MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 281 Picks | Velasquez Granted Bail | Aljo-O'Malley TUF Coaches? | Ep 373

Episode Date: November 11, 2022

On Episode 373 of Morning Kombat Luke and Brian kick off the show by reacting to the UFC 281 weigh ins, Then the guys give their picks for UFC 281. They also discuss Cain Velasquez being granted bail in his attempted murder case. Aljamain Sterling says he's interested in coaching The Ultimate Fighter opposite Sean O'Malley. The guys close out the show with DM's from Donks and Dead Wrong. (15:00) - UFC 281 Weigh in Reaction (20:30) - UFC 281 Picks (79:00) - Cain Velasquez Granted Bail (83:10) - Aljo vs, O'malley on TUF? (86:20) - Deiveson Figueiredo Moving Up (87:00) - Justin Gaethje UFC 274 Injury (89:00) - DM's from Donks 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

Oh yeah. Friday is for the arts. Back in the bomb shelter. Back where we belong. It is your favorite podcaster's favorite podcast. The award-winning Morning Combat, Friday, November 11, 2022. And we told you this week, Luke Thomas, Brian Campbell, your dynamic duo, that ain't nobody going to outcover UFC 281 than the boys from MK here in the tri-state greater New York city area on the grounds,

giving it to you. And LT, you know, we had a very busy week of, of, of giving, and it's only going to continue on today's loaded show. Uh,

Poetan was just on the scale. We're going to start off with some instant reaction to the UFC 281 weigh in. We are going to take, it's going to be a little bit risky. I did a little late-night solicitation in the DMs. Picked out 25 or so random donks. Said, send us a video. Send us something. We'll play it on the show tomorrow.

Mikey went through that pile of shit and picked out a few golden kernels, Luke. So we're going to play some weirdness later in this episode. This is the last show we do. It's been fun. Yeah. Like your favorite energy drink, Luke, we're going to play some weirdness later in this episode. This is the last show we do. It's been fun. Yeah, well, like your favorite energy drink, Luke, we're going to go out with a bang. That's not my favorite. My favorite is rain.

Oh, that's the classy energy drink. That's right. That's the high end. As mentioned, you know, the BBC with that BDE, the best fight analyst in the game, ain't no better than this dynamic duo. So like, subscribe. If you're into that, please help us continue to push our numbers forward

so we're not just a, you know, a North American sensation. I want to go on the global scale. I mean, we already are the best podcast in the world. Like Izzy said, not local, global. That's exactly what I am talking about. Thank you very much.

The labels that pay us, we always show respect from CBS Sports to our friends here at Malka to also Showtime. And now would be a great time, Showtime.com, to start your 30-day free trial. Look, Bellator is back with a bang. We're going to get the light heavyweight world grand prix final.

Will Usman Nurmagomedov continue the family's domination and win his first title? Don't forget, of course, about Sabatello versus Rafion Stuckman. There's a lot of good stuff coming. So get your 30 days now. Join our team of what we do here. Yeah, we're coming on. There's a lot of good stuff coming, so get your 30 days now. Join our team of what we do here. Yeah, we're coming on. That's great. So, Luke, it hasn't been like an overly crazy fight week 281.

The buzz is not kicking through the screen. No. But those that know, know it's going to be a good-ass card. Yeah. I agree that the buzz hasn't been quite as pronounced, perhaps, as I thought it would be. Certainly not like the McGregor 205 card or even the St. Pierre 217 card. But to your point, if you know, you know, cards filled with some real good fights.

And we're going to give you some picks today. Absolutely. And some buffoonery. YouTube.com slash Morning Combat, of course, course, we can get all of our great bonuses. We did a pregame preview live Wednesday with Chuck Middenhall to really give you that real talk style on breaking this card down. Also, Luke, an incredible sit-down with Israel Adesanya that really set a great tone to start this week.

Thanks to everyone who watched. I talked with the champ, Carlos Esparza, as well. So no shortage of bonus and fun times, our press conference reaction. And it continues right into now, our Friday show, and a reminder that it doesn't just end right here, right now, Saturday night. Start of that pay-per-view main card. Tune in here, youtube.com

slash morningcombat. We are going live with a fight companion. Get a little bubbly going, have a good time, great oldies. And then we'll be hitting you up post-show, a legit one, fight by fight, break it down. Let's tell them what they saw. Let's tell them what they should have seen. We're going to do that for you. So it's MK all day, Luke, nearly every day,

day and night, in between too. We're taking over people's lives. We're accosting them and they're welcoming it. Home invasions. Yes, yes. I like it. I like that flavor. I like that taste. But when you succeed on the level that we do, that we have, sometimes you got to pay some bills, though. Yeah, you do got to pay some bills.

Sometimes I got to tell you about our very good friends. And right now, I want to tell you about a little something called first person, Luke. That's right. We all want to turn back the clock. And I forgot my glasses, so I had to blow this up like an old person and relive those glory days. You can't. Luke, you're too old and washed. I would love to wake up every morning with zero brain fog, a clear mind, and be as energized as I was when I

was younger, BC, and thanks to First Person, I can take a more active role in my brains overall. And First Person is an innovative cognitive supplement system which uses the medicinal benefits of mushrooms. Yes! Not just reserved for Rashad Evans or our great country rock stars of the 1970s. Peyote can be your day today.

And no, seriously, look, the medicinal benefits of mushrooms is starting, people are taking notice. And First Person uses this to activate the full potential of human cognition and brain health. All right, let's do it. First Person supplements

made with functional mushrooms aim to stimulate neurotransmitters that trigger activities like energy, mood, and sleep. Exactly. And also, first person uses 100% grain-free organic mushrooms as well as highly curated blend of nutraceuticals. And if you can say that, Luke.

I am personally looking forward to trying the Sunbeam supplement to help with motivation. Well, did you say your family has tried that as well? My wife has tried it. Yes, she loves it. My goal is to be more productive and attentive throughout a long day. Yeah, my goal is for you to finally fulfill that promise that you're going to try it. Because if you try it, Luke, you may like it. And in fact, our viewers today can start improving their brain health and cognition with first person.

To sprinkle a little bit of more sweetener on that. Like Luke's like, it's got to be one equal. That's it, my coffee beast. Everybody knows no sugar, just one equal, no cream yet on top. Uh, verbatim get 15% off of your first person order. Your first order of that today by going to get first person.com and use our code combat with a K again, that's G E T F I R S TO-N.com, code COMBAT for 15% off your first order. Getfirstperson.com, code COMBAT. Before we kick this 281 start right in the face, Luke, we broke out the RSD couch yesterday. We're going to continue to do it this weekend. We got some

great ones planned, but Laura Sanko yesterday on that there, Wayne's World-looking vehicle, some in our team have said it might be the best one we've ever done. They did say it was very good, so we shall see what the viewers think, but I think you'll like it. All right. Maybe you can get that guy Anthony Smith to finally agree to sit down. We'll see. We're trying.

All right. You make things complicated, as you tend to do. Although no Lithuanian exits so far this whole trip. But the thing about a Lithuanian exit is it's up front and it's honest. But speaking about Lithuanians quickly, dude, I'm two-thirds of the way through this Rose doc on UFC Fight Pass, Rose Namajunas. Dude, it's awesome.

It's inspirational. It's emotional. You know, I have a connection to her because we're both Lithuanian and tough as shit, right? But, you know, she's my my favorite fighter and I think this is like she's your favorite fighter? I think she is and I think you watch this and it's like that's the reason why

she is unique and special in the sense that compared to any other fighter in history when she's herself there's no ceiling there's no limit to what she can produce but she's also very honestly human in between that and has some very public, you know, falls and fails, but keeps getting back up. Dude, that's, that's the type of people that I respect. Okay. As a general rule, I don't watch anyone's documentary if they helped make it. Um, because you just don't really get,

I would, I have typically seen an honest, if Rose was Colombian though, you had already seen this doctor. Well, they, my wife made already seen this doc, true or false? Well, my wife made me watch the J Balvin documentary, and this was like complete self-serving nonsense, and I hated it. So, yeah, if someone else made it about someone else, that's fine. But if someone was like, oh, they're the executive producer of their own documentary, I'm out. True or false, Rose still might be the best strawweight fighter in the world right now. That's a true.

Okay. That's a true. Just trying to get all your cards. Trying to take your cards and spread them out. The sparsify wasn't great. I think it's well-known, but she's fucking talented. Yeah. Thank you very much.

All right, Luke, we'll start off our first topic of the day, and it is the story of the week. UFC 281, NYC, MSG. Yeah, let's do this thing. The scales just wrapping up at the start time of our show, 11 a.m. Eastern. And Poetan, Alex Pareda, who will be the Triadal Challenger in the main event for Israel.

Triadal Challenger. The Triadal Challenger in the Triad of Combat. Look at him, dude. Israel Adesanya's 185-pound title. So they had to bring out the box for him to make it. But Poetan did make the limit. The championship weight, he was about what, 184.6? 185-pound title. So they had to bring out the box for him to make it. But Poiton did make the limit. The championship weight, he was about what, 184.6? 184.6.

Can we show this? Full screen. Full screen. Is this the footage of him just now before the box? Yeah, dude, look at his face. I mean, he doesn't have an ounce of fat on him. He looked sucked out. He made it.

God bless him. He did it. I know that could not have been easy. I know. But it goes back to the whole game plan conversation, BC, which is the longer this fight goes, does that really favor Pineda? I have my doubts. I have my doubts that the longer it goes

increases his chances. There's no question about that. Well, before this near weigh-in fiasco, sort of our final call for these odds at the moment for this main event is minus 205 Israel Adesanya plus 175 Alex Podeta. So does the idea that Podeta may have had

a difficult cut change anything? I mean, you just said, look, it's still the same question that needs to be answered. Can he go five hard rounds? Can he make adjustments against the champ? Can he have a pulse on the ground if he ends up there? There's a lot of questions. But a lot of champions have bad weight cuts constantly for that weight. He's in.

That power is still going to be dangerous rounds one, two. You know what I mean? Yeah, this is the point. I mean, if the fight only, if he can find Izzy's chin within the first 10 minutes, then this weight cut is irrelevant, right? If that's really the direction this fight goes, it doesn't play any role at all. While we have him so perfectly and gratuitously spread across behind us,

can you comment on his tat system? He's got one of the more aggressive sets. There's a lot going on. There's a lot going on, a lot of different jobs. There's not a lot of cohesion? No, not from what I can tell. From what I can tell, it's not that great, but I'd have to get a better look up close.

Now, you wouldn't say that to his face, though? No, no, no, no. No, all right, all right. I can tell. From what I can tell, it's not that great, but I'd have to get a better look up close. Now, you wouldn't say that to his face, though? No, no, no, no. No, all right. I would just lie. I would just lie. The champion Israel Adesanya also coming in at the championship weight of 185 pounds. I think he was either first to the scales or one of the first three to the scales. Yes, very early.

Michael Chandler was in that group. By the way, I asked him about this, and I think people got the question confused. He was— – understand something. Like when fighters make weight, right, so whatever weight they have to make, in this case, you know, 185, they get to the point where they're going to make that weight. Like if you have to ask them how long do they hold that, and the answer is sometimes just minutes. They will, like, get off as much sweat as possible, wipe down,

and then go get on the scales they hold that spot where we're going to make weight for a very small amount of time and remember his place out in outside the city well dude it's like an hour outside the city like it's not close but in new york new jersey ways does an hour mean like 20 miles i think it's dude from where we were in our studios it was like 30 plus miles And we're not even in the city. I mean, we're right next to it, but still. It's a hike, dude. It's not that close.

I was wondering, because I know for a fact this is a big thing that Conor McGregor struggles with. He can't stay in the fighter hotel. The guy is as popular as fucking Elvis. So he has to get a mansion. But that means he has to cut weight there, hold it, and then get to the – wherever they're holding the weigh-ins and then make the weight there. That means that's a longer amount of time that they have to make weight. And I know folks are saying, oh, this is an overblown thing. No, dude, every time I talk to a manager who's got somebody in a significant bout and there's a distance between where they're staying and where they're weighing in, this is always a massive concern.

So Izzy found a way, even an hour outside of the city, to be one of the first to the scales and to make it with all of those other complicating factors. Fucking hard to do, and he did it like that. Yeah, can we go to the video of Izzy stepping on the scale? It seemed not too long after the 9 a.m. Eastern time window began. By the way, zero titty, right? Yeah, no. Is that my imagination?

Left nipple gate, right nipple gate. Maybe a little bit. Might be over. I'm telling you, dude, if he Is that my imagination? Left nipple gate, right nipple gate. Maybe a little bit. Might be over. I'm telling you, dude, if he just puts a giant Flavor Flav watch pierced to the nipple and just plays out the saggy gimmick, it's comedically gold. I like how we're inspecting this champion weighing in. We're like, let's look at his motherfucking titties. Tattoo on titty.

He is the B.I.G., Luke, of the middleweight division going for his sixth title defense. And here we are, Luke. No other surprises on the scale? Did any big names miss from what you saw? Chandler and Poirier looked awesome. I did not see Esparza and Drongwe Lee, but they were one of the earlier ones to make weight. They seemed to look like it was no problem. Saw Karolina make weight, Karolina Kovalkevic, which, you know, at this point in her career,

although she's coming off that much important win to keep Hope alive, you never know if that's the last time this strawweight legend. It's like this, it's so weird, man, that first generation, the 2014 Tough House with Ioana being the first champion of significance after Esparza won it is, you know, our heroes are aging now and on the way out. And Ioana just exited the building, Klaasja as well. And yet Esparza's the inaugural champion and the champion again right now.

It's just, you know, yet nobody's giving her a chance or talking about her, you know, any respect in her direction at all. But, yeah, my strawweight heroes, Luke, they can't last forever, okay? So enjoy it while it lasts. We'll be on Instagram for it. This was a special era of fighters, okay? You're in good hands with old Insta. At the 115.

All right, Luke, let's get into our picks. Let's make it matter here. Topic two, UFC 281. We have previewed ad nauseum the storylines. We've heard from a lot of these fighters, but now we look at the odds. We make our smart judgments here. That main event odds, once again, minus 205 Israel Adesanya.

The closest odds for an opponent during his middleweight title reign, which this would now be defense number six, the plus 175, Alex. But before I say the last name, Luke, let's figure this out, okay, real quick. This isn't your type of bitter gimmick, but you've committed to figuring out the Adesanya thing. Whether Ariel's Adesanya is better than your Adesanya, you're trying. But we're all over the map on Alex.

Yeah. If we do it gringo, it's Pereira. It seems like my Padeira is just way out of control, too aggressive to try to be hip and cool. Is it Pereira? Is it Pereira? What the hell is this? So, okay. So, and again, I.

Because we sound like jackasses most of the time anyway. Yes, yes. And then when we butcher this guy's name... Let's try to make a good faith effort about it, right? So, for example, if you were going to say that, and this is in Spanish, but it's a similar rule that would apply. In English, we would say something like Laura, all right? But in Spanish, it would be Laura. So...

Oh, it's not Hora. That'd be bad. No, it's Laura, right? So that's how they would say it. I mean, she could be promiscuous. So just break down Pereira slowly. It's Pereira. Pereira. Yes. So that's kind of how it would. I mean, she could be promiscuous. So just break down Pereira slowly. It's Pereira. Pereira.

Yes. That's kind of how it would go. So bring that for me. What should I be saying? You could say Pereira, I think is fine. Okay. The thing that I, okay, and again, I do not speak Portuguese under any way, shape, or form. But my good friend who's Brazilian who told me this, he is from fucking Brazil.

He goes, if it starts with an R, it's an H. And if it's two R's in the middle, it's an H. But it's not, so for that reason, it's not Pahera, as I understand it, it would be Pahera or if you want to gringo it up, Pereira. I feel more confused than I was to start, but I appreciate your

good faith efforts. That's what I'm saying. You'll hear, the only one I feel confident saying it's not true is the Pajero one because it's not the two R's. My Pajero is pretty weak too. I mean, listen, I sound like the dumbest man alive

when I do Portuguese names, but we're trying to make a good faith effort. We think that's a good one. Okay, let's make a good faith talk about this fight. I think, you know, with somewhat contrasting styles,

you know, is he natural counterpuncher, more technique-based, scientific, game planning. Pereira, not reckless by any means, but he's a destroyer. He's the bull. He's coming at you. 3-0 in one year since making his UFC debut, and here he is fast-tracked. So Luke stylistically X's and O's wise. We get the natural concept that the deeper this goes, way bigger questions to answer for Pareda. And battle-tested Izzy, who's been there five rounds many times, in wars even, we get that. But stylistically, for at least the first two rounds, if it lasts that long, nobody's doubting that Izzy's got to be tiptoeing through fire. I mean, this is an absolutely legitimate challenge.

Why is Parader striking so much different than Cannoneer and recent title challengers where the odds are this close? And even we're going, look, I don't know what Izzy's going to do, but he's got to avoid the bombs here. What is it about Parader that makes him different in that regard? Well, this is the thing we've been kind of hinting at all weekend, or all week i should say which is it seems like it seems like to the best of our ability ability to detect that what a guy

like potato has however you want to pronounce it is he just has he's just dangerous he's just really really really really dangerous he doesn't have the same kind of clever setups. He does feint, obviously. What really makes him special, BC, is he has, if you look at his game, it's almost a little on the basic side. And every time I say that, someone's like, it's not basic, he's a super advanced striker. Yes, of course. But he does what really, Izzy has all of this motion and angles and feints,

and he's trying to razzle dazzle you with that. Pineda is much more straightforward. Big power complimented by excellent timing and excellent shot placement. Right? So that's really is what gets him his ability to find the target to time it. Right. He doesn't do it. So we go back to the Robert Whitaker thing. Robert Whitaker doesn't have a gazillion different kinds of strikes.

He throws at you. What he does is he has a real basic set, but it's complemented by what? The most impeccable timing maybe in the UFC. Incredible polish on everything he does. Incredible polish. Pareda's not quite in that realm, but he has monster power. He does have very good timing, good range of management, good judge of distance.

And so he's able to use these to extraordinary effect. It goes back to, you see, I wonder, we talked about all the time when Mayweather was fighting. Yeah. good judge of distance. And so he's able to use these to extraordinary effect. It goes back to BC. I wonder, we talked about all the time when Mayweather was fighting. And the argument has to be for Mayweather, he has to be good for 12. He has to be perfect for 12 rounds. Maybe go back to the Deontay Wilder one.

He only has to be good for one. I don't think we're on the Deontay Wilder level necessarily with Pineda, but you get the idea. It's something along those lines. Izzy has, I think, overall more skills as a kickboxer. He's got more tools in his toolbox, different ways he can fight. But I don't think he carries the same kind of lethal fight-finishing power as effortlessly and consistently as a guy like Pereira.

I do think that's what separates them. So it's the power that's allowed him, even with the backstory, which fast-tracked him and got him this title shot. I mean, look, he's the last guy to, he's the only guy to knock out the great Adesanya in combat sports. Is it the power that's allowed him

to pass through the certain checkpoints that someone with his limited experience, or is it just that he's a two-division glory kickboxing champion and an absolute badass? So to some degree, being a champion his limited experience, or is it just that he's a two-division glory kickboxing champion and an absolute badass? So to some degree, being a champion and performing on a platform does translate as long as your other skills come with you. So I don't know. He's a unique threat right now.

Yes. But he's able to get past any of these holes, the fact that when he touches people with either hand, they go flying. Yes. Yes. Or with his knees or with his feet, like everything he throws is damaging, super damaging, fight altering. The other problem with that put out of faces though, BC is that his defense is not as good. Yes. The numbers speak to that. He gets hit a fair bit and you would have to imagine, it's like me it's not it difficult to imagine is he finding the target or winning rounds the part that becomes a challenge for me is what is he

gonna do if he gets rocked can he find a way to hold on or just more importantly can he avoid the big shot for as long as that fight lasts especially if it goes the distance like that's very fucking difficult to do against a guy with this kind of punishing, fight-altering power on a moment's notice. But he does have defensive liabilities, to be clear. All right, how active will Izzy be to start this fight? More natural of a counterpuncher. Does he have to, though, establish the jab and take it to Parade early? Or is he going to spend that first round just getting his looks,

gauging speed, power, distance, everything? Not quite like Jan takes like two, three minutes. I don't think it'll be quite like that, but I do think you're going to have a more reserved first round from Izzy. I don't think he wants to start with this guy with a ton of confidence. I think he wants to set the tone that you can't touch me. I do think he'll do that. He wants to set the tone that you can't find me.

I'm going to confuse you. I'm going to make you look stupid. I'm going to make you look like you're swinging at nothing but air all the time Whether or not he'll be able to be successful We shall see But I think that's the tone he's going to want to set early And after that it's hard to say exactly what will open up That may force Pineda into a more urgent kind of fighting

In which case It's crazy four ounce gloves who the hell knows I think the other thing to pay attention to BC is I go back to this all the time Pineda used to be a guy who blocked like this and he still does to an extent bringing his guard high for folks who are listening on the audio audio podcast version um but now you'll see him with his hands much lower I actually talked about this with Izzy partly it's for wrestling purposes so he can get his hands down there for the down

block um but but the reality is too if you watch some of these fights when he's in the middle of the cage or in a kickboxing fight almost anywhere because you can still lean over the ropes, he will lean out of the way and get out of the way. He rolls with a lot of punches. You will see that a little bit. But when he gets up against the cage, he doesn't have a lot of well-practiced defense along that fence line, whereas Izzy does. I wonder, I wonder, I want to see if anyone takes any effort to quite obviously pressure the other guy backwards or if they're good to just circle each other in the center.

That would be interesting to see. Yeah, so the underlying storyline or the little, you know, we've been teasing around the idea, you know, Pareda has many questions to answer and a lot of those are on the ground too. I mean, he's a professional kickboxer turned devastating striker in mixed martial arts. So is Izzy's potential turn to shooting a double leg or just looking to be physical in the clinch along the cage, does that only come through necessity if Pareda lands a big shot, or do you see that as a potential legitimate strategy for Izzy in the first two rounds to try to strategically time a takedown, even if it's just to plant a seed,

pull a little bit on that gas tank? Will we see Izzy initiate this without being forced to do it through taking damage? This one I don't know. I don't have a good answer for because my heart of hearts, here's what I would say. I think Izzy wants to win on kickboxing alone.

I really do. I think Izzy wants to win on kickboxing alone. I really do. On the other hand, just thinking about the smart way to fight this fight, if you really do have, we've talked about A games and B games. Every fighter's A game is their best game. What happens when that gets taken away? Do you have a B game?

Izzy is never forced all that often to go to his B game. And so he's just able to lord the A game over everyone. In this particular case, he may not be able to lord the A game. So now he has to go to the B game. And so he's just able to lord the A game over everyone. In this particular case, he may not be able to lord the A game, so now he has to go to the B game, which would be offensive wrestling, which on the offensive wrestling side, we just haven't seen anything from him. What I do think is possible, BC, is one, you might see it. I think there's a decent chance you see at least a shot in the first two rounds. And I'll tell you why.

Not really to get the takedown, but to see what happens, to see what kind of reaction he gets and then pummel with him, force him to work, right? Because you can make a guy work. This is the genius of Habib. People would be like, oh, well, this guy resisted the takedown

for X number of seconds or minutes before he's able to get it. Yeah, but the whole time, Habib is making him work on Habib's terms. So he's already taken down and he's dead already and doesn't know it. Obviously, it's not quite the same here with Izzy Zayn's wrestling, but I think if he can make him work and then let him go, you might see that.

That, to me, seems fairly likely. But a full-on John Smith low single, probably not. Probably not. I do want to see so many questions answered by Parada, including is he going to have the same poise if he starts falling down three rounds to zero? And it's pretty clean that Izzy's tap dancing at times but landing clean shots and just that experience gap, that technique gap is so wide. Is he going to go the Jessica Andrade route and stay so calm and poised

and just wait, wait, wait for that moment? I mean, even Andrade getting lit up by Ioana for five rounds, she was making moves in those championship rounds where you're like, oh, God, she's never going to be out of this with that power. We don't know that. I mean, we can only gauge Pereira on how he seemed to do mentally with the pressure of standing up to the spotlight MSG main event. He seemed to have done that well.

He played the role of foreign movie villain correctly and showed out well. Do you have any questions or concerns? I mean, you know, gas tank is something you're going to have to prove at this level in five rounds, so we're all going to have those concerns. But some of those intangibles, will he be the type of guy that folds when things don't go his way? Or have we already seen enough footage of how they interact, albeit in kickboxing, where Pareto was getting kind of lit up

in that rematch until he landed the boom late? Maybe this is all a non-issue. He's a warrior. He is that dude. Yeah, I don't really have any questions about their metal. That's what you mean. The only question I have is, you know Izzy can go 5. Proven, right? That gas

tank question is going to be interesting. Maybe nothing. He made the weight. Looked like shit on the scales. That's a huge weight cut for him. He's much better suited for 205. But if he's in great shape and can recover tonight, we shall see. We shall see. This is the biggest threat of Izzy's

reign up to this point. You know, certainly Robert Whitaker in the rematch was a better threat in the all-around game and the potential to try to, you know, beat Izzy in a decision straight up. But this is the pure, true knockout threat. So if you're Pareda, it's almost the same question reversed when we're talking about Izzy. Do you have to come out as the aggressor? Do you have to drop enough of a seed in that opening round of how real your power really is to begin that process

of Izzy being more defensive than he wants to be? Yeah, a little bit. I think he has to go out there. The first round, again, both guys are going to be careful. I don't think it's going to be like, I'm going to set the fucking tone in that way. But if you're Pareda, you've got to show that you're just not buying into Izzy's game.

You're not biting on the feints. You're making him faint less because he has to move. He can't sit down and throw. He's getting corralled. He's getting controlled. Maybe you clinch with him a little bit, and if you're stronger than him, which he should be, throwing him around potentially, right, knees up the middle. He's already good at that anyway i think you want to go out there and not play izzy's game

as much as possible if you're a potato and really like this is i mean this is what's going to come down to is yes the individual traps they set but also like just who whose fight are they fighting and if they're both standing well then they're both getting their fight but i mean no really the nitty-gritty details, who's reacting to who? Who is setting the offensive terms that the other person then has to answer for? That's really what you're looking for, and I think if you're putting out that jab of his, the jab to the, he has a phenomenal jab to the body, which we don't even talk about. It sets up a lot of his other stuff. It sets up a lot of his kicks. It sets up a lot of his other punches. It sets up a lot of his angle attacks, so he's got a phenomenal jab, phenomenal body jab. I think you stick that in his face right away.

Bust up his nose. Let him know what time it is. Corral him, not biting on the feints, making him move, making him react, that kind of stuff. It's going to be very interesting to see how it goes down. Luke Thomas, how does it go down? What are you looking for? What's going to determine this ultimately? What type of games are being played?

How's it going down, right? I think if you're Pineda, you definitely have planned for this to go 25, but I don't think that's in your interest to go 25. So I think it's really about delivering, not maximum punishment, but you need to, a cumulative changing punishment, right?

The kind where first round was a little bit, second round is even worse, third round is unbearable, you know, that kind of a thing. But to interrupt you, doesn't Pereira have to prove that that chin is super elite? Does he need to be? His own chin? Yeah, are we overlooking that his chin may be the ultimate decider in this fight? Could be, yes. Certainly could be. Certainly could be.

And again, I think whoever pressures the other one, that's going to make it interesting too. But here's just the way I look at it. And listen, I'll be very clear with the audience here, right? There's a full disclaimer. It is obvious that I have a very high opinion of the champ, right? And so anything I say, can I divorce the view that i have of him from the analysis probably not so all i can do to you is make you an argument it is up to you to decide how valuable that is just based on the way i'm seeing this i like the champion to retain i

recognize that it is one of the more unique threats, maybe the most difficult threat he's faced, because styles make fights. We shall see. And I recognize that of the two, I find Pereira to, the evidence would tell us that he is, to this point, the bigger power puncher, although he does get hit.

So I would say he's a real serious threat to the champ, and obviously he can put his lights out at any moment. But based on the available evidence, I think what I can also see is that the champion has more adapted his game to the realities of the cage, to the realities of MMA, and I do think he is overall more skilled. So I'm going to stick with what I have always said, which is that skills win fights. I think it might get boring in certain parts, to be quite honest with you. I think you might get times where Izzy is jabbing and leg kicking, and that's going to be that.

Or it could be like, you know, it's cost all over again, where he just knocks his ass out like it's nothing. I tend to think it's going to be pretty difficult. It's probably going to go into the championship rounds, and it'll get decided there. I like the champion to retain. I do. Under your way of thinking, how you see this fight going, what happens then if Pereira isn't willing to risk getting knocked out to win?

Let's say we get to a point where he's getting handled, he's getting dominated, and while, yes, he's looking for setups to throw one big shot, Izzy's reading everything, and he seems... He'll get finished. He seems tired enough. Will we see, and this is where the question of what do those first two fights

outside of the UFC matter in this one, will we see a motivated Izzy to try to make that statement and maybe put himself in the potential of danger? You might, and that still gives a guy like Pareda an interesting way to win. I mean, let's think about something here, right? Do you think Izzy's going to go for the stamp and dance on his grave? I don't think Izzy's ever going to fight stupidly, if that's what you're asking.

But if you're asking, like, are there going to be punctuated moments where he does press on the gas offensively with some risk adopted, yeah, I do think that. But I want to make a point about Pineda, which if you're a Pineda fan, should give you some hope. Obviously, he's already a threat, we know that. But think about something. Kananir was able to survive against Izzy

and then kind of be there a little bit, but he couldn't really get over the hump because he had built a game plan around just taking out the more dangerous elements of what Izzy did, not really finding a way to get his offense going. Pineda doesn't really have to worry about that. Like, yes, they're going to build a game plan around his strengths, but Pineda has enough kickboxing skill where he doesn't have to worry about, okay, I got to make sure when we see Izzy do this, we take that away. He can make reads on the fly. Some of this is already ingrained in him and he's going to be much more suited to like, I'm just going to worry about my kickboxing. Yeah. He can make Izzy have to react to him. Exactly right. Whereas other guys are so worried

about just not falling into Izzy's traps. The whole thing gets nullified. Pineda doesn't have to really worry about that. So he doesn't have to build a game plan that's ineffective but safe. It might be quite the opposite, unsafe but highly effective, and that separates him from these last contenders who have just sort of ground Izzy into this boring nothingness. Did Kananir almost have access to too good information that he was waiting around to try to create something? Too good defensively, but remember, the thing that held him back

was he just couldn't get meaningful offense going. So, dude, I said this to Izzy's face. They've kind of solved him defensively. They have. They can't get over the hump. But that line of thinking that a camp would undertake, it would just never occur to Pereira and Teixeira to do something like that. They don't need to.

They need to have broad assessments about what Izzy Willow won't do, but all the individual stuff in the middle, they can just figure it out on the fly. He's that good. Look, at the end of the day, and this does play into the whole idea of like, you know, is he boring or the casual's just filthy and they don't understand brilliance, you know, in a Mayweather way or whatever. Look, I've said it. There's certain types of fighters that can bring out the best in you. I think Pareda, especially with the backstory, is exactly that type of threat who's going to bring out the killer version of Israel Adesanya, the very best version of him. It doesn't mean he's not going to get hit. I expect Izzy to have

to taste the power here. I expect to see some good action. If you've been on that whole, man, Izzy's boring, he's five-round GSP now, that type of bullshit training, you've been missing the pure art, this is the type of matchup that's going to bring you back. And it takes somebody, by the way, with the danger that Parada brings, but with the mindset, too, of at some point you've got to risk it all to go for it. I think exactly that's what Poiton's going to do. Because, look, the window's small with his age. He's enjoyed huge success and glory,

two-division champion. That run, everybody he touched was falling. He's made an accelerated leap into this game and he's proven that he can swim, whether he's got in the proper prerequisite amount of fights or challenges against the right styles. Either way, he's here. He's dangerous enough to make this

exactly the best case scenario for Adesanya, which means an exciting fight, but scenario for Adesanya, which means an exciting fight, but one that Adesanya finishes. Luke, the more I think about it, I think there's going to be fun moments of back and forth fighting. I think there's going to be adjustments that need to be made, but when this gets into the late third and early fourth, I think Gas Tank's going to be a difference, and I think Adesanya is going to be in there to prove a point by finish, and he'll get the TKO, and, you know, for a while, we'll forget about, you know, well, he didn't really push the gas against Romero. No, he didn't. No, he didn't. It was a weird-ass fight, but when he needs to be, and he'll need to be tomorrow night, Luke, he's going to deliver that. The artistry, the pageantry,

the masterpiece will be there, but so will the finish. Put the camera on Luke's face to react to this. Is he by knockout? I got a CKB from here to Melbourne, okay? Melbourne? Yeah. I don't know about by knockout, but I do think he probably should retain. We'll see. I think Baretta's going to make sure he gets knocked out

because he's going to try to win the fight, Luke. That's what happens. That's deep, bro. That is what's deep. Trust. Trust is life. That's very deep. Thank you, Vinny.

Very passionate about this fight. You've already checked out of it. No, no. I was just doing a good little hunting bit on you. Okay. It's not your fault. No, no. The other one.

What is trust, Vinny? Trust is life. That's very deep, Vinny? Trust is life. That's very deep, Vinny. Thank you. That's deep. Luke, do you think with just surgical gloves, I could suddenly be like, this should have been my Halloween costume.

I'm a hybrid love child of MMA referee Jason Herzog. If he made passionate love to Keith Peterson, I'd be like the offspring. I kind of have that look, right? I mean, you know, yeah. I just need the surgical gloves and maybe the fragrance of hooch and cheap women. You already have that look, right? I mean, let me go. Two guys could bang him. You know, yeah. I just need the surgical gloves and maybe the fragrance of hooch and cheap women. You already have that.

There you go. All right. Our co-main event on Saturday. It's pick prediction time, and it goes down women's strawweight division. Prediction time. The champion, Carla Esparza, six-fight win streak. Her first defense of her second reign. Yes, in winning it in May against the split decision against Rose Namajunas.

It was among the worst fights in UFC title history. Whether they're booing Carla for the right reasons or the wrong ones, they don't like her, and she's not expected to win against rising former champion Zhang Weili. Minus 320 is Weili, plus 265 for Carla. Poor Carla. The 35. Look, I've even seen people in my DMs going, look, Carla, great run, but at 35, you can

see in her face, she's ready to retire after this fight. I mean, people are just, they're really starting to act like she's never done anything and she doesn't have a pulse. And that they didn't boo Jean Wiley like two fights ago calling her a communist. I mean, look, dude, spoiler alert, I think Jean Waley is going to win, but Luke, let's put some respect on the champion's name. No, hold on, hold on, hold on. Before you do this, we've got to respect Carla.

Of course we respect Carla. Of course we do. And I do agree that— So let's respect her by plotting a path to victory here. I don't think there is one. Ooh. Seriously. What is the path to victory here?

Let's say, give me a probable path to victory. It would have to involve successful offensive wrestling and the ability to land elbows and forearms and Young Whaley's not going to take that. It would require one, consistent ability to take her down and maintain top position. Those are

two different things that are already difficult enough. And then three, to have enough control in the top position to land a meaningful ground and pound. Because if someone's squirmy underneath, they're hard to land ground and pound on. I just don't believe that some of that might happen, some of that here and there. I do believe that she's not completely incapable of doing any of that.

But enough of that to win, that just doesn't, I don't believe that. I don't think there's, and I don't think the evidence necessarily suggests that either. So we're making an educated guess here. You have a crystal ball. I don't have the evidence necessarily suggests that either. So we're making an educated guess here. You have a crystal ball. I don't have a crystal ball. But from what I can tell, I don't know what the path to victory would be here. My crystal ball is like an illegal cable box in the 90s.

Everybody's got access to the same pick for this fight. And it is Zhong Weili who has only looked better since losing via head kick to Rose in the first fight. Looked really good in the rematch, and you can make a case for her. And then absolutely decimated Ioana in their rematch with just showing how dangerous she can be with the spinning shit, to be fair. She's even more bulked up and jacked. She can wrestle now. So Luke, man, I cannot compare this to any scenario where somebody as respected as Carla is just afterthoughted here. Is this then also not just going to be Zhang Weili regaining her title and maybe opening the door for a Rose Trilogy and more prestige to come as one of the biggest forces in this division's history?

Does it come through domination and a finish? Or is Esparza at least competitive here? Can potentially go the distance here? What are we going to see from Carla if we all believe that it's going to go Weili's way? You know what, that's an interesting question because I do think Carla can find ways to slow the fight down and make it safe for her. And I don't think, here's the other part too, like remember

the Io and Jacek fight when she couldn't get the takedown, she just collapsed. I mean, it was, the fight was a disaster for her from there. Her face changed. It was really bad. I don't think we're necessarily going to see that this time. That level of just terror that went across her face.

But I think you're going to get something kind of similar. Inevitably, the offense won't be there when it needs to be. Inevitably, the offense is not going to work. She's going to have to find ways to defensively hang on. I think she will in certain spots. But ultimately, she's going to get overwhelmed.

I really believe that. Wait, let's, I mean, part of the reason, though, separate from any misdirected, you know, hate or whatever or blame for Carla for the rosary match, which obviously she had some culpability in that. When you look at Jung Whae Lee, though, I mean, she's a knockout threat. She's a machine. I mean, could she take Carla down and it's still round and pound top?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. No problem. Could take her down, throw her down just to force a scramble, take her back. You know, there's all kinds. Dude, Jung-Hwa Lee, we don't talk about it. Like her submission threat, she doesn't use it a lot these days.

But I do think it's fair to say she could have one when she needs it. And I think she's been sharpening her game a lot the last couple of years. It's really turned a corner and has become a dynamic threat. So obviously, you know, it stands to reason, again, based on the available evidence, that she would probably use some combination of striking and or offensive wrestling or, you know, just disrupting her balance and base to make gains. And I think that's what will happen. But, like, you know, dude, Zhong Wai Li has a lot of reasonable paths

to victory here. I just don't know what a clear, good argument for Carlo Esparza would look like. In hindsight, obviously part of Esparza's six-fight win streak comes the disputed factor. Four of the fights were disputed decisions. One majority, three split. But

when you consistently win close fights, and we talk about this about Canelo, right? The money fighter, so he always gets the benefit of the doubt. He's also really efficient and lands clean, hard counter shots, which in a lot of judges' eyes can offset someone trying to box around him. There's reasons at the end of the day separate from some of the, well, that's the more popular fighter, that's boxing. Is there anything Esparza's done in these close fights to get the nod that we're not giving her credit, that more focused on her metal or her ability to make adjustments? But this isn't, to me, like none of this is a question of Carla's intensity.

None of this is a question of like her physical preparedness. This is all about Whaley is what you're saying, really? Really, yeah. I mean, like, yes, in fights where she is reasonably competitive with the other person, have you seen evidence of Carla going late for a takedown to really seal a round or just try to make sure that she did everything she could to get the win on either the round or overall? Yeah, you've seen that from her. She's physically prepared.

She does have a good skill set. All those things are true. But if the matchup is bad, none of those intangibles really matter all that much. If the disparity is great enough, it's like, dude, if I tried to have a grappling match with Gordon Ryan and I had all the motivation in the world, it doesn't fucking matter. You're going to get turned into a pretzel.

You can become a dime store Gordon Ryan like our social media producer, Brendan. Brendan Lynch. He's jacked, Brendan Lynch, though, you know? Yeah, he's young. But it doesn't mean he's going to be as good as Gordon. I got news for Brendan. You're not going to be. You know, Brendan should join High Rollers know? Yeah, he's young. But it doesn't mean he's going to be as good as Gordon. I got news for Brendan. You're not going to be.

You know, Brendan should join High Rollers. I'd go chair him up. Probably has. But the one I wanted to make was, you know, yes, like I do believe in Carla being a championship quality fighter. Like she's very, very good. It's just a terrible fucking matchup for her. Is it?

I hate doing this, but if Sean Whaley wins and takes on Rose in a trilogy, if that's the way the UFC goes, and I think they this, but if Zhang Weili wins and takes on Rose in a trilogy, if that's the way the UFC goes and I think they will, people is there a way to frame that as the most important fight in the division's history? No one has the consecutive title defenses that Ioana did

and I'm the biggest Ioana fan so you can't accuse me of forgetting, but in an unofficial way, not every fight has to be for the goat ship of the division but in an unofficial way, like not every fight has to be for the goat ship of the division, but in an unofficial way, Rose versus Zhang Weili part three could kind of decide who was the best that ever did it at this weight class in the UFC. I mean, that's a hell of a potential matchup.

Yes, if we get that far, I could have some extraordinary stakes for the division, yes. The division's history. The division's history. All right, how does Zhang Weili do it in the end, Luke? I'd say TKO in the third, I think is about right for me. Somewhere around that, I think eventually. Rear naked.

I'm feeling rear naked here. Yeah. No, seriously. You're feeling rear naked? Are you? That wasn't intended to be discussed? When it slipped behind you? You think we should get a mat during our live show?

Remove this desk and just get a mat and we can... Yeah, I'd love to kick your fucking ass for two hours. We could do theater. So the people that didn't buy the pay-per-view, they can watch our thing and then we'll act out whatever is happening in the cage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we have to pick up front who we are in that fight and you have to allow the other person to... And we should get strippers for no reason other than to have them. That's a very Colby Covington move.

Yeah, it is has he made the transition yet not to a woman but to becoming a full time DeSantis 2024 or is he going to stick with the Donald yeah that's the thing he kind of hitched his wagon to a is it inevitable that the Donald becomes the independent runner and then he goes up against

DeSantis for the actual they're not boys DeSantis vs Trump is the big one in 2024 not boys. They're not boys. DeSantis versus Trump is the big one in 2020. How can John Fetterman work his way into this? Okay. The answer to the question is I think Zhong Wai Li shuts down Carla

long enough where she eventually just turns the tide and overwhelms her. Third round submission. You like that. Third round. I'll say TKO. I'll say TKO, but I think that's about right. Alright. This is the people's main event as The Rock would say. And as Ariel would round. I'll say TKO. I'll say TKO, but I think that's about right. All right. This is the people's main event, as The Rock would say, and as Ariel would say, Ariel would say. I don't. Dustin Poirier.

Ariel believes that he created the term the people's main event, and anyone that says it owes him TM royalty. I ain't no you shit, Ariel. Look at that goofy fucking toothy smile. Look, close into my eyes. Like, I have the authority of a UFC referee right now, right? I'm a little bit of a young Mazzagati vibe, right? You look like a sex pest.

All right. Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler. Look, expect action, right? Expect fireworks. But if we take anything from the fight week narrative and the press conference, and, Luke, I wrote a feature about this fight on CBSSports.com and played into some of those narratives, you did have Chandler potentially dropping a cryptic preview

of what we should see when he framed the whole idea of, look, I'm not going out there to make the fight of the night. I'm going out there to win. I'm going out there to become the champion next year. That leads you to believe some things. Could he be wrestling more? Could he be looking to play it safe? Also, in the same press conference,

he made the same type of declarations you would want him to about, you know, we're just going to go in there, and it's just going to be what it's going to be. We're going to bang. Of course they will. But you've also got Dustin Poirier on the flip side almost going complete ham in the other direction of saying, I'm going to knock Chandler the F out.

It's going to be an early knockout. I'm coming after him. Like, let's do this. Luke, is that A, should we believe Chandler that he may play it more safe? And B, is this the right call for Dustin Poirier to be so blood and guts and chase after the Thunder in this one? I'm a little, you know, I'm intrigued. This is going to be a great fight. I'm intrigued.

I think you actually do want to do that with Chandler a little bit if you're Poirier. If you're Poirier, especially if Chandler's trying to wrestle you, you obviously want to, dude, like what is Poirier's path to victory here? Jabbing and low kicking? Seriously? Like, are you really going to be able to keep Michael Chandler off of you with a jab and a low kick? Drop him, take his back, try to choke him, right?

Or get on top or whatever. Or just finish him off on the feet. You might finish him. Yeah. Cream, shaboogee, wop. Shaboogee. But the reality is, I think, serious question. If Chandler is telling the truth and he's going to wrestle,

could he do that for three rounds against Poirier? You don't think so? I think he can strategically time takedowns and tire Poirier out, maybe even threaten with some ground and pound. And yeah, he can make that part of his strategy. But Luke, it does feel inevitable, especially a three-rounder compared to a five-rounder, that say what you want, either guy. It's going to be what it's going to be, and it's more likely that what it's going to be

is what these guys do, make great fights against other great action fighters in this era. I know the stakes, as we laid out on Wednesday, are potentially different. Either guy with a spectacular knockout, that may be enough to cut the line past Benny Dariush or Alexander Volkanovski for the next shot at the title. I think it's good business practice if either of these legends gets a big win here to do it. I do have some kind of fear though, because look, Chandler can say what he is. When they trade, when they taste each other, it's going to be a fight. I don't know if Poirier should be setting this type of precedent, Luke. I don't know. I have concerns.

People are trying to out me as a Poirier hater. I love that guy, Luke. He's an American hero. Okay, are we going to talk about the fight? We actually are right now. All right.

Odds, Luke, minus 210 Dustin Poirier, 33 years old. Plus 180 Michael Chandler, 36 years old. Will this be as explosive, less or more, than Chandler versus Gaethje one year ago in the same building? Ooh. Ooh.

As explosive. As explosive. I think it'll be as explosive. I think in its own way it won't be any better than that, but I don't think it's going to be any worse. I think it'll be on its own. It won't look the same, but you'll take away the same kind of feeling. Although that one was a little bit disappointing in the sense that it went to a decision.

I don't think this one goes. It petered out a bit in the third round. Yes, yes. I don't think this one goes to a decision. Okay, if the over-under, I didn't look it up, but what if it was at the midway point of the second round? Is it over or under in this case? Ooh, great question.

Wow. I'll take the over. I'll take the over. But not the distance, or under in this case? Ooh, great question. Wow. I'll take the over. I'll take the over. But not the distance or it's in play? Distance is in play. Talking about two tough fucking guys here. That's a tough one. Okay, both are killers.

And they can go a bit in five-round fights before. But what we love about them, both of them, is their vulnerability. Custom 48 does not have a bad chin. No, but because he's always in wars against elite fighters, he has a flash chin, potentially. I mean, you know, Michael Johnson, first Conor fight, they got him out of there quick, and that's why I think

Chandler is super dangerous for him in this matchup. But, Luke, both have perfect levels of entertainment vulnerability, which means they can get hurt, but they can bend and not break, and they can make dramatic, sort of almost Frankie Edgar-like comebacks within a fight, and they can just be hellacious in there, Luke. It's going to catch up to both of them eventually. This one's not going the distance. This one is going to be what we hope it is at the end of the

day, hellacious once they trade power. And I don't know if you can get the camera on me, but I've been... You got the crystal ball. I don't know if people are ready to hear this because I don't always get to prepare myself for the... But as I dig in deep here,

I'm seeing something. I can see the head now. Whoa. Wow. That was a lot to get that out, Luke, and just show it to the world. All right, here's the deal. Poirier's younger, but I do get what Chandler's saying when he defends his own potential shop-worn-ness.

He has been in firefights, but they've largely been shorter firefights. Poirier's been in deep firefights and a lot of fights in which he's won, like the Dan Hooker or the Max Holloway fight. I think if you go back with a, you know, devil's advocate cynical look on Poirier's most recent run post climbing the mountain and facing Habib and then, you know, getting's advocate, cynical look on Poirier's most recent run post climbing the

mountain and facing Habib and then, you know, getting humbled, right? There is the potential for fool's gold in there. The two wins over Conor, the war with Hooker even to some degree, it's being ultra cynical. But Luke, I feel like at this moment, Poirier is a little bit more potentially shopworn. And I think Chandler is the wrong guy to F with. And Poirier is a little bit more potentially shopworn. And I think Chandler is the wrong guy to F with. And Poirier seems to be welcoming it and standing in the mirror and saying the name three times. And the thing about Michael Chandler, Luke, whether you respect him as the number one company man, you better respect that power. He takes a hit and he stays in there and throws. And he was that close to winning the lightweight championship

against Charles Oliveira just a year ago. I think Chandler's got a little bit more left in the tank offensively. And it may not matter if you think his chin is even a little bit flashier in terms of your ability to hurt him and put him in jeopardy than Poirier's. I think he gets to Poirier. I think they hurt each other in round one. And I think Chandler's the last man standing. And I know because Dustin Poirier is an American hero, Luke,

people don't want to hear that. I've also had Brent Brookhouse of CBS Sports tell me it's like plus 800 if you bet Chandler by second round KO. That seems a little off. I mean, if you want to make money off of what I've seen, the track record tells you, Luke, Woodley versus Till. All right? All right?

Dude, look at him. B-Vol versus Canelo. He's like, can't tolerate human contact. No, disassemble. Luke, how do you feel about this? How do I feel about you, BC? I don't like the term MMA prophet, but sometimes you have to deliver harsh messages.

You have to be the middleman. You have to be the person that accosts somebody in public, tries to make them feel like you're friends with them, only to pull out the subpoena real quick and then run. I have to be that guy in the MMA world. Have you ever delivered subpoenas to people? No, but this feels like delivering a baby getting this out, but it's out, Luke. I've done it. It's not fun.

It's not fun. It's like being a repo man, right? A little bit. A little bit. I'm like, yeah, I don't work for this motherfucker. But I kind of do, you know. You know what, BCI, this is where we part ways a little bit. Please.

This is where I leave you. This is where we get divorced. Here's the reality on this one. I think a pick for Chandler is very okay. I don't really have any issue with it. Their numbers are not hugely dissimilar, right? Strikes landed per minute for Poirier, 5.61.

For Michael Chandler, 5.17. Strikes absorbed per minute for Poirier, 4.28. For Chandler, 4.87. So in either case, you have Michael Chandler lands a little bit less and takes a little bit more damage. Not a huge amount in either direction, but there is a difference overall. I think that's going to be the difference in the NBC. I actually do feel like Poirier's going to get... Poirier's always in tough-ass fights.

The guy's resume is incredible. It catches up overnight. It does. You're right. Here's the thing, man. I'm kind of banking on Poirier still having some durability left after all those wars, and that's a sketchy bet. I didn't like some of his reactions in the Oliveira loss. I didn't.

I think that's fair. I really don't have a strong argument about it other than to say I just feel like we've seen a little bit more of Chandler being, again, not – I think Michael Bisping called him chinny. I think that's a little strong. But just not being as durable historically over the run. But to your point, what does that mean for Saturday? It could absolutely be a case where he falls off a cliff.

I guess what I'm saying is I'm banking on – I'm picking Poirier, and I'm banking on that what we have seen will largely continue as Poirier being more durable than Chandler and then that playing a difference in the game. Okay, then let me ask you what Poirier's front-facing offer this week of it's going to be a blood and gets worn, I'm going to knock him out. Yeah, he went to a press conference and said a bunch of bullshit to get the fans riled up.

End of argument. That's all it is. Yeah. Yeah, what the fuck? What else do you think it is? This is fake news. It's all fake news. All of MMA news is fake news.

It's all fake news. He used to be able to lure Poirier into a war, right? Conor did the first one and took advantage of that. Yes. Poirier grew up in front of our eyes, but he doesn't normally use that type of verbiage. He might, yeah, listen, you could get a bit of a role reversal here

where in fact Chandler's more reserved and wrestling and Poirier is a little bit more unbalanced and kind of getting in front of his skis a little bit and that playing a role. I don't dispute that that's possible. I just don't think that's the likeliest way in a sense. Sometimes the crystal ball tells you gone via wrestling or in Ghana via wrestling and you have to share it with the world. I mean it's not an easy message to share, but that's what happened.

We'll see. That's why they pay you the big bucks. We will. And I love Dustin Poirier, so I know people are not ready to feel this, what they're going to feel. Luke, are they ready to feel this? And that's Frankie Edgar's final fight. It's going to go down on the main card on Saturday. He's a plus 185 veteran underdog

in this Bantamweight tilt against a Chris Gutierrez, a plus minus 215 underdog, who under the shadows to a certain degree, 6-0 and 1 in his last seven, has been beginning to carve out his own identity. This would be the biggest name he's to face.

Frankie looked what he is, Luke, an aging great fighter at the press conference, but it was enough for us to sort of shout it out. Very few people are giving him a chance stylistically. I hope he doesn't get stopped, but if he does, he's going to go out guns blazing because that's what Frankie Edgar does, Luke. Give me a reason to stay here, right, or I'll turn right back around in terms of the idea that Frankie's going to be okay, that maybe even can go the distance here, or maybe he can even win it. Talk me into this. I think – so what has – we talked about this in detail before. I believe he fought Holloway, and this is why Holloway was a bad

matchup for him but the fight was kind of close in a sense which was the key to Frankie's striking is actually very good one of the first guys who really had I thought pretty crisp boxing fundamentals in MMA one of the very first guys who took that seriously but the truth is his striking game takes off when he can complement it with takedowns. Now, he doesn't need the takedowns to last for very long, but he needs that dual threat where he's coming in and he's level changing and you can't quite tell what he's going to do next, and then he mixes everything together. That's when he has his opponents reeling.

So to me, BC, it's a very simple equation. Can he establish the takedown? Again, doesn't have to hold the guy down for very long, but can he establish a real takedown again doesn't have to hold the guy down for very long but can he establish a real takedown threat and then use that takedown threat as a way to make his striking come to life it's the frankie edgar special if you can shut down his wrestling the rest of it becomes much more predictable i'll also chris gutierrez gutierrez uh phenomenal kicker he's phenomenal yes he does he's a phenomenal leg kicker he's a phenomenal kicker. He's got legs, too, in this man. Yes, he does. He's a phenomenal leg kicker.

He's a phenomenal kicker overall. He switches stances. He's clever. So really, it's the distance closing of Frankie Edgar here. How does he navigate that space? That's going to be really interesting here as well. And I do expect him to push Gutierrez backwards up against that fence line to sort of reduce what he can do and corral his movement.

I have the feeling that win or lose here, Frankie's going to give us a Frankie-style moment, meaning he's going to get maybe— Dude, when does he ever let you down? I'm not saying when does he win or lose. I'm saying when does he let you down? When has he ever— Never.

Dude, 30? 30? Was he 30 UFC fights, whatever he's had? But— Never missed weight. Never. No, the ultimate professional. I mean, when John Anik showers him during the press conference and says, you know, I've seen love in the past for somebody like Chuck Liddell, and Chuck Liddell was beloved in his prime and retirement.

I mean, like, that Frankie may have exceeded that in terms of the fans just loving him. Why? Because he turns into Rocky Balboa. So I feel like inevitably he's going to deliver that, because that's what MMA cyclical karma is, right? Like, he's going to probably get hurt in this fight early and then have some type of moment to rally, whether that's rally to make an argument on the scorecards or rally to hurt Gutierrez back before losing. I don't know, but I feel like with the crowd behind him, nothing has felt fully right about

this Frankie exit, right? There's been a little, you know, just that feeling of like, I just hope he doesn't get Ortega again or Chito Verad. I kind of feel like he may be okay. Maybe not to win the fight, but to just show out. Gutierrez takes a little while to get going, which I think will serve Frankie's interests, especially early. But the thing is, if you see Frankie getting his legs chopped up, which is a high possibility given what Gutierrez is good at, then he's in trouble. Then he's in trouble because then he

can't level change effectively. He can't wrestle effectively. And so if he can't wrestle effectively, his striking becomes much more manageable. Yeah, I remember that MTV special about that guy from the Jersey Shore who had like the white Chuck Mendenhall hat and he wore the wife beater and he like thought he was the coolest shit and he was always going out and like getting into fights

and yeah, they remember that in my ear. Thank you for that. Anyone, 90s, lower third here of MTV, thank you. I don't want Frankie's career to be sad at the end like that guy's personal life was. Thank you. Jersey Shore, shout out. Luke, to open this pay-per-view main card Saturday night, and we're going to be reacting live during the fights

with our companion, don't forget that. How about the minus 145 favorite, Dan Hooker, against Claudio Poesius, plus 125 from South America. Was it Peru? Peru, yes. Luke, so here's the key question. Best food in South America. Dan Hooker's really good, and there's this bittersweet

feeling because we know how good he is and how hungry he is. We also know he's taken some damage. We also know he's lost just as much as he's won of late. Is this the beginning of Dan Hooker carving out a new chapter in his career? Or is Dan Hooker inevitably on that rollercoaster ride to like Marlon Marais territory where you're like, man, he's young, but he can't stop losing to good guys. This is why you don't want to take too much damage.

The thing is, Dan Hooker's best wins are better than anything Claudio has done. They're not even close. In the cage. Probably not in the DMs. Probably not in the DMs. I would imagine Claudio does quite well for himself. You get the idea. We're talking about Dan Hooker. Dan Hooker has done some really impressive

fucking things. We talked about that four-fight run he went on where he was beating Jim Miller and Gilbert Burns and shit like that. It was amazing. Stopping people. Yeah, stopping them. But dude, he's taken a fuck ton of damage. He never takes time off, dude. He's just go, go, go. He never takes time off.

He told Submission Radio that he really went back to the lab on this one. Like, what are all my mistakes? Let me go clean them up, which I thought was actually really smart that he did that. So I do have some hope for him here. If he wrestles like he did against Hosk Parak. Mixes it up. He's got to have that balance. Because he's such a good striker, too.

I don't want him to get away from that, but to mix it up, right? To mix it up. I think... Why are we showing Arnold Allen here? I mean... Well, that was the fight with Hooker from before. Okay.

Well, quality control, guys. This guy's not relevant to our conversation, all right? Thank you. Thank you. But what I was going to say was... A lot of giggles in that back room. I love those guys. Dude, but Claudio Pueyes is fucking good, man.

And I think he's really beginning to... His star's beginning to rise. I mentioned two kneebar submissions back-to-back in the UFC. It's very, very, like, that might be unheard of. Danny Segura says this guy's coming. Danny Segura thinks his long-term upside is top five. He didn't say inevitable, but long-term. You know, Danny's judgment about these things is usually pretty correct.

I like Claudio here. I think he's probably going to get it done. But Hooker has achieved much higher heights than like Claudio here. I think he's probably going to get it done. But Hooker has achieved much higher heights than anything Claudio has. You've just got to tone it down a little, find the balance, and this is going to be an interesting fight. But the fight before it, Luke, I think this is going to end up being

your ESPN prelim featured main event. This is the Brad Riddell fight? Dude, this Brad Riddell versus Reynaldo Montano fight, this, even with Chandler Poirier on this fight card, I'm like, before we would declare that fight of the night, fight of the year, best fight of this crazy lightweight era, let's find out what happens first

between Brad Riddell and Hainato Moikano. Because, look, they are both threats who are willing to let it go to find out what happens. Plus 100, Riddell, the CKB product, your betting underdog. Minus 120, Hainato Moikano, who, what, on short notice against RDA, just was willing to risk. He risked it for the biscuit, no doubt about it.

So you never know the receipt from that. But it also shows his willingness in the second half of his career to really maximize his potential here. How quick before this is just a beautiful war? I mean, just something. Not long. And it's because Moikano will make it one. Moikano has very good striking skills, but he doesn't have the kickboxing pedigree that

Brad Riddell has. By definition, he doesn't have that. But Moikano has very good striking. Now, against featherweights, I think he got beaten to the punch quite literally by Korean Zombie and some other ones. At 155, I think his speed's a little bit better suited. He's got good length. Even at 145, he was lengthy.

He's still lengthy at 155 pounds. But the submission threat from him, the ability to chain attacks together through different phases of the game, I think is something that a guy like him can't do. And, like, you know, the reality is Drew Dober kind of boxed up a little bit of Brad Riddell. You wonder if Drew Dober can do that, why couldn't Renato Moicano, who's also a much more dynamic submission threat. This is a hell of a fight, though. Brad Riddell can

fucking thump. Does it come down to Riddell's boxing? Because if he gets into a war, he's got a guy that can still beat him. No, no, no. It comes down to Brad Riddell's defense. Okay. What's gotten him in trouble is guys have been able to either time him or figure out some kind of opening, and because it's, you know, it's MMA striking. It's not kickboxing, it's a different set of concerns that they have,

Moikano can be a dual threat in that way, and that could open up all kinds of possibilities. I don't think Brad Riddell can out-grapple Hanato Moikano. I mean, if he's hurt or whatever, yeah, you could. But, like, you know, two fresh guys, I don't think he could do it. But I do think Moikano can out-wrestle and out-grapple him. And so I do think they're going to get striking on the feet. I do think if you're Moikano, it's incumbent upon you to mix it up.

If you're Brad Riddell, it's incumbent upon you to be very defensively sound, good movement, sticking with the jab, good inside low kick, really disrupting the rhythm, disrupting the base of Moikano. Would you advise Riddell to spend more time with Volkanovsky? He's a striking coach. Just shadow every thought and movement. Brad Riddell serves as a more time with Volkanovsky? He's a striking coach. Just shadow every thought and movement. Brad Riddell serves as a striking coach for Volkanovsky. I did not know that.

Introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich, but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy. Consider yourself warned. Limited time only. I participate in McDonald's in Canada. Alright. Yeah, so like... Would you watch the CKB reality show to really understand the ins and outs, the relationships? Motherfucker, I would produce

it. Yeah, you whip my pants off. Alright, Luke. No, in this case, dude, I think Moicano's gonna get it done. My prediction is an all-action fight with a finish. That's my prediction. Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, that's a guarantee, it seems like. Yes. I love this light heavyweight fight that nobody's talking about, and that's Dominic Reyes. He's back. Minus 205, a betting I mean, that's a guarantee, it seems like. Yes. I love this light heavyweight fight that nobody's talking about, and that's Dominic Reyes.

He's back. Minus 205, a betting favorite here, despite all the questions coming off of that three-fight losing skid, the long layoff due to injury, and now the switching of camps to Team Glover Teixeira, access to Pineda, to Wellington Turman there in Connecticut, to Chuck Mendenhall, if he so desires, after hours. But Ryan Spann at plus 175 can thump.

So, Luke, this is either the perfect sort of, you know, decently high-quality fight for the former title challenger and Reyes, the former future of the division, to come back at age 32, show off all the extra wrinkles that he's added to his game in Connecticut, and really overnight reannounce himself as a title contender, or it's a trap and a potential fourth straight loss. Because as great as he fought against Jon Jones, we did not expect to see Reyes broken down, crumbled, and folded like he was obviously against Yuri Prochazka, which is

just a different level of danger. But even Luke in the fight against Jan Blachowicz for the vacant title, I didn't expect him to get chopped down and really dominated in the end like that. What do you need to see from Dom Reyes? What are your expectations of how different he's going to approach the striking side to it with the new team, a hot team,

for Nelly Felice Sr., the boxing coach, this team's making noise and coming on. This seems like a great fit for him, but what is going to be the proof in terms of the... I'm going to answer that. You're going to get mad at me for saying this, but we do have a ton of show. No, this is what people actually want.

I know, but that means you're going to have to cut out some other stuff. Well, I'm not going to break down Michael Trezano versus Seungwoo Choi at any kind of... There's like six more topics. Oh, we do great two-hour shows, and we pack it. This is headed to two and a half hours at the current rate. Okay, but to answer the question, so— Are you always the guy who like C-blocks or like just reminds everybody that things could go really wrong here?

So stop having— I'm just telling you, you're on a pace now that there's no way this is a two-hour show. You're like, my neighbor is a cop, and they may be on their way. I know you're going to get bitter about it, but I'm right. Okay, to answer the question, did you see what Dom Reyes told the media this week? He told them that there's been many great things to training with Glover Teixeira and the Connecticut

Super Friends, but the biggest thing he's been working on, which I also think is right, was his defense. He says he has been cleaning up his defense and his defensive problems like crazy on this one, which in particular is going to be in the stand-up department, right? I think that's exactly right. We knew he had good offense, good movement, trap setting, good angles, and obviously he's

a good athlete. He can wrestle at times when he needs to. He also got his face broken in his last fight. He did. He did. It was a tough loss. He's had a couple of tough fucking losses, you know? No doubt about it.

But I think getting with a new camp and really working on protecting yourself while still finding a place for offense is exactly what a guy like him should have been doing. So I have high hopes for him in this one. I really do. I think he can, I think, and listen. He can make a huge leap, a huge leap forward. Totally agree.

And also just like a confidence boosting one. Like we don't talk about this enough. When we were on a run like this for Dominic Reyes, you really got to balance like all the negativity you've been dealing with and all the doubt he's been dealing with. He had to move across the country. He had to go to a new part of the new teammates. Everything was new to go fix all these problems. But you don't know if it's actually going to work until you get in there. And by the way, Ryan Spann is a limited fighter in certain ways,

but is fucking fast and heavy-handed as shit. Like, he can give you a lot of problems. For me, Dominic Reyes needs to show he's the more well-rounded guy, and I want to see proof of this better defensive work on the feet so that he can kind of diffuse the bomb of Ryan Spann with the way in which he's managing distance, setting up attacks, making him react with his own feints, that kind of a thing.

That's what I want to see from here. This is, I'll say it this way, BC. This is not a fight that a new and improved Dominic Reyes, such as he presents himself, should lose. He should not lose this fight. I have three more questions about this card, but they'll be rapid fire, so we'll be done quick. All right.

Can Dominic Reyes dunk with ease at 6'2"? Yes. He's 6'4". He's my height. I met him in person. So easy. Yes. Oh, yeah'4". He's my height. I met him in person. So easy. Yes. Oh, yeah.

That would be nice to see. And my second question is, is Aaron Blanchfield going to absolutely dominate Molly McCann and kind of put out the fire on this great turn for Molly to become a character and a spinning backfist master? Is old Aaron Blanchfield from New Jersey, not Colorado, you can dead wrong me right now from the pregame preview, is she going to bring the thunder here? Probably. I think she's going to whoop up on her. I will say though, don't you find it surprising? We talked about this

a little bit earlier in the week. Molly Meatball is finally getting some real attention and they gave her to Aaron fucking Blanchfield. Is that like when they put Paige Van Zandt so early against Rose? Is it kind of like that? Let's just find out what we have here. That's a great poll. I didn't think of it that way. You might be right, where it's

like, okay, we're just going to see what she's got because, let me tell you, Erin Blanchfield's going to find the fuck out. Finally, one of my great strawweight heroes, I mentioned earlier, Karolina Kovalevich, a minus 120 betting favorite early on this early prelim against Silvana Gomez-Juarez plus 100. Is this the final time

we see the former title challenger, Karolina, in the cage, or just another time? Ooh. I hadn't thought about that. That's a great... Um... No. Not the last time. Not the last time. Well, speaking of this great card on Saturday and the many great partners that we deal with, how about DraftKings?

I mean, MMA fans, we've got an unreal match going head-to-head this week when we're talking about Pareda versus Adesanya, middleweight title in the main event. You tune into UFC 281 on Saturday. We know you will. You're going to watch the action unfold. But there's something you can do right now that can make things even more exciting. Today's sponsor, DraftKings Sportsbook, the official betting partner of the UFC, is going to give

new customers this great deal we're talking about. All new customers have to do is sign up using our promo code MorningCombat. One word, right? Morning Combat with a K, of course. Then bet $5 on either Adesanya or Parada to win, and you will get an additional $200 in free bets. Luke, there's no easier way to get involved on the fun of what is legalized sports gambling

and have a little bit of fun, throw a little bit of cheddar on there. If you got a feeling for some Adesanya magic again, it's time to put $5 down and get a little more in your pocket. Okay, you could do a CKB parlay. That's one other thing you could do. You could do, I don't know, a Frankie Edgar and what's another one you could match that? You could do a Frankie Edgar and like...

Michael Troisano. Yeah, you could do that. There's a lot of ones you could use. Of course, if you want more action, you can combine multiple bets, like which fighter will win, how long the fight will last, and more in one parlay to give you a shot at even bigger winnings. And for those in a state where mobile sports betting is not yet available, DraftKings Daily Fantasy is giving all MMA fans a chance to win cash this weekend.

And, of course, BC, they have to know DraftKings is safe, secure, and reliable. Best of all, you can deposit and withdraw your cash whenever you want. A lot of places don't do that shit. They do. If you want to get started, here's your final instructions. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app right now. Use our promo code MorningCombat. One word. Combat with a K.

MorningCombat. One word. Right there. Put $5 on the main event. Either fighter. Get you $100 in money to use to make some. Look, if you don't think Chandler's going the distance, like, you know, come on, do it. Thank you very much. Enjoy responsibly.

DraftKings, MKDK. It's down on the D. Meet me on the low. You understand that. Okay. Luke, let's continue to topic number three. This was a big one from a couple days ago. We're finally finding a home for it,

but former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has been freed on bail. He was granted the second motion filed to allow a one, was it a $1 million bond? Yeah. To get out. So the next court hearing is scheduled for November 21st at 9 a.m. And as conditions of his release from prison, Velasquez will have to pay $1 million cash or bond. He has to submit to home detention with GPS monitoring. He can't leave his primary residence outside of allowances by the court, and he has to undergo outpatient treatment for traumatic brain injury and CTE, as well as

counseling for parents of children who have suffered sexual abuse. Luke, this could not be a more tragic situation with- Yeah, hold on. His house will have a search and seizure performed. He will not be allowed to have any weapons in his house. He must also comply with a protective order to stay 300 yards away from Gularte, the man who is alleged to have molested his child, his mother, and his stepfather. So if you forgot what happened,

the Velazquez family accusing somebody at a daycare of molesting Kane's son, Kane took action into his own hands with a firearm and fired it, and it was reckless, Luke, and we... It's one of those situations that's like, you get it. You know, you get it. It's also— Terribly tragic.

Great that he's out, that he can be with his family. There's a lot of people saying, how does the law work if the guy that's accused can just roam free as well? I mean, I get it. I get the—there's a lot of gray areas in this. It's very easy to explain. One guy is accused of a crime for which he has been— i think he's been arrested and charged is in a separate incident but the reason why again my buddy is a criminal defense attorney i actually sent him this article when kane got released he told me he was surprised he was like the guy's lawyer is pretty good otherwise like even with a million dollar bond they still

usually won't do it i mean here's what kane is alleged to have done right getting in a car and chasing this guy and fucking shooting him in a shootout in public, risking, according to the court, risking the health and safety of the entire wider public. Yeah, you're going to get held in jail for that. You could say that he was morally in the right if you want to say something like that. But if you're the law, you have to look at it as like, this guy clearly endangered the public by doing that. So I am, to your point, I am quite glad he got out. But I, like when the whole thing went down and we got the details, it's like getting out was a bit of a minor miracle. And by the way, the trial, excuse me, the next court hearing is November 21st. So we'll see how long it lasts.

But it is a good thing that he got out. It's just, it is somewhat surprising given what he's facing here. It does seem like everybody is like, you know, you see the free cane shirts. Like everybody's pro in the business of like, man, he should be released, I get it. Are there enough people like talking about that he did, you know, take the law into his own hands and act?

Well, people are just saying that he's morally justified for doing that, which I understand. And people also said like, what would you do if it was your kid? I don't fucking know, man. Who knows? Yeah, who knows?

I don't know, but I at least can can noodle through when an attorney explains it to you. He's like, dude, look at what the court has to deal with. They're not fans of Cain Velasquez in that way that we are. So what do they have to do? They have to deal with a guy who, according to multiple eyewitnesses in the police testimony, got in a car, chased other people, and had a fucking shootout in public trying to murder someone. Yeah, they're going to put you in jail for that. They're going to put you in jail for that versus allegations, which I'm sure, you know, I'm not here. Legally speaking, they are

allegations that this guy molested his kid. I can understand why, you know, as far as I'm concerned, putting both of them in there. But I guess the other issue is that there could be a potential like a prison or jail overcrowding so that they only do this under certain circumstances for like violent offenders versus nonviolent offenders, which you would be like, well, isn't that a violent offense, but not in the way that the law interprets it.

The law is fucking crazy. The law is crazy. It just, I will say this, it is a surprise. It's a pleasant surprise, but let's also, if you're an MMA fan,

I do think you need to be realistic about this. He's probably going to serve time. That's what every lawyer I've spoken to about this has said. It's possible that the jury could get two guys on there, feel like Cain acted righteously. But, dude, if you chase someone down in your car and you fucking shoot them in public, I mean, I don't know what to tell you, man. You're going to go to jail for that. Yeah.

It's not black and white, though. There's a lot of gray here. Dude, it's a ton of gray. Again, if it had happened to one of your kids or my daughter, what the fuck would I do? I don't know. I don't fucking know. I don't know.

And I understand that anger completely. Absolutely. A couple more quick topics based on the news cycle here. Topic four, Aljamain Sterling has a solution, it seems, that he shared on Twitter for the fact that he wants to take the first half of 2023 off in a very competitive division. We've talked about the idea of do you float an interim title

and let Sean O'Malley fight a number of people for it. Here's Aljo's idea. Instead, he wants to coach the ultimate fighter opposite Sean O'Malley and said in his tweet it would do great TV ratings. He put at Dana White, at Sean Shelby, at Mick Maynard. I think we've got Aljo quote tweeting.

Do you know this guy, Luke, who tweeted out? Marcus DeJuan Williams? He's at every UFC card. He's a big super fan. This guy's an expert picks guy. Expert. He's good at it. Expert.

Sometimes they have him on the ESPN betting podcast as well. Shout out to Marcus Williams. Big fan of that guy. But Aljo quote tweeted, said, not a bad idea at all. Would that be a good idea for you? I wouldn't watch no matter what. Alright. Much like my family

in morning combat, I just wouldn't watch. But you wouldn't need an interim title if you made them coaches, right? Because that's suddenly like content. You wouldn't need an interim title, no. Yeah, it's content. And it would elevate O'Malley. That's not a bad idea. It does F Henry over. Then would the UFC be like, sorry, Henry, we're going to need you to fight like Jan first. Or we're going to need you to fight Marab or something.

Yeah, dude. Giving Cejudo to Marab when he comes back, it's like the least, maybe like the worst possible way to come back, you know? Yeah. Well, that's not the only Sean O'Malley news, Luke. Neither is you appearing on his show this week, and I did enjoy that appearance. You even said my name.

Say my name. Say my name. Say my name. Are you really charging your vape? Yeah. Put a little more juice in it, bro. Okay, Luke, here's the breaking news on Sean O'Malley. I believe we...

Suck my balls about my vape, by the way. Let's go to Sean O'Malley to break this news for us. Are there any cons? Or is there just pros? Or like, well, it could supposedly help with girth, performance. So I'm like, well, it ain't the first time I've had a needle in my wing. Hit me up, doc. I hurt worse than I thought it was going to because they said,

oh, that won't hurt that bad. Well, it probably didn't hurt you because you got a boner. We had an option to have a guy do it or a girl do it. I said I want the hot doctor to do it. And Tim's like, I want the guy when i get scared my wind sucks into me right she grabbed mine and it's i'm like it started growing right away and i'm like god damn it i'm sorry i was like how do you get a boner before you get stabbed but then the dot the male came and he's male doctor like, you want me to hold your hand? And my wife went, no. I was like, no.

Luke, he got stem cells injected into his prick. Are you okay with this? I said there's something. I love Sean O'Malley as a fighter. I don't fully understand him, though. We're very different people. Yeah. What do you think it felt like?

I mean, I got three in the bag that time for that thing I had to do. Well, now I'm curious. Would you get stem cells in your hog? No. Are you going to get a hog tattoo as well to match your ass cheeks? I mean, now I'm curious. Would you get stem cells in your hog? No. Are you going to get a hog tattoo as well to match your ass cheeks? I mean, what kind of weirdo are you? Yeah, I don't know. I've never, ever contemplated shoving needles in my dong.

Nor did I contemplate talking about shoving needles in my dong on a Friday morning. That's a great point. All right. Topic five, Luke, is Davidson Figueredo. He's your flyweight champion. He's planning to move up in weight. Here, he talked to AG Fight, and he said, I want to show the world I own this weight class, meaning flyweight.

But after this next fight, which is, of course, the fourth meeting with Brandon Moreno, I want to test myself at bantamweight. That's my next step after this fight. I want to fight for the bantamweight title. A win will qualify me for it even more. I hope the promotion abides. Luke, we've always said Davison Figueiredo is more likely than not to be forced to move up because of his many weight struggles and just outgrowing the division. He's, what, 34, going to turn 35?

He's an absolute badass. Can he compete in this historically deep Bantamweight division? I'm going to say compete, yes. Could he be a title holder? I have my doubts. I have my doubts. All right. We're going to have to find out. And finally, topic stick.

Hey, Justin Gaethje revealed something that kind of opens up. Look, UFC 274, he lost his lightweight title bid. This wasn't one leg kick away from putting Habib in peril. Charles Oliveira took it to him, although Gaethje did land a big shot early. But Justin Gaethje has now revealed that he suffered a bike accident 18 days before that fight in May. And he said he smashed his head on the pavement, had vision issues and had road rash. This is per New York media day. Luke, does this explain to any degree? Because I remember, look, I had Gaethje the top 10 pound for pound, even though he wasn't a champion. I thought this was going to be his

moment. And once again, Charles Oliveira proved me wrong and continued that path he was on. But does this in some form, it obviously shows the willingness, the toughness, the craziness of Gaethje, but he got seemingly dropped on pavement on his head and had some issues from this and fought 18 days later. That's not the best case scenario. Yeah, that's real bad. Yeah. Like that would absolutely compromise you and your ability to take damage. I mean, I don't know. Is it the same as getting knocked out? I don't know.

Also, like, when he says bike, did he mean, like, pedal bike? I don't know. Or did he mean vroom, vroom bike? I don't know if he had a helmet. I don't know the situation. But, yeah, there's no, like, asking, did that compromise him heading into this fight? I don't have a doubt that it did. And he still did it anyway.

Granted, listen, maybe Oliveira wins no matter what. I don't know. But he fucking ran through Gaethje. You remember that? It disappointed me how much Gaethje just got handled. And that was bad, too, because that was the fight you were like, okay, if he's going to get back to the title, let's do this. So does he ever fight for a UFC title again?

It's not impossible. No, not impossible, but unlikely. Unlikely. All right, we'll see what happens. You can see why these NFL teams put these clauses like no fucking four-wheeling in your contract to prevent these guys from being goofballs outside of football season, because it'll

fuck your shit up. Our next segment is going to be an interesting one. Normally, we do DMs from donks on Monday. We solicit your questions through Instagram. We decided kind of last minute yesterday to have some fun with this Friday show in studio. Here's what BC unscientifically did. Look through my DMs on Twitter and Instagram.

Just randomly, 20, 25 people shot the same message, said, we want to do this tomorrow. Send us your funny video, ask a question, sell yourself, whatever you want to do. Luke, we had our great producer, Mikey, narrow it down to the seven best. So thank you very much to everybody for sending it in. There was a caveat from Mikey Morms.

He said, I'm not sure all of our jobs will ultimately survive this segment. Okay. He was a little nervous here. Do you have any fear entering this? Because the people, we love them, but we know they're weird. We know that. Yeah, they're fucking weird, and my body is ready. All right.

I'm ready for the dick injections. I'm ready, baby. Yeah, let's do this. We're going to start off with Jack. I have not watched these. Yeah, we've got mail. Viewers, thank you very much. We've got DMs from Donks. Hee-haw. Oh, this is Jack from, he's from

my parts of Connecticut. Let's hear from him. Let's do this. Happy Friday, Luke in BC. This is Jack Horvath, a fellow subject of Brian's Connecticut Kingdom. My question comes after seeing the video of Jake Paul and Andrew Tate facing off. If you two could both pick two fighters or non-fighters to be in a press conference together, who would those

two be? I'd be curious to know. Anyways, love the content, guys. Keep it up. You're doing great work and MK all day. Thanks. I think that's Avon Connecticut's own Jack Horvath. Maybe Canton Connecticut, but shout out to that guy. Connecticut's not a place. Luke, Jack's question is, did you see that video that Jake Paul put out of him and Andrew Tate facing off with Nikisa Badarian between them? Was that supposed to check the temperature of people's interest in a fight? That's a controversial fight. Yeah, I hope that's not the one that they make.

Okay, but to Jack's question, are there two personalities? Look, Conor McGregor has been the greatest builder of must-see press conferences weigh in. You know what I mean? All that shit during the week. Dude, Conor fight weeks are just different. Does Conor have to be the answer? And you can just find- Versus who? That's the question Jack had. It could be anything. It could be Nate a third time. It could be, imagine Conor against Mike Perry. Imagine that build. I mean, what are two fighters that just from a press conference trash talk ridiculousness standpoint? Active?

Yes. That if you could make it, whether it's under boxing or BKFC or UFC, whatever, but just to get that build. What about Conor versus Danny Sabatello? Different weight classes, not that close, but that's interesting.

Or you know what? It doesn't always work because Nate and Jorge was not a good mix for that. What about Hamzat and Colby? Could be wild as well. If Colby's doing his shtick. Because he's going to say some crazy, like I feel like anti-Islamic things. I don't know about that, but he could. Would Jake versus Connor, which is really becoming more and more unlikely given the fact that Jake Paul is getting decent at boxing,

and he's pretty damn big compared to Conor, right? Although Conor's 265 now, so what am I talking about? Would that build be incredible, or would it be painful? I think it would be cringe and painful, but it would do big numbers. Okay. You don't have Jake Paul Floyd. Jake Paul keeps floating that every once in a while. Yeah, my level of interest in that is zero. Yeah, zero. Thank you very much. All right, let's would do big numbers. Okay. You don't have it like Jake Paul Floyd. Jake Paul keeps floating that every once in a while. Yeah, my level of interest in that is zero.

Yeah, zero. Thank you very much. All right, let's go to our second video. This is from Yorick. Yorick. Oh, look at this dirtbag. What's up, guys? I have two quick questions for you.

Luke, I've heard you say you were interested in David Hume before. What is it about him that interests you specifically? And also, do you think it's possible to divorce philosophers' views from any problematic views that they might have and still save their theories? And B.C., I'll be your hugger. I would not trust that man alone in a room with my children, but I love him, Luke. I love Yorick. Thank you for sending that in. Luke, David Hume, philosophy, you got any answers to this?

Business, ethics? So basically I took a class on philosophy of science, and David Hume did a lot of stuff, including one of the things I really reminded him about, inductive reasoning. But it's sort of a really simple problem. If you open your door every day, like for example, we talk about sort of metaphysical laws. We talk about like those solicitors that are trying to always put like panels on my roof. I don't want their son shit.

This isn't inductive reasoning per se, but one of the sort of things he... It sounds quite an obvious thing, but until they laid it out, it doesn't seem that way. He was talking about the nature of not just probability, but existence. Like if you open your door every day and there's never an alligator, what is to say that the next time you'll open it, there'll be an alligator, right? Is the alligator in this question a Jehovah's Witness? I'm not really fully... The point being is, or even that the sun, the sun comes up every morning, right? But what is the proof that the sun will come up tomorrow? How do you actually know that? And the argument would be, well, it's come up every day since.

Or the answer would be... That actually tells you nothing about it, whether it will come up tomorrow. So you have to have belief in something or someone that it would come up. Well, you would say, you would point to various reasons about the way in which we understand the universe functions, but those are all conditional as well.

All of it is conditional. We actually don't, we don't actually know if the sun will come up tomorrow. You think George Michael was right, you know? You got to have faith, the faith, the faith. No, didn't he do, and the sun going down on me. Well, that's Elton, but yeah, he sang that. Well, didn't George, wasn't Elton and George in that? Wait, going down on me, you making that's Elton, but yeah, he sang that. But didn't George, wasn't Elton and George in that? Wait, going down on me,

you making a bathhouse reference or no? Hold my hand. Why is physical touch such a big thing for you? Because it turns you into the most antisocial piece of shit. I mean, I enjoy physical touch with my wife, my kids, my animals.

And your editorial partner. All right. Yes. God, your hands are sweaty. I know. You're fucking gross. All right. Hey, we got one from David A.

Is this going to be happy? Yes, it is. David Appleton from France. This could get interesting. Hi, guys. David Appleton here. I still hate that. Now listen, I'm not happy.

You've been bigging yourselves up. You've been claiming to be washed dads. Now I believe you can't get anywhere near me in terms of washed dad status. So I need receipts. My question is, how washed are you? I want you to give me the most disgusting washed dad thing you do regularly, regularly at least once a week, and it has to be washed. Anyway, guys, it's a serious question. How washed are you? I've got to go. As France's most celebrated teacher,

I've got to get back and do some research for my next lessons. I don't know if that's in the right place. So until next time, may all your four-minute videos for predatory loans be loyal. Seven words. We out. Just so people are aware, they actually had to edit out a really disgusting part of that video. That's not a surprise.

From the great Appy, the French Harvey himself. Wow. Luke, he said, you know, something gross you do once a week. Shower once a week when I'm working from home. Yeah, I don't shower very regularly. Also, I've taught my daughter to audibly fart. Okay. I mean, I've got a rule.

And I'll do that in public now. I'll just audibly fart in public. I don't care. You subscribe to my 24-hour rule. Every pair of underwear gets 24 hours unless you sweat, unless you've noticeably worked out. Dude, bro, there's been times where I've gone a couple days without showering and then pulled the underwear band down to, like, go shower. And it's like a fucking someone opened an ancient Egyptian tomb from 2,500 years ago. Just absolute bacteria up in my nostrils.

We're still—we're pretty wild. I mean, I work from home. I'm washed. I'm washed as shit. I'm married. I'm so pathetic. I dress like an absolute piece of shit. Nobody.

I look like nobody. That's why I'm always like, I hope there's no local donks that run into me. If you run into me at Stop and Shop, you're going to see me in bright orange slides with socks underneath and sweatpants because that's- I saw a dude at CVS the other day.

I was leaving. My wife and I were leaving CVS and he was walking in and he's like, hey, Luke Thomas. And I was like, meh, I just fucking kept going. So sorry about that, dude.

Yeah, people are like, wow, you guys are just, you know, you're so real. No, normally in public. No, normally in public. No, no, normally in public. My wife and I, we were having a bit of an issue

so we had to get the fuck out of there. Marital? Whatever. The point, we're fine. Everything's fine. She's coming up today. It's going to be great. But I'm just saying, we had to get the fuck out of there. And this guy was like Everything's fine. She's coming up today. It's going to be great. But I'm just saying, we had to get the fuck out of there.

And this guy was like, hey, Luke Thomas. And I was like, man, what's up? Fucking just kept moving. Didn't even say hi. Sorry. Sorry about that, dude. Yeah, Appy, we're pretty gross. Well, we had a cutout from Appy's video.

My daughter now audibly farts, and then we'll go, cochina, which means like gross, dirty. Can Uncle Gringo teach her the armpit fart? Yes, please. That'd be awesome, actually. Okay, okay. That's a little washed as well. Okay, let's go to Gregory. I think this is that bearded ex-military guy.

Yes, let's do it. Oh, look at this. Love this guy. Luke and BC, what's up? This guy's shadow close to his desk. From a truck stop in Wyoming. Just got to say, guys, I appreciate all the content. Fills all my hours of driving every day.

BC, you are washed. You're the most disgusting CEO ever, but we love you. Luke, it's the Marine Corps' birthday today. So let's hear about a story, a drinking story, in fact. Let's hear about the wildest drinking story you had in the Marines. Also, go Army. Fuck the Marines. So he's a truck driver, and he enjoyed our Wednesday content.

You know, we put out about 18 hours of content. I think he was just driving the road. Oh, this is the dude who drove all night. Yes, yes, yes. He messaged me about it. He probably knows a lot about trucker speed. Jesus, my best drinking story from the Marine Corps? God, they were awful. We always got in fucking fights, man.

What was it, the birthday of the Marines the other day, yesterday? So November 10, 1775 is the birthday of the Marine Corps. And who's the father of the Marines? Who's the George Washington of the Marines? Who started it? There's no single person you would identify. There's no Brigham Young that you guys? No, not quite like that.

Today is Veterans Day, though. Today is Veterans Day. So for all veterans out there, thank you for your service. Yes. I appreciate you, even if he, this fucking... No, look, some gave all. Okay, Pat Tillman? That's what I'm talking about. Yes, we saw that statue outside. He wouldn't really be a veteran. He would be more...

What would he be? He served. He gave all. Right, but he's not alive. The statue we saw in Phoenix. So you would celebrate Pat Tillman on Memorial Day. Oh, then what's veterans about? People that are still actively. Yeah, people who are still walking the earth. So if we're talking about like Tim Kennedy.

Yeah, veteran. Thank him. That's right. Yeah. So crazy drinking story from the Marine Corps. Dude, we always got in fights. I fucking hated it. God, we got thrown out of this place after a fucking

group fight in Palm Springs, California once. Oh, you know it was the same weekend as Woodstock 99. Oh, God. Yeah, we rented a hotel room and we filled up the tub with beer and it was like, I don't know, it must have been 20 of us. You didn't come across any trains or anything, right? That's just... You mean like

choo-choo trains? No. Yeah, I didn't do any of those in the Marine Corps because I'm not Cochino. This always gets me. People are always like, you know, the troops are models of morality and civility in our culture. I'm like, no, the fuck they are not. They keep the sex trade funded, don't they? Oh, God. And the other part too was like Marines would always go down to Tijuana and just, I mean, whore it up.

Yeah, yeah. I don't really have any great drinking stories from the Marine Corps because they all ended in disaster. Yeah, there's nothing good to share, Gregory, but he's a big Army guy. Fuck Army. I mean, fuck Army. This is like brothers in the same family trying to argue that they have better- No, this is little brother trying to take a shot at big brother.

That's what this is. Make no mistake about it. Is there such a thing as ex-Army? They're all civilian pieces of shit to me. Wow. Okay, the number five is from Callum. Maybe this is a Brit. Let's see what this guy's got. Oh, look at this fucking criminal.

Hey, morning combat crew. It's Callum here from London. This is a question to both BC and Luke. Luke, I'll start with you. Even though you are a washed up salt and pepper bitch, Chuck Mindenhall once referred to you as a polymath. Now, I'm curious to know, is there an academic field or topic that you have yet to really

hone in on, but are interested in doing so? And if so, what is that? And then to BC. BC, I think we have very similar music tastes, mainly 60s and 70s rock. Yes. Now, I even noticed you had a Joni Mitchell album cover behind you the other day. Are you a fan of Neil Young?

And if so, what are your opinions on him and his discography and artistry as a whole? And then to both of you... Thanks, guys. All the best, motherfuckers. I think I caught a Ioana and Brett in that rant. I think I did. I think I caught sex tape in that.

Yeah, wow. All right. Luke, would you like to begin there with this question? Topics that are outside of combat sports? Yeah, I guess he's saying what personal research you can do on an educational topic that you haven't gotten to yet but you have a passion for. I'd read a lot of stuff on drugs and drug use. That's been like a big thing the last 10 years. Drugs win drug war. Yeah. The drugs, the drugs won the drug war. It turns out. Yeah. Nancy. Nope. Nope. Not Nancy Reagan. She lost that one pretty badly. Um, I've been reading books on

energy policy recently. I read a book on Russia's future by 2050 and how climate change is going to change their geopolitical stature. Yeah, those are all the – oh, you know what book I wanted to read? So, okay, you mentioned like who's the father of the Marine Corps. It doesn't really work that way. But like our founding hero for the state or for the country anyway would be George Washington. And once I asked my wife like who's the George Washington of South America? Because I grew up not knowing shit about those politics. And the answer is Simon Bolivar.

And if you look at Venezuela and Ecuador and Colombia, their flags all have the exact same colors, but like different ways they arrange it because those are all Bolivarian states. I actually had just bought, I just bought a biography of Simon Bolivar. And I wanted to read how he became this, like, conqueror of South America and how it led to the various states, the Bolivarian states that were created therein. Interesting. That's way beyond my, you know, I'm more of a healer. Do these things not, like, not this particular, like, what's the last book you read that was not so much for joy but for, like, real good information? Well, I read a lot.

I read a lot of autobiographies for inspiration. So I've always been into that. And that, of course, plays into like I'll read combat ones. I was going to read Ben Askren's one. Chuck gave me a copy. But I read, you know, I'm big on John Wooden's teachings. I'm big on like self-help type books. I read a lot of –

So bullshit, in other words. No, no, no, no. A lot of Christian self-help I read a lot on. Yeah, definitely bullshit. But 99% of self-help is just trash. Really? Yeah, in other words. No, no, no, no. They help, you know, a lot of Christian self-help I read a lot on. Yeah, exactly, bullshit. But 99% of self-help is just trash. Really? Yeah, it's trash. Or it helps you, you know, look back into your own life and the hurt you might be carrying.

No, they're selling you a book. They're not selling you help. No, they're selling you help. Most of the time they're not. We all have the same tools. We just don't always use them. They help you sort of hone in on how you should be maybe changing or rewiring. I'm not saying self-help doesn't exist.

What I'm saying is the self-help publishing industry is like the crypto industry. It's full of scammers and thieves and grifters. You have to be very careful about what actually is good and what isn't good. Oh, for sure. Yeah, there's a lot of trash. But you've got to be well-researched to figure out what you're looking for. But I read a lot of in-depth sports books that capture a whole season. Like I love Unfinished Business. Yeah, see, when I read, I don't want to read sports books.

I want to read something. The best book I ever read might be that Vince Lombardi massive biography. I forgot the name of it. When It All Still Mattered or something like that. I mean, it's just so in-depth, it's ridiculous. I'm almost done with Drug Use for Grownups by Dr. Carl Hart over at Columbia University.

That one would change your mind. Yeah, we have different brains and we crave after different things. Most of my time is spent listening to records and researching that. So to answer Callum's question about Neil Young, I respect his output and material so much that I didn't want to do it half-assed. Kind of like when I finally bit the bullet on The Grateful Dead, I was like, I'm going to need two to three years to legitimately listen to every concert I can get access to to really know it. I'm just starting that vinyl-wise with Neil.

While I had Harvest and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere back in the CD days, I've recently added those on vinyl along with After the Gold Rush, Time Fades Away. I think On the Beach might be my favorite of the Neil's Prime 70 run up to this point. I've always loved Zuma, of course, the Long May You Run album with Stephen Stills, but I'm yet to full, and of course I can move on from there to Comes a Time and so much more. I want to give it the right time.

I want to do it right. Neil is so diverse and changed genres so many times, even times when it didn't really make a lot of sense in his own creative direction. And he maybe spent too much time fighting his record labels, which is why he's got some of these weird outputs, Callum, but On the Beach is about as good as it gets in the 1970s. And I don't think

Neil's out of the discussion for the best of the 70s. I think from a macro point of view, Classic Rock Radio taught us that essentially Led Zeppelin or the Rolling Stones own the 70s. But the deeper I'm in there, I'm like, nah, man, maybe Joni did or maybe... I mean, there's so many. There's so many, but I think Neil Young's in that discussion as well. But, Luke, that's that for Callum. Let's move on to our next fan video here. I mean, I like this, Luke. I like to hear from the people.

I don't know if you do. This is Gabriel. Dude, none of these guys look normal. Jesus Christ. Just a dub tee piece of shit. What's up, Combat Corner guys? The name's Gabriel Storm from Virginia. Ooh, where?

That's right. He looks fine. So, my question is, if you could choose the location and three people living to do psychedelics with, where would the location be? And who would the three people be? Keep up the good work guys that guy's so high luke was he checking in with his parole hopefully his lady was holding the camera and he was like either you know he had the shirt open uh luke the location for me if i'm gonna do this i'm gonna lick the toad with rashad it's gonna be joshua tree national park because that's what my heroes like graham parsons used to do yeah until if I'm going to lick the toad with Rashad, it's going to be Joshua Tree National Park. Because that's what my heroes like Graham Parsons used to do

until they died of drug use. So Luke, who are the three living people you... I'm going to name Rashad as one. Rashad Evans is going to be my active shaman with us. Can we turn down Mike Tyson? Could you turn that down? No. Rashad Evans. Yes. Mike Tyson. Yes. Ioana. No.

Fuck no. I mean, get the fuck out of here. Sofia Vergara. All right, you're right. Cheyenne Flesmas. All right. There you go. There you go.

I don't know who the third person would be. That's a weird one. Who is a great hang in greater combat sports? Oh, Aaron Bronstetter. No, he might freak out. He might. Yeah. Who in MMA media, like, you can look at, like, they're good at doing drugs.

Sean O'Shaughnessy led me to believe through his constant pandering that he was once a brick athlete and stud that he's probably a good hangover. No, no, no. Danny Segura. Danny Segura. He does have the International Man of Mystery vibe where I feel like he could swim in that pool. I'm telling you, bro. Danny gets busy when it's time to party. So I would do those three.

So we have Rashad, Mike Tyson, and Danny Segura. But I would not do them in the desert. I'm a little bit uncomfortable there. I want to be where I'm comfy. You know, I'd do that shit in the fucking Shenandoah Valley, motherfucker. How about that? Wow. Shenandoah.

What you know about that? Blue Ridge Mountains suck a dick. In the springtime? Fall? Yeah, like nice time of weather. Autumn. Are we going to sleep outside in like a lean-to on the trail? Only when, I will say this about the desert.

This is true, man. So there was like three summers in a row where I had to go to 29 Palms, which is in the Mojave desert. If you've never done it, it's the most, I truly, I mean this, it's the most magical experience. For whatever reason, the sky is much clearer at night and you can see the stars. And if you've, if you've been like, oh, I've seen the stars and wherever I live at night, it looks cool.

No, you got to do it in the right places on earth and in the Mojave Desert. It is, dude, you can see everything so bright. It's so beautiful. It's one of the most spectacular free things I've ever got a chance to witness. The nighttime starscape. I want to do that so bad. Yeah. I've always been in love with the desert-based national parks from a distance and research.

Have you been to Joshua Tree? I've still never been to Death Valley or Joshua. I've never been to any California national park. I want to go. I want to go to Channel Islands. I want to go everywhere. I want to go to Big Bear Lake. Have you never seen the giant redwoods?

Not yet. Oh, dude. You're missing out on those are American treasures. Dude, I didn't go to California for the first time until UFC 199. That was 2016. No shit. I didn't go to Vegas for the first time until we went to Canelo Mayweather in 2013. Wow, dude, you are sheltered.

I'm an East Coast guy, okay? Well, if I could really pick anywhere, I would pick somewhere in Spain, like the Canary Islands or some shit. Yeah, Madrid, where your longtime fandom was birthed in one minute for Real. Do you think you can challenge my love? Danny Segurja can. No, he can't. He can't do shit. You know what he can do? He can suffer as my team. He can't do shit. You know what he can do?

He can suffer as my team beats the fuck out of his. That's what he can do. Would you tell him he can S a D on air? Oh, sure. Okay. Yeah. I got your back, Danny. Danny is in, you know, he's in a head-to-head race with Brett Okamoto right now, you know,

under my- He's got that youth angle. Yeah. Yeah. That youth angle. You know, I've been trying, you know, we, you know, spoiler alert, I did ask Laura Senko about that debate that Ioana once put out there. Yeah, you awkwardly asked about it, yes.

I didn't get the response I was looking for. No, you didn't. More to come on that. Our final video, and again, thank you to everybody who on short notice. This is an automatic hit. I love this segment. We should do this again. And look, it was random who I reached out to.

Some of you said you couldn't do it. Some of you sent it in. So let's tell them. MorningCombatAtGmail.com. Send them in. Send them in. Send them in. Maybe this becomes a thing that we do, okay? 60 seconds or less.

I said 90 if you've got a good bit. If you've got a good bit going. As a general rule, 60 seconds or less. But if it's more than 90, you're done. You're off the team, okay? And if it's weird, like Appy with smelling his fingers after touching his ass. Well, he's a disgusting laugh. Come on, man.

All right, let's transition here, Luke. We've got a little bit more to close the show. And a reminder, 281, of course, UFC is this weekend. And there's a lot of potential on these undercards for somebody to rise up and enter the conversation for hashtag hammer of the month. Or maybe if you like it, hashtag holy hammer. It's brought to you by our great friends at Money Lion,

the only money app that you'll ever need. I mean, you want to start moneying the right way? Get with Money Lion. Luke, they're working on a new brand new segment with us in which at the end of each month, after taking solitations and requests from the audience, after our staff looking up and down, we've identified people like Pollyanna Vianna last week on the UFC undercard. You mentioned

Paul Hughes from Cage Warriors making big moves. We should be watching closely this weekend for somebody else to enter the conversation. People go, okay, does that matter? What do they get? Well, how about this? How about we introduce this into the larger picture? This. Put the camera on that,

motherfuckers. Right there. Here. Yeah, look at that bad boy. Hashtag holy hammer. We're going to send this to someone. That's a true thing we're going to do. And you're like, Luke, that's goofy as shit. Yes.

And cool. Yes, it is. And really cool. It is. It's heavy. Goofy as shit. Love it. Sometimes you're the nail, but once a month, we're going to find out who's the hammer,

who's deserving of putting this on their mantle So here's what you've got to do Each Monday we're going to highlight our nominees on the show And pick one winner at the end of every month To reward with this Epic Hammer Trophy That they can show off to their friends When you're watching the fights over the weekend

Let us know which fighters deserve this sweet award Hop onto your go-to social media platform And here's how you're going to do it. Nominate someone by tagging Moneylion on Twitter, at Moneylion, or at Moneylion Inc. on IG, and then use the hashtag Hammer of the Month. BC, where else can they go for information? They can... One more time.

It's got Morning Combat on one side. Morning Combat. So as you're watching the fights, somebody jumps out to you at Moneyline on Twitter, at Moneyline Inc on Instagram, hashtag hammer of the month, hashtag holy hammer. Let your voice be heard. Moneyline.com slash Morning Combat for more

information. Big fan of our partners. You can use that QR code if you need to. Let's do that, Luke. We close every Friday by giving you our email address, morningcombat at gmail.com. Yeah, sometimes you send in fan subs on Wednesday. You just send in some weird videos overnight

and we enjoy them. But when we stare into a camera for upwards of 12 hours per week and just utter some absolute bullshit, sometimes we get called to action for that. We get put on trial. We get subpoenaed by our fans who come here with receipts to prove once and for all that we was dead wrong, bitch.

All right, we got four violations here. Let's start from Mike Owens. Hey, Liverpool's Mike Owens, dude. Mike Owens Media. He had me on his podcast to preview 281. Great kid. Love that guy, man. He does big time interviews. I think he's working with Low Kick MMA now. Hustles. Yeah. Great personality. Very good interviewer. He's a scouser, Luke. Okay. He's from, he's a Liverpoolian. All right. He says, hey, Donks, in episode 372 at the 131-42 mark, BC says, do you remember the head kick from Uriah Hall on Corey Anderson when I was reliving the greatest knockouts in UFC and MSG history?

Yeah, this is dead wrong. It was OSP who KO'd Anderson with a head kick. I know this as BC, and I talked about it in our interview less than a week ago. My interview with Mike Owens kind of like got me so fired up for 281 that I was like, a lot of those discussions should be segments in our show, you know? So thank you, Mike Owens,

for planting those seeds. He's got a video receipt attached. Maybe lay off the Delta 8s for a while, BC, your scouser friend. I don't know if we have that video, but yeah, Mike, I'll straddle that fence. I'll take that L. Thank you. We don't have the video. All right, let's move on to Baker. He says, hey, LT and BC. Loved the show, but on Monday's episode, when discussing Neil Magny's impressive MMA run before Luke anointed him as a future Hall of Famer. Which I never fucking did.

Luke ran down some names on his resume and claimed he'd fought the stun gun. Luke, you're dead wrong. Magny never fought Deong Hyung Kim, aka the stun gun. In fact, he fought- I bet you that was when I read the wrong resume and then corrected myself on air.

He fought the ace. This dead wrong is bullshit. High on goo limb. On goo limb. Oh, I may have got it wrong. Maybe Luke skipped the daily dose of AG1 and wasn't thinking clearly. I need that sunbeam from get first person.

Yes, exactly. All right, this is from Paul or Marcus. I can't figure it out. BC's interview with Carla Esparza. He stated that Esparza finished Marina Rodriguez. Yes, I was dead wrong. In reality, she won by a split decision. It should have been Jan Schaunan I was mentioning.

Did BC get hit in the head with the holy hammer this week? Or is he just making a Lithuanian exit from the show through incompetence? Wow. All the best. Wow. Mikey, who sent this? There's like four names here. The Crane, Alexander, Paul.

Which guy was it? John Paul, Georgia Ringo. Which one here? Finally, this is, again, Spencer, Martin. We need one name, one name here. I don't know who sent it. Spencer, maybe? All I need is one mic.

On Monday's show, BC says Nate Maness was 3-0 at Bantamweight before moving down to flyweight to face Tagir Ulenbekov. But this is dead wrong as shit because Maness was 3-0 at Bantamweight before moving down to flyweight to face Tagir Ulenbekov. But this is dead wrong as shit because Manis was 3-1 at Bantamweight, dropping his last fight in a dominant decision loss to Umar Nurmagomedov. Looks like the BBC with the BDE got to lay off the THC. And he's got that CTE. There's your dead wrongs. Hey, morningcombat at gmail.com, your one-stop shop to send us fan subs.

Maybe these DM from Tong. Do you think this DM from Tong video thing is going to be a thing? Well, they got to send them in. But if the next crop is anything like the one today, it's a fucking winner. It's a winner. We're going to do it again. All right. There you have it.

Speaking of winners. Hashtag hammer of the month. Fuck me. Hashtag holy freaking hammer holy freaking hammer gonna be a few nails laying around this weekend after we do damage with this luke you got nailed right yeah yeah all right uh so morning combat's been hitting you hard this week shout out to everybody going to youtube.com slash morning combat shout out to everybody listening to the audio only on

your ride home from work. But this is in some ways just the friggin beginning. Saturday, first of all, we got a special guest in the morning here on the Room Service Diaries couch. We just banked the Laura Senko interview, so check out that in the near future. But the UFC 281 pay-per-view

is going to go down tomorrow night. Pay-per-view card only. Five fights. We will be with you. Live companion podcast on the At Morning Combat YouTube channel there. Don't miss it. We don't have a barber this time. Dion was busy. But, you know, you can manscape off camera if you're interested in continuing that.

I'm going to manscape on your bed. Just going to leave pubic hair everywhere. Of course, after the action concludes, Saturday night, Luke Thomas and myself will also be in this booth here, this bomb shelter

for a post-game show. It's been a fun week, 281 here. I feel like the fights are going to deliver. We're going to make MSG moments on Saturday. It's going to be fun.

It's going to be a great one. Special thanks to our great staff. They've been wonderful this week. Gaffney Jim, Long Allen Luke, Mikey Morms, you know, Tristan on the camera. Plotting our murders. Big fan of Big Loom, either Rerack or that guy, you know. If things aren't in the right space, he'll just, you know, he'll just move it around, right?

Cochino! Yeah, there he is. Luke, your family is going to visit this bomb shelter. Yeah. My wife and kid are on their way as we speak. Look, Tookie's on the train, bro. You want to see? Tookie took the train. She loves El Tren. Mira. Oh, that's just

amazing. Tookie's on the train, bro. Yeah. Tookie's on the train, bro. Yeah. Tukey's on the train. There she is. It's Tukey time. Huh? She loves the train. Oh, yeah. Ay, michinita.

Broccoli? Yeah. Yeah, she likes smart food, Luke. Michinita. She's a big smart food chick. Yeah. All right. That's that, Luke.

That's all I got, you know? Yeah, you did a good job today. I had to kind of corral you a little bit, but with my help, you did a good job. I'm like a bucking bronco. All balls, no brakes, right? There you go. Luke, I got an entrepreneurial idea for you. You're so into this vape thing.

What did Conor McGregor do? What did Brendan Schaub do? Develop their own sweet nectar to make a little money on the side. Should there be like a Luke Thomas vape thing, what did Conor McGregor do? What did Brendan Schaub do? Develop their own sweet nectar to make a little money on the side. Should there be like a Luke Thomas vape? I got the name for you.

I don't know if you like it. Ready? Here's our debut. You know, it's like Dana White's Slapdick series. Yeah, yeah. Luke Thomas'

statutory vape. Nine out of ten gymnastics doctors approved. Yes. Oh, Jesus. Okay. All right. All right. All right. That's the show.

That is it. That's the show. All right. Email us, morningcombat at gmail.com while we still have a working email address. You want to take us out or you want me to do it? No, I just got a lot of love for our fans. Great job on the fans. If we fill some weird void in your life

because we're always here three, four days a week, then it's MK all day, every day, because we do care about you. You guys have allowed us to put a lot of hardware on this shelf. I love you guys. Thank you for being so weird. Thank you for caring this much.

It's about MMA and boxing to a certain degree, but Luke, after that, it becomes about life. It becomes about trimming your pumpkins. Our chat with Lorasenko, it was more about life. It becomes about trimming your pumpkins. Our chat with Loroshenko was more about life. It was about an hour and 20 minutes too. It went for a while. So it was pretty good. Come live with us on MK.

This is about the journey and the growth and sometimes the failures of men. But on Fridays, after getting dead wrong, can we redeem ourselves? That's the story of Rose. That's the story of Lithuanian pride. That's the story of LTNBC. Rising like a phoenix.

We'll crash. Corey Lytle, not the best pilot, good pitcher. We'll crash eventually. Just waiting on you. For our great staff, for the great companies that used to back us until this episode, for Luke Thomas, it's Brian Campbell reminding you,

may all your ex-lovers stay loyal and stay satisfied because you're no longer with them because you're not man enough. We out.