MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 315 Pregame Preview: Muhammad vs. Della Maddalena Presented By Cuervo® | MORNING KOMBAT

Episode Date: May 7, 2025

The Morning Kombat crew is back in studio for another Pregame Preview with friend of the show Chuck Mindenhall joining in on the fun! It's Belal Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena in the main event at UFC 315, live from Montreal, with the welterweight title on the line. Plus, Valentina Shevchenko defends her women's flyweight title against Manon Fiorot in the co-main event, José Aldo takes on Aiemann Zahabi, and much more. Luke, BC and Chuck share their thoughts on the entire card, breaking it down like only the fellas can! This episode is presented by ‪@Cuervoofficial‬!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Oh, do you want a margarita? It's time to bang. Oh, yeah, your Wednesday morning just got a lot better. Welcome on into morning combat pre game preview for UFC 315 get fired up. How are you on this Wednesday, May 7th, 2025 Brian Campbell, Luke Thomas, the MK cohost test with the most s but we needed a third today. So we went to the bullpen. Time for the threesome.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. The grandson of a bootlegger. It is from Uncrowned with Love, Sir Charles Mendenhall. I like Thrupple. I like that better. Wow. Get the fuck out of there, you sick man. All right. Wow, I've already made you call me sick?

This is gonna be a fun show. Just a reminder for everybody. Today's episode of Morning Combat, this very special episode to get you fired up for Saturday's pay-per-view return to Montreal is presented by DraftKings. And of course with DraftKings, the crown is yours. Luke Thomas, I don't know if you want to read the disclaimer this time around. Maybe bring Chuck back into the fold, the folds, you know, if you will, about what we expect from him this episode. You know what I mean? This ain't

like the other shows you do. This ain't like, you know. You ever like go out on your day and just like, I gotta do dumb shit today. That's what this day is about. I can do that. Can you rise to the occasion? This ain't your dad's, well, it probably is your dad's favorite show actually, because we're just a bunch of old POSs. But this ain't your dad's regular UFC preview, we expect real talk. All right. Like men do.

Do you have any planted questions about the Ali act from Turkey to inject into this broadcast? Yes, before we get into all things Montreal, or I'm sorry, Montreal, as the real people pronounce it. I think it's Montreal. Chuck, you were one of the invited special guests slash influencers slash billionaires slash ass lickers. Yeah. All right, sorry, got loose there for a second. No, you were seriously Times Square.

You were ringside for for H E's big splash on Manhattan What you were actually within the the giant fence? Yeah, what the hell was that? Were you envious? Were you envious of that? Envious? No, you were trapped in there. I could turn my broadcast off. I couldn't get out of there if I wanted to. Well, they had your search industry, your search history stretched out like they knew what was going on.

It was bad news, man. I mean, you saw the fights, and really that's what it came down to for me. All the rest of it was just kinda nonsense. I don't know how I got in to the actual perimeter. Were there other writers there? As far as I know, other journalists and writers were in a restaurant.

Hard Rock. Yeah, the Hard Rock. I was supposed to be, from what I understood, at the Bubba Gump Shrimp, but that's not where I ended up. I think you and Hard hit and hell wands were the only journalists allowed with those walls. Brother if I got a credential and it's like you can set up shop in the hard rock I'm like you can set up shop on these fucking nutsack Okay whoa hey sure alright that is a uh I wasn't too far from uh old iron mike pat McAfee all those all your favorites were right there man

Yeah, that's fun. That's incredible pat McAfee, all those guys. All your favorites were right there, man. Yeah, that's incredible. Pat McAfee, man, he used to be a rebel. I sat next to Mike Tyson when Rico Verhoeven fought in glory in Norfolk, Virginia. He talked to me the whole time. Wow. Does he really have that voice? Yes, in fact, what happened was Rico was winning

and we were facing one of the ring posts like this so it was right at the corner, and he push kicked the guy, so he hit the turnbuckle and it shook the whole ring and Mike actually nudged me with his arm till I get my attention and I looked over and he goes these motherfuckers is huge in his old Italian accent go Chuck I do encourage our readers to check you out on unccrowned and among a bevy of fantastic pieces, the one you had on Ryan's ball dropping in Times Square.

Should I read that famous quote from him? Oh my God. No, we should. This show will not be about Ryan Garcia, but what this show will be about, guys, is obviously the pay-per-view that goes down Saturday, UFC 315 in Montreal, two title fights atop the fold and the first title defense of that name that you should remember Bilal Muhammad. And by the way, this pregame preview all get fired up is brought to you by Cuervo. Now's a good time to enjoy the tequila that invented tequila.

And when we say now, Luke Thomas, I mean, it's 11 AM Eastern somewhere. OK, how about right here right now? Yeah, there is no other place I'd rather be. Right. Jesus Jones. Chuck, we are going to be sampling today. I'm like you're jumping in with the song, the Blanco, the Blanco today. All right. So let's get it. Luke, I love the Blanco. I have a mixer here.

I'm going to put some of that and have my margarita. People often say like, BC, do you guys actually enjoy Cuervo? We do. This. Yeah. Do I do I? Unlike Luke Thomas, I'm Cuervo. No chaser on this bitch. OK, that's what I'm talking. You're also I mean, Mike Myers and fucking whatever movie that was. What are you trying to say? Where he had all the Pepsi and then the Pizza Hut ads everywhere? It's not so I married an axe. What is it Wayne's world was Wayne's world more?

Believe me about how you're drinking if you're pouring half shots Terrible news for you. That's a that's a full shot. That's not a full shot. These are double shot glasses. These are not doubles. They are doubles. This is not a double. This is a single shot. You're out of your mind.

I have a double shot glass at home. It's much bigger than this. It has moose antlers on it. No, I got to give him a stuffy. If you want a gatekeep, I'll play those games. All right, yeah. Let's see it. I mean, you talk a gang of shit and then you don't do it.

This was a guy shot who said it would take 52 beers to get him lit. This guy. It only took three margaritas though, right? To make him a legend. It's a new era of sadness in my life. I was there that day. I was there that day.

You were the only guy. I completely forgot you were there. I was there. Mike Bond was there that day. I went on with Mike Bond. It was like we came on together with you guys. I apologize to you guys after on behalf of Luke, you know what I mean? But it wasn't, it was an epic. It was like we came on to I apologize you guys after on behalf of Luke It was a legendary moment in that big moment look I'll slide that over here

Oh Luke we we have so much respect for you Your family your family's nations that we would love if you could bless us Colombian style all right here. We go Paribas Bob Ojo Alcentro Yeah, we're gonna All right, here we go. Parriba, pabajo, al centro. Click, click, click. Yeah. Par dentro. We're gonna do what? Al dentro.

Very nice. Oh, that's smooth. Should have done it your way. The mixer, buddy. Come on now, son. That's delicious though. That is good. Wow, we got after it right there.

Yeah. Just the first, just the first. Shout out, by the way, to Cuervo. That's delicious though. That is good. Wow. We got after it right there. Yeah. Just the first, just the first. Shout out, by the way, to Cuervo. That's what we're talking about. Let's get fired up about 315. Big picture. For all the talk we do about matchmaking quality of cards.

Chuck, what is 315? Can we get a letter grade? Is it deep? What would you say 315 brings to the table for us? A letter grade? I would probably go a B-. I think it's pretty good with the two tough fights. I for one really love the women's fight in this one,

because I think that Manon Fioro is going to do work in this fight. After that Blanch field fight that she had in Atlantic City, I look forward to seeing what happens with Shevchenko. So that's one of those fights that I've been looking forward to. And I mean honestly man, I like Belal's fights. I know he doesn't get a ton of credit

for excitement and things like that. Try, I'm sure you've seen this. If you interview him and tweet him out, you'll find out how much people hate this guy. It's like holy crap. 100%. He leans into it now, right? I like the way he's playing. He's not a wallflower. He'll absolutely lean into it. For sure. So I'm looking forward to those fights. But I didn't get a grade for you. B minus. Can I counteract that a little bit? Yes, please. A is crazy. I'm not going to do that, but I might be plus Okay, okay, I might go be plus and I'll tell you why some optimism this time

But what I would say is preparing for this fight first of all right now, can we just be honest right now is an Awesome time at welterweight. Some of the older riffraff is finally being pushed out. There's a bunch of new guys coming up. Obviously, Sean Brady's coming up. Jack obviously is here. Shofcott is here, to an extent, Ian Gary is here. No, to the full extent, Ian Gary is here.

Okay, I mean, you can blow him later. It's all right. It's all right. But what I wanted to say was, it's like, it's such an exciting time, and if you're just lining up fights that you can make it, excuse me, at 170, that have some of this new blood, Jack Dela is just 28 years old, hello, this is one of them.

This fight, just on fight terms, fucking rules. It rules. Now, does it have spectacle? Does it have massive popularity? No, it has none of those things, so you have to dock it. But it's an exciting time at welterweight, and this fight is one of the reasons why it's an exciting time at welterweight. I think this is a sneaky good fight from a matchmaking perspective from a lot of fights I want to see please. Last time I'm going to say is not one not two,

three fights at women's flyweight on this card. You have the champion. You have the champion I think you have champion number one contender number five number six to the number five number seven and number nine Right all the way down this card, dude This division is gonna have a massive upheaval and twist on a single night Yeah, I gotta say I don't hate that either and the individual matchups Silva and Grasso Shevchenko Fioro Andrade and who's she fighting on drugs? and Grosso, Shevchenko, Fioro, Andrade, and who's she fighting on? Jasmine Jezdivisius.

And by the way, kind of funny that we're coming off of three fights, two years of Shevchenko and Grosso, and here they are in the exact same car, pushing this division forward. Gentlemen, I submit to you, not that bad. A lot of bellyaching over popularity fine, can't argue with it. But over quality, there is quality here to be had,

it should be recognized. And I will just say that like we do the uncrowned rankings, the pound for pound. Three of those women are in those, those rankings. I mean, like if you just look at it from a perspective of that, you get like, you're seeing the best in the world, I guess, in the women and then the flyway division. I'm just going to say in an era where there's not like star power is not what it once was and that's really not up for debate like I'm really leaning into What was it? There was some funny lower?

Back to the lower third. Let's see here Okay, smell significantly better than machine saying much That's not saying significantly. That's the key word. He comes in here. He comes in here smelling like roast beef and sadness It It's a lot. More Keith Peterson, yeah. In any case, but in an era where star power's not what it once was, I tend to just make real big considerations around quality and I think that this card has a lot of it. Montreal, one of the best fight cities from just,

you put two feet on the ground there, you can feel the passion, okay? Montreal's a great city. Montreal is arguably North America's most underrated city. You put two feet on the ground there. You can feel the passion. Okay, it's not great Montreal is arguably North America's most underrated Only thought of Club Super Sex when we when we looked at Montreal now when you look at Culture standpoint, you're right Also a great great great great boxing in MMA City. This is the first UFC card in Montreal in 10 freaking years. How does that happen? Luke Thomas. April of 2015 UFC 186 by Debutress Johnson and Kyoji Horiguchi.

Patrick Cote was on that card back in the day. Rampage Jackson was fighting Maldonado. Right. So do you remember the context for that? That's how weird it was last time. Rampage actually had an active deal with Bellator, pretended that he didn't. UFC signed him for a single fight and then he had to go back to Bellator in the middle of that deal. Just a weird time. So this is for me, they're bringing, again, not bringing star power to the extent they even have it, but they're bringing a little more normalcy to this one, a little bit more set up for the future. I don't hate it at all.

Why does it take so long? This isn't like a COVID late response and getting back there. They've been weird about going back to Canada more broadly. Now they're sort of warming up to it. Also- I guess when you had GSP back in the day, it was a lot easier to pull the trigger. I remember when, correct me if I'm wrong, the rematch for GSP and Koschek was in Montreal, the rematch for it, I believe that's right. It was in Quebec no matter what, I believe. Yeah, it's there.

You know, when they had such a powerhouse, it was obviously easier to go back there. The Nick Diaz fight was there with GSP, the Carlos Condit. Oh, right. For the longest time, it was a regular, you know, a regular visit in a hotbed for MMA. Remember Dana White back in the day was like,

we'll go to Canada every weekend if we can. I was shocked to see that number. I was wondering what it was. And is it true? You never can tell anymore on X what's real and what's fake, but are tickets not selling that well for this? And is it tied to relations between the two countries? I would say that the,

it's probably a combination of things. Partly the card has suffered a little bit in terms of injuries. Partly, again, it's not a question of quality. It's a question of star power. Sure. There isn't much. There are locals on it, though. There are locals on it. Absolutely. I would say that. So so the gate is going to be interesting for this one,

because what they've been doing is they'd be going to. They've been doing two million dollar, three3 million gates in London, $4 million gates for sometimes fight nights. You're like, how is this even possible that they're doing this? But the cards for this, the tickets for this one, they're not selling poorly in an objective sense, but relative to some of these highs, they're not meeting it. So it's going to be interesting. I think the gate number will still be good, but A, I've had a bunch of people hit me up and say the ticket prices have collapsed almost. I mean, they've gone way down. There are still fair amount of inventory available. What I think they're going to do is compare this gate to the one

from 10 years ago, rather than, Hey, look at how our pay per view gates line up. Or we set the record in this venue. They'll probably compare it to the Demetrius Johnson card, which, you know, for that era was a fine card, but probably didn't do a ton of cash. That was before TKO came in and just turned up the temperature on the price gouging right there. So let's get into 315. And when we do, we look at the main event and the welterweight champion and finally the first defense for Balaam Mohammed Muhammad who defeated Leon Edwards a little bit more

than a year, or sorry, a little less than a year ago, was supposed to come back against Shavkat Rachmanov in the late, early fall, early winter. Of course had the foot injury. Then we had Ian Gary against Shavkat. Now Shavkat is delayed still with lingering injuries. So we get Jack Della Maddalena in a very interesting matchup. But as much as I want to talk about this matchup for what it is, what it offers, who's going to win it, this matchup is also going to play a certain role,

we think, you know, UFC politics wise in deciding what the main event is for International Fight Week, June 28th in Las Vegas, UFC 317. So, hey, it might be time for a little Cuervo Shots Fired as we look at this a little bit more intensely and some comments from Bilal Muhammad on the Anakin Florian podcast and get fired up for some shots fired. And as you can tell, the shots fired brought to you by Cuervo, now is a good time to enjoy the tequila You know what? That invented tequila. I will. And I it now is actually a good time. Okay. Look at this guy I mean you can police the amount look all you want. I'm a good dad Hey, why don't you pour more of that on the fucking table you absolute?

Primate a rag in here can okay Jesus Christ. Maybe to equal the one that's all right I don't want to take the Lord's name of a in front of you cheese and rice What you gotta say in front of your daughter? No, I just say, fucking goddamnit shit! Okay, that's horrible. As we shoot to happiness, to virility. Already? What time? It's like 11 17 in New York. Aribo Bahabo, that's what I'm talking about.

Aribo Bahabo. Let's throw to the Bilal Mohammed sound about the future of not just this division, but also the one below. We're talking about Islamah. Let's listen. So I hate to even ask you about Islamah, but I'm only going to do so in the context of something you said to us when we were getting ready to call your fight against Sean Brady. You had all these positive things to say about Islam.

You weren't at all thinking about the possibility of getting asked about him as a future opponent, and you talked about his humility and just how great he was, you know? And now it seems like maybe there's some sort of holdup. Have you known him to be desirous of becoming a double champion prior, maybe more than trying to go down

as like the greatest lightweight champ of all time? Yeah, I mean we've ever we've talked about it we saw it said it and he's all about you ruin my plans it's one of those things like oh you wanted to you ruined my plans yeah and I I think like you said where there's people now they're waiting to see what happens this weekend but I I tell them like I would get your fight signed because I'm not leaving Montreal without the belt. I'm still going to be the champ. So start your camp right now. Whoever you, whoever you have in line, whoever you have in the store, you're good. That was the Anakin Florian podcast, a fantastic long

running show. Chuck, this is kind of wild here. Is it easy to say just like that, that whoever wins between Bilal and JDM on Saturday will dictate whether this summer, MMA fans get Ilya versus Islam, or maybe Islam versus Dolbranks, maybe Islam Mahachev going up in weight to welterweight. We've already heard Bilal say he's actually willing to go to middleweight and take on Hamza. Is it as simple as it looks here that they're going to wait less than two months out from this huge car to see what happens? I mean it seems to be that way doesn't it? It seems to me that that's what's going on. Which do you prefer? Because you know to me if you've got like if it's Jack Delema or Madelena and he's going to defend the title. Yes. What are we

laughing about? Sorry they got you, they got you again Chuck, sorry. Okay, which do you prefer? I mean this is like one of those things because if you're trying to create a rooting interest, right, if you're trying to create a rooting interest for Bilal Muhammad, maybe that doesn't exist, this is the kind of scenario you might want to plant into a pay-per-view which is like hey if Bilal wins we get we want. Because in my mind, the Ilya-Islam fight is the one to make for International Fight Week. I feel like anything beyond that would become, like, lesser. So in other words, if we get Jack Della basically fighting his title against Islam, that seems like a step down. Am I wrong? I don't really want to see that as like...

But I'm on that side. I'm on the Ilya Islam. This is a no brainer side. There's a complete other side that involves LT Jedmashu that don't prefer that. So like how does the Hunter Campbell photo that he took with Mahachev out in Dagestan, how does that, the words from Bilal and your want to have Islam move up and Ilya to have a fresh path in there, which I don't understand, but are we heading in that direction or like? It's not really a question of like, is there a desirability around Ilia Islam?

The question is, are we really gonna go the entirety of Islam's career without him moving up in weight? It's a bigger question than just one fight. And to me, that is a little bit more interesting. Like, I mean, we just talked about how welterweight is finally, all these contenders are now starting to cook. I mean, we haven't really talked about, and there's not a ton of discussion around what

if Islam not just goes to 170 but stays there for a little bit, and now he's a contender there too, holy shit, all of a sudden 170 is even hotter now. So perspective of 170. Like if it looking at it from the one side, much bigger piece of the pie rather than you're just sort of a sugar high of one fight. Yeah, I'll take the sugar high. Who wouldn't? But if there's more to be had, to me, that seems like a much more interesting possibility. Real quick, I wanted to bring in the fan in this and this is the fourth member of our team

today our great long enthusiast and producer director long Real medicine of the wasn't me Luke. That was you of the main card minute podcast It's one of those this mean Long Island Luke no Sita son of in just said Luke on it son of an Australian Son of a horny down under man and the timing was right Is this where fans should be cheering for JDM to win so we can get Islam versus Ilya? No, because I feel like why does Bilal have to lose to get Islam? Can't Bilal win and stay at 70 and then Islam stays

at 55? Or is the whole thing Bilal wins and moves up and Islam moves up? Oh, you're right. I screwed it up. So that would mean Bilal would have to win to keep the title The question the question is if Balal wins and it forces Islam to stay at 55. Why is that preferred? That's preferred. I want to see Islam Ilya as much as BC does so I'm fully in on that We need Balal to win in this case then to keep hold of that

I don't give a shit who wins But I you I don't understand like like we're talking about one fight versus Islam potentially having three or four at 170. He's going to have a lot at 170. You might not, though. That's the problem. If Bilal keeps winning, we probably don't get there. I don't think that there's a world where Bilal and Islam fight. I just don't. I think Bilal saying publicly that he's willing to go up to middleweight, willing to fight Chumayev. I think basically it's a setup there that like, this fight on Saturday, this main event at 315,

will decide whether we get Islam versus Ilya this summer. It will. But after that, I think Bala would move up. So that he could give his friend a chance. I don't think that UFC's gonna do that. I don't believe that at all. Well that was Shots Fired brought to you by the way, by Cuervo, and just a reminder Chuck

that now is as good as time as ever to experience and enjoy the tequila, that evented tequila. What if they did make Bilal versus Islam? I mean come on. Why would they do that? I know but I'm just saying like if, given that we're going through this process right now

they won't fight each other, wait now, if this happens, this happens, if this happens, this other thing happens I Remember when Rashad, you know was going against John Jones these types of betrayals sometimes make a you know for a fun build-up I'm just saying I'm not to mention that would be a fun fight I I don't know if they would ever do that, but they have both unequivocally said no well respect each other too much They just saw a clip where you know he's like it doesn't sound like he's totally I think he's the one That's more willing. Yeah, I don't think Islam has great interest in it. I don't think UFC has great

You're gonna take a guy who is again. I like Bala Muhammad I think he has a good chance of winning on Saturday But he's not well liked you're gonna take the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the game and put him up against them Versus doing that against to poria that makes absolutely no sense like there's no fucking chance They do that indeed Indeed. Interesting. Interesting that this main event, though, can dictate so much in the future. So let's talk about this main event and what it brings to the table. It's actually unique in this sense, because I feel like we haven't had a situation like this in a while.

Right. Or maybe ever. I mean, it's so distinct where it's sort of like it is going to dictate the past of a lot of people you say. And I think you're right. I've seen it. I interviewed below this week on my YouTube channel and just the amount of just lot of people. You say, and I think you're right, I've seen it, I interviewed Bilal this week on my YouTube channel and just the amount of just random hate that drops in, you're like, oh yeah, I forgot how polarizing

his connection to the whole Israel, Gaza thing is, and Palestine by extension. Also just the fact, and it's probably a spot where I was a couple fights ago, a lot of people just still don't believe in this guy, but wouldn't you say recent history at welterweight with Shavkat looking not like a killer, looking human for a night against Ian Geary in a very competitive fight and some of the other

developments that now in a weird way Bilal's getting a little bit more respect than he ever did although he's still hated by such a huge part where he's coming in rightfully as the betting favorite and he's basically saying look I'm fighting a one-dimensional guy who can only box I'm the kryptonite for this guy I feel like if it if you hadn't seen Gary versus Rachmanov first or other things that happen we might be going is this the time this fraud champion's finally gonna get gonna get served he kind of got respect by virtue of circumstances in a weird way yeah I think for a while that we felt like Balal was just going to be holding that spot until Shavkat got to him.

But now, I'm not sure, man. Like, Balal is one of those guys now, the way he's winning fights, what is it? 12, 12 fight, like, unbeaten, you know, taking the- 11. 11, so 11 win streak, and then like 12 unbeaten because of the one. But, you know, he finished Shawn Brady. This is the guy who's kind of coming up behind it all.

He's on the side too. Yeah. So I mean, it's one of these weird unsung things. Because a lot of times fans can separate a guy's personality, who he is, from the fighter. In a strange way, that hasn't really happened with Balal. I was very impressed with him going into that situation with Leon, given the circumstances of fighting, um, in very strange hours,

enemy territory, all that stuff, and just dominating the fight he did. I- I don't know, man. I feel like he's kind of earned my respect. I feel like he is the guy to beat. He's- it's not like a fluke champion up there at this point. Luke, I've come around. I'm just worried that I'm coming around too far, too late. Like I typically do when I miss somebody on the way up. Yet, did you see the countdown show in the embedded? He's trained during Ramadan again.

And it's like you continue to stack things against Bala Muhammad and he continues to get better and find more ways to show us how great he is. It's just weird that we enter this fight now where I feel like people are looking at this matchup going, yeah, Bala, Bala is going to probably defend his title here, where I thought every step of the way for him, we would be looking at him as a transient champion. Balal is definitely a guy I didn't see coming like this. I just didn't. I didn't. I wish I could say I did, but I just didn't. And he got better and better and better and better.

Here's what's interesting, though. Did he earn my respect? Absolutely. Like, you know, what are the odds on this one, Long Island Luke? You do share with us? I believe last I looked, Bullall was like minus 200 JDM plus 170. Right, so I mean not a huge favorite, but a decent size. But the point I wanted to make was,

after, first of all after the Sean Brady win, I was like, okay, that's interesting. And then after like, he just like, I mean, the fifth round obviously is not that case. And I know Leon won another one in between, but in general that was, that was Belal's fight against Leon Edwards. And it's like, all right, I mean, what can you say now?

The dude is absolutely legit. And by the way, did it when Leon had all these excuses about why he couldn't perform in his hometown, and Belal just showed up and said, right, well. He dropped him on his head. He literally dropped him on the top of his head. Yeah, I know, yeah, Belal's like, right, but that didn't stop me, now did it?

You fucking, okay, anyway. But here's what's interesting. Now the division is, the screws are starting to turn again a little bit here, where Ian Garry did stumble a little bit against Shavkat, but that humanized Shavkat, and now he got the win against Proches, he surged. JDM has been off for a little bit, which we'll get to, but I think is an interesting contender for somebody we haven't seen yet this year. And Brady's back.

Brady's back. Brady's back. And it's like, well, all has turned into a guy that the fans, in terms of just who the fighter is, they'll make fun of him for being boring. But they do give him begrudging respect. But he has turned into the object to be unseated. Like they they they want to tune in because it's like somebody. Right. Take the fucking belt from this guy, which to me adds to. I mean, again, there's

not star power, but it adds to a degree of stakes that's involved. As long as people care, right? Like they have to care. The crazy thing what Bilal is turning against is our expectations of him. Not one part of his game stood out on his rise, so it was easy, I guess, to sort of overlook his chances of doing exactly what he's doing. But in two months, he'll be 37 years old, so he's bucking the trends of age and all of that. When I talked to him in the past week,

he said in terms of why he might have some of the best gas tank given his age and that he's doing the best work of his career given his age is that he got into the sport late. And it's just that insatiable work ethic. Does it really just come down to this guy outworks what was expected to him and just keeps finding more success because of that. I think he's married to the game. He's one of those guys who, you know, he shows up to the gym early, leaves late. He coaches guys beyond what they expect of him with his time, you know, how much he's able to give. He gives him full his full self. You talk to anybody in his camp, they talk about this. I think that's part of it. You mentioned it, man. Like, there was a point in time, he lost some fights early, right? Like he was losing. It was just kind of a

stop by Luke at you. Yeah, it was like he was kind of a guy that you weren't, he wasn't going to be on your radar. He was going to be maybe even a prelim guy. It felt to me for the longest time, but he starts to emerge and through that process he gets better and better. He made, I, you know, I think he was behind the eight ball forever. I don't think the UFC wanted to give him a title shot. I think it was one of those moments where you're like, the meritocracy has to win at some point. You can't deny the guy. They had to give him the title shot. Does that mean that they want him out? Maybe. You know what I mean? I don't know how much they really want to be in the ball all business ultimately, but his work ethic, man, has put him there. And he's one of those stories.

I do agree. He has less miles on him all told. Jose Aldo who's on this card is something like 37 or 38. And that's very close, but look at the difference in mileage there, you know what I mean? So if you look at something like that, you're like a guy like him can surge late. It's not too surprising. But the fact that he's gotten so much better, to the point where I was going to ask you, if he fought Shavkat right now or who if Shavkat is the number one contender if he were to fight him right now who would you favor? That's tough I mean I would still favor Shavkat but but small right nervously but back I mean like maybe before the Leon you know if you thought about that fight. Minus 450. Yeah you would have probably put it with something like that so what he's doing is is fairly

remarkable given all that. And he did that by sitting out with an injury. So to be fair, these elements around him changed, and I think it made people appreciate more what he actually is. Yeah, let me add a couple factors to that if I can. One is, you know, what's the Thomas Edison quote? A genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. Well, Muhammad is that times a million. But the other part too, we really have to give credit. And this is something I didn't

pick up on until, you know, because I didn't think he was going to be Leon. And then he kind of houses him a little bit. And I'm like, damn, how did he do this? And I made a whole video about it. But in doing I hit up his coaches because I was like, did you all do this on purpose? And they had all of it was intentional. All of it was direct to world champions in that camp. So they have Louis Taylor put the guns down, who does some of his stuff.

And then Mike Valley, who was featured in the countdown. I talked to Mike Valley a couple times after, actually several times, after the fight with Leon. Dude, the level of detail that Mike Valley and his team, because it's not just him, he's very clear, it's not just me, it's all these other guys too, but he has that Gutierrez, his striking coach as well,

him as well, him as well. The level of pre-fight strategic and tactical breakdown that they go through is, I'm not going to say more than what I've seen from other teams, but it's mostly more from what I've seen from other teams. It is so much more intricate than you realize, and I think having like a vision about how they want Balal to perform, as well as diagnosing the very, very specific weaknesses in context of his opponents has given Balal a massive leg up. So it's a lot of him just absolutely refusing to go away and getting paired with, they said it in the countdown, arguably the the most underrated coach in MMA and I don't think that's crazy in Mike Valley. And he's training another title fight during Ramadan like and he's not even making a big deal about it.

That didn't end at the end of March. It wasn't like it affected this month or all of April and now May. So what is the connection then to AKA and Habib? Is that more of a consulting moonlighting? He does some training with them. I mean his home team is with Mike and whatnot but he obviously does a lot of moonlighting for long stretches We wanted to train in in Chicago area so that they could be part of a champ camp because he could have went the other Way, but he wanted his guys his loyal like his loyalty to that gym to experience this with him through him and all that stuff

So it's fairly admirable really then like you know then are we are we to judge and say this? Friendship which I'm saying is absolutely legit between Islam and Bilal it's not like a like a DC and You know level friendship with a cane with It's not you know, it's so different because DC classes to that's true. You know he purposely Dehydrated himself and lost weight, but we know he didn't want to do understood the reason why that happened because they were that tight Yeah, we understand why Marab and Aljo are that I don't think Kane and DC is comparable to ball all and I would know I don't think that's comparable. So it's how you kind of started earlier like they had to fight each other

Well, I was just throwing it out there. I mean, you guys poo-pooed that pretty hard, but that's okay. Well, look, he's leveled up because of the relationship. I mean, you can see where his game is getting better here, you know, every step. Do you believe him? Because he said, like, hey, I don't need to take this guy down. I want him to, like, suffer through these hands, you know, that sort of thing. He talks about the Canelo hands. Yeah, he wants to show off his hands, but I'm like, talking to what you were just talking about, I'm like, I find that a little hard to believe.

Because remember, with Della Maddalena, like, there was that fight. I'm like talking to what you were just talking about. I'm like I find that a little hard to believe because remember With Della, Maddalena like there was that fight Who's the who's the guy he fought a couple fights back? Who was a late minute? It was a last of muscle hot hot guy It was a decision That guy took him down three times kind of held him there for like eight minutes And I mean I know that that was a very strange circumstance But if you see things like that and these guys guys watch film... Dude, Gilbert Burns took him down seven times. Seven times. So, I'm just... That's right.

I mean, obviously, we kind of... You obscure that because he finishes Burns, you know. But I think that that's going to be very inviting for him. I just can't imagine. Let's talk about Jack Della Maddalena off the top and say he's getting this title fight in some weird ways because the Cs parted at the perfect time but he has been off for 14 months he's coming off of a fight in which he was losing on two of three scorecards

entering the third round against you just said his name Burns Burns Boe earns and then he has to actually rally and finish him right in the final minute to be able to do that as previous his previous two were split decisions. And he had two split decisions before that. Are we over blowing the, JDM has legitimate questions to be answered here, Luke, or is this a legitimate referendum moment on his elite status and his first title shot at the same time?

No question about it. Now to that point, the time off, I mean we just saw Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney, different sport, different circumstances, but they were off for a little over a year and they looked like absolute shit. Dredging up the war over here, man., different circumstances, but they were off for a little over a year and they looked like absolute shit. Dredging up the war over here, man. I'm sorry.

But they looked like shit. They looked like shit. They didn't look like themselves. And again, sometimes it takes a few fights to get back. You just don't have that luxury of your JDM. You have to go right into the mouth of the line here and take it on below. So first of all, that time off by itself means a lot. As I just mentioned, he got taken down seven freaking times against Gilbert Burns.

And if Gilbert Burns, you might remember the final sequence, he gets two on one and wraps and pulls JDM to the mat. JDM just has the presence of mind as he gets pulled to kick up on the other side to roll the guy through, which is amazing to do. But it's like, if you didn't do that one thing, we're not having this conversation about you. Like he rescued himself, which is amazing that he hit him with the knee the whole nine yards. I'm just saying there are a lot of questions about JDM. The inactivity, he fought three times in 2023, one time in 2024, not at all yet this year. This will be the first. That plus some of the development issues. But here's what I'll say BC, we talk about this all the freaking time. He's 28 years old. He is just now starting his prime. And when they, these guys start their prime, they level up big time.

Also, Balal, I think kind of surprised Leon. He's not going to surprise JDM. JDM is going to have a clear sense of like patterns, what he wants to do, where this fight is going to take place, what the fault lines are that he has to win. And all of that to me make it very interesting. But you asked like, you know, what happens here? I don't think it's fatal if he loses to Bilal here. I really don't. But you know, for a guy who's like, his best win was not accidental, but right, but a little bit Hail Mary-ish. We are wondering exactly what the upside is.

This is going to be a good fight to give us an answer. If you could play greedy MMA fan though right now, to fill your own interest hole, just hammer that hole out. Are you guys going to fuck later? What's happening here? Let's just let the awkwardness pass. I'm sorry about that. Apologies. We'll edit that out afterwards.

Would you sub in for your interest level, Brady or Gary or Shavkat right now? Against the wall? Yeah, or are you just as fired up to see the things that you don't know about JDM? I think you nailed it because at 28 years old, and I mean he has looked good. I think that those, he was on, he had looked good. I think that those...he had a head of steam before those split decisions, right? Like, I felt like people were really talking about him. Then it was kind of cooled a little bit, and then picked back up again as he, like you mentioned, he got by Burns. I still...I feel like he belongs there. And also, he does

represent a market. Like, Australia right now can be kind of restored into its hotbed, you know, like becoming that place again if he's able to do what people think he can. I just think that it's... you're mentioning level up. I mean, this is one of those situations where you're going... like Bilal has faced everybody, you know, he's faced such a wide range of people, whereas JDM hasn't, you know. He has not faced that level of competition. So I think there would still, I think it would still be surprising if he, if this is the moment he does level up, he shows up and we see him like hit, hitting his stride and he goes right through a guy like Belal. That would be truly surprising to me.

JDM seven and O in the UFC. Obviously the big wins are the burns knockout, the split decision over Holland, but a lot of the wins before that, he does have a sub over Randy Brown or more developmental wins on the way up. So Luke. Well, remember, so long on Luke, correct me if I'm wrong, I apologize, BC. The original pairing was supposed to be JDM versus Sean Brady. And then when the injury fell out, it ended up being Sean Ballall and then Brady Leon Edwards. Is that right? Yeah, that's what happened. Was it? I don't remember them ever booking JDM. No, they had him booked. They switched this.

Yeah, he was he was he was supposed to fight Leon. I believe that's right. And then they switched this over. He was to the title shot when Rachmanov got injured. The timing was perfect for JDM is what Ballall is saying this week as simple as he says it when you compare the skill sets of the two of them. Is it fair when Ballal says JDM is a one-dimensional fighter who can only box and strike? And he's great at boxing, but that's all he can do

and by default as the more well-rounded fighter with the gas tank and the Canelo hands, we can say what we will. Bilal can box, but you go to the Canelo hands, or you're getting aggressive. Well, I mean, Kurt Canelo, he might be better than that. Yeah, yeah, seriously. Like, is it that simple to look at this as a one-dimensional fighter with a great

when his A game is working? Do JDM support it? I mean, I don't understand Balal's comment there because it's like, what does he imagine his well-roundedness amounts to? Like, yeah, OK, he finished Sean Brady on the feet. That's fine. But which is actually really nice win. He's a hell of a grappler. Well, okay. But those are control positions. He's not a dynamic finisher.

True. True. JDM is obviously significantly better on the feet. Now again, how that plays out in MMA context remains to be seen by virtue of what game plan he goes. But the point I'm trying to make is JDM has the kind of functionality in other parts of his game that Bilal relies on in different parts of his game. Like they both have A games and then functional B games. Like the notion that like Bilal is like vastly more well-rounded is I think he's a little bit more well-rounded for sure.

I'll give him the nod, but I don't think it's nearly as you know, either or as he seems to be presenting it. All right. New segment brought to you by Cuervo. This is real, real talk. OK. Honest answer here. If I am not HIV positive, if this turns into a five round boxing match, even though Bilal's got those Canelo hands, well, JDM FM up over five rounds in a boxing match in which takedowns are not a part of this.

Yeah, JDM messes him up. JDM's whole game is this dynamic. Look at his face, by the way. Shouts to my commentary partner at XFC, Jessica Aguilar. She has the nose off to the side. It's like Picasso. That's a bad joke. Yeah, they're not in any way trying to hide it.

They're cool with it. JDM's the same way. Shawn Brady, dude, he got two contenders at 170 with noses off to the fucking side. Shop haters think he gave himself cauliflower here, like just to fit in. I think that's ridiculous. Like you have to earn that shit. Bilal looks like his face has been like pressed down into like something hard for a long time with a bowling ball. I'm sorry, I went in a different direction. What was the question? The shop haters used to accuse him on Reddit. I was going to ask you whether you thought real real talk.

Yeah, so JDM's- Because Bilal says I'm confident. I won't take it down whether you thought real real talk. Yeah. So J.D.M. says I'm confident. I won't take it down once. I'll box. So again, below hands there's real that you can't discredit them at all, but you have to understand like what makes JDM striking special.

We talk about like what boxing and MMA means and people think that means throwing pretty combinations. He does throw multi strike combinations more than three at a time. So throw three, four, five. That's not really it. He plays Frogger. That's what he does. So he stands in front of oncoming traffic and he dodges the cars. And the reason why that's relevant is because it gets him real close and that enables him to then do those combinations. They look pretty because of the inherent danger he accepts as part of that style. look pretty because of the inherent danger he accepts as part of that style. But Law does not do that. Law bullies people with volume and makes them cover.

That's not the same thing as I'm going to stand right in the line of fire and make you miss and then overwhelm you. And before the show you're like, Ingunu plays reverse Frogger. And I'm like, this way too soon for that. If we could have a, are you making a fucking joke about that? Wow. Sorry. It was the, it was, if we could could have if we could extend the real real talk for a second over here Chuck. Fire him, fire him. You know I put him on the spot right there about if this is a five round boxing match what happens Let me put you on the spot. Alright. Bilal with his very impressive peck deck does he have the best rack at or below 170 pounds? First team all titty. In all of MMA or just just men's MMA?

Ooh, that's tough. That's tough. I think it's just men's though. Yeah, right. You give him that. Yeah. He's gonna There's no way he's gonna stay out of box by the way with I'd be shocked because if he's getting pieced up in this fight He's gonna shoot. Yeah, okay Then what this momentum also carries him into weird situations a lot of times cuz he'll come forward Where else you gonna go eventually you're on the fence. If the dude's backing up, it's just he's not going to. Would you say Balal has that certain intangible

that champions have that they know how to win close fights? They're just sort of the timing is there? Definitely. Look at his amount of decisions, too. I think he's one of those guys who just slowly breaks your will over the course of a fight, doesn't he? Just kind of putting it on you the whole time until you're like, I can't.

There's nothing I can do here. It's a thing in grappling. If you go three rounds with a, with a, with a partner and the first round you kind of figure out there's a couple of places where they're weak, a couple of places you can camp out, a couple of places where they don't have a good answer for you. The round ends, you don't finish them. You go back to the next round, you're going to go right to it.

Right. And then that's going to open up a secondary set of doors and then a third set of doors. And so that's what he does. He just begins to like, he has, he's the key master from what, which matrix was that the second matrix where he's just trying the doors and he doesn't get them all of them at first, but then one that leads to the other. And so it's this people like he breaks your spirit. No, he just audits the little tiny leaks in your, in the plumbing and then finds where to go.

And then the water spills out there. Do we expect JDM to be able to leave his back off the off the canvas for more than it's not in this fight? Will he own the percentage of control here? Will he be able to make this more of a kickboxing match in the end? That remains to be seen to me. That's like the big question. Like he does get taken down and I don't know like... If we see him down twice in round one is it going to be a long night and his gas tank is going to be compromised? Not necessarily. Because Bilal is not a dynamic finisher, no. No. It's not like, dude, if you saw Islam get two takedowns on you, you'd be like, oh, okay. Well, I mean, you're not going to, I mean, this is done for you.

But with Bilal, it's like he might capture the back and win the round and that's bad Because how do you solve that problem if your grappling is not good enough? But at a bare minimum you can just lose the round the next fucking round starts right back here Yeah, that's a low percentage way to win, but it's not a bad thing It's just not the same as when you're dealing with somebody who's a dual threat. Is there not a dual threat is a potential of a boring fight? Like, you know, dude. It's fucking Balaamahamed! I mean, like, but I mean, he's kind of given the guarantees of,

and you, so I mean, I don't always agree that his fights are boring. I didn't think the like the Leon fight was boring. No, no, no, no, I'm being halfway facetious here. What I'm saying is, no, I understand. There's a capacity with because he has such a control based style to get that. That's the problem, because it always feels like a pattern, even even given What I'm saying is, there's a capacity because he has such a control based style to get that. That's the problem because it always feels like a pattern, even given the circumstances you mentioned, like if there's a pattern established, you know, and you're trying to get your bang for your buck on a pay-per-view,

that's where it always goes a problem for him because it's like, oh, so we're just going to see five rounds of this, you know? Yeah. And when people think like that, it becomes boring. You see, if there's a pattern, yo, I all solve it. Check out the hook by the DJ. Here we go. Balls it, son. It's like we have reverse. Rolls here zero and get with the hero. What do you got? I said we reverse roles here.

Like usually as you singing today, he's already busted out to me. It's just nice to see him. So happy, isn't it? You know, it really is. I think it's time we we talk about before we get your predictions. I want you to tell me if if either man wins What's their first title defense Chuck? Why don't you go first here? so if I'm guessing if since we're doing this whole this whole dance if Jack Della, Madeline wins he's fighting Islam

Damn Luke is it as simple as that? Yeah. Yeah, I fully agree. Yep. Okay that Badass way, which by the way, is that fucking awesome fight right they bring that to Perth They already made my hot chef fight. That's a good. That's a tougher question to answer. No, I don't think so I think they're gonna put Islam back in the States because I think they want to use what's left of his star power for pay-per-views Okay It goes the other way Would it I'm?

That's the thing is it Sean Brady or Shavkat? I don't know. I feel like it's just gonna be circumstantial as to who's available and on the date they want it you know? Yeah it's Islam. It's it so you well if it's JDM. JDM oh sorry if it's Balal. Is it going to be Brady too? So Shavkat you're thinking not physically ready. He does not appear to be ready, yeah. Which by the way, after the way Brady's been looking and the humbling he took. It would be the right time. Fuck it, it's the right time to do it. Hey, let's make that fight.

The other thing is, man, guys like Shavkat, I always feel a little bad for him because once they go off the radar, everybody just pushes him aside until there's a tough throw. It's very tough to break back in. Even though he had that standing, he just doesn't keep himself in a limelight that anybody pays any attention to. And it's like, we lived through when, well, the way John Jones got the title shot ahead of Rashad was Rashad was waiting for Shogun. And it's like, you remember that whole thing? It's like, dude, you, these fighters, it's like your heads, you win, tails, they lose. It's because you're all, I want to wait for something and then you wait and then you can end up getting injured and then you lose the whole thing.

for something and then you wait and then you can end up getting injured and then you lose the whole thing or you can just jump on an opportunity but then it's not the right time and then you're going to lose it anyway it's very very difficult to navigate these situations. What do you guys make of this unpublished podcast of which apparently Bilal was a guest on the Henry Cejudo and Kamara Usman fight or show and apparently it is did they didn't hear this yet though? No, no, no, I'm saying they need to. They need to. So apparently they had, for 10 minutes they argued and then Bilal walked off the show. Should we fear that if Usman beats Buckley

that we're gonna get- I don't think Usman's gonna beat Buckley. I think people are terribly overrating the condition. Would they throw him in against Bilal next and try to cash in on this is really what I'm trying to ask. Bilal Buckley? No, Buckley no no no below Usman because of this podcast scenario So he if he beats Buckley it's possible. I don't want that all right what I want though what I want So it's about your dixie. I want predictions. I want to know who wins when why how Luke Thomas you're up for I don't know dude

You know you know what who should go to we should go to the betting guy yeah, let's go to that guy What do you think all right? So my heart is obviously with JDM? I'm rooting for JDM Oh, yeah, my betting like the law is gonna win this fight I think the law is gonna have his way with them take your betting was like so you're picking him straight up and betting on him I'm yeah, I'm betting on balala I'm picking balala, but I will be rooting for JDM. Should they did he lose his Aussie card right there? well I'm still rooting for a man. You didn't comment on that video. I sent you of the koala jacking off

Yeah, it was a little turned off by You can turn him off I also sent him one of a gorilla shitting in his hand and eating it. Luke doesn't know yet. We have a Balal by decision. Okay. What do you got? I have the same thing. I just, and I think that it'll be one of those things that's why I was talking about. I think it'll be kind of established what kind of fight it's going to be. And that's what's going to piss off Montreal in the end. Is that Balal's going to...

You know what? The answer is I don't know. Because of everyone's picking Bilal, which is probably correct, I'll just take a flyer on JDM. There you go. Yeah, but see, we don't want that because you don't have any passion or anything. There's no conviction there.

This is why the fight is actually interesting, which is that like, dude, there's... That is true. Bilal is something of a known quantity, right? Now we feel like, okay, we've got a much better understanding of him. We just don't with JDM. Not for the same degree. All right, I feel like it it will be a beloved decision, which is like the boring obvious pick

But I think JDM drops him like like, you know put some marks on his face And it's sort of one of those really like oh wow Leon can do it You would imagine JDM might be able to do something. I think it's gonna be a good fight I think so man, it'll at least be a good fight in certain parts for sure Yeah, yeah, if JDM has his moments, then it's probably gonna be that's right It is it is or you know, but all overwhelms them. That's good happen to you know All right Let's get fired up for this co main event on Saturday in Montreal as Valentina Shevchenko

37 years old ankles ankles ankles directly off of her sphere Trilogy win over Alexa Grasso, who was on this card as mentioned earlier. Well, welcome in unbeaten in the octagon, Manon Farouk of France, who is on fire. She will be the slight favorite. And this, by the way, Shevchenko versus Farouk preview is brought to you by Total Wireless,

the official wireless provider of UFC, Get Unlimited Data, that won't slow you down. We're talking Total Wireless. It's interesting, Chuck, to see Valentina essentially win two and three of that trilogy, even though the second one was a draw, but there was a scoring error in there. And now Grasso's stock being down and she's an underdog herself against Natalia Silva a couple fights earlier Well, what do we make of this fight because I'm surprised that Valentina is the underdog

I have so much respect for the run Ferro is on what she did to Aaron Blanchfield She kept her back off the canvas. She lit her up in the striking. What are your expectations? Entering this is gonna be a big passing of the torch It certainly got that potential with Ferero being the betting favorite coming in. The Shevchenko puzzle is like the strange part, right? Because even before the trilogy with Grasso, there was that very close Tila Santos fight. Remember it was like a very close one. A lot of people at the time thought that she lost that fight.

And then you get the Grasso thing, but then she's getting more dominant as this series goes on. So I'm not sure where Shevchenko is, and maybe you can tell me how old is she. She's like 37, right? So 37 years old again, you have an aging champion, and you're like, I don't know when that starts to go. But I also know just like Balal, that her work ethic is up there,

and that she's married to the game in a very similar way. She lives the game. We don't know who's married to Pavel. That's the topic for another debate. But she's married to this game. That's another throuple. That puts that in government further behind us, by the way. He's going to get married to the sister so I'm not going to be able to make him a groomsman.

You know what I'm saying? Oh boy. You're the mother effing best. But I have to say, I have to say that to me, Man in Furo is like one of those fighters who is unsung possibly because, you know, she just, I saw her at the Apex a couple years ago against Buena Silva and she was so dominant

that I've kind of paid attention, like what is she going to do? And from there she's only looked better and better better to me that Aaron Blanchfield was quietly one of the most impressive things that happened last year To go into that situation Which I thought was really set up to be a showcase for Blanchfield to kind of get across and to say like hey this undefeated what 24 year old Gets a home game against this, you know Parisian or whatever this French fighter coming over from Nice.

From Nice, yeah. And it was a setup for her to lose. And for her to win the way she did, piecing her up on the feet, kind of keeping it. What she did is basically take away Aaron Berlantchuk. I don't know if you've done like a, like, watched the tape on this to kind of break it down. Let this one know. She took away her, like, she exposed her for not having a plan B, you know? There was no plan B. It It was like so it was like Existential about two minutes in that fight like how's she going to get through this fight? It was very crazy That to me is fun man, because shevchenko is such a such a monster too to me

It's like you're catching probably the quietest but most dangerous head of momentum coming at shevchenko It could be a long night for shevchenko ever wonder about your college years in Plan B had it been around? Yeah. Luke, when we're talking about the challenger here in Ferot, 7-0 in the UFC, but it feels like sometimes in the women's division where there's not a lot of depth, you could get two or three great wins and be in a title spot. Dude, she really had to earn this when you consider in those seven fights. She finished Tabitha Rishi, got a decision win over title challenger,

Myra Buenosilva beat former tire challenge or Jennifer Maya by decision, a decision over another title challenger and Chukajian. And then she beat, she had that knee injury, former champion, Rose Nama Eunice and then unbeaten number one contender, Aaron Blanchfield. That's battle tested as shit at one 25. Like maybe I should perk up and realize that her being the betting favorites not crazy here. Didn't have a strong opinion about who's going to win the main event.

Have a strong one in the co-main. I think Firo is going to Firo should should very much win this fight. Toon tune like a guitar. Yeah, I won't go that far. That's that's some, you know, I you know what? I feel halfway vindicated Chuck because before the fight in April 2024 I said, oh, Devin Haney is going to tune Ryan Garcia. Right.

Because I looked at the tape and Ryan's not good. And then sure enough, he's good in that one fight, but then he went back to also being not good. And so I feel like the wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind finally. So in any case. At least he's not a racist, but anyways, go ahead. Well, he could be that too.

I mean, who knows? All of Luke's heroes inevitably are. Anybody I've ever liked turns out to be a racist or an anti-Semite. It really is quite the spirit support. Like the other day you were like, uh, Nicky Rod's brother's great. And then they're like, Oh, it turns out maybe not so much. You know, anyway, tough break. Uh, all right. But the point I wanted to make was on this one. Now there is a risk that UFC is running here.

They could run a boring Khomein and me. That is absolutely something that's on the table. They don't care though. Okay, I'm just saying we have to be ready. I'm not declaring to you that is what will happen, but that's on the fucking, that's on the Shakur to reborn. Whether or not you grab the, you know, the whatever. Anyway. A wee wee, right Chuck? A wee wee.

But here's why she's interesting. She's a plus, a plus athlete. If you just look at Fioro, she's built like a tank. A wiry tank. A wiry tank, but like her core is like real, she's got like that Dustin Poirier wide body kind of situation. She got an outie.

Okay, I mean. All right, I mean. What about, can you tell me about her feet, Chuck? Where are we going with this? Chuck's like, she's got it out. But in all seriousness, in all seriousness, she's an A plus athlete and what was interesting about the Blanchfield fight was not just it was so surprising, cause I thought Blanchfield, we had her in studio, we thought Blanchfield was just gonna roll. Did she do your room service thing? Was that what it was? Blanchfield, yes. That's right, I remember that.

The happiest day of BC's life. I don't understand what you said. But what I'm trying to point out is, her ability, you mentioned that Blanchfield had no B game. Fioro's ability to beat you to the punch and keep you at her range is extraordinarily good. Her takedown defense, 93%, only Jennifer Maya got her down one time and could only keep her down

for like a matter of seconds. I feel like Shevchenko kind of relies on the takedown now more than ever. And you did mention she got better over the trilogy. I don't see it that way. I mean, I do see it that way in a sense. But what I really see it as is that Grasso got fucking way worse. You have bought all the stock and Grasso has gotten like way worse. There's no denying her take down defense.

You are the president of V-Chain right now. There absolutely is no denying her take down defense got worse. Absolutely got worse. She crumbled under. It's pretty bad in that third fight. It got terrible. Yeah That's not gonna happen with Fiora. That will not be available to her. Not for very long anyway. So for me. I mean Blanchfield only tried a couple of times remember like three times and she was shut down get close She couldn't get close enough, and then it was almost like she was like I have to abandon that idea Yeah, no no no shevchenko is gonna have way more offense than that It's way more like Blanchfield not moving her head at all true Okay, even these good names that she's beat how many of those would we say are elite strikers on the level

of Shevchenko? What will this fight look like if Shevchenko is not making it easy for her? Blanchfield did not move her head. She was just getting lit up left and right, left and right. Yeah. But the point is, Fioro can just... What you always want to look for is where the fight takes place in the octagon and who is defining the terms. And the reason why Fioro wins, even though it goes to decision after decision except for her first two fights in the UFC,

is because she sets the terms and these opponents cannot find a way to change that equation. Now Shevchenko, of anybody, has that capability, but I think as that fight settles into a groove, you're going to see Fiorel behind the jab, behind the push kick, dominant in the clinch, stuffing the takedowns, and it's going to put Shevchenko in a little bit more of a compromised position She doesn't have the same athleticism at age 37 as she once did She's been fighting the same opponent for two fucking years. I'm telling you Fioro is positioned here to do real well All right, Chuck real real talk Colorado edition. All right Who's more who's more racist? Take me back?

Colorado edition. All right. Who's more racist? Take me back. Do do do do. If Rose wasn't injured in that Pharrell fight, does Naama Yunis get a close win and we're not here right now? Hmm. No. So what I'm saying is that's the most competitive fight we've seen for Pharrell where she had to do the most adjusting. Yeah. And she ultimately looked very good in that fight, but she had to Overcome some things including Rose's right hand. I'm just saying that's not going to be that's probably true I'm trying to I was like going back and trying to but I Think that Fiora I would I mean that's one of those ifs to me because I don't really know how that would have played out But honestly almost everything that I have watched from Fiora has been pretty dominant. When you mention this kind of who's dictating the terms,

she's almost always dictating the terms. And I think that that's like what makes her who she is. Like she just kind of, I wonder in this situation, have you ever talked to her Menfiero? I did a, I talked to her. My French is not great. Well it's like, so she goes through a translator, but it's like as dry as you can,

it's just there's not, like she's not giving you a lot of personality, and I don't know how she is in her native, like if it's French media or something like that. But I always wonder about this kind of champion because she's so unsung in the United States at least. Like people aren't talking about her. Like what is her ceiling in terms of,

is it just going to be like if she wins it, they're gonna have a show in France, are they gonna do something like that because they can capitalize on that sort sort of thing with you know with Cedric Dumbay like kind Of just selling out. Maybe they can bring something like that. It's a weird one because we haven't seen a lot of champions Yeah, so yeah, but we haven't seen a lot of champions that are that quiet Yes, that are that dangerous like she to me is kind of in that terrain where we should have seen her coming for a long Time here at least her game is fun to watch but I get exactly you're saying you're oh Like she, to me, is kind of in that terrain where she... We should have seen her coming for a long time here. At least her game is fun to watch,

but I get exactly what you're saying. B.R.O.? Yeah, I don't love her game. I think it's fun to watch. For somebody who's a... She snowboards. For someone who gets decision wins, I think it's fun to watch her break people down offensively. Technical thrillers? Technical thrillers, indeed.

So, I don't know, what would be the big surprise here. If we're gonna f around and find out again that Shevchenko is as good or better than we thought historically. Take down dominance would be very surprising. That's how that's her path. Is that the only path? I won't say it's the only path but you're asking like what would be surprising that would be surprising. She shows take down dominance I'd be like wow that is extremely impressive. That would be because Fiorot again I'm gonna say it it's not that she has it's not merely that she has good technique

I think people really sleep on what kind of an athlete she is man. It's a different level with her for her I mean, we're she're checking to get out to be able to secure top position for Nick down would be impressive Yeah, because for oh is so stubborn so so strong in that regard This is a tough ass fight the more you break it down. It is a tough So what do you make a Valentine a fascinating though, too, in her nomad training style where she can be on a boat and had some fights this time she was in El Paso in a tiny gym, like always floating around always

was she really Thailand for half the year. It seems like we marvel at how her consistency her longevity. But do you feel like she's been actually adding to her game? It's hard to say because she's been fighting the same person and has had the same kind of and you put more of that on Grasso kind of Declining yeah, he puts all of it on that well mostly. I mean it's you could make that argument I think that that's when you're talking about the Grasso fight here I think there's we'll find out right like we'll see kind of where she's at

Dude, I mean just think about she got on top of our grass So did she do anything super memorable terms of passing out that one She got basic. I've been a real dud so yeah She's got basic takedowns and like secure top position with a little bit like modest ground upon it you know with I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's what that comes to mind and You know I just don't think that Avenue is gonna be there against Fioros the question is like what what Avenue is gonna be there? And it's gonna be at range, and that be at range and that's a more 50-50 proposition. What's the best concert you've ever been to with a female lead vocalist?

Oh man. That's on topic kind of. I mean, it's a good question actually. I saw Hole once, so it was pretty good. Did you really? Yeah. Wow. Go on, take everything!

That's it. This is the third one. I'm gonna go like this like, drinking game now. Wow. Take everything. That's it. This is the third one. I'm like, it's like drinking game now. Um you remember that band Belly? No. Yes. Holy **** I saw them. I saw Radiohead open for them in Boulder, Colorado once. That

was a fun concert because of those two bands together. I saw garbage. I never could see that one. That would have been a fun one. I've seen Luscious Jackson. I saw the Breeders. The Breeders was a good one. Luscious Jackson? Yeah, Naked Eyes, baby. L7. Dude, I one time got taken on a date

to a Tegan and Sara concert. Dude, I love Tegan and Sara. There wasn't a second date on that one. Let me assure you. They seen Sir Vang, you know, X. Saw them. I've seen a lot of them. I saw Flyleaf.

You guys all know who they are. Fully Alive. By the way, you're getting close with your favorite band, I noticed. Like, The Fetal. Cannibal Corpse. Yeah, Fetal and Dying Fetus. Yes, it's all dudes. It's all dudes. No, no, but I mean, you're getting close with your your favorite band. I noticed like a Handle the fetal yeah, fetal one. I feel yes. Yes. I'll do this. No, no, but I mean you're getting close with them I just no no I I met up with Eric Rutan the guitar stuff pretty damn force. Yeah It's me this year will we ever get a zoom call on MK with George corpse grinder. So what I found out was I didn't

So I finally met up with Eric Rutan at the they were in DC recently and I went to the show we hung out and we I don't know how it came up but we were talking he brought pro wrestling or something and one way or the other he goes you know who because I don't like pro wrestling you know who in the band is the biggest pro wrestling guy George Corbis Grimes the lead singer I knew it the one who talks about shooting blood from his cock, that one. Yeah. Oh, God. All right. Back to this fantastic fight. Look, if Valentina wins here, we're certainly talking about just adding to her great resume. Okay, if she loses, we're going to go.

Maybe that's the end of the of the run of the incredible run she had. If she wins, though, are there remaining mountains to climb? I.E. the idea that Nunes is coming back and the idea that we've thrown around a long time that is women's band and weight is so weak that couldn't she go back up and wait and be maybe a true division champion? If Valentino wins Luke Thomas, do you see more history

and more mountains to climb in her future? I would say that if she wins, that you really have just a couple of options. One is 35 and that something that she might do for posterity sake. Uh, and then the other one is you, the one fight in the top five, excuse me, we've mentioned all the top five fighters on this card. Two of them that are not our Blanchfield and Barbara who are fighting later on and I think a month or so, I forget exactly when it is. So if Barbara wins, well then you have a fresh name

that's kind of in hyped, contender series alum. She might stick around for that, but those are your two options. Because if Blanchfield wins, she gonna fight, I mean maybe, I don't know, but like, you know, if you beat Fiorot, it's, you will play a little bit of MMA math, but would it make sense to fight Blanchfield?

I don't know how that would go. What about Wei Li Zhang? Yeah, what about Wei Li moving up? That's an interesting one. That one could do it. I'm wondering with Amanda back, is it back just for one fight against Peña? Or could we get that trilogy with... Or Kayla.

I think if Valentina loses, she fights Rose. Because Rose wants that really bad. They've trained together, they have a lot of respect for each other. That'd be kind of an interesting fight. But if Farrell wins, what's the first title defense or are we gonna find out after? Barbara winner Interesting. Yeah. Hmm. I mean if Natalia Silva beats Alexa Grasso coming off of that. Yeah, so that's the wild card, too I think that one's a little bit behind. Yeah

It's like what like fairly young right? Yeah, and she's won all of her fights in the sea So I mean it would be hard to do her She's had time off due to tragedy That's why it is good though That's why it is a good card in that way because you get a lot of clarity yeah on these things Every time we bring up this matchup. He's like sneaky, and I'm like yeah kind of but we need a prediction Shevchenko versus Fioravu a decision. He's been firm. He's been consistent Chuck I Think it's gonna be the same way. I think it's the same thing And I mean if it goes the way that I keep seeing all this man, what?

Why are you breathing over there like skip Bayless? I think she Really hard fought it might need to be a boring fight it might need to be people saying that they didn't agree with the decision It's gonna have to be close, but I think she can do this. I'm going Shevchenko by upset There you go cloudy decision meaning split majority in that right in that vein long island. I Got a bet on it, so I'm going Chevy decision as well. Yeah, but he never bets with his heart anymore It's always I know it's all transactional with him There was value on trust guys like cash as a dog last time you know you hear yourself English anymore Yeah, Chevy. It don't even speak English anymore.

It's just, yeah, Chevy. It's like second hand Australian. Yeah. All right. Let's keep going down this pay-per-view card. I want to get more excited about Jose Aldo fighting in Montreal, but it's like not against some of these older guy fantasy matchups. I want it's against I'm in Zahabi. Yeah. The Ariel Hawani look like who's 37, but is on a five fight win streak is the brother of for us of Montreal fame.

But like this is the third straight fight where Aldo is getting the Anderson Silva booking where you're like he's a legend. He doesn't need to fight a canineer. He doesn't need to fight Derek Brunson. Like I don't want to see Aldo against his last two opponents, which he's split. That's true. The Chris Gutierrez, right? Yeah, about to the fight Jonathan Martinez, sorry Jonathan Martinez. Thank you. I don't feel like I need this

Can you guys talk me into Josie Aldo versus I'm inside? What I'll say is if you're a Zahabi the way he has turned his career around I think he's also a bit surprising that he ended up in this position better late than never eight thirty seven year right a little bit older He was do something kind of fun. It's just that I don't want this for Jose Aldo. I would want him to be in Dominic Cruz's retirement fire. I know that is it is really strange. Because they're cashing them out. They're cashing them out. Yeah. I mean look look look at it for what it is. But

they're not even putting him in against somebody that I think can use it in a great detail. You mean like Mario Bautista. That's what I'm saying We're cashing them out losing the recipes Chuck. They're cushioning. It's really screwed up, man It's been six years since he went down to bantamweight like I remember when he was doing that six years. He's been doing this It's insane. It's incredible like we were like when he was doing it felt like man. What are you doing? You're gonna you're probably not gonna make bantamweight, and what are you going to do, resurrect yourself? And six years later, we're still talking about him and facing guys like this, kind of woodwork figures

that they owe favors to, I don't know, like a Montreal guy, you can put a Montreal guy in this, I don't know. So Hoppy has put together a very respectable win streak. He was owed a step up, for sure he was owed a step up. It's just that this was owed some step up for sure he was a step up it's just that way it's like this was the only step up they could have given him like a legend in the game who you'd like to see a little bit more what's the hood although well he had the eye poke I mean well so I'm saying that caliber a

fight oh yes yes yes I fully agree yes how about I mean I don't know although you would you like that more than this? He's kind of good. You see his new long hair though. All right. Yeah, he's got really like wavy wavy. Mr. Faber hair now Does he yeah, you gotta check him out? He's really he's re branding more aggressively than Leonard I'll be when he turned to uncle Phil. He's turning into like a really fit Jelly roll or something so of this five fight win streak for Zahabi, the highlights are a decision over Ricky Tursios. How do you say Aori Kaileng?

Yeah, the Chinese guy. You got a KO. Richie Lang, thank you. Then you got a decision win over Javid Bashrat, and then a decision win over old, but still there, Pedro Munoz. Those last two are good wins. Where are we at in terms of like how tough, how dangerous how good is is Iman Zahabi?

Ayman? Um like I said he was owed to step up from this like those last two wins are legit opponents. Those are not bullshit opponents at all. He has really worked on his skill set. He was a guy that I thought was a bit also ran. That's really not true. Um you know he might even win. I don't think that's necessarily out of the question. It's just

It's just what are we doing? Who's the favorite? It's uh? Do we have the odds long as I all done minus 198? Okay? Plus 164. Yeah, I think it's about right Isn't that telling you you're doing something wrong put him in with the the rising? Stud that couldn't like the real rising stud that can really benefit from it. I don't know I don't know what's going on. Hey, Intel, but Jose Aldo trajectory is as Crazy as it gets. I know I can't believe that he's allowing him like Jim Miller has a bit of a different career like he's never a champion and You know trying to make use of the last chapter in a functional way is totally understandable

It's just surprising that Aldo is acquiescing to this. All right, what about Aldo moving back up to Feather and taking on Choweewees? Better, but you know, the problem with that is Choweewees doesn't have great stand up. Choweewees is 35 though. He's one, oh he's a big hero. He is 35, you're right.

I'm sorry, I thought he was a feather. But the other problem is that Aldo has motherfucking lights out takedown defense defense Merab couldn't even get interesting You shit fight where no fucking smoke Chowee we so we talk right where she wins He gets a huge push a huge did you see that's a big on his first podcast episode He had that chick on the Esther whether she's ready to take down Drake's nine and a half inches, and she just walked off Oh, man. No, I didn't see that. It was kind of like a Aspen all in Nina drama that time. Just got weird.

Well, you know, MMA fighters have lots of things to say. Yeah, luckily this show didn't get that weird in comparison. Do we have a prediction? I mean, we want Aldo to win. I want another Jeremy Stevens moment. I suppose I'll lean Aldo. Yeah. It's just, come on.

Yeah, I'll lean Aldo. GFL could have really used him They really could have if I could use another 10 million I feel you seem like couldn't you feature Josie Aldo against like you think people knows what they don't do with him You just you just broke news that they were having a big show coming up at the end of the all right I was no American TV deal It's great. It's really great log out look you have nothing to say about this fight. Don't do you I kind of think? The hobbies alive dog. That's the that's I thought I thought the odds would be flip-flopped. I'm not gonna lie

I thought Jose Aldo would be a dog So I'm a little weary to take him at minus 200 that power still there the delivery system is still there The gas tanks, you know, it's getting shorter and shorter. No, we're the interesting part about it Is the leg kicking Pedro Munoz is a dominant leg kicker? He got kind of neutralized in that one Aldoz is a dominant leg kicker. He got kind of neutralized in that one. Aldo is also a dominant leg kicker, but Aldo is much better about slip and rip. But on Countdown, they talked about when bringing back the old kickboxer Aldo. And I know they say that every every fight is going to be the dominant leg kicker. But maybe they're seeing that in the scouting report.

Just to see. Okay, why don't you spill more? No, I've wiped it all up. I've got a judicious maxi pad over here. Okay, here we go. Let's continue on down the line. How about this women's flyweight matchup? Former champion Alexa Grosso coming off of the draw and loss in succession against Valentina of Shevchenko will take on an absolutely rising 28 year old Natalia Silva from Brazil who count it right now. She is 18 and five with one draw overall, but unbeaten in the UFC. And when you look at some of those wins from Jazz

DeVisius through Andrea Lee, Jessica Andrade last time about around. This is a very interesting potential crossroads matchup. But crossroads Chuck Mindenhall, if we're buying as much stock as Luke is presenting in the, this seemingly in her prime great fighter is going downhill fast in terms of the skills are just evaporating off of her. Are we overblowing the Grasso ain't shit anymore? And should she be a a betting underdog against a really good fighter in silver? I don't think we're over blowing it either.

I think that the Grasso that showed up at the Sphere was not in any way the one who first beat Shevchenko. And I know a lot of people, and I've been doing it too, you kind of give credit to Shevchenko for kind of solving it, but I agree that there's definitely something there. I don't know what it is, you know, that they was talking, what was it, the famous silk sheets thing, I don't know. She was a champion for a minute.

I think she did her victory lap. I don't know if that somehow compromised her, you know, the hunger, we'll find out. She went up the Egyptian cotton rankings quickly. Yeah, but. That 1,000 thread count, you know what I'm saying? So we'll see. To me, that me that's the like putting her on this card It becomes like a big showcase for that vision

But I think one of the biggest intrigues is this fight given that she's what 31 now for the longest time She was this prospect we always talked about her. She'll be there eventually You know she had some she slipped a few times then she broke through now It's like does she still have it at 31 years old She's already went through all the dude after the I mean the quality of opponent. She's been facing She's been I mean look tell us speak a little bit deeper into that Are you really that nervous that she's not physically washed, but that she's lost side of the plot She appeared to have her confidence shattered a little bit

But her take down defense just regressed. But Silva's not gonna shoot once, you know this. No, no, she won't. And I think it's worth considering like a change of opponent might be good for Grasso at this point actually. Exactly what the doctor ordered. I'm not counting her out for that reason, but I'm just saying over the course of two years and three fights, she got demonstrably worse. And it's hard to know exactly why, but I think the enormity of the challenge just kind of, she almost psyched herself out. I mean, to me, it's not so much physical issues as it is psychological ones. But what, what, what ilk is she made of to go back on the Leon Edwards, John Anik call? I feel like we can't, we can't like the idea that she can come back and put Humpty Dumpty back together.

She's built like that. She's wired like that. She's a live dog in this matchup. Yes, I agree with that. Yes, I fully agree that she's a live dog. Yes, but I mean, ways to win. How do you how do you walk out of the Shevchenko trilogy? I mean, without big questions, I mean, I guess one way would to do that would be like, well, it's Shevchenko, we don't have questions, but I have questions. Like your takedown defense should get better over the course of three fights, not clearly worse.

And it wasn't like Shevchenko's takedown entries were dramatically different. It's just that she, her defense collapsed. That's a weird thing to happen for a fighter still in their physical prime. That's a weird thing. happen for a fighter still in their physical prime. That's a weird thing. It was hugely disappointing for anybody expected a competitive tr- like the trilogy of it, right? Like that you would get the best maybe at the end or you'd get some back and forth.

And I could see her coaches and everything just were just so disappointed in everything that happened there. I just, I feel like maybe you're right. Maybe it is a confidence issue. Maybe she rediscovers it here, but something was clearly off with her. All right. Well, here's the deal about Natalia Silva. I'm as big of a fan of her as her, her high motor, her personality, her work ethic, as I am fearful whether she'll be a true defeater of the elite, despite the run that she's been on. She's got to win over Andrade. I mean, she's making some moves here,

but she showed a good chin down the stretch against Andrade. She's showing some of those intangibles. I don't think she's enough of a power striker. She's a volume striker to really put people in the notion of being in danger. She's also not a big ground worker in that regard. I'm if if if the old Grasso is willing to come back through that curtain. Yeah, I'm wondering if this is the perfect elite opponent to remind everybody who you are against.

If Grasso can work behind that jab, I think you're onto something. But I just feel those limitations on Silver the Lifeguard. For sure. And again, she has had, she's done good work in UFC. But remember, she had a personal tragedy and had to come back from it in the whole nine yards. And it takes a little bit of time

and it can derail you a little bit. So what kind of look are we actually getting at her? I think we'll get a better one this time. But I'm saying Grosso has the tool, Grosso had the tools to beat Shevchenko, but she was a little bit overwhelmed physically. Silva is also a bit of a physical,

powerhouse is a strong word, but you know, she was able to match Andrade to a degree. And I think that might also play a role, especially in the clinch. So to me, it's a question of like that jab from Grasso, putting it in range, scoring offense, scoring offense, making her answer for it. That's to me going to be the big question here. This is the deepest women's division.

Do you see when you look at Silva, I could see her with the title? Do you get that feeling? I mean, I feel like this this fight will fill us in a little bit that way. I don't know. I'm with you a little bit. You have to kind of see this first. But I do wonder, you remember we talked about this before with the serial gone, Francis and got to think like, what if they do? You know, what if Francis comes out and wants to wrestle?

Somebody had the weird. The weird thing is, I'm like, if you feel like that could be a potential confidence busting thing to do, to plant something in her head, I mean, we'll see. I doubt she does that because she's never really shown that in her game. But sometimes you want to see people mix it up a little bit, not be one dimensional. It would be interesting if she did try to plant some fear in her head that she might do that. Don't forget, Chuck was the one who said maybe it's maybe it's a Poetton story.

Just the most poignant words ever said on the show turns out It was it really was sort of yeah, it really was what's the line on this one with it with these ladies and flyweight, Long Island Sorry, I'm eating up plus 210 grass very professional minus 258 silver Wow, that's pretty Wow It's pretty crazy. Wow, they've got doubts about your girl. They. She's wash it here. They've got they've got okay Grasso's that are best when days of MMA like betting not knowing what's going on or over aren't they like I remember back in the day You'd see someone's you'd be like, oh that makes no sense. Josie Aldo plus 600 you'd be like, oh bitch I'm not I know I know interesting stuff right there

Interesting stuff right there. Interesting stuff right there guys. Let's go to it. I gotta lean Grasso. I gotta take the plus money here. I think that look she's gotta make it a little bit more of a messy fight. She does have great boxing, but I think she thrives in chaos with that great boxing rather than the other way around. Silva likes to be clean with her strikes. She likes to control that distance. She's got very sneaky kicks. But if Grasso can get to the clinch and make it more of an inner fight,

you were talking about innies and outies earlier, like an absolute creep show. If she can make it more of an innie fight. You know? Yeah, I mean, come on. If it can be an innie fight, it could be. Who you going? The other thing is, does it matter that,

so Grasso's been involved in several five round fights. Does it matter? Was she better in a three round where she can kind of like, you know, kind of, I think she, where she was at when she got to that Shevchenko series, I felt like she was really peaking. So I'm like maybe going back to three rounds where she can, she doesn't feel like she has to conserve or anything like that. Maybe that changes things too.

You take away that championship pressure too. Yeah, we'll see. Yeah, but at the same time if you're Silva, this is a huge opportunity for you I mean, she's gonna be riding that one, you know, yeah, she has a win over Macy Barber, too I mean, this is a this is gonna be interesting to kick off the pay-per-view card to round out the five fights BSD Benoit Saint Denis. I didn't think we saw this coming. Benoit Saint-Donky. I mean what a fucking donky is. The quote that Luke's mentioning is when he came out this week and said he's been kind of training himself the last two fights and he now realizes maybe that isn't the great. Like I didn't see this losing streak coming but I still feel like the future's there.

Who was the original opponent that just got... Joel Alvarez. Joel Alvarez. This was supposed to be a fucking banger right now. So instead we get Kyle Prepolec, the 35 year old from Windsor, Ontario. He went 0-2 in the UFC in his initial run. They bounced him. He went 4-1.

I think he's got three first round finishes. So he's just a Canadian home body there. Throw him in there. He lost decisions to Nourdin Taleb and Austin Hubbard. He screams You know, what's that dude with the green hair Chris Mutino? Oh, right a little bit better than that. He was not ready for okay, but the whole kids here the scorecards They stopped that fight with like 15 seconds left They let him take a hellacious beating anyway Benoit still 29. Yeah, not Chris knocked out by poor

stopped by Moekano with the cut and that was a hellacious fight. I'm not throwing away the stock though. Where are you at in this experience? Joe, I remember Maybe 18 months two years ago We were talking about the guys coming up and he was one of the guys that we were like watch out for this dude When he gets there. It's crazy to me that he's derailed this hard. Where now you're I mean this is a setup for him if he goes in there and loses a fight like this. I'm like

I don't even it would be one of the biggest disappointments. That's how high I held him at one point. I thought he was going to kill. It was a lock for me that he was going to beat Poirier. Yeah. And so I don't know these But didn't you take these fights with like legit medical issues? I mean can you imagine how fucking dumb you have to be I'm gonna fight Dustin Poirier with no coach and staff infection Yeah, and I think I'm going to win like your judgment has to be poor has to be poor. Well, so, yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't don't show.

I'm sorry. I don't do this too often, but this one deserves it. Your judgment is shit. If you think you can be Dustin Poirier with staph infection and you you haven't had a fucking head coach, you almost got out of there in the first round. You make very poor decisions. OK, do we blame him for the Moikano loss or did that fight just get away from him quickly? Also another fight where he had no fucking coach, but...

I don't know how that's... Bebut Shumanov used to do that at the elite level of boxing. But Moikano is slick and Moikano is another guy who had a bunch of losses and then really got better as a comp. He had momentum.

He had momentum and that was a good... Like he was a guy who's over aggressive in the the wrestling but not quite Sturdy enough in defensive jujitsu is the kind of guy her not to mark up more kind of can just pick right off And that's what you saw so like definitely there was a couple was just a moment in time I still have high on BSD in the sense that like he's not too old. He's an a-plus athlete He has a go-getter attitude. He just needs someone to He has a go-getter attitude. He just needs someone to Guide him and make fucking good decisions for him. Let's play matchmaker Monday. What coach is perfect for him?

Well, he's in France so I mean that kind of hey you can you can reroute your life All right, if you want to see you wanna was in Valentina's camp ahead of this. Yeah, I would say he was a good coach for somebody like that He's got like good this? Yeah, I would say he was a good coach for somebody like that. He's got like good grappling prowess too. Honestly, them boys at Kilcliffe, they come up with some winners down there for sure. Henry Hooft.

Henry Hooft would be, because he would, you know, Henry Hooft is- You talking Barwis? Yeah, Henry Hooft is one of these guys who doesn't shy away from like, oh, if you've got an aggressive style, he'll lean into it, you know what I mean? If you got a big,

hmm. Right? You know big Stop that Okay You, you give him the hip hop horn on his C&D jokes You, you give him the hip hop horn on his C&D jokes You, you give him the hip hop horn on his C&D jokes And it's not fair to the rest of us

Now look are you intimidated by Chuck's willingness to put this shot through college and not drink it? Now look are you intimidated by Chuck's willingness to put this shot through college and not drink it? Does that scream thanks to you? Well listen, I didn't see that bog in port anymore so I was sipping it you know Well listen, I didn't see that bog in port anymore, so I was sipping it you know You don't need to get an invitation to know I need to be a dad after this wow alright, okay? Well that is your morning drinker anyway, so that is your UFC 315 pay-per-view main card BSD is gonna win this All right, you better win better one. He's something like it huge favorite minus 900. Oh boy. Jesus. Are you serious? Yeah, I mean it's like a huge favorite minus 900 oh boy Jesus are you serious yeah I mean it's

like a you know patchwork opponent right like you just kind of throwing somebody in there. BSD again is still a great athlete and has a hard-nosed attitude that's enough to get the job done in all likelihood. Yeah very good indeed uh before we talk about the featured prelims here up and down I want to talk to you about DraftKings Pick 6. You know what I'm talking about. This is like fantasy comes to elite mixed martial arts and when you're looking ahead to UFC 315,

you got to be thinking about that DraftKings Pick 6 lineup that you would put together. For more info, of course, on how DraftKings Pick 6 works, head over to pick6.draftkings pick six works head over to pick six dot draft kings.com So last pick six dash rules dash and dash scoring dash UFC and you can check that out for more When I'm putting together a pick sick lineup based on this 315 card as I struggle to get some of the words out of my mouth There I'm definitely looking at Shevchenko who's got a history of going deep into fights This is the type of fight that screams distance and decision. The amount of offense and possible sprinkled in

of control time on top that Valentina can give me, I feel like that's a smart choice for a pick-six lineup right here. I'm not surprised you're going deep on Valentina, but I'm gonna go with Jasmine. I think that that's... I didn't get the music question. I'm going with Jasmine. I think that that's, I didn't get the music. Where's my, I'm going with Jasmine.

You see? You see? You see? Chuck wanted it on just saying a fighter's name. He just says Jasmine. I'm supposed to be the whole line. He was looking at you. He was locking eyes with you.

And I'm gonna go with, I'll go with Benoit. I think that those are my two. Yeah. All right, I'll go Benoît Fereault because I think it's gonna go the distance. She's gonna accumulate some totals. And I think JDM is my two. Yeah. All right. I'll go been off your because I think it's gonna go the distance She's gonna accumulate some totals and I think JDM is gonna put hands on you win or lose win or lose. Yes It's gonna put a legs on the wall I also like Natalia Silva as another pick of somebody who's gonna really fill up that stat cheap of volume when you talk about the different

Categories we're talking about fight time control time fantasy points takedowns significant strikes knockdowns It's all how it works there on pick six a peer-to-peer daily fantasy sports contest. It's a very offered by DraftKings. Check it out today. Get your PIC6 lineup down ahead, of course, of UFC 315. And as always, by the way. Want me to do the rest of this? Yeah, why don't you, Luke?

Yeah, very good. Here we go, everyone. PIC6 is available in most states, including Missouri, why don't you yeah, very good. Here we go everyone Pixix is available in most states including, Missouri, California, Texas, Georgia and more don't settle for a smaller payout switch to pick six and Cash in your ufc knowledge play five dollars get fifty dollars in bonus picks instantly on your first entry So here's what you're gonna do pick six from draft Kings is the most fun way to play fantasy sports download the draft Kings pick Six app now. Use the code COMBAT, that's COMBAT with a K, for new customers to play $5. As we mentioned, get $50 in bonus picks.

Better payouts, bigger wins, only with Pick 6 from DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 8887-897777. Or visit ccpg.org in Connecticut. Must be 18 plus age and eligibility restrictions vary by jurisdiction. Pick six not available everywhere including New York and Ontario. Void were prohibited one per new customer bonus awarded as non-redrawable.

Pick six bonus picks that expire in 14 days limited time offer terms at pick six dot DraftKings.com slash promos. well said Luke Thomas as we get into the rest of this card it might be time to get into the rest of this square of a bottle for myself all right all right enjoy father of the year over there I didn't spill as much you guys out you guys are out yeah I'm good you had a good run okay you had a good run we're looking at a Canadian superhero coming back Mike Malop do we have the same confidence we I'm, what did you call him? He said Canadian superhero.

He's built like that, Luke. But do we have the same confidence in Mike Malop that we used to as he enters this fight with Charles Radke? Can you break it down for us, Luke Tom? Who was it against? Neil Magni? He completely... Yes. Completely...

Charles Radke... And that was in Canada too, right? I believe that was. I think you're right. And he completely yes Charles right and that was in Canada too right I believe that was I think you're right now and he's completely fell apart Radke's not Neil Magnihan's ways better and worse aggressive opponent could make it difficult for him big puncher he did beat Trevon Giles talking about him a lot last time out yeah I mean he's got excuse me some well-rounded ability but yeah I don't know I don't't know. All right there we go. Chuck when we move on.

I mean they like it obviously if they're putting it as the last prelim right? They want that to be the springboard. They're gonna try to give him one more time at the shine. That's his only loss in that stretch of the top six fight. Yeah you lose this one then it's a wrap for him probably. But long out Luke, you believe Verne Mallotte or have we at 33 seen the best of what he will be?

I don't know but I'm intrigued with this fight cause Ratke's got 100% takedown defense and Mallotte's obviously gonna wanna take it to the ground to win. So it's intriguing It is it is as intriguing potentially as this next bout in the women's flyweight division 36 year old and Canadian favorite there in Quebec Jasmine jazzed avicius has been on a very good run overall It's four straight wins But you can extend it out to six of her last seven. And we're talking about most recently, Myra Bueno Silva.

So she's on a heck of a run. And now they're going to give her Jessica Andrade, who we can count out in terms of like at some point, we're going to say she's passed it. But she's 33 only somehow. She's got the most wins in UFC female history. And every time we feel like she might be passed it, she'll laugh around and knock Mackenzie during out. So are you guys offended by the term gatekeeper? Like, I know some people are.

Some people don't like to use it. Depends how it's used. Yeah, because to me, that's where she's at. I mean, she's like a gatekeeper. Everybody who's anybody has to get through Jessica Andrade. If you do, you end up on that side of the ledger. We've seen it with all the women that are at the top five, right? Like they're all, they're all, you know, they all had to get through Jessica Andrade. And I feel like that's where Jasmine is here. To me, that's where Jessica Andrade, and I don't even think it's

a bad thing. I think that she just kind of, she was a champion at one point. It's not like you're saying she's not capable of that, but at where she's at right now, I feel like that's like, she's the capable of that, but at where she's at right now. I feel like that's like she's the quintessential gatekeeper to me She had that rough stretch after she lost the title where she was like selling all of her possessions to try to be able to Pay for training camp and she did like yeah photoshoot that she now regrets like she went through some rough times But yet she had a two-fight win streak before that lost in Tal. Yes. So sorry. I had a little bit of heartburn. She did. It's still in her at 33.

I agree. I think that's really the sort of central issue here. And just to this, it's not for nothing. What? Thirty six. Thirty five. There you go. Yeah. So she's kind of got, you know, that you got to strike while the iron's relatively hot. I mean, I think that on Drudge being such a big puncher and typically having decent takedown defense, typically not always is going to be a real threat. Remember, she has a fucking standing arm triangle

on Amanda Leymor, so that's insanely difficult to do. So she's still got a little bit of that in her. It's just, you know. It's still one of the craziest KOs too, right, with that slam. I mean, that thing will be on the B-roll forever, like when they're showing something big like that. Any kind of takedown that comes with elevation like that.

Indeed, that pile driver, which was her nickname which is wild for jazz to Vicia She is 36 by the way only UFC defeats our decision lost to Tracy Cortez in 23 and a decision lost to Natalia Silva the previous year so fighters mm-hmm You got to take the well. This is a good over under bet This is a good time to bring in our betting expert, Long Island Luke Noseda. You going over here or you going under here? Uhh... I'm going over. That's it.

Okay. I'm going over. Going over. That's the vicious decision. Straight up. There you go. This would say a lot about where Jasmine is. Yeah. And what the UFC can do with her.

You know, if she can win something like this, they can start moving her into title picture. Just the same. Move your head. same move very enthusiastic. I mean, yeah Also on drugs still has a big fucking punch. She's got that that strong low bass too. I mean, she's tough She's you remember she was picking people up over her head at 35. Yeah 135 not age 30. That's what I'm saying. When fucking 35. She only 33. How's it even possible? She was she was like She was strong or bantam weight To see what she can do at these other weight classes is insane. She's like the Jeremy Stevens of Of women's side she just likes you want a title

I know I know I know but I mean just in general like she just fights everybody been at different Female von der Le Le in some ways? Yeah, maybe that's more accurate. Something like that. Like somebody who was a champion, didn't reach that level, but is a gunslinger. Because she goes in there every time with just an intensity and an attitude.

I mean, to get through her is gonna be, it's always tough. She takes punishment, yeah. That's a hell of a run she's on. What about punishment in this light heavyweight tilt? I know it's not gonna break your interest levels or in terms of the rankings. Do we expect fireworks when Lithuania's own Modestis Bukauskas takes on Iwan Kutailaba, the damn Moldovan hulk, right? It's a test of Bukauskas because you know Kutailaba is going to come out just donking it up,

but he's strong and powerful and aggressive and that's a lot. So I mean, it's interesting, right? We talk about this all the time, like, overwhelming someone with your offense quickly works in 99% of cases with the human population, but guys who are really good at defense, it doesn't, and then they weaponize it against you. We are gonna find out who Bukowski is in terms of being able to deal with that. Who, by the way, got bounced from the organization,

kinda had to rec kind of had to Recoup had to come back. It's on a good run. It's on a good run So this is a this is an interesting test for him to close out that prelim portion Navajo sterling at light heavyweight against II von Urslan I don't you know, will I be there early enough to see that? That's the question Yeah, I mean, it's whatever fight in an early prelims. You guys have any comments? I'm a host sterling city kickboxing guy. No, I'm talking about the fights even before that. You know, I don't even know a little Brad Katona. Oh, back side. Dude, Brad Katona wins the ultimate fighter gets bounced,

comes back kind of up and down. And then they give him the dude who fought Umar. I think it was on short notice, right? the Kazakh guy who's actually pretty decent but You know, it's like oh you got to fight an unranked Kazakh who's actually fucking real good Welcome back to the UFC fuckhead You know what I mean, and you get to do it with like 18 people in the bill center Yeah, I'm sure all tough really tough assignment for Brad Katona. All right, Marc Andre, Barry. Oh Bruno Silva They're at at Middle Way and whatever Santos at Featherweight against Lee Jong-Yong. Long Island Luke, you got anything to sprinkle on the end of that?

I'm sure you're gonna be main card minute-ing it, beginning at like 12 noon on Saturday. I was gonna say I'll be live for the full card on Saturday. I wanna say Brad Katona, probably the real Canadian superhero. His nickname is Superman. That's a solid fight, dude. That first fight of the night, that should be on the prelims to me I think that's your name Nickelback

That's UFC 315 before we close it out though there was that news in the PFL that I'm sure our listeners So they're gonna do the PFL championship series in july is it july? Yeah, July South Africa, what's the city they chose capetown capetown and we're gonna get Johnny Eblen It just says defending his title. So is it the Bellator title? No, they named it Okay, no, no, no fucking glad you asked that I'm so fucking glad you asked that because first of all, let me say this. Let me say the nice things up front. Nice things up front.

Two countries in my mind that have been consistently producing good fighters, but have never had a big show are Argentina and South Africa. It is good that a bigger show is going to South Africa to celebrate that market to an extent. I actually think that's a great thing. So I do give PFL credit for that. However, holy motherfucking shit balls.

No, no, no, Dakota Ditchive is on this card and Johnny Eblen's on this card. So you're asking though about all the issues with this card. Number one, is it gonna air in the US? Who the fuck knows? Right. The mystery of the of the century. Will the PFL air in the United States?

Tune in to find out. They finally have Evelyn and Dakota, like two great fighters on their roster in the car. And you might might might not be able to even fucking watch him. That's number one. OK. Would she be fighting right now if she didn't come out publicly and make it and embarrass them? Probably not. And Evelyn, too. They put her in. They're putting her fucking Cape Cape Town with no certified deal. Like holy shit balls.

Okay. That's number one. Number two, the way this card works. So it's PFL Africa overall, but only one part of the card is called PFL Africa. The main card is called the PFL Africa. The main card is called the PFL championship series road to Dubai. So let's back up a step. The main card in Cape town, South Africa is PFL champion series road to Dubai. You have to be whoever came up with that decision at PFL to do it this way is the dumbest fucking there's a Benoit Saint Denis levels of stupidity. Remind you of like these four fights will be Bellator NYC, but the fights before will decision at PFL to do it this way is the dumbest fucking is a Benoit Saint Denis levels of stupidity. Doesn't it remind you of like these four fights will be Bellator NYC, but the three fights before will be Bellator 298.

No, they did this in Saudi Arabia. They did like the PFL, like the KSA card or MENA card, and then the main card was called something else. My understanding is they do this when they have to combine events, but whatever. So that's part two. They bastardized their own titles so badly. Could you add more confusion to this unnecessarily? Why the fuck are you doing that? It's PFL. Number three, number three, the one you brought up. So they list Johnny

Eblen as a world champion, but they don't call him a PFL champion in the press release. I don't know why. Then they call Dakota Ditcheva a 2024 PFL tournament champion, but it's not clear if she's defending any kind of title therein. So it's like the naming convention doesn't work. The title convention is confused. And we don't even have a deal for North American television distribution when it's like you've got two of your premier fucking talents who, and Dakota Ditcheva may be the most exciting up and comer in all of women's MMA. Big time.

It's like, dude, what the fuck are y'all doing? This shows they had no plan, they got called out and they're like, oh yeah, you're right, she hasn't fought the first half of this year. Why couldn't Johnny Iblen have fought in Orlando? Why couldn't Dakota Ditcheva have fought in Orlando? What the fuck are they doing? Why would you not declare who's the actual champion or make the turn make the tournaments that you're making building your whole name around Make those for the title

I would actually tune in if you are any of your best fighters per division in these brackets It's like heavyweight tournament right like the first part is like heavyweight tournament and the bantamweight heavy and bantam And it's like local local that's what I was gonna ask in product That's why I was going to ask are they least using some of the local product. Okay? So I looked at the guys names and they're all like, you know two and one or three They're just they're still even though they made changes. They're still a slave to their own Ways of organizing they put the care of adding more more things looking horizontally right now. Okay, hold on, put the camera on me. Here it is.

PFL. Nobody cares about the Champions League bullshit theme. Nobody cares. Oh, we're gonna have PFL MENA, PFL Africa, PFL Europe. Hey, look at me, look at me, look at me. Nobody cares, okay? What we want is quality and to be able to watch it without having to pirate on the on the dark web, okay? That's what we want is quality and to be able to watch it without having to pirate on the on the dark web Okay, that's what we want. I don't want to have to get next to we get enough of our thrills on the dark web Don believe us. All right. I can't believe that they're dude. I've never seen a company. It's like we got all this great stuff Why don't we arrange it in the most confusing worst way possible? That's the PFL and is the PFL right there Wow Chuck

Have fun in Cape Town. Yeah. Yeah, you going I would like to be there I would actually like to go see Cape Town I would it would be cool to go to Cape and that's the other thing like they You take anything right like they the UFC has said they're gonna go to South Africa. They have not done it You should you know it's something to that you know like that you're going there first you know Chuck who was your celebrity crush at 17 at 17 Jennifer love you it yeah no way you were like 17 she's probably pretty young at that point that was in the 90s Did you graduate high school? That was in the 90s.

Yeah, that's true for all of us. Maybe Belinda Carlisle. I liked her a lot. Belinda Carlisle? Oh my god. Brother, this is an easy one. All right, let's hear it. Oh, you know, what was it?

What was the one? Spencer's gift, she'd go to the back and they had those posters. It was like Samantha Fox. Oh yeah, oh yeah. First of all, Cindy Crawford was the first one. Cindy. These are very 80s centric answers, brother. Hold on First of all, Cindy Crawford was the first one. Cindy. These are very 80 centric answers. Cindy Crawford was the first one, but BC you can help me with the second one. I don't get down with her or her dimple. I was more Cathy Ireland. Cathy Ireland's also a top tier. She reigned in Spain in 92 and some people know what I'm talking about.

The MTV VJ Daisy, what was her last name? Fuentes. Fuentes, yeah. Oh, Daisy Fuentes was a top tier choice for 14 year old. I was more of a Cindy Taylor from Ease Wild On. It's cause you're a little bit racist, it's okay. Sorry, I forgive you. Now more of a Shevchenko guy. She's from South America, but that's cool. I know. Yeah.

I like how this is now the real talk. Okay, we can end this Lean him back. He's young. He got uncomfortable. I don't like it Brian tends to think that longer broadcasts are by definition better and they're absolutely not Chuck could you tell the people where they can find you? You're right here. Are you hanging out with Glover the local methadone clinic? Yeah, are you wait the people where they can find you? You're worried? Right here. Are you hanging out with Glover? The local methadone clinic. Yeah, are you?

That's the other place. Like, once a month do you see Glover and Pereira? No. Actually, Glover I do see a lot, but I haven't recently. I guess he's been out a lot more, but generally speaking, if you're going to be, like if you're gonna see a guy in town, it's gonna be him.

You won't see Alex Pere para as much, but sometimes But yeah, he's around you ever see Merle poet on sex no if I we can You can find my work it on crowned yeah, there you go. Hi guys We can find you this weekend at the main card minute probably yeah, I'll do a full card watch along for the pay-per-view join me That's great. That's great Luke Thomas. You have anything to pump all do the main co minute probably. Yeah, I'll do a full card watch along for the pay-per-view, join me. That's great, that's great. Luke Thomas, you have anything to pump? I'll do the main co-main together and then post-fight show. Love it.

Big news on Substack this week, anything cool? Next week's gonna be a big week. Ooh, an expose if you will? No, I'm sitting down with a policy expert, you'll see. Oh, shoot, oh wow, all right. It's the good direction. Well, thank you for tuning in. This episode of Morning Combat was, of course,

brought to you by DraftKings, where you already know with DraftKings that the crown is yours. Thank you so much to Cuervo for being a big part of what we do here on Pre Game Preview. When we give it to you real, as real as possible, real, real, real, if you know what I'm talking about, follow us on those socials below our YouTube channels at Jason and all the stuff we do right there

What a time to be alive just get to you know like they pay us to sit here and drink fantastic Blanco this is my favorite call every time I get this call, you know test test The fragility of our own careers with really bad time jokes. Yeah I'm ready to go. Luke's got a Joseph A. Banks with his name on it. For Long Island, Luke, for Ken. Shout out to Ken, right? Shout out to Ken. Ken's great, yeah. And those other guys. That's Chuck Mindenhall,

Luke Thomas, your boy BC. I feel like he's looking at me very angrily, so we are out of here. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.