MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC 319 Pregame Preview: Dricus Du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev Presented By Cuervo® | Morning Kombat

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell are joined in studio by special guest, UFC lightweight Matt Frevola, to break down the UFC Middleweight Championship fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev. Plus the fellas go over the rest of the UFC 319 card. This edition of Pregame Preview is sponsored by Cuervo.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Revely, Revely. Look at us now, tip to tip. Oh, Jesus. Oh, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Do you want a margarita? Oh, my God. It's us doing what we love.

It's time to bang. Oh, yeah, let's bang to. It's a big one today, Thursday, August 14th of the 25s, and you've stumbled in on morning combat's UFC 319 pre-game preview episode. It's L-T, it's BC, but don't bury the lead. He may look tiny on camera there, but he's big in person. How about UFC lightweight, Matt Frivolta, the steam roller himself. I mean, steam roller.

Show him the shirt. We got the Raylong. Stand up. We got the Ray Long. Right there. This camera, they'll hook you up. Show him, look at that fucking shirt. Look at that.

Look at that gangster. Look at those nipples. Look at that. Oh, my goodness. We are going to get you all set up for Saturday's UFC 319 pay-per-view live and direct from Chicago and a main event that is like a 35 out of 10 in radio. Greetings, trickus duplacy, making the fourth defense of his UFC middleweight title against unbeaten Hamzot-Chimai. Before we get any further, when I say that fight, what happens next to your body, Matt?

I get the tingles. The tingles in my ball sack. Yes. All right. You may remember, of course, Matt Fervullas's great visit to our couch back in Jersey City for our room service diary. So good stuff right there. He tried to Bill Cosby. I mean, it was terrible.

It was pretty terrible right there. Brian Campbell, of course, Luke Thomas. Welcome on in. Uh, one, one disclaimer, Matt, you know, I don't know if you're familiar with pregame preview, but not only do we get down with a little quervo tequila, but we expect real talk, like men do. Can I tell you I've never liked that catchline at ever? I think it's been dumb since the first time you've done it. I thought that t-shirt was going to sell and then R.J. Dunkle Gangbang was like, yeah, we didn't move any. Yeah, not a single one. No one wanted real talk like men do. And then people got mad at us and said it was sexist, too. It probably is to be fair. But hey, welcome on in. You can like the show. You can.

certainly subscribe on YouTube. Welcome to everybody watching on the Draft King's Network, or if you're an audio-only donk like that. We still appreciate you right there. Our extended social channels, our YouTube channels, also, how about some MK merch, morningcombat. shop? Our August exclusives are live and direct until they are done from the shelves.

Yes, we're talking about MK's Beavis and Butthead, brought to you by average Joe R. Vaping is for closers. A Luke Thomas special. And, of course, our autographed super washed dad's poster. that is pretty much down to, I think, one or two left. So we've been moving them. They won't be here for September.

Hopefully we can get Mr. Favola outfitted more in this MK bullshit, right? Yeah. Did we hook you up last time or no? No, no, no. We didn't give you any gear? No. Sean Brady got a bomber jacket. This guy got nothing.

Yeah, we did, well, we got to fix that. We will fix that. Hey, Long Island Luke, we got to fix that, all right? Yeah, quickly. Let's say hi to the fourth member of our team. What a Long Island Sausage Fest we got today. He's a son of an Australian. He's our producer, director, bong enthusiast,

and, of course, the host of the main card minute podcast. Luke Nocita. Bro, you must have a hard-on from here to Huntington over what's going on today. I'm hyped up for this episode. Welcome, Matt. Good to be here. Yeah, us Long Island guys, we got to stick together.

That's it. That's it. Do you ever see that guy walking around the street panhandling or no? No, no, not yet. Not yet. You'll see you too. Yeah, under a bridge, fucking old drivers and shit. That's wild.

All right. Also, yeah, thank you very much. much also i wanted to remind you that today's episode of morning combat is presented by draft kings and of course with draft kings you already know the crown is yours thank you luke thomas was crowning like the king of england but he went to the restroom for the third time that's a different kind of crown uh rev for the third time this morning um and then told us some gross details about it all right we always kick it off by getting a little saucy here from our fine friends over at quervo tequila and uh of course this segment this show this feeling

and spirit is brought to you by Cuervo, and now is a good time to enjoy the tequila that invented tequila. So why don't we do that? We are back with the devil's reserve. Show that to the camera, yeah. Which is a wonderfully awesome piece of machinery right here. Now, Mr. Frivola has said to us, you know, listen, he's not a big drinker.

We're not going to make them. There's no peer pressure. We always encourage drinking in moderation, except you and me, which we don't agree to that. But everyone else, I enforce it. However, he's going to play ball. He's going to have one shot, which I think is the appropriate amount.

As we are setting this up, because you know Luke's got to put Mountain Dew in there and maybe a tampon. But as we're setting it up, are you in camp now or are you expecting to be in camp? What can you say about the future of what's going on in the life of Steamroller? Yeah, you know, I'm training. I'm always training. I'm coaching a lot right now. But I'm always training, you know, if guys got fights coming up, I'm always stepping up and sparring. I'm feeling good.

You know, I'm ready to start camp, and I told them that I'll fight anybody at Madison Square Garden. You give me King Kong, I'll fight him. So I'm just prepping for November and hoping to get some big fight news, hopefully soon. Let's go to all those steamroller fans out there in Long Island and beyond. Shout out to Billy Q. You guys used to tear it up in Tampa. Okay. Devil's Reserve is cooked. I finished it. The devil is done right here. I normally don't support devilish activities, but the devil's reserve is just fantastic.

I mean, just the smell, here, just the smell it for just a second. Let me, let me, see. You can smell the spice on it. Yeah. Smells like Mel B. Smells delicious. Okay, that's a little oddly specific. Okay, all right, all right.

Luke, I don't know why you need a chaser, but hey, I just like being your friend. First of all this, you can get this? Actually, can you, Lionel, can you still get this one at the shop? Yes. That is available year-round. That one right there, the three margaritas glass. All right, so we do a particular kind of toast here. It's the one that I learned from my South American in-laws.

So, Arriba, Abajo, Al-Al-Santro, toast. Toast? Tos. Tio, bohalio. Babajo, go. Mmm. Oh, yeah. Smooth as the day is long.

What do you think? That was smooth. That's what I'm saying. I didn't even taste any alcohol. Wow. I just tasted success right there, all right? Yeah, let's go. I'm a borderline TKO employee right now.

This is great. Let's go. Yeah, it makes a little weird. All right, all right. But I'm ready to get you fired up. We always open our talk of a pay-per-view for pre-game preview here by really talking about how we would grade it. And we're critical when it's time.

I don't think this is a week to be critical. Luke Thomas, right off the top, give me a letter grade. We already know the main event is of 15 out of 10, whatever you wanted to call it. Top to bottom, though. What are you giving with King Green pulling out this morning, so no Carlos Diego Faheta fight. We've got three. Which does hurt the card a little. We have three late additions.

Definitely. I was excited for that fight. Those are two guys I've had on my radar for a long time. And I was excited. I wanted to see, you know, who would come out in that one. but, you know, King Green pulled out, I guess, undisclosed. We don't really know why. But, definitely.

Call for Vola. He would have filled in on it. You know, if he wasn't taking down this tequila right now, he would have filled in. At 170, maybe. Yeah. What are you walking around right now? I'm like, like 178, 179. That's not too big.

Yeah, yeah, right where we need to be. Okay. All right. By the way, shout out to the new dad. I did want to mention this. Oh, yes. Just like Muhammad Ali, you named your son Cassius. Watch him bash this one year's old.

Congratulations. Yes. thank you. Are you sleeping? I am. He sleeps great. He eats great. He's a happy kid. And now he's starting to like walk around, run around. It's awesome. Yeah. When they get ambulatory, it's a new ballgame. When will you introduce the Jijuts to him? I've already had him at the gym. Like he grew up in the gym. You know, I was, my wife works a real job. So she goes to the city like three days a week. So I would just bring him to the gym with me. Just let Ray watch him. Yeah. That's great. Well, I bring him in the morning before Ray, Ray doesn't get there until one.

Yes, yes. Uncle Marab will take care of him. It's all good around there. Real quickly, Tuki yesterday, that's my daughter. That's what I call her, told me she wants to take Jiu-Jitsu. Nice. I took her to swim camp, and they did a jiu-jitsu demonstration from a nearby school, and she goes, Daddy, I want to take lessons.

Is that because your wife rolled with Roxanne Mata Furry? She didn't even know that. When we told her, I was like, you know, I used to do this, and she just didn't care. She was like, no, no, yeah, but interesting. I want to go train that thing. Well, her dars is going to be amazing. Letter grade for 319, with the additions, by the way, of two ultimate fighter finale fights

and the dude who fought on the contender series in one like three nights ago. What's his name? Sucer Koev. Sucer Kov. What's the first name? It was... Bayangar.

Something like that? Let the rhythm take you over. This guy is going to fight twice. This is a cowboy Saroni shit. What do you give the grade to the card? I think because the main... I know you're asking for the full card, which I do think there's quality on.

but I think that the main is so outrageously good, and the co-main definitely one to really care about. I'm going to give it an A. I'm going to give it an A. This is the main event I've cared about. I mean, I was interested in Ilya versus Charles. I think we all were. But this is the one I've had my eye on.

This is the one to me that's got the most capacity for something, I don't know, memorable, different, elevated, crazy. The sport's built off of, oh, shit, moments. And I just feel like this fight This could be five rounds of bullshit. I mean, don't you feel like that, man? Like this one's got the potential to unlock something different. Oh, yeah, especially because the middleweight division is just booming right now.

There's so many, like, awesome contenders. And this fight, I go back and forth. You know, Hazmat is so good. You know, he's undefeated. And that's what you want out of a title fight. You want an undefeated challenger who's going to go in there and challenge for the title. And DDP, you know, he's so good. he's like unorthodox and I'm excited to see you know I've I've I've I've counted

DDP out too many times and I I've stopped doing that I think I mean I I think he's going to go in there and stop the hype train and hams up but we'll see early early prediction we'll break it down we'll bring it down by the way the champ will be the betting underdog Long Island Luke could you relate to us the current draft king's odds on this main event yes we got plus 210 for Drickus minus 258 for Hamza. Okay, look, we totally understand why Hamza, who eight out of ten times and his UFC career looks like fucking the unstoppable villain. Jason Voorhees, who might be the pound for pound king.

He also has looked human at times. We mentioned the Uzman fight, the Gilbert Burns fight. He also is inconsistent at being consistent as a fighter, health-wise, visa-wise, all this shit that's kept him to a point where he's fought once in a year for three of the last four years is it though with all those facts is it disrespectful of the champion that the odds makers are like yeah but this might end in two and a half minutes well i got to tell you i don't think it's crazy that he's the favorite i don't think that but that it's that i mean it's not a huge huge favorite but that's a pretty big one given i mean this is the part to me that gives me some

trepidation about that it's like this there seems to be like a lot of unknowns to have the odds in that particular way is a little bit surprising to me because listen Is Hamz not going to get him down? Yes. Yes, he's going to get him down. Is he going to get him down multiple times? Probably, you know. But I think anybody who's telling you, oh, this fight's going to go one way, I don't know, man.

I think that confidence is just misplaced. That's the point I'm trying to make. Like, there's fucking chaos written all over this one. So, Matt, we missed the, I missed the boat on DDP on the rise. I thought Robert Whitaker was going to completely embarrassing. And obviously, his opponents underestimate him to the point that we love that video that came out earlier this year. of Robert Whitaker on Adasani's couch podcasting, and they're like, my God, he's slow, he's awkward, he's the best shit fighter that's out there.

Like, when you watch the tape as a fighter, are you more apt to think he's not legit, yet he just is finding a way to win these fights in the most legit way every single time? Yeah, he's so unorthodox, but he's effective, and that's the key, is, you know, he even said it, he's not the best striker, he's not the best wrestler, he's not the best grappler, but in mixed martial arts the way he puts everything together is effective and he's strong he's a gorilla in there and he's confident and uh and he's got the cardio and for five rounds i think that's the real thing in this fight is that the later the fight goes ddp is going to keep getting stronger and then hamzat his his cardio has always been in question but he is you know training with

the new strength and conditioning uh was it sam cal calveo yeah calveo yeah at uh training lab, yeah. Yeah, so, and you see Armin's there, Pico's there. So I think, I think Hamsad's definitely, you know, prepping for a five-round war. But again, is he going to, you know, work, changes fighting style for five rounds? Is he going to go in there in the first round

and maybe not just shoot right away and kind of, you know, ease into it, but we'll see, you know. We're going to see, and that's obviously the central dynamic. Can I pick his brain for a second? I would love it. Can we actually, like, pinpoint what DDP is good at or why, rather, why he has success? You mentioned one thing. He is just so physical, right?

You look at the pass he hit on Robert Whitaker, that's El Paulo, the Tozi Pass, just, you know, you're just driving down. He's like these, like, you know, these like grinding kind of hardcore passing like that, not a mobile passing. That's one, right? He's just a gorilla. But the other one, it seems to me, is I just look at stuff he does. even when he's fumbling, he just kind of keeps trying shit. You know what I mean? Like, he just throws stuff at the wall and just sees what sticks.

But because he just doesn't stop, eventually something just breaks through. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. Do you agree with that assessment? Like, pinpoint for me what you think he actually does well. Why does he win? I think he's so unpredictable. And it reminds me of Marab a little bit.

You know, they're in there and they, I don't even think they know what they're doing until they do it. It's full speed ahead at all times, too, yeah. Full speed. And I think they're just the best at fighting, and that's, like, natural. You know, they have the skills in each discipline. But then when they're in there, the way they mix it up and the way they just fight is why he's the best in the world.

The way he carries out a game plan seems to be, like, pretty special. Like, when you see his coaches, what do you know his name? It's very underrated. And it's his lifelong coach. Like, it feels like, tell me if I'm wrong, that. One of his greatest things is that adaptability, where when the fight gets close and you're not sure which direction it's leaning, he finds the right move, the right counter, the right path to take it there. Is that like something that's hard to, like, put into words, like a clutch gene or something? Yeah, I think it is.

It's clutch, and he just trusts his instincts. Yeah. He's got those instincts, you know, he was maybe born with him, but he also dialed him in through his training. And his coaches look like they're really preparing them the right way. You know, did you hear him on the countdown show kind of just saying, oh, Hamzat's just going to wrestle, just going to wrestle. His striking sucks, just like talking so much smack about his striking. And I thought that his DDP's coach was kind of playing a mind game, like trying to get,

he knows that Hamzot's coaches, Hamzot's going to see that. Sure. And then maybe Hamzot's going to come in there, and he's going to strike with them, and he's not going to do what he does best, which is wrestle. So, you know, I feel like DDP's coach was maybe playing a mind game there, trying to get Hamzat to, like, prove everyone wrong that he can strike. I like that. I like that way of looking at it.

Also, DDP's mind games might be the best in the sport. People just cry when he talks. It's insane. That's true. But also when we talk about the connection between fighter and trainer, how much do you think that's fueled by the fact that they're willing to open-mouth kiss each other on camera? That's definitely a close relationship. I mean, how close are you and Ray Longo is my real question?

You know what I mean? B.C. tries to kiss me every episode. I have to fight him off. I'm not kissing a long ago on the list. Yes, thank you. Thank you very much right there. So I think, I mean, I don't want to say it's disrespectful to make him the underdog. Oddemeaker said it how they believe in Hamzaat is such a fucking rocket right now that you don't know what's going to happen.

But look at the run. DDP is on. Unbeaten in the UFC, definitely we could show highlights from the Daryntill fight or from earlier fights and be like, damn, he looks, you know, not elite in that moment or whatever. But he makes the awkwardness work for him. Four consecutive wins over current or former champions. and if he adds an unbeaten Tremayev, we are talking about him separating himself more from the pack of, to be fair, the great middleweight champions in history.

But Luke, is he taking it too far when at Media Day, Duplice said, this is the win. I'm one win away from being in the middleweight goat conversation. I mean, come on, we got to respect the spider hair. Like, let's not, like, let's not like, he would be in the conversation for where he fits in in the Izzy Weidman. Like, at that point it would be. like a Izzy Wyden DDP thing.

Like who now can move in that space. But the Anderson Silva space, like we're not even fucking close. So we are certainly talking about somebody who is a top five pond for pound guy is really showing you. He's at the peak of his powers. And he's a growing brand, I would say. Do you get the feeling like he could be a pivotal player for the UFC from the idea that they're pivoting now to Paramount and CBS and it's going to be all?

In some ways, a whole new market they're attacking. Do you look at DDP as well? one of the pillars of the current stars that UFC has? Not yet, not yet. But with a win over Hamzat, I think that will definitely get him there. But he's got a whole country to back him. And, you know, the UFC, they love that.

And, you know, he's charismatic. He's fun to watch. He's fun to listen to. I think he goes out there and he finishes Hamzat. He's going to be, you know, in that next tier. All right. And I made this point, too, like, dude, becoming a star takes a while.

Like, I can't tell you how long it took Anderson Silva before he really became a household name. He became who you understand Anderson Silva to be. It did not happen overnight. It took several. Do you think it's a single moment or do you think it's a combination of the front kick to Belfour? So it's a series of small moments that one moment ultimately is the straw that breaks the camel's back. So there can be, yes, there can be that one moment where you're like everything changed. But there has to be a significant amount of buildup to get even to that point.

And DDP hasn't had that yet. to the point that this is why I totally agree, because, you know, beating Sean Strickland in Australia, that's nice, that's not nothing, that's a tough fight to win, but to become a promotional darling, to become a name, you got to win fights like this one here in Chicago. I mean, that Georgia dirt hole, Jed mesh you the second, who was on sub-radio with me yesterday. Shout out to Dennis, by the way, says that if DDP wins by finish here, he's going to put him number one from palm from bottom. Like, yo, slow your damn roll. He said that? He did, but at the same time, he was day one shit on DDP. On the flip side, Luke, you start. This is what we do to DDP if he wins. He goes way higher here in the middleweight, you know, history and everything. What does Hamzot become with a first round finish?

I mean, or any win where you're like, holy shit, he's as good as he has teased that he might be, is he? Because he's already, I think, a bigger star than DDP. But if he's a champion and if he finishes the champion to do it, what is he on Monday morning? Hmm. I, that's a tough one. I'm hesitant to say the face of the UFC, but something right behind it. Wow. Something right behind it.

You know, he's already the boogeyman. Right. You know, nobody wants to fight him. He's, he's scary. He's, and he backs it up. You know, he goes in there and he runs through people. He takes people down, and then he chokes their face off. Like, that breaking Whitaker's jaw with that choke, that, after that fight, I was like,

all right, I'm a believer in this guy. He's, have you ever seen anything? like that? No, I have not. And then, I mean, I remember after that fight, like, I go to jih Tzu practice and, and we're starting to, like, work this, like, real, you don't even need to get under the, under the neck. You know, Hamzat just showed it. You can just choke people's face and break their jaw. Damn it. It's, it's insane, but he goes in there and finishes DDP. I think he's going to be one of the top, probably him and Ilya will be the top, top guys. That's what I'm going to say, because Ilya is a little bit further ahead in terms of

big promotional wins, right? Because he iced Max, he iced Charles, he iced Volk. Those are three big names. Hamzot hasn't had a chance to beat names like that or people who are in elevated positions like that. Robert Whitaker was pretty close, but now you've got a champion. Now you've got a freaking champion. You ice him.

Dude, it's a different ball game. And think about, we haven't had a guy like him as a UFC champion star who is an obvious bad guy but gets cheered like he's a good guy. And I don't mean he's a bad person. I mean, he presents that he's the wolf with the crazy beard. He made the joke with Daniel Cormier in that great clip that came out today of chick-stig terrorists. Like he knows the foreign gangster, you know, role that he's playing here, yet almost like in 90s, WWU, when Stone Cold Steve Austin becomes the biggest baby face by being a bad guy,

it's like he really has that right star at the right time moment that everyone has, makes everyone have an emotion, whether you, you know, love him or you're scared of him or whatever, all that. But he has been saying things, man. And we talked about this on Monday show that he thinks he could be the first UFC three division champion. I know, like, you got to win this one first. Like, we said a lot of inconsistencies. But, you know, he wants to go down and fight the winner of Islam, JDM. He wants to go up and fight the winner of Poetan v. Ancalaia part two.

Do you think the division is too red hot at middleweight for the UFC to even allow that to happen in the near future if he wins? Yeah, definitely. I think he's got 185 is booming. And he's got contenders just lined up. And I think that sets a stage for him. you know or for whoever wins this fight ddp or hamzot whoever wins this fight you know you're going to have challenger after challenger of you know very good fighters and you're going to be able to build a legacy if you can run through all these uh challengers real quick

luke tell me who the winner of this fight faces either guy next probably problem is it depend on imov against ohio or is imov already behind the eight ball because rdr is it has a is on a sexy run where he'll fight anyone at any time. I think there's a good chance it's RDR. Is it better a chance for DDP? Or does Chimae have kind of reset the division where it could be anybody? I think what's going to happen is they're going to wait and see how big the win is for either Bhalio or Imovov. And to the extent that that's not a boring decision, to the extent that there's something

electric about it, that person will get the bump. But if it is just an ordinary win, which is a good chance it could be, that I think they're going to go to the bullpen and they're going to pull it. already are. I wonder like if Chima wins and you reset the stable now because you know, DDP fought a lot of those guys does that suddenly mean that Whitaker, Otisania, Strickland are one big win away from being right back in the title picture just because

imagine if you're the UFC and you're selling Chimaya versus I don't think those guys are right back in the title picture. Okay, I thought they were in that rich Franklin spot where there were one went out. One name we didn't bring up. Strickland definitely isn't. I meant Rich Franklin spot where they can call you at any time. I know what I'm saying like I don't think Strickland's in that spot. I don't think Izzy's in that

I think if Chameh wins and the beef between them and if Strickland gets a win in the next couple months, then you're right, you're right. We didn't mention Anthony Fluffy Hernandez-Wed. Aggressively inserted his name. A little off topic, but I wanted to bring it up from a fighter. When we as journalists slash superfan see the way he ragdowled Roman Deleads, like I don't see shit like that happen in competitive elite main event fights.

From a fighter perspective, were you even like, holy shit, what he just did that man? Yes, definitely. Because Roman is a beast, you know, he's a very intelligent, strong, fighter, but Fluffy looked unreal. And he's a dog. And that's like the end of the day. Fluffy just, he loves to fight. He comes forward and he can fight you anywhere. As Jiu-Jitsu is so good, his grappling so good. You know, and then his, he just, he goes in there to beat people's asses. And that's what you love about it. And he could beat anybody out there. And he's in that title picture. And I'm excited to see what he gets next. Hell yeah. As we transition out of the

matchup, Long Island, Luke, do we have the video of what a lot of people on, you know, know, Detective M.M.A. Twitter, we're trying to decode of that handshake between DDP and Chimayev during Fight Week? No, we don't have the handshake. We don't have the handshake. Did you guys see that video of when they approach each other? There are two angles, one from the, uh, the, uh, what's the name of that documentary series, embedded, and then one from the other side. The first angle did kind of make it see like Chameh was taller, but it's just kind of the angle of the video.

But is it, is it wrong to look in there and be like, oh, well, GDP looked a little scary. I mean, you know, that's kind of BS, but. Yes, I'm not five. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. It's always funny, you know, when you see your opponent fight week, you know, you shake their hand, you know, you tell them to have a good fight week, and you kind of size them up a little bit. And I think that's what they were doing. They're both shaking their hands, sizing each other up a little bit. And, you know, in the end of the day, it doesn't matter. They're going to both step into that cage and they're going to fight.

You know, the media just likes playing up that WWE bullshit. Luke is like, enough. You know what? I just hate it was like, do you think he's scared? I'm like, I don't actually, no. Luke also won't let us talk about MMA power couples when two fighters, you know, like, I'm still not over. I don't care who is dating who. I'm not over the Cortez-Otega breakup.

Like, I'm still in that relationship mentally. Are we ridiculous for that bullshit? A little bit. A little bit. All right. All right. I'll accept that, though. I mean, there's a reality TV side of this sport.

Yeah, if you have the entertainment palette of a toddler, yeah. Okay. Well, back to this matchup, obviously, Luke, the central, you know, tension when it comes to the actual exes and O's is not only the wrestling of Tremayev, but particularly the first round. I don't know if you saw that stat on Twitter where they showed how early in the first round he took down every single name for the first time. And it was like 30 seconds, 47 seconds, 15 seconds.

It's insane. What can you say about Drichus Duplessi's take down offense ability on the ground to try to make the case that him getting finished in round one is not going to happen on Saturday? That's a tough one. So I'm just going to say something up front.

I think Chimai of might have the best wrestling shot in the UFC. I mean, the speed. the distance he covers the level how low his level can sometimes get and even if he doesn't get the takedown he's able to consolidate the position you know with a body lock thereafter right like they'll stuff it on the first go and then he comes up and then you know he's starting to ragdoll him it's really quite impressive um i just don't think ddp's going to stop that ddp's been taken down three times in the ufc and i looked at all three of them on the train right up today one was darren

till one was derrick brunson and one was i forget the other one whittaker that's right uh the Whittaker one is the one that's unlike the other two. The Whitaker one was he took him down, stepping forward off of a, he got underneath the punches. The other two, they caught kicks, and that's how they got him down. But there's a common denominator there, which is the guy is offensively open to such a degree that he makes himself available to be taken down. How does his percentage, though?

Has he been in a fight where he's been spammed with the takedowns? Not necessarily, no. So, Hamzot is unlike a lot of other dudes. There's not a lot of Hamzots out there. So to me, it's like, that's one consideration that I just think DDP is just going to make himself so open that he's going to get taken down. The other thing is, if you look at how he tried to get up off of Brun, underneath Brunson, he does a lot of like almost Marcella Garcia stuff where he tries to push past the elbow and then lift his leg and then kind of hoist himself up. Have you seen those before? Where they push on the elbow to kind of sit up.

And that can work on like lower level guys. it doesn't necessarily work on like a really good UFC fighter. So, like, I think he's going to struggle for a few minutes underneath. I genuinely believe that. But it goes back to what we were talking about earlier. Okay, his first attempt at getting up fails. His second one fails. He just keeps trying until one thing breaks through, and I think eventually it will.

It's insane that DDP can be that big for the middleweight division and be a tank and really have an insane cardio gas tank to compete with anybody and outlast, but Chameh should challenge that, especially if DDP gets taken down a lot but can get himself back up. What is your confidence level in DDP's ability to stuff the shot or at least change that, take that away

from Chameh enough where we can turn that back into a kickboxing. You know, watching that countdown, I really think DDP is going to be prepared for that wrestling early. I think like you said, Luke, he throws those punches and then he gets shot under. So I think maybe

you're going to come out and see DDP a little bit more relaxed in the in the first round kind of waiting for chameh to to spam that low that low double leg that he shoots and i think he's going to be prepared for it but i also think that there's no way that chameh's not going to get him to the ground chameh's going to get him to the ground and uh ddp should should be working on getting back up to his feet a safe way and not giving up his back because i think that's the key is being able to get up but not giving up your back because I think Chimaev will jump on that back and make him pay.

But as long as DDP can keep getting up, it's turn it into a dog fight, bring it into those later rounds. That's when the cardio debate flips aggressively against Chameh, of course. There's no question about that. How deep is the submission arsenal in Chimayev, who certainly is a rear naked guy

and it's the benefactor of how quickly he gets you, not only down, but in a bad position. Do you believe he's shown enough that, like, this could be a problem area for the change? champion too um i mean you don't want to discount it he doesn't need a million different submissions like i don't think he's the submission guy that habib is habib's got chokes and limb manipulation right and had triangles too remember that um so he fights mean just like jama i have so he had like the comoron michael johnson he had the choke over the jaw against mcgregor and then he had

you know the essentially if you wanted the triangle he could have had it on justin gaethe um i don't think he's that i think you know he's got more bread and butter high percentage stuff uh the thing is i just can't get the kamar usman fight out of my mind you know what i mean yeah where it's like if you've got good enough if you know you got to be careful about planting your hands and where your chin is when you're trying to build height and build to build your base you know this some sort of better than i do you got to be careful down there but it's not like it's not to me like chamev has such finesse that like any mistake there is fatal i actually don't think that's quite true That's why this fight is interesting, right?

Because to your point, he's going to get him down. Like, it's going to happen. But after that, it's a little bit of a mystery because Chimae of is deadly, especially through transition. I think that's where he could get in trouble, right? If he tries to scramble up in the wrong way or something. But it's not like he's got lights out submissions. I don't think that's quite right. But if this turns back into a kickboxing match, if DDP is successful at showing him,

you're not going to finish me, I'm starting to stop the takedowns. where does your confidence in Chimayev's cardio end? Because you could make the argument that he didn't have enough to look as dominant in the third round against Usman, that he maybe left the door open a little bit. And he does, has had like double COVID attacks where he once retired. Like he's been through the, through the mill physically. You don't know until you get there in rounds four and five, right? What are we going to see?

Are you confident that even after a bunch of failed takedown attempts that he's going to have that tank to keep pushing? you know it depends on how hard he works on top you know when he gets a takedown he's controlling position how much ground to pound he's doing and then how fast ddp can get up and and you know weigh on on chimaev's gas tank on the ground so and then once you get up to your feet after the grappling being able to have your your technique still and and stick to your game plan and then Chameh should be shooting again. I think I'm curious to see how Chmive looks on the feet against DDP. Because DDP, his style is so unorthodox.

And it's hard to, it's hard to fight unorthodox guys. So it's going to be interesting for sure. Who's the weirdest striker either in training or a fight you've ever gone up against? Like, just had a hard time getting a beat on him. I'll say Aljo. Aljo is so on his kicks, his like his length, his, he's, Twitch's stance is nice. Aljo's striking is very underrated, and I think I'm excited to see him against Ortega in Shanghai.

Luke, what is that stand-up going to look like when we have those exchanges? Because I feel like the more DDP keeps his bat off the mat, back off the mat, it obviously increases his chances of winning. I think it increases the chances that this fight between two alphas will be like a legit fight-of-the-year contender. That's why we're this excited. This could be a freaking classic, but Luke, how does Tremai of striking compare with that of the champions?

Um, I'd say Tchaumayev's is deadly. He's very powerful, but it's a little bit more bread and butter, right? A little more traditional. He's got a jab when he wants it. But part of it goes back to like, okay, you've got all these skills. How are you going to use them? For example, like he had a bunch of skills he could have used in the Gilbert Burns fight, but then just fought like a fucking, you know, rabid raccoon or something. You know what I mean? Like, he just threw caution to the wind. In which case, these questions, that's why, this is why I'm to keep saying, like, I've made this point. I don't, I'm not saying that what's going to happen. on Saturday is what I'm about to make the comparison to, which was Dan Henderson versus Shogun who won, one of the most insane fights you'll ever fucking see in your life. But one thing I am trying to point out is those two getting together, it just brought out a greater hole. Like, it unlocked something. And part of it is, you know, do I think, I think Hamzot is more technical and has a jab should he elect to use it. That's what I'll say. But, you know, fucking door knocker. still knocks, drink his duplicacy,

he just keeps knocking on doors until someone answers, you know what I mean? Also, he's got a, DDP's got a solid calf kick game. That could be, that could be something that. He's got,

I mean, his knees like bow in when he, when he, have you noticed that when he stands? Yeah, yeah. His knees kind of bow in like a little deer. And it's like, I don't know how this works.

And he also squares up and throws like combo, combos like this. And then part two is, what about, okay, if you're team Chumayev, you know you have to expect, expect a blitz from him at some point,

right? There's the standing blitzes that he does. What would you say it would be a good way to handle that? What would you recommend, given Hamzat's skill set? Russell. I think he's going to time those punches, lower his level, shoot that double leg and wrestle with him. I think Chimaev knows, you know, his path of victory is through his wrestling, through his grappling, and I think he's going to do that. You know, he's going to at least try to and do it for as long as he can. We just, the question is, can he do it for five rounds. So that's what we're going to say. It looks like Long Island Canello, right? Long Island Canello. Oh shit. What about that for a nickname? Or maybe the Huntington bad boy.

I think that's time. I'll take both of them. Okay. I like that a lot. Two Ortiz was the Huntington Beach. That's why it makes sense. Shout out to Tito right there. Man, man, man, I love this fight action. We're going to see a lot of action in this. We're going to see a lot of balls. How are you betting this one? I took DDP a plus money. I think that's probably a good bet. That's my pick. That's my bet i mean we're getting into the picks now until i see him not make that championship adjustment against a guy who i don't want to say he has questions in the cardio but like you're going to have to give us the answers we need the answers hamzot we need you to be

able to fight your balls off in four and five against this gorilla across from you legitimately i'm still back in the champion on plus money you got to man man i've been back in duplacy this whole time thinking everyone's sleeping on chamev and now fight week is here and i'm like i don't know man i don't know um you go first Yeah, well, I've been going back and forth all the time. But like I said, I can't pick against DDP anymore. I always pick against them, especially at Plus Money, the Underdog. Like, this is a pick-em fight for me.

But does it go the distance? Yeah, I think it goes a distance. It goes a distance. It's going to be a fight-of-the-year contender. It's going to be sick. I'm going to go, Tremio. Because Boers, the Boers had the cold-cut guy, dude. He is crazy, right?

the different Boers, I think. You think Chimayev can beat him if it goes to distance? What are our, Long Island, Luke, what's a Chimai of decision? Yes, but I wouldn't, that's a little, that's tougher. That's tougher. Chimai of? Hello, we can't hear you. Sorry, Tremayev by decision is plus 500.

Oh, shit. Now, that might be the $5 take a chance back right there. That is crazy. Because you can see it if he's hurting DDP and dropping him. I mean, I have, I don't know. I don't think he's going to win the striking battle against DDP ultimately. Could they fight it even No, you know what? No, fuck that. I'm going to go back on it. I'm going to. Yes, yes. Stay with him.

I'm going to pick DDP. I think that I have too many questions about Chamaev's longevity in the course of a fight. All right. I currently have Hamzat Shamaev, who's undefeated at number 10 on my CBS sports, Pound for Pound rankings, for whatever that matters or what it's worth. I've got DDP. I think at three or four. No, Marab at three, DDP at four. If Hamzat does the damage to DDP, I, I mean, it doesn't necessarily have to be a first-round submission,

but let's say he wins the title and fucking shows you what he's all about. Is he a top five Pomp for Pong guy? Undefeated, if he goes in there and finishes DDP, I think he's definitely in the talks. Top five, I don't know. Top ten, I could consider it. I mean, we got Ilya, we got Islam, we got Marab, and we got DDP. I mean, those are four damn studs.

Don't disrespect Pantosia, too. And Pantosia. And if you pull, but then if you pull DDP out of there, does Hamzat slide in and almost take his spot? He might, dude, he might, because that will have... That will have answered the questions we don't have answers to. I guess unless he submits him in the first round, then it doesn't answer all the questions, but... I don't know about my pick.

I really can't. This is distressing you. This is making you upset. This is so tough because I just feel like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't really have a firm pick in this one. I'm going to stick with DVP, but I don't know. I haven't seen you that upset since they pulled Kelly Kapowski from the alternate senior season on

saved by the bell and gave Tori in the black leather jacket. I mean, that was so lame, right? You don't have to, you can just tell him he's a fucking nerd. It's okay. All right. Anything else you guys want to say about the main event? I'm just, you know, I got a phoner as Ryan Bader. Or, no, I'm sorry, is that as Jake, uh, Jack Swahegger?

Yeah, Jake. Who never fought, like, he would, he fought like two times in Belator and it was like, I'll give him credit. He fought a few times. Christops Porzingis wants in, by the way. Seven foot two NBA player, Christops Porzingis, 30 years old. Yeah, former Washington Wizard. Former Celtic, he wants to take an him.

Former New York, Nick. He wants an MMA fight. Nice. That's some skyscraper strove shit. You know who also is training out in, I think in Boston now? Taco Fall. He's training the 7-7 guy. Yeah.

Not for like serious stuff. Just like. Yeah, just to fuck around, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'm thinking now that we're going to get into the co-main event, I got to break into this. Yeah, I'm going to break into it. Yeah, yeah. Let's do that shit.

Right. You're going to tell people about your hemorrhoids? No, no, no, no. Just, you know, that'll put a cure. of that, right? I mean, Luke, how are you doing over there? You put that drink through college, yeah? I mean, that's all you got in return, all right?

Because you're fucking using shit from, like, when we were drinking beers as teenagers in the woods. What do you think this show is? The show is Dernholes uniting. Matt, God bless you here. Cheers. I'll have more. Ashole.

Get in there. Can I open this one or not? Yes. Please do. That is the Blanco, which is fantastic. Yes, it is. The Blanco. All right.

We are going to transition, of course, to our co-main event. And what's not Movar, Movsar Evloev, sorry, I'm going to start to slur my words here, who, of course, I had to pull out late. But Aaron Pico's long-awaited UFC debut is not only a fight we need to see, but now the idea that this is an audition for a title shot is not just an idea. UFC matchmakers love this guy. It was a gift for 28-year-old Aaron Pico to fall out of the PFL sky and the UFC to go, yep, we'll take him and make him what he has the chance to be. But unbeaten late replacement, Lorone Murphy, is that annoying out. You know what I mean?

At the end of this division, who's obviously trying himself to crack the title picture, he said Lorone Murphy, he's going for the finish, by the way. But Matt, what does UFC potentially have in former Belor-Tor-MMA star, Aaron Pico? I think he's, they got a future star. I think Aaron Pico is the real deal. You know, he wrestled his entire life and then he fell in love with boxing and he's got beautiful body work and he's got the wrestling to always, you know, have if he needs. But he's got a tough fight right now with Murphy because Murphy, Murphy's another undefeated guy, so technical everywhere, such an intelligent fighter. And it's definitely going to be a tough challenge for Pico. But, you know, we're going to see if

if he uses that boxing or if he goes to that wrestling. Luke, Pico probably should have already gotten his prove-it moment. He probably should have fought Patricio Pippel, either in Bellator or PFL, right? Which would have told us a lot more about him. For as much as we harped about those early knockout defeats

and the submission in his pro debut in the wrong division, he's eight and one in his last nine, and the only one was that Jeremy Kennedy fight where he was going to fight until his shoulder fell off, right? That was an injury B.K.O. They were yanking on it. Remember that? Yeah. They were yanking on it between rounds. Do you feel like whether he wins or loses that the hype is justified for how much we're looking at him with a ripped up abs, you know, looks good in a suit.

We're going to get to his trash talk in a minute. Like, I don't think UFC's wrong on being fired the fuck up. I'm glad the UFC is promoting him like he's the next big thing. In the event that he wins, they can turn around and be like, hey, this guy's great. Let's just fire him to the front of the line. So I want to be clear. I'm not in any way suggesting that the UFC is like doing something wrong by pushing him as hard as they are.

it's a good idea. But we should be very clear here. Do I have, because you were there at Beltaur, NYC, I was there at Beltaur, NYC. Do I have concerns that that guy is going to show up, somebody who's just overwhelmed by the moment making bad decisions or... Or those knockout losses in a row where he was...

Or haunted by the ghost of them, yes. He was in love with his power, kept his chin out, you know. He got to like four and three, you know. We got to a real bad place all of a sudden. No, I think that guy has been fixed. But that is a very different question than show me on her. pico's resume anybody who is even half as good as lorone murphy and the answer is there isn't a guy he has never ever ever ever fought a guy this good not even close and not only that you know listen

if you fight mofzar it's a tough challenge but you're not you know you don't have to go find him right he's going to wrestle you like they're going to make contact murphy is a touch and go guy you have to go get him that is not fucking easy to do now it's on short notice relatively speaking short notice but the footwork the open cage dude i'm telling you pico has never proven he could win against a guy like that because he's never fought a guy like that this is a hard course fight but this is a real ass fight with storyline stakes like this is a pretty damn good fight my central tension question to flip it though is to ask you it's a tough question does lorone murphy lack an extra gear or is he just too safe at times?

Because I believe he's a hot, you know, he's a wild, he's a live dog, is what I'm trying to regurgitate here. Which one is it, though? Does he not go for it when he needs to, or is he too calculated? I think he's too safe. He's too smart and he's good everywhere. And he knows how to win. He's undefeated and he knows what he needs to do to win.

And I think he's going to know, you know, to like Luke was saying, stick and move, stick and move, stay away from those takedowns. and I think he's going to go out there he could out point him but I think he does you know if he really wants to get in the title picture he needs to turn it up he needs to go for the finish

and you know we'll see if he if he goes out there and does it I mean Pico's been willing to fight anyone the fact that he transitioned so quickly from Evloev to Murphy shows you that we know the push behind him Luke he's already talking about I'm just going to take this guy down to show you

and show him exactly what my wrestling is all about I think the key to his turnaround couple keys one moving to Jackson Wink in New Mexico to finding, and Brandon Gibson in particular. Yep, and then finding the Rocco So Freddy of horses had to boost his ego and his, you know, his confidence. Like a fucking bazooka between his legs. I mean, if you ever seen that the shit, that shit, the Johnson on Pico's horse?

You've never seen that, right? No, I haven't. I mean, I know it probably, you know, makes you uncomfortable that we're bringing this up, but sometimes you got to, sometimes you got to clap for the enemy. You know what I mean? Like, like, that, it's impressive as shit. Where were we right here? Luke, what I'm trying to say is...

How do we have sponsors? It makes no sense. The fact that he's leading with the threat of his wrestling is what's making his striking even more dangerous. Will he have extreme success in your eyes taking down Murphy? Extreme success. No, I do not think he'll have extreme success.

Josh Emmett took him down four times and then lost a unanimous decision. Dan Igay took him down and lost a unanimous decision. Gabriel Santos took him down five times and lost a decision. Douglas Silva Day Androge took him down and lost the decision. So how about that? He did lose one to Zubaira to Gugov

in his first fight. This was in 2019. he got taken down six times and it was still a split decision loss that's the only one he's got that was a draw it says here split to say oh you're right you're right uh well they call it split decision slash draw that doesn't make any sense it doesn't matter great job step boy the point the point being is

that was you know early on that might have been a bit of a weakness for him and it could still be something that he's trying to shore up like of course i think pico is a better wrestler it's not really an issue but um i'm gonna say one more time dude it's gonna be hard to find this guy He is, his footwork is part of his takedown defense, right? The fact that he's moving so much and he gets good positioning and I don't know. I mean, it's an interesting one. You would think knowing Murphy's history and the potential strengths that he has,

that boxing and using movement to make Pico Chase is the game plan here, but there is a way to get Pico into a brawl where you can find that self-destruct button. I mean, everyone's got that ability. We saw Hamzot against, against Gilbert to get lured into the seduction of a brawl. Which game plan do you think ultimately, We'll give Murphy the victory if he pulls the betting upset here. And another thing is the UFC jitters. You know, Aaron Pico could get in there,

co-main event in Chicago of a big UFC pay-per-view. He could go in there and want to just bang. So, I mean, I think that, you know, he's got to use that boxing. He's got to be calculated with his shots. He can't just go in there and spam the shots because Lorone Murphy's movement's going to be so good in the big cage, too, the big pay-per-view cage.

you know pico's got his work cut out of him for him for his ufc debut um and i think you know lorone murphy is definitely going to go out there and use that movement use those strikes and and mix it up enough to to stay on the feet and uh you know try to edge out edge out a decision yeah edge a lot of edging talk over here it's interesting do you think if you add that extra geared to Murphy that sometimes we criticize him for not showing in a situation maybe where he's in control of a fight. If you add that, is he a threat to stop Pico?

Do you believe him when he says, I'm going to go in there for the finish? No, I don't believe him. No. I mean, you know, it could happen. MMA's wild and Pico's been stopped, I realize, but that doesn't seem to me like the most likely of things to happen. Couldn't rule it out. Not ruling it out, but no, I don't really think

that. I think the issue is, you know, is Pico going to be able to use his wrestling enough to get a win, or is the stick and move of Lorone Murphy or you know the scramble up the wrestle up you know is that going to be the decisive factor that's really what we're asking we're going to get into Pico's title chances here and I think by the way he's getting the title shot no any form of a victory here because even if he eats it out even if he eats it out because this is such a fertile opportunity for a division that needs it 28 years old big stars leave in Holloway and toporia and maybe they're

kind of lucky that Volcanovsky was able to get back to the top of the throne and it really gives you a sellable name uh this is the exact guy that you would want on this path before we get there though long out look what are the current draft king's odds for this co main event got plus 140 for murphy minus 166 for pico okay so those are getting a little closer i saw pico in the minus 220 area long out look do you have an angle on the betting on this one are you are because i'm believing more in the idea that pico gets a breakthrough stoppage to announce himself than murphy doing things that he doesn't normally do i think murphy probably wins the decision i did take murphy money line plus money so you think he probably wins you're not just

talking about betting angles. Yeah, I can see it being 29, 28, you know, maybe a close decision, but I think Murphy gets it done. Are you back in that? Yeah, I am back in that. I mean, it's not that it's, you know, you guys are not believing that the raw, dude, this kid is ready to explode, man. I do think that's right. And I do think, listen, I'm not, I'm not necessarily questioning the full upside of Pico. That's really not what I'm saying. But his last fight was in February of 2024. We're not even talking about the fact he's been off for a while. Not his fault altogether. Things happened, but that's just where he's at. And again, I'm going to say one more time, dude, look at the fucking record.

Who on there is even remotely as good. Okay, but they're not cab drivers, right? What do you mean? The Pico opponents? No, they're not cab drivers, but they're a tier or two down. They're, you know, this is, we're talking about, dude, this is SEC football, and he's been, you know, he's been fighting, you know, Florida Atlantic. I mean, it's not the same thing, right? I'm not trying to be digging up on Florida Atlantic, but it's a different ball game when it's Alabama or UGA.

That's not what, different. Yeah, he's getting thrown into it. a co-main event, UFC pay-per-view as well. Wow, I'm shocked. All three of you are picking. I'm not shocked. I'm not shocked. Let's put it back on you. What is it that gives you confidence? And when I say by that is, yes, all the things we talked about, does he look like he's in

insane shape? Yes. Can he wrestle? No fucking question. Does he have, that left hook to the liver is just fucking money. Fine. But it's all against, you know, it's against University of Nebraska at Lincoln, you know, whatever the fuck.

It's not against the fucking real deal. Look, the doubts against him, I'm not missing any of them. I totally understand it. But he was the most high prospect of all time for a reason. He was the national high school wrestler of the year. He was the stories of going into Freddie Roach's gym and sparring Miguel Cotto on like somewhat even term. Like, you know, like we know what the hell this guy brings to the table. I think he has fixed.

I think he has fixed what is broken within him. So I don't have the confidence that he would implode. He doesn't have to implode to lose here. He could just get out technicaled by a brilliant game plan from Laurel Murphy. A lot of, you know, he can. win it while still showing himself. I just think the upside on him is so real. I think we've seen flashes of that of that full potential come out in some of these

Bellator wins, even if it's against B minus opposition at best, fine. I, you know, I know we've seen different Bellator guys come in and some exceed our expectations and some, you know, not live up to it. I think Patricio Pippel, even though he's 37, kind of had that in his pro in his UFC debut, although he redeemed that last time. This kid can knock you out at any time. So if he's down two and a half rounds here, I'm still believing that there's chances for him,

whether it's mauling ground and pound, whether it is needing to rally for a KO or just going to the body and taking control and slowing Murphy down and then mixing in those takedowns to give you an honest point win where he shows everything he's got. This is an opportunity for a coming-out party

to go into a Volcanovsky fight with hype and potential, even though I understand that most of the audience will not have known his full story. He has the chance to be impressive as shit. And I think that overrides the fears or doubts we have about who really is in there. Yeah, he didn't

answer my question, but that's fine. Yeah, but it was like the feels that I gave. You gave me an impassioned plea for why you have confidence, which I think is totally. Hashtag vibes, bro. Yes, which is totally fine. It's totally fine. And again, if he plays it smart and he's pressuring Murphy up against the fence where he's going to be able to land some of the hooks to the body

or, you know, more easily set up a takedown, it's his fight for the taking at that point. But I just want to be clear. What you're talking about is reasons for full on, career optimism. I share. And I also completely agree, I'm not worried about him imploding. That's really not where I'm at. Okay, but then add in the real truth. Part of it is I'm underwhelmed. I'm underwhelmed by Lorone Murphy. I was also underwhelmed and wrong by Leon Edwards, and he showed us in the Usman rematch that he can fucking pull it out and that he was legit pound for

pound for a couple of fights. I was wrong on that one. I don't think Lorone Murphy is going to take it to that next level enough to expose him. And if he does, I think he's going to get knocked out trying. That's what I'm really saying, Luke, let's put the real talk on the line like quervo do um it's certainly possible i just think if you want me to believe truly in pico being ready now he's got to prove it against an a class opponent and this is the first a class opponent he's ever had let's go yeah that's the intrigue though just like not knowing exactly what hamzot will look like in rounds four and five the things that we don't know about this pico fight is partially what makes it so attractive yeah and exciting and also he's planting a damn seed for the future

So much so now, and he was reactionary to the champion, Alexander Volcanovsky, that we had to call up Cuervo because I think there were just some shots being fired. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Of course, this segment brought to you shots fired by Cuervo. Now is a good time to enjoy the tequila that invented tequila. We are enjoying it just fine. Here is Alexander Volcanowski on Fox Sports Australia escalating the growing sort of back. and forth between them. I would honestly, it excites me because I reckon I'd crumble him in the wrestling

department. He might be good for one take down, two takedowns, if he even gets me down, I'm straight back up, watch him not wanting to, you know, clinch up anymore after that. His best bet is to obviously try and land a big shot. Other than that, I'm up the floor with him. Well, he's got Lorne Murphy to deal with in the meantime. That's what I mean. I'm sitting there trying to eat myself up, getting ready.

But at the same time, he needs to do work. He's in a position now where, again, I like to, I'm more talking about this, because I need someone, right? If it's going to be him, let's start putting feelings out. You're starting beeps with everybody. Start a little bit of a beef, get people who are sort of ready for it because it might happen after this weekend, we don't know. But in saying that, I'll take it, I really will take it serious

after I see what he, I think he's got a tough fight ahead of him this weekend. Murphy, you know, when it comes to strategy, game planning and all that sort of stuff, very safe fighter. If he can get through him and blasts. Good shit there from the folks that fight. Sports Australia. Now, do you believe him? Or is he just trying to start a, rightfully so, trying to build that storyline and build that beef between them? That's what you want to see out of a champion. You want a champion who says he's going to mop the floor with anybody,

any contender coming. And that's, he needs, he needs contenders. And that's what he's doing. He's in there talking, talking his talk. And you love to see that out of a champ. And who I want to see it. I want to see that fight. You know, but again, whoever, comes out, you know, they need a finish. I want Murphy to really go out there and go for it. I want him to, you know, he can fight safe. He can win a decision. But I want him to go for it. Either go broke and get the finish or he goes for it and then Pico will make him pay for it. And if he goes for it, I think Volkinovsky is going to have a very good contender next in line. I agree with you. Luke, do you, when I say, do you believe Volcanozki, I meant, do you

think he believes his wrestling would really take over against pico's wrestling on the defensive side yeah yeah i do think he thinks that and he should like his he's great his he's at this level he's as battle tested as it fucking gets i mean he's proven how good he is there's no question about it so yeah i think he thinks everything he's saying well now look please tell me we have video of erin pico's rebuttal oh yeah oh yeah so so we talked to mad about this you've not seen this no take a gander this shit, bro. It seems you have got Alexander Wokinovsky's attention. I know you said to Fox Sports Australia, you

would knock him out. He replied to that, I don't know if you heard it. He said, I reckon I'd crumble him in the wrestling department. His best bet is to try and land a big shot. Other than that, I mop the floor with him. So I guess what's your response to that? And at least you have his attention, it seems. Well,

it would be five rounds. So I think I'm going to land a left hook or a right hand, so I can put him out. but um i'm the new guy in this organization i'm just going to be up front and to have his attention that's a good thing but i have to take care of lorone murphy that's all i'm focused on but vokovsky you know has it coming um yeah he's he's not an easy guy to fight and i'm aware of that and and i look at who he's fought as far as the high level wrestlers he's

never fought a high level wrestler like me and um your time is coming are you happy to almost take a little longer get your feet wet in the USC experience this stage a bit more are you ready like hey if he calls me out i'm fighting vulcanowski as soon as possible no vokovsky we win this fight we fight volkinovsky why am i gonna why am i going to go through the the ringer and and take um fight these guys he would your reaction to that whoa hey he's confident and you know he's dialed in he just had an amazing fighting camp. He's fight weak. He's cutting weight.

You know, his confidence is through the roof. Guys, he's a fucking gaucho, and how can you not see that the fact that he had to wait through the PFL Bellator merger and was mishandled? It's building a callus on him. I know he can be lured into a brawl and he can get God. But that's not

the same guy anymore. My argument is not so you think he can get outpointed ultimately. Yes, my concern is him being just hit and then fucking Murphy's gone like a fart in the wind. Yes, that's my problem you don't see that next level like it's time and he knows it's fucking time and he's carrying himself like a damn bc will is important but the it's not really the will that wins championships sometimes you smell that musk and that's all you need to know i'm gonna bark you're

i'm talking about real man all right he's going to be out there with something to prove and i think that's going to bring out the best in him and he wants he wants the title you know he he knows that he's the new guy you know nobody really knows him he doesn't you know nobody respects him but I think he's going to go out there and he wants to finish Murphy and get that title fight. He's got confidence through the roof. He's prepared. He's been training his entire life. He's a wrestler from when he was a baby. So I think he knows the time is now and he's going to bring it. And like you said, I think Murphy can outpoint him. That's his Murphy can jab, move, defend those takedowns, you know, outpoint him,

and you hope that Pico doesn't, you know, doesn't blow smoke out of his nose and just come forward and get all pissed off and throw caution to the win. No, he's got to be calculated. Yes. But he, dude, there's a demeanor around him that is like mean right now. Well, he's got mean ground and pound. I mean, that's one thing I will say for him. If he gets Murphy down and Murphy's stuck for any amount of time,

he's going to get he's going to get drilled you know that's a real thing so not a submission threat pico's not much of a submission threat but he's definitely a heavy ground and pound threat he's going to have to use it if he gets murphy down you got to make it count really hurt him even with the idea that like okay i can only hold him down for 90 seconds right i got 90 seconds to just just drill this dude let it happen and then if he gets up he gets up but like like what pause i got i got 90 seconds to have sex with him in front of everyone it's not what i'm saying i'm saying to really score meaningful ground and pound that's your window um let's see what he does all right i mean it has to be said if hunter campbell reportedly is a huge pico stand and they're ready to give him the opportunity

but he would deserve it if he gets past lorone more for you here could should you push behind the scenes of your pico's team to allow him to ride that horse down the ramp you know for the introduction remember the horse that bit me the jick paul's horse yes but his horse i we've is sophredi and his horse has a you know if he got a big you know what i mean let me search that maybe be Are you going to jerk off this horse? Maybe there would be issues with the horse shitting, but imagine how badass that would be if that horse came up the ramp into the cage

and reared up and he just... Can you believe the amount of time he thinks about horses' cocks? Hey, it's a good flex for Pico if he could do that. Please, okay? I mean, I know it's cool when the bow and arrow comes out and Pereira does that dance. I mean, I love the heritage and the roots in it, but this is cooler.

Thank you very much. Hey, let's get further on down the line, and I love this main card. And part of that is just the all action we expect we're going to get from this welter. weight tilt when the veteran Jeff Neal welcomes a Carlos Prattish who

was 4-0 with four stoppages in the UFC. Then, we saw a little bit of humbling against Ian Machado Gary, although he almost repaired it in the end. And this fight is so good that our breakdown of it is brought to you by total wireless, the official wireless provider of the UFC, get unlimited

data that won't slow you down. Now, fellas, Jeff Neal is always going to have a puncher's chance. He's battle tested. He is coming off a TKO injury win over the legend RDA, but he had been, he had lost two fights before that coming in. He has been up and down at times. Is the narrative of this fight, Matt, really about, can Carlos Prattis pick up the pieces

from the Gary loss where he said, I wasn't listening to my coach's game plan, I didn't execute how I needed to. Is this fight really about whether we find out of Prattis is for real? Yeah, I think so. I think he's with those fighting nerds. You know, they're very analytical. They're very, you know, coaching heavy. and he said that he wasn't listened to his corner.

So we're going to see if he can definitely pick those pieces up and fight smart, but hands of steel, Neil, like Jeff Neal. I love that nickname. That's one of my favorite nicknames. And he does. He's got hands of steel. His boxing is beautiful. He's cold when he needs to be in there, man.

Oh, yeah. He's a mean fighter, and he's high level. I think that it's a great matchup. It's going to be a great stand-up fight, and somebody's getting knocked out. It's amazing that Ian Gary beat both of them, you know? I know, and it was a split decision for Gary against Neil, just like the protest fight, became closer than it looked like it was going to be through three and a half rounds. In the end, do you take, you don't take pluses from protest as lost to Ian,

but because he rallied against Machado, Gary, and because now he's saying the right things, by the way, he's also saying that he's still smoking cigarettes and it's helping with his weight cuts, are you expecting a big bounce back here? Like, basically, if you beat Jeff Neal, you're pretty much ready for that top five. You've got a very different opponent than Ian Gary. Jeff Neal, again, he is technical, and he is a good fighter. I certainly agree, but he's definitely going to come forward, right? You would agree with that?

He's going to be in your face, and so I think Prochus is going to be, for the most part, that's going to, I don't know if that's going to make a, I don't know, I'm not saying that's going to make Prochus win. What I am saying is that's what Prochus wants in order to get the win. He wants someone's going to come to him, and then they can duke it out. That's what you're going to get. They're going to get two fucking dudes duking it out. How wild is it to smoke cigarettes as a regular?

I mean, you know, athletes have done that. It wasn't just like 1950s NBA. Like Vladdy DeVotch used to go to the locker room for, you know, it's a European culture thing. But is it insane in fighting or would more guys, you know, get away doing that? No, it's insane. I don't know how he does it. I mean, I want to fight in November and I'm already stopped smoking blunts now. Yeah.

We were making him shoot tequila here, you know what I mean? But it was good. It was good. It is good, yes. I mean, that's got a rob from the cardio. So, does he just have sick cardio to begin with him? You know, maybe he does it while he trains, so he's just used to it. He's adapted to it.

Have you been to Thailand? I have. I've heard some of those old Thai trainers smoke cigarettes, but then they get out there and they can just run forever. There's a culture and distance running the people that get high. Oh, yeah. You have to be able to get around it, right? I mean, NBA players say they're high all season. I think that everybody's body's different.

Everybody adapts different. You know, if he's doing it throughout his train. and he's feeling good, then I guess that's what he does. You know, I think he's figured out his right amount of cigarettes with his training, right amount of cigarettes to help his weight cut. You know, maybe he utilizes it in an effective way. He doesn't, he doesn't look like he gases, right? No, that's not the issue.

And he had much more gas laid against Ian Machado. Gary, do you look back and say, could have, should have finished Gary? Or is like, we got to. There was one good window. where he had a shot. But, like, dude, you know, in a 25-minute fight, if you've got, like, one good window, you know, you need, like, three or four good windows, you know what I mean?

Like, um, so he had a moment, but not enough. Do you ever gas out in a fight? I mean, does it feel helpless? I always tell everybody, every single fighter gets tired in a fight. Everybody gets tired in a fight. But it's who is comfortable there, who can keep their technique, who can fight through it. Like, I always say me and Billy Q, like,

I'll smoke Billy Q in any race. in any, any competition and any, like, lifting and any kind of thing. But when we're in there sparring, he just spars for rounds and rounds and rounds and rounds. Cardio is just as much mental as it is physical because everybody's tired, but it's who's comfortable there, who could keep fighting when they're tired, that they're known for having good cardio. I have good cardio as a podcaster and announcer. As a masturbator.

Okay, that's very aggressive. All right, the strawweight division, not where it used to be. be fair at the moment, you know, in terms of top 10 depth. I'm talking from a fighting standpoint. Long Island, Luke, what are the odds here for this Jeff Neal, Carlos, as Luke would say, a Prachisha. I mean, that's not what I would say. Jeff Neal

plus 200, uh, Prachica minus 245. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Well, Pratchish, do you look at him as a future title contender? I know you don't know yet, but you don't look at him. No, he's not. I mean, dude, you've got fucking Sean Brady, Rock Monov, Ian Gary. You know, you got JDM up there.

Here comes Islam. You got, You know, Jeff, Joaquin Buckley's not far behind. Camaro's still making the fuck, man. Morales is not far either. Yeah, do, Walter Waite. Walter Waite is a murderer's fucking row at the top. Rochester is good.

He's dangerous. I'm not dismissing him, but he's not those guys. No. You think he and Gary wins a title at Walter White? I think he's got what it takes. He could. You know,

he's got the skill. But, you know, I think he's got to stay focused. Like his, seems like his minds, like everywhere, like all the promotion, and all the things that he does on social media and stuff, if he can really dial in and focus, he's got the skill.

I can't figure out if he has too much reality TV drama in his life or if he thrives because of having too much reality TV drama. I don't know what I mean? Luke, you know what I'm saying? It's a legit question. I'm not asking you about the relationship necessarily. I'm just saying... I think his promotional...

Yes, he's lifted promotionally by it. I think that is true, but I don't know if it actually makes it gain better. It is badass when he's... comes out to Layla by Derek of the Domino's. Is it? Look, you need to respect that, man. I became team. I'm not the one who's obsessed with his fucking personal life.

I fell into becoming a Ian Machado Gary believer. I'm sorry. The only way to be obsessed with his personal life is if you don't have one, right? That's the only way. I mean, I have one. It's that they're not. Yeah, but how good is it? Well, you know, it's very basement heavy, Fortnite final records.

I mean, everyone's got one, but most of them don't have. a very good one. I got a recliner that's ruining my back. You got to be a real fucking loser to care about his life. Fair point. Well, I'll look from a betting angle. We going back big on Prattis or what? No, so I stayed away from the money line.

I took over one and a half, which is a little risky in a parlay. I will say, though, I like Jeff Neal, a plus money in this fight. I don't know. So do I. Really? Especially like a spread bet, dude, Jeff Neal to win one round or something? Why? I think people sleep on Jeff Neal.

I think he's got hands of steel, you know? He's only lost to really tough fighters. Very true. he's in every fight and he's i i love his boxing i love the way he fights like you said he comes forward and and that's going to be that's just going to make for an awesome fight because prattas comes forward as well i think they're both going to throw down and jeff neal can definitely definitely finish him and at underdog money i let i like all the underdogs on this card honestly oh shit head over on down to the window i agree i agree 100 percent i think every

underdog on the main card is a live dog all five of them So that would be DDP, that would be Lerone Murphy, and in this case, that would be Jeff Neal. Interesting stuff right there. I still like protest. I don't know if he's going to get the knockout, but this is the fight where he's got to put it all back together. I believed in the things he said.

He said, I got too caught up in the Gary fight, and he wasn't following the game plan. And he also said, what needs to be said more is like there's part of Gary's game, the distance management, the defense that makes it really hard. He almost caught up and got here. This is the really hard fight to correct that wrong, get back in line.

Man, I feel like I'm saying that about everybody, but I believe in Pico, I believe in protest, all right? So all pee-pee right there. Luke, anything else you want to say on that? Because it's getting weird. No. All right. In, on down the card, we go to the middleweight division.

I freaking love this fight, even though it's two goal guys going together, and I'm not even sure you can talk me into there being any stakes here, but Michael Venom Page at 38 years old can still do it in a big way. And he gave Sharra Ball at his first defeat last time in his middleweight debut. He's talked about not, He knows his spot in the rankings. He knows it's going to be hard for him to get a big fight at Welterweight.

He's one and one at Welterweight since coming to the UFC that lost to Ian Gary. And now he's going to go in there against a Jared Canaanier at 41, who's coming off a brawl with Hobocop where he sent him to hell. And now he's like, I'm broke and I need to buy my mama house. Don't mess with this guy because think about it. I used to say Canaanier got pretty darn elite title challenger, but he was a little too technical at times when I wanted him to let that shit go. older fighter now. He's letting that shit go. This against the striking of MVP, I'm knocking

shit over. Luke, this is going to be a sneaky, great entertainment bout for three rounds. Come on. Michael Page at 85 has been very surprising to me. He's still fast. He's still accurate. He's still got all the swag that he always competes with. And then you got Cannoneer, who I left for the dead on the side of the road after that Izzy lost. And, you know, he's had some tough fights since then. But it's kind of, to your point, B.C., put himself back together again a little bit here is kind of you know by hook or by crook he's in relevant spots and he's i think he's definitely the more powerful of the two the question you have to ask yourself is is a 40 year old cannoneer what kind of speed and reflexes does he have relative to what michael page has you're right

and i don't think he's got the speed so what is kenner going to do probably going to try and kick out the legs so i see some wrestling i don't want him to do what he did against izzie and this is kind of a similar matchup even though it's at different times is i don't want him to wait on the outside and try to land that perfect counter shot you'll get beat to the punch every time but is it going to go really bad for him if he throws caution to the win like he was forced to do against Gregory Rodriguez and try to corner page and make this more of a brawl. I think that's what he needs to do. MVP is so fast. I love watching him fight. Like his karate style is his movement, his strikes. He's so fast. He's so accurate. And I think

Cantonier has to like turn it into a dog fight, make it dirty in there. I think that's his best chance at winning last the two fights before the the hobocop comeback was a decision lost to kio bohalio a tkow lost to nassardine imov but wasn't there an injury related or something i'm not explaining it away wasn't an injury it was just a late finish and it was arguably questionable i remember that moment yes but we then two fights before that he beat sean strickland and marvin vittory back to back that strickland fight was nubs and shit it was like some dan henderson versus shahd type nubs right it was just so terrible but i'm not that saying he's the best version of himself right here but i think he still got more especially if he's

going to lean into trying to be violent MVP's never going to be an easy style but i don't hate cannoneer by upset knockout here i really don't or i don't know what is the line long on please plus 164 canoneer minus one that's where i expected it to be am i crazy here on plus uh kill a gorilla money to get the ko no i don't think you are i mean uh i i like cantonier he seems like a very interesting guy like it with his uh crystals right he likes got to believe in those crystals he likes the crystals so maybe he believes in the power of rocks i don't i don't quite get it but you know maybe he's got maybe got another special crystal to uh to uh to get him on point for this fight um but again i think he needs to make it a dog fight like if you're trying to strike from range

with mvp you're going to lose you know MVP's too fast he's too he's too technical he's got too you know much of a karate style with his kicks and his punches and his timing is weird too his timing is beautiful uh so i think you know cantonere's got to get in his face you know maybe shoot some takedowns just turn it into a dog fight and at 41 years old you know does he have that in him does he have the stamina to keep pushing it's not going to be one shot that gets it done but if you do bully page you can find an opening yes but it's got to be leg kicks it's got to be things that'll slow and wear him down you're right yeah yeah I love this fight.

I mean, if MVP has time and space to move, you're fucked. You got to take that away. I'm loving it. I'm loving it. I'm believing in Canada Air. Long Island, you back me on that? Come on. Again, I'm taking the over one and a half, but I actually, like, prediction, I'll go MVP by decision.

Yeah, I'm going MVP on this one. Yeah. All right. By the way, another guy, been up and down since came to the UFC, but definitely a good addition from Bellator to the UFC roster. He's going through his cungley portion of his career, only without the class action lawsuit. That's okay. We're on to something. Hey, we opened this card with another good fight at Flyway as Kai Asakura,

who came in with that big UFC debut in a title shot against Alexandria Pantosia. We'll finally come back here, the Japanese superstar, the all-action fighter, and a very good matchup against 38-year-old Tim Elliott, who's always got that funky style on the ground, is a dog when he needs to be. And oh, by the way, him Elliott's won three or four at 125. The only loss being a submission against Mohamed Mokaiev in 2020. who's not even here right now.

So I feel like this could be a firecracker type opening about high speed, a lot of things going on. But Luke, do you think Elliot is just a tough veteran old out? Or he's live in this fight? He's crafty as shit. He's super crafty. And a couple things about him. He can find the back, which I think is going to make him a real big problem.

Got good wrestling. He's fought, I mean, Demetri's Johnson and the best that, you know, I know this is not a 125 fight, but I'm just saying he's fought a lot of really, really tough. battle-tested guys. This is a 125. Okay, you're right. I'm sorry. You're right.

He used to be a 35er as well. I apologize. But you get my point. Like, he's definitely been, you know, he's fought really good guys. My only concern, and by the way, also, Tim Elliott has gone on the record and been like, I'm going to cheat until the ref stops me.

And honestly, I don't blame him. Grab the cage. It's the fucking way the sport goes. Putting that aside, Asakura is, I think, a little bit younger, and I definitely think a little bit more athletic, and I definitely think I'm a much heavier hitter. So it's a tough challenge, but it's doable for a guy like Tim Elliott who has really fought very, very credible opposition. Matt, before we go forward, we almost celebrate whether it's pitchers in baseball or crafty boxers like Bernard Hopkins when you can effectively cheat in strategic ways.

Like, you know, John Stockton and the NBA, you know, known for pushing and grabbing and he got away with it. Do fighters strategize little, little, you know, boundary pushing to try to gain an edge? And is there like a, are there experts in that field in the game that you see? No, I don't think so. But I mean, the referees would allow it though, Luke. They would. I always say, you know, you get picked up. You know, if you could grab the cage, you know, you usually get a warning.

You know, you most of the time get a warning. At least I say that in sparring whenever I grab the cage. I'm like, come on, I get a warning. But if somebody ball kicks you, you know you have that one get out of jail free card. If you need like a break or something, right? Oh, yeah. If you need, you know, you kick them the nuts, get all my bed, you know, get a little, Got a little breather.

Look, you're a former bouncer in bar street fight unspoken etiquette. Is a ball kick survival or is it, you know? Usually never comes to that. Even if you third world something? Usually back of the pants and then like scruff of the neck or like the back of the collar. But like is it respectable in a manly sense? Oh, in a bar fight? Yeah, whatever goes.

Yeah, no, 100%. You're like, take that eye out. John Fury style. You can three stew, gym. You can do the whole bit. They test you at the local bars in Huntington? They don't test you. don't test me.

But do you ever feel like you have that hidden superpower or maybe they don't recognize you? They think you're just like... No, the cauliflower is giving away, right? They think you work at the liquor. Let's see. Let's see your ears. Yeah, I mean, look, you got, motherfuckers got dumplings. You put your AirPods in there, bro, but that's a badge.

That says something. So you get that respect look, even if they don't know you, right? Yeah, I do. I do. But, you know, every once in a while, like, years ago, you know, people would say stuff. And, like, I would laugh at people when, because they just have. have no clue, you know, the untrained, you know, person out there, especially after with a couple drinks in them, they think they're unstoppable, but they just don't know. That's why you got to get

them in a gym. And if people that train, you get humbled so quick. For cardio above anything else, the average donk seems to think that, like, fighting is some way to channel emotional energy. And I'm like, it's a skill. You're like, you just hate women. It's a fucking trade. It's like calling up a plumber and being like, I can fix this faster than you. There's no fucking way you can do that. No, Cita, you need to infiltrate yourself in the Favola Mafia and then get them to go out to a bar, run your mouth out of

control in public, and then they just get them to get them. And cheese roll is right behind him. All right, let's go. Matt's being humble, though. This guy's got pictures up all around town with his photo in every place, so everyone knows Matt in town. There you go. You don't pay for a drink in that town, and I love that. Kai Asakura. He's good. 31 years old.

Fun of shit, right? Yeah, man. And I'm always rooting for the Japanese guys. I like the Japanese, the samurai fighters. And I'm hoping that he can go out there and really get a big finish to get back in like a title picture of a division that really needs it. But Tim Elliott is a veteran, man. He's bent through. He's fought everyone. He's good everywhere.

I love this performance against Demetrius Johnson, obviously in a loss after he won the tough tournament. But he was difficult in that shit. He was in it. He was big. Demetrius had a, you know, was more skilled than him. but like the size and he knows how to use his size too and the weight cuts gotten better

for him to go to 25 like he's a tough out he's a crafty vet is that weird does divorce Twitter beef thing over with once again I don't give a fuck no but they're like if a fighter's going through some personal shit

it's going to change something I do think that's a relevant thing to think about yes I'm saying is that behind him now so maybe we're going to come and I have another run he beats Sumadherjee like he's got a win under his back

let's go hey you're taking the underdog here Luke I'm not officially but I was saying I like every underdog on this I'm I'm digging the over one and a half in this as well. But, dude, Tim Elliott, point spread.

We haven't seen Kai Asakur beat anyone in the UFC yet. I don't probably have one fight against the champion. Yeah, but still count. But Kai Asker obviously has a decorated record from Japan. Was fresh off of that one archeletta title win before he came to the UFC. So we're going to see. He can punch. I think he certainly has a great chance to bounce back here, Tim.

But great matchmaking. So shout out to the UFC in that one. That's your main card. Before we look at the, you know, the cherries to pick there out of things that should be entertaining on the prelims and early prelims. I want to get you fired up here for Draft Kings pick six because UF3C319 is going to be on fire. You already know that this morning combat episode is presented by Draft Kings. The Crown, of course, is yours, but you can download the Draft King's Pick Six app right now and get in on the action this Saturday as well.

Please use our code combat with a K and new customers can play $5. Get this. You get $50 in bonus picks instantly. You ride the upside where a few bucks can turn into a bag. You know what I'm saying? Only on draft king's pick six where the crown is yours. Gambling problem call 1-800 gambler. Helpless available for problem gambling.

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at 11.59 p.m. Eastern terms at pick 6.draftkings.com slash promo. Speaking of pick 6, you know how you do it. You pick two or more fighters and you go two or more categories there. And we're looking on the over-under, sort of speak, more or less. Right now, as we look at draft king's pick six on the app, Hamzot Chimayev for total takedowns, more or less three and a half against DDP in the main event. Give me more. I think he's going to get more.

Yeah, I think more. Okay. What about in that co-main event? That's three and a half. Like, that can cover the full 25 minutes, right? Yeah, he's giving the over. I'm giving the over. I'm taking that as well.

How about Aaron Pico here in the three-round fight against Lorone Murphy, 2.5 take downs? He said he's going to lead with that wrestling. That is, see, that's a tougher one, right? Yeah, yeah. Mm. I'm going to, I'm going to say over. I like the over on that one as well. And if you look at the strikes here, particularly in this meeting.

So it doesn't matter what he does with him. He just has to collect them. Mm-hmm. More or less in any category there. And you pick... So Josh Emmett, who's a good wrestler, not Pico, but he's a good wrestler, dynamite puncher. You got four in 25 minutes. Mm-hmm. Man, that's a tough one. That is. That is.

I'll take the under. All right, let's talk quickly about that MVP versus Cannoneer fight. The more or less on total strikes for MVP, 51 and a half over three rounds. You're going more or less for Michael Venom Page against Cannoneer. More. I think MVP's going to... Touch them up. I'm with you on that. I like that bet a lot.

Luke, what about quickly to close on this main event? When you look at significant strikes, they have the more or less GDP 68.5, the more or less on Chimae, have 54.5.

We go five rounds. We can get the over on both of those here, right? Am I asking too much in this match? If you go full five, I definitely would take the over on both. But that part's hard to know, right? I mean, because you could be,

dude, it could be a one round fight. It could be a one fucking round fight. But if it goes the full five, I would take the over on both. Yeah. If you think you know better, download the Draft King's Pick Six app today. Let's do it. Use our code combat with a K. All right, folks, when we look for a few minutes here to close out on the prelims and early prelims, Luke, Luke, Luke, Luke, Luke, Luke, Luke, Luke. Luke, Luke, Luke, Luke. Look, I'll let you pick off the menu first. We lose King from the Contender Series again by Sengar Serseq. It looks like the new featured prelim is a middle-way bout between GM3, Gerald Mershart, and Mihal-Oleg Shakesek. What is the prelim or early prelim that you're most focused on? Very interested to see this kid from the Contender Series again by Sengar Sursakayev. But that's not my pick. My official pick is, how about Chase Hooper and Alexander Hernandez?

That is a fun one. By the way, your division and memory serves. Alexander Hernandez been up down, up, down, up down, looks the part physically. Chase Hooper, he has the curse of calling him cowboy dad. The day drinking dawn. Day drinking Don is what he called. Which, by the way, it was a good Ziz, but it didn't work out too well. But however, Chase Hooper, to me, is the more interesting factor here.

Chase Hooper was, I thought, very physically undersized when he first got to UFC, and skills not really where it needed to be. But lo and behold, as he's gotten a little bit older, he's filled out. I think the game is really starting to mature. I'm loving what I'm seeing from him. Hernandez, tough out for him. I fully recognize, but I love that contest. Your division, what do you think about these two?

Yeah, Chase has really grown into like a full fighter now. You know, he came out at 145. I think he started out, and he was young getting into the UFC. And now he's filled out at 155. He's on a roll. I want to say he's on like a four-fight winning streak. And he's got elite jiu-jitsu. There's no doubt that he wants to get it to the ground

and he wants to use that jiu-jitsu. But his striking is starting to look very good too. And it's awkward too, right? You know, a lot of looping shots, but they land. Rangy, yeah. Oh, yeah. But with that jiu-jitsu, I think he could beat anybody. Well, he's not a good 25 years old.

You mentioned how he basically came as a teenager. Five wins in a row, and he's been escalating from Slava Clause to Clay Gwita to Jim Miller. So he's ready to take on more challenges. This is a tough challenge. Long Island, Luke, what are the odds on this featured early preload? Let me see quick guys. Chase Hooper is minus 325. Wow.

Alexander Hernandez plus 260. I understand that. And Chase Hooper's long as shit for this division, too. Oh, yeah. You could end up fighting him. Yeah, I like that fight. I wouldn't let that nerd beat me out. That's what we expect on this show right there.

Let's go. I mean, you would say, look, the steam roll has got, there's something left in that basement, right? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So there's a few, there's another run. A little fire off. We got it. We still got some.

That's what I'm talking about right there. Anything, any fighter or matchup on this deep undercard? When you have names like Edson Barbosa, Jessica Androge, what is jumping out to you? Brian Battle. Brian Battle. I love that kid. I love that fight's buried right now. Yeah, man.

I love Brian Battle. I remember I was hanging out with him out in Paris and he's a cool dude. And he's a dog in there. man, I love watching him fight. He's got a little attitude, like in a good way. You know what I mean? Yeah. Because he was fucking, he's like, fuck this crowd.

I was like, this is my guy. This is my guy. He's a 4-0 with 1-0 contest in his last five. What type of matchup, Luke, are you expecting against Nershalton? Rousie Bois. Brian Battle has surprised me to be perfectly honest. I mean, I'm guessing along now, Luke, that battle is the favorite here. That's a good question, Luke.

I just have a question for everyone. Isn't Battle moving up to 85? Yes, he is. Yes, he is. He wasn't happy about the billing here, you know, like the second. Ruzaboyev has been somewhat unimpressive to me. Battle, I think, has a little bit all over the place sometimes with his offense. But I just feel like Ruzaboyev is, I don't know, he seems to fight more.

How do I explain this? I think battle will be able to be on the front foot here. And I think that's going to be the difference maker. So it's minus 170 battle plus 142. It's about right. That is going to be an absolute banger. Look, women's straw weight not as exciting as, you know, that prime era not too long ago, but Jessica Androge and Lupi Godinez, that has the potential to be kind of a sleeper action fight, no?

No doubt about it. 1.15, there's still a little bit of life left in that division as well. Jessica Androge is so funny to me. Jessica Androge was strong at 1.35. She's a fucking power lifter at 115. So much, she's only 33. She's been around forever. It has fought everybody.

It's absurd. Her resume is fucking absurd. and, of course, was a champion, too. But Godinez, is it Godinez or Gaudinez? I think it's the latter, but, you know, tomato, tomato. Here, there's no, there's no enia here, so I'm going to say Gaudinez. Either way, Lupi, to me, slowly starting to put it together as well. The wrestling, I think, is going to be obviously critical in this matchup.

We'll see what Androge can do. Androge losing five of her last seven, but also a former champion. Is it still like that that puncher's chances is always going to mean a lot? Dan Henderson had that puncher's chance to lose 46. the way. Yeah, she's elite. You know, she's got power and she's got jujitsu. She, she couldn't, and at 1.15, she's, I don't, I don't see anybody touching her at 1.15. I'm excited to see her there. It might be end of days for a legend in Edson Barbosa. He's at the tail end here, but he's arguably in like the best shape of his damn life. Back to 55. And him back to 55 against Dracar

Close. Like, I'd watch it. Yeah, hell yeah. Let's see what we got. I don't think Barbosa's that far out of it. He did send our good friend Billy Q to the sub-regions, but he's still in there. I love when they just sprinkle on the names at the end of the card. Let's do it. This card has that way. And Dr. Carr close, you know. Is it dog? Yeah. I mean, he'll fight like a

fucking maniac. Like, that one should be, no matter who wins, fun as shit, right? Oh, yeah. And you mentioned the Dana White Contender series return on Tuesday with the debut there of, what was that fellow's name? My singer, Sorsicaio. And he's coming on like three, four days notice, and they're going to give him an opportunity to shine here.

That should be fun. Long Island, Luke, you're much closer to the ultimate fighter than you really deserve to be. But two finals coming to this card? Should we know things? Yeah, I mean, I should be the guy to go to for this because I did technically watch this season. You probably did a live stream very. I can say one thing. There is a, there's a big regional promotion that's in Kazakhstan that people need to start paying attention to called Niza, N-A-I-Z-A, and two of their former fighters, Al-A-B-I-Diris, and then Daniel Donchenko, both came from Niza. All right. DeNeal, also that guy that is boys with Robert Valentin. They did that funny thing during the ceremonial way in where they, like, punched arms and flexed. Yes, and then they got sent to hell, right?

Yeah, yeah. Maybe the same for DeNeil, we'll see. That's got to hell. That's got to suck if you do the gimmick and then you, uh... By the way, we should not be allowed to point down anymore. Can we bend that now? The Max Holloway thing? All the fucking guys doing that?

Yeah, yeah. I feel like you might do that shit, though. I mean... Would you do that? What happens if you're... You're in a fight. Let me ask a question. So you're in a fight. You're up two rounds to one, right? And you know it. Like two rounds until you took them down, beat the fuck out of them. You got one round, right? They did the dancing. And then, your opponent does this. What are you doing? I'm throwing down. Yeah. That's right. Fuck yeah. That's what I'm talking about. That is then your UFC 319 pay-per-view this Saturday from Chicago. But where are you going to watch the fight?

We'll see. I'm going to try to stay awake for the main event. That's the battle. New fathers. Yeah, that is the battle. I'll probably be home and watching and going to just take a nap during the day, try to. Yeah. I tell you, staying up for these main events now are tough on these pay-per-views. East Coast guys, you know, we're washed. You know, you will be one day.

I'm sorry, it's the truth. One day this will be knock on your door. It's going to be old balls you've got to answer it, you know what I'm saying. That's very true. All right. We had talked before about you coming back. You know, you're on a two-fight skit. It happens here.

You've taken, though, it seems like a lot of time off to recharge. Yeah. You said, ideally it'd be MSG, you know, we know what you love to do in that cage there. If you had the choice, who would it be? Come on. If you had the damn choice. If I had the choice, you know, so right now I'm tied with the most fights at Madison Square Garden with Michael Chandler and Jim Miller. All three of us have three fights at the garden.

So, you know, it would be cool to get one of those guys. Imagine him and Michael Chandler see you at the top? That's a good one. Dude, the Jim Miller one's good, too. Long Island, Luke, come to the table without a Huntington bias. What is the betting line on Michael Chandler versus Steamroller? That's got to be a pick him, right? Pick them, wow.

Yeah, I feel like Michael Chandler... I won't get that fight. Michael Chandler's on a skid right now, man. Also, Chandler's out there shilling already. Luke, put some respect on that man, okay? Who? Black History Month's own Michael Chandler. Okay, please. Thank you, all right?

We'll see. I bet Michael Chan is going to fight. McGregor at the White House. I don't think they're going to do that. I think they're going to call Diaz out of the bullpen. Dude, imagine if we got that trilogy out of that's wild. Would you be, I know you weren't like jumping to social media and we're like, President Trump, please pick me.

But like, that's insane to fight on the White House. Oh, yeah. I want to get a big win at MSG and then we get on the White House. Oh, let's go steamroller. If you come to D.C., I'll take you out to eat and then we'll get shot by the National Guard, but it's okay. We'll have a good deal before you guys. I can't wait.

Yeah, we can read. we create January 6th would be great. Yeah. We'll shit on Pelosi's desk love a great time. Wow. Okay. This was fun, guys. Thank you so much.

Shout out the Quovo, of course. And shout out to you, the listener. Please follow and like us. We will be back next Friday with your typical fan segments of fan subs dead wrong, all that stuff. You know how to we just know our whole. Our talk for a living. My name is stupid. I'm this guy.

You know how to reach the show, of course, with Morningcombat. You just saw our social handle. as well. Where can we find the steamroller moving forward? Steamroller for Vola on on Instagram, Twitter, and all that stuff. What I'm talking about right there. You can see his handle on the screen. Follow him. We're fired up for your return. We know you're going to bring the... Yeah, so, hey, do us a favor, all right? If you get on that MSG card,

pop it on studio before, during Fight Week, before them. We'll do. Because we have a show on Mondays. You've got plenty of time for the weight cut and everything. Come see us on that Monday, all right? I'll be here. Yeah, one of my favorites. Congratulations to you and your wife. Round of applause here for our Steve Roll, everyone. Continuation there's the start of that for Vola family.

We love to see that. Shout out to your twin bro there, cheese roller. What do you got to say about that guy? Yeah, he's doing good. He's helping me with all my socials and helping me with all my sponsorships. And he always gives me, like, fight breakdowns too. And then he gets my opponent, he always gets my opponent, like, who I want to fight. He gets, like, five guys of possible opponents.

then we give them to my manager. I love that. Well, I didn't even tell you this. So I was in that sleepy little beach town in the middle of nowhere. And a guy, I was crossing a sheet. What state? It was in Virginia. Okay.

And a guy, I'm crossing the street and some guy goes, Luke, and I turn around. Do you know who it was? I'd never met him before. Phil Haas's brother. Oh, wow. Bill Haas's brother. He's like, I'm Phil Haas's brother. And he looked like him too.

And I was like, holy shit. And anyway. All right, good shit. We can't wait to see for Vola back. By the way, Luke, this weekend, can they catch you Post-Fite show? Yeah, we're going to do a post-fight show and I do, we're going to do a full main card watch-along because I haven't done one in so long.

So main card watch along and then immediately into the post-fite show. All right, no MK tomorrow on Friday, but I will be getting inside the box on the BcX or at 11 a.m. Eastern. Long Island, Luke, can we find you not hanging out with your girlfriend this weekend? Yeah, I'll be doing a full card watch along. Full card, not just main card. Everybody's got a podcast for all. All right.

Do you have a podcast, too? I mean... No, I don't. There you go. You're doing well. Shout up to Coach Ray. Don't start one. They're terrible.

Tell Coach Ray, we love him, okay? Big shots to Coach Ray. We love Coach Ray. Good shit. Thank you for watching. Enjoy the fights on Saturdays, guys. DDP versus Chamaev. It's going to be great.

UFC 319. Thank you. We are out of here. This is an I-Heart podcast.