MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - UFC Vegas 66 Recap: Cannonier, Tsarukyan Win | Martin Beats Rivera | Ep 388

Episode Date: December 19, 2022

On Episode 388 Luke and Brian kick off the show by recapping UFC Vegas 66. Did we really learn anything in the middleweight main event between Sean Strickland and Jared Cannonier after Cannonier scored a decision win? Arman Tsarukyan broke the 7-year win streak of Damir Ismagulov with a hard-earned decision victory in Saturday's main event. What did we learn about Tsarukyan from this performance? In boxing, Frank Martin outclassed Michel Rivera en route to a dominant decision victory on Showtime Championship Boxing. How close to be ready for the top of the division is he? (30:00) - Cannonier vs. Strickland (46:30) - Arman Tsarukyan (58:30) - Drew Dober & Rest of UFC Vegas 66 (71:00) - Takeaways from UFC’s 2022 (82:45) - Frank Martin outclasses Michel Rivera (94:30) - DM's from Donks Morning Kombat is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.     For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich, but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy. Consider yourself warned. Limited time only at participating McDonald's in Canada. Reveille, reveille, dogs. Look at us now, tip to tip. This is our life. This is our passion.

That's the spirit we bring to this show. I'm Luke Thomas. I'm Brian Campbell. This is Morning Combat. Oh, yeah. A little extra helping of art on your Monday morning. Yes, you stumbled into it. This is the four-time award-winning Morning Combat, your combat sports home

on this Monday, December 19th, 2022. I'm Brian Campbell. Happy holidays. Just one half, of course, of this multi-time award-winning beloved duo. But solemnly on this morning, we do open with breaking news. 43-year-old co-host of Morning Combat, a native of New Delhi, India, Luke Thomas, is running late for the show this

morning. Everybody knows the increased chemistry the two have together when these award-winning partnership comes together within Jersey City, in the bomb shelter, turned Eden of sin known as the guilty pleasure that is this damn place right now. What do we even call it these days? I don't know. Luke Thomas running late. His disappearance is not expected to be connected to the World Cup or the public stances he has made against the Qatari government. As we all know, Luke broke those promises on day one of the tournament and began watching. to mind whether that same award-winning co-host Brian Campbell would hold any ill will today against his partner for that incident that dates back to December 30th, 2019, the live New Year's drinking show in this same studio where a delayed train in Fairfield, Connecticut caused BC an unduly amount of pain and disrepair from the one he has entrusted his business future with.

I do believe we have our roving reporter, Jake von Amsterdam, live on the scene right now at the curb in Jersey City, at which Luke Thomas will soon be arriving. We'll get updates as soon as Luke arrives and instant analysis from Jake von Amsterdam about what went wrong in this rather regrettable, unprofessional situation. But back to the show that you will see today. This is MK on BC. And to recap our latest news involving this fine program brought to you by the folks of Showtime, CBS Sports and Malka is that coming Wednesday, February 8th, London calling its MK to the UK

and a reminder that you can get your pod live tickets right now for the inaugural podcast festival headlined by the folks here at Morning Combat Luke Thomas, Brian Campbell get your tickets now, one night only MK to the UK

more details to follow, including what special guests and what this fun variety show will look like. But we could not be more overjoyed based upon you, the fan, consistently putting us first in these podcast of the year voting circles. Whether it was legal or not, we appreciate you.

Get your tickets now, King's Place and the King's Court section of London. It is MK in the UK. Speaking of the properties that get us here, a quick reminder, if you missed Showtime Championship Boxing over the weekend, we're about to recap that right now

and the breakthrough of Frank Martin, of course, along with the UFC and everything else going on. But if you want 30 days free of Showtime to not only check out championship boxing, but how about Bellator MMA, you might as well jump on board right now. Showtime.com.

Start off with 30 days free. If you like the way it tastes, you like the way it feels on you, how about three additional months? How about six additional months? How about we double that offer? Six additional months at $3.99 a month. I mean, folks, you can't beat that deal with a bat.

Even Hammer can't touch that. We will be jumping live back and forth down to the curbside to check in on where we're going. But, of course, a busy weekend we plan to recap today from a middleweight till as Jared Cannoneer edges Sean Strickland atop UFC Fight Night 66. Back to the box we saw in Las Vegas with the coming-of-age moment for Frank Martin against fellow unbeaten lightweight Michelle Rivera.

We'll also look back at the year that was for UFC and what we learned from a busy 2022. And thank you to the fan for always having our back. Please, we encourage you to like, subscribe, follow us on social media. Let your news, your views on the news be heard as you see the social channels below. Have you seen this shit today? And, of course, morningcombat at gmail.com is your landing spot for Wednesday's fan subs and Friday's dead wrongs.

Of course, Friday is the entrance point for a lot of us in the Christmas holiday season, but happy holidays throughout to all of you watching. However you do celebrate this Friday, we will have an episode pre-taped, but a holiday mailbag episode of Morning Combat. So check that out on Friday as well. Final plug here, youtube.com slash morningcombat,

our hub for all things extras. We're talking about interviews with Gervonta Davis, Duran Boutsenis on the boxing side that you can't miss. Always new surprises dropping each day. And one additional plug brought to you by RJ Ballganger himself. How about our merch shop, merch shop, morningcombat.store. You know, we got gimmicks. We got holiday gimmicks. Can we zoom in right over here? I mean, we got holiday gimmicks right here. Look at this. I mean, I've been working a little bit on the bench, but not enough to brag about it. But you can get the finest merch in combat sports podcasting today at morningcombat.store. Gift cards are available if

you're late. You know, sometimes we run late on this stuff. So if you forgot, you need that bonus gift out for somebody, check out the old morning combat.store. All right. Luke Thomas is expected to arrive within the next two to three minutes here as we close in. But to recap, if you missed our top story, Luke Thomas, the usually poignant and proper, decorated, long-time mixed martial arts analyst, arguably the top fight analyst in the game today who has never fought, although we do recognize the years he spent rolling on the canvas, he's running late today. We can blame public transportation.

We can blame, you know, the media. We can blame ourselves sometimes when we look in the mirror. And that's the equation Luke Thomas is currently having to navigate when it comes to being prompt for such a big endeavor, which is keeping up the rent, keeping it, putting it on your shoulder, as I'm doing right now, of the world's best combat sports show and to keep up that standard of award-winning content and quality. And today, which will be, as mentioned,

our final in-studio appearance of this great calendar year. And you guys know it's been a hell of a year for MK from our sometimes regrettable July live show with three margaritas to, of course, our outstanding documentary, Chapter 7, brought to you by Jake Von Amsterdam, which is the longest and probably the most detailed and heartfelt best of the seven documentary series. You can catch that. But I did enjoy the fights over the weekend. We're going to get Luke Thomas' take in just a second. Jared Cannoneer at UFC Fight Night 66 inside the Apex getting the nod.

But quick editorial, you saw Ariel Hawane make sort of the same stance. It is something I'm wondering towards the new year. Is this the run of the leftover UFC Apex Fight Night cards calming off the hangover of the pandemic and all things COVID-19, which is ironic because UFC so ahead of the game and getting back out there, even at times, again, the Taichi Palace debacle where it wasn't prudent,

and Disney said stand down or it's man down, and then somehow BC ended up in a four-and-a-half-minute hack job video. UFC always ahead of the game, now in some ways behind it, carrying out probably these more cost-effective Apex shows. I like the smaller octagon as anybody else would at times, especially when you got bangers out there. Yes, I'm talking about Bobby Green and what happened there in that lightweight

tilt. But in general, I would have to echo Ariel that in this 2023 upon us, do you hope for another big year for the UFC? This time around, if there was any slips and steps this year, maybe we didn't see the breakthrough commercial names consistently show up and fight and attempt to get those pay-per-view buys, I hope, for even bigger and better things in 2023. But yeah, I hope a UFC fight night can get back in the damn arena and get the fans there. Let's get a quick update down to the street side view in Jersey City.

Jake von Amsterdam in his guerrilla journalism style is right down there. As we get a look across, you see the apartment building where that man once enjoyed just despicable adult films while we were trying to film that pregame preview. He was an older gentleman. He may have been through the wars both figuratively and literally. So as

a potential veteran of not just field experience, but even just a veteran of not just field experience, but even just a veteran of gross adult films, we salute that man just the same. That's the street corner where Luke's car will drop him off. I'm sure it'll be tinted windows. I'm sure it'll be all kinds of huffed and puffed because the history of Luke Thomas

is a lot of love and great analysis, but we all know what can happen, as you see. Wow, live shot. no moss right here, Taco Bell, available as well for breakfast, apparently. You know, Luke Thomas, he could be a surly fellow. We all love him, but that medulla oblongata that he carries, right, like a chip on his shoulder, it sometimes spills over.

Will we get a happy Luke? Will we get a, you know, a Luke willing to take the knee for the old BC, agreeably apologetic Luke, or will we get, you know, somebody that says, Hey Jake, get the fuck out of here. I don't know. That's why we roll, you know, we roll the dice each day with Luke, but would we be here right now? MK without that? No, you know, I'd be here, but we'd be getting far less views. You know, the traffic we usually get on the docks, that'd probably be the traffic we usually get on the docks, that'd probably be the traffic we also get on the Brian Campbell show.

But, you know, would you have more fun? That's the key question right now. All right, Luke is getting very close to arriving as we continue vamping to start. But I was impressed by Jared Cannoneer stepping through as well. We are just a few weeks away, of course, from New Year's, right? And Bellator versus Risen, that should be the final major combat sports event of this calendar year,

unless there's any YouTubers popping off and Dylan Danis not showing up. I don't even know what date that fight is. I mean, are we really watching that? But, you know, I can go, you know, really the biggest way I could get Luke back and just, you know, just tase him. Like, you know, don't tase me, bro, right?

No, no, this time we are. Is really just to turn this into like a BC 1970s album breakdown. But I'm sure a lot of you wouldn't like that. But, you know, that's fine. It's my show and it's my rules. My name is Brian Campbell. And, you know, it's been a hell of a 2022 for me personally and professionally. And I hope the same for you out there. Thank you for tuning in on the regular. And, you know,

when I say BC cares, if don't nobody else care, I mean that. Does Luke care? Let's look at the facts, you know, and by facts, I mean, let's look at the time. Continuing as we wait, as we close in, I believe we can, we can take one more, one more live look on the curb. We may be able to catch him just coming in in time and arriving. Here we go. Jake Fott, Amsterdam on the scene. There is the front door that Luke will be entering into the acclaimed Malka Studios very shortly.

UFC analysis awaits you. Has Jared Cannoneer reminded us of that elite way? Is he still in the middleweight title picture? We can only find out as soon as Luke Thomas arrives. But, you know, when you ask me, BC, you know, what do you feel about London? You know, it's interesting. Did I think we'd be here?

You know, maybe a part of Did I think we'd be here? You know, maybe a part of me in the deep spectacles of my brain, the receptacles way in the way back, you know? So soon, no. Did have that vision that one time of BC and LT and the MK in front of 5,000. We're gonna do 500 instead, but I think the passion will still be felt

from these UK boys, from these Irish boys. I can't call it all the two islands, the UK, because it's not, right? But there is a collective spirit among them, whether you're Scouser, whether you're Liverpoolian, I think that's the same thing, or whether you're Mike Owens Media, right? Or, you know, you're a Georgie or you're a Welshman like myself. I've been adopted to the Klan. There's just a vibe out there. So I expect to feel that passion. I expect to feel our listeners.

And I expect to at least inquire about multi, you know, restraining orders afterwards. But that's, you know, that's the business we've entered here to entertain our fans on the regular and hopefully at times, right, educate them and inform them and hopefully motivate them and let them realize that, you know, you may have tuned in this morning hoping you can get a breakdown on that omoplata, but today might be your day to look into the screen as a mirror.

Are you taking the best care of yourself entering this new year? The winters are long, they're harsh, they're tough, but spring is coming. Thank you. Thank you. All right. All right. I got all day up here, you know what I mean? We play the hits, that's what we do.

You know, I was listening to the classic 90s track, The Freshman by the Verve Pipe on the way in. We'll get to that later. I believe if we go live right now. Mr. Thomas. Thank you, sir. There is Luke Thomas. Get the fuck out of my face. You're live on Morning Combat,

Mr. Thomas. Any word for the fans? He's surly for sure. Yeah, blame Amtrak, motherfucker. I was at my train on time. What happened? Uh, train doors wouldn't close, so we had to switch trains. Luke has entered the studios. I don't care what he buys.

The four-year, the well holiday decorated... You're not playing your stupid fuck-fuck game. Come on, let's go. Luke believes he's stepping into a fuck-fuck trap shortly. We'll see if that plays out. Is that being transmitted or not? It's live, Mr. Thomas.

Is it transmitting? No, it's not. Oh, you do have the live view. Holy shit. It's live, all right. Motherfucker, I gotta get ready and shit. Like, I'm not just gonna walk in there. You got to turn this motherfucker off Award-winning content that only morning combat can give you

Mr. Campbell right now eat a bag of dicks. Wow. Well, I already had breakfast sir, you know Yeah, this is too fun, right? You know, I dressed today in this Target special that I picked up. I don't want to pay attention to that. I mean, nobody. No, no, we don't really adhere to that. But here he comes. He's on his way in. It is Luke Thomas, everybody, live and direct from the nation's capital.

One half of your award-winning partnership. One half of your award-winning partnership. One half of your award-winning partnership. I need a few minutes to set up here. Why don't you start with us? Do you think I should have cleared it with you out of respect? I don't know if I cleared it necessarily. I just don't understand why you're doing it. Because I valued entertainment above promptness and friendship in this instance.

And, you know, if you think that that's a problem in our relationship, Luke, that's the truth, though, you know, if you think that that's a problem in our relationship, Luke, that's the truth, though. That's you. That is me. Luke Thomas, everybody, he's going to give him a chance to unbuckle. Luke, we are just about to break in to what we saw Saturday's UFC fight night card, the final one, of course,

of 2022, which had a sneaky amount of moments, upsets, disappointments, breakthrough victories. Happy Vlismas, indeed, to those who celebrated. Not much celebrating, of course, when Corey McKenna continues, poppins herself to make big news. But that wasn't the headlining bout. Of course, the middleweight tilt between Jared Kananier scoring, in the end, a split decision victory over Sean Strickland

and two highly ranked 185-pound contenders, both coming off of big defeats, of course. Topic number one. Let me do the correct slide. So why don't you slide, right? Yeah. I have to go to the bathroom. Like, dude, I can't just walk.

We're going to let it slide. Yeah. All right. This was not thought out very well. Well, Luke, some would say that about. I'm talking like a radio morning DJ. Some would say that about your propness today, Luke. What do you want me to do?

We get on the train. I had to get up at 5 a.m. Yes. Didn't miss that. Could you at least speak into the microphone? So here's what happened. Yeah, let's go. I got on the train at 5.

I got up at 5 a.m. I got into the car at 6, got to train station 615. All right? Train boarded at 635. I was first on the fucking train. Oh, yeah. By the way, it was- Train, great band.

Sneaky pop band. Mate, Virginia, you know? My ex-girlfriend liked it, and she was stupid. Yeah. Did you smash? I dated her for three years. What do you think?

Yeah, yeah. What do you think? But here's the point I wanted to make, which was, so when I went to Connecticut, I had an early morning flight. We had to get off that motherfucker and then reboard at a new gate.

Sure enough, I get on the train. It's 7.05. Usually when it's like 7 o'clock, it's like right on time. I had an early morning flight. We had to get off that motherfucker and then reboard at a new gate. Sure enough, I get on the train. It's 7.05. Usually when it's like 7 o'clock, it's like right on time. 7.05, 7.10. Passengers, we're going to have to figure out what's going on with the doors. The doors wouldn't close. Look, what do you remember about December 30th, 2019?

The doors wouldn't close. So we sat there until 7.30. Then they made a switch to the other track. And then they had to unload all the food off the old train, put it on the new train. So we didn't get going until 8. So we were an hour behind. Like, what am I supposed to do about that? It's always been an issue.

You know, there was that story in the Marines about guys running trains. And it was like, I don't know if I need those details. You know what I mean? In this case, Luke. That really happened. They woke me up to go run a train or something. While I understand the issues that you have navigated to get to this point. I politely decline.

All right, let me go to the bathroom real quick, and we'll get this over to you. Yeah, that's fine. That's fine. Jake will just document each step of this journey. Jake, if you follow me. Where's Jake? Jake, if you follow me, put the microphone.

Put the camera on me. You understand? Jake, if you follow me, I'm going to punch you in your fucking nose. You understand? That's it? Okay. I was expecting much more. I'm expecting violence.

I was expecting like the lyrical hook of a Cannibal Corpse song, like, Jake, I will make you pee red or something like gross like that. Hey, look at me. Hey, I cum blood. Okay? There we go. Wow. Like, Jake, I will make you pee red or something gross like that. Hey, look at me. Hey, I cum blood, okay? There we go. Wow. I mean, you know, wow, Luke almost bit it over there by the wires, by the power pack on the floor.

There you go, everybody. Luke Thomas, Georgian by choice, but now a DCer for life. He has, you know, neglected a few things in life. His Indian citizenship, his connection to Doha, living there as a youth. He doesn't mention months that he lived in Japan, which he maybe should have stepped in during the Risen conflict. And also just, you know, the promptness of showing up today.

But this is a bit that we seem to have milked excessively, hopefully for your endorsement and entertainment. But just a quick reminder, nobody does the bonuses like MK. And what you can't see right next to me, I'm pointing at it, is the infamous room service diaries couch. Some would argue to say at this point, the foundation, the incubator that creates the best interviews in combat sports that go the deepest, that get inside.

Today, we have a special guest on there. It won't be live. You'll see it after the fact, but here's a little clue for you. Somebody's about to be wielding this, okay? I think you know where I'm going there. Hey, I'm dressed very 90s like today. I felt a pep in my step as I woke up

and grabbed this shirt that came straight off the target rack. This is how I used to dress in the 90s all the time, and I've got that 90s mindset today. There it is, BC with the wallflower shirt. By the way, that picture was taken in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium in 1998. It would have been July 31st, 1998. You can check, you can dead wrong me, but David Wells pitching against the Oakland A's and was at the Wallflowers County Crows concert the night before. So

shout out to Bogo. Coon Dog was with me, Alex Walkuski and we took that infamous picture. But here he comes, folks. We've vamped as much as we can. I've not vamped as much as I can. We can't do this show without him. He's got an earpiece.

He's ready. It's Luke Thomas. Luke, jokes aside, how was your weekend? Sorry for the long commute that you had to endure that, that our people had to endure me alone without you. You know what this means? My commute home is going to be even worse. That's usually what this means.

Yeah. This might be one of those subtle life nudgings or warnings that it's time to move out of D.C. You had a good run. I had a dinner with a friend last night who I hadn't seen in some time. He said the exact same thing. He's been in D.C. since we went to high school together. Come up north, brother.

Okay? I don't want to live in Jersey. You don't have to live in Jersey. Who chooses to live here? You can live outside of White Plains in those really rich towns like the Clintons. Yeah, but if I lived in White Plains, serious question. If I lived in White Plains, how question, if I lived in White Plains, how much does that really cut down on my commute?

A lot. On your commute from D.C.? Are you kidding me? Yeah, but I take the high-speed train. Okay, I get a car. So once the train's in motion, I'm fine. It's just that we couldn't get that the fuck out. There are so many Jersey suburbs that,

look, I'm a Connecticut guy, so I've been, you know, I have my birthright to shit on Jersey, right? It's the armpit of the place. There are so many Jersey suburbs that, look, I'm a Connecticut guy, so I've been, you know, I have my birthright to shit on Jersey, right? It's the armpit of our country. I mean, you know, with respects to Aaron Blanchfield. But, Luke, I will say that there are some beautiful mountain towns

not too far from here. You could commute in on a train. You could be happy each day. Dude, this is what I did. I did this. Or just be a hipster. Go to Brooklyn. Tukey could grow up in Brooklyn.

Am I saving money by moving to Brooklyn? No. I mean, zero chance I'm saving. Dude, I did this. Understand how much this wrecked my health. I did this two times a week, every week, for 50 of the 52 weeks when I did the MMA Hour, the MMA Beat my last year. That was the worst year of your life.

It was the worst fucking year of my life. Well, that's not to say, no. The year my mom died was the worst year of my life. But professionally, I ruined myself that year. you know what you always had in your bag giant bags of edible gummies and giant bags of like beef jerky you always had that in your bag and you were angry each time i come in for the mma hour you were angry or beat whatever it was you know the the post aerial era which there's a growing movement that looked back on that very kindly very fondly that era, posterior,

because there was an injection of really like a new hope, like an episode four vibe into that show. When you say people, are you saying you? I've built a small following. They're mighty, though. They're very mighty. We've got to get the show going. Did we have reads? I took care of all that. We are going to start right now

with topic number one, back to script right now. Just this first topic, Luke. I will set you up. Middleweight tilt, as I mentioned, and this was big. Both coming off of big losses. A title loss for Kananir against Adesanya. And, of course, Sean Stricken getting knocked out by Alex Pareda. But, Luke, what we saw in the end was a very tactical, I thought a fun fight in the end.

Really? You thought that was a fun fight? Not full-time action by any means, but very high level. And a split decision victory for Jared Cannonera, 38 years old, the killer gorilla advancing on.

Luke Thomas, your score for this fight. Um, okay. We're going to go back and do the regular thing that we normally do, which is to say that

if you have a wide disparity in scores, it's not quite the same as boxing, where in boxing, because you have 12 rounds and it's just sort of one style of combat, if you have a score like, you know, 120 to something, that usually does indicate it was dominant. MMA is not quite that way. I had a 49-46 for Kennedy, but I recognize there were at least two more rounds that were pretty...

Do you feel like the first three rounds could have gone either way, all the way? Yeah. Yeah, I do. Yeah, I do. I do think that. This is not a Doug Crosby situation. This is a... No, it's not Doug Crosby.

You could have scored it for Strickland. It's not impossible, right? Not at all. And again, I think the judges, correct me if I'm wrong, it was 49-46 two times and then 49-46 the other way. Like, that tells you the reality. Again, you go back to Max versus Frankie Edgar. It was 50-45, I believe, on some of the judges' scorecards.

But Frankie was in that fight. It was kind of close. It's just that each round he was a little bit short. I think this is the case here. However you scored each round, the other guy was not far apart. Maybe the end of that fifth was kind of a blitz where they were all sort of going crazy or whatever. But the first four and a half rounds, guy was just however you saw it one guy was just nudging the other one away I saw Sean Strickland was really upset at the judging which I can

understand I think he feels he fights in a way where he feels like I'm gonna land things that I feel like are more important and I'm gonna disregard what the opponent does it's like a meaningful thing but it seemed to me BC how maybe you It felt like to me, the jab of Strickland was nice, but the clearly more damaging shots came from Cannoneer. Right, and I think like what I love, my favorite part about this fight was right before round five, the speeches, to be fair, that both corners gave.

But, you know, we love him as a sometimes guest of our show. Eric Nixick's speech to Strickland before round five was not only on point, the perfect advice at the right tone, a little bit cutting, like, come on, guy, go out there. Like, you know, I don't know where these scorecards are at. And to be fair, I didn't know entering that point, but we didn't get the response that the corner was looking for. And I think they, this is one of the better,

I got to say this, this is one of the better analyzed fights that I've seen in some time. And I give that credit to Paul, Brendan Fitzgerald was the play-by-play man, right? But who I like a lot as well. But I give it specifically the way that Paul Felder and Dominic Cruz bounced off each other

and their different personalities and the way that they interjected the experience of having been fighters to some of these moments. Like I thought that was the peak of what this art form is. Sometimes it's just to entertain you. Sometimes people are annoyed by it and you turn the volume down. I thought they nailed a lot of it where Strickland was just going to lean at the end of the day into what he felt was comfortable and what he could get off in the danger that was coming at him. And the danger was

increasing as Cannoneer listened to his corner, which gave great advice to step up the pressure in those championship rounds. And I think, you know, if Strickland had been more active with the kicks or anything more than what he, his, you know, bread and butter that he was trying to do, he may have opened up more doors to have opportunities. But Luke, it was an arms race in the end. He didn't have the, he didn't have the bigger weapon between the two.

And, you know, without shooting for takedowns, without trying to get off of what is jab, jab, occasional right hand, he, you just could weigh the power punches too much. With the leg strikes of what Kananir was doing, the volume of Strickland, occasional right hand, you just could weigh the power punches too much. With the leg strikes of what Kananir was doing, the volume of Strickland, it wasn't overwhelming enough to offset the power on the other side. I think that's right.

That's the story of the fight right there. I don't know this, so I would have to ask Sean Strickland how he feels. I wonder if a guy who boxes that way feels like if I'm blocking punches, because you could see a lot of them were bouncing off the arms or the forearms of Sean Strickland. I wonder if he felt like that should be counted. And for folks who may not know, defense, in certain forms of defense, actually does count in the one system. Like takedown defense is actually scored in the one system.

But in the 10-point must system, in the one that we use in North America, predominantly anyway, the one the UFC uses, I should say, defense is not scored. Defense is considered its own reward. But you could see him pulling out of the way, blocking punches, like doing whatever he had to do. And that was nice. It's slick.

But they have re... They have changed the scoring system in such a way where offense is really all that is scored. It's not that all that matters, but it's all that's scored. And Kananir, you could see, like, even some of those inside leg kicks, he would tear him off of his base. Although Sean Strickland had some good checks.

I mean, Strickland ended some rounds kind of limping a little, and that shows damage sometimes when you're looking to separate in a close round. So Kananir, look, I think at the end of the day, Strickland didn't do what could have given him a better argument in the end. And I think the reason why he didn't do that is because Kananir, look, I think at the end of the day, Strickland didn't do what could have given him a better argument in the end. And I think the reason why he didn't do that is because Kananir is this good, this technically strong, especially when the tier isn't the A-plus level, when it's just that step down. Then you really see how smart and the IQ Kananir has in his setups. Did Jared Kananir accomplish reestablishing that he is a title threat and that he is still among the elite in this division?

No. Well, in the elite of the division, top five, he was top three into this, he beat top six. So, yeah, he's firmly top five. Because when I say elite, I mean everybody in that elite, which is normally four or five fighters, whatever, sometimes can be more or less, on any given night they can win the championship,

but they can go on a run. They're two fights away from doing it. I think he's in that class. So it's still going to be matchup dependent. As we saw, he couldn't figure out how to sign you out and wasn't willing to take the risk probably because he knows what would have happened. No, to me, it's the Pereira, Izzy, Rob race. It's those three, and then it's everybody else. That's kind of how I see it.

And to me, this fight didn't change any of it. Okay, I'm a little bit more forgiving here. Kananir, one of my favorite fighters in terms of style and mindset and how he, just to watch, I think, look, he was close to Robert Whitaker. There were ways he was very much close in that fight and ways that I think he could do better. I think Izzy's just always going to be a bad matchup for him. But what about the idea, and some things obviously have to go his way,

and it's not like Kananir's going to get the call tomorrow for a second title. So he's probably got one more big win whether that's a costa versus whittaker winner or whatever this was a big win matchup dependent what if poeton stays the champion is that a matchup where where canon near is a legitimate title threat i think that's a very interesting fight it all goes back to the question of potatoes takedown defense and how sturdy it is and how continuous it could be remember that would be a five round contest not a three but cannon air can go deep cannon air can go deep his take his i don't have the numbers in front of me but i believe his offensive takedown percentage is low in terms of what he actually scores there so it's not like he'd be like obviously the biggest threat to

pareda to me is robert whitaker i think that i think that's pretty fair to say beyond that it begins to be a little bit less clear. Yeah, I do think that Whitaker would be an interesting fight with Pineda matchup dependent, but I just mean there are those three guys at the top, the Pinedas, the Whitakers, and the Isis, they can do things, and they are really tough matchups for each other

in very, very distinct ways. The guys below them, they're not to be ignored or insulted. And I hope that's not the message I'm sending here, but rather that I do see that like, could one guy here for me change that view of like, there's the top three guys and all of them have some unique weaknesses. Could this fight shake up that order?

I didn't see this fight as shaking up that order really at all. I felt like it was, we kind of not knew what we already knew. This was a big opportunity for Sean Strickland to be someone in the top three. It was a pick-em. Don't forget that. It was a pick-em. Yeah, and it was a very close fight. I think it was 110-110 in the odds heading into it, minus 110 both directions. But still, did I leave this fight feeling like

I got a brand new perspective on something not really no they are who you thought they were final question on Strickland then no one's going to hold the caliber of the fighters he lost to in succession right here against him because this is you know separate from Whitaker the very best of this division here in Adesanya did we learn though

through the knockout loss to Poiton and now this decision loss that Sean Strickland has hit his ceiling? Or is there still a potential adjustment addition to his gamers? This about as good as it gets? And that's not me saying that. No, he's only 31. He's only 31.

But I will say the thing you mentioned previously that I went back to, before rounds four, it may have even been before that, but certainly before rounds four and five, Eric Nixick was in his face, right side, teep up the middle. Do it. He was telling them over and over and over. He's wide open for it. And you didn't even really see Strickland attempt it.

To me, it's like whatever he's done to bring himself to this level, that is certainly a very high level, just outside top five-ish territory, something like that. But if he wants to get to the next level, there is some skill development that has to happen. Okay. There is a change that has to happen. This is not enough.

What he has is very commendable. But is what he has good enough to beat top five guys? No. Kananir can beat top five guys. I don't think he can beat the championship guys. That, to me, is the difference. Matchup dependent, and he's running out of time, but I don't think he can beat the championship guys. That, to me, is the difference. Matchup dependent, and he's running out of time, but I don't think he has slipped.

I think with Kananir, it's all about just finding the right formula on the right night, the right strategy with enough offense. You've got to give him credit. He listened to the critics. He upped his output this fight. Different opponent, but he upped his output. He went after it a bit more against Strickland. You thought that was a going-after performance?

It wasn't a going-after like I think his ability could lead to. I think he could be more of a destroyer. I think he's a guy that realized at some point if I want to contend for a title, I've got to lock down my setup game, my technique, my boxing, my footwork. And to his credit, Luke, he's a lot more elite than people realize. He has massively cleaned up his game. Is that what you mean? That's what I mean.

Because if you mean like really, really getting rid of the things that were holding him back, he did a lot of it. You could tell he got to a certain crossroads where he was like, I can either go down this road and be a knockout threat but be kind of one-dimensional, or I can really round out my skills and learn the game. And, dude, I think he's becoming a hell of a game player. His team obviously is well-respected.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The leg kicks against the jab, as he indicated in the post-fight comments, or right on the money. But it's like sometimes I do think when he is fighting the very, very best where their skill and technique is just going to be a slot higher, he's got to amp up the threat of violence more. He's got to be a little bit more willing. I thought this fight, although, again, not the same scare level on the other side

compared to like an Adesanya, but he upped it in the championship rounds at least. You know what's interesting to me is like if you had the style like that Strickland did, like why didn't he change much through the rounds? It's because he probably felt like he was winning, right? Like you could see his face. He was very, very surprised and annoyed or disgusted, whatever the word is. Or he felt any time he stepped up, he was met with instant. That too.

But here's my point. Imagine that the distinction was clear. Now imagine that Strickland knew, knew he was maybe not going to get knocked out, but not going to win. What would have been the other place he would have gone to in this fight to change that? Do we think he would have

gone to the takedown? There was a couple times actually where he was getting teed off on. He wrapped up a little bit. You watched some of his earlier fights and there was more wrestling. That's always matchup dependent on the level who you're fighting. But he's gnarly on top when he gets that. Could he do that against somebody

as strong as Kananir? I don't know. But should he have at least established that threat? And to Nick's point, even if he's not going to score with those kicks, at least add that to the equation. It was a little bit too predictable for this level. But I did love Cruz and Felder together

to the point that I think they might be my favorite duo of analysts. Do you have a favorite duo at the moment? Are you still an old school meat and potatoes, Rogan and DC guy? Favorite UFC? Tandem together for a big fight in terms of analysts. They're not going to put Cruz and Felder together on a pay-per-view next time.

You want to be 100% honest with you? I think they could be great. Well, John Anik is special. Well, Anik's always there. Yeah, yeah. So he's sort of like a given that Anik... You're going to laugh at this and you're going to tell me I'm out of my mind. I actually feel like the best answer, if you're not counting Anik, is going to be

Fitzgerald and Laura Sanko, actually. Just the two of them calling pay-per-views. No, not calling pay-per-views, but you're asking me like... I'm talking about what would be your personal A-team. For me, right now... So I have to have a three-man team. Yeah, if Anik, Felder, and Cruz for me would be my A-views. No, not calling pay-per-views, but you're asking me like... I'm talking about what would be your personal A-team. For me, right now... So I have to have a three-man team then? Yeah, if Anik Felder and Cruz for me would be my A-team. But I don't think they would do that because somebody like DC

and Rogan brings so much more personality and name value, and I get that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Probably if Felder would be the other person I would add there. I feel like... Some people like Contender Series, some people don't. Some people are like, oh, it's just a scam to sign a bunch of young guys to a cheap contract, and half of them are not going to last in the UFC.

That might be partly true. Yeah, it's not altogether unfair. However, I find that – again, I've said it before. Calling MMA fights live is insanely difficult, insanely difficult. Insanely difficult. And I feel like there's not a lot of attempt necessarily to get to the real important details. It often feels a little bit surface level. Yeah. And I feel like if you watch Contender Series,

Senko and Felder do an excellent job at getting a level below that. And, you know, people are going to have comments about this, I'm sure, being like, oh, you're sleeping on X and Y. I'm not. I really believe that there's not a lot of attempts at really driving at what is important in a fight and that Felder and Senko, along with Fitzgerald or Anikou, whoever, can bring that to bear better than others.

Interesting take from you, Luke Thomas. I will say, everyone kills DC. And I understand some of the criticisms against him. I will say that when it comes to wrestling in a fight, he is by far the best person in the UFC to call that. And even though I sometimes change being a huge pro DC A-team guy and then slipping back sometimes, but, dude, he's entertaining. He's like that feel-good voice that you know and that you like.

To some, to many, but not to everyone. I think sometimes people look down on that and undervalue that skill. Also, I will say this about Cruz. Cruz for a long time was my favorite. In many ways, I still like what he does. But there are criticisms about Cruz about whether or not he fully understands the scoring criteria. Or humor. Well, I don't care about that.

I mean. You're like, I've been the Dom Cruz of this show since day one. Exactly. Like, that part is to me not necessarily a deal breaker, I'll put. A deal breaker. But I do think that, certainly I'm not in a position to criticize anything he says about the fights themselves. But in terms of how the scoring, it does feel like something is missing in terms of his acceptance of how fights are scored these days. What's the best?

This will close this conversation. Who should Kananair fight next in your eyes? He was calling for a title shot. I'm not. It's not happening. So Adesanya's getting the next shot, right? We feel that, to be true. Right.

And as he already indicated, it's Whitaker and then Costa, no matter what Costa says. And then it's Vittori and Deleze. Right. Maybe the winner of that. Maybe the winner or the loser of Costa-Whitaker. Something like that.

Not like a Brunson or somebody jumping up. I mean, nothing like that, right? Somebody has to be hot. Yeah, exactly. Or Hamzat. Whitaker versus, excuse me, not Whitaker, Kananier versus Hamzat. Like, you want Hamzat to get,

because here's the thing at 185, right? Everyone about Hamzat is like, oh, he hasn't been tested at 185. That's true. He's been tested at 170. He's not been tested at 185. Boy, Kananier is a pretty goddamn tough test, if you ask me. Yeah.

Right? Yeah. I don't think they'll do that because I think that... It's not a bad fight. Behind the scenes, the promotion has to make a decision of whether they're sending Hamzat to the welterweight title picture or the middleweight one, rather than both at the same time. Right?

You've got to make the decision. I feel like they've made the welterweight decision. That's why I feel like Colby is a very good fight that can make an early 2023 for Hamza. I think it's more likely he fights the winner of Edward's Usman 3. If it happens, doesn't Kamaru have issues right now? Apparently he had hand surgery again or has to get surgery. I saw that he will not necessarily be ready by the deadline

to have the next show with the UK. He had a speaking role in Wakanda Forever. It wasn't quite Tyron Woodley as Sensei Odell from the Cobra Kai series, but it was pretty cool. I still haven't seen that yet. No, you won't, because you hate teens, apparently. Well, teens, I mean... In some ways, that's, you know, I like that.

You know, it's the anti-Sandusky and you and I appreciate that, but... It's like, dude, teens have the most boring, uninteresting lives imaginable. See, I come from a community where your life peaks at 17. So there's like this romanticism of honor and valor at that age. Like anything's possible. It's like, dude, if you actually examine the ages that Romeo and Juliet were supposed to be,

it's like, just let them die. Like their lives are stupid. Wow. Okay. Hey, you take over the hosting of the show. Please go ahead. All right. Let's go to point number two, I think, on this camera.

Another prediction that did not get right. I was actually very surprised by this, although I still have some criticisms, BC. I think the Armenian community is about to excommunicate. They might. They might. But here's the good news for the Armenian community. Armin Saryukyan not only beat Demir Ismagulov, he broke his seven-year win streak, which is pretty remarkable.

And I got to say, the takedowns came way easier than even I thought they were going to. You got to understand, this guy had a 90% plus takedown defensive rate, Ismogulov did. And the only guy to get him down prior to this in the UFC was Guram Kutateladze. He could barely do it. Boy, Saryukian ran over him. BC, exactly what did you learn about Saryukian from this performance? He supported my lack of fear on the dangers of this type of matchmaking, which is the biggest storyline coming in,

is after seeing Saryukian lose on the high level in his debut to the now champ, and then, of course, seeing what happened in the fight most recently against Gamera that could have gone either way. You could have questioned, well, if he loses this too, are we entering, are you going down the Dan Hooker road? No, he's not, Luke. He's also a brick shithouse,

first of all, this guy. Jesus Christ. But what I learned. One day I would like to look like that. When I say one day, when I say one day, I don't mean like, like go back to the other picture here.

Go back, go back. This guy looks like an action hero. Okay. So I'm going to point to something. This, God damn it. This is the back of his deltoid. This is the rear deltoid here.

That's a Jurassic back, bro. These are his, hold on a second. These are his fucking traps. I mean, you got to be shitting me. He, when I say one day, I mean, it's 43. It's over for me. I'd have to be on steroids to look like this. But what I would say is if there was just a day in my life, just a single day, I could look like that.

Yeah. I'd be the liver king, I could look like that. Yeah. I'd be the liver king. I'd just walk around shirtless. What we saw in the fight is why I wasn't nervous, meaning he had the right mentality. And look, he's a freaking hammer. Hashtag holy hammer. Hell yes, he is.

But he had that mentality mixed, fueling it properly in aggression. And aggression and physicality is ultimately what won him this fight, Luke. It wasn't just the constant threat of the takedowns, but dude, he worked his kicking game in at a level, that inspired level, to make it a constant weapon. You could still argue that his striking overall is still raw and still against a very, very technical elite,

and his opponent, Iskma Gulov, is to a certain degree of that, but, Luke, the physicality is what kept Amir out of this because that kicking game, the threat of his striking, dude, he just acted like a badass, Luke, the physicality is what kept Amir out of this because that kicking game, the threat of his striking, dude, he just acted like a badass, Luke, and the threat of the choke on the ground once he did get a takedown was always there. He didn't get a lot of ground and pound. But in this case, he was just constantly a threat,

constantly trying to win the fight, that all in all, Luke, he's exactly where he needs to be to go back into the even deeper parts of this lightweight pool or welterweight, what division weight, lightweight. Lightweight, yeah, he's exactly where he needs to be to go back into the even deeper parts of this lightweight pool. Or welterweight pool. What division weight? Lightweight. Yeah, he's 155. I'm not sure I agree.

Now, what are you nervous of? The striking that was still a little too raw? Okay. Here is my basic concern. Because, first of all, you've got to start with the default point that you didn't think he would win. No, I didn't. That you didn't think he would get takedowns. I wasn't sure if he'd get takedowns, and I wasn't sure

if he would keep them. He out-physicaled this man. He out-physicals almost everybody. But that was the difference. I will say, I was looking at the numbers. So prior to Saturday's contest, Ismagulov had a 92, 93% takedown defensive rate. Now, after this single fight, it's at 75%. I mean,

he fucking damaged his stats in one fight. So I'll say this on the good side. The wrestling was even... I mean, he fucking damaged his stats in one fight. So I'll say this on the good side. The wrestling was even. I mean, we've always known that's how you can have good wrestling. You can go back to the Mockachef fight, which he lost and still have a particular sense of that. So that was good. Let me tell you my major concern.

And it wasn't true for this fight, but I'm not sure I can give it up yet, which is he is so physical and such a good wrestler. And, dude, he just sticks to you like glue. And I would also say his entries into takedowns keeps him pretty safe, which is why he doesn't get beat up on the way in or down-blocked constantly. Dude, his body kicks are legit. They're legit. Here's the problem. On the ground, there's virtually no ground and pound,

at least in any kind of position that's being contested. Does being a submission threat make that not as much of a weakness? He's not a submission threat either. Not much of one. He established the threat of the choke a few times. Those were not close. Those were not close. Let me say something. What I was worried about in this fight was that Saryukian had certain points of the game on lock, but the rest of it not so much. But the parts he did have on lock would continue to elevate him before he was ready. Now, certainly I was wrong about this fight and the way it would go. Mea culpa. I certainly recognize that.

Seven takedowns of 21 attempts is, you know, I mean, that's nine and a half minutes of control time. Not all of us are undefeated since Woodley Till, Luke, just to be fair. Fair enough. But BC, my concern that he's going to get a win like this and then they're going to push him where when you look at his striking game, his level changing was nice. The kicks were great. Not a ton of them landed through the course of the fight. The boxing

wasn't really there. He didn't take a lot of damage. That's the good part too. But on the ground, that is where all of his offense really resides. And there's not hardly any ground and pound in any contested position. So he had a previous fight where a guy would actually go to his back and work from guard, and his ground and pound there was hellacious. But in a contested situation, it doesn't really exist. And yes, he had better back control this time and didn't get reversed and end up underneath. The one time he did get up underneath he quickly reversed it like dude that that reversal from mount he had the first

was all man unbelievable but bc my central concern that he's going to elevate himself through the rankings he's not there yet i agree with you because he's good enough to win on these other things yep he's only 26 like he's only 26 like he, he doesn't – all I'm saying is this. Just don't rush the matchmaking. That is my only concern. No, don't rush me. I've made that mistake before, and we have before in this spot. I agree. He's not there yet.

The striking is still raw and rudimentary, but it's passionate and aggressive. And this was a more matchup-orientated situation where, even though Ismagulov is very technical, and at times in the striking, especially with that right cross, which just keeps going like Stretch Armstrong or something there, he was able to land that, but Saryukin constantly could counter that with the aggression. I agree. He wants

to catapult right into the title picture again. If he fights Mahachev tomorrow, he's still going to lose the same way. That's exactly my point. Mahachev is so much better. Did you see anything that would change the way that the Gamrot fight would go? Not really. But this fight, to me, wasn't about is he ready to fight for the title next. This was about is what we saw, the glimpses in those two close losses,

Mahachev and Gamrot, we saw potential to be great. Can he stop the slide? Meaning there's fighters that still can fight great, but don't get the nod. We needed to come out and win this fight cleanly. He did that. Okay. He did that. He didn't, he didn't go backwards. He went forward. He just didn't go forward. I think to the level of like what he's saying on the mic is, you know, Hey, I want the champion. You know, I like that intention. That intention is what won him this fight to be fair. But Luke, you're right. He has to refine. Can it be done? He's still young enough. Oh, yeah. Every fight, I see new wrinkles. Like, his back control was way better.

There were times where he got the back, and you actually saw this. I'd like to see him switch to the Sulowef hamstring stretch. But there were times he'd get the back, and you could see Ismagulov trying to shake him off. And what did he do? He actually placed his hand on top of the hand of Ismagulov so that he could keep Ismagulov there as well as his own position. Like little details like that tell me he's definitely working on stuff. I have, listen, his upside does not change for me. Does not change.

He's got championship potential written all over him too. But his skill set is still very lopsided. It is still very lopsided. And the part in which he is very good at, does it to me have enough of the requisite offense behind it to warrant a top five opponent it looks like he's making it a priority to get more time at att yes so which can only be good can only be good on the idea of okay let's let's work on developing that ground and pound because you're you're almost

there you're almost there you're at the doorstep of that now let's work how to how to implement that striking wise i don't know if he'll ever be there fully dynamic but if he consistently works on that jab and uses that as a weapon like he does and at least has the threat of a right hand those other areas are strong got to refine them but they're strong just think about this seems to have the intangible backbone like he's got he's got grit again doesn't take a lot of damage i want to be very clear about that. That is hugely important for a kid at 26 years of age. Dude, he's got the level of stickiness that a Habib does, where they just, guys, could not get this fucking guy off of him.

But, but, the ground and pound from Habib is way more advanced, right? And, of course, who can be Habib? This is an impossible standard in many ways. But I think that Saryukin could get fucking close with some time. He could get close. The only one that ever put Habib away was Gil, right? To stand up to the promise to the parents and just be like, yep, I said it,

so I'm never going to fight again. That was it. You get my point. My point is simply that he passed this test far easier than I thought he could. And his DMs must be immaculate, to be fair. Can you just imagine the things that have been pitched at him? Who had a better night in the DMs, Lionel Messi or this guy? Probably Messi.

Well, Messi's like, yeah. I mean, he won the World Cup. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think he got, did he get golden ball and golden boot? He might have gotten both. I can't even remember. But in any case. Gold balls. I'd love to have gotten both. I can't even remember. But in any case. Gold balls.

I'd love to have that condition. I will say this. You know what's one of the most impressive things about this victory that it's very hard to appreciate? I really encourage folks, maybe if you watch this show, then you already know this, but if you are not super familiar

with Ismogulov prior to this contest, do me a solid and watch any of his previous UFC fights because this was a poor showcase for him, right? Like if all you ever knew about Demir Ismagulov was just what you got from this fight, you will have a very warped sense of his abilities. Go watch the Kutateladze fight and come back to me and then see how good he is. That was a split decision though, I warned you about it.

Majority decision and the one he got wrong was Douglas Crosby. I read Chuck Mendenhall's feature from MMA Fighting on him. Is it not insane? Oh my, they're at bathhouses together? Yeah. This guy's...

Dude, Doug Crosby's out of his mind. Did you see Raffi on Stotts was hammering out Doug Crosby to Ariel because in that feature, you know, Doug Crosby has his own

criteria of the rules. Right. And it's just, damn, man, this guy's like an old school cowboy, right? Yeah,

basically. But the wrong kind. Yeah, the super wrong kind. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is, oh, yeah, just give Ismagulov a try on his other fights, and then if you rewatch this one, you'll see. The most impressive thing to me about what Saryukyan did here

was he made Ismagulov look average. He is not. This fight, the commentators were talking about it. Neither guy wanted, no one wanted to fight either guy, so these two just got paired together. And I want to point out something. This is Saryukian's run to this point bc yeah makachev oam davi hamos who was an adcc gold medalist matt steam roller uh for vola christos kiagos that one he just ran through pretty easily but then another very very good lightweight, Joel Alvarez from Spain. Then Mateusz Gamrot.

And then Demir Ismagulov. And he bloodied Alvarez where Ismagulov didn't. So, like, we talked about this difference in experience. You tried to argue that Ismagulov had better experience. And people were like, yo, what's wrong with him? He's crazy. Well, now that's certainly not the case. Well, it wasn't coming in either.

I mean, this is an intervention right now. Well, between, no, no, I think I relented in the end because the Makachev fight, if that didn't exist, I think that would change it. But having your UFC debut against Makachev, even in a losing effort, he performed really well. I think what I said on Friday was that put it over the edge. But all I'm trying to point out here is, so what is that? One, two, three, four, five, six, eight fights. 26 years old.

Those are his eight fights. That's about as tough of a UFC entry as you're going to see. That's about as tough as they get, give or take. All right. BC, let's go to point number three here. I believe Drew Dober is in need of some praise. Let's give it to him. I think he tied Dustin Poirier's lightweight record of most KOs in the division, stopping Bobby Green.

BC, what did you make of Bobby Green, by the way, piecing up old Drew Dober early in the fight before Drew Dober just bit down on the mouthpiece and sent him to the land of wind and ghosts, which hardly anyone does. Bobby Green's got very good defense and good boxing, although he was pressed up against the fence here. Talk to me. What did you learn about Drew Dober?

You know, I told you coming in that this was going to be a war and that Drew Dober was going to win by knockout. I mean, are you ready to, I mean, I had a good run on this card, Luke. Yeah. I had a lot of feelings that fell through. Here's what I don't do. When you do really poorly on the cards, I don't beat you up for it. I just let it, I go, I let it, I ignore it. But if you'd like, I can return the favor. No, I'm just trying to be real with the people. And no, here's what I thought would happen, though. This, meaning, look, Bobby Green is not easy to be in there against. You're going to get

hit. The style he puts out there, which is so risky, also allows him to beat people with a punch and if they are not as tough, then that speed and that accuracy and that constant volume is going to get to you. Drew Dober, though, was willing, riding a two-fight knockout streak, looking to propel himself to the best we've ever seen,

but still willing to take on huge chances. It was the perfect gunslinger against gunslinger, but when somebody's going to act as crazy and daring as Green, he's going to be open to be hit, and you give Drew Dober credit. To be able to land that knockout, he had to be willing to take on the damage. When you look at his stock, you're like, damn, he's a little too willing to take on the damage. Maybe that's the way he feels,

you know, in a Michael Chandler type way that that's the best way for him to compete to maximize himself. Either way, it created an opportunity for Robert Greene to get caught and credit for Dober to do that. Did I learn a lot? No.

These are two exciting fires that take risks. And the one... I think it's a pretty nice win for Drew Dober. Oh, it is for three in a row and third by knockout. And by the way, I mean, he flattened him with that shot. Right. But in terms of prediction coming in, I kind of saw this coming, Luke.

You know what I mean? He's the rising gunslinger. Where for Bobby Green, he had his moment above water, meaning he put some wins together and started looking really good. And we really were like, damn, on the right day, that style with that daringness, man, it's trouble. It was trouble in this fight, but that style could get you. That catches up with you, Luke. You know what I mean? Can you live and die, that style with that daringness, man, it's trouble. It was trouble in this fight, but that style could get you, that catches up with you, Luke. You know what I mean?

Can you live and die by that style? Hands down, just, I mean, it's gonna catch up. The Bobby Green style? Yeah. Here's the thing. Bobby Green style relies on a little bit of trunk and head and shoulder movement. And what did you notice about this KO and then the last one that Dober had? Both opponents were right up against the fence. It's like, he

took away that condition where Bobby Green has his best defense, and he fucking floored that Dober had, both opponents were right up against the fence. It's like he took away that condition where Bobby Green has his best defense and he fucking floored him. I mean, Drew Dober's a great TV fighter, dude. He's a great TV fighter. He's going to give a lot of high-level guys problems by being so daring. But did you learn more about Drew Dober

from the standpoint of walking in the direction of contendership, though? A little. A little. I think that his ceiling should be calibrated up a little bit. Okay. Which is to say the fatal flaw that, even though you picked him, but the fatal flaw that you do recognize that he has,

that give and take, that trade you're going to make, sometimes you're going to come up short on it, right? It didn't happen this weekend, but eventually it probably will. It has happened to him. Exactly. It's the nature of the style. Like, it's just a matter of time before it happens again. But I will say the quality of guys he can beat on the good end,

I think, is higher than I thought. Where I come from, you either smoke or you get smoked. That's right. That guy's been vaping for three fights in a row. Just like your white trash ass, Luke. But, no, it was a good-ass win. Who else got you feeling something? Hold on.

We'll go to that part here in the thing. I just want to point out there was talks about potentially, I think there were, before Jared Gordon was selected as the opponent for Patty Pimblitt for the last UFC pay-per-view, I think even on this show, there was a little bit of discussion around Terrence McKenna and then Drew Dober as an opponent for Patty. How does Drew Dober versus Patty go?

Spectacularly violent. I could see Patty wrestling him. That's the thing. I mean, that's the wild card to bring in. Look, Patty just had the worst week possible. I mean, he just did, so it's easy now to pile on. But Patty's got guile. Patty's willing to get into danger

and still find ways to get around that. I think Patty could do some things on the ground to him. But that doesn't mean he wins the fight with that. If Drew Dober can make it an action fight, and sometimes Patty as well can be a little bit too willing to get in there and trade and take clean shots, Drew Dober can make him pay in the first round. I mean, that's certainly possible.

On the feet, Dober smokes. Would he be favored because of the flat performance from Patty against Gordon and because of three wins in a row by knockout? Drew Dober might be favored in a virtual pick on more or less. I mean, just compare the resumes. Does Patty Pimblitt have a win as good as Bobby Green? No, he doesn't.

So I would actually think that Drew would be favored. But I think it's interesting. Like, it's a real striker versus grappler in that case. On the feet, Dibble wins that one walking away. On the ground, it could be quite interesting for Patty. Again, his fence wrestling and his back control, you can say whatever else you want about the rest of his game. Fence wrestling and back control is excellent.

He's very good at those things. So that would be a lot of fun. All right, BC, pitching it to you here on this card, anything else stand out to you about what you liked? I liked a lot of it, Luke. There were some good finishes here. A few of them you'll see in Have You Seen This Shit. I mean, where has this part of Bruce Leroy, Alex Caceres

been? I mean, that was just a spectacular finish there on Juicy J, but is that a revival type finish? I don't know. He is so hard to figure out. That one surprised me, too. I was like, wow. I mean, it's gorgeous. We'll see it in Have You Seen This Shit. I mean, it's just beautiful. Julian Arosa

is very talented, but he can be up and down. The fact that he lost by itself is not surprising per se, but if you had asked me before the fight, I think, it's just beautiful. Julian Arosa is very talented, but he can be up and down. The fact that he lost by itself is not surprising per se. But if you had asked me before the fight, I thought Arosa had better wins and was overall more talented. But he'll mix it up. The problem is he gets hit a little bit too much, and that really, really cost him here. Again, going back to the defense, Soryukin doesn't get hit a lot,

doesn't get hit very cleanly very often. Arosa does. By the way, I want to point out something. Yeah, point it out. You can have lights out offense, right? Your offense is just fucking dealing. And I think Erosa is a very talented kid. Don't get me wrong.

But, dude, defense wins championships, man. For sure. It wins championships. But, you know, he didn't even see that kick coming, though, didn't he? No. Because when have you seen that kick where somebody misses on a cross, follows through on that miss, but still lifts it? I mean, there wasn't even a lot of power on it.

It was just perfectly placed. No, no, that happens all the time. That's what— It may happen in other various martial arts on the UFC level. This is how—this is exactly how I believe— correct me if I'm wrong. I have to go back and double-check. The UFC debut of Stephen Wonderboy Thompson was against a guy by the name of Dan Stidgen.

Oh, yes. And I believe he finished him in a very similar way. Certainly Alex Caceres I want to shout out. But the guy that jumped out. Caceres, I thought. Caceres? Yeah. Nate Maness.

Wait, wait, hold on. Let me see. Nate Maness. Maness. Nate Maness. That's it. Luke, let's go over to. Talk to me about this guy because I hadn't known much about him.

He was on the main card, though. Flyweight Amir Al-Bazi. That's it. Luke, let's go over to... Talk to me about this guy, because I hadn't known much about him. He was on the main card, though. Flyweight Amir Al-Bazi. He put it on Alessandro Costa. It took him a while. He chipped away. He was landing heavy shots. Did you see that uppercut combination, Luke? Is this a flyweight to watch moving forward?

He's willing to take on damage. He's rock hard and tough as nails, Luke. This guy impressed me. You know what? I had slept on him a little bit. He had previous fights against Malcolm Gordon and Zalgis Zumagulov, and that one went to a decision, although Zumagulov is very, very difficult.

But then, to your point, he beats Costa, and then prior to that he beat Francisco Figueredo, who I believe is the brother, if I'm not mistaken, of the other 50. Davidson. Yeah. I hope you don't catch what I have. BDE. That's what I have.

You know what I mean? Yeah. You mean CTE? Look, I didn't know much about him. He looked like a hammer out there. No, I didn't know much about him either. The other one was the other kid whose name I just cannot pronounce. I watched the fight on mute.

You'll have to forgive me. Oh, by the way, how about DC's own Matthew Semelsberger beating Jake Matthews? Oh, yeah. He dropped Jake Matthews with the same punch in all three rounds. Was that a hashtag holy hammer moment? It could have been. Could have been. Does he have Cody McKenzie vibes?

Semelsberger? In his look? Dude, Semelsberger played football. Like, he's. No, the hair. It just looks very like. Is he a mullet? It looks like, you know, villain of a teen drama set.

You know what I mean? We didn't say this. There he is, Luke. Yeah, we didn't say it. Yes. They call him Semi the Jedi. What is he?

We called the boxing fights over the weekend. I didn't say it on air, but I felt like saying it. One of the guys who lost on the, it was actually the main event of the

prelims that we were calling. I wanted to say, you can tell he's going to lose because he has an MMA fighter's haircut. He had the kind of like, there's a certain kind of haircut.

Semelsberger doesn't know. He doesn't have it anymore. But the one where it's, like, half a mullet, half kind of fade. Yeah. It's not like a full fade. Todd Grisham has it without the mullet part. Well, yeah, the fade is, each part is, like, okay on its own. That's not that bad of a fade.

You were dogging on your own haircut. It was pretty good, though. It's all right. Yeah, I paid $40 for it. Makes you look young. You know, plus tip. How about this kid, Rinat Fakhrendinov? Dude, he fucked over Brian Battle on the ground, right?

He was just like, wow. Whoa, two, I think it was two 30-25 score cards. Yeah. I mean, he beat the bejesus out of poor Brian Battle. I'm surprised he didn't get a bit of a finish there. And then, dude, how about the reversal in fortunes for Saeed Nurmagomedov? He had his, I think, back taken, basically. Got out of it, wiggled out, and then through scramble initiated his own, I think it was a ninja choke.

People were giving us hate. They say he's not related to Habib and that we're— They are. I think they are related familiarly, but he's not part of the camp. Is that like Smith and Dagestan or what? Like Nurmagomedov? Yeah. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't even know how common Gracie is in Brazil. Like how common, outside of that family, how common is the Gracie family? Or the name Gracie? I guess not that common. Dude, shout out to Rafa Garcia for having his artery on the top of his head cut. Dude, he lost 20% of his blood. He bled for two hours straight in the back as they were trying to stop it.

Lost 20% of his blood. Damn. I mean, are we at a point where, like, let me say it like this. WWE, pro wrestling, they change the mat during a night. If you go to a card, they'll change the mat, like, every couple matches, right, between commercial breaks or whatever. Do you feel like we're at a point in 2022-23 here, sometimes UFC's on ABC, it's on ESPN,

where when somebody bleeds all over the mat like happened, that there should be some way they come in and put a new one down? Or am I just— So I don't know if you know this or not. They don't do this anymore to my knowledge. But for the first few Fox shows, especially the one with Junior Dos Santos and Kane, the very first one, what they ended up doing

was they would have a fight, and let's say there was a lot of blood, between commercials or between fights, what they would end up doing, I think between fights, what they would end up doing is they would actually go and paint over the top of it. Wow. Esther Lin was telling me about it because she was obviously cage side, and what she was saying

was the smell was like really bad. Inhumane. Inhumane. And it created a certain level of potential stickiness and changes to the consistency of the mat. I don't think they do that anymore. This was back when it was like, hey, if we show fist fights on national television, what's going to happen? Now, is that a soft take of me to look at this gross pile of blood? And growing up, I'd be like, yeah, just bleed.

You know what I mean? Come on. I'm a dirt hole. But like, I mean, like, yeah, just bleed. You know what I mean? Come on, I'm a dirt hole. But like, I mean, look at the carnage here. Then you've got, so then you get taken down in the next fight, Luke. And you know,

there's DNA all over in this day and age of high level disease exchange. Looks like the cover of a Cannibal Corpse album. Yeah, it really does. Maybe I should toughen up. But I was surprised

to see Mahashate, who always looks like Misha Tate on paper. Always looks like Misha Tate on paper. He looks like Misha Tate on paper. He looked like he was coming on, but dude, Rafa Garcia's tough as balls, right? Yeah, super tough as balls.

And also, how does it affect your cardio when you lose that much blood as well? I remember one time Tim Kennedy had a really bad cut. I think it was maybe the Michael Bisping fight. Maybe it was one of his Strikeforce fights. And they interviewed him afterwards, and they were like, were you worried about all the blood you were losing?

He's like, ah, it's just blood. And I'm like, right, the thing that gives you worried about all the blood you were losing? He's like, ah, it's just blood. And I'm like, right, the thing that gives you life? Yes. That thing? That thing. I didn't want to close without mentioning Manel Kopp, who did the O'Malley crossover thing.

But, Luke, is he coming on a flyweight? Yes. He'd been around before UFC and has a reputation. So he had a great reputation coming out of Japan and then stumbled a little bit when he first got to UFC. And I think now you're seeing, like, the real version, what he's actually capable of doing. He beat up aftermarket Ian McCall real bad in 2017. Remember that? Yep. He sure did. Aftermarket. Pobrecito Ian McCall. He had a lot of injuries, man. He was a good fighter. Okay, BC. So let's get to this. Point number four here. The UFC's year is over.

MMA, by the way, there's still a couple MMA events. Don't forget Bellator versus Rizin will be on New Year's Eve. Also, Cage Warriors has an event. I believe someone else does too. So there's a little bit few more fights left. But the UFC's year is over. BC, how was the UFC's 2022? Maybe I, because I come from boxing, I'm more quick to like,

I actually heard some people complaining about this calendar year, but I'm more quick to say like, embrace what you have. This is a great year for the UFC and the sport of MMA. I thought I was entertained consistently. The big matchups got made. The only thing I think that was lacking this calendar year was the consistency of, not without UFC not trying, of putting out the kind of crossover pay-per-views

that continue to build and engage that mainstream audience. We didn't end up seeing Conor McGregor or Jon Jones fight when we kind of expected it, so that's a big part of it. But, Luke, you're going to get injuries. You're going to get all the things that happen. I thought from a presentation standpoint, from a consistency, even on those in-between fight night cards where we'll come on here and tell you the truth and be like, eh, not a great card.

I still feel like they would overachieve and I was entertained. Start to finish, not that there wasn't headlines that you can criticize with UFC and the fighter pay thing is still a looming thing, no question about it, as is Dana White's slapdick league. But I would say, Luke, are you not entertained? This was a fun-ass year. Do you feel like the promotion under this UFC era going in the right direction? Overall, we got what we deserved here? Coming from boxing, I'm like, yeah, this was funny shit. I think it is very fair to say this was not UFC's best year. But was it bad, though?

It was not bad. It was not a bad year, not by any stretch of the imagination. Let's do a little bit of, I mean, here's what I think folks just fail to appreciate who might be newer to the sport. If you started watching in the Conor Rousey era, I could understand how looking at 2022 and be like, okay, but like where we're all like the real big fights. Where was Jones Francis? Where was the return of Conor? Where was you name it?

Where were these things? Yeah, they didn't happen. There wasn't any really major marquee earth shattering MMA content this year. But that's okay. But the consistent level of good to great, I would actually argue, was pretty high. Also, two guys who at the time of losing were in the discussion for pound-for-pound best,

Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya, both lost via fifth-round upset KO. I mean, it's like, damn, right? You have to understand that the marquee event was missing. The marquee events were missing. Okay, fair enough. It wasn't its best year. But what you also understand is, like, trying to compare this sport to what it was in, let's say, 2002 is impossible.

I did see folks be like, is this the worst year in UFC history? I'm like, folks, this is so much better than it used to be. You have no idea how spoiled you are. Let me point out just two recent bad years. Remember 2012? Every fight got canceled. It was just like week to week. 2014 as well.

You had the Dan Hendo, John Jones fallout in 2012. That year sucked. You know what also sucked? 2017, the year after the company sold, and suddenly Rousey and Lesnar and Conor are not walking through that door, and they're struggling to find anyone to be a pay-per-view star.

Those years were kind of touch and go. This is a pretty damn good year to finish. So here's 2002. This event took place in January of 2002. It was UFC, what number is this? 35, I believe. Your main card, Jens Pulver versus BJ Penn, which is legitimately a good fight.

Rico Rodriguez versus Jeff Monson. I don't mind that. Muriel Bustamante, the most underrated UFC champion of all time. Dave Manet. Chuck Liddell versus Amar Suluev. And then Andre Seminov versus Ricardo Almeida. So that was in January. Your next event didn't take place until fucking March.

Right? So you missed all of February, all the rest of January, most of the rest of March. Josh Barnett versus Couture. That's pretty great. Hizzo versus Arlovsky. That was a great fight. Hughes versus Hayato Sakurai. Folks will remember that.

Why are you going back 20 years? I don't get it. I'm just trying to point out, these are fine cards, but you get something either better than this or something pretty close to it regularly now. Almost every week. How about the next one? So UFC 37.

When was that? That was in May. So you missed all of April. Murillo Bustamante versus Matt Linland. Rodrigues versus Toshiko Saka. How about this? Your third fight on the card was BJ Penn versus Paul Creighton. Show of hands, who knows who Paul Creighton is?

Let's do one more. 37 and a half, that was the weird fight that was on Fox. UFC 38, this was in July, right, of 2002. This was the Hughes-Newton fight, which is historic. Oh, you're saying that was a bad year. I'm saying this was a fine year. Now, listen to me. This was a fine year for what it was.

But number one, look how many more events there are. Look how many more fights there are per card. And look at the overall depth of divisions. You just get this plus 10X this as just a basic, as a baseline of content. Yes, you didn't get the extra, extra, extra stuff, but you got all of this times a billion just waking up and then punching on your TVs.

Well, by the way, you have to pay for all of this. And now you have to, you can just use ESPN+. You get the vast majority of MMA content, not for free, but for a fairly modest price. Like, this is so much better than it used to be by a million miles. We will have an award show of some kind before the new year, but this type of question won't be on that. But I always think it's an interesting award that people forgot.

The idea of best win of 2022, which is a combination of stakes mixed with performance. I'm going to give you three options. Are you ready? Okay. Francis Ngannou defeats Cyril Ghosn to defend the heavyweight championship and unify it. Amanda Nunes comes back from stoppage loss and outpoints Juliana Pena. Mm-hmm.

Or, what was my third option, Luke? What was my third option? Is it Islam Makhachev? No. No, it wasn't Leandro versus Kamaru Usman either. I forgot what my third one was. The whole point, Luke, is what was the best win of this calendar year? Islam Makhachev beating Charles Oliveira.

Charles Oliveira was coming in on one of the hottest streaks you've ever seen in Makhachev. Oh, I was going to say Volkanovsky Holloway because he beat that ass. That's what I was going to offer. That's a close second. But they just got in my ear and they're like, Leon Edwards head kicking Usman? Yeah, that's a close second. Oh, I was going to say Volkanovski Holloway because he beat that ass. That's what I was going to offer. That's a close second. But they just got in my ear and they're like Leon Edwards, head kicker, Usman, okay, Poetan.

That's what I mean. Like this year had plenty of surprise. I asked that question to show you we just named five that could have been best win of the year. I mean, dude, that Ngannou one's like Paul Bunyan, man. That's like wild. It's great.

Like, so again, not the highest of the highs. Fair enough. But plenty of pretty good, plenty of very good, and lots of relatively standard stuff. And also, dude, you had to pay for stuff before. You had to find streams from Japan at 2 in the morning. It was really hard to get.

Dude, on your fucking phone, you can just watch anything you want in virtually any location. It is, there has, and this is a true statement, there has never been in the history of humanity, unless you wanted to see people fed to lions or whatever, but in the modern life, right, since the 1800s, there has never been a better time to be a combat sports fan ever, ever. Maybe you missed certain eras. We were not around for Ali's era. Fair enough. Maybe you missed the Marvin Haglers of the world. Okay, missed certain eras. We were not around for Ali's era. Fair enough.

Maybe you missed the Marvin Haglers of the world. Okay, that's a loss. But in terms of the amount you get, how easily delivered it is, and in general how high the quality is, especially on the MMA side, you are spoiled. You want to watch pro jiu-jitsu? Easy. You want to watch pro kickboxing? Easy. You want to watch pro boxing across the world?

Easy. MMA? Easy. Like, this is the golden age of fandom. Embrace it and enjoy it. And I don't know what else to say. All right. In terms of UFC social headlines, meaning the... I was glad you brought that up. The fighter pay movement, Dana's ongoing feud with the MMA media.

Did we learn anything new this year, or is it just the continuing themes of recent years repeated them i will say that the ufc's relationship with espn casts new light on it and draws both more eyeballs to it but also greater scrutiny perhaps not enough scrutiny considering every ufc fighter and their brother appears to be going to do business with ramzan kadirov but that aside the betting stuff which is a new frontier for everyone. The biggest story this year. Is it true to say the biggest story in the UFC this year is the James Krause situation? Potentially. We have to see what the fallout is. But potentially, it's on table.

And also, what I will say is going back to UFC 280 with the Dillshaw shoulder, but not just him, like everyone, Derek Minner or whatever, and even just a standard scenario where a guy is concealing an injury from the commission, not trying to be bad about it, but that is going to be a problem that they're going to have to confront. That is a serious situation going forward. By the way, you still cannot bet on UFC fights in Ontario, Canada, the entire province, 15 million people.

You think that's killing Bronsted or he's just selling records on the side? He's fine. I mean, he's just selling records out of the trunk of his car at this point. I believed in his upset bid against Ariel, but for the 13th straight year, that motherfucker dropped the hammer, okay? Ariel's just like, we're giving this away today.

Yeah, we are giving it away today. Should be fun. So I think that's a problem. The fighter pay one, I don't think meaningfully changed a whole lot this year. Maybe next year you'll see some movement. The wheels of justice grind slowly.

I mean, we've got to see if Vingano resigns. That's still up in the air. I did not think that would be up in the air still. Also, we didn't talk about this. Nate Diaz and doing what he did in 2022

and what that sets up for 2023. MMA karma just came back to give us that. Yeah. He didn't have to get killed by Hamza and he could defeat Tony

and walk away. So this is what I mean. This was a terrible year for UFC. Dude, no it wasn't. No it wasn't. There was some real challenges. I mean, especially with the was a terrible year for UFC. Dude, no, it wasn't. No, it wasn't. There was some real challenges. I mean, especially with the James Krause thing.

That's a real challenge that they're going to have to figure out and how it dovetails with fighters concealing injuries and everything else. But in general, I would give this year for UFC seven and a half, eight. Yeah, I'll give it an eight. Damn right I will. Good year for Contender Series, too. I thought that was the times I jumped in and out was very good. And also the road to UFC stuff out of Asia, which isn't getting a big play,

but I think will bear fruit down the line. I mean, look, the UFC does put out some good digital properties, Luke, like Embedded or Dana White's Contender Series, but do they win Best MMA Programming? No, they don't. We do. BC, also I will say this. It is fair to say, though,

that the amount of, like, the signal-to-noise ratio with UFC has changed. I think that's why fans might be complaining a bit. In other words, there's a lot of stuff that we can look at in our world and be like, oh, this was really high quality. And I think that's true. I stand by the argument.

But the amount of stuff that UFC puts out between Contender Series and Road to UFC and everything else, you know, with guys at the bottom of cards, there's a lot of fights that are kind of nubs, that the fans are not thrilled about. I think that's also partly. If I could ask for something, it'd be more fat heavyweight fights.

So, like, if they could really corner the market. No, only if Ben Parrish is, like, knuckling someone into dust. Other than that, I don't care. Yo, that upset Ben Parrish had that time? Yo, he IG'd us. Yeah, dude, shout out to Ben Parrish. like knuckling someone into dust. Other than that, I don't care. Yo, that upset Ben Parrish had that time. Yo, he IG'd us. Yeah, dude. Shout out to Ben Parrish. He was like, I'm coming back.

Fucking, man. Big Tuna gets all the respect. Yo, Big Tuna's boys with Bryce Mitchell in Arkansas. Imagine if we got the MK doc cams and we went and hung out in Bryce's trailer in the middle of his farm with Big Tuna. By the way, we didn't talk about this. People were giving Bryce shit for saying like he should have taken the fight because he got fucked up off the flu.

Yeah. Have you had the flu this year? No. Bro, my kid got it. She gave it to me. Dude, the flu going around right now, I mean, you'll be alright, but it's going to whip your ass while you get it. You know what I mean? A lot of people from the wedding I went to got caught up in some of that stuff. They got the flu?

They got the COVID, but not me. Oh, they got the vid? You didn't get the vid? I'm a multi-time vid survivor, so I just, you know, I Aaron Blanchfield the vid. I was like whole blooded. You know what I mean? Yeah. That not me. Oh, they got the vid? Yeah. You didn't get the vid? I'm a multi-time vid survivor, so I just, you know, I Aaron Blanchfield the vid. I was like whole-blooded. You know what I mean? Yeah. That's amazing.

Anyway, I was like, I was sympathetic to that. Like, dude, the flu was like, you'll be fine. It'll whip your ass. Hey, Kevin Lee once fought for a world title with a staph infection, okay?

Yeah, not wisely. And a growing legion on his chest. Yeah, not wisely. Not wisely. That's how tough he is. All right. Last but not least, and I'm actually like

crazy excited to talk about this. The Dune remake? and I'm actually like crazy excited to talk about this. The Dune remake? The sequel? I'm also excited to talk about that, but that's not what we're going to talk about right here. MMA fans, let me give you a name. Okay, ready? Here we go. Frank Martin.

You should remember that name. And no, he's not Bilal Muhammad, but you should remember it. Frank Martin, I mean, he outclassed Michelle Rivera, and this was a fight that virtually every observer in the boxing world was saying was roughly a 50-50 split. These guys were well-matched. Well, they were well-matched on paper, but they were not well-matched in reality. Frank Martin beat the shit out of him in a 12-round main event, dropping him in the seventh.

I don't know if he lost a round. I think one of the judges gave him every single- Farhood gave one round to Rivera. Who did? Steve Farhood. Farhood. I think the fifth or something like that. BC, how close is Frank Martin ready for the top at 135?

I can't believe, but like right fricking now. Right now. Look, you use a great word to describe this type of one-sided victory, auditing. He absolutely audited Michelle Rivera's style, some of the limitations. We said Rivera comes in when he's able to lead the dance. Boy, does he have options? Is he in control? But can he adapt?

Can he find another gear? Can he go to a next level? Frank Martin, shut that shit down and jump through your screen. Look, as somebody that right now is a legitimate threat to everybody in the 135-pound division, you could say, oh, that's just one win, style dependent. No, he took on an unbeaten guy with more experience than him at the highest level who's been doing things to people. But it wasn't just the leap.

Like, I tweeted this. It's not just that he made the leap from a match making sense. Frank Martin put away all of those deficiencies that we had seen on tape at times in his growth process. Oh, man, is he stubborn on the inside offensively, but he welcomes a lot of damage to get inside. No, not on this fight. He made the leap in terms of rounding out his game,

which shows you the decision he made within the past year and a half to move full-time to Dallas, to come under the tutelage of Derek James, the hottest trainer of the moment, to go arm-in-arm with Jermell Charlo and his own promoter, Errol Spence Jr., in that tight, intimate stable of just elite fighters, that has helped. Obviously, Frank Martin has to be a dog. Obviously, he has to be willing. But, Luke, he closed up the holes in his game,

dominated this fight with footwork, with defense. Obviously, you can look at the replays and see how he set up his shots, but the fact that he was able to close any avenue of success for Rivera, he put Rivera in a space where the only chance he had was to try to walk down, welcome a lot of danger, and try to land that right cross, and he just didn't have the setups to do anything to get over the top of Martin. I mean, look, they were so even on paper. They were both unbeaten. They both seemed ready to make a big push,

but I thought this was going to be about which one of these two comes out of here with the well-earned win that is ready to make a charge. No, it's right freaking now. Frank Martin just showed you that he's a threat. He used names like Gervonta Davis, Devin Haney afterwards. He is a threat to these guys. He also said Rolly Romero. Which would be a fun fight.

But he is a threat to these guys because of the technique and the way he's been able to lean on that. Luke, I thought he was going to lean more on the offense and the risk-taking to try to fight Rivera. That may have worked, right? Rivera, you've got to pressure him. But he never stopped being fully responsible on the other end. Was this like pitching a no-hitter? It was almost

perfect. I was blown away. I was completely blown away. Let me tell you, as a predominantly MMA fan, my favorite kind of boxers are the guys who are very slick, but also have good punching power. That is Frank

Martin. His footwork in this fight was impeccable impeccable watch frank martin throw punches he is never off balance and he always had when he wanted anyway the dominant angle his pivoting his return to center his ring craft his ring generalship was out of control i couldn't believe it let me me say this, BC. You saw this in the Romero-Duneau fight, and you saw it here too. Frank Martin might have the best pull-two counter in the game. So Southpaw versus Orthodox, right?

So you're standing this way, open stance. He baits all. We talked about it on the broadcast that we did, how he's going to get through the jab. It turns out he did a lot of lead hand fighting to get rid of it. He would then bait a right hand from Rivera, slip it, and then as Rivera's coming over, he would fucking

drive a monster shot to him. That's what actually dropped him in the seventh round. Well, see that and have you seen this shit? Just a beautiful two-punch combo. Dude, he is so sharp. He is so precise. He's athletic. Through 12 rounds, his mouth was closed. He was breathing through his nose the entire

time. He did take a couple of punches here and there. Rivera was trying as best he could. By the way, Al Bernstein and Marquez kind of killing Rivera on the broadcast. By the way, with justifiable reason, but you know, he was getting heavily criticized, but at the same time, and they

eventually did this at the end, which I really appreciated, it's like, dude, Frank Martin made him look bad. Frank Martin outclassed this dude. So let me give you two names that I think would be interesting for Frank Martin to fight. Two names. Tell me what you think. Rolly Romero, Isak Cruz.

Both. Both. Yeah. I mean, you know, we can laugh at Rley Romero's ridiculously weird charismatic presence. Dude, even Gervonta told me he could thump. That was so revealing. In your interview with Gervonta Davis, which you can watch on youtube.com slash morningcombat,

where he wasn't like, you know, you would expect him to clown on Roley. There was a lot of shit talk between them leading into their fight being canceled, and then they did it, and, you know, Gervonta comically knocked him out on you know setting him up beautifully using roly's aggressiveness against him but yet was completely just like nah man he can thump and i had to be on my game and i knew it that's the thing about roly romero i think he is the best personality in this

game he's out of control oh get the fuck out of here infectious's hilarious. He's both ironically funny and unironically funny. This is not just true in boxing. This is true in your life. You love weirdos. You love weirdos. He's my kind of weird. He's the Jake von Amsterdam of boxing, Rolly Romero. I'll tell you that one.

No, but Rolly is a tough matchup. And, of course, Isak Cruz with that pressure. Dude, let's just give Frank Martin credit. He made the leap. He is in this conversation. And I got to give credit to Herman Caicedo, who's the trainer of Michelle Rivera. They were trying. One of let's just give Frank Martin credit. He made the leap. He is in this conversation. And I got to give credit to Herman Caicedo, who's the trainer of Michelle Rivera.

Yeah, they were trying. One of the more unheralded ones. I mean, he was updating him on the score, and finally he's just like, dude, you got to fucking go after this. Like, we need a knockout. I don't think that's in Rivera. And that was part of my criticism coming in, Luke,

where he has to be in control of the terms. And when he does, you lose. When you can get him off of that, I know you can just as quickly argue back. What was that fight? alvarez was that the opponent which one or not no fernandez when uh when rivera was getting hurt by a big puncher but then he rallied to not john fernandez yeah which was a very good fighter by the way that showed that rallying skill but against this elite guy at level of traps do the traps he's setting man i mean like that broadcast made it all about derrick j James like they should have, and that feature was great.

But sometimes it's just perfect timing when it's the right teacher and the right student. Dude, Frank Martin's the right student. He is all in right now. You do not see fighters pick up the sport for the first time at age 18 and then at 27 look this good. Damn. He's sharp. And it's funny, too, because, by the way, I don't know if you heard it.

I didn't hear Felix DeJesus translate it. There was one point where his corner was looking at Rivera and being like, it's time to kill or be killed. That's exactly the words that they used. Yeah, I just kind of said it. Did you say kill or be killed? I said it's time to fucking go. It's time to kill or be killed.

They used those words in particular. Also, on the other side, Derek James is hilarious. Dude, Frank Martin was like, he was looking excellent in this fight. And every round, Derek James is like, what are you doing? Do this, do this. But you can see he— I told you to do that. Yeah, exactly.

He demands a certain level of excellence from these guys. Yes, yes. A, because that's who he is, and B, because he knows these guys can deliver. Holy shit. Frank Martin delivered on Saturday night at the Cosmo. Wow, what a performance by him. I think the best thing Derek James, as the hot trainer of the moment, is doing right now is purposely limiting his stable.

He basically said, look, you can't give all your time to more than three fighters at a time. That was always the thing that Freddie Roach did wrong, Luke. You remember at the peak of Manny Pacquiao's breakthrough crossover pay-per-view success, Roach... What was his peak? What was Manny Pacquiao's peak? Not commercially, as a fighter. Probably the era of the Ricky Hatt and De La Hoya fights, so 2007, 2008.

Now, there's an argument in there to say, well, his lower weight class peak in the second Marquez fight was a couple years earlier, right? But when he moved up to 40 and then 47, that window when he was just like, oh my God, this guy, you know. So, you know, Roach becomes a celebrity. HBO did that reality series on him, but he just started taking in all the big names, left and right, plus young fighters. And you would have people like Amir Khan,

after the fact, leave him and just kind of be like, you know, I need the one-on-one attention. James is keeping it tight, but what that allows for somebody like Frank Martin to be around those guys is, dude, that is going to raise every part of your game when you're just working with majority. I mean, he's bringing in other sparring partners,

but you're getting to see how these champions, because Jermell, Charlo, and Errol Spence aren't regular fighters, right? They're super elites, and they're made up with such a high level of drive and focus that that's always going to, it's only going to take what Frank Martin does and bring it up to another level. He has to also be as physically good and as tough.

He seems to be the real deal, Luke. This was, you know, this was as, this went as well as it could have gone short of a knockout for Frank Martin. I mean, just a decimation. It was fun to see come Saturday night there in Vegas. I like that arena, by the way. That's a smaller one, the Cosmo.

Top Rank has done some shows there. Yeah. I think I've only seen a couple of different shows there. Colbert lost there in January. That's right. I'm actually starting to warm up to it a little bit as well. I mean, you know, it's funny. Back in the 80s, I remember Caesars as being like the place.

De La Hoya had huge fights at Caesars. Oh, yeah. Outdoors in the parking lot. Outdoors. I kind of miss because everything is T-Mobile, MGM.

Mandalay used to have a bigger profile. I like other, even if it's a small venue, I just like mixing it up a little bit inside the Vegas space. Where will you be

January 28th inside the Mandalay Bay on Showtime when Jermell Charlo defends all four titles against, not Brian Costano, against Tim Zhu, unbeaten Tim Zhu. I hope that I have a very nice place on the floor, Showtime,

but can't guarantee it, can't guarantee it. Okay, BC, I don't have any of them in front of me, but let's get to, it's time for When the Donks Ask Us Questions. By the way, they can do it on Twitter and Instagram. Oh, don't you want to talk about hammers first or no? No, I don't have the thing. Oh, well, Luke, I'll let you know that we're getting closer to the end of the month. You know what that means, because we tell you all the way, they can do it on Twitter. Oh, don't you want to talk about hammers first or no? No, I don't have the thing. Oh, well, Luke, I'll let you know that we're getting closer to the end of the month. You know what that means? Because we tell you all the time, our partners,

one of our favorites, Money Lion, really the app that knows how to money. They have partnered with us to recognize the up and coming names who are breaking through in boxing, mixed martial arts, hey, anywhere in the combat world. You're helping us get there. It's called the Hammer of the Month brought to you by Money Lion. You can find out more information scanning that cue card below, moneylion.com slash morningcombat. But Luke, you know, what else can we say?

Use the hashtag, Holy Hammer, Hammer of the Month, at Money Lion on Twitter, at Money Lion Inc on Instagram. People have been tagging us, Luke, each time we get another breakthrough finish or somebody jumping through the screen. Aaron Blanchfield won it last month.

There is a, damn, it's a crowded month this week, this month. You got the Leeds A. You got so many of them, Luke. Yeah, there was a bunch. Who from this past weekend? Well, Frank Martin was in the main event, so that doesn't count. Who? How about that Manny Pacquiao's boy in the opening show time?

Astrolabio. I mean, he's upsetting people. He's kind of raw, too. He had a certain intensity all fight week. Dude, I mean, look, sometimes we stereotype fighters from certain cultures based on their style or intentions. Dude, the fighters that come up from the Philippines go after it. They go after it. As we said in the Marine Corps, they're as hard as woodpeckers.

Yeah, think John Real Casamero. Think Pacquiao. Think, you know, that's great to see. But people can have their say on social media, Luke. I mean, look on that UFC card. It was up and down who you saw there. You could give it to Alex Caceres. You could. Yeah, actually, you know what? He could be your hand. He had a fucking

strong performance. There's a lot of them you could pick. You got the DMs from Dongs? You ready? I don't, but you do. How about I read them, Luke? Yeah, that's okay. That's fine. Why don't you just host the fucking show? Yeah, we put out posts on Sunday night on Instagram and sometimes on Twitter now, too, to solicit your questions Monday. It's your time here. It's called DMs from Donk.

From the diggity donks. We've got more mail from male viewers and a few wives who watch. Thank you. Actually, Luke, to be honest, we are building a small army of, you know, I don't want to say single female listeners, but people that weren't dragged into this by their man, right? People that like humor, uplifting talk, MMA, those type of things,

right? Political opinions. Yep. That's why they tune in. Some are all of that. All right, let's hear first from at Corey underscore Coco. Is it just me or is there a more frequent amount of blatant cage grabs in the UFC? Should the refs do more than wave a finger when a cage grab prevents a slam to the mat? Thanks, guys. MK all day. Luke, is this a growing issue in your opinion? I mean, it's been growing for a while.

Like, is it worse this year than last? I'm not so sure that's true. Do you agree that just swiping the hand by the referee is cool, but you also could slow someone's momentum in trying to build leverage to pull you down. I think there could be – I mean, it really is all context dependent. If the hand is there lazily and a slap gets it away, I'm okay with that. But I also feel like one more time and I'm going to take a point. I mean, I really – listen, it comes down to this.

I actually took a philosophy class in college. This is really true. There was a point about this. Laws are not legal unless they are enforced. So if you make it a point no matter what, people will stop doing it. Well, just point about this. Laws are not legal unless they are enforced. So if you make it a point no matter what, people will stop doing it. Well, just think about it. If the law says that it's 55 miles an hour to drive, but if you go 70, 80, 90, they don't enforce it,

it's not really a law, right? Well, no still means no. I mean, don't get too crazy here. Okay, but if it's not enforced, it's not a law. That's my point. It could be unethical or morally heinous, but it wouldn't be a law. Tell that to Matt Lauer. I'm just pointing out, in this theoretical

example of miles per hour and the highway, the only thing that actually gives it binding legal authority is that it is enforced. So, relative to that, if you want to do something about K.O., the referee doesn't want to get involved. Right. That's your job. Do it.

How about that fight we called on Saturday's Showtime Boxing Countdown show where Omar Juarez... Dude, three fucking points taken in one fight. He landed four low blows in four rounds and got three points taken away and the ref let him stay in there and he won the decision. And by the way, he was so much better than the other guy, he still won a unanimous decision. Wild stuff right there.

Juarez versus DeLay. If they make it a point no matter what for grabbing, then it slowly goes away. Correct? so much better than the other guy. He still won a unanimous decision. Wild stuff right there. All right, let's... Or as versus delay. If they make it a point no matter what for grabbing, then it slowly goes away, correct? It will never go away. But to the extent it can be limited by greater enforcement, I would like to...

I would like... Here's all I want to see. What actually happens when referees do, in fact, take more points? What does it do to the sport? I would like to find out. All right, from

at wingstopdaddy. So you know this guy's diet. If Gordon Ryan were to hypothetically make a transition to MMA, which gym or coach would you recommend he join based on his style, mentality, all that stuff, Luke? Well, he's almost certainly on the gear. We're going to have issues here? No.

I mean, he probably would want to avoid UFC in that case. Maybe he should train in Dagestan then? No. I mean, here's the thing about Gordon Ryan's style. It's better now because there's a lot more oil he can play underneath. So here's something you may not appreciate. Newer elite levels of no-gi grappling in the last few years, and especially in the last two, have made pinning opponents a really big deal,

forcing them and holding them down. Whereas before with jiu-jitsu, it was like, I can flow from any position, but they weren't really holding a guy down. Gordon actually has that. So I think his style could translate well under certain circumstances. Does it come down to whether he can take a punch?

Because if he can, then he'll be okay with learning striking and really going all in on it. Yeah, there's a big question there. Also, he's 27. Yeah, it's not too late. I would say Farras. What are his weight possibilities with that jacked frame? He could make 205.

Okay. He could make 205, I think. So you're sending him to Montreal in those cold winters with Farras. Yeah, I think he needs someone who's a real student of the game. Obviously, I don't know if you know this, Farras is a black belt under John Danaher, as is Gordon Ryan. So it's sort of in the family there a little bit. What does John call his army or something? They used to be called the Danaher Death Squad,

but they split, and half of it is now B-Team, and then the other side of it is called New Wave. Oh, that was the Nicky Rod debate there. Nicky Rod is on the B-Team with Craig Jones, and actually Gordon Ryan's brother split from Gordon Ryan to go join B-Team. Do you agree with my assertion that the new MMA A-Team is you, me, and actually Gordon Ryan's brother split from Gordon Ryan to go join B-team. Do you agree with my assertion that the new MMA team is you, me, and Chuck together? A-plus team.

Oh, wow. All right. Let's go at Kieran underscore Edwards, too. Kieran lays on down the road that I must travel. Kieran lays on through the darkness and the light. Or night. Maybe I don't know. I don't know what the words are. Go ahead. So, Messi is the GOAT pro athlete. Get the darkness and the light. Or night. Maybe I don't know. I don't know what the words are.

Go ahead. So, Messi is the GOAT pro athlete. Get the fuck out of here. Get the fuck out of here, Kieran Edwards. Get the fuck out of here with this bullshit. I mean, you know, Luke, I'll give... No, no, no. Listen.

Soccer is maybe the greatest sport in the world. It's truly an amazing sport, and I love it. But great... Put the question up one more time. Put it up one more time. Let me see. Is the GOAT pro athlete? Okay, who is the GOAT pro-athlete in your experience?

What does that mean? Does that mean most decorated pro-athlete of all time? So who's in contention here? Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali. Tom Brady. Tom Brady. Michael Jordan.

LeBron James. But there's like cricket players we've never heard of. Pele. Pele. Pele. I'm sorry, Pele. No, it's Pele. Pele is in that discussion.

Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky's in it. Amanda Nunes. I don't know about that. But, dude, there's like a – I saw this Japanese Olympic women's wrestler who had won like four gold medals at different games. James Brown? James Brown.

Jim Brown. Jim Brown. They don't know about old Jim Brown. Jim Brown was a fucking dump truck. Well, if they watched UFC 1, they knew a little bit about him. I mean, obviously he's one of the most celebrated, and he has a claim as being the best ever at his individual sport. But he also plays in a team sport.

It's very hard to know exactly how it all cross-pollinates. But, you know, is he top three or maybe even top one in pro football slash soccer? Yes. Do you think Martin Bader of PBC and Showtime fame has worn clothes since the penalty kicks? So what he's joking about there is Martin is one of the translators who works for Showtime, because obviously you've got a lot of athletes in boxing who speak Spanish.

He's from Argentina. A true gaucho. A true gaucho. A true gaucho. Shouts to Martin, who the day after, to the two biggest teams in Argentine soccer, not the national team, but the club teams, are Boca Juniors and River Plate. And he's a big Boca Juniors fan.

The day after Boca won their title again in the Argentine League, he, on a fucking call with us, with other athletes, was wearing his Boca jersey. So I'm going to guess that he, you know, I mean, his dungarees were probably,

I don't think he was wearing them from at rich P top tier. After watching that great world cup final, what sport when it's all good question, what sport when at its highest levels is the most entertaining to watch? Can you rank to me in your personal fandom, starting with number one, what sports when they're at the very freaking best? The peak. The peak.

When we're talking like pay-per-view and boxing that we've been waiting five years for and then it's the fight of the year. By the way, I wanted to skip this fucking World Cup final. I'm glad I didn't in a way, but my wife was like, there's no way we're skipping this, so I ended up watching it. It was like, yay for human rights abuses. No, no.

No, no. You know what it is? It's, I was like, who are you cheering for here? Right? And she was like, she was like South Americans every time. And I was like, all right, that's, that's the game we're playing. So we're talking about sports at their very, very best. For me personally.

Boxing's up there, brother. Yeah, boxing's going to be number one for me. That old bag can still get you, you know? Most boxing I do not like as much as most MMA. But the very best boxing to me is almost impossible. Would you agree the NBA can still bang you? I mean, they can still get you, right? Once in a while they can just, damn, NBA.

I haven't watched an NBA game that I really loved in a long time. Oh, I watched that Warrior Celtics finals last year with my son every single game. Oh, that was some real bonding. I'd put soccer probably number two. MMA three for me. What about whatever your favorite Olympic sport is at the Olympics, whether it's like 100 meters in track. Weightlifting.

Oh, really? Weightlifting. Easy, easy call. Yeah, that's not really. I mean, youlifting. Oh, really? Weightlifting. Easy, easy call. Yeah, that's not really. I mean, you know. Oh, high-level grappling, Luke. You and Brendan Lynch, right? Big fans of that.

You act like you are above it. Like your taste is superior in some kind of way. You have the combat sports palate of a toddler. I used to love the Final Four. Now I don't give a shit, Luke. Dude, fucking college basketball. I mean, I'm not even doing a bit here. I would much rather watch the G League.

Dude, do you remember how good the Big East was in the 90s, man? That was life. They don't even know, dude. Big East. And at the time, obviously, like, dude, Duke versus UNC used to mean something. And when Stackhouse came underneath at Duke and, oh, my God, damn. You know what I'm saying? Brilliant.

But now all the good people leave early, so it sucks. Last one is from at Tylorianzzz. Name the worst Christmas gift you ever received. Does anybody watch this show? Haven't we just answered this question recently? I think we did, but we can probably do it again. The best one, I think the best one was a bike I got. Yeah, but what was the worst?

What does the worst mean? That somebody paid a lot of money to get you something cool, and it turns out it sucked? Yeah, I mean was the worst? What does the worst mean? Somebody paid a lot of money to get you something cool and it turns out it sucked? Yeah, I mean the worst gift is, you know, there's a lot of times I didn't get shit. Worst gift. I was just like, what's the first gift you ever opened and you're like, I'm taking this motherfucker

back to the store the day that bitch opened it. That was clothes when you were a kid. Like if a random aunt would jump into the gift space and buy you something and it's like, well, thanks random aunt. I hope it's a foam ball gun or something. You open it up and it's like a kid. Like if a random aunt would jump into the gift space and buy you something and it's like, well, thanks, random aunt. I hope it's a foam ball gun or something. You open it up and it's like a shirt

and you're like, how much can I get for this at Ames if I return it? You know? I think one time, and again, I've been pretty lucky. I've not received,

oh, I've told you before. It was the fucking remote control my mom had that she gave me and it was one remote and one button and all it did was if you press it, it turned control my mom had that she gave me, and it was one remote and one button, and all it did was if you pressed it, it turned the fucking thing to the right or left, whatever it was,

and it couldn't do shit else except just go forward and turn. I was like, this is the worst fucking. And when everyone else had the ones with the wheels on it, and you could, oh, my God. Dude, I got the clapper in high school. There's nothing like that. You got the clapper in college. No, no.

In high school, I got the clapper, and I hooked up the lights in my bedroom to that and you could set them off. Wait, this one like... Yeah. You could set them off if you fart really fast

in succession. It's fantastic. I mean, you got... It's like post-Chinese takeoff. Dude, I was wrestling with my daughter the other day and I gave her like a... Like the old gable grip,

a little bit of a bear hug. Did you give her a Native American burn? What's a Native... Is that when you do this? Yeah. Because you know what you used to call it.

Not me. Not me, dude. Not me. I know in elementary school you didn't call it a Native American burn. I know you didn't. But I was hugging her and it squeezed a fart out and we all had a good laugh. Oh, wow. That's real wholesome. And then I let her go and she was laughing and she looked at me and she goes, again, daddy. So I squeezed

her again and I got another one out. God damn it. That's proud proud dad-dom right there. Yeah, wow. Okay. Luke, I've got something for you. It's a healthy, it's kind of alive. This is a good-ass batch of shit that I put together. All right.

You're talking big game. All right. Let's see what we got here. We scoured the globe yesterday, myself, Gaffney, Pierre, and the ones and twos behind the scenes, Luke Noseda from Long Island by way of Australia, and we scoured the globe and put together the good, the bad, the ugly, the highs and lows from combat sports and beyond. We call this BC's Feces.

Oh. Oh, God. Luke, you mentioned Brendan Fitzgerald as one of the top play-by-play men in this space. UFC Fight Night in Vegas, before the card even started, Brendan about to get us in that Christmas spirit, Luke. Are you impressed by his performance? No. Why?

Look at that ugly sweater with a piano on it, right? Or is that a Star Wars ship? I can't tell. I mean, I can't play piano, but I know enough about playing the piano to know that this is not an extraordinary degree of skill. Well, I guess it should. I've seen it. Thank you very much. Let's keep it going from UFC fight.

Nice shout out to Brendan Fitzgerald, by the way. Yeah, by the way, he was a great commentator, but, you know, very mediocre piano player. We mentioned Rafa Garcia nearly bled out, Luke, an artery cut on his head. Here is a great picture from Getty Images' Chris Unger of Rafa and Mahashate going nose to nose. This looks like the set of Carrie, Luke. You know, remember that one? Jesus Christ. The sissy SpaceX.

Damn. That's a blast from the past. That's gross, right? Wow. You're going to have to clean the blood out of the inside of your ear. Yeah, yeah. You got a little on you there. That's something.

Okay. By the way, they needed to be separated after that round. That was pretty cool to see, Luke. Masculinity at its finest. Also on the undercard, how the hell did he not tap Manel Cop, Kimura David Dvorak to close round one, Luke? I can tell you how he didn't. Oh, that's tight. Damn, that's tight. It is, and it round one, Luke. I can tell you how he didn't. Damn, that's tight.

It is, and it's pretty close, but I can tell you why he didn't. Why? Well, he called him too high. Okay, so pause it if you can. Is there any way you can pause it? Okay, you see his knee is covering it. There's no way I can show you up here. Yeah, we can do this, Luke.

Look at this. This is his elbow right here, right? Yeah. See his elbow? And that's the chest. Look how much space there is, which means your arms are extended, which means you're kind of just forcing it this way. A true Kimura, like a really good one,

is when their elbow is in the center of your chest, and you actually use, I don't turn my arms, I turn my body. When I attach his arm to my chest and. I turn my body. When I attach his arm to my chest, and then I turn my body, that is what does it. When your arms are out in front of you, and you're just pushing it, it won't get the job done. That's white belt shit? Not necessarily. It's the middle of a fucking fight. Like, he sees something.

He's trying to go for it. As a bouncer, have you ever Kimura'd a bitch? Choked a few motherfuckers, but no, never Kimura'd a bitch. All right. bitch? Choked a few motherfuckers, but no, never Kimura, bitch. How about this insane head kick from Bruce Leroy Alex Kassaris against Julian Arosa? Damn, Luke. I mean, it's just perfection. Wow, he had him

not quite stiff, but pretty fucking close, man. Is that a knockout of the year contender? Maybe just shy, but it's a very good one. He didn't finish him with it, right? He dropped him just shy, but it's a very good one. He dropped him with it, but it... Oh.

Yeah. God, good ground and pound on top of him. Yeah, that was nice. You got to be careful with him, man. You mentioned Drew Dober tying Dustin Poirier

for the most knockouts in lightweight history. Let's look at it. This one shot against Bobby Green was terrifying. Fucking Dober is. Woo!

And he welcomed heavy, heavy trauma to get to that. By the way, great stoppage there from Keith Peterson. Yeah, no nonsense. Keith Peterson. Yeah. Keith Peterson. Sounds like old hooch that guy.

I love him. We got to party with Keith Peterson. Speaking of Bobby Green, Luke, here was that media day rant he had about Islam Mahachev that I wanted to get your opinion on. Here we go. I was fucking around on my YouTube, right? And I found this little video and it said Islam had a little trouble with drugs, but I don't see people talking about him. And so he was saying when he first came over that his school that he trained at in Russia, they just gave him vitamins. You know, they've been doing this since this since who knows when,

when you start training. Imagine if you gave someone steroids from the age of 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, how strong you would be. People are like, he was really strong. It makes sense now. There's two people that I moved around with. I'm not going to say their names, but I was like, that's interesting. I moved with thousands of guys. That was interesting. I told my coach the same thing. There was something interesting about Islam. I felt it.

I'm like, it's just not human. It makes sense. If I could do drugs, like, because our countries are different. Russia's been banned for the Olympics, you know. Their country's a little bit more okay with the drug use. We're under strenuous, you know, under country's a little bit more okay with the drug use. We're under strenuous, you know, under strenuous drug stuff over here. There, it's a little

bit different. They're behind their fighters. They want them to be stronger. They want them to be more manly. I think we've heard enough. Over here, we don't. This is what it is. Can you fact-check his rant? Is there some proof here? Can we change that to a no contest? No. No. You cannot.

I mean, is there, in theory, is there athletes from that part of the world, is there a culture in which you'd be taking vitamins as a child? Sure. These Germans were famous for it. But, you know, if you give a child steroids, I mean, so you can have medically, for example, Lionel Messi had to take a version of steroids as a child because he was physically underdeveloped.

Yes, it was the last time he touched the stuff. I'm sure that's not true at all. But either way, you know, he's just sort of, I don't know. I don't know what theory he's describing where you can just give steroids to a kid. It's like, you know what happens to them if you give them to them at 12? I'm like, yeah, they're dead at 25. That's kind of what happens to them typically. So I tend to think that, yes, is he right

that there is state-sponsored doping in Russia? Like, we know for a fact that that is true. Whether or not somebody from, you know, the mountains of Dagestan was a beneficiary of that remains, to me, just, you know, more conjecture than anything. I guess we'll have to continue our research. Let's go to the weekend that was in boxing.

Showtime from Las Vegas. Here's the knockdown from round seven we mentioned before. Frank Maher and two-punch combo combo the first one did it all though damn look pull two counter right hook i mean show that one more time show that one more time that is so fucking nice look at this look at this watch this shit watch the pull two Oh, god damn. Frank Martin is a problem, ladies and gentlemen. He's an artist.

On the Showtime Championship Boxing countdown portion, Luke, we call this one 19-year-old Elijah Garcia delivering the boom hair for a second round finish. Here's the ringside view. Pushes him off. Body shot. Elbow, elbow. Oh, golly.

Just like that. What was it? a second round stoppage let's go over to the uk here's chris billum smith with the uppercut from hell on this boxer promoted guard oh damn dude what is up with boxing referees not wearing gloves? Cochinos. Dude, look at this. Oof. What a beautiful liver shot, too. Oh, that uppercut just kind of came. Damn.

He testified in church, too. Watch this. Look at the angle on that. Boom. He ate all of that. Last Tuesday, Luke, we rejoiced after Naioa Inoue scored another sensational finish, becoming the first undisputed Bantamweight champion. We mentioned how hard it was.

Paul Butler there to survive. But look at Inoue figure out a way to find an opening. Right hand to the body is a good one. And a big right hand that comes in. He was just like, enough of this shit, right? Dude, he can blind while he changes rhythms and changes speeds. He does touch, touch, go. Like, he has so many tools, man.

So many tools. Let me set up this next one, Luke. You remember last weekend when Teofimo Lopez scored a close decision, went over Sandor Martin in his return here at 140 pounds, and was caught on camera afterwards saying, what, do I still have it, right? He was on the ESPN State of Boxing show and asked about that. Hey, there's a cop. One of the most important things that we heard that night,

you were in the ring, you saw the camera in front of you, there was a hot mic, and a lot was made of you saying and asking yourself, do I still have it? What was going on through your mind, and do you want to clarify that situation? Well, yeah, I mean, if you guys would like to i mean my whole thing is just always staying in the loop of things so you know um when it came to you guys like with the camera and everything i mean i know what a red dot looks like guys so it's just a strategic move i know i got everything in me to always win that's why we call it a takeover. So, you know, my whole

thing was not even about that. It was just a strategic move. So people still talk about Teofimo Lopez, which they've been doing. Luke, is denial just another river? Or is he playing a different game of chess than we realized? I had a boxing coach hit me up

on social media, quietly. I won't say who it was. And he was like, Teofimo's in trouble. Not because of this per se, but like everything together. But he said something interesting to me. He said, pay attention to how Lopez has trouble.

Lopez is good when guys are coming after him. He has a hard time going after anybody else, which you saw in the Sandor-Martin fight. You know, I thought that was an interesting little surprise message out of nowhere. If there's any truth to that, and I would agree from the standpoint of like he's camera savvy, he would have known, and it did seem so odd. If this is true, is he doing it to try to lure the big names, maybe even the names across the street, to want to go out of their way to fight him thinking that he's damaged goods or maybe is he just damaged goods and doesn't know it I mean this is a reality series

I think he has a sneaky suspicion that he might have peaked already and he's in trouble I hope not, I love that guy but you know it is what it is it does seem to me that some part of that he is internally wrestling with.

How much and how often, it's hard to say. Gordon Ryan, Luke, made a lot of headlines with his performance in the UFC invitational grappling event. He was also at the PI with one, Thorne Bjornsson, and they rolled around. Here's footage. Strongest man in the world at one point. Watch at how good Gordon is. He's going to hook sweep, turn him. He's going to get behind his elbow here and come underneath like that.

In a fight, would Gordon tap him easily or what? I don't know. A fight's a different thing. I mean, he got big-ass punches being thrown. It's hard to say. What if Thor gets on top and, I mean, he got sweeps. He's going to do the Pyotr Ion takedown like that. Just like that.

Wow. And so he separated his. So when your elbows are far away from your body, that is you're getting big brothered. I mean, did Theorn Bjornsson ruin Teofimo's career on that body shot? He might have. Wow. All right, Luke, you've long said that your vape habit

is the gift that keeps on giving for MK. Do I have my vape on me? I think I do. Well, check out this vape artist. We've played guys like this before, but this guy taking it next level. This is art form in vape. Okay, this is this vape artist. We've played guys like this before, but this guy taking it next level. This is art form in vaping. Okay, this is the messy of vaping right now. This is the World

Cup final right here. Now, understand, you can be the messy of vaping and also like a sex pest and have your car repossessed for failure to pay your bills on time. Would you say that you're trying to change the stigma of who it is that might vape and what vaping represents? Dude, this man.

Who the? This guy is, dude, Michael Jordan flu game? Fuck that. Yeah, this is the Michelangelo of vaping. Dude, just put this asshole in the Sistine Chapel already. What are we doing? Well, Luke, not just regular people vape. Celebrities and legends, too.

You ever hear of announcing legend Gus Johnson? Of course you have, Luke. Check this out. Live during the game. Okay, I take back all my criticisms of Gus Johnson. What if Gus was one of us? Just a slob like one of us, Luke. Let me tell you something.

As a guy, I would love to know what flavor. I'm a watermelon ice guy. I would love to know if he's like mango or something, you know? Luke, we used to do social justice Wednesdays where people would send each other to hell. Here's Oscar De La Hoya, the Hall of Fame fighter and promoter, firing back at a fan. What do you think of his game here, Luke? What do you know about boxing, you capital-ass wife? Period.

It's like, I don't know a lot about boxing compared to Oscar, but I know a fuck ton more about grammar. Wow, ODH took it right there. Wow. He seems very happy and married to Holly Saunders now. So he tells us on social media very blatantly. Luke, you know my favorite segment within this segment. It's MMA fighters in the wild being regular people just like us. Are you about to watch a bunch of Kadyrov birthday parties?

Here's Cutter providing skyscraper tribute. Holy shit, is that real? To Habib and Abdulmanap. Luke, look at this, man. Are you sure this is our cutter? Do I have proof that it's real? No, but this is cutter, and this is Habib. Wasn't he at the World Cup?

He was at the World Cup. Cameraman's nodding. I don't know, but I'm guessing yes. Wow. That's badass. That's fucking awesome, yeah. Maybe they'll keep the business. Maybe there'll be a UFC card there after this tribute, Luke.

I won't go. Okay. You watched, though. You did. You took part. You were complicit. I did watch, yeah this tribute, Luke. I won't go. Okay. You watched, though. You did. You took part. You were complicit. I did watch, yeah. In the violence.

I did watch. Luke, speaking of people scoring the big one, let's check out Clay Guida. I'd have to check my mammary, but I don't think I've ever seen one that big, Luke. Check your mammary. Dude, you are the cheapest fucking laugh. Dude, how about that catch?

Big catch, man, right? Real big fish. Good 90s band, right? No, not good. Sell out! Sell out! The record company's gonna give us lots of money and everything's gonna be

alright. Wasn't that The Urge? The Urge was a good band, man. Remember Propagandhi? Remember Propagandhi? They were a pretty good band. Okay, your thoughts on Clay's Conquest here? Looks like he's got a couple good catches. Okay, your thoughts on Clay's Conquest here? Looks like he's got a couple good catches. The Carpenter, just building, you know, building,

building. I've got to say, I've never been a cigar guy. I've tried. Yeah. But that's, he's making it work for him. He's working it. He's making it work for him. Yeah, you're working, building a mystery, right? That's what Sarah McLachlan sang at Lilith Fair that time. Building a mystery. That's where I picked up my Subaru. Luke Marab Davilish-Wheely

wrote, Welcome to heaven as the IG subhead of these pics from his weekend. Your thoughts? God bless Marab. I mean, he's just living the dream, huh? It gets better.

He does the Andre the Giant pose trying to juggle the chicks, Luke. He's like, let me see if I can lift all this booty. And it turns out, Luke, he can. He can. Wow, there you go.

That's the famous Andre the Giant shot, Luke. Yeah, not quite the same. That's the money shot. Well, Luke, Marab also was shown by this lady. He taught her self-defense, how to get out of a rear naked choke. Here's Marab acting the role of Predator. I'm choking you. What do you do?

Oh, shit. Yeah, she went for the stick shift. She put it into neutral in a second, shit. Yeah, she went for the stick shift. She put it into neutral in a second, Luke. Reverse, get out of there, right? That was not an automatic car. Okay, wow. All right, Luke, Alexander Volkanovsky, who's... Kind of erotic if you're being quite honest. We'll talk about it on our Patreon post show on Only Pipes.

Luke, this is Alexander Volkanovsky. You know he's preparing for Islam Mahachev, and he believes his left knee, which has been defigured through years of grappling, looks a lot like Mahachev's face. Your thoughts? Is this like the people who find the Virgin Mary? Yeah, find Jesus in the coast.

Yeah, yeah, that's fantastic. I love that shit. Luke, Valerie Laredo, we know, has entered the WWE system as a developmental wrestler. Her persona? I already like this photo. Her persona is Lola Vice. Your thoughts.

That's her name. Lola is my dog's name. Okay. And you have a vice in this category as well. Yes, I certainly do. All right, there you go. Yep, that's a great shot. Luke, what if MMA fighters were like one of us?

Here's Nico Price at the UFC Orlando Fighter Hotel fishing off the balcony, Luke. He's very industrial. You know what? Dana was right. He said they eat what they kill, right? The fighters? That's why they don't need a razor? Yeah, he's going to be hungry eating that.

Well, you know, Nico Price. Thank you very much. He's one of a kind, that Nico Price. Luke, we have footage of how you came to be how you came to be. Is this footage of my parents fucking? Wow. I don't have that. I actually don't have access. I'd have to check if Gawker has that.

But Luke, let's go to young Luke Thomas at his first belly dancing restaurant. That's about right. Yeah. Dude, my man is just getting up. Mouth breathing. Just mouth breathing. He's like, I didn't know they could do that. B-B-L love established.

Honestly, this is how I'd be now. Yeah, that is very true. Like, nothing's changed. Luke, speaking of training up your child in the way he should go, which is a biblical instruction, how about a new segment called MMA Parenting? Are you ready? Oh, God.

Here's Tisha and Rocky, Luke, having their MMA-inspired gender reveal. Tisha Torres pregnant with their first child, and it's a girl, Luke. Congratulations. I'm happy for him. I'm not a big fan of the gender reveals, but you know. I mean, this is, look at the emotion. It's pretty great. Tisha's been one of my favorite Starweights for many years, Luke. I'm very

happy to see this. They're both very talented, actually. Absolutely. Luke, speaking of training your child up, young Ocean Perry working the bag right next to his pops mic. Let's see. Oh, that's cute. working the bag right next to his pop's mic. Let's see. Oh, that's cute. He is cute.

He's incredibly cute, Luke. Okay, well, that's pretty adorable. Maybe work on the technique a little bit. Pretty adorable. You think you should work on his technique a little? How old is he, like two? I'm talking about Mike.

Oh, Mike? No, I'm just kidding. How about the pants for Mike matching the design of Ocean's shirt? It's very in sync. Yeah, that's nice. What jersey is he wearing?

I can't quite see. Detroit Lions, Barry Sanders, I think. Who is it? Sanders? Yeah, it is. That's pretty cool, actually. Luke, Benson Henderson entertained his children this weekend by hanging them from a blanket from a balcony.

I think we've seen this before, right? Yo, Bellator's paying Benson real nicely, huh? This actually looks pretty fun for kids. Yeah, this actually looks great. I mean, you know, injuries could certainly... Yeah, I mean, they're going to get decapitated eventually, but... But doesn't this remind you of a famous moment in parenting history, Luke? No.

Oh, is this Michael Jackson blanket? In Berlin, when he hung blanket... In Berlin, excuse me, when he hung blanket by a blanket, Luke? You remember this back in like 2002 or something i don't know do we have footage of it please i'm getting balcony baby flashbacks here it is luke there's jacko is this when he hung it i mean just whatever i mean it was his own child just to be fair but maybe blanket should he use that rare naked defense that marab got caught with against michael all right i'm just amazed at all these people. People were outraged by this, you know?

Yeah, not the predatory behavior, but certainly that. That's his own child. That's Blanket. What's Blanket's real name? Is it like Prince or something? Stupid fuck. I mean, I don't know. All right.

Luke, speaking of poor parenting, how about this kid on the Miami Heat broadcast? I mean, granted, if I was caught on camera today at an NBA game and my family wasn't there, I might do this too, Luke. You know what I mean? Just to be fair, right? I would like to tell you that I'm above this. I want to be clear. I'm not above this.

I'm not above this. Hey, Dana Dick slap tryouts. Dude, we do that half the time on this show. That's true. Dana's motherfucking slap league, Luke, is continuing their tryouts all around America. They should change the name to that. It's called Dana White's motherfucking slap league. Here's a future contender getting two for the price of one here.

Oh, damn, right? She hit her friend as well. Yeah, you got to be careful. Yeah, that's great. Luke, don't think I forgot about the biggest fight of the weekend and the biggest fight in KSW history. How about Mamed Kolodov stopping the strongman himself, Mariusz

Pudzianowski. Pudzianowski, by the way, a legit strongman. One that I think the world's strongest man four or five times. He got bodied by middleweight, basically. The curse of the back advertisement, right, Luke? Yeah. Do you think he did that to cover up his back knee from

all that? Probably to get paid. I don't think he cares a fuck about the back knee. Yeah, yeah, you're right. Is that a big win, Luke? They're both old, Luke? Yeah. Do you think he did that to cover up his back knee from all that? Probably to get paid. I don't think he cares a fuck about the back knee. Yeah, yeah, you're right. Is that a big win, Luke? They're both old, right? I mean, it's an interesting win, and it's big for KSW, who does stuff like this. Is this like Rod Tang versus Demetrius kind of? Sort of.

Not really. I mean, they're both MMA fighters. It's a big weight class disparity. And these are two of the biggest names in Polish MMA. Yeah. And so they had them fight like this so it's a it's a it's a bit of it's a little more pride than one in the way that you're describing it but i'd love to get some punch keys and check this out i've never had a punch key you've talked big about them they say i pronounce that wrong that's why like i don't know how to say it yeah dude polish is a funny language i don't uh puja not the only strong man making waves. Here's Eddie the Beast Hall

introducing something I like to call dick art. Were you into this? You're a big Eddie Hall fan, right? He's doing the math. Oh, is he doing skits and bits? I don't know, Luke. We'll have to see. Is this art, Luke? Are we art?

Okay, dude. Instagram humor is always bad. Let's see how bad it is. It looks pretty bad from here. I mean, it's... Dude, this is someone's parent. It's on brand, Luke, okay? This is someone's parent. There you go.

Well, Luke, that wouldn't be the only time we've had dicks in the wild this week, hidden in plain sight. Like those, you know, like you ever go to Disney World and they've got those Mickeys, those, like, hiding in, like, the wallpaper design? The hidden Mickeys, Luke? Mm-hmm. We got hidden dicks in the wild. You ready? Google Images showed us that Epstein Island is still active, Luke. Luke, they've also got hidden live dicks at your local Walmart grocer's freezer.

Did you see this video making the rounds? What the fuck? Luke, hot days. Gotta stay chilled. You know what I mean? You know what I'm saying? Blow that up full screen. No, no. I don't think we're gonna lose our sponsors, Luke. Is that Jake?

What grocery store is this? I need to make a note next time I'm in Puerto Rico. Luke, do you remember that scene in Boys in the Hood when they're like, can you drive stick? I can learn. This is really what they were talking about. Okay. All right. Well, this is the worst part.

I mean, you know, put that shit into drive, right, Luke? Just crash this car off. Okay. Hey, let's go to a parade they had in Japan last week, Luke. The raid should write a song about this called Dixon Parade, you know? Your thoughts? What the fuck is the story here? What's the story, Morning Glory? I don't know, Luke.

All hail, right? Maybe they got a visit from Rocco. Are these... I don't... Hey, let's go to the barbershop. I don't even understand what the fuck I'm looking at. You know, kids' haircuts these days are wildly out of control. Wow, man.

Someone's parent let this motherfucker down, man. What a dickhead, right? Look, you know what I mean? Bro, you can just tell. You can just look around. Like, where are they? They're in fucking somewhere in South America. You know, wow.

This makes me hungry. Let's order out. How about a pizza? Sounds like Brazil. Dude, some of you motherfuckers need to stop making dick pizzas and go to therapy. They got shafted on the amount of pepperoni there, right, Luke? Wow, that's wild. All right.

Hey, I got you a new... Hey, I said I wanted a meat lovers. I got you a new coffee mug for Christmas, you dick. Yeah, Luke, this is great. This is just... Okay, I'm eating it. All right, let's get out of here. Hey, Luke, you know how we always debate whether...

La casa de tu amigo? You know how we always debate whether it's like Bader or Fedor? Like, is it air, hair, or ear here? It's neither. Here's the Guinness World Record holder for the longest ear here. Yo, my man, this is not an achievement. She's just poor hygiene or what? My man, this is not an achievement.

What do you think you could find with a Q-tip in there? Here's what I do. Blow this. Think they have missing children in there? Why is this motherfucker's mustache quaffed and his eyebrows I could fucking bungee jump from? Are you suggesting that the airs don't match the carpet? Like, BC, I need to get my kid a fucking sweater for Christmas.

Can we shave this motherfucker's eyebrows and knit one? This makes me, you know, you ever go to Big Y and if you got good service, you can ring that bell on the way out? And then, like, it got so obnoxious they got rid of it? You know what he needs? You know what you ever go to Big Y and if you got good service, you can ring that bell on the way out? And then, like, it got so obnoxious they got rid of it? You know what he needs, Holmes? You know what he needs? Change that shirt and just, if you're just going to live like this, just at all times, you need to be wearing a shirt that says, I fuck on the first date. Wow. Wow.

All right. Well, Luke, I hope our viewers ring their bell like this when they get good service from NK, when they enjoy a good episode. Here's what happened at the Texas Tech game. Your thoughts? RIP Mike Leach, Luke. He's very excitable, that young man, Luke, right? I mean, they didn't do my guy any favors with this camera. Wow!

I didn't know we could show this on TV. Here in Texas Tech, we just masturbate on the sidelines. Hey, Luke, we all remember the first time we got lucky in the backseat of our first car, right? I actually do. Does your car have a nickname? It does. I mean, this one's right to the point.

You know what I mean? You get hands-on in there, you know? Oh, that is, well, you know what? Not a base for sliding, Luke. Wow. I mean, this is, okay, I know what? Not a base for sliding, Luke. Wow. I mean, this is, okay, I don't know what job this guy has, but he doesn't show up to it on time. Gynecologist possibly, Luke? I mean, well.

Can you imagine if your gynecologist had this car? With that sticker on it. Wow. Finally, Luke, let's just get high. Check out this extreme bong ship here. Could you survive this, Luke? That's my question. Oh, man.

We got eight bowls of flour in here, one alien tech banger in the middle, and we're going in. How many classes has this kid failed? I think he's a genius. Look at this contraption. You could not survive what he's going through right now. Watch this.

A little bit of damage. Now he's going after it. Now he's getting in it. Got the dog in him him this guy oh my god he's good he's good He's good I think it's either Crowbar or the band Down They have a song called Bury Me in Smoke Yes

You can do that for me right now Well, Luke, this one goes out to Mr. T wherever he is Luke, to infinity and beyond This is Middle America checking in This is for you, Mr. T Yeah, Troy, to infinity and beyond Just desecrating the American flag look at Osama bin Laden here fuck this asshole I think I think my favorite part about this not only that they're doing it but that they had to steal from a Home Depot to make this shit.

Okay, low-key, they're kind of genius. Yeah, Drake! Is that Brace Mitchell after the loss, Luke? People are like, what happened to American Empire? Finally, Luke, I love it when a homeless guy keeps it one hundo. You know what I'm saying? Just tell the truth.

Don't we all? I need a miracle every day, Luke. Got a knee brace on, too. You ever suck some D for weed? No. All right. RIP Bob Saget. That's the shit of the week.

Palm trees. That's Florida, dude. The Florida homeless are different. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Remember the homeless in Phoenix? They were all covered in soot or something? Yeah, they were.

I was like, why are all the homeless in Phoenix like chimney sweeps? I didn't understand that. Like Dune, they get so much access to the spice that their eyes turn blue and they're like, you know, it's like that. Right? How many times did you watch Dune over the weekend? A bunch of times, Luke, a bunch of times. I need to watch it again.

I need to watch it again. What did I see? Oh, oh, oh. Is Snyder here? I didn't get to see him. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Daniel Snyder's nephew.

Daniel Snyder's nephew. I started White Lotus on HBO Max. Yeah, I was trying to text you about live Showtime Box, and you're like, watching White Lotus. Dude, White Lotus is as good as people say it is. I'm only four episodes in. It's awesome. It's awesome. A lot

of man ass though. I will tell you that. A lot of man balls and a lot of man ass that I wasn't prepared for. But short of that what's happening in the show is fucking awesome. You know what I made my family watch with me last night? Pornography? It's a family tradition. My favorite Christmas movie.

Hardcore pornography? Holiday in Handcuffs with A.C. Slater and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Yo, it's a sleeper. It's a sleeper. What is... Okay, when you guys... You put up your tree and everything, right? Yeah.

Okay, how soon after Thanksgiving does the tree go up in the Campbell household? We have a rule because if left unattended, my wife would begin Christmas decorating like September 1st probably. So because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because I'm the one who physically has to bring all the things down from the garage attic up there and all that, get on the ladder and risk my life. We have a rule that the day after Thanksgiving, which is Black Friday for most people, we decorate all day. The house, the tree, all the ornaments. We did that Saturday, but okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. When you put up the tree, all the ornaments. We did that Saturday, but okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

All right. When you put up the tree, do you guys have a little tradition beyond that? Yeah, no, nothing too serious in terms of like tradition. But, you know, there's Christmas music playing. There's some hot cocoa. The cats are climbing in the tree like assholes and you got to pull them out. One of my wife's favorite movies is one of the first, not the first ones, but one of the first comedies she liked when she moved to the States was Elf.

Oh, of course. So we put on Elf, some hot cocoa, and we have a good time. That's my kid's favorite Christmas movie. Elf? Without question. Dude, that movie holds up.

Dude, it was 2003. It's almost 20 years old at this point. But will it get to the point where they Christmas story it, where they play it 24 hours a day on every network, and you're like,

I can never watch this again. I really can't. Loved it as a kid. Cannot ever watch it again. You've ruined this TNT. You made drama, right? White Lotus is good. You should watch White Lotus.

All right. Do you think Paul Atreides, do you think he consummates in the sequel? I mean, he kind of had a vision about it already, right? Yeah. Do you think he smashes? Does he consummate in the sequel? Well, I've not read the books, does he?

I don't know, but at the end of the first movie. Wait, have you not read the book? I have not yet read the book. There's already an online, I think, pool going of how many pages I'll read before quitting, but I'm ready to go the distance. How long are the books? I think it's pretty long. So there's a lot of them, but the first one, Dune, the first book from 1965, Frank Herbert,

it covers the first Dune movie and the sequel that's coming out next year. Oh, okay. So the first two movies are actually one book? The first book, yes. Oh, I did not know that. Okay, that's interesting. Yeah, dude, I like that movie.

I don't hate on that movie at all. I need to rewatch it. Would you agree, though, it's what Star Wars should have been? Yes, it's gritty Star Wars, but not like in a Rogue One way, like in a real way. Yeah. It's got a certain gravity to it, you know. Yeah. All right.

By the way, I can't believe you didn't show Jake Shields and Mike Jackson pummeling each other. Oh, my. That's actually on me. That's just me forgetting it. You forgot to put that in there? Yeah, that was a fun little moment. We had others. We had dongs in the wild.

We had to. Yeah, you showed me a lot of cocks. Yeah. Not so much a lot of fighting. But all right. That's it for us. A reminder, Showtime.com is the label that pays. Showtime.com.

Get a 30-day free trial. I believe we also have, there it is, $3.99 a month for your first six months thereafter. Hey, that's a great deal. You can get a whole bunch of stuff. By the way, next week we'll have a Bellator event, Bellator versus Ryzen. So MMA is not done for the year just yet. So that'll be that. What else, BC?

The store, morningcombat.store. You can get, I think, this shirt. You can get BC's shirt. You can get a lot of cool stuff. There's that. You can go morningcombat at gmail.com to email the show. Let's remind folks, Feb 8th. Feb 8th.

We're going to be in London live. Live London show. Get your ticks. Tell your friends. There's only 500 of these tickets. So I know it sounds like, oh, you know, these washed donks will be lucky to fill it up. We're going to fill this shit up. There's going to be some special guests. If you're on the fence about coming, I wouldn't trust the amount of tickets left.

Look, I'd go after it. You know what I'm saying? I'd get out and get it. I don't know how many of these UK shows we're ever going to do, so this might be a one and done. We might get deported as soon as the first joke lands. Listen, wham, bam, thank you, ma'am. Yeah. Show up, okay?

So there's that. Anything else? I think that's it, right? I should eat fish and chips on stage during the event. Oh, that's a little bit. I call it racist, but it's more just ignorant.

By the way, also fish and chips? Don't say anything bad about fish and chips. There's nothing wrong with fish and chips. I don't think that that's like the... We think that that's classic English food, and maybe it is.

No, have you had bangers and mash? No. What are bangers? Sausage, basically sausage. And then mashed potatoes. My brother took me to a place that had duck bangers. My brother lived in London for four years. He took me around.

It was amazing. It was amazing. But the rest of the food in London. That Marine train you almost jumped on, a lot of bangers and mash going on there. No, I mashed some bangers, if you know what I'm saying. All right. That is it for us here today. We are going to record some other stuff for you guys a little bit later,

but we're done for today's programming. Sorry for being late. Blame Amtrak. And you got some entertainment out of it. It's the same. So that is Brian Campbell. I'm Luke Thomas. Thanks to Malka. Thanks to Showtime. Thanks to CBS Sports. We'll catch you got some entertainment. I haven't got the same. So that is Brian Campbell. I'm Luke Thomas. Thanks to Malka.

Thanks to Showtime. Thanks to CBS Sports. We'll catch you guys on Wednesday. And until then, may all of your gains be loyal.