MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC Perth Preview: Reyes vs Ulberg | Jake Paul vs Tank Tour | Jon Jones to Coach Gable Steveson

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

Morning Kombat, Friday edition! First up, the fellas preview the UFC Perth card with a high stakes LHW matchup at the top. Will Reyes work his way back to a title shot, or is Ulberg the next guy at 205? Next, the guys recap the lackluster Jake Paul vs. Gervonta Davis press tour before discussing Mateusz Gamrot stepping in on short notice to fight Charles Oliveira in Rio. They'll round it out with some various news and notes followed by your Dead Wrong and Fan Submissions!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

It's time to bang. Oh, yeah, get up, get going. It's Friday in your face hole. It's morning combat. Break it down UFC, Perth like nobody's business. Welcome in Friday, September 26th. Of the 25s, I am your suburban commander. Commando.

Sorry, RIP, Terry. It's Brian Campbell, live and direct from the Hartford Suburts. The man next to me on the screen is there in the nation's capital. He's fought through the wars of technical difficulties. His middle name is Franklin. It's Luke Thomas, everybody. Yeah. They just don't end.

They don't end. I thought I had it figured out. Yesterday's live chat went mostly okay, but not perfect. And then today was another disaster. So I don't know what the fuck is happening. You know what the thing is, like how Irvin, Johnson can never shake off the HIV. I'd love you to shake off these technical issues as part of your life. Well, you know what? I thought I was going to be able to solve it. So we did a bunch of

tests. This guy helped me out at MKDalk, by the way. And by the way, there were two problems. And one, he has definitely fixed. So like, that's the good news. But the one about the internet connectivity, we thought after troubleshooting a million times that it was the cable I was running. And so I replaced the whole cable, which, by the way, I have to go through all of my rooms and and then under stuff to do. Wow. And it didn't work this morning. So that means I got to take my computer in for service.

You know, I just love that you kept your composure through it, Luke. You only yelled at. Oh, there was a few F bombs. I mean, let's be serious. There was a few F bombs along the way, brother. You understand what I'm saying? I got you. Hey, we're going to have a fun show for you today.

Getting you ready for UFC Perth, whether the crowd show up on the Western Rim or not. We're also going to look back at this weird and wacky, Jake Paul, Jervante Davis, or tackle a couple other topics and then get ready for a little fan Friday as we open up your DMs, see your fan subs. I'll show you mine. If you show me yours, consensually, of course, please follow and like our show here on YouTube. Shout to everybody watching on the Draft Kings Network. And you can check out our extended YouTube channels, whether you're talking about the Brian Campbell experience, which has a big, a big sit down with one Poetan Pereira today. Or the Luke Thomas.

Wow. Look at you. Not bad, right? Or you can tune into LGBTQ, Luke Thomas. Yeah, there it is. All right. You can do that too. Today's episode of MK is brought to you by Draft Kings.

With Draft Kings, of course, the crown is absolutely yours. So take it, right? That's what I'm talking about. Let's talk merch real quick. It's the end of September. So it's the end of days for the exclusives that we have over there at morningcombat. dot shop you can get black liver society and t-shirt or hoodie brought to you by average joe are the cracker barrel l t-shirt which has been one of my favorite shirts and mk history won't be here

forever and get your autograph t mn t posters you can also mix and match colors evergreen options available all that and then some tall pale and handsome head over to morning combat dot shop let's introduce you to the third member of our team boy is he a great trivia host and he comes here by a one-way ticket to the states from that horned-up gentleman who's got to be watching some Aussie rules Super Bowl this weekend. Hey, it's Luke Nocita of the main card minute. Ozzy Rules Super Bowl. The Aussie rules grand final. It's tonight in the States, roughly 12 hours from now, 13 hours from now. My dad's team, Geelong, Katz in it. Let's go Geelong. Also, pop quiz finale, BC in the championship versus Shaq dropping after MK today. So tune into that.

You got to find out what happens there. Will BC get 100, 100, 100. hondo and cash for his delta eight habits or not that's what we're they that's why we're tuning in right that's why people do it uh i've taken out thomas i've taken out heck can i take out the man who texts too much we'll find out there uh luke how is like your actual life over there in the nation's capital you you uh you're helping them set up the early blueprints for the white house or what no yeah i mean like most days bc teetering on the edge um yeah tuky had the flu the last two days. So it's been multiple nights of vomiting in the middle of the night. And I haven't slept right in quite some time, which is not new, but I mean, it's been like a specially bad. She

had to get up last night at 1220, 2.45 and then 431. I checked the clock. So I'm tired. But you know what? I'm not in a bad mood. But you're like, I'm not a bad mood. This is my default. Everybody, this is how I live. Yeah. It's just another normal day. So that part has kind of sucked, but the good news is she was able, she felt fine this morning, so we sent her back to school. The doctor gave her clearance yesterday, even though she had some issues last night, but whatever, I don't know. Luke, I know the best way to cure your ills.

It's a little track by the American rock band Creed called One Last Breath. It seems to fix everything. Yeah. I was going to say, does this involve me putting my mouth over the business end of a shotgun? Because I've thought about that too. You know what I'm saying? That is not acceptable talk on this show today or ever. All right.

So, A, we might as well do it since we're running late. Let's get into it right off the top. It's topic number one. We're going to set the stage for Saturday's UFC Fight Night Card in Perth. Let's do it right here with our friends at Total Wireless. This UFC Perth preview is brought to you by Total Wireless, the official wireless partner or provider of the UFC. Get unlimited data that won't slow you down. This might not be the deepest fight night card we've ever seen.

Heck, it could be in discussion for one of the worst. But how about this main event? Two ranked light heavyweights as Carlos Olberg brings his eight-fight win streak and his number three ranking to the table looking for a breakthrough win to grant him a title shot against who? How about one Dominic Reyes who has shaken off the four-fight losing streak? The three devastating KOs, the heartbreak of not getting his hand raised against John. Jones back in 2020 to win three consecutive fights all by stoppage, all by against ranked opponents.

And now Reyes comes in at number seven. Luke Thomas, this is a very, very even matchup. In fact, they're the same height. They're the same reach. They're 18 months apart in age. But that experience gap is really the thing that's separating them. How much do you believe that'll play a role in who wins on Saturday? Hmm

That's a great I Man it's a great question That's a great question You know normally I have a clearer sense About these things Well I guess what I would say is In this case

I mean BC let me just sort of say where I'm going with this Usually when I match up these fighters In prep for today's show Or any Friday show We'll read like preview the fights I start first with like technique and how they match up and style versus style and then i sort of incorporate these other considerations a little bit later although they can sometimes be the most pivotal ones but i just

tend to start there and with that in mind i guess what i would say is one thing i've seen on tape with reyes more recently is his defense has definitely gotten better um i think both getting into and out of punching range is better although still a little reckless at times But clinch breaking, and in particular, I'm going to say circling or just having a rear hand up on this side, just better defensive responsibility through different ranges and phases of where he's fighting. You asking about experience, I'm telling you that is experience. I'm telling you, this is a guy when he got four losses in a row, three by essentially stoppage, K.O. He had to learn a very painful lesson.

There were, yes, he was fighting very good guys for the majority of that time, but the truth is also his defensive responsibility was was lax it was not good enough and he has absolutely tightened that up and i think you know this is also a guy who probably realizes how many more pressing pushes to the top am i going to get like if this falls apart you know he still has a nice win streak overall but you know like it's kind it's a little do or die for him so i think that the broader circumstances and then the painful lessons he's had to learn to bring him to this spot. I think those things as an experience example

will help him will help his chances on Friday. Yeah, no question about it. He's been literally through hell and back. This has the potential to be a very good feel good story and let's not forget. These two were originally scheduled to fight

in January of 2024, which was following a 15 month layoff, which followed that four-fight losing streak for Reyes. Alberg pulled out with an injury. They tried to get it done too much. months later, Reyes pulled out. So talk about a flipping of fortunes here. Had Reyes taken that fight then, he may have been fighting for his job against a rising

up-and-comer who could be in anyone's ladies' DMs at any point in Ulberg. Yet instead, this fight is happening 18 months later where it's a quasi-number-one contender fight based upon what happens in this division with not just the title being at stake in next week's rematch at UFC 320 in the main event. but how about that that yeary versus Khalil fight also on the card that could have another say into who gets the title shot? So the maturation as Reggie Jackson enters the picture has been key so much so that I ordered off the menu here, Luke. I had an interview with Dom Reyes this week on the Brian Campbell experience where we actually got real with each other about his personal growth over the last few years and what it has been like to shake off that thing that's been in his head for four years, That thing that says, I know I beat John Jones.

What if I actually got my hand raised? Where would I be now? Getting through that was a big part of his maturation. Here's Ray is talking about what he did experience and learn while going through Hellenback. Yeah, the battle education, it's incredible. I've matured incredibly as a fighter. Like, my approach is completely different. My, my stress is a lot less.

I don't stress out about things like I did when I was younger as a fighter worried about every little thing I know that I don't have to be great on every training session I got to be great on fight night so that helps with the mind to keep you from going

up and down so much it kind of keeps me at a level base obviously we film everything and keep everything and obviously be able to see exactly where I'm at objectively versus how I'm feeling and it's i'm right on i'm not back i'm better you know like i'm getting better every day it's crazy

that i'm getting better almost every single day it's it's a trippy thing to see at this how long i've been doing i've been in the ufc for nine years and i'm getting better every day and i look at myself as a younger fighter i'm like i would have smoked that kid you know like it's it's freaking trippy man but you know it all happens as it should i'm exactly where i should be um mentally It's all about gratitude. It's all about, you know, this isn't going to last forever, man. It's, you know, sooner than later, it's all going to be over. Luke, the proof has been in the put in for him with three consecutive wins, as we mentioned,

Dustin Jacoby, Anthony Smith. And then most recently there, it's slipping, it's been the biggest one there, slipping my mind. Nikita Krylov. Nakita Krylov, thank you very much. In fact, we've got a graphic to show this incredible comeback story. It definitely feels good when you see that four pack of losses. No one really holds the John Jones one, of course, against him.

And then the three wins. Luke, it's one thing to say, I'm back mentally, I'm back physically, I'm better than ever. From what you've seen in the past three fights, is the 35-year-old version of Dom Reyes as good or better as the man who walked in there and did that over five rounds to John Jones? Well, it's a great question. He's not as young, obviously. And this newer version has many more miles as a consequence of, not just fighting all that time,

but, of course, the four losses and then in particular, the three devastating knockouts. And to that point, if you put back up that graphic very quickly, if you can, Long Island, Luke, if you'll notice here, look at Reyes' record. So you have the losses to Jones, Blahovich, and Prohachka, all former champions. And then the loss to span, that was the one to me, BC, that was really, thank you very much, to really demoralizing. That was the one where you're like, well, damn, this is a different ballgame now.

I mean, it's one thing to lose to champions, but this is a separate scenario. What I would say, though, is in terms of like asking, is he better? I already kind of alluded to it. I think the defense is certainly much better. I also just think the overall versatility of whether he has to press or receive

in terms of what the opponent is doing, he's been very, very good about that. He was always pretty good at, like, countering pressure, but I think, you know, in general, he's been a bit better about having two-way traffic offensively. So, yes, I agree. I think technically as a fighter, he is vastly improved and especially and noticeably on the defensive end.

You just can't discount, though, that he's fighting at Carlos Olberg, who I would consider limited, but dangerous as a counterpuncher, heavy-handed, and certainly the faster of the two. Less experienced, as you already alluded to, and that will potentially make a difference. but there are some, the very real strengths that Oldberg possesses are still a very real threat to the known weaknesses at this point of Reyes. Yeah, I think that's very well said. And as we look at the odds here from our friends at Draft Kings,

you have Dominic Reyes as a plus 205 underdog Carlos Olberg as a minus 250 favorite. I think, look, as Alberg beaten the same level of competition at his best, best is Reyes? No, I don't discount these three wins from Reyes. There's almost like, I mean, am I crazy here? Look, there's almost like a Tim Tebow, Jeremy Lynn-esque, like, buzz and spirit that's carrying Reyes to these wins. Like, we're kind of all sharing for him, whether we admitted or not. I just don't know if it can keep getting the win because I do wonder if Ulberg lines him up and starts landing clean, will we be back where we were on that losing streak? I do understand what.

oldberg told me about not stressing on things anymore letting it flow that that'll free him no question about it and you brought up that span loss don't forget that was his complete reinvention opportunity when he moved his camp to glover tisheras in connecticut with alts perera and to go out there against span who would go on to lose his next three fights after that and lose that devastatingly i mean i thought his career was over at that point so it's already a win win to get to this exact point where he is. But before we run Reyes talking about the true stakes, I just want to get your opinion. Is this in your eyes a potential number one contenders fight? If Reyes upsets Oldberg on Saturday, could you see him actually getting that call to be back in that spot to run back the demoralizing

memories of not only getting finished in the vacant title fight against Blahovic, but not getting his hand raised in that John Jones fight when, what, 14 of 21 cage side, media members thought he won. Yes. I mean, I don't know if you want to do an official prediction, but I, I mean, we haven't only talked about it, but I think this is an important point to talk about it in using this question, which is, you know, this is actually a pretty interesting matchup, B.C. So I went back and I looked at this.

Pop quiz, B.C., who was the last Southpaw, because that's what Reyes is, who was the last Southpaw that Carlos Olberg faced? No idea off the top of my don't. The last one that I could find, unless my record keeping was poor, which has happened time to time. But to my best of my knowledge, Long on Luke, if you get a chance to double check this, please do. It's Ehor Potiaria, who, you know, is not the threat that Reyes is, not even close. So now, granted, Oberg knocked him out very easily backing up, receiving pressure. He's got that nice long guard, right?

He uses that long guard, and he looped down and then came around, came over the top and got him on these like blitzing entries. So he's very deadly that way. The point I'm trying to mention is, well, if you have a South Paul versus an Orthodox, what's going to happen there? The lead hand battle is going to be really important. Dude, this is a very, very interesting test case to see about on one side, can Olberg maintain that long guard without having Reyes occupied or take it away or go to the body a bunch to limit it, faint his way out of it,

you know, the kinds of things that you would do to attack a long guard, or can he impose it on Reyes and then force Reyes to take these blitzing injuries where then he gets clipped coming in. It's a question of like the education to a degree of the lead hand of Olberg versus, you know, the problem solving of that same lead hand battle, but more from the other side of Reyes. This is to me why this fight is so interesting. The stakes are actually huge and interesting for Reyes in particular.

I guess Olberg has a different set of them, but you know, still relevant. But then the individual problem-solving battle itself is high stakes. And actually, like, it tells a lot about who not only is a deserving winner when they get their hand raised, but like on either side, their problem-solving abilities for, in Oldberg's case, a fairly unique set of circumstances. Yeah. And the division's wide open right now. There's a lot of former champions trying to, you know, get back into position, which could open the door.

Remember, this is the same division that allowed Khalil Rauntree a shot at the title when was ranked seventh, maybe that played more into the idea that Alex Pereira had already fought everyone and they were trying to reward Pereira for, you know, having been so active and saving their cards when they gave Roundtree that slot in Salt Lake City. But there's no question. This is a monster fight in an opportunity, especially if either one Reyes or Alboard can get a finish to potentially get that call. Here's Dom Reyes talking exactly about what the stakes are for Saturday. Yeah, full title implications for both of us here. You know, he doesn't have a real signature win, and I'm the guy that will get you a title shot,

as we've seen through how many fights, the guys that beat me became champs, right? Like, so, like, sure, yes. And I'm on the winning streak, right? I'm a three-five winning streak, not just winning, but finishing, right? I'm finishing guys who are ranked. I'm finishing ranked fighters, you know? Back to back to back. So that's the thing.

He's on eight-fight winning streak, a little bit lackless, he's up a last couple of fights, but this fight, regardless of how it plays out, the winner is look, you know, top three is interchangeable for title fights. That's just what it is, you know. And I know they kind of promised Khalil and Jiri the next one or whatever, but in my mind, I'm like, I'll wait, whatever, you guys could fight. That's cool. My son's going to be born in December, you know, I'll hang out with my son and kind of

raise them, you know, lose sleep for the first couple months, and then I could get in camp after he's he's no longer crying all night long you know what i say so well you are like i said it's it's god's timing god's plan sure it's all kind of seeming like it's lining up that way um but we'll see you know i'm ready i'm ready for this fight i'm very excited for this fight i'm i'm freaking so dang sharp it's insane so that was the battle of the two worst hats on the internet right there luke i hope i won but you know what he mentioned i'm wondering what on being disrespectful. Oldberg has an eight-fight win streak. I keep mentioning, but he doesn't have the same experience as Reyes, or he doesn't have the same signature wins. You heard Dominic say

that, that term. He doesn't have the signature wins. He is coming off back-to-back victories over Jan Blahovic and Volcanozim, both of them three-round decision wins. He finished Alonzo Meadowfield right before that, but the wins before that were sort of lower-level step-up names. Is it fair to say exactly what we're saying about Oldberg? Is there a reason why he's had wait this long to be in a fight that could get him a title shot? Shouldn't he have deserved it after beating Blahovic who stopped Dom Reyes? How do you look at how we frame how good Olberg actually is? Olberg is good in a bad division and still with visible limitations.

It seems to me that, I mean, dude, if the UFC were high on him, we wouldn't be having this fight. They would have, and, and the Ancolae of Pereira fight, the rematch next week wouldn't be happening. I mean, I don't know. Is that even controversial to say? I don't think that's controversial to say. Like, after beating Blahovich, did he put together enough of a resume at that point to merit a title shot? I recall in covering, when we covered that fight after the fact that we said just that. That was the thing that we had already said. So like, this fight was to be honest, something of a surprise. Now, again, I think it's actually the right call by the U.S. I agree with their decision-making.

Carlos Olberg won that Blohovic fight by the skin of his teeth. It was hardly some kind of mandate where he, like, stamped his flag. You could look at the wins on his resume, B-C, and then the streak. And then you could say, well, yeah, this is enough for a title shop. Yes, you could do that. But it wasn't like, wow, he really, you know, this was not a 1600 on the SATs exactly. So they're giving him this because they kind of want to see, hey, is Reyes' redemption? Is this vaporware or is this real?

or in the case of Oldberg, does this guy have enough to turn the corner? And Bojovic was, you know, remember he had been off for a long time coming back. Reyes, on the other hand, is on a hot streak. This is not a guy who's cold. This is a guy who's running, you know, the second hottest or even maybe the hottest he's ever run. Right? That's what we're trying to, that's the thing here. So they're trying to see what they have.

They're not sure and they're not necessarily blown over by this guy. He still has some grand opportunities in front of him, but. I think the UFC made the right call here. We need to see more. Yeah, I'm with you on there. There's one other element to Reyes' backstory that I don't think he's talked about as readily, and he sat down with our friend, Dennis Skrototov.

I think that's how you pronounce it, right? Yes, yeah, Dennis Scruton Shove. From our friends over there at submission. We love Dennis, by the way, obviously. Here's Dom Reyes talking about, like, some serious health setbacks that he had along the way that he's put behind him. is a stronger testament to faith and courage and strength and will and faith.

That perspective come to, like when did you make that realization? I think a lot of it happened when I was living day to day with my defense onbosis. And my doctor said, hey man, if you wake up today, then good on you. If you don't, then, well, it didn't work out. So I was living literally day to day, kind of as we all should really, you know. And it was like very profound experience. Like I felt, I felt God, I felt, I felt his energy, like he's 100% real. I have no question my mind at all that this is only a small piece of eternity.

Like I had a very profound experience and yeah, I'm just grateful to, you know, still be able to fight and be in this platform. And then once I win and when I win or lose or whatever happens, I can still shout out his name on top of the room. roofs. Hey, you know, this is real momentum. This is real motivation. Obviously, Elberg's got a longer win streak, but you've got a guy that, you know, I said it to in my interview. I feel like everyone is cheering for Tom Reyes to get this done. I mean, look, you've been the most vocal that he beat John Jones and didn't get his hand raised. Do you believe in MMA karma? Is he destined to get back in a title fight here? I mean, going back to what he said, you know, I'm not trying to be a hater, but I will say this.

None of that stuff means anything to me, but it doesn't matter what it means to me. It matters what it means to him and whether he believes it. And it seems to me, B.C., he's not selling something he doesn't believe. He absolutely, you can just tell he feels differently about it all. And, you know, I'll say this too. Maybe you got a different impression talking to him, but I doubt it. I don't think he's like happy about the losses at any way. I don't think he is like, oh, I'm at peace with it.

But at the same time, it's not eating him up. You know what I mean? Like, he might be motivated to prove that that wasn't real or, you know, blip in the road or, you know, there's a better future ahead. And that's, but he's not like consumed by it. He is not dragged down by it. It seems like he has found a way to really mentally find a way to use that as a useful experience, even as traumatic as it may be.

And I think that is huge as well. And to your broader point, B, see stories like that? this in MMA? I mean, let's be honest, if history, if past is prologue, B.C., Reyes shouldn't win. MMA is full of, dude, how many times have you seen slightly different case, but like, you know, a retiring fighter and they go up against someone and they just get eaten alive on their way out the door. And that's the way of things. But, you know, you never look at that and go, Jesus, that was fun. You're always like, oh, right, there is no, there is no happy ending. Like, you just, your heroes die the most, you know, gory death on their way out the door of this

kind of movie. You just don't see stuff like this. Now, I'm not saying these two are equivalent, but you see, this is reminiscent, reminiscent of what happened with Robbie Lawler in Strike Force. So Robbie Lawler, if you guys didn't pay attention, he never won two consecutive fights his entire time in Strike Force. This is July 2009 to July 2012. And during the course of that time he lost his first bout in strike force he lost his last bout in strike force and as i mentioned never put together two wins ever in that entire run but he did put together a two-fight losing skid uh during that that as well so he's winning one losing one winning one losing two winning one losing one this was how it went the whole way through then he goes to the ufc and he fights josh kashdek and

dude he's off to the races that win it it wasn't just that he got a nice win bc go watch his body language during that win he felt rejuvenated he felt alive again i've seen something like this bc to wrap it all up rea's situation is different in a few ways and we both understand that but you just don't see stories like lawlers where people are just kind of forgettable and then hit a renaissance kind of late or you know or whatever you want to call what rea's is going through can he follow in that tradition can he do something like that we're going to see on saturday but this is honestly a little bit special Yeah, it is. I mean, maybe I'm romanticizing it.

Maybe I like Dom Reyes, which I do, you know, he seems like a humble guy that's been through a lot. I also think Goldberg's probably the better fighter at this moment. I mean, I understand him being the favorite, but it really plays with you when you're trying to make a decision. So let's bring in our betting expert, Long Island main card. Luke, you heard those odds here about a two to one underdog is Reyes. you know how good looking oldberg is you know how good he is how are you betting this for

saturday i went with carlos olberg i took him in a parley uh just feel like dom rea's yeah he's on this nice three fight win streak but it's a little fluky two of those wins came to unrank guys third guy being nikita kreliov who's ranked like 13th i believe so he hasn't even fought anyone in the top 13 you know carlos olberg you guys mentioned coming off that bloisovitch win coming off the ozdemer win i just feel like this is that next fight he needs and with the title fight next weekend it's the perfect all right now carlos gets the next title shot so i like dom go see wolves but uh you know old i feel like olberg should should win this i would pick i would go i would play safety here and go oldberg by decision how are you looking at saturday's main event um

one more time give me the odds one more time what do we have i've got them right in front of me minus 250 for Oldberg plus 205 for Reyes How many times has Reyes been the underdog in this three-fight win streak? Do we know? Probably every time. Well, one of the fights was Anthony Smith,

so I don't know if he was the underdog there. All right, I can look this up. By the way, I mean, I'm going to finish here. Oldberg by decision is plus 550. Ooh. I got to tell you, B.C., I think Reyes is the better fighter. I don't really, I mean,

And then that's usually what decides it. You know what? How Michael Reyes on this one? The thing is this, like, as Long Island Luke pointed out to me on the private chat here, God, he was minus 275 against Smith. Yeah, he wasn't an underdog in that one. But Oldberg is two and one versus Southpaws in the UFC. But like the two Southpaws, and he did look good in those, you know, it wasn't against Reyes.

I think that Reyes, if he's close. clever enough. And Reyes has an answer for that long guard and the lead hand battle. And I think it's really important going to the body and mixing it up. If you don't see these things, then he's just rolling the dice. Right. BC, you would agree. If Reyes isn't mixing up things where, you know, you're taking away some of the ways in which Oberg wants to fight or is the places where he has key advantages, you're just, it's just Russian roulette at that point, right? And I mean, and maybe he'll win that one, but you don't like his chances. But if he's getting to the inside that's big and then clinching making him work making him wrestle up just you know finding

ways to take away that game i think this is his fight to lose you know i i think that olberg is i think reyes is the better fighter i think olberg in this particular matchup is the more dangerous fighter but just for shits and giggles give me dominic reyes i you know i hope that he wins you know i'm kind of with you on there i think that even though they're only 11 months apart and oldberg is surprisingly 34 i don't see him having the same mileage on on him or damage and over five rounds if we do see this become a little bit of a war uh i don't know i mean dude i'm you got to ride oldberg here it would be great feeling though for race look let's talk about sort of the negative surrounding this card at large i mean it's not a deep card but not all fight

knights are right i think that this is better doing this uh in front of a live crowd here on the on the western rim of perth than doing it in the warehouse but we saw the cole main event which wasn't all that strong to begin with one of the Taffa Taffa Brothers versus Ebo, Arsland, get pulled from this card. We just saw Obon Elliott's fight get pulled from this card due to injury last minute. And now we've got that Australian news report that's been lingering about the fact that the tickets not selling for this one and that tickets were dramatically reduced to about 50% to try to fill out the building, even at the press conference this week

with UFC International head David Shaw running it. Heck, we saw some of the Australian media, you know, pulling a Sean Zatel and getting after it, so to speak, and trying to push them on whether they're concerned about the lack of turnout from the fans. David Shaw did mention the Australian rules, football, Super Bowl thing they got going on, but that's in a completely other part of the nation here. Is it fair to say that UFC is just finding their limits in this era of jacking up the prices and maybe not every time coming through

with the kind of must-see fighters that people around the world need to see. And is it the time, too? This is a 10 p.m. Eastern six-fight main card that I believe airs in the morning in Australia. How do you react to this sort of sobering news for the UFC about the reaction down there? I mean, it definitely is not a sky-is-falling scenario

because if you're asking why is this performance, or I should say underperforming at the market, there's a few good reasons for that that have nothing to do with the UFC as a product, right? So, for example, there's this AFL championship, which is apparently quite a big deal. I think there's also like the NRL rugby finals the same day in addition on that Sunday.

And this is a, these are massive sports there. I mean, just that alone is going to make getting to the box office difficult. Then on top of it, I think the bank card, I think the fight is the event itself starts at 5 or 6 a.m. local. Like an insanely early. So it's a 12 hour difference from us in Perth. So 7 a.m. pre-length 10 a.m. 7 a.m. Sure.

So 7 a.m. Still, you got to get up at 5. You got to be there at 6. I mean, you know, these are, I'm exaggerating to a degree, but you understand what I'm saying. This is, this is, so that doesn't help. Then the prices were high. And then there was card quality to the point, like, for example, Steffie Hayes wrote this to me.

This card has. a single ranked fight, that's the main event. It has 14 fighters coming off the contender series, five making their debuts, 11 fighters are not coming off of wins, and there's only one other ranked fighter on this card, which is Loma Luke Boonme, in the actual prelim opener.

Not the prelim main, the prelim opener. And that's it. Like, the card quality is overflow. That's just what that is. You can be mad of me for saying it, but it's overflow. So on the one hand, BC, there are factors beyond what the UFC is about that is negatively affecting this.

I guess I would just say, one, my main takeaways are they had a lot of competition. Two, however, did the UFC not think about this? Like, how did they not know that this was going to be a thing? Three, putting it in Perth, apparently is, if they put it in other cities on the eastern side of Australia, there's a chance it would have potentially done better. But also, I'm going to say this, BC, you're beginning to really see some cracks in the UFC product. And we know that it's already tiered, but the appetite is really beginning to bifurcate. Consider that Netflix, they were like, yeah, we want your numbered events. We don't want anything else.

And then the, and it was Mark Shapiro from TKO who confirmed this. This is a fight night, and it's a fight night of unusually low quality. Is that a demand driver for the UFC? I would submit to you, yes, there are some other headwinds that they're facing, and we should note that. But like, fight nights are like, it's not it's not a it's not a part of the product that I think a lot of fans fans automatically consider premium i agree with you on that and i think sometimes you have to look at the old wikipedia page part of it there are 26 fighters after oban elliott's illness not injury thank you long island look for that correction there's 26 fighters remaining on this card only 10 have wikipedia pages so that that that does say something about where we're at here

And, you know, I think we saw this in the most recent UK card where the fans were upset at the ticket prices and the lack of stars. And, you know, maybe this is what needs to happen for a little bit of course correction for how they charge and how they map these out. Hopefully, as we enter the Paramount era, Luke, with all that said, how many of these undercard fights are you going to care about? I mean, the best news is that the main event matters. It's worth staying up for there's title implications. There's a good story. It's also a very even fight. Short of that, though, what else we got here?

I'm pulling up my notes here. Give me just a second. Sorry. All right. So elsewhere on this card. Okay. First of all, as I mentioned, your opener, Loma Likbuni taking on Alexia. I'm sure I'm pronouncing a wrong.

Tynara at women's straw weight. I like Loma style, Thai style. Obviously, she is Thai. Comes from a pretty good camp out there in Bong Tau, so I really like what she's all about. And she's riding a four or five. wind streak, Luke, just to let you know that, all right? Yep. On top of that, I would say a good prospect at light heavyweight is Navajo Sterling

out of city kickboxing, him taking on Hedolfo Bellito. Probably going to be a fun, at a bare minimum, an action pact fight. There is that, certainly. You have some names that you might recognize, Colby Thickness, Jimmy Malarki, and whatnot. I would say also Jack Jenkins has a bit of guy who have been kind of high on, who

stumbled a bit. I'm curious to see if he can write the ship against Ramon Tiveres. And you know, it's up to you to decide how much this matters. Jake Matthews, to me, has kind of hit a ceiling, but it's definitely very much improved. Neil Magny, you kind of know what you're going to get. So it's an interesting test of like where Jake Matthews is going to go at this point. So, you know, there's other ones you could pick, but there's nothing especially excellent outside. Well, now, Luke, from a betting standpoint, where should people be putting their cashola? I mean,

what do they got down there in Australia? Australian dollars? What are we using there? Yeah, Australian dollars. All right, kangaroo paint chips? What are we got? No, I want to give a shout out, first of all, to the Aussie versus the Long Islander to open the main card. Tom Nolan versus Charlie Campbell, BC, your cousin, Charlie Campbell. That's an exciting fight. If the Long Islander wins, are you going to punch your dad in the stomach? No, but I will, you're talking about dogs to take. I feel like Charlie Campbell's a live dog there.

He was sitting up plus 124 last I looked. Luke, you mentioned that? Jake Matthews-Neil Magni fight? What do you think the odds are on that, top of your head? Jake Matthews minus 180? Jake Matthews is like minus $4.50. Wow. Yeah, so I do think there's some value on Neil Magny with the spread.

I'll say maybe he could win a round here, two rounds, something like that. Jake Matthews probably wins his fight, but he does not deserve that big of a price tag. I definitely would pick Jake Matthews to win, but that is a big price tag. Yeah. And then one fight we didn't mention Cameron Raustin coming off Contender Series. He's actually fought on Contender Series twice. He lost a Therese Finney last year. Forget who he beat this year, but it was a couple weeks ago.

He's taking on Andre Petrosky. Petrosky coming or going. he's a good wrestler he's 35 years old did lose his last fight roustin struggles against wrestlers boy you are reaching into a level of mma that is it's purse card it's australia let's go baby yeah let's go this one's for luke's dad okay that horn bastard not my dad not my not you're a guy that guy has been horned since the 60s i'm sure you know all right hey uh this podcast by the way sponsored by total wireless the official wireless partner of ufc and when you are streaming the fighters sharing those takedown highlights with your boys, you need a wireless provider that

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for new subscribers applies only to the monthly rate for your plan. Additional terms apply. See the website for more details. Topic number two coming at you. It was a little bit of a whirlwind media tour with stops in New York, stops in Miami, which is the new home for the Friday, November 14th, Netflix super fight between Jake Paul, Drivante Davis, and the 66-pound weight difference between them. They had this media tour. They had a ticket pre-sale out there.

Did it improve anyone's opinion, though, of what this fight will be? We have big names. We have an even bigger size difference. and we had a lot of eye-catching moments from Tank Davis, where it either looked like he was uninterested. I don't really know what to say here. So, Luke, while it's really early, is the unusualness of this fight going to hurt its ultimate viewership in sales,

or is this freak show factor here to slay big in the ratings, whether we support it, whether we want it or not? I believe it or not, for today's show, I actually rewatched one of the pressers now on 1.5 speed, but I watched it. I still think that there's good reason to think just in the end it's going to do really well as a promotional attraction, right, B.C.? Also, I have a big question for you, but first let me explain why i mean i do think that they're at the cassia center it's not a stadium they'll they just have to fill it an arena i suspect they'll be able to do it i mean we'll see you know

we'll see but i'm not that's of all my concerns that's probably the least of them um and of course it's you know free for subscribers essentially on netflix and we've talked about this before does the combined star power of dravante davis plus jake paul exceed that of canella alvers versus bud crawford now you might say bud crawford now is kind of broken through to a degree and that's true, but I'm talking about pre-fight, right? That's sort of the two equivalent measurements. And I would argue that Jake Paul versus Gervante is bigger. So therefore, you should at least be able to match the 41 million, whatever you would think of that figure or, you know, because remember he did 1001 million with Mike. I don't think he can do that, but he should be able to

potentially meet or exceed Canelo. But then you have to ask yourself, it's like, well, okay, but if Gervante's showing up to these things half interested and the vibe is really weird and it just looks weird, to what extent is that an interest to the audience or trying to attract and to what extent is that a deterrent because they're not looking for hardcore boxing fans. That's not who this fight is meant to appeal to. This fight is meant to appeal to a broader audience of like pop culture fans.

And that's what is happening here. This is a pop culture fight for pop culture people. Are they going to be interested in a world where Gervante looks unmotivated? And the stuff that Jake does to me is not very interesting, B.C., but at least he's trying. You know what I mean? Yeah.

He's trying to do. do stuff. He's like manufacturing things and, you know, it's, it's all a bunch of lowbrow stuff, but it like, it's something. And you're just not seeing really that kind of response from Dravante at all. So you have to ask yourself, like, what effect will this have? I guess my thought in the end is, it's not in any way fatal enough to not get people hyped or to deter them ultimately. I mean, hell, they wanted to see Mike Tyson and he was bordering on AARP eligibility. but I do wonder how this might muddy the waters a little bit

in terms of both the hallow to be received beforehand and then certainly afterwards as well. Yeah, I mean, I feel like we're at the end of days of these carnival crossovers. Remember, the Mike Tyson fight was four years removed from Tyson last fighting when he fought Roy Jones in that 2020 exhibition. But that thing slayed on pay-per-view.

I mean, in a time of illegal streaming, it did over a million and a half buys. It also showed like a Tyson who somehow still, Had it. That's not the same Mike Tyson who showed up four years later. And, you know, Jake could have his lawyers listening to the show. But there obviously was an agreement there not to send Mike Tyson to hell. I think that killed a lot of the Jake momentum of why we care about these because you got Jake constantly saying that he's going to fight for a title or fight Anthony Joshua or fight at Canelo. Yet who is he ultimately fighting, a Chavez Jr. who didn't give a damn until the final round. And then he got deported of all things. And now a guy who. this short, this much smaller than him in weight. And I think the key thing that we took from these two pressers, particularly the New York one,

is a tank does not look like he wants to be there under any circumstance at all. So, dude, I hate this. I hate this. I hope somebody gets ill and it falls apart. You know what I mean? Like, I'm really at that point. I think it's almost horrible for both of their arcs.

I almost think it's horrible if it does well because I'm just, I'm done with these. Maybe it's the hangover of actually seeing history and greatness with Canello Crawford done literally at the highest level in a stadium on Netflix. It's not that I'm saying like Jake be done. You've done nothing good in boxing. I mean, we've given Jake the requisite flowers, but I'm sick of this. So officially the rules will be an exhibition fight, 10 rounds, three minute rounds. There's an argument going on about the gloves.

I think it was 12 ounces is what they signed to, what Jervantes coach Calvin Ford, the Miami. of which by the way there was like four people in the crowd uh he's arguing that they want to go down to 10 or eight you had gervante arguing in the new york conference about the weight saying i didn't agree to 195 catch weight i agreed to 190 so technically it's an exhibition so will you get a full on fight do we even want a full on fight i mean you know you would for the freak show entertainment of it but this just feels ill-timed and wrong and like really obvious ways you know what i'm saying let's see the size disparity between them during one of their faceoffs this is new york this is where tank was just like yeah i don't want to be here i mean look you've covered tank a lot we've interviewed him at length he's always a little bit laid back but are you

getting that same sense that he's like what am i what did i sign up for here also i just you know it's clear he doesn't take jake paul seriously and it's like in a way where you're like yeah i mean we don't either but then you sign to fight him and he just seems like i don't know it seems like he agreed to fight like his little brother and he just doesn't know how to act around someone who's willing to make fart noises with their armpits you know what i mean it's kind of he just seems like he's a little bit lost in this circus world where mhm fighters who are a little bit more used to i mean boxing is a circus too but it's a different kind of circus um and this kind of thing he's just not as used to i got to say bc isn't it unbelievable that we were just like man we can't believe that you know

MMA fighters would whore themselves out like this for a check that they basically can't get in boxing. And then you've got Dervante who is not underpaid. This is not a guy who inside of boxing has ever been underpaid. And now he is also hoaring himself out for this absurd exercise in a way that we thought, oh, no, because those guys make so much in boxing, they would never do this. Turns out they would. Well, on that topic, Luke, you know, I had heard rumors that that Dervante actually wanted to fight Lamont Roach Jr.,

but they couldn't get the money to pull off that pay-per-view. I'm not sure if they're substantiated. I'm not on the inside with PBC, even though I do call a good deal of their fights. I thought it was weird that when Tank was asked by Brian Custer with the first question of the Miami Press Conference about, why are you not fighting Roach? The tank was sort of like, well, I can't really get into it,

but I had to make this decision for my career. And I don't know if you saw on Tim Bradley's YouTube channel, He put like a 15-minute ran in which he tore Jake Paul up and down. But within that rant, he basically is accusing PBC of forcing Dervante into this fight to help them along financially. I don't know if any of this is true, but could that factor into this at all? Because I don't feel like Tank wants this. What we're watching here, I don't feel like he's reveling in the fact that he's going to get a potential easy payday or that he's facing some kind of danger here against a bigger man. I almost feel like he's just going along with it.

Yeah, I mean, if that's the reasoning that they can't do this, or that, excuse me, that they are going through with it, that this is ultimately just some kind of financial support plan. I mean, then, yeah, yeah, you know, dude, it's unbelievable. Jake Paul and Saudi Arabia have boxing by the balls. Did you ever imagine that 10 years ago? It's one of the most insane things to even think about. 2015, Jake Paul.

Jake Paul and Saudi Arabia are going to have this game by the balls. It's just absurd to even consider, but it's where we are. But I did have a question for you, which is it's sort of well known. Like what led to the decline of Japanese MMA? Obviously, it has rebounded some now. And I'm talking about, you know, the fall of pride and thereafter. It went through some dark times. I'm old enough, you know, this is going to sound insane.

But like when I was into MMA right after college, I mean, obviously watching before, but I really got back into it, Japan was the center of the MMA universe by a country mile. It was not even close. They were far bigger than UFC. And, of course, that leveled out and then eventually they collapsed and UFC went on to do UFC things. But I remember that world. But there's a story to be told.

It wasn't just that Pride fell apart and people just, you know, stop checking it out. That was part of it. The other part was what ended up happening towards the end of the boom in Japan is they began Japanese promoters, pride, but also K1 as well, they began doing way too many freak show fights. You know, freak show fights have a place in boxing, and sorry, in combat sports, but they were going to it hard. Like, Hoist Gracie versus Aki Bono, dude, I don't know if you ever seen those numbers on that. It, like 40% of the country was watching it, some insane number, maybe even more than that, like an absurdly high television rating. But what ended up happening was when you do too many freak show fights and they're too prominent, what ends up happening is it ends up undercutting the real thing.

interest in the real thing. They get tired of the freak show, but then they never go back. It exhausts their reservoirs and they don't really go back to the real thing. That was a big lesson in why Japanese MMA fell apart. There's other reasons as well. And of course, the Yakuza being a huge part of it too. It's not one of the other. But definitely, I recall years and years and years, for example, talking about this with Jordan Breen, the late Jordan Breen. This was something we used to discuss ad nauseum. Is Jake doing that? To boxing? No, I, yeah, he's, that's, that's the problem. Like, if this was a paper view, it would be one thing. But I hate that like, like we do have it, look, from a pure

boxing standpoint, we have an opportunity with Netflix's interest right here to, to shoot boxing in the face of people and have it be really big, have it be on Netflix, have it seem cool, the production values through the roof. I get that the, the Jake Tyson thing was one in a million they did it look at the viewership they got it's not their fault that taylor serrano three turned out to be the worst of that incredible trilogy and it really was an inspiring fight and it kind of felt like a letdown but then we get canella crawford and you're like okay love or hate the people involved in it this is really good imagine if the biggest fights in boxing can be sent without a paper view upcharge to basically everyone's living room and netflix to show what this sport really is

and now we're going to dip back to show people that this sport really most of the time is the shit show. So, yeah, it does feel like a little bit on your comparison there of what Jake is doing. And I don't, you know, I don't damn, Jake for using this to make money. I don't damn tank if this is the decision he made to make that money, even though he's in the midst of his career. He's a top 10 pound for pound. He just seemed to sidestep a potential jail, jail return.

And we just badly want him to face the biggest names in the game. but I don't know something just feels off about this and I don't like it I really don't the timing's bad it was different coming out of the pandemic when boxing was having issues getting back in gear their money wasn't there for the big

fights and suddenly you got Tyson versus Roy Jones you got Logan Paul you got Jake Paul it was this like you know this this little side diet it's like okay for the next six months I'm going to eat bad you know what I mean like I'm going to have this little gas station

diet but eventually we're all going to look in the mirror and want to get back in shape we just had canelo croffman i don't want this uh but let's hear from another crazy person look here's jake paul's dad talking about hold on let me sit this up yeah he does not he does not say nice things in this this is you know i don't think i'm not going to censor it or anything like that but heads up you know this guy does i mean listen i'll just say this listen to this and we'll be like well at least he doesn't use the n word that's nice okay but Oh, my God. Did you guys watch that press conference with Jake and Tank?

Tank and his team must all be completely brain dead. And if he were the face of boxing, it would fucking end. Everybody in the boxing world should be thanking Jake. He's putting asses in seats. He's blown up women's boxing like it's never been done before. And Tank, trying to have a conversation with him, it's worse than talking to a third grader. And then his team didn't even know what the fuck they talk about. They're like, oh, well, how about the, we want to do eight or ten ounce gloves and blah, blah.

And Jake's like, that was your guy's team. And his manager, whoever the fuck they retard was was like, well, I didn't know about it. Well, what the fuck do you guys do? You know, like, just the boxing community should be thanking the fact that there's somebody with some brains representing the future of boxing. Thank you, Jake. Thank you, your fucking retard. GP's out. Wow, GP giving me Hunter Biden vibes in a big way, Luke.

All right. How much do you think he knows about crack? That's the question. Wow. Okay. That's an interesting take. That's supposed to, by the way, promote the fight. Here is also some of what Luke referenced earlier. Jake is trying at least to create storyline. Something. To get tank angered. He brought up the low jack and he also brought up the history of domestic violence. Here's Jake. When you walk into the ring, how much you think you're away?

When I walk in the ring? Yeah. With her without the ankle monitor on. That's corny. That's super corny. I don't know how much our way. And the handcuffs, too. What are you talking about, fam? That outfit is trash, for real. That outfit is garbage.

That hairstyle. Anybody that ever rocked the Mohawk is a fucking clown. We all know this. Name me. You want to see clowns? You want to see clowns? Devante, you're the fucking clown, buddy. Any man who puts his hands on a woman is the clown.

If I pick my hands on females or anything like that, right? You see how when I don't even want to bring up nobody thing or anything, what's name about that? But Pete Diddy, when things got like that, it was mad females coming out, right? So if I hit a female, right, wanting to be mad other females? Like, I ain't been just with one female. Like, I'm 30 years old. No? Okay.

dude who is that let me the serious question who the fuck is that for who's quality controlling that i feel bad for who the fuck is that for reminds me of the guy who hosted this tour look you know what i mean you know just being hung out to dry and bcc's like this is terrible bc here's a check yes this is yeah yeah let's go poor poor buster he did try very hard uh he did he was doing his best i mean yeah uh we also have uh terence crawford who who chimed in and this one this one might get a little long, but he, well, listen to what he has to say about who he thinks is going to win.

Jake, too big for Tank, you know? In reality, he's way too big for Tank. Like, Tank is very talented, punch-hard, explosive. A whole nine yards, but... Yeah, because some people say Jake's fights rigged. He's, like, suing people now that say they're rigged. You see that? But how could they rig it before? Because, like,

what if they just say, oh, we're going to go soft on each other? And then Tank just fucking throws it right at Jake. Jake can punch with that right hand. Like I seen, you know what I mean? Up close in person. Like, dude is big. He's not as slow as people think he is and he can punch. You know, that's why a lot of people know, like, there's those times where, you know,

him and Tyson, you know, was in the ring. He could have, like, laid it on Tyson, but he kind of, like, held back. You could tell. And that's the same with Tyson. Like, Tyson could have caught Jake with something. And he's just like, you know, so you, you, you can see it. If you had to choose someone to win that fight, who do you think wins? Honestly, I think Jake by, by youth.

Really? Yeah. Dude, Jake's a huge underdog, too. Jake by youth, apparently, they're, uh... Man size. Yeah, I hope nobody wins, Luke, there we go. I mean, what else you got to say about it? You know, I mean, could it? I just, I just think I never was this guy.

I thought, like, you, it was, you know, big enough to be interesting. and the market, but not in any way a, not supplanting normal boxing, but I was really thinking about the lessons. They call in Japan the Kakutogi boom. That was what they called. It was like this boom of MMA and pro wrestling at the time. And the reasons why that collapsed was promoters overrelying on freak shows for big ratings. And I'm like, I got to tell you, I don't know.

I mean, I think there's so many things happening in boxing to lay it all at the feet of Jake Paul would also be irresponsible. not true. But I have to wonder, B.C., here's where my head is at. That's the last thing we can say about it. Dude, Jake Paul's fights, I'm sorry to say, they mostly suck. Like, they're mostly not interesting. They're mostly not very good, and they're mostly not very fun. And in fact, the last one was maybe the worst one I've ever seen in my life. What if he has another stinker where you get these big, 75 million, let's say, like a huge number. And you get this on Netflix, and he can't knock out Dervante, but Dervante can't knock him out. And so you

get another kind of like ass situation. What does it do when the times that you call in casual fans to come look at something and it's decidedly shit? What does that do? What does that do? I don't know the answer to that, but I'm a little bit worried to find out. I just hate that, you know, Tank was talking about retirement, didn't seem to care that he fought to a disputed draw against Roach. Look like he wanted the rematch. He needed the rematch to sort of write that wrong on his resume and here we are here we are all right let's go to topic number three we have some clarity here in looking to find a replacement for raphael fazeve in the october ufc heo main event for the fight night card fazeve is out due to injury we talked last episode about a lot of people

were turning it down one person that didn't turn down an opportunity to defyce do bronx charles olivera is one matayish gamra he's in we have a new main event And in some cases, you've got to argue this upgrades sort of the stakes when you look at where the rankings are. You have Olivera ranked number four. You have Gamrot ranked number seven, both in the 155 pound division. This is about as different an opponent as Olivera could get right here. But Luke, all in all, it ain't BSD, but is there an argument to make that this is even a better

matchup for the fans than the all action we potentially could have had with Fizziv? I think this fight. Oh, man. Okay. I generally think this fight's going to be awesome. So let me start with what I think could be the bad news or at a bare minimum just at least worth thinking about ahead of time. Namely, you go back to what Armand Sarjukian did to Olavera. Other guys have done that in shorter time spans, but like he did it for, you know, three rounds, essentially UFC 300, right?

That was 300? I think that was 300, yeah. where he's maintaining chest-to-chest connection the entire time, or at least long stretches of it, breaking it for some ground and pound. But, you know, that was basically, I know there was some submission threats earlier, but, like, how did he win that fight?

Like, that's how he won that fight. And you would imagine, hey, if, like, Sauriukin could do it, and the guy who also wrestles who also beat Sauriukian might also be able to do that. That's something to keep in mind. I think what I would say, though, is, A, if you're a Charles Oliverer fan, the fact that he's not going up against a bruising striker. Gamrod's striking has gotten better, but he's not like Fizim on the feet.

I think it's pretty fair to say, you know, given where he just got viciously laid out, that should make you feel a little bit better. That's the first thing I'd say. Second thing I'd say is I think Olavera is starting to figure out about like scoop gripping, inverting, you know, doing, he did it to Islam. He did it in fact to Ilya. Ilya tried to take a dominant position and he went underneath him. And so Ilya had to essentially just kind of escape to, you know, back to his feet or whatever.

So I think he's got that capacity to do it And for that reason, I'm going to say I'm pretty cautiously optimistic that there's a version of this fight And it's maybe even the likeliest version That is going to be pretty competitive. Yes, Camero is going to get the takedown. Yes, there might be some control positions that he maintains But in general, the style matchup

And given what Olivera has learned, is going to lead us to a place You're going to get a lot of action on the ground And or Olavera, potentially even putting it on him in the feet. Bigger questions, of course, about his resilience BC, Gamrod not known as a puncher, but if you've just been K-O'd and you're right back at it, you know, your resiliency can suffer as a consequence. So that is certainly on the table. But honestly, I'm

going to say that. I'm cautiously optimistic. You're going to get a really fun back and forth ground battle. Yeah, it means a little more than the physique fight because you've got Gamrod who's won four of his last five. If he beats the number four former champion in Olivera, this could be the closest he's ever been to knocking on that door to the title shot. And on the flip side, Olivera has lost three of five and done so on the highest level, sometimes spectacularly, but given his age, he's advancing into his late 30s now and given the fact that, like you said, he's so far so

closely removed, excuse me, from a devastating knockout to Deporia. This could be the kind of win that revives him and keeps him in that title picture. So no shortage of stakes. As we look at the current draft king's odds, Olavera minus 120, Gamrod, plus 100. So we are looking at a very competitive, a very interesting fight right here. Let's hear from Charles Olivero, who reacted on social media to the fact that Gamrod was the man who stepped up.

Adversar, Matthews Ganhot, this is the car that we'll do a great war. The restant just just ques, hype, just quill encheinguisse and say, but it's part, it's so that they think that it's the legal.

Matthews Garhott, thank for having to have accepted the luta. It's a great war. The Leon is famed. I'm full of want. I'm sure of a month. I'm sure of October.

A lot of October. look i don't know if your portugasa is any good but he just said there will be war and you know the gamra for for having sometimes a boring wrestling reputation has been in some bangers so if you're going to do this in hio in the backyard of that gray-haired gentleman who comes to steal your girlfriend you know what i'm saying that's that's the spirit oliver brings to the cage somebody's getting finished okay they that's that's what he brings this could be a great atmosphere for a call it call it you know what was the place where uh robert Kraft got the handy. Oh, yeah, orchids of, of combat possibly. Yeah, that's what you should call

this card or this event. It's got that. Someone's getting finished. You know what I'm saying? Same feelings. Oh, we also have Gamrod here responding, reacting to the news. I want to set this up if I may. Look at how much this means to Gamrod who people don't want to fight, right? I mean, he's got some big fights and sometimes he's lost the ones where he's had a chance to win. Like, the hooker fight was kind of surprising, you know, but for a guy that's been avoided and not been able, never been a promotional star, never will be a promotional star. Look what it means to him. GURVA! Look, that sounded like you had a Joseph A banks, by the way, that was, you could take that audio out of context in a hurry.

It feels good to see that. I was also just as sweaty. It does feel good to see that, plus 100 odds on Gamrod. You like that, Luke? I mean, that's a better question for Long Island, Luke. But I got to tell you, I mean, you know, he's a fucking threat. I can tell you that. He's a threat.

Indeed, indeed. All right. That was the worst-looking cyber truck. I think I've ever seen in my life. I would be clear about that. I don't think I've seen a good-looking one yet. It reminds me of the women of the state of Pennsylvania, Luke, as my dad used to say. Shut up.

Pennsylvania. Boom, boom, boom. There are certain states And there's just certain things That you and I both kill on this show And like kiss, the band kiss We both hate them And Pennsylvania women, that's another one.

We're brutal in certain ways. Yeah, there we go with that. You know what's not brutal though, Luke? Making sure when you're out on the go in the fall When you're picking apples, peeping the leaves, That you make sure that you smell great That you make sure that with the crisp bear The football, maybe a bonfire around you

maybe you're putting in hard work maybe you're chopping some wood it doesn't mean you have to smell bad at the end of the day don't let body odor sideline you mando deodorant plus sweat control is for the real working man out there formulated to stop odor before it starts it doesn't like mask the order odor it really just tackles anything you come across when you're on the job site when you're tailgate and you don't want to mask it you want to eliminate it you want to mando it really at the end of the day. When I put on Mando, people smell it. People know it.

Hey, what, what colon are you wearing? No, it's my deodorant. And at the end of the day, Luke, it's made out of clean products. It smells great. But all that is just vanity to me. Does it keep me composed? Does it keep me in the game, so to speak?

Anytime I'm rolling with Mando, it's not something I have to worry about because B.O., that can be a big problem. Yeah, no doubt about it. I'm going to give you two things that I love about Mando. first of all, it's clinical strength, sweat control, right? These are not people that are just guessing and checking about their product and that's saying that it works or selling you something that hasn't been proven. A proven ability for up to 72 hours to keep you looking, smelling,

and feeling right. You can't go wrong with that. And then of course, on top of that, in order to make that work, what do you have to have? You have to have premium ingredients, which include things like gentle mandelic acid to keep you fresh and dry. So this is stuff that's been tested, stuff that's been proven and stuff that has high quality materials in it. That, ladies and gentlemen, and particularly our dudes, is what you need. So here's what you're going to do. Amanda's starter pack is perfect for new customers. It comes with a solid stick deodorant, cream tube deodorant, two free products of your choice, for example, like the mini body wash or deodorant wipes, and free shipping. As a special offer for listeners, new customers get 20%

off sitewide with our exclusive code. Use code combat, that's combat with a K, at shop Mando.com for 20% off sitewide plus free shipping. That's S-H-O-M-A-N-D-O.com. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. Mando's got you covered with deodorant plus sweat control. Say goodbye to sweat stains and hello to long-lasting freshness. And look, if you travel a lot like we do, having those deodorant wipes as an extreme backup in the backpack, those come and play in a big way when you're on the move. All right? Yep. I can attest to that being a real thing. thing. Yeah, they used to call him Luke Swampass Thomas back in William and Mary. You know what I mean? Yeah, wow, that's great. All right, let's go to topic number four. Hey, it's only been three weeks that the new PFL CEO, John Martin is on the job. The self-proclaimed lifetime mixed martial arts and combat fan, he's tatted up as well as we saw from the video that he put out there. He's making huge changes. And it's in good timing because we are a little bit over a week away from that October 3rd, arguably the biggest fight card of the year for PFL in the UAE when we get Usman de Magamatov Paul Hughes chapter

two for the PFL lightweight championship. Yeah, Corey Anderson and a rematch with Dovettes on for the light heavyweight championship. Look, there's a lot going on in PFL and John Martin has announced some very substantial changes in recent days to their business model. Most importantly, from now on, each division will only have one champion, no more tournament champions, as you can see on the This was the detailed text that Martin put out there. Luke, I've got video from an interview that's going to run next week on my channel where I had the pleasure to catch up with John Martin, and we can throw to that in a second.

But straight off the top, just making that one key change of no more regular season tournament champions, then we got the Super Fight pay-per-view champions, then we got the Champions League champions. None of that BS anymore. One division, one fighter, one name one champion. do you support these changes that John Martin has brought in and how impactful do you think they'll be and not only PFL attracting new fans, but to be very blunt, staying alive in this

industry moving forward. I don't know what the response could be to this other than how is this not good news. How is this not good news? This is great news. We'll discuss the impact in a second, but this is obviously what they need. We've been talking about this forever. Dude, as somebody who's been doing this shit for probably way too long, I've seen all these promoter gimmicks and tricks.

I lived through Bjorn Rebney trying exactly this, and he had a different solution that he came up with. I'll never forget when they let him go and they brought in Scott Coker to run Bellator after Strikeforce had ended and his time served and Zufa had come to a close. He was doing this bit where they would have tournaments some of the times and then they would have this pool of people where if you'd either fought or won in a tournament, you didn't have to be in there. And the whole thing was confusing.

Who can follow shit like this? You can't reinvent the wheel. They try to with this tournament system. You can do some tournaments. There's a limited focused use for them. There is an intelligent use case for them. But just making everything, we're just going to completely rewrite the structure of MMA in ways that has proven to be a failure.

But we're going to do that to raise revenue. Sure, you're going to be able to raise revenue doing that. But are you going to be able to turn a fucking profit? Are you going to be able to attract an audience? Are you going to be able to build a fan base? And the answer to that is a resounding fuck no. It doesn't work. You can look at what PFL does.

And you can find many wonderful things about the product, but it's a basic question, do they make money and are they going to path to making money? And the answer is no. The answer is no. Getting this right, BC, to answer the question about the impact doesn't solve all of their problems. There's many other things that have to go in conjunction with this to get them to a better place, as well as, frankly, some serendipity. However, and I think you might agree with this, BC, this choice is not just good because, is it objectively helpful that they're simplifying their championship structure? Yes, of course. But to me, what actually makes it even better than that is that it signals the kind of thoughtfulness and reflection about what's working and what's not and the kinds of simple but frankly, bold changes that need to get made. It gives me, I'm trying to point out, B.C., it gives me faith in his judgment, right? And if I have faith in your judgment and your judgment proves to be correct,

it's not about my faith in it. I'm saying, if the judgment proves to be correct, then they're going to make other good decisions down the line that they're going to need to to get to a better place. Dude, I talked to John Martin for 15 minutes and was kind of blown away, not blown away at like unrealistic promises, just that I think he's everything PFL has needed in a mouthpiece. And I know they've been using Jonathan Coachman a lot more lately,

and we certainly support that. And this isn't meant to just completely dunk on Don Davis and just teabag him, Shaquille O'Neal on Chris Dudley style. But Luke, I think a lot of what Don Davis was doing publicly was acting like he's the smartest guy in the room and us MMA fans and experts don't know shit. Whereas I think Martin's coming in very humble. He's saying, look, we want to listen to the fans.

We're making these changes right away. Just so people know, Peter Murray is the guy that John Martin is replacing as the CEO. Peter Murray will now focus on PFF. International. Don Davis, the co-founder, still there, still playing a big role, you know, behind the scenes. But he just wasn't the right guy for the face. And the face matters. You need the media to buy in and trust who's speaking. You need them to be able to decipher properly. And I feel like, unfortunately, Don with multiple ends was digging a lot of holes without realizing it for himself. And it was just like, yeah, they made some positive changes this year. You know,

brought back elbows, certain things. But it wasn't enough because at the end of the day, biggest complaint was the same this whole shit so confusing you've got too many sub leagues you've got too many championship belts how are you guys going to compete you're going to compete by us knowing who are your core of best fighters who's coming up behind them to potentially challenge them what rivalries matter this is what we care about we don't care about tournaments we don't care about the other stuff so here is john martin talking to me directly in response to that big announcement that we talked about we're moving forward we will have one champion per division and there's some other just coming listen closely here part of the reason why i decided to to to move quickly to the

simplification and communicate the simplification uh is because we've been listening to the fans and it was my predisposition coming in being a fight fan since i was five years old there's a tried and true you know method which and it's beauty and simplicity and it's everybody knows who the champ is everybody knows who the contenders are and then there's matchmaking they're storytelling, there's grudge matches. You can build energy and momentum. And in some of the formats, it was tough to do that. The formats were not bad. There was real rationale for them. And we may still use some tournament formats in certain areas, particularly in the international leagues, where I think it may make more sense. But people want to see the best fights. They want to see

the best fighters fighting the best, you know, opponents. And that's what I want to bring to the PFL. So, Luke, I followed up and said, are you saying that next year, 2006, which by the way is the last year for PFL on ESPN, are you going away with tournaments? And he said, while I'm not ready to make that announcement today, he said, we're going to be talking with ESPN about what they want. And basically, he summed up that it would be his preference to get rid of the season tournaments next year. Use those more on the international circuit and actually put their best fighters forward, let them defend titles let them become names and he claims five years running tn tn t that he has the right sort

of marketing approach to take people like ditch of a you know people like paul hughes people like usman and really try to make them stars so this is refreshing as shit for a company that really felt like it was on its last chances here here's what you have to confront bc what happens if they make these changes and it doesn't save them what does that tell you i mean it tells you that this is this business is a monopoly and no one's going to you know knock on the door of the top but you know what he wasn't saying to me throughout this interview which you can listen to next week he wasn't saying we're co-leaders with ufc he was actually saying that we are number two we want to get better every day we want to eventually can be considered a competitor but for

now we just want to make the best fights we can and that's exactly where you would want them to be now i did bring up francis and gano he said he's going to meet with francis for the first time next week in the UAE, he doesn't know if Francis wants to fight in MMA moving forward. They're going to talk about that. But unlike Don Davis, who kind of ripped Francis for not being there for PFL Africa, this guy went on a rant about how good Francis has been for their brand as an ambassador. So it seems like they are trying to repair whatever issues are with Francis. And that's the reason why when they announced that December card in France that will have a

heavyweight championship fight, Nemcoff against Hedah, they did not. not asking Ghanu for that fight because they want to really figure out what his future is. Yeah, fair enough. I mean, I got to tell you, I haven't heard anything from this guy yet that gives me anything other than belief that he's got the right idea about, you know, where it can go, B.C.? I don't know. But can he maximize what they have. I certainly have heard nothing yet that tells me he can't.

Yeah, and he said in the early talks he's had with ESPN that they want Ditchieva to kind be the face of it. Like they are interested in her. With good reason. I mean, A, your dad would watch and B, many other dads might watch who feel similar to your dad. I told John Martin. I said, that's all my dad talks about. And he was like, yeah, yeah, here we go.

That's what it is. All right. Let's see if PFL can pull that off. All right. Our fifth and final topic today, John Jones has signed on to be what appears to be the head trainer of 2020 U.S. Olympic gold medalist Gable Steven, who was 1 in 0 after making, of course, his MMA debut with LFA just a few weeks back. and John has praised the Olympic champion as an inevitability that he will go on,

Gable Stevenson, to become UFC champion. Now, tied in with this news is Gable will make his return to combat sports when he headlines a dirty boxing card upcoming next month in Nashville against the guy who looks like a truck driver, but we'll see what happens right there. In terms of all-time heavyweight prospects in MMA history, Luke, where do you think Stevenson ranks giving his back? background, his agility, given what we know about him at this point, is it fair to say he's the greatest heavyweight prospect ever? And what do you make of John Jones kind of going all in on

trying to help him get there? Yeah, so I was wondering about this. Okay, so how many, very quickly, BC, it says you're a prop, the prop quiz king. How many fights before Brock Lesnar won a UFC title? Minzu, Kim, Frank Meir, and the Texas, what's his name? Rattlesnake? No, the damn Heath Haring. So four, right? Four. So then Coutor was four.

Okay. I think he's got heavyweight prospect of all time locked up. I mean, the guy didn't even get to five fights, and he won a UFC title. Now, granted, he beat Coutre doing it, but Cotor was a former two-time heavyweight champion. That was not, you know, yes, there was a, I mean, if you watch the fight brock is like comically bigger than him but you get the idea still since brock lesner i don't know if i've ever been this excited about a heavyweight prospect you know francis and ghanu kind of came a little bit out of nowhere so he wasn't heralded necessarily

in that way bccane valasquez was the prospect of all prospects but then col conrad col conrad was fighting in bellator so he was like a hardcore fan's delight a lot of people weren't exactly sure about him but yes you could put him in that list I think would be on the list. The point I'm trying to say is look at the fucking names I'm putting him in company with. Now, I don't know if Gable Stevenson will be that kind of a star. And in fact, because he's got a checkered past in a really horrible way, I'm not even sure if I want him to.

But putting that aside, just like what is the inevitability of this? I just, you know, I don't know how he's going to deal with pressure from the broader career. I don't know how he's going to deal with someone punching him in the face. That does change the equation in ways that can be hard to predict. Even you can be the world's best wrestler, be an excellent athlete, and in certain ways, be tough as shit. But certain people, like Brock Lesnar, it wasn't a world champion, but like Brock Lesnar, you know, could never maintain composure under fire. That was a real big problem for him. So these are things that could be limiting to him.

But B.C., how could you not consider Gable Stephson just on pure athletic talent, pipeline, strength of the division, institutions essentially backing him? How could you not think that Gable Stephson's not going to win a UFC title? How could you think that, right? Yeah, I mean, does it give you any pause, though, that it didn't seem like he had the passion to go directly from amateur wrestling success to this, that he had a bunch of- True, but he did have a bunch of detours. He tried out pro wrestling. It seemed like it was his fall that didn't work. He tried out the NFL thing, very Brock-like. That didn't work. He went back to amateur wrestling for that extra year at Minnesota. I mean, I don't know. Maybe that doesn't matter in the end. I mean, it's hard to tell off of one LFA fight, but what we do. do know about him is that the agility is through the roof he's got size hopefully for his sake he has the meanness you know the the the willingness to take punches that you'll need to compete at heavyweight but if he's got john jones as coach that's either going to be the best

choice he ever made of the worst depending on where that goes but like he's probably going to be given every chance i mean we we talked about it before i don't think he's going to have too many fights on the regional scene you got to believe he's going to be in the contender series soon and then maybe even on the White House card. So he's probably going to get every single opportunity here to shine. That's a great point. Yeah, you're right. They are going to put him on that White House card, aren't they?

Definitely. So have you ever thought about what John Jones could be as a coacher? Well, I mean, if you have to bail your coach out of jail, how good could any coach be? But, dude, he's got a wealth of knowledge. He's got a wealth of knowledge. He's got a wealth of experience. Again, I'm sidelining personal. feelings, and I'm saying just objectively. We also don't exactly know how good of a coach he could be.

I mean, we've seen him before, like, Corner Marie Screen, but Marie Screen is not Gable Steeveson, you know, like, this is a different value proposition completely. So it seems like he's enthusiastic about it, B.C. I think that's the part that stands out to me. He seems excited about it. He seems eager to really lean into that role. And if that's the case, and he's actually like motivated to be a part of it, how could he not be a helpful fact? right? How could he not be? He's got, and not just, of course, you know, the transitioning of from wrestling to MMA, but then all the high level experience that he's got. And I understand Gable Steven's got like the ultimate high level experience, but we're talking about in MMA,

dealing with the media, dealing with some of these other factors that are somewhat distinct from the kind of thing that you get from more traditional, you know, media coverage and traditional sporting norms with the Olympic Games. Again, it's even bigger than MMA, obviously, I understand. But it's just a lot. He's seen a lot. He's dealt with a lot. And so, and again, an absurd wealth of knowledge, I just don't see how that doesn't help Gable Steveson. I really don't. Yeah, here's John Jones talking about his excitement of taking Gable on this journey.

Want me to read it? Yeah, yeah. John Jones's quote here is, I've always said, if I would ever be a coach, it would be a wrestler who was completely committed to success. I found my guy, and I'm excited to add world championship coach to my resume. But just making it all about him. How fucking amazing is that, right?

It's just John Jones is going to be who he is till the bitter fucking end. That is what I'm making it all about himself, unbelievable. Well, this, do you think this would be in conjunction with Jackson wink? Yeah, yeah, I think so. I mean, part of it is probably they want to, like, restore some glory to that gym. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's got a story history, certainly, but it's not what it once was.

I get credit, no, no things can stay what they are. But, you know, getting, getting Gable, steveson there and him getting a world title would be we talk about comebacks we started this whole conversation talking about comebacks that'd be quite the comeback for the gym maybe jones has found the guy who is willing to fight aspirin you know well so he doesn't have to do it himself dude that's such a good point holy shit you're so right i guarantee you that's part of what yeah you you fight them like remember the site where they were in in dub and dumber where they throw the salt shaker and then cbass gets up and then jim carries like like this like that's he's like yeah he's

Like, yeah, fight him. Fight him. You fight him. Shout to Cam Neely there, the Boston Bruins. Good stuff. All right, those are our five topic. It's time to send over into some fan stuff. So morning combat at gmail.com is your opportunity to send us your dead wrongs, your fan subs, your complaints about the show, maybe even pictures of your privates. Tell Mikey we said hi. The first one is it our opportunity to take the stand. If you believe something we said was incorrect, insensitive, maybe just straight up dead wrong. A bunch of people emailed about this from William to King Bong Eel, but this was Patrick's email. He says, hi, guys, massive fan and dunk from Sydney. And on the last episode at one hour and three minutes, Luke in B.C. mentioned that Charles never fought Daryouche, and Long Island Luke mentions that it was probably 10 years ago. Well, you're all dead wrong because Charles C.O. Deerioch back in 2023 is, first time losing this title to Islam lots of love guys keep up the good work and shout out to my brother and fellow master fan and donk Patrick okay so this is william writing the

email shouting out his brother Patrick but long out Luke didn't you correct this I was just going to say they clearly didn't listen to the whole episode because like two minutes after we said that I corrected it in real time but you know I'll take the L either way I did say the 10 year line we'll take the I'll take the I think the statute of limitations wears off if we correct it same episode if we do correct the same episode that does wear it off but whatever all right let's go to austin from nebraska he says i got a dead wrong for bc on monday show during have you seen bc showed how bud was on the big screen during a field go kick for michigan bc said that quote it would work and nebraska would win this is dead wrong as not only did michigan's kicker go three for three

on field goals and three for three on point after attempts michigan also won 30 to 27. Damn, I stand corrected. I thought Nebraska had won. Even though Bud didn't help them this time around, he did last year when he ran out with the team before their win against Shob's Colorado Buffaloes, and he wore number 140 at that time. That wouldn't have been last year. That would have been a while back. Also, New England, well, and maybe it was last year, but it's the wrong weight class. Also, New England, or Nebraska's head coach, an athletic director, went to bud versus canello and the hope is to have bud fight in nebraska's football stadium before he retires austin i will take that l i didn't check close enough i didn't even i mean i shit i thought

nebraska keeping it close with michigan was actually kind of a fucking victory in itself yeah i don't care if either team wins loses or dies as luke thomas would say but uh there you go our third one here is from a fellow named o wayne apologies donks for submitting a second dead wrong in the span of the week. But this one is a three for one dead wrong at one hour and 35 minutes of Monday show. Luke claimed that Brock Lesner couldn't make an NFL team in his prime.

This is not true. It was albeit a brief stint, but the Minnesota Viking signed him in 2004 and cut him due to lack of skill development. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Did he get signed to anything other than the summer team practice squad?

He was the last cut of the offseason. So then he didn't make a fucking team. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. That, what he did is not what me, that's not what making an NFL team means at all. You have to make the 53 man roster, correct? Yes, it's like, it's why Shab says he had a cup of coffee with the bills, but he didn't make a, you know, a preseason or regular season. I know you're doing skits and bits, but you're also right.

I'm not. It's a comparison. You're right. No, you're right. You're right. You're absolutely right. He did not make an NFL team. Like that, that is what it means to make an NFL team.

It's fucking hard. It's hard. All right. The second dead wrong from O'Wain came a minute later from Long Island Luke, who claimed that Dominic Reyes had an NFL background. This is incorrect. Reyes, while he played in college, never made an NFL team and was passed up for the draft. I believe he tried out with the CFL. I'm not sure on that. And then finally, B.C. claimed he played cornerback when he actually played safety for Stony Brook College in Long Island there. Cheers and have a good week, you three. Are we really dead wrong there?

I mean... Dude, is Greg Hardy the only guy who ever made a pro NFL team? I feel like... Not to be nipping. Austin Lane? I don't think I said he played in the NFL. I think we were picking fighters

who we would choose to be on an NFL team. I think these dead wrongs are... They're dead wrong. In fact, the listeners are dead wrong here. Mikey's dead wrong. See, if you're not careful, you'll be like, oh, in the spirit of humility, I want to take an L, but you've got to double check these things. No, I will hold that L. Okay.

John is our final one. He says at one hour and nine minutes on Monday. L.T. said, that making an Izzy versus Poetan fight would be their fourth. This is dead wrong. It would either be number three in MLA. Yeah, you're right. Or number five altogether.

Fair enough. I'll take that out. That's absolutely correct. That is a question, by the way, I asked Pereira whether you can check out later today on the BCX, whether he feels that rivalry is over or not. All right, so check that out. That's called a teaser, a cliffhanger.

Who was the translator? The dude. What's his name? Fabiano. Pliny the elder. Who's the large guy that's always with him? What's his name? Oh, Coach, whatever is it?

Begins of the Pellino Cruz. Pellino Cruz, yes, yes, he was with him. All right. It was awkward because the first 10 minutes, Pellino wasn't there, and Alex and I were talking, but it was really me excitedly talking in English. Dude, how much of this interview was about Connecticut?

I was going to slip one in, but with the translation, the time was already over, so I didn't pass that ultimately. All right. It would have been nice, you know. It would have been nice. All right, our final segment allows you the opportunity to compete for donk of the year, send in pictures of Saul's wife, or maybe show us your artwork.

This one's called Fan Submissions. You've got mail. Viewers. Tell viewers is what we attract. Our first one's from Christian. He says it was awesome meeting him. Really am a big fan. Yeah.

It was kind of geeking out. Apologies for squinting the entire time while I was talking to Luke, but I was really high i ran into uh he was the highest man i've ever met so so for context this is luke thomas last weekend in los vegas at xc 53 christian said i ran into robby lawler when he's coming out of the restroom which was sick as f2 got to meet alexa and by sunger also the fighter who lost in the night's first bout sat in front of me and i got to talk to him extensively as well was a fun short event please watch one championship one seventy and talk about it.

It's one of the most stack cards I've ever seen on paper. If he hasn't seen the card, bring it up on tapology and read it to Luke. Thanks, peace. I think Christian was high when he wrote this email too,

but great to see it. Super friendly. You know, talk to me after the show. You know, high as a kite, but, you know, him and the dude he was with were real, real cool dudes. Close talker? Huh?

Close talker, definitely. No, no, not so bad. Just, you know, you could just tell he was you know he was he had he had gummies in his tummy you understand yeah yeah yeah shout to robbie law gave him a little smile a little half smile there that's not yeah robbie was there uh... dago lopez was there uh... diago lopez was there as he mentioned susircayev is there yeah a bunch of donks yeah john shelby i think was there too john shelby was there all right let's go to our second one from doctor sweatpants what a name right there

damned the mk shirt uh or sorry donned the mk shirt amongst the sea of wooks with my fiance at Red Rocks. It was a two-day series to celebrate the final show of Tipper in OG and the glitch hop and EDM scene out of the UK. BC, please give him a thorough listen. You won't regret it. So I'm supposed to cue up Tipper and EDM legend, Luke. But what do you make of Dr. Swepants rocking our tie-dye with his lady there at the world-famous Red Rocks Concert Hall there in not Hall, but outdoor historic venue in Colorado? Yeah, the venue is six. and they seem like nice people, but I'd rather, you know, I'd rather be shot in the butthole with an arrow than listen to this music,

you know what I mean? Okay, no tipper on Luke's stereo later today. You think Shaquille Mal Judi listens to Tipper or what? Oh, he does that, and then he'll just text you his thoughts mid-song. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, with his piece in his hand. Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it. All right. I'll have, what is that?

Long Island, Luke, you don't listen to EDM, right? You just take ecstasy? regularly no comment okay all right here is uh namania hi don'ts i had a little spare time this month so while listening to my favorite mama show i decided to make an animation of your logo this is not a i hope you like it oh yeah i kind of like it so far so good uh namania says big shout out to the vape master damn dude that is fucking sick can we add that to morning combat please i mean seriously uh big shout out to the vape master and the glizzy buster and greetings from macedonia if you ever visit southeastern europe maybe

you can do a live show here just a warning in advance we don't put urinal cakes but we have super bangable wives that's nomania long island look can you find use for nemania's macedonian mk intro yeah we can make it one of your uh what about orangea twas Yeah, I think you have to speed up the animation, but it's sick. Yeah, that is pretty damn sick, not AI at all. So take that. Thank you, Namania. I thought your country was called North Macedonia.

Didn't they change the name? What do you make a country's changing their names, Luke? Well, I mean, we call it South Korea, but Koreans just, don't they just call it Korea? Probably, yeah, yeah, all right, all right. We got one here from Ben. He says, if Cap and Iron Man can go tip to tip, so can the rest of us. Not sure why he's holding him like that. but it reminded me of the duo so here you go they gave you my beard yeah they did that's

probably from that time that one of our donks switched up our facial hair and our hair on top to make us look like each other what is the what are they saying in those bubbles can you read that i don't yeah just says jessica jones hey morning combat i think it's been censored by the north korean censors i think i don't know by the way lc did you see some of those castoffs that weren't allowed to be played this week, they were, they were racing. We should tell, we should tell the audience, we got, okay, we got some, we got several submissions this week that I can only tell you, had me, B.C., and the entire staff crying of laughter. However, when I say completely impossible to air without us losing our jobs, B.C.,

am I in any way exaggerating? Let's just say they involved cake lady and a specific September holiday. oh they involve more than that they involve much more than that i mean all right they they didn't it might have involved the bbc but it wasn't the british broadcasting corporation no no not that bbc it was more like black raw if you know where i'm going with that all right hey here's west he says was up l t bc and l i l i'll you know us stonks love yall and off the mk so i decided to ask a i what you guys do after leaving the mk studio and these these were the results. First, we see Mr. Body for Days, Thomas, boarding public transportation that he loves to. Oh my God. Look at the name of the train. It's the Joseph A. Bank.

He's not Ted Kaczynski, but he does have his own issues with technology. And it looks like he's about to cause an explosion. This is amazing. The second one says we see the president of the Black Liver Society himself. Seems B.C. hasn't been paid off by Turkey and T.K.O. quite yet. Look at the cans of whippets. So in the meantime, he's got the meats and possible brain damage at his current second job. I look handsome in that outfit, don't I? Right there. That's great. Look at your round-ass face. You look like a fucking potato. I do right now, too. The third one, boyfriend of the year, Mr. Bong Island, looks to be

enjoying the 17th hour of live streaming prelims, regional MMA with his totally real girlfriend. Look at that plate of marijuana. Dude, these are amazing. L.I.L. Is that your actual lady there? No, obviously not, but that's fucking glass. I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure. If she was golf like that, I really wasn't sure. All right. I hope you guys and the donks enjoyed this little insight to your lives outside the show. Salute, it's Wes. Well done, Wes. Well done. Very well done. Very funny.

All right. We got a guy here who doesn't use AI at all. And he's an R.T. average Joe Art, who says, I've been thinking about doing something like this with MK for years. And I was finally able to pull the trigger. Playing off my love for old monster pulp artwork, I present Frank and Luke meets Donkula, the most washed monster mash in history.

Oh, my God. He says also included are some of the concept sketches I did along the way. LT was much trickier to figure out since the initial sketch ended up looking more like a bearded James gun I saw an ad for Mars attacks and decided to go with that open brain idea if you look at the sketch you can see what's on LT's mind

Donkula was much much easier to figure out if you can please make sure you zoom in on his attire and the credits at the bottom this is great work from Joe wow this is oh look at that oh we're just setting it up for the sales of course we are that that one is special that one is special

but I can't read there's a button that you're wearing what does it say long out look can you read that on yours fuck he sent me a text of it let me check the text he would also say

while I continue to get hounded for LT and BCX solo merch there's one idea I get asked about the most as an animal dad now of 12 I couldn't resist I feel like it was appropriate for the month of October

so that's probably Joe's oh boy Oh, boy, look at that. Look at Mr. October right there. Yeah, imagine the light in his eyes going away when I... Oh, get out. Euthanization. RIP bugger, come on.

Luke, imagine that on an MK shirt. That is the future of happiness. That's great. Yeah, that's great. Reggie Jackson's the man. I love Richard. Oh, shout out. Well done.

To go back to the button, the button says one blood instead of one love. Oh, nice. And then the tie has like stripes on it and each stripe says 115 on it. oh that is brilliant right there wow l t's brain says like bbls stress and something else i love that it's like a comic book cover there that that would make a good shirt you know damn it'd make a jose coaster too joe would close energy drinks it says energy drinks there you got yeah well joe says while it may be an eligible to retain my 2023 donk of the year status i like to think i would have been a strong contender this year,

Saul A has us all beat with that dime bag action figure. Well, there's still time this year. I'm sure both guys are in nomination, Luke. Would you guess that? I would guess that that would be correct, yes. All right. That is your fan submissions. Remember, you can send in your own to morning combat at gmail.com.

And speaking of merch, one final time here for September, it's your last chance here to get the exclusive Black Liver Society, Cracker Barrow LT or the signed TMNT poster Head on over to morning combat dot shop Don't forget we got evergreen items there You can you can mix the colors Get one for your abuela before her wake Great stuff right there all right

Also this podcast has been presented to you by Draft Kings Draft Kings the Crown is yours Nearly two hours of fury on this Friday I hope all you are doing well. I hope you enjoy the Perth fights. If that's your pleasure on Saturday, you can like and subscribe. It goes a long way for this show and also support our channels. Don't forget, I got Alex Pereira today, PFL's John Martin next week.

Luke, you got anything to plug? I was going to do a watch-along for Saturday's card, but I don't think I'm going to do one. I don't know if anyone's going to be watching. However, I will have something ready on Sunday morning for a recap. So that should be fun. Okay. uh bong island luke can we uh send people to the main card minute for anything maybe in like 40 minutes yeah in 40 minutes championship drops bc versus shack also tomorrow i'll be doing a full card watch

along it's part baby you know i'll be there also go geelong cats bro how are you prioritizing this card over genuine human contact i have a family party we talked about this pre show i got a party to go to saturday and then you know it's perfect everyone's complaining about this late start it's actually working out perfectly for me so i'll take it there it is thank you very much thank you very much you know he's not a school shooter but he also needs to touch grass you know what i mean wow wow i go out barefoot every night to take the dogs out luke just to just to get grounded you know what i mean yeah that's not a real thing but it doesn't surprise me you'd believe in it i believe in dom reyes on saturday let's see what

happens even though i picked against him you picked against him yeah but i believe in him deep inside you know what i'm hedging pick him you didn't pick him but you want him to win That is how it works. Yes, that is how it works. Shout out to Carlos Oldberg, though. I do like him as well. It would be interesting to see if he could get a finish here and advance on. But that's it for the show.

For this guy, Reggie, who's going to be on a t-shirt one day. Reg, can you play ball here for a second? Oh, yeah. Look at this, handsome fellow. Look at this. Yo, he does not want to be up in your grill. No, he's looking at the birds out the window. That takes priority.

Sorry, Reg. For Long Island Luke, for LT. This has been Morning Combat. Enjoy your weekend. Take care of yourselves Monday. We'll be back from home, but don't forget, a week from today, in studio, LTBC Cuervo, UFC 320 pregame preview featuring special guests, Jed Meshew, number two. Don't miss it. We are out of here.

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