MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 288 Picks | One Fight Night 10 | Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder | Ep. 437

Episode Date: May 5, 2023

On Episode 437 of Morning Kombat Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell preview One Fight Night 10 and Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder. Next up the guys run through some quick hitters before making their weekend picks. As always we close out Friday with dead wrong. (7:00) - One Fight Night 10 Preview (30:30) - Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder (50:30) - Quick Hitters (70:00) - Ok, Bet (80:00) - Dead Wrong 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

oh yeah Feel the power Yes Friday May 5th 2023 The day before a loaded Combat sports weekend And you have pulled in To morning combat The award winning combat sports showcase

Brought to you by CBS sports and showtime My name is Brian Campbell The BBC with the BDE The Alpha all those great nicknames here The partner next to me though Deserves a round of applause today He's not only the finest Combat sports analyst in the game

Regardless of his history of manhood He's also a guy who was willing to pre-tape Today's episode Because as you listen to this Your boy BC hitting 16 years of marriage on that cinco de mayo ass so luke thomas thank you for uh uh allowing me to f with our schedule i want the people to know we are not live we are not live right now we're not live you know i couldn't tell if it'd be more fun for me to root for your marriage's failure or success but then when i really thought about it i was like your marriage's failure would create yet

more headaches for me so for that selfish reason alone i hope you have a wonderful wedding anniversary i think that would free me up for more content luke are you assuming that i would be into you is that what you're assuming like one wife to the other yeah no it actually quite the opposite it would be like really sad content you know what i mean to be oh single dad washed depressed energy and i just feel like only one of us can be the one who mopes a lot between us and it's got to be well what if i just moved in with the paquettes and became the meat and there's nova scotian sandwich i mean that could be a great if you if you and the paquettes made a thruple i would wish a killer whale to eat all three of you on a kayak ride.

Oh, there you have it. Get fired up. Mikey Mormile of CBS Sports on the ones and twos behind us. Of course, this is a great show set in the stage. How about tonight? Friday night, one fight night, 10, one championships, U.S. debut. We got UFC 2. What do they call that? 88 this weekend in Newark Saturday,

the return of Henry Cejudo. How about Canelo Alvarez, the biggest star in all of boxing, although Gervonta's knocking on that door, brother. He returns against John Ryder. We're going to set the stage, play a little OK bed, and you can try to figure out whether the drapes match the carpet. Luke, what is going on here? I got country time pink lemonade on my face.

I mean, yeah. Could you be redder? I mean, you just look like. But then like all pale down here, and it's just a weird mix right now. You've been drinking on the job there, guy? No, no. I know. This is all my Caldera Lab lotion.

I'm trying to turn my skin around, Luke. Have you ever, do you know, or do you associate with anyone who does the flask bit at kids sports no no i do not i do not you know i mean has there ever been a gummy in your tummy at a kid's soccer game luke i hope not all right i hope not but no no this is like i haven't attended youth sports sober since i was a youth playing sports it was weird i told you when i went on a date with my wife this is in the Like, I haven't attended youth sports sober since I was a youth playing youth sports. It was weird. I told you when I went on a date with my wife, this is in the courting season at age 27. We went to the movies and I was like, this is the first movie I've been to in at least a decade where I didn't sneak in at least four to five canned beers in my pants. You know what I mean?

That's the kind of class you're joining up with right here. All right. Well, it has lasted so your wife is certainly understanding and i'm glad to see that indeed 16 years deep so happy uh mayweather de la joya anniversary to everyone out there oh look i don't think we have any ad reads are we losing sponsors are you dying what's happening here no i'm not dying although my i want I want to give the listeners and viewers a heads up. My daughter is sick again. So that means that whatever I have here is going to continue. Maybe you get worse.

So that's great. Was she in Newark last week? Is that what happened? Might as well. I mean, these kids, they go to kindergarten and they're just they're honking boogers on each other, cough and sneeze and fart. And I mean, it's just, it's just an absolute Petri dish of filth and disease in those things. So I'm going to get sick a lot, I guess. That's it.

All right. Well, Hey, you know, you had some good moments this week, Luke, John Jones shouted you out in a video. You joined up with your old Java jerk bro for a little coast to coast with Brandon shop. Don't think I didn't see that Luke. All right. Yeah. Any feedback? No, I haven't

watched it yet, but when I get I'm sure Reddit probably watched it. I don't know. I try. Look, I try to stay away. I have no doubt that they have consumed that material in every bit of detail and in ways that probably don't paint me or him in a positive light,

but what can you do? It is what it is. I'm trying to, I'm trying to pull out of all negativity in my life, in my life, Luke. I'm also trying to pull out. Thank you.

Thank you very much. There's no need. Your balls don't work anymore. You absolutely. Yeah. Three, three, three of them,

Luke. I mean, three, it took three to tame the, this bag, you know what i'm saying all right might as well get rip roaring and get into today's fantastic show uh quickly though showtime.com of course you can get 30 days free right now get some bell or get some boxing watch

that bill cosby vehicle it was fantastic check it was going to say, the only thing that could tame your bag is a razor at this point. I mean, you must have billy goat hair. Just. You know, Luke, there's nothing quite like a shorn scrotum. It's quite breathtaking. In fact, Luke, to be fair with you. All right. There you go.

Crab Rangoons, luge lessons. You know where I'm going with that. All right. 90s counter. Indeed. This is our life and this going with that. All right, 90s counter, indeed. This is our life, and this is our passion, all right? We got a great show for you. We just watched the UFC press conference.

Nothing happened, right? Just cringe, a lot of cringe. A lot of stupid shit. Guys accusing each other of being nation and race traitors and just awful shit in every way you could imagine. All right, who's got the first right. Who's got the first question? Who's got the first question? Well, obviously, guys, it's a big fight.

Yeah. Yeah. Obviously. Right. Yeah. All right. Hey, let's get into it. Luke topic.

Number one on today's award winning morning combat. Hey, let's give it up to them. I mean, you know, shot tree, Luke. He's not always there when you call or when he tells you he's going to call. But maybe one fight night 10 is exactly on time. Let's give it up for one championship. Of course, the U.S. debut tonight, Bloomfield, Colorado, maybe Bloomfield, one of the two, right outside of Denver. And it's going down on Prime Video. And Luke, I don't need to tell you, this is a big move for one championship.

One they expected would have already happened the pandemic slowed it down but tonight's u.s debut they put a pretty good card together of names we know and that main event demetrius johnson adriano marais the trilogy for the one flyweight championship luke thomas uh i don't know if you're ever going to get a one-on-one with chakri although he was all over shop media this week so shout out to that uh yeah he'll do him it's not like he doesn't do media he does media but uh yeah i don't know what does this mean for the one championship promotion which to its credit luke they've really started to secure the hardcore fans they're really making some inroads in asia and across the way but what started with the tnt a couple summers ago for for fight cards has now evolved to this

live on prime video on u.s soil tell me about this i gotta say that in listen i have not had the chance really to have a positive footing this far into my career with Chachri Sitya Thong, but put that all aside. Let's just talk about what one has done. They already can claim some degree of victory or at a bare minimum, not victory, but certainly they like this move into the U S is not a small move, not an easy move, but not a small one. The first thing I thing, we can't overlook this. When the UFC was going state to state to get MMA regulated, I remember this time very clearly and all the arguments they would use, and they were very effective. They were able to

make quick work of it past a certain point, but there were obviously hurdles and things that they ran into. But as they began to get their version of the unified rules, yes, it's the unified rules, but that's the one that their business model is tied to. And they got commissions to accept that, not just the United States, but obviously they pressed into Canada with it and they brought it to other places where they've self-regulated the Nevada system. They essentially homogenized the rule set and they made it this one kind of thing that we now know. And again, you can like certain rule sets or others. There used to be many more diverse rule sets. You would see in MMA, something akin to what you still see today in jujitsu or a lot of

different rule sets, a lot of different types. The point I'm trying to make is they got an athletic commission to not undo the 10 point system and the unified rules. No, that's still in the books. But if a promoter wants to use the one system, that different kind, they can do that. Dude, just to get an athlete. And by the way, Colorado's not like a small BS commission. Just to get a commission to do that is incredible. A big victory for them. You really have to say it.

That's number one. So the question is, what would define success for Saturday? Obviously, a fun card, memorable results, something that aids their star power goals. But I think they're going to be judged on two levels. One, what were they offering from a live event perspective? Did they sell well? How did it look? How does it compare to other MMA shows? And then last but not least, what does that do for Amazon when you bring the product to the United States with a US crowd, US-based media, a lot of different US-based fighters? Does that make a difference for Amazon on the viewership or retention end for that? These are

the levels at which I'm both examining success and then raising broader questions about the future. Yeah, for sure. First Bank Center is the arena, the same venue that held that BKFC show last weekend. And Luke, that scaled to 6,500 for the attendance. One sold that out two weeks ago. So, you know, they probably could have even gone bigger. Maybe they played the venue size a little cautious, but it will be interesting to see what the, you know, like you said, what that fallout is in terms of the viewership and what the, how they can

move that. I wonder if this is the kickoff though, to the idea of a future in which, you know, I know Scott Coker used to call them the tent pole cards when Bella tours and still does right. Every, you know, quarterly sort of has the, the bigger, almost pay-per-view like level loaded cards. I'm wondering if this is the beginning for one Luke of the idea of four or five, you know, of these a year on us soil to really,

because it's one thing to be that cool streaming thing. But if you can get people to come to your shows or know that you're coming through this way once or twice a year, that does, that is a next step. That is the next level of growth and maturation. I like the names on this fight card. I certainly like the storyline and the action potential of this main event. I hope it works well, Luke, because they've made some really firm moves where I think you would say two, three years ago,

you may have been tuning into a one card, but it hasn't been like, oh, I can't miss it now. And not every card has been can't miss for one, but I think over the past year, they've really made a strong push heading into this U.S. debut where I finally took the bait, Luke, and I really enjoy the product. So, you know, I got to be cheering for them here, whether Shotree lets me on The Apprentice or not.

I got to be cheering for them. I like their product. I've said it before. I think it's the most different from the UFC in terms of giving MMA fans a genuine alternative. Also, dude, I've been to the First Bank Center a couple of times. I went there for a Glory event, and I went there for

the Florian versus Lozon fight back in the early... I forget what UFC Fight Night it was. One of the earlier ones. And, you know, yeah, it's a smaller venue, but it still feels pretty decently sized. Plus, I actually think it was smart to go, rather than to the Pepsi Center down the road or whatever it's now called, the one in Denver, which I think holds 14, 15,000. They put Jones versus Rampage there.

You'll see 135. I think I attended that one. The point I'm trying to make here is they actually made sure that they sold the whole thing out. They're going to have hardcore fans. That crowd is going to be raucous. I remember going to Bellator's pay-per-view with Tito in Memphis, but it was actually across the way in Mississippi, and they scaled it for $10,000, and they didn't fill it out. And it was close. It was like, you know, $8,509. But I don't know.

Like, even – it's like they're trying to grow up, and they still couldn't do it on that one big opportunity. So I actually think that they played this one really, really well. Again, dude, the product is great. It's just that the guy who runs it says dumb shit in opportunity. So I actually think that they played this one really, really well. Again, dude, the product is great. It's just that the guy who runs it says dumb shit in public. So there you go. There's some truth to that. The main event, as we mentioned, Johnson, Maraisch three.

Maraisch had a title defense in between, but for Mighty Mouse, Demetrius Johnson, this is his third straight fight against the same opponent. We know the cool storylines coming in of how the first two fights ended. Vijay, when he made the move over from UFC in that trade with Askren, originally won the one flyweight tournament. Then when he stepped up against the defending champion Maraish in April of 2021, that one was on TNT to kick off that series. He lost by second round knockout via knee.

Obviously, we know Mighty Mouse came back in August of last year in the fourth round in Singapore, landing almost basically that same exact knee to win back the title. Remind us at age 36 that he's still here among the pound-for-pound bests in the world, and we already know where he stands historically. But, Luke, this is a pretty big deal, for Mighty Mouse You gotta believe They brought in Eddie They brought in Sage Northcutt They brought in Misha Tate

And Rich Franklin as executives But Mighty Mouse when he came over Still had a lot left in the tank Still has a lot left in the tank And even though Luke you can check out the full interview With him I did on youtube.com Slash morning combat along with Rich Franklin One's vice president. DJ told me, he also told Ariel in the lead up to this, Hey, this could be his last fight. He's not going to put any

pressure on himself, but whenever he feels like it's over, he'd rather get out too soon rather than too late. Does that add any, I don't know, onus to this, some potential watchability that win or lose good or bad. This could be the last time you see that mouse Luke walk out there. Yeah, I think it does. I mean, we're talking about an all time.

Great. He's kind of telegraphing, not declaring, but kind of telegraphing that it could be. And dude, Marais is a tough guy to beat. I mean, I can understand why he's giving himself room.

I mean, maybe he goes in there and has this unbelievable performance and runs the table on him and just feels great and wants to do it again. Great. Maybe he goes in there and has a blood and guts affair, win or lose, and is like, ugh, I don't know if I want to keep doing this, man. Like, I get that. He's accomplished so much. This fight absolutely does have relevancy,

and I think will add to his legacy should he prove victorious in some way. But again, most of what he's done is already written in stone. Just one of the best fighters of all time, one of the best UFC fighters that ever lived, independent of weight class, a remarkable champion, a remarkably well-rounded talent, a guy who has been the bar for excellence in a number of different ways, who certainly has all the respect of his peers. They don't really talk shit about Demetrius at all. People say bad things about him either as a person or a fighter. There's not really much to say in that regard. You only really have a whole lot of positive things.

So if he's saying that he doesn't have a whole lot of these left, it's worth listening to him, especially given how absolutely tough this fight is going to be. Absolutely. There's not a ton of oddsmakers who do set lines in the States for the one fight. So I'm sure the promotion hopes that changes with this debut. That's all tied to money too.

Like whatever inroads they want to make, they're getting that more part of this American footprint is big for them. Most books at the moment though, have Demetrius Johnson around a minus 175 betting favorite plus 140 for Adriano Marais. She was not only huge for this weight class but because of the weight cutting and rehydration rules as DJ always says don't consider me oh you know 125 or anymore I'm basically a Bantamweight with how they do it here let's hear from Mighty Mouse I caught up with him a week ago uh on being chosen to headline this and whether he feels you

know this would be just another fight or something completely different. Let's listen to it. Yeah, I think they believe in my brand. You know, I haven't had a boring fight in one championship yet. You know, the Rod Ting fight was a banger. The, you know, the second Adrano fight was a banger. The first one was kind of, you know, we didn't get a chance to be a banger because I was trying to get to him.

And as I was trying to force myself to get to him, I ended up getting caught. You know, I take a lot of risk when I fight. You know, I was talking to force myself to get to him, I ended up getting caught. You know, I take a lot of risk when I fight. You know, I was talking to coaches about that. And they're saying, like, people who never take risks will never be big. They will never have a good enough brand or exciting brand for people to get behind. So, for me, I've taken risks my whole entire career in my fights, you know. People are like, oh, you never took a risk against Tia Dusha. They didn't want to pay your boy.

So, but I've taken risks in my fights you know people like oh you never took a risk against tia dusha they didn't want to pay your boy so but i'll take a risk in in my fights you know you look at the kyojo huguchi fight last second arm bar look at the ray borg fight you know the mighty whiz bar though all those fights i was winning i didn't have to do you know take a risk on opposition to myself to go for you know an amazing submission so for me i'm always taking a risk and the last fight you know i took by pushing a pace, you know, I was on my back a lot, but Hey, that's what you got to do when it comes to fighting. That's funny. You don't think of him as a risk taker, but as he lands, as he names all the, you know, big spectacular moments, particularly in the second half of his career, it does involve a lot of risks to pull that off. And, uh, and I mean i mean look we were doing the resume review with henry cejudo that people of course can check out on our page there they're

calling dj the greatest of all time like not you know like like a while ago sort of universally regarded here um we know maybe why he doesn't always get the full attention hype thing you know the levels that he deserved and he didn't get that on top in the, in the little mention there about, you know, they should have paid your boy if they wanted him to move up to Bantamweight in the UFC. But would you classify him as a risk taker? Is that a fair way to say it at times? I think he, I would absolutely say that he is, I mean, you know, just like the level of, I get what you're saying.

Like he, if he was more risk willing he would have gone to 135 to fight dilla shaw earlier maybe maybe there's something to be said for that i think the issue is that what he highlights is right namely he makes the risk taking that he does look so effortless but in the hands of a less capable operator all of those things he had mentioned could have blown up in his face and in dramatic ways and we would have been like what is this fucking idiot doing you know but instead in his expert control he almost makes it look not just spectacular but safe uh inevitable um so yes i there could be guys who accepted dumber fights for dumber reasons, but I don't think that's him. And as an operator, he is so skilled. It's, it's absurd.

He's got the black diamond in front of him. 35 year old Adriano Marais, who his previous two defeats in one, which came over the past seven years, he avenged both in the immediate rematch. So it'll be interesting to see how both respond in this third fight. But let's go one more time back to DJ to sort of talk about, you know, where does this rivalry fit in in his great career and sort of the unique aspects of it coming so close together? You know, it's funny you say rivalry. And these aren't my words.

These are words from other, I, I guess you say interviewer, interviewees interviewers are like, this isn't really a rivalry. And I was like, what are you talking about? And they're like, well, it's so short, right? Like when you look at my, you know, my John Dotson, my Joseph Benavidez, uh, fights or even my email was back to back, but this one's kind of back to back. You know, I feel like, you know, you look at rivalries,

the greatest rivalries, it makes martial arts history. You look at John Jones versus Daniel Cormier. You look at, you even look at still coach Steve Austin versus Bret Hart, right? It's a long buildup. They're always behind each other's river mirror. They're always, they're always intertwined in each other's life, right? You know, you look at when I fought Joseph Benavidez, we fought at UFC 152 in Toronto, and then I ended up beating him. Then he went off and won three fights. I went off and won three fights. Then we got intermingled again. Our paths kind of converged together, right? Where I'm at press conference, I'm like, oh, did you see Joseph

fight? I'm like, yeah, I saw the fight. He great you know same thing with John Knott's when we fought it you know January 2013 and then fast forward to UFC 197 we're fighting again after he went off and did three he knocked he was knocking out everybody he was becoming the boogeyman he was knocking people out and it was almost like we came back together so with me and Adriano it doesn't really feel like the same rivalry because it's back to back like we fought in 2021 I got knocked out then I fought back to back like we fought in 2021 i got knocked out then i fought rod tank and then we fought again and now we're fighting again so it's only been a nine month separation between us so we we didn't haven't had that kind of buzz i've had in the past as a rivalry great great it's gonna be another great fight great opponent but

when i compared to my other and this is this all came from somebody else pointed out to me i was like holy shit you know what you're actually right. And then I was like, you know what? You're kind of right. It's like the Turtles and Shredder. It wasn't two episodes. It wasn't three episodes. It was a lifelong – it was lifelong. That was kind of like the synopsis.

So for this, this would be the last time. Whether win, lose, or draw, our storylines would never converge unless a huge bag of money comes into my lap. So for me, it's a great fight another opponent but when i look back on my career as the substance of viper where i have to talk about this person for months even years this is a very short short one because we're short now if you went back and fought like yuya wakamatsu again and you fought reese mclaren and somebody else and i went off i fought kairak matamatsu again and he fought Reese McLaren and somebody else and I went on if I fought Kyra Akhmatov and then another guy another guy and then we came back and

we're both in in each other's river mirror different story but this isn't the case for this one well we'll see how this plays out Luke I love the matchup I mean do you have any feels on which way this goes or or how it ends up looking there There is that size factor for Adriano Marais, but man, DJ really showed us his greatness in that rematch. Yeah, two things, I think. Well, really one, but to the point is, interestingly enough, in the second fight, DJ was controlled for the first two rounds. I mean, the bulk of it, in Rich Franklin's words, he spent on his back. That's true. And then he got rocked in the second round with

a surprise head kick. Marais, and by the way, I'm told you can say Marais or Marais just depending on which kind of accent you have in Brazil. I don't know. Who the hell knows? But what I do know is that here's what I think is the dominant factor. DJ has a very, very difficult task with this guy with

managing distance, range, and everything else. I think altitude is going to be a huge factor here because you noticeably see Marias slow down during round three. And of course, DJ finishes him off in round four after having a hot start in the first and second round. Now, I don't know exactly to say, I'm not declaring to you he has bad cardio, but he definitely couldn't keep up the same pace, especially as DJ makes adjustments over time. So provided he doesn't get finished, and I do think his cardio will be really good, he's been out there for a time to acclimatize,

I think this is going to be a bit of an uphill climb for Marias. If we were at sea level, I don't really know exactly how I would feel. I think it would change a little bit, but because of that equation, and I don't know exactly what Marias is doing, but I that dj is going to have good preparation for this although i don't think he's fought at altitude before anyway i think that's going to be a really decisive factor here for a guy who after two rounds slowed down in the second fight i think it's going to happen again in the third i'm just a washed civilian luke but having just spent 10 days vacationing in colorado and utah and like seeing know, just flying into four or five, 6,000 feet,

kicking my ass for days, dude. Like I remember, you remember the 1990 final for a NCAA championship was, you know, UNLV against Duke and Duke got clobbered by 30 points. And, you know, Bobby Hurley sucked that night. And everybody's like, well, the altitude, I remember thinking like, eh, what a lame excuse. You know what I mean?

Get out there and ball. You know, they can't beat them rebels. But dude, I can't even like walk upstairs in altitude. So basically, if you're not training at altitude, what are you doing, Luke? Why are people in South Florida? I don't get it. I mean, I get why people would be near the beach or something like that and want to live in Florida, but I'm saying in terms of the competitive advantage,

it can be significant in certain ways, or the disadvantage if you're unaccustomed to it can be really hard to get used to. You know, fighting in the... This is also like Mexico City is even higher than that. Mexico City is even higher than Denver. So, you know, there's guys have been able to do it. Tony Ferguson has looked marvelous at it, but you can see, man, if that's

in your back pocket, if even at altitude you can keep the same pace you normally do anywhere else, sky's the limit, dude. You should win over time with something like that. Is DJ more likely to officially have a, you know, put the gloves down, thank you everybody for being here

moment, if he wins or loses on Friday night. Loses. Loses. I think if he wins and wins triumph. Well, there's also a case where if he wins really triumphantly, that's satisfactory to him as well. I think what will happen is if he feels like it was too easy or too short or, you know, it was a nice win,

but I didn't quite get out of this experience what i was looking for then after that there could be a secondary one but again if it's a tough scrap and he's all fucked up afterwards or he gets knocked out like he did in the first fight yeah that could be that could very much be the end of him he's 36 he's old it'd be interesting to see rod tang in the co-main event in a flyweight muay Thai bout against Edgar Tavares. Luke, we got some submission grappling with Mikey Musumechi. Stan Fairtex, who I consider to be the most exciting fighter in one championship, Luke, must see potential in terms of those Adam Waite brawls that she's in.

She's got a fight here against Elyse Anderson. Also, the return of Sage Northcutt. Damn, also, Luke, RDRDR former two-division champion Rene DeRidder going to be in a middleweight submission grappling match with Ty Ruitolo and I'm sure you could throw some extra alsos on here Roberto Soldich big free agent acquisition by one you know their roster pretty well is this for the u.s audience the best mix in your eyes of of if it if this is the close-up this is the first time people might flip over i mean it's not their first time being you know aired in the u.s but i like what they put together is what i'm trying to

say here is it the best version of what they have i don't think so for the u.s audience but to your point i think it's pretty good um as you mentioned we all know dj's in the main event i think that's exactly the right call to make by the way i want to point out that that i know it's at 135 but this is basically you know these guys are flyweights i mean i guess they call them man's weight to this point but we're talking about the best flyweight of all time even though this fight's at 135 that you the the one debut is featuring these lighter weight class guys I guess the point I'm trying to make and uh that shouldn't that shouldn't be looked past for a promoter doing that that really is a nod to I think more the hardcore fan yeah yes that's the star but at the same time you know Demetrius has

struggled here historically in terms of that level um the other thing I would say, BC, on this card, if they wanted to, you know, I'm a little surprised they didn't put Boucher on the card. Fully fluent in English. I think either trains and lives here, but he certainly makes a lot of time here if he's back in Brazil. You know, and like he's the future of their division. He's a really fun submission grappler. I'm a little surprised they didn't put him,

but obviously they've got other cards to fill. So who knows what the situation is with that. You mentioned 28-year-old Roberto Soldic from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Luke, didn't expect to be pulling that out of it today. You were telling me that he lost to Amoslav in the past. And Luke, you know he lost to ddp in 2018 and then came back and knocked out africa's only champion in the rematch uh i think by the way he identifies as croatian i could be wrong at this point uh but to your point i think he was born there um no the guy who beat yoslav Amosov was Iskarov. He's undefeated.

No, was the guy in the UFC card. It's not this gentleman. Okay, this gentleman lost to Yaroslav Amosov is what I'm trying to tell you, Luke. Yeah, that's how good Amosov is. Amosov's a beast. Also, Drikus Duplassie beat him, and then he came back in their rematch and finished him off with strikes in the third round. Are you aware that I teed you up with that fact about 15 seconds ago?

I know. I was trying to get my goddamn notes up, and I misheard that part. I'm sorry, bro. I'm trying to do better with that. Thank you, Luke. Yeah, let's see what one's got here. Sage Northcutt is back in a lightweight bout. We talked about when this fight was announced but ahmed mutaba is his opponent mutaba and uh 10 and 2 on a two-fight winning streak in one is mutaba so uh you know are you just looking for sage's face not to fall off here luke uh have you counted him out Is this an attraction fight to you? What do you think, Eric? Yeah, I mean, listen, the guy was off for four years. I wasn't sure he was coming back, dude.

I mean, that was a brutal loss that he took. And, you know, all the credit in the world to want to get back out there. I'm surprised. Wouldn't be surprised if he's like one and done too, by the way. I mean, these guys can say what they want, but we'll see. So I respect it. He should mop the floor with this guy. one and done too by the way i mean like these guys can say what they want but we'll see um so i i respect that he should mop the floor with this guy also don't want to forget on uh la n sang from the burmese python for me and more so that he's also on the card as well yeah they put some guys

who they're action-oriented dudes on there um it's a it's a very commendable effort for a u.s debut given the circumstances i'm video hosting that one luke friday night in colorado let's go to topic two uh the king is back in terms of boxing circles and fandom and the former power power number one canelo alvarez still you're reigning and defended undisputed super middleweight champion back for the first time though, since a 2022 that saw him face some setbacks, not only the loss to Dimitri B-ball in May and moving up to try to challenge for that light heavyweight title, but the victory in the trilogy with Gennady Golovkin in the fall in which

look, it was just kind of ho-hum. Wouldn't say lifeless, but both look their age. The problem here is Canelo is only 32, even though he's been a pro since 2005 when he was 15 years old, which is crazy. But Luke, John Ryder, the mandatory opponent from England, he's got a couple of losses, aggressive southpaw though, on a nice streak since his loss to Callum Smith in their title bout.

One that was disputed though, that a lot of people thought John Ryder should have won. He's won 4-0 since then. He beat Danny Jacobs and sent him essentially into retirement. Then he stopped an unbeaten fighter to get this opportunity. So, Luke, the theme here for Canelo is that we're going home. It's his own pay-per-view, but it's in Guadalajara, his home city. First time he's fighting in Mexico at all since 2011.

They're scaling the stadium to about, I believe, 50 to 60,000. But nobody thinks he's going to have trouble, right? Even with this, let's say, soft minority lingering narrative out there, that at 32, we're certainly in the second half of canelo's great prime but is that prime over luke is that prime almost over what was 2022 if he comes in and cleans up on john rider we'll throw that out the window and forget it in your eyes what was 2022 for canelo after two or three of the hottest years we've seen any elite fighter have? Yeah, I mean, it was a bit of a step back, but it's not clear exactly.

It's declined just yet to me. I mean, Triple G is, you know, he didn't step on the gas. So you're like, what really happened there? It's hard to know. And Bivol, he was just overmatched. I mean, what are you going to do? That was, you know, now that we know, I mean, hindsight being 2020, he 2020 he was never going to win that one right like that was not going to happen on that night certainly and so okay fine he didn't look great there i looked overmatched and and out

physical too but out technical at the same time given the circumstances again and then you go into the triple g trilogy and it was like i don't know he just couldn't get out of the third gear or something that was the weird part so i just don't know what to say about it i mean there is to your point we should just say it out loud the boxing world basically isn't sure but they have suspicions some do anyway that canelo alvarez might be on the decline and we simply just don't know and the worst part is bc a fight like this won't really tell us that dot dot dot unless canelo has really fallen off a cliff because there's there's ways he can win and kind of camouflage that he actually has declined right look did i think rider was going to be even a fate of danny jacobs no so there's certainly been moments in which he's

lifted himself and you've been like okay man he's, he's a, you know, he's a tough fighter. He's a tough out, but he doesn't have a fight changing power for the most part, the stoppage win that allowed him to move into this spot, you know, winning the interim title and becoming the number one contender here at the WBO. Uh, you know, the, the, the fighter that he fought, I forgot the guy's name for a second here. Um, I'll look it up, but you know, he had a hand injury that forced him to retire. So, you know, Ryder's not a killer, but is a southpaw who fights on the lead foot he tries to get inside on you tries to go to the body you just feel like even with a canelo who who i don't know what if he is at 80 of where he was when he walked through the division in 2019 and became

the undisputed champion or 2021, whatever it was, Luke, he still, this still might be the right style just for him to light up in that regard in Ryder, who's, who's hungry and aggressive from London and, you know, nice guy, but there's not, there's not enough nuance in his boxing game to try to pull off an upset here in the traditional way. And I just don't think he has the power to move Canelo at the end of the day. So then the narrative becomes some about the Caneloican experience and returning to his home country and a lot about what's next but one thing i want to touch on the mexico thing luke is i'm shocked that this fight happened right now not and i don't mean necessarily because of the you know like the travel like u.s travel well there's not a ban but there's a there's a firm

question here luke right on it might not be safe to go in all of mexico at the moment um i don't know if the what you're so what you're describing as someone who has traveled to places where this has happened uh you're are you asking has the state department issued a travel advisory yes for u.s citizens going to mexico i don't know people are are are. So look, Canelo himself said this week, Eddie Hearn told me how hard it would be to make this fight. I kept pushing him to make it. He made it.

Now I see how hard it was to make this fight. So the storyline in terms of Canelo coming back here, Lucas, he's turning down insane money. There was an offer from Saudi Arabia, according to Eddie Hearn. There was a big one in London, and then there were plans for Las Vegas for this fight. Canelo wandered in Guadalajara, so he's willing to take that pay cut. They expect that he'll still make eight figures for this fight, but it will not be in the $45 million he was guaranteed against Golovkin.

Or the fact that just two days ago, he showed up on the Forbes highest paid athlete list having made 110 million in 2022 fifth the fifth highest paid athlete so Canelo openly taking a pay cut but what I thought was interesting Lucas he hasn't had the best relationship with Mexico in recent years and how I want to explain that is we didn't know when he was preparing to fight Rocky Fielding in 2018 in December in New York that simultaneously at that moment, one of his brothers, remember, he's the youngest of seven, I believe, seven or eight brothers. They all turned pro. One of them got kidnapped. He was essentially negotiating with the kidnappers, then doing media and kind of alternating.

And he said the reason he didn't contact Mexican authorities or the government or go public with it was his fear that the police were involved. You then look into his comments negatively against the way that the government treats athletes. So Canelo was on the Olympic junior team, essentially at age 15. He claims, Luke, all these years later that the Mexican government promises certain amounts of stipends and financial protection for their athletes that are, you know, representing the Olympics, no different from a lot of countries, but that the Mexican government just doesn't come through and follow up with it. So he says he calls them liars and stealers.

That was a big decision why he turned pro at age 15 that same year. And even this fight week, there were media reports from some of his scrums in which he's still calling out the mexican government for just like you know i believe there's been one medalist in mexico in boxing in the olympics since 2000 it was a bronze medal so um him kind of being so outspoken in this way i am a little bit surprised that now was the time for him to do the big homecoming thing maybe it just worked out because you know Canelo doesn't dodge mandatories. He collects the belts,

but he protects them too. For the most part, he had to get it done. Just like when he fought Avni Yildirim in that, in the Miami stadium a couple of years back. But I am, I'm shocked that like everyone's happy and all making good yet. They're not fully happy.

You know what I mean? You still see these snide comments come out of them. Not like I think they're kidnapping. But there is a difference too, though. Like like we shouldn't we shouldn't say it like what you're describing is canelo alvarez's feud with the mexican sporting establishment basically the government plays a role in that but it starts essentially there in general and that has led to i think what you're trying to say is that has led to in certain ways tension with the mexican people because it put it's put him at a distance in terms of being a

representative for mexico to your point hate went pro early instead of taking an olympic route or whatever the case may be not having fights there you name it all the different ways in which it impacts his relationship to the to the fans all the more reason to go take a big fight to the fans, right? All the more reason. You know, his last mandatory was the Turkish guy, I think you mentioned Avni Yildirim. It was in Miami. It was in Miami, which obviously is a heavy Latino population,

but it's not the same thing. I think he was like, listen, if I'm going to have one of these, you know, the guy's loaded with generational wealth beyond our wildest imagination. You know, I understand him taking a pay cut. I understand him wanting to be more of that symbol for the Mexican people to have that better relationship with them and then to do this kind of thing to get that.

Some guys don't want it. Some do. Some guys get it more easily. Some guys have to work for it. I think Canelo felt like it was a good time. If not now, when? Yeah. Yeah, pulled the trigger. I mean,elo felt like it was a good time. If not now, when, and yeah,

pulled the trigger. I mean, they, they ended up bringing out his entire family, all of his brothers that fought and had them all on the stage at the press conference. So there does seem to be some of this like nationalism. Let's have our hero come back and fully embrace him. The talk about his future though, Luke, there was, if you, if you look closely, a lot of that chatter and as much as we may want Canelo Alvarez to come back to the 168 pound division and specifically welcome David Benavidez this fall, all signs as of right now are pointing to his desire instead to rematch Dimitri Bivol. So I did a bunch of research on this. It was back in April when Bivol came out and essentially said, I'll rematch him later this

year but i'm not going to wait around for him i'm not going to do it on his terms he had the rematch clause he didn't want to fight me right away so you know essentially he's not calling the shots now this is not like b-ball to talk this aggressively but what he was trying to say was if they do a rematch this fall he says it has to be at 168 Luke he said for years he could make super middleweight he's offered it in the past but here's what's interesting Canelo was asked about that this week leading up to the fight he said I will absolutely not fight him at 168 it has to be same weight same division preferably same arena they fought in T-Mobile last year Canelo literally wants to run this back under those same terms now to remind, it was 115-113 on all three scorecards,

but everybody that watched that fight had it between 11 rounds to one and like nine rounds to three for B-ball. Like he handled him, right? He handled him. And while I respect Canelo's, you know, true competitor and gumption, and even though I've towed the line, Luke, in reality, you can never say he's ducking by Benavidez when he's going up to fight B-Ball, you know, one weight class higher. He says, and he used a lot of F-words this week.

He said, I won't fight him at 68 because no one's going to give me any fucking credit for it. You remember, Luke, when Andre Ward was super middleweight champion and Chad Dawson was light heavyweight champion and Chad said, dude light heavyweight champion. And Chad said, dude, I can make 68. I'll come down and fight you there. Word said,

okay, do it. Ward knocked him out. Everybody tried to take away the credit from Ward for that win, even though it was Chad who said he'd come down. So I get this from, from Canelo. Bevol would only want to cut down and wait basically to try to become the

undisputed champion in the second weight class. But dude, Canelo calls these shots like truly. And really like, I'd rather him want to go the direction of Benavidez, but he wants this. And you know, Luke,

he's finally admitting now that he wasn't a hundred percent focused heading into the B-ball fight. And I'm wondering if for the first time, some of the celebrity Canelo took over him because there was a boxing scene, did an interview with Oscar Valdez last week, who's in the same campus Canelo. And Valdez said, I've never seen Canelo more hungry than right now. Cause he wants the B-ball rematch so bad. And then they ask him, well, what happened the first time? And he said, Canelo just wasn't as focused in the gym. He was golfing a lot. He was handling a lot of his business obligations on the side. And Luke,

I did a little bit, even deeper research. Canelo said he's going to become a pro golfer when he retires from boxing like this is a thing yes so you know i wonder if that was it i wonder if that was part of it but i don't think that was most or all of it so this is still it's like we got this john rutter fight but no one's talking about the actual fight it feels like if Canelo wants to make B-Ball 2 happen it will happen but it's still a big hill to climb even if those scores were closer than they should have been what occurs to me is that moment against Caleb Plant that Canelo had, we were there for that November of 21

I think it was, something like that the November of 21 when he fought he unified 168 undisputed he became the the belt holder for all four i guess the thing is this is why you could be like well i guess he had a hangover fight against bivol the the thing that complicates the whole narrative is that weird ass not bad triple g performance but definitely not definitely not great so it actually leads me to want to ask you a question. What would you consider success here?

Because you mentioned the Rocky Fielding fight. What did he dust him off inside of? Two rounds or something? Three at most? Three rounds. Yeah, it was a walk-off. Like, it was nothing. Is that what he has to do here?

If he's, you know, if he's still the same guy or still close to it, it's what he might end up doing anyway, not as early as Fielding because Fielding seemed, once those body shots compounded, to just kind of be like, all right, I'm done, but I'm here for the slaughter more or less. Ryder, I think, will be durable. He'll try to move as much as he's trying to get inside on you. He's trying to use footwork.

It's just Canelo's way too skilled. So Canelo, I think, does need to make a statement for the public. It's not necessary, right? inside on you he's trying to use footwork it's just you know canelo's way too skilled so canelo i think does need to make a statement for the public like it's not necessary right but like this guy is a true competitor and and you know it's like give the all the respect in the world for him god he's trying to run back this b-ball rematch that nobody really wants i mean b-ball is still hoping to get better be for all four titles at some point later this year didn't didn't top rank win the first bet for that? Yeah, Better Beef has a Cal Smith mandatory title defense first

up in the light heavyweight. But yeah, look, I wonder if this is that statement comeback win for him. I think he does need a stoppage to firmly put the exclamation point in it. But I mean, it's not that he was not competitive against B-ball. It's just that that's where the size caught up with him he can beat other light heavyweights b-ball and better beaver just on a different level skill-wise along with their their power and you know we thought b-ball was a boring robot sometimes he was not a boring robot in that fight and that's why he won it so man i wish i could just call up saul and just be like man i know you got big balls i know you want big challenges but 68 at showtime right now is hot

fire man you know let me ask you this let me ask you this is he because benavidez is not a mexican national correct like maybe he's got in phoenix his dad's mex. His mom is Ecuadorian and something else. Dominican. Sorry. Okay. All right. So I don't know if he's the Mexican national ways that Canelo is. Let me put on my tinfoil hat.

Yes. Do you think Canelo is going to Mexico now in anticipation that a Benavidez fight will happen and he's planting these seeds to win? Obviously, he's going to have more fans than Benavidez. But, you know. I love this. Like prime the Mexican fan pump in anticipation of an eventual showdown with Benavidez. So you're saying Canelo's actually so uber competitive that when he heard, of course he heard,

all those cheers that Benavidez got in Las Vegas against Caleb Plant. Luke, they lifted him up like he was their hero. Yeah, you know what? I gotta be honest. I gotta be honest. I had been to Benavidez fights before. I had not been to a crowd like that for him. That opened my

eyes. They love David Benavidez. And he lived up to it. From the weigh-in, from how nasty he was acting in the interviews, through the fight, he lived up to it from the way in, from how nasty he was acting in the interviews, like through the fight, like he lived up to everything they would want. So that's a great point. What if he's getting ahead of it of going,

Oh, you think you got Mexico now I'll show you who's got Mexico. Let's go out there and knock out Ryder and Guadalajara. Potentially we'll see what happens. And then let's yeah. Go through B ball, win or lose. I mean,

win or lose coming back down to 68 He would have to commit himself here full time To beat the names that are piling up underneath Meaning Canelo against You know maybe Jamal Charlo and Everybody else there so maybe it's Let's get this light heavyweight thing done With I do think I can beat him

I mean you know we're not going to count that against him I guess Luke he did wait Golovkin make Two years wait two years though never forget That he 100 did wait Golovkin make two years, wait two years, though. Never forget that. He 100% made Golovkin wait and get a little bit older. 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. This would be a scenario where Benavidez might get, you think Benavidez gets better with time? Like you don't want to wait too long, right? I think he's, I, you know, he made me eat crow in that fight. I should have known better anyway, but dude, I think he's ready to start moving downhill on people. I really do.

That fight against Caleb, dude, Caleb Plant is a very good very good fighter and he had his moments in that fight but benavidez was to my my favorite description bc he was fucking inevitable that night yeah he was inevitable that night and i feel like he's only growing into that dude just like margarito versus koto in that way where it's like you know koto in that first fight hand wraps aside loaded hand wraps aside potentially um you know koto was looking great early on but it was like dude margarito's fucking calming the boogeyman is down the hall and he's he's walking very slowly and he'll be here damn um but then again maybe morel upsets Benavidez.

Like, this is where it's at, 168 right now. So, love it. Anything else you're looking forward to? I mean, we got Julio Cesar Martinez in the co-main event defending his 115 title against Ronald Batista. That's always fun. Alexander Vaznik is back. Luke, he had retired with a brain injury, unfortunately,

when Betterbeave unified titles that time. I was about to say, after Betterbeave whooped up on him, I thought he was done, but here he is. Yeah, that was his first loss. He walked away. He believes he's healthy enough to come back. But if Canelo wins by decision, are you going to criticize him after? Maybe.

Yeah. All right. Honestly. Not criticize, but just tell him he's no longer that dude right there's a difference there yeah again it doesn't mean that if he stops him that you can say oh he's still right on top it wouldn't necessarily tell you but if he like again you could win a wide decision and not struggle but if if rider looks like if rider is hanging in there and canelo is having difficulty putting him away I think

there's some serious questions to be asked at that point yeah dude Canelo is such a competitor though like I do think that the ceiling will catch up with him in terms of age and mileage sooner than we realize because again he turned pro at 15 he's so early yeah so many big fights but um like that's going to catch up sooner than later but dude he's only 32 man he he's such a competitor he's going to come out and be canelo of old i'm telling you all all right here we go i think the bivouac thing is a giant waste of time but what are you going to do i agree with you on that but it would be a another incredible feather if he can pull that off uh let's go to topic three which is a quick hitter series luke of recent headlines how about this

chris cyborg officially resigning with bellator she holds the women's featherweight championship Uh, let's go to topic three, which is a quick hitter series. Luke of recent headlines. How about this? Chris Cyborg officially resigning with Bellator. She holds the women's featherweight championship. The press release was, uh, you know, filled with a lot of greatest female fighter of all time talk. And I, I don't ever against Scott Coker when he presents her as that, even though she was stopped by Amanda Nunes. Um, Luke, this is not a huge news from the standpoint of like, oh, who's she going to fight now? She's been here.

She's done that. I just wonder if like any of that PFL news is true. Okay, you got her locked up. Maybe we get Kayla involved. You know what I mean? Maybe. I don't know. Right.

It's like, okay, Bellator re-signed her. PFL didn't. But if PFL is just going to buy Bellator,ator who gives a shit right so um hard to know exactly what that means again this seems like the very final chapter of her career i doubt she's got a whole lot of longevity beyond this she's not quite competitive obviously but in the space that she's in anyway but you know you don't have a whole lot of cyborg fights left i'm guessing she's gonna fill out this contract and then probably call it a day 37 years old but yeah man you look up and down her her run dude uh 26 and two of course lost that first pro fight which is such a cool footnote on there but i mean look she wasn't before 9-11

but from a female stamp which is always our measuring stick on like, damn, you've been around forever, but she did turn pro in 2005. So, I mean, you know, what did women's MMA look like in 2005, Luke? I was 25 years old. Yeah. And I looked utterly different than I look now. I look, I'd looked much better. Not great, but better than this. Yeah, but mentally you were unhappy and broken, Luke.

Yes, that's true. 25, I was in a really bad place. That's true. Yeah, weren't we all, Luke, to be very fair. Women's boxing. Hey, Amanda Serrano is going to defend her, I believe, featherweight world titles. I could be wrong on the weight class here. But here's the deal.

It's going to be in the Jake Paul, Nate Diaz, August. Dude, I got to say, that's a fucking mismatch, man. This is a bad matchup. It's Heather Hardy. And this is no disrespect to Hardy. She's 41 years old, Luke. She's been around and always fights hard. She even had that run in Bellator.

The two of them fought back, you know, four or five years ago. And, man, Serrano handled her with ease. Hardy's passed it. Even though her record's still shiny, she's been in a lot of close fights that could have gone either way. They're putting this as a pay-per-view. I know it's just another sort of stay busy before we finally do the Katie Taylor rematch

that got announced and then pulled back due to an injury, but you can't love this. You can't. I hate this. It's like, dude, I had Heather Hardy in studio once. Just a totally nice lady from New York. Just a mom trying to make it in the world. Couldn't be more cool.

Couldn't be more down to earth. What a lady. I'm telling you, she's awesome. Dude, Amanda Serrano is going to fucking run over her, man. Like, I hate this matchup, dude. They're very different levels. Even if Hardy was in her prime, they're very different levels. Add to the fact that she's 41.

Nah, man, I'm not with it. It seems just to stay busy, get a name. You're not going to tell another Hardy not to take that payday when in the women's game, Luke, especially in a long career like that, they are few and far between. And you know she's probably been underpaid the vast majority of her career anyway i get it viciously underpaid yeah i mean serrano too that's why the jake paul uh business marriage was was so important and so fruitful to her so you know i don't i don't knock her on this regard necessarily but i mean look you want to see that Katie fight, but dude, Katie Taylor's got that big fight coming up at one at one 40. So Katie Taylor has all four belts at one 35. She's moving up to one 40 and fighting the undisputed champion there, Luke. So

interesting time here in the women's game. You know, who's got, who loves that? Luke Ariel loves, loves Katie Taylor loves. He does. Oh my does oh my god like like like me and and hot dogs luke okay i'm talking about like like your boy bc and you know cinemax in 1994 okay luke like don't be wrong i mean katie taylor's a great athlete to cheer for but what is the what is the genesis of his admiration do you know uh her legendary stature as a hero to the country and as a as you know as maybe the greatest female boxer of all time yeah fair enough oh i definitely have a healthy respect for her i mean that would that would be amanda's absurd you know she's done nothing but be everything i mean it's amazing she came in with so much

pressure and hype and you know the country behind her and the the olympic success i mean it's amazing she came in with so much pressure and hype and you know the country behind her and the the olympic success i mean she's awesome she's the hardest worker in the room uh it's not it's not that man uh you know she also lives in connecticut very quietly luke and i forget about that all does she really yes yes maybe imagine me, Katie and Glover walk into a ball. No, no, you ruined it. It's you, Katie, Glover and apathy. You keep forgetting apathy. Jouts to apathy out there.

I see you, Blair. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe he needs, maybe we need to run into each other at the Cumberland Farms, me and apathy. You know, as, as app said, app holds it down like Magneto on a metal floor. How about that, huh? Wow.

Them are some hot bars. Wow, yeah. Hey, Luke, Manny Pacquiao might be boxing again sooner than you think. Why? Because he lost a court injunction against his manager, Paradigm Sports, which also represents Conor McGregor, and was ordered in court to pay a $5.1 million settlement in what originally was a breach of, what am I saying here?

Breach of peace, Luke? Is it? No. Breach of contract. That's what I'm trying to say. That was the accusation on the initial lawsuit. But tough L here, Luke. And you see Conor was kind of victory lapping.

And then he was like, oh yeah, by the way, Artem Lobbov i'll take your house too i mean like all right dude okay all right you know i didn't see that did he really do that on social media dude connor is vicious in court luke apparently all right well uh yeah i don't know what to say for old manny dude these guys man they i i paid very little attention to the lawsuit. I think the result is somewhat surprising, but the analysis I have is this, BC. These guys, between lawsuits and wives, man, these boxers just give away their money.

Do they not? They just give it away. Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, most young pro athletes, Luke. When I say wives, hold on, let me say it a little bit differently. Divorces is really what I mean. Between divorces and lawsuits, they just give money. They just give all their money away.

They just give it away. I mean, Luke, we talked about how broke we were as people at age 25, and I'm not even talking about financials, although I was dead broken there too luke and um you know uh we were absolute uh yeah i look i fell off i fell off you know i fell off the you know the the car ran off the road for a second there i was just is this train coming off the tracks here already it's gone it's gone yeah yeah we had a good run though all right anyway luke let's keep it rolling here let's move on okay uh but austin vanderford is moving on luke

the 11 and 2 middleweight bellator 297 on june 16th he'll be taking on imam shafi aliyev who is nine and oh is that a tough matchup do you know anything about that guy yeah that dagastani dude he had one fight in bellator. You can go see it online. Fucked that kid up. I forget his name. Some American kid. Fucked him up real good. He looks like he's an absolute hammer.

I think I looked him up this week and when I watched that fight, I think he's got six stoppages of those nine wins, like just another one of those dudes in the old dc bag o hammers you can chuck in imam shafi aliyev in that in that list as well dude that's a badass name when you say it like that too luke yeah imam shafi yeah those i gotta tell you some of those islamic names are regal man they're regal names uh second straight defeat for vanderford came in april of last year a tko in round one against aaron aaron jeffrey uh luke this is uh coming off of that that musashi very early tko defeat this is like kind of must win for uh for old throat tad here right yeah like he he fell apart

against musashi and you're like okay well that was just he got maybe he got, maybe he got injured too much, too soon, whatever. And then you thought, okay, he's going to rebound against this Canadian dude with the mullet. No, no, he wasn't actually, he didn't do that at all. And so now you're like, well, well, where are you? Well, Bellator is like, let's find out. Let's find out exactly where you are. Not that beating him is some walk in the park, but like, if he is that guy, he should be able

to get it done but if not aliev is gonna he's gonna he's gonna have him he's gonna have him he's gonna eat him for breakfast so yeah he's gonna put him on the grill luke you know what i mean luke what what's the best thing you do on a grill these days yeah um my my stakes are pretty good they are pretty good all right all right that sounds badass um look if you got a job if you got 99 cents you can check out UFC Jacksonville on June 24th where they've added Neil Magny versus Phil Rowe you into that hey I think these two guys are tied for the longest reach in the welterweight weight class, and they're fighting each other, so that's fun.

Yeah, that's great. Hamzat Chemaev, Luke, has heard that Kamaru Usman would like to fight him so that he can get himself back into the title picture. Dana spoke about this today. What did he say? Well, excuse me, yesterday. He said that, that yes they are interested

in doing an Usman and Shamaya fight but uh Shamaya's got excuse me Usman's got to go to 185 they're not going to do it right now 170 he did say he would yes he did say he would the other day so Shamaya's tweet was someone needs to be poisoned for retirement. Apparently that was in Russian, Luke, but translated. That sounds like someone's Google machine translated that. What the fuck does that even mean? Yeah, that was our producer Mikey. He did the translation for me. He actually literally did use Google Translate.

So I could hear what that shit was that they were speaking right there. Luke, that's actually a badass fight at middleweight. I'd prefer it at welterweight, but that's badass, fight at middleweight. I'd prefer it at welterweight, but that's badass, dude. I'd be happy to take it at welterweight. I'd be happy to take it lesser, but still happy at 185. Sure, just make it. You don't need a title at all. That's a

pay-per-view main event, true or false? It is. It is, dude. It could be. It could be. I'd pay for that, and I'll pay for anything, Luke. How do you get the pay-per-views? I pay for those. I expense them. You expense them like a bitch. Yeah, with my court card. Yeah, take that. All right.

Luke, finally, Francis, he might go to the PFL. We'll see if that rumor or that report continues to grow wings. But he may have an opponent waiting for him there that we did not mention, Luke. Why? Because your boy, Vycavalho, hasn't been around much lately. Isn't he 50? He popped up on Twitter and he said this. Hi, Francis Ngannou.

I shocked the world when I beat Fedor. Also, when I beat Kane and I became undisputed UFC heavyweight champion. You have a lot of hole in your game. Let's go at PFL. Only one way to find out. PFL smart cage. Look. Look. pfl smart cage look look he typed the whole thing in broken english but then was like oh hold on meet me in the

in the pfl smart cage damn right dude what a guy right just they're just gonna fly that flag until everyone pretends that the emperor is wearing clothes. You know what I'm saying? Wow, that was great. They are committed to that bit. For the education of that damn cage, Luke. Wow. You mentioned Verdum's age.

45 years old. Almost. Halfway there. We all love the guy, Luke. He did leave his ufc run in july of 2020 by submitting alexander gustafson but that was a weird fight but then he made that pfl debut in may of 2021 against henan fajita turned out to be a no contest originally a tko win though for fajita but luke verdum was like what did he was he deemed that he probably would

never fight again after that right i can't remember the timeline Luke Verdum was like, what was he doing? Deemed that he probably would never fight again after that, right? I can't remember the timeline, but then it was like, we won't see him. And then we did see him, and he looks fucking juiced to the gills. Well, that's what we're building towards. Can we go to that picture of the before and after?

Guys, I got news for you. You can take all the Testo stack you want, and God bless you, it'll do something for you. It ain't going to do this. It ain't going to do this. There's not enough chicken and broccoli and cold plunges and fasting and intermittent fasting and saunas to look like that. You need some help. And by the way, I want to be very clear, not hating even a little bit.

He's fucking jealous of anything. He is so ripped. Oh, my God, dude. I want to point out, dude, 43 you look pink we both look like we're melting we just look absolutely terrible in a month all right i'm turning 45 we should put you at 45 on one side and then this motherfucker 45 or the other you're not even the same species neither am i i'm in the same boat as you i mean we're all right true or false he did look like shit the last few years physically to be fair right terrible terrible and also i don't know how much uh whatever again i want to be clear i don't

even give a fuck what he's on like it doesn't mean i'm good for him but i don't know maybe here's the other part too at 45 he's taking a lot of damage you know i don't know like fighting fighting francis yeah you might need a little of that in reserve uh i don't know like fighting fighting francis yeah you might need a little of that in reserve uh i don't know how that's gonna go so it's not gonna go well uh to close on here because you know verdum offering to fight francis who again may or may not look we we hear it's close right i mean this this is probably happening would you say francis probably yeah probably well daniel cormier you know he works on espn during the day luke he does dc and rc with ryan clark they brought up the topic of inganu and

dc said it sucks because francis was the man and he leaves and now it seems like the options are very limited to me it's the same thing as lamar jackson but ultimately he ends up back with the ravens i believe that's what Francis should do. Francis Ngannou should just come back because the reality is this. The money that he was offered, I've heard, was a very lucrative number. If he comes back to the UFC, nothing changes. He walks right back into being in the heavyweight title picture, fighting for the championship and getting paid at that championship level

end quote uh your holiday gift is in the mail sir all hail zufa luke what are we doing what really i mean guy who god bless dc it's been an honor to cover his career but holy shit i mean if i dude he's gonna get espn tattooed on his ball bag at this point i mean i mean luke and god is gonna end up back on espn he's right on pfl which is fine like you're allowed to cover that but why is it just automatically like oh yeah he screwed up he should be back here fighting for the money i mean luke Luke, true or false? Did I read this or did I make this up? That part of this Francis deal offer that UFC did that Francis walked away from, he was only going to make the money that one time against Jones,

and if he lost, he was going to go back down to what he was making before, right? Which is how a lot of UFC contracts work. I mean, how much they reduce to will change depending on the fighter's circumstances, but you'll see that there are escalating clauses for, you know, consecutive wins in many cases.

Now, again, Demetrius Johnson might've been different at the time because he wasn't a pay-per-view fighter. So I don't know how that works, but yes, a lot of times what you'll see is if someone has a three fight deal, let's say there's escalating amounts for wins,

but the losses retreat you back to kind of a base level norm in those, in those contracts. I get being skeptical of Ngannou and whether he ends up making this move feel like it was worth it under not his own parameters, but like the parameters of the court of public opinion. Like we can't grade it until it's over. So let's see what happens.

But if we know that he has a chance here to sign a very lucrative pfl deal and then if it works out contract wise can also seek a boxing fight that could like could not only change his life financially in one night but like it could actually be for the heavyweight championship of the world in boxing if they end up doing it that way i don't know how you can just be like yeah he's he effed up right now, come back to the UFC. I want Jon Jones versus Ngannou more than anyone, but look, we can also knowingly counter and say, so did Francis, and he was willing to do it for a while, but Jon didn't come back until Francis was assuredly gone. That part needs to be mentioned more often, I think, right? It didn't seem like it was...

This entire ordeal is just so embarrassing for the entire sport. People pretending Francis didn't have offers outside of UFC. People knowingly telling you of the destruction of this process and it's absolutely terrible situation when nothing could be, from what we actually know with what's vetted, what's vetted seems like the actual opposite is true. We don't know what his boxing fortunes are going to be. We don't know how this is all ultimately going to turn out.

But this dude, this, this lust for, you know, what's so funny to me, BC, it is a love of the orderliness of monopoly, right?

I, I, that's what they love because if you have everyone playing ball with the monopoly, if you're the consumer, everything gets fed to you right on time. Once a week, I can turn on my TV, and then once a month I get the little special one, and it's just this continuous thing.

Francis' real crime is that he disrupted that for people in the heavyweight division. He got in the way of that, and that's why they're mad at him. He's the actor that left their favorite show over a contract to do a movie and isn't coming back and they had to write him out of the storyline i get that part it's true that's what it is luke it's worse in the wwe world by the way it's one of the major reasons i i was happy to get out at the time i did from a media standpoint is everyone there is just like i don't care if our day-to-day with WWE sucks. This is what we know.

So if it's AEW or anybody else piping up, they cheer for that to fail, Luke, because they love their own misery. And people could say that about boxing, and I get it. That's just the area that the needle's in too deep. I can't go anywhere. You know what I mean? I don't want to go anywhere. You know what I mean?

We throw up in our mouths and then eat it, Luke, and sometimes it's good. i mean that's what we do here uh hey let's go to okay bet you ready for this let's do it let's do it yeah we got to move it along all right luke and i go head to head each week five picks uh five different categories last week luke thomas went three and two overall oh boy your your boy bc just fell apart again one and four um something i'm not proud of uh i gotta say you're i gotta say here's bc week to week one week five and oh next week one and four like you never hit three and two you're always like one extreme or the other uh luke's total now 28 25 and 1 bc is 22 and 32 i'm essentially six games back more or less yeah you are you are the pacers and i'm the wizards not even i'm more like i guess i don't know hawks or something yeah i don't know you cut you yeah nah whatever look i watch i started watching the

nba playoffs and i'm so glad i didn't wait till the finals it's awesome again yeah i'm loving it i'm back okay i'm back i'm back warriors lakers i'm in i'm all in yeah in the celtics against the sixers is even though it was a blowout uh yesterday that that's gonna be a good that's a grimy one too man i like grime in my series all right i want to see men bang luke all right let's go to these i think tuki's about to come home let me lock my door hang on uh no i mean put up the put up the padlock please let's do this fucking show let's do this fucking show all right luke you going first i will go first we want to do main card picks assuming main event picks and we are going to do

uh of course this ufc card even though there is a one card we're going to do, of course, this UFC card, even though there is a one card. We're going to do the UFC card. I'm going to go without... There's one main event, Luke. We're just doing the biggest main event of the weekend, which is... Yeah, I understand. I'm saying we're picking the UFC main event. That's the one we're doing. Yeah. So I'm going to go with Aljamain Sterling. I don't know how confident

I am because, like most people, Henry Cejudo has been off for three years. Plenty of questions. The division has grown up for three years, plenty of questions. The division has grown up since then, plenty of questions. He's 36, even more questions, and his answers might be spectacular to them. I really can't say otherwise. I simply don't know. I just think that Aljamain Sterling is a much more difficult problem that he's given credit. I've been wrong about him in the past. I hope that better late than never, but we shall see. I'm going to go with Aljamain Sterling.

Yeah, I've been wrong about Aljo in the past too, Luke, and I've been happy to be proved wrong, but he's probably going to have to prove me wrong for proving him wrong or thinking that I was one more time, Luke, because Henry Cejudo is going to come back and in his own Captain America, Randy Couture-like way, he's going to do what he does, figure out the problem in the middle of the fight calmly and coolly. But like we talked about in the analysis set up to this on Wednesday,

if the ground game cancels each other out in its own way, just by maybe establishing the threat of but not becoming a factor, and this is a kickboxing matchup in which you know i i like what suhudo could potentially do here even with the time off the time off for almost anyone else at this level to come back against a reigning champion who's also in the pound for pound top 10 is as uphill a climb as possible but i think i think we've we've learned enough to know exactly who henry suhudo is and who he is is really special. So I'm not going to miss that anymore or doubt it as hard as this is. But unless he screws around, unless he gases out in ways we can't predict

and gets submitted, I think he's going to have a chance after 25 minutes to get his hand raised. And I wonder if he has the bigger puncher, or at least I'm going to assume he is in what I've seen Luke could end up getting the nod because of that down the stretch here. He's definitely the bigger puncher, or at least I'm going to assume he is in what I've seen. Luke could end up getting the nod because of that down the stretch here. He's definitely the bigger puncher. He's absolutely the bigger puncher, no doubt about it. So there you go. All right, so for me, we're going to move to favorites.

So we have to pick our favorite again. It can't be like some crazy amount. It has to be within a reasonable amount. So for me, BC, this is the gentleman I was referencing earlier. I'm going to go with Ikram Alaskarov taking on Phil Hawes. Alaskarov is not a huge favorite. Our friends at Caesars have him at minus 195. I think that's a little conservative, but again,

Hawes is certainly much improved in the dynamite athlete. Nevertheless, I think he gets his hand raised. He is so good everywhere. Another one of these hammers out of Dagestan. Ikram Alaskaroff to win. All right. I'll have to add another spot on my shelf, Luke. Let's go to my favorite.

It's going to come in that co-main event at UFC 288. According to Caesars at the moment, Bilal Muhammad plus 105 minus 125 Gilbert Burns. Give me the favorite here, Luke. I talked about it. My concerns are my questions. The three-week turnaround is going to be big for somebody. It could be positive or negative for both of them in terms of when this fight

got negotiated and announced with Bilal so close to Ramadan. Burns just coming off of a camp, but now we're doing five rounds in a number one contender fight. Both are just animals and they're gamers and they're going to come and they're going to bring it, But I think Gilbert Burns is just the better, more well-rounded fighter who's probably operating at the best version of himself. And I think that best version

is better than me remembering the name at the moment. And Bilal's really put it together and he's dodged the bullets and he's here, Luke. He's going to have that chance. Give me Burns by decision though, after five rounds. I understand it. I get it. I totally do. I think Bilal Muhammad followed me on Twitter tonight, by the way, so that's interesting. He wants you to remember that shit, Luke.

I like that guy a lot. All right, for my underdog pick, this one is maybe not super surprising, but I'm going to go for my underdog with Devin Clark. Devin Clark, according to our friends at Caesars, is a plus 162. I'm sure I'm going to mis for my underdog with Devin Clark, Devin Clark, according to our friends at Caesars is a plus one 62. Sure. I'm going to mispronounce this gentleman's name. He fights out of Fortis MMA, Kennedy and Zetch QU, uh, and Zetch QU. I'm not sure exactly how you say it.

Please forgive me. Uh, I know it's a tough one. It's a tough one, right? It's a tough one. Uh, but the point being is this Kennedy is rangy. He has deceptively good power. He's gotten a lot better, much better decision-making. And Devin Clark, I still feel like,

is kind of more like a one-gear-ish kind of guy where a lot of wrestling, in-your-face pressure. But Kennedy has been known at times to give away rounds for that reason. That's why the odds are already pretty close. Clark will take the fight to him, and for that reason alone, and because he can wrestle, he's obviously very strong and very physical with it.

I like Clark's chances here as an underdog in that role. All right. My underdog pick, Luke, it's going to surprise you here. It's going to come in one championship. Your current odds on Sage Northcutt minus 155. He's the favorite. I'm going to go Ahmed Mutaba at plus 125. I mentioned he's 10-2 overall.

He's off two straight wins, both finishes here in one championship. And it's almost the flip side of the Henry Cejudo question. After all this time, I've learned who Henry Cejudo really is. It gives me the confidence to believe he comes back with all that time off and acts almost like nothing happened. The problem is even if Sage came back and acted like nothing happened and was the same, the guy he left, Luke, wasn't a finished product either. And I'm happy for him that he's going to come back on his own terms.

I've always enjoyed interviewing him, and he's a great kid. And it's not like he wasn't in shape during this long break. But I still got those huge questions about him as as like a fighter you know as like like do you want you know what i mean like not the hunger do you want this but like are you are you built for this i'm not i don't know i'm not sure you got to show it to us you know what i mean show it to us dude that was like i mean let's be honest there's there bad injuries. There's serious injuries. And then there are traumatic injuries. And he had the latter of those, man. He got messed up bad.

The fact that he's fighting at all is somewhat remarkable. And honestly, I think this is actually a clever bet. Now, if he goes in there and beats this dude's ass, everyone's going to be like, oh, BC, that pick sucked. But I think there's a reasonable chance that you just can't get right after an experience like that and this could all come crumbling down which i would understand i'm not even judging it that goes that way so i think it's a pretty smart bet actually yeah like with my diet luke and who i follow on instagram i too like to live dangerously all right uh, let's go. All right, for my over-under,

I know it's on short notice, but the guy is just a decision machine. I'm going to go with Movesar Evloev and the, I think, Diego Lopez fight going the distance. Lopez is actually probably underrated. No one really knows who he is, but again, he is a Brazilian who's been living in Mexico. He's been training other UFC fighters.

He's a black belt himself. He's got enough to probably survive, and I think Evo should obviously win this one walking away, but might be surprisingly conservative when you get someone on last-minute notice who, you know, they're there just to spoil the party. There's no pressure on that guy to win at all. If they win, it's amazing.

So that one has a recipe for, yeah, I guess Evo could run him over or maybe Lopez shocks the world, but I suspect Movzar wins a decision and it goes the full distance. All right, Luke. My over-under is going to go on that UFC preliminary card. How about Chaos Williams back at welterweight against Rolando Bedoya? These guys go for finishes, Luke. It's easy.

Go for the under on this one. Chaos, eight finishes and 13 wins, Luke. He's easy. Go for the under on this one. Chaos, eight finishes and 13 wins, Luke. He's got a bunch of knockouts here, too. Let's continue that aggressiveness into an early ending. Thank you. All right. And then last but not least, for KO or sub, this is an easy one. I'm going to go Andrade and Jan.

Ends in KO. I feel like that's just a very safe bet. Very safe bet. Jessica, this week, Luke, has just been like, look, people, I was partying and not working out at all when they called me for Aaron Blanchfield. I took that for the money. You've got to

represent and understand that. She went in there happy, just like, let's go have fun. Let's throw bombs. Now she's back at 115 and she's ready to hurt people. That's the truth okay you knew it luke ko or sub i'm going to go knock out here how about braxton smith parker porter this has the biggest potential to be uh the sloppiest fight on the card with with you know heavyweights and you know waistlines and big right hands luke uh let's let's dial for donuts here i'm in let's go with the knockout

so you know don't don't you just can't be fat shaming heavyweights i just don't i won't i won't stand for it yeah i know and we have fun stuff but the wwe really should have i mean they could they did dc dirty with that referee sure i mean you gotta really don't the vertical stripes is like my god they're not. Yeah, there you go. Luke, let's close quickly with some dead wrong. We sometimes... Hey, real quickly, are we going to talk about this Jorge Masvidal thing

real quickly? Yeah, you caught some breaking news here. What do you got? Well, it was breaking at the time we record this, but basically, Jorge, according to this gentleman, Andy Slater, Andy Slater identifies himself, according to Twitter, he's verified, but he's got 26,000 followers, talk showater, Andy Slater identifies himself, according to Twitter.

He's verified, but he's got 26,000 followers. Talk show host, on-air personalities, I break news. He is out of Miami, Florida. He is reporting that, okay, Jorge Masvidal's house in Miami has been swarmed by cops. The UFC star's father is in custody after allegedly shooting someone at the fighter's house during an argument, a senior law enforcement source tells me. And he goes on to say, Jorge Masvidal was not at the house when the shooting happened. He's out promoting that GameBread bare-knuckle card. And here's what he says.

Yes, he was out promoting his bare-knuckle boxing event, which place friday night at the fla live arena um pretty serious pretty bad but don't know what else to say other than sounds like deeply unfortunate yeah yeah i hope everything but he's okay luke that's starting to sound like a scarface sequel script or something we don't need that luke we don't need it i know i i mean the fact that i i i mean the fact that i i again who the hell knows what the real connection is but remember like how in the embedded before 287 they showed all the guns or jorge showed all of his guns in his house oh yeah i don't know i don't remember if his dad was in any of those scenes or whatnot i remember not thinking

i remember not thinking that was a good look i was like guys like every rule of firearm safety is almost being broken in a situation like that again i don't know what the situation is with this one but just in terms of like basic firearm safety don't do that shit that's never a good thing you know all right luke uh we talk a lot of shit and sometimes we're wrong in that regard. So we got two receipts here from the fans because they thought ultimately that we was dead wrong. Dead wrong. Gotcha. God, I look stupid every day of my life. Every day of my life, I just look in the mirror and I go, really?

We're going to do this again today? Well, now you're on trial, okay? Here's what Nima says. Hope you've had a nice week. Bricicling your Mitchell into others clothing. Oh, wow. Right. Wow.

Brycing. Oh, Brycing. Brycing your Mitchell into others clothing. Wow. That's it. That is. Wow. On this week's Wednesday's episode, when BC and Luke were discussing the upcoming Burns versus balal fight bc was talking about burns's

chances and referring to his fight against chamayev mentioning oh some still believe that he won three to two well that's not possible he may have won that fight one perhaps two to one as it was a three round fight and not a five round fight. That's fair. What you meant was the, the, the majority of rounds. I know what you meant. I know what you meant. Fun fact for you guys. Burns had only one five round fight in his entire career. And that was against Tyron Woodley.

And don't worry, Brian, we still love you. You're the cheerful one. Unlike Luke, who has a heart like a grave and they put it into a hashtag. That's great. All the best Neymar yeah

I got that wrong I stand up for that look at that we have a lot of fights that don't need truthers that are people are like man I think the other guy won I still feel like Burns won that fight and no one cares I mean you know I didn't make a stink about it either but it was a great fight I kind of thought he might have edged it but I didn't make a stink about it either, but it was a great fight.

I kind of thought he might have edged it. You know what? I've never gone back and re-watched that fight. That fight is bananas. Yeah, we should do it together one day. Oh, Luke, did you see that The Better Lawler fight is going in the Hall of Fame this year? Which fight? Lawler versus McDonald 2 is going into the UFC Hall of Fame. Oh, yes, yes, yes. i did see that why why do you bring

that up because you always told us that lawler condit was the better fight even though you know that not to listen just like we did this um draft card challenge and the numbers are basically equivalent i mean maybe i had edged it out a little bit, but it was basically neck and neck. What I realized is I now know and understand why Hollywood recycles old IP. It's because the world is filled with dullards who just want the same shit fed back to them over and over and over

rather than trying something new. You guys are all toddlers who don't want to have, you know, I'm not going to eat my burger with cheese on it. Eat your fucking burger. But they won't because they got the palate of a toddler. That's your side of the voting aisle. We'll get to that card comparison to close here. Final dead wrong here from Jordan.

During BC's live chat, episode four, around 32 minutes, he referenced fans coming after him with quote flaming forks for his initial scorecard for Holloway versus Allen BC. Did you maybe mean torches and pitchforks like in Shrek? Oh, wow. Stupidest show on earth. It really is. Nevertheless, thank you for the live chat.

Looking forward to more art so my hope your liver did okay on vacation mahalo it's uh jordan from hawaii wow such nice people uh let's play them in forks look we did the pay-per-view draft challenge to see who could produce a better fictional international fight week card and there was a controversial slide in when i stole out of sonia from you but we were both largely unhappy with our own cards mostly because your main event was just inconsciusable and also because i'm conscionable you fucking philistine i produced too many rematches because if i just would have put luke if i just would have put adesanya versus chamayev in the main event everything would have been fine every well here's

the thing here's what people liked they about your card from what i could tell in fairness the chamayev nickel fight is a banger i mean that's just i even said it at the time that one rocks so it's gaethje poirier too yo so it's gaethje poirier too like that one feels like fresh enough where okay it's not so bad but the problem was all the fucking other ones yeah it's like your main event was the fifth fucking time those guys were together but dude i'm telling you they're gonna they're gonna keep making mario brothers movies and aven Avengers shit until people are blue in the face because that's what they want. They want their buttered spaghetti, no red sauce every time.

Do we have any items, graphics related to this? Because we did put like a vote up to the fans on social media and I think Mikey did calculate the total of no graphics. All right. Well, look, we did go head to head with on social media. And I think Mikey did calculate the, the total of no graphics. All right. Well,

Luke, we did go head to head with those five fights. State-of-the-art technology here at the USS. I believe our, our very informal Twitter poll, i.e. Just counting all the responses has you up a 77, 72.

People preferred your card. Luke, do you know what that's really saying? They just prefer you. They didn't even look at the card. Your main event is unconscionable. Okay, Luke? The main event is bad. I did have a couple people defend

the main event. I was like, you don't even have to defend that for me, guys. You can just let that one go. That's Ishtar, Luke. Okay? Yeah, I guess so. Jorge's got a nice house according to the uh my the news i'm watching here yeah i know he toured it with brett on camera and then showed off all those guns to try to warn people not to deter people i guess yeah yeah uh luke that's the show for today um may 5th here 2023 hey big weekend of fights enjoy it i want you to tell the people what you got cooking saturday night luke saturday night come right back here ufc 288 post fight show

immediately after the main event i got you covered come on back all right don't you want it hey all right dude like i need to go like put my kid to We got to. I could have got one more bar in, though, probably. I mean, it would have been fine. It wouldn't have. Yeah. All right. Hey, for Luke Thomas, the greatest producer and live podcast, Michael Mormile and myself, B.C., enjoy this weekend.

Watch us Saturday night. Instant analysis. We out of here. That's it. That's it. Yeah, that's probably.