MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 301 Recap, Canelo Defeats Mungia: Is Benavidez Next? | Full Ep | Morning Kombat

Episode Date: May 6, 2024

Big weekend of combat sports means a big week of MK. Luke and Brian break it down starting with Canelo's decision win over Munguia. At 33, is Canelo still operating at his P4P peak? How much did Munguia's stock rise in defeat? Will Canelo face David Benavidez next? Plus, at UFC 301 Alexandre Pantoja defended his flyweight title for second time with UD5 Steve Erceg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich, but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy. Consider yourself warned. Limited time only at participating McDonald's in Canada. Reveille, reveille, dogs. Look at us now, tip to tip. This is our life. This is our passion passion That's the spirit we bring to this show

I'm Luke Thomas I'm Brian Campbell This is Morning Combat is back at it. Monday, May 6, 2024. You're looking at two washed dads. That's Luke Thomas. This is that BBC with that BDE, Brian Campbell. And Luke, we were in Las Vegas this past weekend. Canelo versus Munguia.

We're going to recap that. We're going to recap UFC 301. Niwa Inoue just did magic in Japan. But Luke, I had to travel a day from hell yesterday on my 17th wedding anniversary. No less. Are you officially divorced now? No, no. Thank you to my wonderful wife for understanding that this is the price we pay on top, Luke.

But, you know, I spent the night in a in a in a nubs airport hotel in Philadelphia, took the train in this morning and played disease roulette at Newark Penn for a second. But I'm back. I'm ready to go. I'm well showered, but my clothes definitely not, Luke. So you're going to have to deal with that. Yeah, I don't know why the kids say it this way, but they say it's giving and then they describe something. I don't know why they do it that way,

but I'm just going to say it's giving homeless right here. Yes. It's giving homeless. I had swamp ass and I just had to endure right through it. But boy, do we have a fun show for you today. As I mentioned, a huge weekend in combat sports. To recap, look, we got to reconnect over the weekend in Vegas with our bonus morning combat show.

Shout out to our partner, DraftKings, and the interview special. We did the room service diaries, which is out right now. YouTube.com slash Morning Combat. Did you take a look at it? I didn't get a chance to view it yet, but I've already heard from Long Island Luke on the ones and twos that crying in a Hooters was more than enough to get him involved in press play.

So there you go. That's a real thing that happened. Shouts to the Williamsburg Hooters. Yes. Quickly, Luke, before we bang, bang, zhang and get into this bang each other uh did you i forgot there's a new video by the way and i forgot to put it in have you seen this shit where what is he saying is like i want to bang you and they just like because he says uh i am bang bang no, no

He says I'm going to buy I'm going to bang you that was your pickup line in high school Yeah, that was that was come here. I'm gonna bang you Have you washed the V did you have enough adequate time since you left early and didn't stay for Canelo to wash the Vegas off? of you Yes, I have I Showered in scalding hot water and Like like a Hooters and Williamsburg cried in the shower. There it is.

And I got it out of my system. I can't stand that city. Golly. You know, like I really can't. I don't know how Brocomoto does it. I cannot. And everyone who lives there is like, oh, well, Vegas is not the strip. Yeah, I fucking hope.

Because the strip gives me. Diarrhea. Well, diarrhea, bed bugs, and probably other communicable diseases. Well, gives me diarrhea, bed bugs, and probably other communicable diseases. Speaking of diarrhea, we'll get to that in a second, but my guy Alan Dawson and I went down Fremont Street and had that experience. The old school Vegas experience.

That is a mind F to take in all of that visual. There's a lot going on there, Luke. Were you sober? No, but it was very equivalent to that scene in total recall when they go to mars and you know you know eventually leads to the third boob reveal which is just cinematic brian campbell in the third titty i mean if i mean yeah no one wants a third titty more in their life than brian it was another world luke and i'm not talking about

the cosby spinoff right or isn't isn't that what it's called? All right, speaking of diarrhea, Long Island Luke in the back. Luke, did you happen to use the... No. I don't know. I went number one in the bathroom. The number one room. The one room. I went number one.

You didn't order a double at the one room, right? No, I took a dump on the Amtrak train, which I hate doing. This is the grossest conversation. Because you have to end up being like this the whole time. Luke, can we show the text message in the back here? This is from Luke immediately after last week's show. This is fake news.

I did not send that text. We have the HR police ready. Fake news. They are going to have to trace it though. I did no such thing. I've been set up. I'm like Ryan Garcia. You just hate me because I'm religious. There it is. That's the intro for you. Let's get

into the app. Oh, there's our socials there. You can like and subscribe to what we're doing here. And also the merch. And how about our merch? MorningCombat.store. I'm not currently wearing any, although shout out to all the smoke. Of course. Drink Anillos, right? That's right. Anillos. But you can use our promo code LIVE10 right now. MorningCombat.store.

Get 10% off. Guys, we got better merch than your other favorite podcast, okay? Believe that. Although probably Average Joe Art does it for our other favorite podcast, too. You know, that guy's working out there. He's out there getting checks. All right, let's get into the show. Let's put the camera on me.

Let me cook here. Topic number one is where we were at this Saturday. PBC on Prime Pay-Per-View in Las Vegas and Canelo Alvarez, the four-belt super middleweight undisputed champion, pound-for-pound great, all-time great, did nothing to change those narratives against a game Jaime Munguia as Canelo dropped Munguia in round four with a beautiful right uppercut just as Jaime Munguia was coming on offensively.

And it wasn't as if there was no danger the rest of the way, but we got to see prime pound for pound Canelo do that in route to a unanimous decision victory. So Luke, first and foremost, at 33 years old, he came in almost two pounds less than the 168 pound limit, was jacked up and down, cut. And you had Canelo saying, look, I was in the best shape of my life.

Did we find out once again the F around and find out when it comes to Canelo? Don't put baby in the corner. Look at the way Canelo responded. People said he didn't want to fight Benavidez. We'll get into that topic soon, but he used that as fuel. Oscar De La Hoya, his ex-promoter, started a blood war between them. And we got, instead, was a focus motivated the best of what's left here of the great Canelo Alves.

So at 33, Luke, how much is left? What did this performance say about where he is at pound for pound during the same weekend that brings Naio Inoue back out and Terrence Crawford, of course, competing for number one, just the same. Well, we'll talk about Inoue in just a minute. And obviously, Terrence Crawford returns at 154 against Israel Madrimov in August so we can have that conversation in a moment but for for Canelo I have to tell you BC and I I feel like I'm a little bit alone on this standing to wipe that partly but also on the Canelo situation I I have mixed feelings about this win

what what could be mixed? So, okay, let's talk about the good side. Did you not experience the siesta that was the Cinco de Mayo celebration? I know you weren't in that arena. A siesta? I don't think it was a siesta. I think you mean it was a fiesta. A quinceanera.

They weren't sleeping. This was a boxing quinceanera. Quinceanera? Is that what they were doing? Yeah, I think that's what I caught at Newark Penn Station. That's exactly what they were doing. Did it translate through the screen of what this was? An all-Mexican party, the first time since 2017.

For sure it did that. For sure it did that. Listen, you were just talking off-camera about the American National Anthem that was played kind of remixed in a mariachi style, and that was kind of interesting. And obviously the crowd was electric because it was two Mexican warriors. And I think that they both fought as best as they could. I don't, I'm not here to like drag down in the case of Munguia, a guy who I think gave what he had.

And in the case of Canelo, who put on, I think in general, a pretty commendable performance, a very commendable performance, actually. His defense after round four, once he dropped in with the uppercut, I thought Canelo's defense, Munguia, I thought for sure heading into this contest that what would limit Munguia in the end would be his defensive issues. And it really wasn't. Yes, he got hit with that one big uppercut, and that was great.

But in general, that's really not what held him back. Well, that was a big question about fight number two with Hall of Famer Freddie Roach. I saw continued evolution from the standpoint of defense and patience. There's no question. I was going to say that what held him back was that once Canelo figured out what his defense needed to be and what range he needed to be in and what worked, Munguia couldn't crack the code. He could not open him up. There were so many shots, yes, early, but especially late,

where it would bounce off the gloves, or Canelo would kind of roll with it, or the hands would be just enough to really take the steam off of what Munguia was doing. So I recognize all of that, but I guess here's kind of the way that I feel now that it's over. And I rewatched it again today. Nice. It's a different fight through the first four rounds. And then there's a bit of a surge back in maybe round nine, round 10. But then, again, Canelo kind of closes the door on Munguia.

The problem for me in this fight was that, for example, BC, if you look at Munguia's size, he's huge. He was so much bigger than Charlo. He was so much bigger than Canelo when they were there standing next to one another. So I give Canelo credit for taking on guys who are probably not these are bigger than him naturally these are naturally bigger guys they're younger guys and he is slowly kind of dismantling them and I'm also not going to say BC that this fight was the same as the John Ryder fight where he guy was overmatched and went what are you trying to say you sound a little bit and I'm not saying it's the same thing with Golovkin or or even with Charlo but here's what I am saying the one kind of common

denominator with all of them is not that Canelo didn't show us that he was a highly skilled and decorated opponent but rather there just wasn't much drama in the sense of I never really ever feel Canelo is challenged and you would say as a natural response right feel Canelo is challenged. And you would say as a natural response, right, because Canelo is better than these guys. True. But then we get back to this conversation about David Morrell Jr. And then we get back to this conversation about David Benavidez. And at the end of this fight, I'm like,

how many times am I going to have to watch Canelo at this stage of his career take on an opponent that if you look at the odds and every other expert, he's overmatched against, and then he does well on route to a decision when we know he has, in this case, mandatory opponents, but put that aside, certainly options that are significantly more intriguing, both as fights and also the kind of thing that makes you wonder what is possible. After round six, I was like, right. It's the exact same thing over and over and over and over again. There was no drama. There was no mystery.

Tell me you thought there was mystery after round seven in this fight. I didn't expect you to take a heel turn at heel Canelo here with this necessarily. I'm not saying Canelo performed poorly against an easy challenge. I'm saying he is, he is ill. I, it can't be both. Right.

You can't elect to take challenges that are much more manageable and then ask us to react like the amazing was accomplished. I did see amazing. Well, I did see an amazing performance. I think the fact that Munguia did not have success in the second half of the fight, except for in the championship rounds,

I liked his attempt at flaring. I thought he never went away. Like, I thought Munguia's stock rises a lot with this performance. The 12-run stamina, the first time he's showing legit patience and game planning in a lot of ways. Wasn't able to counter Canelo's adjustment in the mid-fight point, ultimately. And who can against somebody with that experience? But I saw a guy who was hungry, constantly pushing. Was it predictable in the second half of the fight?

Sure, but it was physically taxing. Canelo operated directly in front of Munguia, and I think really gave as strong of a potential statement as he could make. Again, the same weekend that Naioa Inouye is fighting, Terrence Crawford still coming off of that. You thought that was a pound-for-pound best performance? I think for this version of Canelo at 33 coming in in that shape, dealing with the early fire that Munguia legitimately gave him

in round three, in the beginning of round four. First three and a half rounds, he was taking it to him. Absolutely. I wasn't bored in the second half. Did it become predictable to some degree? Yes. Also understand, look, this was a Mexican fiesta. Like, I almost haven't experienced.

I've heard louder arenas, but what I haven't heard before is that the crowd essentially latched on to both Canelo and Munguia and just alternated chants for either one based upon who was surging at the moment and having success. The same fans that are cheering Canelo are cheering for Munguia. It was that type of party, and I felt like that raised the bar of the entertainment and sort of the intensity of what happened. Ultimately ultimately canelo got the job done but but are you saying more of hey man good event we said it was an acceptable fight if we can't get benavidez

but you're just too good canal it sounds like the old floyd thing you're basically like sorry floyd you're just too good so i would say i would say i would say he's too good if he was taking on the toughest available challenges. But don't you think 43-0 Munguia just had arguably one of the better performances of his career? Sure. Munguia, again, I want to say it again. Munguia's defensive responsibility in this one. Again, he obviously got hit with the uppercut. He's fighting Canelo.

He's going to get hit. He showed a chin and a half, did Munguia. He showed a great chin. He showed good resiliency. He showed much more. I would agree with you. Again, dude, I'm not telling you the fight was bad. I'm not telling you it's all smoke and mirrors.

That's really not what I'm saying. What I am saying is don't you feel like at least a little Canelo has kind of set into a managed decline groove where he's had four, was it four, even five decisions in a row now where he's better than that guy. He uses skillful boxing to kind of put a lead on them and then just maintain that lead and i don't really mind that if this was just the best that the division had to offer but if you're omitting the best the decision has to offer and these are the challenges you're taking while respectable and frankly very commendable performances it's leaving me a little bit okay i think that the fact that you were not fully entertained doesn't equal up because Canelo did hear the rumblings about, hey, you haven't knocked anybody out in a while.

And he said, look, I trained for this. You saw the shape he came in. He trained to get a knockout. He came in great shape against Charlo. This was no better than that. It was better than that. But if you could argue that he didn't go for the finish as aggressively after hurting him early, he said afterwards, look, I take my time. Hold on.

Let me finish. He says, I take my time in executing the finish. We just commended Munguia for having a chin and a half. Munguia overperformed from that regard. Just because it went the distance, I'm not going to lump him in later career GSP and be like, you're fighting to save if you're taking to save chances.

The other argument, of course, is fight Benavidez next and shit or get off the pot with your four titles. That's a separate argument. But from what we saw on Saturday, it was a very acceptable opponent who put forth a great career and I thought Canelo was pound for pound worthy in his execution of quieting the the thing just because it went the distance doesn't mean Canelo wasn't right in front of Munguia within punching range basically trying to lure the offense out of him and just beautifully painting a masterpiece the rest of the way give the guy his flowers who are you taking to take what am i what am i what am i denying him because you haven't

made that clear just because i'm not as effusive with praise you claim i'm denying him because you weren't entertained on the level you it's not my argument what am i denying him what is he owed that i am denying you're almost denying munguia more you're basically saying that this was a little bit of a waste of time i agree that munguia was he better than the last two times we saw him against derivianchenko and writer yes yes he was and what is he 27 years old he's got 44 fights now i'm 43 and one he i i'm curious to see what he does next would that performance have beaten i don't want to say every other super middleweight because morel and benavidez it doesn't beat more doesn't beat Morel or David Benavidez at all. He's in the fight against those two.

Fuck no. Really? Fuck no. You're saying Munguia is not in the fight. Maybe against Benavidez early, he is not in that fight against David Morel Jr. No, absolutely not. And this is what I'm talking about. I didn't expect you to turn like this.

I'm not mad at Canelo, but I don't understand why we're supposed to just heap the same, like near the same kind of praise that we're supposed to give Noya in a way for radically different performances, radically, not radically, but very different challenges. And I think everything deserves place in its, I should say everything deserves praise in its proper place. Dude, was Canelo impressive on Saturday night? Absolutely. But I kind of feel like we're setting into this like groove where it's like, okay, did we know ahead of time he was better than Munguia? Yes. Did we know ahead of time he probably had the defense to kind of work around it and

shut him down over the course of the distance? Yes. And you got exactly that. I'm asking you, where is the intrigue? Where is the mystery? Where is the mystery about, oh my God, I actually don't know what could happen here. In the end, what happened was exactly what you thought was going to happen. And you go back to Ryder, what happened in that one?

I know it wasn't mandatory. Exactly what you thought. And what was it before this? Charlo. What happened with that one? Triple G, that was the boring trilogy. Triple G was a weird one, too. But with Charlo, what happened to that one? Triple G, that was the boring trilogy. Triple G was a weird one, too. But with Charlo, what happened to that one?

Did you—we thought—that's not all of Canelo's fault because Charlo really underperformed there. Yeah, what are you grasping at here? I'm saying, are you really getting anything where there is genuine cliffhanger, I don't know what's going to happen here, action? Part of that is because Canelo is so good, he shuts these guys down and then just dissolve, and then, you know, ticks apart the bomb. Fair enough, dude. It's not one or the other.

Part of it is Canelo is that good. But the other part of it is like, dude, if we're going to go into a fight and say, we know what the stakes are here, and then it plays out exactly that way, I don't know that at the end we're supposed to be like, well, that was just an exemplary performance of the highest order it is praiseworthy he is legit he is the face of boxing

i give him all of that but these fights like this there's no genuine mystery after round four or five right but there was a mystery of how he was going to deal with the waves between rounds one and four and five and it was interesting to see him he got backed up by munguia in round three he took on a little bit of damage obviously his adjustments were so much better the hand speed was the difference there was a little mystery early i'll give you that and once he was able to start timing him with counter shots yes it wasn't about let me ask you come back let me pitch it to you instead about can munguia hang on and ultimately he showed because i think he showed the chin that's why he hung on let me ask you seriously we don't know because obviously canelo could beat both those guys.

He could knock out both Benavidez and Morel. I'm not saying he actually couldn't. But what I'm saying is, do you really believe in your heart of hearts that David Morel Jr. is going to turn in the kind of performance where by the time the 11th or 12th round is going on, Canelo's just settled into a groove and he can't figure him out? No, I think they will be tougher challenges than Munguia is on paper or in real life, which is the perfect segue, by the way, into topic number two,

which is about where do we go next with Canelo and what do we do with that elephant in the room who was ringside and Jim Gray asked Canelo about afterwards, and that's David Benavidez. So, Luke, I'm definitely going to tee you up in a second on how much this performance, if any, changes your belief in how Canelo would do against Benavidez or Morel. But first, Jim Gray in the post-fight interview who was added to the Amazon Prime team there, Prime Video Pay-Per-View, asked, and he asked the right question. He said, OK, everybody wants you to fight David Benavidez. David Benavidez said, you know, let's do it now because Benavidez is moving up to 175 on June 15th. And he has already said this week, like, if Canelo can't fight me in this

window, this is the last chance I can make 168 or I'm willing to. And Canelo did not feel that in a correct way, in my opinion. He said, well, I got to, you know, take some rest and go, you know, talk to my family, blah, blah, blah. And I love, love, love that the crowd lustfully booed him in that moment. He had just beaten Munguia, and he got all the flowers from the pro-Mexican crowd. And then instantly they're like, wait. And I know that this is Canelo's argument,

that like, when is it going to be good enough for these people? But we have to continue to counter with Canelo, you're the king. And when you're the king with all those belts, the rules are you must defend them against who's next in line. And David Benavidez is next in line. So Canelo did get dismissive and defensive and say,

well, look, if the price is right, essentially he's saying, look, if you pay me the money I demand for this challenge to take on this risk, then I'll do it. Luke, do I love that after the press conference when he's doing media with the LA Sec back guys on the way out that he's kind of going, it would need to be $200 million. No, I don't love that.

But Canelo's basically telling you I don't want this fight, but I understand the demand is there, so someone pay me that money. You know what I mean? Pay me the money. Show me the money. Pay that man his money. There's a lot to break down here in terms of from Canelo's intentions

to what he's going to look like against these guys. But I feel like you're trying to say that this performance against Munguia because it became predictable and didn't necessarily force any of those questions beyond round four to need to be answered in terms of like, what am I going to gain from this? I feel like he looks pound for pound again. I feel like he looks incredible again. I feel like I would now upgrade. Is Munguia the same fighter as benavidez no but i would upgrade the chances i'm giving

canelo in a potential david benavidez fight from this performance i don't know how you could say either way i don't know how you could say against that is what i'm trying to say i don't know how you could act like he didn't show you at 33 that he still got it he showed me he is still a force to be reckoned with if that's what you mean yeah mean. Dude, I'm not going to sit here and say Canelo is some fraud or some scrub or bad or he didn't perform well. He did perform well. He is pound for pound good. He is, again, if he retired today, Hall of Fame.

Like, no question about it. On the Mount Rushmore, probably, of all-time Mexican fighters. I'm not denying any of this. He might be number one. He might be. But what I am saying to everyone out here is and let me just put my cards on the table i would i and i've been wrong in this studio many times already i would love to be wrong again i mean that so sincerely i would love to be wrong i don't know exactly who he's going to fight

next but i don't think it's going to be david benavidez it is okay let's let's put our cards on the table if he fights david or i'm sorry edgar berlanga next who is who the fuck there who has been named the mandatory oh my god by the wbc even though morel and benavidez have been sitting around yeah shocker the wba been sitting around been like i'm your secondary champion i'm the number one contender i'm the interim champion what else do we have to do if canelo doesn't go at benavidez next we have to bring out the torches we have to say that at this point in your career, after looking that great against Munguia, and he did. That's why I want to give him the full credit. He looked

pound for pound great. Dude, he's a living legend. He looked great against a hand-picked opponent. Munguia is not hand-picked. Dude, oh, come on. Munguia just put the best version of himself ever in that fight and went the distance because of that beard and the pride he had. How could you act like he wasn't a danger to him?

Dude, he's got mandatories he didn't take for this one. And if this one provided extraordinary action or if he'd really blown him out, I'd be like, okay, that was, I was not necessarily, I was kind of expecting more or less what we got, which was a competent, talented. It was fun. It was fun to see. It was fun for a while. But then when you realize Munguia can't unlock the door anymore, it was no longer fun for me.

Okay, but why do you penalize? Unless your whole stance right now is... If this was a tournament and this was just where these ended up and he turned this in, that'd be one thing. But this was a picked opponent. Canelo, you can't... BC, BC. You cannot on the one hand tell me he's the face of boxing. He's got mandatories he's not taking. And then tell me Munguia wasn't handpicked.

Yes, the fuck he was. Canelo is out of chances, excuses, or moves in the court of public opinion to either fight Benavidez next or you will never fight him. And we have to, I guess, determine how much this will be a stain or an asterisk on his incredible all-time great resume and career up to this point as we're closing in on 20 years as a professional. I fully agree with that. But if he does fight him next, we all said if you're not going to fight Crawford or Benavidez, the only fight we'd really accept was Munguia.

Yes. Well, look, it was a big event. It was exciting. I know maybe more for me in the arena than you at home. You're juggling UFC coverage at the same time. That's true. I did rewatch it, but yes. If Canelo doesn't go the direction of Benavidez for any other reason next.

He's not going to. For any other reason next, then let's drop all the bricks on him. Let's back up the truck of criticism. You already said he was ducking Benavidez. I already said he is, yes. But I just don't like this tone where you're like, nothing to gain from this Munguia fight. Waste of time.

I didn't say nothing to gain. What I am trying to point out to you is like, dude, how many times... It's a question for you. Yeah. Because I've reached my limit. How many times do you want to see Canelo clearly not take, not just one, two of the toughest challenges in this division, and then beat a talented hard-working spirited performance

from a challenger but one who's ultimately overmatched and that canelo just kind of i won't say he cruises but settles into a groove where he keeps the lead on him for the whole time how many times do you want to see that i'm not he's on chances i don't care okay fair enough then we're actually not far apart okay because what i'm saying is this was the last one for me this was the last draw i can. I can't do this anymore. And if he picks – I love – dude, Canelo – literally, we united over Canelo. We found each other over Canelo. That's how I met your mother.

Yes. Dude, I'm serious. I love Canelo. I love his style. He has provided us so many memorable nights. I don't really mind that night, Saturday night. But I guess what I am saying is probably this is the best way to put it. BC, I've had my limit with this.

Okay. I've had my limit. I'm with you. I'm done with this. Shit or get off the pot. Yes. Because there is a stain. There is a price you have to pay if you're not going to fight,

especially when the guys have been next in line for years. So I want to ask this. Look, Benavidez, I believe, is doing the right thing by moving up to 175. He's going to co-headline the paper. And was there in attendance on Saturday? He was there in attendance. What also could hurt Canelo moving forward because outside of Berlanga, he's really running out of opponents. He really is. Morel moved up.

Could Benavidez be also effing Canelo by doing this? Because think about it. Artur Betterbeave just ruptured his meniscus and his knee, so he's out of the Bivol fight June 1st. Bivol's going to instead defend the title against an unbeaten opponent from Libya, sort of an unknown guy that they threw in

to just save the card. But that's probably the route Canelo would want to go. If he still desires any smoke at 175, you would think, okay, with Beterbeev out, maybe try to get a big-money rematch with B-Vol. Dude, Benavidez might take that from him. If Benavidez goes in there and wins this, it's not a secondary title, but I think it's an interim light heavyweight

title that he's fighting against Vazic. It's like a semi-real belt, but it will really establish him in the new weight class if he wins. What if he stops Vazic? What if he did that and then is like, okay, better be of shirt. Well, B-ball, I'm coming after you. Let's do it. Let's do it in Saudi. Let's do it for Saudi money.

I think it would be whoove Canelo, and I think he's going to ultimately get to this point from a businessman standpoint, that if he goes the route of Berlanga and cashes in on that mandatory and does Mexico versus Puerto Rico, he can even do it in New York City, people are just going to look down on it and call him out for ducking Benavidez.

Meanwhile, Benavidez might go from winning this title to potentially lining himself up against Bivol with Saudi money behind it. It behooves Canelo now, in my opinion, to go in the direction of Benavidez aggressively, but it also behooves him to beat Benavidez to the punch from the standpoint of getting the finances

he's looking to get to make this fight happen. According to Canelo, his $35 million guarantee is not going to work for this one. So, Luke, I know he's saying $200 million, but that's ridiculous. Do you think Saudi could step in and be the final middleman? Remember when Les Moonves and a waiter in LA somehow made Mayweather Pacquiao happen back in 2015 and the circumstances of events?

Is it going to take Turkey Al-Ashiq for Canelo to fight Benavidez in September? It's the best shot. It's the best shot. Short of that, I don't think anything else does. I don't think there's presently, as we're talking today, I do not think there is a significant amount of evidence that indicates Canelo wants to fight Benavidez or Morel. As we all know, if that is the case, there's probably some reason we understand that. I think that the Saudis could with an overwhelming amount of money, but I wonder if he is simply putting with an overwhelming amount of money,

but I wonder if he is simply putting up an overwhelming amount of money where he can just goalpost it. Oh, you can come up with two, 250. Oh, you can come up with 253, 350, some outrageous amount to the point where they're like, okay, we're not doing this. You don't actually want it. We will have to see. But BC, I really, really, really want to hear what you have to say

if we get to the point. Now, again, if he takes on Benavidez or Morel next, I will shut my stupid mouth, and I will honestly give him his flowers because I think taking that fight now is tough. There is genuine mystery. There is genuine intrigue. I do not know how that fight is going to go. He hasn't been an underdog in the odds. I looked this up today since 2018.

Or was that the first Golovkin? Second Golovkin. Because obviously the first one was highly controversial. So we would be putting himself, this is what I mean. I mean risking it for the biscuit. Hell yeah. But if he doesn't, and if he takes the Berlanga fight next, when Berlanga, by the way, was also there.

I want to say this. Shouts to Caleb Plant. We'll see that and have you seen the shit, but wow. Caleb Plant. Smoke asked for. Caleb Plant versus Edgar Berlanga. I'd be a little more interested in it. I still think Caleb Plant smokes him. But, you know, Canelo's just a different level than that altogether.

If he takes the Berlanga fight, I really want to hear what you have to say at that point. I'll tell you it now. I mean, look, I already said on this show, and I tried to tee it up to Canelo even the best I could without outright saying it, you're ducking, Benavidez, and I'm saying it, and a lot of us are saying it. So, look, I'm going to go scorched earth. I'm going to bring up how it's going to be that stain

that you can never fully wash off. The same, I have to come with the same energy that we came at Floyd Mayweather with between the years of, like, you know, 2011 and 2015. You have to come with the same energy that we came at Floyd Mayweather with between the years of like you know 2011 and 2015 you have to come with that same energy even though it wasn't fully Floyd's fault and Manny didn't want a drug test and Arum wasn't helping and Heyman on the other side and there was a lot

people blame Floyd for a lot of that it's not all it's not all of that but he does did he deserve that yes because Floyd in my opinion was operating in the rare air where Canelo is. Anytime you can be the pound for pound number one in the game where Canelo was just two years ago and is still in that discussion today, and the biggest pay-per-view star, the biggest face of the sport, and you combine that, membership certainly has its privileges from a leverage standpoint and matchmaking standpoint.

But in my opinion, you've got to serve all when you are in that role. There is a responsibility of giving back to the sport eventually Floyd did that he ended up fighting everybody Canelo for the for the most part has fought everybody you make a love can wait two years and get older strategically yes but Luke what would be the justification for Canelo or his fans because I've been seeing on our Instagram when Canelo fans jump in our posts and get on us and be like man you guys you guys have no respect. You don't know anything about boxing. You don't know what Canelo has accomplished in his career. Luke, is there any chance? Because you already know my answer of what I'll do if he fights Berlinga. I'll go scorched earth on here and I hope you join me and I hope we dance around and make it rain, Luke, okay? Because he'll deserve that. But is there a

defense at all if you're Canelo, Team Canelo, a fan of his. Do you get to draw a line of what you accomplished up to a certain point and say I'm done. I'm done giving you exactly what you want. Can it be about me now? Well, it can't be when you're 33 on top of the pound for pound and you have all four titles in that division. It can't be, right? But is there any justification here

for Canelo to just be like I don't need Benavidez guys and I don't want him. Is there any way that he gets unscathed historically from that? Dropping the titles? I don't think it would be nearly as bad. If he vacated and just said, I just don't want, I'm not, these are for people who want to pursue this track.

I'm on a different track now. His will be 34 in July. Then I think there would still be some stain with that, we should be clear, because you would be saying clearly, I don't want tough fights, but you wouldn't be mucking up the system. You wouldn't be causing some of the creative, or I should say some of the infrastructure problems,

the architecture, I should say, the architecture problems of the belt system. It wouldn't be as bad, I think, but he's going to have to make a declaration one way or the other. He is going to have to put his cards on the table one way or the other there can simply be no acceptable choice other than benavidez or morel dude i have no interest in seeing him fight jamal charlo i have no interest i i mean charlo i would like you know i'd catch the highlights sure dude the berlanga fight i mean i have a negative energy. No, he hasn't.

He has no interest in the Berlanga fight. At least Munguia earned this fight. Yes. At least he earned it. Munguia. Went in there and knocked out John Ryder. Yes. Munguia, again, I give him a lot of credit.

I thought he took it to Canelo the best he could. Did he do the best that he could? Yes, he did. And to an extent, overperformed defensively. But the grace period is over. Rent is due. It's the fifth of the month. We're going to transition to UFC 301 in one second.

But final question. You mentioned going all in, putting your chips in front of you, Luke, okay? All night long, check, check, check. Pay that man his money. Like alligator blood. I want you to do the same thing right now. Let's do it under the guise of odds. What should be, in your opinion, the betting

odds if Canelo and Benavidez were fighting this September? You don't even need a sphere. Put it anywhere. Actually, you know what? Put it in Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Be the first combat sports event. I mean, you will see. It'll be a thing. Dude, if Munguia

versus Canelo was a freaking thing in Vegas this weekend, and it was, this will be, this is bigger than Fury Usyk. Not as historically big, but certainly from fan interest and all that. Profit circumstance, yes. What should be the betting odds based on the performance Saturday night? With Morel, I'm not too sure. I'd have to think about it a little bit more. But if it was David Benavidez, I'd say him minus 250, Canelo plus 200.

Whoa! Yeah. So you are still firmly in the, there's smoke in the championship rounds in that fight that Canelo may not want. But you also think he can't swim in there. You also think he can get through that smoke. I'm saying he would have to climb a hill. The reality is, going into the Munguia fight, I only believed Munguia could win if I thought Canelo, or if Canelo proved to be washed.

He is not washed. He may be on the back half of the mountain, so to speak, but he's not washed. I think that's the thing we got from Saturday. Is this guy washed? No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Not washed. Absolutely. And I do think he can beat David Benavidez. I want to be clear about that. I might favor Benavidez to win, but like, heart of hearts, do I absolutely think Canelo can win? he can beat David Benavidez. I want to be clear about that. I might favor Benavidez to win, but like heart of hearts, do I absolutely think Canelo can win? Much more so than I ever thought Munguia could beat Canelo.

But this is what I'm talking about. This is what is missing right now. And that would be acceptable if like Canelo was taking on the very best guys and making them look like Munguia. But when you're omitting the two best ones, it's like, guys, I've had enough of this. I've had enough of this experience. Forget the $200 million.

If they can get the guarantee, whether it's Turkey El-Ashik or Al-Hamid or whoever, they can get it to $75 million. Is that acceptable? And should that be enough for Canelo to say yes? It should be more than acceptable for Canelo to say yes. I honestly, and I want to be fair to him. That's a lot of money. That's a shit ton of money. I want to be as fair to him as I possibly can.

I don't know what Canelo's going to do. My hunch is that he's going to fight berlanga but i hope to be wrong i really really dude i would dude if they announced motherfucking canelo versus david benavidez for september allegiance stadium or any other place i would dance the jig. I would be so thrilled. I mean, we got limits on this. But point being is, BC, would you not? Seriously, if you got a press release, Canelo to fight David Benavidez, September, whatever it is, 15th, whatever the Saturday it falls on. This would be huge news. I would dry hump these walls in here, Luke.

There's no question. You'll do that anyway. Here's my biggest fear. And this is really our final point. Canelo made Triple G wait almost two full years, and that got him older. We've argued that making Benavidez wait is not a good idea because Canelo's getting older and Benavidez is just getting better. He's getting bigger. What I don't want is that Canelo knows he's getting bigger,

and Canelo knows he's moving up to 175. So in Canelo's mind, is it fight Berlanga to close the year, get everybody angry, but then I plan on fighting him in the spring, and he's hoping that by allowing Benavidez this time to get acclimated to 175, that when they do fight at 168 for all the millions, that Benavidez won't be able to turn down Luke because it's generational, life-changing money, you know, the defining fight of his career career that maybe he depletes himself to cut

down to make that 68 one more time. And then we get a compromise version. I don't want Canelo to play the leverage game to eventually give us what we want. Hey, we still got me with a McGrath or may with a Pacquiao, but they were 38 and 36 when we got it. That's the truth.

That's the truth. Okay. I hope that that's not the truth in this case. I hope it's not. It'll be 34 in July. Clock is ticking. He better do it soon. There it is on the boxing front from the weekend.

Topic number three, though. We transition to mixed martial arts. We're usually supposed to bounce these, but I'll let it slide today. Yeah, look, I'm not even in the right head space. It's all right. It's fine. Or ass space. Did you comb your hair this morning?

I didn't really do much with the hair. Again, I'm well showered. The clothes, not so much. You know, I'm trying to become a minimalist packer, but the problem is when you have to... A Milanist packer? A Milanist packer. You're trying to become a Milanist language user? A Curtis Millinder. The problem is, you know, when you have to stay another

night, you run out of clean shit. Back to the... Put the camera on me. Here we go. UFC 301 pay-per-view was Saturday from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And what we saw in the main and co-mains was really a triumphant night for the warrior spirit of what makes Brazilian fighters so great. Let's start in that main event,

which turned out to be a close one here as Alexandre Pantoja made the second defense of his flyweight championship, going the five-round distance with upstart Steve Urseg, who was making just his fourth appearance in 11 months since debuting in the UFC. Luke, they would go five rounds, a unanimous decision in the favor of Pantoja. Some say there's a little bit of a scoring snafu,

or at least a disputed outcome that it could have gone either way. But I think the universal thing here is that Steve Ursa may have dropped the ball in round five, and you saw him himself dejected during the score reading after the fight admitting in the interview that he blew it luke thomas did steve ursak blow it late in round five with the 125 pound championship at stake it pains me to say this it pains me to say this this one it really does pain me to say he did he blew it he absolutely made a critical error in judgment. Like Gastelum going for the takedown against Adesanya late in round four when having him hurt at 236? That's a different kind of bad decision, but also a bad decision. I mean, because there you're like, well, Izzy was hurt and he's also not a grappler.

I can sort of see why you would go for a takedown. But again, it wasn't the right call and it blew up in his face to a degree. This one, it's like, I understand what Erceg was trying to do, right? So you might be up in the fifth. It's kind of going your way. Maybe it's 50-50, but no, he was not fighting out of a deficit in the fifth round.

You have about two minutes to 90 seconds left. Hey, if you can get a takedown, little bit of ground and pound, and enough control time, you can win this one. You can ride this one out to the end, and you can get the decision. I understand the logic, but at the same time, he had gone for a

takedown either earlier in that round or round four, and that also blew up in his face where he got reversed. That was the lesson to take. Not to do it again, and he did it again. And he did it again. And he got immediately reversed. He got thrown to his hands when a guy who is a much better scrambler and a much quicker guy.

I think generally Pantoja is a little bit quicker. He certainly fights with a lot of intense, quick purpose. Throws him by. Forces him to his hands. And then ultimately is able to get him to the ground. And then ultimately control him for either the rest of that round or the good chunk of it and gave the other guy the fight. And I understand the point of I want it to fight on my terms, but you have to understand what my terms means to me watching this fight. And I don't know how his coaches feel.

I don't know how you feel. I'd love to get your perspective in just a second. To me, you can actually go back and I was watching it on a stream you could see me say it i'm yelling at the screen pump your jab pump the fucking jab because the jab was not perfect but working it was working put something behind that maintain distance that kind of a thing and instead he closes it goes with the takedown gets almost immediately reversed and everything goes the other way. This is what I don't actually think, BC. Here's what I'm going to say.

I don't think at all Steve Erceg is way too good and way too talented to say he has poor fight IQ. This was an example of bad judgment in that moment. But the difference to me, BCc this was a guy who showed his octagon inexperience this is a guy remember he's been in three ufc fights before this two unnumbered events prelims early prelims one main card fight prior to this at the apex this guy flew from australia to the other side of the world took on a hostile crowd and a very tough opponent and was cerebral was poised for 23 minutes fought his, the whole time he fought his ass off, but made, for the most part, pretty good decisions.

And then fucked it all up at the end. I think he didn't know how to win a five round fight in this way, but God bless him. He tried. Look, there's always going to be, I said something similar to this after Devin Haney lost the Ryan Garcia fight. Yeah, it was a monster upset. I don't think it would happen again, but I think there's always going to be. I said something similar to this after Devin Haney lost the Ryan Garcia fight. Yeah, it was a monster upset. I don't think it would happen again, but I think there's certain lessons that can only be learned inside the ring or the cage. Stipe Miocic in the first fight against JDS, right?

He learned he needed to up his cardio, but we learned in that fight, which I think we kind of learned in this one, that he's coming and JDS was able to just kind of guard the barrier enough to get the victory. I think in some ways Pantoja guarded the barrier enough to get a victory, even though Erceg looked like he had the path to victory and overall looked to be the better performance. But did this absolutely affect the scorecards? It did, right? Pantoja wins 3-2 on two of the scorecards, 4-1 on the other. If you switch that fifth round based on that,

it could be a split decision or majority decision. It could be a majority decision, yeah. Is it split or majority? It could be majority because one would have had it 3-2 for Pantoja, and so it would have been 3-2 Irseg, 3-2 Irseg. Oh, no, so it would have been split. But one mistake. I mean, you know, different than Valentina's spinny shit

causing Groszko to get the submission, And you're like, wow, one mistake. We've seen one mistake there. But the timing of the mistake was bad. But you got to learn those lessons the hard way. No matter how good you are, no matter how experienced you appear to be for a young age. And this was Erceg young in the standpoint of only his fourth UFC fight less than a year in the company. Sometimes you got to fumble it on the biggest stage. And, you know, it's the old NBA playoff adage.

You got to learn how to lose before you can win that's true I mean and the problem is like dude just think about it how many UFC fighters statistically ever compete for a title not many like you know whatever it is one percent probably or less now add in how many ever compete for a title after losing a title fight in their first opportunity that number plummets again it is so low it is this this is i'm not saying it's the only chance that's probably not true at 28 years old but this was a good chance and you just don't know i will say this though i will say this because i think you picked him and i picked him to win on friday's show he didn't get it done so in that sense we were wrong what i will say is true and i think you'll agree with this, he was very

much a worthy adversary. When we said he is going to give Pantoja problems, yes, he did. No doubt about it. He is a top-class flyweight, was this close to winning the flyweight title. I am excited to see what else he can do.

I always watch the way they lose, how they respond. That's why I always give Conor McGcgregor respect one of the better losers in big moments doesn't always anymore make the adjustments but like remember after 196 when he got tapped out he was like calm in the post guys i got it i figured it out i know what needs to be changed like that's how that's 196 he sorry long island 196 was connor tapping out to, he beat Aldo at 194, I believe. Right? Okay. So what I'm saying here, Luke, is that, you know, Steve Verstegg showed me how he lost

because his response was like, the second score that was being wrong, he read, he was just like, oh shit, I know, I know, I know what happened. I did it. So I actually think he'll be fine. You could argue, I mean, could you argue? Is there an argument for him on the scorecards or no because of that? How did you end up scoring it?

Was it like? Round one, Pantoja. Round two, Erceg. Round three, Pantoja. Round four, Erceg. Round five, Pantoja. Okay. I think two and three I've seen switched a lot

and I think you could switch either one. I would have to rewatch it again to see. That's how I scored it in real time. Definitely round four for Erceg. Definitely round five for Pantoja. Definitely round one for P pantoja so i don't even really think there is an argument because i think it would have to be a very generous argument but even though the four one sounds extreme or i think chael sonnen on espn had a five zero for ursa no for pantoja oh i think the rounds are close enough for the most part where you could do chael's got some wild ass he

does but i don't even think 4-1 would be illegal is what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, I had it 2-2 entering the fifth, so ultimately on my scorecard Erseg broke his own heart, but it was close. A great performance. So there's a question of, last thing on this, the question is and this is the age-old question we get to every single time. What

is the value of grappling without close submission attempts or a ton of damage. Now, there were rounds where he got the takedown and was pounding on her. So I want to be clear about that. It's not like all together. But as the fight wore on a little bit, there was less and less ground and pound. And it was just control.

Or I should say predominantly control. And so there is a question about how much that is valued. But I think I'm just going to say even with that, I still think Pantoja is the rightful winner. I did see some people complaining about that. All right. Pantoja at 34 now has two title defenses. He's actually providing stability in a division that saw Demetrius Johnson own it for a decade.

Henry Cejudo keep it alive. And then the hot potato and the four great fights between Moreno and Figueiredo. Now we've got a title reign. We've got a champion, but like, Luke, did he win? Did he out fight and out duelduel Ursa on Saturday? Or was he just gamier in key moments? I mean, he fought like a veteran.

The takedowns were key. But to the debate you just had with yourself about how effective is grappling when you're not adding the ground and pound to it, I still felt like this was an aging veteran performance from Pantoja to know how to win a close fight, to know exactly what to do in those key moments to edge it out. Do you think that he's peaking,

heading into the next title defense, or is it still a little bit shaky on top, like anyone can win this title at any point? I still think anyone can win it. I mean, again, he might have lost this one, but for his opponent's inexperience and then poor decision-making at the crunch line and at the finish line frankly

so there's that but i will say this in defense of pantoja he's obviously a very skilled champion i can't think of many fighters in any weight class you could probably pick a couple maybe marab or something like that but who fight with such dedicated intensity for position, dedicated physicality. I'm going to make this rough every single time. And then combines that with genuinely good grappling skill. And by the way, a decent chin as well. He takes big shots and still kind of finds ways to hang on

and bleeds and doesn't lose composure. I was just thinking about this, like he'll fire an underhook and get head inside position, and then he's roughing people up. So now Erceg is having to fight that off before he can get any offense going. On the takedown, he's immediately looking for passing. He just brings a certain level of intensity where he makes everybody, for at least short periods but sometimes long periods, fight on his terms.

You're going to fight out of the deficit that I put you in. It may be a positional grappling battle, but I'm going to wear your ass out doing it. He fights with passion. He fights with almost a rabidness. You know what I mean? Oliveira fought Poirier with that same sort of rabid energy of like, I'm just going to scratch my way to winning this fight. People talk about like fighting like the rent is due.

Dude, he fights like the rent is due. But look, that's a similar trait in all of our aging heroes that come from Brazil. The RDAs, right? Like guys like that. It's just Gilbert Burns. Guys like that are just like... I would say Pantoja is a level above both of them. He definitely is, but this is what's great about the... And we're going to transition this perfectly into talking about Jose Aldo

and the co-main event, but this is what is so great about the history of Brazilian fighters. Do you have the superhero all-time greats like Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo, Nogueira for event, but this is what is so great about the history of Brazilian fighters. Do you have the superhero all-time greats like Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo, Nogueira, for sure, but even that next level down of legends, killers like Wanderlei, you can go across the board. Dude, there's like

they not only are killers, they not only are super elite, but the longevity in so many of these guys' careers is insane. It is insane. Shogun Hua, who just got announced into the Hall of Fame, the ability to linger like Aldo's trying to do now, to see Pantoja at 34, to see Figueiredo at 34 when he came back and won the title again from Moreno.

Like, dude, there's something in the blood, in the mindset there, that it's like, Brazilians can produce champions in all-time grades, but they can reinvent themselves and sustain Luke in almost ways we haven't been able to see from anyone else historically. I mean, just dogs. And the interesting part about Pantoja is he's not the pick who you want, Jon Jones,

Teporia, Habib, these guys who go undefeated en route to the title, right? From the moment they start to the moment they get there, they just blow through everybody. That's not Pantoja's story. He had ups, he had some downs, and this is kind of putting it all together in the last part of his prime. And so, dude, some of these battles are tooth and nail. Some of these battles are, you know, inch by inch, and he's barely winning them. But the difference to me is BC, and I think you see this, is Panto just skilled. No doubt about it.

But what's winning these is the burning desire all the time. Because honestly, he's either as skilled in certain cases. Obviously on the ground, he's better than a lot. His backpacking is great. But there's a lot of places where he is overmatched. But he makes up for that by just getting in your fucking face and making you fight on his terms. And that's why he's just barely eking it out sometimes.

But he's consistently doing that. He's got a formula. You haven't felt anything burning in your loins to that level, Luke, since those frat house STDs. Since I had jock itch in high school. There you go. Let's go to that co-main event. Speaking of Brazilian legends, Jose Aldo, at age 37,

comes back from retirement in which he was inducted to the UFC Hall of Fame and chooses to close out his current UFC contract on his own terms. He admits that he turned down the UFC's extension offer. What did he do in the co-main event? Went in there against Jonathan Martinez, riding a six-fight win streak and dropped three 30-27s over the course of the fight, relying on his boxing, looking to be into incredible shape. Great cardio. The full transformation that we've seen in recent years of Aldo from featherweight king to now

still dangerous veteran Bantamweight was on full patrol here and you got the full experience. Luke at 37. How great is Jose Aldo still after this performance? Dark horse title contender. Dark horse

title contender. He announced his retirement in 2022. He has been off for some time 37 years of age at bantamweight one of the toughest divisions amazing taking on a guy who was a surging contender still ranked outside the top 10 which i do think matters but like jose could have got hurt bad in this fight if if he wasn't as dialed in at this right and i was watching this and i was saying to myself okay bc here we go say say yes or no did his reaction time look good yes did his uh willingness to take a punch and then throw back look good yes did his quickness look good he looked like he went to the fountain of youth is this the post usada era shining through it could be it could be i'm not you know me about and throwback look good? Yes. Did his quickness look good? He looked like he went to the Fountain of Youth.

Is this the post-Usada era shining through? It could be. It could be. You know me about antidoping. People don't want to have that conversation, but we have no idea. He looked awesome. He looked awesome.

And the point I'm trying to make is, did his decision-making look good? Yes. So did he look prime Jose Aldo? No. No. But was there a drop-off? Not really.

Not much of one from the last time we saw him. And I'm pretty marauded because that fight was an altitude and he just got held against the wall. Jose Aldo looks just as good as the day he left the UFC, maybe even a little bit better. Jonathan Martinez. Now, this one we did kind of expect a little bit. I even said what is

Martinez's calling card the kicking game and particularly the leg kicking game but Jose Aldo fearsome leg kicker underrated defense and when you mix that with the takedown defense like he'll shut you down he will shut your shit down and then you better have an answer and Martinez for as good as he is and I want to be clear dude Martinez is this is why the win is so good for Aldo. Martinez is a good fighter. Aldo, the depth of his game. When he got, when he wanted to take down late, he got it. When he wanted to, when he eventually began to work the defense, he got it. And then he pushed inside of a range where now he's making Martinez deal with his boxing,

which he could not do. There are so many layers to the game of Jose Aldo. So the fact that he had, by hook or by crook, kept himself in great condition and then was technically so proficient. You had that experience. I mean, that experience is... To do a three-round fight for Jose Aldo is a walk in the park.

Sure. Wow. What a performance for the king. And I want to say one more thing, if I may, BC. There's a lot of newer fans that come to the sport every few years, some after the pandemic, some even since things got going after that, right? Sean Strickland brought in a lot of fans, Luke. He certainly did, and they all seemed like they're very unhappy,

undersexed males. But the point I want to make here is, the point I want to make here is, it's just a lot of dudes who are not getting their dick sucked. I mean, that's just a lot of angry dudes. I think we just lost a sponsor. Or maybe gained a few. I'm not sure.

But the point, not him. I'm just saying the followers. A lot of dudes who just, okay. There are so many people who I see, oh, GSP wasn't that good. Oh, Aldo wasn't that good. Oh, John Jones isn't that good. And I'm like, everyone plays this game where later on they look at someone's resume and they begin to be like, oh, that wasn't that great. That wasn't that good. Oh, John Jones, isn't that good. And I'm like, everyone plays this game or later on, they look at someone's resume and they begin to be like,

well, that wasn't that great. That wasn't that great. And then what you realize is these are just is nonsense, but it's so great that Aldo has come back around and seemingly out of nowhere, dude, dismantled a very good contender.

I don't care. I mean, look, if he's drinking a different brand of coffee and this one's stronger, look, we're going to always be open to the potentials of what's going on there with aging athletes being able to turn it back on. But to some degree, I think he's in a better

spot mentally, without question. I think there was that in-between area, right? I mean, he got re-motivated going down to Bantamweight and became sort of an accidental title contender due to a star power when you consider he got a title shot immediately after a loss there to Marlon Marais, although a close one. But I think Luke, you know, he went on another run and then lost it against Marab and made

the decision to retire. And it may have been the right time. I think he was a little bit lost since the two losses to Holloway outside of having purpose again for that Bantamweight title run. But then when you're in that mid to late thirties, maybe when you aren't training as hard, it can, you can see sometimes when these dips start and we go,

Oh, there it is. He's old. He's not the same guy or whatever, whatever Jose Aldo had to go through, through retirement, through getting serious into boxing. Again,

it's sharp resharpened his focus, but he seems very happy to be there. He seems willing to go in there and rip himself. I mean, that's what I'm saying about these late 30 Brazilian legends, the way that they're able to just kind of look at Barbosa, the shape he's been getting in lately, just sort of, I think he went through that same mental thing too of, you know, there can be dips and highs and lows in your motivation, wherever,

whatever Jose had to go through, he's got that motivation back. So Luke, do you think that motivation was ultimately to come out here and shine in a key negotiating window and give himself the leverage to get a very good UFC restructured contract moving forward? Or do you think because he looks so great, maybe he does try this on the open market, try to get a big crossover boxing name, try maybe to entertain smart cage pay-per-view money.

What do you think he does with this? Because there is money on his side of the table right now from this performance, and he looks really happy to be there, happy to put in the work, happy to find a new life, which is incredible. At 37, find new life. Yeah, and what I would add on top of that is, well, yes, I would agree with that. I mean, let me answer the question same answer i'm going to give to just about everyone who's in a similar circumstance aging legend don't have a lot of time left still look pretty good end of your contract what happens

next he's going to look for the biggest offer i think you know so if the ufc gives him an expedited title fight which i don't think a lot of people would be super upset at. That depends. They announced yesterday. That's worth stopping to have that conversation because he got the title shot off of losing to Marais. He just lost to... A controversial loss. I won't say controversial. I just think disputed. I just think that the right

decision was... No, there's a difference between controversial and disputed. Disputed just means people are split. Controversial usually means somebody got it way wrong or there was a well i guess it would depend on your view of the judges and how charitable it is to make it either way a lot of people felt like he won that one but okay but considering he lost to marab who's probably getting the next title shot in fact sean o'malley this weekend was fielding reporters questions about are you fighting marab in the sphere and he was like well maybe not the sphere but i could be fighting him in september there's no chance aldo deserves to get slid in

above marab but could he get o'malley on a short turnaround if he beats him i mean it's not a short turnaround because it would have to be this fall that he would fight marab what does jose do could he get a a a really heavy ufc new contract and kind of wait in line, potentially, and they could use that name again? He could get the winner of Murab and Shawn. I don't know what a Murab versus Aldo fight

does on pay-per-view. A Shawn versus Aldo fight does a lot better, obviously, especially if Shawn coming off of a Murab win. If Murab gets the belt, I could see doing that rematch

in Brazil, Jose versus Murab for the belt. Yes, and you put a co-main event, you could even put a bigger one there. But does he deserve it for one victory out of retirement against jonathan martinez no no

deserve no but what this isn't a world where you get what you deserve this is a world where you get what you leverage for yourself so that's it i feel like your money is leaning toward him coming back to ufc that they'll take care of him and he'll come back so i'll say this here's what i think are his three best options from the outside looking in one ufc gives him some kind of better deal and an expedited title shot because that's where the real money is if you can get the belt that's one two i think it's an outside shot i don't think it's that likely but if i'm the pfl i've got patchy mix i have no one for this guy to fight he might be the best bantamweight in the world gotta tell you a patchy mix versus a jose aldo fight it's one of the best fights you can make outside the UFC,

irrespective of weight class. That's incredible. And if they might give him the money for it, I would take, dude, if they said to me, what would you rather get, Murab versus Aldo 2 or Aldo versus patchy mix? I'm taking Aldo patchy mix 10 times out of 10. The third one is the influencer or even just straight up boxing route. And I don't know who he and his team have outpegged

as like oh that's a good candidate you hear the floyd rumors at one point did you believe them isn't floyd stuck in dubai i saw that over the weekend i don't know what the situation is there i mean maybe but like again i don't have any interest in that i don't i don't i don't know how lucrative that would be but those two on the mma side seem like very viable possibilities patchy mix for a big number. By the way, it would be a Bellator title. Wouldn't that be weird? First guy to win a UFC title, then go to Bellator,

and then potentially win a Bellator title? Hasn't really happened in reverse that way, I don't believe. No, Bader went there and won two titles, but he didn't. Oh, fuck, you're right. But he never won it. You're right, he never won it. So anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that would be huge. Let's see who gives him the money.

I think that'll dictate his options. Indeed. All right, let's go to topic number four, which is essentially winners and losers elsewhere at UFC 301 on Saturday night. Luke, before we get into these winners, including this turn, almost a turn back the clock, good feeling, Anthony Smith breakthrough early submission. I want to talk about one of the biggest losers.

So if you tuned into at L Thomas News on the old X this weekend, you were berated that the sky was falling, all the biggest losers. So if you tuned into L at L Thomas news on the old X this weekend, you were berated that the sky was falling. All the neighborhood. I was berated that the sky was berated with the fact that the sky, I don't think you know what berate means. All the neighborhood children were running into Luke's lawn and wouldn't get off there to retrieve their balls. And ESPN plus had ruined Luke's night,

but Luke wasn't just my night. I'm here to tell you what happened to me in the last 24 hours. I wasn't able to watch UFC 301 Live because I was at the Canelo fight. Purchased the pay-per-view. Well, that worked to purchase it. Oh, yeah. They'll take your money. But on my laptop and my phone, literally trying everything, Wi-Fi, off Wi-Fi,

hotspotting, VPNing, everything possible, I couldn't get ESPN Plus on my laptop or phone to play the purchase that is telling me that I purchased. Same thing happened to you in real time. This feels disastrously bad for the future. Can they fix this? All I'm getting is BAM tech errors every time I'm trying to click on it. I don't get errors.

I just, every time I go to my ESPN Plus section, I click on the thumbnail for the main card or anyone I can find for UFC 301. And then it routes me to that page. And then the screen refreshes and it asks me to buy the pay-per-view again. And then I try to buy it again. It says, oh, you don't have to buy it. You already paid for it. You're all set.

Then I go back. And then the process starts over and over and over again. Now, I've had problems with ESPN Plus for a while where you buy it and then it doesn't work. And then everyone tells you the same thing. Oh, change browsers. Sometimes in the past that has worked. Or they tell you to log out of your account, log back in. Yes, in the past that has worked.

That is no longer working. BC, I called ESPN Plus customer service on Sunday. Oh, you got a live body. I got a live body, and I spent an hour on the phone. They could not figure out what the problem was. I even had to give them my IP address and they tried to see if there was any kind of issue with that. There was not. They did not

like looking at your search history through that. It was disastrous. I mean, I'm not looking for, you know, Asa Akira in the ESPN Plus chat, but I'm just trying to point out, they gave me an hour on the phone, and I didn't end up with a refund,

and I didn't end up being able to watch it at all. Yeah, I still can't watch it. What they told me was, wait until this was yesterday. They said, wait until today. So today, BC, I fired it up again, and wouldn't you know it, I cannot watch. BC, I do not understand. It's not just about me on that event don't berate us with this i'm not do i even know what buy rate means i cannot believe in an era when there are numerous other

streaming platforms who all have flawless service even those that relate to one behind a paywall for example i used ppv.com and I was able to watch the Canelo fight. No issues, no problem at all. It worked just fine. In an era where A, there is stiff competition from other streaming platforms and rights holders change over time pretty considerably. And then two, when piracy is so ubiquitous that you can trot out a product as universally reviled and quite literally non-functioning as ESPN+. Dude, the balls on this company to think a product this deficient won't come back to haunt them in the end. Well, first of all, I'm here to tell you that PowerSnap has the best production in all of sports. And they should win an Emmy. It's not a UFC call.

I'm not bashing the UFC for this. Is there any chance that this is the continuation of the four-minute Dana anti-media video? Or is he purposely going to the switchers and the operators and saying, find the IP to Campbell's? No, because you are having problems. Right, but we both speak out against this stuff. Okay, how about this? When I did CBS Sports HQ after the UFC 301 event was over and I had to give them a 10-minute spiel on what happened,

they told me before we started, Hakeem told me, they ordered the pay-per-view and couldn't get it to work. My DMs were filled with people. This was not a pay-per-view card on paper, and yet i'm trying they're actively pushing me away from watching losing their mind and then by the way it was funny on the call that i had yesterday with the espn customer serve espn plus customer service what they told me was oh this works better on your tv on your phone i'm like well first of all i'm

not watching on my fucking phone number one number two yes of course i can watch it on my tv but it's in the living room i need to watch in my office where my computers are and she was like you know why don't you just go watch the tv i'm like lady yeah tuki watches blippy come on i'm like lady you are selling pay-per-views as available on a computer browser they have to work or stop selling them on the computer browser. I cannot believe I have this. UFC 300, couldn't watch it, and I paid for it. UFC 301, couldn't watch it, and I paid for it. If the streaming services are less reliable than the piracy,

I never, ever want to hear an ESPN executive say one fucking word about piracy. Your product sucks so bad, you have driven paying customers to that place. Enjoy that future. Tough words from a tough man. And a serious question. What the fuck am I supposed to do for UFC 302? Is it going to work? Serious2? Is it going to work?

Serious question. Is it going to work? I think you're going to have to pirate it. They're not making it easy. They got to fix that. Look, they got to fix it. You're making this all about me, dude. Everyone.

I couldn't watch it. I'm actually trying to do my job and watch these fights. I had to watch it on some bootleg Long Island Luke stream. And thank you for having that Long Island Luke. I hope I didn't out you. Stealing. Wow. All right.

Those were the big losers of 201, 301. But when we're talking about the winners in here in topic number four on Saturday, Luke, I hope I didn't out you. Stealing. Wow. All right. Those were the big losers of 201, 301. But when we're talking about the winners in here in topic number four on Saturday, Luke, if Canelo heard the whispers and the anger from critics and he fueled that properly, boy, did Anthony Smith, who at age 35, we were kind of like, man, maybe he should go away. He believed that he can still contend. Well, he got two minutes to show it against uh was it ehor patrino did i just screw that up uh vitor patrino excuse me and in two minutes luke

guillotine sub and it felt really good to see the aging veteran fighter remind you who he still is is anthony smith all the way back did he get his mojo back with his performance? Well, here's what was interesting to me. Yes, he got the sub, and he got the sub in part because Petrino made some bad decisions. So he picks him up, and then Smith kind of jumps guard, and it's like either you have to turn them. When you score a double, you have to pull the legs past you so that when you dump them, there is no guillotine, or if they jump guillotine and that's no longer possible,

you need to rest against the fence and then hand fight and not just fall into guard because that's what happens when you have a good black belt and you do that. So Petrino was making some poor decisions, which is indicative of potentially his long-term ability. But I will say this for Smith. First of all, I was very,

very worried for him. I did not know how this was going to go. Petrino fucking built like a brick shithouse. And I thought that was going to be enough. Smith looked short fight, short fight. He looked physical. He was in the pocket. He was landing and throwing leg kicks.

He was confident. He was marching down. Petrino looked confident. Think of the mental warfare you have to go through at that point in your career when everyone's telling you to walk away. They're like, you got a good broadcasting job. Just go. You don't belong here anymore. I love that it rallied you to walk away. They're like, you got a good broadcasting job. Just go. You don't belong here anymore.

I love that it rallied him to this performance. I mean, he was so poised and confident and surgical, and he got the job done. It felt great to watch. He absolutely did. I mean, this does speak to an extent to the depth at light heavyweight. Sure. But for the Anthony Smith experience,

where he had even said, everyone is counting me out. They want me to be a gatekeeper. This is about a passing of the torch. He even said pre everyone is counting me out. They want me to be a gatekeeper. This is about a passing of the torch. He even said pre-fight, fuck that. And of course, he's getting lambasted on social media for it. And then he goes out and he does that. The demise of Anthony Smith was grossly overstated. There's a little bit of life left in that tank.

I think he should get a big fight out of this. Can he win a title? That still seems like a pretty big climb. Big fight be the grappling challenge that him and alex perera have been going back and forth i would love to see that uh i think smith wins that one maybe probably i think smith wins that one smith's very good on the ground but either way wouldn't you agree he's earned a really big opportunity with this by showing hey there's a little bit of life left in this thing i just don't want that opportunity to be

too big i don't want to throw him back to the wolf. I want him to start having to build back a win streak to get back to being potentially... Does he want to make that climb? I mean, if not, you become a name opponent, right? I think he wants to make another run at contention. I think this has to rejuvenate

him to believe he can do that. This division might be, to your point, inexperienced enough that he might be able to make some. I mean, the guys, Luke, that we thought would be here at this point, and Goliath, Rakic, they didn't exactly get here. It's been mayhem atop this division. That's right.

So we'll see what happens on there. You could do the Rakic rematch. I know he lost, but it might work out in terms of the rankings and everything. I mean, either way, when you're an aging fighter and you've been through a lot of damage and then you sort of rejuvenate and resurrect, your gift is always going to be an even harder fight that could produce

another knockout. That's right. Just more difficulty. That's the grinder, the meat grinder we're in. We're going to get into Michelle Padea, I believe, in DMs from Donks, Luke, but Kyle Barajo. Bajalio. Bajalio. Kyle Bajalio is certainly a middleweight prospect who's rising and he only needed a few minutes to send friend of the program, Paul Craig,

back to the stab capital of the world, Glasgow. Glasgow. Glasgow. Glasgow. Brandon Wise of CBS Sports thinks we broke Paul Craig because we, you know. How did we break him? When he appeared in London on our interview show, Room Service Diaries, and we're like, man, this is the funniest guy ever.

He's the best. The rejuvenation, the reinvention at middleweight hasn't fully worked here, Luke. It's yet another tough knockout loss. Has Brandon ever sent a compliment about MK to you? Because he's never sent one to me. Is this a challenge? No, I'm just sort of curious if you've ever gotten any feedback about what we've done in MK that's been anything other than angry.

He's probably drinking that haterade. Yeah, a lot of that from Brandon. What do you think about, A, where Kaio can go with this performance, but B, like, with the age and the knockout losses adding up. It's a tough spot for Paul Craig after this. This was bad. I will say I thought Bahalio fought really well

took his time. Paul Craig tried to go for a takedown couldn't get it with baseball slide to go to guard. Bahalio has a good ground game, but decided to fight a more strategic fight on his terms would never participate in the ground backed up forced Paul Craig to stand and then you see the results was able in the second round to eventually put him away this was a very mature performance from Bahalio now of course

Craig leaves his head right in the middle he was getting tagged over and over again I will say I'm a little bit I mean here's the thing bc it's like changing weight classes people say oh it doesn't mean anything it would mean it means something but if dude i love paul craig he was great to us it's hard to watch that fight and think that he couldn't be doing much more with his stand-up technique sure and bojalio realized that he was going to have an advantage there and just stuck to it and sure enough the, the deficiencies really, really plagued Paul Craig. So on the one hand, nice, grown, mature performance from Kyle Behalio. Salute. Well done.

From Paul Craig, it's like, I don't understand the point of draining yourself to get down to any weight class if your stand-up is going to be this deficient this late in the game. They're going to piece you up in either place. And's exactly what you got here 36 years old four losses in his last five uh three of those by stoppage i will say this he's from scotland the glasgow knife capital let's fucking go scotland shouts to uh tom stoltman he won his third from scotland third world's strongest man, third in four years, by the way.

He got second last year. Canadian dog beat him. This year he gets it back. Scotland still having a good sporting weekend. Just want to point that out. Bojalio, 16-1 as a professional, unbeaten in the UFC. Let's get this guy a big middleweight fight. Yeah.

Let's find out. He earned a good opportunity with this one. Absolutely. Anyone else you want to shout out on this? A weird stoppage in the Brito and Jack Shore fight. Shore gets a big cut on his shin. Referee's like, oh, it's fractured. They call it. Shore goes to the hospital.

No fracture. They stitch him up, and he's fine, and he's on his way back, but it's a loss. I feel very bad for Jack Shore. That sucks a lot. I could see his soul through his. It was a bad cut. It was a bad cut. Also, Elvis Brenner reversing, I'm going to mispronounce his name,

Mike Tebek Oralby, the donk from, I think he's either Mongolian or... Yes. Yeah. Oralby, very, very good grappling. But, dude, Brenner had just the right kind of reversal grappling. Like, they were not equally good at takedowns, but one guy was very good at reversing, giving him tons of problems and then kind of surging late

and also grabbing the fence and they immediately take a point for it. Loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it. So in the end, Orlbaugh gets the win. Good for him. He was better. Also, Drakkar Klose getting a nice win over Joaquin Silva.

We'll see him soon on Have You Seen This? And that's really about it. There's just a few other things. So I got to take a whiz really bad, and I'm just going through my own inner debacle, looking at the clock and managing the pain with the expectations. Why don't you, can you, let's. Did you see where The Rock is in trouble?

The Rock? You know how The Rock is getting panned for him kind of ruining action movies. Oh, and then urinating in bottles? Yeah, how he'd always show up nine hours late and how he wouldn't want to break to take a wh whiz so he would just break out the bottle at all points and like in front of people and just i mean i feel like is there a time and a place for that yes so my grandfather used to bring one on the drive to florida i was gonna say if you're a trucker and you just can't afford to stop and you gotta be doing the old but do you remember that

lady who had the love triangle the nasa scientist who had the love triangle? And she drove from Texas to Florida, and she didn't want to stop. So on her way to go confront her other, she wore Depends so she wouldn't have to stop. Oh, wow. You know what I'm saying? Why can't The Rock just wear Depends? Why can't I just wear it right now? So I was wondering if that was like the grossest thing you can do to people. But my grandfather used to do it, and we all accepted it in the back of the van.

Yeah, but you're white trash. All right, okay. You're not white trash? Hey, well, I mean, I grew up around it. I don't mean to the old Von you here, but yeah, I grew up around it. I knew some people. Man, we was two tank tops in the summer.

The winner. Yeah, and a microphone, bottles and cans. Yeah, there we go. All right, let's go to topic number five. Guys, it happened this morning. Jesusesus christ the first major professional boxing card in the tokyo dome since james buster douglas upset mike tyson in 1990 and it couldn't have happened here to a better superstar when you talk about my personal palm for pound king entering this weekend nayua inoue the four division champion the undisputed junior featherweight champion at 122.

Joining Terrence Crawford is going undisputed in two different weight classes. He's 31 years old. He's at the peak of his powers. And Monday morning in Tokyo, Inoue needed to get up off the canvas in round one as he made an uncharacteristic technical error, got caught with a vicious counter left hand from Luis Neri.

And all that did was make the monster mad. Three knockdowns later, a just brutal and systematic stoppage of Luis Neri, who brought swagger, power, balls to the equation. Luke? Bad blood. Bad blood. A big, by the way, so Luis Neri was, we didn't even preview this fight like we should have, like donks are completely forgotten.

I got called out, I think, by that guy. I forgot the guy's name. Ben, maybe his name was. But, Luke, here's the deal. Luis Neri in the past went to Japan when he was the Bantamweight champion, fought Shinsuke Yamanaka, knocked him out,

failed PEDs for the fight, told everybody it was tainted beef. They gave him another chance the next year to come and do a rematch. Neri missed weight so badly, still went out and destroyed Yamanaka in the rematch and knocked him out. They banned him from fighting in Japan and never getting a license. Inoue went to the commission and was like, no, this guy's the next opponent. Lift the ban for one fight and I'll take care of him. This turned out to be awesome to get, you know.

And also, hold on. Neri talked a gang of shit about in a way saying he's overrated was a war and they were really going so it's like does this provide with a flag atop the mountain that 31 year old naio anui is not just a future like not just hall of famer or all-time great but like seriously one of the most special fighters of this modern era did he use all of the most special fighters of this modern era. Did he use all of the pound for pound credentials that make him great to put that flag down and say, I'm still that guy.

Number one, or should there be red flags that he just went through an absolute war here in his fourth weight class? I'm not sure how much of a war it was. And early on, it was, there was some back and forth. He got dropped in the first and then he dropped neary in the second and

never looked back. So is this a exclamation of, from his pound-for-pound abilities, or do you mark it against him after this performance? I don't mark it against him. Dude, he stopped Neary inside of six. And he broke it down. By the way, the over-under was six and a half, so he beat it. He scored the under.

I've been trying to figure out who do i put number one on my personal pound for pound rankings i don't expect this to mean anything to anybody else everyone else can do this exercise for themselves who is the best boxer alive i don't think you need that disclaimer people want to hear what's your opinion on pound for pound okay but i'm trying to i've been trying to figure it out so after in the immediate aftermath remember it was the same week where in a way beat marlin uh to polis yes and then bud beat spence. No, in a way, beat Fulton. Fulton, what am I saying? I'm so sorry. Yes, that was a huge

win. And it was really, really tough to say. But since then, Bud hasn't competed. But I did think that that win was so epic, so special, so incredible, I had to give it to Bud. I don't know what Bud is going to do at 154 against Madrimov. I'll revisit this conversation then.

But today, if someone said, what's your pound-for-pound ranking? Who's number one? It's Noya, in a way. What he has done today, and what he seemingly does every time now, is show absolute athletic precision, impeccable timing, showmanship, which I don't think should be lost. I mean, the Japanese are certainly helping him with the production effort, but he plays into the moment, certainly.

Brutal knockout power, devastating understanding of what his opponent's going to do, taking it away. Let me just say this. Your margin of error with a guy like in a way is fucking nothing two of the knockdowns two of the three total that he landed featured in a way backing up to the ropes with his back against the ropes waiting for luis nary to overextend on the combinations and as soon as he does and nary squares himself up yeah the shortest of left hooks in both occasions. Just like... He doesn't even get full extension.

It kind of just goes like this. And just enough touch. The knockdown that he scored in round two, which from a scorecard and momentum standpoint brought it even, was just beautiful. It was almost like a counter, half jab, half hook. Same scenario. Guy rushing after him.

Just the touch to get the droppage and the knockdown. But then the systematic breakdown to the body. He went on to land twice as many punches as Nary and connected on nearly 50% of his power shots. Same thing Canelo did, by the way, against Mungy, of 50% of his power shots. Incredible stat. Yeah, he showed us everything in the pound-for-pound arsenal.

I don't hold the knockdown against him, even though, Luke, it was well-studied on tape. It is a rare technical mistake that he makes. He't make many of them but he is a human so he does make them and it's been shown before on camera as well i mean this was not the first time he's had a first time he's been dropped but first time not the first time he's had a visible issue he's not perfect there are some there are some uh elements to him that that could be worked on but what i am going to say is dude i mean I mean, think about the final combination, right? So he hits him with the uppercut with the right hand.

And in the process, the timing on it, he hits him. There's a left coming from Neary. Usually when I hit the right uppercut, this is a famous Canelo punch. Canelo will, let me get it to my right, he'll jab, uppercut, all so he can then throw the left to the liver. It's one of his favorite he did on Jose Cito Lopez a million times, right? One of his favorite combinations. But here, there is a bit

of a, he throws a left hand, gets into range, bends over, hits him with the right, and waits just a beat for that left to come screaming around from Neary. Same right hand on the uppercut goes bop, bop, and then comes around the corner. And then, dude, when Neary fell, it just,

like a balloon with the air being let out of it. His ability to make split-second decisions is impressive. And BC, those split-second decisions often carry astronomical consequences for his opponents. That twofer, quick decisions that are powerful, they have no answer for. Remember, he was an insane pro prodigy in a Lomachenko-type way from the standpoint that he won a world title in a six-pro fight, won a world title in a second division like his eighth.

He's now up to four divisions, twice as undisputed. What we're watching here is something, the fact that he's carrying his power. I mean, even the great Chocolatito sort of leveled out at 115 with his power. And he's reinvented himself there. But when he hit that ceiling and was suddenly getting hurt

and even dropped at times, we got to see the very best of him in that old age. Every time Inoue steps up, he just shatters the ceiling above him. Goes in there and just dismantles Fulton. Goes in, you know, destroys Topalis, destroys Paul Butler, a couple fights before that.

Now it's looking like Australian Sam Goodman, who they brought in the ring, who was like 18-0 with eight KOs, is the mandatory that he's next in Inoue. It's just like, yeah, fine. But, like, whenever, this is why you know that he's truly an all-time great. It's not just the speed, timing, everything you just laid out. When the when the chips are down and it's go time, when he got his face broken against Nonito Donair in their first meeting in the third round and had to go the rest of the

way and lean on his boxing, his chin, all of that. And in this fight, when he got hit with a knockout clean counterpunch from a nasty knockout puncher. And what did the new way do? Instantly got up, got his legs back under him and started turning the offense in the same round back against Neri. But did you see the post-fight interview? Inoue through the translator says, this is

the greatest thing that ever happened to me that I got knocked down in the first round because it brought me to a new level of focus the rest of the fight. And he said, I don't remember anything that's happened after that knockdown. And they kept coming back to him in the interview and being like, okay, so what about in this point when the momentum changed? He was like, I just want to remind you guys, I don't remember anything.

He just did all that on instinct today. He did all that that we're talking about, this sort of like crazy, you know. He's a boxing computer. He is. I mean, look, he's really on his way to almost carving out his own unique historical legacy. He's Elvis in Japan, they say. He just filled the Tokyo Dome with 40,000 people on a Monday morning. On a Monday.

But you see, he's 27-0. 31 years old. He's been in 22 title fights, and in the 22 title fights, all which he won, he's had 20 knockouts. Dude, you are dealing with somebody that just won't be around like this very often. They will come around so rarely. Noya Inoue is the fucking man. I think as great as Canelo looked, and I'm fighting the battle, that he's still in the conversation of the pound-for-pound best at the moment.

I think it's Inoue, Crawford at number two, Canelo at number three, and then you bring in Usyk in the heavyweight. I put Usyk ahead of him, but I will say this. Can you quickly weigh in on this debate that happened because of a comment that Sean Porter made? Shouts to Sean Porter. We love him on the show. But he did make a comment I didn't agree with and a lot of other people took issue with as well, which is he was saying, you know, in a way to truly be a star, he has to fight in the United States or something to that effect. Yes.

There is something to be said for it but what i will say is bc how can you look at what he's doing yes and say oh you're really missing out on the american experience would i love it if he was here didn't he come twice to the states during the covet times you know or i think right around then and he fought in like a smaller theater and then bob arum was there bob was there in tokyo too but i'm just saying listen what i love to see in the united states that's a point it's a point of viewing he's fighting on mars i don't think you can sell out the tokyo dome and be elvis in japan and be like oh he's got to come here yeah he doesn't have to he calls the shots like he should be great the key he's going to need is what is that horizon pay-per-view fight that he's going to get before the end of his

career that will be you know the the definitive moneymaker in his career, but that can ultimately define his career? That's what I was leading to. Tank's team wants it to be him, but, you know, Tank's fighting around 135, probably closer to 140 in the future. Even if they did a catchweight and Tank somehow got down to 30, which I don't think he's— He hasn't done that in four years which I don't think he has done that in four years. Yeah. But then you're, you're still asking a new way to come up an additional two weight classes in eight pounds from where he's at right now. I think he should, and eventually we'll try the waters at featherweight because I do think it's

just sublime. And I think even if his power levels out, which it has not leveled out yet, he's got the boxing IQ and the ability to still be packing out, like, and be explosive and quick and outwork guys. I think that can still be the case. Here's what's interesting about him. He's a, I like the Pacquiao-like and be explosive and quick and outwork guys. I think that can still be the case. Here's what's interesting about him. I like the Pacquiao comparison, but there's a big difference.

Pacquiao was a bit of a machine gun kind of volume guy, and in a way is like there might be three punches, and the three that land all land devastatingly. Last thing on this, there's a video Top Rank posted. It's on their Instagram, and it's on their Twitter. I posted it as well. I shared it where it's the, someone had a cell phone in their ringside

at the final sequence when, in a way, polishes off Neary and you hear the uppercut and then the hook land. Dude, the sound of this fucking guy's punches, yes, it is amplified by the fact that the Japanese watch combat sports like everyone watches tennis, right? Even, dude, let's back up a step here neri is known as a big puncher big known as a big puncher the fact

that he dropped him in the first i was kind of worried because i like dude neri can thump even then listen to the sound of neri's punches land versus in a ways and remember neri is the bigger guy essentially in this equation and still in a way, dude, it's sound. I'm not in any way accusing of having loaded gloves. It's not what I'm saying, but it sounds like that.

It sounds like there's something extra in there that like, just doesn't make sense. It's like when the, the, the can't miss major league prospect is playing, you know, high school ball two towns away from you. And you go there and you just,

just hear him ground out to shortstop. And you're just like, what sound is that? I haven't heard that sound coming off that bat. Yeah, it's just something so next level, but the point is he has all the other tools as well. He truly is a living legend right now, and we see him continue at 31.

Before we get into DMs from donks, we're bringing it back this week. I wanted to apologize. There was a hiccup with us going to fan subs Friday. We did it from SiriusXM Studios there. We had a great time at the win. The list got cut off. I didn't realize there was more.

We didn't play some videos that were part of it. We're going to fix that in the future, correct? We're going to come back with fan subs and do it the right way? Yes. Okay, because that's what the fans want. We are going to do it the right way. Well, this week we gave you the chance Sunday night on Instagram on our post at Morning Combat to respond with your questions

that you want answered on this show based on the weekend that was, this one's called DMs from Donks. Is that noise donkey sex or like pre-vomit? Like a cat? Yeah, like a hairball? It's gross either way, right?

It really is disturbing. All right. The first one we got here is from ColeBrown858. What are your thoughts on Michelle Pereira's backflip, and should he have been penalized for kneeing and kicking a downed opponent? Luke Pereira would win his, I think it was his seventh consecutive fight across this long win streak, and he took care of that donk in like

less than two minutes was it legal against ihor potierra okay i'm gonna be honest a big part of me doesn't care because i just don't have an interest in watching poteria fight he's got a weird style that i just don't care for you like perera uh he's growing on me he's definitely growing i mean he went to that guillotine quick. He's got the choke. I said this. I kind of stand by it, dude. There are exceptions. I'm not saying there's not exceptions.

But if you get standing guillotined in the UFC, I'm not sure you should be in the UFC. Wow. Are you just calling that white belt shit? I'm not saying he is one. But, like, dude, the reality of, like, why does a guillotine work under normal circumstances? It's not just the choke you're putting on, but the legs of, like, why does a guillotine work under normal circumstances? It's not just the choke you're putting on, but the legs you're using. Hold on a second.

Do it. Fucking Jesus. I'm holding tight over here. What I was going to say was you have to use the legs to also control their hips. And so that's the twofer that gets you going. Or you can do a standing guillotine and then press them into the fence, and the fence assists you. But if your hands are free and your feet are free Yeah, why are you? Why do I have

to take? I'll be right back. Luke, why don't you just take the next I just want to point out, dude, just go pee on yourself. Just pee on yourself. Alright, this fucking unprofessional dirtbag. Look at him. Look at this fucking ape. Alright, give me the next question. I'll do this one. Dolo, as Sean Price would say. What do we fucking ape. Alright, give me the next question. I'll do this one dolo, as Sean Price would say. What do we got here?

Alright, from Joshua L. Eventhal or Leventhal. Joshua Leventhal. With both Aljo and Max, again the word both, recently moving up and finding great success, what two adjacent weight classes do you think provide the

most potential for dynamic new matchmaking? Wait, wait, throw it up one more time. What two adjacent weight classes do you think? Again, I think the one that you see here, I think you can get from one 45 to one 55,

a little bit of that for sure. Yeah, it's going to be there. I think that, I think that that little nexus between one 35, I should 135 145 and then 155 that seems to me in terms of body type differences in terms of size differences again by virtue of them being only 10 pounds it's somewhat mitigated flyweight tends to be a little bit too small but sean o'malley i think a big size bantamweight could go up i interviewed ivan flores the coach of Max Holloway, and he even told me they sort of consider Teporia a blown-up bantamweight.

So I actually do think there's a fair amount of that. I don't think it's really going to be middleweight and light heavyweight. You can do talent transfers, but I don't know if you get the best kind. Or even 155 and 170. You could throw 155 in this conversation as well, but that's part of this one, but that's really it. Just 135 to 155. All right, next. Fuck Brian Campbell. From It's Not Cage Fighting, inspired by Erseg's performance

at 301, which unranked or low-ranked fighters, 10 to 15, do you think could give their champion problems? It's a great question. So let's pull up the rankings, and I think... Did you pee on yourself? You should have. All right, BC, the question is, what guys or girls ranked 10 to 15, should be really 11 to 15 is what they really mean, could give their champions problems in their respective weight classes? Ready?

Was I unprofessional or relatable with this scenario? A little bit of both. Okay, thank you. Okay, could Matt Schnell beat Al Pantoja? Probably not. No. Tagir Ulan-Bakal, I don't think so. No.

Tetsuro Taira, not right now. Not yet. Not yet, not yet, but long-term potential is there. Sumiderji, no. David Dvorak, no. Okay, at 135, could any of these guys beat Sean O'Malley? Dominic Cruz, probably not. Jonathan Martinez? That's going to be replaced by Jose Aldo.

That's a maybe. That's a maybe. Mario Batista? No. Ricky Simone? No. Pedro Munoz? No.

Okay. Who could beat Ilya Teporia, BC? Edson Barboza? According to you, no one. I said right now. That's not forever. Okay. His time will come, too.

Edson Barboza? No. Bryce Mitchell? Unlikely. We already saw that one. Dan Ige? I like Dan, but no. Diego Lopez?

No. Sadiq Yusuf? No. You don't think Diego Lopez could have an outside shot of making a title run here? Outside shot. Outside shot? Yeah. Yes, he's a maybe.

I'll put him as a maybe. All right, for 155. Dan Hooker? No. Jalen Turner? Outside shot, but unlikely. Yeah. Benoit Saint no. Jalen Turner, outside shot, but unlikely. Benoit Saint-Denis, not right now, but maybe. He will fight for a world title.

And Dos Anjos in his prime was a champion, but not right now. Bobby Green, no. 170, Joaquin Buckley? Getting closer. Yeah. Getting closer. Neil Magny, no. Michael Page, probably not.

Vicente Luque, no. And then Kevin Holland, probably not. All right, 185. Hamzat Chamayev, yes. Anthony Hernandez, yes. Our outside champion, maybe. He's a dude. Fluffy? Maybe the most underrated fighter in the UFC.

I'm not saying he's not underrated. Paul Craig, no. Kyle Behalio, not yet. Chris Curtis, probably not, but he could make it fun. Almost done. 205. Alonzo Minifield, no. Bogdan Guskov, no. I don't know if anyone outside the top six can fill this. Okay fun. Almost done. 205. Alonzo Minifield? No. Bogdan Guskov? No. I don't know if anyone outside the top six can fill this. Okay, there's nobody at 205 that's going to come close.

And then lastly at heavyweight, Rosenstreich? No. Derek Lewis? No. Romanov? No. That's retread city in there. Yeah, no.

I'll just leave it at that, but you get the idea. All right. All right. Let's keep it going here. Thank you for picking up my urinary problems. Thank you. Next time you need to just wear Depends. Like a real man.

It took a lot to put Humpty Dumpty back together again for this show. So there we go with that. Let's go to question number four from Landlord6285. Interesting handle. Jones vs. Pereira is the heavyweight title fight to make. Historic fight. Aspinall is the future of the division anyway.

Are we doing skits and bits here? Jones fight or not? Change my mind. What are we doing here? Okay, so this landlord's trying to... Read what he wrote. I did. I did. Aspinall is the future of the division anyway. What are we doing here? What are we doing here? Thank you, Team Reddit,

apparently. But Luke, what is he actually asking? So he's saying Jones versus Pereira is the heavyweight fight to make. It's a historic fight. Dude, I am so tired of this bullshit argument well i don't even know what his argument is hold on here he goes john is a legend and if he wants to fight x or y he can do it and my answer to that is yes of course if he doesn't want to fight aspinall and he wants to fight poet on have we have been very clear do you want to fight Aspinall and he wants to fight Poiton, we have been very clear. Do you want to see that fight? I would love to see that fight.

I'm not against that fight. Guys, I cannot stand it. I cannot fucking stand it. He's about to cook. When MMA fans shit on boxing, this guy's the champ. How come he's not fighting this guy? Or this guy's the this, and how come that's not happening? You know why? Because in MMA, that shit doesn't fly. We don't have a million weight classes. We don't have a bunch of champions not defending titles. And then when a

fighter comes around that for whatever reason you like or dislike, but this case you like, we'll just, let's just do boxing shit. Let's just throw out the rules. Let's just completely ignore precedent. Let's ignore architecture. Let's create problems because we just fucking feel like it. Fuck off. Fuck off. Memo, if you're wearing a belt, you have responsibilities to that weight class. So if you don't want those responsibilities, fine. And if you're an adult male wearing a championship belt to a pro wrestling event, you better be prepared to defend it.

Exactly. Right there. Exactly. Right fucking there. Change my mind. Yeah. There's two guys in this division wearing belts. There isn't any mystery about what fight to fucking make.

We know what it is. So either take that one and keep the belt or let go of the belt and take whatever fight you want. But if you've got the belt, you've got obligations. Fucking period. It's not

mysterious. It's not up for debate. Thank you, Landlord Underwater Lopez, to you too. Our final question. Fuck off! Alright, sir. Skits and beats. If we could just keep those neighborhood kids off your lawn

while you're working out, then that would be better appreciated. From Omar underscore underscore Vars, Canelo's entrances are always entertaining. Yesterday's, I would would say wasn't too over the top what's things that boxing can take from ufc to present the product and vice versa i mean would you agree with ariel's general beef that boxing press conference is notoriously boring should take on a more exciting ufc-like presentation and allow fans to ask questions

no no no no no okay because i don't disagree with this i okay so the actual like entertainment in the arena i don't think boxing can take anything quicker pace would be nice say again quicker pace in general on boxing cards uh yeah sure fine fine quicker pace could be okay uh i mean yeah okay there's a couple things but they're relatively minor on the press conference i do agree that ufc pressers and by the way i'll say you know what i'll back that up a little bit i'll back that up i do like that for example the uh presser excuse me the weigh-ins will be outside like in toshiba plaza and i think uh ufc could do a little bit more of that they don't do enough quite enough of that that's something that both

could learn um but i would also say that the the of UFC weigh-ins, boxing could pick up from. For sure that I would agree with. As well as the pressers, they could be a little bit more controlled. But this idea that you should invite the fans, guys, I don't mind it if they want to give fans the opportunity to ask questions. But that's the only time the fans should be there. If it's a press conference, it's for the press. If the press is there to serve as an entertainment vehicle for the fans in attendance, it's a pep rally.

Call it what it is. Sure. But entrance-wise, I do think Canelo just has these timeless, epically awesome pro-Mexican entrances with the mariachi band and the hip music playing. Would you say this one was, would you say the one with John Ryder in Guadalajara was better? Yes.

Yeah, I would agree with that too. I would, you see the walkout from Mario Barrios who was in the pay-per-view co-main on the Canelo card. He comes out with the Aztec warrior vibe and all the dancers and the traditional. Insane. That was great. That's what I mean.

It's like, what could boxing learn from that? UFC already does that. Yeah, UFC already does that in the big events. They seem to, for the big, really big pay-perper-views allow more of a choreographed entrance whether it's very little very little like you know very little though would you like to see that more would you like to see them given free pride reign to just come out and do i mean i understand if the ufc doesn't want to do that for uh every fighter or like you know only for main event guys or something like that. I think keeping a lid on it is

probably okay, but they keep too much of a lid on it is what I would argue. You don't want to become the no fun league. You want to still... Did you watch the Dana White roast of Tom Brady? I was unable to put those clips in. Have you seen it? I went to bed last night at 8.30.

They got Dana a few times, the comedians. I did see that. He had to make a night at 8.30. Okay. Well, they got Dana a few times, the comedians. I did see that. He had to make a comment about the liberal media and make a trans joke. Dana's whole skit was like trans jokes. His entire identity is like identity politics now. That's his entire identity. Yeah, that's where we're at. All right.

Thank you to our DMs from Donks, our fans. Don't forget that morningcombat at gmail.com right now is your email home to reach the show with your fan subs. What else do people send in on that? Pornography. Yeah. I don't even know who's on the other end. Mikey used to be. I don't know who is these days.

But send in. We're going to do more fan subs. So get them right. I'll present them in the right way. We'll do it right. Thank you guys, as always, for having our back. We close today's Monday episode, though, with a traditional classic segment, Luke. Me scouring the globe for the highs and lows, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the in-between

in the world of combat sports. Elderly abuse. And beyond. Sometimes it's elderly abuse, but we call it Have You Seen This Shit? Have you seen this shit? Friday's UFC weigh-in show in Rio brought out some traditional Brazilian dancers

and watch Anik, DC, and Uncle Dean Thomas get down here Luke Riverdance style, right? So I will tell you that. Have you ever taken a samba class? No. I took a samba class one time because I've taken salsa classes and samba. Dude, samba is the hardest of them all.

Like, it's not, it's so, salsa is easy compared to samba. Okay. This is getting a little dirty dancing style. If I gotta be honest, I'm just looking at their thongs. Okay, there you go. I'm not even gonna pretend I'm looking at it. Good fun had by all, but we had a great face-off. Speaking of let's effing go Scotland, Paul Craig and Kyle Boralho painted their faces. That's exactly his name.

Scotland and Brazil respectively, Luke, and we had a let's fucking go Scotland moment right here. Great face-off. Are they gonna kiff? Kyle didn't bend at all from this, Luke. He was not intimidated by Scotland. You know what? I gotta say, great face-off, although the glasses kind of take away from it.

Yeah, to some degree. A little bit. We got the DM from Donk about the full Michelle Pareda experience. Let's relive this fight with Ihor Potiera. Oh, sorry, first we had this at the weigh-ins. This is from the Dana White cam. This guy's just full on. Dude, he is so athletic. It's unbelievable.

These kip-ups that he's doing are ridiculous. That's insane. There's not even anyone there in the crowd, and he's just, like, pulling out the full arsenal. There's more people on stage. Yeah. Well, he brought that same energy, Luke, when he needed just 54 seconds to spaz out Potiera here by

submission. Let's get a look at some of the highlights. So he drops him, which is great. And then he was like, you know what? Fuck passing guard normally. Bah! Can that become legal? Because that's just stupidly insane. It's got to be legal. Here's what I was going to say. That would be one of the shots you actually would not want for the head of a ground department.

Basically, I say if you can do the backflip, then whatever happens, happens. That's a rule that's good for fraternity houses. I don't know if it's good for the UFC. The reality is this. And you would know from experience. You would. I would. What I'm going to say is, if you're going to let someone on the ground take a shot, you want their head to have

and their neck to have flexion. So if I shoot on you and you greet me with a knee, my head can go back. But if I'm laying on the ground, my head can't recoil. Yeah. So then you take everything as a consequence. It's not a soccer kick. I don't want a soccer kick. But I think you should be allowed a little bit more.

I'm going to say it one more time. I just don't like Poteria's game. So I just don't mind. You know what I mean? You know, I love and pop when real recognizes real in this show. How about backstage at three Oh one with this WEC reunion when uncle Faber comes in to hug Jose.

I love these living legends. Luke, it just brings back like our, not our childhood, but our, our more, you know, intimately young MMA fan.

People just don't know. And there's Andre Penainiris. Oh yeah from Club Shoot the Box He is the I think he controlled or does still control Shooto Brazil. Yeah I'm just making But he's not from Shoot the Box. No.

Like I know. Shoot the Box is in Curitiba Alright. Mr. GHB himself Rufy came through with this scissor sweep on Jamie Malarkey. It's not a scissor sweep. Wow. It's a leg scissors. They're different.

Well, you always say off camera that you can't wait for the day when two fighters in the UFC finally scissor each other. You got it right here, Luke. Scissoring. I mean, it was a good highlight, right? It's a fantastic. Is that the same move that Anderson Silva got caught with? Yes, the leg scissors. That was Rio Chonin.

Rio Chonin. I was going to say Rio Chinon. Oh, look at that. They can put the little green screen there. Yeah, not bad. We should get some elderly death in the middle of there or something. Luke, let's go over to your card. Just want to be very quick.

If something is a sweep, that is a reversal of position from some form of guard. There has to be use of a guard. Otherwise, it is not a sweep. Sweeps are different than reversals, and that is a takedown. So everyone can shut the fuck up about that, please. Wow. All right, let's close on the UFC at 301. Here's Drakkar Close slamming himself out of a guillotine.

Luke, have you ever seen this? So the reason why you haven't seen this is because he basically slams himself into mounted guillotine. But it worked only because he got out of it. Yes. Okay. It worked. It worked this time.

Are you saying 60% of the time that it works, it works every time or something like, are we going, oh, you don't do, you don't do Anchorman. I forgot. Anchorman. Here we go. Put the camera on me. Ready? Anchorman.

Not a funny movie. That's a movie. For 2005 it was. Come on. Anchorman here we go put the camera on you ready Anchorman not a funny movie that's a movie for 2005 it was come on Anchorman listen to me Anchorman is a movie for simpletons says the frat boy hey let's keep it going you know that blessed highly favored song that just can't get out

of anyone's head there's a new music video for it starring Oscar De La Hoya and his significant other, Holly Saunders. Did you see, this is a real, I'm not doing a bit. This is, this really happened over the weekend. Let's watch it. favorite holly favorite holly favorite holly favorite holly favorite luke oscar put in his own character video here a man, a what would you call a little person, little person wearing fishnets, which calls back to one of Oscar's greatest hits. So he's having fun with himself.

What do you make of that? I mean, he is both blessed and highly favored, it would seem, Luke. But I think someone needs to throw carbonic acid in my face. Did you see Oscar's lady showed up at the weigh-in with that full-body nude suit? I did see it. I didn't see it, but for you sending it to me. Yeah, I think they would shut us down if we played it. But it's a full-body dress.

So she was clothed. But the pattern shows breasts and vagine. Vagine, yeah. And I was like, I don't know. What is Oscar doing? And why did he have little people boxing for no reason? It's just Dior. Suits tailored.

I mean, it won't leave your body once it gets in there. It's not going to anyway stick. Okay, speaking of really weird things captured on tape in Las Vegas this weekend, here is the announcement for Merab versus O'Malley at the Sphere. So where's the drive-by shooters when you need one? Wow.

I'm teasing. I love the smell. That's not the real show. Rob's been aggressively posting a lot of fun socials lately, Oh, wow. I'm teasing. I love the smell. I'm teasing. That's not the real Shaka Shalom Ali. It's just a joke. And Rob's been aggressively posting a lot of fun socials lately, but what do you make of that fake face-off turning into a dance sequence? Flash mob. I don't know.

I'm not the target audience for this. Okay, there you go. All right. Well, Luke, Real did recognize Real in a Las Vegas gym at the Capitios here when Canelo Alvarez warming up for Saturday's Munguia fight. Got some ring time in with good old Jorge Masvidal, who's boxing Nate Diaz on June 1st. Yeah, yeah.

Look at that. That's pretty cool, actually. Indeed, indeed. So you can see him showing the strategy. Giving him some pointers and some tips. I mean, listen, if you're Jorge Masvidal, you could do a lot worse than training with Canelo Alvarez. In Capitio, there was a part of Team Canelo over the weekend.

Jorge Capitio. Is that right? He runs the gym. Yeah, he's been working with a lot of different people in like a secondary role. Have you ever interviewed him? He was on the Baddest Tour, but I didn't get like a one-on-one interview. We should maybe talk to him. He sounds like he might have some cool stories.

Indeed. Indeed. He's worked with a lot of different people, including Brandon Moreno. He was in his corner when he won the title against him. Dude, there's not many guys who can cross MMA and boxing and be accepted in both. He seems to be... Yeah, Dewey Cooper, another one? That's right. Indeed. Okay, let's keep it going here. Canelo Munguia time.

Here is Canelo and Tank Davis sharing love. This is the first time they've met in person and it was real. Recognizing real. A lot of love for the two of them. Wow. Two of the best. I love when they just look at each other and go, yeah, I know what you got. I know what I got. We're special.

That's like when you and I, you know, like touch fists before the show. And like Tate Davis, he's kind of salty. He's been friendly to me. Oh, he went after Frank Martin at the presser on Saturday. Oh, my God, dude. I mean, that presser was crazy. But I was going to say this. Like when you see Davis talk about, like, for example,

have you ever seen clips of him talking about Inouye? Yes. He doesn't talk shit about Inouye. Respect. So when you see Davis talking very praiseworthy and mild about someone, that's pretty rare and tells you it's real. Our next one is outside T-Mobile Arena before Saturday's fights. We teased it earlier.

Here's Caleb Plant and Edgar Berlinga jawing. I'm fighting Canelo in September. I'm going to fight Canelo in September. We're fighting. And if you don't fight Canelo in September. I got my business already written in September. I promise you. And he said if he don't get the Canelo fight, then we're going to run it now. Dude, Caleb Plant wants the smoke from everyone. You remember when he put his hands on Jermall Charlo for Charlo pulling on the beard? Did you see Charlo's apology video that was really weird that he just put up?

I didn't see the video, but I did see that he apologized. He was just like, all right, you're cool, Caleb. I had it coming. Now he's chasing after Berlanga aggressively. You could hear Edgar there. He thinks he's getting Canelo in the fall. Hope not. He said, I'll knock you out next. Caleb Plant wins that fight. Plant versus Berlanga aggressively. You could hear Edgar there. He thinks he's getting Canelo in the fall. Hope not. He said, I'll knock you out next.

Caleb Plant wins that fight. Plant versus Berlanga? I'd watch. I'd watch that one. Plant, I think Plant smokes him, though. I think Plant does to him what he did to Durrell. You have respect for Plant like I do, like where he's just about that life. He's about that life, and he's technical.

Very good fighter. He's technical. He believes in himself, and he should. Like, okay, he came up short against Canelo. He came up short against Benavidez. So what? Yeah. These fucking guys were tough.

All right, I want you to focus on the craft of Canelo here. Here is round four. Just as Munguia was firing up, Canelo dropped him. He did add that left hook to the body on the way down, but it's that right uppercut, Luke. Check this out. Yeah, but look very closely. So this is guard manipulation. So if you look closely, Canelo doesn't—it's not a left hook.

I mean, it is a left hook, but but if you notice what he does with the left hook he pulls the guard down because Munguia is like this so when he pulls the guard down it opens it up and he can slide right through in the middle so that's one thing that was killing me about Munguia so for example who do you you ever seen any of my tape studies I know you don't

watch them but not enough BC in those you know just really they're lacking this sugar and one of the guys who's, like, really dedicated about guard manipulation is Errol Spence. He will pull and pin and pull and turn with it a lot, and Canelo did it and then fired it. Munguia never does it. And I was like, dude, you're not going to get open otherwise.

You've got to pull the hand down. Such a beautiful punch. It's a fantastic punch. It's like the one that Manny caught Marquez with in their second fight early. And that knockdown was the difference in that very close fight where he just kind of threw it so tight at an awkward angle. That uppercut was just non-traditional. This is what I mean. Canelo creating lanes to punch rather than just waiting around for a lane to be open.

After the fight when we talked about Canelo originally sounding like he wasn't into the David Benavidez fight, but then talking about the money, right before that interview with Jim Gray, here's Canelo pointing at Benavidez and saying, right here. Don't do this if you're not going to take the fight, bro. Luke, I'm starting to believe that he is going to take the fight, but that it's more just a leverage thing

and it's like a big brother thing. He doesn't want Benavidez to dictate it. Again, I hope we're not going to try to bleed Benav say this i hope you're right i hope it's september because that's that's the biggest fight you can make in boxing right right isn't it isn't that the biggest fight you can make in boxing right now oh uh do you think fury joshua is bigger or do you you know and that's not to say anything bad about fury versus zeusic which historically is such an important fight yeah or do you think if it was like Ryan, Tank 2 or something that that would be bigger? That might still

be bigger, but it's up there. Interesting. Alright, let's continue what we're doing here. We mentioned Tank Davis and Frank Martin had a press conference hyping on Saturday, the June 15th card that's coming up in Vegas. Let's listen in on Tank just disrobing Frank over here.

Man, him don't got nothing in common. You don't know me. But the little female he got. That's the problem. But that little female he got, she probably around here somewhere. I'll catch up with her. La, la, la, la, la, la, la. Hey, hey, hey.

Little female. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, with that, let's move on. Listen, this is a tremendous fight. June the 15th saturday mgm grand guard luke there the the powers that be the court of public opinion has basically 10-7 this this round between them as if gervonta the whole presser i mean every time frank tried to talk gervonta jumped in be like he's from the suburbs you know he's just like always have the right jab at the right moment does that matter do you think frank got sunned in this uh i'll say this tank had one disc that i thought was so deep

and it didn't get picked up on he was saying like oh i've seen tank to frank martin he was like oh i've seen you party with ryan he's like when he was like oh not this fight but a previous fight and he was like oh yeah not this fight but yes. He goes out of his last win, the Duarte fight. And he was like, man, if I started boxing when you started boxing, I wouldn't be out in the club. He's like, what do you mean? He's like, well, you started boxing when you were 15. I didn't.

I started when I was six. And he's like, you have all that time you need to be catching up, and you're out there getting drunk and fucking around in the club? Dude, planting mountains mentally. He goes, dude, you don't have the skills to be partying like that. And I was like, God damn. First of all, the exchanges between them drove the heat up ahead of June 15th. Big time.

Let's look at the face-off. It did get a little bit intense at times. I like this angle where you can see Tank coming from a distance. Dude, Tank is all fucking business. I mean, Frank didn't back down, but Tank is like talking about his girl. I mean, he's hitting him from every angle. Dude, that is all fucking business. I mean, Frank didn't back down, but Tank is like talking about his girl. I mean, he's hitting him from every angle. Yeah, dude, that is fucking Baltimore right there. That is Old Bay in your face.

Yeah, and he brought it during this faceoff as well. Dude, look at him right there. And the thing is, dude, I like Frank Martin's game. I love Frank Martin's game. I love his game. I actually am so looking forward to this fight. People are down on him because he hasn't fought since that last fight. Was that the Greek fighter he fought?

He went the distance with. He was kind of running away, the opponent. Wasn't he? He was very hard to hit. He was very defensive, very kind of moving away from the action. I don't remember. I thought Frank got skewered just because he was just trying to catch up to this guy who was running away. Yeah.

Whatever. There we go. Hang on. Who's the big donk in the back, the white guy who was running away. Yeah. Whatever. There we go. Hang on. Who's the big donk in the back? The white guy? Tom Brown. That's Tom Brown. Okay.

So he's the brother-in-law of the Goossens. He's married to a Goossens. Is that right? Yeah. Oh, okay. Luke, let's play a game called Name That UFC Champion that's coming up on this motorcycle. You must put in your guess before the motorcycle stops. Give me a hint. Watch it.

There's only a few UFC champions. You have until he stops the motorcycle. Do you have hint watch it there's only a few ufc champions you have until he stops the motorcycle do you have any early guesses a champion yep what it says i didn't see i don't know i don't know who is it i thought you'd be better at this game oh islam it's islam all right look he's gonna get paralyzed like a motherfucker driving that thing around yeah let's go back to girls gone wild getting hurt. Let's watch this. Okay Holy shit, look that means new new meaning to the term broad jump. I mean, that's just that's great right there All right. Let's go to this fight in a bowling alley. Watch the extreme rare at the top of the screen. Oh!

Oh! That's a bowling ball to the head from three feet away for the KO. Wow. Dude, you can kill a motherfucker like that, man. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. That is intense. All right, let's check in on Polar Time.

Have you ever gotten a fight at a bowling alley? Allen Iverson has, and that taught me not to. I mean, again, I don't know what it's like to be a big-time celebrity. Those people are not big-time celebrities. Yeah. So I'll say I don't know what it's like for big-time celebrities. But if you're an ordinary person, it's not hard to not get into a fight. It's actually very easy.

Depends where you grew up. Hold on. There are, of course, exceptions. I mean, I grew up in and around Waterbury, Connecticut. Dude, I've been mugged twice. You had to actively avoid fights. Yeah, look, I got mugged twice. I got mugged once in Washington, 1980s Washington, D.C., and then once in Lawton, Oklahoma.

Yeah, you'll go to tough neighborhoods and tough areas. Lawton, Oklahoma? That's your dad's hometown, isn't it? Dude, that was the worst beating I ever got. I got, like, seven on one that beat the fuck out of me and my brother. How old were you? 10 or 11. Dude, that's traumatizing.

Oh, yeah, dude. We got roughed up. My brother had to go to the hospital. We got roughed up. You ever talked about this on camera? No, I don't think so. I didn't want to stumble into this. I feel awful.

No, but I got held at knife point, too, in D.C., so it happens. It's definitely not your fault. What I'm just saying, at a bowling alley, just hanging out, it's not hard to not get into a fight. It's actually quite easy. Poetan is Alex Pereira, the two-division champion, and Luke, he's had a busy couple weeks here. Let's check in on him playing...

What's this instrument called? What's that? here's the reality he could be doing a terrible job and they're just it's like you hit the wrong note shama yeah well poetown went backstage at 301 and what's the new thing of of active fighters just look they see d from the distance, they just want to take him down. I don't get that, but they love it. What the hell? Hey! Stop that! Hey, someone please!

Security! Security! Switches off. Hey, please, please! Security! Enough. Hey! The security guy's being like, really? He's like, he's had enough. Please, please. Alex. Security. Enough. Enough. Hey. Enough.

The security guy's being like, really? He's like, he's had enough of it. DC is old and fat now, and I love it. Nothing wrong with it. He's become like a mascot for those guys. Also, Poiton ran into this former UFC champion at the Europa Park. I don't think that that's him. Okay.

That looks more like a bootleg Volkanovski and a German. It looks just like a bald asshole. All right. Well, Luke, I would never have guessed that a gas station hot dog could save a man's life because look what it's done to my life. Your house, sadly, tragically, completely destroyed. Where were you today when the storm rolled through you know i was at the gas station getting hot dogs and uh it saved my life

so hot dogs saved my life score one for the glizzy right there luke right i mean come on dude next time we do a watch along we need to get the glizzies that we like hollow out and then use as a straw oh I thought you were going to say use as a bong. We can do that too. We can do that too. Alright, we got a couple more here, Luke. You know how you always tell me I have the grossest feet in America? You and my family.

I don't think your feet are gross. I was going to say, I don't think your feet are grosser than mine. We're equally awful. I just want to remind people that if we're going to celebrate cauliflower ear in these UFC legends and be like, that's the receipt. I don't think you get to grow bacteria on your balls and be like, this is cauliflower ear. But this is the travel.

This is the, you know, it shows where I've been, Luke. The smile on this guy gives me the creeps. This is Shaquille O'Neal, who actually does have the grossest toes. Dude, look at him. He doesn't have toes. He has hooves. So luckily Shaq's a Hall of Famer, Luke, so no him. He doesn't have toes. He has hooves. So luckily Shaq's a Hall of Famer, Luke, so no one's going to say anything bad to him. You won't pull your toes out now and put them on camera.

No, why? We won't do it now. Will you show us your navel tattoo? No. All right, then I'm not showing my toe. Actually, will you put your beard on the line? I'll put my toes on the line. We'll go toe by toe.

Again, I don't understand why you are so concerned with my appearance. I don't care if you live or die. All right. Luke, we got reunited with the New York City Subways now that we're back here at Metal Ark Studio every Monday morning. And there's always human feces at the stop here. But sometimes you get unity and people from unlikely backgrounds come together. Let's watch this great moment. Oh! Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Look at Weed just bringing people together. I can't tell what train is this. Do you know? What train is this?

That's Firewood. Shaped chairs right there. The yellow line. Yeah, like the one that. They're numbered here. No, not, there's also letters as well. Yeah, but the letters, no one goes by the yellow line. They're like the N, the R, the W, the 1 to 2. Yeah, it's like the W train or some shit or the R train.

I don't know. If it's above ground, it's Outer Borough typically. Okay, thank you. Thank you for that. But that was incredible. I mean, that was great. Have you never connected those dots? No. just now it occurred to you it hasn't affected my life up to this point it's still it still won't luke okay here's your t-shirt of the week

let's see if you're interested in this let me pee in that butt or maybe that's the name of the new r kelly album i'm not really sure you. But either way, that man is representing it. Luke, you ever try air fried hash browns? I hear they are. Air fried hash browns. I have not. Watch this gentleman. I want to have some hash browns, air fried hash browns, and I'm feeling great.

Thumbs up to air fried hash browns. Is that like the all of our listeners put together in one person. Is that like the all of our listeners put together in one person? Is that who it is? You picked this clip because he's on drugs? Yes. Okay. Exactly.

Exactly. Luke, do you remember Blood Diamond? Remember he came over? It was like the next big thing. What's the name of it? It was like the CKB tax. Like you want Volkanovski, Hooker, and Adesanya, you got to take Blood Diamond. Kaikar France. Don't forget him. Mike Mathenia or whatever.

Luke, he went in there this weekend in his first fight since getting cut by the UFC. He took on Raymar Quintana. He got uppercut into living death. The diamond started bleeding. That's it. Luke KO won just like that. Yeah. Not going so great for him, huh? Not really.

The other swinging drum of the week took place at this high school. Let's watch. Oh, my fucking God. Imagine if you could do that in public to our listeners, Luke, at a live show, just one by one. Throwing instruments at them? That's the shit of the week. I hope you saw it.

I don't think that was an inadequate batch. That was an inadequate batch. Well, I did it from an airport. I was underslept. I'll forgive you because I know what your travel day was like, but look at me. Look at me. Ready?

Put the camera in my eye hole. Yeah, there you go. Two thumbs down. Yeah. I wish I had more hands. What would you do? I'd give you that BC's feces. Two thumbs down. Yeah. I wish I had more hands. What would you do? I'd give you that BC's feces. Four thumbs down.

If you had a third hand, what would you do with it during the show? Something just foul. Don't answer that. Don't answer that. I would scratch my balls and then try to rub my finger underneath your nose. Everyone can go to youtube.com slash morning combat right now and check out Room Service Diaries 1.0. We recorded it Thursday night in Las Vegas in the midst of Canelo Munguia week.

Hear Luke talk about crying in a Hooters. I did, in fact, cry in a Hooters, yes. I think we did acapella 90s rock to close. It took a while to get there. It was slow brewing, that one, you know? Don't count yourself out yet. You were upset with my energy levels and yawning during half of it.

You yawned, I counted, six times on fucking camera. Do you know how much those weeks take out of us? I guess you do. You were there. Yeah, I was there. It takes a shitload out of me. Still taking, Luke. I got to tell you, sir, I had to take two flights back to get home.

Yeah, I do that all the time. Okay, so I had to fly from Vegas to Chicago. That's about three hours 45. And then I had to fly from Chicago to D.C. That was about an hour and a half. And I was thinking to myself, B.C. does this every fucking time. Dude, I just put a bullet in my mouth. That is so unnecessary.

I could not imagine having to do that every single time. There was one seat back yesterday from Vegas to the East Coast, and it took me to Phillyilly and I took that seat to people and because I really need them. Put the camera on me. For you people. For Jay Paquette. For John Mahoney. All right.

For all of our other listeners combined. Melissa loves nachos and MMA, okay? Saul A. from Chicago. For all you people. And I'll be taking the train to Hartford as soon as we get out of here, Luke, okay? The land that time forgot.

And then taking an Uber to the airport to get my car. They could literally just sink Connecticut into the ocean and no one would miss it. I'm starting to grow on Amtrak. I was always a Metro North guy my whole life, but now I'm starting to grow on Amtrak. I was always a Metro North guy my whole life, but now I'm starting to grow on your Amtrak thing. You can work on there. The Wi-Fi actually works. The only thing I'll say about Amtrak is between, it's true, between D.C. and

Boston, what they call the Acela Corridor, it works pretty well. Outside of that, you're on your own. Philadelphia's train station this morning, the 30th Street train station was so much better than Newark Penn. So much. Oh, dude, the Philly train station is, the 30th Street station is street train station was so much better than Newark Penn. So much. Dude, the Philly train station is, the 30th street station is what they call, so much better than Newark.

So much better. DC's is, well they're making a new one, but it's, the old one is nice. The Philly one is nice. The one in Delaware, not that nice. Who were we talking to this weekend? Was it Ariel who was trying to tell you, like, get out of DC, bro. Sell your house, make some money. He was asking if I want to go back to new york but it's like dude new york's

expensive it's no cheaper than dc so don't live in new york live in like jersey live in jersey live in long says long island luke he says live in long again i would rather eat a bullet than live in long island okay this is this is dark a moving bullet that's yeah that's not an acceptable move on this show at any point. Anything coming attractions for Morning Combat besides being back here next Monday doing what we do? I don't think so right now, but I will say this. If you want to hit us up, morningcombat at gmail.com. We are trying to figure out exactly our event schedule for the next, I would say, until the end of summer.

The end of summer. We're trying to figure that out and what that's going to look like. And so what events do you want us to go to? Where should we be? Where should we be? Look, our future could be showing up at big events like we did this past week for Canelo versus Munguia. It could be us getting our own studio and live companioning that ass.

We have some options for the future. We have some options. But I would love to hear what the fans think. Should we do a live show for the Newark event, by the way? Newark, you can go and watch UFC fights and then get stabbed between your 6th and 7th rib. Would it be in Newark or in Jersey City where it's safer? That's a good question. Probably Manhattan.

Okay, but what's your margarita minimum for a live show? I'm not doing any fucking margaritas at the live show. I'll do one during the show if I have to for a contest, like a beer chug. All right. Would you go as high as 45 milligrams for that event? That's high. For me, that's high. 50 is usually when I start seeing stars.

Yeah. I want to get you to the point where you can converse with aliens live on the show so i've had a hundred before and i literally thought i was the room was absolutely turning on me i never forget i woke up in the middle of night and i had to grab the sheets around me because the room was doing one of these numbers oh we had so much to recap today that we didn't preview anything but but this weekend we've got what? Lomachenko versus Kambosis? That's this weekend? I believe so, and I think it's also UFC St. Louis this weekend. It is UFC St. Louis for sure, that. By the way, people are like, how does Derek Lewis keep getting main events?

Didn't he not take the Francis Ngannou fight? I suspect that they scratched his back a little bit for that. That's a great point. He probably should have been Ngannou's PFL debuting. And he said no, and I bet that they're going to reward him with that. You're damn right they will. So we'll be recapping those next Monday. Thank you so much, folks, for watching the show, for keeping us alive.

Hopefully we're keeping you going just the same, Luke. One day a week for now, but if you got a taste of what last week felt like, that could be the future, okay? Expansion coming. Evolution coming. And like Shaq said, tell me how my ass tastes. Tell him how his toes taste, Luke. That's pretty gross. His feet are, I mean, they're worse than mine.

They're worse than mine. I have the medicine to do it, Jublia, but I keep forgetting to take it and you have to take it for like 300 consecutive days for it to work. Something like that. Also, you can take the medication that they prescribe you, like the pharmacy grade stuff, but it pummels your liver. I already have enough

liver issues. Yeah, exactly. I don't know if I wantels your liver. I already have enough liver issues. Yeah, exactly. I don't know if I want to do that. I'm just going to live with gross-ass feet. Well, I could apply the Jubilee next week on this table if you'd like. I would like that. That's so weird and gross. See, you think I'm obsessed with your beard.

I'm just trying to give this show must-see moments. Yeah, you're trying to be an exhibitionist. Be an exhibitionist with your own body, not mine. Oh, so if I'm willing to get a Prince Albert in the studio, then you're like, yeah, let's do it. What's a Prince Albert? The thing through the thing with like the thing. A cock ring?

Or like a, yeah. Oh, like the bar. The gauge, the metal gauge that goes through. Yeah, you know, that's just some gross shit. Doesn't your piss just fly everywhere? That's the end of the show. Thank you very much. For Luke Thomas, for Long Island Luke,

beyond Kenny, the other guy. What's the other guy's name? I always forget. Nadir. My guy, Nadir. To the greatest bathroom that's been unsoiled for at least one full week. I did not go number two.

Oh, my mom. I promise. I'm telling the truth. And to you, the fine listeners out there, thank you for popularizing our interview shows over the week from Canelo. Our breakdowns are all that, and then some tall, pale, and handsome. Signing off

for this day from Manhattan with love. It's morning combat, but we are out of here. Chickadee bong ding. Yeah.