeira is even going to be in MMA. Amanda Nunes seems like a pretty safe bet, which we'll talk about in just a second. But it is something to think about. On the other hand, BC, let's turn the tide here and talk about Dustin Poirier for just a second, winning and losing. But in the winning side, if he does capture the title here and he does do it authoritatively,

it's interesting, right? Because we're saying that if Oliveira wins it and doesn't defend it, you know, it would hurt him a little bit. But to your point, he's got this larger UFC body of work you couldn't take away from him. Mane didn't have that. Rashad and Forrest did. But what if Poirier wins the title and only defends it one time?

Like what if somehow Conor comes back and they fight or Dariush gets through or Makhachev gets through? It seems like there's a little bit of reverence that's being served for Dustin, which I'm not even saying is wrong, that we're not necessarily giving to Charles. Is that fair? It's fair, but it's justified. The quality of opposition that Poirier has defeated is just bigger. I mean, you look at that run.

I don't know if there even is anyone, but anyone that hears me call Dustin Poirier a living and breathing legend, which is how I opened the interview I had with him yesterday. I was surprised you weren't blowing him. I might as well, right? I could have been like, yay! Pauly way! He did it! But, you know, Luke, here's the deal, though.

If you doubt that in any form, look who the hell this guy has defeated. Conor McGregor twice, including being the only person to stop him by TKO. Max Holloway twice. Anthony Pettis, Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez. Only lightweight to stop him by TKO because Diaz did it in 1-7. Yeah, Carlos Diego Fajedo was a good one. And a still. Wait a second, wait a second. Habib did it at 1.7. Yeah, Carlos Diego Fajedo was a good one. No, wait a second, wait a second. Habib did it at 1.55 too.

What are you talking about? By submission, but not by TKO. Oh, by TKO, sorry, sorry. So, look, the whole point is he's got a Hall of Fame resume already. I mean, look, if he doesn't win on Saturday, you still could have an argument because he did hold that interim crown once and he has all those quality of wins. But there is a difference between what he has accomplished and what olivera has accomplished

and i don't think that's debatable i think that's absolutely true um so we'll see what happens in this main event but i just want to reiterate like if you're an mma fan and you're and you're poopoo in this i don't even know what you would want anymore you have an action-oriented division where guys are super well-rounded both black belts belts. I've seen Olivera's going to be better on the ground, but in general, both black belts, both guys who have a proven ability to knock out other ones, have beaten the more or less most of the best of their generation. And you're getting them at, yes, there is some long-in-the-tooth wear on the tires, but in general, you're getting them at their peak ability. This is what MMA

is about this is why you watch you're looking out for fights like these they don't happen very often and when they come around you better be sufficiently reverent for them along the way uh BC it takes us to go ahead I'm sorry before you transition I want to remind you we've got some Poirier sound to throw yes please why don't you set that up? I don't know which clip they pulled here, Luke, but hey, I talked to Dustin Poirier yesterday. You can watch that, of course, at morningyoutube.com slash morningcobbat. A great chat about his legacy, what this fight would mean to his legacy, and him also telling me, Luke, whether you like it or not,

the chapter with Conor McGregor will, quote, never be closed. Let's throw to Pauly way now and hear his mindset entering UFC 269 I don't so much think about where I fit into the to the whole in mixed martial arts history I think about more of goals that I set out for myself and things that I want to check off my to-do list. And, you know, being the world champion is at the top of that list on the MMA, you know, portion of my things to do in life. Being the world champion, the best in the world at 155 pounds is, you know, I feel like I've been chasing this goal longer than I haven't been chasing this goal in terms of my life. Going to sleep, waking up every day, thinking about being called the world champion.

You know, this is for me. This isn't for the history books of MMA. This is a personal thing, you know. it was pretty cool luke that i wore my uh one of my better floral arrangements to match his pinwheel hat that he had on with those helicopter blades above it so you know good good little piece of business there luke if you're interested in that type of thing definitely interested in that type of thing um all right we we talk about a different fight on this card. It's one that's not really getting a ton of attention, BC. It's the Bantamweight Women's title fight. There are, of course, two title fights on this card.

This one is, I think, in many people's eyes, the opposite of the first one, right? Well, you do have two decorated, celebrated figures, but that one is really close. Our friends at Caesar Sportsbook have Poirier currently sitting at a minus 160, Charles Oliveira sitting at plus 135. But nunez defending her belt against juliana pena caesar's has amanda nunez as a minus 800 juliana pena at plus 550 bc is there a portion of the story to this fight that intrigues you other than hey i just want to see Amanda Nunes feast again. Not really. Now, look, Juliana Pena has been, you know, teasing for about six years now that she could be, you know, one of the next big things at Bantamweight.

I mean, I'll never forget, you know, back when Rousey was still champion, interviewing her back on, what was that podcast I co-hosted on ESPN with Brett Okamoto? The Five Rounds podcast, whatever it was called. I was on it one time. Oh, hey, how about that? Love me some Brett Okamoto, the five rounds pot, whatever it was called. Five rounds, yes. I was on it one time. Oh, hey, how about that? Love me some Brett Okamoto, as you already know. And, you know, Pena always talked a good game, so aggressive.

And you're like, man, one day this could be something. But, Luke, she never really became that. And I'm not going to sit here and hold up a sign and protest her getting this title shot. The top ten at Bantamweight is hurting, you know, in the post-Rousey and Tate era. I mean, it's hurting because in one sense, Amanda ran through it. It's also hurting because it never properly regenerated. So if you're going to look at the top 10, you're going to quickly ask yourself, you know, who could it have been right now? You know, even Irene Aldana, who had looked really good, was coming off the loss to Holly Holm. Everyone else is seemingly coming off a loss or have already lost to Amanda.

So I get why, you know, Pena's getting this fight. And certainly she can talk a big game. And maybe her getting on the microphone after defeating Sarah McMahon and calling out Amanda and saying, you're scared of me, you've been ducking me. Maybe that's a big part of her getting it. But, Luke, the reality on Pena is whether it be injury or whatever else, she never quite made it there. She's fought just four times in the last five years and she's two and two in those fights. And the losses were fairly dominant losses. She was finished by

Valentina Shevchenko and then the same by Jermaine Durandamy to sort of show you that she's not quite at that level. Luke, I don't want to sit here and crap on her because I love her fighting spirit and her aggressiveness, but even the win that got her this fight, the Sarah McMahon one, McMahon was 41 and had lost three of four. So you get what I'm saying here, Luke. Amanda's going to be a big betting favorite no matter what, because she's the GOAT. Do I want somebody in this spot at the very least who's going for the upset, who has balls, who's going to swing upset who who has who has balls who's gonna who's gonna swing for the fences yeah that's Pena I like that side I have not seen big time

finishing power out of her I can't really write up a path to victory that doesn't involve Amanda Nunes somehow having weight cutting issues because we haven't seen her at Bantamweight in two years and the last time we did I don't want to say she looked human but she had one of her more competitive fights of this great 12-fight win streak in the rematch with Jermaine Durandamy, where at times she didn't look like Mandy the Destroyer, if that's a thing, or the Lioness, to put some real respect on her name. All this to say is, Luke, it's great to have Nunes back at this weight division.

I don't have high hopes for how this fight ends. I think she's going to steamroll Juliana Pena. But at the very least, you know she's coming to steamroll Juliana Pena. But at the very least, you know, she's coming to win Pena. She's an underdog who believes in herself. So we'll see what happens. But Luke, can you clean up the mess I just made? Or is it what it is at the end? I mean, I would be dishonest if I was saying that I expect Juliana Pena to win if we're past this prologue. And again, eventually it doesn't become that, but there's just not a ton of reason looking at their recent runs and overall body of work to affirmatively declare that Julianna Pena

is going to beat Amanda Nunes, and here's why. I don't know that I could muster that argument, but I will also say that that way of looking at events will get you into trouble over time. I mean, listen, one of the most impressive and difficult things to do is what Amanda Nunes has done to this point, namely to occupy a weight class title and then welcome on every challenger that you encounter who has earned their way to the top of that position. Sometimes the fights have been close, like in the Shevchenko rematch, and sometimes they've been,

you know, she's been absolutely blowing people out. But the reality is eventually that comes to a decline or a stop, and sometimes in MMA in very sudden, unexpected ways. Usually when a title changes hands in MMA, sometimes you can see it coming. But a lot of times you're like, wow, I did not see that coming in the way that it happened. It happens quite frequently. So what I would say is, again, I cannot cobble together by looking at what has happened a clear case for Juliana Pena. But what I would say is, A, you alluded to one thing about Amanda Nunes kind of telegraphing her exit. Not imminently, but not too far apart either.

That's A. B, what I would say is, I don't know who outside of Shevchenko I would look at in that list of contenders to be like, oh, here's someone who can strike with her. You know, I don't really know that they exist. Maybe Aldana could do it, but you know, could she do it for five rounds, giving the punishing power of Amanda Nunes? I don't like her chances, but if anybody's got a chance at all, it's probably going to be on the ground. Not that Amanda Nunes is bad there, far from it, but that would not be the strongest part of her game, albeit her top control with ground and pound can be pretty good. Juliana Pena, if she is wise at all, and she is, is probably not going to strike with Amanda Nunes

very much. So you add in these larger historical factors that the most difficult thing to do is to stand to post and welcome challengers. You add in the fact that she has telegraphed something of a not too distant exit and you've got an opponent here who you know when she returned to the UFC struggled a little bit but I think in her last outing actually looked pretty good who is going to have a particular mode of attacking Nunes that I would argue gives contenders, in general, the best chance at winning. Maybe you still think that chance is low, and maybe it is, but I guess what I would say is there are enough contextual factors here, not to make me pick Juliana Pena, but I will say I'm a little bit more intrigued about what could happen here even if pena loses than i think a lot of

other folks i do think that an exit for amanda nunez is going to happen pretty soon ish this might be the kind of thing to hasten it having a kid certainly is a wonderful thing but it can be a disruptor in your life and dude juliana pena doesn't have or your show as well but let's see again or your show you know your show, that's right. A lot of things there. But I'm just pointing out, dude, the people who are like, I'm not even going to give this a second thought. Okay, I'm not asking you to pick Peña.

I'm not picking Peña. But I'm pretty – I'm curious, actually, to see how this one goes. Surprises in MMA happen when you least expect it. Amanda Nunes is trying something difficult. I am curious about this co-main event. Okay. I mean, look, when when home upset rousey there was definite reason to go to go back and say man we should have saw some of that coming given the style contrast but uh maybe i gotta see this to believe it i do have that same question i was going to ask you about you know what's left for amanda to accomplish this 12 fight win streak is really unrivaled. She's beating everyone with a pulse that she had a chance to fight so many former champions and beat them

soundly. You know, I don't see a huge need to make a home rematch or a GDR trilogy. Does Amanda, if she wins this, look to do the Shevchenko trilogy to leave some extra no doubt? I mean, is it just staying busy and cashing checks because no one's coming close to her because unless Kayla Harrison's come through that door unless cyborgs coming back to the UFC what's left Luke what's left to keep the champ motivated nothing I mean you compare her situation to Jose Aldo which is to say that you know Amanda had some stumbles early in her career as well. Most fighters do. But once she got cooking, she basically never looked back again. She had a Chinko rematch, something of a controversial fight.

But you get the idea. It's just been win. And when I say win, I don't just mean a victory in the cage, but each one more significant than the last. Just taking out all of her contemporaries across two weight classes and frankly with ease for long stretches of it. Aldo obviously had a lot of success, but what I mean to say is he lost his belt, and he got the interim one at UFC 200, but more or less never recaptured it.

But what he is doing is going back and showing the enthusiasm now that he didn't necessarily have before, or he had those losses. Let me show you how competitive I can still be across three weight classes or two weight classes I should say even this late into my run like almost making up for lost time that's not quite right but something along those lines Amanda Nunes doesn't really have to do that and can't even really do that like what does beating Juliana Pena on Saturday meaningfully add to what she's already accomplished. It's a nice win against a very tough competitor if it ends up happening, but it doesn't meaningfully alter her legacy in any kind of way. She could keep going and you could say, wow, she beat good fighters for X period of

time because she was just so good. But in terms of the meaningful heights she can reach, I even would say commercially, I don't really think that there is. And again, dude, you factor that in. That's so impressive that someone could just dominate the game in that kind of way. You beat the game in the most obvious of ways. But dude, eventually the game will come for you if you stick around long enough. Is that Saturday? Maybe not. But it's not so dismissible that I think people should lose interest.

They should have interest. Juliana Pena is full of vinegar and piss, and I mean that as a compliment. She has a great skill set in terms of the tiny windows of opportunity to beat someone like Amanda. I mean, Amanda Nunes, dude, she only beat Duran Dami in the rematch because she was able to make it a ground fight. Of course, she beat Duran Dami in the first fight because of the ground, but what I'm saying is Duran D me as a threat to either get to the ground or defend herself on the ground dude is not Juliana Pena whatsoever of course Pena is not the same threat on the feet but again it's I'm just saying Pena has more going here than just a coin flip I would argue that and I think you need to be fair to her

about that given your history of connection with South south america would you are you are you saying that venezuelan women are spicy or is that inappropriate for me to say well in fairness you would have two south american women here so what how would you how would you i just we don't talk about venezuela much luke okay so that's all i'm saying all right is it a rival i don't know the dynamics okay luke yeah venezuela and col and Colombia are very similar, but obviously one is much more mismanaged than the other one. So there you go. I don't know which one that is, though, Luke. Okay, I'll ask you offline.

I don't want to insult anyone. Venezuela is much more mismanaged than Colombia, unfortunately. But in any case, I actually am like, you know what? I'll say this, BC. What would be your level of surprise if Pena survives a tough first round, then starts to take over in the second, and then gets on top over maybe someone who, like maybe Amanda doesn't have the proper gas tank,

and then, you know, finds a way to like win in the third? My question to you is how surprised should we be? I would argue somewhat surprised, but not too much. Not too much. I'd be shocked, Luke. I'd be shocked. Really? No.

You're giving her like no chance. No chance at all. You're the one who'd be surprised. Okay, Luke? That's what I'm saying to you, Brendan. Okay? Yes, Luke. I don't really give her much of a chance.

She's not going to finish her, Luke. Is she going to submit her? I mean, these things don't happen to Amanda. And the narrative the last time out for amanda at 145 was okay had you know nina had a child is this going to change her mindset didn't change shit luke so i look forward to paying you going out there with the performance of her life and making this one fun because the odds tell you it won't be but we'll see what that's why they fight the fights luke okay okay? BC, this card is fucking amazing.

There are just an endless stream of good fights on there. Let me pick out two more I'd love to quickly talk about if we can. First, Cody Garbrandt at Flyweight taking on Kaikara France, our friends at Caesar Sportsbook. They have Kaikara France as a slight underdog, plus 120, Cody Garbrandt minus 140. What to you about this fight is intriguing? I mean, it's 100% centered upon whether you, you know, the betting odds play a factor in this. If you believe Cody Garbrandt can pull off a cut down to 125 and not be diminished in terms of his stamina or punch resistance and not be the same shadow of himself that, you know,

rival TJ Dillashaw was a few years ago when he tried this against Cejudo. If you believe that, then look, obviously, you know, Garbrandt's not just a live dog here. He's the betting favorite because of that power, because of that size and that experience. But, Luke, you Luke, I wonder now, how good he looked in that comeback win against Rafael Assuncao. Was that fool's gold to us?

I mean, he looked confident. He wasn't willingly getting into brawls like he had in the three-fight losing streak against Munoz and Dillashaw twice. But, you know, that all seemed to go away in the fight after that. Was it Rob Font that he lost to, Luke? Yes, badly. Lost badly, was a little bit lifeless. So I've got to be honest here, you know, I don't have big-time confidence.

I think there's hella value in Kaikara France as a plus underdog here, given his acumen. I know he's lost 2 of 4, but those losses to Brandon Royval and current champion Brandon Moreno were high level. I feel like Kaikara France with that CKB style and how thoughtful that is with the footwork and the speed, I think that this is his fight to win. And I think if Garbrandt can prove me wrong,

if he can go out there and knock KK France out we've got a new title contender in this already fun division, you know, post Mighty Mouse and post Cejudo, which has some fun players right now, from Moreno to Figueiredo to my guy Askar Askarov, this is a fun division right now I would welcome Cody into that, but

100%, whether we're talking about storylines on Wednesday or X's and O's on Friday it comes down to what Cody looks like in the first two or three minutes physically in this fight. I would say this is big stakes for Cody because I'm not saying this is true, but it does feel like he's hit a roadblock at bantamweight, and he's looking to flyweight as a way to revive things or get back a little bit of what he had previously at bantamweight.

And that's not necessarily uncommon that fighters would do that. But against Kaikara France, who, you know, the truth about Kaikara France is if he beats Garbrandt, you could argue that's his best MMA win to date. We don't know how Cody's going to look yet, but that seems not implausible. But for Cody, here's the opposite of that, right? You were previously the champion at Bantamweight, and now you've hit a bit of a roadblock there where it looks like the division has passed him by,

or at least for now it has anyway. You go down to flyweight. If Kaikara France, who is a very good flyweight, but not one who has asserted himself as truly elite in that division, if he beats Cody Garbrandt, now you've got to ask, where does Cody go from here? You could stay at flyweight and work on your game and maybe get back into a better spot.

But you see what I'm saying here? You're closing off a couple of avenues because the UFC is not giving him light matchmaking whatsoever. These are very tough fights he's in. That means there's big stakes too. I'm a little bit worried about that for him. Look, I don't want to say job security. Cody Garbrandt still has a big name.

He's still only 30 years old despite having lost three or four, but all to elite competition. Let's not miss that. But, I mean, some losses seem to permanently send you in another direction. If he loses here, Luke, are you like, I mean, is he sliding down that hill fast in your eyes? Is this win or go home in terms of him ever reclaiming the the the glamour that he was when he beat Tom Cruise soundly over five rounds just a few years ago um so he currently

sits at Cody Garbrandt is 30 years of age I would be hesitant to say I feel like I just said that I feel like I just said that out loud you know it's weird well I got the question I missed that detail I'm sorry I just wanted to double check he turned 30 in july so he is 30 i would be hesitant to dismiss someone that young but again dude with those like here's what i would say here's what i would say if he loses to kai kara france you definitely have to hit the pause button on any kind of championship immediate future at flyweight like that is very much out of the picture. However, however, depending how he wants to take it, to write off a 30-year-old who admittedly has had some difficulty,

some real documented difficulty, both inside the cage and out, I think it'd just be foolish to write that guy off as like, oh, he can't ever become anything. If he was 33, 34, well, then I would definitely feel a little bit differently. But at 30, I'm just, I'm a little hesitant to say that. However, BC, I would argue for Kaikara France, as you know, a CKB guy, this would be a pretty important fixture. If you look at his losses, he has lost to Moreno, who's the champion. That's, you know, his decision loss. That's no big, no big shame. And then to Brandon Royville, who he had rocked in that fight. He got five of the

night honors. He's beat Rogerio Bontarine, he's beat Tyson Nam, he's beaten to Brandon Royville, who he had rocked in that fight. He got five of the night honors. He's beat Rogerio Bontorin. He's beat Tyson Nam. He's beaten Halian Paiva. And he's beaten Mark De La Rosa. And also Elias Garcia. He's beaten some decent to good names, but not a great name. You would agree, if he beats Cody, although something of an unknown at flyweight,

given everything he's been up against, that would easily be certainly the biggest name he's beaten and perhaps the most validating win of his MMA career. No doubt. And he needs a win this big to validate the talent he's shown in certain spots. It hasn't been as consistent as some of the big moments have teased, but this is a big fight for him. This is not a make or break in the future of his career on the same level as Garbrandt,

but this is one of those turning point moments for Kai Kara France. Luke, there's a certain reputation that CKB has at the moment, right? What do you mean? Like a good one? A great one. We are smarter than the rest. We are more dynamic. We are, you know what i mean like we whatever and and i know dan hooker's lost some big fights but he's swinging big for the fences i know

brad riddell just lost a big sort of close-up one but you know sometimes you're fighting to remain on you know to keep that aura of that ckb on you and and maybe he's doing that a little bit or maybe i'm just reaching you know for straws luke which i've i've done at times you know i just admiring luke you know in this hat with this somewhat manly beard i do have you know randy couture expendables part one vibe like a vibe going are you calling your beard manly i would call it somewhat pubescent i mean i do look i maybe i need like a gold tooth but i i am getting you know you know middle-aged coach you're handsome i think i think i'm i'm fitting i'm i think i'm i'm hitting my because my therapist tells me i'm having an identity crisis luke and since i'm 43 you know that could be a midlife

crisis that could be another name for it so uh you know i'm wondering luke if i should just fully embrace this you know what is your identity crisis i mean you know we you want you want me to unpack this here luke the people came for mma okay maybe i can't ask i can't ask questions all of a sudden president biden what the fuck maybe under wheel of death terms or room service diaries we can't hear luke all right yeah i did pitch to the boss's couples therapy with you and i and the cameras there they turned it down lu Luke okay that's probably a good idea there are many fights on this card you can pick I just want to pick one more BC that I would love to have just a really brief discussion over which is the return of Josh Emmett against Dan Ige dude this fight is a fucking banger and it's not even on the main

card here's how I size this one up tell me if agree. Dan Ige is a guy who has improved dramatically and has had some good wins, but I don't think has reached his full potential just yet. Still a very young guy himself, if memory serves. I'll double check that in just a second. But Josh Emmett, to me, is the contender that the division forgot. Now, for some good reason, because he's had some big punctuated wins, but after them has had some terrible injuries. After the Jeremy Stevens loss, which he was winning that fight until a terrible thing happened, he had all kinds of devastating injury. Then he had this amazing fight against Shane Burgos, and then he had injuries, I think, to his knees and all kinds

of stuff. So he has been out for these long stretches. But when you watch that guy compete, heavy-handed, he had a motion, feint-based skill set before a lot of guys came along. Here he has a very tough fight with Dan Ige. Big stakes in this one. Do you agree with my setup? It's Dan Ige who hasn't quite reached his potential versus the contender the division forgot. It's time. It's time for Emmitt at 35 to make that run as a legitimate title contender.

And, you know, the injuries have slowed him down. I mean, God, did he break his face that time after that knockout, Luke? I mean, you know, he said. He lost taste in, excuse me, in feeling. And all of it hasn't returned in half of his gums. Devastating nerve damage down there. I don't want anyone to forget the effort that both he and Burgos put in in Emmitt's last fight.

I mean, that was a turning point. We talk about turning point fights in someone's career arc. That was a turning point fight for Emmitt. He dug in. He got the win. Now, after the long layoff because of the injury, it's time to capitalize on that so i agree that that storyline wise for whatever this overall card lacks in star power

you know there's there's poirier there's there's amanda it's a wet dream for hardcore fans in in in fights we want to see names we want to see storylines this is one of the biggest ones because featherweight's hot as shit right now emmett is an interesting player they're so battle-tested and tough got the wrestling pedigree but can really throw those hands really has some of the best tattoos in all of mma which you know really isn't saying much but i'll shout them out just the same but yeah luke i think when you mentioned dan iggy's young enough i don't think he's hit his his peak i i disagree a. I'm wondering more if he's already ceilinged out, meaning he's an aggressive, high volume guy, but he fights a style fitting someone with more power. I don't know if he has the finishing power to carry out that type of style. And we've seen him now be

opportunistic, of course, but we've seen him level out just a bit when he steps up. So Luke, just the same, this is a huge fight for him to break that trend and show us that he's not going to be a certain level gatekeeper for the bigger names, that he can also crack that. So this is one of the best fights on the card without question. Yeah, no doubt about it. Last time, of course, that Josh Emmett fought, as we mentioned, Shane Burgos. That was in June of 2020.

Seems like a lifetime ago. That was fight of the night. Dan Ige coming off the loss to Chan Sung Jung just from June. Shane Burgos. That was in June of 2020. Seems like a lifetime ago. That was fight of the night. Dan Ige coming off the loss to Chan Sung Jung just from June. Dan Ige just turned 30 years of age in August. So a very young guy as well. That's why I'm a little bit like 30 versus 35. It's a little premature to put the ceiling. We'll see. We'll see. Maybe it's not, but it feels a little premature to put the ceiling on Danny. But you're right. You might. You could be right. Who knows? We'll see. And quickly, Luke, it's buried on this prelim card and buried in the storylines.

But Tai Tuivasa has a pretty big fight here when you consider he's won three in a row after losing three in a row before that. And yeah, he beat Greg Hardy. You can only put so much stock in what that meant. But he's got a tough out in Augusto Sakai. Not a guy that I ever see being a legitimate contender, but a guy you have to beat to prove that you're legit. And I think for the first time in Tai Tuivasa's career, although he's still willing to drink

alcohol out of people's used footwear, like we were, to be fair, at our live show, I think he's in better shape than he's been in his career. I think he's taking the craft more seriously. The odds are close, Luke, because Tai's still a bit of an all-or-nothing brawler. But if he can keep working on his ground game and keep staying in shape, I think that's the key for Tui Vassa. If he can stay in top-level shape and really go after it, Luke, with that kind of power and that kind of balls,

you're a player in this division. And he's a fan favorite for good reasons. He's going to be a marketable guy. These are the type of fights you have to survive in advance. So I want to see what he has because I don't think Sakai's a world beater, but if you're not ready, he'll beat you. There's no doubt. And I can keep going on and on on this card.

Ryan Hall's on the card. Matt Schnell versus Alex Perez is on the card. Dominic Cruz, Pedro Munoz is on the card. It goes on and on. We'll have some more about that as we get closer to the fight on Thursday or Friday well, Friday I suppose alright BC, here is a fight, topic number 3

that is I can't believe the little amount of attention that this is getting but here we are, Vasily Lomachenko is back surprisingly that win he had over Nakatani was kind of quiet in terms of the impact it had but if you lose to Lopez and you beat Nakatani was kind of quiet in terms of the impact it had.

But if you lose to Lopez and you beat Nakatani and then you follow it up with beating Richard Comey, who he fights on Saturday, well, we have to revisit the conversation about his decline as well. BC, here's my first question to you. We'll talk about the Shakur-Stevenson angle in just a second. But why has the buzz around Lomachenko? Before the Lopez fight, they couldn't heap enough praise on this guy. Afterward, it is very quiet. Well, I think Lopez took that buzz from him, and rightfully so.

And Lopez was the shiny product, the 23-year-old at the time, unbeaten, big-time trash talker. He catapulted into the pound-for-pound top 10, and then in the minds of a lot of crossover fans even, with going in there, calling his shot, shot and out pointing Lomachenko now in hindsight certainly Lomachenko started late he had figured out Teo to a degree but as you always rightfully point out when the chips were you know on the line in round 12 Teo put the exclamation point on there so Lomachenko to his credit took the L after some initial, you know. Hold on, hold on. He was a little bit shitty at first.

He was real shitty at first. He blamed people. He, whatever. Eventually, he took the L, and he does have history doing that. Let's not forget he lost to Orlando Salido in his second pro fight trying to win a title, and I thought he got a raw deal on the scorecards from the referee and from Salido thrown to his balls all night. But my point is this. Lomachenko went back to the drawing board,

and he beat the bags off Nakatani a tough out. This on paper, this fight on Saturday against an always dangerous Richard Comey made us some, you know, feel like it's once again him moving the chains, and he's favored to win. He should win. But I don't want to discount Comey because he's a puncher. He's aggressive. He's from Ghana.

And, boy, do they go after it but this fight means more now from what just happened in the last two weeks there's no question about it, the lightweight division is on fire George Cambosos has brought some connectivity to it all you had everybody on their own separate island

not willing to fight each other, even Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney who have different promoters but both fight on DAZN and have that amateur history of having fight each other. Even Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney, who have different promoters, but both fight on DAZN and have that amateur history of having fought each other six times. They weren't going out of their way to fight each other. Now, because Cambosos, you know, flipped the apple cart upside down, defeated Teofimo Lopez,

he's the power player at the moment. We're going to see crossover type fights because he's a broadcast free agent. And then we get Gervonta Davis edging Isak Cruz in a big fight so it's hot right now Ryan Garcia's recovered from his mental health setback he wants a big fight this is going to be interesting to see what happens if Lomachenko can get past Comey uh we're going to talk in a second about the rumored fight that Bob Arum wants to make but Lomachenko Luke it is getting closer to the mid-30s, but you know,

I never took him out of the top 10 pound for pound with that loss. In fact, I never, somewhat controversially, I still had him ranked ahead of Teofimo, even though he lost, because you look at the overall resume for sure, but also, let's not forget, Lomachenko's fighting over his head to a degree at 135. He's much more naturally a 126 pounder, but he had to leave that division because nobody would fight him. He eventually left 130 because nobody would fight him. I think he can go down to either division right now and be the number one fighter in the game. So that's why to me, he's still top 10 pound for pound, despite losing that close decision to Tao. But Luke, he's still world-class. And I think the Lomachenko fights are going to get more fun from here on now.

They've always been fun. But when his speed and reflexes continue to slow just a little bit, he's going to have to fight more. And we're going to see some big fights from this. So this is not worth sleeping on Saturday night, despite UFC 269 happening. Because Richard Comey may have lost by knockout to Teofimo in round two, which was a breakthrough moment for Lopez. But that was his only loss in a big stretch for a while, Luke. In his last fight, he went in there against Jackson Marinas, who we both thought straight up beat Roley Romero

and should have won that secondary belt. And Richard Comey knocked him out in round six. So Comey is aggressive. He's a real player. He's got a nice knockout win of Ray Beltran, who was a former champion a couple fights ago. He's going to be coming guns blazing. He's that perfect type of action style to watch the wizard like Lomachenko

have to deal with. But, Luke, in terms of where Lomachenko goes next, that's where it's going to get really fun. I'm not going to lie to you. This new news that's broken out, I am fired the hell up for it. Well, let's see the tweet. We got a tweet here from Shakur Stevenson responding

to a tweet or responding to a comment from Bob Arum. So Bob Arum of TopRank came out publicly and said, look, if Loma wins, I want him against Shakur Stevenson next. Now, Stevenson fights at 130. He's a two-division champion. He just had his own breakout win over, you know, Jamel Herring. And here's the quote from Bob.

This is a great fight, a pay-per-view level fight. It can happen at 130 or 135, which is true, and that's a good part, or even at a catchweight without the titles. This fight doesn't need any titles. It's so good, end quote. The fact that Shakur Stevenson quote tweeted that with let's do it Luke this is one of those sort of like crossroad fights the old pound for bound guard hanging on and still great and Shakur Stevenson who both Terrence Crawford and myself have gone on record

saying will one day be pound for pound number one in this entire sport he's a left-handed pretty boy Floyd I'm telling you guys do not miss out on what Shakur Stevenson is. If he gets a chance to prove that against a wizard like Lomachenko, these are the type of fights that gets BC taking his shirt off, running around naked like Will Ferrell in old school, Luke, just because I need to, bro, all right? I mean, Luke, tell me, get out of your grizzledness and tell me that you'd be feeling it for that fight. I'd be feeling it for that one. And you may have said it. I mean, Luke, tell me, get out of your grizzledness and tell me that you'd

be feeling it for that fight. I'd be feeling it for that one. And you may have said it if I missed it, I apologize, but what should be worth reiterating, if you can, if you already said it, Shakur Stevenson and Lomachenko, they are both signed to Bob Arum's top rank. That doesn't mean the fight is automatic, but it should be understood here. We're not talking about how do we figure out to get a guy who is on DAZN to fight on ESPN, or how do we get one of the PBC guys to do a deal with top rank. Both guys would be under the same place, both from a television broadcaster and promoter, which you would think, in theory, in theory, would make the fight a lot easier to come

by. It gives me some hope, actually, that that could happen. I do expect Lomachenko to win. I don't know exactly how good he's going to look, but I do expect him to win, and I do expect that that fight will, a Shakur-Stevenson fight, if they make it, it would be special. It would be super, super special. And again, what Bob said is true. You could do it at 130 for Shakur's title, because Lomachenko can make that weight. You can do it at 135, whatever, but still, this is about the lightweight division. So let's say George Cambosos and Devin Haney do an undisputed fight early next year in Australia which they should

and let's say this fight happens if Lomachenko wins he takes on Shakur Stevenson where do you think Tank goes and where do you think Ryan Garcia goes because I'm one of these people who are saying let's do it against one another and we might as well bring this up now, Luke. It was something I had thrown into potentially nods and ends topic, but you know, PBC, Leonard Ellerbee, Floyd Mayweather, they did come out against specifically Dan Rayfield on Twitter, who was saying, I don't think PBC is going to put tank in with anybody saying, look, we tried to make the Ryan Garcia fight, uh, you know, earlier this year,

but what happened was Ryan Garcia thought he could get an exhibition with Manny Pacquiao. So they pushed it off that potential idea. Both Tank Davis and Ryan Garcia have been talking shit about each other on Twitter. Do you buy that bullshit? Do you buy that Tank Davis and his team are making active overtures to fight Ryan Garcia or vice versa? Because I don't buy that shit at all. No, I think I'll believe that they tried it back then because, look, earlier this year, Ryan Garcia had that breakthrough win over Luke Campbell,

but he got knocked down in the process, so he looked vulnerable. I'm sure they wanted to make it then, but, Luke, they're also not going to bend financially. Let's be fair here. You know, Team Mayweather is not going to bend for anybody financially. So there's one thing in saying, are you interested? And there's another thing in saying, you know, are we going to make the pay equal here? So they got to work that out at the negotiation table. But just because Ryan Garcia in that moment thought he could get Pacquiao instead, you know, it doesn't mean he's running

from it. So I would love, Luke, for all those other matchups we mentioned, the two biggest names left, you know, outside of Teofimo are those two Ryan Garcia and Gervonta good god would that be a great fight Luke I mean did you see the back and forth from them does it move you at all yeah yes I mean the answer I'm I'm I'm just always a little bit more skeptical about those big fights being made um but it does move me like it does interest me i am excited to see i'm just skeptical let's just leave it at that dude i'm skeptic and that skepticism kind of hinders my overall enthusiasm not for what would happen if they actually made it but that they will actually make it well gervonta davis just yesterday gave up the

secondary 140 pound title that he won for Mario Barrios earlier this year so he's it looks like he's going to stay at 135 for the moment uh this is uh Ryan Garcia on Twitter after the tank fight he said quote we all know Luke Campbell is better than all of Tank's opposition Tank can't beat me he knows that and Mayweather knows that I'm too fast and I have too much accuracy come on Mayweather you can't protect him forever Tank responded and said Ryguy is an Instagram fighter we don't worry about him he's a YouTuber he's a pretty girl that's what he is just talk Luke some people look at that matchup and say oh my god Ryan Garcia who doesn't move his head enough is going to get flatlined and it'll ruin his career but you know how fast he is how his

combinations are how love him or hate him Ryanyan garcia goes after the ko do you see that as spectacularly a competitive fight as i do yes yes i do i still think tank would beat him but i do agree that it's not just hand speed it's he has the ability to find very tiny windows of opportunity and to reach them quickly. You can move your hand from here to here, and just that extra space, if that's what he's looking for, he can find it instantaneously. He is defensively vulnerable, and for the dominant puncher in that weight class,

if that's who he was up against, you would have to be very worried about Ryan Garcia's chances over the course of 12 rounds to survive. But I would also agree that a guy like Tank, although I think he's shown a pretty good chin honestly against some pretty big punchers recently still you know this is why we need this fight to happen is to resolve how we think that these two conflicting powers would eventually match up there's no denying that the fight would be incredibly intriguing and it'd be fun to see some nice fighters in their 20s like we just saw against Stephen Fulton and Brandon Figueroa at a pay-per-view level go and pursue that um it's just you know is that in the cards I don't I don't think that it is right now that's all all right

topic number four we stick with boxing BC this is going to be one we're going to have to heavily lean on you for some analysis here. So what has happened is there's actually going to be three classes into the International Boxing Hall of Fame that are going to be inducted in June, 2019, 2020, and then 2021. I guess COVID and some other things pushed it all back. Entering this Hall of Fame class will be Miguel Cotto, Roy Jones Jr., James Toney, and Holly Holm. From previous ones include Hopkins, Shane Mosley, and Juan Manuel Marquez. Now, BC, I don't think anyone's got any issues with Cotto going in and Roy Jones Jr. going in and James Toney going in.

And even Holly Holm, who did a lot in boxing and has a tremendous career as a combat athlete overall. I don't think any of those are very controversial. But Carl Frotch got snubbed. Tell me why he got snubbed and why is that so controversial? Now, look, the way the rules work, they break it down into different categories. And in the modern category, I believe only three guys can get in if I'm not incorrect.

So somebody had a miss out. James Toney didn't get in on the first ballot. And let's be fair, James Toney at the second half of his career, even though he was incredible moving up in weight, he also lost the heavyweight title that he won because of steroids. And, you know, he hung on way too long. But nobody's here to dispute whether James Toney is Hall worthy. Sometimes it just comes down to timing and whether you get in on the first vote. The Cobra Carl Frotch, unfortunately, did not get in. And if there's a snub to be debated, it's that, Luke. I've been a protector in, you know, in hitting the ones and twos on Frotch's worthiness of this type of, you know, first ballot recognition from a long time

back saying, you know, he, if you really break it down, he may have a better legacy than some of his uk contemporaries like a you know joe calzaghe or even a ricky hatton because he always fought the best he always brought it and that prime stretch of his career was just incredible there was a great tweet from uh a guy i love a lot top ranks pr guy evan corn the ginger yes evan corn and he said this quote in a 12 fight span carl frotch had one tune-up and went nine and two overall with wins against jermaine taylor gene pascal twice over mickle kessler twice over george groves including one time famously in front of 80 000 people at wembley stadium. Lost a split decision to Andre Ward in the finals of the Super 6. Beat Glenn Johnson, beat Andre Durrell, beat Lucien Boutte, and beat Arthur Abraham.

All of those are former champions. As Evan said to close the tweet, that's a Hall of Fame run by any measure. Now, Luke, Carl Fratsch will get in eventually, but obviously sometimes there's a bit of luster in getting in on your first try. No one's going to debate Roy Jones. But even Miguel Cotto, Carl Frotch is of that ilk if you ask me, Luke. You said he had a better, you think Frotch has a better resume than Calzaghe? I do.

And I, dude, nobody loves Joe Calzaghe. Even though Calzaghe was undefeated? Nobody loves Joe Calzaghe more than me. Let me say that first and foremost. I didn't think Joe Calzaghe had a prayer in hell of beating Jeff Lacey the way he did, and he slapped him around for 12 rounds. But Joe Calzaghe waited until the twilight of his career to come to the U.S., Luke. And it's not that he beat nobodies before that.

I mean, Chris Eubank for the title. He beat Mikkel Kessler in one of Europe's biggest fights of all time. I freaking love that fight from 2007. But Luke, you know, you got to come to the States, Hatton did it all, the big Nate Lennox Lewis did it. You got to come to Vegas and fight the best. He waited until the end of his career. He beat a, you know, well past his prime Roy Jones in Madison Square Garden and got knocked down in the first round. And he beat Bernard Hopkins in a very close, debatable fight. Luke, I love that he retired on his own terms at 46-0,

but I don't believe Joe Calzaghe historically took on the level of competition that was commensurate with his ability. Also, he had a Peter Manfredo win in there. Manfredo, correct me if I'm wrong, BC, that was the winner, one of the winners, along with Sergio Mora, of the contender of the boxing series. Yes. Mora beat Manfredo in the winner, one of the winners, along with Sergio Mora of the contender of the boxing series. Yes. Mora beat Manfredo in the finals, yes. And Manfredo not that great.

No, that was a money cash-in. But, you know, Cotto, I mean, you're not going to, you know, it's hard to rip apart what Cotto did. And especially moving up. Yeah, dude, Cotto, I mean, he fought, win or lose, dude. And most of the time it was winning, dude. He fought absolute murderers for years. You know, and him moving up to middleweight at the end of his career even though he did it at a catch way and even though he beat a hobbled Sergio Martinez that's hard to shake but Fraccio getting eventually but Luke I think the real storyline here particularly toward our MMA fan

base is it's not that we didn't think this was possible for Holly Holm but when you really take into totality what she's accomplished um former UFC champion still very high in the rankings at age 40 still has title aspirations and oh by the way won 17 different titles or whatever in women's boxing and is now an international boxing hall of famer does she get overall do you think the the the respect for what she's accomplished when you look at you know know, all time great combat sports athletes? Or is it or or can it be easy to overrate to a degree what she's accomplished? Stop sitting on your aeroplane points and get big savings so you can be somewhere you actually want to be like on a beach. Right now, you can save up to 25% in AeroPlan points when you book a trip to one of 180-plus Air Canada destinations worldwide.

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Now you can. With partial shares from TD Direct Investing, you can own part of your favorite companies. Just pick a stock and decide how much to spend on the share. It's a piece of cake. Learn more at td.com slash partial shares. TD, ready for you. See, that's the part I can't quite figure out. And I don't know enough about women's boxing to make an educated opinion here. I want the audience to be very understanding that I am declaring to you my weaknesses in terms of understanding this topic to give a broader conversation. But I have been thinking about something, BC, which is I'm not in any way suggesting she's not deserving of these accolades. And the fact that she has a now a place

in the International Boxing Hall of Fame, plus she was that was a pioneer women's MMA, but part of the generation that really helped MMA women MMA blossom and, of course, became a weight class champion in the UFC. I mean, this is incredibly special stuff. She is an incredibly special combat athlete. But here's what I'm wondering. Where would we put what she's done as a combat athlete next to, say, someone like Suhudo? Suhudo won an Olympic gold medal.

Now, after that, he fizzled out of wrestling. He couldn't even make the team, I think, in subsequent trials that he tried. But in that moment in time, he won the Olympic gold medal. And then he was a two-weight world champion at the same time, as a matter of fact, or whatever it was. He gave up one and got the other one. I can't remember anymore. But you get the idea. Do you rank Cejudo winning an Olympic gold medal and capturing weight class titles in UFC as greater than, equal to, or less than what Holly Holm did? It's tough.

Man, dude, it's hard because, you know, the era that Holly Holm, you know, did big things in women's box, I mean, that was a dead era. I mean, it's still, despite having names finally, to be fair, it's still kind of dead, and that's not dead era. I mean, it's still, despite having names finally, to be fair, it's still kind of dead and that's not a shot, but look at Luke. Why are there so many undisputed and unified champions in women's boxing? Cause there's only so many world-class opponents out there per weight class. It's why Amanda Serrano has had to move around to eight different weight classes. It's why sometimes all these vacant titles get thrown in and we keep seeing all these bites, these fights for four belts. Um um there just isn't a level of competition across the board that takes nothing

away from holly holmes deservedness of being in the international boxing hall of fame and by the way i think it's great that they're finally you know a couple years in now welcoming women to the hall but it is hard i think that the greatest accomplishment was the speed in which she crossed over to MMA. Now, she did have the kickboxing background that we know about, but her ability to go in right away, fight at the top level competition, and then score such a resounding upset that she's still in some ways living off of. And that's not to mean that she hasn't won a big fight since then, Luke,

but she's lost a lot of big fights since then. And I think the credit is her longevity and her ability to keep bouncing back from those and get better and come back. But some of it, Luke, looks better than maybe it is, right? Is that fair? I mean, I hate being the curmudgeon today, right? Well, I mean, if I had to ask you what her best non-UFC win is, you know, what would you say?

It's not so easy to answer. Now, in fairness, if I had to ask folks who did Henry Cejudo defeat to win a gold medal, they wouldn't know that either. How about I just ask you this? What's her best non-Rousey win, Luke? Is there something that jumps out at you? Her best non-Rousey win.

I mean, is it Megan Anderson who's not even there anymore? Is it Raquel Pennington? Megan Anderson's a good one. You could say Betch Kohea for the nature of the knockout itself. Oh, but yeah, but you know Betch was washed, and I love her, but she was washed. She beat Aldana in her last fight. That's a good win, too.

And Raquel Pennington, too. She beat Raquel Pennington twice. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. But here's my point. I just think with these two two it's just very difficult to make comparisons what i would say is if you look at holly's record she has obviously now she's gonna be international boxing hall of fame she finished boxing with a 33 2 and 3 record that's

pretty fucking good she's obviously got a weight class champion at one point in ufc she also had some kickboxing experience it's hard to compare prize fighting based on striking with Olympic cycle grappling competitions. They're just really kind of different. Like one moment in time, how does that compare to nearly 40 fights in boxing? It's hard to know what to do with that. But what I will say is as it relates to the striking-oriented side of things, Holly Holm might be your best overall combat athlete in women's side of things ever right yeah think about that for a second who would you rank as a overall body of work

in multiple disciplines you do have um you do have the iron lady jermaine durand to me who was incredible in kickboxing and mma but i don't know if she has a lot of boxing experience so like you get what i'm saying here if she's not the best on the striking oriented side of combat sports of the women's game she's what two or three at worst i mean we're very accomplished there's some elements to her legacy that are just impeccable and the crossing over of disciplines is the long look the longevity is crazy seriously she's 40 and still title ready i mean look it's not out of the question whether it could happen if Amanda retired or gave up one of the belts or whatever, or

maybe beating Amanda. It's not out of the question that Holly doesn't win another UFC title, right? Absolutely not out of the question. Well, as long as Amanda's there, I don't know. Again, if Juliana Peña wins this weekend, I think anything is possible. Right.

Let's do some quick hitters here if we can, BC. We'll wrap things up and we'll go to fan subs uh habib namur namur gamadov announces eagle fc debut in u.s for january 28th this will be in miami florida uh it will be headlined by tyrone spong taking on bigfoot silva rashad evans is set to make a return at 205 we do not have an opponent as of the time of this broadcast ray borg will also be on there against Cody Gibson. A lot of dominance MMA fighters on there, which you would imagine. But here's my thing. It's like, you know, I'm not a fan of Rashad returning to competition,

which I say totally out of love and respect for what an unbelievable career that he had. I want to be very clear about that. But I got to say, dude, if Florida is going to give a license to Bigfoot Silva, and I mean this genuinely, who are they not going to give a license to Bigfoot Silva and I mean this genuinely who are they not going to give a license to they gave one to Evander granted after the fact it turns out it was an exhibition one but they're given a full-on pro license it appears to Bigfoot Silva if you are willing to give a pro license to him who are you not willing to give it to i honestly don't know how to answer that yeah and you know god i love rashad and i know he's in a you know physically an insane

shape and he's certainly mentally and spiritually and all that emotionally in a better spot than he was during that whole losing streak shout out to the ayahuasca king himself but you know would it have been better for him to come chasing cash in some celebrity boxing match or to come back in this? We don't know the level of opponent. It's hard to speak of that, but Bigfoot Silva should not be in these fights. How many consecutive knockout losses over various combat disciplines does he have? It's criminal at this point, Luke.

Is there room for Habib's promotion in the U.S., Luke? I don't take away from anybody with ambition trying to carve out their place whether it to be a feeder organization or to be a legitimate contender but you know you got ufc bellator and and pf pfl in the states you've got one still trying to make big news and get big investors um is there room for habib to make a splash because this this card and the names on it is, I guess, interesting, but it's certainly not must-see TV. It's not must-see TV.

I will say I wouldn't be too hesitant. I'd be a little bit cautious about dismissing what Eagle FC can do. A, there's going to be the association with dominance MMA. And granted, obviously, the best dominance MMA fighters are going to be in UFC and Bellator and more established leagues. Here, let me turn this off for just a second. But what I would say is, what I would say is, you're going to have a lot of guys who are in early stages of their career in the smash factory that they might be able to get a hold of. So you could have some interesting prospecting on there.

Plus, they're going to have names that are past prime. And in this particular case, I'm not thrilled about it with Rashad, but there might be some other ones where we're not nearly as hard up about it who could still have a place after having a big run in UFC. You asked about Bigfoot. Here's his run. So you remember that run in 2012 and 2013 when he TKO'd Travis Brown, and then right after that he TKO'd, or KO'd, I should say, Alistair Overeem. Remember, Herb Dean had to pull him off, and there's that famous photo of him screaming in Alistair's face.

So since then, he got TKO'd by Cain Velasquez. He had a majority draw overturned after he had elevated levels of testosterone against Mark Hunt. He got KO'd by Andre Arlovsky. He got KO'd by Frank Mir. He did beat Saul Pallele. That's his last win. That was August 1st of 2015.

Subsequent to that, he got TKO'd by Mark Hunt. He got KO'd by Stefan Struve. He got KO'd by Roy Nelson. He lost a decision to Ivan Shatyrkov. He got KO'd by Vitaly Minnikov. And then he lost to someone who has no Wikipedia entry via TKO in the second round to Quentin Domingos. He also lost that, as I mentioned, by TKO. And let's not forget, Luke, a 2017 kickboxing loss to Verhoeven and a 2019 BKFC knockout loss to Gabriel Gonzaga.

So you add all those knockouts during the same time frame, that's what? So since 2013, so since the knockout loss to Cain Velasquez, you had the TKO loss to Verhoeven, the KO loss in BKFC. 10 KOs since the Velasquez. 10 KO losses across various combat disciplines. 10. No, 12. 11, excuse me, 11, if you count all of them.

11. 11, that doesn't include anything that happens in practice or anything else. Let me just be very clear about this. He should not have a professional license in the United States of America. BJ's been knocked out less than the Lava Shack, Luke. This is bad, bro. I mean, I know you need a name and you need a, and didn't Tyrone Spong just, he was going to fight Usyk at heavyweight?

Yes, he was going to fight, but then he popped for something. I forget what it was, and so that fight fell through. But, yeah. All right. Former NBA player Royce White, who, by the way, messaged me during the pandemic. We talked a little bit. Is set to make his MMA debut against Daquan Buckley, who's 1-1, making his pro debut at LFA 120 this Friday.

That's tomorrow in Minnesota. It'll air on UFC Fight Pass. White, of course, is 6'8", 30 years of age, was drafted in the first round of the 2012 NBA draft by the Rockets. He last played in the NBA in 2014 with the Kings. He messaged me during the pandemic talking about how ready he was to get out there. I take him at his word.

I'm excited for his debut. Yeah, absolutely. I like these type of crossover opportunities when someone's taking it super serious and it's not just a cash-in the guy he's fighting as you mentioned was one-on-one as an amateur making his pro debut um we'll see luke we'll see i mean look i think the the one the biggest legacy royce white had as an nba player luke had more to do with you know he was kind of a forerunner in in mental health treatment and how he how he you know sat out and called out the Houston Rockets

for, at that time, their inability to have a foundation in infrastructure for that type of not only treatment but grace and understanding. So I give him a lot of credit for that, Luke. We'll see what he can do as a fighter. He's still young enough. They say for 6'8", he's stud, so we'll see, Luke. Dude, if he's a heavyweight, which I'm assuming that he is, if he's 30, he's young.

That's not old for heavyweight at all. So we'll have to see how things go. Chael Sonnen, the gangster, the Westland gangster, is whatever the fuck he calls himself these days. I do love Chael. All right, he is going to host Friday's 13th Annual World MMA Awards from Las Vegas. Fighters-only CEO Rob Hewitt, by the way, told MMA Junkie love chill all right he is going to host friday's 13th annual world mma awards from las vegas fighters only ceo rob hewitt by the way told mma junkie no fans will be in attendance due to

covid considerations but 500 spectators connected the event will be and it will be live streaming details maybe on espn plus uh good to see uh the westland uh resident gangster hosting the awards bc yeah look i'm looking this will be my first time attending that award, Luke. As people know, we are up. Remember the Alamo. That's all I'm saying. We are up against some heavy hitters there. I'd love to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Joe Rogan.

Genetics will prevent that. But, you know, we'll see if we can go up against him, Ariel, DC, and the UFC shows. But at least they got Chael Sonnen, because isn't this like a D-level celebrity event? I mean, I'm excited to see some washed-up people there, but at least they got a real star in Chael Sonnen to man this match. Yeah, I mean, last time I was there, the last one I attended, that was not the last one,

but the first one I attended, I should say, I was there and I took a selfie with Jose Canseco, if that gives you that's what that's the level of slop guys that were something back when you and i were young that's who i want to see at this event if you were a candidate for the mid-90s fox boxing show with celebrities yes i want to take a selfie with you early 2000s yes absolutely i'm in on that hopefully we'll get some washed up rock stars maybe like the lead singer of like uh fat uh what's that offspring or no what's the other band luke that sang all-star what's that band uh smash mouth it's mad yeah we'll probably see like the basis for smash mouth uh you know maybe the one-armed drummer from deaf leopard i'll high-five

the shit out of that guy luke i'm telling you Will you try to do the two just because you're a dick? That's just so rude. That's so unnecessarily rude. Yeah, I don't understand. All right, Amanda Hibas is set to face Michelle Watterson at UFC Fight Night. I'm not sure of the number, but it will be on March 26th. We see a hell of a fight in the women's, I guess, strawweight division. Strawweight's the gift that keeps on giving.

Didn't Hibas just bounce back in Abu Dhabi, had a nice win coming off of that loss? She did, yes. Do you think Karate Hotties got anything left, Luke? We're going to find out with this one. Not that beating Hibas is some kind of easy thing, but if she just kind of gets bludgeoned, any kind of aspirations of climbing to a title position since the NJ check fight would have been evaporated at that point. Will Amanda Hibas one day fight for a UFC title, Luke?

That's the question I have for you. Yes, I do think she will. Okay. Okay. Okay. Luke's favorite French striker is what's written here. Manon Fiorot, whose last fight was not so great, is set to fight Jessica Ai on a different fight night also in March.

This one will be March 5th. BC, I got to say, I had high expectations for Fiyero in her UFC debut. Her last fight was good, not great. I don't mind the Jessica Ai fight. I think it's a good one. This is a good matchmaking because style-wise, because of Ai's ability to wrestle, but also you got to be in a name like Jessica Ai to be taken seriously. So we'll see what's happening.

I mean, here we go, evil. Here we go. All right. BC, you put this one in the rundown with the world's dumbest grin, but we have to talk about it. The world's largest edible has been made last week by a team of five people. I believe we have a tweet for this. And took a full day to complete.

The brownie tips the scales at a whopping ready for this 850 pounds and contains 20 000 milligrams of thc bc i want to put i want someone to pro wrestling slam my face into this thing and then just leave me there man each saying uh we need that for tampa for the jake paul week luke i would love to dive right into the set. We should do a room service diaries, you and I. I mean, like at what point do we pass out, Luke? It would take a little while, but we would get there. We'd be the happiest people on earth.

I don't want to be buried in a coffin. I don't want to be cremated when it's all over. Just put my body in a giant coffin brownie of marijuana and let the marijuana take me to jesus hey he died doing what he loved luke it's a success story if you asked me you know what i mean dude i would i just i just like luke what do you want out of life i want to quit my job and i just want to swim in that brownie for the rest of my life i don't want to do anything else i mean look how happy that baker is, Luke. Wouldn't you be?

You could steal like a swipe and get high. All right. SBG coach John Cavanaugh named his preferred opponents for Conor McGregor's return. He's leaning towards Tony Ferguson, but says Nate Diaz trilogy is both tempting and quote, gives me nightmares. Says Conor will return at 155.

He's coming back for that belt. I don't think he's coming back at 155, bro. We saw Connor force UFC to give him that 170 weight against cowboy. Whether it's Nate, whether it's Tony, which by the way, the Tony fight, it's just perfect. It'd be a perfect fight right now. I'm going to go on the record and say, I guarantee both of either one will be at 170. I guarantee it. All right. I'm going to go on the record and say I guarantee either one will be at 170. I guarantee it.

We already talked about the Tank Davis-Garcia one, so we'll make this the last one here we see. Deontay Wilder at 36 has mixed feelings, quote-unquote, of ever fighting again. Let me read this quote from Deontay Wilder. It's mixed feelings because ultimately I have accomplished all of my goals in this sport. I told my daughter when she was one that I'd be a champion and I'd be able to support her beyond belief. This was on Kevin Hart's Laugh Out Loud Network. I don't know if that's on SiriusXM or not, but, quote, I've done the things I promised to my daughter.

There's a lot of things that I've accomplished that I feel I don't have to prove anything to anyone because I've already proven it. Should I push forward? Should I give it a go one more time? Or should I just retire and focus on other things that I already have other things that I want to get into BC? If someone is already talking like that, should they retire? I don't think he's going to actually retire, but I do think he should take time off because he put everything he had Luke into that fury trilogy and was willing, as he always says to, you know, die in the ring, go out on the shield to, you know, die in the ring, go out on his shield. And, you know, they produced one of the best heavyweight title fights of all time.

It was a joy to behold. But he did accomplish that. And he's not in the running right now for, you know, unified or undisputed title considerations. Even though his co-advisor manager, Shelly Finkel, said in the same story on Boxing Scene that they expect him back this spring. I'm sure everybody wants to make money off of him. Heavyweights age, you know, at a slower pace. We know that he's 36, but he's in great shape. He's a great athlete. He's always going to have a puncher's chance against anybody. If I'm him, Luke, I just kind of go away for a

while. I wait to see the lay of the land at heavyweight. I invest in my family. I invest in mental health and resting my body and all that. And, you know, when the business clears, if it's Fury still standing as champion or Joshua or Usyk or whomever, he'll be a very interesting guy. Just like I think Vladimir Klitschko, should he want to in his early forties, he's still in great shape. Should he ever pick up the phone and say, I want to come back for one more. You can make really fun fights with Klitschko against any of those names. I think Wilder is going to and should kind of enter into that role, Luke, because there's not much to earn in going back beyond, you know, millions right now.

And he's just made a shit ton in the last couple of years in doing that. I mean, Luke, Fox is rolling out an absolutely disgraceful pay-per-view on January 1st that has Andy Ruiz against former champion Prince Charles Martin in the main event. Now, they're pricing it at $39.99, and I'm sure they would have loved if that was Wilder versus Ruiz, which would have been a legitimate pay-per-view. But Charles Martin was only the heavyweight champion because he fought for a vacant belt against Tsar Glasgow and Glasgow's leg fell apart in round one and he never fought again I don't think he's walking again and Martin became champion and then got knocked out by

Anthony Joshua in his next fight to begin AJ's title reign that fight sucks there's no reason really for Wilder to even come back against ruiz unless he really needs the money i mean i would just sort of sit back and look a year from now two years from now wilder could command a hefty paycheck to fight whoever's the last guy standing in four years true or false we're gonna watch we're gonna watch dontay in triad combat fight Bigfoot Silva somewhere in regulated territory. No, God. No, no. False, false, false.

You hope. Al Heyman won't let that happen to him. Al Heyman's done a great job, by the way, building Wilder, making him a lot of money. You had a little bit of debate. Should he have taken that DAZN deal for $100 million? Maybe he should have. But, yeah, I don't think Wilder's going to prostitute himself on that level, Luke. But I could be wrong.

You never know what's going to happen in a fighter's life. You never know. Yeah, dude, you don't. All right, well, with that out of the way, BC, we need to get to fan subs. So, sir, take it away. Yeah, you know our email address, right, fans? It's morningcombat at gmail.com. Every Wednesday for your fan subs.

Every Friday for your dead wrongs. If you want to be on Monday's DM for Donks, once again, folks, Sunday night on Instagram at MorningCombat. Reply to the message we put out there. But every Wednesday, you fill our in-holes, and we show pictures of you wearing our merch. It's called Fan Submissions. We've got mail. Yes. All right. Let's see these things right let's see these things let's see this

let's see this shit right we start off with harrison he says surely nobody has topped my mk commitment this year please don't show a man in underwear let's see what he's got here luke oh i see a lot of these spotify yeah but. Yeah, but that's almost 13,500 minutes. That's pretty good. Wow. Harrison, he's a P1, Luke. This is the type of guy that would make Land Yeager and drive across the country to deliver this sweet and tasty beef jerky

into your hands while possibly contemplating killing you and then eating your organs. Yeah, and then also probably filling that land jaeger with his ejaculate. Hey, shout out to Aaron from Washington. That guy was a nice guy, though, Luke. He was a very nice guy, but he probably ejaculated in the land jaeger. Hey, Luke, if you're going to come, right?

I mean, come on, Luke, right? Land jaager! Wow. Hey, Luke. Yeah, okay. Hey, this is from Cash with a K. Hi, Luke in BC. This is Cash Yap.

Look at this cable management. What a zero. Call me Cash in case you don't pronounce it. I'm from Chennai, India. I felt it was about time that I represented. I'm a donk. I'm a donk. I'm a donk from Luke's birth country of India. I made sure that my friend coming home from New York

bought me this merch so I can get the fan subs. Excuse the not-so-great cable management. God, it's an awful cable management. I know. I mean, could your wires be droopier? They look like your grandma's 90-year-old breasts. I mean, Jesus Christ christ guy balls he says i mean it's like they are saggier than you know that piece of cheese when you pull the slice away

from the pie it just falls apart that's this dude's cable management but he says mk airs at 8 30 p.m in the evening for him and every monday wednesday and friday he can't wait to come home and watch it after work keep up the great work work. Luke, he's representing your homeland. I appreciate that, all right? Also, I mean, could your TV be lower? I mean, why don't you put the TV on the ground? Manish, can we zoom in and judge this guy more? I'm a big fan of Cash Yap.

This is my guy right here. Dude, I love that these viewers who are so loyal to us send in this, and I just shit on them for no good reason. Luke, look how big. Hey, I got a thing here. Look how big his hand is in comparison to that cup. Maybe his TV... Maybe his TV isn't actually that low.

Maybe this guy's like seven feet tall, Luke. No, that TV is low as shit. I mean, it's at the door handle level. Why don't you just put it all the way on the ground, face down the way you're at it? You ever see Andre the Giant, pictures of him drinking beer? It looks like a shot glass in his hand,ke yeah he looks like he has like a juice pack

that a kid has at the park you know andre used to have to take craps and toilets i mean in tubs luke that's sad that's sad yeah i've done when he had to go to the bathroom reasons andre has yeah and airplanes when he had to go to the bathroom he couldn't fit in there so they just put like a curtain over his chair, and he would just like go in like a pot, Luke. I mean, that's embarrassing, Luke. That's really embarrassing. That dude had a chamber pot.

I wish I had a chamber pot on flights, and then just splash people in the coach. Take that, peasant. All right, this one's from Saul. Yes, better call Saul. Tis the season for mid-tier Mexican food. Got the restaurant special today. Steak enchiladas topped with steak fajitas, queso, green salsa,

and nacho cheese served with rice and beans. MK all day, especially at the local El Nopal. P.S. My wife bought me a bunch of Christmas merch, and this was one of the options. Luke, this guy is on fan subs every week shout out to sol brother i gotta say also don't you agree mid-tier mexican food is also top tier food at the same time you know what i mean like oh yeah you can't go wrong with mid-tier mexican food you cannot go wrong while i love me love me a top you know top end

authentic mexican place, of course. Mid-tier Mexican food is what we need to live on. Look, I would love to live in greater L.A. just for the street vendors. Oh, yeah. I've had some, but I've not done much exploring. But I've heard that the tacos in L.A. are next level. Amazing. What do they call that, Luke, that slop?

That's carne asada fries. You ever have thatke that slot that's uh uh carne asada fries you ever have that luke that'll oh yeah carne asada fries of the ship yeah oh god yeah man we gotta go to lmk needs to go to la bro do you want to go to gonzalez y gonzalez in ny ny and risk getting life yo i've supported that place in vegas but that place sucks i have given it a lot of my money though all right i know and the last time the last time we went there our waiter was like Yo, I've supported that place in Vegas, but that place sucks. I have given it a lot of my money, though. All right. The last time we went there, our waiter was like, what are you bitches doing here? Oh, you want margarita?

Go fuck your margarita. Yeah, he was oddly abrasive for like a bald old white guy. Yeah, it was great. Maniche knows. All right, this is from Fernando. He says, MK all day, every damn day. Let's zoom in here. What do we got going on? Terrible cable management with his coffee maker.

I mean, look at this. You know what's hilarious about this is I have horrific cable management in my basement family room, Luke. Like you would throw up walking into there and seeing it. I love that. So this is this guy, Fernando, every morning, Luke, when he makes the coffee and drinks it out of the MK mug, he's also watching our show. I love

that, Luke. See, here's what I need to see. I want to see what coffee he... I'm a bit of a coffee snob. I want to see what coffee he's drinking. Is that because you're invested in the Colombians that you are so much of a coffee snob, Luke? Because they make good... They make some of the world's best

coffee, but even then, there are coffee types. Not everyone likes it. It's a milder kind of coffee. But if you like earthier ones, you would not like Columbia coffee. So that's just a preference. That's not better or worse. But even within those genres, there is better and worse. That's what I want to see.

Dude, you love Gregory's Coffee in Jersey City. Right by the water there. Their coffee's not great. But their coffee's not great. I like it because they're reasonable and fast, but not because the coffee is amazing. All right. Okay, Luke. Shout out to the- They also have vegan treats, which I like.

All right. Luke, your favorite MK fan is back. They call him Chef Kaz, Luke. Chef Kaz? All right. All right. What's he got? What's he got?

Shout out to Luke for recommending the Tank M1 a few months back. I got mine on Black Friday savings for $100. It came on Friday. What? Got it out Saturday morning, and it's an awesome addition to my training arsenal. Also, check out these wins from the past weekend on the fights. By the way, what do you think these names for the Friday segments? Check out my tip, my big tip.

Just a few thoughts i've got keep up the great work fellas and my guy chris curtis give him his due don't call him a journeyman chef cast look this guy once showed up in vegas at the apex and gave you and i all these meals and they were fantastic they were great we also don't know if there was ejaculate in it but we took a chance and ate it anyway. He makes meal preps. He's like a... I think he's Francis Ngannou. I think he's like his nutritionist. All right.

All right. Yes. One day you'll wake up in bed and Chef Cass will be there next to you, Luke. But he's right, dude. If you guys don't have it, the Torque Fitness M1 sled is fucking great love it all right hey this one's from cg luke the lethal weapon thomas experiencing yet another technical difficulty with the columbian

flag in the background kind of i fucking love this send that shit to me uh mikey if you're watching this oh dude i'll get a tattoo of that shit fuck all y'all look what how did it go on on sunday night the gervante fight i did uh tune in for for like 10 seconds and there was no sound but how did that like watch a long workout in the end so eventually it was fine after the seven or eight minutes of absolute fuck jobbery of committed by myself around getting that up and running i was trying to how do i explain this delicately i didn't want to be stone cold sober but i didn't want to drink i'll just leave it at that so some of my decision making in the prep for it not the best all right all right it uh it looked a little too calabasas for me luke i was quick to turn the channel all right uh we did not have any tiger thick whiskey

but if we did i know i had my parents over for the final night so i didn't get to check it out but i hope to join you one eventually it was fine but like it eventually it was fine but you know what i need for next time in all seriousness the best way to do it is if you and I are together, obviously. But if it's just one of us, I do need some other producer who's feeding me audience questions because there was a little bit too much silence at certain points. So when I was able to have something to say, it was great, but there were some pauses, and you get the idea. All right.

Julian says, hello, gents. I appreciate Luke's tough love but i think if bc was violently being stabbed on here by a guest luke would toss him some pads and say stop bleeding like a bitch can we blow this up man each please oh wow luke you very much have a oh bc you know what you're doing no you you you asked for it when all these people i mean i've never seen someone who asked for a handout more than you in my life but you know what are you gonna do save me daddy swim bitch all right there you go that's that's luke in a nutshell uh saul is back for another one. Is this the same one?

I just want him to send pictures of his Mexican food. Wow, got enough plaid there, guy? Me and my wife went to a pop-up Christmas bar this weekend. You already know which sweater I had to wear to spread the MK gospel. Had a guy ask about my sweater, and I told him to subscribe to YouTube. I doubt he did. MK all day, every day, especially during the holidays. This is the same Saul from earlier, Luke, and that is probably his beautiful wife. Yes, his lovely wife, it seems, who does not have MK gear on, but who could blame her?

It seems all right. You know, no masks inside, so they probably have COVID, but that's all right as well. I hope she cooks a mean flauta, Luke. That's what I hope. I'm not the biggest flauta fan. I like them. I like them, but I don't love Luke. That's what I hope. I'm not the biggest flauta fan. I like them. I like them, but I don't love them. They're not my favorite.

If I have a choice about how to consume food from that part of the world, I'm not picking flautas first. All right. Jonathan is here, and he says, Luke, boxing is life. I think he's right with this. Let's see what he's got. Zoom in, please. There you go.

Yeah, they tolerate us. They don't really love that part of the show, if we can be honest. All right. Thank you. For all you people listening on the audio-only podcast version, this is why they created YouTube. But thank you for your service just the same. Finally, Luke Tommy is here.

He says, hi, Luke in BC. BC's little smirk always brightens my day it also brightens up over 50 000 stray cats days keep up all the gg good work giggy good there's some kind of shop reference in there i missed all my love from across the pond tommy now is this some sort of a meme that i don't know about or i think this is related to the stray cats over there at uh the and the Kid Reddit page, Luke. A great place to be entertained. Yes, but I'm saying, like, is this specific meme created just for you? Or is this meme...

No, Maniche is saying this is a meme from, quote, that Netflix show. So I could see other people where this is used not just with bc right yes that's what a meme typically is yeah i don't i've been the fucker i've never seen this one before i don't know if this was either but i could tell it's from a show luke okay the net fucker jose jose are you under the impression that i'm confused that this is pulled from some part of cultural entertainment i understand that point what i'm asking is has this been more widely used or was it merely used for you? All of the impressions I'm

under involving you, I keep to myself, Luke, for fear of poking the bear. Maniche says, the Netflix show about suicide, I forgot the name. Okay, thanks, Corey. Thank you so much. That's great. I'm glad that we're bringing up my mom here on the show. That's awesome. Okay, lovely time. Wow. I mean, I don't think that's the dots he was connecting. Oh, he says

it's called 13 Reasons Why here's 13 reasons why you're all fired how about i did get your back when josh thompson was inconsiderate there in that moment right but i didn't need it though see i didn't call for help you see me i don't i don't wait for superman when the fires on hit the building i just put it out of the the stray cats doesn't brendan have a second comedy special coming out soon i believe that's what he said um i don't know the full details i think he recorded one in texas but i don't know i don't know i haven't heard all right we'll wait for the future we'll see what the maestro has for us thank you to all our great fans i'm sure you'll make no jokes about it i'm sure

that you will never sneak in any reference to it one way or the other i mean that's the thing about comedy it's built upon jokes luke that's why when we had shab on our show i came at him i tried to get him to laugh and play comedy with me luke but he no sold the shit out of me remember that he was like i i i have no idea what you're speaking of yeah well i mean you made the glass door reference to his face i mean i'm not sure what you were hoping for there you know comedy i was hoping for i was hoping for a little give and take you know you know i was once on his show back in 2017 i was once on uh below the bell and uh did you also start that conversation by asking him if he was a legend that you could no dude they edited out my best jokes. I'm not sure if that was Brendan or the producer,

but I had some racy jokes in there. They edited all that shit out, Luke. Okay, what's one joke that you told that they edited out? Let's see it. I had a fantastic Eskimo brother drop. I had some good shit, Luke. I was well-researched. I was ready.

I was, you know, I mean, yeah. We could have been. Luke, that was before. Was that before MK? Yeah. Luke, it could have been Brendan and I in these. Luke, we could have been doing stuff together below the belt. Me and me and Schaub.

If he would have received me that day. Yeah. I'm just waiting for Showtime to fire us and to give MK to Ariel. You know what I'm saying? That's that's the next evolution of this show. Really? Oh, yeah. Oh, oh yeah i declare war on canada i'm coming for you see us in the next documentary bc i will see you tomorrow i will see you tomorrow um we are not staying in the same hotel but we're on the same side of the strip i think yeah i can't be near your lack of optimism

or positivity like all right i'll go to las ve, but we're not going to win this fucking award, guys. All right? Oh, showtime. Showtime hit us up and says they didn't edit anything out of your sit-down with Brendan. Who's lying, BC? You or Showtime? Not this guy. Okay, I got a memory like an eagle-eyed hawk raccoon, Luke.

Okay? All right, I know every joke that was placed. Okay? Yes. eagle-eyed hawk raccoon, Luke, okay? All right, I know every joke that was placed, okay? Well, we just want to remind folks, MKDK, UFC 269 is this Saturday. We will be in Vegas starting tomorrow. I want to remind everyone, if you bet just $1, you can win $100 in free bets

if either fighter lands a punch, a jab across a hook, an uppercut, a haymaker, or a hammer fist. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now. Use the promo code COMBAT with a K, K-O-M-B-A-T. Throw down just $1 on the UFC 269 main event and win $100 in free bets if Oliveira or Poirier land a punch. That's code COMBAT. This Saturday at DraftKings Sportsbook,

the official sports betting partner of the UFC must be 21 or older in New Jersey, Indiana, or Pennsylvania only. New customers only. Minimum $5 deposit with a $1 wager required. One per customer. Restrictions apply. See DraftKings.com slash sportsbook for details. Gambling problem?

Call 1-800-GAMBLER. BC, the merch as well. One more reminder for the audience, if you would, for that. Well, real quick to close on DK. That $100, guys, you can use on anything. You want to bet the nfl this weekend you want to bet the nba luke i made some bets last week on the mk app on pro basketball in cutter i'm not kidding and i found a live youtube stream so i was able to watch it god you could look up european tennis and bet on every single point luke they got something for everybody there okay but speaking of something for everybody

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and hilarious combat sports-th themed show in the world today and morningcombat.store is where you can get your stuff it supports us in ways that i don't think you understand okay i'm not going to explain it to you if you don't though all right fair enough um we are all over the socials you can put up our social graphic here morning combat's name is the same everywhere reminder sundays sunday sunday sunday that's when we ask for the dms from dogs but the other times when you're not looking for morning combat on twitter or instagram or anyplace else you can email us morning combat at gmail.com that is for wednesday's fan subs that will be for friday's dead wrong as well morning combat at gmail.com will be the place for that if you want to try showtime you can get a 30

day free trial just go to showtime.com sign up if you like it keep it if you don't you're a fucking loser and you can do whatever you want with your life but those are the choices that you have of course you can leave us a five-star review on apple and blah blah blah anything else bc before we go uh friday night when rc when uh sorry when dc and ariel are raising their award for best MMA programming at the World MMA Awards, will you die a slow death in your chair or will we already be gone by that point? I died a slow death inside a few years ago. So I'm already dead, but I'll probably have another cocktail. Hey, hopefully there's an open bar, Lou.

We could party. You know, that'd be great. I'm trying to remember. There's definitely been a bar every time I went. I cannot remember if it was open bar or not. All right. But we'll see. Hopefully there's like a 500 pound giant edible that was delivered there with like 2000 THC. So last time I went, I had a drink with Michael Bisping. I had a drink with, not at the same time, Luke Rockhold. And I had a drink and I talked to a little bit, you know, who's an underrated discussion in person ready for this one? No referee, Jason Herzog. Yes. Fun conversation. Jason Herzog is okay. Say hi.

Yo, I hope we see Josh Rosenthal. If you know what I mean, I hope we see him outside first. Dude, if I see Josh Rosenthal, I'm just going to be one step behind him, breathing in all of the air coming off of his body, just so I can get a massive contact high. Hey, thank you. Where's this being held? At the High Rollers, Jim? I hope so, right? Yeah, dude, if this was at High Rollers, it'd be the greatest day of my life.

But it's going to be some other place. So we'll see how it goes. Maybe Jose Canseco will be there. We can get another selfie. I don't know. All right. There are BC. I'm Luke.

Thanks to Malka. Thanks to Showtime. Thanks to CBS Sports. We're going to be on a bird basically this time tomorrow. If you're in Vegas, say hi. If you're not, I guess we'll see you next time. Wish us luck on Friday. We'll be back then with some programming and enjoy UFC 269 on Saturday.

Of course, we'll talk to you before then. So for Brian Campbell, I'm Luke Thomas. Until next time, may all of your gains be loyal.