MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 314 Pregame Preview: Volkanovski vs. Lopes Presented By Cuervo | Morning Kombat

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

Luke and BC are joined by friend of the show Jed Meshew to break down EVERYTHING about UFC 314. In the main event, Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes clash with the vacant featherweight title on the line. The co-main event features Michael Chandler and Paddy Pimblett in a lightweight showdown. Can Chandler rebound from back-to-back losses and take down Paddy "The Baddy?" Plus Yair Rodríguez takes on Patrício Pitbull and much more! Join the guys as they crack open some drinks and preview this stacked card in a way only they can!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

REVOLUTION I'm on combat. Do you want a margarita? Yes! Oh my God! It's us doing what we love. Two, three, two, three. It's time to bang. Oh yeah, it's one of those good days in your life. Get fired up. We're not here to complain about the Apex because UFC 314 is this Saturday and us here at Morning Combat are ready to give it to you. Routing to give it to you. Mendo. It is pre-game preview brought to you by Cuervo. Welcome on into this

Wednesday, April 9th, 2025. Brian Campbell, Luke Thomas, and our special guest back in the seat. Kid Rock. MMA Fighting's Jed Mesishu, the second. Jed, thank you for joining us. Do I have to disclaim once more what we expect from you today? I mean, it wouldn't hurt. I just want to say thanks for including me in the What Men Do, because you've once again done this bullshit

where you put me between the two of you, and the perspective makes me look like a small child. We didn't give you the option of sitting on Luke's lap. I called you Kid Rock, you're more like Joe C. Yeah, just an absolute infant between you because of the perspective. True story, they buried him in a shoe box. Did you know that?

That's a true fact. After he shot up a bunch of Bud Light. All right, there we go. Hey, we're gonna be happy today. We're gonna be excited because this Saturday in Miami, pay-per-view UFC 314, it's loaded guys. There's bangers on that card. There's big name action stars. There's big name debuts. There's fights deep on the undercard that we care about. Nobody came here to hear us complain. This is a no judgment

zone today. We're just going to bring it and have fun. All right. I will say I want to be in that Miami mood, but it's freaking cold outside here in New York City. It's a little chilly. It is. It feels like winter. That's that's my only complaint is that I'm seeing all the summery vibes in Miami and I want a little taste of it. Well, this fantastic episode of morning combat, if you didn't already know, is brought to you by Cuervo and now is a good time to enjoy the tequila that invented tequila. Put the camera on me for the human billboard. That's what I'm talking about right here. Okay. Let's get after it with some tequila from the great people at Cuervo. I'm going to grab the Blanco gentlemen. Okay. Also, I can say that they sent me, Cuervo sent me the same clothes that they sent BC. These are high quality items. This sweatshirt is awesome. It literally might be the best sweatshirt that I have. Jen, true or false? I look kind of hard in this cap. I mean, and sweatshirt is awesome. And literally might be the best sweatshirt that I have. Jen, true or false, I look kind of hard in this cap.

I mean, and sweatshirt feels good. It's nice. You do look like ice cubes. Boys in the hood in this cab, right? Like I look like, sure. The black and white is going. My question is, do you have the undies too? Is the curtain match the drapes here? That's normally my question.

You can get out that way. And hand me mine, because I'm going to have mine as a mixer. Like a bitch. I gave you a big one there, Jed. I'm sorry. You're going to have to go deep on that, okay? I'm comfortable with it. It's what, 11 a.m.? I don't have work today. It's 11 a.m. somewhere, okay? And this is the traditional. This is the blanco, baby.

Blanco. Can you a riba a bajo with a mixture? Yeah, oh yeah, of course. Are you kidding? Do you think that these celebratory people need any kind of special way in which to toast? Luke, on behalf of all Colombians everywhere, could you? Okay, as is customary.

Arriba, Bajo, Al Centro, Barentro. That sounds incorporated. Do do do do do. We're gonna do it. On your marks, get set, and go go now got a dream that we can show now Hey guys first and foremost. I want to say something. Yeah, we know you're a fucking piece of shit We know you're a shoplifting deadbeat dad you don't have to tell us nothing to say we have really good MMA this weekend So let's start off with there, the quality of this card.

I don't know if it's a plus plus plus plus, but compared to what we're used to in this ESPN plus content farming era, this card on Saturday, Luke Thomas is? Nine out of 10. Nine out of 10. I think that's pretty fair. Now, if you had to nitpick,

which of course no card is perfect, but if you had to nitpick, I think the one thing you could say that it's missing is a next level box office superstar. Yes. To bring in the casual. This is not necessarily a casual pulling fight, but it's top to bottom hardcore heaven. You don't have a name on there like, you know, a prime, not the current version of Conor McGregor, but you know, the, the UFC highlight version or even like, you know, even John Jones at this point, still a pretty big name. You don't have that. However, do you have quality up and down this card? Check. Do you have important matchups for a series of some of the

better divisions in the entire sport? Check. Do you have fights with rivalry, storylines, stakes, all the things that you would want? Check. And in in particular in that main event, to me, I was kind of like, well, you know, losing to Poria was not great. I didn't love that. But now when I look at it, you have two things I'm going to say BC one, and we'll get to this later. I'm sure you have the 35 and overstat, which of course still applies 155 and down, right? Then Rocky Pennington and that's the women's side is different.

The women's side is different. But didn't blow out for them. Bilal challenge. No, I said 55 and down, right? Didn't Rocky Peddington end that step? The women's side is different. The women's side is different. Didn't Bilal for the Bilal challenge? No, I said 55 and down. That's 70 and up. Fair enough. And there had been one before him. 70 is a tweener one. But here's the other one.

I was looking at Volk's resume and I was like, dude, who has been finished twice and then won a full on UFC title? Has that ever happened before? In succession, you're saying? Yeah, it's never ever happened. There have been six people who have lost two fights and then tried to get a title. The closest was Randy Katsura, UFC 43, but he had to change weight classes and it was only an interim title. Volk is going to attempt something in this main event that has literally never been done in the

main event that has literally never been done in the history of this organization in any era in any weight class both genders you name it never been done before. Holy fucking shit. Sign me up. Wow, he's fired up. We're going to get deep into that main event very shortly, but about the totality of the card for how much complaining we've done on morning combat on below the belt with with Brendan links on and Mike heck on MMA fighting um you have to be like super super excited we're allowed to do that we're allowed to take our thing out put on the table if we want right well just hang yeah not not trying to do that with you BC okay look cards awesome cards really really good there's this you said you know we can nitpick there's nothing at

the top like there's not an Alex behedda something like that I think that's true. Oh, they got you good on that lower third by the way 7-eleven I live in the south we don't fucking have All right quick forever, whatever I think exactly I think you can nitpick that this card is great because as you said BC It's there we live in it's great in there if you throw this back to 2018 you're like oh, this is a good card In nowhere is this a bad card the front four fights of the evening like the same you have to give a shit about Nora Cornwalli open up the come on. That's the current jerker though You can't you can't like the first four fights are weak

But who gives a shit because it doesn't matter anymore we get such bad Efforts like we just watched one of the worst cards of all time last weekend the week before Mexico is good Okay, what am I missing with my analysis? I think you can nitpick that the other parts of this card are are weaker Historically not compared to current. We're not comparing it to 205, 217, 200, like all these ones that were just top to bottom like I can't miss these fights. But ultimately this is just, like this is the best card we get these days, it's the best card of the year and I'm not trying to be a negative fucking Nancy here, like let's have some fun because the main card's sick, the middle prelim section is great and the

early prelims, you know, but that ease our way into it. Also, I'll just say this, last April was UFC 300, right? Yeah, it was the best day of all time. Okay, but that card was stacked top to bottom and like, you know, when they stack it like that, to me, there's too much going on. I like a little bit of like, hey, Doc Dawkerson versus Rick Rickerson at the bottom, but then at the top, you've got, you know, pound for pound talents up there. It looks like I don't need to be tuning in at 430 p.m. Eastern. I need constant stimulus

We're gonna hit our main event hard here right off the top the vacant featherweight title Elia Toporia is gone and I hope UFC I hope he will be on International Fight Week fighting Islamah Jeb that for that lightweight title damn I hope that but for now we do have the aforementioned 36 year old Alexander Volkanovsky But for now, we do have the aforementioned 36-year-old Alexander Volkanovsky, loser of three of his last four, stopped in his last two fights, albeit against the number one and two pound-for-pound in the world on my CBS Sports list in Islamahchev and Ilya Tuporiya. He welcomes a red-hot Diego Lopez, Brazilian-born, Mexican-repping, five-fight win streak.

I do want to bring in quickly the fourth member of our team today, producer, director, bong enthusiast, and a man who is only here with us today by way of an Australian gentleman's ball bag. It is Luke Nosedo of the main card minute. Luke, I want to hear the odds from you from DraftKings on this main event and anything else you want to say to the people. I believe last I looked, Volk was minus 122,

Diego plus 102. It started Volk like minus 175 So money's definitely come in on Diego as the week has gone on but Volk has not been a dog yet Personally, I don't want to take him unless he's a dog. So I'm gonna wait it out. Hmm. All right Well, thank you so much Long Island look that stat Jed that we heard or that or the line right there What does that line tell you that the odds makers are trying to tell us about this main event? They're shook. Is Volkanovsky good or is his chin shot? Like that to me and Will, I'm sure we're going to dive into all this. I'm really excited to get both your takes on this because I did a lot of research coming in,

not just for this show, but you know, 314 or whatever. I don't know. I don't know the answer to that question. If his chin is there I think he's gonna have a day. He is gonna do something nobody has ever done before is His chin there dude. I I don't know it's really hard to be like his chin's gone. It's a little freaking to Burea It's a headache from my 55. Yeah Short notice and Ilya to Burea okay. Well sure he got knocked out by Alex Pereira Does that mean he's chin is shit or does it mean that's Alex Pereira?

I don't know the answer to that so I'm really fine That's gonna induce betting or is that are the odds makers saying for as fun as Diego Lopez is beating Second term Ortega isn't beating Volkanov ski. He's not on this level necessarily. I think they're nervous I think that's exactly what it is. I mean, dude, listen, listen, this is in some ways not complicated to understand, but at the same time, very hard to see the future. There's no real good argument for Diego Lopez being better than Volkanovsky. It just doesn't exist.

Now on the ground, obviously, in pure jiu-jitsu, he probably is better or whatever, but as far as MMA jiu-jitsu is concerned and the way in which Volt can manipulate that position or just negate it completely. Doesn't seem the most relevant threat and on the feet, like in terms of pure talent and ability, who they fought, who they've beaten, dude, Volk is like miles ahead of this fucking guy. Like if this was prime Volk, I'd be like, this is, you know, I'm not going to say the Yair fight over again, but no, it's that something kind of like that, but dude, he's been stretched twice.

And you could say all these different, you always have short notice, which, you know, okay, you know, I understand. And against a Poria dominant puncher. Fine. But like this was a guy who was dropped against, let's see, Chad Mendez. He was dropped against, uh, Brian Ortega twice by max in the rematch. He's been dropped numerous times and he's all kind of rallied as a consequence for all of Lopez's shortcomings.

Who's a good fighter. And to be clear, when I say he's nothing like Volk, I'm saying we're comparing it to basically one of the highest technical standards that we've seen, but he can swarm, he can blitz, he has excellent finishing instincts and all he's got to do is clip them and you know, the whole shit goes sideways. And I'm like, right, I get why the odds are where they are. One guy is just better but compromised and the other guy is a fucking ninja with the

follow up. Like that's a tough matchup. It really is. People hate on podcasts like this when all we do is say, does this fight make this guy the third greatest this of all time? But I did hear John Anick, the great John Anick, the voice of the octagon. He did an interview with R.J. Clifford where Anick said, look, considering the age and Luke Thomas's

favorite stat, if Volkonovsky comes back and wins this championship for the second time, coming off of those two defeats when it's very easy to write him off, even though the oddsmakers have him as a slight favorite, that's, Anik believes that would make him kind of the most accomplished featherweight in UFC history. Fucking bananas. John Anik has been on a career-long crusade to forget that Jose Aldo exists. We don't accept Anik. He's been doing it since- We don't be smirch Anik on this show, okay? Anik, talk to me, because I don't understand it. Since like day two you've been like,

and here's the greatest featherweight of all time because he beat Jose Aldo. Nine fucking title defenses, man. Like I don't know what to tell you. Hey, but last time I checked though, the Volk beat Max three times and Aldo got stopped by Max twice. Cool! Different goddamn errors. Nine defenses. Come talk to me when he puts up three more It is in like this will be no bones about it Like if volt comes and does it outside of this stat that I just learned about being the first ever do that This will be the crowning achievement to one of the ten best fighters I've ever seen because I do believe that Alexander Volkanovsky is one of the ten greatest fighters of all time already this will be that sort of next level greatness that you see from guys like Anderson Silva

and Jose Aldo and George St. Pierre and John Jones who well after their prime they are still able to beat good, competent, like high level opposition. That is what this will be. He is still well short of the title defenses set by Jose freaking Aldo, who was the youngest champion in Zufa history. I'm sorry that he, you know, the WEC wasn't there. And so John Jones gets to claim it. Jose Aldo put some respect on his name.

I don't hate the king of Rio here, but the fact that that you can play the MMA math with those three great ones of this era, it does. It's not nothing. It does matter into this is John speaking out of his a hole or if Volk does and you have to you have to focus not on the past, even though Volk did start his career on a 12 fight win streak with the UFC. But you got to focus on the fact that he can come back from two devastating knockouts and if he wins this, it's going to be that's going to be a huge feather

in his all time resume. And I'm with Jen on this one. Not that I love John Nenick, so I don't have any ill will but I do agree that the That that dominance of a weight class Is best exemplified by what Jose Aldo did? but again, I just want to say this is this is what I love about this fight because Also, you know Ilya Toporia looms large over this main event because everyone thought after he got knocked out Oh vocal get a rematch against him and now we're just probably not gonna get that He might have to go to 55 to get it

I don't think the UFC is gonna have any appetite for just one second But the point I'm trying to make is one reason why I like this fight is because what Volk is actually up against is yes Diego Lopez, but he's up against historical obstacles. He's up against this 35 stat He's up against this as I mentioned the two losses getting stopped and then winning a title fight in your third fight These are things that just have literally never been done. And so he can kind of reclaim a version of glory, not by avenging those things that set him down the first time, but by climbing new mountains. And I know I'm speaking quite metaphorically here, but I don't know. To me, it's quite interesting actually for those

reasons. I would love to see the rematch with Seporia, but this is to me for all those other aforementioned reasons Almost as interesting almost I want to one-up you there because I've been thinking about that a lot this week I think this is more interesting than the rematch with Toporia and There's more mystery more mystery I think it leads to more interesting places because I agree like if you put the Toporia rematch on top of this that gives This card a little bump right like the toporia star power The rivalry that's going on there. I think that adds some juice I

Would have zero qualms. I like there I would be here in this chair I've been like yeah, it's pretty is gonna kill the old man again cuz he already did it and he's getting better and Volkanovsky is coming all the same stuff and he's there But the Diego Lopez match is so much more interesting and if Volk wins now I'm more interested in a rematch with Deporia. I would still pick Deporia you know if but if Volk goes out here and says hey my chin is good I took some shots from a hitter maybe not the same caliber of hitter in Deporia took some shots from this young massive dude who throws hard hammers at me and I showed that I still have it I am suddenly far more interested in that rematch.

I think this is a better business decision from the, ah, it can lead to cooler fights and this fight itself is cooler than the extra coronation of Toporio, which is what this would be if he was still fighting. Right. It could rejuvenate Volkanovsky, a fighter that even though he's getting older still demands attention, still demands critical attention as one of the best of all time and still close enough to the pound for pound. Even with these two losses, obviously the central thing we need to learn from this fight

is if he still has it. Did you see the shape? He came in the loop for this. Yeah. These bulk training videos on countdown and embedded. Like this is like, do you see him talking about it? Apparently he like actually took training seriously this time. This is what he's like.

Instead of, you know, Patty pimpling it between fights I've just been like serious the whole time because apparently you have to do that if you're gonna be well I also said that this week he once played rugby at 214 pounds never heard that at all. But uh Like what it mean less if he does it against Lopez who hasn't had an elite win near this Although I certainly respect the Ortega win and the Danigue win on one-hour's notice. I don't know. It's not, it's not, first of all, Lopez is a quality opponent. He's not like the world's best guy, but he's a quality opponent. On that level,

it's not his best win. Like the beating Max three times is gonna be better than this. Or making Aldo stop trying. I mean, He made that man stop trying. Believe me. But what I do think is true is the broader set of history that is trying to guide this moment that he is trying to buck. That to me is what he is fighting. He is fighting the tides of history. That is a much stronger force than any one individual fighter. And so for that reason, man, I'm like, you know, again, it's if, if anybody can do it, it would be him, but this is tough.

So to me, I got to tell you, I think if he goes in there and beats a very dangerous Diego Lopez, unless Lopez goes in there and looks like shit because he's got staph infection on fight week or something, which that would that would diminish it. That would diminish his shoulder. Don't put that shit out into the ether. It's like every pay-per-view, it's like so-and-so's dying from, you know, whatever the fuck they got out, some communicable disease. What did Per have last time?

The hoof and mouth or something? No, a neurovirus? The neurovirus, yeah. So assuming that's not in play, I just wanna say it one more time, what VULK is attempting is unique and special, and Lopez is the guy who presents the challenge, but it's so much bigger than that.

Absolutely, let's spin it to Lopez. 30 years old, as people pointed out to us, like proudly rep in Mexico and people look at him as a Mexican national there and the work he does coaching in the Lobo gym, correct? Yeah. And Brazilian warriors, which they've all kind of merged. Yeah. I don't think he's turned his back on Brazil. The same level you have India, your country of origin. I mean, I was just born there. That's it. OK. OK.

But we know that Lopez is exciting. Five fight win streak has power is willing to engage But Jed the odds tell you he's a slight underdog almost to the point of flipping the coin Do you believe the the escalation of victories have showed us that he is ready for this level and even if this 36 year old Volk is 80% of the old guy. How are you feeling? Lopez's game max jumps matches up with Volk is 80% of the old guy. How are you feeling Lopez's game, Max Chubbs, matches up with Volk? It's not going to be Prime Volk, but it still could be a very, very title contending slash winning version of him. There's a bunch of questions.

Very simply, he's ready for this level, like in the holistic, ah, he deserves to be in the top five of the thing or whatever. He's a very talented fighter. He's very good. to be in the top five of the thing or whatever. He's a very talented fighter. He's very good. If Volk has a chin, he matches up really poorly against him. In my estimation, I think it's still the kind of fighter who I would say

has the best chance against Volk because he is dynamic and you're just like, aren't really going to win decisions against Alexander Volkanovsky. He's too cerebral. The ultimate point fighter in a lot of ways, even though he can knock you out. He's the ultimate. He's so good at making adjustments on the fly. And like Max Holloway couldn't do it in three attempts.

Like it's really, really hard to win that. So you've got to bring some sort of overpowered weapon to the table. And Diego Lopez can do that. But we've also seen a bunch of dudes like Yair Rodriguez, like Brian Ortega, bring those to the table and they might get close or get interesting. The house always wins. If Volt can withstand it, I think and we could get into the nitty gritty of stuff. But like, I mostly just think Diego Lopez is I got as watching tape.

I just, have you ever had this experience where you're just like, Oh yeah, he's just not as good as Ilya Toporia. Like I was just watching the Toporia files. Like he can't do any of the things the story is doing to make this problem You'll be like in your mind. You'll be like alright. Let me see there might be something here, and you watch you're like yeah No, yeah, this ain't Lali enda No, it honestly made and like I have a ton of respect for lia toporia But I was just like oh you want to bang him like other people in this room

I super do not know if I receive if I banged him which I'm not going to but if I did It would be as a heterosexual you know Chewie's like Okay, there you go all right you had a point you were in the middle of like you know Like do that's right He's just not a little puria and watching him fight I was like oh all the things that to Poria was doing to make Volkanovsky really struggle at times like maybe Diego Lopez can do a piece of that, but it's the whole part of it It's having the power yes having the footwork to cut the corner to make sure Volkanovsky is never comfortable in there Having the ability to time his counters to deploy his weapons Diego Lopez

Just doesn't have those same tools. Changing your rhythms. Yeah. And that's what Volk said went, went, went wrong in the Toporia fight was that he wasn't varying his offense enough. Toporia picked up on the patterns, found the opening, got him out of it. And Toporia was varying his entries. Absolutely. Diego Lopez does not do a lot of varying his entries.

All right. Well, Jed said something that's the same three things. But I will say this. He's wild a little bit. Sure. He is somewhat of a risk taker. As I mentioned, he's a blitzer and that element of surprise, it's not technicality per se, but it is danger. And that by itself could make up some of the difference. But to the point that Jed raises technique versus technique, there is a noteworthy gap here.

Well, he's saying that Volkanovsky's chin and the current status of it will define this fight. I agree with that. I think that's true. What about the other side of it? Volkanovsky's chin and the current status of it will define this fight. I think I agree with that. I think that's true. What about the other side of it? Volkanovsky can do everything. Can Lopez stop a takedown? Will we see veteran wrestling out of Volkanovsky to try to mitigate some of the danger on the feet? Or will it not even matter? Do you think that Volkanovsky can get in those footwork patterns and just make Lopez miss, frustrated, control that distance?

How about the other parts of Lopez's game besides the power? How will those work against this version? He's been working on his wrestling. I think it's I think I would say Lopez's wrestling is good enough, good enough to be a part of his game that he could leverage to some degree. I don't think he's going to pull guard. I don't think he's going to go for flying triangle. So, you know, it's not exactly if it went to the ground,

it does feel like that would probably happen more on Volkanovsky's terms. But that's a little hard to say. I just feel like the thing that the through line for me like what makes Lopez a threat is that we talked about the risk taking just a second ago, but it's a little bit more than that. He just has offense everywhere. In the clinch on the clinch break break. At kickboxing range, boxing range. In tight, phone booth. On top, in jujitsu, on bottom, from the back. I mean the whole nine, and it's all deadly too. It's all designed to finish the fight there.

That to me is kind of the interesting part because you go back for example, UFC 300 a year ago this month, where he beat Sadiq Yousef. They were just a momentary lapse where they break in the clinch Bang and he hits him with a shot and he cannot recover from there Like again, Volkonovsky is much more skilled than I think both of those guys and I think both of them are good fighters But it's like a little tiny window where he makes an error and the whole shit goes up in flames That's a tough guy to fight against. Before this five fight win streak, Lopez had lost two of three. He has been gaining...

Some of that he had taken on short notice. Sure, but we are seeing this man evolve. This would be a pretty good story if he climbed this ladder and did it and got to do it against Volkanovski. There's no question. Wouldn't that ease the transition of losing a big star like Toporia? I'm not saying Lopez has the same star trajectory, but at 30 we consider him young because his experience is not at the level of Volkanovsky. He's fun, he's colorful. There's a lot to like about him as potentially as champion in terms of like, you know, you're getting fun action fights.

I want to see him against everyone. He hasn't fought in this division. You're getting fun action fights. Uh, Hey, suddenly the Noche UFC that that's got a new main event right there. It's your new champion coming in doing that. Like it's not going to replace to Tupori up, but Tupori may also just go get a belt anyway. That that's got a new main event right there. It's your new champion coming in doing that like It's not going to replace toporia, but toporia may also just go get a belt anyway So you don't maybe don't need to replace him and it could set up The fight I really would love to see the two of them fight. It could set that up like I think the ufc probably wants

Diego lopez to win this fight, which hey that should be a lesson to you laron murphy Being exciting matters because you've been in the UFC a lot longer and you are not anywhere near where Diego Lopez is. So you can be as good as you want. You should also be cool as shit. Oh, shots fired right there, huh? Lerone Murphy is a very, very talented fighter and that was his best performance. We don't need to talk about it, but coming out and be like hardcore fans, no, sick.

All seven of them aren't going to pay your bills, homie. Be fun. Uh, Luke, real quickly, uh, speaking of this division, he's tough to watch. And there's obviously a great fight in this division on this pay-per-view main card that we'll get to shortly with the I, Aaron Pitbull, but Aaron Pico is now officially signed to the UFC.

We don't know if it will be most are evlo ev. That it's still not decided. No. He told Mike Bond. That's not happening. That's not happening. I was discussed, but it fizzled on in terms of the idea of to Poria being gone. There's still names lingering here. If you had Pico and that's fun, man, that's an injection, dude. 45 fucking bangs, man. I mean, again, to Poria being gone kind of sucks. But Lopez is exciting. Here he comes as a title contender.

They were going to put Pitbull in. I don't know what to expect from that. I got managed expectations, but there's a chance he can put a little bit of life with what he's got left in his career. Pico to me, man, this is, this is the most exciting part of his career. Well, I was there at Bellator NYC for his debut that went real fucking bad. And then he went into a journey into the, the quite literal desert. Yes.

But now he's ready to make his move out of that. And he he went into a journey into the quite literal desert. But now he's ready to make his move out of that. And he has become so much better. He is such an awesome addition to this division. We were all like, well, if you've got Ilya and Max and Volk at the top, no one else is ever going to break through. But something kind of funny happened. Ilya left, Max left, and we don't really know if Volk can hold the line from those elite guys anymore. There might be a big change of guard coming again we'll see on Saturday, but if it does, it feels like a guy like Lopez, a guy like Aaron Pico and I'm kind of forecasting here with a little bit of you know, we'll see what happens but young guys coming in building a charge

up the of the contendership queue. This is what you want out of the division. This is why 170s young guns are making that division so interesting. Final point on Pico, do you think moving to New Mexico and acquiring that horse with the Sephredi-like dong. That horse's dong is the size of Saturn's rings. I mean it's unbelievable. The turning point in the Pico experience. You could take kids at the playground and do double their stuff. I haven't seen this so terrific. You haven't seen this horse's dong? Oh my god. I know reputationally horses have big dongs. This horse is the Rocco Soffredi of horses.

I'm not BC. I don't go Instagram searching on animal things. Well let me just tell you, if you're looking for the Lex the Impaler of horses, I found it. Shout out to Aaron Pico in New Mexico right there. What else we got with this matchup? What are some X factors in this that could change it? Obviously if Volk's gen isn't there, that could change it. What is there? Are there things we're not thinking about in this matchup. What are some X factors in this that could change it? Obviously if Volk's chin isn't there that could change it. What is there are the things we're not thinking about? I was thinking about this. You were saying like who does the UFC want to win? And the answer is probably Lopez, probably. But at the same time I don't think this win is enough to get a big

main event in Mexico. Yes. Against the Yair Pippel winner maybe? Could be. Again, again, we'll have to see and we'll talk about that in a minute. But IAR Pitbull winner maybe? Could be. Again, we'll have to see and we'll talk about that in a minute. But I don't think it's going to result. You need a, this is what I talked about what was missing. You need, like if Aspinall is to become a big star in the UFC, he needs that fight against Jones. Right? We are missing that. Volk doesn't have quite that star power. He was kind of building towards that and then it all went bad against 55 and then obviously against Emporia. But that's the only thing that's missing to me is as good as this win might be for Lopez as you smirk and I know you got some I don't some joke in the chamber ready to

fire I just feel like that part won't it won't set him up like all of a sudden he's a huge star it's gonna take some time if he wins. Jed you were gonna say something. If Lopez wins are we sure Ilya is it lightweight because Ilya is saying I'm getting a title fight I know you guys are both very and you in particular must see it I mean I love when the two best fighters in the world face off yeah it's Lamar Gachev has been pretty clear like I'm not doing this we'll see who wins this battle but like if if suddenly Diego Lopez wins I can understand Ilya being like what do I get from beating Volkanovsky a second time? Because he doesn't. All risks minimal upside.

Even if I think the risk is like minor, I think he's gonna win that fight. Diego Lopez wins, suddenly there's a legitimate question whether Toporia was ever the best featherweight because Diego Lopez, he didn't beat Diego Lopez. He beat the two best featherweights, and I would say he was the best featherweight certainly, but like here's a guy who you didn't beat who just beat Volkanovsky. let's say he even does it more impressively knocks him out in the first round also to that point you raised you go back to the judges scorecards to Poria lost the first round on all three sure suddenly to Poria's sitting up there like okay here's somebody new like the ice max though is kind of which is sick like it's awesome I'm not

taking this way but if it's hey and I can either fight Diego Lopez and that will do something for him like you do to Poria Freaking Diego Lopez in Guadalajara like all right Isn't the central theme of this that to Poria doesn't want to keep trying to make that weight cut Yes, it's that he claims is the weight cut which I'm somewhat skeptical of but if it's true then what I don't know what You're supposed to say about it. I hope he does another like thank-you card to at some point, you know, I just I don't know why you I mean dude what? What fighters personality do you like besides besides Bryce Mitchell? I'm not in this because I want to like have you know, oh what do they what what are their favorite colors in movies like? That's kind of fun. But what the fuck you do when the shirtless dudes we get it. Yeah when the door closes

Who's shirtless? That's the only question I care about. I like that attitude except for the whole like weird hanging Rope thing that he hangs on to but that's you know, it's a little morbid. Yeah But this is MMA for you. Oh wow wow he fights in a cage for his money you got a you got to cut up some slack all right as I pour myself and maybe you guys are on that level a second shot of this fantastic query of a long second shot I would I would speaking of being a man I'd like to hear some predictions here on this main event from all four of us I'd like to find out who will win I want to go along why let's go over to the betting man himself

The least the most sober and theory of us, but do you really believe that? Hey, long Island Luke Who do you got in this main event? Why? I'm gonna go vulk by decision. Oh, I'm not betting on it full disclosure, but I How are you betting on it? I'm taking the over two and a half in a parlay. Okay, I buy that Yeah, like I think it goes at least three rounds. I may be a late finish from either guy I I don't have full belief in volt, but I'm riding with him. I'm taking volt by decision I mean what what volks trying to do rarely ever happens? Chevchenko did it in the trilogy against Grosso, but it's women's MMA where it's not the same level of depth and Grosso like

Went got worse as the Surging and also she've Chanko's an all-time great, but so is Volk. But this is a tall hill to climb. Even if Lopez is less skilled, dude, I've got to take Lopez by stoppage here. The younger hungry do the thing about it. Young legs is one thing power is one thing. He's got both. He's got hunger.

He's got hunger to get above that, that, that line between the 1% of UFC and everyone else to get that real money. Did you see embedded where they showed volts, a house on a Hill in Australia with the, with the animals and everything like that. That's the damn promised land right there. Lopez is on the rise to that. That hunger is hard to be. Let me ask you a question. Please. Bernard Hopkins, before he ever won titles late into his run, was he ever stretched like hardcore? Like, no, he had a great chin and it was defensively so sound. He got so outpointed by late into his run.

Was quite plausible other than the age being a limiting factor. Well, the only thing that's still hard to comprehend is how he was like out slicking super middleweights and light heavyweights deep into his 40s He wasn't overpowering them and knocking out He was like dodging punches and using his brain and his vision was also insane He also was ahead of the game on nutrition all of that But yeah, he didn't get he didn't have the devastating knockout losses Is there somebody you can think of who was really good had some bad losses?

Maybe even moving up in weight and then had to come back and win a title I mean George Foreman, but he also took off 10 years in between that and had 35 before. I mean, that's a complete outlier, but like it's I mean, Randy Couture would reinvent himself. But when you're reinventing yourself against a Tim Sylvia, limited skill, heavyweights, you're going to have combined limited skill. He did it, but he only won an interim title doing it. I just that fact alone, even though Volk is great, even though I'm sure he's never the

best game plan ever make the best adjustments here, inevitably he's gonna get rocked by a hook, I think, and it could lead to his exit. So, money where the mouth is, I'm going Lopez by stoppage in the early fourth round. Yeah, I'm gonna take Volk. I won't be at all surprised if I'm wrong. I spent the last, like, month every time talking about this when we were on submission radio. I was like, I'm pretty sure Diego Lopez is gonna hit him and he's gonna fall over because he's old man now and Diego Lopez is a big big big strong man and he hits real hard and then I watched a bunch and I just I watching the toporia fight back

Volk looks so tentative from the opening bell like just immediately he does not want to get hit and I can't help but think that there is some lingering to the previous knockout Sure taking a long time off his chin He has been dropped multiple times Islam dropped him in the first fight even like that is the thing that happened about that, but he's Historically been very durable until this run and Diego Lopez is not the same kind of hitter as to Puri He doesn't deliver in the same way the same delivery system Yeah, I think he is to wrote if it happens

I think it will be in the clinch as Luke was pointing out like Diego Lopez just kind of bombs on you when you get In tight Blanco for Blanco here. I'm going the opposite side decisions. All right, Luke You're the last one to put your money where your mom. Yeah, give me Lopez by stoppage. I think inside three inside I hate to say that and I would do that Inside three to your boy see but but is do you consider Volcas boy? You know the history of Luke Thomas's love affairs Or has he really taken all the CKB toys and put him back in the bin now that this I don't think of Volk as like

No that this German Georgian Spaniard guys around here's what's so amazing with these losers that we're talking to right now The kind of people that follow Brian? The kind of people that debate if Ian Gary does live with his wife's sex husband. No, I don't care. Well, that's a different kind of loser. But in this particular case, what ends up happening is I discover someone is good earlier than the rest of them. And they throw his way out of Sonny. No, no, no, no. And then they make fun of me on the front end like, Oh, this guy's really good. And they're like, no, he's not.

And I'm like, no, he's really fucking good and sure enough He ends up being really good then these idiots get on board and then their decline becomes quite obvious and I'm like, alright Well, the end is near, you know, and then they're like no, so looks good So what they'll do is a big knock keeps going and of course, it doesn't keep going they start fucking losing and I'm like I am the one who got the bracketing beginning in the end of what made them good losing and I'm like, I am the one who got the bracketing of the beginning and the end of what made them good. Correct. You idiots are the ones that relate to both fucking parties. Ever since you missed the Osborne training the Marines, you've been trying to jump on the next one coming down the tracks every time. All right. Yeah. Hey, put the camera

on me. I got something to say right here. Okay. Hey, are you looking for the easiest way to win some real cash while watching UFC 314? Speaking of this great flight card in Miami this weekend, you don't have to step into that octagon of course, but you can check out the PIC 6 from DraftKings. The official daily fantasy partner of the UFC. Playing for cash is as easy as a clean 1-2 combo. Just make your picks which fighters will deliver and see the payoffs hit harder than a knockout punch. Don't settle for a smaller payout. Switch to Pick 6 and cash in your UFC knowledge right now.

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Terms at pick6.draftkings.com slash promos. Gentlemen, thank you for that little aside. It is time though to transition into this fantastic co-main event. Five rounds by the way in the lightweight division as 38-year-old Michael Chandler, who has, it's true, has lost four of his last five, but goes for broke against only elites and typically comes that short. He's going to welcome a Patti Pimlet, who if he's going to make that star turn, it is now or never.

Pimlet unbeaten in the UFC on a run, but hasn't beaten outside of an old Tony Ferguson, outside of an old King Green, anyone really still on 38-year-old Chandler's level. That's a big part about why this matchup matters so much. Luke, when you look at this matchup on paper, Chandler Pimlet, what's the, what's the sexiest element of this to you? Changing of the guard potentially or not. Um, Chandler who punted two years of his career waiting for MMA's biggest fuck up apparently. Well, actually now there's, there's debate about that one. I mean, there's that that that I don't know if that's quite the right

way. Yeah, not conclusive, but certainly one of them. But anyway, punts away two years of his career and it gets to gets to UFC late 34 years of age, and was very clear not here for a long time here for a good time. He has managed by the way, he'll be 39 at the end of this month, April 24. So he's almost at at 40 at 155 and he's still trying to accomplish something that has kind of eluded him in part by, you know, his own fault. Is he trying to accomplish? I think he's just trying to make fun ass action fights in big paper. That's always his modus operandi, but I still think that like another title fight is something he actually really is like looking for. Whereas in the case of Patti Pimblitt, I'll be honest about Patti, dude. I, this is a guy who I'm still not fully sold on him.

His chin is still doing one of these numbers and someone's just going to fucking drill it eventually one of these days. So you didn't get on the Patty train early? No. Are you saying Soren Bach is not coming through that, that curtain? Soren Bach, Soren Bach was not a bad fighter for a time, but I've not been a believer in him. But the truth is a couple of things have happened. One, he's gotten a lot better. Um, two, he's physically filled out at 55 in a way that I didn't actually expect and three like, you know

The things he was good at he's gotten actually like really good at his back taking and then back maintenance positions are Excellent like he's really really fucking good at it. He's good from guard now he kind of gases and he's never fought a guy who I think can deliver power as quickly as Chandler can and who's this battle tested his Chandler like by by no stretch of I don't think anybody's even close but like this generational battle this old line kind of hanging on waiting for that last opportunity and this guy who I never really took all that seriously and still have some questions about hence the fight being interesting they're gonna clash right at this moment both of them are think, risk takers to a degree.

Both of them are wild and somewhat undisciplined. It just has action written all fucking over it. I can't wait. This is my favorite fight on the card. This is the thing I need to see the most. How much though, Jed, and we'll get into cheating Chandler in a second, your favorite fighter in the world, but how much stock are you going to put into the pictures that we showed on Monday's MK of Patty having like ridiculous abs? The fact that embedded he comes out and says, look, I got twins now. I'm a dad.

I am taking fitness and training on a different level of seriousness. I used to rely on my talent more than my hard work. Well, now obviously you're going to go five rounds against a wild man like Chandler. You better up that hard work and have that gas tank. When you combine that with the corners that he did look to turn against King Green for whatever that matchup is worth. How confident are you in the stock of Patty Pimlet entering this? And can we believe that becoming a dad and becoming serious could elevate his game to a new level, biatch? So I think you can, because that's being an adult.

Like, we all grow up unless you're Brian Campbell, then you don't. And that's OK. That's why we love you. We you're Brian Campbell, then you don't and that's okay That's why we love you. We came around him. We love you for not going up But like you have kids you get 30 you say ah shit my time is running out I need to do things for me. I decided to come be with you jackass You should probably put a child in this world right? Even by accident right? Oh, I I super don't swing that thing right?

Luke are you still with us or no? He should definitely get a vasectomy like you. This would be a much better manhood from you, I'm telling you. But like, yeah, he's going to get better because that's just being an adult. That's that's maturing. I'm much more like that means way less to me than like what I've seen. And I have seen like Luke said, I wasn't a huge paddies. Yeah, he's a hitter guy.

Let me guess. Molly Meatball ruined the experience. Yeah, I was like, oh, he's I blame it her No, cuz I just run around the cage with Portnoy like she's the world champion It's like, you know, they were putting wigs on like they were on that patty train before there was any evidence They should have been but I honestly thought that he was gonna be like Molly meatball like a decent enough fighter You know maybe it ranked and then just he'll be more popular than he's talented But one the UFC brought him along really well. They gave him winnable matchups. He kept winning them He did mature and get better. I think he beat Jared Gordon. That's what you're saying I do not think you mean Jared Gordon, but he he beat it. I look at technically keep that back up there

please I up there please. What did we get? I fu- that's bullshit! I've never been mad at one of these goddamn chirods until that bullshit! What the fuck? That's bad. Wow. That's bad. Who wrote that? I wonder why. That's aggressive. I just want to say they're not me Jed. Yeah. Uh huh. Alright I see how it is. You don't have to put it up there. I don't even know what I was saying. I take much more on the fact of what I've seen that the proof is in my eyes of seeing him every time out be better. And like Luke said, like he's just getting better at fighting. He does look looks real good right now. It looks good getting off the bus. I, I, you know, I'm picking him with confidence this weekend. I mean, and it's also because I hate Michael Chandler and think he sucks

So well, there is a path. I don't Michael Chandler nor do I think why do you think he sucks? It doesn't suck I mean does it suck as a fighter but he sucks like, you know that he saw he sucks. He's too alpha male for you Michael Chandler is a fighter that by all accounts. I should love because he's very silly He cheats in his game is nothing but exciting kind of stupid stuff. And for some reason he's very silly, he cheats and his game is nothing but exciting kind of stupid stuff. And for some reason, he's very athletic. He's an ambassador for Black History. He's all like he's all the things that I usually love in a fighter and for whatever reason doesn't connect. The line between love and hate. I just hate him.

I don't hate him. Okay, there's we talked about this before. There's a path to Patty Pimblitt to get to the title without having to go through too many or maybe even a single like super elite young guy. They're actually kind of smart matching him against action guys on the way down. That notwithstanding, Luke, when you talked about the two-year gap that Chandler set out waiting for Connor, is there like a feeling that no one's talking about that maybe that revived him or extended him? And that, yeah, he's lost four or five, but it's always against super elite, twice against Olivera.

Like, you know, he's been in title fights and he comes close with that recklessness and that danger. I know lately he's not coming as close and don't forget the cheating. Cheating is a big part of it. Should we are we sleeping on Chandler? I guess is what I'm trying to say coming into this matchup and focusing it too much on Patty already already paving the road that leads him to a title shot.

I don't think anybody's sleeping on Chandler. I think people are, are, you know, even if they don't like Chandler, they're still pretty respectful. The fact that he is powerful, he is athletic and at 38 still pretty quick. You're relatively speaking. He can certainly wrestle better than Patty, whether that will be useful for him. I don't know. That's kind of a hard part. Um, and he's useful as an opponent for Patty, right? He represents certain things that went, if Patty were to be him, I don't know. That's kind of a hard part. Um, and he's useful as an opponent for Patty, right? He represents certain things that went, if Patty were to be him, this

would mean something that you could be like, wow, that's actually a really interesting win that he got. So for that reason, I'm actually like quite excited about it, but I don't think anyone's like, I don't think there's anybody who's got, you know, rose colored glasses on about Chandler's abilities or upsides, or for that matter, his limits, his limits are fucking well known, you know, rose colored glasses on about Chandler's abilities or upsides or for that matter, his limits, his limits are fucking well known, you know, and the two years off that you mentioned, I mean, it probably was good for him in the sense of any

nagging injuries. You know, it's not that's two years. We're not taking at least well, what in the gym who knows, but certainly in the cage, no head trauma, you know that there's probably a rejuvenation for that. But dude, two years is too long. A year is long enoughation for that but dude two years is too long a year is long enough A year a year alone is too long really long at 36. It's so long. It's so fucking long now again against Charles Oliver, how did he look well he rallied late, and that was pretty cool

But as Jed told me off-camera that was kind of a Nate Diaz saving your name against Leon Edwards. He rallied by cheating Okay, if I just cheat the shit on something I can look good, too. He rallied by cheating. Okay. If I just cheat the shit out of something, I can look good too. He looked so bad in that fight. He looked bad early. He certainly did. He certainly did. He just showed, well, what can I say?

How about this? Spirit. He showed a little bit of competitive spirit late. I will never say that he's a quitter because he'll go out there and try. Yeah. He will try. Also, also, I just got to say this.

In a fucking sport where the referee's like, don't you eye gouge the second eyeball out? And then you gouge the second eyeball. Don't you cut their tongue out? Why the fuck would you not cheat? Why the fuck would you not? Cheat so to me it's like I don't think anyone is like Presenting Chandler as something other than what he is, but what the good side of what he can do is still formidable enough. All right. We got to consummate this matchup so we don't run out of time. Long Island Luke, do you have an updated DraftKings odds sheet on this one, please?

We got plus one twenty four for Chandler, minus one forty eight for Patty. OK, this will be five rounds, guys, and not three. So that may change our pick here. Jed, where are you going with this co-main event? I already told you I'm picking Patty. I think he probably Finishes Chandler because when Michael Chandler loses he he likes to get finished so what do you think? Because Patty is to Luke's point Patty has become very good at taking the back holding

We saw Charles have that position for a very long time Maybe he can't finish because Charles is Charles and Michael Chandler didn't allow him But do you think he's gonna win and I've been waiting to drop this one this fight this fight It's it is the Ilya to Puri a derby The winner of this fight is gonna be the guy who welcomes Ilya to Puri to light wow I am I have talked myself Not no Bronx not so rookie and not the champion because if you're to Poria if Patty gets this when he's a top five dude You've got the storyline there. I think we put him into a Patty somehow beats Ilya ready-made title challenger you get Patty Pimlet they give me a cheat

They give him another old guy. You know they would know they would Ilya the Ilya juice is there and it's a no-lose One has the belt You know that because but the concern is if you make ilia fight Charles Charles my fuck around and beat him Cuz Charles is really got it. Why you don't put Charles in there. He won't beat him like It's like a gamer on and then if he wins you know This is this is the ilia toporia derby the winner should call out ilia toporia will call out and we'll get him alright Last thing I don't think it's necessarily fair because I do think Patty has improved in a legitimate way. But if he goes in there and gets his chin sent into the fucking into orbit, people are going to be like, oh, right.

That that guy who we've been thinking was a fraud this whole time, it finally revealed themselves. Not saying that's fair, but if he gets beaten that way, it's absolutely going to be the narrative post fight. Patty did say leading into this fight that he he's not gonna be like the other people who fell into Chandler's trap, got into a crazy bloody brawl, allowed Chandler to cheat. He's going to carry out his game plan. I don't know if he can do that, but I think he'll be in shape where he's not gonna fold.

I think Chandler's age will show a little bit. I think Patty can sub him, and it will be obviously the biggest victory of Patty's career, and catapult him into true title contention. Does Patty get it done, Luke? I think he does. All right. I think he does. Now, I do have concerns about him gassing because while he does look big

He he gassed like a motherfucker even against Tony fucking Ferguson And if I'm Michael Chandler I find ways to make him work just just make him labor, but I don't know I've been I've been wrong about Patty He's definitely been much better than I thought he would be. And so I think that culminates in something here. All right. Before we transition outcome, just Chandler winning a grindy 25 minute decision. No one would be happy before we transition into pre-Meth Mitchell. Let's create our own pick six lineup brought to you by DraftKings for this weekend. Remember, we're talking about fantasy lineup where you're looking at stats like control time strikes, things

like that. If you get an early stoppage, that's a big point swing. I'm going to take my first pick here, even though I'm picking him to get stopped, if he doesn't, if this goes the distance, who's going to score more points in here than Alexander Volkanovsky from that? So I'm going Volkanovsky. Luke, who do you got? I'm going to go Lopez for the pick six, right? Pick six, I'm going to go Lopez and I'm going to go Patty. And I think that for the two, five round fights, so that could go long. But I think in both cases in Patty and Lopez, you have somebody who could potentially end it early,

certainly the case more so of Lopez. And I think that there's a chance, we're talking about accumulated stats. I feel like either guy, if they end up getting from the back for Patty's case, or in the case of Lopez from the clinch could fire out a lot of different strikes, a lot of different labor Let's say that could add up so my two pick sixes or the two ones are gonna pick for this Lopez Patty Jed who's gonna outperform their stat predictions in your mind game in the system here going for the two five round fights Look at this guy knows he knows he knows it's hard to play betting games with him

They'll always find a way to get around it. Yeah, you bet. He knows the game. He's not listening to us A way to get around it. Yeah, you bet he knows the game. He's not listening to us either. Which is great I'm going to fights. We haven't talked about yet. Give me Yeah, your Audrey is gonna just kill Patricio pitbull. I would like Patricio pitbull to do well It would be much more interesting. I don't he's old and kind of wash you'll get some good He's fighting Jeremy Kennedy. Yeah, your Audrey guys is a just a whole different world of a beast here. I think Yaya Rodriguez is gonna have a big day and I don't really believe this with my chest, but I believe this spiritually. Jean Silva is fighting Bryce Mitchell, and if you're rooting for Bryce Mitchell, we're not gonna be friends.

I think Bryce Mitchell's a really good chance to perform well, but Jean Silva has been one of my boys. I think it's G really good chance to perform well, but John Silva has been one of my boys Yeah, what gene don't care Lord is awesome and like Luke You know sometimes I too can be like Luke Thomas and be ahead of the curve How good somebody to get permission from his missus on how to pronounce that before you come into the studio? I'm gonna add Danny gay to my pick six lineup air against Sean Woodson I wonder if he can go a heavy strikes a lot of volume there to give you the points you're looking for. Interesting stuff right there. And of course, if you didn't know, pick six presented by DraftKings.

DraftKings, the crown is yours. Thank you very much. All right, gentlemen, let's continue on down this card. And obviously there's a lot of fights to talk about. A lot of people talking about this one, the featherweight matchup. Bryce Mitchell, fresh off of the debut of his podcast and the very controversial comments about Adolf Hitler. that fed into a wild March kickoff press conference between him and his opponent, the fighting nerds, Gian Silva, who has won all four of his UFC

appearances, all four by stoppage acts like an absolute offensive savage and is a somewhat sizable betting favorite. I think long out, look, what are we getting here for plus money on Bryce Mitchell, the wrestler? I'll get the updated. It's about two plus two thirty to sixty area, right? It is plus two fifteen. It's come down a little bit and minus two sixty five. Luke, I could ask you what we're talking about in this matchup, and everybody will bring up the ridiculousness in the fact that Bryce says

Silva can't be called Lord and Bryce is probably going to walk in with a Bible. I mean, there's a lot of weirdness associated with this matchup. But would you not agree that even if it's shameless from the UFC to exploit that and for Dana to go, if he didn't like his Hitler comments, you can watch him get knocked out in the cage? It's a damn good matchup in terms of what Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard do to put together the grappler, the experience in Mitchell against that pure reckless power and energy of Silva. I'm not wrong here. This is one of the fights you kind of have to see on Saturday.

I don't think you're wrong about the fight terms itself. Again, whether or not the UFC should be in business and whether or not they should make this fight and blah, blah, blah that they did. We're just asking on fight terms. What are we getting from this? You have grappler versus striker, which is interesting. Jayon Silva, very good fighter, but like relative to what Bryce Mitchell can show on the ground, I would say Silva is untested relative to that. At the same time, if you're Bryce Mitchell, who

says increasingly, I'm trying to be as nice as I can, strange things. In addition to just- That's really nice. Yeah. In addition to just the Hitler stuff, beyond, beyond that. Um, what I would say is, you know, coming back from that Josh Emmett nuclear K.O. Where's he going to be with that? Like what, what, what is the story in that particular case? So like on both sides you have that not Bryce is not untested. He's quite tested, but we've got some of his upside and some of his known limits on the other side, you know, with Jayon Silva, you're gonna be against a very creative striker,

a guy who can find different ways to attack you from different positions, different angles, the whole nine yards. Then you get to a point where it's like, oh, how are these two gonna interact? And going to the two previous fights, something of a genuine mystery, like I'm not exactly sure what to say.

And what will the tension play in that? And you bring up good points about Mitchell at 30 and questioning. He's lost two of his last four and those losses are devastating. The submission loss to Seporia, where he almost literally got beaten into retirement, and then that massive one-punch KO. How much can you give him credit for that Cron Gracie win last time out? It's tough to tell. Gracie not in the lead fighter. He won the Flat Earther Bowl. Danny Gay, he did score a decision over in between, but the hot money, the hype is on Gian Silva, 28 years old, who's actually riding a 12-fight winning streak overall, 4-0 in the UFC. Is Silva worthy of the odds he's getting, the hype he's getting? We've seen many a guy come in and do explosive knockouts, but when they step up to that level of the veteran gatekeeper level, they get found out. Are you putting stock on Giann Lord Silva here

in terms of where he's headed? You see, I need you to pour me a shot because I'm about to say something somewhat kind about Bryce Mitchell. I don't want to do that. Let's do more Blanco here. Let's go. The odds aren't deserved.

Bryce Mitchell has a very clear path to win. Like we have seen Giann Silva, to Luke's point, it's a little untested, but like he he's we've seen a good amount of like certainly in his previous to UFC run he does not have the best defensive wrestling and I don't really care how great your bottom game jujitsu is Bryce Mitchell whatever he thinks in that head of his is a very good grappler, a very, very good grappler. I think that John Silva, my great hope as John Silva is my draft picks pick six guy and my lord and savior, I hope he saves us.

My hope is that he knew what he was getting into because this is the fight he wanted. It is the fight he called for immediately. And I hope that he understands and he is crafting his career appropriately because I look at this fight and see there's a very good chance that Bryce Frick and Mitchell gets a hot live mic in front of his ass on Saturday. And whoa, buddy, who the hell knows what's coming out of him, right? You know, they didn't give a who did they not give an interview to recently? Oh, Torres Finney in the cage afterwards. They're like, yeah, we're cutting to commercial. No, no, but Torres Finney made the great Cardinal sin of being boring. Yes. He free speech.

It's not in the same way. We gotta let Brad Mitchell talk. Yeah, but you know UFC rules we can say what we want in there. Luke outside of the saying what we want I gotta almost ask you the same question. Are you a believer in Silva? I mean the fighting nerds are so on fire that it's they're so aggressive. They bring joy to the octagon. He's bringing the Earth globe to the press conference to make fun of Bryce. He's in Bryce's head. But what happens when this fight goes to the ground, dude? I'm not entirely sure. I really don't know. I mean, I'm just

trying. I'm not trying to feign ignorance. I really don't know on the feet. I don't think it's much of a mystery with all of those guys with who? Feet with, with all of them. They're creative, they're dangerous, they're clever, they're interesting, they're new. On the ground, I mean, even Ilya Tupori had to kind of play it safe off of a takedown that he suffered against Bryce and you know, he had to kind of wait. And then on the second attempt, he had to show great down blocking, the whole thing. Like I don't know if Silva's got that in him, to be quite honest.

I don't know. I don't know. Maybe he won't have to. Maybe he'll land something before that's even relevant. But I trust the grappling even when it didn't go perfect for Iliya Toporia. Silva's a completely different ball game. It's a totally different guy, totally different style, totally different known weaknesses. This is why they make the fights. This is why the fight is interesting on those fight terms. Is Mitchell vulnerable chin-wise? I mean if you it cracked the way he's been cracked I mean Cron's not gonna crap you have Cron's disease well, but not Cron Gracie

I mean like here's the problem looks right you get crack like that sure also I don't know every human being alive can get knocked out by Josh fucking him in Iliya, Toporia That doesn't really tell me shit about his chin long. I don't look you are a betting expert We already know you're gonna take the plus money on Bryce cuz that's how you're built But what I really want to know is how confident are you are you literally willing to bet your house and your future as a bad? Boyfriend as Luke would say no of course not I'm just taking the value here dude plus 675 He's gonna take John down John was taken down by Charles Jordan three times Charles Jordan 15 UFC, only taken down two different opponents.

I mean, not really a great wrestler there. I feel like Bryce is gonna pretty handedly take him. Wow, pretty handedly win and take him down and all that. And Luke is gonna be so excited. What will be the subject, Luke Thomas, of Bryce's post-fight interview if he does win? Oh, God. Let me take a little blank out of that.

I don't know. And not just that. Not just that but his post fight comments like like what backstage That's those will be much worse. Yeah, he's usually fairly tame I think the last time he's like gave money to charity or something If some memory serves like the earthquakes or the fires maybe in LA like he'll probably be fairly tame with the live mic But we're gonna be on a journey at that fight Mitchell at that press conference where he did have a chance to clear the air Said did really bad. That's like They hated Jesus to he kind of went down that road. It's like not not comparable on the center

I mean, come on like not yikes. All right. Sorry about that. That's that's Like not. Yikes. All right. Sorry about that. That's that's Gian Silva by knockout. So the silver by. Are you choosing that because he has put the demons in Bryce's head or. You know, Gian also rocks J.C. too. So he you know, but he'll be willing to fight like he's got that Lord tattoo. Yeah, he'll be willing to fight like like the demon there. I'm not I'm not being one of these people that, you know,

Bryce can say whatever he wants at the end of the day. I'm not subscribing to his podcast or his point of view. I'm not even cheering for him to meet violence for all the shit he said. It's deplorable. I just think Silva's coming on. These fighting nerds are fun as hell, man. This is his moment. This is moments kind of become a star. Bryce Mitchell still quite young.

How old is Bryce? 30. I mean, it's not like he's washed. He had a terrible knockout loss against obviously Emmett, but he's not washed. He's got some city miles on him though. Even though he's a country boy, he been around the block. He doesn't wear seatbelt. So he's got the tuck-and-roll miles. Yeah What are city miles? What is that even when a power drill can't take your nuts off you? What is a car crash gonna? Do to you really Luke?

I don't know how to answer that These are the things Minimalist he lives in that trailer and for morning coffee. He just takes a scoop of coffee grounds and just choose on it Yeah, you know what the guys in the Marine Corps did that too. Yeah, it's not it's not a great way to enjoy a cup of coffee I can show you yeah, we would dip it. We will put it in our gums and then just like dip it like tobacco Yeah, I guess you got to do what you got in the MRE It's like am I gonna sit here on a cold-ass morning and boil fucking water. No, I'm gonna take this Folgers I'm gonna stuff it in my gun

How many of Luke's marine buddies will not only have paid for sex in their life. That goes without saying, but have married active strippers. Not one, not two, not three. It's been several active at the time when they married him. Yeah. Hey, whatever makes you happy. And the very nice to yuck anybody's. I'm not going to be moral police here,

but I'm going to make her retire from that job. OK, not not to necessarily be in the kitchen. Just like we got to turn the corner. Okay. We got to turn the corner. Okay. We got to go to a new direction. If you want to turn the corner, turn the corner on that person,

not like turn the corner on their stripping. Okay. Hey, we should turn the corner on this car. Okay. Well, let's end that conversation and transition to this one. Hey guys, there's a featherweight bout that you just can't miss on this UFC 314 main card and this breakdown of Yair Rodriguez versus Patricio Pipful is presented by Total Wireless.

Yes, let's do it right here. Yair Rodriguez is riding a two-fight losing streak, although he's still in general considered one of the better featherweights in this world. He'll be taking on a 37-year-old Patricio Pitbull Frieri, the all time great Bellator fighter. In fact, the greatest fighter in Bellator MMA history, the multi-divisional champion. Damn, he almost tried to pull off a three divisional champion run there, but lost to Sergio Pettis. We know this is not going to be the prime Pitbull fellas, but you know that he's been waiting his entire career dealing with the bedazzling

blindness of Eric Alboracin's gene collection. And really, you know that he's going to bring that one punch power. He's going to go for broke. He fights savage. I mean, we love everything that pitbull brings. I'm glad in his career, he's going to get this close up, but is it too late Jed? And is Jair Rodriguez the wrong opponent? F UBC either way we're getting fireworks on Saturday Both right like I I'm we're gonna. It's gonna be fun pitbull is fun. Yeah, you're as fun. It is too late for him He's pushing 40 in a weight class where you can't push 35 and be good Yeah, here is a I think a really bad matchup for him. Just stylistically I'm mostly offended that this isn't the Jose Aldo matchup that we should have.

But this should fire. Hot in Jose Aldo, whether it's 135, 145, you have to be for catch weight. However you do it. OK, people have said he'll fight anywhere from featherweight to welterweight in the UFC. He didn't say anything about Bannon. Yeah, whatever. We'll make it work. However, like that's what should have happened and said Jose's fighting name and it's a hobby or whatever.

But like this is still going to be fun And so I can't be that upset because it's going to be fun I think the end of that fun will be a Rodriguez totally whipping that ass But like it'll still be pretty good not every Bellator great that's come to the UFC has instant success Will Brooks is a great example, but a Lombard, but Eddie Alvarez and the great What's his name? Sorry, the great Michael Chandler. The great.

Eddie Alvarez and the great cheater Michael Chandler have had incredible success transitioning. This is a little bit later in years. How confident are you that Pippel can maybe not have, you know, a four-fight win streak, maybe not become champion, but might be able to get himself into a title fight? You'd have to win this matchup most likely, but where are you on what's left in that gas tank? I mean, his last win was somewhat redemptive. That effort at 35 was a big waste. I don't, I just don't, I don't even know what.

He got stopped in Japan, then he lost to Pettis by decision. The other way. He lost to Pettis, then he went to Japan short notice. And then he stopped Jeremy Kennedy. Yes. That was a lightweight fight or like 155 or something, whatever it was.

So he looked good in that one. He looked much better. I thought he was going to get waxed in that one. I was like, oh, he's completely done. But then he looked pretty good. So I was like, okay, he's not. So maybe he just had a bit of a rough run there and the weight class change and everything wasn't great and whatever.

Obviously, Dynamite Power Puncher, you know, he's got a more conventional, he's got a well rounded but more conventional game than Javier Rodriguez. So it's really going to be a function of like to what extent he can close the distance and put the fight on his range but you know Yair's got all kinds of tricks and explosivity and like just fine stuff and it's like I Don't know exactly what the state of pitbulls reflexes are. He has good defense traditionally But you know, you're gonna get hit with wild-ass shit going to begin say unless you can define the terms of the exchange Sure like look where you're fainting the whole time and you're changing stances and all this kind of stuff I don't know if he's that kind of a guy

I don't know if he's got that kind of an effort to put into it. I think he's gonna go for it though Who people gonna make the most of this opportunity and come out guns blazing? I? Mean it's kind of what he does anyway. No you think it'll be guns blazing. No no no no I mean he has enough power like we saw him sleep Michael Chandler like he's got enough power to do that I Just don't I mean I do people come out guns blazing against the eye here and do well Mmm, not historic Max did in round one that was a war yeah But max has like a legendary chin and isn't 37 in that bout, you know, so. Well, I'm just wondering if we are not talking enough

about the fact that Yair has lost two in a row. One was a stoppage on strikes to Volkanovsky for the title. The second was against a second half of his career, Brian Ortega, where they're almost donk elements for Yair in that fight, or am I making things up? Donk elements against Bryan Ortiz? Yeah, making mistakes, being in the wrong... I mean, I guess what I'm trying to spell out here,

for as elite as Yair has been at certain points of his career, and particularly that build up to when he won the interim title and when he finally fought Volk, he can get lured into crazy-ass matchups. I'm saying if Pitbull decides to come out, make the most of his opportunity, make this the fight of the night that we expect it has the opportunity to be, maybe this is the right opponent ultimately because Pitbull's willing to get in there and take the damage and deliver it. And maybe he can maybe Ayer is the right foil for that. I would suggest that that is would be terrible for Pitbull because like, people who know me outside of this, I don't have a lot of good things to

say about Brian Ortega as a fighter. He confounds me. He's one of my favorites, okay? I don't understand him because I don't think he's good, but he's obviously very good. The thing that he is very good at is taking a beating. Like he cannot be killed. And so if the calculus is I'm going to come and just bash heads, that's a really bad math problem against Brian Ortega

Pipples just not the same thing like if if people's like I'm gonna throw caution to the wind I'll be like sweet. You're gonna get knocked out I don't mean fight like an asshole, but I mean aim to land the knockout punch in the opening round I mean, you know, I hope it happens be aggressive and be legitimately cool Yeah, here's pretty good chin like the dudes he's lost to Volkanovanovski, all time great, Max Holloway, all time great, with an impervious chin. Barney Ortega, you can't hurt him. Like these are just, I don't think Pitbull's there anymore. I hope I am wrong, because it would be so much cooler if Pitbull won this fight.

And we could do Pitbull versus Diego Lopez at Guadalajara. Like that would be sick. The other losses for Yair, by the way, was that decision loss to Max. It was very competitive. And then he was stopped by Frankie Edgar back in 2017. He was he was unprepared for that moment. Yeah. Other UFC defeats is what I'm trying to say there. So 30, 30, 32 years old.

I guess what I'm trying to say is not enough people are mentioning that Yair is coming out to fight losing streak both by stop. And by the way, he only fought once in 2023 and once in 2024 and here he is one time so far Anyway one time in 2025 that gets relative level of inactivity that doesn't suit his interest all that well Pitbull, you know, I think is gonna be highly motivated. Obviously. This is an Experienced guy if ever there was one UFC debut, but it's just a question of like can he get close enough to let what he does well? I mean, he's got a height disadvantage and a reach disadvantage. You know, that's he can wrestle. He probably does have better pure jiu-jitsu than than Yair, but you know, he needs to get into the right kind of real estate to make that happen.

And Yair is pretty tough to do that again. I'm saying don't count out Pitbull. I'm saying this is the biggest moment of his career in a lot of ways, even if it's coming after his prime This is his this is his showcase opportunity I just wish he would have fought someone who would have accommodated the distance a little bit more like an Aldo sure I think that would've been cool. No, see what we have for odds on this fantastic matchup. I know it would've been great We got minus 192 for Yair plus 160 for people. Alright, there's a a lot of respect for these odds on all these fights are like this is a great matchmaking is shot out to them.

This is a good card. I'm leaning people here. I'm leaning people. I think that he's going to give himself a shot to be in a title fight. And I think you see would be smart to capitalize. I hope you're right. It would be so much cooler. I'm going to go Yair, but I hope you're right as well. Yeah, be a lot cooler if you did. I think everyone is rooting for people to get it done this week.

Look, have you been nursing that? Yeah, I have been. I have been a bitch. Yeah, that's what I think. A little Hick Margarita you got going on there. To close out here, the pay-per-view main card. No one's talking about this matchup, but it's interesting. Nikita Krelov hasn't fought in two years, even though he's riding what looks to be a pretty good on paper three fight win streak.

Dominic Reyes at 35 has won his last two both by stoppage. I get also a win streak. I get two is a streak. Two is a streak. The level of opponents at the times right when it's Anthony Smith last time Dustin Jacoby before that can be argued with. Do I think at this point you know in terms of just pure stock is Krelof the better fighter? Sure. But as we mentioned, the 33 year old Krelof has not been around for a while. Is there a Dom Reyes Renaissance that's going on? And we just have not fully woke up to it because if he wins this, like we're going to be talking about him in this shallow ass division in terms of like, is he kind of back? Am I, am I putting the cart way before the horse?

I don't think you're, I don't, I don't do that. 205, 205 is like flyweight. It's like Did you win at least or disrespect? Yeah, that is It is it is it anyway to fly away. Yeah, why wait fly away? It's a good division Okay, but flyweight is also it's not hard to get a title shot relatively speaking relative to even 170 It's not hard to get a title shot because they're just looking for people to fucking throw it to the front of the line. 205 is like that, 205 is like,

can you pass a reading exam and, you know, have you paid your taxes on time? All right, there you go. I don't think the latter is necessary, by the way. Fire him up, fire him up. So like, I don't think you're ever that far. And it's like, I don't know if there's like giant momentum for either guy,

but I don't think you're that, I really, a good win on a card like this against either of these opponents can do a world of good for your chances. All right, Jed Krelof 2022. So he had, he had lost three of four. He was on a bad stretch, but in 2022, he stops old ass Alexander Goffs is in gets a decision over no time Volkan, OZDEMIR and then submits Ryan span and then disappears for two years. Where is this guy at 33? How good is Krelov right now? Dude, you could have asked me that at any point in time during his career

and I could have never given you an answer. When he came in as a heavyweight, it was the only time. I'd be like, he's bad. He is bad. Look, he's okay! But he's not- but that's the thing, I would have been wrong because he's not bad. He is like a good, competent light heavyweight, but he has been so Mercurial. Like sometimes his performances are like, Oh, this dude is exciting and fun. And he's got limitations. He's got problems, but like everyone does a two Oh five who gives a shit. He's a fun dude.

And then he goes away for two years on a good, really hard to say coming off beating Ryan Spann qualifies as a good win streak, but that's that's the same I mean Reyes got stopped by Ryan Spann at the end of his four fight losing streak We're not here to talk about bad things for Dom Reyes because Dom Reyes is back And this will be the weekend where we all get to say it and it'll be very fun for us So I don't know what to make of Krillin. I don't know what to make of this layoff I am deeply interested in this fight like you said what fight did you say was the co-main event? Is your most anticipated fight Luke?

Mine is the co-main. I don't know about Luke's. Mine would be the main. Oh, the main? OK. What about you? Both of those are good choices. This is my most anticipated because I

don't know what the hell is going to happen. And I am deeply interested in it. It's the silliest fight of the whole event. And I love a silly fight. Luke, when the wheels fell off for Dom Reyes in that for fight losing Skid did start with the John Jones fight that you thought he won a lot of people thought he won But none of us could predict it after Jones vacated the title and we were ready I was ready to give the crown to Reyes that he would get

Stopped by yawn in the vacant title fight and then get stopped two times more after that Maybe some of that was mental or his game not evolving. I don't think it was fully chin related. I mean, he did take some time off in between that. Is he like back, back, back? Is it possible to be back, back, back? Or is 80 percent of him in this division, like we're talking about, an interesting story?

I don't know if I think he's back to the guy who gave Jones everything he could handle. I don't know if I can believe that was at 20. That was 2020, right? February 20, 20. Maybe just the pandemic. I Jones everything he could handle. I don't know if I can believe that was that 20 that was 2020, right? February 20, 20, maybe just the pandemic. I mean, you nailed it. Yeah. So like, I don't know if we're going to get back to that, but can he be better than the guy who was getting iced by Yuri and then iced by Jan and then, you know, I'll just go a constant series of like really terrible

knockouts. It appears that he can be better than that. But I'm, you know, even if he beats Krilov, that would, this would be the first win since like, you know, this win streak he put together that I would be like, okay, all right. He has really fixed a lot of things that have been a problem for him. But you know, you get iced that many times and it's just going to be a lot easier to get iced the subsequent time. Krilov can be bit of a fuck-up, but he also has got a little bit of surprising offense at times You know by the way surprisingly good guard too like he can play with that if that's the thing he needs to do So this is this is an interesting fight at light heavyweight for light heavyweight It's just you know do you see a guy in either case that's gonna give uncle I have a tough time

I don't look no Cedar real quick Where are you leaning as it from a betting standpoint on this given everything? We just said betting standpoint I took the over one and a half in a parlay a little risky from just picking standpoint I'm going krill of but I hope Jed is right. I hope Reyes wins and we finally go Dom Reyes is back personally I can't trust them going into this. What are the odds on Reyes right now? I Mean you could just keep that website open. I think think I have the show 190 when I bet him he is See they have the fights out of order. Thank you very much. Thank you was great. I got it right here Okay, minus 175 curl off plus 145 that seems right

But I think it wouldn't be bad to put a little money on Reyes and ride this ride this streak ride this momentum You made us feel good again as fans. He's gonna get it done Here's the thing about Dom Reyes. There are two important things about this one. He's streaking He's got the confidence back baby. Like you lose four in a row. You start doubting yourself. You think oh, maybe I can't do this Streaking too. I think there's a noticeable like if you just look at his resume and you were like, is it just the chin? Honestly, yeah I kind of think it's just the chin because John Jones, easily his best performance just regardless the fact they lost it, like John Jones is not known as a dude who's a one-hitter quitter. He doesn't bring that kind of

offense. Sure. Jan Blachowicz, I think his power is a little overstated but he certainly does have one punch power. Ryan Spann, basically the only thing he has is a guillotine choke and one punch power and Yuri Prohashka We kind of know that he can really lay the wood into you there like Prilov's not a dude who has that sort of violent offense like his offense. Kicking he can. I guess the kicking like it's possible That gets there But like he's mostly he'll he'll be attrided with his damage or he's got like a sneaky good Submission game and that really hasn't been the foible for Dom Reyes Like he's mostly he'll he'll be attrited with his damage or he's got like a sneaky good submission game

And that really hasn't been the foible for Dom Reyes I don't think Dom Reyes is back like we're not getting Dom Reyes who beat John Jones or should have beat John Jones But I do think he can and will win this fight and we should all be rooting for him because he was good guy He was this close to being the greatest what-if in the history of this sport like here's the guy who should forever be known as the Guy who beat John Jones and he got fucked by the judge's hovich put that footprint on the side of his cage That was that was the beginning you know you remember that mark that that Kicked him and it got oh Nasty that was the beginning of the end right there alright. Well. That's the main card right there and Luke

I know you texted me earlier It's it was kind of rude, but you're like, it's obvious Jed isn't wearing deodorant today. So it's like, you know, maybe we should keep him out of this discussion. But you know the problems, Luke, with mainstream deodorants, with body odor, with that desire to stay cool. I don't know if you guys are catching this fantastic spray that I'm rocking right now from the folks at Mando

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Those are quite helpful. These are, of course, who created these products? How about a doctor? Yeah. How about somebody who knows what they're talking about? And of course, all products are baking soda free and paraben free. And they have scents like bourbon leather, clover woods, Mount Fuji, and Pro Sport. I'm a Pro Sport guy. They sent us some of this stuff. Oh yeah. I use the Pro Sport one. That's my go-to. I like to smell, what do you want to say, fresh and clean like our friends at OutKast. You understand what I'm saying? Yeah, I noticed Jed's not talking at all, but I like that Mando body spray because it's almost

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Go to ShopMando.com, S-H-O-P-M-A-D-M-A-N-D-O, excuse me, dot com. Please support our show and tell them we sent you with that code, combat with a K, smell fresher, stay drier, boost your confidence from head to toe. Yeah, I'm talking about Mando, thank you very much. Jed played the foil beautifully for us there, although we weren't telling the truth. Okay, let's keep it going, guys.

The preliminary featured fight, I'll go to Jed first here. I don't hate this. All action already all the time. Dan Ege will welcome a featherweight opponent in Sean Woodson who yeah, he used to be a heavyweight. Who looks like two featherweights stacked on top of each other in a trench coat. It's all true. He's 13, one on one in his career. He hasn't lost in seven UFC fights. No one ever talks about this guy as a contender, yet he's fun. He's a difficult matchup for everybody. How do you like this matchup in terms of like the size difference, the skill difference, everything?

I think this is really good matchmaking because this is the fight where we start talking about Shawn Woodson as a contender. I love Danny Gay. I think Danny Gay is exactly... The term gatekeeper has looked as like a pejorative, but it's not. Like that's a noble profession. You guard the gates. That's what Danny Gay does. He guards the gates to the top ten at this weight class I think Shawn Woodson he's gonna be comically larger like I can't wait for the first like the face-offs After the ceremonials like he is going to be Cartoonishly larger than Danny gay Danny gay is a very talented fighter incredibly durable

And so we're gonna get 15 minutes of Sean Woodson kind of showcasing the best of his abilities. I think that those will be good, certainly good enough to get the W. And we can start that conversation, B.C. of, hey, Dark Horse, you know, in the weight class, like guys got a lot of physical attributes. He's a tough out. Hadn't been beaten in a long time. Tough out. Like, how do you approach him?

Guy that big. Like, I think this is the coming out party for Sean Woodson. Luke, the 33 year old Ege has lost three of his last four. There were certain circumstances, including fighting Diego Lopez on about an hour notice off of his couch. This is more of an opportunity for Woodson to get ahead, but you can't count out Ege. No, you can't count out Ege.

Eric Nixic, Trance, you know they're going to have a good game plan. I suspect that height differential is going to be interesting. Because on the one hand, Woodson's knees might come into play. And if you're EGAY, I think body shots. Body shots are going to be real, real big

to see what happens there. EGAY has proven to be better so far than Shawn Woodson. But he's also had better opportunities. Well, now Woodson is getting opportunities. Let's see what two featherweights on top of each other in a trench coat trying to get into an R-rated movie in 1986 All right, we don't know hip-hop

You don't get it after the fact either. Oh, let's go to the women's strawberry division We never go to the women's strawberry division because it used to be loaded top ten all killers now It's a lot of filler But this matchup might produce the next title challenger for Zhong Wei Li if she stays in the division. When we're talking about Yan Shonan, winner of three of her last four against a streaking 36 year old Vierna Genjiroba, who has won four in a row. We don't have to go long on this or the matchup, but you might be seeing the winner

get a title shot. Who's going to be the winner, Luke? I suspect Yan Shonan's gotten a lot better. She was already good on the feet, but her game, ground game has gotten a lot better. the title shot. Who's going to But it's a very, what are the odds on that one? Let me see here. Janjiroba should be a small favorite. Oh, I got it here. Our friends at DraftKings have Janjiroba minus 148, Yan Shanan plus 120. I mean, these are all one or plus or minus.

There's a damn near Pick'ems in every case. I do think I kind of understand the odds. I think Janjiroba has just a little bit of an edge on the ground and that should be enough, but it's a good competitive tough fight. I love it. Shanan's only lost in the last four was to the champion, Weyly,

but she gave her a good fight at UFC 300. So I'm into this matchup. I know most people aren't. It looks to me like you aren't. It's a really good fight. I wish it was five rounds. I think that that would be a little more instructive. Three rounds, I think, give Yann a much better chance.

She is coming along in the wrestling, her defensive grappling against Weyly. She gave up the takedowns, but she didn't get finished So you know credit to her there if she had a little more danger on the feet. I would pick her Yeah, I know she killed Jessica and Raj. It's the only person she's ever done that to and so I just don't have confidence She can hurt Vierna. I think Vierna looks you know point I think Vierna has also been getting better right like he's you know he said that Yon has been improving. I think Vierna has been improving. I think she gets over the hump. She gets a title fight,

whether it's against Wiley or whether it's an interim title fight, cause Wiley's moving up, I guess we'll come to find, but I think I like Vierna can look at her opponent and check the, sorry, she can look for Tevin Farmer in the crowd. He gets one for that. All right. He gets one for the eyeball joke. Sorry. We're deep into the show. No one's watching anyway. Let's hit this lightweight matchup that is like a perfect crossroads of young versus old and Jim Miller and Chase Hooper. Look, Chase Hooper's fun as shit and he's getting better.

His stand up used to be comical, but he's an action guy. He gets in crazy twisters and mixes around and changes positions. And Jim Miller is frickin' Jim Miller. I know we love this fight. Who's going to win it? That's the real question here.

Probably Jim Miller. Whoa. Wow. You should make a wager with our friends. Oh Jesus. No, I guess I'm wrong. It is a big line. Yeah, they've got Hooper at minus 850.

What am I missing about this? Well, Jim has won three of his last four. I think this line is way too big. I mean, it is that... What is the argument for why Miller is such an underdog? Chase Hooper just beat another old man Yes, later and now he gets another proxy for his dad that he gets to beat up Miller is much better Jim Miller is much better than clay guida. I think this line is very I guess I'm wrong Hooper deserves to be the favorite

But I feel like Miller could make this much more interesting minus 800 favorite. Yeah, that's crazy high huge number I normally I love that fight in so many ways. I normally wouldn't ask you guys about Cedricus Dumas against Al for an impersonator me how all the Shake Shack but Shake Shack is now with the fighting nerds. I think Maybe for this camp or did I misread the I'm not sure I did see know if that's a joke. Or maybe for this camp or did I misread the video? I'm not sure. I did see something about that, but I didn't know if that was a bit. All right, well, the 30-year-old Poland brawler has lost four of his last five,

but he comes to fight every time it makes wars, so I'll be watching. He comes, throws the kitchen sink. Like, he's an action dude, so you're always fun. Siju Jumas, I don't know if he's good even, so like, I'm going to guess a Luke Stasik one. All right. Our early prelim featured fight, I'm not going a look stage. All right are fun our early prelim featured fight

I'm not gonna miss this featherweight Darren Elkins with the worst tattoos of all time But willing to just bleed for anyone anywhere juicy. J is his opponent Julian Erosa at featherweight Neither one's going anywhere, but entertainment. That's where they're going Luke this Saturday. Are you in will you? versus Eros are you you know, that is just violence, car crash written all over it, getting you ready for the prelim. The the the main people, the main prelims, whatever you want to call them. That's all that that is. It's an interesting fight for that reason.

Should be fun. Enjoy it. There's not much more to it than that. Sumadarji, another big line on that one, too, that the old man getting getting big plus money there as well Yeah, dude, they got Darren Elkins are friends of Draftkings plus 285 on Elkins Erosa minus 360 Wow sumadarji bringing a three fight losing skid against Mitchell post. So I don't think you care at flyweight There's two other fights that start but I don't kind of interested but I don't we shouldn't talk about it because they don't care They don't care. I would like to thank so many people for this great episode today

Oh one more thing long. I don't look is there any betting don't care about it. They do not care. I would like to thank so many people for this great episode today. Oh, one more thing. Long Island Luke, is there any betting that you recommend that we didn't really touch on? Well, you guys just skipped over that Mitch Raposo-Sumiderji fight. Oh, hit me. I do think Mitch Raposo's a live dog. I like Jan-Jo Nan is a live dog.

Like you were saying, Luke, a lot of close odds on this card. Yeah. I think it's gonna be one of those cards people make a lot of money on, so good luck to everyone. All right. Luke, will you be providing? Live fight entertainment for the folks over there at Luke Thomas calm. I'll be doing my best. Well, it's not Luke Thomas calm

It's youtube.com slash Luke Thomas, but yes, can they access through via the substack or do I don't understand technology? No, they would have to be just on the YouTube. Yeah, these are two separate platforms But yes, I'll be doing I'll watch along for at least the two top fights and then I'll do a post-fight show Well, we did this episode today because I'm going on vacation later this week, but you'll be back on Monday with Chuck Mindenhall in the studio to recap it. That's right. We're going to record a next Friday episode ahead of time. I don't think, I don't know if we pushed for enough questions enough, we might just have to OGRSD it, right?

Yeah, how about this? Email us, morningcombat.gmail.com. Keep your questions to a paragraph or less. Yeah, please. And we'll hit them up for a special Mailbag episode that'll air a week from this Friday when we both are away. We come back though the following Monday. So don't get upset. Sorry, I got burps here. Jed Meshue from MMAfighting.com.

We thank you for flying up from the deep South for this, for sprinkling in your dirt baggery on top of what we already built here in this foundation. We love you, I think the people love you, but I would not be surprised if they didn't, is really where I'm trying to go. They shouldn't love me, but I want to thank y'all, because this is super fun.

It was way more fun this time to not have you put me on a plane where I will sit in the loading bay for seven hours. Why don't you sit in the loading bay for seven hours? Why don't you be the one why don't you be on the one flight that's delayed? Because i'm in charge of that and luke is just sending me mean messages like where the fuck are you? I was like i'm stuck in this fucking airport But so thanks for you know sending me up at a reasonable time a comfort plus look mk They they do it big when they're not trying to Intentionally ruin your day with a red eye that gets delayed by six hours or your reputation

With the lower third you got any more insulting ones for Jed back there. We have them all can we see them? Let's see can we see we go through the list probably believes in UFOs 100% yeah Frequent 7-eleven ship shoplifter. That's a that's a guarantee steal from Kroger Mike hex caddy I am legitimately better at golf than Mike heck Disgraced ex-lawyer better call y'all yep Took bar exam in a pub sure Was on time for once that's a great Listen to Hall and Oates

Listen to Hall and Oates every white guy does. You're goddamn right I do! Doesn't need dental insurance. Private Eyes is an incredible song. Plays with action figures. We got more? Holy shit. Cheats at Life, Worse Than Chandler. Wow, whoever did this took some time. That's all of them. That was a lot. Well done.

Alright, Hall and Oates, thanks. Thank you for your service. Can people watch you on the main card minute this weekend? Yeah, I'll be live full card watch along join me Luke. Don't make a boyfriend joke. Thank you guys boyfriend of the year What's your name? Jim Pierre your trustee co-host? Yeah. Thanks for being here. Thanks for listening folks We will not have a Friday episode this week, but enjoy this watch it again a few times Thank you to Cuervo total wireless You know what I mean Mando DraftKings all the fine folks. Everyone taking good care of us and the fans for tuning in on a Wednesday. We haven't done a Wednesday MK in a while.

I know this felt good. It felt really good. You want to shout out Ken too? I mean, you know, he's awesome. I don't know what dead animal he's got on his neck, but. There it is. Shout out to our great folks behind the scenes, Ken and Nadir. We love you. Thank you to MetalArc Studios. Thank you for watching. Until then, scenes. Ken and Nadir, we love you. Thank you to Metal Arch Studios. Thank you for watching until then guys for Luke, Luke, Jed, all the other guys in me BC. Take care of yourselves. Enjoy the fights this weekend.

It's going to be a great one. We're out of here. Thank you.