MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC Vegas 109 Preview: Dolidze vs Hernandez | DDP vs Chimaev Hype | New MMA Judging Rules Explained

Episode Date: August 8, 2025

It's Friday Donks and you know what that means...Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell are coming at you with your pre-weekend dose of Morning Kombat! LT and BC start with a UFC Apex preview of Roman Dolidze vs. Anthony Hernandez. Also, Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev are making media rounds ahead of UFC 319. We're gearing up for one of the most anticipated UFC matchups in recent memory. Plus, The Association of Boxing Commissions held their 37th annual conference this week where the language regarding MMA judging was overhauled to more accurately reflect the current practices, particularly as it related to DAMAGE. The fellas discuss this and more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Revely, Revely. Look at us now, Timberton. Skip. Oh, Jesus. Oh, ha. Shout for more in combat. Do you want a margarita?

Yes! Oh, my God. It's us doing what we love. Two, three, two, three. It's time to bang. Oh, yeah, you are looking live at Luke's bed. Hey, what's going on? It's morning combat.

You're watching this on Friday, August 8, 2025. And it's still the best damn combat sports show of all time. Even though it's not live today, Luke Thomas, having a little. holiday. So we're shooting a little bit early, but Brian Campbell live and direct from the CT suburbs. Luke, you got a rock lobster face. What are you in? An Airbnb?

How the damn hell are you? I'm good. Yes, I have a rock lobster face. As you can see, this is the Airbnb that I am renting behind me. I am taking Tootster to Da Beach. And we're having a great time. It may not look like it,

but I actually did wear sunscreen. I've just been drinking. so there you go oh so it's just an intoxicated episode i got a little evening coffee right here to stay alive what about you no no no i'm not intoxicated at all i had i had uh two beers at the beach and that was at noon and it's well past that so yeah you've already pissed that out aggressively yeah there you go well we will have for you a little bit of an abbreviated but still action pack show as the new cycle continues to uh stay quiet this summer or outside of some other things.

How about WWE on ESPN? That's pretty hot right now. But we got a little for you setting the stage for UFC Apex this weekend. UFC 319 next week. They've been churning that butter, old school style, with some media activity going on.

Maybe we'll even hit some dead wrongs and fan subs on the way out. Thank you so much for joining us. Please, why don't you like this video if you're watching on YouTube? Subscribe to what we're doing here. Shout out to everybody watching. On the Draft Kings Network, you can follow us, follow our extended YouTube channels.

If you're audio only, tell a friend there in the grocery store next to you, how good this show is. My favorite compliment is when people are like, yo, I was at the gym and I had like, you know, 175 up. And then Luke talked about a, that that lady's machine look like sleep of wizard. And then, you know, they almost died. Those are good moments. I've never gotten a DM like that. What are people sending you? Happiness, Luke.

Yeah, yeah. Are you going to go to a, who is the WNBA team that plays at the Mohegan Sun? Connecticut Sun. And right now there's, How many dildos are you taking to tonight's game? Oh, dude. How good. I knew they arrested that one, dude.

They finally found the guy behind it. Yes, they did. So the Connecticut Sun are currently up for sale. The Boston Celtics want to buy it, but there's a counter group that want to put it in downtown Hartford. So we'll see what happens there with those ladies. Luke. I wanted to remind everybody that today's episode of Morning Combat is presented

by Draft Kings, and of course with Draft Kings the Crown is yours. Thank you so much. Luke, what are you as a beach dad? Do you make the sandcastles happen? Are you going in the water? Like in the actual ocean? What's happening? Brother, my wife

had to work today. Even though we're here, my wife had to work today. So, Daddy did everything. I put everything in the SUV. I unloaded everything. You know, Abuela was with me, but, you know, she's a little bit limited in mobility and what she can carry. I set up the tent.

I put on, I had to carry the little, the cart that has all the stuff in it. I built five sand castles today. I had to go snorkely with my daughter, and we got into the water and did, you know, riding the waves and boogie boarding. I had to teach her how to boogie board. You can see the reason I look like a rock lobster is because I've been trying to win dad of the year today. I don't know if I got it, but I made a good faith effort at it. Well done. Well done. Dragging that cart around.

What's the cart's name, Hena? What's the joke there? Cartagena, Columbia. Sorry, it's a play. In my house, people are always like, oh, can you grab the scissors there in the bin? I'm like, which bin Laden? You know, okay. Yeah, yeah, the bin Laden bit. No, no, no. I got, well, you know, you know, those like little like wagons you can pull that you can put stuff in, you know?

Yeah, yeah, there you go. Sorry, no more dad jokes today. Hey, let's bring in the third member of our team. he's a uh he's not a writer at all he's a producer a technical director a bong enthusiast uh he comes to us by way of an australian man's horned up abilities it is long island main card limit luke no ceda how the hell are you brohan i'm good you said no more dad jokes so i thought i wasn't going to get the old uh horned up all the intro there but guys another apex card this weekend i'm hype for it how about you i'm pretty hyped for it actually i'm pretty hyped for that damn main event. I'm all fluffed up over here. What do you guys think, what about you,

LT? What do you think this WWE on ESPN news means for UFC? I'm going to be honest here for just a second. I guess I just don't totally understand the significance of the ESPN WWE news. Can you break it down for me? Like why why is it so important? Well, they're getting essentially upwards of three times the amount of money they were getting from Peacock. NBC for their PLEs, which is their, you know, once a month paper views. And I just believe that in some way, I mean, look, it's a continuation of TKO just spreading their tentacles across combat sports on basically every single network. And there are a lot of people that believe that this sets the stage without question for

UFC to come back on ESPN. So still a lot of people in boxing and MMA are waiting to see where the UFC goes so then they can figure it out. But it was surprising that this WWE deal stuck in there before it. But whatever, kind of interesting stuff right there. I mean, everything I've heard, everything that you have read that is public has kind of indicated that we're going to get some sort of Netflix ESPN split with ESPN carrying the bulk of the inventory, not the exclusive amount, but the bulk of it. And I mean, I realize that there, you know, Zach Arnold over the MMA dream. Raw has kind of intimated that maybe Paramount might be in the mix as like a late

addition. My feeling is that they're being included BC probably to drive up the price a little bit. Maybe Zupa Boxing ends up on there. But I think it's going to be what we always have been expecting some combination of Netflix and ESPN for UFC. Gone are the angry BC columns from CBS Sports.com against T.K.O. Yeah. Yeah, they didn't renew my contract right on time.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, there we go. But hey, shout out to T. K.L make that money players. Although I want to be clear. I want to be clear. CBS always took good care of me. I have no animosity whatsoever. They're a great company to work for.

If you get a chance to do it, please do so. I'm a very happy employee with CBS Paramount. No question about that. Why don't we, what else do we? Oh yeah, merch, March. Hey, do you like this? I don't think it's available, but you can go to morningcombat. Dot shop for some really good stuff, including those August exclusives. Vaping is for closers.

You're damn right. It is. How about M.K.B.B. and Budhead style brought to you by Average Joe R or the autographed superwashed dad's poster right there. Check it all out. We got some evergreen items as well, the boyfriend of the year shirt and so much more.

Morningcombat.combat. Shop, the best way to support this pod, all proceeds. Go to LT, the LIL, and the BC. I hope RJ Dunklemakers out there happy somewhere. All right, there we go. Thank you so much. Okay, thank you.

I'll leave that one alone. All right. Hey, let's do this thing. All right. Topic number one, this Saturday, the warehouse in Las Vegas, known as the UFC Apex, will be back. We have a much better card than last week, however, and a middleweight main event that I feel like you need to see, a pair of streaking 185ers will headline Saturday's card as 37-year-old Roman Delizze puts his three-fight win streak to the test against a 31-year-old Anthony Fluffy Hernandez, who has won seven. consecutive fights, including most recently against longtime rival Brendan Allen. In a matchup between the number 10 and number nine middleweights in this, with the lead day being number nine, Luke,

what is the most intriguing aspect of this matchup stylistically as these two look to make a leap, at least for the winner, close to this top five at 185? It's got to be, well, I mean, it doesn't have to be. My feeling is that the ground game here is really the most interesting component to this fight in terms of the style matchup. Now, there's other stakes that are involved that actually make this fight kind of interesting, actually pretty interesting. You know, again, it's one of these questions is like, is this a suitable main event for a UFC card? Does it make sense for the apex? Putting those considerations aside and just for the present moment, are there interesting stakes in this bout?

No question about it. And in terms of the style matchup itself, BC, I really think if you just look at Anthony, Hernandez, Fluffy Hernandez, and the way in which his career has gone more recently, it's extremely impressive, but he doesn't get the job done typically until the third round or later. Delizzi has beaten better guys and has better experience. And in fact, they both have a common opponent in Kevin Holland, and Kevin Holland in 2020 beat Anthony Hernandez. Meanwhile, Roman Delizzi just ran over him. So something to be said for like how much Anthony Hernandez's career started in a somewhat unheralded way, and now he's in a very different

position. But in terms of the fight itself, to me, it's going to be, I think Roman DeLizze has good takedowns, good takedown defense, he's got crafty submissions. And Anthony Hernandez, he puts a pace on you, but it takes a while before the water starts boiling. It's not like, you know, not everyone can be Hamzaa Tremaya, but the point I'm trying to make is Hamzat Tremaya from the word go is shot out of a cannon. That's really not the case with a guy like Anthony Hernandez. He takes a little bit of time. And so to me, the question is BC, that third round demarcation line. What happens after that? It's not like Delizze is some kind of guy who fades down the stretch. He used to be. Didn't he used to be a guy that didn't have the most perfect

so? So yes, yes. But I think more recently that's really not exactly been the case. Now, is he as potent in round five as round one? No. And I think that's kind of the difference because Hernandez is on you like white on rice in round numbers four and five even round three up to that point and so it becomes a really interesting test what does the leads they have left given what i think for hernandez is going to put on him uh as the fight goes long however does the leads they put enough on him early on such that a he can't win enough rounds or he's so beaten down and demolish that even if he manages to you know rally to some extent it's just not enough i'd have to agree with you right there. They've both gone five rounds

two times each for Anthony Hernandez. That was his first meeting with Brendan Allen on the regional scene and two fights ago, a TKO victory in that fifth round against Michelle Padena. I didn't go the full five, but he came close. And for Roman Delizze, it was his majority decision loss to Nostradine Imov in 2024. And most recently, March of this year, when he took a five round decision from Marvin Vittori in their rematch.

You did mention Vittori's got better experience. He's beaten better guys. even if his win streak isn't as long. I don't know if I'm as worried about him being 37. He's kind of sort of coming to his into his own of late in this three-fight win streak. But despite establishing that with the Legey having better experience and better wins, he's a plus 250 underdog, according to Draft Kings, where Anthony Hernandez minus 310.

Luke, does that make sense to you, given the streaks they're both on coming into here? If you just look at who they beat, and if I asked you, you know, list, you know, for example, give me their three best wins from either guy, you might be like, well, I don't really get the odds on this one. And I'm with you, B.C. The fact that Delise is, what, at 36, 37, I got, yeah, whatever. 37, yeah. 37. I don't see that as necessarily disqualifying in ways that you might in other cases, especially because it's middleweight and, you know, we're not dealing with a championship fight here. However, to me, the whole story is Fluffy Hernandez, right? That's the story here. The story is this guy was good to start, but limited and somewhat under the radar. And he has slowly put together not just a kind of impressive win streak, but his game has come together. I think that to me is the interesting thing. It's not a guy who, you know, has gotten a little bit better. He's gotten a lot better. He had the pieces of the game before, but they've gelled now. It's like it's become a more cohesive. Like he understands how to fight for himself. He understands what makes sense for him and has leaned into it heavy. And honestly, I think he's a bad matchup for just for all, I'm not going to say every middleweight, but you know, he's a tough

out at a bare minimum for every middleweight. And I think he's a bad matchup for many of the top 15 and even the top 10, certainly potentially even in the top five as well. I think that's the kind of thing he has rounded a corner in a way that you know i think delizzi has rounded his own corner maybe a year or two ago or two ago or at a bare minimum the last three fights have been something of a redemption arc anyway but that's not the same as what hernandez has done hernandez keeps impressing you even when i know more recently he had about obviously the i think it was the last bout where he was on antibiotics and he kind of looked like shit early and it took him a little while to get going um you know And then, you know, he didn't look necessarily like himself.

And he still got the job done. I mean, this is the point I'm making. If this guy is healthy, I really believe BC, I'm not, a lot of times I get on here and I'm like, this guy's going to fight for a title. I don't know if Hernandez is going to fight for a title. But I will say this. I would not be the least bit surprised, A, if this is his best win, and B, he does fight for a title at some point in 2026 or 2027.

That is interesting. Even though he's the B side, he is the betting favorite Fluffy Hernandez. is I agree with you that this fight, the story of this fight centers a little bit more around him, although when I look at this fight, the story kind of centers around Cheyenne to me, but that's another topic for another day. Hopefully, Roman's not watching.

Luke, I do remember, however, and maybe the answer is the antibiotics. I remember when he did have last time out, Fluffy, the rematch with Brendan Allen, that while we gave him praise for the win, there was this feeling like maybe he's lacking a little bit extra ump to be a finisher in this division against yes that is real and in fact i was a little bit down on him before i learned that antibiotics had really hurt him sure um so let me say this

he does have he's not a natural finisher he's not a natural finisher he's not a natural finisher he's not like habib who everything he did was to try and funnel you into a fight ending scenario to me what fluffy does is just try and it's almost like a little bit like what Marab does. I think, you know, a middleweight version of it, a slightly different version of it, where it's just labor. And that labor, he tends to ramp it up a little bit more, I think, relative to what Marab does, which is why he does get some finishes, you know, relatively speaking a little bit more regularly. But yes, it's a fair criticism. He's not a dynamic or even natural finisher. And the game he's put together can sometimes lead to a finish. That's true, but it doesn't funnel the game in that particular direction.

And that could be something against the guy like Deleizze, who's got wins at 205 and is big and strong. And again, as we mentioned, a veteran beating better guys than Fluffy Hernandez is beaten at a bare minimum and very, very strong for the weight class. We'll see how that manifests itself on Saturday. Yeah, DeLizai, strong as an ox, mean, all those things. Speaking of Fluffy, he sat down with Mike Bone of MMA junkie fame. And they talked about this, the fact that a victory here would give Fluffy eight consecutive And no UFC middleweight has ever won eight and not gone directly into a title fight afterwards. Let's listen in.

Much more work do you think you really have to do because I was just looking at the longest winning streaks that have ever happened in the middleweight division. And no one has had to win more than eight in a row before getting a title shot. So if you have to fight one more after this, it would be unprecedented. Oh, for sure. But I mean, I'm ready for whatever. You know what I mean? This game is crazy.

And I never, you never like know what to expect in this fucking this world. you know what i mean someone can get hurt and you get called tomorrow so fuck who knows the comments are you know fluffy fluffy like he's the dark horse he's the most underrated guy he's gonna get that belt do you feel like at least from like the fans all that type of stuff people are recognizing what you're capable of and what you're doing out there no for sure the fans have been fucking like i've been seeing the same shit online getting tagged and stuff and like you're the dark horse and i hope that like a lot of people have been pissed that i'm at the apex even you know what i mean like no fuck that i wanted to go see it um which is a fucking blessing

because like now the fans are actually starting to get behind me and they really see like the true people that know martial arts they know that I know my shit and I mean so it's like whatever it'll it'll all work out soon it's a good attitude but I do feel like even with an eight consecutive victory he'll still be on the outside looking in considering title fight's going to be next week in Chicago and then we got that Kyle Boholio fight against Naserdine imov who is very underrated and deserving here

And when you look at that top 10, we've also got some other big name players. You know, Sean Strickland's trying to get back into a big fight, RDR, absolutely on fire and knocking at the door. Luke, even if you could imagine a scenario where, let's say, Fluffy ran through him, gas delete Zay out, submitted him. Is there any chance he could get that call next in your eyes? No, no. I mean, the reasons you articulated would make that impossible. Also, like, Fluffy is something. of a hardcore fan's delight, right? If you watch APEC show, I mean, this is, you know,

the interesting question is like how many, okay, so if eight is the most under the way which Bond had put that together for a title shot, you know, what does it say that Fluffy might go well past that? It could be 10, 11, or 12, right? Let's just sort of imagine. What does that say? And it says in part, you're just dealing with a different kind, I mean, the, the tiered structure of the UFC product now where you've got, you know, pay-per-views on the road, fight nights essentially in these apex shows and then even so not all not all the apex shows are even really um created equal it requires and i know fluffy's fault on like not just apex shows but i'm simply saying here's one of his bigger ones it's at the apex granted it's a main event but he

hasn't built a following he hasn't built a name he hasn't built frankly even much of an identity like you just you don't see a lot of anthony hernandez interviews that are out there like these factors all kind of play a role here in like who's going to get the the jump should there an opportunity arise and don't get me wrong like I'm excited for this fight and I think his story is one the more remarkable ones I actually I get I've been saying it like this dude is really putting together something special but he has not cobbled together momentum uh in the broader sense on paper and then for insiders yes but that is not enough to get the call up short of like, you know, I don't know, some kind of disaster striking.

He's the only guy left, right? Yeah, on the flip side, DeLids, he's got a lot of momentum with the broads. But let's talk about his fighting game, seven and two over his last nine in the last four years. And if you look at the two losses, a decision loss to Marvin Vittori two years ago that he avenged in his last fight and then a majority decision loss to a Naserdina imov, who, like we said, is knocking on the door of a title shot. In between that, stoppages by TKO over Kevin Holland, Jack Hermanson, Phil Hawes, Kyle Dawkes.

So we got to put respect on the resume of Roman Deleuze from some of the names he's beaten. Decision wins over Vittorian Anthony Smith. Luke, we talk about Deleje. We're going to talk about the power. We're going to talk about the fact that he fights like a warrior. I mean, he walks in with that fur hat and shoulder pads looking thing on like a dead animal that he killed himself. Do you believe, though, that he's got some elements to his ground game that are underrated? Calf slicers in part-

Yeah, I mean, the Calf Slicer is interesting, but I would say that he has, it's a good question. Let me think that through for just a second. I would say that he's got a Black Belt level game for MMA, for MMA. and I think he's got underrated ability to capture and hold position to facilitate ground and pound, right? So, like, in other words, contrast that with Patty Pimble. Now, I know he beat the fuck out of Michael Chandler, but a lot of times he'll get the back and then there's not necessarily a underground and pound that happens after. Delizze is a little different, right? Deleuze has a, he's got the kind of positional attainment and maintenance that facilitates ground

and pound. And I think that makes them very dangerous, right? Again, fluffy, a bit of a slow starter, bit of a slow starter against the guy like Deleese who's powerful, who has good takedowns and then can capture good, strong positions from which to deliver punishment, you know, he can really set himself up here to, at a bare minimum, get out to a nice lead. I think that's the way I would imagine his ground game. Now, you point out the calf slicer, which is interesting, I'm not here to diminish his submission threat, but to me, that's not really what makes his ground game shine. It's a nice little addition to his resume, but I don't think it's the thing that is what he's like most potent for. To me, it's his ground and pound. And I think that really is, you know, the mark

of his strength. It's the head of this fight, he had cameras falling him around in his native Georgia as he was like rock climbing at and hiking on, like, slippery areas. He's certainly a man of principal. We remember seeing that video that we showed when he was hiking in Georgia. I remember when he found that, that soda bottle that was cut in half, Luke, that was probably used to get high, and he gave that editorial against your beloved marijuana. Do you remember that? Yeah, but I didn't listen because I love marijuana.

Yes, yes. I also love Roman Deleide as part of this Georgian revolution. Well, Roman sat down ahead of this fight with Homa Fight. And the topic of weed came up once more, this time centering around the old fluffster. I like to meet people who are not talking too much and have a calm vision of life. And he's one of that guys. And he has some stuff what I don't like in his life. But still, you know, we all have something strange in us.

What are you talking about the smoking? Yeah, because I don't, I don't smoke. and I never smoke and also I am against all in my country where I'm from this is considered drug you know it's different that's why in America that's normal for he's not doing nothing better but for me how I was raised is not normal thing but it's free country as we say long on Luke does that turn you off at all yeah new least favorite fighter there you go all right look let's talk about what we're actually going to see here huge fight for both the

winner could considering there's a few big names in this division that are on the come down right now at as sonia whittaker etc could get a launch into the top five ultimately especially if this goes 25 minutes what are we looking at here who gets their hand raised i'm going to go fluffy hernandez i mean i know i'm taking big time chalk here and so long island luke's probably trying to find some betting value in in a different direction but um you know listen i respect the leads I think that he is not some chump. He's a good fighter. He's experienced.

As I mentioned, there are certain dimensions where he can be quite terrifying. And there are questions about, you know, what is the, what is, this is the reality. You see, we kind of know what the full upside is of Roman. We don't really know that what it is for Fluffy. We've seen some, some interesting development, but we've actually not seen what it looks like. And I have a feeling that it might be higher than some realize. And for that reason, I think we're going to get a glimpse of that. And so give me no stoppage.

I don't think. Although that's, you know, it's possible. But my, my official prediction, BC, give me Fluffy Hernandez by decision. That's what I like. Yeah, I got to go the same way if I'm putting a bet to it. Kind of cheering for Roman Deleuze here. I was like what he brings to this division. Tough man, tough out, big punch in both hands. Long out, Luke, from a betting angle, if you will, where are you leaning ahead of this on the main card minute podcast? So I took Fluffy Money Line in a parlay, but if you're just looking for a single to take, you guys both just mentioned Fluffy by decision. plus 185 on draft kings right now not bad bad the over under set at three and a half so even if you just took the over four and a half that'll be plus money as well uh deliz has never been finished before i kind of think this one goes long as well i agree i really like a a finish here unless there's something freaky like a cut or something that gets in the way let's go to this co-main event in uh i wrote down banam weights is that right or wrong let me see here yeah we're going to go ban on wasted steve ursig move up here what's going on luke no it's because the uh the fight was late notice because he was supposed to fight

Heung-Sung Park, so O'Day had to take it on late notice. Where would we be without long Island, Luke? Steve Erseg, former UFC title challenger, who was speed track to that after three consecutive wins. Even though he was that close to beaten Pantosia, maybe a strategic decision better in round five would have given him that. Well, now he's lost three in a row, yet is a minus 575 betting favorite against O'Day Osborne plus four

25. Is there still time in your eyes, LT, for Steve Urseg to write the ship? Three losses all against the league competition, but it was up high and down low for this guy. Does it make sense for him to be almost a six to one favorite despite this streak? Yeah, he's much better than Odey Osborne, or at least he should be, right? I'd be surprised if he lost this one. You know, I wanted to fucking strangle him through my screen. when he shot for that takedown around five against Penn. Can you believe he could have beaten fucking Pantoja if he had not gone for that? It's insane. It is like just seeing what Pantoja has done since then, and you're like, dude, you could have disrupted all of that without if you just have not made a poor decision,

but he made a fucking poor decision. And, you know, Pantoja didn't. So, you know, look at the difference. So that one killed me. The Kikara-France one, what can I say about that one? He just, I don't know. he wasn't he wasn't i know what to say luke what do you say oh are you doing are you being are you well i don't know you're being racist or not you're just being racist that's a tribute to the mayor

i said i said i didn't say you're being racist i just said you're being dumb uh this was racist by accident that was not no fair enough fair enough but the point is like you know faces notwithstanding Tycar France is a devastating striker for a lot of guys, and you saw evidence of that. And then the Moreno fight, to your point, B.C., that's a, I mean, it was champion, title challenger champion that he had to go through, and he came up short. On one level, you're like, oh, okay, well, he got fast track there beating, you know, Matt Schnell, and he just wasn't ready for it, and he had to kind of come back down to Earth. But I'm not really ready to dump him. I think he had, when I interviewed him, he had insights about the game that were smart. He sits

behind the jab when he makes good decisions and by the way remember that was a five round fight this will be just a three you know he's he's shown much better ability than oday osborne bc i'm not trying to be a dick it's just the reality yeah however you know you lose three in a row what does that do to your confidence what does that do to your ability to pull the trigger what does that do to your ability to believe that you can win and also coming all the way from motherfucking perth to las vegas you know what does that kind of travel do for you as well so he should win this one but you know, maybe it gets interesting. And as Long Island Luke mentioned, the late opponent switch when,

Hung Young, how did we say that? Park. Young Sung Park, I believe. Hyung Sung Park. Thank you. Trying to be good on this. Odey Osborne 33 out of Jamaica. He's lost four of his last six, three of those by stoppage.

But he's coming fresh off in April of this year, a second round TKO victory against Lewis Garuli without a Wikipedia page. Yeah, Garulia is actually a pretty good fighter. Not great, but good. And, you know, so you can judge that accordingly. But he's not a bad fighter at all. All right. That stopped the streak of three consecutive defeats.

Steve Irseg did set down with the boner. So let's talk about this three-fight losing skid. Here's Mike Bond of M.M.A. junkie. How do you even digest what's happened over the past three fights? I mean, like, it's the best guys in the world. It's a title fight, like, zero shame losing to any of these people. of course, you know, you never want these things to come together in consecutive fights. Yeah, I mean, it's hard because if you lose, like, the guys have lost to all, like, the best guys in the world.

So it's like, you go, oh, well, that's like a caveat to losing. But at the same time, it's like losing, still losing. And if you lose six in a row, but they're all to the top six guys, like, you still lost six in a row. So I know that at some point I have to go from competing with the best guys in the world to beating the best guys in the world. And I'm doing everything I can to make sure I will and can do that. Yeah, as far as mental, as far as training. I'm trying to make the adjustments everywhere I can

and try to build on the things that are working as well. I really do think I can be a world champion. I just got to make it all click, I guess. Well done, Mike. Currently, Erseg ranked number 10 at 125 pounds. Osborne is unranked and not riding a train, luckily, or not being run on. Oh, my God. Yes, I want to be clear that when I was in the Marine Corps and they offered to me to allegedly run a train on a person named Osborne, A, it was a female.

And B, she was heinous, but did not look like O'Day Osborne. You know what I'm saying? Wow. Wow, we just got canceled. We're lucky, of course, to have a betting expert as a technical director, but he's also an Aussie MMA expert. Has it broken your heart, Luke Noseda, to see Steve Karel Erseg on this streak when he was a bright spot in Aussie MMA. Yeah, but like you guys mentioned, it came to literally the current champion,

the former champion, and the most recent title challenger. He's losing to literally the best guys in the division. If you want to get nitpicky with the stats here, Ursaac's got a better striking accuracy, better striking defense, lands more strikes per minute, and O'Day's got a negative striking differential. So I feel like this is Steve's thing. He's been calling all week's sub. Just want to say Steve by sub plus 185. Half of his wins have come by sub.

O'Day's been stubbed four times before. Interesting. Regarding your father, I only say this because we know my father. The only thing he knows about MMA is Dakota Dichiva. And I have to report that yesterday I was going for a run. and i ran by my neighbor handy dan's house he's like 63 and he goes hey broi how's my girl doing you know dakota and i'm just like what is happening in my life right now like that's the only guy he knows too is your well come back don't leave me here is your dad feeling this urseg losing

streak or he don't get it damn yeah he has no idea who's deersig is i think he knew who volk was once like it was in the newspaper he read an article you know but he has his heart recovered from Steve Irwin's death? No, no one has. Yeah, I was going to say, who has? Yeah, yeah. I mean, Bindy was kind of cute on dancing with the stars, right? No? All right. Enough of that. Luke,

or Seg wins, right? Maybe by sub, maybe. If he loses here, this would be really bad. He should win. All right, that's a bounce back opportunity for him. I don't know if you care about these fights in order, Luke. What else do you care about on this card? Let me pull the

card that I have here for you. I will say there's some interesting fights on this card. Your mileage may vary, but I feel like Angela Hill versus Yasmin Lucindo is kind of interesting. Dude, Hill is almost beaten 40s door down. And I know she's up and she's down, but a lot of the ones where she's down, they're still pretty close, and she guts it out. She's won three of her last five. She's trying to get a title shot, you know, before her career comes to a close. I really hope she gets an opportunity because she's a really smart and interesting person and you know is she the best fighter you've ever seen no but she's good and she's scrappy and she's just constantly getting better so i really hope for her

you know andre feely versus crod should be that should be kind of interesting particularly i think on the ground to the extent that it goes there um let's see who else we got here i'm not really all that interested in eric anders and christian loroy duncan that one you can miss me with i especially don't give a shit about jocelyn edwards and priscilla catcherra however this card was way better than last week i'm wrong last week overachieve with those action fights is i don't is this good a good card the um the miles johns and uh you know matsumoto fight is pretty interesting also uh i'll give a bit of a shout out to eros medich and gilbert urbina yeah and and also you know somewhat kind of friend of the show cody brundage is opening the main or the reason he's actually uh i mean he's

fresh off a no contest but they all they led uh added the fight this week so they might have just thrown at the beginning. I mean, we don't talk about the MMA power couple that is Cody Bundridge and ABC. Why don't we? I mean, I think you talk about it nonstop. I was a huge Amanda Bobby Cooper fan back in the day. No? All right. Let me ask you, when Ronda Rousey was at her peak, how often were you jacking off? That's a disgusting notion that I will not answer you on. Okay. Lucendo, by the way, is a minus 180 favorite over the plus 150, Angela Hill on that main card. Andre Felia plus 200 underdog against the minus 245 Crod.

Let's bring an undercard special. Yeah, go back. There you go. Undercard specialist, Luke Nocita. I know you're going live this Saturday on the main card minute because that's the Yeah, you should change the main card minute to, yo, fuck my girlfriend. I already do that, Luke. It's just, you know, after the stream is over.

But, uh, okay. Wow. I didn't need that. But, uh, I was talking. I was going to say I was. with u bc that i thought this card was better than last weekend's card but upon further inspection it may be they're all they're all the fucking same dude it's just it's just overflow it's a better main event arguably i guess that's it but uh yeah dude uh there's not much on this card i'm not

gonna do ufc319 is a is a pretty good if to not to maybe like really good card and uh let's just focus on that yeah good call hey that's the end of topic number one folks i will be watching this on up for that main event, but yeah, your mileage, as Luke would say, it's varying after that topic. I'm going to watch on Sunday when I get home. All right, there you go. Topic number Deuce takes you ahead of next weekend's UFC 319 card in Chicago. Happy for big fights to be back in the Wind of City boxing was there last weekend on the zone, and you just don't see enough big fights in Chicaggy. Drickus Duplice and Hamzaa Chimayev and your middleweight championship main event. We talk about it almost every episode. How?

damn excited we are this feels like a super duper great matchup i really feel like i don't think i've been as excited for a fight like this sense max ilia islam versus uh volk one like some of those recent big ones where you're like this is a big fight but it's also a hardcore fans fight i'm getting that feeling here well turn back the clock and the closest thing ufc has done to a paper view press tour and what feels like a long while the two 185 headlands liners in next week's show made the rounds this week. More aggressively, of course, with the champion DDP, who not only threw out the first pitch at Wrigley Field in Chicago,

he was on local news, all the podcasts. Oh, can I say something about that? Yeah. Is it my imagination, or has it been a while, that the UFC goes to a city for a pay-per-view? Not counting Vegas, obviously. Like some outside of the Vegas thing. And they put their fighters on like morning radio,

morning TV, you know, all that kind of stuff. Like, DDP did a great job with it. It was nice to see this is good promotion for him. It's good promotion for, frankly, MMA. And it's good promotion obviously for that event. Like, I was really heartened to see this kind of thing. Dude, I miss this. And I know the reason why they don't do it largely to be cheap and save money

because their focus isn't on driving up pay-per-view sales in this climate with this content deal. But when I mentioned, I talked about on my live chat today, When I mentioned how excited I was for Holloway Toporia, for example, I remember that fight week being like, you and I are fired up, but I feel like there's no buzz outside of hardcore MMA fans because they don't do what they used to do, which was exactly this, hit the ground, get the news cycles churning a week or two weeks out and really get us fired up. I'm already fired up for this, but I got to be honest, these clips that were going to play

and just seeing this fight constantly on my timeline in the interviews and the comments, dude, this is how you get people excited about big time events. Please, UFC, go back to this, spend the money in the next broadcast deal wherever it goes. But back to the setup here, what these interviews really did is help set the narratives early as we close in on one of the most anticipated matchups in a while. Luke, we are going to get down on this card in six days. next Thursday when we hit you with UFC 319 pregame preview

live and direct from Metal Arc in Manhattan special get third guests still to come and we are going to go hard on Cuervo, maybe even that devil's reserve. But humor me right now what do you think is the biggest single question about this fight that can only be answered

inside the cage that you're getting excited about? What happens after round three? Everybody keeps talking about round one. And obviously, round one is going to be pivotal in enormous ways, right? What could happen? So, DDP could get finished because Hamzat is the fucking, you know, evil-connevel just getting shot out of a cannon.

That's one. Or he survives round one, but it's so badder that the fight, you know, it becomes, you know, academic at that point afterwards. So that's what everyone keeps talking about is round one, round one, round one. and of course like no one can dismiss that right but i said something on twitter the other day and of course like anything on twitter you can say two plus two is four people disagree but let me just sort of defend it here a little bit which is i'm getting hendo hua vibes for this fight oh my god i am i have a phoner okay so but i want to explain what that means right i'm not saying that it's going to look exactly like that fight that's not what i'm saying and i'm

I can't even declare that it'll be, you know, that one went the distance. This one might not go the distance. But what I am trying to point out about it is two things. One, when this may sound, dude, I remember them lead up to that fucking fight week when they fought each other. People were kind of hyped for it, but like, people didn't know what to make of that fight. They didn't know how the two were going to get, like, interact. There was a little bit of like, we don't really know how this is going to go. And there certainly wasn't expectation that it would deliver.

But what happened was the way in which those two came together, it unlocked something bigger than themselves. I feel like Hamzot and DDP have the capacity to do, again, not the exact same thing, but unlock something. And you get a bigger fight than what I think people, I mean, there's obviously high expectations, but, you know, delivering in that particular case. The second thing I want to say is what was interesting about Hendo and Hua was the third round was the sort of the demarcation line, where, Hendo beats the fuck out of Shogun Hua for 15 minutes. And then in the last two rounds, Shogun is kicking his ass to the point where he's in Mount and fucking raining down punishment on him. And B.C., if you think about it for a second, think about times that the tide has turned

in five-round fights. Another example, for example, would be John Jones versus Gustafson won. It was after the third round that it was the pivotal. round. So to me, again, any number of different things are possible here. But let's say this fight actually makes it to the third round. What happens after that is to me the real fucking story about what you're going to get. And I can't wait to see what happens. Dude, I can't wait to see if Chamaev can do the same thing he did to Whitaker Holland and all these dudes early on. I can't wait to see if Chimayev has that championship cardio. All that stuff is firing me up. And what's

interesting. If I recall, tell me if I'm wrong, where Henderson, who won is arguably the best action fight in the history of the UFC. Didn't that go head to head with Eddie Alvarez, Michael Chandler, too, in arguably the best fight in Belto history? I remember that was the same. No, it didn't go ahead to head. One happened before the other one. So that those two fights happened on the same day. You're right, because I remember sitting in the ESPN.com newsroom, wrapping up our our coverage i was like a a page out of the wrapping up our coverage of the bellator as the guy next to me was watching henderson who was star and they were just like losing their shit uh shout out to that i hope we get something even remotely close to that we've got some sound

to react to let's start first with ddp sitting down with the chicago sports network uh he wore many chicago sports jerseys on yeah yeah he was funny to see he's talking about how much damn weight he has to cut for this 185 title limit let's listen five one what do you walk around at and then how far away from that 185 are you right now i'm still quite a bit quite a fair bit away from from 185 but i do walk around around uh 225 to 30 that's that's that's my walk around way out of camp of course and then in camp we started to slim down and you know right now, my weight's on track, weight is, what is perfectly where I needed to be this stage of the fight. And, yeah, we are 10 days away from, from Williams right now. And this is where the

hard part starts, you know, getting the body ready to cut that water and put it back on safely. Look, he's a big M-effer. And I certainly don't want to get too deep into the analysis here ahead of next week. But Chamaev, even if he does take this guy down at round one and try to do Hamzaa things, I don't know if he's fought a guy this physical before. You would say Usman, but the version of Usman that he got, while Krafty is, you know, diminished. Just, dude, this is peak fucking DDP. You know what I mean? Peak.

And I don't know if you saw it. I don't know if we have the video. Did you see DDP in his corner? Sorry, did you see Chamey and his cornerman making fun of the way that DDP throws punches? No. It's the best impression of DDP I've ever fucking seen. Not like the way he talks, but like the physical mannerisms, you know? It was incredible to see that.

Like, this is the reality. Like, DDP is who we think he is. You know, he's weird and it's sometimes goofy here, but like, he's all fucking tank. And the reality is Chameh, I think, he's probably better suited at 85, but this is a guy who fought at 70. You know, dude, Chameh, excuse me, DDP couldn't fight at 170 short of amputation. You know, it just wouldn't, it couldn't happen. So, you know, I, I, again, it's just so many interesting ways in which these two line up. I can't, I have said it, B.C., as the, you know, the biggest Teporia booster of the last two fucking years in this sport, even I, even I have been said since the beginning, this is the fight on the calendar I care the most about in MMA or boxing.

I care more about this one than I do Canello Crawford, you know, take that as you will. Yeah, I'm kind of, I'm starting to get there with you. DDP on the streak of consecutive weeks, 23 and 2 overall. He has not lost since a 2018 fight in the rematch with Roberto Soledich. Is that how I'm saying this? Luke, I get butcher on that. Yeah, I've heard it Soldick, Solditch. I like Goldick, yeah.

That was a rematch there for the KSW Welterweight Championship. He's unbeaten in the UFC, but how about this run of submitting Derrent Till, stopping Derek Brunson, stopping Robert Whitaker, split, decision over Sean Strickland, submitting Otisanya, beating Strickland by decision in the rematch. He adds Chimayev to this list. We are talking about, really, a legendary

run. One more piece of sound from DDP, as he talked about that big challenge, that first round, that wrestling of Hamzat Chimayev, and dealing with it. Let's listen. Hasma is really known for his relentless pressure. He's an elite grappler as well. What can you

exploit against him? Yeah, I mean, it comes out, obviously, world loss wrestling, grappling. But, you know, this level of the sport, everybody's world loss. You know, this is not grappling or wrestling. This is MMA. And that's where I'm going to exploit. It's being the best in my, I'm not the, we're not fighting for a wrestling title. We're not fighting for a grappling title. We are fighting for the UFC title. And that's where I am the best. I'm not the best wrestler. I'm not the best grappler or best striker. But when you put all those things together, if you combine it and that's the sport we do, I am the best in the world.

to that lady from Fox 32 who's like, so when you'd have the fight against the hazmat suit, what are you going to do? Yeah, that was good stuff right there. Yeah, that's fantastic. All right. We'll see how he deals with that physicality. Let's go to Chimayev,

who had a very lengthy sit-down with Brett Okamoto of ESPN MMA inside a kitchen. And one of the big things Chimai have corrected the record on is this narrative that if he wins the championship, he'll a retire or we can add in the concerns that Dean Thomas has had publicly that Chimayev will be in. inactive due to the up and down run he's had with health, visas, bad luck, all of that. Here's Chimae of addressing that rumors with the most handsome man in MMMA media, I think.

You know, there's this rumor out there that if you win the championship, that you will retire. Have you seen this? Yeah, I've seen the Kaya said, I don't know where he's here, that thinks. So I need money. This is not enough, right, just to go for the one title. So I hopefully, if not get some energy or some stuff, they're going to fight for defend the belt or fight for other belt in Abu Dhabi as well.

14 and O is Jemayev overall on a streak of consecutive wins over Kevin Holland, Kamaro Usman, Robert Whitaker. Luke, I like that, that he's going to be around a while. He needs some money. I would have thought he's well taken care of by his boy, Kadirov, or we don't talk about that. I guess, well, Kadirov hasn't been seen that much recently. God only knows what he's up to these days, but, uh, listen, I'll just say. He's entertaining Gaichi and, uh, and all the other Ali fighter.

Yes, yes. They get, they get real mad when you bring this up, even though, you know, they did it for, uh, you know, public consumption. But, okay, neither here nor there. Um, that beard, dude, that beard's massive. Do you see that shit? That beard is fucking massive. And, you know, if anybody has sort of looks like a fighter, Hamzaa Tremaya kind of looks. kind of looks like one. And I'll just say, I mean, now that he's able to compete in the United

States, you know, his earning potential is obviously, you know, significantly boosted. I think the thing I would say, BC, I was on submission radio and he asked me like, you know, what's better for a UFC if DDP or Hamzaat wins? And the reality is, dude, the answer is who they can build around long term. Can they build around Hamzot long term? The answer is maybe, right? We don't know, but like possibly. But the other thing to sort of think about is the answer maybe two years ago would have been like, oh, Hamzot, he's like, you know, he's like, or maybe even three year, whatever it was, like at the peak of his powers, it would have been Hamzot. But the thing to think about is, you know, I've seen guys get built into big

time, stars and even legends in MMA. It takes time. It takes time. And DDP isn't there yet, BC, obviously. But this is his first fucking headlining pay-per-view in the United States. Like, it's going to take time. He's already made some inroads. He goes out there and he beats Chimae, he's well on his way. So like, I know a few years ago, the answer would have been like, oh, Hamzat, like the sport is so interested in him and there could be nobody else. And maybe, maybe it should be him. Maybe it will be him. But if, if DDP wins, man, I truly believe for all the ways in which he's already proven doubters wrong, he could round another promotional corner that could be great for UFC and obviously for his career as a big time star in the sport.

Yeah, dude, he has monster, monster star appeal, even with the ups and downs of his career, still on be in still dominant. Only really close fight was that Gilbert Burns war, which I still feel like he made harder than it needed to be. I also feel like he lost that fight. Shout out to Gilbert friend of the program right there. One more piece of sound here for Chamaev. That's pretty interesting. The one lament I've had on this run so far with these inconsistencies is I did want to see him fight for the welterweight title before moving up to middleweight. But we got a piece of sound here from Chimayev talking about his ambition. He's not done. He's not done. If he wins this middleweight championship, he has a lot more goals to attain.

I work with the new coach, Coach Carl, I talk about him, go down again, back to my first fights, you know, that 170 or 75, what was that? 170. He said it gives me a couple of months. I'm going to make it. So I don't know. Who is the champ there? This guy, Australian guy.

Yeah, it would be a good fight for me. and go down, fight with him as well. Yeah. Could take the belt there. If I go up and there is Uncle Leo and his name, Alex, Alex Pereira, they are fighting now. Who is winning? Can fight for that belt as well. Yeah.

Luke, we thought the first person to attempt the three division champion was Connor. Then we thought it would probably be Pereira. For a little bit, we thought out of Sonia. Do you think he'll get that chance or is this just big ball ambition? he hasn't won a single fucking title yet what are we talking about again talking about it not me like like is he one of these kinds of guys who you could like look at and say hey would he be a good candidate potentially for something like that sure sure but that is you know i don't know how to explain that it's sort of like like um i'm not i'm not sure what the analogy would be it's like oh you know

climbing El Capitan, you know, who's a good candidate for? You find the world's best climbers. And it's like, okay, but that's still like an insanely difficult fucking task that, you know, let's just sort of imagine that no one's done yet. Like, just like, get the fuck out of here. He hasn't even gotten one fucking title yet, much less two. And we're talking about could you get three? Let's get one.

And then we'll talk about two. Okay. I mean, it's probably not going to happen where he could go from beating DDP to beating the winner of Islam, JDM, to beating the winner of Uncle of Pereira, but I love the big ball talk that goes with that. Well, we have not seen a ton of trash talk between Duplessi and Chameh in the buildup to this fight, but there is somebody who is talking trash about Chimayev.

His name is Sean Strickland. We had a call in our friends from Cuervo because this sounds a lot like Shots Fire. And of course, this edition of Shots Fire brought to you by Cuervo. is a good time to enjoy the tequila that invented tequila and we will be enjoying that next Thursday at pregame preview here's strickland looking back on the sparring that he previously did at extreme patour in Vegas with chamoisia jamaia is just a fucking cum i mean i was here when he retired from covid i was training with him like he's just a fucking

cum you know it's like if you knew i always say there's guys if you knew on a personal level you wouldn't like. My is the most people of you knew you wouldn't like you know he'll come in here there's a video of me I always like oh you're so good gum is up understand you're better than most you're better than everybody like don't hurt people like I'm being sarcastic like bro like you go and you fucking starch this one-and-one guy when there's like Edmin there's like high-level UOC fighters and you're picking the one one-in-one four fighter because, like, you think he's the same height as your opponent. No, you're picking him to your pitch, dude. Like, it's just, yeah, he's just like, no matter how he could fight,

but like mentally he's just a weak man, you know, he's just a weak man. Damn, them are fighting words and those words were relayed to Hamzaa Chamae of yesterday. Here's his response. When you were in Vegas, you trained at Extreme Patrol with Sean Strickland. He's been saying some stuff in interviews about, he just didn't like your approach. Just why do you think he's saying that? have a response. I don't know. When I was there, they never said anything, you know. When I leave the Vegas and when I, they stopped my visa, he started to talk. When I come back, I'm in LA, bro. Come on. If it's something personal for you, just come. I'm here. Whenever he wants. Just come. All right. He's here. Luke. He can get in this country again. Just come.

We were in Extreme Couture with Coach Eric Nixick for that for that RSD that time. And they did, they did those guys in the gym we're talking about when chimayev was there and that people had success against him i know sparring is sparring you're not always getting that but is this strickland trying to plan a seed for a future fight or just strickland being strickland definitely i don't think there's any way to say it's you know strictly being strickland has to be part of it right i mean there's like you know he doesn't know how to talk without doing that kind of thing from what i can tell but i think what i would say is it's an interesting claim that he's making okay so I've done I've done enough training to know that I'm not good but I've also done

enough training to know and see what he's talked about there are definitely guys and sometimes it happens at the heavyweight end because they can weight bully where you know it's time to spar and you know for a high level guys that's much more coordinated like They know exactly who they're sparring with and blah, blah, blah. But, you know, when it's more like an open class, you kind of have to just pick guys either your size and then you just rotate out. And then you could end up with a lot of different kind of opponents, right? They need you lengthier ones, shorter ones, smaller ones, bigger ones, depending on who you are. And I've definitely seen, I've absolutely seen what he's talking about where there are guys who kind of carefully pick who they're going to go up against so that they don't look bad as a consequence or they don't get a tough round.

I've seen it. I've seen it in many different ways. You know, it would surprise me if Hamzad is that way. It would surprise me. But let's just posit something. Let's say for a second that Sean is right. If Hamzat is that way, and that's if, if DDP's going to fuck him up, right? Whoa. Again, if he's the kind of guy who, when the, when, you know, you're picking rounds to train

and you're purposely picking around who you're supposed to be training with because you either want to dominate or you want an easy role or, you know, whatever, DDP's going to feast on a guy like that. So let's see if Sean Strickland is right, I guess is my point. Let's see if he's right.

Damn, I cannot wait for this fight next week. Dude, this fight is fucking sick. I'm so pumped. And I'm really looking forward to the pregame preview because there's a lot of names. There's a lot of depth on this card from Aaron Pico and the Coimane. You got that Jeff Neal Carlos Prattish,

Jared Canineer versus MVP, Tim Elliott versus Kai Asakura. You got King Green, Jessica Androz, Chase Hooper, Edson Barbosa on the early prelims. A lot of names to get excited about Al-Faran impersonator. Mihil Olex-Sheik is here as well.

So get fired up. We're going to drink some Cuervo next Thursday for UFC 319 pre-game preview. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Luke, real quick. Earlier today, there was some breaking news on the UFC fight scene in Rio, Brazil, October 11th. I saw this. I saw this. Charles Oliva and Raphael Fazeve. A banger, banger, I just met her. Olavera Fiziv, your thoughts?

What the fuck is Charles Olivares thinking? I know he probably wants to compete in Brazil and God bless him. I hope he gets out of what he wants. And it's not me declaring he will lose, but holy shit, you are running a risk. He just got flatlined, and you're going to turn around and go against a dynamic striker in Fazeve in October. It is such a, such a huge risk. I love the fight.

I hate Charles Olivares thinking here. It's so dangerous. Yeah, yeah. I hope he does the gray hair dive for this one. He's going to need it. Hey, this podcast, this morning podcast episode, sponsored by the way. by Total Wireless, the official wireless partner of the UFC. And when you're streaming the fighter, sharing those highlights with your boys,

you need a wireless provider that keeps you close to the action. Well, hey, with Total Wireless, you're covered by the Verizon 5G network. So you don't have to worry about your connection being K-O'd in the biggest moments. And it's not something you can talk about. Oh, my wireless providers got my back, like Coach Lottori in my corner. The thing is, though, with Total Wireless, you can stay close to the action because they're covered. They are with you every second of the day So you never miss a thing

They keep you covered for just $25 a month With four lines people Without sacrificing those essentials like speed And of course with total You're getting unlimited 5G data So you can stay ahead of the action And keep up with every knockout. Total Wireless also understands that you don't

You can't afford any surprise blows Any more than your most favorite fighters can That's why I get this price guaranteed For five years Talking about taxes and fees included The best fighters don't make it to the top without that all-in support behind them, especially chef Kaz cooking those meals. Well, hey, it shouldn't be any different with your wireless providers.

So visit totalwireless.com right now or visit your local total wireless store to learn more about how total wireless can be in your corner. 5G access requires a 5G capable device on a 5G service area, monthly rate on the total base 5G unlimited plan for new subscribers. It applies only to the monthly rate for your plan, additional terms apply, website for details. Let's go quickly to topic number three, then we'll welcome in the fan portion of today's show. How about this little news sneaking in this week? The ABC, the Association of Boxing Commissions, has approved changes to the MMA's unified scoring rules. The ABC held their 37th annual

conference this week, where the language regarding MMA judging was overhauled to more accurately reflect the current practices, particularly as it relates to damage. Good friend of the program, Eric McGracken, a non-voting member of the ABC committee, posted on his website,com, that the old version of the rules shied away from the word damage despite making the concept of important. The new version emphasizes damage in several ways, resulting in clearer and easier to understand language for fighters, officials, and the public at large. In addition to emphasizing damage, the key for determining a round winner will also note that damage is essential to score a 10-8 round with dominance and duration together not being enough.

And when judges can't determine a winner on damage and move on down to aggressiveness or fighting area control, they no longer can do so in a tiered way, but instead, based on whichever impacted the round in a more significant. manner. Luke, we've long talked about damage being the key, yet when you look at the language of the law, it doesn't really add up evenly, despite what Big John McCarthy said in having originally helped make that law. How do you think this changed to the letter of the law will help things moving forward? I maintain that it's just my opinion, but I maintain that the best kind of scoring criteria is the one that Pride and now one championship used, where they judge as a whole. Of course, there are criteria within that to achieve that end, but that is the way that they do it. I just tend to think you get need or less complicated problems as a result.

To me, they keep trying to iterate this. And I want to be clear, this iteration is a good one. This is, I think, it's not a massive change to what you're going to get in the sport, but it provides clarity. It adds a degree of, I think, simplicity and it streamlines the process, especially when, you when everything's equal before they had the checklist they had to go down and now they're not going to do that i think that's a lot i think that's a smart change so i want to be clear these are good changes these are smart changes these are efficient changes is it going to radically alter the judging that you get um i think people are still going to complain about the judging you know what i mean like i think that you're making these changes right they're going to make the job of the judge easier

but there's a gap between how the judge or the judges perceive their job and what MMA fans think the job of the judge is. And as long as that gap exists, yes, you're making the job easier for the judges and that's not nothing, but, you know, we're still going to get belly aching about the decisions. That's kind of where I'm at. Yeah, I got you on that one. There is a new, they also voted on a new commissioner this week, Mike Missouli out. I forgot the name of the guy who took over from Florida.

Yeah. He was big on. getting MMA back in Jacksonville for UFC during COVID. So that's interesting. One connection to this, of course, is the California State Athletic Commission Executive Director, Andy Foster, who did a very timely interview on the Ariel Hawani show. Now, Luke, he was very heavily maligned by combat sports journalists for both his support. Excuse me, Timothy Shipman was the name.

Thank you, Luke Nesita, the new ABC Commissioner. Andy Foster was on Ariel and he took a lot of shit for kind of softly supporting Power Slap and then also really supporting the changes to the Ali Act that TKO is behind and trying to push. I hope I hope every fighter understands like I've had a good relationship with with him and you know I'm not going to sit here and say bad things about him but I hope every fighter who sees this or here's this understands that the regulatory apparatus in this country doesn't give a fuck about you. Yeah. They don't give a fuck about you.

They don't give a fuck about you. They don't want you to die in their state when you compete. But short of that, they don't give a fuck about it. I mean, is it unfair to say they care more about making sure the promoters that bring in the big money are going to keep coming back to their city? Yes, it is quite obvious that that is a higher priority. Yes. All right. Well, am I frozen?

Can you seem? Oh, there we go. Yeah, how is it I'm in a van down by the river and I have better internet than you? Speaking of the foster, I look like John Daly and I have better internet than you. How is that possible? By the way, as much as you maligned Happy Gilmore 2, you got to give it to John Daly's performance in that movie. Okay, okay, the third time he ate the hand sanitizer, he overdid it. Yeah, he definitely, he definitely had a couple of beggars in that movie.

Yeah, yeah, he played that. roll well. All right, Foster did have some answers related to this topic overall that we're talking about the scoring change. Here's Andy Foster talking to Ariel about how judges will now score a 10-8 round. I said you're the chairman of the Rules Committee, so this would fall under your jurisdiction. What are what are the modifications that are being made to the scoring criteria? So it's a slot modification. It's important for the public to understand the to get a 10-8 in mixed martial arts is now going to require significant damage. I understand the way that it's being scored right now.

The judge is already scoring that way, but this is actually going to be in if it's accepted by the body. And that's a relatively important change because it's going to actually put the word damage in the document. We've talked about it for a long time, but damage is the number one scoring criteria through effective striking and effective grappling. You've heard these other terms, effective aggressiveness, effective cage control. These things we never get to, Ariel, people, the public does not need to ever use the term effective aggressiveness or effective cage control, really, in the context of scoring, the only thing that matters is how the techniques through striking or grappling have impacted their opponent. That's the way this is scored. And a 10-9, we're putting out the language. A 10-8,

we're putting out the language, and then a 10-7. I think that's a good change right there across the board. They're still not going to score defense in MMA, although that is part of the scoring criteria. Of course, in boxing. One more quick soundbite here. Foster shit on any judge who's still liking the idea of a 10-10 route. The three main criteria still are damage, dominance and duration damage being the most important right that's correct and and and it's a requirement now for a 10 8 round okay um what about a 10 10 should we be seen more of those no no it look man if you if you if you watch a fight for five minutes aerial and you can't tell me who won that five and they're and they're fighting in earnest i'll find another judge dude i actually agree with that

completely oh sorry my thing here is what the fuck all right sorry about that i don't know what the hell happened um i don't actually why yeah why is it that i guess i don't understand i understand why you would not want a judge to um to to it would be bad if judges gave a lot of 10-10s for the business, right? But I guess I don't understand. Are you telling me it's conceptually impossible for me to imagine that two guys could fight in a way where it would be basically not impossible to discern a difference,

but reasonably difficult to where you would almost be like ascribing value to insignificant things? That seems to me actually very plausible. So to me, the notion of like, oh, we don't want to have 10-10s, that's an argument about preserving the business interests. And fine, just make the argument. Like, it's bad for business to have a bunch of 10-10s. But the notion that, like, that's not a coherent way to evaluate a round.

I don't understand the argument for that at all. I fully disagree. Because most MMA fights are three rounds, you're only scoring three rounds. If one of them is going to be 10-10, it's like, I get that there's some rounds where almost nothing happens. And he did say right there, if the fighters are fighting in earnest. But, like, over five minutes, not like boxing where it's a three-minute round. And if it's a three-minute round with very little action, I understand that.

that more even though I hate 10-10 rounds in boxing and you almost never see them because in most commissions they're encouraged not to do 10-10 rounds even in boxing and I and sometimes in boxing almost nothing happens in five minutes in an m-ma fight something's got to happen somebody's got to win the round and if there's any concern you should have done more in the in the fight in the round to try to change that in my opinion but that's that is that is what it is Luke I think 10-10 sucks okay pick a winner They're bad for business. I give you that.

Get off the fence. Get off the damn fence. All right. We're going to close today with our typical Friday fun fan segments. And how you get there is by emailing the show, MorningCombat at gmail.com. The great Mikey Mo Miles is on the other side of that. Say hi to him. Be nice.

Don't show them your privates. We kick off with our ombudsman segment. Me and LT speak a lot of shiat into this microphone. And sometimes we're factually incorrect. Sometimes we're just assholes, but if you can prove us wrong and you've got time stamps, you better come, original. This here is dead wrong. Dead wrong.

And I've got to take a knee on this first one. Many, many people sent in Anthony, Michael, Richard, Greg, Paul, in around 16 minutes and 30 seconds of last MK episode on Monday when discussing the racist master splinter voice. Ryan said Uncle Phil from the Fresh Prince of Belle Air voiced master's slender said wrong, B.C. Uncle Phil voiced Shredder

in the Ninja Turtle cartoon. I was wrong. I will take the damn elf. There you go. It's easy, right? You present it. We take the knee. Our final one comes from both Michael and Nima. Michael writes, hello again, Doc, on Monday

when doing the time-killing still in the blank segment. Both of you re-reprehensible dirtbags were dead wrong. When mentioning the, oh, so you're a wrestler now? Quote from Nate Diaz, both of you, Jamok, stated that it was free fight. How does that make any sense? He made that comment at the desk after the fight against Connor McGregor when Connor shot for a takedown in the first meeting at UFC 196 in March of 2016.

Get it together, fellas. Yeah, I guess you could take that out of here, right? Fair enough. Yeah, fair enough. Sorry about that. Pedantic stuff right there. I'll take it. Our final segment is where you show us pictures of your artwork of Saul's wife and an M.K. shirt and whatever else you got for us. It's the Jay Piquette special here. This one's called Fancy Missions.

You've got mail. Viewers. All righty. Let's kick it off with my hero, Christian DeGiro. He says, hi, donks, last Saturday, I had my final amateur fight. Yes, and following suit with my last six fights, I put MK on the dong. Hell yeah. That energy to another finish, improving my record to eight and two as an amateur with seven finishes and winning the up next fighting Bannamweight Championship. Thank you, donks, for all the entertainment you provide us fans on a weekly basis.

you can count me in as a don't for life. Luke, I don't think we're doing enough to showcase this young man. He showed up at our Three Margarita's Live Show. He's putting us on the D brother. This guy is a killer. I am so proud of him, and this is such a great achievement.

What a great amateur run he had, and I hope the pro side is that times 10. Also, there's the Schmo on the left side of the screen. Oh, shit, look at that. Up next fighting. that's pretty awesome shout out to the schmole right there shout out to christian de giro of california look i hope he never signs at 12 and 12 but i'd love to see him on the dwcs one day i would love to see him have again i hope i hope it's as good as the amateur run and more what a great guy all right well

done christian de giro we're going to have you on this show ahead of your pro debut keep up the great work our second one comes from my boy joe who calls himself run dem cheeks he says greeting jensen oh this guy's great yeah my wife i think this guy is a marine or a former Marine. He is. Yes, yes. He's a Pennsylvania guy. He says, my wife and I just got back from celebrating our honeymoon in the UK. We spent one week in London, one week in Scotland, and yet again, the MK bomber jacket proved its worth by keeping me comfortable no matter the weather. Here are a few photos of us in the Highlands and Loch Ness. And no, my wife and I don't actually believe in Bigfoot. She just wore the hat to be ironic at Loch Ness, though my father does believe in him and thinks he travels

through dimensional portals. Anywho, wish you the best, and thanks for all that you do. And side note, our tour guide said that Scotland is rapidly losing its Spanish and Latino population since the UK left the EU. So let's hope Johnny Walker did some work to keep the population going for years. Luke, if you recall here, Joe and Hannah, the newlyweds, and shout out to them. I believe Joe were the MK bomber when they climbed like Mount Fuji was it? Do you remember that back in the day?

I believe that's right. Yes. Don't hold me to that, but I think that's right. Yeah, well done there. Congratulations to the young couple. Thank you for bringing MK on your life journey. I mean, you remember little Anthony and V, I think they conceived wearing MK clothing. I think that Saul, when he bangs his significant other, wears MK gear doing it. You know what I'm saying? I hope he wears those MK undies with you and I's face against the bottle. Yeah, just touching tips like two idiots. There you go. Thank you so much.

Joe, let's go over to Kevin. No comment on this one. Let's see what we got here. Luke, cut me some slack when pronouncing Mateus Rambeski. Luke when pronouncing Esteban. That's so true. This is the funny part about doing this job, and I think you would agree with at least this part, right? You see, you took French in high school, right? What did you take in high school? Five years of French in middle. Five years of French. Okay, so if you were required, if someone came to you, said, hey, we need you to, like, what kind of language would you at least have the best chance of pronouncing correctly other than English? You would probably say French. Yes. The answer for me would definitely be Spanish, however limited my Spanish might be. But then the reality

of this business is like, dude, you've got people from every fucking imaginable walk of life and none of their names match up against the other ones and the rules about how you pronounce it don't follow through. So you get like one kind of lane where you can kind of, you know, And then everything else, you sound like a fucking idiot peasant. You know what I mean? Is it Chazan, Shana, Shaw, Wah, Wah, I fuck that one up every time. I can't get Kyle Borrelio off of my mouth either, all right there.

Let's keep it going. Here's my boy from the Quebec while. Mark Antoine Dussol who says, hey, donks. In response to the hot dog eating on both ends that we saw and have you seen the shit, I've made some AI art with your boys trying to create this magical moment. You guys. Oh, God. Okay.

This is. Mark, please, can you take this away? Here are two pictures that show what your date. Is that cake lady? What's going on here? Dude, I got to say, the AI portion, dude, AI has revolutionized fan subs in the worst way imaginable, but also in the funniest way imaginable. Dude, don't I look like Mike Bone in that picture right there? No, you look like you, but with that shoe polish fucking, you know, hair dye.

Remember that at Poir-we-Wake, Connor, too, when we had that live show at the Park MGM? And I look like Elvis at the 68 comeback special. Wow, that was good times. Well done, Mark Antoine. We appreciate you. Let's hear from Jonas. What do we got here? Reggie.

I'm mooning like a morally odious piece of shit on his podcast, and I carefully vote for the most gruesome slob. to hold political office, but he still treats me like Shirley Temple, suck on it, Luke. Mr. October in the house right there. You got to love that. Mr. October, this fucking cat. Dude, he's so hated in this house. I'm the only one that has, like, real genuine love for him. It's amazing.

It's great. Who is the leader? Who's the clubhouse leader? Like, the most like pet? My wife's little dog, Sasha. No question. Close second is Molly, the big brown, German Shepherd. Oberman mix, and then you can go to the two girl cats, Zoe and Emma.

Reggie deep at the bottom, dude, deep. Oh, man, fucking A. Yeah. Was Bougar well loved in your house or no? Dude, Bougar was top of the food chain, brother. Whoa! Yeah, yeah, he was top of the food chain, man. It was, ah, yeah, I don't know what to say, man.

He had a great run. We love that guy. Moko? Moko? Yeah, Moko Lindo, yeah. Named after Mohamed Mokayev, right? Yeah, big stuff like that. Exactly right.

named after Mohamed Makaya, that's exactly. Oh, there we go. Our final one comes from, was he last, wait, average Joart, was he last year's donk of the year? He was, right? 24's donk of the year? Joe Romero, right? Yo, he's out here hitting a ball, and where is this guy?

Oh, I didn't know you were asking me. I thought you were asking LT. I was asking LT, yeah. Oh, you thought you said, I thought he said, by my own Luke, sir, say that again. Here I am hoisted by my own Patar, say it again. Last year's donk of the year was average Joe Art, correct? Yes, I believe that's right.

Okay, we closed with that. average Joe who says oh he big this one up on social let's see he says what does it say about me that while on a morning walk with my dogs listening to mk i hear one of the many many references to luke's enormous bowel movements then proceed to watch a jaws documentary later in the day and something in my brain clips clicks that says yep that's it i want to introduce you both to the next summer blockbuster it's called breach holy shit balls it all it all Also probably says a lot about me that I thought a lot about how to properly render a shark-shaped turd. Initially, everything was in full color and the water looked a lot closer to how you'd expect the toilet following one of LT's great accomplishments.

Maybe that was a little bit too much. I hope the various nuggets and blood specs come across as well as Captain Luke's cat. I wanted this to be very simple, but very effective. What does that say? Can you read that? I can't. We're going to need a bigger commode. Oh, yeah.

the hat says ss joseph abing oh my god dude we got the best people on this oh dude that is so fucking awesome you know i told my wife that story gross you did you can get away with that i told my wife that story and she was like you're a fucking barn animal and i was like yeah that's that's about right yeah shout out to mrs t on here what she wants rolled with roxan model furry look never forget right she told me roxan was pretty good yeah she didn't take hums out advantages of her so that was great to see no she did not that's right there we go those are the fan subs of this week well done folks morning combat at gmail dot com you want to reach the show say hi show mikey or penwa or send in fan subs dead wrongs or whatever else you got

for us uh we will be back of course a remote show on monday morning 11 a m recapping uh the weekend's action you can follow us at the handles below you can also follow our extended of YouTube channels, including the main card minute with Luke Nocita and Luke Thomas gets political subscribe to his substack as well. Don't forget, guys. Next Thursday, two days before UFC 319, Querval will bring your pregame preview live and direct from Manhattan. Luke, will you get into the devil's preserve and will you do it without a chaser this time?

I will definitely get into it. I will not do it without a chaser. I like my little system. Yeah, but it's the thing. about the devil's reserve and I don't know see that did you shoot that in the end you shot it right yeah it was delicious dude it tastes like like spicy water it was amazing yes it does it i mean don't get me wrong it's phenomenal but like the argument for those it's like oh you can have it like a shot because it's easy to have it like a shot true but the reality is the things that are easy

to shoot like that are also good for making cocktails now granted i'm putting it in fucking mountain do so it's not like i'm some mixologist but but it works both ways All right, it's Cuervo's Devil's Reserve. I keep getting it. They never read the name wrong. Devil's Reserve brought to you by Cuervo. That will be on tap next Thursday. Our third man soon to be revealed.

Or maybe it's a woman. You're going to have to find out. Okay, maybe it's a small person. It's up to you. If it has to be a porn star, who are you picking? Rocco. No, no question. Just let me.

Come on. I was thinking, Asa, Kara, or like, Angela White, and you're like, I want a man. I mean, I got that guy. legendary i got i gotta i gotta that guy's obviously the grow one of the grossest humans of all time but shout out to mr suffrage you know i can't stand about him is he breathed through his teeth like that i mean him and chacey lane back in the day good lord all right enough of this b s like stop talking and stop breathing through your fucking teeth you know yeah seriously uh long island luke no cito what do we have on tap for the main card minute this weekend full card watch

alone tomorrow 4 p.m. Join me in Gaff. Main card minute. Be there, B square. Gaph loves Haitian combat sports stars. Shout out to that guy. We love him as well. That's our show for this Friday. Not live, but still in your face where it belongs.

Thank you so much for supporting us, guys. We really, really, really appreciate it. Let's hope the second half of this year continues to heat up in the combat. Soon, hopefully we'll find out where the UFC broadcasting deal is going. Luke, did you see Mani Pachios said he wants to come back in December.

Yeah, I don't, I don't have any, even the slightest degree of interest. Really? Let me give you the opponent list that's being talked about. Roley? Tank, Barrios, Floyd. Which one you want? Which one you pick? Zero.

Go to retire. Come on. If you have to pick one. Come on. No, none. Zero. I don't give a fuck. Dude, Roli found God.

He's turned his life around. You got to cheer for that. I don't, I don't believe that, and nor do I care. Wow. He's like, I. And I hope he burns. in hell. No, I mean, if Roley wants to keep fighting, that's cool. But like, Mani, I'm done. I'm super done. All right. All right. Luke, do you want to say anything nice to our people on the

way out here? Thank you guys so much for watching. We appreciate it. Morningcombat. Dot shop for any of your goodies, your nugs, all that fun stuff. As we mentioned, we've got the vaping is for closers. We've got the Beavis and Butthead shirt. And we got the autographed, super washed dad's posters available now, morningcombat.combat. And of course, they only last until August 31st, 1159 at night p.m. So after that, they're gone. This is the chance. Be gone, yeah, they're gone.

So get your exclusives now. They will not last, by the way. Thank you for joining us. Enjoy the fights this weekend. Luke, enjoy your time on this little holiday. Shout out to Tuki. She didn't run in this episode. Big win for you, right?

She ran in the pre-show. She definitely ran in the pre-show. For Luke's lighting on BC, Look, you look like the devil right there. All right. We're out of here. Thank you. This is an IHeart podcast.