MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 284 Recap: Makhachev edged Volkanovski, Rodriguez submits Emmett | EP. 407

Episode Date: February 13, 2023

On Episode 407 of Morning Kombat, Luke and Brian are back from the teams epic trip to London with a massive episode. The guys recap all the action from UFC 284. lslam Makhachev edged Alexander Volkanovski to retain his UFC lightweight title. How did you score it and what's your biggest takeaway? Who is the pound-for-pound top fighter in the sport today and why? Yair Rodriguez submitted Josh Emmett in the second round via triangle choke. He's the new interim champion. What did he prove with this victory? (20:05) - Makhachev vs. Volkanovski (43:55) - MMA pound-for-pound (59:00) - Rodriguez submits Emmett (72:30) - Jack Della Maddalena (79:20) - Vargas vs. Foster (89:00) - DM's from Donks Morning Kombat is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher 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

Hey, it's Monday. It's the day after the Super Bowl. It's two days after UFC 284. And it's three days after our very... Well, actually, no, it was on Wednesday. So it's almost like a week later. I don't even know what the math is anymore. I can't even think right. Hello, everyone. It's morning combat. Definitely was UFC 284 two days ago. I can say that for sure. Hi, my name is Luke Thomas. I joined you from the capital of the status unitas. We are back in Washington, D.C. and joined by my, I mean,

this MF-er took eight years off his life with the travel schedule he kept up over the weekend, but he did it. It's my friend and yours, Brian Campbell. BC, are you alive and kicking?

Barely. Do you think they asked Diego Corrales after that spectacular 2005 comfort behind victory over Jose Luis Castillo in their first meeting? You know, how much do you think they asked Diego Corrales after that spectacular 2005 comfort behind victory over Jose Luis Castillo in their first meeting? You know, how much do you think this takes off the end of your career, Luke? Okay, maybe that's the wrong person to reference. I don't think your achievement is quite as triumphant as that one.

Okay, okay. But no, you know, I live for today in the moment. And what a week, what a time. Happy to be back on U.s ground here luke but i don't think you know uh i have to say much because you saw the joy on the ground with me in london mk in the uk my people i mean i'm not cultured luke i don't get around you know these things about me right ask ask my high school girlfriends but uh wow the love we received i can't wait to come back with the family like

i was touched they touched me luke i was touched in the uk okay happy was there happy was there yeah who i'm told may have taken a drunk nap in the middle of the show i can neither confirm nor deny this but i definitely heard this uh we met the uh the paquettes they were lovely it was a lot of good times let's let's sort of set the stage for the show today ufc 284 recap we'll talk a little bit of vargas uh foster as well we've got dms we've got and look at this shit i want to jump in and interrupt you just to say this because you talked about my crazy schedule travel wise what you did saturday calling four was it four undercard fights in a two andand-a-half-hour pregame show solo,

and then doing a post-Morning Combat major pay-per-view instant analysis in a separate sport. Bro, there ain't too many people on this planet. What did Joe Rogan say that time? Look, there's only about 1,000 of us comedians in this world. There ain't many people on this planet that could have pulled that off on Saturday, what you did right there. Yeah, thanks.

It wasn't quite like your schedule, which was, I remember I got to my house, and you were still at the airport. I was like, you left four hours before I did. That plane from Dallas to San Antonio that was delayed an additional three and a half hours, that was great. That was fantastic. But, you know, that's what you pay for, Luke. That's what you pay for.

But, yeah, Saturday was a challenge because I had to do the prelims for the Vargas Foster card solo, which was not easy. And then we had to do the post-fight show, which did really well, by the way. Thanks to everyone who tuned in. If you're a new subscriber, by the way, thanks for tuning in. Let's set this up here just a little bit. Let's get through some of this. Showtime is the label that pays.

Showtime.com, 30-day free trial. If you'd like it, you can keep it. If not, you can bounce it, of course. If you have Showtime, then you probably saw BC at the Vargas vs. Foster fights. Fill it in for the legendary Jim Gray. Did a great job there, as always. But it's Bellator. It's the whole Showtime experience.

It's everything. And, of course, merch, BC. I guess they still have some London merch on the site. I haven't double-checked. But morningcombat.store. People asked us, hey, why didn't you guys have merch there? We gave away some merch. We gave away some merch. BC gave away some merch,

but we just couldn't work out with the folks in charge to get a merch table set up. We did the best we could. There was some minor miscommunications. Originally, we were going to have a merch table. I tried to Oprah as much as I could out to the people that showed up, but wow, you can still get merch, still some UK stuff available that I didn't throw to the crowd for free. But, you know, Luke, we wanted to set a tone

that if this is the first of many or just even a one-off, we wanted to bang everybody in that building, and I hope we did at the end of the day. We definitely banged. BC, I have to say, that Wednesday, you know me, I don't usually get nervous for stuff, but I was nervous for that. Didn't know how it

was going to go. You know, I've done live stuff, but I've never done, like, I mean, there was 400 people there. Like, it was a lot going on um 400 plus really and so i was like i don't know how this is gonna go you know you just never know you never know and it was i'll say this man it was in terms of the professional side of my life it was the best day of my life it was the best day of my life on the professional side of things i really mean that it was all right that touches me to have been a part of that with you, and if you ask me on the same, yeah, that's just about

right up there, dude. Off the top of my head, I don't know what I've done professionally that felt better than that moment right there. Huge thank you to the 450 or so people in attendance there. We did officially sell out. I know there were some missing

holes. People couldn't make it, whatever. But huge thank you to the Sports Podcast Group for putting on PodLive, to the people at King's Place for hosting us, for the people of the UK who gave us love. Real quickly, the hospitality showed us on Tuesday by our friends there, Jay and our friends, Baleum, over there on MMA on Point. I mean, start to finish, just a dream of a trip. And thank you, of course, to Malka Showtime, CBS Sports,

for helping us get this off. Obviously, you guys are wondering, like, where's the damn show? I thought we were promised this on Friday. That's the only regrettable part of this, Luke. Can you handle those details? Yeah, the basic idea is that we are still waiting on footage, and it's not from us. Although we took our own footage,

we didn't take a full footage of the entire show. It's more like a roving cam. You saw Jake Von Amsterdam there if you were in attendance. So we have some of that footage. We have the audio. There's just a delay in getting some of the footage. We're trying to get that up. So we're trying to get that show to you guys as soon as possible.

I don't want to give you a nonsense timeline that we can't stick to. Obviously, the instant we can get it to you, we will. But we do have a recording. We have audio recording. You're going to get it. Just have to be a little bit more patient. We apologize. We did not anticipate this, but things happen.

Yeah, and I know what you're saying. Oh, that's MK technical difficulty. Well, true. But, but here's the, here's the thing that's going to make you feel better.

I don't like that. We put it out after we're going to put it off the fact you're going to miss Dan Hardy's incredible two 84 preview in real time, but here's the deal folks. The war, the editing work that they're going to do on it this week to make it perfect. We'll make it worth it.

And we're very proud of the show. we hope you enjoy it once it comes out so thanks for putting up with a little bit more of a delay but here we are monday morning 284 in the books we're bringing it we got some great and i mean great room service diaries interviews in the can that we're going to be slowly working into the to the schedule that i think you're going to enjoy a lot so what a time i mean look you said one of the greatest nights of our career i mean you know when you can walk out in front of paying customers who want to be there they want to hear your shitty material right right and they'll boo or cheer everything you say it does i mean can we have more fun no that's about as fun as it gets. So whether that's the beginning of more, whether that's the greatest thing we ever do, I'm humbled.

Thank you. You'll see that this week. I mean, look, you got to meet Appy in person, and he was like, you know that saying, three sheets to the wind? He had all the sheets and all the beds in London to the wind, and he had the MK underwear on the outside of his pants with the picture of your face on his a-hole.

Your thoughts to meeting Appy? I'll tell you this much about the Brits. I already knew this, but you get reminded every time you go. And, of course, there was Irish there. There were Welsh. There was everyone. There was a dude from Mexico there. I mean, there was a lot of different kinds of people.

Are you talking about Arturo? You're talking about Arturo, aren't you? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Brits, dude, they don't give a fuck about their health they don't give a shit they smoke way more than americans which i was very surprised by and dude the amount of boozing that you british donks do is out of control you know that shit's bad for you right they don't give a fuck dude they don't care at all they were busy drinking from 10 a.m and i gotta say bc there was one do i do i spoil the story of the dude who got on stage

you know what i'm talking about for the you mean stevie don my boy my boy stevie don yeah do you want to tell the folks what happened there because i told my wife and she couldn't stop laughing at the well at me at the situation but it was fun well look what luke is largely referring to here is that like you know people make fun of me for having a bad liver or luke because he almost died at the bellator hospital that night that's one vice we have these people have like 17 open vices i i took part in their gas station food culture i know what they're dealing with over there but good old stevie don ended up coming up on stage luke and i had a little bit of a backstory in terms of him and his boy gav weren't going to be able to come to the show, but they DM me.

They were like, oh, we're definitely going to be there last minute. Our boy Stevie Don, God, I mean, I mean, you know, what was your drunkest night ever? This was a Wednesday for our boy right there, and he stumbled up on stage, Luke. Afterwards, he got into our receiving line and had a moment with you. I sent you the picture somebody took. So basically, Steve, I wish we had that picture right now. Stevie Don's like probably exposing to you like his long lost you know histories and theories about in front of me he got in front of me in front of everybody else

this is afterwards in the receiving line and he's like i gotta ask you a question i'm like okay shoot and he can't get it out he's so drunk he can't even enunciate the sentence he's like are you there i'm like what are you saying so he balked in the moment he couldn't he could even he could even release the pitch but he told me the next day over dms while drinking at 10 a.m shout out to you on a thursday there stevie don and he was like i meant to tell luke that i was his biggest fan i ran into him in vegas at habib versus connor I was so excited to come up to him, and he totally was disrespectful and jerky and blew me off. That's what he was going to tell you in the moment, Luke.

I don't believe that. I don't do that to people. Unless I was in a rush somewhere and running, then, yeah, I can't stop and say hi, but I normally never do that. Anyway, I just like to point out, he came to try and stick it to me. He had a wide open like

like a total free throw to take and just bricked it the whole way through so i was like sorry dude that was your shot but okay man it was um it was it was a magical magical night so thanks to pod live thanks to all the fans thanks to everyone who was there and for everyone who hasn't seen it yet as we said don't worry it's coming and it's going to be worth the wait they really will by the way dan hardy was a 10 out of a 10 as a guest i mean thank you dan hardy for joining us he was hilarious uh i mean it was you know we met his wonderful wife who's got a big fight coming up i mean what a you know what what a night luke okay saw his boy sol what a night of of pure that's the thing you made fun of of me on stage. You're like, you really like the people in the UK. Here's what I like about this at the end of the day.

Okay. You know what London really is? It was swinging London. It's swanky. It's all this stuff. No, it's a bougie factory town and all you people there fricking know it. And I love it. Luke, everybody there wears on their chest, on their sleeve, exactly who they are.

Vices, flaws, moles or not or not they're like this is us deal with it that's what i'm talking about luke in this pretentious usa culture where no one talks to each other no one can be bothered those people are like bring it brother okay we brought it we absolutely brought it this was my fourth maybe fifth but definitely my fourth trip to the uk and by far the best one by far the best one best by far the best one, best one I've ever had. Didn't get to see the sites very much, but, um,

yeah, that's the best experience I've had in England ever. So thank you to everyone. What a magical night. All right, BC, we do have to tell everyone on about our next partner. And it's a product that you,

I know for a fact, use every day. I use most days and I started taking athletic greens because I want better gut health, more energy, and I'm not taking a bunch of pills and vitamins, Brian Campbell. Well, you know, there's a lot of questions out there. Have you really been taking it given your recent health? And, you know, I just had an incredible. I traveled internationally.

I'm fine. I just had an incredible seven day banger across multiple continents. And guess what? Not sick. Still standing here. Brought the travel packs every day. Still rocking out. A G one, still rocking out AG1. Not two, not three, right? Not 1.7, not the 13th best drink in the game.

AG number one. Why? Because, Luke, I don't always eat the right way. And in England, I went ham on their ham, if you know what I mean, okay? But I had AG1 every day to fill in the blanks, fill in the pieces, and start my day with a foundation with a smooth, healthy citrus taste. And I know all those ingredients are filling me up in good ways that my diet doesn't allow. So is this BC getting the old Cliff's Notes for a Tale of Two Cities like he did sophomore year? You're damn right, Luke.

Okay? There it is. Yeah, we're talking 75 high-quality vitamins, minerals, whole food source, superfoods probiotics adaptogen start your day right bc all the good stuff it's like having a a friend who can really fight and you know you can run your mouth a little bit at the bar luke that's what like drinking athletic greens is like i don't think it's quite like that but it is lifestyle friendly whether you eat keto paleo vegan dairy-free or gluten-free less than one gram of sugar sugar, no GMOs, no nasty chemicals or anything artificial.

Still tasting good, BC. And, you know, you're like, okay, I'll hear it from you two wash guys, or you can hear it from the 7,000 people who have gone on the internet, gave a five-star review to Athletic Greens, and we're talking about leading medical experts too, Michael Gervais, okay? We're talking about people like that, Luke. What's the other donk's name we're talking about? Tim Ferriss.

Tim Ferriss, okay? Joe Rogan. We're talking about people like that, Luke. What's the other donk's name we're talking about? Tim Ferris. Tim Ferris, okay? Joe Rogan. We're talking about the real ones. Right now, it's time to reclaim your health and arm your immune system with convenient daily nutrition, especially heading into the flu and cold season. One scoop and a cup of water every day, that's it. No need for a million different pills and supplements

to look out for your health. And if you go to athleticgreens.com slash morningcombat, alright? Make sure that. athleticgreens.com slash morning combat, all right, make sure that athleticgreens.com slash morning combat right now for your first order. Our folks at our friends here at AG1 are going to throw in one year supply of immune supporting vitamin D drops and those five free travel packs, which Luke, I now purchase AG1 in travel pack form only because I'm so busy on the road and you can get yours too right now with your first order. Join the club, okay? There we have it. All right.

With that in mind, BC, let's get to the top five. We start with UFC 284. Before I throw it to the first topic, though, let me just ask a quicker question if I can. Everyone after the main event was like, oh my God, that's the best fight I've ever seen. And I don't want anyone to misunderstand me. I love the fight.

I thought it was great. I didn't think it was like transcendentally great I thought it was it sounds like I'm bagging on it I am not bagging on it it was a great not merely good a great fight but not an oh my god great fight how did you feel about it just from an experiential standpoint it was a great freaking fight I understand though what you're trying to say what elevated this to be a great fight when the actual fight itself was great but not you know slam dunk fight of the year in my opinion and i'm sensing from yours was the crowd was a you know 35 out of a 10 on that scale in terms of excitement in terms of willing on their hometown boy Volkanovski, your home country, you get the point. And I think it was the combination of,

you know, let's say who these two are right now. Two best fighters in the sport today. That proved it Saturday night. Regardless of who you thought won, anything, that proved it. The two best fighters in the sport came out and fought an exciting, at times, fast-paced fight,

but never stepped down on the level of technique, game planning, and just super top-level elite adjusting and all that. So, Luke, I think that's why it had excitement. It had the late rally in the fifth round from Volkanovski. It had a crazy crowd. It had a disputed decision. It was a great fight. Is it in my top five of all time great no no no will it

win fight of the year this year I don't I would guess no but was it a great fight yeah I thought I thought all things considered that's oh that's elite mixed martial arts and that's about as good as it gets right there and I loved it I think that's right it's elite mixed martial arts number one versus number two it was fantastic there's nothing wrong with it. But I get the feeling that, one, the crowd definitely made it better. Not that it was bad, but, you know, really elevated it. And the other part, too, BC, and this is where we'll get to the first question. The other part, too, is that I feel like a lot of people didn't think Volkanovski would look as good as he did. Right.

Him looking as good as he did was not a surprise to you or I. I think we both expected it the thing that surprised me was Islam striking so let's get into question number one BC overarching most important how did you score it biggest takeaway from the fight um look you know I'm never afraid to give a differing opinion I heard the full opinions of everybody before I watched this I watched this this morning I was working at the Showtime cover on Saturday that we talked about. I watched it this morning, but to my credit, after hearing Dom Cruz and you chastise my lack of video watching,

I watched the key swing rounds up to three times each, took notes. I understand that when you're watching at home in the moment and then you tweet out, or even if you're a Judge Cage side, you don't get to rewatch. You don't get to chart all these stats. You don't get to do that. But after really taking into account the situation,

I think the real debate coming out of this fight is something we're going to talk about a little bit in a few minutes in terms of who's the pound for pound king. After this, I don't think there's a debate in my opinion as to who won this fight. It was actually somewhat clean and clear to me. I scored it four rounds to one

for Islam Mahachev. Upon re-watching, I could certainly be talked into the idea of three rounds to two. And boy, do I, like if you ask me who won this fight, something Max Kellerman used to say in his HBO days, he'd say, who won the story of the fight? Meaning, not the decision, who won the story of this fight? This was Alex Volkanovsky's night. He won the story of this fight. You said that you and i weren't surprised i know you weren't because along

with cbs sports is brandon wise in terms of people in my year you've been day one on the idea that volkanovsky is great luke he's he is all time freaking great he won the story of this fight in my opinion by just fighting at a level of confidence, toughness, skill, adaptability, physicality in the takedown defense, a motor that is just award-winning. And then, oh, by the way, he finished the fight beating up the bigger man. So he won the story of this night. He won all of those good feelings. And we'll get to the pound-for-pound debate in a second. But as to who won this fight, I saw a lot of people villainizing that third

scorecard that was four rounds to one. Luke, I think that's actually a better score than the idea of could Volkanovski have won this fight three rounds to two. Anybody that had that score, I'm not against you. I'm just saying that I've rewatched this. I actually called up the rules of the judging. I mean, I went ham on this, Luke. And I think at the end of the day, you kind of said it subtly there. As much as Volkanovski stole the night, Islam Mahachev's striking and his ability to fight largely on even terms with a guy in Volkanovski who might literally be along with like Adesanya and maybe Anderson Silva, like the greatest strikers this sport has ever produced. He fought at a pretty even level, Islamachev.

And that to me, Luke, when I look at who actually won some of these close potential swing rounds, I can't go in the other direction of Volkanovski. I gave him round five like everyone else. I understand that round three has largely become a swing-ish round in which I charted it out and went back. And I know that in the moment, not everybody has that chance. But unless you're counting that knockdown in round three by Volkanovski, which I feel was more of a slip slash trip in which Volkanovski popped back up, I just don't see where you can give Volkanovski that round.

He did not outstrike him in terms of overall, although there was a stat on the screen at a key time, Luke, that said Volkanovski had an advantage of 11 strikes to 10 in significant strikes. Sometimes I feel like we have to re-examine exactly what is a significant strike, what is the process of doing this, whether we're talking about boxing or MMA, and that's not a shot at CompuBox, who are the

in boxing, the industry leaders in doing this, just the idea that stuff's happening so fast, how can you gauge because there's a sequence in round three, Luke, where Volkanovski has Mahachev up against the clinch, just the idea that stuff's happening so fast. How can you gauge? Because there's a sequence around three, Luke, where Volkanovski has Mahachev up against the clinch, against the cage, and he's landing these sort of, you know, quick, short punches that are sort of just looking to embellish his role in that round.

Do you rate three or four quick punches on the same level as a left cross from Mahachev that was big in that one that kind of wobbled him, or the fact that Mahachev cut Volkanovski in round three. To me, that's the closest one where you're heavily debating, and I still on first and third watch of that gave it to Mahachev. So unless there's an argument for a 10-8 round, which I don't think there is in round five,

this was a hell of a performance from Volkanovski. Again, the fresher fighter late had the biggest moments late, but we don't score fights that way. We scored for better or worse under the 10-9 must boxing system. And under that system, even if you're trying to make cases in round four that Mahachev wasn't active enough

after taking Volkanovski's back, you're right. But read the letter of the law with the rules, chart out all the striking in there. At the end of the day, three to two or four to one, this was Islam Mahachev's night. Boy, there's a lot to unpack there. Curiously, round four with the back taking.

It's one thing I didn't say on the post-fight show that I want to say now. I saw a lot of folks being like, well, Volkanovsky outstruck Islam even though he had his back taken. And you can just park that shit somewhere else, please. Exactly. What a total nonsense argument.

Did he numerically land more than Islam landed more? I guess maybe, I think by two he did. Those are nothing strikes. They don't in any way affect the fight. I mean, that's just a nonsense fucking stupid argument. Here's what I will agree halfway. Islam did stall on the back a little bit he did and it's actually a little bit of a wrinkle in the rules that they haven't quite

ironed out yet bc what i mean by that is like did islam stall on the back with the body triangle yes should that count against him no and the reason why is because it's the referee's job to stop stalling. That is the person who is basically in charge of mandating when stalling is happening to intervene. And he didn't. And he didn't because having the back with a body triangle and a skilled operator like Islam Makachev on your back, that is the equivalent in chess of check. It's not checkmate, but it's definitely check and so all i'm pointing out is if you're upset that he didn't do a lot with the position what i want to say is getting it and holding it is and as long as he did three and a half minutes certainly more enough long enough

to win the round and if you're upset that he stalled fine but we need to empower referees to change that it's not islam's job to just get up off of them yeah here's what i'll say to that even if you gave round four to volkanovski because of the point Luke just mentioned, which I'm on Luke's side of the line in terms of interpreting that, to me, Volkanovski still doesn't win the fight. But if that fight was a swing for you, I mean, it does come down to the old, like, who would you rather be in that instance? Do I want to be the guy with the body triangle, having the back of the other opponent,

having a history of patience, of submission ability, and essentially he's just waiting. Mahachev's just waiting for Volkanovski to overcommit on his, you know, trying to land these strikes over his head to show the referee, look, rightfully so. I'm the instigator in this, even though I'm in a negative position. Look, Mahachev is waiting there to try to wait for that one mistake to end the fight. I think that, you know, even if you're saying that that's a push at the end of the day, that Volkanovski's punches over his shoulder could somehow equal the control, and I get what you're saying, it is up to the referee at some point to say,

nothing's happening here, stand up. I still say over the course of that fourth round that I slightly liked what Mahachev did better. Andy scored a takedown. Andy instantly went to back and established the threat of the choke. At some time, you have to look at the letter of the law. And I always shout out Dave, the inquisitive at Dave Tron on Twitter for finally opening me up to this with certain things. But Luke, you know, after damage, which is always going to be the first thing, striking damage, right?

And Mahachev's bruises on his face and stuff didn't happen until round five. You have to look at the impact in what that did in terms of changing someone's game plan, frustrating someone, tiring somebody out.

I'm not saying Mahachev's attempts at tiring out Volkanovski worked. It didn't. But he's applying all these things and unless Volkanovski

outstruck him in a manner to me that's, that's, you know, eye-opening, I can't give him that round that's me personally interpreting the rules you can have it your way but Luke would you agree with this that 4-1 Mahachev might actually be a better scorecard than 3-2 Volkanovski I want to get your opinion directly on that point so okay so I scored it rounds one and three and four for Islam.

Rounds one, three, and four. I gave two and five to Volkanovski. Five's the obvious one. No big deal. How do you give two to him? I'm very curious about this because that was another round I rewatched a few times. Here's where I disagree with some folks. People are saying three is the swing round.

I agree that three is a swing round. I think there's a case for Volkanovski in round two as well to me round one pretty much islams round four pretty much islams round five definitely volkanovski's that was the strongest round anyone had in either direction really it's two and three to me is where it all kind of comes down to and how you get it and this is the point i saw people beating up one of the judges who had a 49 46 which is the same as your scorecard that's not how i saw it i saw it three two makachev judges who had a 49-46, which is the same as your scorecard. That's not how I saw it. I saw it 3-2 Makachev, but I think a 3-2 Volkanovski is totally fine because you're already spotting him round five, so he just needs two more. If you saw two and three as that way, there's the math. And I don't think a two or rounds two or three for Volkanovski is

in any way a bad card. It was hard to discern in real time you're making a real time call a real time call i thought makachev did a little bit better in round three i thought volk did a little bit better in round two qualitatively and that's where i came down on it um i don't look the difference in round two i anticipated this could be an argument that somebody would make whether you or or someone else the knockdown in round two that that volkanovsky had and correct me if i'm getting my sequences wrong wasn't that more of he did land a punch but mahachev almost forcefully took a knee to shoot the takedown so i'm not doubting that the punch didn't land it was fine but then mahachev sort of shoots in to try to try to secure

a takedown and then rallies back in that round to drop Volkanovsky. So to me, that was, he dropped him to a knee with a clean shot. That's sort of the moment, the indicator for me, that Mahachev had edged him in terms of we're comparing strike to strike in that. Right, and also had almost, I think, a minute, looking at the stats here, he had nearly a minute of control time, which again, by itself doesn't score, but it gives you an indication

of the back control I think he had. So how are you scoring second for Alex is really my key question here. I have to go back and look at my notes. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'd have to go back and look and see what he did. But in any case, what I would say to you is rounds two and three, I think are, again, these are numeric totals, not qualitative totals,

but in rounds two, numerically, they were the same in significant strikes, 19 apiece, and in round three, ever so slightly into Makhachev's favor, 16 to 14, plus he had a takedown in each of those rounds, and then he had about a minute and a half of... And he cut the forehead of Volkanovsky. So my point being is, I think Makhachev is the rightful winner, and the one I want to make about your 49-46 scorecard, the reason why I don't think it's,

it's not how I saw it, but the reason why I feel like that's okay is because again, if we're saying one, four and five are not in dispute, right? When we're talking about two and three, if we're saying it's close, then what you're saying is by definition,

you can make a case for either guy. And if you can make a case for either guy and if you can make a case for either guy that means there's a series of permutations that are acceptable one of which is rounds one two three and four going to makachev rounds five going to volkanovski under the idea that again what are all the permutations you could have it the two and three not volkanovski two then three uh not at all for three and two and then just for three you can have all those different permutations while leaving one four and five the same my point being is getting a 49 46 doesn't mean that the judge didn't think that volkanovski was really really close at times just that in that individual

unit he happened to side that's the scoring system it's a scoring system and then you have to mix it with the actual letter of the law and the rules, and that's the strike zone we're in. This ain't pride. We can have a pride debate all you want. This isn't pride. Luke, I was, you know me. I get swayed by packaging.

I'm more of the emotional responder who doesn't always use reason. Do you know when I responded emotionally in the past? Jones Gustafson won. I remember that ending and being like, man, I don't know if Jones really won that fight. GSP, Johnny Hendricks.

I remember reacting, damn, I don't think, you know, GSP really won that fight. I subsequently have gone back and rewatched those. And it's so, I think it was sort of the victim of the underdog overachieving and you

overly scoring that. But when you go back and actually watch it and break it down, obviously these are close fights. It's subjective. You can go either way on on it but i'm trying to be less emotional in reaction to this and dude as great as volkanovsky was and as much as he won the night yes islam mahachev absolutely shut down roads that would have led volkanovsky to a massive breakthrough victory where we probably would have just come out with a crown and put it on his head and said,

I don't know where you fit in in that upper room, but you just made it there, brother. Thank you very much. Mahachev's ability, even with a gas tank against a guy who might have the best, seriously, might have the best damn gas tank this side of Devalish Willie and Volkanovski, for him to hold that ground,

I mean, Volkanovski almost took him hold that ground to prevent I mean Volkanovski almost took him down twice to him for him to stuff all these situations where it could have gone in the other direction short of that fifth round rally and that's what makes Volk great damn dude Mahachev is great I mean can we have that part of this conversation yeah we should we should talk about that dude he outstruck the guy who outstruck Max Holloway you don't want to play with math too much but I gotta tell you, I said it before, Volkanovski being strong from a defensive wrestling standpoint, that is not a surprise.

It's just not. If anyone paying attention should not be surprised, at least not too much by that. And again, I guess you could say Islam striking shouldn't be surprised given what we saw against Oliveira, and then you had Javier Mendez trying to tell us, like, hello, this guy's a very good striker, and I was a little bit skeptical, and then I thought,avier Mendez trying to tell us like hello this guy's a very good striker and I was a little bit skeptical and then I thought well he was good against Olivera

but Olivera was like jumping into range and his hands way down and like yeah he got picked apart but you know that was a guy who was ready to be picked apart Volkanovski is not ready to be picked apart and fucking Makachev I couldn't believe how much he shut down all of the opposite stance stuff that Volkanovski was trying to do. All of the blitzes, stance switching through blitzes, taking an angle, all of that stuff. How about jab defense? He was making Volkanovski pay for poor jab defense. Dude, the striking of Islam Makachev. BC, what would you say about it?

I don't know if there's a boxing comparison. It's not flashy in the sense that you think of great strikers, right, who can do so much. But it's about the most useful striking you're ever going to see. It's not a lot of combination work. Power's good. Accuracy is good. And, BC, perhaps most importantly, the timing is very good as well. I was going to say efficiency is probably the word that jumps out to me,

but it's the timing that is the special sauce. He does throw heavy shots. He's a strong striker in all that regard. But his ability to leap into almost, I mean, let's say it, an elite freaking striker. Habib, in his own regard, and obviously that's a natural comparison, got there in the end, unconventionally, got to a point where his striking needed to be taken seriously, often though, to set up

what he does great on the ground. People have always said, though, when Islam was initially rising, he's different than Habib. He is. And look, his striking is at a point where, like you said, nothing flashy about it, but you talk about effectiveness, you talk about patience, poise. When is there a scenario in which Islam overreaches, makes a poor striking decision and pays for it?

It just doesn't happen. The striking success Volkanovski ultimately had is only a testament to his brilliance and his team and all those footwork patterns that he sets up to open up just enough space to land these perfect shots, which he did. Obviously, you package that with the fifth round and we can't say enough about Volkanovski's toughness and the real man under there.

But man, Mahachev, for not having access during that long win streak to a consistent stretch of super elite guys, got Dan Hooker at a key time where he needed to prove himself and then obviously got Charles and look what he did. Look what he's done back to back to Charles Oliveira and in in Alexander Volkanovsky like some people had been DMing me this week and saying BC heard your comments on the uh whatever pregame preview but Habib is purposely stepping back now so Islam can get the shine if that's the case Luke this was perfect timing from the team so that we're not talking about Islam as much as Habib's boy because he is his own fighter and what he put out there and did on Saturday needs to be applauded.

Yeah, I mean, he's a much better striker than Habib. Much, much better. He doesn't have the same dogged relentlessness with the wrestling that Habib did. Habib put a certain kind of urgent pace on you in a way that Islam is a little bit more slow and content to kind of take his time, which you indicated. So they're very different guys, but I liked the way that he was able to win this one on his own. And, um, and, uh, to show the, you know, that there is when pressed, you know, there are meaningful differences between their games and that they're,

they're not just differences. Like in many ways, this is a much stronger version of Habib in some respects and lighter in other ones BC again we're going to have this pound for pound discussion which I think is a really important one BC did you walk away from this fight thinking that Islam is going to hold this 155 pound strap for a while where are you on how good he is relative to his peers given that they they, granted, it's the pound-for-pound number one guy to a lot of people in the sport, came up a weight class, and kind of had a really great show. And we're talking about how great Islam is, but we need to talk about how great Volkanovski is too.

Does that mean Dariush has a good chance against Makachev if they make that fight? I mean, he could. Look, Makachev's, you know, he's a man. He's not a robot here. But I had, short of that fit, so when I'm re rewatching it, knowing a lot of the knowledge, you know, the first time I rewatch it, just the way it turned out by the time I got to the third and fourth rounds, that's actually something I said to myself,

like as historically competitive as this lightweight division is, was, and will forever be. I did have a feeling in that moment, like, man, you know, he may, he may go on his own run. Then Volkanovski has that type of success in round five, special circumstance against, you know he may he may go on his own run then Volkanovski has that type of success in round five special circumstance against you know arguably the best fighter in the world could he could he just come out in the same and lose to any of these guys rematching Oliveira Poirier yes because these are great fighters Luke and great fighters can make great moments happen

and damn are there so many ways to lose in the sport but if you said bc like betting your financial future he defends this title three to four times or he loses his next fight yeah i'm going with the defend three to four times luke okay because the intangibles that he shows are through the roof great and you're going to add that level striking to the wrestling that's already there look i understand the emotional reaction after the fact to make this all about Volkanovski, but hot damn, Islam Makhachev is great. He's freaking great. I don't know what it is, Luke,

to people just don't want to see another Dagestan hero. I don't know, Luke. Damn, this guy's great. Yeah, I mean, I don't think Makhachev has ever really captured the fan base in the same way that Habib did, although I do think that after that Olivera win, Makachev's popularity took a big jump. And I think after this one too,

I was surprised by some of the numbers coming out of this fight. There's a lot of interest in it. Credit to Volkanovski as well, obviously. He plays a dramatic role in that one too. But BC, I will tell you this. I think that Makachev's probably the best fighter at 155, certainly. But I will tell you that Benil Dariush, he might end up fighting Charles Oliveira at UFC 288,

in which case, who cares about this conversation? But in the event that he finds himself faced off with Makachev, did folks watch the Gamrot fight? Dariush can wrestle his ass off. He's very much a worthy adversary when it comes to Makachev for that. Plus, hello, the Dariush guard from Jiu-Jitsu. He's been a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu since the aughts, ladies and gentlemen. He has a phenomenal submission game when he wants to go to it.

Good ground and pound, experienced, comes from a good camp, has phenomenal Muay Thai. And by the way, Makachev, which is something Volkanovski showed, Volkanovski was able to drop him in that fifth and then really put it on him. There's a question about the gas tank a little bit at least in the elite circumstances against guys no dude it's who else tell me right now off the top of your brain who has a who has cardio like what

Volkanovsky showed on oh it's no I mean him and you know like prime cane Velazquez or something like that at sea level at sea level yeah um good guys good call this is my point here's the other part about that bc remember makachev got to ride out round four on the back now he did the better of the striking through the first four rounds when they did the striking so it's not to like on the feet he was outmatched but he was fading a little bit so the question you have to ask yourself is if makachev wasn't able to get that breather in the fourth round how much energy does he really have for a fifth like imagine he actually had to trade a little bit and again he put a landed on Volkanovsky too I'm just pointing out he headed into that fifth already kind of tired having backpacked

from the fourth but the point I wanted to make was I think Dariush is being comically comically slept on here we don't know what the future holds and Makachev is a class above many of the others. But Dariush might be right along there as well. It's a fun little fight that they can make. Now, BC, we have given all the flowers to Islam that I think we can, at least for the moment. Let's go to point number two, which is where the Volkanovsky side of the equation happens to enter the conversation. Namely, and this is the only question I'm going to ask to start this. Brian Campbell, who is the number one pound-for-pound fighter today in mixed martial arts?

Alexander Volkanovski. And I think it's, you know, you can make a debate either way. I've debated it all morning. But at the end of the day, this is, so we saw something somewhat similar in boxing recently when Canelo was everyone's pound for pound. He dared to be great. Another division higher

against unbeaten champion Dimitri Bivol. He came out on the losing end of three scorecards that were seven rounds to five. You and I had it wider for Bivol,

but I'm just stating the facts. And I think I was one of the only, if not the only, at least American journalist who does a pound for pound top 10 that said, hey folks, I'm not going to count that against Canelo because he's competitive in a

division over his head against one of the 10 best fighters in the sport. And if they ran it back, I'm not even, you know, Canelo could potentially make adjustments and win. In this case, Luke, I think it's even more respectable Volkanovski did compared to Canelo because he fought another guy who has the same argument and claim right now. Who is number one pound for pound? Look, folks, it's either Volkanovski or it's Mahajev. I will say this. I wanted romantically for this fight to be as a storyline lead in what it ultimately became.

One versus two pound for pound. And we were all like, you know, when was the last time that happened? What's the history? Oh my God. It only really became that because the UFC, I felt, jumped the gun through Mahachev at number two pound for pound to make it that way. I even felt that I jumped the gun after Mahachev beat Oliveira and was previously unranked in my top 10. And I think I put him up there at number four because I'm like,

damn, dude, he just dominated one of the best in the world. But what Volkanovsky showed in a losing effort, particularly in the areas of takedown defense and how he defended potential chokes on the ground, mixed with the fact that he almost scored two takedowns of his own and dropped the bigger fighter and had the better cardio and scored the biggest moments of the fight although reminder folks we don't score it that way okay this like that's just what the rules are um alexander volkanovsky is still the pound for pound king because of like i saw you tweeting about criteria and i'm sure you're going to get to that in a second and yes in a boxing sense where i from, the criteria that elite journalists use to make these pound for pound lists is always wildly all over the place, in my opinion.

I think there's a lot of people that focus too much on accomplishments when I believe that the accomplishments get you into the conversation. But inevitably, it's going to come down to the eye test. Two sides to the eye test. One, a person hasn't had enough elite foes for us to truly know how elite he is. So we have to do the foreshadowing math in our head. The other half of the eye test is what I consider to be the true

sort of decider when you have debates in this. What does a mythical fight look like between them if they can fight, which you can't do physically, fight at the same weight class using the same strengths and weaknesses that they hold in their natural division against each other. Those are fights that can actually only happen

in the mind. Meaning, man, what does Ngannou look like against, you know, say anybody, right? Against Volkanovski. And you're like, okay, if he had that same advantages here, I get that this is all weird mental math. And that's why a lot of people go screw pound for pound. It's worthless. I don't agree. I think it actually is the only true currency when we're debating greatness in this case yes these two were able to fight each other but look at the debate we have coming out of there whether volkanovsky could have or should have one i disagree but what i don't disagree on was that he elevated his game to such a higher level than islam Mahachev had to yet even Mahachev did elevate his game with the striking but if they were fighting at 145 that I do if you're fighting

the number one pound for pound guy right heading into the fight because Volkanovsky was he was heading into the fight he was number one why do you not have to raise the level of your fucking game to fight that guy and by the way outstrike him we're talking about the best fighter in the sport heading into the contest right look mahachev raised his game in a lot of ways i just feel like volkanovsky had to raise it more because of the natural disadvantage he had in coming up in weight and the fact that he did not spend 25 minutes of this fight on his back fighting and using all of his gas tank to try to get out of positions. In fact, he was reversing these positions. He was nearly taking Mahachev down. If they were fighting at featherweight and they were the same size, what I saw on Saturday night

is that Volkanovski is actually potentially the better fighter here. It's just in this circumstance and this fight came up just short. To me, that's enough to hold the pound for pound number one crown for right now. They're both going to have fights coming up, I'm sure, in the next four, five, six months. Things can change at any time. Jon Jones is parachuting back in here. If he wins the heavyweight title,

we got a different discussion as well. But as we stand right now, Luke, Volkanovski's the best fighter in the world, and he proved that on Saturday, even though he didn't win the fight. Yeah, I mean, I'm a little bit mixed on this one. I don't, to be clear, this is why I'm mixed. I don't do pound for pound rankings.

I don't do any rankings. I don't spend weeks doing it. I don't spend months doing it where you're tracking over time and who's rising, who's falling. I don't pay attention to it at all. I don't do it. I mean, I try to have a loose idea of who the better ones are, and I've thought that Volkanovski heading into the contest

deserved the pound for pound ranking, and I can understand the arguments for keeping it again I think that they're there it's it's it's it's a weird situation right because he's the smaller guy he went up in many ways kind of outperformed the other guy didn't get the nod though so what are you supposed to do with that it creates this inherent conflict I mean I have two basic problems I think with the pound for pound discussion I agree that it's actually worth having because at the end of the day, what are you trying to figure out? You're trying to figure out who is the best fighter in the sport. I mean, that's really what it comes down to. Who is the best fighter? Who is the very best fighter

that we have? But in order to figure that out, you have to give me what the definition is of best, right? What does best mean? What goes into defining best? People just toss these words into conversation and think that they carry obvious meaning when in fact it does the opposite. So if I tell you that so-and-so is the best fighter, upon what am I making that conversation or that argument? There must be something that backs it. Is it the number of wins? Is it the number of stoppages? The number of ranked opponents? The length of a win streak, the length of a title reign, the number of titles, the number of weight classes, right? These things kind of all have to be ironed out, and then you have to have a really good definition of best. You have to have those things figured out. No one ever figures this out ahead of time, and so people are having these conversations where it's just two ships passing in the night because one person has an idea of what best means,

and one has another. And by the way, one has not necessarily proven that their definition is actually coherent or better than the other one. So there's a lot of like everyone talking past each other or very loosely. And then assuming that there's this implied wisdom when you say pound for pound or best, that's my first problem. The second problem that I have is that, dude, I'm sorry. like this is how I personally feel if you're the number one guy and you go and fight the number two guy even if it's upper weight class to like ultimately put your stamp on the sport and you come up short I don't there should be a penalty for that there should be a penalty for that I don't think you should get to keep

your standing as it was if you're standing as it was is no longer as good as it once was. I understand the argument that he won the story. I agree he won the story. He certainly won the fanfare. Hello, I've been on the Volkanovski train before I even started at fucking Showtime. This is not a guy that I am new or unaccustomed to his success or

greatness, but I just kind of feel it's a little weird to go and be like, I'm the best guy in the sport, lose, and then say, say oh i'm still the best guy in the sport there should be some kind of accounting for that that i don't think people want to give because they feel emotionally lifted by his performance look it's the ultimate hipster debate within something that is a hipster debate to begin with so that's not lost on me. I get what you're saying. I just think, you know, one guy came up and wait to do this. Doesn't mean he gets every single bend of the fit of the doubt. We've seen that happen a lot of times, but he did do it.

And even though I scored the fight four to one, the rest of the world seems to think they were largely on even terms for most of that. What if they were really on even terms? Would that have been enough for volkanovski to get the edge that's what i'm leaning to in the end because the performances of both were ultimately so close and because i can't stress this enough volkanovski was the fresher fighter late landing damage up until the final bell so i get that there has to be a penalty luke but at the same time this is a mythical debate that's aimed at trying to produce at the end of the day

that with all the information that we have, including the information that we don't have, which is a key part about pound-for-pound debate, because for the most part, these guys will never fight each other. So you've got to work off information you don't have. When I compute that all together, I say right now, Volkanovski is still the best fighter in the world. And he showed that on Saturday, but everything can change in one fight. You're only as good as your last fight. That's the truth in pound for pound debate for the most part. And if I'm going to do that for Canelo Luke, because I felt that at that moment, he lost to B-Volt in a close-ish, close-ish fight. He was still the best fighter in the world at 168,

the best fighter in the world at 160 and all around skill for skill, also the best fighter in the world at 168, the best fighter in the world at 160, and all around, skill for skill, also the best. I kind of feel that for Volkanovski in the sense that, like, the key question I'm asking myself on the way out here is, could Volkanovski win a rematch against Mahachev? I say, yes, he could. And number two, could any other lightweight in the world, like, put off that performance that Mahachev did and edge him? I don't know, Luke. Like, if you had Volkanovski moving forward,

let's say he announced Saturday, I did so good here, I'm done with featherweight and I'm going to lightweight for good. Who are you going to favor against him? That's the key question that I think ultimately decides for me why I'm still okay holding him at number one. Who's going to, outside of Mahachev who just did beat him, but it was close,

who's going to beat Volkanovski at lightweight, Luke? That's a tough question. Do you wonder maybe Dariush would give him a tough fight? And that's why I'm okay keeping him at number one. And I know, dude, I know it's splitting hairs, but that's what it's about. Somebody's got to do the heavy lifting and take a stand and make a statement. Volkanovski, best in show right now. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing.

I thought he was the best fighter in the world before that fight I still think he's the best fighter in the world and folks like well then you think he's pound for pound one but pound for pound if when you actually begin to define the criteria it begins to be a range of accomplishments and it's not abundantly clear to me that his range you do it wrong it is if you do it wrong it's too much of a range of accomplishments Luke if you do it wrong that's right because you can go too far but certainly's too much of a rage of accomplishments, Luke. If you do it wrong, that's right, because you can go too far. But certainly in defining what the word best means, right? I saw guys being like, it's simple. He's the most dominant.

Right. Define for me what dominance means. Number of rounds you've lost. Number of fights you've won. Again, number of weight classes you've won in. You can't just say these words like best or dominance. They are empty nonsense unless you fill them with definitions. So fill them with a definition

and then we can have that out. But I just want to be clear. I think Volkanovski is the most talented guy in the sport. I really truly believe that. But I also believe that if you're going to test yourself in the way that he does and you come up short, right? You lost unanimously.

Whatever you want to think about the judges, Ben Carter was one of them. He's one of the best judges that we have. He scored it for Makachev. The idea that like, oh, I just get to keep about the judges, Ben Carter was one of them. He's one of the best judges that we have. He scored it for Makachev. The idea that like, oh, I just get to keep all the same accolades I had before as if they're now unblemished. I just don't believe that personally, personally.

But I recognize that you're dealing with, you know, I mean, this is just a rare moment in the sport where like, so I think it was Kaposa who tweeted at BC. I'll share with you here, which was, he's like, how cool would it be

to have two different champions have an ongoing rivalry? Where, yeah, they go back to their weight classes, they defend a couple times, and then they get right back after it again a little bit later. It's kind of like Penn-St. Pierre, but the first time Penn fought St. Pierre, he was not the champion.

And St. Pierre got away just barely, but then in the rematch, he obviously fucked him up real good. It's loosely like Nunes-Shevchenko if they made a third time loosely like that, too yeah no that's a great point something like that yeah you know it's just in the re there's there are reasons why though by the way in my own palm for palm philosophy why i i hate when people lean to accomplishments and a lot of it goes back to remember when floyd beat berno after beating pacquiao and he retired and there was this window of of like andre ward wasn't you know he had slid in a little bit later, but he wasn't quite ready.

Most of us had put Chocolatito in that window to early 2016 of the new pound for pound King. There were a flurry of American journalists who were like, no, it's Vladimir Klitschko. Dan Rayfield was one of them. And I remember thinking this violates the spirit of pound for pound. Yes. He was on an incredible win streak and he was adding to heavyweight history and climbing up on, you know, in the top three of most title defenses and all that stuff but the idea of pound for pound of the structure is to take people that are uneven basically you know different weight classes and

try to make them even mythically at that point as great as vlad was and using his size and skill to overpower their heavyweights his size and skill just not going to compete against people in smaller weight classes if all things were equal that's why I think accomplishments can only take you so far in this debate. But, Luke, that was a spirited, clean, fun debate. If you have either one as your pound-for-pound number one, you're not wrong here. Let's just make that, obviously. I could live with either one. I could live with either one.

The other part, too, it's just about Makachev. It's like, to counteract that argument, are you really going to give him pound for pound top spot based off two wins like granted it's two fucking awesome wins in the sense that like who are they charles olivera for the lightweight title and then to retain it against the upcoming or the the rising i should say from a different weight class featherweight champion that's a back-to-back win but it's like two fights is going to get you there plus the second one was kind of close like you know that's enough it's not like i think makachev's a slam dunk for the case either by the way but think about a guy

separate from the pound for pound debate think about a guy here in machev who we've seen it happen before he had to go the long route to finally get his title shot in terms of like he had to build a win streak to what was it 11 or 12 coming in here 11 yeah 12 the longest win streak in ufc are the current longest win streak in UFC history among active competitors. And he finally gets to the top, and he's offered Charles Oliveira after a resurgent move to the championship level and nearly the top of the pound for pound, and Alexander Volkanovsky, and he beats them both. Obviously, close fight here, but it's like, outside of that run, Jon Jones went on in his first six or seven lightweight title defenses against all like call the famers for the most part. It's like, Luke, you'd have to take some time to tell me a two fight stretch of victories that was critically more valuable than what, than what my head chef just did.

Pretty great. Pretty great. All right. Let's talk about something else. That's pretty great on this card. Fucking Yair Rodriguez. I mean, whoa, whoa. So Yair Rodriguez is your new interim featherweight champion.

We'll talk about how it goes with Volk a little bit later, but let's start here. He triangle chokes in the second round, Josh Emmett. As I mentioned, he's the new interim champion, BC. What did Yair Rodriguez prove with this victory? That his UBL, Luke, his upper bound limits, as you would say, his ceiling in a potential biggest fight of his career,

which he might just get next against Alexander Volkanovsky. We don't know. We just don't know where it is because what he did in here and look, you know, what a great night at UFC 284. Well, certainly,

certainly here, Jair Rodriguez, but Dom Cruz did. And I know whenever they travel internationally, they can shake up the pay-per-view broadcast. And sometimes you get a trio that you love and suddenly you're like, man, that might be my new favorite trio. Dude, Dom Cruz, I think might deserve to be

in this spot moving forward. And I thought he really outlined perfectly the chances Yair has to take to land these strikes that he does, but that he's willing to do. I guess in some ways you can compare that to the run Olivera had when he was in those wars one after another, yet that he's willing to do. I guess in some ways you can compare that to the run Olivera had when he was in those wars one after another, yet he was the last man standing.

Luke, I mean, we've known about Yair forever. We've fawned over the potential of his talent forever. It has taken him a while to put it together. I did think that Max Holloway one changed the conversation. This performance right here, obviously, had the Ortega fight in between, but it had some unanswered questions. I mean, this is, he can get Josh Emmett into the fight that Josh Emmett wants, which is to get close and unload big strikes. But because of his length, because of his reaction speed, and because of his willingness to get close to the

fire without being burned, he's able to get in and out and land fight-altering dramatic strikes, including that left kick to the body early on that landed with, like, you know, the sound of a baseball bat on a home run swing. Luke, he proved that any given night, maybe even the next fight against the best fighter in the world, you can't count him out, Luke. Dom called him a one-of-one, and I don't mean to come out here and just steal Dom's analysis,

but I thought he nailed it. He is because very few people, and we said this about Oliveira in his run on top, very few people can execute styles like this and welcome the danger and still find the success without paying for it. And his length, explosiveness, and willingness and the success without paying for it and his length explosiveness and

willingness and the way he disguises his strikes and gets closer i mean he fought that in josh emmett's range and absolutely silenced and finished him damn did did he come full mature maturity like he he's grown in he's blossomed in to the man that at one point we thought he could be. And even at this point as interim champion, I don't know how good he is, Luke. And that's scary, dude. I was blown away by this performance. I mean, I was really blown away. I, we, you and I have a high opinion of Josh Emmett and not without good reason, by the way, he was getting outstruck in the first round. Then he drops your ear. And then I thought he stole the first round, to be honest with you. Um, it was, you know, he was getting outstruck in the first round, then he drops Yair, and then I thought he stole the first round, to be honest with you.

He was getting chewed up a little bit, but then turned the tide with that nuclear power that he has, and I'm like, all right, well, this is the central tension of the fight. But the reality ended up being that, I mean, Yair Rodriguez, dude, we're going to look back on Max Holloway's win over Yair Rodriguez a lot more fondly than we already do. I mean, I think that, honestly, BC, here's something to think about. You know, Max got like really chewed up by Volkanovski in part because Volkanovski, in

fact, in fact, for the most part, I should say, because Volkanovski is amazing. I do wonder how much that Yair fight took out of him, which people wondered in real time. But now looking back on it's like, dude, Yair is a vicious devastating striker you know we talk about guys with big punching power as like devastating strikers or people who you know I don't know have more conventional slick technique and he's slick as hell but he's a little bit wild at the same time and so because he's wild and acrobatic people think it's not devastating it is a he is a devastating striker dude those middle kicks to the body of Josh Emmett,

Josh Emmett looked like he had never felt anything like that in his life. And that dude's been through some shit. I couldn't believe how much it made him struggle. But the real thing that got my attention was, BC, Yair Rodriguez has offense everywhere. Everywhere. No panic when he ends up on his his back with a with a ground and pound wrestling specialist on top of him no panic and he gets to finish within like 20 seconds amazing

and on top of it when he got underneath and he he extends like an accordion with his elbow and then crunches down and gets it he's so long and lanky dude he is a nightmare it doesn't matter where you have him he always has a way to reverse position find offense and that offense is usually ugly and devastating he is an he is an offensive dynamo and Danny Segura brought this up he and Brandon Moreno were part of that 2013 uh class of fighters that the UFC had basically turned into like scholarship athletes to go and train in North America and let's see what they could become and most of the people I'm sure that they put money in didn't work out but from the same class they have Brandon Moreno flyweight champ

and now Yair Rodriguez 145 interim champ don't forget also both guys for a time in different circumstances and not for very long but both guys cut from the UFC before they had to come back to the UFC. If you recall, Yair Rodriguez was briefly let go and then brought back, so that was a thing that happened.

And so we're just talking about a guy who has developed a highly unique, totally, I mean, just a bruising. His style is like a bully. It's almost like a bully what he does to people, and yet it's all long range, or when it gets short range range he's got nastiness for them there he is he is arguably the most offensively talented fighter in the UFC and how many guys have this kind and dude his offense causes urgency right like when he was landing the body kicks to Emmett Emmett would freeze and then get hit with another one and now all of a sudden you've taken two really really bad hard shots they just pile on top of each other. So quickly,

everything turns to quicksand with yet Rodriguez and the punishing strikes like that with him. He may be the most offensively gifted fighter. Certainly the most offensively oriented fighter in many ways in the UFC. And I honestly feel like, you know, that's a tough fight for Volkanovski. I think Volkanovski will probably win.

I favor him to win, but dude, yeah's a tough fight for Volkanovski. I think Volkanovski will probably win. I favor him to win. But, dude, Yair Rodriguez is a tough guy to beat. So let's compare slightly here. Now, look, I'm a bigger fan of prime Brian Ortega, meaning the moments, which can be fleeting at times, that he can show you the very best of him. I looked at Brian Ortega heading into that Volkanovski fight as somebody who could,

if things went his way and he was able to take his superpowers and put them in, you know, find a moment where he can use them, he could win it, and he showed you that. He put Volkanovski in more danger of losing during this run, short of the fight we just saw, than we've ever seen, and maybe even comparative

to that fight we just saw, which was a decision loss. Yair can do that, Luke, only I don't think he has those same exact flaws of Ortega to welcome danger and wear it in the sense you know Ortega's got it Ortega like Charles Oliveira on that recent run they've got to take some damage to be in that to open up the opportunities for them to get the win do you feel that Yair is better at minimizing that damage? I mean, it's not as if his aggressive style, which sometimes involves risk-taking, doesn't open him up to strikes against Max, right?

I mean, it was a back-and-forth great fight. But I don't think he takes on as much damage willingly as Oliveira and Ortega does to try to have those big moments. And that little slight difference to me makes him extra dangerous I just feel like his offense I mean he's got better defense too like he makes better decisions but his offense just ends up being his defense which is to say like it's so punishing and again he can catch you from such different ranges I don't think folks really realize that and how quick they come that it ends up causing problems it gets guys out of

their game plans it gets gets them hurt, obviously. It gets them panicking. It gets them to just make a series of bad decisions. And so that makes it easier for him to then employ whatever defensive work that he has to. But just think about it. From underneath the guard, he's not collar tying and overhooking when he's in guard. What is he doing? He's closing the guard, and then he's just ripping elbows from underneath relentlessly

and very hard like they're not small they're not like the ones like over the shoulder which you know are mechanically inefficient there's not much you can do there but just his it's not they say he doesn't have defense but he doesn't find himself bc this is the thing right whenever you like for example even when max would have yeah you're mounted right that's a very dominant position he wouldn't be able to hold it for very long there'd be be strikes from underneath. He'd cause a scramble. He would somehow find a way eventually to get out of it. So he would have defensive work in those scenarios, but he turns it into offense so quickly. He'd make, he takes defensively bad situations and finds offense

in them. He's just so offensively oriented. And because he's acrobatic and rangy it's just one of the most miraculous things you're ever going to see josh emmett is a quality fighter and you would not have known that watching him compete against yair on saturday night yeah but and even in that argument josh emmett did land a couple big shots where you're like oh you know one of those could change the entire direction of this fight yair took those very well luke he is becoming a special fighter. I don't know enough. I haven't followed his specific,

probably because I've not interviewed him during this run yet, but I don't know behind the scenes what clicked, but something changed. And you're right, and I've made that point in the past about that. We'll look back at that Max fight as a major turning point. What do you think has changed for Yair?

Is it just maturity and focus luke because there's a level of of of poise and dialed in focus that just wasn't there in those previous runs so let's talk about something that he did how about those body kicks right we all remember the body kicks that he landed from opposite side stance what you saw him doing was initially low kicking low kicking low kicking and then he would faint the low kick switch stance um emmet would back up just a bit like oh what's happening here and then move into range and the instant he this all happens very quickly and the instant he pops back in boom um yeah here set him up and landed on him so you and then by the way what would he what would he do behind the kick he'd

throw the punch right behind it right so boom boom it's like a one-two thing so what do i bring this up to say? Before, I think he was just kind of jow- You'll still see it in the UFC. You'll see fighters come in, usually in the lower levels, and they just joust with one another. They don't feint their way in. They don't trick their way in. Everything is just about force meeting force

and then seeing who the better guy is. But that's a real meathead way to fight. The better guys, the really better guys, don't do that. What you see from Jair Rodriguez was he used low kicks and fainting to get himself into the stance and distance and to get the reaction that he wanted out of Emmett to make it all work. He has got different tools to play with that have elevated his game in BC. This is what you're picking up on. Everything seems to gel together now because he has not just this tool, that tool, that strike this punch.

It's all a system that he has built. And now he executes the system. And what you're noticing is, wow, it all works together. So well, right. That's a developed fighter.

Well said Luke Thomas. Well said. Um, are you transitioning out? Cause there's a couple of loose ends that people want us to address here, Luke, overall. I can transition out, but real quickly, how do you feel like a fight between Volkanovski and Rodriguez looks like? Great question.

I agree with you that you're going to have to favor Volkanovski, and if you said who's more likely to win him, because what makes Volkanovski great? He's got an answer for everything, and he's not going to be overwhelmed in any category. Potentially, unless you're against this type of striker who can disguise launch and connect explosive type of strikes luke at any given moment that can alter things now you know is he gonna is he gonna one strike knock out volkanovski probably not likely volkanovski shown a chin and an ability as we mentioned with ortega fight to get out of gnarly situations with extreme focus and confidence and poise.

And damn, damn, did he do things on Saturday that elevated him enough for me to keep him number one pound for pound. But if you're asking me who at featherweight right now, because I don't know if Ortega is going to ever make the kind of run to get back to the top I want him to. I don't know if Zabit's ever coming through that door again, Luke. And if he does, you know, he may never be the mythical hero that I look at him to be. This is the guy, Luke. This is the guy that can do it. And we have to remember that because in this sport, especially at the elite level, you

can lose a million ways and anything can happen. Look at Edwards versus Usman and Poiton versus Adesanya to prove that. He's got a very good chance of winning this full championship. And this, it's funny. We've said it and it's right. Volkanovski versus Mahachev on paper, one of the, seriously,

one of the best fights of this era in terms of like stakes, combined talent, win streaks, pound for pound placement. And oh yeah, it also delivered. But Yair versus the champ here, pretty good too, Luke, okay? One of the best fights you can make in this entire sport this calendar year. If you just think about title fights you can make, that's one of the best ones. And here's the thing.

I think Volkanovski is a better overall fighter than Yair. No doubt about it in my mind. But Yair is so fucking dangerous. Styles, dude. I hate that cliche, but styles do make fights. What about these styles? Damn. Right.

That one, whenever they make that one, is a fun one. And BC, first time in UFC history, two simultaneous Mexican champions. Pretty big deal. I like that. I like that a lot. Let's go to point number four here, BC. Last on the UFC 284 card, if we can, just very simply,

how about Jack de la Madalena? Now, we all kind of thought he was going to look good and get it done, but he looked really good and really got it done against Randy Brown, stopping him in the first round, BC. This was supposed to be his toughest test. He ended up breezing right through it. Is the right next step for jack de la madalena old jdm a top 15 opponent right now oh oh heck

yeah um this is since the decision win in the contender series which is by the way the only pro fight for jack that has not that has not ended in a finish either you know for him losing which he lost twice early or or the run he's on. Dude, he's finished four straight opponents in the first round. Each one matchmaking in a way to try to show us what he has and what he can do. Dude, if he had just run through Brown early and dominated him, we still would have said great things. But even though the fight ultimately still ended early, the poise in setting up those strikes,

and then once he's able to land them, the pinpoint marksmanship, the ability to get the submission on and get the tap. Dude, all the stuff that Paddy Pimblitt is receiving, and the only way this comparison makes sense is I felt that this pay-per-view card was not deep. No one can argue that. Yeah, it was not. I mean, our boy Balian of MMA on Point on our MK show was like, can't wait for Kroot Mennefield, and we all laughed at him. Turns out we were wrong, Luke,

because that was batshit crazy too. But this was not a deep... No, no, I didn't think it was not going to be a crazy fight. I just didn't care. Good point. And that's the point of this card. Outside of those top two fights, you just didn't really care,

except for this spot. He got the placement Patty received in his last fight in the co-main event of a pay-per-view that tells you this guy could be next. Only unlike Patty, he's kicking the doors down in the true way that really matters by your performance in the cage, not by, you know, being on Molly's shoulders or getting that barstool money, which by the way, if you can get that, well done, Patty, you know how to market yourself.

But this guy needs that, that rocket ship now to potentially, you know, make the leap and get stardom. I don't mean a title shot tomorrow. We're not necessarily comparing him to Hamzat Chumaev in the standpoint of like he's here, he's ready to take over, let's see what he's got. But you said top 15 opponent, you're damn right he better be getting that next because Luke, there's

times when someone's rising and we see things and it gets us excited and, you know, we've been proven wrong a million times. He has that poised confidence and just understanding of what he's doing. That is different. It is different. Is it different enough to win a championship? I don't know.

But I don't think you can overhype him right now because he's lived up to that in every possible way. The thing about him that's so amazing, BC, is like a lot of times you'll see guys come through the ranks and they'll even beat someone who's like well known like randy brown is or something but they'll do it with like brute force you know where they're just like coming in there and then you know they land one everyone tries to say that there's a bunch of science behind it because they have the wins on their record and everyone keeps falling and you're like well there must be science behind it but a lot of times that ends up not really being true and to be clear jack de la madalena has good power he's hardly some kind of soft touch guy but the reason that he wins is because you can just watch

him methodically fuck these guys up i mean it's really as simple as that he is a scientist in there he is a guy these students these young guys in their mid to early, sometimes late 20s. I think he's around that. He's 26, I think. 26 years old, and he looks this good. He reminds me a little bit. Actually, that's not quite true. But the point I wanted to make was he is able to apply a very technical game to get what he wants.

And that's why it works every time, at least given who he's going up against, because he's not playing. First of all, he's not fucking around. He's not just trying things randomly. He has a game plan. He is a well-studied student. He has good foundations, great foundations, and he applies them scientifically.

He applies them systematically, and so no wonder it's not an accident. How did he do it? applies them scientifically. He applies them systematically. And so no wonder it's not an accident. How did he do it? He used good footwork to corral Randy Brown, pass him, push him back, make him exit on an angle, and then popped him for it on the blind side when he did. Dude, that was, I mean, I don't know if he had that plan from the word go inside of the game plan, but pressuring him backwards and then forcing him to make bad choices, I guarantee was in the game plan, but pressuring him backwards and then forcing him to make bad choices,

I guarantee was in the game plan. I absolutely guarantee it, partly because you know that about Randy Brown being able to be pressured on tape. You can see it pretty clearly. So the point I wanted to make here was, here was a guy against an experienced opponent who just methodically pushed him back, methodically using good footwork,

corralled an opponent, and then popped him for it on the way out. Dude, this is what you want from guys in their 20s, right? This is what you want. If you can take what's already there and then build experience, slightly tougher opposition, good development, he'll get physically stronger as he gets bigger, all that fun stuff.

By the time he's 30, he is gonna be a nightmare for the 170ers out there. He's already a guy, in my view, deserving of someone in the top 15 and i think he's going to go much much further than that hell yeah uh luke before you transition out of this ufc a couple points real quick people have hit us on twitter aggressively i want to respond some people say no forget this pound for pound debate it should be john jones guys he's been out for three years most pound for pound, if you have any kind of backbone in doing them, you have

a one year rule where after a full year, if a fighter does not have a fight and they've been inactive, like they don't have a fight scheduled or there's no major rumors, they gotta be off the list, okay? It's right now. Who's the best right now? We don't still know if Jon Jones is the best right now. Number two, Luke, people want you in particular

to respond to Dan Hooker's Twitter accusations this morning that mahachev used an iv and should be suspended by usada and not allowed to win that fight your thought yeah did he provide a lick of evidence for it because i haven't seen any thank you very much and finally uh there's a fellow luke named uh matt ritz who said hey mk as one of your p1s uh you really fucked up with this live show hey Hey, once again, dude, not our fault, but even further here. Actually, it turns out that we didn't. Even further here, that live show was for the UK. In fact, the idea I had pitched originally

was that it wouldn't even air live so that we can make it as crazy and raunchy as possible. We will. You will get it. You're going to be appreciative that we waited long based on the production values of what they do. You're going to enjoy that, so don't worry, Matt. I'm happy to accept blame where we actually were the ones who did something and messed it up but yeah that's happened a lot but this happened a lot and by the way it will happen in the future

not the case here and before you transition out of here are you going to bring up uh jessica andrage now or or later uh we did you would put anything about it in have you seen this shit i have not let's wait let's wait until dms let's wait until dms it might be in there okay bc last but not least you were there i called the prelims solo which don't make me do that again bc that's that's very hard you just not you did that to me once on a five minute notice not your fault he was sick we had to take her to the er not your fault by the way and i would have told you to go a million times but i know that feeling it. It ain't easy, brother. It ain't easy. It's tough. It's tough.

Well, we got through it. Car was good. Main event, you got to love the story. It looks like it's spelled Oshaki. It's not. It's pronounced Oshaki. It's Oshaki Foster, and he was a slight, slight underdog, BC,

heading into this one. I talked about the odds on the prelim show, but you had told me ahead of time you just thought that Foster had a chance. Now, Ray Vargas heading into this one. I talked about the odds on the prelim show, but you had told me ahead of time, you just thought that Foster had a chance. Now, Ray Vargas heading into this fight was undefeated, was the 122 previous champion, was the reigning 126 champion. This was his first shot at 130 after the Mark Moxio fight. Why did you believe that Foster had such a good chance of winning? Even though he wasn't the taller man in this one, Ray Vargas, you know, unnaturally tall for the divisions he fights in.

He was the bigger man, which I know that doesn't make a ton of sense because you're like, well, he's known as a slickster, not a puncher. He has a very interesting style that sometimes makes him a puncher. I have extra experience having called one of Oshaki's biggest wins,

a knockout of Miguel Roman back on the old NBC Sports Ring City USA card. And he did the same thing here he did to Vargas, only he got a stoppage in that one. Luke, he has an ability because his defense is so sound to operate in punching range for most of the fight, but use the swiveling, use the shoulder rolls, use different things to be able to stand close enough where if your defense isn't up to point, he'll light you up with shots. And the key to this victory was taking away the jab of Vargas by being quicker on the inside. He didn't run like Vargas accused him of ahead of the fight that he would do. You know,

this wasn't, oh, the slick boxer just got enough. This was a fighter who used his slickness, matched it with the willingness to punch, landed the better shots throughout, and got the decision win and is now a champion at 130 pounds. So you may ask yourself, why should I care? Look, we cover combat sports for a living. More often than not, there's bad headlines and bad endings. This is a really good one. And look, you texted me something when you were doing your research ahead of calling,

you know, setting up the prelims and hosting it, which you did a great job. You were the judge, jury and executioner in that regard. You said, Oh, shock. He's got a way better story than he even tells himself in interviews. And that's true. He's very humble,

but here's the real deal on a shock. He foster did not have a good childhood, had an awful one in ways that weren't his fault, was arrested for aggravated assault six years ago, did jail time. It was in jail that he watched Terrence Crawford become the undisputed champion at 140 pounds in which he sort of had his rock bottom moment of

that could be, that should be me. And what he's done since then in the six years, get out of prison, turn his personal life around, get back to becoming a fighter worthy of climbing the ladder of becoming a title contender and then dealing with boxing politics look he had nearly two years off after that big win over Miguel Roman that I mentioned because he just couldn't get the right opportunities at the right time but when he did on Saturday introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich,

but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy. Consider yourself warned. Limited time only at participating McDonald's in Canada. He showed you exactly who he is. One of the best 130-pound fighters in this world. So I wanted to make sure that people got that turnaround in the story ray vargas was 36 and 0 coming in like you mentioned had just had the biggest win of his career against mark magsayo at 126 won a world title and was trying to dare to be great in his own words was trying to join that list of mexican fighters who have won titles in

three different divisions and by the way that list is like Chavez, Canelo, Morales, Barrera, Morris, Santa Cruz, all the names you know and love. He couldn't do it because Oshaki Foster stepped up in his biggest opportunity and showed out. And I was, you know, look, I'm very happy.

Jim Gray went to the Super Bowl. He was on assignment. I got to fill in, but to see that moment play out right in front of me, it was great. And, you know, great crowd, just a pure boxing fans

down there in San Antonio. Really enjoyed that. I believe we've got just a quick bite of sound to throw to for Oshaki celebrating the moment here. Long Island Luke in the back, if you can press play. Years later, through the boxing politics, through the layoffs, how do you even put into words what this journey has been like? Man, I can't. I can't even put it into words man uh you know

i just know i just know my mom's my grandma you know my uncle and them they all looking down on me man uh it's just been a it's been a tough journey but a great outcome man great story seriously he said something yeah i watched your interview with him not this one but the one you did pre-fight and uh i told my wife about it i was so like he said something that was heartbreaking man heartbreaking he said that uh you know he didn't get into big details but he said he wasn't wanted as a child and one of the ways he eventually figured it out was he never understood why there were no baby pictures of him like there was nothing and he realized that like basically at the time he was just an unwanted kid and uh you know it kind of broke my heart because like dude tuki is like everywhere

all over my house i have a google nest and it's just rotating photos of tuki she's on my wall here like i could never imagine not documenting every part of her day um that was sad when he said that man that was sad when he said that, man. That was sad. So, like, one of the guys who's made his own mistakes, as you mentioned. Not, you know, this is not a guy who is just an angel sent down from heaven. He's made his own problems at times. But he does seem like a good guy.

He seems like a great dad. And he is a hell of a champion. He claimed the vacant 130 WBC Super Featherweight title. So good for Oshaki Foster. And that's one of the titles that Shakur Stevenson lost on the scales and then moved up in weight. So, you know, he had his son in his arms before that in-ring interview and it was just, it was touching.

He had a great turnout. He's from, you know, down the road in Orange, Texas, which is closer to the Louisiana side, but a great turnout in terms of the crowd for him. So it was a fun moment. And hey, Mario Barrios bounced back on the co-main. I know it wasn't a killer opponent here. Giovanzi Santiago moved up in weight to fight him, but big win for Mario Barrios, just the

same. And the Perreault brothers both got wins, Lanier and then Lanier. One was on the prelim card, which I called his, I don't know if he's his younger brother or not, but he's his younger brother. Yeah, this was his third pro fight. And then Lanier gets the win on the main card. Both guys from the same hometown as Luis Ortiz, Camagüey, Cuba. So nice to see them getting by.

By the way, Bob Santos, busy man, trainer Bob Santos on that card. Good to see him out there. He just reunited with Barrios. I didn't even know that he was Barrios' original trainer on the come up. So yeah, nice moment there. We caught up with him behind the scenes. One of my favorite guys in the sport very very good head coach so we'll see what they do and i was gonna say can someone get regis pro gray a seat did you watch the broadcast he spent the whole time so he he had him and a couple friends with him and they're in the he's trained by the same trainer bobby betton that oshaki

foster is in houston he stood up the entire night in the fourth row cheering on Oshaki, which is great, but, you know, good luck anybody sitting behind him telling the champ there at 140 to sit your ass down, you know? No, not happening. Have fun. All right, but we have to get to DMs, but before we do, let's go to our friends from Private Internet Access. Roll the clip.

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away from your loved ones yes time now for uh when the viewers get to ask us questions it's time for dms from the diggity dogs let's run the animation yeah hee haw to that by the way lots of people commenting on how many of our viewers are male yeah we knew we weren't surprised how many of our UK live crowd people were male? A lot of them. But hey, shout out to all those girlfriends and wives who came. I mean, look, you got to give it up to Dawn Paquette of Nova Scotia, right? Yes, I did meet her briefly after the show,

and she seemed quite nice and quite lovely. All right, BC. From at Payule. Did Volk just lay the blueprint for fighters to beat the seemingly unsolvable Dagestani style. Obviously, not everyone can fight like Volk, but what are some of the key lessons other fighters can take from his performance? Yeah, I don't think he wrote the fucking blueprint. I got to be very well.

I mean, the key element is there is not everybody can fight like Volk. I wasn't sure Volk could fight like Volk in this fight and he did so but Luke you made a case for the idea of of Benny Dariush who wasn't afraid to say things into a microphone that could have got him you know off there Luke standing firm and I appreciate that but uh I mean who can who can slow down who can neutralize Mahachev's takedown threat enough to outstrike him. Right, that's the idea. The idea is not that he, it's not that, it's not who is better at wrestling than Islam, right?

Now, maybe the answer is nobody, but that at least is still something you have to ask. Although I would say, I think the defensive wrestling of Darius, people are like, oh, Darius doesn't have the speed of Volkanovski. Are y'all under the impression that Volkanovski won or I should say put it together a potentially winning performance because he was faster you should not think that that's not the reason why he did well he did well because yeah certain times he was quick but it's because he had really good technical application to find openings it's a big difference than just being zab judah quick no that's not why he won so daryush doesn't have that but doesn't need that

now again i'm not saying daryush is the guy to beat makachev but we're talking about beating the daghastani style can we just say something there's a lot of different daghastani styles there's not one daghastani style like a lot of it is um sometimes long-range striking into obviously um top control wrist control wrist rides leg rides uh attacks from the back you know that kind of a thing but like you know isn't it how different are Islam and and for example uh Usman Nurmagomedov they're meaningfully similar but there are also a lot of big differences between them how about fucking Habib and Islam dude they're very different fighters and a lot of big differences between them. How about fucking Habib and Islam? Dude, they're very different fighters in a lot of important respect. Zabit's another one.

So when people say the Dagestani style, it's like, what do you mean exactly? See, this is what I mean, BC. Who's the best fighter? It just shows dominance. You're just saying words. They have to have meaning behind them. So I do think that Volk showed that if you have the kind of takedown defense where you stay on your base, you wrist and hand fight the whole time, and you can create separation, yeah, you can do a lot for yourself. But, you know, it's going to take a lot more than that to beat Islam.

All right. Islam. Alright, from at I mean, I've got glasses. Dallin M. Johnson, with damage being the main scoring criteria, it's supposed to be impact, but whatever, then couldn't an argument be made for Volk winning round four? Get the fuck out of here with this. After all, that's how O'Malley edged out Jan. Are we

really going to fucking argue you can give up the back for three minutes and win a fucking round because of punches like this? Get the fuck out of here. What nonsense this fucking argument is so stupid. Let me read the key paragraph one more time and then people can judge for themselves. It is from the definition here. A judge shall assess if a fighter impacts their opponent significantly in the round, even though they may not have dominated the action impact includes visible

evidence, such as swelling and lacerations impact shall also be assessed. When a fighter's actions using striking and or grappling lead to a diminishing of their opponent's energy, confidence, abilities, and spirit. All of these came as a direct result of impact.

When a fighter is impacted with strikes by lack of control and or ability this can create defining moments in the round and shall be assessed with great value i understand that's very generic i think it kind of is for a point to a point people have overvalued the idea of impact to the level that they take away anything you're doing on the ground short of ground and pounding someone's face in and i think we got to get off of that also just i don't think people understand the significance of the back and again if you wanted to say islam was stalling i'm not disagreeing he was stalling he was stalling certainly towards the end he was stalling uh but that's the referee's

job like it's not islam's job to let go because he's stalling or for volk to get like a free stand up because islam's stalling i guess the referee was supposed to intervene it's the referee's job like it's not islam's job to let go because he's stalling or for volk to get like a free stand-up because islam's stalling i guess the referee was supposed to intervene it's the referee's job if the referee and i like mark garden i'm not it's a tough job he didn't do it because people don't want to take away from the back understand why the referee doesn't want to take away from the back right like why won't referees stand up someone who's in mount or in the back it's happened at times it's extremely rare it's because if you know anything about fighting having that kind of asymmetry where i have control and total access to your back dude that is fucking check ladies and gentlemen you are you're asking who would i rather be this guy or the guy

with the back control i'll be the guy with the back control? I'll be the guy with the back control one billion times out of one billion. It is such an advantage, and it puts your opponent, if their defense is not locked in the whole time, the ability for the fight to go from where it is to over is that fucking quick. Yes, of course he won that fucking round.

What are people talking about? I think people see, they go, oh, he took him down and didn't land meaningful strikes. Very true. Fine. But that doesn't cancel out what happened. And unless Volkanovski had a decided advantage in terms of striking and damage or the threat of submissions or anything that could have won him the fight, you have to count that part of it, which was he took him down, he took his back, and he put on a threat of a choke. And that's just, it's just what it is.

And look, in these rounds, the striking was too close to automatically say, oh, well, he didn't really do anything with that takedown. If it wasn't close, you can say that. But because it was, it's part of the argument. Right. And again, it's like, oh, well, the submissions, anything he was trying from the back then wasn't very close if you make any mistake from the back it is fucking over it is over against someone as

good as islam makachev it's fucking over that's almost not true for virtually any other position that you can achieve in all of grappling and as great as volk is but i i think he was so smart during that sequence to get the crowd involved and try to raise the energy because I think it was lifting him to be able to try to work out of that position. And that's a credit to him, but you need that crowd. You kind of need that crowd to fuel you just the same, though. Yeah. All right. From Dawson.Hooley, I think.

Okay. So if you folks didn't see this, they write, with Santos out, how do you see Blanchfield versus Andrade playing out? So for folks who may not have caught this, uh, Tyler Santos, but by the way, the news was broken. Hello on the RSD couch that Aaron Blanchfield,

this coming weekend is going to be fighting Tyler Santos, except BC. Tyler Santos is out and replacing her. It's Jessica Andrade. Now we've been high on Erin Blanchfield. I liked her chances against Tyler Santos. I don't know about the Jessica Andrade fight, BC. What are your feelings about this one?

Yeah, there's elements to it that make this a much harder fight. And what a turnaround of circumstances, considering we knew about this date and fight happening from the RSD. But then, you know, what was the original main event of this card? Wasn't it Chito versus Sanhagen that got moved? Yeah, it got moved to a big card. So this became the main event. And now you switch opponents, which, you know,

it's certainly asking a lot of both fighters. There are elements of the Andrade switch, which makes this tougher, meaning Blanchfield's got more of a chance to lose this spectacularly because that's the power that Jessica Andrade brings to the equation and the strength and all that. But Luke, there are certain vulnerabilities within Jessica at this division that I don't think Tyler Santos has. Tyler Santos to me was a much better well-rounded threat that was really going to test Aaron over the potential five rounds. Now with Andrade, it could be more dangerous in certain situations, but I think it also offers her, look, she may have to throw a perfect game to do it,

but do you think she could throw a perfect game here and potentially take Andrade down and win it in her strengths? Easier said than done, but I think that the change in opponent, it depends how you look at it. Am I right or wrong here? I mean, I'll say this. You know, if you're going to fight Jessica Andrade, getting her on a week's notice, that helps. Right? That helps. Okay.

But it helps. I mean, it changes things for Aaron too, but I mean, you're getting a relatively unready on Drog so there's that the other part is do I think that that Blanchfield can win I do it's going to be tough I in some sense like Blanchfield losing is not a big deal because this is like I mean this is way way way out there in terms of like how Tyler Santos is is a tough opponent, but Jessica Andrade is a dangerous one. Like a very dangerous one. Like the capacity for shit to go wrong for you with her is high.

Do not forget that not only did she lose the first round against Rose as badly as you can lose it and then dropped Rose on her head. Weird circumstance, I get it. But don't forget the Ioana title fight for Jessica Andrade in which she was lit up for three, nearly four full rounds. And Luke had moments in the end in those championship rounds would not stop coming forward, would not stop landing the kind of punches that you're like, oh, I don't know if Ioana can take another one of those. So if Blanchfield does this, it could be white knuckle for 25 minutes. I mean, it really could at the end of the day here.

So it's weird. It's like if she wins, dude, she might be getting the next title shot against shevchenko if the things fall if they fall her way will it be better for her career in the long run if she loses you never know luke you never know in these circumstances but she's game she's ready she's been incredible on this run we're gonna find out for real what she's made of because if she cannot take andrage down and control in her strength even if she out strikes andrage in terms of volume and which you know it's going to still be asking a lot of her can she take those punches i don't know i don't know dude i mean lauren murphy

got she went the distance but she got lit up and she's about as tough as it comes in this division yeah she sure is and so we talked to blanchfield she was like I already know I'm better than everyone else in the division why should I wait and I'm like well you believe you're better than everyone else in the division whether that's true we shall see but I'll say this BC if she beats Andrade she might be your new champion eventually like I that is well dude how many okay so how many fights currently on the record does aaron blanchfield have right what's her exact record it's it's like less than 10 fights right yeah bro dude this is the the reality of a division that isn't just just around it she's 10 and 1 yeah she's 10 and 1 so this is only her 12th pro fight if you could be jessica androgyne your 12th pro fight fucking

hell did she lose her loss Tracy Cortez out of the UFC yeah I think that was years ago she lost Tracy Cortez back in 2019 and Invicta was a split decision so it's pretty close yeah I mean like she's got a chance to to to win us over in in monster ways but look the thing is the only thing that scares me is this Blanchfield's biggest wins I'm thinking Miranda Maverick i'm thinking you know the big one against molly dude she dominated those fights you know on her terms she looked incredible i mean she's shown what happens if you got a rally that's the things that's just unknown she's cold-blooded luke we know that she may she may be able to do this at the end and if she does after jessica draws she'll be fighting for a world title and will have a great chance at winning it,

even with Valentina being a superhero. But you've got to get past this boss at the end of the video game, and it turns out it's Andrade, Luke, and she comes to that fight to do one thing, knock you the frick out. All right, from atcal.commy. That's the worst name ever. That's gross, right? Yeah.

How did you both, but especially BC as a first-time visitor, find the food on your trip to London? Well, we went to a really nice dinner on Thursday night, right? Thursday night? Yeah, Thursday night. At some Hawksmoor Steakhouse

or something like that. Yeah, that was nice. We weren't allowed to order what we wanted. Everything else was straight up trash. They daddy-panced us at that restaurant. They're like, this is the food we will be serving you yeah yeah they didn't even give us a menu like you're just eating this shit it was good though it was very good it was really good yeah it's really good i'll say this the brits just eat dog food i mean how else do

you want me to say it like well there's there's probably going to be a uh a scene that you'll see on the upcoming donkey menary morning combat volume 8 8, whenever Jake Von Amsterdam gets to it. But yeah, I sampled the gas station fare and you were like, you are fucking eating dog food, sir. And you know, I couldn't argue with that. So here's what I'll say about it. We had one elite meal, if you will. And I thought it was good.

It was very good. We had a lot of mid fare. And to take a Luke Thomas word, it was nubs. It it was weird there were weird maybe that's just culture differences there were like i ordered that salad there were no greens it was just all tomatoes and he ordered a tomato salad right and you're like okay what's in a tomato salad how about 55 pounds of and when i say chunks of tomato i don't mean like julienne i mean like someone cut it with like a book

like just kind of smashed it and pulled the pieces apart and then threw them in a plate and then no lettuce like no onions no nothing just fucking croutons that filled up with tomato juice so it became a soup and then they gave me the chicken separate and maybe that's normal fare there but it was weird i also had breakfast luke they served me scrambled eggs on top of the on top of this giant piece of bread that could not be chewed through it's just there's some elements that are weird here's what i'll say about the uk fare in general their gas station food is weird as shit and create but creative i'll give them that with their candy sweets that area of fair luke they're better it's better dude it's way better like what did i bring

home for my family mostly candy because it's way better you know no it's good that part i like their candies their candies are pretty good obviously their teas are good coffee i had a couple bad spots of coffee but i've never had some good ones too so the coffee was fine but like listen the brits just can't believe that like they you know they this was the center of the universe london was the center of the universe at one point and it's still just a phenomenal world-class city in every way i mean london is amazing but uh yeah the spanish and the french fuck you all up i don't know how else to tell you like they're just much better at it than you guys are like there's not a lot of variety of toothpaste offerings either did you

notice that in the convenience stores okay we do it we're doing some jerry seinfeld airplane food bits with that what we're doing here all right from sebastian hackle who's apparently verified oh dude that's i'll tell you who that is real quick okay who is that uh he's the german voice of wwe and and a pro wrestler and he's the joe roan of Germany. He calls pay-per-view. I think I got this right. He calls UFC pay-per-view fights in the German language and is like the key go-to color commentary guy and a big fan of this show.

You see, I got to tell you, I've been to Berlin. Berlin, world-class city. Amazing city. Amazing city. I would love to visit. I'd love to visit with sebastian hackle and maybe we can go see that so how he goes how about an mk show in germany well we haven't even really had a good one in the states look we need to have one here for the best show we've ever done

is like nowhere near here it was across the fucking water what do you think bc all right this discussion's probably better served after people watch the live show and they can get a feel for themselves if we've got something here. But, you know, we did a receiving line afterwards. It was like when you get married and then, you know, everyone out there comes one by one and they hug you. And shout out to our great fans. And there's some, you know, there's a wide variety of fans that we have, but I love them all, Luke, and this dysfunctional family. Dude, everybody came up to us and was like, if you reproduce this in, say, you know, Ireland or wherever, where the passion is just as big.

I mean, you guys could do this on a regular basis. Luke, that takes a lot of ambition, money, all that stuff. I don't know what our future with this is, but I'll tell you this. That live show from what you and I were expecting, from the things that made us nervous potentially about it, turned out to be a 10 out of 10's like in that moment we gave the best show we possibly could shout out to the venue the team our extended team everything that made it great the fans it made it great i think we can do that bigger and better a lot more times over so can we pair that up with big events is there going to be a budget for it i don't know those answers look all i can do is sit in front of this camera and talking to this microphone but i'll tell you you know all my crazy ideas luke they're unending there's a lot of them all right you want it people want to go

there people were telling us there we could take a show to dublin and do well and i believe that i really believe that you want to go to berlin with sebastian hackle luke i'll go there with you okay you want to go to uh marietta we'll call russell and his luke i'll go there with you okay you want to go to uh marietta we'll call russell and his wife down i'll go there with you okay where you want to do another mk live show look we can we can stop doing this show three days a week and just make it a traveling circus if you want yeah i don't want to do that but i do want to do more live shows just not okay next in germany how about bangkok you got any interest in that? I got a lot of interest in Bangkok. You're too gross, POS.

Wow. Great timing. Gaff in Long Island. Luke, thank you for dropping that. That is it for DMs BC. It's time for BC's Feces. Yeah, I didn't have much time at the airport yesterday. Vaping is for closers. I bought this. This is a true story. I bought this the morning

after the... I haven't had a vape in a while but i uh i bought this the morning after the live show bc yeah i bought this in london and um and uh i'm addicted again so that's well i will say this the next morning after our live show or maybe it was later that night i don't know whenever i ever whenever i saw you for the yeah the next morning possibly or maybe later that night i saw you for the first time in a while and you were like motherfucker get over here and you were like don't you dare say a fucking word about this and you held up your vape stick and you were like vaping is for closers bitch and i was like you know what know what? That's pretty brilliantly delivered. I can't really argue with that

because the town where I come from, that's the case, Luke. Okay, that is the case. So, you know, hopefully you can work your way out of this, but take your victory lap because you deserve it, Luke. Well done on that show.

You too. Thank you. All right, I scoured the globe. You know the deal. Highs and lows, good, bad, ugly, in between combat sports and beyond. It is. Have you seen the show?

BC's feces baby yo bc had to take some no we shouldn't say that luke but after that 10-hour flight from london to dallas dude yeah they know me now in that airport i'll tell you that much luke okay yep you couldn't go on the plane i'm not going in that closet what are you kidding me look i am holding that like it's third grade they got bitter at me but i just did it anyway i went to the bathroom in first class and you know you know how they try to wall it off with like the it's i was just i just zipped it right open and i was like i'm gonna go in the big old shitter how do you fit in that commode how do you do no no no do the first class bathroom you can walk around like it's a it's a walk-in closet. I have not seen this.

What are you talking about? I have not seen this first class bathroom. So I took Virgin. Who did you fly? I flew American. Well, British on the way over, American on the way back. So I flew Virgin Atlantic both ways. By the way, shout out to Virgin Atlantic.

Great flight, by the way. Great planes. But if you get in, the left is all, once you walk on the jetway or whatever, on the left is all the once you walk into the on the on the jetway or whatever on the left is all the first class like beds or whatever and then there was premium then economy for the peasants in the back your boy had to pay out of his pocket to put himself in premium which i did uh but i couldn't afford first class it's way too much money but the first class at the at the back

of their cabin you know i'm talking when you run in you go right for yours left for first class there's a little uh i should say just to the left, there's a first class bathroom right there. And they forgot to close the thing fully. So I kind of opened it the whole way and I went into their first class bathroom. Dude, it was, you could have fit four or five people in there. I mean, I couldn't believe how big it was. It was shocking.

So I just used that one. Did you have enough room to become a solo member of the Mile High Club? You mean, did I rub one out in the air? Okay, we don't want to get fired now. Not before we take it to Bangkok, Luke. The answer is no. I just watched everything everywhere all at once and a couple other things. It was great.

All right, great. Luke, let's start UFC 284 from Perth, all right? Did you see Tyson Pedro kick my Lithuanian brethren Modestus Bukalkas right in the dong? Yeah, right in the old ball bag. Oh, that's not even

like fooling around. That's like I'm going to D man you right here. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's just this is how they

perform. Well, I'm not even going to say that castration. Yeah, that's the first step. All right, let's keep it going.

Hey, featherweight. How do you say this guy's name joshua cool about cool about i think yeah um cool about oh you're right i'll get to that one next gaff sorry about that interruption there let's stay here featherweight joshua cool about describes uh a ball game he used to play growing up luke let's see if you had the same upbringing. With the spinning wheel kick to the nuts, how badly were you hurt? Yeah, it was pretty bad, you know. It's like one of those ones where you just got to sort of figure out if they're still there, you know what I mean?

Listen, you're allowed to take five minutes. You only took two. And in between rounds, you were saying to your corner that you couldn't breathe. Yeah, man, like I said, like you've ever. Like I said, you've been hitting the nuts before, and it feels like that's a game we play when we grow up where you get smacked in the nuts, and it just sort of feels like it comes up.

So, yeah. I think we've all been there once or twice. Now, the second round started. Clearly a tough first round. Your nose was bust up, a lot of blood. Second round started. Luke? Yeah, we can call it here, yeah.

Have you played that game growing up we used to call it sack whack you ever played sack whack sack whack what do you what where did you grow up dude here's what we would here's what we would do sack whack is not just uh you know i'm gonna run up and kick you in the balls as hard as i can it's like real subtle and shifty so for example we'd be like let's say we're just standing in line like I don't know a fucking fast food restaurant whatever and the person's next to you like out of nowhere you just go bah right into the ball sack and you hit them right there and then they drop we used to do that shit all the time yeah that wasn't a part of my

upbringing we tried to protect the jewels but all any good friend of mine who's listening to this bogus you know it at the 06 2006 I went to a Pearl Jam concert, Luke, on the Avocado Tour, and it was incredible. And somebody accidentally hit me in the nuts, and then I spent the rest of the night punching all of my friends in the nuts as hard as I could. But that was very drunken and regrettable, okay? Very, very drunken.

I don't regret Sack Whack. That was the only Sack Whack. All right, I meant to play this clip earlier, but let's throw it here. So announced you know jose aldo's going into the ufc hall of fame this year we already knew that saturday night they made the announcement that former lightweight champion the inaugural one initially called bantamweight of course for the ufc but just an all-around veteran and one of the greats jens pulver got the call and you saw on the broadcast when they put in the corner of the screen what what must have been what like a live twitch thing he was doing during the show let's

go to the actual audio of him finding out in the moment he's a hall of famer wait who are we talking about now Aldo again or shut the fuck up oh shut the fuck up oh dude

shut up are you serious? Let's go. Let's go. Wow. No way. No way. No way. No way. No way. No way.

Oh, my God. Are you serious? No way. Oh. No way. No way. No way. No way. No way. No way. No way.

Yeah, you lied. You lied big time. You lied big time. Oh, man. Are you serious? This isn't real. Luke, I want to say one thing and I'll throw it to you. I apologize for the times that I criticized the UFC Hall of Fame because the standard, the criteria can flow.

There's no physical building. You know, I get all that. I make, hey, 11 and 7, Matt sarah got in on the first ballot whatever that that's how it should be that moment right there damn jen's pole yeah that was a great moment i mean there are the criticisms of the ufc hall of fame i don't think change i mean you know the ufc just wants to run the entire industry and therefore have what it says are the best under its own view of things. And I just feel like it'd be better if there was something independent. But to be clear, just because it's the UFC side of things doesn't mean there's not value to it.

And in the case of giving Jens Pulver a place among history in the sport, a revered place in history i think is very appropriate i'm glad they did it and um folks sleep on little evil man like first ufc lightweight champ he was part of that whole team out of bettendorf iowa the militant fighting systems he was one of the early guys out of there it was just dude they had hella sparring hella they just you know they were they were animals out there and maybe not for their own benefit in certain ways long term for their health but you know he he managed to work through it and um you know he had some great wins as well had some big losses too but i think what folks forget is you know jens pulver wasn't just a pioneer in early mma for the latter weight classes he eventually did time in wec yeah and one

of the real first big fights they did to build faber's name was faber versus pulver and they did a great job promoting that contest. And that really helped the legend of Uriah Faber as well. Everyone feels like, you know, Uriah Faber was in a big fight against Aldo and then lost. And he's had some other big ones. But when you think about some of his bigger wins, maybe the first cruise fight, and then certainly beating Jens Pulver in terms of what made his name, that was big. And of course, I'm saying, I'm talking about a fight that Pulver lost,

but I'm trying to point out, winning or losing, here was a guy that got the world to notice lighter weight fighting, and he did it from UFC to WEC. He even fought Takanori Gomi in Pride for a little while. He did a lot of great things to make the lighter weight guys what they are today. Absolutely deserved in the Hall of fame zero question about it i'm glad you made that mention about when he when he made that late run in the wc and you know he wasn't the same guy but it was like he got to fight the

the rising can the first batch in a lot of ways of that next generation of smaller weight class stars that became faber ald Aldo, Dominic Cruz, all this cowboy, all those guys that, you know, ended up in the merge into the UFC. But when they showed that footage in the highlight package, after he was announced of when he got on the microphone, I don't know if it was after the first or second pen fight,

but he got on the microphone and was like, you know, we had a fight for this, for like small weight classes to be a thing. You know what I mean? And like, and we want, we're hoping that this fight shows you that. I mean, think where it was in mma at that point of the idea of like he

had gotten rid of their lightweight division after pulver had beaten pen the first time they got they just scrapped the whole fucking thing so like here was a guy when they brought it back he was on tough five and like he had bj and that fight again like this guy has been at the center of lighter weight fighting from the word go from the word go and any of that that what do you have that knockout in under 10 seconds and to find out on that video package he was so injured coming in and he took it anyway i mean just like you know the old wild west but dude he left his mark in a pioneering way and that reaction is just like that's what it's about man you know You know? Good for him. Glad for Jens Pulver to get some recognition. Absolutely.

Let's take it back to Perth here, Luke. This was some of the pre-fight promotional stuff. Did you see Dominic Cruz hug this, what is this, a wallaby, a sloth? What the hell do you call this Australian beast here? This is great. Koala bear. Sorry, Luke. I'm down on my animals here.

Dude, do you know about koalas? Also, a buddy of mine who was australian told me this he said that koala bears almost all of them have like a really bad case of chlamydia and um like which like i i'm not so they're all diseased but the other part is like they're they're eating eucalyptus and like all day long and i'm apparently that how did he explain this that between the disease and how they eat it slows everything down in their in their body and that's why they're like halfway drugged and moving slow all the time it's apparently i'm fucking the story up actually i should probably should have kept wait so they have stds they're drugged and they move slowly that unfortunately you know i'll ask him what he what it was about him but there's something about them either through the chlamydia or the way that they eat

and what they eat that that makes them just high all day they're just fucking high all the time i was gonna say up to that point you've made a sad description of most of our fan base and i think you're still going with it luke but shout out to them um look quickly on the point i made here's my updated what i think is the best ufc pay-per-view team. I actually think Anik, Cruz, DC gives you everything you're looking for. At this moment, Luke, what is your best three that they can offer? Anik,

Felder, and honestly, I'm going to say Sanko. People are going to think that's blasphemy, but... You have said that before. Yeah, you have said that before. She does more homework than it looks like her male competitors or her colleagues combined. So it shows when she talks. I just think you still need one personality.

And I think whether we're talking DC, Rogan, sometimes Bisping, although he can do breakdowns and be a personality, I just still think DC, when not paired with Rogan, where it becomes too much of a watch along is still the guy Luke but that's my general opinion not yours that's fine yeah okay great all right hey let's keep it going here Luke did you see featherweight Shane Young he went all Gene Simmons like during the weigh-in opposite Blake Builder yeah where do you think that tongue has been look at that I think that's Maori shit man yeah that's intense as shit right there wow shane young he didn't win the fight luke but

he did win the face off uh let's keep it going a lot of celebrities in attendance at perth including robert whitaker uh the drunk chad smith the drummer of the red hot chili peppers and also these two prime spokesmen lo Logan Paul and KSI. Look at them reacting to Volkanovski's fifth round rally, Luke. They look well hydrated. From drinking prime? Yeah, absolutely. There you go.

All right. We'll keep that going. Let's keep it going here on the flyweight division. Did you see Clayton Rodriguez at this first round finish of Shannon Ross early on? Yeah, probably. Dude, if he would have connected with that spinning shit. He hit him with a spinning ass. Did you see that?

He did hit him with a spinning hamstring. Yeah, I did see that. Yeah, it was like a spinning ass crack. That's an interesting move. If he would have hit that kick, though, the fight would have been over. Wow. Yeah, this dude got overwhelmed. I mean.

Yeah, that guy's a pocket rocket right there. That's fantastic. Let's go to one of my favorite fighters, Luke Lomo. Luke Boonme. You know, she's known. Thailand. Thailand's own. She's known as a striker, but look at her get this submission win over Elise Reed in

the second round, and look at the celebration. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, she's out. She's with the Hickman brothers out of Bangtao MMA. Danny Rube product as well. Danny Rube product, that's right. Shout out to Danny Rube, one of the good managers in the sport.

Yep, Danny Rubenstein. I'm sorry about that hairline joke I made one time. Former wrestler at Oklahoma, Luke. Remember that, okay? Yeah, he'll let you know about it, too. He'll let you know about that, too. All right. Hey, how about some wholesome shit

from Yair Rodriguez and his family? This was the pre-fight blessing he received from his mother cage side before entering. And it was profound, Luke. Yeah, this reminds me of my wife putting Tukey to bed. With the amount of crosses that she gives to Tukey before she got like that. See, like that. Love it. My wife does that to Tukey all the time.

They do like a prayer every night. And it's like, it's long and complicated. The whole thing's in Spanish. You know, it's a thing. What's that Colombian toast we always do? Like, abarriba, vaderche. Parriba, pabajo, el centro, parantro. Up, down, inside, back.

Love it. Love it. Well, Luke, you know Yair got a big win. Here's the celebration between son, mom, and pops afterwards. Again, it touched me. Look at bro look at dad look at dad look at that gaucho luke right wow uh he's not gaucho he's mexican so that's so is that not a universal cowboy name it's only argentinians i'm pretty sure it's only argent again let me be very clear i I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure the gaucho is specifically Argentinian. Mr. Rodriguez, your son is now a world champion. I love that moment right there.

All right, Yair also, Luke, initially after landing that triangle on Josh Shemit, did you see him? He was almost like counseling Josh not to be upset with the defeat. This was classy. He didn't want Josh's heart to to break i actually never noticed this i guess i was too busy tweeting at the time twerking too dude that's that's classy it was almost like he wanted josh not to be upset to know that he's he's championship worthy i like that all right yeah

all right well it was such a big win all class that real went on to recognize real as islam mahachev crashed yair's post-fight interview could you imagine a fight between these two one day no dude any fight with yair with somebody who's in a reasonably close weight class that's a tough ass fight you know damn right good to see that hey let's go to san antonio for some showtime boxing you mentioned heavyweight lenier perro from cuba look he was losing this fight against victor faust and the big part of that was that left hook there to end round three dude but are you gonna show the stoppage here the stoppage is so yes i will yes i will but look at the way the head bounced on that one damn and by the way i could never get a right pronunciation on his name is

it linear or linear or how do you say linear linear and then the opponent by the way danier danier i i don't know the brother's pronunciation the brother that you call the fight luke had beaten victor faust and the amateurs and do you know faust was the guy who was in that war with kolodzy where they were down like five times no that's him i didn't yeah that's him and so he was winning this fight he was hurting perot let's fast forward to round eight kind of a bizarre finish here so he jabs him up body shot and watch watch victor he's like yeah fuck this i'm done yeah he can't move. So look to me. He took a right to the ribs and just couldn't.

He didn't collapse, BC, but he couldn't move. Everything was shut right there. Do we have another angle of it? I don't think we do. Although if we did, that would be shot by Matt Ryle, Luke. So it could be a shaky angle. You never know. Show it one more time.

It looks like he just quits or just stops boxing. when they showed the replay he gets hit in the ribs and it sent a shockwave through him let's watch it one more time here watch watch the ribs of right there right there that left that left hand or what it was the right hand to the ribs he just stops moving he can't he can't move anymore that's how hard that punch was now that referee Rafael Ramos they did not the commission would not allow me to interview afterwards. Luckily, you know, he got it right in the end, but just so you know, under boxing rules, when Faust turned his back almost completely to the action,

that's kind of where you should just wave off the fight. That's the telltale sign that they're not defending themselves. Now, Perro landed two shots. Luckily, they didn't knock him cold or anything, but interesting finish right there. Luke, let's go to the undercard with you on the call. Here's Claudio Marrero scoring a vicious body shot to score the knockdown over this guy. Tell me about this.

Yeah. Oh, my God. So there's that left to the body. He was obviously it's a southpaw versus orthodox, and he was going to the body every time he was waiting. Look at him switching sides here. He was waiting for basically, he kept taking angles. I think this was Fuenzalida out of Chile,

if memory serves. Fuenzalida takes a knee here, but you can just watch Claudio Moreto out of Dominican Republic taking angles on him constantly, then getting Fuenzalida to open up, and then just punishing him right there. He gets him to open up with that right hand

and then just drives it underneath the elbow. It took him a few rounds to get going. He actually ate some punches along the way. But once he started cooking, look at this. And Flynn Zalita was trying to be a pressure guy and was just running into punches over and over and over again. Yeah, Marrero, former champion, he bounced back here nicely. Luke Thomas on the call.

And finally, Luke, here's just a little highlight of Oshaki Foster again yeah marrero former champion he bounced back here nicely luke thomas on the call and finally luke here's just a little highlight of oshaki foster turning defense into offense against ray vargas in that in that very strong performance to win a world title yeah he does the philly shell kind of rolls with it uppercut to the ribs left hook love it i mean he keeps such a close range and doesn't and isn't made to pay for it in this fight i mean very slick fighter very very well done super slick all right you know who had a boxing debut this weekend luke on ufc fight pass it was jose aldo and he took home a sixth round unanimous decision over alberto zambrano here's a little bit of the highlights your thoughts

i hadn't seen this that's a nice right hand but you know he's fighting who i mean who's this guy he's fighting i don't know but did you hear the rumors that floyd mayweather might be interested in a real like a real exhibition i guess you can call no sorry a real boxing fight against jose alda not an exhibition hey listen jose can get paid i don't really care i mean that's good for him right yeah yeah Yeah, yeah, that's true. All right. Hey, remember when Anthony Smith was... And then he can have disgraced South American politicians

stay in his Orlando home some more. Why wouldn't he? Luke, remember Anthony Smith shared his love for the Slap League over the internet and everybody got mad at him even though he's a friend of the program? Nate Diaz took exception to this many days later, but here's the tweet.

I mean, that's not fair. I i mean come on nate right okay all right well you know what nate is uh i don't agree i don't agree but that's you know this is mma dude people say crazy ass shit a lot of journalists made the trip oscar willis was one of them luke to perth and here how he here's how he caught the girth of Bruce Buffer warming up in Perth. This is how Bruce gets loose for the big-time calls, Luke. Your thoughts? This is actually how I urinate at standing urinals. Well, these weren't the only stars of MMA this week. I know Volkanovski had a big fight against Mahachev,

but did you see that sparring match in the metaverse between At zuck and volkanovski luke did you see this bullshit i mean who could give a shit less i mean dude tell me this like zuckerberg i don't give a shit who what famous person you pay to be near you you're not cool i just want to be very clear about that dude this has huge john depont vibes and i hate saying that out loud because it's it's gnarly but you know it's dark but this is like foxcatcher all over again right luke i don't know about foxcatcher but it's like this dork who you know just i mean and to say nothing to say nothing of the evils that facebook has done to the world just putting that aside it's just a rich nerd who is using whatever his power to otherwise escape would be his you know

future yo look at that kip up for matt zuck though that was that was pretty cool right yeah that's great i did you see chatri tweet at him and be like we should we should spar together in philippines yeah dude the amount the thirstiness of people dude it doesn't matter it's like hey this guy is uh wanted by the law and name some country for uh putting orphans in an orphan grinder machine yeah but he drives a bugatti and uh you know he lives on a yacht anyone in mma will try to be friends with him it's like yeah but he puts orphans in the orphan grinding machine and you're like yeah but he's real rich and powerful so we're just going to be first of all that sounds like the name of the newest cannibal corpse album and second of all that

wasn't zuck you were saying but i get your point adzuck is you know he does have access to your emails and dms i'm sure luke okay so yeah i mean i don't think i'm much of a threat to zuckerberg but um you know everyone in mma deciding that all dude the problem is they just lecture you all the time about how the tech big tech is coming to get you and then this guy is walking big tech and then all of a sudden we're supposed to be friends with them make up your minds people either big tech is a problem or it's not tell your boy volk what are you doing bro you got a fight to prepare for don't be rolling around what are you doing playing grab ass with this fucking nerd for wow in the park that's unbelievable all right let's let's rate that tat luke some people love their

dog so much and now i get it i'm a you know i'm five years into being a first-time dog owner i get it how about this luke uh that is extremely well done yeah that's a superb tattoo now again you can take issue with the uh like would you want this material on your arm and does it make a coherent hole but in terms of the technical application tattooing doesn't come much better that's it took me a long time to understand the technical application i think you've done a decent job explaining that outside of your just blatant disrespect for mr hibas's heart but this is very good and i don't think it's a little weird that he goes from like egyptian hieroglyphics to like japanese like almost shogun imagery or with the hannya mask there that's a little strange it's a little bit of a confused mixture but uh it is a well-done tattoo yeah

well indeed all right hey there's a new dinner toast luke instead of the arriba bahaha have incorporated we're doing Laverne and Shirley. Dude, it's just. Yeah, that's it. Arriba. Up. Abajo. That's a deep pull. Would you consider dropping the Colombian one and adding this one to our repertoire on the road?

No. I don't. I don't. People just shove shit in your hands. I guess that's a joke. I don't i don't um people just shove shit in your hands i guess that's a joke i don't know i thought it was kind of cool but we got enough random fails to keep this going here luke yeah let's go to let's go to costco here maybe this fail will bring you back in on this segment try taking my boyfriend grocery shopping and this happened yeah well don't dude first of all you're dating lo Logan Paul, so that's why. Yeah, first of all, you spread your legs for this guy?

Wow. Okay, that's all right. Hey, let's go to the parkour course, all right? I don't know if fat guys should be doing parkour. Luke, what do you think? Okay. Hefty. We got to make some calls here.

Yeah, yeah. Now, I'm not one to make a big claim about what you should and shouldn't eat, but if you are going to eat those things, maybe pile driving yourself into fucking cement is not the best idea. Yeah. All right, we got more fails. Let's bring this thing home here, Luke. That was a Darwin Award almost.

You ever try doing, like, you knowiktok trends with your wife luke no oh all right well this couple did she's gonna go head face first isn't she yep you fucking dumbass yep tickle ticket tickle there too you fucking idiot all right hey guys we're gonna be we're gonna have fun on tiktok yeah keep ruining your landlord's fucking furniture morons oh all right there you go hey as a son of a landlord you're allowed to say that uh shout out to that las vegas property luke you know what what always wins on this show old guys and punch machines they combine for greatness you know okay is he gonna throw his shoulder out what's he gonna do here yep look at this old piece of shit just just oh look at this we got to protect old guys from

elder abuse and we got to protect bbls especially those of the instagramming kind on the beach i do love them yeah put that ass in the air yep yep yep yep dude i you this. So we go to this place in Colombia when we go to the beach in Cartagena, and it has this pool that's elevated, and it's an infinity pool, right? So the water spills over the edge, and you can put your arms on it. You can watch the sunset. It's beautiful, right? It's amazing. And every time it's golden hour where the sun is coming down in the distance,

dude, you can see all of the tiktok and instagram folks but in particular i'm just gonna be honest just gonna put it out there the the the women and they all have these like gross fat dudes who take pictures of them they all get to the edge of the infinity pool when the sun is coming down and then they all stick their ass in the air to take pictures and i gotta say it's the best time of the day every day in Columbia. I just want to point that out. Golden Hour. Isn't there a podcast with that same name, Luke?

Oh, yeah. Brendan Shop's new podcast. That's right. I think that's the Golden Hour. Yeah. Big feud between Hallmark Harley and him right now. I don't know what's going to happen with that, Luke. But let's keep it going here.

There's some dumpster diving. All right. with that luke but let's keep it going here to some dumpster diving all right well that's wasted wasted yep wasted indeed yep there it is her friend her friend is looking at her like this is definitely not the first time you've done this yes somebody threw away a perfectly good white girl luke unfortunately there you go all right let's keep it moving here let's go to the uh you ever climb a fence look and have uh i've been offensive i'm not much for climbing fences though oh wrong clip sorry sorry keep walking shoeless in the new york city subways you diseased pos i was gonna ask you what what do you think she has acquired from this walk 100 she has full-blown AIDS. I mean, you can start right there.

Yeah, let's get out of here. Let's keep it moving. Let's go over now to the climb in the fence bit. We're almost done here. All right. Thanks to the guys in the back. Here we go. Yeah, that didn't work out well.

Did this idiot give himself a wedgie? Yes, he did. That looks like New York City, too, is it? It might be. Honestly, that could be new york city too is it uh it might be honestly that could be dc too based on the yeah that hurts wow that guy's grundle or the you know his his uh wow i guess i guess he fumbled somehow on the way to go pick up his acceptance application from mit right yeah that must be that must be where he was uh luke we haven't had a testify in a while so let's go to regional mma and see what they can give you for those in the back of the congregation

not quite a full testifying but pretty close pretty close indeed that's vicious stuff right there left hook yeah all right three more on the way out here let's see if they entertain you at all what do we got what do we got what a great show we've given the fans today you know wow that's fast and furious wait so the hydraulics on the car as the white girl tries to twerk it's just like yo get the fuck up off me yep yep uh keep it moving please uh luke i didn't i didn't try the hot dogs in great britain because i'm you know i mean i'm trying i'm trying a little bit you didn't want to die protect my liver but this turtle this turtle didn't care that's like an alligator snapping turtle

dude he he ate that almost as aggressively as the bear that out ate kobayashi and that and that fox man versus b show from like 2002 you remember that great i was gonna say this looks this looks a lot like you at cumberland farms yeah very close very close and then finally we got one more i forgot what it was you know what do we got here all right oh here we go hey look check out this carnival move oh boy yeah um not bad should i be aroused or or afraid when i see that luke yeah she didn't quite stick the landing she just kind of bounced off of her you know what i'm saying and uh also it just looks like she's in the van down by the river. I mean, I would everywhere. And thank you to the respected Instagram handle of at public stalker for

bringing us this. That's your shirt of the week. I hope you have seen it. Thank you. BC. That is it for us. Any final thoughts? A great show.

Great to be back. And I can't tell you guys enough. The live show is coming. All right. We got some great look. Can we share who we interview? Yeah, we already shared it. Dude, we talked to to we sat down with arnold allen paul kirk mv pizzle okay we got some great ones coming out of the uk very soon yeah and by the way

paul craig doesn't mind it when we call him paul craig so you can stop worrying about us yeah in fact did you see paul Paul Craig on Instagram wearing our merch? I did see that. Yeah, we gave him some merch, and he wore it today. He's a big golfer, which we talk about, and he wore it to the golf course. Big fan of Paul Craig in these parts. So thank you very much. Thank you to all of the UK.

Thank you to those who came out. I mean, what a time. You'll see the video. Thank you. Luke, but now, as always, we we got to move to what's next. What's the next hill you want to climb? Anything? Well, let's see.

We have obviously UFC this weekend. We're not traveling. Well, you're traveling again this week because you're an idiot. So you have to go do that. But I think we as a team, we are going to be in studio next week. I think that's right. Not this week, but next. And then March 25th, I think we're traveling for las vegas

caleb plant david benavidez hell yeah on showtime pay-per-view can't wait like you mentioned i'll be this week in topeka kansas for friday night showbox uh card which you can only get on showtime and if you want 30 days free i think we we still offer that. Yeah, there you go. Free trial at Showtime.com. Come hang out with BC as I continue to add miles and separation from my family, Luke. All in the interest of accomplishing. I've seen those checks. They're nice. They're nice checks.

So I'm not mad at you. I'm not mad at you. Let's remind everyone, Showtime.com, label that pays. You can go to Showtime.com, get a 30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, you can now. You know I just said that, right?

You know, like I literally just said that. I know, but I like to be formal with it. I have a process, okay? We already saw the merch. We can skip that. Oh, yeah. Morningcombat at gmail.com to reach the show for fan subs

and dead wrong. That's the thing. There is no Wednesday show this week. I know that's the thing there is no wednesday show this week i know that's going to sound like blasphemy but bc and i need a break uh so we're going to get a break so what we are going to do is we are going to have something to fill that slot we're working out what that is now um but we're going to have something good for you guys 11 a.m in the east on wednesday and of course we're back on friday we'll be it could we say it might be the live show if it's if it's when it's ready when it's ready luke okay that's right it could be the live show it may not be we'll have to see but um it'll be something good either way

right so yeah it'll be fun all right bc great job hey want to thank all of the people at showtime and malka and cbs mikey was with us in london there were some showtime folks that were with us with courtney and matt and as well as some Showtime folks that were with us with Courtney and Matt, and as well as some Malka folks who made it out there as well. They all did a bang-up, first-rate job. Everyone worked together. We had a good plan, and we executed it. So let's make sure to thank all of those folks from Showtime, Malka,

and CBS Sports who helped us make that just a magical evening and experience. And when I got out of the car at the hotel in San Antonio Friday night, Gaff Pierre standing right there, my man, Filthy Phil right behind him, Luke. Wherever we go, there we are. Yeah, and they've got our

back. So thank you, Molka. Thank you, CBS Sports, and thank you, Showtime. Thank you to everyone who watched today. Thank you to everyone who was in the crowd in London. Thanks to everyone who supports the MK. We're done for the day. Enjoy your time between now and Friday. We'll have something good for you on Wednesday. So for Brian Campbell and everyone else I just mentioned, I'm Luke Thomas. May all of your gains be loyal.