MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC Fight Night Hermansson-Strickland | Thurman-Barrios | MMA Quick Hitters | Ep. 259

Episode Date: February 2, 2022

On Episode 259 of Morning Kombat Brian Campbell is solo to talk UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs. Strickland. What are the biggest storylines heading into this fight? Next up BC looks ahead to Keith Thurman vs. Mario Barrios. How will Thurman look after his long layoff? BC closes out the main topics with some MMA quick hitters. Who should be Paul Daley's last fight? (8:00) - Jack Hermansson vs. Sean Strickland (18:40) - Keith Thurman vs. Mario Barrios (30:00) - Quick Hitters (43:30) - Truth or Trivia (73:30) - Bc's Top 10 Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TD Direct Investing offers live support, so whether you're a newbie or a seasoned pro, you can make your investing steps count. And if you're like me and think a TFSA stands for Total Fund Savings Adventure, maybe reach out to TD Direct Investing. Reveille, reveille, dogs dogs Look at us now, tip to tip This is our life, this is our passion That's the spirit we bring to this show I'm Luke Thomas I'm Brian Campbell This is Morning Combat

Oh, yeah, the last co-host standing you're looking at him the american alpha is back he's back with a bang it's brian campbell your bbc with that bde one half of the fine morning combat hosting duo on this wednesday february 2nd, 2022. Tuesdays with Maury used to be a thing. How about Wednesdays with BC? That's what we've become here. Solo. Don't leave.

Don't exit out now. Luke Thomas will, I think, finally be back this coming Friday, two days from now. So set your time clocks accordingly. But today, look, you get the guy who's tried and true, okay? Who's stand here in the pocket, all right? Dodging those sack attempts, okay? No sacks have touched this face. And I'm here.

I'm bringing it. I'm happy that Luke is getting this time with his family. He's getting refreshed. Shout out to Chuck Mendenhall, Shaquille Majorey, who have filled in admirably in that time off. But today, it's going to be a fun ass show here on the Best Damn Combat Sports

Show, period. An award-winning show. What do we got? We got some headlines to look at to set the stage storyline-wise for the upcoming weekend. We've got some fun and games did you like truth or trivia that time with chuck mendenhall the producers pushed me they said bc we need you in the hot seat we want to ask you the tough question so i haven't seen this shit

uh ahead of time this should be a ball laughs and of course bc's top 10 makes another return uh you're gonna like this one. Okay. I get this question a lot. So I'm going to answer it at the end of the show today. So please like this video, subscribe to the morning combat channel, youtube.com slash morning combat. Yeah. 105,000 people can't be wrong.

There's something special going on here. So if you're new to these parts, it's your three live episodes a week. It's breakthrough interviews with the biggest names in boxing and MMA. It is post-fight instant analysis, the best fun and games in between. How about our documentary number six? I mean, can we give it up for Jake Roseman, the fine documentarian and our extended team here at Malka Showtime CBS Sports. The Showtime of Malka specifically on these docs. Best in show number six.

It's live. It went live yesterday. Thank you to everybody for all the kind feedback and and in footback. You know, I didn't intend for the narrative coming out of what might be what might be, we'll have to get into that at some point what might be the best documentary in this already artsy classic series, I didn't think my own damn feet would

become a center of attention in here but as I texted back to a few hecklers in my life who saw this and came at me as you all did at home. Can you call yourself a self-respecting man? If you have nice feet, you know what I mean?

I mean, what are, what are we doing here, brah? You know, maybe it's the French Canadian in me, right. But you know,

we look at our, our feet, our toes, our toenails as, you know, as badges, as, as a, as badges, as a history of what we've been through, the wear and tear of life. The ups, the downs, the come from behinds, the come throughs, the reaches around, wherever we have to go to get there. The tracks of our people, the history, the long road, the feet tell that story. Okay, maybe you weren't ready for a story that brazen, that raw, that real, but really that's the spirit

of what these documentaries are all about, okay? Documentizing the growth, the journey, the walk of men. And I've walked a lot of miles in those shoes, if you will. Okay, all right, maybe we'll keep them off camera moving forward, but i had to show the scars so i could set up a a room to show the blessings and we we won that award it was a fun ride so check that out youtube.com slash morning combat thank you uh some days someday eventually they will be the commercial success that they already are, both critically and in the heart of one

B.C. who look, you know, look at myself as an executive producer of sorts in this, although so many great people, Jake Roseman, Matt Snyder have big parts in it. So thank you for that. You're done hearing me. Ramble, I'm sure I am trying to address the B.C. solo sound situation that we've had going on. I've been accused of having a preachery voice that you know rises and falls during these solo shows i'm trying to keep it

level like a lot of things in my life talk to my therapist trying to find boundaries keep it all level so we're gonna have a fun show today um showtime is of course the label one of the labels that pays us so why don't you check out that for free 30 days showtime.com is the address and championship boxing bellator mma's exclusive home in the u.s uh big time movie series you don't want to miss out on that shit bc showbox february 18th be there okay so uh that's that and this is this uh what other piece of business uh maybe some of podcasting awards. We already won the world MMA pod awards, whatever you call it best in, in MMA programming,

but at sports podcast awards.com, your boys at MK for 2021 are up for best combat sports podcast. I think you already know who's the best, but here's your chance to have your say, go to that website, both for us against the likes of Ira Hawane and the MMA hour, hour uh chris jericho you know tris dixon i mean there's some heavy hitters across combat sports and beyond on there but uh there's going to be only one winner and do you want a live show in las vegas well that's the carrot that cbs is dangling over the top of this potential win so

we'll see what happens right there um yeah. So I guess that's about it. Why don't we get into the show? A quick special dedication goes out to everybody out there in Bahama Bay and Philadelphia. Here we go now, right? God damn. BC Solo. Y'all want to party like we do. It's time to get ready.

Buckled in. Let's do this. Look, segment one off the top. We're going to set the stage for the weekend to come and look at storylines i had a saturday's return in the ufc las vegas the apex ufc fight night brings you a very interesting middleweight clash atop that marquee it's jack hermanson a veteran of of these type of five round fight night main event pivotal turning point fights against a a heavy riser right here in one sean strickland um first off you got you know shout out to the success of the ufc obviously

last year we gave the promotion their flowers so many times but when they take one week off which they did this past week it's it feels like two three four like a month it feels like a long time since we've had this even though 270 was just in our rare view but uh we're back and i like this fight a lot and when you look at the rankings it tells it and you know it tells the story at the basis in terms of what's at stake here sean strickland ranked number seven that middleweight in the ufc jack hermanson six so when you consider that adesanya the champion is going to fight number one rank robert whitaker and you look at three and four, Jared Kananir against Derek Brunson, and you look at who's ranked two and five between that, Vittori and Costa,

and Costa's going nuts on social media trying to get a rematch in that one. This isn't a, hey, of these three potential fights or four of them, whoever shines the best is going to get the next title shot. Nothing's guaranteed here. But I think the winner of this one, and particularly Sean Strickland, who's coming in with a brighter star at the moment, a loftier sense of potential,

could really cash in on what this could mean. Maybe not a title shot next, but on the doorstep of one, considering he's ranked seventh coming in, considering the run he's been on. The last fight for Sean Strickland was huge against Uriah Hall. He showed us he can go the five-round distance by just being a bully the whole time

and implementing his strategy. And he's a tough ass out. And obviously there's a whole other storyline about his mentality, whether that very honest interview he did and instead of interviews around that is a real indication of some potential trouble there that that scared a lot of people me too i was like hey maybe this guy should uh join me and get in some therapy here uh some had said look he's trying to be marketable he's trying to use that intensity

uh for his advantage that's a that's a tough, tough angle to play in that regard to try to do that. But if it is, it's working because he's a scary dude and he's a scary dude, mostly for what he actually does inside the cage. 82% takedown defense has been a big part of his story, but obviously his striking and his pressure. And he comes at you with, with almost a sadistic sense to him. It reminds me of like Antonio Margarito in boxing, if you were a fan of him over his run.

Just puts the pressure on and stands right in front of you. Strickland not right in front of you, sort of somewhere between mid and close distance. When he sets up shop, his boxing is very technical. And not only does he hit hard and he's a great combination puncher, but he doesn't have to put a lot into his shots to have big time success. Meaning he can, he'll stand in front of you and he'll move with those arm shots, those short jabs and short right hands.

They pile up in succession and he hits hard enough that he can make a big impact on you and control you there. And obviously you love the style contrast here because Jack Hermanson is very, very crafty and skilled at taking the fight to the ground and having success in a grappling sense. And if Jack Hermanson has a plus 175 underdog right now, according to DraftKings, and obviously we'll get into a more detailed preview,

Luke and I, on this fight, on how it could be won. But in theory, if he doesn't stop, if he's not able to take Sean Strickland down, this could be this could be a long night. Because I think Strickland really established against Hall that this at this level, that this style works. And Uriah Hall's older, although still being dangerous and has some holes, of course, and is a different fighter than Hermanson altogether. But damn, that plan A worked and it kept working and it was dominant and uh the pressure that strickland puts on the poise that he has in executing it it it really could be a problem for the true elites in this division and i think you have to start to love the idea of if he can win this fight against hermanson it's the right test at the right time does that style look like against ben israel adesanya who's the champion

who whether it's him or whitaker coming out of that title fight you know what does it look like against these maybe on the surface more skilled for sure fighters and more experienced but uh strickland's coming and he don't seem to care about the opponent, the situation, the platform. He's a guy that's just bringing it. Okay, so Marvin Vittori was a guy that was just bringing it as well. But I think Strickland's mixture of technical prowess with that sort of crazy, you know, let's go to hell. I'll take you to hell.

You want to get like, I belong in hell. His willingness to do that, you know know he's not a free swinging freewheeling uh a crazy man there's there's a calculation to him so if he can stay off the ground against her manson this is the fight where he could showcase his skills very well now that we have the proof that he can go five rounds that's not going to be a hole or a problem um Hermansen is very much in this fight, very much capable. We've seen him sort of flip wins and losses in recent years, but look at how quickly he took Gastelum down, or brought the fight to the ground and ended it against Kelvin Gastelum.

And obviously, he took the best of against Edmund Shabazzian, his most recent win, the best of what Shabazzian, a great first-round fighter, and I say that both as a compliment and obviously a bit of a negative, is so, a great first round fighter. And I say that both as a compliment and obviously a, you know, a bit of a negative is so good in the first round at being dangerous and putting it on you. Well, how Hermanson was able to, you know, survive that and spin it back in his favor

and just take full control on the ground. It was very impressive. So looking forward to this main event for all of the reasons, of course, that I just said, not a particularly deep card in big names, So looking forward to this main event for all of the reasons, of course, that I just said. Not a particularly deep card in big names, but some interesting matchups and storylines here. The co-main event, as it stands now with middleweights, Puna Soriano, who's fun. Coming off a loss, but very fun.

And you want to sort of figure out, is he just an all-action guy in this division? Or can he use experience and loss and put it together and figure out how to be great and figure out how to make a run at this top 10. Well, interesting fight against Nick Maximoff, who we don't know a ton about Maximoff, a plus one 60, uh,

underdog coming in, but in his one UFC fight, he looked great in getting a decision win over Cody Brundage. And he had a decision window in the Dana white contender series before that he's seven and overall Maximoff and just 24 years old. So, um, getting a decision win over Cody Brundage. And he had a decision win in the Dana White Contender Series before that. He's 7-0 overall, Maximov, and just 24 years old. So interesting matchmaking here. But if you're looking up and down this card,

what's the dominant storyline aside from the main event? It's Luke's boy. It's Luke's boy, the Kazakh thunder here in welterweight, Shavka Rachmanov. And let's give Luke credit. He was day one-ish on him. Like he kind of was to a large degree on Cyril Ghosn maybe not day one but day two

day one and a half telling you now this guy is probably headed toward title consideration Luke has been saying that through two UFC appearances for Rachmanov and you know I went back and rewatched the tape of those two fights this morning just to kind of remember exactly what this dude brings to kind of remember exactly

what this dude brings to the table. And it turns out everything, it turns out he brings absolutely everything to the table. So he'll be taking on Carlston Harris, who's a plus 185 underdog at the moment, minus 225 for Shavka. But Rachmanov, 14 and 0, 27 years old, and the two wins, both submissions,

Cabo El-Levier in the first one, and Michel Prezeres, who's now suspended and retired. 27 years old and the two wins both submissions cowboy oliver and the first one in michelle preserras who's now suspended and retired um after that they were freaking dominant violent vicious technical and really everything you would want to see from a poised deadly kind of young you know fighter on the rise who's making his his his announcement of who he is and he's a sambo master and he's came in with a reputation for having just sick cardio which we really haven't you know really hasn't haven't had a chance to see that yet in the ufc but it's the pinpoint hard striking it's the variety of the knees and the kicks and the threat

of that and it's just that he's like, he reminds me a little bit of the figure Askar Askarov plays in the flyweight division, meaning that like, he's just tough as nails and can do it all. You know what I mean? Like he can mess you up on the feet. He can submit you. He's just sturdy in the clinch

and in takedown defense and all that. And Rachmaninoff's definitely that and more so far so I don't think Carlston Harris has the potential to be the the name that like wakes everybody up but it's going to be probably if he stays consistent to the run he's on for Rachmanov another chance to just thoroughly soundly defeat somebody and and and make us realize that sometimes you know Luke Thomas who puts in the time. I mean, you know, who else is going to watch that Volkanovski-Holloway rematch that many times? He circles his, you know, he doesn't like to make picks.

He doesn't like to make long-range projections, right? But once in a while, he does, and they tend to come through. Now, his handling of vacation days, has that been efficient or you know crowd pleasing that you know that's up to the eye of the beholder which is you right now because you know your boy bc can go solo all day two hours god you know they they have to pull me off of this microphone okay you know keep keep your keep your daughters off the pole is what i always tell luke keep bc off the mic okay that? That's up to you at your peril, all right? Because I'm bringing it.

Like Justin Gaethje with leg strikes in a lightweight title bout. I'm bringing it until you stop me. So, wow. BC on a roll. Interesting card the rest of the way. Nothing jumps out at you per se, but we'll break it up and down with Luke and get his takes. This is one of the more, you have to agree, right? An MK lure, an MK history. This has to be one of the more anticipated

returns of one of us because of the length of Luke being off, the fact that the Doc came out in between and was such a feel-good hit and Luke looked like this human hero in it. I'm interested to see what Luke Thomas has got in week one of this comeback, okay? Bring it. Alright? Because the thing is, I'm never going to stop trying to bury that guy. And maybe that's what makes this this show special. Or maybe that's why, you know, it's hard to be friends with me. It's really up to you to decide that as well.

Topic number two is our other big combat event of the weekend. I mean, there's a lot going on. Clarissa Shields is back in England. There's a there's a few fights in boxing and may across the board outside of UFC. But one of these is a PBC on. Clarissa Shields is back in England. There's a few fights in boxing MMA across the board outside of UFC, but one of these is a PBC on Fox pay-per-view and a very interesting matchup that's going to tell us a lot about the future. When former welterweight champion Keith one-time Thurman makes a return from two and a half years off due to injury, COVID,

the birth of his daughter, the ponytail's gone, he's 33, he's got almost a dad on the verge of maybe starting to bald, haircut going on, and you know, the big questions are, is he that same guy, because it's not just two and a half years off since his loss to Manny Pacquiao, but, you know, the Pacquiao performance, by the way, was fantastic, lost a split decision, I was one of the rare people who scored it for thurman you know i feel rounds rounds wise doing the math it's close great fight but the fight before that his comeback fight from a previous two-year layoff due to multiple injuries well jose cito lopez and god he got got knocked around got almost stopped and it was a scary return so while he amended that against pacquiao despite being dropped early and

despite losing right had a very strong performance he's fought twice in five years in the midst of his absolute prime and when keith thurman went away in originally in 2017 after the win over danny garcia in which he unified titles against the unbeaten champion he had the best welterweight resume at that time he had never been able to lure Floyd Mayweather, which he tried like hell as sort of the mandatory contender for a while. And yet he said, okay, let's get Sean Porter. Let's get Danny Garcia. Let's get whoever we can get. He was the guy in boxing's money division.

And then he fought twice in five years. And it's like, who is he now? So pay-per-view in Las Vegas against Mario Barrios and Barrios making his debut at 147 here. Of course, you remember him last June. Barrios at 140 brought in his secondary title against Gervonta Tank Davis's second, or moving up in weight to 140.

And they had a pay-per-view thriller. It was a great action fight. And Barrios held strong until he got stopped late. And for Thurman coming off a loss and being off this long, it's an interesting matchup. The odds are a lot closer than you might realize. In fact, I don't have them actually in front of me, but it's like a, you know, less than a two to one favorite is Thurman. I mean, I was like minus one something and plus on the other end, very low in the 100s

for Barrios. Why? Because of those questions about Thurman and because Barrios did look really good against Tank Davis and maybe, you know, moving up to 147, not even to cut, maybe he just fills into this role as an aggressive, long action fighter at this weight class. You can't overlook the fact that Thurman got rocked against Jose Cito Lopez back in 2019,

rocked badly. And there's a lot of questions about his why anymore in the sport. And some of it is, you know, unfair or overblown, but some of it's legit. There's a lot of people that don't think Keith Thurman's ever been the same since the second half of that Danny Garcia fight. Now that's hyper inside boxing trivia critiquing right there of saying Thurman was ahead. He tasted Danny's power. He started to coast a little bit. Garcia made a run and only lost by split decision and almost backdoored, you know, a victory with pressure. But did Keith dig in like he did against Sean Porter? Does he want to be a fighter? You know, is he still a warrior or is he somebody that likes the money and the fame that he got from climbing the ladder and then just sort of said, you know, I'm cool, which has happened

a lot of times, by the way, at the elite level. I had a great interview with him at youtube.com slash morning combat. I encourage you to check it out. We're going to see a sample or two from it in a second. But in which I brought up these questions to him, the, the, the critics, you know, that, that have their doubts here at 33 and sort of, you know, how are you going to make up for lost time? How much has this, this, the way things have played out, bothered you, you know, do you still have the heart for this?

Here's Keith Thurman talking about the layoff and his hopes and plans for 2022, starting with Mario Barrios on Saturday. Oh, definitely, man. You know, and, and, and that's why I can keep my head on right. You know, at the end of the day, Keith Thurman is still one of the biggest names in the walkaway division. My resume can go toe to toe with anybody. I'm still one of the most qualified fighters with or without a belt. I'm a champion and people know that, you know?

So at the end of the day, we, we really just need to do what you want me to do. And that's get back in the ring, you know, get back to the ring, get back into action and, and stay active. You know, a lot of things that have happened. They're not ideal. They're not, they're not, you know, they're not something you put on your to-do list. Let me not be in the ring for two and a half years. Let me have elbow surgery. Let me have bone fusion surgery. These aren't on the to-do list. You know, these are things that manifested in my life and my career. These are some of the struggles that I've faced, but you know, hurdles are put there to jump over and overcome, man. So these obstacles, I've overcome them. I feel great at the age of 33. I might have missed like two great years in my prime,

but luckily we're still in our prime. Well, if you're new to the Keith Thurman experience, he's always a hell of an interview. Loves speaking about himself in third person. Not afraid to play the flute. Have you seen those videos with formerly the long ponytail? He's an eclectic confident and interesting guy and you know he's again he's heard the knockings of of

can he still be that same guy um so i a long way of me saying i love this matchup but i do understand some of the customer you know hardcore fans uh come saying, is this really a pay-per-view fight? Really? Really? And at the elevated price of $74.95, look, I think we got, you know, I work for a company that does a great job in pay-per-views, but I think overall in boxing, we have too many boxing pay-per-views and some of them are overpriced. And maybe this falls into both of those categories of, you know, is it really one and is it too expensive? Probably negative responses would be adequate for both, but is it a great matchup? Hell yeah. And is it important for the future? Without question, Thurman believes a win here puts him right back in line to fight a champion.

And if you're, you know, in defense of him picking burial, he says, look, I was presented a list of names and there were a bunch of them that, you know, are known, but they had four or five losses. And he's like, what does that give me? He claims he picked barrios because he has just one loss and he looked very good in that one loss and his you know his brand is moving up and he and he's young and you know in that regard i respect that because if you do look at the lay of the land errol spence who has two of the four welterweight belts he's fighting your dennis ugas this spring who has the wba belt in a unification, a big fight that matters. He can't, you know, Thurman can't find either of those guys. And Terrence Crawford was the WBO belt is a free agent and is suing top rank for racism. And,

you know, I thought Terrence Crawford, you know, the day after that contract ended would announce he's signing with the PBC, but you know, we don't know. We'll have to see what happens. And he's not fighting at the moment. And then of course, Pacquiao's retired, Sean Porter just retired. So Danny Garcia wants to move up to junior middleweight. So this is the fight that Keith was offered and the best one of the mix, and he took it. But with a win here, he could make some very big fights. I mean, him against Spence is business. That's a great fight. And Keith, it's like what he said to me about, you know, not taking damage over the last five years for the most part

and how much that could help him feel rejuvenated and all that. I mean, that's true. That's true. You also have to have the timing back. And when he came back against Josecito Lopez, the timing was off and something about him was off. You look, you know, he had dropped Lopez early, but then got cornered and put against the ropes and hurt and rushed on.

You know, if you're Berrios, that's the angle you want to try to play without question. And that's Berrios' skill set. But, you know, if Thurman is still one of the most well-rounded, skilled fighters in this game when he's at his best, the version of him that lost to Manny Pacquiao, yes, Pacquiao was 40, but like Pacquiao damn near, you know, reeled off a fighter of the year campaign that year by beating Adrian Broner and then beating Thurman. I mean, this is still a dangerous Manny Pacquiao and Thurman is such a perfect mix of boxing and punching. His nickname one time is about, you know, the, the, the power of his

punches that it takes one to floor people. And that was a better indication of who he was when he was climbing the ladder. And he was more of a knockout guy. He became more of a boxer on the title level. And some people think for, you know, out of, out of not wanting to trade, but I think it was more to, in a lot of ways to round out his game and, and, and in the super close, amazing title fights that sometimes, you sometimes, or more often than not, can be the difference. The guy who can stand in there and trade big and take it,

but who is the better boxer doing the better work throughout? That's what Thurman did against Sean Porter. That's what he did against Danny Garcia. So I do have questions, though, about who Thurman has been since the second half of that Danny Garcia fight. And you add in layoffs, you add in injuries, it's a hell of a storyline just to see what he still looks like

because he's got a great resume, his big wins still hold up, but he's the forgotten man in this division. And the Spence and Bud Crawford story that followed right after Thurman's departure, now you got Boots Ennis on the rise. Team Jerron Ennis claims they reached out to Thurman's camp to try to fight, and Thurman's departure. Now you got Boots Ennis on the rise. You know, Team Jerron Ennis claims they reached out to Thurman's camp to try to fight, and Thurman responded with,

I don't know who that guy is, which is, you know, of course, a nice veteran trick to try to pull, but has some true meaning underneath of why he wouldn't want that fight right now. But it's always going to be a fun and great Walter Waite division. It's going to be a better one.

And I said Walter Waite there, because that's how Keith Thurman pronounces it when Thurman's in the mix. And when he's potentially, you know, as a chance to be a B imagine him as a B side against all these guys. I need to see Keith Thurman against Crawford against Spence against who guys gets all these guys. So it all goes down on Saturday. We'll, we'll break the matchup down a little bit closer on Friday in terms of who wins all that. But, uh But I got one more piece of sound from Thurman on sort of why he picked Berrios and, you know, the fight he expects to see in the ring this weekend. I mean, he's an ex-world champion.

And, you know, anything that I was about to do off of a two-and-a-half-year layoff, I thought was going to be, you know, critiqued one way or another. I think I was going to suffer criticism no matter what move I was going to make. And there weren't big names being offered, you know, critiqued one way or another. I think I was going to suffer criticism no matter what move I was going to make. And there weren't big names being offered, you know. The other fighters were respectable fighters, but they got like four losses on their record. So what does that do for Keith Thurman, you know? So what I liked about Mario Barrios is that he had the best record, you know. It was kind of simple and in comparison to the other options that I was getting um I just don't think that it I always want to make the best

fight I can make at a certain time uh in my career back in 2019 I fought Jose Cito Lopez that was after a 22 month layoff, right? A 22 month layoff. And then right after that, I brought one of the most exciting fights against Manny Pacquiao. And that's what I want to do this year. I want to take this fight and then I want to fight one of these great champions. Thurman went on in great detail about what went wrong against Pacquiao,

the lesson he learned on how he can, you know, not make that same mistake again, and how he can use that lesson against Berrios is interesting. So check that out. Morning, youtube.com slash morning combat. Also,

we look back in hindsight, we say, Hey, Hey, Hey, Thurman, the Floyd, the Floyd duck.

Yeah. Looking back. I mean, they duck you straight up. We'll get into that more. So check that out. MMA fans are welcome as well. Thank you very much. Let's go to topic number three, and that's a batch of quick hitters here, which is our lazy man special. I love quick hitters. Great category, right?

Um, Paul Daly has announced he's going to have one more fight. Uh, you know, I saw a tweet from Ariel Hawani that that's, that's, uhani that's apropos. It hit home. It's like to see these guys who were on top and made their name back when us in the media were starting to make our name and kind of came up with these guys. Yeah, it's tough to see that when they start retiring, you know, one after another. And to see Paul Daly, who's been in so many great wars, 38 years old. You just one of those guys that feels like he's been fighting forever. And you just sort of like assume he's going to fight forever. And I mean, for all we know, he may continue in a bare knuckle capacity.

But he says this is his last fight. And here's his quote in the interview with Ariel Hawane on the MMA Hour. Homasi was going to be my last fight, but Bellator wanted to put it in America. And I don't think the UK at the time were allowing shows people to travel over for productions to produce a show over there. So, yeah, that was going to be my last fight. Then they offered Jason Jackson with title implications. So I took that fight. It didn't go my way.

So I owe my fans, my family to have this last fight over here in the UK. Bellator would be very smart to try to get as big of a action name as they can to put. I mean, wouldn't it be great? Great. If good old Nick Diaz, you know, who's who's wouldn't be great if UFC is just like, OK, we already said publicly, we don't think Nick should keep fighting and whatever. You're gone.

Yeah. And then and then, you know, Nick gets paid one more time to fight. You know, people say BC is not hypocritical. You you said you don't want to see him anymore you didn't like him in there against lawler no because that's still you know being presented as elite level fighting and nate nick excuse me did not come into that fight ready uh you know we're finding out afterwards like he was felt like he was forced to fight he wasn't like that that's scary i don't want to see that but could i what i could i see a paul Daly send off in an alternate world in which Nick was able to be a free agent and put in one more great

camp and took it seriously and wanted something like this. It's hard when you got that flavor for this kind of old guy flavor, it's hard to lose that. I'm trying, I'm trying to, trying to correct that. I'm trying to control that vice in my life. Like I had to control fast food or in gas station urges, you know, with the, uh, with the liver, uh, situation, but I want to see Paul Daly be able to go off on his own terms with a bang. Uh, Semtex has given us a lot. He's been a fun guy to watch, uh, across the board. I mean, that's a Paul Daly versus Nick Diaz. One of the greatest action fights of all time, probably the best fight in strike force history. And, you know, uh, I think Paul Daly got a raw deal in his in hindsight and his ufc exit and never getting another chance but

he he built a very nice coda well you know not coda but really really second half second chapter of his career in bellator he's made he was involved in some fun fights he's involved some awful fights remember that mvp dance remember that one. All right. Also in movement in the MMA space, Jeremy Stevens officially signs with PFL, I believe, is the news here. And to try to get you a little bit more fired up here, the featherweight banger, he's called out a big fish, Anthony Pettis. So I believe this is an interview Stevens did on the MMA Hour with Ariel Hawane. And he said, I've seen Pettis in the UFC. We were hanging, shaking hands. But honestly, honestly bro he looked fat and out of shape his cheeks look like cheeseburgers that boy looks like he's getting paid too much so I would love to run that back

with Anthony last time I turned him into a wrestler he just wanted to wrestle me the whole time we were in a different place in space at the time I think now we could bring a lot more violence and action-pack packed and i'm going to be in better shape than that boy trust me he's eating too good end quote uh wow that's aggressive i like it uh obviously anthony pettis did not have the best uh debut year by any means in pfl you know you you had to think of him as potentially a favorite to win that tournament coming in and he you got yeah yeah yeah you look great you know yeah what does he have left uh he's back for this year you could do a lot worse than making these guys against each other again yeah let's do that um uh jeremy

stevens went on to talk about his contract with ariel and uh and he said at the end of the day you know uh talked with the u the UFC decided on PFL after, you know, getting released essentially. And, uh, now he's going to do his best to quote, knock everybody the fuck out and get a million dollars.

And, you know, for a gunslinger like him, that should be the attitude he's going to bring to the PFL. And, and, uh, will he move up and enter the Walter weight tournament?

I mean, I don't know. That's jumping over, uh, jumping over a lot of room there but it'll be fun to see him I mean Jeremy Stevens is got a lot of mileage on him let's never overlook that and this is a legitimate scary losing

streak which which really leaves questions but he is the kind of guy who if he does take a full step down in matchmaking like Triller Triad BKFC lane he probably could have some success there so uh he's he's making a bold move and in some ways by saying okay ufc run is over but i still want to swing big in the pfl and they just signed with espn for for a new deal and

uh we'll see what happens very interesting uh report Report on a Alexander Gustafson heavyweight return that it's going to come against Ben Rothwell reported by Frontkick and the targeted date is May 21st. I got weird mixed feelings about this Alex Gustafson heavyweight sojourn that

he's on. This little retired after the... I mean, he looked really bad in the John Jones rematch. And I got decent high hopes, given the questions surrounding John at that time, that that could have been another sort of fun action fight. And it was, you know, weird tactical fight for a couple of rounds as John controlled from distance.

And then he just completely demolished him. And since then, I mean, he got hammered. And Anthony Smith submitted them him and then he retired and uh the comeback fight against Fabricio Verdum was uh was quick it was a first round submission loss so that was July 2020 it's been a long time I don't have high hopes he's still so young though that it's hard uh he's 35 I mean it's not it not so young, but he's young enough where, okay, there's probably a little bit left there, but at heavyweight, you could

make a mistake and get hurt really bad. So this is interesting. This is actually an interesting matchup in some ways, too. Rothwell's he's at the end of it, too, but he's difficult out still in a lot of different ways, and he's a hairy bastard. Shout out to Ben Rothwell.

All right. He's difficult out still in a lot of different ways. And he's hairy. He's a hairy bastard. Shout out to Ben Rothwell. All right. And how about this fight for the get back into the boxing mix, considering right in her weight class is going to be the biggest women's boxing match of all time on paper with Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano on April 30th. Holm's going to stay at UFC Bantamweight and fight Ketlin Vieira. Now that's a big fight for this division. And it's an interesting potential style one with the striking on the feet.

And it's one I believe Holly Holm can win I mean that's the thing we don't know we need Peña and Nunes too to happen it's not going to happen soon for all we know they're going to do the ultimate fighter season but like we need to know whether was it just one really

bad night at the office or whether Nunes comes back and wins the rematch or not? Is this a new era for Juliana Pena where she's now elite? Has she figured out how to find the best of her? Some questions have to be answered, but if Pena holds onto that title, I don't have the question that,

that home wins that seriously at 40. And it's like, she already had such a unique and incredible career and and i don't mean to be some like super fan here because i'm not but i've obviously come to really respect how holly holm has despite age has really stayed at the same level what so it's weird she stayed at the same level of contention she's always right there ranked one or two and two weight classes it seems but you know she's rebounded so well from defeats and keeps rounding out her game and and not taking a major slip she doesn't have the type of

defeats where you're like even though she's got a lot of defeats right you you forget that her record's 14 and 5 overall and she's already has such a unique resume in that like she's living so much on that rousey win still but then whenever she surfaces back up to fight somebody who could be on their way to title contention she shows you that she's the one who's still in title contention and i mean she dominated megan anderson and and then she beats raquel pennington in the rematch and irene aldana so she's she's on a great run right now and it there's there's possibility here that she fights for gold again, seriously. And with the questions about Amanda, you never know.

I mean, I don't think, would they straight up do an Amanda-Holly rematch? I mean, there's enough star power in it. And if Holly wins this one, that would be three in a row. And if Nunes wins back the title at 35, then despite how dominant that first round loss was for holly and it was uh newness in in uh 2019 first round head kick ko put it on her and but it's a different newness now so a lot a lot of a lot of title contention here uh aspiration and positioning with this because ketlin veer in the mix as well of course also paulo costa is a late addition on the menu

from bc i mentioned he wants marvin vittori he wants him real bad um costa even saying i'm not even interested in fighting in general anymore uh if it's not vittori so here's the the quote that costa told uh ag fight is that the website here ag fight am i mispronouncing that uh costa saying i just said to let dana white know i'll fight vittori now if it's the only fight that interests me no one else interests me unless it's for the title but i'm no fool i'm not stupid to consider a title fight now i want to fight him he's the only viable guy that interests me i don't respect him i want to end his life he's an a-hole a fool he had this win over me and thinks he's the man but he's an a-hole

a child we see he's a goof he can't even wear shorts the right way there's a photo of him with his shorts backwards and he still thinks he's the man but i'll fight him again um i'm angry i want to hurt him these are these are wild quotes are not not not not surprising for one paula costa who is is was a wild dude and i think his career is at a very interesting point so paulo costa loses that fight against vittori last time out but it was so close and was all action and costa had these huge swings of momentum in his favor but i think he's screwed up meaning i think costa's never to be the guy we thought he could be entering the Adesanya fight. It's almost as if like how that fell apart and the wine excuse afterwards and all that.

It's like all that either changed him for the worse for good in how I perceive this or he never was, you know, who we thought he could be. And he won a lot of these fights on just being a freak athlete and a finisher and an aggressive guy. But the skill's still there, but man, the decisions to just bang in the cage, I think this is who he is now. And could I be entertained by a Vittori rematch? Absolutely. And they're both still highly ranked in the top 10,

so it's not out of the realm for either of them here to get a big win and then get a big fight after this. That could lead to a title shot. But interesting. Interesting to say the least. Mikey charming. All right. So that wraps up our topics.

Oh, one more. One more for you. Floyd Mayweather. Weird announcement. Starting the money team racing team. T.M.R.T. He's calling it. oh one more one more for you quick floyd mayweather weird announcement starting the money team racing team tmrt he's calling it and uh he's going to join with sponsor pit viper and floyd's team is going to make their nascar debut at the daytona 500 uh in february with uh kaz grayla driving the number 50 car tony yuri Jr. The, the, uh, in the headset there. Um, that's news.

I didn't see coming. All right. But Floyd, uh, making like a profound move into that space that, you know, to make a run at something here at the highest level, it's something to watch. You know, I don't, I don't watch the left turning cars these days, but, um, I don't know. I don't know what the, uh, introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich,

but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy. Consider yourself warned. Limited time only. And participate in McDonald's in Canada. With the motivation and influence there, maybe Floyd's a huge fan, and I didn't realize that, but interesting to watch moving forward.

All right, so we had a fill-in fun segment last week when Chuck Mendenhall was in the chair and we needed something to do with Luke out. We called it Truth or Trivia, but this week the producers say, no, BC, we got more time to fill. Luke's still living it up, you know, down there in the other America.

Why don't we spin it back on you? Why don't we put you in the hot seat to answer the trivia questions with the potential with a wrong answer, having to get personal and share something maybe you didn't plan on sharing coming in. Maybe something that's not beneficial to the futures of your career and well-being to share publicly. this show so batshit crazy to begin with why not continue gambling and rolling that dice we call this truth or trivia all right i have to shout out william the donk for helping the team out apparently on the trivia side of this uh mikey morms the producer on this uh let me bring in uh the fine director producer no he's not the next jay aaron he's the first gaff gaffaff, are you there? Gaffney Pierre on the ones and twos there. Wow, full-on drug rug sighting right there.

Yeah, I mean, we do have the code today, so you might as well just throw that up now, right? Oh, did I not hit up the code earlier? No, you didn't hit it at the top. All right, let's remind all the folks here, 15% off all sweatshirts, hoodies, drug rugs. That's still an ongoing thing this week by using our promo code

hoodie15. H-O-O-D-I-E 15. You can get 15% off. Gaff's wearing it right there. I've been wearing this stuff all... It's my life wearing this stuff. Shout out, by the way, to all the great donks out there that have supported us by buying merch. I've been

told for the fourth time, fourth gaff fourth time drug rugs are sold out and they had to go back to the wow that's on brand they had to go back to the well and try to produce some more because it's what the people want so gaff in honor of the weird items that continue to be created, birthed, and sold, and I'm including the Hawaiian shirt with BC's face on it, the underwear with Luke right up there on your old, right in there, you know, on your old grundle. I didn't think this shit would work, drug rugs included, but it has. So, our great team, our merch maven rj dunkelmaker said hey put it out to the people we in the comments in the live chat below we want to

hear what big picture dream item you know is it mk factory town mma rash guards what is it that you need to see on our website gaff how weird is this gonna get could get weird but i don't know man a lot of the merch has been really good like even my mom wears the uh the christmas one with you and brian on it oh shit luke on it yeah she loves that one she wears that pretty often so i mean all right shout out to mama p rocking that i love that okay that's great uh so morningcombat.store and drop in as i mentioned the comments in in live chat of this YouTube video. Your suggestions, folks, is something that you want to see, okay?

We'll see if we can make that happen there. Gaff, it's truth or trivia time. Five trivia questions, each one I get wrong, that escalate in difficulty. It'll also escalate in how personal you're going to ask of me. So I'll give you the floor, my friend. All right, BC, so we have five questions. I'm going to hit you with the first one. I'll read it to you and I'll say your 30 seconds starts now. After that 30 seconds, you can start. If

you don't give your final answer by the end of that 30 seconds, we have another question for you. So you're ready. I'm ready. I have no idea what's coming. Alright, BC. Who is the first lightweight to get a finish in the UFC lightweight title fight? Your hint? It was a submission. Your time

starts now. First lightweight title fight finish. Who was the guy who got the finish? You got 20 seconds. All right. Was it Pat Miletic? I am sorry BC, that is wrong you still have 10 seconds uh bj pen wow with one second left to go you got it does that count even though i got it wrong

no that counts that counts okay you just have to get it within the 30 seconds so that was that was a great guess good job bc you made it past the first one stay out of my personal life gap I'm the I'm the ring leader in this circuit all right this is the second question three fighters are tied with five wins in a calendar year Kevin Holland did it in 2020. who are the other two fighters with five wins inside a calendar year? Your time starts now. Do all five have to come in the UFC? Yes. 30 seconds. I mean, because Cynthia Calvillo had four a few years, 2017, but I think the fifth one was, or maybe it was the fourth one

came out of the UFC. Okay, so let's take her out of the mix. Ten seconds. Cowboy Cerrone. No. And Jim Miller. You're going to remind me when i hear this crap the answer is neil magni and roger huerta okay i didn't know the huerta i did know the magni i should have guessed him just

by his willingness to constantly uh stay that busy but uh okay that's a good question i'll take that l all right all right so bc this is the personal question that we're going to ask you. You ready? Yes. What causes outside of MK are you most passionate about? Oh, wow. I don't normally get asked a serious side like this. I'm very passionate.

Well, I don't support any animal causes, but I'm very passionate for my love of animals and i probably should look into uh some of that i have you know as you've seen at times on this show three cats two dogs and you know they're my i mean they're my absolute life but causes in life uh look today's a special day gaff um today my sons isa Christopher turned 14 oh happy birthday yeah thank you and and it's it's it's always a big birthday when you've gone through so much uh to get there and and by the way what my son I just had major surgery on his uh right arm yesterday and is is recovering and hanging tough uh to try to amend the challenges of cerebral palsy on him and and and it and uh it's been a wild ride my kids were born uh four and a half months premature and they were both in different hospitals in different states for almost a year and had six surgeries each the first year just you know i

could go on and on but there were multiple i've been in that that room right i've been in that room a lot where they give you the really bad news. And through that journey, you know, really love causes and supporting, you know, St. Jude's Children's Hospital. We had such, you know, that charity. We had such love and support at Boston Children's Hospital when we spent a long time there. And, you know, any cause like that to celebrate or help parents, you know, because it's like, you know, any cause like that to celebrate or help parents, you know, because it's like, you know, Luke had that great quote in the doc where he's like, you know, it doesn't happen this way for most, right? And, you know, my kids had such crazy journey to get here and multiple medical miracles and surviving surgeries that they shouldn't have and body parts

on the inside growing back when it's physically impossible. I don't know how to explain beyond, you know, it doesn't happen this way for most, because I was there on the front lines during my time, and it didn't happen that way for a lot of people. It happened horribly. So, you know, there's a lot of bad endings, unfortunately, in that game. And I definitely am a big-time supporter in, you know, pediatric. You know, my son had that great wish granted through the Kids Wish Network and supporting,

you know, companies like that that do great to help families because that's that's among the most stressful walks you can go down when you have no power and something's that small. You know what I mean? you have no power and something's that small you know what i mean you have no power of protection that's a that's a uh you'll end up in therapy with me at the end of the day for that guy all right that's understandable bc but i to hear that you went through all that and you're still here and you're fighting that's awesome man you're blessed you truly are blessed i am my kids are 14 they're amazing so today's as every groundhog's day for them are 2208 uh it it it's amazing it's a blessing every every birthday you realize quickly gaff that every birth is a miracle

after you go through stuff like that that's awesome all right let's keep this truth or trivia train rolling uh we got the third trivia question are you ready let's do it all right third question can you name the only ufc event to have a hundred percent finish rate okay i feel like this starts i feel like this is relatively recent like between 2015 and 2020 relatively recent am I off on that at least, Gav? Yeah, you're wrong. You're definitely wrong. Okay, so it's a lot earlier. Alright.

I can't ask you if it was a fight night or a pay-per-view, right? It was a fight night. So a correct answer would be the city or the number right or the main event i i know the fight card that you're talking about i do not remember the elements around it i'll take the loss what was the answer it's a great question uh the answer is ufc fight night 55 rockhold versus bisping in austral, yes. There was, yes. I remember that card distinctly. And that fight, which is what made the Bisping upset

in the rematch even grander and even wilder, amazing moment because of how much Rockhold kicked the shit out of him in that first fight and that card, which was all finishes all the time. What were some of the other fights offhand on that card? Yeah. We got a Ross Pearson sighting there. Ally Quinto was on the card. Robert Whitaker. Sam Alvey was all the time. What were some of the other fights offhand on that card? Yeah. We got a Ross Pearson sighting there? Ally Quinto was on the card.

Robert Whitaker. Sam Alvey was on the card. All right. All right, so here is your personal question. Oh, boy. If you could go back and change one decision in your life, what would that be? Okay, so it's really hard to pinpoint any,

I mean, unless a major bad decision, you know, like had a, like hamstrung the rest of your life, right? You know, if you got arrested at 21 for something stupid and it, you know, embarrassed you and got in the way. Okay, you want to take that back. But a lot of the other L's in life, like you learn so much from that. It's ridiculous. You know what I mean?

So it's like, you know, you look back on so many things, Gaff, you know, really bad breakup, a time you got fired for being an a-hole, you know, or like there's so many key moments and usually self-destructive l's you know unforced errors that you have to endure because you're just an asshole and and you know you know better but you don't know better um that the ripple effect you know that's why it's always weird watching you know back to the future any of those type of movies that play with the space-time continuum and have you questioning i'm watching a show right now called Ordinary Joe. It's like an NBC-type show, and it's okay.

It's pretty good, but it's that same kind of thing where, like, it shows one guy, he made one decision early in his life, and then it shows three different paths of how his life could have been because of that. You know, I'd like to believe I don't have, of course, any, like, major negative that it's like, like, OK, I wish I didn't do that. But dropping out of college, making that decision was a decision gaffe that really opened up a long road to get to where I am today. A long road. And, you know, I always like to consider my success akin to like a journeyman

NBA player, like a John Starks who comes, you know, he went to a major college, but it wasn't a big recruit. You know, backdoored pro basketball and he's doing 10 day contracts and he's, but, you know, playing in other countries you never heard of. And then eventually, dude, he's on the NBA all-star team, you know, and it's like, holy shit. Like he kind of, he always did have what it takes, but he took the long road to get there and gaff you could argue that i'm defined who i am today my successes my style why people love or hate me is defined by my factory town soaked story of like you know going down the the i don't want to say the path less traveled, the path more often traveled of just, ah, F it, right? I'm an underachiever. I'm an underachiever for about

10 years, right? Let's just, you know, like, and you know, that's fueled by certain depression and heartbreaks. And you look back on your life a lot differently when you get older. But, uh, if I hadn't dropped out of college when I did, And at the time, look, I was commuting. So, you know, I wasn't living the dream experience. I was paying my own way through school, which my parents put me in that spot to teach responsibility. And I'm working multiple jobs. A couple of them are in the sports writing business,

which is already what I want to do. And I essentially dropped out of college to then not long after go full time in the writing business. So there was a lot of me justifying that decision at the time to do that. But the reality is I hit, you know, a rock bottom point in my motivation and gave up. And because of that decision, it took a long, long, long road to get here. I could have achieved, in theory, a lot earlier and done this or done that. But, you know, I don't know if I could have, Gaff. Because it took a lot of pain and regret to come back and make this run that I'm on now.

And I'm not trying to overly glorify it but it it's like you know i know the value of what i have now compared to compared to you know other times you know like i i i know the blood that was spilled for this so i don't think i want to change anything yeah okay maybe you can say bc your choice not to wear socks and doc six will end up being your most regrettable i mean do I regret the Risen situation you're damn right I regret that luckily it didn't you know fall into somewhere it didn't need to be

and suddenly the show's over you know but could have crumbled I do think one thing though Gaff tell me if I'm wrong on this you do look back at like some of your high school relationships and just what a shitty person and boyfriend you were like you know you're just sort of like man what relationships and just what a shitty person and boyfriend you were. You're just sort of like, man, what an a-hole.

Those are sometimes the biggest moments of like, man, I could have been such a nicer person. Yeah, I agree with that wholeheartedly, BC. I definitely feel you on that point. But for me, it was more of a college thing when I had to get all those demons out. I was relatively... I didn't fuck a lot in high school, basically.

So, yeah. Wow, this just got real. Okay, Gaff, yeah. Yeah, I had one girlfriend in high school, so it was... Gaff, what college did you rock? Temple University in Philadelphia. Temple University? Yeah.

Home of John Chaney. He wants to kill John Calipari. That same temple, yes. Yeah. A lot of big stars went there. I know. Were the Hoops teams any good when you were there? Yeah, we had Deontay Christmas when we were there.

He was doing pretty good. We actually lost to ASU, and my friend at the time was going to ASU, so we had a real battle going on. But yeah, big on the basketball scene. I really liked the Aaron McKee Eddie Jones team. That was a good-ass Temple team

in the 90s. Yeah, that was tight. Also, when they had Mark Macon a few years before that. That was prime John Chaney. That was a good-ass team. But alright, I learn something every day here, Gaff. I didn't know you went to Temple. Let's keep it rolling. Alright, here is the next question which former ufc champion's brother made his debut and only ufc fight at the oddly named ufc 37 and a half your time starts now okay i thought you were setting me up for Rashad Evans' brother Lance,

who fought on that tough season, right? So the brother made his debut at 37 and a half, and that's his only UFC fight. All right. It always surprises me, this question, because sometimes I'll forget that I knew that one guy had a brother, and then you're like, oh, shit, that's that guy's brother? And this is certainly that situation.

Is it Matt Hughes' brother? Oh, no. I thought you were going to get it right, too. No, I'm sorry, BC. That is not the answer. Does he even have a brother that fought? Did I just make that up in my own head there? Yeah, I don't think he has a brother. But the answer is Matt Serra, his brother Nick Serra.

When you said Matt, I thought you had it. Damn, I just forgot Matt Serra had his brother, Nick Sarah. When you said Matt, I thought you had it. I just forgot Matt Sarah had a brother that, that I've ever fought too. It's a great, again, very good question. It's one of those under the radar. They're like, Oh, I know. I know. I don't know that shit. Yeah. Very, very good job. I guess we go back to the personal well here. Yeah. All right, here we go. And the question is, what event in your life has shaped you the most as a person and how did it do so? I would say, without question, okay, outside,

the event that shaped me the most was sort of like, at age 25, I had this wild, sort of spiritual reawakening, sort of like fine at like age 25 like had this wild like sort of spiritual reawakening sort of like okay stop going down this really dark path in life and oh crap like jesus christ wow like i've i've experienced love for the first time and that had a profound profound change on on me not ending up like a lot of bad stories in my hometown um but when my kids went through that the craziness of a year in the hospital and then a second year in and out of the

hospital you just never know you know day to day if things are going to turn for the worst and um that that changed me in a million ways right and i think there's some you know negative things that that changed me that i'm still dealing with today, even though my kids are thriving and doing great. But for my career, like that's the turning point. Like I, you know, I, I had been working at ESPN before they were born, but you know, I wasn't really going anywhere. I was, I was kind of happy to be there. I was frustrated, but I was like, I didn't understand.

I thought I figured out how to work as hard as you can. I didn't understand that there's like levels to not just hustle, but like hunger, right? There's levels like you can fake hustle, but like there's levels to like passion, hunger. And I never would have been able to get through the years that came after that. When even though I'm working at ESPN and I'm on TV sometimes and I'm doing all these things and recognize the national voice I can't I'm making so little as an editor there that I cannot afford to pay the heat in the winter and I have to like borrow money from my church like you know I've been eligible for the food pay like I went through some stuff there that if I didn't see my kids like fight for their life with such passion as infants like just fight to survive

that'll you know when you come out of that you know relatively unscathed and you survive it um you can't help but be changed from that like suddenly you know anything's possible like and suddenly like like you know we have no idea what we're capable of mentally, physically, whatever, like we have no fricking idea. And, uh, you know, just that enough, that, that, that change in thinking, that change in foundational thinking, um, opened up the door for me to, to, to, to go for it and make more of myself. But again, that fuel was needed to get through those moments that a lot of people in this industry get to where it's just sort of like, I don't think there's money in this in the end. Like, I don't think all this like I love this so much, but like I can't get over, you know, and and, you know, if it's meant to be and you don't stop, you will get over.

But damn, dude, I couldn't have been here. You know, I'd be if none of that happened, I probably would have been happy, you know, being an editor for as long as they would have me. And then maybe one day I get laid off and then I go back and work at a newspaper. I'm like, you know, I think I was probably on that road. That's fine. Maybe I would have quit it all and sold insurance. And again, that's fine. But, dude, I came out of that going, these guys are going to go through this just to be my son just to live another day

what would happen if I stopped stopping myself from going for it you know what would happen if I got out of the way of myself Gaff I think you're seeing it now in documentaries one through six what the hell happened alright thank you

thank you very much you fought tooth and nail to get here BC and we happened all right thank you thank you very much yeah you fought tooth and nail to get here bc and we're all proud of you thank you and believe me i know i'm shaping my own great narrative here and there's a lot of people watching going i don't believe i bet he's an yeah i'm kind of an too but you know that's just yeah yeah everybody's an every once in a while you know all right final question bc final question, BC. Final question. Here we go. Name the four UFC fighters that are in the 30-20 club having 30 or more UFC fights with 20 or more of those being wins. That's a great question.

So you need 30 or more fights, 20 or more wins. Okay, Jim Miller. Your time starts now. Yes, that's one. Donald Cowboy Cerrone. That's two. 30 UFC fights or 20 or more wins. RDA.

15. Not on the list. Matt Hughes. Not on the list. Michael Bisping. I'm sorry, BC. That is the end of your time. Damn!

I thought I was just going to rifle them off one after another. Is it Verdum? Who am I missing here? You're missing both Andrei Arlovsky and Damian Maya. Ah, they're... Not only are they in the category of the names I was trying to pull, they're like the face of that category. I should have... No, seriously, like, those

guys, yeah. Yeah, okay, that's a great question. Wow, I'm humbled by how good this trivia is. In fact, you know, I think Mikey was mad at me when I texted him, like, is this trivia going to be worth it? Is it going to be any good, right? is it going to challenge me and then he was just sort of like yo i'll i'll end you if you really want me to trivia yeah shout out to the team for uh those were both gettable yet it hurts that i didn't get them so that's well done you know kudos to us thank you and here is your personal question bc

name one thing about luke that you hate that he's most right about. Well, I thought it was one thing that you really hate about Luke that you don't say a lot. Because I have a great list of that. All right. One thing that I hate most about Luke, but he's also right about. Yeah. I mean, it's hard. because, like, in general, what do I hate most?

Like, I hate Luke's arrogance and unshakable confidence on certain topics that I'm like, I know you don't know that shit. But the thing is, he ends up being right a lot in the end, okay? Like... Yeah. I mean, he does. He does. He ends up being a a lot in the end okay like yeah i mean he does he does he ends up

being like the things that he's cautiously fearful of like one thing i really don't like about him is you know like when you're at an air when you're at the airport and it's about to be boarding time but those that travel know just because it's like about to be boarding time doesn't mean they're calling you anytime soon right i'm like there's a gap in there and there's a system and you know especially if it's by calling by group number and you know your group number you know exactly how long it's going to take and luke's just like oh no dude we gotta go get get everything we gotta go we gotta it's about that time it's about that time like and it's just it's like military fearful mindset where he's like got to be there at the scheduled time you don't look off about that bro

but not that like the other stuff that he's like life fearful about and cautious in the right ways yeah I hate how he like dad he dads me a little actually dads me a lot and uh it's

odd that he actually looks like my dad now and that they kind of remind of each other. But maybe there's some weird Freudian nonsense in that. But for sure, you know, his fears tend to be proven true in a lot of ways. So I respect who Luke Thomas is a man. He's a ridiculous man. Like he's a walking contrast, you know, a walking contraceptive. Yeah, that's probably true in some weird way.

I mean, he's a weirdo. Let's be honest, right? He thinks he's way above us in real life, Gaff. You know what I'm saying? Way above us. You want to know a fun fact? Yes. He doesn't follow me or Maniche.

I thought you were going to say he's never called me by my first name and doesn't know what it is. Because that's normally... You know that funny moment in Doc 5? when I'm like, you know, Luke doesn't even know these guys, Tim's name. And then Luke's like, Tim, Tim, Tim. No, like, Luke doesn't know these people's names. I'm not kidding. Like, this is like, this is a real thing. He has no care for those around him. But I respect it. You know, he holds tight to his values and he's not going to let them go for anyone. See, that's the thing. The things that I hate about him or that pisses me off the most, again, he's so cemented down that, like, this is what I believe and I'm not going to change it. It's almost like in a Dana White way.

I have to go, okay, I kind of respect the stubbornness and the commitment there. All right, all right. There you go. Yeah, well done. But, no, Luke's going to – hey, Luke would not only play a huge part, you could say, Gaff in Doc 6, meaning he played his part, finally. He seems really happy about the comeback here for him. So what do you expect to see out of him?

What are you hoping to see? I'm looking to see him just get deeper into these segments that we're doing. Like High Court was so much fun. Just shooting that was hilarious. That was great, yeah. Just the ideas that could come out of him and you together. I know there's some unreleased stuff that I won't mention right now, but we still have on hold.

And some content like that. Some content like that. All right. I'm always trying to get more Jay Aaron in our docs, but I don't think people want that. Jake does such a great job scoring these docs that we don't need Jay Aaron

playing guitar on them at all. Yeah, not at all. Maybe like one vocal at the end, but don't give him an instrument. Yeah, so Luke... vocal at the end, but like, don't give him an instrument. Um, yeah. So Luke, um, I mean, he, it's not like he doesn't take L's. I mean, he comically takes L's, but he, he, the things he's really convinced about. Well, I mean, I'm not going to talk about his own soul, you know, he's in his health. I mean, he's pretty wrong on a lot of those topics, but you know, whatever. We love Luke. Gaff, thank you. You did great. That was truth

or trivia, BC style. So that's either the future or the end. Yeah, the future or the end, Gaff. The people will have to decide. Alright, one more segment for you. A thing that we throw out there to fill time on Wednesdays when BC is alone is BC's top 10 list.

And I'm proud about this one thing. And I know, I know this is an MMA dominant audience. I know that for the most part you guys are like, oh, how do we fast forward through the MMA part? Oh, well, Jake Paul now too? Okay.

I get it. Did they say pro wrestling? I get it. You're here for serious Luke Thomas hot takes okay um but i'm proud and it coincided perfectly with 2021 being a big year for the sport of boxing i'm proud at how many people were like you know i hate that sport but you really made me kind of care about this fight coming up and i tuned in and dude it was awesome like where do i get more of this drug you know and like that and that's great and in in what usually puts those mini fires out when you have friends when you're a boxing guy and you're addicted you have friends

that you're just trying to get oh god come on just just try this is like even when they taste it and they like it then next week there's like some horrible decision or the best won't fight the best or you know boxing is boxing and then they're like oh i didn't sign up for this bullshit i signed up for that really good fight you know and they're like i could see the best fight the best or face the best in every sport right now you know what's wrong with boxing well there's a lot wrong with boxing there's also a lot that's great about boxing so i i'm prideful that some of you on the mma only side have have opened your eyes a. And a lot of people have said the same thing over DMs. And there's a very self-masturbatory segment here.

Don't overlook that. As this whole show, this episode has been. BC, what do I do next? I just loved that title fight you made me watch. And now I kind of want to watch more of the fights I missed. What are some fights? Give me the fights right now that are either considered the best or would be a lot of fun to help me continue figuring out if this is a lane i want to go down all right

so my top 10 today is easy looking back you know since 2000 the last 20 ish years looking back on the last 20 ish years in the modern years what is a fight list what are the top 10 boxing fights bc recommends to non-knowing or or half-knowing or not even you know whatever at all mma fans to sort of take a bite out of boxing and see if it is for them is this my top 10 fights the last 21 and a half years well not 22 not necessarily it mirrors that list a lot but it's just what has been the biggest fights mixed with which ones have just captured you know the the fighter fight of the year type consideration mixed with you know getting that flavor right remember that feeling i had in the weird orange pullover at Adesanya Gastelum and, you know, UFC 236 in Atlanta that, you know, I'm hooked on a feeling.

I want you to feel the way that this drug made me feel. You can only have, you only could have happened in the arena in Atlanta that night. Maybe I should just, maybe I should start a comic con of people that were in the arena that night and we can really just, you know, make out with each other. But I want, I want you you to i want you to feel it too in boxing see sorry my voice is doing the doing the low you know to try to make a dramatic pickup and if that's picking up in your ear hole while you're running errands you're not too happy but um quick honorable mention because you're going to look at this list and say how do you

not talk about this uh oh yeah here it is bc's top 10 quick honorable mention the 2013 marcos maidana adrian broner brawl that that aired on showtime in one of boxing's best years in recent memory don't overlook this one this was boxing twitter's biggest win of all time because ab adrian broner was calling himself the next floyd and was so flamboyant that people just, they wanted to see him get served. And Marcos Maidana turned out to be the perfect foil in San Antonio and dropped him twice early. And, but then Broner didn't go away and figured out after trying to quit midway through by following that he might be able to dig in and fight. And that was a great forgotten fight.

And obviously the Israel Vasquez, Rafaelael marquez trilogy the third one coming in 2008 it could be in the top five of anybody's best list of the last 20 years luke and i went deep on these three fights it's a four fight series but it's the trilogy first that really matters um for the morning combat pandemic showtime classics i think you can still find on youtube right now so, always a great trilogy, brutal shit, but in some ways it's like, they were almost too perfect for each other. Like there's so little contrast between them, like style wise or anything else that it's like, it's, it's a really great taste, but it's a lot of that taste. And it's classic though. And if you're talking about sort of off the beaten path fights, 2006 had this French war between Mehar Manchapur and Somsak Chichewal.

Yeah, that's a mouthful. It became the fight of the year globally and in part because formerly of ESPN, Dan Rayfield really pushed it on a high level to get people to take notice. It's just a savage, savage 12 round war, just two South pause in France. And they're just, I mean, it's just, it's insane. It's really insane.

So check that out. Also, uh, in the top 10 BC fights, I was their list. Forgot about this one. It's gotta be mentioned. The first chocolate,

you know, three sick at sore rung of a side fight, Madison square garden, co-main to triple G versus Danny Jacobs, bloody chocolate. You know, was the pomfret pound King coming in and that perfect window. of a side fight. Madison Square Garden, co-main to Triple G versus Danny Jacobs. Bloody. Chuck Lutito was the pound-for-pound king coming in in that perfect window. Floyd had gone away. Klitschko had lost.

Andre Ward had just retired. There was an opening there. Chuck Lutito filled it on the back end of his career, and then this was a crazy war. So check that shit out. You know I love Shane Mosley versus Oscar De La Hoya 1 from 2000. One of my favorite fights of all time. High-speed war so uh check that shit out you know i love shane mosley versus oscar de la joya one from 2000 one of my favorite fights of all time high speed chess at its finest all right here we go

10 fights for an mma fan to cross over you must see uh boxing wise to get a little taste of what we do here on this side number 10 it happened in 2008 in the welterweight division miguel cotto antonio margarito, part one. They were on a collision course to fight each other for a while. And this was really banging the drum to be like, you know, Cotto's a star, but this is like hardcore fight fans dream at the same time. Margarito from Mexico. And he's just like, he's the bad guy in the movie. He's just a motherfucker.

You know what I mean? And he loves being that guy, but he'll take all the punishment you got you have no idea how he can make weight in this weight class and just doesn't stop coming and koto's the the unbeaten star and and he's and he's a great boxer but you know going to the body going to the liver with the left hook this is like when koto used to go after it and puerto rico mexico i mean it had everything right and then the fight was unbelievable and cotto dominated the first half but you're watching the it's like you're watching the titanic slowly sink you're like oh crap margarito's like he's still coming like he's still coming is he gonna break the will eventually? And eventually he does.

And it's a great, all-time great fight. But of course it's stained to a large degree by the fact that Antonio Margarito, you know, not too long after against Shane Mosley in that knockout loss, was caught in the locker room beforehand with the plaster of Paris, with the loaded wraps,

with the cement in his hands. And then you look back at Margarito's run to that point, you know with the cement in his hands and then you look back at margarito's run to that point you know the kerman cintron fight and the the the punishment he took against paul williams which was an amazing war and you're like man you have loaded gloves in those two and then you're like oh the koto beating I mean, Cotto's face afterwards is a, it's a car wreck. I mean, it's, you know, that, that rivalry between them because of this, it fueled so perfectly into that rematch. And it was a Cotto win at Madison Square Garden, 2011.

I was in the arena. It was incredible. It was just a scene, but you know, Margarito was a little washy by then, but this fight, if you can understand with the probability of the loaded gloves for Margarito, which it does change the way you watch it, it really does, but it's a great fight with a lot of that energy in the building in Las Vegas

of like nation versus nation, man versus man. I mean, it's good shit. It's good shit. All right, number nine is a classic middleweight championship bout that feels like it could have come out of the 1940s. It happened in 2007, and it's the ghost Kelly Pavlik in part one of his two-fight series against Jermaine Taylor. Taylor was a middleweight champion of the world.

He had fought Bernard Hopkins twice, and it was really damn good, and he was well-rounded, and it hadn't yet fallen apart for him. And when it fell apart, it was really damn good and he was well-rounded and he hadn't yet it hadn't yet fallen apart for him and when it fell apart it was it was crazy but he was still the guy and kelly pavlik is this white dude with with with no hairline from youngstown pa and and he's you know he's m he's mma factory town tough like he's he's factory there's no question i mean he's hard scrabble as shit and he can punch but as you're watching him each time he's taking another step up you're like okay it's cool but like he's gonna get flattened at the highest level like you know like you have sometimes with the white guy you have that sort of built-in like i ain't that good

right and uh this was the fight that you're probably gonna find out that he ain't that good right and uh this was the fight that you're probably going to find out that he ain't that good because he came in with so much fanfare and he got to this point and you know the fight before for kelly pavuk he was in a war and and i mean he took away edison miranda and and he near it was kelly pavuk was nearly the fight of the year during fighter of the year during the stretch. But he's in fights, man. He gets hit. I mean, he's a fighter. And Taylor gave it to Pavlik early and dropped him. And you're like, oh, the fight's over. I've seen this.

And Steve Smoger had one of the all-time great nights as a referee, a fight-friendly referee, a fighter, action fight-friendly, who was like, go ahead. He lets it keep going. He's in there in the right situations. And Pavlik turns that corner I believe this was in Atlantic City and the crowd was going ape shit and when Pavlik rallies to finish him late it's just one of those like swings and momentum so perfectly painted that you know it's like a it's like an old time movie it's like an old classic fight and the roar from the audience and the oh god he is for real you know, it's like a, it's like an old time movie. It's like an old classic fight and the roar from the audience and the, Oh God, he is for real. You know what I mean? Like, Holy shit, this kid, it's one of those moments, you know, it catches you off guard. Uh, number

eight, you know, one of the all-time great heavyweight slugfests of all time, heavyweight boxing title on the line. And it was this weird fight in 2003. That wasn't supposed to happen. It was Lennox Lewis, the last fight of his pro career. And he was going to, I got dead wrong for this when I referenced this a couple weeks ago. Was it Kevin, not Kevin Johnson? Who was the guy he was supposed to be fighting? Somebody else who you're like, okay, Lennox Lewis is going to blow that guy away.

And then that guy falls out. And Vitaly Klitschko comes in at the last minute. And this is before Vitaly Klitschko had permanently cemented his hall of fame, all time, great resume. And he had been a champion before and had, but that loss he had to Chris bird when people thought he quit because of an injury to his shoulder.

And people were like, Oh, he's, you know, when it going gets tough against a non puncher, but a great fighter and Chris bird, but a non puncher, you're going to quit.

By the way, they would find out in the medical exam, like later when it went public that like he was that close to his like shoulder permanently falling off and and having to like probably be amputated like he was like it was one of the most disastrous physical injuries inside the ring and so vitaly klitschko had like something to prove only he's like crazy mayor of uh kiev like he is today saying i'll go to the front lines of the roar against the russians if i have to like he went after lennox lewis and it was like a lennox lewis who was like the detail under lennox lewis career there was always that little fear lennox was his chin by the way got knocked out twice but

came back to to knock out in the rematch both of those guys, and those are the only two he ever lost to. So Lance Lewis is one of those rare all-time great fighters that says, I beat everybody I stepped into the ring with. But because he had been stopped twice, there was always a little bit of fear that like, maybe that chin isn't great and you can get to it. We've seen it twice. And there was also that fear that like the tail end of his career is he trying as hard he had filmed that oceans 11 movie or whatever and and didn't wasn't fully trained coming into the uh hasim rockman first fight and he got stopped in south africa

and it was you know this wild upset he got him back and he got him back by the way if you haven't seen lennox lewis's knockout of hasim rockman in theatch, he got him back in like the most vicious fuck you way ever. I mean, that's just not like laid him out, but there was like that fear of like, well, what if he doesn't show up tonight? And like fully,

what if he's not motivated? Dude, Klitschko wanted to prove that he was like the most grimiest assassin of all time. And he put on a pace on Lennox Lewis in the first half of this fight. I think it only went six rounds in the end. put a pace on lennox lewis that was like i'm gonna find out right now if i could be the heavyweight champion and you're all gonna find out that my balls are made of brass and i would never quit in a fight and i'm gonna show you who

i am right now and you could tell lennox like you know it was like oh nobody told me this wasn't an exhibition i mean he had that like oh shit got to fight my way out of this. Now, to Lennox's credit, fought his way out of it the best he could. Now, like, there's times you can watch that fight and almost support Larry Merchant's sort of like jabs he was throwing at Lennox in the post-fight interview of like, hey, you're kind of lucky the fight got stopped, right? But then there's also times you can go back and go, dude lennox adjusted and put it on this guy either way lennox put it on this guy so much that fatali's face was falling off is falling off i mean it was just disgusting and they they stop it

and he goes nuts and he's all pissed off but the pace of that war for two not only elite heavyweights you know hall of fame like almost like almost top 10 heavy. I mean, Vitaly's probably not top 10, but like he's right there. Right. I mean, these are. To just go at it at this. I mean, it's a it's a sick fight and you wanted to reimagine Lennox Lewis waited a year and then retired. Did not, you know, I don't never ended up getting the rematch or, you know, Lennox never fought Vlad Klitschko, his brother uh except for in that Ocean's 11 thing that they filmed um yeah it's we we called it the last great heavyweight fight for a long time until really we finally got AJ Anthony Joshua against Klitschko in 2017 and and then since then we've had Wilder Fury 3 but uh classic uh number seven is just a joy to watch this slugfest. 2000

junior middleweight unification Felix Trinidad unbeaten from Puerto Rico against unbeaten Fernando Vargas representing Mexico and just a young,

brash, badass in Vargas, who just is like, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm coming on. Like, I mean, he's fucking coming on, bro. He's coming on every second of his career for the most part, but especially before that first loss. And the fight was so huge. I mean, it was a monster pay-per-view for non-heavyweights and it right off the start just delivered and they both get knocked down and you know vargas as he also did in his knockout loss to oscar de la joya a few years later um you know when he would lose at the highest level he'd lose spectacularly you know he'd have his moments but he would um he he took a beating to end this fight and it's a war and it's crazy

it's got one of the best intros ever when Vargas is dressed like an Aztec warrior and there's this fake mountain of like boxes and he's you know like a temple and he just kicks it over I mean it's just it's wacky and it's awesome and it's Trinidad surviving the storm and showing

exactly who the hell he is and you can always look back on Fernando Vargas, who ended up having a very great career. But you're like, man, was it too much too soon? Could he have been? Could he have sustained it better and been better, you know, taking his foot off the gas just a little? Either way, he made amazing, great fights. Number six on this list of, you know, MMA fans guide to which

boxing fights they should watch. You talk about a great trilogy in the middle two thousands. It's Manny Pacquiao versus Eric Morales, but it's the first chapter of that. Um, I got serious, serious back into boxing in 2004. I'd still been watching the big fights but i had taken a few years off of of hardcore level for sure and i mean the nba is on fire you know of course in the late 90s before that we all had a run in pro wrestling you know everybody did it in in but i came back because i started sparring in late 2004 and you know you get getting knocked around and and you know re in learning the the craft of it for the first time and my hunger for re-watching old fights just became out of this world i mean that was that's the pre-youtube last chance for if you can convert all these to vhs

and sell them online you can make good money and there are people charging a lot of money for these fights and i'm just buying people's whole career collections and then i'm like okay i'm getting so hardcore into this what's the next big fight because i got to get myself fired up and i remember talking to this uh tape collector guy in mexico in uh california i'm sorry of a mexican guy and he was a huge eric morales fan and he's like dude eric morales is fighting manny pacquiao at 130 pounds pacquiao's moving up in weight. It's like, this is the fight. This is the one. This is the one that we're all been waiting for.

All the hardcore fans, like, this is the fight. And, you know, Pacquiao had blown away Marco Antonio Barrera in San Antonio and been like, you know, tell me how my ass tastes, basically, to the boxing world. We're like, oh, my God. You know, he's moving up in weight. And, you know, Morales had been through the trilogy with Marco Antonio Barrera

and he had lost the last two fights in that trilogy. And he wasn't washed, but you're still like, is he going to be set up to be blown away by this hurricane forced win that is Manny Pacquiao in the small weight classes? And this is just prime. Pacquiao finally figuring out what to do with his right hand.

Remember, you know, for a while it was he's got this right hook. It's a secret. It's called Manila Ice. And it took him a while to become a two handed fighter. But this is when he's putting it together. And this is 12 of my favorite rounds in boxing history. Eric Morales gets a close decision win in the end because he caught Pacquiao. And Pacquiao in his early half of his career didn't like that he's he did he was a different fighter when he was cutting her and this is like the

perfect setup for Eric Morales who I think is the all is the he's my favorite badass in boxing history I mean he's my campion that's why anyone who used to listen to my boxing podcast on CBS Sports knows how I would campion my heroes in Las Vegas when I'm drunk and off the clock at big time fights with my, you know, uh, media friends. And it's just like, oh, I love that guy. Let's go up to him. Let's accost him. Let's tell him that, you know, he had no business getting up from, from that. You know, I'd be like, you had no business fighting my Donna with your eye closed, you know, the way votes you got, it's just, it's humbling, you know, and I've done that to a few of my heroes, you know, uh, Castle Castle, my or joel cast my or did that to him too i've can't be owned a few of them there's a reason why because eric morales is a badass and when you hit him he's the best i've

ever seen at the elite level of boxing or mma where he gets so hurt and offended and you can see the emotion in his face that you landed such a big shot that he's like oh no i'm and he comes just like drops everything and comes back and just instantly lands big shots in return and there's a sequence in this first round pacquiao against morales that's just beautiful to watch of exactly that happening a great fight but this fight what makes this all-time great and what makes the hey morales is a badass thing real why you would want to drunkenly accost him in public to celebrate the size of this man's huevos is in the 12th round morales turned southpaw for no other reason than because he's a badass

and went to war with pacquiao standing both in the center of the ring and not moving and just throwing bombs and Morelos got lit up like he got lit up and you're like oh my god he's getting knocked out and he survived it and fired back too and and gets the close decision win and you're just like oh my god this guy's such a badass and then in the after in the interview afterwards with Larry Merchant through the translator he's like know, did you like that? Yeah, yeah, like, yeah, Larry, you know, because this is what I do, you know what I mean? He would go on to, the trilogy's great to rewatch. The second fight was a, it was on

the way to being a classic with and then the third fight is most known for the fact that Morales got steamrolled and he kind of had a no mas moment. He got dropped for like the third time and he sat up against the ropes and he's just like, referee was like, you getting up? And he's just like, nah, I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. It's like, I'm too smart to take this beating moving forward. This guy's got my number. But the first

fight, Morales taking a stand, we should get some beers together and watch that together. I mean, that'd be great. Number five on this list. Could you could you not go wrong in the Eric Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, all Mexican, all man rivalry in the lower weight classes. The first one in 2000 is my favorite. And just so people know, the rematch was great. Trilogies often do have like a stinker of one of the three, which is not a great fighter, not action. The second one is this. It was very boxing. And, you know, Barrera made the adjustments and it was very boxing heavy.

The third one in 2004 is just, hey, we might as well meet a third time and just brawl. And it was great. But the purity of this first one. I mean, these guys like had brawl that press conferences before the fight. Like these guys hated each other and it's like the badass like villain at the end of the movie morales just putting his you know testosterone up there and barrera's like they call him the baby face assassin but he's he's the guy who like he'll he can brawl with you but he kind of wants to be a boxer and he should be a boxer it's smarter for

him and the reason why this matchup between these two was so great is morales would lure him into a war and sometimes beret would lure morales into a war to try to counter him and and they're just they would have it's it's akin to listening to you know jazz or like you know jam band rock and roll which of course is you know influenced in a lot of ways by the free form improvisation of of jazz but in those great jams you know whether you listen to fish in in the dead or or you're listening to you know miles davis and by the way oh god on the corner by miles davis i don't talk a lot about miles davis because i'm trying to do it right i'm trying to take my time i'm trying to really really you know i want to speak out of

turn you know i'm really you know if you're coming on, I'm coming on, Miles. Damn, that blend of funk and rock fusion is insane. But there's moments in those jams, obviously, where, you know, Fischl does a great job of peaking, you know, Allman Brothers as well, where they just, they're out of control. They're just, it's beautiful. It's another world level. Morales and Barrera would have those same

sequences of just your just fury. And it's just a sight to behold. And it's beautiful. And the spite they had for each other in the ring, it's it was like that special sauce on top. So the first ones from 2000, you'll love it. You'll love boxing. You'll love Mexico. You'll love everything about it. Number four is the greatest example of a Rocky movie fight actually playing out at the highest level, at somewhat highest level. And I cannot believe if you haven't seen Timothy Bradley Jr. versus Rusan Provodnikov from 2013. I mean, really drop everything and just go find the footage because it was supposed to be Tim Bradley, the great champion

trilogy with Manny Pacquiao. It was supposed to be him blowing away this contender, but attraction and Ruslan Provodnikov. He's a brawler. He comes head-on but bradley's gonna blow him away and bradley had so much motivation to like say fu to boxing because he goes in there and fights manny pacquiao in the first fight and he fights through two serious injuries like you know ankle and his leg and he wins this very controversial decision and you know he didn't score it that way the judges did right but he fought his ass off so of course he's like well man you know no i i you know

i'm not gonna apologize for getting the win here and the the boxing public just like villainized it and he took that shit to heart and he was of a mindset that like he told his dad, his trainer, who's a trip. If you ever watch the, you know, the pre-fight documentary stuff is just a I mean, his dad just questions his son's manhood constantly. And I was like, well, what's that? What's that smell? Is that pussy? And, you know, just, you know, just ridiculous things.

You know, he told his dad before, I'm going to kill this kid, meaning Ruslan Provodnikov. You know, I'm going to shut everybody up. Those are the best ever setups for like great fights for somebody in the NBA scoring, you know, 50 and like an FU game. But in boxing, it's pretty damn violent when it's fueled by that kind of spite and bradley just went in there was like you know i'm just gonna blow this guy away and that's what ruslan provodnikov welcomes that's the spider web but there's no like tricks he's not like he's just sitting here saying dude come and get it like i'm gonna go life or death with you and these two went life or death with each other and bradley got knocked the hell around

and kept getting back up and you know there's some rounds that he's actually boxing from distance which is what he's supposed to do and then the next round just gets monstrously concussed again and he's fighting when he should be holding and it's just a example of i don't even want to say the human spirit like juliana pena upsetting amanda new want to say the human spirit, like, Juliana Pena upsetting Amanda Nunes is like the human spirit coming through. I mean, this is just like the human will. This is just too stubborn people

just saying, like, and Provodnikov's face is a mess, but he's still coming on and there's questionable scoring on the ruling of a knockdown and Bradley ends up winning

a very close decision. A lot of people saw it the other way and Bradleyadley to his credit would springboard from this fight go fight juan manuel marquez on pay-per-view right after marquez knocked pacquiao out cold and like outbox him in a thriller just a great tactical technical fight um but he some people think he got a gift here and i think i scored the draw and i didn't hate the judges giving it to bradley although you know the scores were a little little funky in some ways but uh the the punishment bradley took i mean he got like he was effed up after this fight physically you know like deep concussions and and react you know like long i remember he was he did an interview with max kellerman on like la espPN radio after that fight. And he was like, tell him that she's like, you

know, I told my dad, this is your fault. You created this killer with no off switch. This is your fault. And he's like, you know, I was in like dark, dark places, you know, physically and mentally after that, that fight. And, uh, just a psycho. This guy's just a psychopath. That's why I love Timothy Bradley Jr. so much. By the way, he's a great commentator and he's a great guy to interview. Always has been. Always been an all-interview team

because he just tells the truth with passion. But you talk about the human will and the human... I mean, this guy, he had to go to a... It wasn't just hell, right? It was like, okay, I'm in hell. I gotta see the back room. You know, let's see the pipes of this place uh unbelievable i'm humbled even telling you about this fight if there's anyone still watching right now i'm humbled to tell you how great that fight is

number three on this list is uh you know it might be the greatest like sometimes you know usually in boxing like some fights are meant to be great fights but it's like action fighter versus action fighter what we love the best is when a great fight between pound for pound grades and all-time grades in this case turns into that great all-time action fight in like turning into that is a great ending right we love it when they turn into action fights but sometimes it's got to be technical and tactical for a while no this was manny pacquiao versus juan man Manuel Marquez part four and this turned out to be one of the greatest fights in boxing here one of my favorite fights one of the most emotional fights they're they're both still they're old and this is the fourth time

they're fighting and let's not forget there was customer fatigue like a lot of it of people saying I don't need to see this matchup again i saw the first three and most people thought marquez got a raw deal on most of the scorecards marquez never thought he lost any of the four by the way he's probably never thought he lost a fight in his life um he's you know notoriously stubborn in that regard but the these guys were at the end of their careers but marquez was going through his is he on roids or is he just drinking jet fuel period where he bulked up to welterweight and is just suddenly this force and he's old, too. But yet they're still like two and three in the pound for pound top 10. And they're both future Hall of Famers.

And this is their fourth meeting. But we all kind of came in there going, OK, it'll be fun. Right. The third one was like a thriller when Manny made that comeback to force, you know, the close scorecards. And, you know, the first two were just incredible for so many great dramatic reasons. I thought the fourth one was going to kind of stink, but just be fun because it's them and they're old. I didn't expect like a blood and guts,

almost Barrera Morales, fuck you type pace to this fight of just like, I hate you. I'm coming after you. And this is like street fight rules right this is like rocky five when rocky took tommy more tommy gun to the to the to the alley you know you oh you push around poorly won't you try knocking me down as my dad would say endlessly after that after we saw rocky five that that shitter in the theater. This was incredible.

Pacquiao gets straight up dropped early. And you're like, oh, and he got, it was a looping right hand and Pacquiao went down hard. And you're like, oh shit, I don't think I've ever seen Pacquiao knock down before actually. And you know what? Pacquiao's such, he's such a force.

I don't really think I've ever seen like crazy hurt like I saw him bleeding against Morales I saw him in you know certain shootouts against Marquez but like never hurt like that and they and you had Marquez just fighting like like you stole everything I worked for in my life and I am here at the end of this action movie to gain my revenge because you know it was the all-time greatest revenge when marquez legitimately feels like he was screwed on the scorecards against the more marketable fighter at every fight every single fight including the first one when he got knocked down three times in the first round and yet still forced to draw because he came back and he's like just the

demeanor of i'm going to kill you but then pacquiao puts it on him in this rally and it's like old pacquiao again it's like the the pacquiao who used to womanize and gamble and like that pacquiao the no fear like trunks uh dyed hair with the blonde bristles that manny pacquiao you know that guy was back that night. And that's what led to him getting knocked the hell out in the most vicious manner ever. But how sweet is this for Marquez, who's basically like, I'm going to take out all my anger

of how my career went on you right now. And he is almost stopped the round before the knockout happens. His nose is a broken, bloody mess. And he's getting battered and he's walking through him, but he's getting, there's a price he's paying for it, you know?

And then he uncorks the deadliest counter shot of all time with that right hand that flatlines Manny Pacquiao to a level that it is not hyperbole. And I'm doing, I think I was doing a live blog on ESPN.com at the time doing like constant play by play typing it. And so I'm watching this and I'm in this fight right and i'm and i'm going i'm texting everybody in between go how sick is this fight there's a war and then it's over and it's over in the most stunningly violent emphatic way ever that for the 55 seconds that manny pacquiao was down out cold and not moving before they revived him during that 55 seconds that Manny Pacquiao was down, out cold and not moving before they revived him.

During that 55 seconds, they're showing his wife screaming, crying, climbing up the apron. They're showing Bob Arum trying to comforting her, but looking in his face like, like his son was just murdered or something. You know, they massacred my boy. I mean, like he had that face

and you thought Manny Pacquiao was dead. No one talks about that enough. Like, you know, you, no, no, you, you're like, no, he's, he's dead. Like, that's the most, I mean, for that to happen in the, in the fourth, you know, that's the greatest rivalry of the modern era without question. And it was already going to be one of the best, but to have that as your send-off, and Marquez, blood everywhere,

jump up on the corner, turnbuckles, and the Mexican fans going sick in Las Vegas. I remember doing that live blog, and Karen Mulvaney, who's co-host of the Showtime Boxing Podcast right now with Eric Raskin, and I love Karen. I've been up and down the road with him forever, been's co-host of the Showtime Boxing Podcast right now with Eric Raskin. And I love Karen. I've been up and down the road with him forever.

Been his editor a lot of times, all that stuff. He was ringside. And when Pacquiao's down for 55 seconds, when you're doing a live blog like I was for ESPN, you got to constantly pump that thing with what you're seeing and everything. I mean, you're telling the story for those that didn't buy it, right? I didn't type anything for like 90 seconds, two minutes, because my jaw was like down to here. But as soon as I wrapped up what I was doing and put up the story,

just whatever I had to do as an editor, I text Mulvane. And I think he texted me and he was like, oh my God, I can't believe I just witnessed that. And I was just like, I think I was like, tell me what it felt like. Tell me what it smelled like. Tell me what it smelled like. Like, tell me what it tasted like.

Like, you just experienced, like, you were in the movie, you know? And he goes, hey, do you mind if I call you right now? And, like, I'm in the first floor of the house I'm renting. My kids are small and I'm still sleeping. My wife's sleeping. And I'm just like, yeah, yeah, dude, call me right now. And we proceeded like giddy school girls to be like oh my god i can't believe i just watched that oh my god and in i'm sure i just

screamed in the microphone and woke a lot of you up but like that's as amazing as this sport can get when it's got the storyline you know the fourth fight of the rivalry and they hate the shit out of each other and the guy that got screwed throughout is able to land the final blow and just be like yeah and you know and there's questions if he's on the stuff and in uh i can't believe pacquiao rebounded from that and was you know still the fighter that he was the rest of his career and might still be i do think he's coming back, by the way. I do. But, you know, not 80% of fighters who would take that kind of knockout loss

at that age that Pacquiao did, they're not fighting again. That's the end of your career. That's the end of, that's the extinguishing of all that invincibility that allows you to believe you can do this at this level, you know? And, and I mean, it was, it was out and credit to back you on the post-fight interviews after they rewoke him and he's calming down his family. But like, damn, damn, that there's, there's no, you can't, like you, I don't feel that watching the Superbow super bowl you know

what i mean and i've been a i've been a monstrous sports fan my whole life in every sport and you know and i've worked the front page of espn.com and you know where you're you got to know everything and every i mean i've lived this and you know i've been a part of some great moments watching as a fan like you have you know like landon Donovan scoring that goal in the world cup. And like, you know, that kind of like, I've seen some fun stuff, you know, NBA moments that are just Shakespearean. Nothing ever made me feel like Pacquiao Marcus for, and like the forget one hour afterwards, like the next day, like,

that's just like, that's real life. I mean, that is wow. I mean, hope, I hope you feel like that after watching the MK documentaries. I doubt it. I hope that's my, you know, that's my working that's real life i mean that is wow i mean hope i hope you feel like that after watching the mk documentaries i doubt it i hope that's my you know that's my working plan and my goal all right um number one and two are you pick your your flavor whichever one you like better one's definitely better than two in terms of better fight but these are the two defining not defining rivalries although mickey ward versus arterio gatti was a great rivalry and it is one of the best rivalries but these two were like i mean these are fights that brought people back as boxing fans again these two these are fights that

in some ways like how does it like i say this sometimes i say this once a while like i don't know any real boxing fans in my day-to-day life for the most part a couple dads around town that know a little bit we have some nice talks and all that and that's fun and i treasure that but like you know i'm talking to my brethren in this game the other journalists you know the rave bartholomews or the you know great fans that i've come to meet and even getting like dm or text relationships with because you're just super fight fans right and um these are like these are the type of fights that build the resolve in you as a addicted super fan to put up with all the ridiculousness that this sport makes you financially uh in terms of your patience in terms of you know everything it's fights like these two, one and two that, I mean, you know, they're, they're, it's the hag, they're hag. What is Hagler Hearns to a

generation of people? You know, everything rightfully so, you know, it almost defines the reason why you watch and the feeling that it gives you. And number two, it's my favorite fight of all time. It's the first Mickey Ward, Arturo Gatti fight, 2002. Their trilogy is insane. Shout out to HBO. Their documentary about that trilogy is also very well done. But they're paired together as sort of two journeyman action fighters on the way out who, hey, wouldn't it be great if these two ever fought?

So, hey, let's just do it now. And they'll both get a good payday out of it and yeah and obviously gadi had a brighter ceiling at that time and was still you know and largely in title contention gadi would have arturo gadi was um i mean he lit like talk about living your life quarter mile at a time like fast and furious like that was his life dude i mean i actually just recently talked to somebody who had partied with him and uh he's an mk fan and i was talking to who who who had was in that close to that circle at one time and he's like dude nobody went harder than like nobody went that hard you know what i mean and i mean look he lived fast he died hard and it's how he died is just you know it's unsolved to say the least and still just ridiculously sad but but he had a brighter ceiling to still be a title contender,

but he would have so many highs and lows and dips and partying too much and injuries. Like he would, he would crash and burn a lot in his career where you'd stop taking him seriously as a like legitimate fighter, like title contending one and just attraction. A guy who had authored some of the most absurd come from behind all action blood and guts wins in this history to the point where like arturo gatti became one of those weird rare franchises where he had his own fans and they followed him wherever and when he you know they rightfully

would gave him a home there at boardwalk hall in atlantic city And it was like a rock concert when he fought. And coming out to Thunderstruck by ACDC, it's just like, it's the chef's kiss. It's perfect. And he lived up to that reputation time and again. But he's fighting old-ass Mickey Ward here who tried his best to become a real title contender but never quite got there. Had some bit, the Shane Erie win, I love it. They built but never quite got there. Like, you know, had some bit the Shane Nary when I love it,

they built the Mark Wahlberg movie. The fighter was really built around the, the run Mickey had against all odds to even get in that Shane Nary fight, which was for like a IBU title, like one of those, not real titles, but like whatever. But Mickey had been the all action B side guy,

you know, and, and, and he'd had great comfort behind wins, but, and he's had great action behind wins but and he's had great action fights god the emmanuel augustus fight emmanuel burton augustus god that's a great fight um but when you put these two together and said use you know use your powers you know like you've met your equal that's what they both said i want to meet my equal ahead of this fight they met

their equal there's a reason why these guys became brothers after this trilogy to the point where Ward was started training Gotti for those last couple of fights of his career. It's it's almost spiritual, this fight. It's weird to say that, but like in it, the reason why I put Corrales Castillo ahead of it is because and you have to put it historically to this fight wasn't for a title. It was just for like, you you know action fighter payday but it took a while to kind of get serious you know it's a couple rounds feeling you out but when it turned i mean it's got it's got the round is around nine my favorite round in boxing history i mean it's got one of the most insane rounds of all time really the most insane like couple round package of like seven eight nine ten in a row um it's you know i could sit here for an hour and tell you how why that fight is so great

but i think ultimately the reason why it's it it clings to people certain boxing fans hearts more than corrales castillo is the human emotion that was shown by both in it and in overcoming so much and the same thing happened in kraus castillo no question but like god he making that like grimace when he got dropped by that body shot and he had no freaking business getting up from that body shot mickey ward knocked out so many mickey ward had that out pitch he had the you know forkball that no the cutter say it mariano the cutter he had the damn cutter that you couldn't hit and you know you couldn't stop he'll find a way to get that left hook to your liver and he'll stop you and he hit Arturo Gotti with one of those and Gotti's like trying like hell to be like nope I'm I'm the biggest

badass you ever met man I fight through this shit and he's like and it's not letting him and he finally gets to his feet and you know the beating he takes after that, like, thank God, Frank Cappuccino was so stubborn and old as a legendary referee at that point that he's just like, you know, because Jim Lampley, the famous announcer, was yelling into the mic, you know, you got to stop this fight, Frank. You got to stop this fight. You can stop at any time. And, you know. Seeing him overcome that and then flip it back on Mickey Ward. And that's the same thing of what made the first Riddick Bowie, Vander Holyfield fight so great in that incredible round 10 is because it had

that same thing where somebody is on the verge of this dominant stoppage. And then it turns in a Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin type way and it turns fast and quick. And the back and forth of the final two and a half rounds here is just savage and you know their whole trilogy was the second one's the stinker of the three i have a soft spot for it the third round is is among the best rounds of the rivalry between these two but it was one sided goddy box like he always should against this guy uh the third one's wild man you know goddy uh building a big league but then hurting his hand and he can't throw his right hand suddenly.

And then he gets dropped. And that's a wild ass fight. Gotti wins it. And he was the fresher fighter. But they put themselves through life altering hell with these 30 rounds. And the first one is just an emotional journey that you're not going to find. Forget sports. You're going to find it in life.

Really, it's just it's an incredible ride to get there. The final one, number one. You know, it's not out of line to call this the greatest fight in boxing history and like the old like the real old timers really tried to like not do that after it happened and be like okay it's among that it's all time great but like hold on let's i mean is it really the best of all time it might be the best of all it's the best of this era like with a bullet and it's 2005 it's at the mandalay bay in las vegas and it's a lightweight title unification diego corrales against jorge luis castillo um there's not enough amazing things and it was just you know what was it two years ago was the anniversary of this fight what was it a 15 year anniversary i'm guessing 2005 to 2020 and you know we did a bunch

of morning combat was around we did a few fun interviews online i think i interviewed uh the referee tony weeks i interviewed joe goosen who was famously in with the with the awesome dress shirt like he's going out to rock the clubs in the corner of diego corrales you know and he delivered one of the all-time greatest lines by a trainer ever of better fucking get inside on them now like like a disappointed dad which fueled you know one of the maybe the greatest comeback in a boxing match of all time when when diego corrales turned the table but um i got a chance to talk to those guys about it and i wrote a oral history that if you got time search uh cbs sports from a couple years ago the oral history of corrales Castillo 1, talked to a lot of people who were there. And man,

that's a why couldn't I have seen the future and got a flight to go to that fight? There was only like 4,000 people in the crowd for that fight. It was on Showtime, but it was expected by everybody to be like I talked about. When Ward and Gotti got together,

they were like, okay, this is an important fight title unification. But like the way these guys are wired and the way that they're giving interviews, like they're going to, they're willing to die. And they're like, they're, they're good. They are ready for the war of their lifetime. And it absolutely turned into that more. And unlike Gotti Ward, which had a couple, you know, slow rounds to set things up. This off the start is just electric. And it's just both standing in the center of the ring. And it's not what makes it great is it's not sloppy. It's not just some sloppy brawl.

People try to say, you know, Mickey Ward, Arturo Gatti was just a sloppy brawl. There's a lot of great sloppiness in there. It was also, you know, they could box too. But this one, Corrales Castillo is is really at a higher level they are both executing their offensive plan almost to perfection against one another they're making defensive counters and adjustments so it's not sloppy and out of control but they're having great success with with what they're trying to do when they sort of take turns taking the lead and the brutality of the body shots and the damage that they're accepting that they're willingly accepting to take to not give up that real estate you know

like like i love football i play the i play one year organized football but i'm glad i did it you know because i was i was not i was not tough enough to be like a you know high school football player looking back uh but playing one you know getting knocked around playing one one year here you have a certain respect for it certainly that you wouldn't have had and but we all watch football in different ways betting perspective fantasy or just love our favorite team so much and and um but like you talk to the hardcores the coaches the high school coaches interview a million high school coaches and they just love the battle that happens at that line of scrimmage and i there's one coach i used to always interview is a elite high school coach had a great

program but he's the worst interview because every single time he would say you know what's i asked what the key to the game coming up is you know whoever blocks and tackles better at the line it's going to be our five against theirs and blah blah and you know and the ones that get it the ones that lived it know that football to them feels like a you know an alternate reality of war and you know the line and setting up and in theory in a running based attack yes of course these guys Corrales and Castillo

were trying concocting that same battle in such a tiny little phone booth and were just not willing to get off that line and take a back step and the fact that it never sort of like turned into a wild brawl and tiny little phone booth. And we're just not willing to get off that line and take a backstep. And the fact that it never sort of like turned into a wild brawl and stayed a very high level action fight kind of filled in any gap. It would have had an argument of not being this great.

It was perfect. It had the perfect ending at the perfect characters that had Castillo, just not just being a badass. And there was waves of momentum at the end of the first round. Al Bernstein, his showtime is just like, this is like an all time great fight. Like already, like this is just ridiculous. There's so many great calls that he and Steve Albert had during that fight. And just Corrales' comeback is just, you rewatch it.

Like I'm a Mets fan. I'm not a hardcore baseball fan anymore. But, you know, I was in the 90s, 2000s, the 80s, of course. But, you know, there's a thing that if I see a video of, like, you know, the Buckner play and Ryan Knight rounding third and the Mets win it, you almost get emotional. You know, it's like, that's my team. I remember that.

And it's like that, watching team that's my team i remember that and um it's like that watching diego corrales has come back here even if you have no connection to diego corrales at all like it's just it's it's what's possible when you don't give up right and it it's i mean he spit out the mouthpiece to lose the point, but by time, how ingenious in that moment, something he had just learned the fight before, or a couple of fights before against Popo Freitas, Asselino Freitas, when he went in there and won that title to really kind of set up the need for this fight. And it's Joe Goosen yelling at him, wearing that shirt, and it's the moment of like, oh my God,

he came back from being down 35 to nothing at the start of the fourth quarter. Like he actually did this. Damn. Those are the 10 fights that move me, that I think will move you too. Enjoy. All right, I guess we've hit the two hour mark.

I've really just been talking to this, I've just been making love to this camera right all right you by the way maybe the greatest uh line of all time i forgot what fight it was maybe ahead of the miguel cotto fight but paulie malinaggi saying uh former showtime uh broadcaster saying pressure i make love to pressure. It's aggressive. It's aggressive, Pauly. But I do like that spirit.

You know, like I go after it. You know, give me a two hour show. I'm bringing it. All right. I don't know how many of you hung around. Thank you, though. Morning Combat stores are fine. Merch house.

Do not forget that 15 percent on hoodies. That includes drug rugs it's continuing we got a new new new shipment of drug rugs coming in after selling out again but uh hoodie 15 is our promo code h-o-o-d-i-e-1-5 uh we got great stuff on there so check out that merch house site go to showtime.com get your 30 days free today because you got to see what's going on in Bellator. Championship boxing, BC on Showbox. Come on. Al Pacino's Neo Noir classic run is largely on there as well. So Showtime.com. Get your 30 days at the end of it.

You have to make an important decision about your future. One option is to pound the sand. But, you know, I think I know what you're going to do. You're going to like the way it feels on you. I guarantee it. I think that's it, though. Um, I guarantee it. Uh, I think that's it though. Like subscribe, social handle, all that good stuff. Uh, Friday, you get your wish. Luke Thomas is back in the building as morning combat sets the stage for the weekend. We'll talk about Luke's getaway, his revived soul, his mojo running again um for all you bc hardcores out there the few of you

uh that have enjoyed this run thank you thank you for being uh you know my passenger here i've enjoyed it as well but you know you know mk ain't mk a chuck chuck does a really great job right but mk ain't mk unless it's bc and lt so let's get the peanut butter back with the jelly thank you folks for sticking with us gaff pierre my friend thank you for hosting truth or trivia but MK and NK, unless it's BC and LT. So let's get the peanut butter back with the jelly. Thank you folks for sticking with us. Gaff Pierre, my friend, thank you for hosting Truth or Trivia and holding it down there. Great people that watch the show. We love you. Thank you for voting us in on podcast awards for, you know, telling others that there's a, you know, that, that, that yes, you are down with the sickness, right? You know, there's another strain out there that you can't get enough of. I'll be here. I'll be your virus. All right. Wuhan. I'll, I'll get you all real check, real sick. All right. I'll keep you all

in check. Did that go somewhere? It shouldn't have. I don't know. Anyway, for the great staff of Showtime, CBS Sports and Malka, and for Luke Thomas, who returns shortly. Safe travels, my friend. Much love to you and your family, and much love to you out there. This is BC signing off with two words for you. We out.