MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 313 Pregame Preview: Pereira vs. Ankalaev Presented By Cuervo | MORNING KOMBAT

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

Get ready for more analysis, predictions, and plenty of shots in this week’s episode of Pregame Preview! Luke, BC, and Chuck Mindenhall return to break down everything you need to know about UFC 313. This week’s main event features Alex Pereira defending his Light Heavyweight title against Magomed Ankalaev. Can Pereira continue his historic run, or will Ankalaev take that final step to becoming a champion? The action doesn’t stop there—Justin Gaethje faces Rafael Fiziev in what promises to be an explosive lightweight contender bout. Can this be the fight of the year contender? Luke, BC, and Chuck also dive deep into the entire card, breaking down the matchups from the prelims all the way to the main event.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

REVOLUTION I'm back. Do you want a margarita? Oh, my God. It's us doing what we love. It's time to bang. Oh, yeah, it's Friday. I know you ain't got shit to do. Get fired up. We're in your face hole. It's morning combat or at least part of it

Hey, we're back in this Friday. What's today's date, sir? March something something but hey one day out March 7th, 2007 7th 2025 one day out from UFC 313 so welcome on in to not just MK Friday How about UFC 313 pregame preview brought to you by Cuervo. Let's go. Let's go. Brian Campbell at the controls right here. You know this man as the Iceman Chuck Mindenhall, the man in the hat from Yahoo from Yahoo Sports, right? That's right. Yes, sir. We will be seeing Luke Thomas in about 10 more minutes. He is a

victim of Amtrak this morning. I saw that. I saw that. I had some problems. Which does happen from time to time. Chuck, this audience loves you. Yeah. Tell them how you're doing, right? I'm doing well. You know what this reminds me of?

There was a time at the MMA beat we were waiting on him, and there was a, we had a skeleton in the closet that we brought out and put in his spot until he showed up. Oh, wow. Same thing. He's had, this goes back a long time. Are you saying it's time for Luke to come out of the closet?

This is like 15 years of problems with Amtrak. That's what I'm trying to say. Yes, yes, with Amtrak. A long time ago. Normally we 15 years of problems with Amtrak. That's what I'm trying to say. Yes, yes, with Amtrak. A long time ago. Normally we link these problems to Luke Thomas directly, but we'll blame it on Amtrak this time around. No question about it. And Chuck, look, I don't...

Should I have to say this every time? Should I always have to be about this disclaimer? I know what you're used to on the other shows. Yeah. But here, on Pre Game Preview brought to you by Cuervo, we speak in one language. And one language only. Real talk.

Like men do. Okay, so... That was the most pregnant pause I've ever heard. So, you know, it's not gonna be, oh, I'm sure it'll be a fun fight and both teams will win. No, let's bring it today, okay? Ten seconds of dead air before that I liked it that was that was me I know I know what you're doing. Yeah, I mean, yeah, all right

Well Chuck we might as well if we're gonna kick off the festivities one day out from UFC 313 Which goes down of course Timo Berina in Las Vegas and boy do we have a banger? Well, I just met her so sir. Excuse me is an Arby's here, of a main event for the Light Heavyweight title when Alex Padeta, how do you like them apples right there, defends that strap looking for his fourth defense when he welcomes, maybe, just maybe, the final boss at the end of the video game, Magomed Ankaleyev, cannot wait for this, but Chuck, we're gonna act like men here, okay, we're gonna get down Let's shout out to our friends over there at Cuervo and today's show of course as you already know is brought to you by Cuervo

Speaking of Cuervo now is as good a time as that ever to enjoy the tequila that invented tequila So Chuck the tradition now tequila Blanco is our choice today. Okay, let's let's get after it. All right Let's say what do we got here? Yeah, 11 11 19. It's 11 19 somewhere, right? Yes. Oh right here right now Okay, I made the mistake last time of overfilling. I did like a double shot Chuck. You just okay. Just say when Chuck, okay? Keep going six fingers. Come on. No, I'm kidding. That's good. That's good. Thank you, sir You got it. You got a you got to promise not to stop when I say when she sang. I just want to say that we have not had shots before. We know we have the shots have not been fired yet, but they will be. Chuck. OK.

We normally do the Colombian sign of the cross. Pendejo, Abarijo, Ascomaf, Incorporated. You know, we're gonna do it. So Chuck, let's chose to Divorce Moms, Great MMA. Anything else? I think that covers it. That's pretty good. Wow. So smooth. That is a smooth drink.

Smoother than MMA fighters on comedy stages. That was pretty smooth. That is a smooth drink. Smoother than MMA fighters on comedy stages. That was pretty smooth. You're pretty smooth. That was pretty smooth right there. Chuck, as we look at this, as we take a 100 yard glance, is that even a thing at UFC 313? I've been the harsher critic of the matchmaking in recent cards and recent pay-per-views. The March pay-per-view in Vegas at some points has been almost a silent major at times, right? Big-time fights. We love this main event. What

about the depth of this card? Can you give it a letter grade as we enter this pay-per-view on Saturday? I think there's a pretty stiff fall-off from the two main fights and even the second, the co-main, we've seen the fight before. It was a very good fight, it was a very bloody affair, but we have seen it. I don't know how much the public was demanding that we see it again.

It's always gonna be compelling when it's Justin Gaethje, but there is a pretty precipitous drop-off, I think, in terms of casual audience wanting to look at this. I think you've got a couple of decent fights, including a good banger, you know, with the ruffy fight. I think that that's the right curtain jigger. Are we calling that hoofy? Hoofy, hoofy. I don't know, I'm asking you.

I don't know, man. Is it the king of heel or not? I went back and listened to the broadcast. It's roofy. Roofy. Okay, so that voice you're hearing, by the way, our producer, director and bong enthusiast, Long Island Luke Noseda of the main card minute. You know that guy, right? Yeah, I do know that guy. Yeah, yeah, great guy, great guy. Have met him. So if I was to place a letter on the card as a whole, maybe a B-.

Very generous. It's very generous. What would you give it? What would you give it? You know, I'm tempted to give it less, but that would be me hating. There's some bangers on this card. There's some names. I want to see the tarantula come back after the sort of deceptive losing streak that he's been on in a few bangers. Is it of the quality I would want for a Vegas card? No, it's not.

It's just not, okay? But you got arguably the most exciting, most valuable, most popular fighter in the sport. Maybe if not popular from a commercial dollar standpoint, popular from the hearts of the fans when you're talking about Poetah and Alex Pereira and like we said maybe his toughest test definitely on paper his toughest test to date here at 205. Well we love our partners in here right now Chuck Mendenhall partnering with us and of

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that expire in 14 days, limited time offer, see terms at picksix.draftkings.com slash promos. Thank you very much. Get fired up. We're about to really kick off this UFC 313 pregame preview. Luke Thomas has entered the building from his train delay. We got Tukey in the house Chuck Okay, I got an eye on you know. I already felt him out. He said I said well tooky you know

Join in on the festivities here. You know what I mean. He's like BC. She's five okay Okay, she's fine, but she's gonna carry that spirit that fighting spirit just the same so shout out to to our favorite dad right there Luke Thomas who will be in shortly so you go be B minus. You can't overlook, like you said, that the Gachey co-main event is going to absolutely bang and answer a lot of key questions in the lightweight title position. I don't feel like we jinx him when we do this. You know, sometimes you talk about guys and you say, this is guaranteed to deliver. Yes. We do this with Gachey every time and he still does it.

So I don't, I feel like you can't jinx his fight, right? I would agree with you on that. He tends to deliver. even if it's, one day it's gonna end really badly for him with a couple knockouts in a row. I've been saying this for years. We could be close to that. But the way, on the road to get there

is always exciting with that gentleman. Would you say that outside of the two Adesanya fights, given that Poetanahum had such a heated rivalry with a backstory that our excitement level's off the charts, is this the most exciting you've ever been for an Alex Pereira fight in the UFC? I think so because maybe, like you mentioned, if we're going outside of the Izzy fights, only in the sense of it casts major doubt.

I think even the Handicappers have... How they identify you on the screen there, Chuck. Look at the neighbor, yes. I'm very close to him, actually. Not too far. But just in the sense of basic doubt. I think that they have the fight basically it's a pick them right? Yes, at DraftKings. I think they have po-ton is like this. It's like minus

Yeah, right, so it's just like a slight edge, and I agree with that I think that that's basically the kind of fight is because we just don't know how this thing will play out But I will say that Given the 13 fight unbeaten streak that uncle I have is on and kind of his hands as heavy as his hands are, and when he wants to wrestle, which isn't very often really, it's like he's shown he can do this too. And that's such a key storyline. Is he the wrestler that people say he actually is?

Has he shown that statistically in the UFC fights? And regardless of that answer, will he bring it out and polish it off and utilize it as a weapon against Poetan or only if he has to because the criticism against him has often been that he only uses the wrestling late in fights after wearing down opponents and that maybe he figured that strategy out against Blachowicz in their vacant title shot too late, right? Too late to save it from a scorecard standpoint, right? And it certainly kind of killed any excitement that was gonna happen in that fight. There's the big subtext of this is that originally, Uncle Iov was basically saying, don't worry about it, I'm not going to wrestle you.

I'm going to stand in front of you and we're going to trade, which is absurd, right? You don't go against a sniping kickboxer with that kind of, and power, just in a straight up fight. But you go back and you look at what Uncle Iov has done in his last few fights, and I'm not saying that he needed to don the singlet and do all this stuff, but in his last three fights combined, two of them coming against Johnny Walker, and then in his last fight against Rakich, only one takedown attempt. The only one that he really went after it was Yon, where he went after it for ten times,

and we only got two of them! It's not like he's been killing it in the takedown game. And he kind of waited until he chewed up Ljub his legs to where that's true. You know, yeah, it's interesting I think the stats don't favor him is 31% takedown accuracy a good set or a bad set I Wouldn't think is given where he's from and his name is Magomed, you know, and he is from Dagestan He is from Dagestan given that given that information I think that's on the low end and he averages less than one successful takedown per fight. He likes to trade.

Three of his last five fights he hasn't even attempted one, but has that been because the pressure that was put on him from the Blachowicz draw with Dana White calling it boring? It felt like the whole MMA community put all the blame on Magomed and not Blachowicz, by the way. True. Maybe because Magomed was the one dragging him down just sitting on him. He has responded. The knockout of Walker, he pushed for a KO the entire fight against Rakic. He did. So maybe that justifies the lack of wrestling because he's trying to round out his game and look more exciting. I think that definitely plays into it.

But I guess that is the fascination of this fight. It's like, if you're saying, how am I going to beat Poet's on? What are you going to do? What's the one area if you're saying, how am I gonna beat Poet's on? What are you gonna do? What's the one area that you're gonna look at? You're gonna say like, well, I'm gonna put him on his back and take away his offensive weapons. And I think that if he doesn't look to do some of that,

if he doesn't like at least splice it in early, it could be an early night. It could be quick. He could be out quickly. And I think that that's what, if he's gonna play it smart, I think that that's gotta be the game plan. Does it matter if we give ankle I have all this respect on the ground when He's never submitted an opponent his only loss that he was submitted. He's not known as having great

That was a throw-in fight though. You're talking about the Paul Craig. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was a thrown fight Like wait thrown on the Houston Alexander Kimball slice level. Yeah, I mean it was like in the last second I think what he did was his UFC debut. This is just a theory. Okay I mean it was like in the last second. I think what he did was his UFC debut. This is just a theory, okay? Right now you know what I mean, but last second he gets you know Hail Mary gets submitted I think he put a bunch of money on the underdog of that fight and collected set him up a knife Decorated father and as we mentioned off the top of victim of Amtrak his name is Luke Thomas Luke welcome to the show. We're not holding anything against you in fact. We're holding the show up We can't wait that you're here, but you get a haircut

It looks with the camera looks $100 with the camera on me with the camera on me Did y'all see you? I'll put that up. Hey. Yo hey Amtrak lick my balls suck his payload does okay? We do ask the most important question Jesus. That's loud house toks toks. She's a toks. She's out there. She's doing great Yeah, she's doing great. She slept for most of the right one big portion of the ride up here Which is good because it was delayed an hour. Did you take her on the New York subway system? We did which by the way, I took the train which we get off at our normal stop all of a sudden It just went past. Thank you my friend It just went past our normal stop plus the one after that plus the one after that plus the one

At any point was she like dad these weren't the trains you told me about from the Marines, okay Okay, my daughter is... Okay, okay, it was in code. Come on. It was a coded joke. She doesn't know what that means, but also she's five. Okay, okay. She does not need any Blanco. Also, just in fairness to Brian, she's wearing noise-canceling headphones, so she can't even

hear us right now. I noticed that. That's a very smart thing to do. It does run in the Thomas family. I've been behind him at train stations screaming his name, and he just... It's not... That's how I avoid... Oh, you always have something in your ears.

Yeah, that's how I avoid riff-raff yeah I mean I don't I don't want to be talking yeah yeah sorry everyone glad to be here I want to say this yeah I think the 313 card don't shoot the messenger here I'm more than the messenger I think it's pretty good I gave it a B- I said B- and I say I want to be a hater and give it worse, but the Pereira fight is the most anticipated non-Adesanya Pereira fight for me by far. And that carries so much weight along with the co-main, which after I stop being a hater is going to be exciting. I'm looking forward to it. So yes, I will agree with you. It's not a Vegas one in March, but it doesn't suck.

Fair enough. Here's my basic elevator pitch for this. Okay. Obviously you're dealing with less than ideal circumstances in the co-main event, but I think given the other options they had, this is one of my preferred ones. To your point, main event, unimpeachably good. Yes. The best, uh, Poetan fighters you indicated, non-Izzy edition, and frankly, the toughest one, I mean, this is the most meaningful

of his light heavyweight reign by far. And here's the issue I would say down the line. Do the matchups themselves have like that Connor, Ben, Chris Eubank, I'm gonna slap you in the face with an egg rivalry? No, it has none of that. But if you actually look at the matchup itself, they're pretty good.

And also Prospect, also prospect prospect Josh Van versus Race to Rio. It's a good fight. On the prelims. I like this optimism out of you. I hate this. Be minus, I think I'd go a little higher. I'd give a solid flat B.

But that's pretty good. Well, that's what it is. And Luke, I did want to remind you that today's morning combat pregame preview, by the way, is brought to you by Cuervo. And Luke, I would say now. Our friends at Cuervo. Hell yeah.

Get yourself some, you need some. It's as good time as any to enjoy the tequila that invented tequila. Do you have some in there? I would say now, My friends at Cuervo, hell yeah. Get yourself some, you need some. Is as good time as any to enjoy the tequila, that invented tequila. Do you have some in that glass right now? I would like some now. Which one are we having? We are having the Blanco. The Blanco is fantastic.

The Blanco! Yes, in fact, I will go another shot of Arlene Blanco right here, if you're interested, all right? I bet you would, you fucking creep. Okay, all right, okay. Tiny ears behind those headphones over there That is a real talk that's like men do

Right. Oh, wow. This is great. It's not a rough morning. He is but enemy but he's you know, you're you've been mr Mom this whole week. How hard it is to comb a five-year-old girl's hair for a week straight. I don't know that I don't know. She always asked me. Hey dad, how come you can't do the same hairstyle as his mom? Cause I'm a dad! I've never dealt with long hair in my life! Let it out. Let it out. Please, keep going. I gotta say though,

when we were, so when you get off a plane, it's called de-planing. Is it de-training? I'm not even sure. Disembarking on the train. A woman who was in maybe, maybe like two seats up from us because

we had to sit in the quiet car that was the only way we could sit together and the woman came up to us and she said to my daughter she goes you're the best travel companion a person could ask for which by the way is true. Round of applause for the Tootster everybody round of applause she can't hear she's watching spider-man yes all right she a big fan of, of what, like live action movie Spider-Man? No, no, no. She's watching the Spidey, whether it's the kids, you know, like the big heads and everything. All right, guys, we're going to get

back into the main event here. I want to offer this. I don't know if it matters, but it has been a storyline, especially I caught up with Magomed Ankaleyev on my personal YouTube channel, the Brian Campbell Experience. You can catch that interview today. It's going up today, but. Oh, okay, okay. You know, I did ask him straight up about, is it really that no one has, you know,

if Poetan comes from a Hall of Fame kickboxing career, which he did, and then climbs the MMA ladder so fast, is it that no one has exposed his wrestling because they haven't, or is it something, you know, ultimately like that setting him up? And he said, look, this is a matchmaking thing. And he, you know, he doubled down on that. He wasn't afraid to play the heel in yesterday's press conference. He says they've matched him

strategically, striker after striker, avoiding him. And while you might say on the surface, yeah, okay, cool. But like somebody could have exposed him along the way. Let's not forget one key fact. Malcom has been number one contender for a while. The same month that Poetan fights number seven Kalil Rountree in a matchup that we're like, is that the next one? Number one, Ankaliyev had to go through and Alexander Rakich who was coming off a two fight losing skid. So it's like they've stretched this out in a theory

as much as they can and they put this fight during Ramadan, which is a big part of Ankaliyev's sort of pre-fight narrative in terms of the challenges. He's been breaking a fast to have water during training, but it's been a major challenge for him. True or false here? I'm not asking you to buy fully into the conspiracy theory that Poetan has protected, but Poetan has received every possible benefit of the doubt in the build to this fight, correct?

There is simply no denying it. Not only do we know it's true in this case, we've lived through other versions of this. I'll never forget when the UFC made McGregor versus Dennis Siever, when the Frankie Edgar fight was sitting basically right there, it's the same argument. Listen, does everyone get the same treatment with management?

No, I'm not here to say that's fair or great or awesome, but it is a fact of life. It's just how things go. There's simply no denying that they match made Poetan in a favorable way through light heavyweight. There's no denying that they waited for on Koli of to kind of slowly. And by the way, he also fucked things up. He was supposed to if he was going to beachowicz He was gonna move to the front line He messed that up, which I think they made them lose confidence and he got angry

He got into it a bit with the promotion. I think that didn't help him fire fair enough But here's the point I want to make they did the same thing with McGregor Why because they wanted to make sure he had just enough time to get his wrestling where it needed to be Yeah, because once you graduate to the Mendez's and the Edgars and the Aldo's I never fought Edgar But you know being that level of the game. There's no going back, right? There's simply no going back at that point. Poetan saved that company in 2024. He said this week he's the face of the company. I absolutely believe that in terms of the fighters, Dan is the face of the company,

but in terms of the fighters, that's absolutely 100% true. No question in my mind, this is what they do to preferred stars at the same time, as we mentioned, with the Blachowicz thing, he kind of messed it up. And the other point is, okay, dude, fair enough. All that didn't go your way. This is your chance to undo all of it. All in one fell swoop, you can get rid of all the unfairness, all of the delays, all of the suffering, all of the waiting.

This is his chance. They're gonna, they did it with McGregor. They did it with Poetan. They'll duel with somebody else in the future. This is his chance to upend the apple cart. I don't disagree with any of that, Chuck. We before Luke stepped in, we're talking about the idea. Is Ankaliyev actually the talented, decorated wrestler that that has been

this pre-fight narrative has been built around? I want to flip that on the other side and ask you specifically what I just teased. Is it that Pereira hasn't been tested at all in the wrestling maybe beyond the Blachowicz fight or is it that part of the secret sauce of him transitioning from kickboxing to be this great this early at MMA with Glover Teshara in Connecticut in his corner that we would have found out by now if he was a fraud wouldn't we have? I think so, but you know, like, with the,

and I did the reverse thing you did. I spoke to the whole camp with Ferreira and spent some time with them, and they mentioned, and this kind of echoes, I think, your point a little bit, that they wanted more time, probably, to train wrestling. And I think that roundtree, that camp, they spent a ton of time, a ton of time training wrestling, thinking he may shoot. But I also think it was an eye towards what was going to be inevitable,

which was this next fight. You know, if they're taking anything for granted, it might have been roundtree a little bit. It might have been like, let's just cram, you know, let's just get together and start to work on the things that we know we're going to need for both of these fights. And I think that they believe, and Pleno Cruz was one of the guys who laid it down for me, he's like, you know, who's been able to wrestle us? You can make the point that nobody has really sold out to try. I mean, what do you give Yon? He kind of just bid time on the ground. They kind of do that MMA math thing where they're like, you know, we beat Yon pretty

handily with we beat Yon. Whereas Uncle Leav, they thought, we beat Jan pretty handily. We beat Jan. Whereas Uncle Leo, they thought Jan beat him. And they kind of, we walked out of there like it's an old BJ pin thing. Like, we went to the bar. Whereas when he, you know, when he fought, you know, he went to the hospital. Exactly. So it was like, they're kind of, they're looking at it from a whole different standpoint. Do I think that they're sleeping a little bit on the idea that he may get wrestled? And I was there for a couple of days at the camp. I thought so. I was like, it feels to sleeping a little bit on the idea that he may get wrestled, and I was there for a couple of days at the camp, I thought so. I was like, it feels to me a little bit

like they may be underestimating the wrestler. Let me go back into that idea of, is Ankeleev that wrestler? We can show enough stats to show you that he hasn't either needed to be or tried to be that wrestler in a while, but if he wants to, can he weaponize this? This is a central tension in this fight.

Do you believe that he can weaponize the wrestling? Not just take Poetan down, but weaponize it enough to win the fight based on that. Do I think he has the relevant and requisite skills to do it? Yes, I do. I do think that, but he, I mean, I don't know what they're calling him in y'all's,

you know, comment section, but in mine, they're calling him Donk Alaya. Wow. Because he's a fucking donk. Okay, is it a little fight IQ thing or is it just mistake prone or what? What is it? I think it's a little fight IQ. Yeah, I mean when you watch him with the relevant skills Is he some like lights out wrestler? No, no Real quick we pointed out like in the last three fights. He has one takedown attempt Yeah, he doesn't really do it that often

Yeah, and again taking down Paul Craig who kind of wants to go down is a little bit, you know, it's not quite the same thing. Plus also like is he a big 205er? He's not, right? So I mean, Onkaliyev is, but not Craig. So I mean the issue is can he get him down? What you have to think about is, you know, I tend to think that what you're going to see from Poetan, if Onkaliyev even gets it there, is maybe up against the fence he'll be pretty good, Poetan, and then maybe, you gets it there is maybe up against the fence he'll be pretty good, Poetan, and then maybe, you know, a single attempt to get his hips down or whatever. It's the chain wrestling where I think he gets into trouble. And I think that's where Izzy has gotten into trouble too, when guys like put one or two or three

of them behind. Learning how to chain wrestle, guys who are good at it, they make it look like effortless, like, oh, it's just obvious. You just go, no, it's very, very difficult to do. It just comes down to like, dude, is Ankalaya the guy to pursue the fight in the smartest possible terms? I gotta tell you, I don't have great confidence in that. Well, I think one of the biggest holes in his game is his calf strike defense. Like you can light him up to the legs on there.

Dude, in the Buholbic fight, he doesn't check kicks. He was getting drilled for minute on end over multiple rounds and I'm like Take him down By the time he did it he was the fight was a little bit different at that point But you know so much had been lost already and then of course they ended up being a fucking draw and he wasn't effective for the first Bunch until later in the fight right like so but would you say calf strikes are like a real secret part of Poet on's Offense where he kind of puts you where he wants you to be to say you're for that finishing shot right 100%

That I mean a central tension point here Yes, I think that they believe that they will be able to control the range that way like they'll be able to beat him up I do worry like you I think the thing I was gonna point out was what you just said if it's a chain wrestling type Of thing does he just break at some point because that you're taking away then his his his offense You're tying them up. You're making it boring But if he's smart that is the way you get the title, right? I think that that's the surest way if he wants to trade if he wants to go in there and trade and try to Knock him out to try to play up the narrative that he's more exciting than he's getting credit for. I just don't see that ending. He needs to drop that

subscription mentally. He needs to go back to any means necessary. Imagine I said that Poetan was fighting Cormier and you'd say, oh, Cormier's gonna take him down because the pedigree, but that's not what I mean. What I mean is one of his favorite setups was outside single head high crotch and then he would pull someone out and then he would trip the post leg and then he would get Him down and go if you could believe that on Kalei of could do something like that This would not be very much of a debate right you right, but it's like I don't know if uncle life can a even do what Cormier can do number one and number two even if he could is

He going to even this is the crazy part is he going to even elect to do something like that Oh, I'm gonna go out there and stand with him and see what happens. You think Cormie is going to do that shit? You think John Jones would do that shit? It's just fucking bananas. But this is the state of light heavyweight in 2025. I mean, I could see a scenario where Ankaliv gets so comfortable in his own striking. If he gets out because he's a Southpaw, he's long.

There's a lot of things to like in theory about the technique in his game, the structure, the power that he brings six foot three", which pairs well against Poetton. But you linger in that pocket. I know. You know, even for a second, look at what's happened to Sean Strickland. Like, that's that's what you're up against. And if you are first team all donk, first team all donk, then that could play into it. But on the flip side. What if you pull out Poetton's gas tank from the very beginning?

I mean, he hit rough stretches again in the first Izzy fight, for sure. Now the fact that he rallied the fifth round to knock him out is part of his legend, for sure, but like... Well, you haven't seen him put in deep water like that, you know? Really you really haven't seen him in those, in that type of situation. He goes five hard rounds. I was talking, there's so many like little red flags you could point to within his camp. You know, he was in Australia just a couple of weeks before and they said that he was training over there but I

mean, we saw... DC called him out straight up. Yeah and I mean Volkanovsky, you remember when he started to have his downfall, he did the same thing. Went to Puerto Rico from Australia. He had a bunch of disruption in his camp and he goes in there and he gets blasted. So I'm not saying these are correlated, but that is a little bit of a red flag. And it's like, so he comes back, and I was talking to Glover about this, and he said, dude, he wanted, he landed on Monday by Tuesday, he wanted,

I was like, let's do three rounds, he's back into it, he's like, let's do five. He talks about him like he's just this relentless force, and I was around him a little bit to see it. He does go hard, but that's a lot to ask if you do put together that kind of thing where it's just the soul sapping, like going after him. Can't we say that as a general proposition,

he's older, was he 37 now? Yes. I do think though, and especially under Coach Linneau and Coach Glover-Tasheira in particular, don't we agree that Poetan is a fast learner? Don't you feel that way? I don't mean to parrot talk E. Rogan style, but the fastest.

I would say, when you're talking about the IQ, I think he's got a very high IQ. Super high fight IQ. It seems like, again, I don't imagine he's gonna be an amazing chain wrestler, even in the best of scenarios, but as a general proposition for a guy 37 in a secondary sport, granted a close one, but still

He learns pretty fucking quick. Yeah, how to get my guys going. He does 100% And so I it's always to me. It's like I don't know man. It's I Think he's gonna win this one. I got done What's on in UFC is ten in one with seven KOs? He's won two world titles and he's defeated everyone he was about to just That's st. Pierre shit, I mean I had a longer run obviously got KO'd in that but it didn't slow him down at all So the point you to the point you raised did we see him struggle with Blachowicz positionally in certain cases? Yes

But the only time you ever saw him in like big trouble was when Izzy rung his bell in the first fight couldn't capitalize And obviously closed the show in the second one. Yes, that's basically fucking it dude. That's it. I mean he was turning it on on Izzy when he got clipped in that final sequence. Yes. Yes, which is crazy, too I mean he was this close to pulling that one out. Didn't we used to say Bruno Silva who took him who fought three rounds against him Exposed him early on or challenged him in certain areas. Certainly challenged him. What happened in that fight in hindsight? Was it the wrestling? There was some wrestling involved in that, but in general, Bruno Silva, there was definitely some challenging of his wrestling,

particularly along the fence line. Yeah. But in general, I just think you look at that poet on and then you look at the one you get now. Yeah, it's nice. It's just again, turns out fast learning, quick evolving. I feel like he's way different than that I mean imagine if they fought today. Yeah, would you have even the slightest doubt? He's gonna run that guy over like no Yeah, yeah, well, especially after wide man blinded

Is that just the craziest trajectory cuz I can remember when he was fighting Izzy and it felt like he was just a kickboxer And you'd be like man. He may be a good matchup for Izzy I remember having this conversation and being like but the other top four guys in the top five would probably beat him. Just based on this information, like, oh, they would just take him down because there were a lot of dudes who are very stout wrestling and things like that.

It's just crazy. I would argue that. Because, sorry to interrupt GBC, we came up at a time when, I've talked about this before, I'm not here to rehash the point, but there was at light heavyweight Tito wrestled in college. Ruchard wrestled in college. Rashad wrestled in college. Yeah, 100%.

And so the notion that a kickboxer would make his way over was fucking laughable. Because it never happened. But the game has changed. The game has changed. Best practices have gotten better. Guys like him can make the transition quicker and there aren't as many wrestlers as the ones who are. Listen to what I'm saying.

Even though he hasn't faced a ton of wrestlers, if was delinquent in that area we would have seen it right now So maybe we're not talking enough about how quickly he learns and what he can add on because it seems to be there's like You know, there's always an anti or counter conspiratorial or whatever opinion on MMA Twitter But now you start seeing people go what if what if Poton's been working so much on wrestling that he wants to take Ankaliyev down. It's not like not like on Kalaya has this noted decorated submission game even though he's got you know the full wrestling and Sambo background Could we see that I call the Sambo? That's a little bit racist. That's okay. Oh it is looks like Rambo, you know I mean, that's what Sambo means, but okay good. I can see that

Can you see this happening? I could see that like the element of surprise a little bit. We talked about this before I can see that happening. Can you see this happening? I could see that, like the element of surprise a little bit. We talked about this before. I could see this happening because he does have some, you know, some guys in his camp. I mean, they were working it. Obviously they work on everything within that camp.

Well now what are we saying here? Oh man, BC. I like that you'll derail me to show me what I'm doing. You can't miss it, it's great. In an effort to play a little bit of the devil's advocate, again, I think this is Poetan's fight to lose, I do believe that, but we should say there is one version of this fight where Onkaliyev cruises. I don't think it is the likeliest version.

Right, no. But when he, for example, in the first first Johnny Walker fight he fought like a fucking idiot And then in the second Johnny Walker fight and granted Johnny Walker is a pretty far cry from poets on I understand I'm merely saying the way in which uncle I have approached it. He just mowed him down Yes, like it was and he tried to do that was bracket impressive Yes, he did try to, he was offensive front foot. And Racketsch is big and strong. I thought Racketsch probably fought one of his best fights too.

So I mean just given that, you know. So there is one version where we're like, okay, Poetan can do this, Poetan can do this. There is a version of this fight, Ron Kalaev goes in there, I doubt he went standing, but probably takes him down or roughs him up or drains him and then finishes him off later. I just want to verbalize that because we haven't really given it a lot of oxygen and it's something you have to take seriously. I'm gonna get intimate with this Cuervo Blanco,

but I want you guys to entertain this question. All right. Win or lose, is this the last fight at 205 for Alex? Win or lose? No, no, not win or lose, no. Cause I actually would like to see him against Rockets, even though that's a three fightfight losing skid for that guy So we got it we got an old Briggs got a big fight coming up, too

I mean that was a fight if he beats blow if all bird beats blow Hovitz you know It'd be fun. That'd be a fun It just seems like here's the thing if poet on goes in there and just Demolishes him or to bare minimum gets a really exciting finish. Yeah, I Mean, I just feel like the John Jones, Tom Aspinall, gravitational pull will be so fucking huge. But if he loses. They know it too, I mean.

Oh, they know, yeah. They know that he's 37. They know that you're cashing in right now. On anything that's like big, that can be out there. So if they got like a horizon, it looks very nice. If he's able to get through this fight. If he goes right through Onkelayev, I would be shocked if he didn't jump up there

and take one of, like, whatever the biggest fight he can get. I will tell you, you know what's amazing? Like, when Conor came through, I remember at the time, we just take it for granted now, but when Conor came through, we were like, man, he's moving so fast. Everything's happening so fast. So fast, how quickly he's building.

That's true. But the truth is, if you look at guys like Poetan and McGregor, and now to an extent, Ilya Tuporiya, it seems like the guys that have the best success in terms of like, I'm just gonna keep moving the chains, it doesn't actually happen slowly. It happens fucking like this. Got to capitalize on it.

And so they're part of that mold. Oh, Alexander Yusik, you think that that, I mean, who knows what the whole TKO thing and everything going on. Well, Dana has been saying, I think that's bullshit. We will close the show with some talk about TKO boxing, but Dana has come out and specifically said I do not want any UFC fighters crossing over. That's MMA. This is boxing.

We're gonna keep it set up. Dana keeps his word. I will say that so that's... I'm yeah. He does. He does. When he said Semtex would never fight here again. Yes, yes. Fucking word. Just in that one time. I think win or lose he's going up because he's the he's the break glass in case of emergency and there may be an emergency soon because they don't look like they're getting That bones versus Tom Aspinal fight done right now And I heard Jones manager talked to Ariel and it seems like they're waiting on the UFC to raise that number to whatever there

I'm you know, I'm doing the facts in my head but getting to that number that they lost John's manager these days Cowas is he back with them? It sounded like it unless I misinterpreted It was tough to they had a falling out they did in Cambridge Schaeffer And then I don't know what happened shakers with Canelo now He showed up at Canelo's press conference yesterday, which is interesting So what I'm what I'm really saying here is if they can't get that and now I don't know if that necessarily means then Jones Gives up the title and says I'm done defending the title, that's not the lane I want. Poetan is the antidote for that because whether you plug him in for the title against Aspinall,

whether you plug him in and a one-off against John Jones and just... God, either one of those is huge. And I know we'll say, well, why, you know, blah, blah, blah. No one would want that or maybe, you know, we want Jones to go through Aspinall, but maybe UFC is thinking if we can't get that and he's going to retire anyway, let's get the fight he actually wants. Could you imagine if Poetan defeats Ankaliyev and then if he stopped John Jones at heavyweight and then that led him into the full title fight against Aspinall, he won't be McGregor. He won't supplant Jones necessarily as the

GOAT. But what the hell would we do with him at that point? It'd be like I'd be pretty major Maybe the unicorn of him. He would I think you're right three three belts I don't I mean well, then he'd be the Pegasus or something. Yeah, I mean like I'm not even sure what you call him at that optimist prime Well, the Pegasus would be the unicorn with the wings would it not I mean, you know, I don't really get into that weird stuff I have a five-year-old girl. A meteor, he'd be like a meteor.

Pegasi are a big deal in my house, I guess. I will say he would be like the most unlikely thing we've ever seen in MMA. I mean, to come in from a glory kickboxing, you know, so many fights in that, and then to come over here as kind of a B-side to Israel out of Sinai, and to end up a three-belt champion. And who said it?

Who said it on our show? I think Luke said it. No, he did. You know the smartest thing he ever said. No, no, no, no, no, no, we're talking about. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we're talking about his story. I did say, yes. This is the Poetan story.

But that was, I mean, that was a little legit. You knew that shit, you knew that shit. I'm pretty sure Izzy heard that because he was saying, like, he kept using that story analogy too. Yeah, I'm sure he did. Yeah, but at the same time, he got his. But he pays attention to you. I mean, he doesn't pay attention to me.

But yeah, but I mean, if he did that, that's just such a, that would be one of the craziest things ever we've ever seen in this story. If not the craziest. It's so insane, it's hard to actually contextualize. It's hard to make sense of what that would be. Well, the durability is insane too, because if, sorry, I'll throw it to you after this. He would have four title defenses if he wins within a 12-month stretch, and it would be the most in modern history and only second to when...

That's the other thing. I think Tito had five in a year when they were just needing him to... But he's like, that's the other thing. Being as prolific for an escalating scale, you know, going from like Madison Square Garden to UFC 300, which is this big mega event, to UFC 303 where Conor had fallen out, and now you have to make up for that loss These are this is such an escalating scale of you know scrutiny and like stakes for him to go through that I I think that's why people really love him. He doesn't really speak English He just has this stoical stone face. He shows up

Yeah, Chama and he takes care of business and people like dude. This is all I want from a fighter I and there's nothing to worry about he's funny when he's on a social media There's there's no no rants, nothing like that. He's almost undefeated in the public eye for fans. And I would say that about you in the MMA space. The fans just love you. You're undefeated. He's more popular than you though, I will say that.

Not in Connecticut. But I wanted to say, I forgot what I wanted to say, but it was definitely inappropriate and awesome. You were gonna throw it back to him. What were you gonna say? I was going to say, did you guys look at his players' Tribune piece? Did you get a chance to read it? I read some of the key lines from it. I just thought it was interesting that, I mean, you know, you kind of get a sense of how he grew up,

but I think that we've heard this from GSP and a couple of others, when they use fear to basically become as great as they do. He basically talks about how he's fear drivendriven, he doesn't wanna be knocked out, he's afraid of the dark, all these types of things. It's just really interesting because I think we haven't had major insight into him through his whole run, but I think in his own words it's definitely worth checking out that piece

because it gives you a little bit of a basis and you'll only like him more because he's just of the things he's overcoming his life. Look, I was gonna ask you, considering we have headphones for children whether you thought Poetan whispers Shama in the in the in the coy after he busted in the coydeal proceedings right in the I gotta tell you I haven't thought about him busting nuts I got totally right about that

let's talk about our predictions let's bust some nuts he's driving some nice cars I think he's he's getting whatever he wants out there in Connecticut very much is um and even if ankle I have won I don't think it'd be a death blow to the promotion because Pereros I think is going up to heavyweight anyway, and you could do an immediate rematch because of the run and uncle I have let's face it as a very marketable fighter Don't Know what you think here. I've been back and forth, man. I've been back and forth.

I get Pereira as the slight favorite between the two in this pick-em. I do get that ultimately overall. He could lose four and a half rounds and end it. That's what he is. Where are you going with this? Give me Poetan unanimous decision. Wow, I like it. Wow, so that means he's going to spend time on his back. He might. I mean, I think, listen, again, we're kind of shitting on Uncle Live a little bit, but like the reality is, again, that's why I kind of voiced it earlier. He does have well rounded skills. And when he's not making fuckhead errors, he actually can execute really, really, really well, smoothly, dominantly.

Dude, you have to take him seriously. I take him seriously. Remember he front kicked that dude and dropped him? So I think, don't get me wrong, I think he can win rounds. I think he can get this fight dangerously close to, I mean, I think he can win, absolutely. It just seemed, and also here's the thing. He's a survivor, like he made a lot of errors

in that Blachowicz fight, but he also hung on after getting battered, right? Is Tuuk's doing something? I think she, uh, she may have tried to escape, but she may need you. Oh, okay. I got a timeout. Timeout on the floor. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa Eric thing that's happening. See, I took Uncle I have originally in our staff picks at Yahoo, but the more I've seen the lead up, the more I've changed my mind. And it's not just that. It's not just that. Did that change anything in the press conference?

A little bit because that's where I'm at by essay. It's almost like this guy who's made for big moments. He's out there with his chest out. He's got his, you know, the, whatever that rug thing he's wearing. Like he just looks made for these moments. Whereas Uncle I, you're like, we've seen guys shrink in these types of spotlights when it comes down to it.

He, we've been talking about the IQ. There is a little bit also of like this, what is, what is this world I'm alighting into, not to mention the whole Ramadan thing that's going on. I think if you play those X factors together, I think it's too much to overcome. I changed my mind. I'm going with Pereira Wow Wow Yeah, um we should probably have a quick Creed break great. Yeah Yeah, I wish I could recognize it through your singing

I don't yeah Luke doing a great job over there as a dad. I'm a shout out to him in that regard I'm leaning poet on by knockout here. Okay, I am. I could see this. Now, I think we're going to see early what the Ankaliyev experience could look like with sustained takedowns and all that. If but I think he's going to stay on the feet too long in the wrong spot and walk into the wrong situation. And Pereira I mean, one of the greatest tricks Pereira has is he needs that much room and that much time and the fight changes or

Ends like that. It doesn't matter who you are uncle live if he wins. What's his method? I mean like it what's his most likely thing just given everything you know about him ground to pound dry hump ground to pound alright I keep You know when you kind of envision it like if he's able to cut it would be a ground to pound ending But you could see a scenario where they just get into it and he just whatever reason lands that shot it just wobbles because we've seen Pereira hurt before in the Izzy fight yes you could see something like that it just he gets hit with something gets caught and then he's on the ground trying to survive granted

both of those at 185 true true I think that I think if uncle live wins if it goes to a decision I think it probably favors Poetan actually. And then if he, well, I mean, Poetan can get stoppage too. I'm simply saying, yeah, I don't know. There's a lot of, you know what, I'll take that back. There's actually a lot of scenarios and ways this could go. But I think the likeliest of all the possibilities

is Poetan decision. That's what I'm saying. How good is Ankalive kickboxing game to be a threat to knock out with a high kick? This guy not that high. I think actually I think about when I look at their kickboxing as we talked you talked about earlier Maybe you do the leg kicks. Yeah, everyone's like oh Poetah's left hook the left hook the left hook Motherfucker that his leg kicks. Well, he's gonna chew Ankalayev to pieces if the Ankalayev stands for any amount of time without some kind of answer if you show up at the gym And you ask him to kick you

as hard as you can, he'll do it. He's one of those guys. Yeah, I'm good on that though. Long Island Luke, could you read the odds one final time from DraftKings for this main event? Current odds minus 118 for Poetan, minus 102 for Magameth. All right. There we go, there we go. Fantastic main event, cannot wait.

Could go either way. Let's go to that co-main event. 10 days notice, Rafael Fazeve is back for round two, only he's been idle for 18 months since injuring his knee against Mateusz Kamrad. He is riding a two-fight losing skate, one because of the injury and one, a majority decision loss to Gagey

when they fought two years ago. So, knee injury behind him, and a lot has changed, it seems, for Gagey, who was knocked out face first in the final second of UFC 300. Because of that, Faziv now a slight betting favorite. So gentlemen, we originally going to have Dan Hooker versus Justin Gagey, which had probably a little bit more stakes for both guys in terms of lightweight title positioning. Which fight is better?

Like compare and contrast, Faziv part two compared to what we were expecting from Hooker. I was into the Hooker thing only because he's been on a roll. And I think you're catching, I've said this before about Ghechi though, including the first time he fought Fazeev, that he was probably in for that moment when you're like, uh oh. We're waiting for that moment. We're waiting for that moment. We're still waiting. But we don't know if 300 was that moment or not.

The truth is we don't know that. Yes. That happened so late in the fight. He was getting pieced up for that moment. We're waiting for that moment. We're still waiting. But we don't know if 300 was that moment or not. The truth is we don't know that. Yes. That happened so late in the fight. He was getting pieced up in that fight, although he said he thought he was doing, he had a pretty good fight up until that point. So I don't know. It was close. But I think that the hooker fight to me had more of a compelling nature in terms of what

we don't know or filling in those blanks. Whereas this one becomes compelling on a different level. It's an action fight. we know it, man. These guys, they were almost even in significant strikes, and they were, did you, his face after that was just a mess. Yes, it was. But he was eye-poked, and he told me when I talked to him this week on my channel that it did play a part.

It did play a major part. But I would expect it, to be honest, because both guys are cut from that cloth to basically Be some version of that fight. I just don't know who comes out now Is it does it does it change over to fazeeb this time does he have it in him to kind of outlast him through this battle? Of attrition did you say which fight you like better though of entertainment wise entertainment wise it'd probably be I mean hooker brings it I don't know. It's just a gaechi fight I think both of them a Gachey versus everybody rules. So Luke Thomas, the whole idea here of Gachey, the whole surrounding is what we talked about. Is it past that point? He has said about his strategy change that we remember when he became elite and him and Trevor Whitman were just slightly tweaking to be a little bit less reckless, more crafty.

He got all the way to the interim title and one half strike away from putting Habib in peril. Yeah. Thank you, thank you. I needed that validation on that. He said that the Holloway loss, Luke, was because he was being too patient, too calculated and he now wants to return to the reckless caveman of old

How does that change the second fight if that's gonna be true? I don't really fully believe that I mean I kind of partly believe that but like you know you go back and you watch first of all this fights three rounds not five Right so it's really filling in on short notice is still a big deal But not nearly as much as it would have been because it's only three rounds So he was almost gonna rematch gamma to open this year, but they ended up, it fell through or whatever. You know, Fiziv looked good in that fight for long stretches of it, but the reason why Gachi was able to storm back was actually basics. It was a jab. He just kept intercepting Fiziv with, and by the way, when they, when they, when they,

when they were face, you know, the size comparison, Gachi was actually much bigger than I thought he would be relative to Viziv which was kind of interesting but you know he didn't he if he had gone caveman with Viziv I mean maybe he would have won but that's the opposite approach of what got him to win the first time yeah so he might be just saying that shit in the media to deflect or at a bare minimum there might be moments where he leans into that or certain context where he leans into that or certain context where he leans into that but the reason he got as far as he did was because he cleaned everything up he had that porier and alvarez lost lost excuse me back to back and he was like okay

i can't do this shit anymore i've got to be smarter about it and that's what elevated his game the notion he's going to throw all that out i I mean, okay, I know he's in the twilight because of everything. And you know, 36, right? 36 and also coming off of a yes. Yeah. Stating knockout loss. But dude, like when he is thinking through problems and he's just naturally who he is, that's the most devastating version that you get.

I just don't buy that fully. I really don't. Here's what I can't figure out and Tell me if I'm out of line for saying it this early in this segment All right, I'm trying to figure out if we're gonna get fazeev by knockout or fazeev by this decision That's really what I'm trying to figure out already slurring his words Could you drive a car now you piece of shit? I don't think I'm gonna drive that train He's been born when that when you get the ISO shot. He's been pouring them over here I think it should be his fight, but the thing is man He's been pouring them when that when you get the ISO shot. He's been pouring them over here I know I'm rigging chew. Yes

I just said something I think it should be his fight, but the thing is man Because Eve gets hit you probably went back and looked at like this tape He gets hit like he'll take he's just the same thing like he takes a lot of punches Brad Rydell was landing plenty of shots On him in that fight where I think it was in Australia. Mm-hmm his boxing was good But he was also getting just pieced up. The RDA was having his way until he was knocked out. It's like, it's one of those things you look at these guys and you're like, every fight he's been in, if you want to punch him, you can. They're rough and tumble. Yeah. And to your point in that third round, the first fight, Gagey was just jabbing and jabbing. He was hitting him and he was hitting him. He couldn't do anything about it. So then he

starts slipping. He starts slipping. So what does Gagee do? Fucking collar ties him and then starts feeding him uppercuts. And he could he had no answer for it. I'm like, this is what I mean. Gagee showed crafty guile like veteran stuff. Totally. But this is what I mean. Like is feeding a guy uppercuts brutal as shit, obviously, but he was thinking through the problems. That's what got him to win. I don't understand why you would change. Like dude, that's what saved your ass in that fight. Like, I just don't get it. You know, now I think he's going to maybe he's going to show up and he's going to fight. The only thing is, I'm like, I could see him like you mentioned the downfall because he's fighting a guy who will just accommodate this and they're going to do this.

I feel like this if it's going to happen, it might. It feels like it'd be this fight. I just feel like it's it's his it's his addiction. It's his vice brawling and just just throwing it to the wind and just walking in. Trevor Whitman used to talk about all the time It's like he's tried to hold it off as long as he could and he like we said he got to the interim title And fought for the real title and now I think he's like I know I trust this style better. This is who I really am I'm gonna go back to it. It's this you know if I'm gonna have one more run. I'm gonna do it my way I think that's where his head is at, Luke, in this regard.

But he said, this is a tougher fight than the Dan Hooker fight, this second Fiziv matchup. Even though Fiziv's off and coming off of two losses, they got him as the favorite here. Do we expect to see Fiziv come back from 18 months with a elevated game? Let's see, that's the question. And also, like so many questions to your point,

the one you just raised, all the Fiziv questions. Then on the Gachey side, you know, dude, I don't give a fuck who you are. You get knocked out like that. You're not coming back to the same guy. Not to say you can't win the fight. That's 100 percent not my point. But like, are you the same after something like that? You are not the same. That is a depth.

Again, ask where he hadn't been knocked out since like 2000. But like are you the same after something like that? You are not the same. That is a debt again Ask where he hadn't been knocked out since like 2000. That was the dust and pori. I think was the previous time And that was I was like attrition. This was right. 100% him in succession Yeah, that was this was one just like on your face. They have to get the smelling salts And by the way footage surface this week all the new top the top trying to wake him up dude It was bad. Did you see that new above the octagon view that they showed? I have to tell you, I have no doubt that Gaethje's

mind frame will be totally fine. But when the strikes start landing, I wonder what's gonna happen to him a little bit. It's like that Liddell thing, remember? It's just like the black spot became bigger and bigger. It's like every time he was sitting, it was like the Rich Frank. I know.

So I wonder, I mean, I don't want it You don't want to you don't love to prematurely say this stuff because you just don't know But if it was going to show up, it would be after something like that. I mean that was brutal I mean he took a lot of time off, which is good. He did but You're not gonna be the same. I don't feel like for Zeva's hit his full Ceiling yet. No, there's been some I think we'll miss X Is there still time for that ceiling to get to the championship? How old is he? He's like 32. 32? I believe. There's a little bit of me that thinks we might have put him

I remember talking with you guys about him when he was coming up He's on that six or seven fight win streak and he just looked like such a world-beater until he ran into Gachie that night, but maybe we until he ran into Gagey that night. But maybe we over did it a little bit with him. Well, he's also reckless. If he can pull like Gagey, he can sharpen that up a bit. Also, he's thrilling.

Remember when he would lean back, you know, major style. I love, I mean, I love watching him fight, but it's not, he's never gonna get an award for self-preservation either. Let me give a shout out. You guys ever watch MMA On Point, the YouTube channel? You've seen it.

Yeah, I've seen it. Our brethren from the UK. Yes. Shout out to Bailey and Jason. Yeah, Jason. So Jason put out a video, I think last week, maybe talking about how, if you look at the age of all the champions and not just the champions, the fighters in these divisions relative to 10 years ago, everybody's older.

Now, there is something to be said about that across sports, but it's especially pronounced in MMA. We had talked previously about all these Soryukians, these Fazeves, these Gamrots, they're gonna push out all the Poirets and the Gageys, and then it just didn't actually happen. Except now, Fazeve, okay, granted, unenviable circumstances on short notice

and some other things, time off from injury, but you got a second crack at this and that's coming on a horrible Boss like this is if there's gonna be turnover. This is the line. Yeah, this is the moment. Yeah right here right now And that's why he's acted so blessed and happy this week He feels like this was almost a gift the way the timing worked out honestly if he gets through It does kind of freshen things up if Gachey wins You're just gonna be recycling almost the thing you're talking about where you're just the same guys are gonna be hovering in that top five space It's very strange setup that way, you know Like hooker if he'd come in there and did obviously like he's coming back from kind of being

You know at the bottom for a little bit where he lost some fights. All of a sudden he's reemerging. That's a storyline they can, you know, run with. But if Gachey wins the fight, I mean, it just keeps perpetuating itself. Honestly, if Gachey wins, are they going to do the Poirier trilogy? Probably, right? For a non-title fight, that would be put the BMF. I don't even know if the BMF carries over anymore.

Does it carry over? Is Max the BMF champion or do we just arbitrarily take it off and put him somewhere else? Their second fight was for the BMF with the head kick for a G. They just did a BMF third fight It's almost like a championship. You know, it's a championship of our hearts because it would close out the era This has been the greatest all-action lightweight era we ever could have imagined But I still think those two make the best fights in this group of all action fighters. Let me just say this too, I've been working on a video, it's almost done, where someone asked me, could you name all of the best fights by weight class?

So all the best welterweight fights, all the best middleweight fights, which is quite an undertaking. You mean that have happened? That have happened. Okay. I just want to point this out. If you actually look at the best fights at lightweight, it's not necessarily at all centered around who was champion.

And in fact, most of it centers around Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje. True. And Alvarez. Alvarez is in there as well. I'm not saying it's only those guys. I'm saying it's amazing. Going against one of those guys.

And Chandler kept that streak going. Chandler's up there as well. But in either case, it's either a Bellator champion or two interim UFC lightweight champions It's not actually the best guys at lightweight that have made the best fights in that weight class. Yeah, because they don't want wars. To that point, yeah, I mean GSP is not trying to fight like Justin Gaethje So you don't get necessarily from him the best welterweight fights

I just want to say something like, you know, Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier, they have a very special relationship to the Lightweight division for the history non-championship edition that they've created. It's true. Who has a quicker path to the title with a win between these two? Because Gaethje, you can make a lot of sexy matchups, but does he spin like he's reaching back in the rankings in this fight? Is he can he spin this? I think if Gaethje mows him down, it's him.

Like, could he be a toporia introduction to lightweight if Gagey beats Fiziv I think if Gagey wins he's gonna ask for Islam and they're the same manager that would be yeah they haven't fought each other that would be yeah you can just do they remember they were talking about that after Gagey knocked out Pori they're like oh and you might say Fiziv has a longer run but there's so much turnover with these aging names coming out that we're looking for someone like Fiziv to insert back in there. We need BSD to come back alive too, don't you think? He's another one of those guys. He's another one, yeah, the one we were talking about, it just seemed like such a monster class coming up below.

But I agree, I think it would be Gagey. I mean, as much as I want Fiziv, he's still on a two-fight losing streak. If he avenges the one, okay, great, but I don't think that. Okay, but the Gamrot fight, he got injured. That's true. That is true. I looked at the scorecards He won the first round on all three judges. That's true. I'm maybe that's maybe the losses should be long I'll look what are the final odds on this from DraftKings? You're catching me off guard. Give me a second. Well. I mean you know you're turning the pornography Gagey is plus 130 right now and fizzy Guys, it's about right. It's time to go there.

Where are we leaning right here? Okay, we're not gonna hold you to this pick for the rest of your life. What is your heart saying? I don't think you can come back from a knockout like what Max did to him. Give me Fiziv. I'll say by stoppage.

It might have to get gnarly, but no, maybe not. Maybe if he turns into Chuck Liddell, I hope he doesn't. Please don't do it. It's the same here. I think Fiziv, I think this is the fight that, if he could circle any fight that he would want, this would be the one. Yes. Even with these circumstances.

And by the way, even if you go back and watch again, Gaiji did a marvelous job snatching that fight back after losing it early. But even in the third round, dude, Fiziv was landing on him. Like it wasn't like he completely fell apart. It's just that Gaiji really surged. But Fiziv was still there. He's just that Gagey really surged. But if he was still there, he just didn't have a lot of great ideas. You got a second crack at him.

This is a solvable problem, it seems to me. I would agree with you. Well, gentlemen, I didn't wear this green jacket today because I love golf, right? You know what I mean? I wore this green jacket today in a lot of ways because green has become a part of my daily morning routine. What kind of green am I talking about? Counting them stacks of cash from the DraftKings network?

No, I'm talking about green of AG1. Yes, I'm talking about my foundational nutrition supplement. And really, I don't... finding consistency in a lot of things in my life isn't always easy. I'm one of those type of people. But AG1 really helps me start that day foundationally the right way. Because when it comes to health, I want something that I can trust. And that's why I choose AG1. With science-backed ingredients

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That's drinkagi.com slash morning combat to start your new year on a healthier note. Shout out to AG1, our sponsor right there. Guys, we hit up the main event. We hit up, excuse me, $76. Thank you very much right there. My thoughts right there. My apologies on that. Thank you. $76 gift you will get. So check out, as we said, drinkag1.com slash morning combat. Gentlemen, we hit the main event. We hit the co-main event. We did get out there and say to the

degree of that there may be some bangers in and out hidden in plain sight on this card. When you look at the pay-per-view main card, what's the next storyline you care about the most after the top two events? Got to be King Green versus Hoofie. Hoofie. Yes. I said Hoofie earlier, like Ruffy. That was part of your dating ritual, right? You and Bill?

Yeah. I used to hoof paint when I was in high school to get high. Yeah. Mauricio Ruffi, whoofy, was getting a lot of rub on the embedded series too. He feels like he's coming on. King Green is that old name. But you make one error in round one where King Green is always the most dangerous. You can get absolutely lit up here. We all know what's about to happen here. green King green is gonna put his hands by his way He's gonna do this and he's gonna talk shit and whoopie is gonna do And just fucking and just fucking probably eventually style on him Bobby green is a I think I know he changed his name

King green is a very good fighter. Yeah, you're talking about Cassius Clay earlier I'm like it's been a long time Luke It's King green it's King green but you know, he is older he's got a million miles on him it's not like I think getting put to sleep by My patty is like there's a one-to-one correlation about what like what hoofies gonna do But I just feel like dude they're setting hoofie Oh, they are for a guy who walks in there with his hands down I still think King green has one more of these chaos in them. I do I do feel like it Did he get Grant Dawson was that what happened? He called Grant Dawson. Yeah

Look but grants got a completely different Completely different how good is hoofie Chuck? What have you noticed so far? I mean he looks he looks like a killer man What is it like four finishes or something like three fighting nerds, bro? I mean team up Fighting fucking nerds, it's a total sense to know in the UFC and only one was a finish He did get a finish on contenders. That's what I said. Okay, but the one he didn't get a finish He's still styled if I've memory so yeah, but it was against yams long top I actually I'm not saying Bobby green is gonna win here, but I I don't think it's gonna be as dominating I can see a case where dude Bobby green's a survivor too, but Back on the mic surely you can see the matchmaking here and what the matchmakers are thinking, right? Yeah, of course, but from a betting perspective, I feel like Bobby Green could steal this.

Okay, yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. You talk about the miles, man. I first saw Bobby Green at the Affliction show back in Anaheim in 2008. Like, fighting Dan Lozano. So remember that because he was a kid. I was at the Inland Empire weekly, which is a out there, and he was it from the Inland Empire. It's crazy that he is still around in 2025 still doing it. It's a it's a crazy that that generation is now old and ancient where you can link it back So remember when Vitor and Hendo retired in a somewhat similar time. Yes, like they touch back to like 97 98 like way back to still have guys around that touch back to the

affliction days feels like generations have passed. He's kind of been around, he doesn't get, he's kind of unsung in that way, like he's kind of been around, I think he was king of the cage, like he was all over the place. I mean dude, he had like a, I distinctly remember him fighting in Strike Force. Yeah. Like I remember all of this very, in fact when he came over to the UFC I was like, oh that's a fun little addition, you know, that's what it goes, here he is all these many years later. So if he does have one left in him, I would be, it's incredible, the story's incredible. But dude, can we also just say Jalen Turner, Ignacio Bahamondes.

Perfect transition. Same division, lightweight division, we got two fights on this card here. To me, this is such an interesting fight because they both are lanky strikers willing to go for it. To me, two things are different. One, Turner has fought better competition now that's been somewhat inconsistent. He should have beaten Moe Kano. He fucked that one up. That was a bit

of a problem. Okay. And then, you know, the green fight was obviously dominating, but it was like a weird, horrible finish. That's right. Geez. Bob Mondes is interesting because to me, he hasn't fought nearly as many good guys. And I don't think has the same kind of on the fly creativity and thinking through adjustment ability. Turner has the ability to read and then change, read and then change. Whereas I feel like Ignacio is a little bit more just drive forward with the game plan has and kind of force it.

Yeah, but Turner has been inconsistent a little bit. I feel like if you can defend a losing streak of anybody, Jalen Turner's right now, He's lost three of his last four But the fight against Moekano it looked like he actually had a knockout he should have won that one And then he gets he gets taken out by TKO the next round and then the two losses before that were split decisions And they were all against good competition and one of them was gamrod, right? Right. Just gonna rest So this is top-level competition. So it is he's a sneaky dog long Allen Luke, can I get you to share the actual odds from DraftKings on this please? Plus 105 for Jalen Turner minus

120. I hate spiders and tarantulas in general but I like plus money on this guy Bahamundes has won five of his last six the only lost a decision to Ludvig Klein but he doesn't have those names per your earlier comment on the experience level. I think Jalen Turner looked like he was coming on, hit a legitimate skid where he had to reset, learn some things. But you can explain a way. Not to mention, he kind of, I don't know if you've been paying attention to what he's been talking about this week, but just basically saying that he lost love of the game. He was talking to RJ Clifford and those guys and he was just saying that he just kind of just

fell out of love with the game and sometimes that happens But you're always like can you get that back and if you can I guess it's at a fairly young age He's not that old It's it's an interesting thing. He's a six foot three dude with like what 78 inch reach I mean he should have advantages if he knows how to use that, you know that range and everything but His mental space. I'm like is he back like is he kind of have that again because if you go back and watch some of his other fights I felt like he was bringing a little more I don't know maybe that was just in the hype of it but it seemed like he was hungry or

fighter yeah sometimes they go through the motions yeah it's part of the maturity right he's only 29 still I still feel like there's some big wins ahead of me in his prime long I don't look where are you weighing in on this matchup I like Jalen Turner plus money. I was a little torn on it. It was initially like minus 110, minus 110. Now that Jalen's plus money, I'm siding with him. Who was it that Bahamondes fought at the Sphere?

I was at the fight, brought the crowd to life because he was, I mean, they were just going for it. It was Manuel Torres. Yes, that fight was, I mean, these types of, like that kind of mentality mentality just to charge for it Like you said and just kind of engage in a brawl. I mean Mondes translates directly to let the rhythm take you over in Spanish By la most yes

This is why it's interesting which which is again Bob Mondes is not He's not the creative striker that I think Turner is but if Turner's to your point Yeah, if his head's not there, he'll get fucking run over by contrast because I do think Turner has a higher ceiling This is an opportunity for him to really get right against a non wrestler in a in a favorable. Yeah context Great fight. This is what I mean. Does Turner and Ignacio, do they have like great rivalry with one another?

Was this one on a collision course? No, but the matchup's actually pretty fucking good. I'd kinda like to see the winner of each of these lightweight bouts face each other next. That'd be great. You down on that? Our other main card bout is in the women's straw weight division 37.

I don't mind this fight actually. Well 37 year old Amanda Lemos may be on a skid where she's lost two of three But the win was against Mackenzie Dern and she welcomes. Let me say this right. Yes, min. Lucinda Yes, by the way, 23 years old 17 and five record. I think something like that. She has 22 fights at age 23 It's insane just beat Marina right now. We guys and that was. I mean she's legit. I think it'd be, I mean I feel like this is another one of those here's the stakes being slid under the door for like one of the younger prospects to come in and take the juice.

But here's the thing, the Brazilian fighters, male or female, they linger late into those 30s and you cannot count them out. They're different. They're born different, Luke. Right, well here's the thing, Lucendo hasn't shown the high-level ability. In fact, she's had a few issues where she takes someone down and just lays on them. But, you know, at 23, it's like, holy fuck, like, you lay on this person because you just don't know what you're doing yet.

It seems like there's a great opportunity to show some new skills, assuming that she's been steadily working on it. So that fight, again, is not the most exciting fight. No, but it's not some kind of piece, it's not some piece of shit women's bantamweight fire we just like I don't give a fuck It's hard to figure out though like Lemmosh is three and three in her last six wins over Mackenzie Dern Marina

Rodriguez and Michelle Waterson good that's pretty great losses to Andrade by submission standing was a standing arm triangle Weyly for the title that one that's the one that everybody like because it was so one-sided Yes, Weyly for the title that one that's the one that everybody like because it was so one-sided Yes, you know way leave for the title over five rounds And then she gets subbed by Janja Robe on the last fight Okay, she's not the best in the division But she's a little hit or miss but the high end of what you can do is pretty damn good still So this is a great test for Lucinda when that in that particular with you. I agree with you Also, I gotta say this can we talk about the prelims or not?

We will in a second. We will in a second. Because, Luke, as we talked about, Pick Six from DraftKings, it's like fantasy football but MMA edition. So, we're looking to pick our Pick Six teams for this UFC 313 card. And like fantasy, let's say, basketball, where you're looking for those well-rounded players that can give you points, rebounds, assists. Yokich. There's the... Yeah, Yokich fits that bill.

There's the categories here for things like fight time, control time, strikes, takedowns, reversal sweeps. If you win in the first round, you get 90 plus points as opposed to winning later. So you got to think of well-rounded all-round, but also people if you get a finish, it's going to make them bigger. Luke, when you look at this card, who's a top draft pick when you're looking to make your pick six for UFC 313? Um, I mean, I'm not sure how to answer that one.

Presented by DraftKings. Um, I'm not much of a better, it's kind of, you're putting me on the spot here. You look at it more of a fantasy football type of way in terms of the different categories that just laid out to you Luke like strikes like Control time and all that. I mean I'm looking in this case Fazee will give you something. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's a good call. Okay. We should ask we should ask our resident smart better What do you think in reference to his question? How would you answer it? I mean as someone who chose on Kali of in the main event. We're talking control time. We're talking takedowns

I would lean towards that also like if you are leaning poets on he's probably gonna get an early finish So you right sir. Yes. Good point. There's a lot of ways you could go This is a tough card to pick on get points for knockdowns you get points for Significant strikes like we mentioned all of that. So I'm picked six in here. I like ain't alive I like everything he's saying right there. I likeizeev here does it have to be the main card no it's the entire card it's the entire card so a little flexibility all right you got your options right there for pick six brought to you by DraftKings and remember I'm gonna pick my people and obviously you got to remember that

with DraftKings the crown is yours so that's pretty fun so I like my six in this case could be Ankaliyev, Fizeev, I'm going's pretty fun. So I like my six in this case to be Anko ly of Fazeve I'm going Jalen Turner here and I like him in this fight to begin with on top of that I'm gonna go Curtis blades He's gonna push the one I was thinking give us a lot of takedowns potential knockdowns right here in top and Top control in that regard and how about Joshua van and I know that guy I freaking love And how about Joshua Van? And I know Luke loves that guy. I freaking love Joshua.

Can we talk about that fight? That's a little long in the tooth. That pick six right there fits right in my wheelhouse for you. So DraftKings, the crown is yours. I'm fired up. I'm ready to go. Now, fellas, now we go below the five. You got to pay for those five fights. These, though, I mean, you can watch them for virtually free.

Technically, you can steal anything. Uh, that feature, the preliminary feature is Curtis Blades who I think we would all agree if there is that demarcation line between the small handful of elite heavyweights and then everybody else, he's still above the line in my opinion. Yeah, I mean I know I was talking with Clint from MMA Die Hard this week and he was saying, you know, he's been knocked out five times But it's like two of them were Francis one was Pavlovich one was Aspin all and I forget who the other one was There's another heavy hitter Derek Lewis. He's lost two of three by ko

That is the Aspin all in Pavlovich fights, but around that he's got knocked out Almeida, which is not you know Smashed Alistair over him like dude this was this guy Rizvan or the Rizler. The Rizler is coming off. Rizler, who wins on the contenders? Yeah, I watched his fight with and like in like a cocktail. First of all, if you got to fight twice in the contender series, that's a I'm not going to say red flag, but it's like Bo Nicol. And who's that guy that had to fight three times recently?

Brundage. No, no. Toll is Phinney. Yes, yes. Here's what I'm gonna say, I watched this fight against, who's the big donk over in PFL that Francis smashed? Head in Fahada. Head in Fahada, I watched the fight. He just fucking held Fahada against the fence for like three fucking rounds, man.

There's, he popped for literally every known steroid to man. We need viable potential heavyweight title contenders because I know we're used to the title not being defended much the last couple of years, but I'd like to see the start to moving around. So Blades getting a win here could fill that. Obviously the Rizlor has a chance to really make his name with this fight.

What are the odds here, Long Island Luke, from DraftKings? Last I looked, I think Blades was around minus 310. Kunev around plus 250. I mean, the experience gap is massive here. Kunev has a little bit of hands. Kings last I looked I think blades was around minus 310 plus to fit I mean this is massive who neof has a little bit of hands he's a little bit quicker probably than blades but blades has fought way better and he's fun such big like I think seven of his last nine I was looking at this up because for a guy to fall into the prelims coming off of a you know a title shot essentially seven of his nine were like headlining bouts yeah I mean, he's been in big, big fights.

I think that he's got the huge experience. Is Curtis vulnerable? Sure. He should win this one. He should, and I think they're actually giving him the opportunity to get a win. Like I'm saying, what is the hierarchy in your eyes separating Jones and Aspinall? Gone, number one, in terms of probably the next best heavyweight? I think Blade's beats gone. I think Blade's beats gone. And he's heavyweight. I think Blades beats Khan. I think Blades beats Khan.

And he's right there. I think you have Volkov probably right behind him. Volkov's up there. Pavlovich still kind of hanging around. Almeida I don't think is completely done although he's kind of been exposed. No, he's still a little bit. I mean again, it's slim pickings but I just feel like people shit on Blades and again he has suffered some bad losses, I understand.

But when you just look at the tape on him, again, I go back to the Pavlovich fight. You watch the Pavlovich fight, he's landing on Pavlovich over and over again, but Pavlovich is just a big old Frankenstein motherfucker, and he didn't go down. And then of course, Pavlovich hits him and he goes down. You know, it wasn't like he wasn't doing really well. This is Curtis's fight to lose.

And Alexander Romanoff will be in the heavyweight season of the PFL. Yes, he will. Can we talk about how if Kuniev wins in his UFC debut, he will be a top five heavyweight UFC. That's where we're at right now. Keep the drug testers at bay. Luke, let's talk about flyweight Joshua Vann who was humbled against Charles Johnson has won two decisions since then.

Armand, I'm sorry, I'm reading the wrong line there. Ray to Sura. Surya. Ray Surya. Ray Surya. Ray Saruja. I don't know much about Ray here. Give me the 411. Standout wrestler, winner of Road to UFC. Super, super, super lopsided skill set. Has no hands whatsoever that we're aware of, but here's the thing. He can wrestle his ass off plus he has insane grappling and here's the thing He will take risks with positions where he'll go for throws that you've never seen into a trip into a backtake into something like All over the place with this kind of a thing

He's gonna be all over a guy like Josh fan Josh fan by the way if you're striking Averages in the three strikes landed per minute. That's about average for UFC fighter for as high five is really high Josh Van is at nine Wow nine. I said this on his fucking Reigns on you get an umbrella cuz here comes Josh van just fucking pouring down Not only not only does he land nine per minute. That's the most in the UFC, right? That's Josh van Here's the thing. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. A guy like that is gonna be constantly moving into you, constantly kind of taking risks himself, and Saruya is gonna find an opportunity to get bodylock, bodylock trips, get to the back. Dude, this fight, legitimately, just on pure fight terms, might be the best one on the card. And by the way, people are like,

oh we don't ever see prospect versus prospect you got one got one right here at 23 reminds me of a garbrand fought Thomas Almeida back in the day remember that was like they were both sluggers but yeah but I mean in terms of they were very young dudes yeah they didn't usually book them like they were two alpha dudes yeah like oh they gotta go through each other definitely so van 23 from Myanmar don't call it Burma yeah for all you geography heads up out there Luke like are you please get fired? Do you see the future like will you fight for a title one day in your eyes like he it's it's definite or is this the

Test that he's got to pass to continue that that run He's there are some issues with his game and I do wonder how much his power is gonna be a limiting factor But he's so talented. He's so talented I'd be very surprised if he didn't fight for a title plus. There's only like what 20 flyways like five guys So when you look at the middleweight matchup Bruno Fahada against Armand Petrosian what what what comes to mind you know Probably that's the fight right after that's done is when I tune in that's Petrosian's been stopped two in a row coming in granted the last one was the bop bop. Yes, you know what I mean? Okay, he got hit with a unique shot, but you know

What are we doing at welterweight with Carlos leal and Alex Morrone? Oh, just banging just just just giving guys fights, okay? That's fine. No rivalry there. Yeah, there's a minute. Just two dogs the early preliminary main event is in the featherweight division Francis Marshall versus that one's interesting my own Santos my own Santos is the one that stopped What was his name Kofi? How do you what was it like? Yeah, come on. Yeah, we're heating with the one shot Super young winner of the ultimate fighter season 32. Look at you! Marshall is originally Kurt Pellegrino's guy, went down to ATT, Grant Dawson took him under his wing. Here's the thing, they match made Marshall tough. They match made him real tough, he had to fight Dolgarian earlier in his run and it didn't really go great.

This is an interesting test of both guys. I think that Santos has the higher upside sure a little bit quicker obviously much better hands But on the other case you got a good strong Boxer wrestler American type got a guy. It's just it's just a great pairing with you the same division at featherweight We're gonna get Chris Gutierrez against John Castaneda I don't get a Castaneda. I don't feel Chuck like you came here prepared to talk about this No, I didn't but Castaneda come offaneda. I don't feel, Chuck, like you came here prepared to talk about this. No, I didn't. But.

Castaneda came off that Daniel Marcos loss, the Peruvian kid. Yes. And he got kind of bullied in that one. I feel like the leg kicking of Gutierrez is going to be a real big factor. You know when you say we're going to keep it like men or whatever at the beginning, like that's this is when we do, right? Because you're like you're in the deep. Listen, at some point, men just check out.

The curtain jerker is at middle weight, Jordan Ribero dos Santos versus Osmond Diaz. Long Island, you don't know about that fight. Don't act like you do. I do. Osmond Diaz never hit an over one and a half in his career, or maybe once. That fight ends in the first round or two.

Jordan Santos not great. Jordan Santos, real meat and potatoes kind of game, but that might just be enough. There's gonna be less people in the T-Mobile at that fight than at an Apex card, and I was gonna- Probably so. All right, what's gonna win the fight of the night? Saruya Josh fan.

I just think it's a hard fight to top. Now, Fiziv Geci too. Turner Bahamundes. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the one I was gonna say. Maybe the main event, too. You never know. You never freaking know. You never know.

Good lord, you never know. I mean, you have potential for some really good fights I hope it pans out. This is what I mean solid B. Yeah solid B. That's what I used to say in college I mean, you know be a big cup can work Don't indulge him We obviously did Snyder giggle I had to get the ass. It's hard to pop Snyder. Yes. Yes, right? Yeah All right. We could have gone places with that joke if you were willing, you know what I mean? We're gonna get into TKO boxing in just a second. But before we do if you want to talk about MMA legends

Are you talking about Anderson spider Silva BC? Yes I am guys Andre Ward of all the smoke fights sat down with MMA legend Anderson Silva for an intimate conversation on Silva's life, the art of fighting, and the business behind it all. Check out the full Art of Ward interview on the All the Smoke Fight YouTube channel, but here's a little appetizer for you. What is the fight that you've never got? How long is this clip? That you were supposed to get?

Two minutes. That you wish you got? that the UFC never saw. Oh, Roy Jones. In USC. Pierre. I think me and George St. Pierre, you know. DSP. Are you done fighting?

No. No, come on, no, never. Really? No, never. No, God give me everything. And I train every day, of course. You still train give me everything. And I train every day, of course. You still train every day? Yeah, I train every day.

What discipline? I train physical training every day. OK. Two days a week, I train jiu-jitsu. And the rest of the day, I train in boxing. One day a week, I train muay thai. So if you get a phone call. I'm ready. I'm training boxing and one day a week I train Muay Thai. So if you get a phone call. I'm ready.

I'm ready. So you don't believe in retirement? No, I don't believe in. Of course I have the different business. I work and I'm producing about movies. I have my schools, Muay Thai college. I have the killer bees with my partners. I have a Spider Kick brand. I have a killer beast with my partners. I have a Spider Kick brand.

I have a lot of things. But my passion, my love is fight. And that's I keep waiting. You know, it's crazy because that's I talk to my friends. They say, you know, you know the special force in the army, that's the same I'm waiting you know I just I need one thing just where my opponent in the weight really that's the point you know I train every day to this so you still

got your phone on just in case yes exactly well some guys have careers other people have a life they have got there's a fighting life This is what a juxtaposition did you guys cover him early on like obviously you did But he would talk about retirement all the time when he was in the thick of his career like in the prime when the 16 fight Winstree gets crazy to hear and he didn't speak English. This is like watching all the different guys his development of English is But I want to ask you about that. He not that I'm trying to relitigate McKenzie during speech history. That makes you very upset, and I'm sorry about that. You're just being racist. That's okay.

I just wanted to say that he kept saying, I'm weddy, I'm weddy, like for a fight. Shouldn't he be saying, I'm heady? I'm heady. Well, it's kind of funny. Do you guys remember when Noguera fought Randy Couture? And then he beats him, and they put a microphone in his face. He's like, I gotta say, shouts to the legend, handy. No forget Jesus, right? That's what I'm saying. Handy Couture.

There it is. I met her in college. Yeah. Guys, our final segment here, brought to you of course by the fine folks at Cuervo, you can't have a pregame preview for UFC 313 without Cuervo, right? I mean, it just sets it off right.

Sets it off right. When you're talking about Cuervo, right? I mean, it just sets it off right. Sets it off right. When you're talking about Cuervo, you're talking about a good time. It's now to enjoy the tequila, that invented tequila. Our final segment is called Shots Fired. The aftermath of the shot heard around the world in the boxing business space took place this week as TKO led by Dana White, UFC CEO and Nick Khan, WWE President will embark full time into boxing with the money from Turkey Al-Sheikh in Saudi Arabia. There's a debate here between whether it's a league or a promotion,

but from what we've heard over a lot of Dana White interviews, once we got past those early like endeavor friendly interviews where they don't ask anything about the Bahamian Ali actor or anything like that. Uh, but the news on terms of you got to take it as big guys. And when you're talking about shots fired, how about this on social media of these two behemoths getting together for better or for worse. And we can talk about that, but here's Dana White and turkey allah chic put in that announcement forward. What's up guys we have just done a deal to start a new

boxing league with Turkey who absolutely loves the sport of boxing. I am very happy today. I give the flag of boxing to the best man who can handle it. We have a tough job now, but I am sure he will be delivering to the people and the fans the magnificent league and get boxing great again. The model is proven to deliver the fights that the fans want to see. The best will fight the best and the fighters will continue to move up the rankings and become world champions. We will continue to make announcements on where you can watch and all the rest of the details

on the business as we get closer to the launch. I'll see you soon. So guys, it does, like the whole distinction between promotion and league, they're gonna use the UFC model, which is kind of your own league. They don't want the alphabet titles. They wanna launch their own titles.

Dan Rayfield had a podcast guest of Dana White just yesterday and brought it up and said, Dana, that is illegal. And Dana said, yeah, we got to work around the Muhammad Aliak. We got a lot of things to figure out. So there's a lot of topics connected to this, but it seems to be two things at once. One, according to Mark Shapiro of TKO, they're going to put on two grand events per year over the next two years for Saudi. And the rumors seem to surround Canelo versus Crawford this September at Allegiant Stadium as the first one. And then two is this actual league with younger fighters coming in. Dana says he is open to any fighter joining, but this won't be a co-promotion. This will be just that. And Turkey and Dana on a separate

video went as far as saying, there's Turkey talking, that they will crush the competition together when they presumably kick off this league next year. But the competition are all the other promoters who are just under the Riyadh season banner. So there's a lot to get into here. There's supposed to be a quick reaction, but Luke, first and foremost, what do we make of this? It's monumental for sure. It's a major announcement. How quickly can they do it? Is their vision, is it going to work? What do you got for me? I mean, there's so many different parts to it. I would just say, I think it's a general proposition. You know, we've been here watching Dana White build UFC for a long time. I certainly have issues in ways I don't see the world like him, but it's a little foolish to bet against him, I think,

or at least to bet against what is possible. You got to keep Nikon and Ari Emmanuel in that conversation too. Like this is a superpower. These are not losers. These are guys that, you know, again, I don't always like what they do, but they tend to get what they want out of things and you kind of have to acknowledge that. Nevertheless, they do face some interesting hurdles. I don't know what's going to happen to the Ali Act. I don't know if they can repeal it or change it or amend it or do something to it.

It's a federal law. You can't just overturn it with executive order. So that is a huge component of it. But I mean, just here's the thing. All those promoters, Queensborough, Golden Boy, Matchroom, sold their ass to give everything to Turkey to take big fat checks and it looks like he's gonna- And they called him His Highness.

His Excellency. His Excellency. Which by the way, you notice that Dana- That's what I'm saying. No, Dana calls him Shake Turkey, which is hilarious, but I don't get it. And it looks like he's gonna and they and they called him his highness his excellency his excellency No, Dana calls him shake turkey, which is hilarious, but I don't get it It seems like it but that's what I'm saying like no saying chic turkey Is that what he thinks you can shake is just a different way of thing? So I mean, there's still a title involved there, but he doesn't call him his excellency I do notice that but the point I'm trying to make here is you've got the This is why antitrust is so important because they let a giant corporation develop in a sister industry and now they're

going to leverage all of that power, not just for that industry, but for the next one as well. And now backed by again, this is not quite true, but obviously it's fair to say that these are basically, basically the richest people in the world the Saudis themselves and they want to take control I mean everyone wanted to treat this like some kind of avuncular You know, oh, I'm sure to come in here and hand out money and not money everyone But they that's only the beginning stage beginning stage They want to take control to the point you raised about titles about who they're gonna get I don't know but I will say this.

It is delicious to watch these guys who just had no compunction whatsoever about doing business with a religious tyrannical government. Now it looks like the tables have turned. They has any heard talking about retirement and now Eddie Heron coming out and saying like they're wrong. I agree with Eddie Heron where he came out and said, look, it's fine that they're doing this. This could be a great thing for boxing.

And Eddie even said, I don't even know if I'll be involved or not. It doesn't seem like you will be Eddie, unless you bend the knee and join. Hey, Eddie, you're not gonna be. You know, Eddie was like, Eddie brought up one thing. There's a narrative that Dana and Turkey are pushing with this and it helped when they went on very friendly, you know, airwaves like, like the Pat McAfee show or first take where, you know, they're not going to be grilled on some of these other things where they're presenting it as if boxing is dead and broken and, you know, and, and, and air repairable and they're the saviors coming

in. But Dana is coming in with a strategy that is basically a boxing strategy that he brought to MMA to try to do things the old ways. And it worked because of the control he had, but he's coming in with this narrative that boxing sucks when boxing is coming off of some of its best years ever. I think Turkey has made an error here, and I think this is one of his first major errors that could be a turning point. And it's announcing this so early. And what I mean by that is this, they announced it as, this is the new boxing.

TKO boxing will be the new boxing. Only TKO saying, like, we don't want the alphabets. I don't know if anyone saw the Canelo of the Sculpt press conference yesterday. Turkey was pushing away. Even though that's a unification of all four belts, he was pushing them away to have the ring magazine and whatever ceremonial belt was across his shoulders.

Is there like, they came out, I think, too aggressive to say, the future is us together and we're going to crush everybody else. I think they gave everybody else too much time to now go wait. We were fine, as Luke said, selling our souls when it was filling our pockets. We were a part of the biggest fights ever. And we all, I think, didn't really care as much about things like sports washing and what Saudi's real intention was because we're all getting, as the trade-off, these really big fights in the traditional promoters, for the most part, are involved in them. Now they're straight up kind of telling those traditional promoters, you're out.

And in a year from now, these guys are coming in. So I think for people that have been saying, and they're not fully wrong, but the people that have been parading, there's been a shameless group of people in boxing who have been parading around that Turkey is God's gift to boxing. And there's been a lot of great that's come from Turkey. There's no question about that. But it was always in line with, but we're getting the best fights and the fighters are getting paid and you know what? This is insane.

It's incredible. What about it when it shifts to now we're're gonna take the sport with the UFC model, and right now what is UFC matchmaking? I'm complaining all the time about how watered down it is. We're complaining all the time about the fighters not getting paid enough what they deserve. And you're just gonna force that model and that shape into the sport,

and then tell everybody we've taken over, who's gonna wear your championships unless you can get not two or three big free agents, but unless you can find a way to to sign deals with these major promoters and bring these rosters and it's gonna take a long time to build up that base of Fighters that that are credible enough for you to be able to look at them I'm a father with like the Saudi like it's Saudis money, right?

But it's a UFC kind of making everybody conform to this new way Right is you think Oscar de la Hoya is gonna work for Dana White like you know I mean we think we think top-ranked the you know is gonna work for them No, De La Hoya has thought this through as like a grand strategy in his role in it He was happy to sell off right magazine. He was happy to do they did Latino night Didn't they do Latino night in Saudi Arabia? Yes, like what the fuck are you doing? I'm just saying I think this was almost a soft heel turn by Turkey and he doesn't realize it where It's shaking up things too much and not going in the direction people thought people thought he's actually unifying the sport, right?

You're bringing to you that last card the greatest card in the history of life Whatever it was the be last crescendo the last crescendo to his credit He brought together the six biggest promoters in the sport. They didn't give their best fighters ever But we saw a very deep amazing. People were rallying around that unity because we've been so disjointed in boxing. This new plan is only unity if everybody buys in, bows down, and gives up their fighters to the U. Otherwise it's like you said, a fifth belt.

So now it's gonna be a, so it doesn't fix the belts if you're only adding a fifth belt to what we're doing, and a sixth because now we have Ring Magazine. Here's what's so weird, in that video, Turkey's like, oh, Dana's going to make boxing great again. It's like, Turkey, I thought that's what you were doing. I know. Like you didn't, what have you been doing the last two or three years? So I think anybody that looked at as Turkey as boxing Santa Claus is now questioning, wait, he's not in it to give us the biggest fights ever or is he's in it because- Wow, I can't believe the guy, the country that executes people for

tweets all of a sudden wants to have control over the thing they're putting millions of dollars in. That sounds so unlike them. So even though when the news hit, I have said the same reaction of everybody is, oh my God, you have to take this seriously. Like you have to take this seriously. These are the people that actually could pull it off and the money from that side of the world is the money that can pay for it. But how do they get from this rollout, even if they do Crawford Canelo? And I'll guarantee you they're going to do the best, you know, as good a job as anybody could.

That's what they're all about. But how do they take that to actually being able to say we have the best roster in boxing? You can put out really good fights and I'm sure they're going to match make the hell out of them. But if you don't have those big names, how long will it take? They told Sportico they're gonna initially look to sign around 170 or so fighters. So I think they're gonna build from the ground up and then sign from the top down.

That's the model that everyone tends to follow. To your point, I don't know how far they're gonna get with it or how fast. It really remains to be seen. But I'm gonna say it again, dude, you're talking about a giant multi-billion dollar company with also backed by Saudi money. This is a juggernaut and a half.

And again, do we really think that the sanctioning bodies are gonna put up a great fight for their own future? Do we really think that other promoters are gonna think this? Bob Air might think it through. They might do it now. Don't you think that was a sign when Turkey's pushing away all the belts like it felt

Like it all played together. Maybe it was random and it was it was separate, but it felt like it's all part of the We're in control now to be clear There was a community note on Marcos Vijayka's tweet where it was like it turns out turkey wasn't exactly saying that but it doesn't really matter Because Dana in the interview with Dan Rayfield was like, yeah, we're not gonna work with the sanctioning body So metaphor or otherwise, it doesn't really matter but the point I want to make is I totally acknowledge all of the points you raise about the headwinds. They are real.

The reality is, dude, we got here because one, we'd let a monopoly grow in a sister industry. That's one. And also because the people who make boxing what it is are shitbags. They're shitbags who- I'm not gonna act like boxing was perfect or fixed or anything before this, but- They're shitbags who don't care about fixing the problems. And so here comes somebody who's like, oh, I'll fix your fucking problems for you.

But here's the potential main difference, okay? Al Heyman has been seen as good and bad at different times in his run. He's done very powerful things to change the sport over time. But what did the fighters say about him at the end of the day every single time? They thank him for changing their lives and taking care of them and giving them opportunities. And that's the same way people were looking at Turkey under when he was boxing Santa Claus. He is paying these fighters and flying out legends, making it feel like I love every part of that, the gala feel of it. It's not bad at all.

But how can Dana bring in the UFC model into boxing still be about the fighters? I'm sure some big name fighters are gonna sign with them and get big money up front. Like I'm not doubting that. It's Turkey putting in the money. But you saw, you guys probably saw, I interviewed Canelo yesterday on CBS Sports HQ and asked him his thoughts on TKO and Dana coming in.

His answer was basically built around, hey, if it's good for the, if it's better for the fighters, good for the TKO and Dana coming in. His answer was basically built around, hey, if it's good for the, if it's better for the fighters, good for the fighters, I'm all in. They're going to be good for the fighters, and if it's good for the fighters, then yeah, like he was all about like, yeah, I want promoters that come in that are actually all about the fighters. And he's probably taking a shot at Oscar De La Hoya, and I get that. But do we assume that Dana's going to come in and be about the fighters here? Well, if you look at the top 100 paid athletes of the last year on that list that came out I think for Forbes, right? Like there were six boxers, the least one

on that, the one that came in like 90-something was in a way who hasn't even fought in the United States in what, how many years? And there were zero MMA names on there and I think that that's kind of that that's kind of the difference, isn't it? I don't think, if you're following a certain model, even if it's not initially, especially if they're using the Saudi money and they're bringing in, like you said from the top, they're getting certain, there's getting certain guys,

they're just gradually pushing it towards what that would become. So the days of that happening, of you having six boxers in that list are probably limited if that's the way it goes, right? It's just so funny to me when people are like, oh the UFC model really fixes things. I'm like, dude, the model is we just take the money and you don't. Like people act like it's some fucking revolutionary idea.

It's actually the old boxing model. It's the old boxing model where the promoters ripped off all their players. There's absolutely nothing revolutionary about it at all. It just switches the power. And the way they're just changing their... I have no idea how the Ali acts. Like, what's going to happen with this? I don't know.

I don't know. But the way things are set up right now. It is big news, but there's still so many questions. Because what is the UFC model? The UFC model is, we have all these managers that are, they wanna keep their job and are willing to kind of lean UFC's way in a lot of these situations.

Are all these lead promoters gonna become boxing essentially managers and feeders? I have a feeling they'll do the exact same thing. And all the boxers too. Oh, I would never do that. You'll still you'll you'll. You think so? I feel like these boxing the one thing about the Wild West spirit of the business side of it, which is either a good or a bad at different times.

Sometimes it's fun. Sometimes that's the only story you're talking about is it's like these gunslingers. Sometimes they'll team up when the money makes sense, but they're all even though that's the only story you're talking about is it's like these gunslingers. Sometimes they'll team up when the money makes sense, but they're all, even though that's a fault when they're only looking to get their individual piece of the pie. I can't take what Dana is saying is true. There's never been money invested back into the sport. Like these guys are all swinging corporate Raiders. They're all cowboys in the sense.

There's not a big sign in Vegas that says home of boxing, but you know where the money goes in Terrence Crawford's pocket, right? Errol Spence's pocket, in Canelo's pocket. That's why you don't see the big neon sign for, you know, Boxing Inc. or whatever the fuck in Las Vegas. That's why. Again, it's not, oh, here's my genius idea. Instead of the boxers taking the money, we will take the money. Cong money congratulate me on my business acumen That's why I thought are we doing Dana was saying will be HBO. I thought that could have worked What if they became turkeys pay-per-view network right for everything turkeys doing which is working with almost every promoter and putting Kind of putting people with their back against the wall and saying you're either with me or you're not

But if they're gonna come in and say from day one we will be our own separate thing and we will own them all boxing I don't know if that'll work. We'll see. We shall see. We shall see. But I want to thank our sponsor Quervo and all of our sponsors, of course. Shout out to DraftKings and all of that if you're watching this right now on the DraftKings network. This has been UFC 313 pregame preview and Chuck Mendenhall. Always a pleasure when you can Thank you guys. Slide in with us. Let me interrupt you a lot and just you know. No, you've gotten really good about that. You barely, you do, you don't, you don't really.

I mean, I still do it to this guy, but you know, it's a passionate verbal sparring war that we've got going on. Chuck, do you want to tell anybody anything about your life, your prostate history? Like what do you got going on? No, they don't want to hear about that. I'm over at Uncrowned.

That's where my byline is. And that's about it. Is that true what they saying about you on the screen? I Do have relatives in Kentucky. Yeah Yes, yes Luke Thomas you've been a great dad today. I'm trying motherfucker. I'm trying Long Island Luke of the main card minute this weekend can the fans get a lot of you?

Yes, full card watch along 6 30 p.m. Join in thank you all right the Luke Thomas network also offering companion coverage I'm not so sure yet because I friends coming in from out of town So I got to figure that part out if I don't have one Saturday. I'll have one Sunday. Do they speak Spanish um? Yes, all of them. Do you want to plug your ex? My ex no you're Yes, all of them. Do you want to plug your ex? My ex no your Twitter Twitter Twitter

Your Twitter and fuck Twitter fuck Twitter. Do you want to plug your blue sky? Yeah, follow me on blue sky The third rike is not in my mentions Chuck out real quick Chuck any thoughts on that new TV deal for powerslap on YouTube? Can we get can we close the show? It's a v-chain sponsor. Okay, all right powerslap on YouTube. Can we close the show? It's a V-Chain sponsor. OK, all right. For Luke Thomas and the great Chuck Mindenhall and our fantastic staff on B.C. We hope you have enjoyed this.

We'll see you next time. Oh, fuck me. Sorry.