MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 291: Poirier vs. Gaethje | Pereira vs. Blachowicz | Spence-Crawford | Ep 469

Episode Date: July 26, 2023

On episode 469 of Morning Kombat Luke and Brian break down UFC 291 and Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford. The boys also react to some recent news items. You won't want to miss this episode. (05:00) - Naoya Inoue (11:00) - Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje (38:30) - Jan Blachowicz vs. Alex Pereira (51:30) - Rest of UFC 291 Preview (62:30) - Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford (73:00) - Vicente Luque (92:00) - Fight Announcements (96:00) - Zabit Magomedsharipov 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

It's the 26th of July, 2023, and it's time for another dose of two washed white guys, one of which is incredibly stupid. Hi, everyone. It's time for Morning Combat. I am merely one half of your hosting duo. My name is Luke Thomas. I join you from the capital of the status unidos right here in Washington, D.C., joined by my friend on that side of the screen.

You know him as the big beige one, American Alpha. Many names. I call him Birthday Boy. Ah, Birthday Boy, Brian Campbell. Hi, Brian. How are you? That's Birthday Man, Luke. I'm 45 years old.

I'm a Leo, and I enjoy long walks on the beaches. Hey, Luke, is this the best week in combat sports history or is it just me? It's shaping up to be. It's shaping up to be. We have so much to get to today. So if you're watching on YouTube, thumbs up if you'd be so kind. Please hit subscribe if you haven't. Hey, it's free, cost you nothing, and we really appreciate it. BC, we have a lot to get to today and not all the time in the world, so time is of the essence. So let's do this up front. Remind everyone, Showtime.com is the label that pays. Showtime.com, you get a 30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it. If not,

you can bounce. You can go to morningcombat.store for any of the merch that you would like to see from us. And of course, you can always reach the show, at least the producers anyway, at morningcombat at gmail.com. I don't think I have any MK merch here on me, but BC does certainly there as well. Now let me tell you what we're going to do on today's show. We're going to hit UFC 291 hard on Wednesday's show right here because obviously there's a lot of other things to get to. So we're also going to talk about

what is the best argument for Errol Spence? What is the best argument for Bud Crawford winning? We have to react to Na we're also going to talk about what is the best argument for Errol Spence what is the best argument for Bud Crawford winning we have to react to Naoya in a way oh my god and a whole lot more including a weird situation involving Vicente Luque so BC time is of the essence do you have any birthday message for everyone because after that we got to get moving god thank you everybody for the very very kind greetings and offerings i felt like it wasn't just my birthday luke it was everyone's yesterday and uh so i enjoyed that uh had a great day enjoyed the monster in japan but uh hey man whether whether you are more fired up about the bmf spence craw, Ryzen versus Bellator. What a time to be alive.

What a time to be dialing into the best damn combat sports show. Period. Yes. Yes. BC, we have to remind the folks very quickly. Yes. Tomorrow is a big day in MK history.

A big day. And we need everyone who can from MK Nation to hopefully please try to make this a priority if you can. It would mean so much to BC and I. Tomorrow live on national

television on CBS Sports Net, BCLT MK Takeover a full two hours. Two hours on everything Spence MK Takeover a full two hours two hours on everything Spence versus Crawford. Going to get you ready for the big boxing mega fight tomorrow

live on CBS Sportsnet check your local listing, if you've got YouTube TV, whatever, watch us record it, it would mean a lot to the show it would mean a lot to CBS and we thank anyone who can make time. It's a big deal guys, alright, so if you can help us out we will continue to do the same with this incredibly free content that we're setting out and giving you.

But come on, biggest fight in nearly a decade. Big opportunity for your boys from MK. 10 a.m. Eastern, CBS Sports Network, tomorrow, Thursday, July 27th, something like that. But let's do it, Tui. Let's bang. Let's bang. Let's bang. All right. Very quickly, before we get to our topic number one,

because topic number one is technically going to be Poirier versus Gaethje, just wanted to get a very quick, because I know yesterday on your birthday, you still did a little bit of work following the result from Naoya Inoue stopping Stephen Fulton Jr. Holy smokes. You see, we don't have to belabor the point but I'll go to you first on this again a very quick kind of recap what happened why is it so significant I mean it was it was one-way traffic it was an absolute demolition I can't even believe there's actually haters online in boxing twitter who are like well yeah but you

know Fulton was never that great to begin with. Really? What you saw yesterday is exactly what I said in the post-fight reaction show. You saw immortality. You saw an all-time great at the peak of his powers taking another dramatic step up and forward by seeking out literally the baddest man available in a fourth weight division and Luke blowing through him in a way that in a way that in a way did in a way that uh really should retire me from questioning Las Vegas's you know betting odds judgment but even more importantly Luke we expected this to be a close fight some like me even picked Fulton as an upset pick, knowing he was the naturally bigger fighter, well-rounded, skilled, tough as nails. Luke Thomas, none of that mattered yesterday.

What we saw was virtuoso from the 30-year-old Inoue. What stood out to you the most watching that in real time yesterday morning? Dude, I mean, let's be honest on, what is it today? Wednesday. On Monday's show, I was definitely one of these guys who was like, I think this might be closer. I thought everyone was kind of sleeping a little bit on Stephen Fulton Jr. No, not really. Not really. That turned out to be wildly wrong. things number one did the power carry one thousand percent the power carried how about that body uh that stabbing jab to the body he had which ultimately helped him sit up the right hand he was going to the body i think his first punch to fulton was a stabbing jab to the body and ultimately one of his last ones was the same thing his speed his ring iq his how he guides opponents

into traps how he was able to keep himself safe. There were some times, round five, parts of round seven, that Fulton did better than others, but he, in my mind, lost every round up until getting stopped. And Naoya, in a way, is efficient. He's smart. He's powerful. He's thoughtful. He's dangerous.

He's a devastating finisher. Dude, if he's not your pound for pound number one, I understand we got Spence Crawford, and they got a legitimate claim to it as well. Holy smokes, dude. He is one of the most must-watch boxers in the entire sport. I really don't know how anyone could disagree with that. It's like, how do you upstage Spence Crawford,

who are fighting for their own version of immortality? They are two all-time greats and rightfully so we've been billing that as a fight for for pound for pound number one how do you upstage that you essentially don't lose a round walk through and knock out the purportedly bigger man and the best fighter in the division above you who also by the way happened to be right on that pound for pound bubble himself and on one of the biggest red hot streaks in the division above you, who also, by the way, happened to be right on that pound-for-pound bubble himself and on one of the biggest red-hot streaks in the entire game. Yet, outside of what you mentioned, a couple shots here and there from Fulton, nothing

that Stephen Fulton Jr. normally does great was established Tuesday morning. None of it. And Luke, one thing we overlook when guys make dramatic rises in weight and what Inoue is starting to show us is it's starting to look a little Pacquiao-ish. Which, you know what I mean? Like, you know, not eight division champion yet, but it's starting to look a little Pacquiao-ish. And oh, by the way, he's a more complete fighter than Pacquiao. But the thing that we forget sometimes is that as long as when you rise in weight, you can carry your punch recuperativeness and your chin along with your power, your speed, your dynamicism, if that's the right word, also raises with you as you move up

in weight. Because Luke, you know, he won a title before four divisions lower, but the speed advantage he ultimately had over Fulton, who's known for quick feet and quick hands, was mind blowing. He looked like the bigger fighter Inoue, thicker, wider. He somehow looked like he even had longer arms, even though he entered with a reach disadvantage. I compared this to Mayweather Corrales as sort of the last great fight that we thought was kind of 50-50 and just was a dismantling. I did hear a lot of people say,

well, what about Bernard Hopkins versus Tito Trinidad 2001? Also a good comparison. Another great fight on paper that we weren't sure which way it was going to go. And ultimately one all-time great walked through another and did it decisively. It's rare that you can see that at the highest level. You now have to reconstruct the ceiling of Naio Inoue in a way in terms of how high he can raise how big could his greatness reach and luke i don't know where it ends how often are you able to say that i literally don't know how great this guy could end up being when it's all i really don't i'm glad you brought that up i want to move along to the ufc side because i know the fans are fiending for it so i just want to say you're right had a reach disadvantage. You would have never known it on Tuesday night,

or Tuesday morning for us. You would have never known it. I got to mention his power carry. You're right about the legs. Like Fulton's legs looked much thinner than Inouye's legs, even though he was the one coming up in weight. I thought that was kind of surprising and interesting. And BC, I'm going to say one last thing as we transition over to UFC,

which is that between I should say among Spence Crawford and Inouye here's something that every MMA fan or really any combat sports fan should pay attention to watch how often they reset their position and sometimes in very subtle but important ways such that they're always at the right distance that they need to be and they always have their balance under them. These are never guys that throw punches and have to catch themselves. Almost, you know, I mean, Spence a little bit in the porter fight, obviously, but I'm saying in general what the tape shows is the really good guys, the really crafty ones, they always have very good balance.

They're always able to make it work. It was a master class yesterday. I take my hat off to him. Naoya Inoue, profoundly impressive. What a boxer. No doubt my hat off to him. Naoya Inoue, profoundly impressive. What a boxer. No doubt about it. All right. With that in mind, BC, let's jump in.

Let's get to some UFC stuff. Because for all the boxing talk, and there's a lot of it, understandably, hey, the UFC card this weekend is tremendous. So we start with Dustin Poirier taking on Justin Gaethje. Small note, by the way, Chael Sonnen's going to return to the broadcast team for the first time in, I think, 18 months, something like that, since UFC 272.

His court case has been resolved. ESPN didn't let him go. Now they're going to bring him back. Good for Chael, right? He went through the process. He came out the other side. Here he is returning. So you'll see the Westland gangster up there on the dance.

And by the other side, you mean he made it through the back end of the luxor and learned his lesson on staying on low rent shit uh las vegas strip hotels thank you yes yes by the way just a place where every place smells like it's the smoking section uh at the luxor but okay excuse me sir where's the smoking section here you know homie village you're standing on it sarge yes all right let's start with question. I'll pull up the odds here in a second, but let's start with this question. How different will Poirier-Guechi 2 be from Poirier-Guechi 1? It's a great question. It's a great question.

And you and I have both gone on record in saying one of the big reasons why we're so excited about this fight in this incredible all-action lightweight era is because these two badasses, Justin and Dustin, who are so alike, by the way, in terms of their statistics, age, records, all of that stuff, in a lot of ways, the comparisons are interesting. They may have put on the best action fight of this grouping that we've seen, but that was five years ago. It was before the adjustment of Justin Gaethje, the well-publicized one under coach Trevor Whitman of basically saying, okay, I'm going to stop trying to just be the most exciting fighter of all time. MMA's answer to Arturo Gatti, and I'm going to try to win. I'm going to try to go to the championship level. Now he did win an interim strap, which Poirier also did in his career,

another comparison, but couldn't quite get over that hump in two full title challenges. But Luke Thomas, even with the evolution of Gaethje, even with what Poirier has shown us in the past five years as well, which is really steady growth. No, he couldn't beat Habib. No, he came up empty against Oliveira, but just steady growth, improvement. And anytime you think, well, has age in the wars caught up with him, Poirier continues to bust through that wall. As much as everything has changed, Luke, things are still the same in a lot of ways. The guarantee for action, the fact that they're going to go toe-to-toe,

and in my opinion, the reason why Poirier won the first one, I think is still in play entering the second one. He is the more finely tuned striker with the better technique, with more patience and poise. In the first fight, that ended up being enough to break down and finish Gaethje despite walking through some hell to get there. What Eddie Alvarez and what Dustin Poirier did against that still prime unbeaten Gaethje is just mind-blowing how they walked into hell and walked through him. I still think that equation is the same, Luke, entering this rematch, and I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on that, that yeah, they changed a lot, but they're still the same underneath, and I still favor Poirier

as the man with the better tools and delivery system, but can he go through another war of this level that's expected that will be on top of all of the ones he's been through since their first fight five years ago those are some of those biggest questions i have facing this that can only be answered in salt lake city at elevation come saturday night can i tell you one of my concerns for this fight it's a weird well it's not a weird concern but let me just let me just articulate it for you if i may so both guys both guys are 34, which is, in my judgment, actually the good news, because you're getting them as fully mature fighters, still on the better side of 35. But BC, I got to tell you, you watch that first fight, and by the way, I had forgotten, for example, that Gaethje had been deducted a point for eye pokes. I had totally forgotten about that.

You know, and it may have impacted Poirier to some extent. I forgot how much just abuse Poirier had taken. By the way, Poirier, he doesn't get credited with it by Fightmetric because they have different rules for takedowns. But if you watch it, he does pick up Gaethje and sit him to his back and then Gaethje has to figure out how to stand. So there was a little bit of wrestling in that sense from Dustin Poirier. But here's what I want to tell you.

I can absolutely see a case where it's a little bit of wrestling in that sense from Dustin Poirier. But here's what I want to tell you. I can absolutely see a case where it's a little bit more cerebral. But I just feel like eventually it just won't be. They're both capable of so much destruction that while their defense has in both cases improved, it's really not the centerpiece of their game. Their offense is still very much the centerpiece of their game. Their offense is still very much the centerpiece of their game. And at 34, I honestly wonder, and I don't know, because the resistance that they have, given all the damage, makes this a bit of a difficult equation.

But let's say this one goes the distance. Dude, this might be the last time either guy is actually able to have one of these kinds of fights. You know what I mean? You can only leave a piece of yourself so many times before, you know, Humpty Dumpty can't get put back together again. And, you know, I don't wish that on anybody, but this is the reality of the fight game. These two guys are heavy on their capacity for destruction, whether it's leg kicking, whether it's that southpaw boxing from Dustin Poirier, you name it. Like they're so good at just causing havoc i honestly and at least looking at a world where

they come out of this and you get one winner or whatever but like the third fight i don't think the third fight would look as good as the second or the first one if that i don't think we're gonna i hope we don't need a third fight unless the second one is so great and gaethje wins and we need it but i don't even want that for them because it's so much carnage but it's interesting what you said if they end up agreeing and you think they will to put on a war. Even with the evolutions in their game, the UFC resurrected the BMF title. One of the greatest gimmicks, really. One of the greatest gimmicks ever created in combat sports, in my opinion.

That it needs to only be brought back with the right people. These are the right people at the right time. Both of these two would have to have some kind of balls, in my opinion, to then suddenly go out and fight a cerebral fight. No, it's the main event. It's a championship fight. Masvidal is going to be there to put the belt around the winner. They are going to inevitably brawl. But Luke, do you think the same equation is going to apply here, even with five years

of additional mileage and evolution, that it basically comes down to Poirier has to stop Gaethje before Gaethje foundationally breaks him, meaning the constant leg kicks in hard calf strikes, hard thigh strikes, which were a big part of Gaethje's offense. You can light Gaethje up early and in the middle of the fight. He ultimately squares up and goes caveman on you. But can you finish him before he breaks you down? Even the great Habib was faced with that equation, Luke, when he may or may not have been one calf strike away from peril. What did the great Habib do?

Was like, F this, we're taking this to the ground and we're finishing it. Do you think if you're Poirier, you still have to look at it as, I've got to get him before he gets me, because he's more likely to be there at the end if you're Poirier you still have to look at it as I've got to get him before he gets me because he's more likely to be there at the end if you don't and be fresh and still be throwing bombs boy that is such a great question BC and I got to tell you here's where my head is at in reacting to it as you ask it I haven't thought about this before if you notice something in both the Eddie Alvarez versus Justin Gaethje and then Poirier versus Gaethje fights, there is a commonality, which is I think in both fights, the stoppage happens either real late at the third or real early in the fourth, but pretty

close in either direction to the 15-minute mark, meaning he had this capacity to last for a long time up front, but then it faded down the stretch. Well, what happened in the Fazeev fight? It was the exact opposite. He got beat up on early and then rallied. Now, Fazeev is very battle-tested, but as it relates to MMA, I would say Poirier probably a little bit more so.

Maybe not overall as a combat athlete. I'm not trying to compare them as strikers. I'm simply saying like the trenches that a guy like Poirier has been in, if you haven't taken a gander at his resume, please do so. So this is to me what makes this one so interesting. It's like, I don't think that they have completely different games, but I wonder what the dynamics of this will be, the ebbs and the flows, when it will peak, when it won't. Again, they also have taken a lot. I mean, folks forget this too, BC. Gaethje's third fight in the UFC was Poirier.

His third. You know what I mean? Like this was a while ago. He has dramatically improved since then, both his offense and then to an extent as well, his defense. So I'm really curious to see what it looks like past the 15-minute mark, if it gets there. Will it even get there?

What will the high points and low points of this fight be relative to some other ones? If he had gotten run over by Fazeev and we had somehow still found ourselves in this place, I'd feel A, a lot more confident about Poirier's chances, and B, I would i would say right he's got a little bit to last up front and then you can kind of push past him but that physique fight man that changed a lot for a guy at 34 to pull that out of his a rabbit out of his hat in that way remarkable turnaround against a hard nose striker impressive Impressive, to say the least. Luke, are you still there? I am.

I stopped hearing your voice. I don't know if you can hear mine. I am here. It is the Zoom. The Zoom is the issue, I think. My face has frozen on the screen. Can you hear me? I'm sure what you're saying is great. See, Zoom is a problem. Zoom is a problem. Alright, there we go. Hi, BC is great. See, Zoom is a problem. Zoom is a problem. All right, there we go.

Hi, BC. All right. Hey, Luke, nothing a little technical difficulties couldn't fix, all right? We are fine. It wouldn't be MK if our faces weren't frozen on the screen looking like we were having, you know, I don't know. I'll leave it at that. A jaundiced attack right there uh luke is there is there any more at stake in this fight in your opinion above the rivalry of themselves the ceremonious nature of the bmf what does this fight really mean to you

i'm really not sure i'm really not sure i think i'll have an answer when we get the result you know i saw a tweet from a uh a colleague of mine from SiriusXM. I think he also works as a producer on the weigh-in show for UFC, R.J. Clifford. And he had said he actually likes the belt, but not because the belt makes the men, but because the men make the belt. Right? That what they can do here ultimately could confer status upon it that it currently doesn't have.

Now, you're asking more about the bout versus just the belt, but the two are related, obviously. I don't really know the answer. I don't know the answer. I'm curious to see. I mean, I'll say this, if Gaethje goes in there and wins, he gets a redemption over just one of the best UFC lightweights ever, right? Might even find his way to a title shot. That's not completely out of the question. If Poirier wins, dude, I mean, if you go and you beat Eddie Alvarez and you stop him, if you stop Michael Chandler and then you stop, let's say, Justin Gaethje twice and you stopped, I mean, technically, Conor McGregor twice, does it even matter if you were, you know, not better than Charles Oliveira or if you were

not better than Islam Makachev or Habib Nurmagomedov like I mean I realize he hasn't fought Islam but in the case of Habib like yeah maybe maybe it would solidify that he wasn't the best but like what would it tell you about I hate to put in these terms but they're helpful about that dog in him right about that dog in him. Like that would be honestly, extremely, extremely impressive. And one of those things where, uh, you know, like the kind of, the kind of, let me ask you, BC, does Dustin Poirier get the reverence for being a kind of Carlos Condit natural born killer fighter that he fully deserves? Yes and no.

The no part, I mean, I don't know. I somewhat say the slightly no because he's also simultaneously been this inspirational, courageous fighter who keeps pushing through, keeps getting better, rebounds from big losses, and just keeps pedaling along. Like, if he doesn't end up winning the full championship, and a reminder, he did have two opportunities and came up empty despite the interim title, you know, he really will be one of those greatest fighters to never win the full championship. But at the same time, Luke, he finished all those guys you mentioned.

He has an insane amount of not only big-time wars, but big-time action wars in which he has endured insane amount of not only big time wars, but big time action wars in which he has endured and got his hand raised. I think it's all kind of coming together. I mean, it may have taken the Connors second and third fights to truly give him that commercial crossover level of extra appeal and recognition and launching his barbecue sauce or, you know, the hot sauce line while simultaneously, you know, working on his foundation and really pushing that out there. I think it has come full circle to the idea that he's a made man in the UFC.

He's a pay-per-view headliner. It almost doesn't matter if he ends up winning the full championship and the days are ticking away because the resume is so good, but the love and appreciation for who he is as an endurer, as a warrior, as I, I mean, I call him a, you know, an American hero in terms of an MMA sense. He is like Randy Couture before him. He is that dude. So in that regard, it's, it's sort of like, yeah, but I don't think it's like the first line of, of what people think about him though. It's sort of all up there together that's combined to make him into one of the greatest fighters we've ever seen.

And I love this fight so much. I do wonder though, like, is there a path to the title from this? I know Charles Oliveira is going to fight Islam. I know there are new contenders rising up in this division. I know just as well we could talk about the idea of the winner of this fight facing Chandler again or Conor or the winner of Conor Chandler if that ever happened or whatever but Luke do you like who has a better shot at literally catapulting themselves here from a win directly into the winner of Charles Oliveira versus Islam well I mean it's tough to say right because if Charles wins

you know Charles already has that stoppage win over Dustin. And I mean, if Charles wins, it's hard to know what direction they might go. They might give a third fight between him and Islam, or they might give Volk the fight against Charles. So Charles makes it a more difficult equation for any of the guys here. But I would say if Islam wins, and yes, Volk is probably still going to get priority, but Volk versus, sorry, excuse me, I apologize. Islam versus either of those guys in the BMF belt would be a fresh matchup or a fight against Volk. I mean, I'll tell you what, dude. Volk versus Dustin Poirier doesn't sound like the worst fight I've ever heard.

Right? Volk versus Justin Gaethje, sure. Sign me up. All of that sounds great. Let me pause you there. Let me pause you there on that thought, because I don't hate that thought either. Will the BMF title carry? Will this be only every four years, like when the stars align and we have two elite fighters who aren't currently in line for a title?

But yeah, we can. And look, I've never been against non-title pay-per-view main events when the matchup is great. Think Rashad versus Rampage, right? Like, I'm never been against non-title pay-per-view main events when the matchup is great. Think Rashad versus Rampage, right? Like, I'm all for that. You didn't even need the BMF, but doing it does make it a little bit more special. Will the title carry? Should it carry? And should a guy like Volkanovski be allowed to fight for it?

I mean, I feel like, yes, Luke, if you're going to go forward with the BMF belt, then do it. You've given it a cool identity. It works. It's got a little pro wrestling smell to it, but it freaking works. Keep it going, right? I don't even care if it's Volk who fights for it. Keep it going. Yes, I'd be okay with it, although it's not really the focus.

I mean, again, if the men end up making the belt and it really is like this thing where everyone kind of embraces it, then I will look at it in a way where, you know, it could carry some significance or if it ends up in circulation more readily. We just kind of have to see what's going to happen with that. Now, let me ask you, BC, two things that were important for, I should say one thing that were important for each guy is two things total. One, will you, or I should say,

do you believe that Dustin Poirier is going to have a different answer for the leg kicks of Justin Gaethje? And what response is Justin Gaethje going to have for the big left hand of Dustin Poirier? Well, that's what's interesting, because if Justin Gaethje and his team are looking back at the first fight, and they did on the UFC Countdown show, both teams rewatched the first fight and sort of gave honest, in-the-moment reactions, in the moment reactions. Obviously that was pre-craft adjustment for Gaethje to try to siphon down a little bit of the recklessness to be more, you know, intentional and essentially become an, you know, a calculated executioner. So that was a little bit more of being the ultimate highlight of squaring up and just going after it. But they do have to look back at that and realize

that Poirier is a better boxer. He's more technical. He's better defense. He's all of that. His distribution system is just better. This could be a repeat of the first one. So, Luke, I wonder how much can I know you're asking me a question and I'm pulling a Jesus here and trying to answer it with a question. And that's probably the only time I'll get that comparison, Luke, to that guy. But the point is this will he should he make defensive adjustments that could keep him in this fight or will that get him off of what he does great which is go in there bang

heads and go to war because even at a an action level Poirier has a great ability as the rare elite action fighter who can retain certain I mean he does get hit Luke he gets into wars right but he's a little bit more responsible than than the caveman version of Gaethje by far. Can or should Gaethje make key defensive adjustments? This is not a three-round fight here. It is the potential here for a full five to push this late. I think it comes down to we know who you were the first Poirier fight if you're Gaethje. We know who you became with the adjustment and had two cracks at the title.

Who should you be now in this matchup? That's it. I need to answer that before I can answer how is he specifically going to counter this and how's Poirier going to answer the leg strikes. I need to see first and foremost, because Justin in beating Fazeev, Luke, he didn't just put his head down and run into him.

I mean, there was some adjustment that you said, calculation, figuring out what's my best avenue here can justin gaethje be a more thinking man's version of himself and still welcome the hell and and swim through it and come out on top yes i think he can assuming his punch resistance hasn't been ultimately compromised by all the wars he's been in i guess we'll have have to see. If I may answer the question, my best sense of things is, you know, part of what Gaethje's game plan was originally, and there was obviously ebbs and flows and it was ugly, but it was walking Poirier down. I wonder how much he'll do that. I wonder how much more he wants to use angles and movement and circles rather than just, you know, on top of you kind of pressure. I think that will be something to note. Hopefully Dustin, you know, has a better kind of pressure i think that will be something to note hopefully

dustin you know has a better answer for the leg kicks such that they happen but if he's moving depending on how like they kind of timed his movement in the first fight i wonder if they're going to be able to do that in the second one but i would say the other part too is i feel like if you're dustin poirier putting gaethje on the back foot actually is going to be pretty important so i'd be really curious to see who ends up leading the dance here in terms of real estate and then ultimately what they're able to do with that in the end. I think whoever gives the other guy space is going to be in for some problems here

is sort of the short answer to that. That's fair. No, we're not shooting for takedowns, right? And I say that because Oliveira did utilize wrestling in that second round to neutralize Poirier. Gaethje never utilizes his wrestling, Luke. That's not the beginning of that, right? Yeah, basically never. Well, he uses his defensive wrestling, so he does use

that. You mean he doesn't use his offensive wrestling. Yeah, I wonder, dude. I really wonder about that because Poirier will play guard. That's the funny thing. If you're Justin Gaethje, if you have, well, I mean, you know, do you really want to wrestle or do you really want to go against a black belt on the ground like that? Maybe you don't, but at the same point, he's not likely to resist as nimbly as others.

He actually surrenders the takedown or at least, you know, will fight a little bit more off of his guard or, you know, he's just not going to wrestle to his feet, I should say, perhaps as quickly. And so for that reason, if you're Gaethje, it's something to think, letting him up and then just tagging him on the way up along the fence line. I think that actually might be kind of interesting as well. So we'll have to see, BC. Let me tell you about the odds here very quickly. I think these odds are pretty fair. Our friends at Caesars have Dustin Poirier minus 150 favorite with Justin Gaethje plus 125.

Got to say, that sounds about right, if you ask me. Let me address that. Because even though Poirier won that first fight by having better technique, but also having enough dog in him to stand in there and take that, and he handled his business, and with the changes to their games, I wonder if you agree with this statement, Luke. They're both 34, but they have insane mileage on them, to be fair. But they both are entering with their stocks fairly high coming off

of recent performances. When it goes though, Luke, it goes. Meaning you get tagged early with a big shot and you just don't recover. Who's more likely in your eyes for it to go in this fight? Even though Poirier has a stoppage victory in the first fight even though i believe he's the better fighter overall and even though i agree he should be the favorite coming in i'm more nervous for him that when that knock on the door comes it could happen in this fight before i expect that to happen to justin does that make any sense to you it does it's hard it's so difficult to say because like for example poirier has been stopped like in the first round by Michael Johnson, who is a hard, fast puncher. But, like, Gaethje doesn't have a loss like that, you know, in the similar kind of way that I'm trying to think about.

I mean, if I think about his four losses, I mean, here we go. Charles Oliveira, he got submitted. He got dropped and submitted, but that's a little bit different, obviously, because Charles can marry the two. Although he did get knocked down with a punch. Nurmagomedov choked him out, obviously. And then Dustin Poirier accumulatively beat him. And then Eddie Alvarez accumulatively beat him. No one ever just kind of cracked him and then called it a day.

So Poirier has that. At the same time, though, BC, I feel like Poirier's ability to roll or absorb or catch is just way better than Justin. Justin's a little bit more likely to... He'll catch a little bit too, but he's a little bit more likely to eat. And for that reason, Poirier might be able to kind of, you know, Gumby his way through the round a little bit more nimbly at times.

Unless I'm just underselling Gaethje's positioning, which has gotten much better, certainly, under Trevor Whitman. Dude, this is a close fight. This is a close, tough-ass fight. I mean, it really is. No, it absolutely is. Look, sometimes they say, Luke, teams that press hate to be pressed. In boxing, we say, you know, great potty punchers hate it when you go to the body against them.

That's their weapon. Is there a part of Poirier that comes out aggressively with the leg strikes? Because if you look at the things that either didn't go right for him or could have went disastrously wrong I believe it was those accumulation of the leg strikes there was a moment there in rounds round three or four where Gaethje did wobble and hurt Poirier in the first fight you're like oh this is on this is on right do you come out and go ham on the legs if you're Poirier to just strike back against him and basically say, I'm going to match you every time you do this? I think if you see leg kick,

I think the leg kick defense is just going to be much more a part of what Poirier is doing. Obviously the leg kicking strength clearly resides with Justin Gaethje. I do wonder if you might see him utilize it more to like cut angles, like an outside leg kick and then cut an angle, and now the other guy has to follow. So that way you can make Justin Gaethje move, you can be off the line, those kinds of things, and you can reset rather than just kind of being there, eating it, and then trying to throw back.

Now that is ultimately what got him the win in the fourth round. He ate the leg kick and then bang, hit him with the shot. Fair enough. But, you know, the amount of punishment he had to endure was significant. So I do think you'll see it. I just don't think you'll see it in a really pronounced way. Well, it was really pronounced for Poirier against Conor in the second fight in particular. It was as if Conor McGregor wasn't told that you can use calf strikes in a UFC fight.

Yes, true, true, true. But that's Conor. i mean justin's a little bit different you know maybe certainly all right look do you want to address mikey more miles uh pro wrestling uh a pitch here of is there a scenario that poirier loses and then but but sorry gaethje knocks out poirier in this rematch to gain revenge and then jorge's putting the belt around his waist dustin and jorge are longtime friends and teammates this doesn't summon jorge out of retirement to to fight for the bmf belt and would you sign up for that under this pro wrestling scenario did someone hit mikey in the head with a hammer i don't know what happened this morning uh i think it was a tire iron, Luke. But don't you dare besmirch in the name of my great producer, please.

No, he's wonderful, but I don't know about that question. No, I don't think so. I guess he's got his sights out on Ben Askren again. I don't really know. Hey, Ben Askren's in shape for Jorge, Luke. All right, so you better wise up, okay? He was a good athlete, no doubt about it. Okay, BC, but that's the basic gist of this one.

I'm really curious to see how the positioning changes the weapons change and dude this might be it could i'm not guaranteeing it i'm not declaring it but when you're 34 you've had all the miles that both guys have had and then you're headed for another it's going to be a car crash it's going to be a car crash you get into another car i don't know how many more car crashes these two can have after a night like that. People remember, I got a lot of shitty takes ahead of the Michael Chandler fight for Poirier. I was like, look, the knock is

going to come on the door. You know what I mean? Michael Chandler might be a little fresher in terms of that regard, even though he's got mileage too, and I was completely wrong, Luke. Poirier handled his business in such a gnarly way in that fight to advance to this point. I guess this is not the first.

I shouldn't start doubting him now, right? I mean, you know, these are two men that are going to go in there and bang. Will it go the distance in your eyes, though? No, I don't think so. God, if it goes the distance, then for sure that's the end. Yeah, they'll never walk again, Luke, and probably not fight again. Yeah, if it goes the distance, oh, God help them both. And God help all of us too

it'll be a great fight but they are not going to be the same all right do you want to weigh in for final weigh in here uh the altitude will that make this fight better or worse the altitude in in theory it should make it worse but i feel like both of these guys i mean gaethje trains at altitude so that shouldn't be an issue at all and yeah poirier is mostly at C level but he's such a pro that like I just don't feel like he's going to be under when was the last time you saw Poirier under trained for a fight I mean he doesn't do that he doesn't do that so

I only say the potential for better if that leads them into a mindset of I'm not going into rounds 4 or 5 at elevation let's settle this early that's where I'm suggesting going into rounds four or five at elevation. Let's settle this early. That's where I'm suggesting in that regard. Hello? Are you still there, Luke?

Luke Thomas? Yes, there you go. Can you hear me now? Oh, I hear you now, Luke. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Yes. Let's move along if we can, BC. We have belabored the main event. Why don't we just do this show over cell phone, Luke? Why don Can you hear me now? Oh, I hear you now, Luke. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Yes. Let's move along if we can, BC.

We have belabored the main event. Why don't we just do the show over cell phone, Luke? Why don't we just do that? I know. I mean, we got that McDonald's Wi-Fi player. All right. Topic number two. Let's go to the co-main event.

Jan Blachowicz now taking on Alex Pereira. BC, this will be the debut, certainly in UFC, for Alex Pereira at 205 pounds. So I'll ask this. Most important storyline for this fight is? Well, Luke, I don't want to do the whole thing all over again because you asked me my sort of underrated storyline of the card on Monday's show, and I brought up sort of the title implications in this fight and the question mark of what they are.

Luke, to be fair, this is, to be fair, this is not for the interim title, the vacant title, or been declared as a guaranteed number one contenders fight, correct? Not to my knowledge. Not to my knowledge. But we expect this has major title implications in this empty division. Major, right? Yes, I think that would be a fair assumption, yes. It's weird it would wouldn't that have been modern ufc to rush out a title on this what do you make of what do you seriously

home sweet home luke what do you make of the decision to not put any implications on home versus bueno silva and now this one when in both scenarios you have a vacant title on top and you have you know two highly ranked competitors going against each other. They either felt like they're, you know, the UFC machine is constantly churning and it was just too late in the day for them to just switch it up like that. Or they've got they've got another plan for the title. All right. They must have some kind of roadmap in the war room we've seen famously. They must have some kind of map for that, for how they want that to look and how they want that to go

and it doesn't necessarily not include this, but it sounds like it includes this and then perhaps some other pieces falling into place, so it's hard dude, it's really hard to say, remember there was an advertisement that came out that had Poirier-Gaethje, it was like a Facebook ad or something from the UFC, and it had

Poirier-Gaethje for the BMF belt and then it had Blachowicz vs. Pareda as the, like for the like for a title belt like two title fights but it ended up just maybe it was just a weird ad that got released yeah okay well that that confused me so look huge title implications is a monster storyline as is Pineda moving up in weight now he'd won titles in two divisions at glory before including light heavyweight so I'm not afraid. In fact, Luke, here's my biggest storyline question to you. Will Pedeta, who is not making the extreme, I mean, he was an insanely big middleweight. He is not making the extreme weight cut anymore. In fact, on Embedded or Countdown, whichever one it was, they showed him in Glover to share his back porch, you know, eating off the grill, and he's saying, look, like I can eat whatever I want ahead of this camp.

How much more, not just dangerous will that make Padeta at 205 being not physically compromised, but how much more will that show an evolution of his skills? Does that play into that at all? When you say evolution, like what evolution in terms of what part of the game? I don't know. I mean, look, sometimes people just bloom at the new weight class. Think Kiesta when he moved up right away. It's sort of like you just explode through the screen of like, wow, I should have been doing this all along.

Suddenly I have the cardio to try new things. Suddenly I can, you know, I'm not expecting him to come up. You can put some gas in the car and it can do a whole lot more all of a sudden. Exactly. some gas in the car and it can do a whole lot more all of a sudden exactly are we in for a potential like violent rude awakening that the 205 mma version of potato is a freaking badass on the level of the guy that just won and lost the middleweight championship it will remains to be seen i mean i'll say this right like obviously defending takedown is defending a takedown i should say is a function of skill but it helps if you've got 30 extra pounds to lean into whatever skill you're applying, right?

If you're using a crossface, if you're using a, you know, whatever, a whizzer, whatever, whatever you're using, if you're able to really maneuver someone with it, it makes it that much better. It makes it that much stronger. And he looked, and you see that, I think you played it on Monday

where them two were like trying to drown each other in the river. Yeah. It's like, hey, two brothers, let's play the drown each other game and every brother pair of brothers has done it uh but you see what i'm saying like he looked huge in that one and so even if your technique isn't necessarily sharp to the point we're trying to have here it can be so much more forceful maybe maybe here's the thing if your team i mean this really comes down to this dude if you're team blahovich what is your game plan right because that's. This really comes down to this, dude. If you're Team Blachowicz, what is your game plan? Because that's really what this comes down to.

Pineda, I'm not going to say has only one way to win, but probably has one path that's going to be much easier to walk for a win than another one. Could be wrong about that, but that seems likely. For Blachowicz, you've got a couple of choices to make. He can strike it out if that's what he wants to do, but we know he can wrestle as well, right? So you just have to figure out what they want to do about that,

what plan they want to have. And I think it's going to be a lot like the Izzy plan, right? I mean, Izzy's a different fighter, different situation, but I think he's going to be all the way out until it's time to get in, and then I think he is going to take him down a little bit later, checking kicks on the outside, staying out there, making a move, making a miss if he can, getting reads, and then slowly kind of pot-shotting him thereafter,

getting to the body and then getting him down. I think that's really, I mean, you know, unless they've got some other clear insight about what's available to them, 205 Panetta, standing with him for as long as you have to, seems like you're courting unnecessary danger. I'm glad you said that. They do have that common opponent in Adesanya. I think that Adesanya game plan

is exactly where Bohovic should be here, Luke. It's like, look, will Podeta's... He's training every day with Glover Teixeira. How much do we expect that one day Podeta's going to go out there and his full ground game will be completely functional? Is that possible at this age, Luke?

He's got to be getting better in every facet every single day in this continued evolution and transition from kickboxing to MMA on a full-time level. Still, even with that said, even with Podeta potentially not being weight-drained, having more energy, and all the extra hours put in on the ground and in the river, if you're Blachowicz, you don't want to stand and bang with this guy. You just don't, even with the legendary Polish power. You want to work from the river. If you're Blachowicz, you don't want to stand and bang with this guy. You just don't, even with the legendary Polish power.

You want to work from the outside. You want to use that heavy jab, mixing in calf kicks, but you've got to time the takedowns because I still think you want to try to slow down, tire out Podeta the best you can to open up an opportunity for big offense, Luke. I think that's right. And also, you just, you just you know potato will leave openings the more he gets aggressive but like trying to get a sense of his movement and

like trying to get a read and then waiting for it and whatnot you know I think that's important also dude like Blachowicz is one of the best leg kicking checkers in all of the sport like he has no problems doing it he can do it from a variety of different angles. And dude, I think it really messed Izzy up. Not in terms of causing him pain, per se, but just not being able to land that and then having to go to second-order offense. And that's where all the problems start

because now they're much closer, right? So, you know, it's going to be interesting to see what happens if Pineda can't get the leg kicking going and then has to resort to the hands. And then, of course, he's available in takedown range. I think it's going to be a problem for him but bc let's like let's game this out a little bit here if we can if pareda goes in there and stops the well-liked and i should say at this point highly respected 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 jan blachowicz should he get a title shot well i mean it's an it's not an easy question to answer because there's no champion at the moment i don't know when prohotska's healthy Originally, Yuri was saying it could be like late summer, which was, you know, an insanely quick turnaround from that big injury. You've also got Ankalayev just hanging out there coming off of that draw with Blachowicz. I mean, I could say yes, Blachowicz, this would, you know, he has a victory over Rakic since losing the title. Then he had the draw with Ankalayev. If he goes out there and beats Pineda here, he should have to be as a former champion

into a title fight. But there's no backdoor weirdness being set up, right? And what I mean by that is if Pineda wins, he's not then going to advance to a vacant light heavyweight title fight against Izzy, right? I mean, is there a reason they didn't put anything down for this? Although you could

say in that scenario, maybe you should have put the title right here, right? Or I don't know. There's DDPs out there. In fact, Sean Strickland's next for Adesanya. This is a stupid question from your boy, BC. But I'm trying to understand why there wouldn't be a title at play. So to answer your question, yes. If Blachowicz wins, it's probably very likely that he's fighting yuri prohotska for the title correct

probably yes but what but i don't know what about ankolyev what about everybody else up there luke i don't have an answer for what's going on in this division i do know that this fight is great i think this fight's going to be insane to watch can be fantastic i do think the winner is going to have a huge say in the next fight if that's for the vacant title but don't you think the ufc in the back of their mind they know they want alex versus izzy three so why not do it why not do it for a title luke i'm just i know i bought the waters there you could i don't think that they would i really don't think that they would izzy also has his work cut out for him you got got Strickland coming up. You got Duplicy coming up.

He's got his work cut out for him. But at the same time, it wouldn't be the worst in the world. I just don't think it's next. It's hard to know what the rest of those pieces are. I will say this. I'm just going to declare it. If the winner of this fight wins it dominantly or by stoppage, because you can obviously win dominantly by decision,

he should get a title shot. That person, this should be, if there's a bracket, this should be one half of it as far as I'm concerned. Okay, so is the other half automatically Prochazka because he never lost the belt and seemed to voluntarily give it up, whether he was pressured or not, we don't know, but gave it up right after the injury?

The same thing Jamal Hill did, and Jamal said that Dana promised him a title shot when he returns. Are you led to believe the winner of this fights prohotska and not ankulaya for the title probably probably okay um or or what they might end up doing is so on the one end of the bracket again in my in our stipulated situation you have this, so on the one end of the bracket, again, in our stipulated situation, you have this fight. And on the other end, you have Yuri versus Ankhalaev. You do that, but that one's all ready for the title. And then the winner of this fight gets the winner of that fight.

And so the title just kind of moves through in that way. Almost like a four-man tourney. The belt gets moved through every or the every stage i should say something like that a grand prix if you will a grand prix if you will yes indeed so that to me seems very possible but i'm just curious to see you know if blachowicz decides to bang with this guy and what it looks like that could be fireworks but you know if if you're just in anyone's corner and you're going up against this guy who is a fucking monster a monster right and already 185 and even and somehow gets just you know yes you get bigger going boy classes but i mean like he's still even big for that weight class that's the

point he was a huge huge middleweight he's still a very big light heavyweight if you're going up against that guy do you really want to uh strike it out with him and by the way they have him at six four i'm six four he's taller than me he's closer to six five uh you know so yeah but what are you look at his face look at his face how tall are you with your toe spacers that's what the people really want to know yeah six three and a half with the toe spacers you know it really lowers me to the ground a little bit hey i need those my feet are messed up. All right, BC.

With that in mind, though, one more time on the odds, if I can, for this contest. Dude, it's even closer than the main event. The UFC, you got to give them credit, man. They got some competitive fights. Jan Blachowicz sitting at minus 125. Alex Pineda sitting at about a plus 105. Can't be mad at it.

Really can't be mad at it. Give me a main and co-main grade here. Collectively entering Saturday. It's got to be high. It's got to be very high. These are two very, very, very good fights. Collectively. I'll say A-.

I'll say A-. I'm with you on that. I'm with you. Let's bang. I can't believe that this has to be going on at the same time as Spence Crawford and Bellator Rising. And it's not unprecedented, right, that the original BMF was the same time as Canelo versus Kovalev, although DAZN made that really interesting decision to make us all inside the MGM Grand watch the BMF title on the big screen while Canelo and Kovalev were sleeping on their respective couch.

I mean, that's one of the weirder moments, seriously. I mean, combat sports in modern days, Luke, has weird moments every other day. That's one of the weirdest moments. But, I mean, are we allowed to lament? I mean, this isn't morning MMA, this show, Luke. It's morning combat. We cover it all. Are we allowed to at least lament the idea that these, like, monster events,

could they be staged an hour apart? Why are we all going head-to-head? I guess that's the hand we were dealt. Our cup runneth over. I'm not going to complain. lament the idea that we that these like monster events could they be staged in our part why are we all going head to head i guess that's the the hand we were dealt our cup runneth over i'm not gonna complain uh all right bc let's talk about topic number three which is the other parts of the 291 card let me actually start a little bit differently here obviously the steven thompson michelle pareda fight is very interesting but i would rather talk about the other one. The biggest disparity in odds, there's two fights that have big ones. The Gabriel Bonfim-Trevin Giles fight, there's a big difference. Obviously, Bonfim is undefeated, and you can understand why, but the biggest one, BC,

is actually Bobby Green-Tony Ferguson. How about this? Tony Ferguson sitting at a plus 310. Bobby Green, according to our friends at Caesars, minus 400. That's the biggest disparity in odds of any fight on the card. And BC, I can't really take issue with it as much as I would like to. I just can't. Can you? I mean, no, but how many more times do we have to go through this, Luke? I love Tony Ferguson.

I love Tony Ferguson. more times do we have to go through this luke i love i don't know i love tony ferguson but when it was over it was over you know violently and dramatically fast i know luke he's coming off like he had moments against nate in that weird last minute fight he still has a pulse i'm not trying to tell him not to make a living and i'm not trying to bring doom upon him he was he had been one of my favorite heck he gave you that weird baseball that time, didn't he? What did he give you? It was like a balance ball that worked on grip or balance, something like that. Yeah, that was weird. I was standing next to you when that happened at that public workout.

My whole point is this. Five losses in a row, three by stoppage, an insane amount of carnage along the way. This is it, right, Luke? Win or lose? Look at this graphic,c jesus man and the ds fight i mean here's the thing was he competitive in the chandler fight a little bit early yes yeah he was did he have a couple of moments against nate diaz sure uh the dar use fight was one-way traffic the olivera fight was one-way traffic and the gaethje fight was the beginning of the end if you ask me i mean the Gaethje fight was the beginning of the end, if you ask me.

The Gaethje fight was a whole career's worth of trauma in one night, to be fair. That's right. Here's what I'm saying. This is a step down in matchmaking from those five, and it's a more realistic matchup in terms of two guys that are aging, that both fight a fun style and all that. There are scenarios that this could be a fun fight but there is an inevitability built in here that Tony gets stopped and a sixth time would be the last time right Luke you would imagine it you would imagine I mean you know Dana White has at times like every promoter is going to have different rules different rules for themselves different commissions

but I remember like you know obviously this is very very different well for themselves different commissions but i remember like you know obviously this is very very different well not completely different but you know different enough where bj penn was you know fist fighting and drunkenly in parking lots and then dana said something to the effect of i don't want to make money on those kinds of fights like he'll never fight in the ufc again not the actual fight in the parking lot but i'm saying is like for a guy who's at this stage we're not trying to make money off of him fighting I suspect that if Bobby Green goes in there and lights him up and it's a stoppage and it's depressing you know whatever else anyone wants to say about Dana I feel like he will look at a situation like

that and just decide he doesn't want to make money off of something like that you know people can disagree with that I don't know that that for a But I just, I don't know how you can look at all of these losses. And again, you know, the Diaz loss wasn't as bad as the Chandler loss, but he went from getting maimed against Oliveira and just viciously beaten up against Gaethje to, dude, that kick from Chandler was life-altering.

And then Nate Diaz beating him on late notice was just like, I don't know, man, this is all heading in the wrong direction you know it's all it's not heading luke we're there i think we're there already in the wrong direction fair enough yeah fair enough i could see a scenario where he gets i mean look he's still getting monster pops from the crowd because rightfully so i mean he's an absolute absolute warrior he's everything you would want in an action hero but obviously the greatest action heroes often need to be saved from themselves what percentage out of a hundred that win or lose

this is tony ferguson's last fight in the octagon 90 90 because i could see him winning getting the love and just walking away and we have a nice moment right can we have a nice moment on saturday here's the thing pop quiz bc don't look how old is tony ferguson 39 yeah yeah okay so you know dude 39 at this weight class especially with all the damage he's taken yeah dude that is you know it's just absolutely an extraordinary amount now the screen is freezing i'm going to talk through it but i just want to be clear about this 39 years of age in this weight class is i'm not going to say a death sentence, but at the same time, BC, it's just you're not in any capacity in the right place to be. Well, I know you have a great stat about fighters, you know, over the age of 35 at welterweight or below in title fights.

What is the stat on fighters 39 and over on five-fight losing streaks entering a pay-per-view main card fight can't be good it can't be good at all dude it's probably real bad uh all right we see also on this card of note to me we talked a little bit about it on monday uh stephen thompson fighting michelle pareda this is the third fight from the top on the main card. Obviously, Wonderboy Thompson comes into this fight sitting at 40 years of age, if you can believe that. 40. Time flies.

But he is coming off that win over Kevin Holland all the way back in 2022. By contrast, Michelle Pareda coming into this contest. How about this? As you indicated, five-fight win streak dating all the way back to 2020 with the somewhat renewed style that he has. And you can see their overall records on the tail of the tape here. Between them, BC, I got to say, when you look at the odds here, this is what they say our friends at Caesars.

They have Pineda as a slight underdog. Plus 125, Stephen Thompson 150. Any concerns in your mind? Pineda kind of goes back to the old wild guy, or maybe it's the exact opposite, and he even tries to wrestle. I was going to say that because in this five-fight win streak, we have seen flashes of that wrestling, and you're like, wow, what would a commitment be like?

I mean, look, as much as he has gassed out in the past early in his UFC run by doing all the theatrics on the way to the cage and then in the mat. I mean, look, do I love the wild video game-ness of it? Yes, but I've always been critical of him in the idea of pushing that energy toward the idea of winning fights. When he focuses that energy, I don't think there's a human alive in better physical shape than this guy. He's got a great motor.

He's muscular as shit. He's explosive. But like the Johnny Walker reinvention, there's a similarity there in that regard. We've got to see him focusing on winning fights because with a five-fight win streak, and I am surprised that he's an underdog here, although I realize at 40 that Stephen Thompson is still not that far removed from Stephen Thompson. I mean, he's still, when he loses, it's only against the super elites, and he's still a very tough out, and he stopped Kevin Holland.

Like you mentioned, yeah, I need to see not a, not the cap aware of potato. Who's trying to, you know, please people in the crowd too willingly and trying to make art with wonder boy. This is not the time for that. You're on a five fight win streak and you're facing the biggest name available to you to really just catapult. Luke, if he extends this to a six fight win streak and beats wonder boy, seriously, we're catapulting him into the title picture. There's no question about it. So for that and for his age, he's been here now a while. I want to see the complete game. I want to see a strategic game. I want to see him go out there and beat Wonderboy Thompson and get that big stamp on his resume. And then we can find out how great this guy can be. My confidence level that he'll necessarily do that, Luke,

not high. Not high, Luke. I'm not high either. Not high. Not high. You mean not high enough. BC, pop quiz. Pop quiz.

Don't look. Don't look. How old is Pineda? I'm going to guess 35. How about 29? 29 years of age. Should I STFU after that age? After that, maybe he's not as old as I thought, Luke.

I should STFU, shouldn't I? Yeah, a little bit. I mean, I just think, you know, the guy came in with a very athletic background and obviously ability and was raw and kind of a donk. Just out there donking it up, doing donk stuff. And has slowly refined it, but has not been to my knowledge

like his best win is what? The Ponzinibbio? I mean, in terms of names, it's the Ponzinibbio win but that was a split decision. You know what I mean? This would be by far, in terms of names his best win. Christ on crutches. Well, this is, you know, hey, Wall Street Journal. Quit telling me. He never tapped.

He never tapped, Luke. Crutches are not. All right. Just a reminder. Anyway, point I'm trying to make here is he at 29, I think folks have kind of like, oh, he's this reformed thing, but how far can he take it? It's a fair question. My point is at 29, maybe pretty far, actually.

Maybe like these growing pains that we've seen are not just growing pains but that the actual upside is significantly further than we imagined tough fight against Thompson to show that but 40 versus 29 like all right yeah you know and also to be fair on Pineda I just made him 35 when he's really 29 the only UFC losses he did have are exactly that they're donk losses, Luke. The DQ against Diego Sanchez, where Diego kind of extra milked that to get the win to stay alive. And then where he completely gashed out against Tristan Connolly, a level he should not have been losing fights at because he did all the character shit. I hope that guy has made the evolution, but there is a window

here. So stock versus stock. We have Wonderboy as the favorite because he has, to his credit, retained a lot of that speed that he needs and elusiveness to pull off the style that he does. But stock versus stock, how far away do you think Pineda actually is, this version of him right now, you know, talent-wise, compared to this version of Thompson? It does have a pick-em feel to it. It does.

I mean, here's what it tells me is one thing I know for sure, Wonderboy has fought much better guys and has beaten much better guys. About that, there can simply be no denial. However, it is also pretty clear to me that his punch resistance has been somewhat, you know, obviously compromised. I mean, you're 40 and you've been, you know, point fighting karate or even fist fighting professionally for quite some time. Yeah, of course it's going to be diminished.

I mean, Pettis put his lights out. A guy like Pineda, if he lands, is going to put his lights out. So that's really, to me, kind of what I'm looking for. And also, to what extent can a guy like this force Thompson into positions he wants to be in versus just kind of taking what Thompson gives him and hoping for the best, which is a little bit what he does sometimes with some of this stuff. It's an interesting fight. It's an intriguing one.

We said it on Monday, right, BC? Crossroads, right? 40 and 29. Crossroads fight if ever there was one, but old guys in the UFC can sometimes use that wisdom for great effect. Luke, did you know that Las Vegas' own Chef Kaz, K-A-S, is not just a chef to the stars in the UFC, but he's a

capoeira sensei? Does he wear streetlights on his mosaic as he does capoeira lessons? I thought it was Chef Kaz the other day, Luke. I went to acupuncture and they were like, do you want to do cupping? And I'm like, all my favorite UFC fighters do it. Do you know I have purple marks on my back now for the sixth

straight day? Like bright ass purple circles, Luke. Did it work? It did. Well, yeah, I do it for anxiety, Luke. Look, I'm ridden with anxiety. I'm not trying to say I own it, Luke. I'm trying to get rid of it. If it wasn't for Zeke Will, I don't think I'd ever sleep again.

I'm dead serious. I don't think I'd ever sleep again. Anyway, neither here nor there. I'm dead serious. I don't think I'd ever sleep again. Anyway, neither here nor there. I'm dying inside. BC, here's a fight we didn't talk much about on Monday I would love to talk about now. How about the return of Michael Chiesa?

BC, we haven't seen 35-year-old Michael Chiesa. Now, we saw him for RSD, but I'm saying in the octagon, we haven't seen him since his loss to Sean Brady all the way back in November of 2021. It has been some time for Michael Chiesa. He takes on Kevin Holland.

What do you say, BC? Seems like striker versus grappler, does it not? It definitely does, Luke. And I'm interested in seeing this fight and how it breaks down. And it's like, like look with Chiesa it's been a while and he he is on a two-fight losing streak I mean do you would you call at 35 even with the growing broadcasting career there there feels like an element of must win here for our for our good friend Michael Chiesa I think must wins a strong word because I think he can still stay on the roster and beat guys who matter enough for

the fans to care. Definitely. And if he wins here, obviously he's off to the races. But to your point, let's say he loses. Let's pause at a world where he loses. Then what? Yeah, that would be a problem. That would be three in a row. And you can say, oh, well, you didn't beat Vicente Luque. But Luque, we'll talk about him in just a minute, is a hammer. He's just an absolute hammer. Sean Brady, he did get touched up on the feet, Sean Brady did, but Sean Brady, we saw him in person, we had him on the RSD couch, a fucking gorilla.

Just an absolute gorilla of the highest order. And Michael Chiesa even told us that that day when we had him on for RSD, he just couldn't believe how strong Sean Brady is. Now, Kevin Holland is a Travis Luter black belt, which that does deserve to be, you know, acknowledged. Travis Luter is a very good teacher, and a black belt from him is not easy to get. At the same time, it's just like Michael Chiesa should have a very clear advantage. So, it's not that Kevin Holland is any kind of a pushover. It's not that kevin holland is any kind of a pushover it's not what i mean but if you can't beat a guy who's got a clear deficiency in the skill set on paper at this

stage it does sort of raise questions about what ultimately is possible at 170 that was supposed to be this like reinvention for him right yeah it's crazy that holland's already fought twice since that last minute loss to chamayev lu Luke. But he tends to fight every month anyway. He's the modern day cowboy. I mean, he's unbelievable. His record 24 and 9, sitting at 30. He's only 30. Only 30 years of age.

So you noted he lost to Hamzat. Then he lost to Wonderboy. That was Wonderboy's last fight. But then rebounded against Santiago Ponzinibbio with that beautiful left hook. And he looked good doing it. By the way, suffering adversity early in that fight and then coming back.

Like, dude, Kevin Holland is really rounding out his game. He's really turning into something special. And, you know, the thing is, it's like you really got to admire his willingness to take on challenges that don't necessarily serve his interests. Yeah. And in terms of, like, how the matchup should work. And he doesn't ever seem to shy away from it. Dude, I tip my cap to old Kevin Holland. He's the new cowboy. He is, Luke. should work and he doesn't ever seem to shy away from it dude i tip my cap to old kevin holland

he's the new cowboy he is luke you know i'll go do the dishes while you go have a beer where is my look that he is the new cowboy in that regard i've always had though when you have that identity you get big opportunities you can get big wins you also accumulate losses though and at some level people don't take you seriously as a title contender even with a division change Luke will there be a run for Kevin Holland I mean if he gets a win here over a very good name like Chimaev and can put together you know continue to put together the streak coming off of that defeat the defeats but it would be two in a row for him could this be the direction now

at age 30 to actually make a run in a new division here at Welterweight? Or is this going to be Kevin Holland's identity? Gun for hire, makes fun fights, goes out there and pours out the jug. I think if he beats Michael Chiesa and, listen, as long as he's willing to just fight whenever,

he'll have, this is the lesson of Donald Cerrone, right? The lesson of Donald Cerrone is that taking fights the way that he did probably limited his true upside. But even with that, he was able to get a certain amount of acclaim, you know, for all of the risk that he was willing to court. And then he had a moment, like that moment where he was beating the Rick Stories of the world and whatnot. He looked amazing. He earned the title shot against RDA. Ultimately, that didn't work.

But you see what I'm saying? He could have pronounced bouts, so to speak, no pun intended, where he really is shining and breaking through. But if he's not more selective over time, then it probably could cost him. When I say selective, I don't mean like ducking everybody, but I mean like, am I really ready for a Michael Chiesa right now? We shall see on Saturday, but it certainly is a questionable fight.

Do you have any comments about Cowboy Cerrone calling out Andrew Tate or Cowboy Oliveira's libido? Either one. Do you have any comments? I did not. First of all, Cowboy Oliveira, is he the Antonio Cromartie have any comments? I did not. So, first of all, Cowboy Oliveira, is he the Antonio Cromartie of MMA? I believe that is the correct answer, yes.

Right? Just can't stand condoms. Just the worst things on earth, right? Okay, Luke. I mean, some of us have lived and died on the rhythm method for many decades. I'm just saying. I'm just saying.

But on the other side, I didn't know that Cowboy did that. He would probably be a problem, I'm going to guess. He's on TRT. Yeah, exactly. Cowboy's endured a lot of damage, that's true, but I wouldn't want to accept that challenge.

I can put that to you very, very clearly. BC, I'll give you one more chance. Tell me any other fight on this. You know what? Let's do this. Let's do this. How about this? Derek Lewis, we've got to talk about it,

and we did on Monday, but it's worth bringing up one more time. He stands at 26 and11 is his record. 38 years of age. By the way, younger than Tony Ferguson. Younger than Wonderboy. Kind of amazing. But also in the heavyweight class.

So this is hardly any disaster. But BC, he has not won since beating Chris Dawkus all the way back in 2021. Let me remind folks. It wasn't like he was exactly fighting scrubs out there. He fought Taito Iwasa and got stopped with that brutal elbow in the second round. Then he fought Sergei Pavlovich, beat him inside, or excuse me, lost, I should say, inside the first round. And okay, Pavlovich is just one of the most dynamic punchers in the sport. And then he lost to Sergei Spivak, who we talked about is very much reformed since taking his game to Extreme Couture,

tightening things up really leveraging his strengths here he's got another guy who is willing to bang it out with him and the derrick lewis of old should definitely beat a guy of this level the question is right bc is this still the derrick lewis of old yeah i mean like four or five losses against anybody when all four by stoppage is damning. Even in the heavyweight division where stoppages obviously happen often. When he has stepped down a level like he did against Chris Dawkus, that guy was still in there. But, you know, I mean, look, Derek Lewis is always feast or famine.

You never know what you're going to get. You never know what kind of shape he's going to be in. You never know the strength of his back. You never know because of how often he says, I just do this for the money. I'm not, you know, I don't care about the title. This feels like a get well style of matchmaking to, you know, crowd favorite to see if he can put a little run back together. But I really have doubts, Luke. It's not just getting caught and stopped by very good fighters. He has some very implosive defeats where, where it seems you know almost self-induced and while i

appreciate him admitting that that gone loss was largely him just being overwhelmed by the pressure of being in a title fight in his hometown and all that comes with i appreciate the candor in that regard in and the humility but it's also a big part of who he is now this fight doesn't have those same stakes outside of potentially the stakes of job security, which are nothing to be laughed at. But he should win this. I hope this leads to the eye of the tiger coming out in camp and him going in there and showing that. Either way, it's going to be a slugfest.

We know that coming in, Luke. But, man, I love Derek Lewis. I don't want to see him fade away badly and lose on this level. I mean, look, if he goes out there and loses and especially gets stopped, Luke, I don't know how you could continue to employ him. I don't. Really? I do.

Even with the name and the fact that he delivers entertainment, if a guy's getting stopped five times in six fights, this is a legitimate step down in matchmaking. How are you going to continue that, Luke? I don't know. Well, I mean, DeL he's won four of five like he's not like you know i mean he beat maurice green ben rothwell andre olavsky and then waldo cortez acosta now that last name not necessarily the level of these other guys or not moved at all congratulations i mean if you're allowed to

if you're allowed to on marchine tibera seven win in eight fights by saying he hasn't beaten anybody i'm allowed to shit on this. He was fighting Tom Aspinall in a main event. That's not what we're talking about here. Okay. Okay, Luke. But here's the deal ultimately, okay? A lot of pressure on him. They're going to bang.

I love Derek Lewis. I love interviewing him. I love everything about him. I want to see him back. I want to see him return. He's got that opportunity right here. No question about it. But the recent history has not been kind. But Luke, you know, this has been a big week for YouTube mea culpa. Can I just give my own right now and just say this? I know. Cyril Ghosn's fighting Sergei Spivak, not Sergei Pavlovich, as I've said 18 times on the last episode. And I believe two episodes before that, Luke, I tried to map out the future of the heavyweight division, even though matchmaking-wise, it's already been mapped out.

And I came up empty on every single matchup because they were already pre-determined. So I failed in my heavyweight homework right there. I may have failed again by shitting on Marcos de Ruggiero de Lima de Middlenog. But, Luke, if he beats Derek Lewis, it's over for the Black Beast, okay, bro? It is. It is. All right. Fair enough. Let's move on if we can, BC. Let's talk about topic number four. but Luke if he beats Derek Lewis it's over for the Black Beast okay bro it is it is all right

fair enough let's move on if we can BC let's talk about topic number four it's the reason for the season on the boxing side of things Spence versus Crawford now one more reminder again actually it won't be the last reminder but it'll be another reminder tomorrow 10 a.m 10 a.m in the east BC and I will be on CBS Sports Network for two hours from 10 a.m. to noon getting you ready for the big fight okay that aside BC we are going to have more to say there all right I encourage everyone to tune in tomorrow if they can but for today I wanted to ask a very simple question give me the best argument for Bud winning and then let's talk about the best argument for Bud winning, and then let's talk about the best argument for Spence winning. Pick whichever one you want first.

All right. Terrence Crawford is a more dynamic fighter than Errol Spence. I understand Terrence Crawford being a slight betting favorite here. I believe he actually has more ways to win. When Terrence Crawford switches to southpaw, and granted he's fighting against another southpaw here, but we know the history of Terrence Crawford. When he switches to southpaw, and granted he's fighting against another southpaw here, but we know the history of Terrence Crawford. When he switches to southpaw, which shows you that he has figured you out,

he becomes a nasty, dynamic, unpredictable offensive fighter. Obviously a key to this matchup is the fact that both are fighting opponents that are, you know, the boss at the end of the video game. That can both do it all, that you can't get away with certain things just because they worked against this guy. You're fighting almost a Spider-Man meme equivalent, although they're different fighters. But for Bud Crawford, Luke,

I feel he's got to constantly be a chameleon out there. I don't think that, unlike other fights, I don't think it's just once you make that adjustment, the fight's over because Spence can constantly adjust the same. I needed Crawford who was switching stances on the regular switching up looks being elusive because when Errol Spence is allowed to go downhill on you sometimes it does come down to the idea uh what we were talking about in Gaethje versus Poirier of foundationally he can break you with that pressure for Terrence Crawford he is a little bit more quick, a little bit more elusive, a little bit more creative.

I've got to see the full-color palette of what this artist can do. And the best part about this fight, to me, is the true level of competitiveness between them. It's 100 out of 100. There is a very, very, very, very good chance that inevitably this becomes a dogfight at the highest level, still retaining elite skills. Inevitably, it's going to turn there.

Terrence Crawford, in my mind, has to do his best to delay that inevitability. Yes, he's got to discipline Spence and try his best to prevent that forward, constant downhill pressure on him. But to me, that comes through the creativity, the ability to be there and not be there. Yes, he's 35 years old. He's the oldest fighter. But when the best face the best, sometimes greatness, as we saw in Inouye against Fulton, can be jacked up to another level.

I believe Terrence Crawford has a distinct next level ability that he has not even been forced to show in this division. To me, that's going to come through the artistry. I get him being the betting favorite. I get a lot of the experts, which, you know, you get a lot of 50s. It's a 50-50 fight. You're getting a lot of people leaning either way based on different things. But is there more of a majority opinion, even though it's very close?

Yeah, that's Terrence Crawford because of those skills, because of that constant elusiveness. He's got to be mentally one step ahead at all times. On the flip side, the case for Spence, I think, is fairly simple. Even though he can do everything, he is an absolute welterweight tank. You just cannot find somebody, mind you, in a soft-paw stance on top of that, who is that big, durable, long in that level of shape with cardio for days, who is going to just bite down and keep coming forward, never recklessly, but a willingness to constantly keep up that mental pressure and mental fatigue.

What would be the best way to snuff out some of that dynamic ability of what Crawford can do that maybe Spence can't. It is by cutting off that ring and being a physical force and being willing to endure. Yes, we have seen Spence buzzed briefly by Danny Garcia, by Sean Porter, by even Ugas in that last fight. And if you go even deeper, you may remember the Manuel Larte fight on his way up where he was straight up rocked and did a dance. But Spence has survived detached retina surgery, survived an insane accident in which he's lucky to be alive. And when he goes into that ring, that's the closest thing you're going to get in the welterweight division to an absolute tank walking you down, beating you down. It's not just the punches that land. It's the physical thing, the durability and the physicalness that gets on top of you and wears you out.

Can Terrence Crawford, even the great Terrence Crawford, can he be broken with Spence's plan A? I think he can. I think that's why this fight is so great. There are strong cases on either side, just as well as there's potential that the playbooks get thrown out. And at some point, the dogs come out and we find out whose backbone actually is stronger. I don't think Bud Crawford can beat spence trying to outdog him do you i say no he can use more skills to win yes i do think that's true look i say no i say no but i will say this you will agree with this when spence has figured you out and goes into finishing mode he is nasty he is nasty in his intention and his power and when you mix that with the creativity

from the southpaw stance i'm not gonna put it past him i mean look here's here's the deal we are probably heading toward a disputed decision in a great fight correct so it's going to be the slightest adjustment that ultimately might win this. But can Bud survive the flames? I'm not going to tell you no. I'm not. Because that guy is an all-time great, which is why this fight is so special. Okay, fair enough.

Let me give one argument, if I may, for Spence, that I don't feel like gets enough credit. Now, again, when Spence fought Porter, this is not true, but Spence fought Porter in a way that I would say is, relative to a lot of the other fights I've seen, very undisciplined from him. He just didn't look, you know, when there was questions about like, oh, who is Spence after the car wreck?

I'm like, yeah, I sort of get it. But then you go to the Ugas fight, and he just, in my judgment, completely redeemed himself. I was talking to um i was talking to somebody who knows chris algeri and chris algeri who by the way fought spence and i think didn't make it past the fifth uh it was a beat down from from spence uh had said that when the algeri fought spence and when he hit him it said it felt like he was hitting someone who had armor that he couldn't believe

like how sturdy physically his body is. Now he can be hitting the chin and you know, everyone is liable to be hit there. Kell Brook touched it a few times as well. But BC, there is something about like, have you seen like, they're both in tremendous shape, but, and then by the way, I know Bud used to wrestle and I know people say Bud is very strong, even for 147. But I have to tell you, man, you look at Spence, he is in absurd, absurd shape. Physically, you look at him, he looks like he is chiseled out of stone. And when you hear someone else like Algieri, who by the way, was a world champion in boxing, say when he touched him, it felt like he was punching armor. Man, I got to tell you, I really i really wonder you know if spence is able to

make a lot of this fight an inside fight and he's got that kind of just physical freakness to him in terms of uh sturdiness and he actually ends up being the stronger guy i think that could end up being a decisive factor for him ultimately if the fight ends up going 12 rounds. What do you think? I fully agree with you. I actually talked to Chris Algieri for a feature on Spence Luke that I have coming out this week, and he echoed the same exact comments that you're saying,

that he said where it was like when he went in there against him, mind you, in that part of Spence's rise, Algieri was the first legitimate tough test. Former champion at 140 who had moved up to 47. No, never a big puncher, but slick, can out-style you. He was remarkably blown away by the fact that Spence, who has a deep amateur history, a deeper one than Bud, to be fair, was so hard to hit for a guy who's walking you down and coming forward. But damn, did he echo exactly what you said. He said he landed his first,

Algieri said he landed his first big shot on a big body shot. And it just, it almost hurt his hand. He said it was like, it did nothing to budge him or make him go back. And one thing Aljari told me that is so key and something we have to think about entering this fight is for being that extremely large expenses for this division, it cutting all that weight so dramatically does not damage his gas tank it's compu box number one wise he's one of the busiest welterweights among the elites so you think about the mental pressure he puts on you he's a freaking like yo all romero like tank for this weight class yet he's never going to get tired he's got a great chin and he's constantly throwing punches and

going hard to the body and getting on you algerieri even brought up a great point. He said, even when you block body punches against Spence at close range, he's punching you in a way that is driving your own elbow into your rib cage, meaning everything he lands is forceful and meant to hurt you, whether it's being blocked or not. That is something to seriously think about because Spence has not hid his cards, Luke. He said he's going through Crawford. We know that even though he outboxed Mikey Garcia purposely from distance, you have to believe he believes, meaning Spence, his true edge in this fight will come down to that size plus dog.

Could that be enough? Could Terrence Crawford be broken? I do think it's possible because Spence is that great, Luke. Man, this fight could go in so many different directions. I mean, look, we're headed toward a disputed decision aren't we we are this fight's gonna be so brilliant we are it could be or or one size is gonna beat down the other one you know it could be that way it could be bud's magic takes over or spence the terminator takes over honestly i'm prepared for frankly any of these outcomes if we can candid. But the best case scenario to me is either the Terminator style of Spence

is going to matter, or Bud's ability to adapt and improvise on the fly is going to matter. And they're both so effing dynamic with it. Cannot wait for Saturday. And again, one more time, 10 a.m. in the east, tomorrow 7 a.m. in the west, Catch Me in BC on CBS Sports Network, getting you ready with every element and detail of this fight. It should be a great time.

BC, we move along, if we can, to a very weird story. And, frankly, a bit of a concerning one, if I can say so myself. So, according to the Nevada Athletic Commission here, I'm looking at the story from MMA Fighting. Vicente Luque has been cleared to fight after suffering a brain bleed in the Jeff Neal knockout loss. So I'm just going to read just a part of this. Luque is 31. He's only 31. He's been around forever, right? Damn. Was knocked out in the third round on August 6th of 2022 against Jeff Neal, and he was given a one-year suspension after suffering the brain bleed. He applied for a new fight license during a meeting with the Nevada Commission on Tuesday. So he's scheduled to headline UFC Vegas 78 against Rafael Dos Anjos. Not like some scrub.

I know he's a smaller sort of welterweight, but still. And of course, that'll be August 12th at the Apex. So this is what it says. Quote, as a condition of his licensure, Luque was required to submit clearance from both a neurologist and a neurosurgeon independent of one another to fight as well as a new MRI of his brain. The Nevada Athletic Commission's medical consultant reviewed and approved the clearance. The executive director, Jeff Mullen, told MMA Fighting after an initial report that initially came from MMA Junkie. That's it. Okay, so BC, should we be concerned, or how do you feel?

Well, I mean, yeah, obviously, first and foremost, that's concerning news, and this sport is so dangerous that we want only the best for Luque and the safest decision to come back. But, Luke, I do think with the increased focus on brain health research and the, you know, adjusted levels of testing that UFC has committed to and that we see at the highest level of combat sports, has there not been evidence of some sort of like brain regeneration after injuries like this when they're not overly dramatic? mean i i think we've seen that right in the past that fighters have been had this diagnosis took some time off and were able to sort of recover if if

that can be proven by health and we can go in that direction it gives you some level of confidence on a clearance but still in general bleeding on the brain is about as a dangerous thing as you can get in here that used to just mean an automatic retirement and an exit here if he does get clean through thorough research there could be an adapted future of of sustaining and advancing but am i nervous for moving forward you're damn right luke i mean listen you know what the hell do we know about brain health beyond what we read in the headlines or what some authority figure tells us i i don't have any training in this discipline i don't know anything about it. I do know that when you're bleeding on the brain, that's extremely serious.

And I do know that like that is concerning. I mean, you know, I got mixed feelings, BC. Like on the one hand, he's 31. And, you know, if a neurosurgeon and another, excuse me, let me look at the wording here one more time, a neurologist and a neurosurgeon, again, independent of one another, excuse me, let me look at the wording here one more time. A neurologist and a neurosurgeon, again, independent of one another, are able to come to some kind of an agreement about this in terms of what their consensus is,

and then a third doctor essentially is reviewing it. I mean, that gives me some hope. Plus, they have an MRI. That gives me some hope. I just have to say, like, maybe he can fight again, honestly, but, like, two things kind fight again, honestly, but like two things kind of stand out to me. One, what if he gets viciously KO'd? Because that may have nothing to do with his, like the current state of his brain per se, but like more just his style. And

then what does that do to compound any existing problems? I do worry about that. And the other part is it's like, okay, maybe he could fight again in terms of like the things that we know to look for that the health markers that matter again like we're making sure uh medical professionals of different but related disciplines are all looking at this but what about the cte the long-term cte like if you're 30 years old because 31 now if you're 30 years old and you're suffering brain bleeds what are you going to be when you're 41 years old you know and like dude it's amazing like people like young men in their 20s or early 30s are very hard to talk to about like hey you're gonna have a life after all of this and you're gonna want to like have a little bit more ability to like you know think

through those years and be cognitively clear and in control of what you want to be in control of. And you're trading some of that off here doing this. And if you're 30 and having a brain bleed, man, I got to tell you, like, I don't know, bro. I don't know how, I mean, I can understand an argument for why he should be able to fight. What I'm having a harder time figuring out is like, dude, what is the end game here you know are you is he really going to spend like four more years trying to get a title shot after having a brain bleed and coming up short and potentially getting serious knockouts and then now we've just added this incredible amount of cte in the process i don't know man i don't there's these are tough questions there's no clean answer it's

one of life's you know and the fight games you don't want to deny someone an opportunity to compete kind of situation. But I got to tell you, I'll be watching that one with the looking through my fingers. You know what I mean? I mean, look, we've seen major, major rule changes in the NFL, which do more things to protect brain health. But, you know, the effects are obviously the rules of increased scoring and stuff like that, but they've, it's still football, right? You can still tackle, it's still physical. Do you ever see a, I mean, things go cyclically,

cyclically sometimes in terms of public trends and what we rail against or what we're not worried about. I mean, do you see a scenario where combat sports, I mean, you'd have to have major, major issues to get here, but where, where combat sports, you, where you may, we see major rule changes to try to offset this at the end of the day, Luke, it is what it is in terms of the violence and the, the threat that it offers. Um, yeah, I, we're not experts. We don't have answers on this, but I don't know. I don't know. I will say this, like, you know, we don't, Again, this is just beyond our purview, but I do wonder. It's like we always say, oh, you wouldn't be able to fight after something catastrophic like brain swelling

and they have to crack your skull open so that your brain can have room to swell. Yeah, after something like that, you're not going to be fighting anymore. I mean, that sounds pretty clear. And who was the quarterback in dc alex smith who like completely had he didn't just fracture his femur or i should say his his um his shin bone he actually had what's called a spiral fracture where it was a break through a twist and he was still able to to come back and you know play reasonably ish well for another NFL season or so. But BC, I got to tell you, again, we don't know.

But is a catastrophic situation the only one where you should stop fighting? Where you literally can't even anymore? Or is something like this actually the canary in the coal mine to tell you to stop? I don't know. Hard to say, Luke. You know, hard for us to say too when somebody's still at such a young age and feels like this is their career. But, you know, you've got to play the risk and the worth.

And I wish him well, Luke, either way. I don't have the answer. Again, may the best man win on August 12th. That's all you can ever hope for. But what I would say is I hope he's okay. hope he's okay that's it all right uh topic number six bc let's go through some fight announcements here very quickly if we can uh at caged aggression mma i guess this is october 14th pat miletic is gonna fight mike jackson i guess this is the fight brought to you by jan 6 or something so according to the

internet Luke according to Twitter at some point Mike Jackson sought the coaching of Pat Miletic for a fight which didn't end up happening he had a little bit of a falling out with Pat that reportedly led to Mike Jackson making public comments about Pat's political leanings. Remember he was there on the steps on January 6th and even some level of, of accusations of racism that led to them not being on good terms. That has now led to this regional MMA fight when Pat is what? 58 years old. Yeah. He's old.

What are we doing here, Luke? What are we doing here? I don't know. I don't know. Um, I think also militant i'm i'm so tuned out but my understanding is i might be messing this up someone can dead wrong me it's

okay something related to pat feels like accusations from mike have led to being blackballed from the industry i'm not he had an what did he have an LFA announcing job and that he feels that he lost due to due to social media allegations of racism linked towards January 6 and all of that I mean I don't want to fist fight it out I mean I mean what a shit storm that's perfect for MMA but you know I mean look Pat's a badass no one's ever any ever questioning that but what are we gaining with this we're gaining nothing with with this. This is weird, Luke. I mean, it's just... It's not influencer fighting.

It's like political influencer fighting, almost, in a way. You know? It's weird. It's weird. All right. Moving on from that, BC. Derek Brunson's going to be fighting Roman Deleuze. You love that one.

UFC 295, November 11th. Yes? Excited? Yes. Luke, Roman's got a bun in the oven, right? This would be a big fight for their family's future, correct? I don't know, but I'll take your word for it. I happen to have Instagram on my phone, so that's why I've seen stuff like that.

But yeah, look, I like this matchup. Roman had his close-up against Vittori, to find out if he was really coming through and going to be a future hammer. Close fight, ultimately lost it, but I do think there's a lot to learn from that and build on in terms of, of putting some things together. He does have some things to iron out. Derek Brunson at this point,

Luke Cisco hair dye job or not thong, the thong thong thong does feel like the right opponent to find out whether he's coming or going here. The nice bounce back opportunity against a, a guy with a great name who's still got something left in the tank. Okay. This one got announced, I think, yesterday, if memory serves. But Patricio Pitbull-Frede, we all know him.

He just lost to, obviously, Sergio Perez, is going to take on Chihiro Suzuki. This will be this weekend. He's fighting on four days' notice, I guess. I'll say it, Luke. AJ McKee had to pull out of the lightweight World Grand Prix, and Roberto D'Souza is in to take on Patrycki Pitbull, but to bolster up the card due to the loss of AJ McKee,

who is now out of the tournament with this injury, we're going to get Patricio Pitbull back against a kickboxer in Suzuki. Could be interesting. Could be interesting. Saturday from Japan there in this Bellator Super Horizon 2 crossover event. It could be. I mean, the Pettis win was sort of like, you know, obviously Pitbull didn't look bad, but he didn't look Pitbull.

Be curious to see what he looks like here on Saturday. BC, I thought we talked about this. Maybe not. Corey Sanhagen, obviously no longer fighting Umar Nurmagomedov, is now going to take on Rob Font, UFC Nashville, August 5th. Pretty excited about that. Yeah, he's one half of the Font Forecast podcast along with our guy. Luke, what's our guy's name from Liverpool? Mike Owens.

Mike Owens, yeah. Yeah, Mike Owens Media. Shout out there. So, yeah, so obviously Font was supposed to be fighting on that Boston card in a big fight. Font coming off that resounding finish of Adrian Yanez to hand him his first defeat. Now he's getting a huge opportunity here, Luke. It does feel like, look, this is the last run for Rob Font potentially here in his mid-30s. Coming off such a breakthrough win.

Talk about an opportunity here against Corey Sanhagen. If he goes out there and wins that, Luke, I mean we're talking about the top of the pops, right? Top of the pops. Absolutely. Sanhagen wins. He's going to be right at the cusp of a title shot. If Font wins, that's the best win in his UFC run.

He's coming in red hot. Corey Sanhagen's coming in red hot. We lost some stuff to make this fight happen. Obviously people got injured, people got injured blah blah blah but I'm not mad at it at all love this fight uh BC very quickly Nasrat Hakparast is taking on Sam Patterson UFC Paris September 2nd okay that matters to you okay it's all right I mean it's fine okay it's fine and then Jamie Malarkey taking on John McDessie John McD mcdesi still on the roster ufc 293 september 9th look were you a bigger fan of john alessio or alessio sacara john alessio had uh oh and john alessio's fight with diego sanchez was interesting and weird

uh and alessio sacara got kicked in the balls by ron faircloth so hard he dry heaved and the fight was over. The Italian scouting. So, you know, they both have memorable moments. All right, all right. I always wanted to fight at a catch rate. I'll say this. The tattoos of Sacara, a little bit better.

A little bit better. A little bit better in that regard. Hey, look, can we get to topic seven? Because I was jumping out of my shorts when I heard this. Well, you know what? I don't even care about this topic. Why don't you lead with this topic? All right.

Do the BC special here on this one. A lot of people always asking me, BC, who's the best featherweight in the world? And, you know, I often have to unfortunately say he's retired and his name is Zabit Magomed Sharapov. But according to Zabit, Luke, who I assume here was talking to some level of Russian media through translation, he is claiming that he was offered a chance to return by the UFC. And we have seen Zabit give somewhat cryptic social media posts about getting back into training and, you know, maybe teasing a comeback, but that he was offered by the UFC an immediate

title shot against Alexander Volkanovsky, should he return, which he then turned down Luke Thomas. This would have been wild, right? This would have been real wild. I admit, this one would have been interesting. This one would have been interesting. I still don't think he, like, you think he beats Volk, do you? I mean, I'm not going to comment on that, Luke, out loud right now.

I mean, you know, we all have our favorite. No, look, I mean, there's some people that won't let me get off the fact that he, you know, was hanging on for dear life against Calvin Cater in round three, right? That did happen. That did happen. No, he's not going to beat Volk, but would that be a story? Would that be something interesting if Volk's next title defense was a returning Zabit after all this time off. You have to agree, Luke. I over-inflate his true level of potential. Probably. Probably. But that guy was uniquely awesome. Be fair with me here. The guy was awesome. Well, I just think, I'll say this.

Every once in a while, the UFC is good to just go, surprise, and you're like, what? What happened here? Like Matt Hughes versus Hoist Gracie that time, right? Where you're just like, what the hell is this that was that was actually an important fight because i remember so many people at the time being like yeah but hoist beats like three guys in one night i'm like right not one of those guys would like last five seconds against hughes and they're like nah dude he's gonna win i'm like oh right the ufc is doing this to show how good the new crop of guys is

so that one had like a real generational lesson learning value for the audience kind of thing at the moment this is just like hey let's just put you know five cats in a bag and just see what happens just let chaos reign you know what i mean look who laid a who laid a larger egg hoist gracie and that long-awaited u return against Matt Hughes where he got taken down onto his stomach and then just got punched until they stopped it. Or Irina Aldana against Amanda. Or Cyril Ghosn against Jon Jones. Okay, so it's definitely not Hoist.

Because, you know, that was always going to go that way. Right? That's the difference. Like, that was always going to go that way. right? That's the difference. Like, that was always going to go that way. The Aldana fight didn't need to go that way. And the Gon fight, I guess it could have. I mean, here's what you have to decide. Is it worse to just get completely run over with, like, an offer, no resistance? Or is it worse to, like, not really ever engage and it just goes on and on and on.

I don't know what the answer is. They're both pretty bad. I think the answer is Krohn Gracie in his last fight. I think that's actually the answer. That's probably the answer, yes. That's probably the answer. It would have been fun. It would have been fun, but...

Okay, but what would be the odds, Luke? If Zabit accepted this, what are the betting odds against Superman Volk here? Volk's going to be somewhere in the minus threes, right? Got to be somewhere in the minus threes. Now, you asked me that question, and the screen is frozen. I'm sure your answer was great. Yes, yes.

I love it when the screen freezes. We got to figure out something else other than Zoom. Technical difficulties in my life oh there we go there we go okay there we go yeah we don't we should never use zoom again because it's destroying the show how about that it's destroying the show it's not anyone else's fault i blame zoom but uh yeah there you go what do you think bc yeah we had a good run look okay maybe we should just put this child to bed already all right let's do it oh it's my mikey says it's my mcdonald's wi-fi luke i mean yeah that's not surprising mine's hardwired yours is just some nubs i don't know what it is dude my mikey and i did a test my wi-fi is faster than my hardwire. Yeah, no, it's your connection.

Yeah, it's you. I can see it. It's you. You got that McDonald's Wi-Fi, bro. You got that Wendy's Wi-Fi. All right, let's remind everyone. We'll probably do fan subs and Dead Wrong on Friday. There will be a show on Friday.

I'll be live in Las Vegas. BC will be live in his basement, but we will do one just the same. Reminder one more time, 10 a.m. in the East tomorrow. CBS Sportsnet, check us out. A full Spence Crawford preview. We're going to get you ready for the big fight in every way we can. And, of course, Friday's show is going to be great as well for the whole combat sports weekend.

Reminder, Showtime.com is the label that pays. Showtime.com, 30-day free trial. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, feel free to bounce. You can go to to morningcombat.store for all of your merch needs we appreciate it when you do and of course you can go to morningcombat.gmail.com to email the show the producers will see it okay bc any final thoughts before we get out of here yeah um i've had big allergies this week everyone thinks i'm on the craig jones train luke i mean seriously like i've been having to blow my nose all week and people like all bc party drug bc is back no he

no no people why why luke why but you will do whippets in the back of a hardy's i know well i have it was an arby's by the way and i had a jamocha shake in the other hand great flavor great flavor by the way yeah all right with in mind, thank you to everyone who watched. We will hopefully see you tomorrow and again on Friday and then again on Saturday night with not one but two live streams for afterwards. UFC 291 results, Spence Crawford results, competing streams, but fun streams just the same. All right?

That's Brian Campbell. I'm Luke Thomas. Thank you to Mikey. Thank you to everyone in the CBS crew, Showtime, and Malka. We'll see you guys tomorrow and Friday and every other day. And until then, may all of your gains be loyal.