MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 292 Recap: O'Malley Stops Sterling | Weili Zhang | Ian Garry | Weidman | Ep 479

Episode Date: August 21, 2023

On Episode 479 of Morning Kombat Brian Campbell is joined by UFC Hall of Famer Rashad Evans to break down UFC 292. What was most impressive about Sean O'Malley's performance? Is there any doubt Weili Zhang is the best female P4P? Is criticism fair for lack of stoppage after such a thorough 15-minute beating for Ian Garry? BC and Rashad Evans break it all down. As always they close out Monday's episode with Dm's from Donks and HYSTS. (6:00) - Sean O'Malley Stops Aljamain Sterling (30:00) - Weili Zhang vs. Amanda Lemos (39:00) - Ian Garry (52:30) - Chris Weidman (59:30) - Rest of UFC 292 (75:00) - Dm's from Donks (93:00) - HYSTS 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

Reveille, Reveille, dogs. Look at us now, tip to tip. This is our life. This is our passion. That's the spirit we bring to this show. I'm Luke Thomas. I'm Brian Campbell. This is Morning Combat.

Oh, yeah. What a week for sugar right yes i'm talking about the no spears that craig jones made famous i'm talking about sugar sean's sugar show at ufc 292 and i'm talking about that man right there been a long time since we rock and roll but we back at it morning combat monday morning august 21st, 2023. Brian Campbell, your co-host, ready to take this award-winning vehicle into the realm of reaction in UFC 292. But the Hall of Famer next to me, the former light heavyweight champion of the world, tough champion,

really just a champion of life, Sugar Rashad Evans. Always sweet, never sour, by the way, Rash rashad a tower of ayahuasca power i get fired up because i get to do this show with you how is it bro how is it man it's been great bc uh it's been a long time but i am happy to be here uh and morning combat is one of my favorite shows to watch so happy to be back on well thank you you're a great contributor to this program luke thomas of course the co-host is with the mostest on vacation he'll be back on wednesday but but sugar uh we're talking about 292 pay-per-view boston we're talking about sean o'malley uh lots to talk about after this fine weekend in the combat sports realm sir

yeah absolutely i mean sean o'malley was uh fantastic i mean as daniel white said who the f saw that coming i mean it was just it was just a brilliant performance absolutely we're gonna break down this card in painstaking detail we're gonna find out if rashad has seen any of this lingering shit around there we're also going to answer your questions so drop into the live chat right now on this morning combat show on YouTube, ask your questions for the hall of famer sugar. Rashad, we'll get them answered later in the show, push aside the normal misogyny and racism that fills up that live chat. I mean, can we sweep up that already? Can we clean that shit up? Rashad, before we get into more serious things, how you been, what's been new in the life of Rashad Evans? Life has been good. I've been, you know, doing a little bit more UFC, more ESPN, building myself outside of the whole fight game.

You know, my godson has a fight coming up in LFA in Niagara Falls, September 15. So I'm getting ready for that. But a lot's been going on. You know, I'm moving to a new house in Florida. So I got a lot of things moving, BC. Yeah. Yeah, I love to hear that. Love the work you've been doing on ESPN+. And we still see you on HQ nowadays once in a while? Yeah, every once in a while.

Every once in a while I get a chance to jump on there. You know, I got a chance to do LFA this weekend. Got a chance to put the cans on, get in a booth, and give some play-by-play commentary. And what is your godson's name that we should be getting behind and cheering for on this stuff? Devin the Prodigy Smith. Devin the Prodigy Smith.

Which weight class as well, Rashad? He's going to be at 170. It's going to be the main event in LFA. All right, all right. You're sold. I'll be there. I'll check that out. Thank you for jumping in.

And, of course, Showtime, the label that pays us, you can get 30 days of Showtime for free right now. Why not test the waters before you put a ring on it, right? Boxing, MMA, Bill Cosby, they got great stuff there all across the board. Shout out to Mikey Mormoff, CBS Sports. Back from vacation. Missed you. Long Island Luke and Gaff Pierre on the ones and twos. But we're about to bang here, too.

Let's get right into it. right off the top, here we go Beantown Bonanza Bantamweights in the main event and a changing of a guard atop the deepest division in mixed martial arts UFC 292 in Boston gave us the arrival of the Sugar Show at the championship level

and really freakishly similar to Conor McGregor landing one perfect counter shot on jose aldo back in 2015 sean o'malley silenced the critics while taking down an established champion in this division in aljamain sterling nine fight win streak on the verge of setting with a victory the record for title defenses in bantamweight history most wins in bantamweight history but he was looking up at the lights at the end of the day from a one to ten here sugar rashad 10 being the most surprised how shocking was this for you the way it played out bc it was off the scales it was about a 30 bro It was about a 30, bro. It was about a 30. My heart just, it exploded, man, because listen, I knew Sean O'Malley had it in him.

I knew it could either come from a knee or one of those accurate pinpoint powerful strikes that he has using his optimum range that he does. as if, like many other people felt, that Aljo was going to find a way to close the distance and just use that strength, use that grappling, and use that wrestling to get the fight in his world. But the thing was, Sean O'Malley's linear lateral motion, meaning he was so lean forward, but at the same time, he had this lateral motion, and his fakes and faints were to honestly, it was the absolute most perfect I've ever seen anyone use their fakes and faints. Now this is saying this with, with the likes of Israel out of saying who I think is head above shoulders above most people when it comes to that,

that whole faint game and those guys that at city kickbox and they have a really mean faint game, but Sean O'Malley looked absolutely phenomenal. I could just go on and on. But you know what, BC? I'm going to let you go. I'm going to let you go first. I'm going to let you go first.

No, I've been enjoying it here. A lot of people caught my instant analysis late Saturday night. But here's one thing I picked up on, Rashad, watching this live, is obviously it's that perfect precision, powerful and fast counter shot that led directly to the finish. But this fight was won not in that second round. It was won in the first round when O'Malley kept his back off the canvas. But more importantly, Rashad, no selling every single faint stance switch. Everything that Aljamain Sterling does funky wise on the standup that has led to his evolution to becoming this long

reigning champion. You don't look good against Aljamain Sterling. He's constantly making you second guess. There's an awkwardness. He's long, all those things. He couldn't make O'Malley sell anything, Rashad. That to me, when that moment happened, it's somewhat not surprising in a way. Look, shockingly surprising that a champion with the experience of Sterling would make such a blatant mistake of overreaching on a left, squaring up, and just leaving himself there for the perfect counter shot. But Rashad, I think it was like four or five minutes of frustration built up. Don't forget, fans were booing this fight at the end of the first round

and i think that's because o'malley was just like look i'm gonna wait here until you make a mistake against me people aren't able to have that luxury against aljo usually because inevitably they're going to end up being taken down the fact that o'malley was able to shut down everything aljo tried that to me was by far the most shocking part of this yeah absolutely you know I feel like with O'Malley he was able to shut down everything that um uh Aljamain was throwing because it started off Aljo does something very intricate that a lot of people don't really realize when they fight him because he's normally the bigger guy in the weight class what he does to close the distance is not so much with his hands sometimes that and that's why you'll see him just kind of like throw these wild

shots but he does it with his kicks he throw these kicks and with the kicks he uses that to close distance but what was happening with Sean O'Malley when he was throwing those kicks because Sean was so long and his lateral movement was so good he was seeing him and he was recognizing right away and they weren't really finding their mark they weren't really having the same impact they do on the smaller fighters so that messed up his whole range and that started to lead to him started to dive in and started trying to use those wild punches to close the distance but normally that's where his kicks come in yeah indeed and once the frustration began to build i think we saw more aggression from aljo to open round two,

which was necessary, but still not able to find some success. But when that one mistake happened, O'Malley's just that dude as a pinpoint assassin. It is McGregor-like in that regard, where one shot can be so perfectly placed, it can bring on the end of the fight. When we talk about the comparisons to McGregor here, Rashad, it makes sense, I I guess on like a

crossover star level and ability to connect with fans and as we talked about that pinpoint striking but I compared the two of them heading into this fight because they're both looked at entering the first title fight as I don't want to say unfinished projects but not well-rounded in the nature we expect of guys in the championship level but I want to ask you if that's actually a fair assessment at this point. Is Sean O'Malley one-dimensional as a striker and that one dimension was so great, he went all the way to the championship level and won the title in the deepest division? Or did he show you enough takedown defense where, okay, maybe he's not doing offensive wrestling to further his advancement, but it would be hard at this point, true or false,

to call him one-dimensional when he just did that to Aljo in that manner. Yeah, I think it's hard to call him one-dimensional after what he did to Aljo. Listen, I was one of those people who truly believed that he was one-dimensional and really didn't have the ability to change gears that you need to change gears in order to have that well-rounded approach to a fight. But what he showed in that fight with Aljo was true, comprehensive understanding of what it means to have, you know, defend these shots and have your back against the cage. And what he was doing in those exchanges really showed his understanding of what he should understand at this level.

But I feel like there is still a part of him, and that gets me excited about where he can go when you look at him because he's still a very young guy who's yet to grow into himself. And we've seen him grow since he's been in the UFC, since he came off the contender series. We've seen him grow to be a little bit to be where he is right now. But I feel like when it comes to strength, when it comes to size, when it comes to the things that's really going to cause him to dominate

in his weight class, he's still yet to grow into. Yeah, we're still finding out in the moment how great he can be, 28 years old. Now it's top of the best division in the world. And Rashad, one thing I really stood out to me, again, on top of the precision, the striking, the takedown defense, the cool, calm nature of sean o'malley because yeah this ride to get here we've seen the hiccups we saw the loss to cheeto and the injury the two-year usada suspension the weak matchmaking at times when he first came back

if that led people to miss this moment it's it's understandable for them to say well who was he beaten comparatively dude when it mattered when the when the lights were the brightest i hate to constantly make these kind of comparisons but it there's very these are aliens rashad these are aliens who can get to this level even without this experience but still have that combination of poise confidence and ability to deliver rashad how many guys have you seen in practice that could be world champions, but there's that thing that separates people when the lights get the brightest?

O'Malley wasn't even like overly celebrating afterwards. It was like cool, calm. I knew it was going to happen. Bring on the next guy. Damn. Damn, Rashad. Damn. Hey, BC, listen, you're absolutely right, man.

I've seen it time and time again it's actually to the point now where I become numb when I see talent in the gym because I'm like okay he's dope in the gym he's a world beater in the gym let me see him out there in action let me see him under the lights because those lights will melt you and I kind of picked up on on O'Malley's just just stoic nature and how calm and collected he was at the weigh-ins. At the weigh-ins, you know, Aljo was busting off it, you know, busting his gums and just talking this and talking that. And you just seen O'Malley just cool, calm, collected,

very stoic and just kind of in himself. And at that point, I was like, hmm, he's either really scared or he got something cooking for tomorrow. But he had the same laser-like focus when he walked out, and he kept it during the whole fight. Yeah, indeed. Let's talk about the star, the potential here. It's a different landscape for the UFC promotionally than it was five years, ten years ago. The ESPN deal is so financially, you know, fruitful at this point.

You don't see them do the type of press tours that we've seen in the past, but we did see something unique after this fight. Rashad, you've been around UFC a long time. What's the thing they covet most? The rights to the finishes of their pay-per-views, right? The idea of protecting those, not allowing them to play all over social media, not allowing every single show, unless they've paid enough for the highlight packages to run that.

We've seen that a million times. Luke Thomas has dissected, got shut down for that same reason. They not only put out the finish of O'Malley knocking out Sterling, they put out the complete fight. What does that tell you about what they believe Sean O'Malley can bring to them moving forward? Well, it tells you everything you need to know when it comes to what they're going to put behind him as far as promotion. What they really truly believe as far as what he can bring is being a star that rivals something like a McGregor. And he even can be bigger in so many different respects. I mean,

McGregor has made legacy things as far as, you know, his fight with Mayweather and things he's been able to do outside of the sport with his businesses. But I feel like with Sean O'Malley, you're looking at somebody who can hit a different level and a different, a different, I guess, vantage point of that same fame spectrum that McGregor was meant to hit. I feel like with O'Malley, he

speaks to this generation of these young youth with effort. Without any effort at all. It just comes so natural to him. They just flock to him. I got my boy telling me, my son, Little Rashad, like, oh my gosh,

dad, you know, going on and on about O'Malley and everybody loves O'Malley. You know what I'm saying? And they truly feel him, you know, because no matter how arrogant he is at times, no matter, you know, all those different characters, things, he still brings a level of humbleness and humility that you can feel who he is as a level of humbleness and humility that,

that you can feel who he is as a person just by watching them, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it came to the sport so young, we got to see as cameras followed him ahead of this pay-per-view, the sort of rags to riches story that so many fighters have of, of following a dream, but that connection to the younger fan base just can't be denied. Whether you're there for the tattoos, the colorful hair, the connection to weed.

This guy's been a weed advocate since day one, Rashad, all right? Put some respect on that guy's name. And, of course, he's part of the new generation of delivering his own information to the world through his own podcast, The Right Star at the Right Time. But, but, killers top to bottom in this division, we know he's already said i want to be back in december i want it to be in vegas final pay-per-view of the year and hey chito vera i heard you beat pedro munoz boringly let's make it him rashad considering this division's always

bottlenecked on top there's so much deserving talent. You could make equal strong cases for Corey Sanhagen or Merab Davalish-Willie at the moment. You even have Aljo saying, don't I deserve a rematch? I had a non-fight win streak in many title defenses against big names. Should it be Chido Vera next? Will it be in your opinion? That's a tough one because Chido did beat him but at the end of the day let's let's if if we are going to be honest we can't jump over the fact that cory sanhagen just did his thing with with cheeto the way he did so i feel it has to be somebody at least cory sanhagen or marab and marab you, he didn't take his opportunity

to potentially fight for the belt because he was honoring his relationship with Aljo. So that's a respectable thing. But in the fight game, respect is not always what's paid for when it comes to what should happen next. And with that said, it's either Marab or Corey Sanhagen. Chito, it will be a fight that I feel will happen. But I feel like with Chito, I wouldn't want that for Chito right now

because I feel like Chito's working out something in his game still. And not that he – it seemed like he figured it out, but then sometimes you lose it, right? Sometimes you lose it. Sometimes you lose that feeling. Sometimes you lose that feeling. Sometimes you lose that flow that you had. And I feel he's out of flow right now. And I don't think it'd be good for him to do that fight in December.

You know, I don't disagree with that. Even though the win over Pedro Munoz, I thought, was clean, two rounds to one, in my opinion, although I thought the scores were wider than the fight necessarily saw, Chito established himself as the bigger fighter, stood in front of Munoz in the second two rounds to one, in my opinion, although I thought the scores were wider than the fight necessarily saw. Chido established himself as the bigger fighter, stood in front of Munoz in the second two rounds, final two rounds, excuse me, landed the bigger shots, bloodied his nose. There were elements of survive and advance in it, but there were also elements of, okay, this is the win he needed in this moment. And he clearly got it done. I agree with you that he's still kind of figuring it out. And he lost a little bit of that mojo in the manner in which he lost to Sanhagen, despite that being a split decision, which felt

undeserved in that moment. I have to counter you though, Rashad, and say, this is kind of what the company does though, make immediate matchups like this. And here's the reason why I think the Cheeto fight will be next, even with those heavy hitters there. It's not just the fact that Cheeto's the only guy to beat O'Malley in the cage. And let's not forget, there was legitimate criticism of how O'Malley, despite being injured, carried himself in that. I think the bigger part of this is if they are going to make this guy a star, don't you want to put him in there right away in the type of fight that furthers that star? That'll be trash talk. That'll bring out the hardcore fans who love Chito. Chito's got this, not the same level

as a Tony Ferguson or Nate Diaz fan pop, but that respect from the fans, you can feel it. They're like, oh yeah, that guy's a killer. Style-wise, we're already seeing early lines that if it was Murab next, the Valsvili, maybe rightfully so, is already the betting favorite against Sterling. I just believe that's the direction they would go.

Storyline makes sense. Final paper for you of the year. You can really, if you want to, Rashad, you can test out O'Malley's star right now by making that the pay-per-view main if you want. But either way they go, whether it's Sanhagen, Merab, or Chito, the story here is sugar and big things to come ahead. But what about Aljo? Rashad, the thing I hate about this game,

in this game, I'll extend to combat sports in general. You're only as good as your last fight. It's not fair, but because people only fight two to three times a year, sometimes two if we're even lucky, the moment is what matters.

Is it fair to Aljo that we were fitting him for the crown of Bantamweight GOAT? And now we're just sort of like, hey, man, thanks for playing. Good luck at featherweight. The question is, he might not go to featherweight next. He said afterwards he's got to recalculate his decision. We all agree he's not going to get the immediate rematch. And I think with a clean knockout, I don't think he should get the immediate rematch but Rashad would you advise him if Aljo reached out to you to retool at one at Bantamweight and

you know hope inevitably for a rematch against O'Malley that would be big money in a fight that I'm sure Aljo was looking at man I could do better than what I did or when you look at his age and you look at his teammate rising is the move up to featherweight a smart one right now? I think the move up to featherweight is a smart one right now. And, you know, the truth of the matter is that sometimes we can let our pride really hinder us from making the best decision. I mean, the pride thing will say, you know what, I'm going to stay. I think I can beat this guy.

I want to get a chance at it. But then if you beat him, then you're in a position where you still got to make the weight. And at the end of the day, I think it's the weight cuts that's really taking out of the performance that Alger can really raise himself to. I feel he's right now in an area where he's still growing as an athlete. He's getting up. He's getting up in the area where he's still growing as an athlete, right? He's getting up. He's getting there up there in age, but at the same time, he's by no mean an aged fighter. So I feel like right now, while he still has some tread left on his tires, he should recalibrate himself, but at 145 and really make a run at 145 and take this time to really work on

some of the tools that he feel like he can offer to the 145 division that separates him from the rest of the pack. For sure, man. And if, you know, we do have Max Holloway returning to the cage at Featherweight this weekend against TKZ, but imagine a Max Holloway welcome to the Featherweight division matchup against Aljo. Wouldn't hate that. Wouldn't hate any of the matchups. You know, Brian Ortega on and on across the board.

Yeah, I feel bad for Aljo that it did come all crashing down, but still time. wouldn't hate any of the matchups you know brian ortega on and on across the board uh yeah i feel bad for al joe that it did come all crashing down but uh still time still time for him to make a run in the second division and i do wonder too man that's a hard way cut for a guy that that big that long and the age the the age doesn't lie although rashad you went against the curve caught all the way down to middleweight late in your career um yeah man i was just trying to figure it out man i was just trying to figure it i was trying to find something to excite me all over again because that's the thing about it when you've been in the sports so long and you've had the highs and you had the lows you got to find a way to reinvent the game in your

mind as a competitor yeah you know you can't compete from the same place as you did when you first started in every single phase of your career it It requires for you to recalibrate yourself. That's why sometimes you see fighters kind of go that hot and cold method. And a lot of times when you go cold is because they need to recreate themselves. They haven't adapted to themselves to where they're at in their life. And I feel like that's what I was going through. Yeah. So, you know, to keep the marriage bread pure, people often do things like role playing, dress up in pink, fluffy cuffs. Rashad's like, I just moved on and wait. That's really what I do to keep it going. Rashad, back to O'Malley for a second. I mentioned that the most difficult matchup style wise for him is undoubtedly Devalishvili.

He's already an early betting favorite across those lines. How much better can we expect the deficiency areas in O'Malley's game, right? What we thought takedown defense until he just stuffed Sterling every single time. And we don't see him necessarily go out of his way to be an offensive grappling machine. Can we expect continued growth there ahead of an inevitable fight against Marab? Because the Vosvili is coming. It's just when. That's really it, Rashad. Yeah, you know, I like to lean on what I heard one of the greatest fighting combat sports minds have ever said.

And that's Teddy Atlas. Teddy Atlas said, you know, when somebody becomes champion, they become 30 percent better. And with Matt O'Malley, I feel like that 30 percent very well be 50 percent because, you know, he's going to bring that from a confidence standpoint. But then at the same time, you have his intangibles that he has that really offer, you know, a big problem for those coming to try to compete against him. But I also feel like a lot is going to be changing in him as far as maturity-wise. Once you become champion, once you really understand that you are that good, it changes a lot. And I feel he's going to start putting in the time and going to start walking and really exuding that champion

in every single facet of his life. And I feel like that's going to make him better. Well, however long he's putting in the work on the treadmill or the roads at night, put in double and triple because Merab's gas tank is pretty damn intimidating. Just the same. We also,

by the way, did see Henry Cejudo crash the one of the post fight TV interviews that O'Malley was doing afterwards. And, you know, just sort of throw his weight around Rashad. We've seen worse injections of big names into title fights at timing when we really question when they deserve it.

Dan Henderson with Michael Bisping at age 46. Even Jose Aldo coming off of that split decision loss to Maraich walked right into a Bantamweight title. If it was Henry Cejudo, would you have any reservations? No, I wouldn't't i wouldn't at all because at the end of the day that's another fight that's a huge one when it comes to uh the attention wise but it's another one that that offers a good chance for um you know sean o'malley to to win and improve on a star power and the truth of the matter is you become legend by the

bones that you collect and the worthiness of those bones you become legend by the bones that you collect and the worthiness of those bones you collect while you're on your run and if you get a guy like henry suhudo if you're sean o'malley and you beat a guy like henry suhudo triple c and everything that he's accomplished you know that that that just blows up your legendary status even more and you know i feel the ufc they're going to take calculated steps to make sure that uh you know he's brought up the right way as a champion and i say that because they brought him up the right way as a challenger well you can put the hard r at the end or not sugar sugar uh either way this man o'malley following in the lineage nickname

wise of one former ufc champion sugar rashad evans normally i try to ask people if you're going to steal a nickname at least fight the guy at least take it from him the old-fashioned manly way but i believe we have a graphic comparing these two great champions with the similar nickname. There it is. Welcome to the Machida era. No, we don't use those terms. 200 UFCs ago. Exactly.

200 numbered events apart. But there's what you see. Rashad, 29 years old when he captured the title for Forrest Griffin at UFC 92 by TKO one round later than O'Malley. But a big difference difference Rashad, when we're talking about a hairstyle and tattoos on the face, that's really what separates you two. I'd say. Yeah. You know, uh, that, that, uh, 200 UFC apart graphic,

you know, um, that was something I was thinking. I was thinking about it. I was like, like man i said 292 and i'm like man i competed in ufc 92 and he won it at 292 i was just blown away because sugar and sugar man but it just shows this divine connection you know i'm saying i don't know what to call it bc i don't know what to call it for lack of better words but it's got to be divinity because that's a very strange and weird occurrence that just happened there. Well, I know in soccer, like big time goal scorers get number 10 passed down to them and in boxing, man, you know, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Shane Mosley, you don't see a lot of jabrons walking off the street going, Hey, call me sugar. Right? So

good to see that that nickname, whether it's the r on the end or not uh royalty the lineage continues there the sugar show respect respect respect one sugar to the next man pass the sugar this way shout out to joe hasham former world series of poker champion with that one that's topic number one let's go to number two it was uh i've been told i used the wrong grammar a lot on the show not a historical win not a hysterical one but a historic win for zhong weili in a one-sided domination of big time puncher amanda lamos in the co-main event on saturday the first defense of the second strawweight title reign for zhong weili and rashad when we talk about numbers and history the most dominant one-sided female fight from the disparency of total strikes landed in ufc women's history uh

six takedowns to zero 15 minutes of top control you gotta give limos credit right nearly sunk in a desperation choke to close round one and did land a couple right hands here and there. This wasn't an Irina Aldana level of just sort of like, damn, that, you know, laid an egg. There was nothing there. She came to fight. It didn't matter. Is it fair to say right now, Rashad, with a loss to Shevchenko and a retirement to Amanda Nunes, that Zhongwei Lee's the best the best female fighter in the world, pound for pound, hands down? Absolutely.

Absolutely. I mean, her ferocity and just the mindset you see her go out there and compete with is very savage. It's very savage. I absolutely love it. I absolutely love it. She's so well-rounded. She's truly the perfect athlete. I mean, when. She's so well-rounded. She's got, she's truly the perfect

athlete. I mean, when it comes to physical strength, she has that. When it comes to stand-up, she has that. When it comes to IQ, she has that. When it comes to ground, she has it. She has every single aspect you could ever want from an athlete out there. And it's really hard for me to think of somebody, well, not really hard. I should say she, she's a tough one to beat, but there, there are, there's one,

there's one at 115 that I feel like that may be able to give her a run. But when it comes to the standup aspect of it, I feel like she's absolutely the best. She's a tank in there too. She's a student of the game, constantly working to evolve what she's doing and is that name that you mentioned is that the wild card known as Tatiana Suarez Rashad oh my gosh Tatiana Suarez my goodness Tatiana Suarez man yes that that's the name

that's the name BC uh whether we get Yan Shaonan next and then on Chinese soil I'd love it too for two Chinese born and the first Chinese born champion and Weili would be a big event. Suarez does seem to be the big fight with Rosnama Yunus' graduation to fly away. Carla Esparza being out for maternity leave. But Rashad, back to those numbers for a second. 288 total strikes landed to just 21 for Limos. Weili had an advantage of 157 to 9 after three rounds when you look at the the brief moments that limos did have she was a somewhat unlikely challenger two finishes in a row following that submission loss of her own to jessica andrage uh did she carve out any blueprint for anyone else in your eyes between the big right hands and the submission threat? Or was it just moments of desperation that for Whaley's case, luckily, she was able to sidestep? I think it was just those moments. I don't feel like it's any kind of indication of lacking on Whaley's part. I mean, it's a fight, you know, and she's in the title

contention spot because she's at that level. So if something didn't happen at, you know, and she's in the title contention spot because she's at that level. So if something didn't happen, you know, didn't show or Whaley didn't have to work through anything, then, you know, it wouldn't really be a challenge for her. But I feel like when you go against somebody at the highest level, you're going to have moments in there where you're tested. You're going to have moments in there where it may get scary, but I feel like when it just, the overall display of what he did, I don't feel like Lemos was anywhere near the level. Yeah, once she really rounded out that wrestling gamer shot, which I really feel like you have to go back to the Nama Yunus rematch, right, when she was working with Henry Cejudo ahead of that fight.

Now she's a threat to ground and pound and crucifix you almost every time out. She damn near got, um, Limo schlocked in the same thing. She did a Sparza to, to, you know, take the title from crew.

When I think crucifix, I think Gary Goodridge back at like UFC three, we don't see that level of domination too consistently, you know, short of somebody like Habib, but from a wrestling standpoint, you're right. Suarez may be the only one who can

compete with her ground game at this point. Yeah, and she's strong enough to, you know, as well. You know, I keep on thinking, I was on the internet and I was watching Whaley pick up Francis Ngannou.

Yes, with ease. And from, like, that's strong as hell. That's strong as hell. If I picked up Francis like that, I'm like, yo, your boy still got it. You know what I'm saying? But she picked him up, and I'm like, dude. So that's the kind of strength that you need to have dealing with Weili. And I feel like Tatiana has that kind of strength.

Indeed, Tatiana's got that backbone on top of it. And I think all those years away and the hard work she's had to put in to get back has just fueled her. And oh, by the way, when you share a residence with one patchy mix, who's arguably the most red hot fighter in the time, really in the entire sport,

he's peaking at a level and putting it all together that that's a power couple right there Rashad I mean that that you know to the level that I think they can probably spar with each other and make each other better yeah absolutely I feel like they probably do spar with each other to make each other better and that's the thing it's like it's one thing if they were you know because sometimes you you can be in a situation like that but you don't necessarily feed off each other. But because they have such a good working and dynamic relationship with each other, they really feed off each other. And they and they're not they they want to help each other.

They build each other up in the best possible way. I was there to see, you know, patchy worker corner and stuff like that many times. And he's he's all about her. And that's the thing about it. When he's there with her, he's all about her dial then. And that just makes her grow even more. Yeah. She's huge for this division on top of it.

I mean, I feel like I'm the only person left that really wanted to see Rose versus Whaley three to find out the true all time straw weight queen, but Hey, you got to give Rose credit. In fact, let me get your take on that. Rashad.

That was a shocker to see Rose Namiunas take the time off, but move up to 125. Now fighting Manon Farrow in Paris for potentially a number one contender spot in a new weight class. Is this crazy? Or is she right at this point in her career and saying she needs something this dangerous to make sure she's as sharp as possible and on point? I feel like it's right, and I say that because I know Rose, and Rose is such a cerebral person. She doesn't make any decision half-heartedly. She's always making sure that she's dotting her I's and crossing her T's, and she thinks things through very well.

So her going up is probably an indication of where her body's at right now. When Rose came in, she was a younger girl. And now that she's getting to be older and older women, your body changes and being able to listen to your body, but also being able to grow into yourself, grow into your skill, grow into your size and truly expand physically speaking. I think it's time for that. And like I was saying before, you've got to be able to reinvent the game in your mind. When you're not reinventing the game in your mind, or even in the physical aspect of going up, then it's hard to compete with those athletes who are chasing that goal that you've already accomplished. Yeah. On that flip side, to close here for Zhang Weili, do you see

a similar opportunity at some point? She's 34 years old. She's the top of the strawweight division. But do you think Weili has the size and game to potentially push greatness? There's been some whispers at times back when Shevchenko was on top about, could we do a Weili versus Shevchenko? How about Weili versus Grosso there for the 125 title? Do you think this is a direction inevitably that Whaley could follow? I think so, for sure. I think for sure. I think that Whaley is one of those 115ers who at a few meals can be a 125 and a solid 125 at that. You know, she's got this big, wide structure. Her back is super strong. Her legs are big. Her arms are big. And she's got this physique that will carry well, you know, and she has the speed and, you know, everything else that she has. She'll retain all those things and bring them up to the 125 weight class.

Indeed, indeed. That's your co and main event breakdowns, but you can argue almost as big as the sugar show. Okay. Maybe not quite there in terms of chatter on the internet, but Ian Machado, Gary, certainly used Boston to let his name be known on a higher level. A step-up opportunity here on short notice for Neil Magny just a week after Jeff Neal pulled out with undisclosed medical issues. But Ian Gary just waxed right through him, chopping down the legs at will and just putting on an absolute striking clinic en route to a wide, unanimous decision. I had some criticisms of my own in the post-show Saturday.

I still can't figure out if I'm being extra cynical or pedantic, but top to bottom here, Rashad, we asked a lot of them against an opponent that you don't typically look great against. Ian Machado-Gerry looked great against Neil Magny. How impressed were you? I was very impressed. I mean, Neil Magny has the ability to jam up anybody's game and to really make it a fight where sometimes you just don't look your best fight, Neil.

But Neil's a dog in there, and he took a lot in that fight. He took a lot in that fight. He took a lot in that fight. But I was really impressed with just Gary being able to keep his mind on his game plan, not allowing himself to fall into the traps that Neil was trying to allow him to fall into and really managing that emotional side of the fight really well. Because going into this fight, they had a little beef going on. And it's so easy to get carried away and want to teach them a lesson and fight from that emotional place and when you fight from that emotional place anything can happen because you're less calculated and that's when you make mistakes but Gary just kept it cool calm collected he divorced himself from those emotions those feelings and he had a great. And you've seen at times he had that kind of energy where it was still intriguing, where you can tell that he didn't like Neal.

But at the same time, he kept his mind focused. And that, to me, was the part that indicated he's ready for the big step up in the top five area, or at least the top guys area. Yeah, he is. I mean, Magny was ranked 11 coming in. The UFC has not updated their new rankings yet, but you have to believe Gary's going to be in the top guys area yeah he is i mean the magni was ranked 11 coming in the ufc has not updated their new rankings yet but you have to believe gary's going to be in the top 10 he called for wonder boy afterwards and dana white revealed at the post fight press conference that they activated that quickly why because machado wants machado gary excuse me wants to go to

ireland dana said not so fast we need you at m MSG first, then Ireland. Wonderboy said, no. Rashad, you've been a veteran before where you've got big time name value, but you want to get the type of fights that make sense for you. We saw Wonderboy actually forfeit a payday opportunity when his opponent, Michelle Podeta, missed weight and walked off and said, look, I'm not doing this again. What do you make of Wonderboy as a veteran at this point, himself still believing he's in the title picture, saying no to this opportunity? Well, I think I love Wonderboy.

And you always say, you always got to preface that before you say something. But I love Wonderboy, but I'm going to say it from the perspective that I experience competing in that space you either compete to be the best or you don't compete at all if you're in a space where you're not wanting to fight someone

for a particular reason they're maybe hot or whatnot and they're on the climb to the top. I feel if you're on a climb to the top, they're on the climb to the top. You should be able to fight whoever's on a climb to the top. But if you're saying no to whoever's on a climb to the top, then you really need to assess, do you really want to be at the top? Wow. And that's not me trying to throw any shade because i understand what it's like to compete in that place but i feel like maybe there needs to be an honest discussion with with uh wonder boy to himself and really decide on

how much does he want to do this because fighting and being lukewarm about who you're going to fight yeah it is there's not a way to compete especially especially in the UFC, because there's so many killers. And the thing about it is, it may not be a near Ian Gary or whatnot, but it may be a guy who is the next Ian Gary who's trying to come up and who's trying to make his name. Because that's the energy that Wonderboy is going to fight, no matter who he's's fighting against because he's established himself as Wonderboy. Yeah, I don't disagree with that. I mean, it's harsh but fair in that regard. You know, Wonderboy wants fights that'll get him to the title picture. Could you have a bigger opportunity if it was MSG against a rising stud

with a pro-Irish crowd there in Madison Square Garden in New York and an opportunity with a win Irish crowd there in Madison Square Garden in New York and an opportunity with a win if Wonderboy did it to probably catapult right to the top of this division. And it would be different, maybe, Rashad, if it was an extreme wrestler, if it was a Habib Marab type and you're like, OK, Wonderboy's trying to be strategic. He's trying to be strategic with this decision. But I do get your point. Back to Gary for a second.

Here's what I'm hugely impressed with. He's a student of this game. To hear him talk about going to Kill Cliff where he's been putting in the work with Gilbert Burns, then floating around, going to Brazil and just kind of sitting and learning and listening and being willing to be a globetrotter to round out his game,

that's what you would want for a 25-year-old who's putting together one big win after another, you know, the D rod head kick now mixed with this dominant assault of Magni. We talked a lot about the intangibles of O'Malley that shown through in the big moments right there. I don't want to put too much on Gary, but it's, I think it's fair to throw him in that lot with Hamza, with Bo Nickel, with Shavkat, which these guys, Rashad, who we don't know yet, we don't fully know yet,

but damn, are they showing the type of plus side to their games that T's title runs could be in their future. Do you echo what I'm saying for Gary separating even from his tremendous striking and just saying student of the game mind for the game you know and he's got an edgy personality did i like when he's flipping off magni even after the fight no but he seems to be like four steps ahead of people attitude wise like like zoned in at an extreme level it's not just overconfident this guy seems like if they offered him a title shot tomorrow i want to say he'd take it now i know he wouldn't because he said he wants to do it slowly. He wants four more fights before the bell, but I feel like he's exuding this aura.

It's not going to be long if this aura keeps knocking people the hell out or dominating them for 15 minutes. That call is going to pick up and it's going to be a title shot on the other end sooner than later, Rashad. Yeah, I absolutely agree. And especially with the popularity and ways he's been doing it, he's definitely going to get a call sooner rather than later. But I love his approach. I love the fact that he's willing to take his time. And that's something you don't hear a lot from these athletes who are having these breakaway performances.

Right when they start having these breakaway performances, they want to be rewarded with a title shot. But I like Gary's approach because you don't know what you don't know. And sometimes it could be what you're lacking in your game. Right. And there's nothing that will show you what you're lacking in your game by just competing. So I feel like, yeah, I would love to see him do four fights. But another thing also is the fact that, you know know he's got a stable mate with about four killers in his weight class you know kamaru usman gilbert burns shafkat and then luke all those guys train with kill cliff some form of fashion all those guys have probably sparred with each other

share time with each other share knowledge with each other and they share sharing uh sparring partners in the same training with each other so i i would think that maybe that may be also part of his reluctancy to want to jump right in there the title shot because maybe wants to see let let the weight class shake out a little bit so that way he doesn't have to make these these uh camp changing decisions yeah all right, from a guy with experience, Rashad, that can – I mean, it's not just the potential of blowing up friendships. It could be blowing up a situation that could benefit you, right? Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, he didn't get this good by himself, right?

I mean, let's be honest. He's had some great training partners. You know, he trains alongside Jason Jackson at Bellator and Jason Jackson at Bellator, in my opinion, is probably one of the best 170 pounders in the world right now. So he's got a lot of benefit being in that stable and, and working alongside those guys. So it's, it's a, it's a thing like, you know, Dan, if you do Dan, if you don't type of thing. Indeed. And now for the record, if you're, cause we do tend to score at home almost, I don't want to,

do I call it street scoring? Basically, we want fighters to always accept every fight offered and never duck somebody into constantly, even if they're lying, to put forth a macho attitude. He did. They talked about after the fight where he slowed the roll of reporters asking about title shots and said, look, you're going to put me in there against Shovkoff. We're teammates, but I'll be willing to give it a go. So he's not backing down.

He's not saying, no, I want to avoid this guy. I'm too close to that guy, whatever. He's willing to do it. And you talk about killers that kill Cliff. I think Robbie Lawler is probably still walking around there at times lingering, too. So no shortage of big time minds to milk off of. I want to get a little critical though, and see if I'm going too far here from my keyboard in the basement here, Rashad. I could have the same criticism of Brad Tavares against Weidman,

but Weidman was landing sort of Hail Mary right hands to kind of check him. I feel like Gary should have finished Magny. And I know he was trying to play with his food a little and try to set up the perfect shot. He almost had it with that right front kick in the final 10 seconds. And I know it kind of goes against the grain to say, oh, you got an opponent in front of you with two bad wheels. Why would you take them down and maybe fight on their level when you can keep chopping at them? When I see a guy barely able to stand, I'm thinking, man, take him down, sit on top of him and get him the hell out of there. Not only did Gary not look to bring this fight to the ground when he finally did in the closing seconds, it was just ineffective on top.

After a 15 minute destruction of a talented opponent, should I shut the hell up or is it okay to be left wanting a little bit more? I wanted to see some ground game from Gary. I didn't want an early knockout, so I'm glad we didn't get it. I wanted to see him over the totality, see weaknesses or wrinkles in his game. He's going to have to be a little bit better on the ground to really get to the high level, right? Or again, shut up, BC. Look at what O'Malley just did to win the championship.

He's not that good on the ground. Where do you sort of sit at in terms of what Gary could have shown? Should he have gotten a stoppage or am I just being a dick here, Rashad? Well, I think you're absolutely right. I feel like he definitely should have got a stoppage, but, you know, at what cost, right? At what cost he was in a position where he, you know, was really having his way and having one of those comfortable performances where you kind of work out some things, you kind of try out some things,

and those performances are warranted. But it goes again to what he believes about himself, is that he's not ready for that opportunity yet. And when he is ready for that opportunity, I feel like we will see him finish opponents like Magny when he has him hurt and when he has him on the land. But this is all part of that learning curve he's still yet to really round out is the fact that when he smells blood in the water, there's some food in there and he needs to finish and eat it before somebody else comes and get it. So it's still that

learning curve, I feel, of that young mindset that he's still working through. Yeah, that's fair. I think, I don't know, I think he was looking for that perfect shot. I would have liked to see a little bit more dedication there, only because I don't think Magny was showing him a threat of a counterattack. Magny was in full-on survival mode at that point. Also, to close out on Gary Rashad,

he's been a little bit hit or miss this week on the mic. I felt it was a little too much Conor McGregor recycled stuff and his mannerisms and verbiage. You know, I could critique him being a dick to Magny before and after over-aggressively, but as Dana would say, rightfully so, it's the fight game if that's what he needs to get in the zone. Would you like to see a little bit more Ian Machado-Gary

and a little less Conor McGregor on the mic? Or, again, am I really splitting hairs? I mean, listen. It's kind of hard, to be honest, because I don't know at this point how much is Conor McGregor and How much is just him being an Irish guy? You know what I'm saying? Like, is that how Irish guys act? I don't really know enough Irish guys to know if there are a bunch of Conor

McGregor's, you know, but I can't understand what you're saying about a, you know, come with a different stick. But I mean, if it worked once and it may work twice, it may, it may. Indeed. We'll, we'll find out here. There's a, as Dana had said, after the fight, there's a blueprint twice. It may. It may. Indeed. We'll find out here. As Dana had said after the fight, there's a blueprint for what O'Malley's trying to do. There's also a blueprint for what Gary is trying to do,

both borrowing heavily in some ways from the commercial rise of Conor McGregor and both fighters on this card, absolutely delivered in the big moments. We'll see what's next for Machado Gary. If it's not Wonderboy, is there a perfect name in the big moments. We'll see what's next for Machado Gary. I mean, do you have, if it's not Wonderboy, is there a perfect name in the top 10 that would suffice for you as a perfect next challenge? Is it a Michelle Podeta? What level of opponent is rightfully next for Gary? I feel like you need to move them up and you need to move them up in something that people

are going to want to see and something that people are going to be excited about. You know, you have, man. Jeff Neal. Maybe a Sean Brady. Yeah, yeah. Hey, that'll give you that contrast with the ground, you know? Right, yeah, a Sean Brady. You know, Brady accepts big-time matchups and big-time smoke. There's no question about it.

Let's keep it going. Topic number four, Chris Weidman. I've got to give him credit for just being a dog, man. Two years out of the game, disastrous leg injury, broken fibula, tibia. Yet like incredible heart as both legs routinely got chipped, chopped, chipped apart by Brad Tavares, just chopped down just brutally. In fact, there was a point early in that second round where, I mean, I'm starting to wonder if Weidman's ever going to walk again. I mean, we almost had to call for an old yeller moment there with respect. Rashad, I know that's a disrespectful statement, but he looked bad.

What did Weidman do? Bit down, landed big right right hand and somehow or another went the distance I've got bittersweet feelings right it's like man did he show a lot of heart but man it was tough to watch at the same time a forward former champion and they're trying to pull back and find something that just wasn't going to be there and really taking on a ton of damage in the process. Rashad, you've been here before late in your career. To some degree, you know mentally what Chris Weidman has went through. How was it for you watching a peer that you respect,

another former champion, walk this out? Such a difficult task on Saturday. It was tough, man man because I know the competitor that Chris is and I know what you know he was truly hoping for uh by stepping back in to the octagon I mean no one goes through what he went through and has to do what he had to do in order to get back into the octagon and want a performance that just doesn't live up to those expectations of having your hand raised. So I understand that. But I feel like with that said.

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 yourself warned limited time only at participating mcdonald's in canada growing old as a fighter sucks because it's the craziest thing the craziest thing happens and the craziest thing by that i mean you mentally feel stronger than you've ever felt before in your life like you can see things you couldn't see before and it's almost as if like you've ever felt before in your life. Like you can see things you couldn't see before. And it's almost as if like, you've got this download. You just like, dude, I figured out the fight game and you got it. But physically speaking, you can't match that level. You just

can't, you don't have it anymore. And you don't really understand that you don't have it anymore because it kind of just left you gradually and i feel like that's where chris weidman is at right now in that in that stage of his career where it is kind of it left him gradually and at this point i mean he he looked like an older fighter out there yeah and um i don't say that to be a diss I don't say that to knock him down in his efforts to really go out there and put on one of the very courageous performance. But at this point, you know, you have to ask yourself as a competitor, is is the juice worth the rest of your life if you don't make a decision that that's going to leave you uh with with the ability to to really feel good on a physical level after you get done competing indeed and i mean no one's going to question the dog in wide man it's the same thing that led him to winning the championship to beating anderson silva twice it's the same thing that led him to

what the victory was in this event which was getting there that's a victory that was a victory for chris weidman he got back to there but rashad like you was getting there. That's a victory. That was a victory for Chris Weidman. He got back to there. But Rashad, like, you know, there were a lot of people taking sneaky bets on him as a plus underdog saying, man, what if he could sort of, what if he does feel great for the first time in a long time? What if he's taken Tavares down? Once he proved he could not take Tavares down once, man, it started to get gross and it got ugly for him.

Now, I think Tavares could have and should have finished him. I think at times he was showing mercy. Other times, I think he was surprised that Weidman kind of bit down and found his inner Luke Rockhold against Paulo Costa and just started getting dirty and throwing big shots and landing them. But I think Dana was right afterwards in saying he kind of pleaded with Weidman to step away and let this be it. If it is a great career.

And, and like I said, this is no small achievement to have that type of disastrous injury, to have the multiple followup surgeries, infections, recoveries, and not to mention Rashad, the mental journey that I,

that, you know, you nailed it. Just the idea of like, you're as wise as you ever were, but the body just won't respond. Even though you see the openings, you know, but the body just won't respond even though you see the openings uh you know i can't i i feel bad in that regard because he's been such a such a

great ambassador for this game and a great champion but um it was an even separate from the leg injuries he was an old man in there on saturday night tomorrow survive and advance in a lot of ways i mean so i don't think tavaris is going to cash this into some big fight but he did what he had to do i guess but honestly though honestly bc i felt like uh like on paper okay why men can do this because i don't remember seeing tavaris look that good right i mean tavaris looked really reallyically speaking, his muscles look good. He felt like the muscles look really filled out. Like he's like, he looked really pumped. His movement looked good.

His striking was fast. His motion was good. Like he looked really good. And I felt like that was the best Tavares that I've seen in a long time. Like I've seen, it was the best the best virus i've seen since this younger generation came in to the 185 weight class and it and it was one that i felt like maybe maybe chavar's might be able to to do something you know what i'm saying like i don't know i mean he was going against a widen who hadn't competed in a couple years but i felt like ch Tavares did a lot of things right in that fight. Yeah.

I mean, I don't want to see Weidman again. Although, look, I've got gross taste, Rashad. You know, you've heard of my diet at times, but I'm turning it around. I'm working on it. Weidman, Rockhold, too. I'm sorry. There's a deficiency in me. I'd be down for it, Rashad.

Short of that, no more. Okay? No more. No more. All right. Come on. Tell me you wouldn't hate that. Come on. You wouldn't hate that. Come on. I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I think they would actually be perfect for each other now because right now, I think their mindsets are evenly yoked right now. I think it'd be a good fight. Well, Weidman's got a big recovery in front of him, as Dana indicated, probably at least a year. I hope he's able to walk away and enjoy the afterlife. As Rashad Evans has proved, there is life after fighting.

There is. There just is, Rashad. There is, man. It's one of the scariest things at first for a fighter, but once you start putting one foot in front of the other, you're just like, wait, why was I fighting again? Maybe we can get him in touch with a toad. All right, maybe that's what the All-American needs.

Topic number five, Rashad, the rest of UFC 292. I want to start here because I did not have the time to give it a lot of love on the post show late Saturday, but I'm talking to Rashad Evans, former Ultimate Fighter champion at heavyweight, no less, it a lot of love on the post show late Saturday, but I'm talking to Rashad Evans, former ultimate fighter champion at heavyweight, no less former coach, just the same. Brad Katona got a second chance here as a former tough champion on this redemption McGregor Chandler season. I don't know if we'll ever see McGregor and Chandler in the cage, but we did see Katona take on fellow veteran Cody Gibson. Um, was it Griffin Bonner one?

No, but Rashad, the feels were there. This was more not street fight, but, you know, barnyard fight. I mean, this was like two guys fighting for their future, which is what a tough championship should be. I've got nothing but respect for these two Cowboys as they rolled out there and gave the fans what they deserved. I absolutely love the bc you know um it really really put the ultimate fighter right in a place where where where it should be as far as effort and everything else is concerned because you know um we see fighters can fight on the contender series and things like that,

but there's just something different about that ultimate fighter fight where these guys are fighting to be the ultimate fighter, to be the one, you know what I'm saying? We all know that the great story about most of these fighters will probably get contracts anyways, but it's to just to be the one, you know, and to go out there and see the back and forth action. Both of these guys laid out on the line. It is truly what Ultimate Fighter is about.

And these guys definitely lived up to that. Yeah, Katona takes a unanimous decision. 29-28 on two scorecards. 3-0 on the third. But it looked like Gibson nearly had him stopped at the end of the first. And Gibson, anytime it looked like he was getting overwhelmed by punches, he would square up swivel and land some bombs. I wanted, look,

the, the, the second biggest egregious error on this card, the first one, not interviewing Chito Vera after the Munoz fight, because they had run short on time. And oh, by the way,

the main event in the East coast were shot for us. Old guys started at what? 1. AM. Like, please do better in that regard. UFC. Oh,

I was, I was, I had everything trying to stay up i was falling asleep it was tough there's only so much caffeine a 45 year old man can intake that's just what it is but what i was going to say is we all wanted cody gibson to get the contract stephan bonner style we're in a season on the dana white contender series where every winner is getting a contract. Afterwards, at the very least, Dana was pressed about that by media. He said his phone had been lighting up. People saying, you better give Gibson a contract. It wasn't official, but it looked like he was leaning that way. In your eyes, Cody Gibson, did he earn a spot back in this promotion? 100%. 100%. I feel like, you know that shade the sound you don't want

anybody to lose but you know these guys went when it was it was a close fight like for me i honestly i felt i felt like it was closer than than what the judges said i felt like i don't know i felt felt like Cody did his thing. Like I wouldn't have been upset if Cody would have won, if they would have said Cody won. Because for me, it was kind of close. Yeah, I agree with you on that one. Kurt Hollibaugh submitting Austin Hubbard in the lightweight tough finale. So two new champions are crowned right there.

But Rashad, there were no shortage of other names that jumped off the card. How about as Aaron Bronstetter calls him hobo cop, Gregory Rodriguez, fresh off of his own sort of heat check, one punch knockout loss comes in there against Russian Dennis to Lulin, to Lulin, excuse me, Rashad.

He kicked the shit out of him. A minute 43, some elbows to the back of the head that people on twitter didn't like i get it but this is this is uh the robocop we know and love as vicious as ever but a little bit more calculated rashad how is this man only 31 years old i mean he looks like he's like lover to share a old man neighbor strength he looks like he's got right there but impressive just the same. Impressive indeed. And like you said, very impressive win. Way to get back to being the Robocop who we used to send.

But it's a smarter Robocop because, you know, I train with Robocop. Robocop was my trainer partner. I stole him from Vitor Belfort. I stole him from Vitor Belfort, and he was my trainer partner. I stole him from Vitor Belfort. I stole him from Vitor Belfort and he was my personal trainer. And what I would do is I would hire him and he'll go everywhere I would go and we'll train together. He was like my guy. So I know firsthand how tough he is. But I also know from from training with him and being with him for so long that he fell into a rhythm of fighting that didn't really serve him. He fell in love with the striking aspect. Yes, he can strike. Yes, he can hit hard. Yes, he can get knocked out. But what he's best served at is being able to land those big shots and close the space and use that big physique, use that wrestling, use that grappling to really put his opponents in trouble. Because honestly speaking, I've rolled with a lot of guys and I,

and I will say I got pretty good jujitsu, but Robo cop, like he puts it on me pretty bad. You know what I'm saying? And I'm just like, dude, if you can do that to moi, do that to everybody. Why are you, why are you playing around striking and doing this? Stop playing with your gifts and do what you're good at. And I'm glad to see he's doing what he's good at because when he does what he's good at,

I'm telling you, he can be world champion. There's a thing with the dangerous apprentice. I mean, that's what Glover to share was for Chuck Liddell. You remember that boxer? Hey, Zeus Kodo Soto-Carras?

He was like that for Chavez Sr. He was sort of that like sparring partner that would take all the tough rounds and hang in there and ended up having a good career on his own. If you're telling me, was he 2013 Vitor's sparring partner or not back then? Because that was a different animal, Rashad. No, he was, what was it?

It was one of Vitor's last fights. It was towards the end of his career. Sure. He was, what was it? One of Vitor's last fights. It was towards the end of his career. Sure. 2017, Vitor Belfort. Still an absolute hammer. I mean, he's going to always be. You remember, I love when there's a couple of old-time boxers in the last 50 years.

It would be like 70 years old walking the streets of New York City, and they'd see some lady get her purse snatch and they turn around and just, you know, old man strength and knock some perpetrator out. I, I kind of imagine that a Vitor Pelfort's always going to be a ready, willing and able to deliver, but a nice win for RoboCop. We'll see how he evolves. Rashad, I, you know, me, I'm a giant women's strawweight fan because of the love of the purity of the, of the mixed martial arts and nothing else, just so people know, but I've been very open and honest, Rashad. It's 115 isn't the feel spot anymore. 125 in the women's game is where the noise is getting made in terms of new

title contenders popping up daily. So if you saw the two fights that jerked the curtain on Saturday, wow, that's bad phrasing in this case case at women's flyweight, both from Brazil, both named Silva and both brought in some win streaks that had us starting to take notice. Natalia Silva put on a striking clinic from distance against KGB Lee to continue her win streak, but Karina Silva against Marina Moroz. I mean, she, she, with one second to go in round one, she gets the submission. But before that Rashad, there was just an assault of well-rounded dominance coming her way. A big time athlete, Karina, a finisher standing or on the ground. I feel like we've got two women to take notice of in the rankings moving forward at 125 after these performances yeah i totally agree i mean these women at 125 and the two you just mentioned are

just my gosh they've the level has raised and um that that's a crazy and scary thing right because at 125 it was very sparse and and and it was you know know, few challenges for Shevchenko as she they tried to make challengers who really weren't challengers challengers. But now I think there's no shortage that I feel like, you know, that set the standard. But now you see this wave of just talent coming in. Great strikers, great all around athletes and just smart fighters at that to smart fighters with IQ who fights with a composure and poise that allows their tools to be showcased in the best way. Unbelievable. They both have defeats, and they talked about that, rightfully so,

on the broadcast, how both coming up in Brazil had fought, you know, household names up to this point. I mean, Karini Silva's got a loss to Marina Moroz early on in the game. They haven't lost in a while, Rashad, and that experience is really starting to show. And I don't mean to clown on anybody, but this ain't Jessica Ai, this ain't, you know, Chukagian, this ain't, you know, Jennifer Maya, Lauren Murphy anymore. The sort of previous era, I know all those fighters are still around and are tough outs for anybody, but the new titled challengers the new

wave at 125 all the way down to you know macy barber miranda maverick that level of skill now you add in these and the difference is these two silvas look like finished products i mean rashad natalia's and and just a a swiveling striking machine throwing does she throw a hip or or midsectionint every half second? How the heck do you get comfortable preparing for that? I know. It's just unbelievable. Like the subtleties and emotion, right?

And the fact that she's able to whip that kick out. And she has perfect technique on her kick. The way that she puts those kicks out. Look at that kick. I mean, it's absolutely textbook perfect. And that's the kind of level at that 125 weight class. And it's going to be hard for Grosso to hold that belt. You know, Grosso is going to have to evolve her skill even more so, which I'm sure she's doing. But I mean, when you're dealing with the level that you see here with this strike in, you just got to imagine at some point, you know, these women are going to be able to get in there. I mean, think of where we are right now, August 21st, 2023. We're a few days out from Aaron Blanchfield against Tyler Santos in Singapore, which is going to be arguably the best fight of the weekend.

If you had to put your name, I mean, if you were tasked with saying who's going to be the women's flyweight champion in one year, it's like put your hand in the bag and pick out a name. Rashad, is it Grosso? Is Shevchenko going to restart it at UFC Noche? Is it Blanchfield, Santos, Farrow, Rosnama, Yunus? Or is it somebody off the menu right now? Like this is fun, right?

This is good. Yes, it's fun. It's exciting. And the thing about it is no one truly knows it's going to happen because it's such a it's such a uh you know pick them you know what i'm saying like you don't know how she was going to come back she seemed to be uh reinvigorated and kind of got herself a little bit settled down and steady and kind of you know losing a belt eliminates a lot of those feelings that you just kind of need to purge and reset

yourself so who knows how she's going to be after she comes back after she's resetted herself and like you said rose namajunas she's been away for a while the refocus and everything that she has to have had and you know she's been working a lot more with you know pat berry and everything that they've been you know doing together she's been in a lot, I've heard. So there's a lot of things that's happening in that 125 weight class, and there's a lot of motion going on, a lot of motion. But it'll be interesting to see if Grasso can truly hang on to the reins of this one before this bull gets away. Yeah.

I mean, in one sense, Grasso seemed to jump out in that fight. I mean, she finished. Not luck. She finished Valentina, which was insane. But Valentina is going to have that confidence of knowing that she made a mistake and uncharacteristic mistake that really set that up. So, you know, I mean, same thing for Aljo in that regard too,

in terms of getting back on the comeback trail. But to close here, did Karini Silva or was it just me? A little like young Amanda Nunes vibes, just a little bit, right? Yeah. Yeah. Like, okay, I'm going to be circling the schedule moving forward. You know what I mean?

There's a future plus finisher in that regard. That was the majority of the stories from UFC 292. Whatever we missed, we'll probably get. And have you seen this shit or DMms from donks or whatever you want to call it uh real quick though how about a voice from one of our favorite people here and how about a talk about factor yeah with the busy fall season just around the corner you might be looking for wholesome convenient meals for jam-packed days factor america's number one ready to eat meal kit well they can help you fuel up fast with chef prepared di's number one ready to eat meal kit. Well, they can help you fuel up fast

with chef prepared, dietician approved, ready to eat meals delivered straight to you. You'll save time, eat well, and stay on track with your healthy lifestyle. I have personally tried a bunch of these, Rashad. You want to talk about gourmet from the box, heat it up. Don't think twice. You got what you need right there. I'm certainly not a meal prepping, preparing fighter. I'm just a lazy dad. But these work just the same for me. They refresh my healthy habits without missing a beat. I can choose from 34 plus weekly flavor packed dietitian approved meals ready to eat in two minutes.

I can level up with my gourmet plus options prepared to perfection by chefs and ready to eat in record time. Listen, MK viewers, life's busy, but you got to do it right or you're going to end up with a black liver. Okay. Learn that from experience. So treat yourself to upscale meals with premium ingredients like leeks, broccoli, asparagus. Okay. We got stuff like that. Looking for calorie conscious options ahead of the busy season. They got that too. Delicious dietitian approved calorie smart meals with around or less than 500 calories per serving. Why don't you try the protein plus option that'll give you 30 grams more protein per serving. If you need a boost in that area and round out your meal and replenish your snack supply with an assortment of 45 plus including breakfast items how about those delicious apple cinnamon pancakes had them

loved them didn't hate it two snaps in any direction you want this august get factor and enjoy eating well without all the hassle simply choose your meals and enjoy the fresh flavor packed goodness delivered to your doorstep. And you can heat that stuff up in two minutes or less. Yes. Head on over to factormeals.com. That's F-A-C-T-O-R, factormeals.com slash combat50. You know already it's combat with a K.

And use that code combat50 to get 50% off your first order. Tell them BC sent you 50% off at factormeals.com forward slash COMBAT50. You're damn right. Rashad, you're a busy man, right? Meal prepping is the way to go. Oh, yeah. Am I right? They got vegan options? They got vegetarian options?

Yeah, they probably got all that shit. Yeah, whatever you need there, Rashad. You know what I'm saying? Like the toad said, stay away from the pork, right? They got vegan options? They got vegetarian options? Yeah, they probably got all that shit. Yeah, whatever you need there, Rashad. You know what I'm saying? Like the toad said, stay away from the pork, right? He was right. He was right. Okay. Rashad, we solicited questions from our most valued donks,

and we've put them in DM form. This is where we hear from you. We answer your question. What's on your mind? We call this DM from Dawn. He freaking ha. Rashad, we begin with Hawaii's finest. No, not Max Holloway.

I'm talking about Telvin Kipapa. He says with UFC champions like Stylebender, Sugar, Leon, Volk, and Weili, is it a new era for strikers over grapplers? Yeah, I would say so. I would say so. I mean, all those champions that you just named have shown great dominance over guys who've been able to wrestle and uh you know can

keep the fight where they want to they can also i would say and here's the thing about it they can also wrestle really good every few years you see that that switch you know it changes sometimes the jiu-jitsu guy sometimes the wrestling base guy so it always changes yeah it does indeed uh we've seen a little karate spin-off here and there are some judoka action, but the meat and potatoes has usually always been, you know, are you a, are you a wrestling ground and pounder or are you a jiu jitsu specialist?

But now you got to do it all. It's good to see some striking on top, but don't miss out that these guys Volk. I mean, way Lee, they can also handle it on the ground. Let's hear from JN. The question is,

Hey guys, your thoughts on dylan dennis's antics ahead of this logan paul boxing match is it too far or is it sheer brilliance so i don't know if you've been watching social media here rashad but dylan has been targeting logan's girlfriend like real aggressively like i'm talking about posting a lot of sexual stuff, a lot of stuff with different partners. Just, I mean,

it's, there's no nudity from what I can see Rashad, but it's aggressive as shit. Fair game in the world of celebrity crossover, YouTube boxing, or is there a line? I feel there's gotta be a line, man.

I mean, I feel like as, um, as a man, I feel like there's got to be a line man I mean I feel like as um as a man I feel like there's always boundaries you don't want to cross when it comes to being able to when it comes to competing right you you always want to keep it about the competition because at the end of the day when you make it about other things else it doesn't bode well for those who you want to watch it right if if he's acting in a distasteful way, the fans are like, there's a part of him like, wow, it's intriguing, but there's another part that's like, you know what?

Fuck this dude. I don't want to watch him. You know what I'm saying? Like there's that part of him that just kind of turns you off because of just the behavior is so repulsive. And I feel like Dennis is at that level where he's past the level of intrigue and just went straight to the level of disgust. Yeah. I mean, he's passed a level of tree and just went straight to the level of disgust.

Yeah. I mean, he's going far with these. It's making things interesting. I mean, I don't hate this fight, you know, for as much as I feel like this crossover boxing bubble is fading.

Although are they going to, are they actually going to fight Dylan Dennis and, and Logan Paul? So I believe they're scheduled for the same night that KSI is fighting Tommy Fury, but the first betting line that came out when the fight was announced was the odds on Dennis not showing up because of his history of pulling out, Rashad.

You know, so... What I don't understand is how... How... How was Dylan Dennis even in the running to even fight Jake Paul? Because here's the problem. Logan Paul.

Oh, Logan Paul. Here's the problem, though. Logan Paul. Here's the problem. He's going to go out there and embarrass the sport again. He's going to go out there and embarrass the sport again. He's going to go out there and embarrass the sport. And we've already, as MMA people, been taking a hit to these Paul brothers, man.

And I feel like, man, this is not the right guy to represent us, okay? I mean, he did get dropped by a YouTuber in the parking lot outside of one of the fights. And I don't know. I got this weird thought. I don't have an aerial level soft spot for Dylan Dennis where he like really entertains it. But I have this soft spot that Dennis is kind of funny at times. He is extremely cringe.

He does run, it seems, from big opportunities that he's the one getting himself into. But yeah, I mean, it is what it is. Rashad, I think you – I really don't know what Dennis – like, what did Dennis do besides work with McGregor? Like, what did he accomplish? I know he was pretty decent in jiu-jitsu, but like – Yeah, he was world-class.

How does he make his money? Like, how does he feed himself? Like, what does he do? I mean, he got kicked in the face by Habib, and was world class. How does he make his money? How does he feed himself? What does he do? He got kicked in the face by Habib, and that seemed to be the biggest moment of his life, and he's been riding that for a while. But yeah, the injuries have kept him out of MMA, but it doesn't seem like he really wants to fight anymore.

He seems to be a full-time troll. It's interesting that Conor, who was feuding with him for a season, is now talking about wanting to train him. I don't know, Rashad. There was more of a need a couple of years ago for more of these circus events. Boxing is red hot this year. It's almost like we don't need this.

We don't need this. You know what I'm saying? Like, we don't need it. We don't need it. You know what, though? Here's the thing that I've been able to separate from is the fact that this kind of boxing has its own its own bin it has its own box where it belongs and i feel like it because it has its own box it's not dirtying up what we've been able to

see on the professional boxing side when you're looking at the great matchups that's been able to happen and everything that boxing's been able to do because boxing's been able boxing's been doing stuff that it hasn't done in decades which is kind of you know getting rid of the whole like you know putting one organization over the next because you don't want to fight him they're making matchups happen and that's great to see in boxing so i don't feel like that nonsense overshadows the true boxing i, we are getting big fight after big fight. I mean, Rashad Canelo versus Jermell Charlo. That's like a summer blockbuster any other year.

And it's just another big event we got this summer. I mean, it's September 30th, late summer. It's incredible. And now you got Bud Crawford on Joe Rogan saying, yeah, I'll move up to 68 and fight Canelo. Like, okay, let's do it. Let's do it. Like, let's be great. This is what

we want in this game. So this, this, this exactly what, and I'm glad that the boxes are now starting to get it right. Because for the longest time, they they've kind of went along with the whole, like, you know, trying to keep the perfect record and all this stuff, but they're taking a page out of MMA and realizing what the fans want to see. And that's the thing that the UFC got right that a lot of people in other organizations didn't, the fact that people want to see good fights. People want to see good fights, and guess what? If it's a good fight with great matchup, they don't care who wins

or who loses. You know what I'm saying? They don't care. They want to see the fight. And the person who loses, cool, you lost that night, but guess what? You still keep your respect. You know what I'm saying?

People, you keep your following. It doesn't mean it's the end of your career. And I'm glad to see that losing a fight in boxing is starting to be viewed as not the end of your career. And here's what's crazy. If you want to talk about the five biggest fights that have happened this year in boxing,

four of them have been wildly non-competitive. I'm talking about a new way over full and Spencer and Crawford tank Davis over Ryan Garcia, right? Like we even, even Benavidez implant, what, you know,

ended up being one sided yet because the fights were made, it was a big deal. And then you saw breakthrough performances on one side in each of those matchups that people enjoyed seeing brilliance and now want to see this brilliance matched up against this one. And that's when some of these matchups that in the past we thought were fantasy maybe could be reality. Did I think Jermel Charlo, the undisputed champion at 54, was going to move up to weight divisions and fight Canelo no am i happy fired up uh rashad this question's coming at you it's from danger mouse big fan of danger mouse in these parts he

says how does rashad think the john jones steep a miochich fight will go november new york city rashad i want to hedge that question and say this. I feel like everybody's like pissing on the, the, the, the reputation of steep. They're just like, ah, yeah, John wins that easily. What, what? I know, I know. Here's the thing, man. Um, John looked phenomenal in his, in his return at heavyweight. But the thing about it is the fact that we didn't get to really truly see what he's capable of and really what's under the hood. Not expecting that it should be anything less than brilliant than we've seen from what he displayed, but there's still that unknown factor, right? And Stipe's been in the lab.

Stipe's been in the lab. Stipe has been in a lab. Stipe has been pissed off. Stipe has been kind of locked himself away to really focus on the task at hand. So there's a part of me that believes that this is Stipe's swan song. This is something that Stipe is putting his mind in a different place, you know, coming from a different spot, competitively speaking. So I feel like he's going to come in there and bring a good fight. Will it be enough to get past the brilliance that we've seen Jon Jones have in the past? I don't know, but I can say this. If Jon Jones goes into this fight thinking that he has a fighter who's older, who's compromised, who doesn't have a lot of tread left on his tires and just fodder in front of him, then it can be a very difficult night for him.

It absolutely can be. I'm not trying to make this case that Stipe is going to come out there and shock the world and win it back. He might do that. I'm just talking about competitive fight between two legends. Yeah. I think there's potential there on Madison's in MSG and a biggest pay-per-view of the year. Yeah. This fight matters. There's history at stake and we're fooling ourselves. If we know exactly what John Jones over 25 minutes at heavyweight is going to look like, we just don't know. Stipe has only been fighting once a year. I know he's had a couple year break heading into this one, but it kind of reminds me,

do you remember when Vladimir Klitschko lost to Tyson Fury, went away for a few years, but then came back against Anthony Joshua and put everything he had back into that one night, got him off the canvas, like was an, you know, ended up getting knocked out in the 11th round, but delivered one of the classic

heavyweight title fights in history. Stipe's game as shit always, Rashad. And I don't think, even though he has been knocked out, that it's necessarily have the miles added up. No, this is a fight. This is going to be a real fight. So I'm excited that you see it that way. And at the same time, it's probably going to be both of their last fights, right? So what would you give in your last 25 minutes ever, right? Because Jon Jones has said many times that he's going to retire after this fight.

He beat Stipe. And I assume the same thing would be for Stipe. You know, there's not much. If you beat Jon Jones or lose to a Jon Jones, then there really isn't much left. So for 25 minutes for the rest of your life, what will you give? And for somebody that's been a champion like Stipe, somebody who's been feeling like he's been disrespected

and didn't get the respect that he needs, I'm sure there's a lot that he can't get for that 25 minutes. Palm sweaty, right? Vomit on his sweater already. I mean, you're firing me up here, Rashad. But I don't know. Luke tends to think John's gone win or lose. I don't know.

I think John taking all that time off, I think we'll still see him. I'm not saying he's going to go out of his way to be like, yeah, where's Sergey Pavlovich? Let's make this happen. But he beats Stipe and he gets paid right. You know,'t know we'll see we'll see what happens a couple more on the way out here of dms from donks rashad how about from david david best mma fight that never happened so i think you know the quick the quick reaching answers for that rashad fedor versus randy john versus uh in ghanu is another one is there is it is it one

of those two or is there another fight that we probably should have gotten that we didn't that you lament the most as a fan now you know that fight john jones verse uh verse um uh francis and god francis and ganu for me is is one that kind of burns my soul but also you have the tony versus Francis Ngannou. Francis Ngannou, for me, is one that kind of burns my soul. But also you have the Tony Ferguson and Khabib fight. Yeah, you're right. You know, the Tony Ferguson and Khabib fight, that fight was matched up like eight times and just didn't happen. And it was the right Tony at the right time.

Because that was Tony the Tiger right there. You know what I'm saying? Tony's not that same tiger anymore and it happens to us all we all get old but at the time Tony was ferocious and to see them two fight at the time would have been amazing but here's another fight that the fans they get to see that

personally for me really saddened me was I never got a chance to fight Shogun. I thought you were going to say Cormier because that was on the table. Yeah, yeah. Cormier too. You and Shogun. Damn. Yeah. That would have been a war.

I say Shogun because it was for a title. It was for a lot. A lot was on the line for that fight. Yeah. For me, I wanted to fight shogun i didn't want to fight dc dc dc was my boy so i didn't really want to fight him but i was going to fight him now rashad to be fair between friends here it's just you and me on the show he wouldn't have ragdolled you right because did i expect him to pick up Dan Hendo and throw him around like he was nothing?

He couldn't do that to you, right? Listen, listen, listen. DC would deny it, but when DC first started training, right? DC came to my camp when I had to fight Rampage. And he came to my camp, and we were doing some wrestling, and I was wrestling him. He said, okay, get me against Cage. I bet you can't take me down. I take him down twice in a row.

He gets so upset. He gets hot. So the truth of the matter is, no, he wouldn't have been able to rag down me. He wouldn't have been able to rag down me because I probably would have taken his ass down, to be honest. Okay. I love that. I had Kenny Monday in my corner, too, at the time.

Bro, no way. You got to be careful, though. DC's uppercuts and the time. Bro, no way. You got to be careful though. DC's uppercuts and the clinch, those are sneaky. Those are those. Yeah, DC's all-around game is nasty. Yeah, yeah, indeed. One of the legends of this game, even if the WWE did him dirty that time.

Remember they put him in that referee shirt with the pinstripe? You can't put a happy man in pinstripes, Rashad, all right? You know what I'm talking about. Because he barrel chested. He got that barrel chest. Exactly. No vertical striping, please.

We close with LazyBed330. Rashad, sell BC on the benefits of a vegan lifestyle for his poor fatty liver. All right. BC, listen, a vegan diet is a great way to kind of reset your body. It's not like something you need to stick to all the time. But I would say this. Give yourself at least two to three weeks with eating no meat at all. That'll allow your digestive system to clean out, reduce some inflammation and roll back some years on that odometer. I mean, a vegan lifestyle is not for everybody, but it's a discipline that will pay off big dividends when it comes to health. All right. I could I could probably benefit from that one. One thing I've heard you mention on this show before. I forgot the segment or the or the setup, but you talked about these cleanses or the colon cleansings or what are they? Liver cleansings where you'd basically drink a magical shake and then shit your brains out for the next 72 hours. Rashad, would that help refresh my liver? Like

restart? Like, do you think I have old poop from like 25 years ago, like still bothering me and following me around and lingering me? 100% is pasted to your intestine. So you need to have something like Haritaki, which is an Ayurvedic herb. You can get it on Amazon. And when you take it, you take it at nighttime. You can think of it as a janitor, right? The janitor comes in and cleans the building once everybody leaves, and then they put all the garbage out for the garbage to be taken out in the morning. That will happen to the same thing for your body. You take haritaki, it cleans out your digestive tract, your whole gut from your esoph body you take haritaki it cleans out your in your

digestive tract your whole gut from your esophagus all the way to where it comes out and it puts 300 more oxygen into your brain because it cleans out your gut which is a very good um which the blood brain barrier it helps you know with that connection and uh yeah i think that is something that will help you out. You can take it and it has a little tablet you can take, or you can take the powder form. All right, Rashad, I'm in on the benefits. I'm in on the process, but I do need a little bit more selling on the process.

Like, should I take the weekend off? Will I be, you know, is it unsafe to operate heavy machinery when you could, you know, just, just parachute your pants at any point when you can dive bob your dungarees you know like no no listen listen listen after you take it in the morning right you take it in the morning and when you wake up you will parachute but not your pants all right you're gonna parachute a lot but once you get that out it's not gonna be something that like falls you for the rest of the day. You're not going to have mud butt for the rest of the day.

You can take the morning and be done. Only on morning combat. No, I do think I'm overdue. Your voice is still lingering in my head that I got some old shit that literally needs to go, Rashad, so I can restart fresh here. I've been doing better, but yeah.

The hair of Taku also cleans out your blood too, so it's good. It's like an old shit. So I can restart fresh here. I've been doing better, but yeah, I mean, the hair talk, you also cleans out your blood too. So it's good. It's like a whole chain. I mean, really Rashad, it's the carbs and sugar these days. Now that I've given up pork,

beef, and fast food that are, you know, I've just, I've just, I've robbed from Peter to eat Paul. I think eat out. I don't know.

You don't get it. Maybe, maybe Mary was involved. I don't know. Rashad, we close this week with a great segment where I scour the globe for the highs, the lows, the good, the bad, the ugly, the in-between in the world of combat sports and beyond. This one's called Have You Seen This Shit? Thank you, Haritaki.

I've seen it. Let's go to UFC 292 in Boston. Rashad, this was the moment of the night during Bruce Buffer's loud jacket intro. How about O'Malley and Sterling already ready for it? I love this shit, Rashad. Oh, man, that was an epic moment. And at that moment, I just knew something was different about this fight, especially coming out from O'Malley, man.

Both of these guys, they show great respect for each other, but they showed ultimate focus, ultimate locked in. Those two were the only one in the arena that night from their perspective, and it showed when they went out there and performed. Well, O'Malley would get the stoppage win. And for all the opponents that could be next that we talked about, O'Malley kind of ordered off the menu, and it made a lot of people surprised.

Let's listen in, and I want to get your reaction to this. That fight is going to happen. Want to rematch with Chita Varon later this year? Yeah, I thought, you know, I'm going to shoot a promo, but we'll see. Just the way he acts, he's so annoying. Just like he's not funny, and he tries to be so ugly. He dresses like an idiot. It's like, God, do I really have to give this guy an opportunity?

But I'm like, well, I'll probably just go out there and whoop his ass, make a lot of money so I could. So, yeah, that could be it. I also wouldn't mind knocking out Gervonta Davis, and I know people are going to go, oh, you want to be Conor. I'm telling you, that fight is going to happen. Rashad, is this the time to be doing that? What do you think about this?

Stop him. Stop him. Look, look, look, look, look. Stop. Just stop. Just stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Javante Davis. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Come on, dude. Absolutely ridiculous. I mean, it sounds silly it sounds silly here's the thing about it how about you get set up and you get secure in your role as a new ufc champion before we even start talking along those lines because it's all the all that talk while you're talking about

giovante davis when you got marab, when you got Cody Sanhagen, all these dope guys in your weight class chomping at the bit to smack you up because they think that you got preferential treatment, they probably couldn't even finish watching the rest of the card. They probably went to the gym after the card and worked out because of the fact that they were so pissed off. So he needs to worry about what he needs to worry about, which is not,

not Javante. Yeah. I mean, it's the same response here, Rashad. Like I get what he's trying to do, even if it's just to start a conversation of some type of super fight, but there's only one May Mac,

right? It was the perfect storm. There's bootleg version. I mean, we're going to get in Ghana fury was the perfect storm. There's bootleg version. I mean, we're going to get in Gone with Fury for better or worse. Maybe it turns out entertaining. I really have no idea what to expect with that one. But you're right.

Not now. And on top of it, why is the model in MMA still that once you finally reach stardom, even Kamaru, when he was talking about Canelo, I was like, dude, no. The first move is let me cash myself out. I know you can make 10 times what you made winning the title in one night in boxing but again at what cost rashad at what cost you know yeah and and to me um when you see that when you see that you kind of think like all right what is this truly about for you because look the money's great. Right. And you can make a shit ton of money doing this and being especially Sean O'Malley with everything that's going to come with the endorsements and everything like that.

Huge. But this has to be about a little bit more than the money. This has to be about that same look that he had in his eyes when he's standing and getting ready to fight and he can't take his eyes off his opponents he's got to have that kind of mindset and that focus when it comes to competing when it comes to everything about being in his position right now because if you take your eyes off of the goal at any given time when you're champion you are cooked yeah that's that's fair we've seen it time and again uh let's talk about another champion zhang weili she was she's the strawweight clean she's been the queen of the cheap pop i don't want to say that with love all week shout out boston let's

look into weili's english transition here what's up, Boston? I'm so happy to be here. Let me hear you. Tomorrow, I'm still... The the champion ladies and gentlemen give it up for zhang weili i mean rashad that is is it okay to say she's she's cute as hell i mean that is so endearing to

watch that serious that that was cute that was cute as hell that was cute as hell i just wanted to squeeze her you know i mean much respect man i i couldn't imagine what it would be like to be in another uh country and having to learn that language and really have to do it on that level in front of everybody uh she sounded she sounded pretty good though it sounded like it sounded like every once in a while on tick tock i run into

those videos where they have like somebody chinese trying to speak teach somebody else in chinese how to speak without a uh chinese accent and it kind of sounded like you know she she she kind of sounded like she had a pretty good american accent when she said what's up boston yeah i liked it i liked it uh she's trying she's trying hard and she's she's almost got that that that that thing that triple g G, Gennady Golovkin was knocking dudes flat in the ring, but then on the mic, he's like, hey, big gift to people. It's like Borat. You know what I mean? It was like you had to love it.

You know, it was great. We talked about flyweight Karine Silva making some noise. Here's the submission win over Marina Moroz with one second left in round one. Good for her eighth straight win. Don't want to belabor it, Rashad, but it did feel like a future star could be born there. It was a nice little moment, no doubt. It really was, man.

It really was. That was a submission. It was, that was a nasty, nasty submission. Nasty submission. She's got it, though. She's got it. She's a submission. She's got it, though. She's got it. She's a talent. She's on point.

I mean, I don't think there's any more that I can say besides the fact that how awesome she is. Yeah, no doubt. Big breakthrough moment there. Let's go to the – this was early on the prelim card, but Petroski and Mearshart, they ended up fighting to a split decision at middleweight. Look at the final 20 seconds here, though, of the fight. This is what we want. This is like Holloway-Lamas, you know, round three all over again, Rashad.

Yeah, oh, my gosh. This is what it's all about. This is why you turn it to and into mixed martial arts above anything else because you have guys like this. This is why you watch the pre-fight shows because this is the pre-fights, the fights before the main event the that's the effort you're getting these guys don't care if they're not on the main card they're going out there and they land out online and that's what you can count on when you watch a

mixed martial art beautiful art beautiful performance no doubt petroski took the split decision but they've both made a nice little moment there and ian gary had moments in the cage how about friday night rachette have you seen this before he went off the books did his own public but they've both made a nice little moment there. And Ian Gary had moments in the cage. How about Friday night? Rashad, have you seen this before? He went off the books, did his own public workout at an Irish pub in Boston. And you know what? He said all week that I'm the star that's stirring this drink. I'm the A-side that's driving this whole pay-per-view.

And I know with O'Malley's success, we can say slow your roll. But not every UFC fighter's doing stuff like this. This, this is pretty cool. Well, when you come in the position that he's in and having that fan base that Conor McGregor has already set up and established, I mean, you got to tap into that spanking, right? You got to tap into that. And he does that in a very, his own creative way. I you know that star mentality you know i'm saying being able to understand what people want to see and being able to go out there and deliver what people want to see and not have it be a burden to what you got to do for the next day a lot of times

people like man in a position it's friday day before the fight they're so in their head about competing they're so ahead about what tomorrow brings that they forget about the journey along the way. One of the things that I had to tell myself as an athlete in the sport, having so many fights, was enjoy the process. That right there is enjoying the process. Indeed. Indeed. And that's how you organically build a fan base when you do stuff exactly like that. In case you were wondering, Rashad, Chael Sonnen is still the man.

He's still got it. Let's hear him at the Q&A that he held on stage there for fans ahead of this Boston event. You're as tough as nails. I'm just wondering, would you agree? Well, that's very sweet of you. Maybe at one time I think that I would agree with that statement, but I do feel like as a fan, as soon as I stopped doing the sport

and now I watch these guys, I'll be on the outside thinking, why are these guys fighting one another? Like, they don't have a problem with each other. This guy didn't do anything to him. Like, it's one of these things where it kind of gets a little bit, it's different. Once you retire and you step away, you know what, I'm being humble. Yeah, I'm the man. I'll whip them off. Bring them off. One on away, you know what? I'm being humble. Yeah, I'm the man.

I'll whip them off. Bring them off. One on one, two on one, or five on one. I'll make them all need nine on one. And don't be fooled by these glasses, okay? Or the young man behind you that's got 18 million views for singing the Rich Men from Richmond. Did you see him right behind you? This is the biggest star in the country right now.

He might be up here to sing for us in a moment. You gotta turn around. You don't even know who's behind you. Let's be honest. You're still tough as nails. Tough as nails. Women's pet and the men's regret. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, brother. Still got it. Still got it.

Love it. Rashad, when he's talking about five on one brawls, he's referencing the Luxor. I'm glad he settled that court case, but not surprised that Chael cleaned house there, whether that was warranted or not. That was funny. It almost sounded like he was about to take an older,

cerebral approach to the question. Like, okay, Chael's mature. He's like, nope, bitch, I'm still him. Still that guy champion for life no doubt undefeated chel sodded uh pfl playoffs from new york city the theater at msg in the main event heavyweight henin fajeda all six foot seven of him rashad he needed less than one round to crochet a ko on the face of maurice green he will move on think, to the finals unless there's an extra round that I'm missing here. But were you impressed by his performance?

Oh, my gosh. Yes, I was very impressed. That straight right hand, not playing around. Listen, you don't really see a lot of guys, big guys like that, that move so well and got that vision like that. He's very clean. You know what I'm saying? And the way he turned it over with that right hand, man, he's got something.

He's got something, man. He flatlined Maurice Green. And here's the thing about it. I watched Maurice Green, you know, compete in the UFC. And, you know, he's gotten busted up in the UFC. But sometimes it's not the cleanest, you know what I'm saying? The guy, he doesn't make people look the cleanest when they do beat him because he's got that kind of style but you know he just felt like it's one of the bricks out that right hand and i don't know if you've seen it before he does a backflip as

his celebration in the cage i mean for an athlete that size is insane in the co-main event defending champion larisa pacheco only needed 20 seconds to finish olena kolesnik. Kolesnik missed weight by a lot, but look at these right crosses. That's the third first-round KO that Pacheco now owns over Kolesnik, which really tells you PFL needs to upgrade their women's division so we don't have to keep recycling this. But no Kayla Harrison this year in the bracket, and Pacheco's still dropping bombs. Rashad, one of the better stories in MMA was a UFC washout and look at the way she's reinvented herself.

Man, the way that she threw that right hand over and over again is perfect because she threw it and then reacted to her opponent's movement and then slid in. But each and every single time, she slid out and slid that right hand in even more. That shows so much comprehension on punching space and the time and accuracy. I think it might be a good thing for Kayla that she's not competing in the season because this Pacheco looks a lot better than she did last year.

And she's down at 45 as opposed to where the tournament was last year at 55 and just as nasty, just as dominant. Hey, a lot of optimism, Rashad, in in the New York jets fan base over the addition of Aaron Rogers, but he's got a new handshake that him and sauce Gardner broke out that I think you and I should make our personal move between one another. Check it out. That was Rogers giving else to his friends and it feels stupendous yes indeed wow love it love it that's funny as hell man speaking of the nfl hide your children rashad uh the nfl's back and that means crowd fights like this involving 49ers fans where's the most dangerous place in america how about

the bleachers of an nfl game wow wow i mean what are we fighting over here rashad what are we fighting over somebody threw some beer somebody said they i don't know at this point it looks just probably fun to get punched in the face and right now these guys are having oh my gosh look at jerry rice get after it in there yeah oh my gosh they look at Jerry Rice get after it in there. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Look at the ladies. Everybody's jumping in, man. Yeah. I'll tell you, look, I don't advocate a street fight, but there is a certain excitement about being in something like that, man. But it's just.

Remember that drunk guy at your hotel room, Rashad, and he wouldn't leave. There's a certain. These guys are going to be talking about that. I mean, yeah. Crazy. It is. Great story. Let's go back to be talking about that. I mean, yeah, crazy. This great story. Let's go back to Daniel Cormier. He was at Topgolf or some form of it here with Poetan,

Alex Pineda and DC laughing it up. Let's watch Poetan. We know he can do most things well. Let's check out his golf swing. the extended clip shows dc just clowning him uh that was charles barkley-esque right there yeah he was throwing out like he was chopping wood man he's too busy chopping wood see that's the problem he's got too much strength right he's too busy chopping wood. See, that's the problem. He's got too much strength, right? He's too strong. So he choked up on it before he was just packing it. Rashad, how's your golf game in South Florida? It's got to be active, right? I mean, not as active as it needs to be or as it could be.

I'm terrible, but. Yeah, me too. Yeah, me too. But I try, man. I've been trying to clean up. I'm trying to go to Topgolf. I'm going to take some golf lessons. I mean, if you're living in South Florida and you got all these greens around here,

you got to do something. You got to. Yeah, tremendous greens indeed. Sign of the week at Starbucks. Hey, Rashad, shit happens, okay? I mean, it seems like a good reason to shut down right parachute you must have some you must have some haritaki they will no longer be selling the haritaki latte after this shot it was uh too quick of a turnaround how angry is that janitor that

he's like eff it i'm just putting it on the sign exactly what happened right there uh talk about that person had no problem dropping toe right there in the middle of Starbucks. But talk about this bathroom for performance anxiety. I don't think I could do it, Rashad. You down with this? I mean, you're talking about an audience. No, no, no, no, no. No way.

Yes. No. Yes. And on the weekend. Look how far the toilet paper is. Look how far the toilet paper is from the toilet. You're going to have to sit up to get it. No.

Forget about it. Did I ever tell you how gross Luke Thomas is? He stands while he does that, Rashad. I mean, with the crowd sitting there, that's going to be gonna be awkward that's gonna be awkward yeah that's that's disgusting very european of him uh speaking of diarrhea let's go to the beach i don't know if you ever get the kids together and make a beautiful sandcastle but why don't you rate the art on this one rashad oh wow oh wow haritaki is the theme today look at that guy he's living large right there yes yes yes wow look at the little kid he loves it yeah he loves it too excited about that people are always like

bc all you do is make poop jokes as an adult you know yeah there's a there's a reason why t-shirt of the week time this man loves it and he's not afraid to share that, Rashad. Would you spot this man in the gym? Oh, my gosh. What did the shirt say? Oh, my gosh. Wow. Yeah, not hiding it.

Not hiding it at all. Not at all, man. I mean, if he wanted to. Wow. That's quite intimidating. somebody that large coming up to you at some point you got to respect honesty and this guy's blatantly honest you know who else is blatantly honest the guy i respect a lot coach craig jones not afraid to hide his habits in fact he prints t-shirts with them on there let's check it out yeah no spears indeed rashad this guy's a character do you have experience with him no i do not man i hear a lot of great things about him though man

oh my gosh not hiding rashad not hiding at all right there in plain sight but uh a great wrestling coach just the same hey let's go to your regional mma ko of the week it comes from octagon 47 here's bexat ala mocking to begin the fight they touch gloves a grabaka hitman special oh my god yes sorry sir we won't be needing you anymore yes high kick breakthrough victory there for gezcot look at the pageantry that had to be be what, Poland, Russia, something like that. A lot of pageantry in that arena. That was a crazy head kick. Yeah. Rashad, new segment

alert. Future wife alert or not. Does this attract you or drive you away? Let's zoom in on this lovely lady. I believe in it this time. Alright, one, two, three. Oh god, oh god. Whoa.

Oh, my God. It was so bad. Rochelle, that took you back to the dorms at Michigan State, right? Yeah, that's my mishearer right there. Yeah, yeah. Well done. Well done yeah well done well done yes yes yes no doubt let's go out zero possibility to turn into annoying wife she's not going to turn into an annoying wife not whatsoever not doing tricks like that not whatsoever no doubt about it let's go over to the birthday party you put a pinata involved with a video camera you often get magic watch out though for that stick oh boy gosh okay yeah let's

did it for the gram though rashad did it for the cram yikes oh my gosh her night had to be over after that yeah no doubt about it let's head out to the golf links here a couple more left or maybe it's by the pool either way. Watch out for the, uh, Oh boy. Yeah. I mean a perfectly good dive. Yeah. Nice dismount. And then somebody tees off right at you. That's not cool at all. How does that even make sense to be doing right? I don't understand white people at all Rashad,

but let's keep the golf theme going. Yeah. How about this pot? Yeah. Fully. That's a fully right there. Yes. You got to dot your eyes and cross your T's. One more for you in the golf game as I try not to piss my pants here

nice putt got it I don't get it either but why can't he go to the bathroom? Yeah. We got one more for you here. One more for you. Let's watch it. Oh, no.

Oh, no. Watch out for pigsies. No, no, no, no. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's why adults and kids should not hang out. Yes. Thank you, Jared, from Subway. That kid got lucky. Yeah, there's why adults and kids should not hang out. Yes. Thank you, Jared. He got lucky. Yeah, there we go.

The thundering, towering inferno. That lady passed through like a storm. It's over. That's the shit of the week. Hope you enjoyed it. And that's your show for today. Rashad, great to catch back up with you. We can follow you on the social handles below right there.

What else do you got? Where's Rashad going to be? You're going to do a hard 10 minutes at Caroline's or the Comedy Cellar. Where are you going to be moving forward? You know, I'll be doing the next pay-per-view you'll see in September. So I'll be doing that. But, you know, you'll see me around ESPN booth. Are you going to Australia for that?

No, they got one in September. Oh, no check in Las Vegas, correct? Yeah. Yes. We'll be checking you out there on ESPN+. Thank you for tuning in. The great Luke Thomas will be back from vacation on Wednesday to recap all his hot takes. We got big news coming on the merch front,

but until then you can wear our fine established clothing and products at morning combat.store. There you go. Right there. Showtime, the label that pays 30 days free right now. Showtime.com. I mean,

can we get Rashad in a shirt, please? And a bomber jet. Rashad, did they ever outfit you? We've got a bad, I got one. I got one MK shirt. I got one MK shirt, and I wear it all the time.

Sometimes my wife tries to cut the grass in it. I don't even know why she tries to cut the grass, but she does it in an MK shirt. We need to get you in a bomber jacket. I mean, I love it, Rashad, when the fighters show up in real life wearing our shit. All right? We had Rafael Stotz wearing it, Dan Hardy's wife wearing bomber jackets. I love to see it. We'll get you outfitted just the same.

Thank you for tuning in folks. We back on Wednesday. Enjoy your week. Always started off with a bang for the hall of famer sugar. Rashad Evans, our great crew and staff here at morning combat. My boy, your boy,

BC, my boy too. Yeah. You got to love yourself with two words for you. Rashad, you remember what those are? Oh yeah. We out.