MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 279: Chimaev-Diaz | Paul-Silva Official | Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua? | Ep 345

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

On Episode 345 of Morning Kombat Luke and Brian start off the show with a weekend recap. How was their labor day weekend? What are their biggest takeaways from the fights? Next up the guys preview Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz. They discuss both guys recent interviews and what the biggest storylines are heading into this event. Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva is official, Did Jake bite off more than he can chew with this one? The boys close out the show with some quick hitters and HYSTS. (9:20) - Weekend Recap (40:30) - Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz (70:30) - Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva (79:40) - Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury (94:00) - 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 It's the 7th of September 2022

And we are old and pathetic Hi everyone, that's the 7th of September 2022 and we are old and pathetic. Hi everyone, that's the name of this podcast. It was Morning Combat, we're changing it to old and pathetic. I am merely one half of your hosting duo. I join you from the capital of the status of the news right here in Washington, D.C. My name is Luke Thomas. I'm joined by the worst dad. Well, actually, he's a great dad, but he is just a pathetic loser as well look at this

look at look at how he is i mean who has more divorced dad energy for a married man on earth besides brian campbell right now what's up king wow luke this was a harsh opening here man you know you're like dionte once said you you speak it you believe it you receive it luke you are washed so uh thank you very much uh you know i thought i'd bring the one love hat back into rotation to not only show off my high t but you know it's time it's time to unify luke okay let's let it's time for you and me to get off of our angry soapboxes stop pointing the finger at each other and take this show to the next level god damn it it certainly is bc i jacked my back up yesterday i am in i'm gonna look your boys in a little bit of pain why are you blaming the lord

for that just curious i'm not i'm just getting old socks getting old socks is really the only part about this that that matters i'm just doing basic things and then your back completely goes because i talked to him he said it's your fault all the way dude i mean he pointed out right thanks you he's right he's not he's he's telling the truth but you know i'm gonna make it through today's show everything's fine but uh god it sucks getting old i want to remind everyone uh showtime is the label that pays you can go to showtime.com get a 30-day free trial if you like it you can keep it if not you can bounce also bc we didn't talk about this as i understand it i think for an additional seven or eight bucks a month, you can add the Showtime tier to your Paramount Plus subscription.

So you can actually get that together through Paramount or just Showtime on its own. Either way, you got some great options there. They call that a bundle. I call it a fundle, Luke, okay? It's a lot of good times and great oldies there. You get Paramount. I think you get CBS News.

You probably get HQ, which you can already get for free. But you get my point. You get a lot of good shit. So shout out to our people at Showtime. And, Luke, shout out to our people at showtime and luke shout out to showbox the new generation which is back with a bang this friday atlantic city your boy bc on the on the uh on the mics there with uh barry tompkins raul marquez steve farhood so very much looking forward to it thank you for that atlantic city the land that time forgot enjoy that well i wonder i wonder who has more bed bugs, that place or Jersey City?

Hard to say. Hard to say, yes. Also want to remind folks, let's see, you can follow us on all the socials. You can put the graphic up for that. We are on TikTok. Don't want folks to forget. You can check us out on apparently the spying app that is tied to the Chinese government. I don't know.

There's that as well. Morningcombat at gmail.com to reach the show. And, of course, if you want some merch, you can go very easily morningcombat.store but i gotta i gotta say rj uh dunkle buns has not been on the morning calls telling us about all the merch he's got cooked up for us where's he been bc yeah where's our discount codes where's our new merch that they keep new merch available now what yo yo yo RJ where the hell is this bro what are you Geraldo in front of the Al Capone vault Luke how did I age myself with that reference you might have uh but BC now it's time to talk about our friends you know them we know them

there are two letters one or I should say two letters one number AG1 AG1 our friends over at Athletic Greens they take good care of us BC it's something you can do every day for your gut health, for your nervous system, for cold and flu season. I love it. You love it. You know, I wish you would start taking it more often so you could get sick less often, Luke, because I'm not lying when I say I'm the only person in my house two consecutive times who avoided big illnesses is it because i take this one easy green great tasting scoop of powder a day mix it up with my water to start it and get that mild clean tropical taste i say yes probably not i doubt it has anything to do with that uh but nevertheless it can help with things like your immune system more generally so i get some benefit there obviously energy recovery focus and something that is really plaguing me as you can tell by the color of my hair aging yeah all

right well i mean you know you go verbatim all year and now you're like you know i don't think it could keep you that healthy luke it is keeping me that healthy why because it's a special just you that's a blend of ingredients that supports my gut health, my nervous system, my immune system, my energy, my recovery, my focus, my aging. And that could be you, not just me, folks. So why don't you join the revolution that is AG1, Athletic Green. So easy to use. Look, I even take it with me on the road to Atlantic City for Showbox.

I do stuff like that. It's lifestyle friendly. Whether you eat keto paleo vegan dairy free or gluten free contains less than one gram of sugar no gmos no nasty chemicals artificial anything while still tasting good you know what i like best about it luke the price it costs less than three bucks a day to invest in your health it's even cheaper than your damn cold brew habit and luke i know what they're thinking oh i well let me take these two old guys' word for it. How about you take the word of leading health tech experts like Tim

Ferris and Michael Gervais? Or how about those 7,000 people that have given a five-star review to Athletic Greens? Because they're lying? No. Because they've used it. Right now, it's time to reclaim your health and arm your immune system with convenient daily nutrition, especially heading into the cold and flu season.

It's just one scoop and a cup of water every day. That's it. No need for a million different pills or supplements to look out for your health. And to make it even easier for you to get healthy, here's the deal. Athletic Greens is going to give the MK listeners for free a one-year supply of immune-supporting vitamin D. Comes in droplet form, easy to use. And that five free travel packs we talk about with your first purchase, go to athleticgreens.com slash morningcombat. I mean, Luke, you know, it's up to you. Do you want to live? Do you want to live?

Yes. Again, that is athleticgreens.com slash morningcombat to take ownership over your health and pick up your ultimate daily nutritional insurance. I mean, Luke, hang out in a cemetery or a dimly lit bar people are dying left and right do you want to live that's the question come with me if you want to live isn't that what the terminator said yes yeah to the choppa that's what that was more of a predator line but yeah that was predator yes that was predator same actor for some reason cyborgs in the future have an austrian accent i don't really know what the programming there is, but it worked.

The programming there is called steroids, Luke. Thank you very much. All right. All right. With that in mind, let's get things going here. Topic number one, of course, this is our first show of the week. Now, we did have a reaction show for UFC Paris, which I did. We did, of course, have the RSD with Antonio McKee.

And I want to point out, we had the resume review with Nate Diaz as well. So it's not like you haven't had some content about the week, but this is our first show. So BC, very quickly, let's start with you. Let's start with that main event. Before we get to, of course, the fights coming up this weekend, we had UFC Paris. We start with the main event,

Cyril Ghosn getting the finish over Tai Tuivasa, although Tai hurting Cyril Ghos gone in a way that no one else had that to this point what was your thoughts about what happened in the main event first of all what a freaking great piece of entertainment that those two produced the backdrop the soundtrack of that Paris crowd and the yearning of the French audience to have a in-person UFC event you certainly felt that through the screen just like like, you know, London, a couple cards before in this current run in the UK. But look, about Paris, about this fight, Ghosn needed this, Luke. He actually needed this. It's weird to say. Did he need to get, you know, knocked down and concussed in the moment, which he admitted afterwards? It wouldn't

have been plan A. But here's the thing, Luke. You and I were talking ahead of this fight, and I like on the broadcast that they ended up sharing gone and his team being open about some of his deficiencies and they settled upon this, maybe a lack of a killer instinct. Maybe at times he can be a point fighter because he has such great advantages. He can hit without being hit. And it's easy to go that it ends up being easy for him to a certain degree when he's going downhill and he's controlling all the terms. We needed to see him a in a fight in which he wasn't controlling the terms and suddenly he wasn't when he was knocked down b i had some questions saying look we don't know if he has a backbone good lord did he answer that here but i think you know even more than that luke

did he have pressure like i kind of teased and you poo-pooed about maybe living up and playing for the for the french crowd. You could argue that given the historical precedent of the moment. I think it was more about him absorbing the loss against Ngannou and what he didn't do, taking stock of his game, and again, never would have wanted to walk into

Tuivasa's punch and get hurt. But it ended up playing into his hands where afterwards, after a brutal, violent, spectacular finish of a guy who just won't go away into Ivasa, when Gantz speaks into the microphone at the press conference and basically says, Hey, enough of this Jon Jones talk. How about me for the Ngannou rematch? He's actually got an argument in this case because, Luke, he improved. I don't want to say improved leaps and bounds, but he changed the way we look at his potential ceiling

by answering some key questions we had because we just hadn't seen him in these type of moments. You're giving me a weird face, but we hadn't seen him have to come back and prove his toughness. Boy, did he show that here in how he answered and shook off the damage that he took, which seemed pretty legit from that one punch. But it was the intention of going for the knockout.

Now, Luke, you can easily argue that knockout came more of Tuivasa making it happen by being all over him. Okay, that could be part of it, but I think this was Gon trying to reverse his fortune, knowing how good he is, and showing us that he can chase, go after, and get the knockout if needed. And I think I exit this fight with his stock being so much higher. For still being the potential long-term future and face of this division. Because I'm watching him in the moment fill in some of the holes.

Now look, he didn't go out and wrestle for five rounds. We don't really know if he has made gains in that area. But did this not answer those key questions we had coming in, Luke? I mean, I know I predicted Ngannou would wrestle against Gon, Woodley would finish Till. I mean, I've been on the roll lately. I kind of predicted we would see a little bit more offensive Gon. Woodley and Till, yes, quite recently.

And I didn't expect it to be this great. I mean, Luke, that finishing shot was hellacious. This is what he needs to do to ultimately separate himself from the killers currently atop of this division he just showed us he can do that that's big to me dude talk me off the serial gone ledge that you helped build i'll tell you that if your argument is in rallying after uh tuivasa dropped him that he showed something new. I'll agree to that.

I'll agree to that. I think that's definitely true. But I don't really share your sense overall. I mean, do I think he improved his standing with the fans by virtue of chasing the fight in the way that he did? Probably. Probably. His more memorable finishes, I think you could say that, right?

That's all fine and good. I think I would agree with that. But you could actually make an argument that his striking has a regressed and be in the central questions about what actually will hold him back from getting the title. You didn't see anything tested here at all, at all. Like it had nothing here had anything to do with that. In fact, after this fight, Curtis blades was like calling him out. And I don't think God wants any part of it, which is understandable. He's ranked below him. He's already sitting in the number one contender spot. He wants to leapfrog Jon Jones.

I get it, but I'm going to go back to it before. That's the real test to me, quite candidly, about what is lacking in Cyril Gon's game. You're talking about he went for it. He went for it against a guy where he was a minus 500 favorite. Play that against someone else who's much more dangerous, who has much more levels of the game to play. Oh, don't do that.

Can I critically cross-examine you, Luke? Sure. Okay, a few things here. I had already hinted at the idea, no, we didn't end up learning certain ground advancements. I will hedge that. Now I'm suddenly becoming Gon's biggest protector here, but I'll hedge that by saying he's only, what,

four or five years into this game and is growing rapidly? He clearly answered the question about toughness and intention to me that I think you're overlooking too easily. Luke, he may have had finishes in the past. You know, Derek Lewis was a big one to get the interim strap, but, you know, that was a Derek Lewis that kind of imploded in front of us and ultimately seemed to get stopped by the volume of what gone does best. So while you're saying you thought gone striking, what was the word you used?

Regressed? I said you could make the argument from his certainly from his Muay Thai days. You could make the argument that is striking. OK, but let's be fair here. Did it regress from the previous performances in which he was able to control the terms and completely and just dance and paint these guys up? Yes. But look, not every fight you're going to be able to win like that including what we just saw against francis and gano at this level it's different so i think you have to look a little further even if it was a regression in your eyes in in the damage he took on and the chances he took

you're going to have to take those chances to finish these killers at this level i saw him show an ability and a want to do that. And I don't even like, even though I've been almost the biggest critic of Tuivasa's true upper bound limits, if you will, I almost feel like you're showing, throwing unnecessary shade here by bringing up the betting odds only because what did Tuivasa show us in this fight? One, that he's the ultimate TV fighter, if we didn't already know it. But two, Luke, that there is a deep-rooted cyborg level of recuperative skills.

I mean, it's almost Gaethje-like to keep coming back until you make him go away like Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier originally did to that version of Gaethje. Where he, to me, this was almost a moral victory for Tuivasa in many ways. Luke, he showed that he can do exactly what he does, which is caveman you, land one big strike, and potentially change the fortunes of a major fight. I never, ever would have guessed he could do that against somebody who could move like gone, and he came out and did that. So not only do i now have to readjust the limitations i'm putting on to evasa in terms of who his style actually can work against luke it may be able to work to a certain degree against everybody i think you have

to put some respect back on the real challenge that gone faced because to evasa was able to land was able to put on pressure was able to strike strike clean. And then the fact that gone, Doug deep found his, his violent mode and got him the fuck out of there, dude, this was triumphant. You got to get off your technical critical ass and just reward what we saw there. Yeah, I don't really, I mean, I, it's a nice win.

It's a nice win, but to me, like the thing that was holding him back was not that he had the inability to the striking was was some kind of issue that really is not the problem and to me knocking out a guy when you take more risks over a guy you were you know yes he was heavily favored to win but just stylistically it's not a good matchup for Taito Iwasa anyway I'm not saying it's easy to do it's very difficult to do I I accept and recognize he took risks to get there. But if we're talking about the thing that held him back from the title,

this didn't give you any indication about any of it going forward, which isn't to say he hasn't addressed it, BC. That's not my argument either. I'm just saying the thing that held him back against Francis that I think could rear its ugly head again if he fights a Jones, if he fights a Miocic which is very speculative obviously but still those things are out there certainly if he fights a Curtis Blades you didn't get any answer about that whatsoever

so like to me it's like oh he was better than Tui Vassa striking he even had to rally a little bit after getting hurt that's that's noteworthy but that's not to me as significant a finding as what we would have had had he gone up against a guy like curtis blades who would have given us a much better picture about what is actually possible this is a case of where you're not wrong because again those are still unanswered questions we saw him lose to francis because of ground game that's still in play for blades yes but luke you're telling me you saw this same intent intention in him previously that if he's got an opportunity to finish a guy,

that he's willing to take on a little bit of risk and maybe even damage to do that? I just don't. I don't think that's nearly as interesting or as informative as you seem to find it. Okay, so let's say he gets into another fight like the Francis fight in which his plan A, which is essentially to point fight you from distance and just beautifully outstrike you that gets taken away or compromised either by wrestling

or by him being hurt now we know that he can dig down into that place Luke you can't look at him and just say point fighter I don't see how you can look past the the what that also says about him because look think about it if he rematches accepting accepting more risk against a guy you're much better than is fun for exciting fights but it doesn't tell you all that much you want it to mean a lot i don't think it means that much i don't think he can i don't think the the gone before this fight could beat francis and gano with his a game i think if he's going to beat in gano in the rematch he's rematch, he's going to have to show a ground game. Yes, Luke, but he's going to have to show that he can

and is willing to legitimately hurt and maybe stop Ngannou or Jones or Miocic. Luke, what are the lacks in his game coming in? Taito Iwasa is significantly more hittable than any of the guys you mentioned. But significantly more durable, Luke. Yes, yeah, dude. Francis is durable as shit. Miocic put a beating on him for 25 minutes and couldn't put him away like this is what i mean it's like oh he opened up against the guy he had significant advantages over okay that's not

nothing you know what you're doing i got to do with any of these other fights nothing you're being you're being your dad right now you're like oh good job son you scored 20 points in the jv game fucking do it on varsity then no lu, Luke, we learned something here, okay? Luke, we did. We learned a lot. Varsity is a very tough challenge, but opening up against him is not the same thing as opening up against any of these other guys.

And to me, doing it in your home crowd like that is impressive and important. I recognize that, but it's like, what did we learn about his potential upside? Very little. I should say this. What did we learn new about potential upside very little so i should say this what did we learn new about it okay he could rally from getting knocked down that i will give you that was that was amazing um but in fact he even said after the fact that someone asked him hey who's a

harder hitter francis or ty and he said ty but with the caveat that like francis didn't hardly lay a glove on him yeah do you think he's just going to walk into the lion's den and put himself at more risk where Francis can hit him? I don't believe that. No, but sometimes fights go there, Luke. And now we know that he's comfortable there. Like, I can't believe you're missing this, Luke. I'm not missing it. You want me to overstate its significance,

and I just don't want to do that. I want you to give the restaurant a five-star Zagat rating. You're like, well, I didn't really like the napkins. I mean, come on. I'm not saying that. It's a fine performance, and it was good for that market. The French crowd was insane, which was great to see. And to your point, again, he rallied after getting hit in a way that

I think would have unnerved a lot of other competitors. But as it relates to the guys in front of him that he has to fight to, I think, recapture what he hasn't to this point, I don't know that that performance by itself tells us a whole lot. That's my only position. However, BC, what I will say is, what did you make of that co-main event?

Robert Whitaker defeating Marvin Vittori. And I got to say, careful first round. Fair enough. Second round, you see Whitaker start to pull away. Third round, I thought he hurt Vittori with that head kick. Worse than I've ever seen anyone hurt vittori during his entire ufc run robert whittaker looked phenomenal in this contest did i not predict this exactly that whittaker would dominate one-sided but still win a three round decision i i mean i'm i'm not surprised mother effer whittaker is as he said you know aside from the champion he's the baddest dude in this division

and he even historically Luke you know Anderson Silva middleweight goat for sure but like this is why I want Whitaker and now to sign to end up in a trilogy because look these are the these are the guys of this era he is levels above his and he knew it that's why he wasn't rattled when Vittori tried to get in his face Luke Luke, to me, even though people are saying like, holy crap, man, Whitaker's still really damn good, except for those two fights in which it was close, but, or not close in the first one, but except for Adesanya

kind of having his number, I actually came away from here with the other side of it saying Vittori's got, like, legitimate questions to answer of himself, ask of himself in the mirror. Because, look, he's trying against the elites to almost act not like a point fighter. I mean, he's putting on pressure.

But I don't see a delivery system in getting off the explosive nature of his game. Like, he's got an explosive personality. He comes in there aggressive. He lives and dies by his chin. He does have, if he's able to take you down, Whitaker is not going to be the type of guy you can manhandle, though. He does obviously can get you down and can work the top game,

but I almost feel like he's going to have to look in the mirror and ask himself, do I need to dumb down my style and my ambitions to try to be as elite as these foes and think, look, if I'm going to be in there for 15 minutes with a guy skills-wise this much better than me and I'm not closing that gap, I got to go for it.

I got to inflict damage. He's a big mother effer, Luke, and he comes in there with an attitude, but I don't see that translated into the way he tries to get his offense off. I almost feel like somebody told him he's at this level in terms of his skills and his striking, and it's become now twice a harsh reminder that he isn't. Look, am I being a total jerk and this is about Whitaker's greatness? I mean, I still think there's time for Vittori, but not this road, not this way that he's doing it.

I think we're mostly in agreement about Vittori. Here is what I said, and BC, tell me if you think this is on or off, which was like, I don't know enough video games to know if this analogy is correct, but if you were looking at the individual pieces of Vittori's game, you would rate each piece fairly high, right? Like how good is his striking? It's not the best in the division, but it's good. How's his wrestling? Again, far from the best in the division, but it's good. Cardio, actually I would put that as very good. He trains very hard. Physicality, very good. But in terms of the skills of fighting, jujitsu, wrestling, striking, all that kind of

stuff, everything he does is good, but it's very conventional. It's stuck to the basics. He doesn't have the development of any one particular skill that really gives him an edge over his competitors. He has a decent rating in all of the different parts of the game but no ace in the hole and even as he combines them all it just sort of combines to be a very conventional game he goes for press doubles against the fence he's sort of jabbing and one-twoing his way inside kicking a sort of you know leg kicking on the inside a little bit head kicking here and then there's nothing super sophisticated sitting up he does it like Charles Oliveira I've talked about this before he didn't just add new dimensions to his game, right?

He actually dialed back the jiu-jitsu a little bit to let the other parts come to life, but he really, really, really, really worked on his skill development. It seems to me that still in his 20s, Marvin Vittori has the physical tools and a good foundation. I do think he's got a good foundation, BC,

but the thing I think that is missing for me is he just really hasn't had time or he hasn't fully developed any particular part of the overall MMA game striking wrestling whatever one he wanted to do which again would just really be a problem because he is so far ahead of his competitors with it he has no he has he's a jack-of-all-trades master of none to a fault I would argue because you want to be well-balanced in MMA. But that's what's missing for me. That's a more polite way to say it, yeah, for sure. Look, it's like, for somebody

that tries to play the jab-and-counter game with somebody like Whitaker and you saw the results, he doesn't have the head movement or defense to attempt that type of stretch. You know what I'm saying? So there are while he's fairly even across the board and maybe lacking something spectacular, I think the defensive

hole against the elites is wide open in that regard, Luke. And luckily for him, he's so tough that he's able to hang in there but if he's going to be that tough and be willing to take that level of punishment, I want to see him swinging big on the other side and at least making it

more of a risk-reward for his opponents on walking him side and at least making it making it more of a risk reward for his opponents on you know walking him down and surgically picking him apart because I never felt like Whitaker was in any level of danger yeah but that's see when it comes to that though that to me I give a credit to Whitaker because if you're Vittori you can say oh go for it but go for it like just you know you're barely moving about like the point the problem is that he can't find him and when he tries to find him he misses and then when he not only misses he gets countered big time and he's trying to avoid that not in some kind of self preservation way just in a this doesn't work kind of way he could not find an actual way to put

meaningful offense together that That is the result of having, and he even said it in Italian afterwards when they translated it, that was an elite opponent he had. That's a very elite opponent. So BC, let me ask you this question, bringing it back to Robert Whitaker. We've got Izzy taking on Pareda here in just a couple of months, not far from where we are right now, in between us as a matter of fact. Where does Robert Whitaker fit into that fight because if izzy wins he might go to 205 but you could maybe do a third robert whittaker fight i don't know if the champ wants it but that's on the table but if pareda wins are they going to give izzy an

automatic rematch because he's been undefeated for so long and if so where does whittaker go from there how do you think he fits into that picture yeah this is a different situation than the same type of sort of bottleneck title picture discussions we have. And it's obviously rare for somebody to be talking about getting the third fight with somebody they lost twice to, yet suddenly it feels like we're talking about a lot more.

We just saw Volkanovski and Holloway get it. We were talking about Ioana and Rose for a while. It seems like we're now bringing this idea back into the fold. It makes more sense for Whitaker because he's of that ilk not only a former champion but he's showing you time and again the three fights between the Adesanya losses and now this one that he's just short of that level and what what level am I talking about Adesanya being on his way to being one of the greatest that level like he's just short of that to some. I mean, he's a great Luke.

So I personally, again, believe if Adesanya wins, there's really. And I don't think the UFC would have the leverage to make it. Like, at least, here's the deal. The Max versus Volkanovski rivalry. At least there were a lot of us, a lot of us saying in the second fight, man, I really thought Holloway won it. By the way, I still think Whitaker won the second fight against Adesanya. I just don't see that same push from the media and fans, you know, as if that's actual currency to the matchmaking.

Sometimes it is. Most likely it's not. But, you know, maybe because Max is so beloved, there seemed to be more of a call for that third fight to sort of answer some question of did we get it wrong? Where people aren't saying that about the Whitaker-Adesanya rivalry maybe it's because the first fight ended a knockout or maybe it's because people didn't score it as close for Whitaker as I did but I don't think Adesanya has anything to gain by fighting him a third time and I don't think the UFC could really put the pressure on to leverage this it would just make so much more sense given how he's cleaned out the division for Adesanya to move up with a win if he loses yes we're going to have an interesting discussion is it the kind that needs an immediate rematch or could you see Whitaker instantly subbed

in if I'm the promotion Luke I do that why because either way you're going to get an Adesanya rematch for the title after that right yep you could do that i mean but it depends it depends okay let's say potato knocks let's say adesanya controls right for a round and a half and then gets knocked out you kind of got to go back to adesanya at that point probably right it's a little bit more i don't know i think if adesanya gets put out i they might move on i know it sounds crazy and probably maybe i'm wrong i don't it's hard to know exactly what they might do because here's the thing. Izzy is now in a place where I can certainly recognize after his fight against Kananir, the fans are a little bit displeased with him, right?

And so would there be a big push for Izzy to get a rematch in terms of the fan sentiment, the commercial appeal? I don't know about that. I don't know, especially if he gets his lights put out completely. So it's hard to say exactly. If he gets robbed or it's very close, then that might be different. Yeah. Let's not forget Nunes Shevchenko in this discussion as well,

of fights that went one way and now we're trying a third. But let's say Pineda wins by decision by decision and just kind of out out everything's him but doesn't knock him out then you send Whitaker in there Luke okay then you get Adesanya in a get well fight and then you suddenly got Adesanya versus either guy in a rematch that we must freaking see so um damn

Luke put some I mean we gotta I always had respect on it but I hope the world's putting some respect on the Reaper's name Luke I mean just one of the most resilient, well-rounded, tough as shit, technically elite, not better than Adesanya, has not proven that in two fights that he's better, Luke, but

one of the greats. We're watching it live, in person, one of the greats here. Just a guy who, and you know, if you watch boxing, you get a lot more of this. Obviously, it's a more limited form of striking in the sense of the options that it has but you know you see a guy like bud crawford and he's got a lot of different tools but his timing i go back to his finish of kel brook and i know kel you know was certainly a diminished version of himself by the time he fought bud

crawford but i go back to it look at the punch that bud crawford threw that that sent him packing it was i mean he threaded the tiniest of needles robert whittaker i'm not saying he's got bud crawford timing but what he has in terms of mma striking he has exquisite exquisite timing where he is also able in a very similar not identical kind of way to thread a very difficult needle to thread with his timing you in fact even heard the commentary team bc talk about it it's not like he's got a ton of different weapons. He's not throwing all different kinds of shit. You just can't keep up with it.

It's a relatively basic amount of options, but the way in which he sets it up is so clever, so well-timed, so disguised, so perfectly placed that you're just watching. Have you ever seen the um the the documentary jiro dreams of sushi this dude who makes sushi in the tokyo subway he's just he doesn't make a ton of different kinds of things but what he does the craftsmanship around it is super super high that's robert whittaker to me yeah i agree luke that's how i try to envision myself i'm i'm really not good at anything important in life lu Luke, but my ridiculousness is brilliant.

You look so pathetic with that sad beard. Oh, come on. I thought you were going to insult my hat. The beard hat, you know, high T combo, Luke. It's, I mean, you know. Is this the Brian Campbell, I haven't showered this morning combo? No, fresh from the shower, okay? Fresh from the barbershop and fly from the beauty salon. Yeah, believe me.

You want to know why, Luke? Because basketball courts in the summer got girls there, okay? Fresh from the barbershop and fly from the beauty salon. Yeah, believe me. You want to know why, Luke? Because basketball courts in the summer got girls there, okay? They certainly do, and they're not looking for you. Last but not least from the weekend, BC, Ruiz Jr., Andy Ruiz, getting the job done against Luis Ortiz. Although it's kind of funny, Andy Ruiz drops him three times and wins a close decision. How did you see this fight playing out, BC?

Yeah, I saw it playing out kind of exactly as it did, where, yeah, Ruiz, the rightful winner, when he counters and explodes, the speed, Luke, it's hard for heavyweights to pick up. Ruiz, not known as a huge puncher, but when he lands clean with these kind of counter shots that he's loading up, man, it does damage. But outside of those, man, I kind of scored it like everybody else did.

Six rounds to six would have been a draw. Now, that's easy to say. I thought Ortiz at 43, and obviously some people believe he's really 58, Luke, just fought his heart out. You know what I mean? He's just not the same guy as, like, let's say the first Wilder fight. But man, does he exhaust every option to try to win, whether it's trying to rally in the 12th or just boxing a really smart fight?

It's interesting. Ruiz is still, you know, heavily flawed and a bit overrated and underrated at the same time, meaning he's not going to be, you know, outclassed and destroyed by the elites. But if he's going to beat them, I wonder if he's got to continue to find that spot in the Death Star like he did when he upset AJ in the first one. I don't see him throwing enough punches. He wasn't in the same shape that he was last fight against Areola, which he was with Canelo's trainer.

They put on some weights since then. Third trainer in three consecutive fights. There was a lot of good to like. Would I love him against Deontay Wilder if he gets Bastellanius? Hell yeah, dude. That is a fan-friendly, yet still important for the title picture heavyweight fight that's like slam dunk, pay-per-view, make it, we'll buy it, we'll enjoy it. But he fights in somewhat of an all-or-nothing way

because he's just not busy enough. This was not convincing. And it was clear because of the knockdowns, but he takes too much time off, doesn't commit to getting in shape luke he could be and we've been saying this about his career by the way all back you know a decade ago he could be really good if he can put it all together he put it all together for one night in in sort of a perfect storm of circumstances but still not like all the way there to what i believe getting the most out of himself i don't think you can disagree with that i don't think i disagree with that at all

and in fact i gotta say like i know that there was a narrative about how hard he had trained did he look like way more in shape to you i don't know that he looked as in shape as i was expecting we got fooled those those those poses he did in that Fox, you know, PR video that was put out that sizzle reel. You could see the abs, but he was also bending forward and flexing when he stands up straight. This is the same size.

He was for the first Joshua fight, first Joshua fight, which same exact way. Right. So maybe he's a little bit more tone, but like once he walked down the ring, I was like, oh, I was fooled by that video. He's, this is not the same guy. I mean, even in the way in, he looked good, but you know, he might've been cutting, you know, a little bit at the,

you know, to sometimes heavyweights look the last two days, they'll cut a little bit and then put it on, put it back on. But, um, no, man, if he gets, look, it's a different story if he gets in shape. Now, look, he still got dropped by Areola, who was, you know, to some degree a walking corpse, although I'll give him and Joe Goosen credit for that performance. But if he's not going to commit to that shape, he can't win against the elite. I don't think he can, Luke. I agree.

I agree. He needs to be in better shape. Although I will say, BC, his tattoos were good. They were very good. The black and gray. They were great. Especially his ass tats. I mean, I like the Jesus tat and the crosses on the side, you know, but his tats i mean i like the jesus tad and the

crosses on the side you know but his his tats are they're not my style luke i mean i've seen his ass and i look i really i look seriously you know i look at i look at the watermelon vape as a as a playful character flaw you know you're outside of that you got strong morals you're a great teammate but you know your love of ass tats is just along with death metal is just i just don't i don't think i'm going to be able to understand it will it be enough to break us apart i don't think so luke but i you know if i have to stand on that mountain alone i will but how do you you know as for you and your house how do you stand by this this belief that not only do you like the look but you you want and need your own ass cheeks to have a man with a needle up right around the rim, Luke, right?

Like you're Spud Webb at the 86 dunk contest, just barely over that rim, Luke. I don't see it. I don't get it. In fact, I think there's something wrong with you. Yeah, I know, but you have a lot of stupid ideas. Okay, that's Dana White level deflecting. Okay, so what do you got here what do you do why would you want a beautiful tattoo covering parts of your body i don't know there's probably a lot of good reasons it wouldn't be for everybody yeah but

dude this isn't like a heart on your ass cheek this is the inner lining this is grundle this is like the full you know well i mean i don't know exactly how exactly how far andy ruiz went but again i've talked about this before covering these parts of your body have both historical significance and they have artistic significance for scale of what you're trying to do like just getting it above your belt line can look really weird so getting it let's stay here doesn't historical significance what are we talking about it's a tribute to the warriors of what color? There's different kinds of body suits you can get, but some of the original tattooing around Japanese style,

getting the full body suits, this goes back centuries. I mean, it's not something that they just decided was fun. There's a historical play into it. Again, it's not for everyone, but the idea that it's automatically stupid or something is kind of bizarre. I don't quite get that. Okay, okay. I'm not going to be ignorant on that.

You see a lot in the Polynesian culture, tattoos are a direct... Like a tattoo of Vasa. I'm imagining he's got one as well. Yeah, all right. All right. Look, okay, Luke. It's fucking weird.

Okay, I'm sorry. It is at the end of the day. All right, thank you very much. Thank you. All right, all right. They wanted to move along. Quickly, I'm sorry. It is at the end of the day. All right, thank you very much. Thank you. All right, all right. They wanted to move along. Quickly, Isak Cruz blew away that dude in the co-main event, called out Tank.

You saw Gervonta shake his head. At the very least, Cruz deserves a huge name, Luke. I mean, this is a really good performance. Yeah, he dusted the guy off in two. By the way, that video was trending on YouTube as well. The number one video, though, was Nate Diaz and his interview that he had. But yes, I agree that Isaac Cruz looked unbelievable. But there's really no interest in a fight with Gervonta at this point.

No, I don't see it. And also, Abner Morris came back after that long layoff. He looked good early, fought his way to a draw against Miguel Flores. I don't know what he's going to do from here, Luke, but if just getting back here and doing that was what he needed to scratch the itch, there's a lot to like in that performance, even though he faded. There was. All right. Let's go to topic number

two. So as I mentioned, that is actually currently in the United States the number one trending video on YouTube, which is Nate Diaz spoke to our colleague Brett Okamoto of ESPN and raised a number of issues. Now, by the way, BC, as it stands at the moment, we have Hamza Chemaya at roughly a minus 1,000 or so favorite.

Nate Diaz is a plus 700 underdog. Diaz talked about taking this fight and putting over Hamzat, so to speak. Quote, what they've got me doing right now is they're acting like I called for this fight, which I didn't call for and don't want and didn't want and still don't want but I don't give an f I'll fight anybody but the pressure is on him he better finish me because he's the next killer in town and if I whip his ass they're gonna say oh he wasn't the best in town but they're not going to let me go uh I asked for 20 fights 10 fights 15 fights the this fight is not even about this guy it's about the making of this guy

it's about the making of this guy it's about the making of this mfr and i'm like okay well you guys aren't gonna let me go because i'm the best fighter here and you're not gonna let me go unless it's off of somebody i've got to make somebody for you all right you're welcome let's make this guy you're welcome dubai you're welcome all you mfers you're welcome this is just my halftime show i'm just getting started now bc it's kind of weird that diaz would say that he didn't want this fight when in fact I was told that he had specifically requested it I I spoke to some folks close to Diaz yesterday about these comments and what they basically told me was and you heard

him talk about it so this is what I want to pitch to you he did in fact ask for the Chandlers for the Fergusons who by the way is on this card as well they couldn't do that for whatever reason I don't know what the story is there the the Poiriers you name the Luques you name it they wouldn't give him that and apparently what what ended up happening was that Nate was like well I gotta do something for them in order for them to give me a fight at a reasonable time so he just thought who's toughest, craziest guy that the UFC has that they want to promote. Let's just call him out. They called UFC up and said that they, this is what they wanted.

And then they ended up getting it. I think, I don't know what the UFC was anticipating at that point, but they seemed to like the idea. So it's a bit of both, right? He didn't want it, but I think forced into it.

He took it. What do you make or forced into it? What do you make of these comments from nate ds yeah we got more of these comments to get into specifically but i'll start generically and that was i think the juiciest nugget of him revealing in that comment to brett who's not our colleague luke is my former colleague though well i'm a media colleague maybe my colleague under yoana's you know gauging of the best looking journalists and mixed martial arts you want to bang him more than yoana does. I truly believe that.

Wow. I mean, Brett, you don't have to wear the tightest dress shirts and lean back on the couch for these. You know what I mean, guy? Okay. There you go. All right, Luke, let's talk here. The narrative UFC's putting out on this fight

is that the old legend against the young riser and the old legend once again wants to kill the hype of the ufc's next like made man like you did against connor but the the reality that we've been painting leading up to this interview and the reason why i put so much onus on this interview is because outside of the quotes he gave ufc countdown i don't think nate's talked to anybody else before this so this is really like the first? He spoke to Ariel. He did a long interview with Ariel a few weeks ago, right? A few weeks ago. Okay. I'd have to revisit that. Apologies to Ariel. I must've, must've forgot that, but here's the deal, Luke. The narrative we painted was, you know, oh, dirty UFC. This guy's

been trying to get out of his deal by forcing you to give him a fight for a year, right? He fought, what didn't he fight uh edwards in april of 2021 you go back over his twitter profile it's just constant give me this fight i want chandler give me anybody cut me do whatever so they're feeding him to the largest lying to damage his brand and give hams out his fans on the way out and that is the narrative we all stuck with although nate's comments here saying i I didn't ask for it, dude. UFC's, you know, telling essentially lying and telling everybody that I did tends to double down on that narrative. Watching this as a whole, Luke, and look, I mean, it's a Diaz brother interview.

So meaning at face value, you can watch it and not figure out if he's like the street hero or he's just crazy and ignorant like he can contradict himself every other sentence and there's a major contradiction coming up but in this quotes that we're going to go to but i'm like wait is nate actually the victim here luke is he i mean i know like his story should be the the poster story right now in this in this narrative window window here of fighter pay being a constant topic. We did the resume review, which I hope people are checking out on YouTube.com slash Morning Combat, of Nate's great career, and we specifically fight by fight leading up to the two Conor fights and the call-out after the Michael Johnson fight was just like unbelievably low base salary,

30 to show, no bonus or whatever it was yet he's main eventing in a title fight on fox in front of three and a half million people you know time and again so i've always looked at him as like this victim and they're holding him back and this fight is about him giving the ultimate fu dude i'm serious after this interview i'm not sure how much of it is him just being in his own way like luca let's be really blunt here about nate diaz okay is it that he's so true to like his natural default beliefs which is like you know street taught a gangster way or are all these comments that fill this interview about him being the greatest fighter of all time

and almost doing a Chael Sonnen bit that he's never lost, is he a little disillusioned and ignorant? Because when you see all these awful contracts getting signed, and I know history will tell you he had a front-loaded tough deal coming into the UFC in 2007 that did him no favors in the long run, but they're also negotiating and signing. I think UFC did him dirty by making him wait here so he didn't fight Jake Paul,

but I'm not sure he's always his best advocate based on all of these quotes in this interview and really his history in interviews. Is he just so street Luke that that's what happens or is there something to that? I'm not sure I understand the full nature of your complaint because, well, let me say how I see it and you tell me what parts I'm either right or wrong on. Listen, I don't imagine that any fighter dealing with the UFC is always right.

No one person, what they say is biblical. No one person's perspective always and in every way has to be acknowledged or respected, respected i suppose as a sort of a baseline but agreed upon right everyone's got their own vision for themselves and so i'm not going to sit here and present a case that the diaz brothers nate or nick in it in their individual dealings with the ufc have always been you know above reproach that they've never been they've never done anything wrong i don't imagine that that's the case for anybody, including them. However, what I would say is, again, going through the resume review, we saw all those cases where he had

constantly to fight in someone else's backyard, constantly fighting for, certainly in that sort of middle, third part of his career-ish space. Around the second and third part of his career with that intersection moment. But in any case, fighting for low purses.

In this particular moment, BC, I don't really agree that Nate has a whole lot to atone for, only because it wasn't like he was saying no. It wasn't the three years he had taken off. He was trying to fight, and he wasn't trying to fight somebody without a name or someone in some kind of yes i know that he mentioned francis and gandu but that was that my understanding is that's a function of frustration from not getting the other relevant fights i mean consider the ufc already put together a fight between diaz and poria that had fallen apart for other reasons and again if you want to put some blame on nate for that you may do so but here he is trying to find it again there was interest on

the Poirier side they didn't do it Chandler same thing or Ferguson whatever the reason was for that I don't know it wasn't like he was trying to avoid tough or otherwise meaningful fights the argument that he is making is what you want me to do is give my star power up to lift someone else up which we kind of know is a little bit how the fight game works which he relented to it but you know keeping a guy under contract extra time, not agreeing to fights, even though he wants big-name contenders that would certainly have been valuable

or otherwise the fan base would have accepted, I don't understand it personally. Again, help me understand what I'm missing. I don't see what about that is so unforgivable. Here's the quotes that are fueling my new question about this situation. And look, I'm going on record. I've been on record. They did him dirty here by making him wait.

He was willing to fight anybody, Luke. So now he's finally trying to fight their guy. And they even delayed that. But here are the quotes that kind of blew up the internet, taken out of context from this interview. I'm on Dana White's side too, Diaz said. It's all love. I understand business. So it's all good with me.

Me and Dana always got along about everything too. And I'm not fucking inking real fighting, which is his new combat sports promotion he announced yesterday. We can get into that in a second. Because I'm against anybody, I'm not going anywhere or doing anything. I have no plan for what my next move is. If something happens in this fight, I might just have to resign to get a rematch. If I don't whip this motherfucker's ass now, then come on. Regardless of what happens though,

and say I leave or do whatever the best fighters are in the UFC and have been in the UFC for a long time and will be for a long time. I'm sure it doesn't mean the realest shit is happening in the UFC, but no matter what I do, I'm going to be in the UFC. End quote. Am I pulling that out of context and putting meanings on it that it doesn't? I'm not saying he has to pre-fight tell Dana White to F off. But if our narrative, Luke, is that he's been done wrong, he essentially just said, I got no issue with Dana White. Again, I'm not saying he has to, but he's essentially saying,

you know, if this fight's good, maybe we'll do it again. And, you know, I'm going to be here forever. Look, he might just be trying to protect a bridge and not burn it. And maybe Dana and company are doing the same by talking so nice last night in the press conference about him. But, Luke, this does not line up with his counterculture actions or his, you know, anti-hero ways or even the poster boy of, like like got effed over and deserve better this is him saying you know yeah it's actually not that bad i'll go back to the abuser too if necessary am i being too harsh here luke that's that doesn't fit the persona that he's lived and

died on to get to this point i mean i i understand it does seem somewhat contradictory on the other hand part of the way i look at it is if you and you alluded to it if you just look at the way dana white is talking about diaz now boy they are showering him with praise this week and if you look at the countdown i thought they made him look good on that and again why is everyone why is there this comity all of a sudden last minute it is very strange i get the sense that i don't think a ufc return is on the table certainly right now but i get the sense based on what diaz is saying and what dana is saying that that's not off the table completely either so it seems like they if they can retain his services

under some position they will although again my best guess is that day or excuse me that um that nate is going to seek free agency but i don't't know, man. If you're 37 years old, you're at the end of your contract. You're going to be getting out. You've got this other stuff going on. Who knows if he'll get a boxing fight with Jake Paul down the road if that's the thing that he wants. Are you supposed to hold on to all of this animosity the whole time? I get that.

Oh, me and Dana, we're on the same team and Team UFC and all this shit. It's a little bit strange. I agree. I agree. On the other hand, your focus has to be on the fight this weekend, whatever and all this shit it's a little bit strange I agree I agree on the other hand your focus has to be on the fight this weekend whatever you have going on after that testing the waters of free agency which again could bring you back to UFC that is a possibility however remote one wants to make it and so I just I just feel like it's you know you're why focus

all of your attention on all of these past misdeeds which it's not that he's never raised the alarm about it's like at this point what does it matter it's all going to come to an end you can make the decision about the next chapter and if the ufc is going to be nice to you on your way out you can return the favor a little bit maybe i'm defending him now there's an argument to be made that by the way real quickly mma media is very deferential towards nate and his interests so we should also note that like the mma media is i think overly nice to him and i think at times we've been that way as well but i just i holding on to all of that animosity is is work and it's a distraction and i just feel like he doesn't want it anymore all right but you brought

up a key part of there the potential for renegotiation so i'm just painting you a picture that i didn't like the tone of those comments i didn didn't like the, well, I don't even know what I'm going to do next. Maybe I'll come back because dude, they held you back from making money. You deserved against Jake Paul. Okay. That's, that's the straight up truth. The window that they did not offer him a fight aligns perfectly with Jake Paul's rise. I don't think you need a magic eight ball to tell you that signs appear to yes on why we're here, but you brought up the potential of renegotiation and playing the free agent field so is this actually nate being willing to contradict himself in this frame because it's you know sly like a fox because ever since jake paul signed on to

face anderson silva which is now official we can get to that on the show today look there is potential that the jake show could come to a disastrous end if Anderson wins. Is that part of Nate's thinking? Because he doesn't just win or lose against Tremayev and then tomorrow enter the Jake promotion. There is a potential fallout here if Jake loses this and loses it badly. Am I not giving Nate enough credit for how he's publicly negotiating here, Luke?

I mean, he's not driving a hard bargain in the way that you would normally imagine. I think that's certainly what you're picking up on. It's like you had all of this, I was mistreated kind of rhetoric that now you're seemingly letting go of. Again, I don't know exactly what the right answer is for him and why he has said all of that. But let's just imagine a scenario, BC. Now, listen, look, we mentioned the odds. you got homs that has a minus 1000 favorite i i don't know

any mma insider who's picking anyone other than homs out unless people are on nate's team to be quite honest with you and i'm picking homs out i'm sure you are as well homs out almost certainly wins this one he could win it quite brutally but let's imagine a world because mma is fucking crazy let's imagine a world where n is fucking crazy let's imagine a world where Nate Diaz smokes him right however that looks Kurt Pellegrino triangle type thing or boxes him up and and puts him away it's unlikely but it is possible in that world do you think the UFC wants to let go of him they might back up the Brinks truck to keep him on board and of course he still might say no like whatever he whatever's going to happen probably is going to happen through some kind of free agent negotiation

like it's not just going to happen automatically but like there is a possibility it's again we go back to with francis and ganu right if you're francis and ganu yes the biggest thing you could do to make money would be a fight with tyson fury but how secure is that and how scalable no is there a future beyond it i just feel like nate at this point it is it is you're right that it's uh it's a it's a weird u-turn he's made but it looks like he's at least keeping the possibility open that maybe just maybe things could happen with ufc where we thought there was no possibility right and to be fair if that jake paul window closed and there wasn't you know a two-fight deal there like could be if he goes in there and especially if you beat him on the, you know, what's his money for?

It's Connor. I mean, of course it is. So, yeah, it would make sense for him to keep himself available there. So am I insulting him for something he's actually being smart on? My answer is I don't know, because the rest of this interview, Luke, while being a typical Diaz brother interview, it's still batshit crazy, Luke. So there's, I mean, tell me if I'm wrong. I came away from this not really being fully confident that Nate believes he's going to win, that he almost is, you know, taking this because he has to, which I think is true. Yes.

But then again, hedged up with those comments about Dana right there. It just is a bowl of I don't know what the hell to make of this. Now, again, that's always the Diaz brother experience, but I really coming out of here having more questions than answers in a situation where we had almost no answers heading into like, you know, what's going to happen here,

except for the odds. Like I've tried to find bigger odds from this, Luke. Ronda Rousey was like minus 1700 when she headlined against Betch Kohea at UFC 190. GSP in the first Sarah fight, I think was like minus 1700 when she headlined against Betch Kohea at UFC 190. GSP in the first Sarah fight I think was like minus 1400. And we all know Shevchenko was going to be about minus 8 million against Montano. But dude, for a pay-per-view main event, these odds are like we've almost never seen it before.

It's as weird and bizarre a fight as possible. And this weird and bizarre interview now has me like even more confused about who's playing what role who's actually smart and who's not because you can just as easily look up and down nate's journey sitting out three years after fighting connor twice whether he needed the mental and physical rest or not and question is he always making the best move for his own future now when we hear the way he negotiated the first mcgregor fight from faber on our room service diaries go yeah man this guy's a sly fox he knows exactly what he's doing but dude i'm confused right now yes this is a slight it's a slight u-turn i i get the sense

that there has been a thawing here's my read here's my read i get the sense that Team Diaz and Team UFC have been at odds for a long time. A long time. And that explains what Nate has said. It's explained partly his absence. It's explained his discontent. It explains a number of things. I get the sense, based on some conversations and some other things, that the relationship between Team Diaz and the UFC has thawed,

that there has been a warming. I don't know how long and I don't know how much, but that there is a change. And I think you're seeing language reflected by Diaz that reflects that thawing of that relationship. Whether that means they will reunite down the line, I don't know. Whether that means there will be a Jake Paul boxing match, I don't know. A lot of this is still speculative.

But the UFC has, at the last minute, it seems like, salvaged a little bit of their relationship with Nate and at least introduced the possibility that there could be a future with them, even if I would argue, BC, that is definitely not the likeliest outcome, win or lose on Saturday UFC 279. This is more of a far-fetched question. Some things have to happen for it to be true.

Is there any part of Dana and company when they're in that war room and they're talking, you know, not the matchmaking room, let's say the business room where they're talking, you know, the future here that they're thinking, look, if Jake gets by Anderson, which, which Dana himself said, that's said that's a real fight, is there part of them that says at that point there would be a ton of a call, right, for Jake to fight Nate? Maybe they get involved. We're not there yet in terms of everybody

getting along good, right? We're not actually there yet. No, I don't think we're there yet. And also, you know, if Nate has a ton of leverage from beating Hamzat, I don't know which way he might use it, but he's going to put whoever it is over a fucking barrel. I mean, let's just be real about that. What does the, like, now that we're talking about storylines here,

essentially on this fight, it's like, have we talked enough about what the Diaz upset, like what the next day would look like? What the future would look like? Like how, Luke, how would you even, because this fight is so damn unique and weird, how would you gauge how big of an upset it actually would be? If Nate did this,

I'll say this. I it's a, it's a monster upset. It's it's a truly, here's what you can say. Easily, easily, easily.

Nate Diaz defeating Hamza Chemaev would be whatever the odds may say. I think just you and I would agree. BC easily, easily a top five historic upset in UFC history. Frankly, maybe in MMA history as well. A historic upset is what that would be. And I get the feeling, BC, I don't know what Nate would do about it, because God only knows. I mean, again, you can thaw that relationship, but there is still some damage done that I

don't know that a thawing can all together fix but bc if nate diaz goes in there and beats hamzat shamaev i get the feeling that the ufc would do everything in their power to find a way to keep him on roster because his star power would be next fucking level it goes without saying and you know what they would give him connor money because here's the deal like what's nate's real problem luke he wants to be appreciated and treated by management equivalent to his legend and his value we can argue for days whether him calling himself the greatest fighter of all time although he's framing it under like the gangster code is true or not but like dude he'd be the biggest he would like he finally got real money by fighting connor twice and beating him and now if he pulls this upset which would be which given the largest

amount of street cred ever accomplished and that probably jumping past habib drop kicking dylan dennis to the face as like street cred of just the biggest victory we've ever seen dude he would finally demand and probably get connor money after that because not only would you put him in a trilogy with connor but you could make any number of great fights with him so yeah that's true but luke all of this back and forth and monday morning quarterbacking and trying to play psychologist how much is this ufc going let's do everything in our power to not have nate essentially do the, the pro wrestling thing that people feared when the fight was booked. Oh, Nate's going to come out there in three seconds, flip off the cameras,

and walk out of the cage and, like, I don't know, take a countout loss or a no decision? He's not doing that. He's not doing that, but how much of this is them just completely trying to protect that? Let's play great with him. I mean, to your point, if he wins, they've got to resign him. They've got to. There's not even another. Like, they have to resign him. right they gotta they have to do whatever they want they can at that point i don't know if i understand your question altogether bc do you how much do you believe the ufc playing super nice and playing up the legend ds suddenly

is them just doing everything they can for a soft landing win or lose if Nate plans on leaving and putting a stain down now look no one believes he's going to do the type of stain that makes a mockery of the main event they would hold his purse up they'd probably try to sue him I mean it'd be messy right but there's other ways to walk out and stain the company on the way out Luke I think that's right and I think what they're trying to do is feather a bit of a nest in the event of something being possible again I want to be very clear I think ufc and nate diaz working together in the immediate future is very unlikely but certainly possible but like understand something about the nature of the contract my understanding is that at the moment it expires after his last fight they have 90 days exclusive negotiating and

then i think a year where they can match now they've not exercised those rights with anyone right let's be very clear about that as well. That's what's on paper. But the UFC either decides to, you know, resign someone or they don't. They don't play a lot of these games where they exercise that. But at a bare minimum, BC, they would have 90 days exclusive negotiating. He could go to no other suitor at that point. That covers the moment in which Jake Paul fights Anderson Silva.

And if Jake Paul gets stretched, which I think is on the table, who the hell knows what's going to happen here? There's a lot of different ways this could all go up in smoke or build on itself or whatever the fuck you want to say, whatever the proper analogy or metaphor is. I'm just pointing out to get to the UFC side of things, they're trying to make sure that Nate doesn't walk. And also, dude, you got to wonder about the Anderson Silva effect too.

Like we haven't talked about this part. We'll talk about Anderson Silva and Jake Paul in just a second. Like I wonder if they look back on him getting like a last fight at the apex where there was no crowd, there was no real adulation. They had like a video package for him and they said nice things and they sent him on his way. It's one of the most important fighters in UFC history and they kind of just, you know of just didn't do nothing for him,

but it wasn't ceremonial in any kind of meaningful sense. I wonder if they want to correct that mistake, especially with a guy as beloved by the fans as Nate Diaz. Well, look, I think that's partially maybe why they're giving Tony Ferguson this co-main event slot in a fight that we're kind of fearful for. It's just like they know the fans have like love this man on a made man level that you can just it's they're immortal they're immortal now they are gangsters true gangsters of the sport and yeah they should take advantage of that like you said

in ways that they haven't always to exiting legends that you know they constantly feed them contenders in fights that don't make sense since the legend is pretty much not in the title picture anyway. So, um, I agree with all that, Luke. Uh, there's a question that I want to, as we kind of transitioned to Hamzat, who also did a sit down with Brett and I, I was really intrigued by that. Um, Hamzat's a gangster here, Luke. He fashions himself a real gangster. So there's going to be a strategic question that i want to save for friday that's essentially i think one of the biggest storylines in here did gilbert burns not exposed but humanize to my of enough in that fight that maybe we're overlooking some things looking at the odds heading into this one save the result of that question for friday but in the spirit of hamsat being fancying himself like a real gangster who

comes from a war-torn country and it really is about that life, I think I'm starting to believe him when he essentially says, look, that fight with Burns was that fun and competitive because I wanted to. I tend to believe the more I learn of this guy's makeup that he really did want to show on that platform how badass he actually can be and that you know you hear him say luke everything he's just about the money like no emotion just about the money this is what i do pay my money i like the the countdown show showing how hard of a worker he is in the gym and how he's really about that side of it too which you need to be to truly sustain but dude this guy's made up with everything that it takes to be an absolutely badass breakout star.

The more I watch that, the more I look at these odds and I'm like, damn, do we really have to make this fight? Poor Nate, potentially. But this guy seems to be the real deal, Luke. I mean, you're not the real deal until you show it in the cage and you win the championship. But, good Lord, he seems to be wired in an almost scary cyborg robot, exactly who he needs to be to be what he's trying to be and that's a hit man he's coming for that cash luke pay the man his money and to nate's point they this is why he said he took the fight because he he looked around and was like the ufc wants me to build someone for them who can i build as their guy their ufc guy looks like hamza chamayev is that is that dude so

that's why he apparently was the way the way he called it out in the way that he did now to your point hamza chamayev spoke to again our mma media colleague brett okamoto over at espn and he said quote this is what you were just talking about bc i make the money and smash his head and have some fun ufc wants to kill that guy i'm like killer you know you pay for me I take his head off Jesus Christ that is uh that's a lot and then he says about you know getting physical before the fight I don't know we'll see he's playing like gangster I don't know if he's gangster or not if we're honest with you real gangsters don't play with their punches or whatever he's saying they kill each other and this is fine if you're going to play gangster i eat for breakfast yeah dude he is a he is a he's a mercenary he's a mercenary in the scariest

kind of way that he'll just take the check show up and do some beheadings and then be on his way on to the next thing and i agree with you roll with your guy too didn't he get a sports car as a gift and then crashed it from that dude oh ramzan kadirov yeah because he's catching which which ramzan is as well. And don't forget that when Chemaev looked like he was potentially retiring due to the COVID battles he had, Luke, during the pandemic. He got bullied back into doing it by...

Oh, he straight up got pushed back into it. So I give him credit for being about that life. But Luke, to his point, like Stockton, California, like come hang in my hood. I mean, this guy, guy you know is showing us that he's he is he is he seems to be that that dude the real deal so we'll find out but uh did you come

away like it's kind of endearing like he's he's a suit he's a he's a movie character come to life this dude look he is I don't I don't to me this fight is very much the Nate Diaz story right it's about his his we that's why we did the resume review on him. It's about his journey to this point.

It's about what we learn about the UFC during the eras in which he competed, about how they work with fighters, about how they understand Nate in particular. It's about Nate's future. Is he going to box Jake Paul? What's he going to do? Sort of all of these are the things that everything else is orbiting around. The Hamat story to me is orbiting around them it's not irrelevant it's not unimportant but it's a function of everything Nate Diaz is doing and so I actually wonder like I do think Hamzat will get a rub especially if he beats the fuck out of Nate Diaz but to me it's like I'm not

learning anything new about Hamzat this time around I'm more just getting a sense of all right exactly how good he is can you keep doing this is he going to make mistakes because that was the thing against Gilbert Burns like I do think a lot of that was elective in the way in which he fought an undisciplined approach didn't cost him against Gilbert Burns probably won't cost him against Diaz either but it could for undisciplined reasons. So, you know, there's relevant storylines with Hamza, but don't you feel like this is really the Nate Diaz show, and Hamza is very much a supporting character in that? But the effect of the outcome that we have all claimed is most likely,

and, you know, very likely, is we'll eventually, you know, we'll essentially be all about Tumayev. So we are sleeping on that side of it, and we should give Nate this close-up. Streetwise, in terms of cred, how could you not take your hat off? This is the most Nick Diaz-Army-brother move ever to take this fight, and shout-out to Nate for that. I don't know where I was going.

Wherever I was going, Luke, it was really going to be spectacular. It was going to be magic. The connective tissue just fell apart right there, unfortunately. Oh, Luke, does Hamza have the cleft palate? I don't think I've read about that, but I see it. Yes, I think he had it repaired, which is why he has the scar. But, yes, he had it.

With the beard, it kind of adds to his look, dude. He's pretty, you know, yeah, okay, we'll see. He's not from a cushioned part of the world with a silver spoon in his mouth, I can tell you that. All right, now it leads us to topic number three, BC, which of course is where Nate Diaz could end up, depending on how things go, but Showtime made it official. Yes, Jake Paul is going to box Anderson Silva.

The opening odds on DraftKings for example this morning had Anderson Silva at a minus 135 Jake Paul at a plus 105 let me give you the details if I may very quickly this of course will be at October 29th Showtime pay-per-view in Phoenix Arizona at the Gila River Arena I believe is the name of the place it's an eight round boxing contest with a catch weight at 187 now i don't remember the last time that silver was at 185 although this will be um he'll have a little bit of an allowance relative to that but those are your basic details bc i gave them all to you your takeaway from this information is what uh this fight is is is the right one at the right

time it's going to be commercially big I think it's harder than people on the boxing side of the audience are realizing given the age of Anderson and the odds do reflect what are folks on the boxing side of things saying from what you can tell here's what I found in the short period that this fight became real you talk to people, media, fans

network people, everybody behind the scenes Luke every single MMA person has kind of taken our our uh side of it and saying look we think it could be a close fight for sure it's gonna be entertaining but dude anderson could could not only give him troubles he could you know he could finish him here everybody i've talked to on the boxing side across the board and and it could just be a you know not knowing or ignorance to you know what anderson's done so far in boxing or maybe they've seen it but they just look over it i mean people in boxing do think chavez jr is just a you know broke broken busted product but luke they believe that this is

you know almost like why are we doing this this will be something where jake will get the win against an old guy but not get the critical respect i think the absolute opposite because i think if jake is going to win this fight it's going to have to be in a fight in like a war and where he has a big moment because you and i both think this is a very tough fight for jake so i give jake paul a ton of respect for booking it you see he's finally getting you know dana white to even talk about it and sort of begrudgingly give him back some of that respect knowing that this is a real challenge eight rounds as you said at 187 this is um it's it's put up or shut up as i said before about this fight for jake and i think it's the time for it and i think people are sleeping a bit more on the boxing side that while would we have preferred rockman jr would that have

been the right fight here probably because rockman jr had enough questions where we're not sure if that was going to be what what it was sold in terms of like a really hard test i think we know or at least can guess here that this will be so um this has the perfect mix of commercial and critical potential here for jake it's the right fight at the right time and um we don't know luke a favor anderson here but we don't know and that's A favor Anderson here, but we don't know. And that's a good spot to be in because I think in this crossover celebrity old guys coming back window the last few years from Triller to, you know, whoever, outside of Mike Tyson looking really good

that one night against Roy Jones, like these are the two best. These are the guys that have committed, it seems, the most of their attention and effort to really being good in this space. In a weird way, it's sort of, you know, finding out who effort to really being good in this space in a weird way. It's sort of, you know,

finding out who's the best right now in this window. And, um, there's good, there's star power attached, not just because you and I are going to be flying to LA this weekend for the press conference, Luke,

but, um, I'm, I'm really interested. I'm really fired up for this one because, you know, this isn't Tyrone Woodley coming up to weight classes. We do have to remember that.

And if you've seen enough lately of Anderson with the hands, dude, there's still something there. There's definitely still a lot to work with there. Yeah. I got to tell you, I think if there's anyone in the boxing world that thinks that this is sort of, you know, Jake Paul can get this done with relatively easily or, you know,

sort of a reasonably confident pick that he can win, I think you're about to be very surprised. I think you're in for a rude awakening. You'll be surprised, you know? Yeah, well, here's what I'm saying. I will acknowledge that because Anderson is 47 and we don't exactly know how good he is either at this stage of his athletic career at all

and certainly not in boxing, that there is some uncertainty here. And I understand and respect that. I do think it is winnable for Jake Paul. But I would definitely favor Anderson Silva to win. I think this is far and away different than anything he experienced with Tyron Woodley. I don't know exactly what the best reason is to explain why Anderson has looked so good since leaving the UFC,

where he did not look all that great in his final sort of mma run that last chapter i'll explain it i'll explain it you're what is it well there's two there's two reasons one could be performance dancing drugs and in this era we'd be stupid if we didn't at least throw that out there right obviously by the way he was busted previously that's just for sure to remember that and by the way all of our heroes have have probably most likely i mean i don't give a shit i'm gonna say no but anyone holding out like i was for years you got to just wake up to that fact but to luke this is not the same level as elite ufc and oh by the way dude amerson sova wasn't getting knocked cold like we didn't have to drag him out unfortunately like we did chuck liddell and his you know he turned 40. This was a guy whose body kind of fell, you know, broke his heart a couple times.

And very elite fights in which he had to be at such a high level. But look, what are we, three and a half years maybe removed from him going in there against Adesanya. And not only not getting embarrassed like we feared. Look, he kind of had some moments. And I know you can always argue in hindsight. Was Adesanya as you know violent as he could have been was he showing too much respect I think that version of Anderson Silva at whatever 44 went all in that night just like I think he will in this one he's actually not that far removed

from that he hasn't taken on huge damage his footwork for boxing is actually pretty good he's got more fight experience he's probably longer. He can hit hard. I mean, like, I just think people are thinking, you know, like when 47-year-old Tito Ortiz walked in there and the first punch he took from Anderson, more or less, he was gone. This ain't that guy. I think the best case scenario here, Luke, is that these two have an evenly competitive, action, fun, entertaining fight, regardless of who gets their hand raised, where you kind of want to see it again. You know what I mean? Like this is, this is actually on paper seems to be even matchmaking and you know, maybe Tyron Woodley was also for Jake and credit to Jake for finishing the second fight spectacularly, but Jake also got hurt in that first fight. And that second fight

wasn't overly screaming that you would want to see them again i think this matchup is destined to be dramatic and fun that you're going to want to see it again so um kudos to everybody dude and we know like yeah okay silva kind of look this is not ufc elite level it really comes down to what do you actually think where jake paul's at right now you know could he beat a 10 and 0 pro boxer who has good intentions I don't know I don't know but yeah I don't think he could I don't think he could I gotta tell you like I have a lot of respect for Jake Paul for taking this fight because I think it's winnable but very difficult and I'd also put on the table for folks who are in denial about this from whatever vantage point you want to look at it from, dude, Jake Paul getting stretched is on the table here.

Like, not in a puncher's chance kind of way, in a much greater sense than that. I don't know if that's the likeliest outcome. In fact, I would probably not say that. But it is certainly on the table here, because here's my view of what's going to happen in BC. I actually think it'll be close for the first two, maybe three rounds, where Jake will be careful, sitting behind his jab.

He does have big power. He is much younger. He should be in good shape since it's going to be relatively close to his walking around weight. He'll have to be a little bit trimmer, but not by too much. He should be fine, right?

So I think it's going to be close early, but I think over time, the difference in overall skill is going to show up. I don't think that 47 number next to Anderson reflects his present athletic ability and once those openings start presenting themselves i think it could get very bad for jake paul we'll have to see how much improvement he has made right but i want to stress this very clearly anderson silva is not only favored to win anyone who is looking at this broadcast should remember

this it is very likely he will win beyond whatever the odds say for Jake Paul to win. This to me would be a genuine surprise possible, but a surprise. I mean, I'm going to favor Anderson. I do think it's going to be competitive though. And look,

Jake's younger. He's going to have to commit to volume in ways that he hasn't before. The jabs got to be a huge weapon. Like there's things that he's going to have to do to level up. He's young enough to do that. But look what the fact that we're throwing out these scenarios here we got to be excited about this luke uh it's going to be in phoenix as you mentioned um you know i like arizona luke i vacationed there as a kid it's a you know it doesn't feel as outlaw as new mexico and texas i'm sure it actually is luke but it uh it's the state's got

some crazies in it but my uncle lives there my one of my dad's brothers who i've not seen in some time so i'll get the chance to go see him that's pretty i'm pretty excited about that this would be great uncle uh uncle luke well i'm luke so i didn't know if you were named after him i don't know if no this would be uncle ron uncle ron yeah uncle ron all right and i saw when i was we were at the spence u fight, I got to see one of my dad's other brothers, who is Uncle Larry. How about that, Uncle Larry? All right. All right. BC, topic number four here.

This is a weird one. We do have some audio and some video with it. Anthony Joshua appears to have accepted a Tyson Fury bout for December. Why don't you set this up, BC? Because I got to tell you, I saw these exchanges and it's weird, dude. Tyson Fury is all over the place.

I'm retired. I'll fight Usyk, but only for 500 million. Oh, wait. I'll fight Joshua for a 60-40 per split. Set all this up. Where are we with this weird guy? Yeah, this is really disappointing to see this development here.

So, you know, Alexander Usyk just beat Anthony Joshua for the second time. It seems there's, you know, he's also free of his DAZN and Matchroom Sport co-deal that he had for a bit there. He's promoted by K2 normally. There's nothing stopping him going to ESPN and Tyson Fury

and making a first four-bell heavyweight champion. And, you know, Usyk's stock is so huge. He's in the top five of the pound-for-pound. I mean, they're both unbeaten. Like, there's really, I mean, there's so much history. It's a slam dunk. Yet all Tyson Fury's talking about is WWE and boxing, a mountain man, and Francis Ngannou, and now this.

Let's first go to this video that Tyson put out there before we potentially blow up here. And let's see what he said, if you can. Hey, Tyson Fury, a.k.a. the Gypsy King, the WBC heavyweight champion of the world, as you can tell. I think you've all heard that I'm going to be fighting soon, within the next few months. And I think that before I announce an opponent, that I need to do this just in case. Anthony Joshua, I know you've just lost a fight to Usec

and you're boundless at the moment. And I'd like to give you an opportunity to fight me for the WBC Heavyweight Championship of the World and the Lineal Championship in the next few months. You're coming off a 12 round fight so you match fit, you're ready I'm giving you a few months notice if you're interested I'll send you the date over and we can

rumble. A battle of Britain for the WBC heavyweight championship of the world Let me know if you're interested if not I will select another opponent Thank you very much and good night Bye If not, I will select another opponent. Thank you very much and good night. Bye. That man is tall, boy. He could barely fit under the door.

AJ would quote tweet the video and say, yeah, calm. I don't do the online discussions just for clout. So if you're really about it, shout out my management team. I'll be ready in December. So that's why I guess this headline, but I don't even want that now subhead on our screen because not only do we not want,

or at least I wouldn't want to see this come to fruition. Let's talk about what's really happening here and what this really means. Okay. Look, Tyson Fury, as you said, everything that comes out of his mouth, you've got to take with a grain of salt. He'll just, I mean, he's all over the place.

He's also, Luke, he's pretty smart, okay, business-wise and, you know, in a lot of ways. There are those who are saying this is only about gaining the leverage financially over Usyk, who you could argue has enough leverage for, you know, a 50-50 or 60-40 split with Fury, even though Fury's the bigger star because Usyk's got three world titles to one for Fury. If this is only about that, and no, I wouldn't put it past Fury to be willing to do this, it's unnecessary to me and dirty.

Not dirty, but grimy. I mean, look, I can't begrudge you, guy. This is the open market. You can do what you have to do. The UFC, it seems, regularly floats what we, you know, rumors to try to pressure fighters. It's part of the grime of the game, Luke. I hate it when this fight seems so easy to make.

But, Luke, if it's not about that, this is an unforgivable potential duck for a guy who, like, always says, I'm a fighting man, you know. Generations of my family have been bare bare knuckle champions, you know, and we'll fight to the death and all this stuff. And I believe that his family believes this stuff. And Tyson, to his credit, from coming back from the four years away and the depression and the, you know, near suicide and getting up off the canvas against Wilder in the first fight in round 12 and, you know, adjusting his style to become more of an aggressive you know

attempts at becoming a knockout artist and it's been successful look at the dillian white in the wilder fights he is about this life luke doing anything but going in the direction of alexander at this moment shows that that that you're not you ain't You're not being who you said you really are. Yeah, but he retired. Does he have to do anything? So, Luke, if it's about, I'm retired and I'm done, I'm not fighting anybody in boxing and I am going to fight the Mountain Man

and Ngannou, we can't tell him no. Go make your money. Even if he wants to do those stuff first and then fight Usyk, even if he said that, which he didn't, it would be disappointing. He would be grounds for criticism. But at the end of the day, he's not fighting somebody else in boxing.

In theory, he could come back when he's ready and you could do the fight. I think it's stupid historically. He's at a point, Luke, with an unbeaten record, although he hasn't faced as many big names in this era as you would want he added Dillian White that was huge he fought Wilder three times I get that he's always wanted AJ because it's a potential huge money fight it's a monster money fight and he thinks he can win it and it would mean a lot to England look I get all of that but wouldn't it mean a lot more if you beat Usyk and became the undisputed champion and then you fought AJ and did the stadium fight? Like, yeah, it would.

This is against what Fury seems to stand for, and I do think it's unforgivable. Luke, so if it's about retirement and I don't want to do it, again, he still would be grounds for criticism. You're walking away when the biggest challenge available to you is there. We don't get good stuff in boxing. We have a chance at a one-face, one-division, one-champion, four, you know? Like, do it, dude. But if this is really about I don't think I want to fight Usyk because maybe

it's a difficult matchup that I just don't care about. Screw your belts. I'll go fight AJ, get my money, and then go do what I want. Dude, YOLO, right? But that doesn't equal the words of who you talk about. Luke, he has one of those

resumes because he didn't get a chance to fight everybody because he took large gaps off that you can actually jack it up and really make the argument that he's like a top five or ten heavy weight all time only because look we haven't seen him solved in the ring right and he's had huge moments wouldn't you want to support that argument like an andre ward or habib who similarly retired early didn't get to face everybody but dude we never saw him groggy we never saw kirk cobain try an acoustic album you know what i'm saying outside of unplugged and was amazing but you get my point um like i'm sure we did see that actually but okay you get my point like what like if you're life, then fight Usyk and show us. And by the way, Luke and I would both favor you to win that,

as I think most people would. What the hell's going on here, Luke? This is not acceptable. We're so close. I don't feel as invested in the result as much as you. After Usyk beating Joshua twice, I don't know. I get your point. they say what they say they market how they market and to your point to have one face one name as the front of this

division especially for a guy as you also indicated with Tyson Fury who is you know arguably one of the best heavyweights ever assuming he could be Usyk and really capture those belts that would really solidify the argument but again we have reason to believe with his style and everything else in size, he's very much a unicorn, even in the history of heavyweight fighting, that this would be very complete, this would be great, this would be important for boxing. I don't disagree with any of it, but for some reason, I don't know, man. I have tuned out what they say at this point, in large part,

and then just sort of picked up on how they fight and what they want to do. He seems to be struggling with what he actually wants to do, which is why he's kind of all over the place. And I don't know if that's part negotiating because he thought this was going to be secure and it's not, and now he's trying this or his mind changed. I don't really know what the answer is, but I don't feel as let down or as betrayed as you by virtue of the fact that like the guy just kind of seems all over the place and if he doesn't really know what he wants it's hard for me to like hold him to account as this being a major one chance to do a four bell heavyweight championship with two unbeaten you're right on the bc you are right on the merits but i guess i'm just

the two fighters are historically relevant. This isn't Solta and Ibrahimova, right? These are two, like, I mean, this is what you live for. How many baseball players that went on to greatness, like grew up thinking every day in the backyard of hitting a home run in the World Series? I know this guy already became heavyweight champion of the world, and he was the lineal champion when he beat Klitschko.

He recently lost that mythical title because he claimed he retired. They were the only ones, the Ring Magazine, that was like, okay, we're going to believe him. But this is what it's all about, Luke. The greats, and this is why we used to criticize Floyd, who ended up fighting everybody and you got to give Floyd credit for beating the game and doing it his way. But along that way, we were criticizing some of the choices. Dude, the old school guys, like Sugar Ray Leonard,

they couldn't live a day if there was a fighter out there that other people thought could beat him. You know what I mean? And I know that's not exclusively true. And some people thought Leonard should have fought Aaron Pryor. It just never matched up

and made a ton of sense in a specific moment, given his absences from the ring. This is what it's supposed to be about. You know? When was the last time he had two heavyweights in the top five or six pound for pound? Never? I don't know.

This is ridiculous. Dude, you're telling me it wouldn't break your heart if you wanted to fight Joshua first and then fight this. I'd still be heartbroken, even though that would be about money and him. No, to answer your question, would I be heartbroken if he fought Joshuaoshua first no no i wouldn't i would actually i'm not going to say i would rather see that than usic that's crazy i would rather see him fight usic but do i have

enough interest in seeing him fight joshua such that that's a thing that actually happens to be like reasonably intrigued certainly to watch it and to be curious about what it all means. Yeah, I suppose that it would. I think he's picked up on that as well. That's probably the reason why. Dude, everything you're saying is true. I guess I just don't have the same feelings of betrayal or FOMO or whatever

that you seem to be articulating, which I'm not even saying are wrong. I just, I'm not moved by it in that way. Well, you know, when we look at boxing at the surface for casual fans that have had a taste and like it, but can't deal with the shenanigans, can't deal with the bullshit, it's that the best don't fight the best, that there's not always an endgame. You know, like the NBA conference finals don't just end and they say, hey, we had a great year.

We go to the finals, we figure out who's the best. We don't have that in boxing until we do, Luke. Should it matter to Tyson Fury? Well, what should matter more he's going to get paid a lot to fight usic it's not that that's the issue luke he's showing us that maybe he's not about that life or maybe this is some again long-term play to get the most financial leverage and at the end of the day he's going to come through and do it anyway okay well you're wasting our time if you're doing that and if you win more money that way cool how about just

be a fighting man like you say you are i know you are dude that, and if you win, more money that way, cool. How about just be a fighting man, like you say you are? I know you are. Dude, that's why we're saying we almost look. The thing is, like boxing this era, the people actually care about history, and it's not a lot. We want Fury to be that great. That's why we used to get on Floyd. Not because we hated him, because we had a chance in front of us

of having our own Ray Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson, our own guy that we could put up there and say, okay, you may have been alive in 19-whatever when Harry Greb was on top, but we got our own guy. It's Floyd. Luke, Tyson Fury's supposed to be that guy for us, especially heavyweights, you know?

Like, enough of this Ali Frazier form in 1970s talk. Dude, we got this 6'9 giant. Beat that motherfucker. Okay, there's still more you got to do, Fury, before we can have those arguments okay uh it's fair it's all fair what you're saying i just i don't it's still real to me damn it he he just seems to be wandering around he doesn't even know exactly what he wants and so it's like hard for me to be terribly upset or invested about something that's being lost here even though if i grant you're right it would be better for that to happen i

don't know i just to close on this sense eddie hearn who promotes joshua had quotes this morning i don't know the outlet he said in essence we accepted the 60 40 per split favoring fury this morning this today lots of conversations to have i don't know if this is a play to let his breakdown and then fight someone well under par in November or December and just say, hey, I tried to make the AJ fight, or I don't know if this is to try to get the Usyk fight for more money. That's all we said. But basically, he says they're going through the process of taking this seriously, Luke, that Fury really wants to fight AJ. I mean, you wouldn't put it past him if this really

is his plan here Luke no you certainly wouldn't and it's in fact I'm not sure what is likeliest at this point I think that's really hard to figure out with Tyson Fury but it seems to me wouldn't you solve it just by saying hey guys this Fury fight means everything to England it's a ton of money I'm sorry this Joshua fight means everything it's a ton of money i'm sorry this joshua fight means everything it's a ton of money i'm gonna do this first and then i'll fight your guy next year for all the belts wouldn't that just make everybody happy yes it would yes i think that would certainly assuage the concerns that people like you and the rest of the boxing community might have i think that's very reasonable i love assuaging luke okay it's a it's a nice saswage party here the you and i all we got all we got mail luke viewers okay yeah all right uh so let's get to our last year topic number five quick hitters

not a whole lot to this put up the stills if you can according to jake shields and there was video of it afterwards paulo costa and hamza chamayev had an incident at the ufcpi where chamay excuse me where excuse me costa and j Shields were drilling or working on something, and Shemai came over, started some beef, BC, saying he wanted to fight him. I guess Jake Paul, or excuse me, not Jake Paul, Jake Shields as he opened the door for Hamzat Shemai to walk in and they could, you know, figure it out there or whatever,

and then he just didn't, and he called him a fake gangster. Your feeling about this? I'm not surprised. Dana was asked about this last night and he again gave that sort of canned answer of they're fighters. This happens. Which he's right about, by the way. I think normally we would just go

like, oh wow, this was cool. What do you think? But how about this? Let's not forget that Hamza is... Did you see the UFC 279 countdown show? By the way, they put more Out of Context BC in there. Shout out to the UFC producers. They love Out of Context BC. That's their favorite thing.

But, like, they called him the biggest, you know, the most hyped prospect in the history of the UFC. They outright said that. The most talented potential, you know. We look at him as a potential two-division threat. We saw what he did to Mearsher with one punch punch he made him made him meerschaer his pants luke um shout out to justin kish but uh is this a is this like a fight you could make i mean i know i mean look like if if hamzak gets by nate like whether it's leon or kamaru coming through that door it's going to

be one of them luke maybe both of of them, you know? But does this get you excited knowing that Paulo Costa is just all over the place anyway? That this could be the kind of sex theater like Romero Costa was that we deserve as fans, Luke, right? No, it did nothing for me. I recognize that it could be interesting, a potential

down the road, because remember, he can fight at 185 certainly. Hamza Chumai versus Paulo Costa fight and how fucking bat shit that might be don't get me wrong very very fun to consider but I don't know to me it would just felt like you know overly testosterone fight week nonsense that you know blew up that it did that's the fastest way to my heart, Luke. Yes, I certainly can tell. That and erections at the weigh-ins are your two favorite things. Shout out to the Iron Sheik for shouting us out, Luke, by the way.

Yes. Yeah, I'm just pointing out that, like, in the end, what does it really mean? It just sort of means that these guys are a little bit aggro, but there's nothing really to sort of come from that. All right. BC, I got to tell you, I love this matchmaking. I really do. December 10th, UFC 282.

Darren Till is back taking on the South African Drikus Duplassie. I think fresh alpha win over Brad Tavares more recently. BC, I'll say this. If Darren Till can't get the jab going against a guy like Duplassie, who is not an easy guy to beat, very physical, but will run into challenges sometimes inadvisably if dill can't put a jab on him i don't really know who he can yeah and i love this fight because like darren till needs to make a loud statement so while this guy does bring with him a certain level of you know critical i mean he's climbing the ladder

he does walk seemingly face-first into the action. It could end up being the perfect opponent for Darren Till to have a big moment against if there's still a lot left in that tank. And Luke, I'll say this. I've been highly critical on Till since I thought Wonderboy beat him and then they rushed him to the title shot. I do think long-term he's a hilarious troll. And there are elements to his game that I very much respect. But, dude, he needs it.

He needs something big to happen here. He's got to go. And I'm going to give him the respect that the relationship with Chumaev and really getting a new look at things in the long time he's taken off, I do think he could do it. He could make a run here, Luke. It's in him. It's possible.

I'm not saying the odds are likely, but this might be the fight to kickstart it, or if there isn't a Darren Till 2.0 coming through that door, this could be the fight that snuffs it out completely. I mean... Well, the other part about Draco's duplicy is that he does run kind of headlong into trouble, but, as I mentioned, very physical.

And here's the other part, too. Like, his work rate is way higher way higher i think till likes for the fight to slow down a little bit and then pick it up at his pace duplicy is on you the entire time so it's actually really good matchmaking i like this i'm just pointing out if till has sharpened his tools in the way that which he should have by this point not not completely obviously he's still in his 20s i believe but you know he should have by this point. Not completely, obviously. He's still in his 20s, I believe. But he should certainly have made significant improvement. This is one of those fights where a really good jab, a long reach, good footwork

should make this winnable for Till. But we'll see if that's really in play. Look, I've been sitting on this dog toy in my chair for 20 minutes before I realized it. Does that lead you to believe that I did it because I enjoyed it? Because that was not the case, just so you know know i just think you're a donk yeah there we go um all right bc this one had to be your favorite and if this doesn't end up and have you seen this shit today you're a

fucking fraud uh how about ty emery from why are you stealing my why are you taking everything i work for why don't you we don't have to show it we don't have to show it don't back don't do it yet don't do it i got this same i got this same um do you have her quote no read yours read yours you're fine so this is the quote she she was asked about i said this to my friends and they were like i'm sorry you have to cover this i'm like you're sorry that i have to cover women knock each other out and then flashing titties or you know what about that is lamentable but in any event this is what she told MMA fighting quote to be honest I feel like BKFC is the sport for me I feel like with my personality and have a look at what I pulled over the weekend it's only going to get worse this is who I am so fortunately unfortunately people it's going to get worse the more I am

enabled the more comfortable I feel to not be so shy and introverted that really a concern if that's me being introverted and shy it's just gonna she's gonna get a little crazy with bkfc and my personality they'll support the things that i say how i feel how i think compared to other combat sports where they probably don't want that sort of behavior word is that really the problem in combat sports everyone's too reserved well or don't want someone with the opinions that i like to hold the call, and I haven't looked back since. There you go. Dude, BKFC is 1,000% the Tatooine of this combat sports universe. What's that?

The Cantina, Luke. That is completely what's... The Mos Eisley Cantina. Yes. It's like a place that finally respects me. I mean, look, you got to give her credit in terms of women's progressive rights, doing this tribute to Brandi Chastain at the 99 World Cup, the USA team. I mean, I could see the parallels there.

It was touching. Is that like Kevin Garnett? What's up with the shirt? Was that what we're going to do here again? Do you know that I tried to get the—I don't want to disappoint our horny fans, but I tried to get the video on HYSTS, and producer Mike was like, I don't think we should show the full guns. Maybe there's like a blocked vision.

I did counter with, we showed Gina Carano that time, her Instagram post. Maybe we got lucky showing that. Maybe that got through the censors. She's making very big movies that go straight to not even DVD now. So she's doing great. Oh, look, this was the ultimate, they weren't talking about me, but now they are, turnaround.

And by the way, this was BKFC Thailand, Bangkok indeed, Luke. This was wild. I don't know what you're looking for me to say. That's the only material I have for this, Luke. I mean, I'll be honest. I found her Instagram after this. I didn't follow, but I certainly looked around back did she follow you no i did i didn't follow i didn't follow but i looked around i followed because i wanted to follow the story

luke okay yeah you're a real sleuth an internet detective is where you are um want to remind folks you can get showtime 30-day free trial if you like it you can keep it if not you can bounce you can like us on youtube youtube.com slash morning combat subscribe If you like it, you can keep it. If not, you can bounce. You can like us on YouTube, youtube.com slash morning combat. Subscribe if you haven't. BC, put up the graphic. We are up for another round of best MMA programming at the World MMA Awards. If you're watching on YouTube right now,

you can use the QR code. You can put your phone up there. You can go vote for us. We don't have a whole lot of time left. Or if you're listening to the audio podcast, worldma awards.com slash nominees all we need is one vote what one ballot for us look if you like ariel then go to his show all right he's a nice guy he's a nice enough guy if you like dana white why don't you go watch his show the contender series or you can vote for mk okay yeah vote for mk yeah why don't you vote for mk why don't you get us back there, okay? Thank you.

That's it. Time for your BC's Feces. Normally we do this on Mondays, Luke, but we had an abbreviated week. By the way, I did want to shout out, as always, our bonus content, youtube.com slash morningcombat, resume review, Nate Diaz. How about a room service diaries with AJ McKee?

Luke, a very candid and revealing one, by the way. It's a different flavor in our RSD offering, and I think people will enjoy it if they go after it, Luke. So check that out. It's weird. It's weird. It is a little bit weird. But you know what I do normally, though?

I scour the globe, the internet even, for the good, the bad, the ugly, the highs and lows, and in between from combat sports and beyond. We call this BCc's feces you're like you like you know how i normally go and what i normally do i'm like yeah touch yourself inappropriately in the arby's drive-thru is that what you do i once got busy in a burger king bathroom luke okay thank you shut up it's like the beef and cheddar guy is back. Yeah. UFC Paris, Luke, was this weekend. Did you see this pre-fight shoeie?

Shout out to... Oh, dude, shoeies are so fucking lame. Can we stop doing this bullshit? Dude, with the Eiffel Tower in the background, I give Gon credit for being fun and playful here, Luke. He seems like a good dude, right? Cyril Gon? Yes, Gon does seem like a good dude.

They're doing a who's on first bit here there we go and this was shot stop doing this shit but the eiffel tower is right behind them luke is that is that like me wearing the the usa flag on my nwo t-shirt it was it was it just you know was that disrespectful luke to do a shoeie in front of the eiffel tower i don't know that it is with cage fighters uptight all right hey luca it looks like francis and gano might still be in the ufc he brought a loud shirt with him to paris i hope he gets to rematch gone in paris for the people but um does this tell you that he's that he's back and maybe we shouldn't worry about the tyson fury fight or does this just mean he loves france well he's from there

at least it's been a big part of his life there. Obviously, French is his first language, being from Cameroon. I don't know that I would read too much into it. Kamaru Usman was with him, who also had very loud clothing. Dude, Vittori did too. Yeah, loud clothing sizzling is upon us, which I don't hate. To be clear, I'm not shitting on it. It just seems like there's been a development where that's a cool thing that cool people do, and I have never done know i i can get a little flashy at times i don't have

the commitment that they do but luke would you say the nba fashion today is like sometimes out of control duane wade russell westbrook they take chances luke they take big duane wade is retired yeah but he was he was wearing like capris and stuff way before anyone tried to make nba fashion i also don't get who was the guy who played for the uh Kuzma who played for the Wizards remember that purple sweater he had I mean the guy's like a seven footer and he's wearing a a sweater remember that purple sweater that AJ McKee had Luke yeah and it was hot as balls in that room too yeah but that's his commitment you know you know he'll be the last guy out of the hot tub if he has to look to prove a point right tyson fury style uh luke speaking of francis he picked up

gsp like a damn rag doll backstage did you see them horsing around there in paris jesus imagine being as strong as francis i would just like pick up couches with you know like with how long did you stare at the ass of saint pierre there just oh you know i don't i don't appreciate that okay you were like that'd be a great canvas for tattoos ask me a quote yeah there you go uh women's featherweight aline perez a woman after your own heart luke did you see the dance she had at the weigh-in yeah i got tagged in about 80 million of these on uh instagram wow isle instagram eileen eileen what did i say alan uh she's she suffered a second round submission loss to stephanie eggers look can she fight her is this the uh she lost um now eggers is a good grappler so you know take it with a grain of salt but i saw that apparently a few weeks ago she had talked

shit to either ninaunes or Amanda Nunes and being like, you're going to see the revolution start or whatever in September at my fight at UFC Paris. And then Nina Nunes, after she lost, retweeted it with the laughing emoji. Oh, that's like Abraham Simpson walking into Most Tavern, grand opening, grand closing, in and out look. That meme, that's what it's like. Yeah. Luke, you know who's becoming a folk hero to me? How about new manzo, Joaquin Buckley?

He did not defeat Nasruddin Imhovov in a very fun fight, but the effort to close round three, it got a standing ovation in my household, Luke. So just you and your cats? Yeah, me and Reggie Jackson, but it was pretty cool, though. You weren't impressed by this man in defeat? I was impressed by the third-round effort. I just thought he didn't have enough going in the first two.

Although, I got to say, dude, Imovov looked fucking huge for this weight class. Dude, Imovov put it on Buckley a few times. Like, he had to come back from a lot to just try to be in it. Luke, I give him credit, but yeah, Imovov looks legit. I don't know if you do extra credit anymore, but tell the people about this man, Luke.

Yeah, I will. Starting next week, obviously. But Imovov looked good. His pressure was good. His counter striking was good. His accuracy was good. He faded down the stretch, which is noteworthy,

but this was a solid win for him. Very solid win. Do you know who else jumped through the screen? Do I have to fit a hammer for this guy in my Dagestan cupboard, Luke? Abbas Magomedov, continued UFC fighters that have Magomed in their name, I think approved to 4,000 and 0, Luke. Dude, he beat the crap out of Dustin Stolfus in like 19 seconds.

Dustin who? Stolfus? Stoltzfus? Stolface? I don't know, Luke. But you know what's crazy is I looked. Yeah, he beat Shoeface. Yeah, yeah.

Hope they're not triplets. Luke, I looked Abbas up. Do you know three fights ago he got knocked out in 30 seconds in the PFL Championship to Lewis Taylor? No, but here's the thing. He is very UFC ready. He's 32, so it's now or never. Oh, he looked great.

He has nearly 30 fights, and that toe of his went in the mouth of Stoltzfus, which is just fucking gross. Dude, some people will pay a lot of money on OnlyFans for that shit, Luke. I know, but not them two. Ashtab fans, probably. Dude, he looks like, like you said, a finished product almost coming in.

I'm excited to see more hammers, Luke. They've got to find more nails to bring in after they cut. You know what got cut? Did you see that? Dick Rico got cut. No, he retired, Luke. Dick Rico out. It's sort of disrespectful for you to call him that on his way out the door.

Did you hear what he said about my MMAma media brethren that time luke come on yeah he was not happy with us for really bad reasons but if i don't stand up for the schmo who will luke i got his back all right helen yee helen yee will stand all right uh luke a star was born at bkfc thailand her name is Ty Emery, as mentioned. Here is the moment. She KO'd Rung Aaron Kung Chai. It was a nice finish, Luke. I mean, beautiful check left hook there. And then the cello. Oh, this was a knockdown. Did they water down this clip so much that they removed all of the nudity?

They better not have. Here we go. There it is, Luke. I mean. All right. If you can squig through the lines i mean i don't i mean i know i've never seen that before i'll be honest luke or at least not in this setting maybe like spring break or something um yeah i mean i've seen that on bourbon street i mean it seems strategic based on the quotes you read that she knows what she's doing this is a different form of you know i'm an effing

feeling right um but you sent me sound of her on ashley evan smith's podcast which is like a sex podcast uh let's go to the videotape do you have sex before fight camp i know you're in a single you're not dating anybody but shit happens somebody somebody yeah i thought that because all my coaches have said they're just like you need your shoulders to relax and i'm like in my head i'm like no motherfucker i need to get dick down that's what that is i need that dick to go in and plunge my shoulders and relax them down you're like you can't say that back to your coach. So you're just like, oh, yeah, cool. We'll keep trying. I love it.

Yeah. No, it's good. It balances your hormones for everything, confidence, mental, just being able to actually relax. Also just being dominated. Like, what the fuck? It's nice we're like punching someone's face in all day okay okay that's enough that's enough it's enough

we're gonna lose our sponsors funny it's funny bc has given me that exact same speech before i mean you know we had a good run with ag1 but if you want to get right luke get dick down right i mean that is wow we gotta get we gotta we gotta get some Delta-8 gummies, like, in the shape of dicks. Call it dick down, you know? So I was going to say, Luke, she's not only the hair curl president, she's also a client. She seems about that life. So she got our attention, Luke.

By the way, is she your new favorite fighter? I mean, this has to be the BC special here. This is so aggressive that I'm really not sure what to do with it, Luke. I'm going to be fair with you, okay? I don't know. I don't know. I mean, it's pretty on brand for our show, but it's very aggressive. Yeah.

It's, you know. Wow. Okay, Luke, time for some celebrity tip-on-tip action. You ready for this, Luke? I guess. I don't know. Unlikely tippers here. Bellator president Scott

Coker and Risen's Saki Karaba. Saki Kabara, you mean? Saki Kabara, who tweeted and I hit the translate button, Luke, and it basically teased that these two have plans of doing more business in the Bellator rising relationship.

What do you think about their tip-to-tip there, Luke? It's a little crooked, but it's a good effort. Dude, Saki Kabara's in shape. Look at that guy. Yeah, the Japanese are typically a little bit thinner than the Americans. Do you think he could out-grapple Chaudhry? I mean, who the fuck knows? In a promoter's one-night tournament, Luke, I'd be into that.

Yeah. All right. Oh, would you? You'd be into Ty Emery and her only pipes account. I know that. Luke, podcasting royalty touch tips this week as Khalilah and Theo Vaughn caught up, Luke. Nice MK shout-out there, right?

MK shout-out? Oh, well, the touch tips. That's on brand for us, Luke. Nice MK shout-out there, right? MK shout-out? Oh, well, the... That's on brand for us, Luke, right? Yeah, I suppose. Yeah, there you go. Did you hear she broke up with Bobby Lee? Word? Yep.

What for? I don't know, Luke. You know, I don't tend to... I don't try to, like, read people's relationships and figure it out. Really, only MMA supercouples do I try to do that to. And don't try to read people's relationships and figure it out. Really, only MMA supercouples do I try to do that to. And by the way, good to see the Tornado and Raquel with rings on, Luke. They're going strong there.

All right? Put a ring on it. Tisha Torres? Yes. All right? I support MMA relationships, Luke, on this show. Let's keep it going here. Luke, you're not a-

Are you going to go to Arby's and order the dick down and cheddar? Luke, I know I hassle you sometimes for your vape habit, but, you know, we talk about leading health experts shouting out AG1. Another leading health expert

has just backed up your love for vape. Check this out, Luke. I think they're more savvy now than they were before. I don't even Check this out, Luke. No. You know, it's too much crap. Hold on. Are you vaping? Are you vaping? Yeah. I don't even know you anymore, dude. You're driving a Tesla?

Oh, that's tobacco? Yeah. All right. That's like grape flavor. I don't know. I smoke weed. Vape. Tobacco.

Vape up, right? I like vape. Use your head rush. I got addicted to it. Luke. That's Rogan-level approved business right there dude you're you i maybe i have to give you more props from that well you know i i don't do it because i think it's healthy i mean i just do it because i need drugs that but when you see you know someone you you look at as a you know a contemporary a colleague in this game

no it doesn't matter who does it it's still a dirtbag piece of shit thing to do whether i do it or joe rogan does it it's still you can't vape and be like i should be taken seriously i mean and i recognize that about myself i truly am a pathetic loser so all right that was from the uh not the calabasas fight pod that was the the reunion of the um joe rogan uh experience version luke yes eddie bravo in the house so shout out edgy bra yeah uh luke do you see this karate combat highlight that's flying around raymond daniels you may you may remember him as a martial arts legend uh this wasn't his finest moment luke i mean does he have a history fighting on ramps I don't know Luke yeah I mean he was trying to attain the crowd and ended up in the cat cow position

um I think he hit his face on there in the face okay ah I mean that's midwestern America donk level mistake there, Luke. It's perfect for this. It was great. I liked it. It's karate combat. All right. Hey, time for some MMA fighters in the wild.

Luke, they really are just like one of us. Here's Matt Brown, the immortal, working in his fight training in between being a good dad. Luke, your thoughts? There you go. Slipping off the center line. Look at that. Bah. Whoop.

Bah, bah, bah. I'd say that's a nice park too yeah that's ohio i'm sure oh luke let me ask you about the park see how the blow that up one more time see look at the floor of the park there how it's got the old wood chips that's how it was when i grew up although i grew up on a lot of just ones that didn't have shit except just straight up asphalt yeah uh do the do the playgrounds near your area do they have like the rubbery floors all the ones here now they do but growing up it was straight concrete luke you know yeah you just lost teeth landing i mean that was just what it was i tell this story to my kids and they think i'm lying and like our local park in the factory town we have these things to climb that were like 15 feet tall with asphalt below dude kids are falling off

that crap left and right, man. Yeah. There used to be a triceratops metal skeleton that was outside the National History Museum. And apparently kids were like, and it was like life size or whatever. Kids were like busting their fucking head open on that bitch the entire time. So when I was a kid, you just went up on it and then you just died. But they have since removed it, apparently. Yeah. Shout out to Action Park in New Jersey.

People just went there and just did stuff. They didn't care about the rules. Hey, remember when we went to that park near the Urban Blight in Jersey City and we spent an afternoon for nothing? That was fun. Yeah, hopefully that never sees the light of day. Luke, your favorite fighter, Alexander Volkanovski, caught up with a celebrity this week.

His name, Hasbulla, Luke, and he's still about that life. Eat this, bitch. Oh, Luke. hasbulla luke and he's still about that life eat this bitch oh luke you know i like hasbulla but i gotta say that's a little aggressive i mean he punched shack okay this is this is pretty aggressive luke this is basically challenging a ufc champion to like you know do something right next time i see volkanovsky i'm gonna throw a burger in his face. Do you think that harm will come of me if I do? Yes.

Dude, I think watching that Sunday conversation on Barstool with him, I'm pretty convinced, Luke, he'll basically go for the jugular. First chance he gets, Luke. We've got to get Hasbulla on the RSD couch. That would be so good, dude. When he laughs, I just feel good inside. Did you see our boy Ray Flores wore a Hasbulla t-shirt to the

Ruiz Ortiz Fox PBC final press conference, Luke? I did not see that, no. That was awesome, dude. Luke, Valentina Shevchenko continuing to spread her brand gracing the cover of this French magazine. Got this sent in by a lot of our fans, Luke.

Ooh la la, indeed. Okay. Who, you gotta say. Okay, you celebrated the naked chick before. This is not, this, you know, look, Luke, she's building her brand. All right. I just feel like Shevchenko uniquely has the most inappropriately horny fans online. You ever notice that?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, Shevchenko's fans, when they're not at the Renaissance Festival picking boogers, they're definitely online talking about how horny they are. Luke, she has firearms tattooed on her midriff that's like catnip to them what all she has to put next to somebody stepping on a covid needle luke right like then then she'd be number one all right yes then she would be number one but for sure of all the feet like you think like you know page van zant's fans are the horniest no no shipchenko's fans you know it's weird anytime I've ever been involved in a tweet with a WWE person's handle,

so like when Big E would shout us out for watching MK, and by the way, shout out to Big E, the replies come for like months, and they're always creepy as heck, Luke. I mean, that's not a surprise, I guess, right? For like the core wrestling fan base. Yeah, dudes are absolutely disgusting pieces of shit, and don't mind being horny horndog it's not just dudes dude it's not just dudes and it's just weird

the responses are just weird anyway all right people are weird in general yes that's true yeah it's mostly dudes being like horn dog speaking of both luis ortiz and sugar ray flores luke the post-fight interview after losing to Andrew Ruiz Jr., Luis Ortiz rocking the free Cain Velasquez shirt. And I don't mean free on price, Luke. I mean get him out of jail. Your thoughts. Dude, Luis Ortiz has got to be, what, 70, 75?

I mean, how old is this guy? Dude, he's good. He's still good, all right? Yeah, no, no, he's not a bad fighter, but he's, I mean, my man, if he was born here, he'd be collecting Social Security by now, for real. All right. All right. Luke, UFC fighters in the wild continues onto the beach.

I think this is Brazil. Tabitha Ricci, Luke, didn't have any utensils to enjoy this watermelon, so she went after it with her hands. She's in good shape. That watermelon looks tremendous. Well, that's what we're calling it, Luke. I think this segment has devolved into basically an Only Pipe show. We've got to probably clean this up.

All right. Luke, there was one other shoeie in the past two weeks. I know you hate the offense. These are so over this up. All right. Luke, there was one other shoeie in the past two weeks. I know you hate the offense. These are so overplayed. My God. Tyson Pedro got Laura Senko to agree to one. I don't know if you've seen this, Luke. All right.

I mean, we've seen a million of these. Yes. Everyone's drinking out of a shoe. How novel. Yay. Can we move the fuck on already? Luke Thomas is pissed. Can we stop fucking doing this you're like that's so 2019 yeah it's like okay we're gross and we do party tricks all right what

else do we do all right uh luke wwe had a big clash at the castle pay-per-view in wales i didn't see it i didn't watch it i think ariel was there, actually. Leon Edwards was also there, chatting it up backstage here with Liv Morgan in front of the UFC and WWE SmackDown titles there, I think they call it. Also, Luke, Tyson Fury had a big moment. He was in the front row, and when Austin Theory tried to cash in

his Money in the Bank contract, Tyson Fury stepped up Mutombo-style to deliver the no, no, no here, Luke. Not in Mutombo house. Come on, you have to remember this. Clash at the Castle? Why is it called Clash at the Castle? I don't know. Oh, boy, Luke.

There you go. Knocked him cold, Luke. That's what you get now fight usic not this guy i mean i don't know how people can watch this rubbish but uh they do look real would go on to recognize real backstage as leon and tyson exchange pleasantries yep there you go luke um uh tyson was weird he was he was like yeah who'd you beat the guy that's been champion for 10 years who's finally leon's like yeah yeah i gotta say does does the gypsy king ever look normal no no no but that's you imagine talking to that you imagine talking to

this guy like at 2 a.m outside of a mcdonald's in the east village you'd be like what the fuck is going on in my life he's like the pat mcafee of heavyweight boxing luke yeah but pat mcafee was a kicker right i know he's also a pro wrestler and an announcer uh luke speaking of real recognizing real how about our guy mike thomas brown before the pfl playoffs catching up with a lk the liver king King himself, the Natty liver King. Yes. The fucking 100% Natty liver King. So you're, you're saying those abs ain't real. I'm no, it doesn't, whatever he's doing. I don't give a shit, but like, just to look at this person who is, you know,

quite obviously not natural and then to present himself, my rule is this BC, you know, my rule, I don't give a shit what you do, but just be honest about it. And, you know, Liver King, I got nine ancestral tenants. Well, okay. I mean, which one of those is in, you know, involved D-ball? That's what I want to know. Okay. Mark McGuire's not here to talk about the past, Luke, okay?

Or turn the ball. Yeah. All right. Luke, you know who also reeled and recognized it at the PI? Not Hamzat and Costa. How about Hamzat and Johnny Walker? And Luke, would you say that this Saturday's return for Johnny Walker is must win?

Yeah. That's a weird picture, bro. Those two are just caffeinated at all times. You ever notice that? They got the bug eyes and shit. Yeah, it might be for old Johnny Walker. It might be. Especially if he gets put away.

Yeah, it's going to be wild and crazy. Kute Labo will make sure of it. But, dude, Johnny needs a win real bad. Luke, this made headlines everywhere. They even asked Dana about it. The head of meta not world peace luke wait what's facebook's new name is it meta meta yeah yeah um mark zuckerberg luke he is a um full-time this was such this was such bullshit mma trainer yeah and mark zuckerberg was like this

is my training partner i'm like let me explain something to you bubba this motherfucker ain't your training partner he's a ufc level talent you are just a guy he spends time with i'm gonna be very clear about that not well did you see like every fighter shouted them out afterwards on twitter and like they they had a little like back and forth like i know it's like dude they'll be the first one to be like oh facebook is uh you know suppressing the hunter biden story or whatever the fuck. And then, oh, he trains MMA. Well, now he's our favorite. Well, which one is it, guys? Is he responsible for the undermining of democratic

norms across the earth or is he a fun... People love rich guys for some fucking reason. They just, oh, he's rich. He can do no wrong. He likes our world. He's great. He's weird as shit. This guy sucks he sucks at mma and i don't give a shit if he never watches another thing that we do so fuck off wow i think

he just i mean this guy could shut you down in a second look he could have you killed with it without even thinking luke okay not not not not with hand-to-hand combat he couldn't i can assure you that all your role on that i mean you have to make a few phone calls he couldn't do it himself but um yeah i forgot what i know weird though there's this is a guy that they universally revile right and then he all of a sudden he expresses like modest interest in mma and like oh this is great i'm like okay all right yeah that's great uh luke time to head to the gridiron watch what happened to this high school reporter lu Luke, I've covered many a high school football game on the sidelines. You do have to keep your head on a swivel.

Oh, they sent big man. Oh, they just pantsed. Dude, he lost his pants, bro. Yo, my man, you got to wear a belt around those dungarees, man. Dungarees, baby, please. Think about it. Him getting knocked over like that is among the most embarrassing things that can happen to you at a public football game with, you know,

whatever, 500,000 people there. Dude, he got pantsed while doing it. I bet that's the most contact he's had in like 20 years, so he probably shit himself and jizzed at the same time, you know? I hope we lose our show because of that comment right there. That's so disgusting wow he's like oh god look did you know that rg3 has transitioned from largely unfortunately mediocre quarterback to an announcer do you know that yeah and actually you know wait i'll tell you

i'll say this much when he covers nfl football i'm always like just shut the fuck up forever please but as a college analyst i don't mind him so much he's all right you're always too harsh on that guy man i always loved oh no no no no no you are not harsh enough that's the problem oh wow well here's his uh here's his new viral call after after this guy was unbearable to deal with in dc let me except in 2012 but other than that it's an orgy in the end zone. It's an orgy in the end zone. It's an orgy in the end zone. Is it? I mean, he just said that on the air.

Is it an orgy? Is it an orgy three? That's good. You know, that's from the dad playbook but the delivery was smooth it was you know it was smooth that was that was a brian campbell joke i'm taking your gimmick now yeah i'm real recognized on that one look let's go to amc fight night 114 this is a caposa special here peter romankevich face plants zulu zinu so zulu zinu had him in an Americana and they stood him up. Apparently the rule in this organization is

it doesn't matter what is happening on the ground. You get one minute. I mean, my man's not here doing the worm. He fell in the worst way possible. My God. So he's the son of what? Ray Zulu, the dude that fought the Gracies, right? Yes, yes.

And he fought in pride for some time and was remarkably terrible. And he fought in pride for some time, and it was remarkably terrible. And he's done slap fighting and everything. Just show the knockout again. My man does the worm. Watch this. It's just the only thing that would be more embarrassing is if his pants fell like the guy on the high school track. Bah.

Look at this. Just does the wall. Dude, you can't laugh at it that aggressively. Come on. Put some respect. I'm not trying to laugh at it that aggressively. Come on. Put some respect. I'm not trying to laugh at it, but it does look a little bit like one of the seals trying to get back into the water. You know? Yeah.

Look, you ever get deep in the couch in row eight of Delta and watch the local news and be like, man, this needs more sex. More raw moments. Let's call up Ty Emery. Let's get the dick down. Well, we had a couple of Ty Emerory's in the background of this news update norwich city football i mean if you're the like if you're the director in the control room look and you're not paying attention to the screen and you look up and you're responsible for that. Wow. I got to tell you what, man. English football fans, they are. I love them.

They are amazing. They are a fucking menace, bro. They are a menace. Yeah. Unfortunately, I think that. Well, I'll say unfortunately, because I'm sure they're nice at home when they're not doing awful things to people.

When I say a menace, I mean in the most hilarious of ways. Yeah, I was going to say, I think a lot of them are MK fans. I think we've attracted that group. No, no, no. I mean, that's fucking hysterical we saw the guy from barstool turn a hot dog into a bong last week the only thing you love i love more than hot dogs is my morning coffee luke my morning jacket too um they now have created a coffee mug bong your thoughts i mean so you can take a hit off the off the off of that and then just drink your coffee as well dude yeah so do you remember um of course you remember uh jared shaw scala

yeah of course gary shaw's son promoter of elite xc when he had he turned it to hip hop i think he's an artist now but he turned to hip hop for a bit luke and his album was called coffee and chronic and i mean do they go together in your eyes luke i'm not a wake and bake guy because i have uh a career you know but um i would imagine that they do i I mean, back when that was more of my lifestyle, Luke, back, you know, 1998 to, like, 2004, Luke? 2021. 2003. You know, yeah, I guess it does, Luke.

I guess it does. All right, Luke, Floyd Mayweather is a brilliant fighter. Did you ever see him on roller skates, Luke? No, but I'm told he loves roller skating. Yeah, not surprisingly. He's a master. He's got incredible footwork and he's got some flow too, Luke. He's dancing. People love the roller skates, bro. They're back. Dude, I was always awful at it. In 5th grade birthday parties, you would pick a girl for a slow dance

and you'd skate around holding hands. Dude, I would always fall while holding the chick's hand, Luke. It's devastating to my psyche. Did your pants go around your ankles and then you just, oh. Wow. Alright. Hey Luke, the Island Boys are back. They're still

sparring. Remember last time they put out that embarrassing boxing. How have they not won a Darwin Award yet? By the way, I still shout those guys out for doing that cameo for us when we won the award. Yeah, they got paid for it, but okay. Well, now they're – they now kickbox or want to be a kickboxer, Luke. So you want to be an ultimate fighter.

Check the form on this guy's jeans, Luke. I can't believe these guys have not won a darwin award yet just how how does how does one of them just like not like randomly just for no good reason drown in the bathtub or something do you think they get more play in a month than every one of our listeners have averaged throughout a lifetime probably probably but you know i mean do they have like seven or eight stds i don't don't know, but it's worth thinking about. All right. Luke, how about we close with some dick and ball humor, right?

We haven't done enough of that on today's show. Here's an after hours, happy hour after work. And this chick is attempting this move with her boss sitting in the background. This is unbelievable live theater here. Oh, got him right in the pills. Luke, imagine doing a drunk worm at the after hours get together, and then you kick the boss right in the damn dick. That's not going to help your long-term value to the company.

Dude, look at this bar. This bar sucks a fat one. This is the most interesting thing happening in this bar. Dude, that guy was on the verge of taking a kodoni in the background too after he got hit there luke he was trying to walk it off wow could you hey could you put more acs in the window from fucking 1950 in this shithole bar good lord uh look you ever thought think about how you can combine why i sounded like a um sorry there like have you ever thought about combining the x games with dicks no i can't say that's ever crossed my mind oh look at these fucking

bc i can't believe that he's white it seems so out of character yeah yeah big explosion there off the end of that ramp luke i mean could you have more veins on that thing i mean what are we doing here yeah come as you are as you were luke as I want you to be. Okay. Is this the dick down that we were referring to earlier? Yes. Yes. Luke, let's go to this man performing a magic trick on his wife. Very creative use of magic here. Let's see this.

Sleight of hand and sleight of dong, Luke. song luke i mean it's obviously fake luke you can see the video cut i thought it would you know i thought it might pop you no no i gotta say social media of skits and bits you know all the people who talk about saturday night live and then you social media of skits and bits, you know, all the people who talk shit about Saturday night live. And then you watch like Instagram skits and bits. And you realize that like all of those criticisms were, if not unfair, largely from people who have no fucking idea what funny actually is.

Speaking of ball magic, Luke one championship, put this on their actual Instagram account. Your thoughts? Well, it's a no-gi. Oh, she pulls two tennis balls. You walked right into that. That was great.

You're like, well, actually, the technique in Peruvian times was called, and then, oh, the chick's got two balls in her hand. Great. This is my career at 43. All right, yeah, that's a Luke Thomas original right there. Yeah, this is one of those days where I'm glad my family pays zero attention to what I do. All right, Luke, we close in the same category here

with this snow angel. As summer winds down, we get one step closer to the winter that's going to be upon us. Look at the unit on that angel, Luke. Please tell me that this moron falls through the ice. It really would be the coup de grace, if you will, Luke.

I mean. If you would have done that in Crocs, would you have been more upset, Luke? I'm just sad he didn't get hit by a car. All right. All right. Well, there's the shit, Luke. I don't know. Maybe we have different tastes. That was my flavor right there.

You know, dark and lonely. Dicks everywhere. That's it for us today, BC. Let's remind them. Let's see. We have a Friday show. Saturday, we have a live post show. Monday, we'll have a live show.

And then we're also going to be in L.A. on Monday for the formal launch of the Silva-Jake Paul fight. I'm pretty excited about that. Yeah, we're going to do a live MK episode in Los Angeles. We are going to film some goodies, Luke, for the future. And fans should be excited about this. It's going to be fun. It's going to be a lot of fun. Okay?

Okay. Yeah. Go ahead. I'm sorry. I was going to say you can also get 30 days free of showtime to check your boy BC out Friday night from Atlantic City a triple header 9 p.m eastern I believe is the start time I hope I get the start time right once Luke show box uh Joseph Adorno he was on

Showtime Championship Boxing remember he lost to Michelle Rivera he's back he's refreshed he's new he's moving up to 140 in the main event against Hugo Roldan. You're going to want to see this, okay? I'll be your spirit guide. I'll be your shaman. I'll help you lick the toad. All right. Very good. So there's that as well. So I look forward to seeing that. I want to remind everyone, the Nate Diaz

resume review is up. It's ready for your review. We put a fair amount of effort into this one, so I really think you're going to like it. It's probably one of the better ones that we've ever done, to be quite candid with you. So please go give that a look. Of course, the AJ McKee interview is up from Room Service Diaries

and everything else. So thanks to, let's see, Showtime and Malka. Oh, one more time, you can vote for us for the World MMA Awards. Put the QR code up there if you don't mind. There it is. And you can go to worldmmawards.com slash nominees. Get your vote in for Morning Combat now, whores. Go do that.

And then, of course, Friday's Dead Wrong, and we'll do fan subs then. Morningcombat at gmail.com. All right. That is it for me. That is it for BC. Thanks to CBS Sports, Malka, and Showtime. We'll talk to you guys on Friday.

And until next time, may all of your gains be loyal.