MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Vera-Font Recap | Gane-Tuivasa & Aspinall-Blaydes | Taylor def. Serrano | Ep. 296

Episode Date: May 2, 2022

On episode 296 of Morning Kombat Luke and Brian break down an epic weekend of fights. The guys start off the show by recapping Marlon Vera's win over Rob Font. They also break down the recent fight announcements of Ciryl Gane vs. Tai Tuivasa and Tom Aspinall vs. Curtis Blaydes. The boys transition to boxing and discuss Katie Taylor's win over Amanda Serrano. How big was this fight for women's boxing? We close out the last topic by discussing Shakur Stevenson's dominant win over Oscar Valdez. (12:00) - Marlon Vera Batters Rob Font (31:00) - UFC Heavyweight Matchmaking (43:00) - Taylor vs. Serrano (63:00) - Women’s Boxing (72:00) - Shakur Stevenson (84:00) - Dm's from Donks Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Rise to rewards with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card. Terms and conditions apply. 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. We're already in May. It's gonna be May. It's gonna be all that shit. I am very excited for today's show, and I am very excited for the week ahead. Hello, everyone. I am merely one half of your hosting duo. My name is Luke Thomas. I joined you from the capital of the status unitos right here in Washington, D.C., joined by the Viceroy of Connecticut himself. There he is. He's the ED with the CTE, my friend and yours, Brian Campbell. Hi, Brian. Hello, Luke.

It's great to be here on a Monday morning. You know, Luke, I get up around 7, but I get out of bed around 9. But the thing is, I don't worry about nothing, though, because war is a waste of my fucking time. Yeah. That song's about heroin, Luke. Yeah. All right.

Hey, did you have a good weekend the fights were pretty good the main events all kind of delivered right great weekend not just in really an insane saturday night of combat sports all three main events in different ways the two boxing the one ufc just giving it to you but luke I had one of those sort of just dream at home family weekends. I know that you have one daughter, Luke, but I've got two sons. So sometimes, you know, my wife and I will split up and take, you know, one son for a whole day and go do some fun stuff. And this is just one of those genuinely amazing weekends, Luke. Okay. Probably spent about $500 in takeout, but it's worth it, Luke. Okay? Because you can't get that time back. I want to remind you that. Luke, does this MK merch make me

look like I have moobs, or are we looking good here? No, you're alright, bro. You're alright. You would tell me, right? You would tell me if I was starting to get a little bitch titty. You would tell me, right, Luke? Yes, we would be very honest with one another. But what I will tell you is did you get, I'll ask you, did you get your pad thai a little on the

spicy side? Yeah, when I do that, Luke, when I step up to level two and put a little man ball on it, you know, it's a challenge. But you know what I did for the first time? Hey, it's that guy from Naugatuck. He wants us to teabag his pad thai again. I don't know. Just do it. I went to a German restaurant for the first time ever, Luke, okay?

Oh, did you have schnitzel or something? I did. I had the hunter schnitzel, which is essentially breaded pork. Not good for my liver. Not good. Covered in a sour cream gravy. It's phenomenal. Look, I don't know how they live that long, but it's phenomenal.

Yeah, the Germans have some pretty good food, good beer as well. Obviously, it sounds like I'm dying, but believe it or not i actually feel significantly better i got torn up by that little thing whatever whatever that little nasty bug was yeah i put a hurt and i put a hurt on me this weekend but i feel a lot better today any chance it was an std that would imply s so i don't think so i don't think so i think we can safely rule that out um who knows i don't know the point i'm trying to make here is i do feel better big show today we have ufc to react to if you guys missed it over the weekend bc did a live post fight show after the big boxing main events on saturday for taylor serrano and of course for shakur stevenson and oscar valdez we'll recap some

of those here today plus plus some UFC news. I'm told we have an epic Have You Seen This Shit for the end of the show. I heard that, too. I'll tell you this, Luke. Plus DMs from dogs. Those long-form boxing reaction videos, it's not for the faint of heart,

but it is poetry in motion if you have some faint for that art, so to speak. So check that out. Also, Luke, we may have buried the lead, but fantastic set of bonus interviews at youtube.com slash morningcombat. Right now, we're talking about Rosnama Yunus, Juliana Pena,

Michael Chandler. Could you go wrong with that three-pack, Luke? I don't think so. No, you can't. So we've got, let's see, we've got one half of the co-main event. We've got Chandler's on the main card, obviously. And, of course, Julian Apeña, champion of the world.

So we had two champs and a former champ on, well, the former Bellator champ, on the channel last week. The videos are still up. They're all fighting. Well, two of them are fighting at UFC 274 this weekend. Give that a look. Maybe we'll put some social assets around them. I guess we'll see.

I don't think we do that on this show or this network. Luke, don't you have another fantastic interview launching later today? Yes, I also spoke to the one and only Kayla Harrison about some of the comments Pena made, I think either to you or someone else. I have to go double check, but either way, yes. But they were right next to each other, so it was hard to squeeze it all in.

But the point I'm trying to make is Kayla Harrison out today. She fights on Friday for all those who may not have remembered. PFL will be on Friday. ESPN, ESPN2. We'll talk to her. Plus, BC, we have a bit of a special announcement today. Now, if you watch the show regularly, this may or may not change your life. But it is something to get the word out about MK a little bit more.

We have a brand new channel devoted just to clips and shorts and the best segments from the show. So if you watch MK, nothing changes about your experience. YouTube.com slash Morning Combat. The shows are going to be here. The interviews are going to be here. Any technique stuff, all that great stuff will be right here. Nothing changes. But if you want an additional clips channel in the way you sort of traditionally understand them,

we have good news for you. We now have one. YouTube.com slash Morning Combat Ultra. All one word. Morning Combat Ultra. It is, you're going to look at the number of subscribers. It is the old Brendan Shaw Below the Belt channel that has been converted. We greatly appreciate all of his efforts and obviously getting the opportunity to take over a channel with this many subs is cool as well.

Morning Combat Ultra is going to be the YouTube channel for clips. Tell your friends, bitches, the ones who may not have time to sit through two hours of me and BC farting at each other like the two Canadians. If you enjoy years worth of great clips from a professional comedian, Luke,

I don't know if we can match that, but we'll sure try as hard as hell taking over uh brendan's channel he is gadooshed out on his own uh betting on himself and and congrats on the comedy special obviously for our ex-teammate there but luke um you know you might go m you might go mk ultra isn't that isn't that controversial isn't that an old government conspiratorial brainwashing yeah i thought it was some kind of weird conspiracy theory i don't know what i don't know right it is and it was and you know some people luke it will go as far as believing that stars like a uh michael jackson miley miley cyrus elvis presley that they are really you know mk ultra conditioned uh

brainwashed performers carrying out a certain message i I don't know if I go that far, Luke, but do you believe that MKUltra is here to brainwash the combat market and culture to believe that this really is an award-winning show? Apparently it's working, Luke. Okay. Yes. That part I do believe. We are trying to brainwash everyone with our stupid ideas as opposed to others, but Morning Combat Ultra, New Clips Channel.

Give it a look. Okay? We appreciate that. Okay, BC. As a reminder, Showtime.com is the label that pays you can go to showtime.com get a 30-day free trial if you like it you can keep it if not you can bounce remember charlo castagno 2 will be in the middle of the month the 14th be on the lookout for that that should be a lot of fun uh morningcombat at gmail.com to reach the show for either subs dead wrongs anything else there's the email address morningcombat.storebc where you can get i think you can still get that shirt there i'll double check here yeah that's

right you can get some great merch shit so check out that you won't be disappointed the quality is high and you probably the thc count of most of our employees and and consumers as well but uh luke quickly you said this is a loaded combat week, and obviously you're talking about Canelo Alvarez returning, fighting for a piece of the light heavyweight title on the same night that UFC trots out a pay-per-view from Phoenix with three cannot-miss

fights. You and I, later this week, are going to be in the damn bomb shelter in Jersey City. Live episode Friday, some really fantastic post-fight stuff Saturday night and also Thursday, Luke. We are starting a new vehicle.

We got a pretty big name coming in. We're not going to jinx it. Don't say it. But MK, about to do some big boy shit, okay? Alright? Yeah, it's level up time. It's level up time. So I'm excited about that.

I don't want to tease that because it needs to be already recorded before we can start teasing it because all this stuff falls apart at the last minute. But if it doesn't, it'll be really, really cool. So be on the lookout for that. Okay, BC, enough with the windy intros. Are you ready to get the show started? Yeah, why not, right?

All right, let's do this. Let's start with the UFC because we didn't have any coverage of them over the weekend so we'll begin with them right now we go to I mean what a spick again all the main events were great this weekend this one included Chito Vera scores probably the best win of his career if you ask me in a brutal hard fought battle against Rob Font when When I say brutal, what I more mean is for Rob Font, but it was a grinding effort just the same. BC, first question to you.

What did this win prove in terms of what Vera can do against the upper echelon of this division? I don't think I got the full picture of what this performance represented for Chido Vera until I saw him break down in the post-fight interview twice and it was surprising Luke and it was great obviously to see him there with his family uh what what I summed up from that you know him shouting out Jason Perillo and really this turn that he's making is he's found out how to go all in on himself and we all in our own field try to get there Luke and we all deep inside know as we're climbing the ladder in our own field,

sometimes there's certain things we're blind to that we're, you know, not putting our best effort into. I think this is Chido Vera figuring out how do I become a truly elite? How do I get over the hump? Like when I fought Jose Aldo looking like I was coming on a couple fights ago and sort of, you know, leveled out, not leveled up. He went back to the drawing board. And I think what, what we have here is a very unique threat within, again, the most loaded in competitive division in the sport today under any specific promotional banner.

So Luke, here's the deal. Gino Vera, this fight was the perfect advertisement for what he has. He's got a very good all-around game, but we're finding out he is super elite in certain sort of intangible categories. The cardio and the pace, no question. This was his first time going the five-round distance, and boy, did he show you what he had. Surging Luke to close the final four rounds

to score knockdowns and put Font in peril on the verge of being stopped. But it's funny, on the way into this fight, I said, you know, we've seen a lot of great from Vera, but we've seen some limitations. And sometimes I go, you know, those violent spurts, man, maybe sometimes, remember I said that on Friday, he could level those down a little, spread them out. Luke, I was wrong about that. I think this is his path to compete with the very elite. Basically, if you're not as crazy and as tough and as durable as him,

he's going to beat you. And Rob Font himself is pretty damn elite in certain categories, including striking. But I think his gas tank and really his overall damage resistance, along with his defense on this level, he found out that Chido Vera is one step above him. So what does that mean long term? Can Chido Vera really contend against the super elites in this game? I think I learned from him in this fight and his reaction after that. He's going all in to find out.

And as it pertains right now, can a truly elite fighter with skill and toughness outlast him? I think so. But I think that we're finding out that, that, that group, it's a dwindling core because Vera's getting better in just about every category and he's continuing to level up. I still have my fears again against a, you know, a Dillashaw, a Jan, a Sterling, but I think he's finding out with his own pluses and minuses, how do I get the very best out of myself? I think this is the beginning toward finding that out because Luke, Rob Font came to win. He came to show how tough he was. And at every turn, you saw Marlon Vera sucking it up to absorb the contact, but coming right back out and showing him whether I do it with cardio or whether I do it by will alone I'm going to outlast you and that is a scary proposition when somebody is this

offensively violent and dynamic um he's not a perfect product but he's figuring out how to at least hide his weaknesses and this is going to become a scary proposition for everyone he faces yeah I mean I just thought his I just thought that there just seemed to be a lot more poise in the striking department. We talk often about how Yoel Romero is a very weird striker. Like, Romero doesn't catch and shoot. He just catches. Catches, blocks, blocks, blocks, moves, blocks, blocks.

And then when he goes, it's just one way. Like, there's no real back and forth between the defense and offense. And I'm not going to say Vero was doing that exactly. In fact, pretty far from it. But you did see him blocking, rolling, par parrying and just kind of waiting for his moment and then bringing his striking to life so one there's just a maturity he clearly has leveled up under the tutelage of his new coach and it has brought just a much more balanced attack in both defense and offense picking his shots picking his moments and when to go,

and the results speak for themselves. And plus, it enables him to set up so much else because he's not showing his cards all the time. BC, I will say something kind of interesting about this fight. Richard Mann from Fightmetric pointed out, Rob Font landed 271 significant strikes, which is the third most ever landed in a UFC fight, but Marlon Vera knocked him down at least three times,

maybe even four, depending on how you want to count them, to take the decision. In fact, Rob Font has had two of those top three fights, and he lost both of them. Another one like this was the Jose Aldo fight. One thing that occurred to me in this contest, BC, is we've seen a lot of guys who have boxing-centric MMA games, and all of them are very, very good. Max Holloway, Adrian Yanez, here's Rob Font. These are not bad fighters under any stretch of the imagination, no sir. However, all styles have pluses and minuses. One of the minuses, it seems to me, of this style is that one, as I've said before, it kind of keeps you in the pocket more, and so they tend to have a little bit higher of an absorption rate of strikes the other one was bc you know clearly i would say that chito vera was the

stronger power puncher of the two but chito vera was the more diverse striker of the two as well he was able to use knees up the middle he was able to use turning back kicks he was able to use just a wider array of strikes that enabled him to land more damage. And it was kind of weird that Font just kept sticking with the game plan of the boxing with a little bit of leg kicking here and there. Not a whole lot of it. And BC, this was the real strange part. Only two attempted takedowns.

He attempted more against Aldo. He attempted more against Garbrandt. He attempted more against most of the guys he's fought, even in three-round contests. I do wonder, since we didn't talk about it on Friday because we were a little bit late to the party, but he ended up missing weight by two and a half pounds. Where that fits in and what that all means, I'm not sure.

But between, I'm not going to say the, Rob Font's game is not bad by any stretch, but relative to what Chito was doing, it was by definition a little bit more limited. And by virtue of that limit, both in the lack of takedowns and then the lack of diversity in the striking, I think it ended up really costing him a lot.

It did, it did. You know, the equivalent here is, I felt like Rob Font kept running back into that burning building and being going, no, look, guys, I can do it. I'm landing big shots. But he was accruing the overall damage to his gas tank and inevitably his face that you saw in the end.

And look, it's like, you know, we all know Marlon Veras is tough as shit. I mean, just tough as nails. But I think you made a great point. He's not able to use the weaponizing of his toughness unless his offensive game is this varied. And I think that's the big difference under Perillo, along with building his confidence to a new level. But he saw firsthand that the hard work paid off.

But he also, Luke, he doesn't show his hand when he absorbs damage. And I think that does such a weird psyche kick to your opponent because Font's standing in front of him, getting off the type of offense that rob font gets off against the you know b and b minus level competition and over time wears them down and breaks them and rob font just kept going back to the well just probably thinking look i'm just going to bite down myself and endure and i'll finally show weakness in this guy i'll finally find that hole of vulnerability. And it wasn't there because I think when Chido Vera is operating offensively at this

varied of an attack, it makes that superpower of his, you know, damage resistance so much more profound. But Luke, can he win against the elites, which is all he's going to face moving forward? And you heard Vera say afterwards, you know, who do I want next? Number want next number two three four in the rankings whoever you got that's ranked above me do you think he can win on that level with a strategy that is so dependent on absorbing damage early because you know Rob Font for the first round in three quarters of the second round you know he's get he's almost going downhill he's getting his his shit off, and it's landing. It's just not marking.

It's just not showing a difference in Vera. You know, you'd have to believe the super elites who are not only more well-rounded, but, you know, in some cases more offensively dangerous. Can they expose that? Is this a winning strategy if he can get all the way to the top of the ladder? You know, I'll say that I was worried about his cardio in this fight because he had missed weight. So my thought was for Rob Font, my thought was that he had potentially missed weight

because he had some kind of an injury that didn't allow him either the road work or whatever else to train to get it off. You look at his numbers, they don't really speak to that, although to your point, like how heavy were the quality of those strikes. I'll say this about Vera. He isn't just durable i mean we talk about best chins in mma you better put vera somewhere on that list and it's not just good chin right he has a good chin and like his ability to absorb damage to the body is ridiculous as well not everyone cuts the same not everyone bruises the same like fedor milianenko you could just you know whisper in his ear and it would

it would be a cut over his eye or something I mean his skin was just very prone all you have to do is ask him about Russian literature and he'll walk right out the door and not provide any more interviews look I mean could you be more bitter about it seven and a half years later okay but the point I'm trying to make here is you know not everyone is going to sustain injury to the same kinds of input the same kinds of way and Vera just has a huge advantage in that regard but one thing you brought that I think that needs to be shown I mean look at the numbers font landing 57 significant strikes in round 151 and then 71 in round three you know a huge amount you know I'm not saying that those numbers aren't accurate but I am saying that in watching this

fight a second time and a lot of that he rolled with a lot of that, and a lot of that he rolled with, a lot of that he blocked, a lot of that he parried. A lot of stuff did not get through, a ton of it. And so, while I do think it is absolutely critical folks understand there is A, a difference in durability, and B, Chito Vera is at the very highest end of it, it is also true that C, that I think there's a little bit of accounting that needs to happen around Vera's defensive abilities that I don't know if the stats fully reflect what the tape shows which is someone who is very good at this point I would say at blocking parrying to an extent rolling and slipping he does have pretty good striking defense for someone who kind of is in the fray the whole time and along with that better distance management as well so dance can he beat the top guys i don't know man they're a whole it's cory

sandhagen it's tj dillashaw it's jose aldo it's it's yon like it's hard for anyone to beat any of those guys but this is by far by far the very best version of him that i've seen really mature veteran performance from Vera, and he should be quite proud of himself. No question about it, Luke. On that flip side, I thought the broadcast rightfully pointed out, and look, you mentioned the weight issues for Font. We don't know how that affected

him, but dude, his defense. It was a weird dynamic for Rob Font in that for most of the first half of each of these rounds, you know, he's getting off and landing big shots. It's just that not only is Vera not showing the damage, he's not going anywhere in response. Font tends to work so much better when he's controlling those terms of the fight and using,

as they said on the broadcast, his offense, his defense. But Luke, he's finding out when he does step past that line against the elites, that lack of defense allows him to get hit up pretty big. I mean, he took big damage in the Aldo fight, and it seemed like it took even worse here. This is not a sustainable long-term style that's going to get him over that hump, I don't think. So at his age, it's potential crossroads time for Rob Font in terms of is this the highest reach that you're going to get in terms of maxing yourself out,

or is there one more layer and one more run? You can go back to the lab and find out, Luke. I do have my doubts. Let me ask you this. You heard at the end of the fourth round, Tyson Chartier, the coach, and sort of the head of the New England cartels, asked Rob Font, are you sure you want to go out for this? Are you ready?

Blah, blah, blah, which I thought was good. Now, remember, this was the same team that took a little bit of criticism for not stopping the Calvin Cater fight against Max Holloway, which I do think should have been stopped given the amount of abuse he took. What about this one? What about this one? You have Font putting in some huge numbers and then responding to his coach pretty forthrightly at the end of the fourth was there any case for the corner to

intervene you could have because of the facial damage he was having but it was again a weird fight in that even though font ended rounds two three through five on his back effed up really with the referee saying dude you're gonna have to stand to show me that I don't need to stop this fight. You know, I'm sure as a coach, you're saying to yourself, okay, next round, let me start off and take notice. And if it keeps going downhill, I got to stop it. But that's the thing is it wasn't going downhill. He was then again, starting off each round, Rob Font, with offensive success. And maybe some of that is what you're saying, that Vera's defense is a little bit more sly and slick than we realize, whether that's rolling with shots or able to, behind his high guard,

absorb more than we realize so he's not taking it flush. But I think it was constantly giving Rob Font fool's gold and a false sense of security in terms of where he's at in this fight where he just put his head down and kept going at it offensively. And I think if you're in his corner and you're watching that, you're like, well, this is what our guy does. Only, again, it wasn't winning rounds because of the surges Vera was doing at the end of each one, and it wasn't getting him any closer to a stoppage, Luke.

So I don't blame his corner, and it's really hard to blame him. I mean, look, he was the betting favorite coming in. I don't think they necessarily vera would come in this confident and and poised as you mentioned and and sort of evolved right there was an evolution here for marlon vera and taking his savage violent ways but but adding some of that trevor whitman justin gaethje sort of you know control to it and you know it just I think this is one of the toughest losses you can find at this level and that's why I question whether Rob Font can get over this hill and keep climbing or whether this begins the inevitable decline and he is in his mid-30s Luke

because he's got to feel like he went out there and showed the very best of him only it didn't do anything you know and that that's that's a tough pill to swallow. That was the thing. It was like by round, after he got dropped in round three, I thought round four you would have seen potentially more takedowns. Now, again, Rob Font is a professional's professional, so when he misses weight, that's not because he was eating too, since I would very much doubt.

It's because he wasn't trying to manage his affairs. My guess is he had some kind of. You were going to say Tara Masu, weren't you? You motherfucker. I wasn't. to manage his affairs. My guess is he had some kind of... You were going to say Tere Masu. You were going to say Tere Masu, weren't you? You motherfucker. I wasn't. I was just going... I mean, I don't go to all these stupid old meme jokes that MMA fans can't let go of 10 years after they're no longer funny. But the point I'm trying to make here is,

if he's missing weight, that means something went wrong in camp. I really believe that. He's not the kind of guy to do this sort of thing. And so it makes you wonder what he was really capable of. But, of but you know man if you can't level change for a takedown or even threaten one against it's dude it's not like Vera's easy to beat off of his back he's got a very good active guard but you're getting torched on the feet here a little bit and I would say BC like whose face was worse by like you know the round before the fight was either over or got stopped Rob Font or Erickson Lubin?

Now, you might say Lubin was more swollen. Okay, fair. That's fine. And there was more time left in the fight. Okay. But at the same time, dude, Rob Font's face heading into the fifth round was a mess. It was a disaster. I think it's one of those cases, BC, getting back to the original question about whether you could stop it or not.

It was a tough one. I don't think there was any clear answer to this one. It was a little hard to say, in part because Rob had put out so much effort into making sure he was at least doing enough work. You couldn't accuse Rob Font of doing enough work. The right kinds of work, the right kinds of attacks, maybe something a little bit different.

But he was trying. But his face was getting ugly. I mean, I don't know. It's a tough call. Also, at least they tried to ask him in the corner to sort of gauge things. It was a difficult call. It's always least they tried to ask him in the corner to sort of gauge things. It was a difficult call. It's always going to be a gray area,

and the coach is always going to know things about the fighters that we don't, right? I mean, sometimes that blows up in your face when you're Rocky Pennington's corner in the Amanda Nunes fight, and you're sending her out to the fifth round when she's saying no. That's bad.

But in this case, it's like, it's funny that it's the same coaching staff, but I defended Calvin Cater despite absorbing a record number of strikes But in this case, it's like, it's funny that it's the same coaching staff. But I defended Calvin Cater despite, you know, absorbing a record number of strikes, staying in that Holloway fight and then giving him the chance to go the distance. Not, Luke, not for some type of moral victory of, hey, I didn't get stopped at least. But I have to believe, and I think Calvin Cater has done things since the Holloway loss to hedge this opinion in full respect for him. He's back. He's got a big fight coming up. He bounced back with a big win.

But in that moment, if you're Calvin Cater's coach against Holloway live on ABC in a main event that, really, you win that? Dude, you're in the freaking title picture. I wonder if the coaches for Rob Foner thought the same thing in this fight, meaning this may be the top of the food chain for him. This may be the furthest he ever gets. So let's give him the chance in that window because you get very little of them at times in your career. Sometimes you get one chance, Eminem, right? But give him that chance to sit down at the table with Mama Spaghetti and potentially rally and come through because on the other side of that is damage,

but it's potentially your title shot. You're maxing out of your career. So, I mean, you could tell me that's romanticized bullshit, Luke, but the coaches know more than anyone what they got in their fighter. They know what buttons to push. And, you know, I'm not mad at so-and-so. To me, the Raquel Pennington Amanda Nunez situation was I think his corner just flatly got it wrong her corner excuse me just flatly got it wrong and I think their defense of it afterwards did them no favors in the case of Calvin Cater I just

I I had a conversation with Tyson Chartier uh you know um privately I expressed that I thought that it probably should have been stopped, but I recognize there are some difficulties in that one as well. And this one to me, I don't think is anything remotely approaching a situation where a Pennington looks to her corner and says, I want out,

and then they just force her back out there. You know, Vera, excuse me, fought was bout it, bout it, to his credit. I just mean to say, when a corner has a situation where the Calvin Cater fight is in their back pocket, and then you have another fighter going out in the fifth round and their face is a disaster. How do you how do you judge that? In this case, I think we should give the benefit of the doubt to the corner because it is so gray.

The other ones to me are a lot less gray. That's all I would say about that. Yeah. Unlike our respective heads of hair. Yes, this is your hair is a lot less gray, but only because you buy $10 just for a minute Walgreens. Mine is a lot grayer. It's a lot grayer.

It's a lot grayer. A lot of that accusation is true. I do buy it at Walgreens, to be fair, Luke. All right. You're like, is this shoe polish? Fuck it, let's ride. All right. All right.

We stay with UFC now for topic number two which is the ufc hasn't confirmed this but there were some media reports corroborating a few different directions about some huge heavyweight fights that are coming down the pike the two that they say are on the table to be booked again not official but looks that way cyril gone will take on Tai Tuivasa. And on a different card, I believe Tom Aspinall will take on Curtis Blades. Okay, BC, first question here, again, will go to you. Do you like this matchmaking? Do you like the way that these fights were arranged for these fighters at this moment in the UFC heavyweight division?

Obviously hard to complain because we get what we want in the end most times by ufc and that's just incredible as a fan as a journalist whatever and these two matchups does open the door for what we should be getting we probably will in september which is john jones versus steve miocic for the interim heavyweight title perfection right whether or not francis is coming back but luke i don't love these two, and particularly the gone Tuivasa one. And it's like, I mean, I almost feel Tuivasa

got that Derek Lewis fight a little bit too early, only he, to his credit, kicked that freaking door down. But Luke Styles would ultimately make fights, and this is such a poor style matchup for Tai Tuivasa that it's like, man, I would have loved a lot more just switching those two. Meaning, look, do I like the idea of Tom Aspinall headlining a July 23rd

London card? Yes. But Tom Aspinall versus Tai Tuivasa to really figure out which rising heavy weight has next is not only a much better style matchup and on the flip side, would you like Cyril Ghosn versus Curtis Blades? Yeah. Yeah, I think I would, Luke. But I don't say this from much better style matchup and on the flip side would you like cyril gone versus curtis blades yeah yeah i think i would luke but i don't say this from the standpoint of being a tui vas a super fan or you know harping on the idea that his ceiling is going to come soon right he's going to hit it soon but dude you know on paper luke you can't win that gone fight come on you know that yeah on paper that's a very difficult fight very difficult you know that shit and what are they gonna do it in paris okay cool but like i'd almost rather give in ghana stay bit and i guess this could end up

being you know a well a nicely wrapped stay busy in the end if the styles play out the way we think they do. Do I believe Sergon can dance circles around Tuivasa and not get hit by the big one? Yes. Do I believe Sergon's also in the gym right now working on wrestling after Nganou out-wrestled him for the championship? Yes. So I know he's going to come back even better than ever. But, you know, Tuivasa is an interesting marketable bonus right now

because he's actually going legit. Meaning he's always going to be the carnival, fun and games, blood and guts, drink out of his shoe, knock dudes out guy. And you could argue BC, even if he takes this Elda gone, he could just keep being that guy. Yes. But this is the window of his absolute pure rise. And I don't know if it's time to send them in there to that boss named cyril gone luke

i don't know if it's time i don't think so yeah i'm with you it's like let's think about this if you had done the opposite switching the opponents a little bit so you do now by the way just to be clear cyril gone versus tui vasa is expected to be a five round headliner september 3rd in paris first reported by ariel hawani so if you switch that up, if you do not Gon versus Tuivasa, but Gon versus Blades, that was the very fight that I thought should have been next for both. Because

to your point, what we saw was Francis basically used his wrestling to take the fight late. And so you're like, well, there's some larger questions here about how much of a liability this actually is. Blades would be the perfect test. Plus, Blades has put together, he had the loss against Derek Lewis,

but he's put together overall a pretty interesting body of work where you think he could be a title contender again. Beating, if he did it, beating Gon would put him right back there. So that's one that I thought would make sense. And the other case with Aspinall, I actually don't mind the Blades fight because that's a hell of a test for him too. But you would have thought that someone like Aspinall, like Gon already had a title shot. So now we're trying to recalibrate exactly where he falls in that top five space.

With someone like Aspinall, he obviously has all the talent in the world, but I could see giving him a slightly slower roll than maybe what you're treating gone with, who's already at the top of that division, and giving him someone like Tuivasa, who was also needing a bit of a slower role, to see how those two

contenders who, you know, I would put Aspinall's ceiling probably higher than Tuivasa, but to credit to Tuivasa, they're not too far apart in this division in terms of what quality wins they have put together at this point, obviously beating Derek Lewis for Tuivasa, a monster moment for him. It just seemed like that was the more natural pairing. But at the same time, BC, you have to understand

the matchmakers may have tried that and been unable to make it for whatever reason. They weren't available. They didn't want it. Who the hell knows? This can go in a lot of different directions. I'll say I don't like Gon versus Tui Vassa. It's a very difficult fight for Tui Vassa to win,

and it could be boring, by the way. On the other the other side though i wouldn't poo-poo that one aspinall versus blades is a hell of a fight if if blades beats aspinall dude blades would have one of the best resumes for a guy who's lost twice to francis like you know those wins he those losses he can't he can't just immediately get over they're they're bad bad, especially because he got lumped up and stopped. But the reality is, look at the rest of his wins. Man, they are amazing. On the other side, if Aspinall could beat someone who at this point is not just good at wrestling in Curtis Blades,

but obviously his striking has come a long way, as we saw in his last bout. And then on top of it, you already know about the wrestling behind it. So you've got the striking now that's developed. You have the wrestling behind it, the veteran experience. Dude, I developed you have the wrestling behind it the veteran experience dude i'm telling you if tom aspinall beats curtis blades that is as validating a win as it comes somewhere in that top five placement that would be a huge win for him and that of course will be on an unnamed card yet um in ufc london expected to take place on july 23rd if that's going to be september you might as well put that as the co-main event to john j, Stipe Miocic.

No, they're saying July. They're saying July. Luke, two quick questions regarding the heavyweight matchmaking. One, do you agree with the recent sentiment that this is, if not the most deepest, at least the most fun group UFC heavyweight has ever had? I mean, I was living through the days of tim sylvia versus gan mcgee so if you guys didn't live through that you don't quite understand how good it is now the only comparison luke would be that that quick era of lesnar carwin jds kane yes but the difference was that was super electric but it was a little top heavy as well well you did have mere and coot randy cooter and a couple others i mean it was it was still pretty damn good you know yeah but

then couture went back to light heavyweight after he lost the title so you can't really say he was like a long reigning member he had that 2007 or 6 resurgence when he came back out of retirement and beat tim sylvia and then gabriel gonzaga but i would say this this is clearly the ufc has put some effort into like rebuilding this division and then making sureaga. But I would say this. This is clearly the UFC has put some effort into rebuilding this division and then making sure that they had some talent that they developed. And they really have done a good job bringing it to the state it's in. To me, it's like you ever eat a sandwich and certain parts, the guy who made the sandwich, they made it really well, but they didn't smear the mustard all the way over the bread.

So some of the parts of the sandwich are like, to me the most fingernail in there they're like why is there road salt in this and banana peel i mean look uh can i finish the motherfucking point no this is all i'm trying to say is all i'm trying to say is out and just float it and keep eating do you i'm gonna keep going until you stop i mean all i'm trying to say is this is the most evenly distributed well-made sandwich i've seen in terms of the the overall just depth of the ufc division each one has its limits and its great and its strengths but overall look you just look at how about romanoff from saturday as well dude that guy's a fucking hammer as well so yeah so yeah there's a nice solid group there, so back to the sandwich. If you find the hair in it, you're put in an interesting spot.

If you're at the restaurant, you can get sent back. Oh, eat your fucking sandwich. What do you think that hair did to your food? You think that hair made you give your food AIDS? Eat that fucking food. It's the way I was raised. I know you got all bitchy there like a post-arrest Jared from Subway. But, no,ke um i can

pretty demure when they walked him in the car i gotta say i can interrupt you during an important so-called important rant to ask you the more important questions anytime i want luke um i do think though because you do have to add big nog to that era i'm talking about i do think that era he did beat sylvia yeah and you have an ovarine that came in as well i think that era he did beat sylvia yeah and you have an overeem that came in as well i think that era had the the deeper collection but like you said with the the weird uneven sandwich uh comparison we never quite got everybody to face each other in the right order without injury or without upset that we could have maybe sort of like the heavyweight boxing argument where right now i don't think we have the historically deepest group ever comparative to the 90s or 70s but we've got a great group

hungry willing to fight each other that are you know fun we have that now dude we've got that right now we've got a lot of really potential great i don't know what it's going to look like i mean the fact that stipe never walked away, John's coming up, Francis may come back, all these, Aspinall on the rise, I mean, this is a great group. But my final question related to this is Sean Shelby's new matchmaking beard, Luke. You in on it or not? He's going for it right now. Yeah, it's that

uh, well, I don't want to blow up his spot, but that's that midlife crisis beard. I know about that. We got hats for that coming to the MK store soon, Sean. So you'll be fine. Imagine if somebody caught Sean Shelby in the wild

with an MK piece of clothing on. That'd be a viral moment, Luke. I don't think that would ever happen, but that's funny. All right, BC, let's talk about this very quickly and then we'll move to the next part, which is

Tai Tuivasa sitting at three, gone at one. Dude, if Tuivasa wins that, he might be your new, I mean, I guess it's Stipe and John, but like, if I'm Tai Tuivasa is sitting at three, gone at one. Dude, if Tuivasa wins that, he might be your new, I mean, I guess it's Stipe and John, but like, if I'm Tai Tuivasa and I'm sitting at three

and I fight Cyril gone and I win, dude, I'm going to say I'm due for a title shot. I mean, I realize that, you know, that claim is debatable, but it's not, it's a strong one.

Blades and Aspinall are sitting at four and six. So the winner there probably still has a little bit more work to do. BC, if you're tied to Ivasa and you win this, you should get a title shot, right? Yeah, that's the weird dichotomy of this, if that's probably the wrong word in the wrong time.

But meaning, are we complaining that it feels like UFC matchmaking is kind of cashing out a championship level potential version of Tui Vassa too early? Yes. But on the flip side, you know, high risk, high reward, yeah, Luke, he probably ends up fighting Jon Jones for the full championship in

Marvel Stadium down under for all we know if he wins this. So, no shortage of big opportunity. And look, a guy like him, he'll take this. So no shortage of big opportunity. And look, a guy like him, he'll take it. It doesn't matter who he's fighting, right? He's going to go in there with the lunch pail and the big right hand and probably, I don't know, drink a full shoe of shit water at the end.

Whatever he's got to do, Luke. But yeah, I just don't like this, okay, Luke? And in hindsight, I do apologize for interrupting your incredible analysis for some shit. I mean, I don't think it was incredible. It just wasn't done. That's all. It just wasn't finished.

I mean, that's all I want to do is just finish. I'm the asshole. Yeah, I'm the asshole. Okay, great. Yeah. I mean, a little bit. A little bit. But that's all right.

We're used to it. All right, BC. Let's go now to your first love. Let's talk a little bit of boxing. Topic number three. Man, I mean what what a night what an incredible night they sold out 19,000 in Madison Square Garden Amanda Serrano drops a split decision victory for obviously a loss for her but a victory for Katie Taylor after 10 rounds

so pretty interesting scorecards we'll talk about that here in just a second but first things first BC number one how did you score it yeah and number two this this was was this the best women's fight of all time contextualize what happened on saturday night for us i think it really was and it's funny you know i do see it i do see some curmudgeonly response of like love the event but the fight was very good, not great. No, the fight was great. And Luke, ultimately in the end, the 10-round, 2-minute round, you know, dinosaur system that the women's elite boxing still has to govern under, do we want that to go away ahead of the rematch? I do, but I'm not going to sit here and say it didn't provide a foundation of absolute excitement, Luke, because both fighters knew the limitations

in front of them, two minutes to work with, got to get in, got to be quick, got to let your hands go. But also you can't let your opponent shine too much too. I think that raised the ante, the intensity. Obviously that crowd came, came to make this a great fight. Irish background, Puerto Rican background, New York City background, boxing background. The people showed up, Luke, for whatever their reasoning was. And it was like being at a concert where you watch the band come out and they're like, you know, I don't know if we're going to give our best tonight, but then the crowd wills them to. Everything associated with this fight, from the promoters to the fighters themselves,

it had a chance to be great. But I feel like everybody put their best foot forward and somehow made it even greater. So how did I score it? Six rounds to four for Katie Taylor, a 96 94. Uh, could you have gone to 10,

eight round around five as one of the three judges did for Serrano? You could have, could you have scored it for Serrano six to four or whatever? Yeah. Look, this is the ultimate, in my opinion, however you scored the fight,

you're probably right type of fight. Because in two minutes, a lot can happen. And as much as Serrano was throwing more and landing more, as we saw, according to CompuBox, and the rounds that she won were more dominant, without question, I do feel in too many close rounds, she allowed some beautiful late surges from Katie Taylor of just clean, accurate combination punching in big spots to really leave the door open a bit.

And I think it's like, look, was this best case scenario for boxing? Yes. This was a classic fight. It's disputed to a degree, but without robbery or ineptness in the scoring, right? It was just sort of like, that's what the three judges preferred. But it sets the stage for at least one, if not multiple rematches. It really, and this is again where you give credit to Eddie Hearn and Jake Paul. It really reached a different level outside of boxing of casual sports fans of casual combat fans of just people right there on the damn today show how did this not play out absolutely perfect look this was perfection across the board i think this is your leading candidate for fight of the

year altogether in boxing i think it's the best women's fight i've ever seen although you know katie taylor and persoon was great we saw great. We saw Jonas was in a recent one. I forgot the opponent she had, which was a great brawl. But no, for the stakes involved, for the fact that both fighters actually elevated both their individual games and the sport along with it. Dude, this was a joy to behold. behold and the fact that both afterwards were so classy so professional so sportsmen and basically said okay i thought i won but credit to my opponent but look at what we did i mean to see amanda serrano on social media and even in her post-fight interview be like look at what we did we proved that women can sell you said we couldn't do this and we just came out here and gave you a freaking thriller dude this was

it's it's the chef's kiss luke if you want one fight and then maybe it's unfair to put that pressure on one fight but if you want one fight to kick open the doors and really complete a a transaction that could change the landscape moving forward we got got it, Luke. I mean, can you put on your crusty old boxing curmudgeon hat and find anything bad to say about this, Luke, outside of maybe Chris Mannix's scorecard? I mean, what do you got here? Yeah, Chris Mannix, he was getting murdered on social media for his scorecard. It did seem a little pro-Serrano in real time.

Although, here's a couple things to follow up on what you said. This is one thing that folks just need to sort of wrap their head around there is not one scorecard that is acceptable not only that in a fight this close you can make a claim reasonably by following the scoring criteria to have an argument for either competitor the range of what is acceptable literally extends in either direction of the ledger not just one round here or one round there you can make a case for either component or other opponent here and you must understand that is a fair interpretation of the scoring criteria so I just want to be clear about that if you I thought Taylor deserved it in the end because I thought Serrano BC the thing that was a little bit weird for me was she made that fifth round push and maybe if that was a three round round or three minute round excuse me

yes maybe taylor doesn't make it out for the six i don't really know but you know what it felt like to me bc and i mean this genuinely you ever been at like the end of a workout you're like okay i'm gonna run this last lap or whatever i'm just gonna sprint i'm gonna empty the tank just to make sure you had like a great finish strong feel good you, you know, that kind of a thing. And it felt like she did that and then needed a cool down moment. And dude, she gave Taylor all the moments she needed, all the moments she needed to just recoup

and then sniper shot her over the top for basically the rest of that fight. Although there's obviously a little bit more to it than that. I think Serrano gave away... Okay, so round five, she's got her hurt. Look, I almost thought you could have stopped it at the end of round five. It would have been controversial,

but my point is... Dude, I've never seen... I've seen Katie Taylor fights before. I've never seen her hurt like that. Ever. I mean, I saw her get buzzed by Pursune. She was effed up, looked like out on her feet a couple times.

And like I said in the post-fight show Saturday, Luke, some of our favorite fights of all time included fighters that were like constantly out on their feet but still fighting through on instinct so it's a gray area but my point is I think Serrano thought she's going to come out in round six and go for the knockout but it didn't happen because of Katie I'll get to that in a second but I think five and six really emptied out Serrano's gas tank may may you know because look again in a two minute window if you open up an opportunity to

potentially finish somebody, you've got to go after it because you only get two minutes and then they get a minute rest. I think Serrano kind of threw her gas tank a little bit. So round seven, she gave it away, was passive, and then I think she was a step behind in eight, nine, and ten despite it being so close. But look,

I think this fight was one in the stand katie taylor did in round six the round after she was almost knocked out she was the fighter coming on in the second half of round six and backing up serrano and you're just like i knew katie taylor was great i know like you know conditioning motor uh you know aggressiveness technique all that her hand speed surprised me that it was faster than Serrano. But Luke, I never imagined her to be that tough. I think she won the fight seriously with that stand in round six that showed Serrano, I'm going to be here, you know,

for as many as you're willing to stand with me. And Luke, the final 30 seconds of round 10 were like... I mean, forget about it. That was fucking epic. Amazing. Dude dude these two for folks who missed this fight i don't know what the fuck you're doing with your life they they stood and i'm not even doing like a bit here like in the center of the ring no no no the literal center of the ring 30 seconds bite down on the mouthpiece and just go and it was and they both were eating

huge huge punches let me say something about the rules, BC, because I think that's part of the story as well, which is watching this fight, it made me reflect on some of my criticisms of women's boxing. I think I'm going to withdraw several of them. This was the first time that a woman's boxing fight made me really reconsider some of the premises under which I was operating, which was that, I yes we all knew that like the various stakeholders of boxing

from the commissions to the promoters have been total absentee landlords in trying to create a place for women to have a you know a role in boxing in a more full-throated way they've they've basically thrown their hands in the air and said yeah if it happens it happens if it doesn't it doesn't and and obviously that there's a difference here with with what jake paul and eddie hearn had done but in general you know that's been the attitude um so what i would say is i think that you know maybe we could i would might hold on to like the glove size issue a little bit but other than that this was that first fight where i thought you know what really the issue here is people just haven't tried enough to make a place for them they haven't tried to recruit them

they haven't tried to properly train them They haven't tried to properly train them. They haven't tried to make space for them in the gym. They haven't tried to make space for them on fight cards. They just haven't done to invest anything. And in that sense, MMA is far ahead of the game, actually. But I think this event might help us catch up. But I do think, BC, while it is true that Amanda Serrano was offering to do 12 rounds, 3 minutes, and Katie Taylor declined, probably for some smart strategic reasons,

it does seem to me that while I can agree that places like tennis, for example, and I don't speak for the tennis community in any capacity, maybe there is a little bit more accommodation of doing 3 sets versus 5 for the women versus the men. That's up to them to decide but bc this was a fight that really kind of said jesus christ even when oh yeah these women are promoted correctly and you cannot deny they were not promoted correctly they were promoted very very well here and everyone did their job and everyone did a great job with it these rules of 10 minutes minutes, two rounds, these are an insult. These are a total insult.

It's almost like late to the party for anyone to even say that right now because we've been saying that for two, three years whenever a decent women's fight did pop up. I know, but it's 2022. But this is an argument. So the point of me saying that is it's an argument that's already like three years too late or past due. It's just finally I think enough people saw the reason why i mean imagine if this great fight had two more

rounds at the end and they both could have just gone for it imagine if each round had that extra minute where when as you mentioned um taylor was hurt in round five you know there's a good chance you get stopped right there so yeah luke hopefully this is the last time. I do feel American promoters specifically in boxing where, and I say American because, you know, you remember the movie Million Dollar Baby, which we don't speak of because it's, I mean, what a. It's like, here's a great story about triumph. Oh, wait, no paralysis.

Never mind. Yeah, no, not at all. I know. It's like, you know, here's a, you can take your Oscar winner. Okay. You can shove it up your ass, Clint. All right. That was the journey you took, the detour you took us on. I did not ask to go on that, but my point is that movie illustrated where women's boxing was. You

had to go to Europe to, to make money and to fight champions. I don't think American promoters were willing to take the chance. They also didn't have super marketable fighters, which is usually the reason why people get involved. It's why Christy Martin became a thing in the nineties when they were throwing her on Don King, Mike Tyson cards, and she's knocking people out. And, you know, it's like, Oh my God, we got a female butter being only, you know, that's disrespectful. She was actually, you know, pretty damn skilled, but you get my point now it needed though, Luke. And I say this a lot because it's important. It needed the legitimacy of allowing women into the Olympics in 2012

to build up a few years simultaneously with UFC women's fights just becoming main event headlining type things. I think for female boxers to go, it's worth it for me to apply my craft here. There may be light at the end of the tunnel of opportunity and money. So, you you know it's like when you said we finally got to see how great it can be the only i'll defend on boxing promoters who tend to look the other way at women's fights with the

exception of ludabella so a lot of people were shouting him out he tried to like hell to get serrano this fight years ago when he was a promoter and it fell apart but luke we also had the number one and two fighters in the game today sure and really two of the best fighters of all time so i don't want to say it's like a fool's gold commercial that they're all going to be as great as this moving forward they're not and they weren't the few times you know some women's fights did get elevated but that doesn't mean you don't build that foundation because now that moments like this are possible in front of that crowd like luke it didn't make have you seen this shit because i found it late but did you see that video that's circulating of the zoom in of the referees instructions in the middle of the ring at msg before the start of the fight and

serrano looks over at taylor and goes i can't believe this like holy shit like look at look at what we did here. It needed this to get people to realize that there's something here. But this thing here, women's boxing, also needs depth and it needs, you know, parity, and that can't come unless all these other things happen, like a legitimate, you know, amateur system producing new pros through the Olympics. But, Luke, it feels like it's all coming together. And these were the two right women at the right time who gave the right performance.

Do we need a rule change? Yes. But I think we'll look back at the lack of a rule change made this fight so damn great, Luke, but it was incomplete. They fought with it. Yes. They fought within the confines of that rule set to maximize their performance. But I think they could do that under a different rule set as well.

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I think this was true. This is definitely true. When I first started covering MMA, even televised women's fights initially were just three minute rounds so I have lived through a different rule set for women in MMA watching on TV being like why the fuck are these three minute rounds totally messing up all the action then those rules getting changed and then you watched everything beyond just the the rule set itself obviously Ronda Rousey came the whole nine yards. But I'm saying I lived through the changing the rules, and all it ended up doing was making it better.

It is very difficult for me to believe at scale long-term, this fight potentially notwithstanding, but long-term, that having 10-minute two rounds is the very best way to promote women's boxing. It seems to me that it's more a handicap than it is a help. And I feel bad for Clarissa Shields in one way. And I know sometimes she annoys people or she, you know, she can be tough and she believes in her, you know, what she believes. She definitely doesn't squat to depth. I can tell you that.

Yeah. No, that's true as well. But, you know, I like that DAZN brought her in to be an analyst for this fight. But even her, when she was like, I want this. I want to be an event this big. I just don't feel like, you know, there's an equal yet for me that can pull this out of me. And I think it's unfortunate, Luke, that to some degree,

you know, this country has not, again, in a crowded, you know, sporting, team sporting, you know, scenario, hasn't embraced Coercion Shields despite two Olympic gold medals the way that Katie Taylor has in both Ireland and the UK, where she's a sporting hero, where you got Eddie Hearn after this win, calling her the greatest athlete in Ireland's great history to where, you know, it takes a lot of and it took a promoter like Eddie Hearn to take her fight seriously and say, I think I've got something here where grassroots wise, people just want to see her win, you know, in like a pride way that I don't think Clarissa Shields ever had going for her, that this country just never got behind her. And, you know, I hope she ends up getting her moments and I hope the next generations that follow do too because of Serrano and Taylor and Luke to be greedy I hope Serrano and Taylor get a couple more moments against one another because the rule

set of this first fight it made a thriller it made an all time great moment but because we're sitting here disputing going you know if you thought Taylor won I think you're right if you thought Serrano won no one's going to argue with you it's sort of incomplete like okay Taylor won the first fight you're right. If you thought Serrano run, no one's going to argue with you. It's sort of incomplete. Like, okay, Taylor won the first fight. Yes.

But the war ain't over. And I hope that these two continually get the big placement and paydays to keep fighting one another. Could you see a trilogy here, Luke? Can you see a damn trilogy? Oh, can you see a trilogy? They were talking about having a rematch in Ireland. Sign me up.

Sign me up. But I would also say I do not want to see a rematch. Yes, of course, I'll take a rematch if the only way to have one is with 10 minute to or 10 two minute rounds but I really believe I really believe either extend the number of rounds extend the minutes do both ideally we need to get more along those lines and and and I should say BC we're getting back to Clarissa Shields listen we can't expect every fighter to do everything for women's boxing each one each fight each moment each career they all contribute to it and she's obviously done her best to make women's boxing

more but she needs she needs help she needs help from the promoter she needs help from the sport she needs people to sign up she needs she there's just a lot of work to get what this the disrepair that the state of the game is in now Now, this event showed that there could be, I mean, this event should be, this was the insight to the event. This was the key takeaway. Could you imagine a future where women's boxing could be this more regularly

and that everyone of all combat sports varieties could sit down and enjoy something that is so obviously good? Yes. Dude, that was not even possible a month prior. This was one of those eureka moments that snaps people out of it, me included, and I've been very jaded on women's boxing, that just say, wow, this could be so much more than it is.

To ask Clarissa Shields to be like this savior of it, it's just, not that you're doing that, but I'm saying the pressure on her more generally, there's only so much she can do. Now, BC, go ahead. I was going to ask you a question as it pertains to a potential rematch. Eddie Hearn wanted Croke Park, which they'll dead wrong me, Luke, that I called it a soccer stadium.

It's apparently a Gaelic arts stadium. Yeah, I think they do the GAA game. It's like their version of field hockey. I've done a lot of hurling, Luke, the morning after some long nights. I've done some hurling at stuff we recorded for MK in the sink. There's truth in that. I think, look, both fighters fought great and had an argument to win. I think as it pertains to a rematch,

if it went to the 12 round three minutes for the rematch, I think Serrano would be the rightful favorite, but let's just say we're getting a rematch with the same rule set. I still believe Amanda Serrano can raise her performance to levels that I don't think Taylor can get to. Meaning I think that's the very best of what 35-year-old Katie Taylor has, and it was brilliant and beautiful. It was fucking awesome.

And tough as nails. I mean, she... Dude, she's like a folk hero, and she deserves to be one. Like, her whole life is about faith, humility, and training for this to represent her people. I mean, it's incredible. I think Serrano wins this rematch, though, Luke, no matter what.

I think she's that good, and I can't wait to see how both adjust when we get there. If they did not, if they made a decision, the powers that be in boxing, not to change that two-minute round, ten-minute, ten-round setup, do you think it does produce more fan-friendly fights, though, as this women's boxing sport tries to really gain, you know, the kind of foothold it never has before? I don't know, because, I mean, it's sort of, you know what? That is a perfect segue to the next topic, which is still on this fight. So let me transition a little bit, but keeping that question the center of the next round of discussion let's go to point number four which is you know is this fight the boxing equivalent of essentially what rousey versus karmush was or maybe earlier cyborg versus carano something along those lines to that point bc when we got to the

point where ufc had brought them in we had rousey versus karmush we had a situation where i think even as you know barren as the cupboard was relative to how it is today there was still the sport was a little bit more prime time ready right so when we ask the question is Taylor versus Serrano is that the is that the boxing equivalent of Rousey versus Karmush I don't think so to me BC it goes back to what we had with Cyborg and Carano when the sport was in a different state in a different era back then where it's going to be the very next big one however many years from now that really is this electric moment we're still in a dude we're still in a part of the sports development where they don't even have the same rules it just can't be i don't know who these

other women are that they can go they. What promoter can pivot tomorrow? Clarissa Shields, okay. Michaela Mayer, okay. But where else can they go to pivot to put on some big fights now that there could be some more interest around it? There's still a ton of work to be done. So to me, this is a watershed moment in the history of women's boxing, but it is one among many that has to happen before there is a rightful turn

to where this is a more regular kind of thing. You need momentum. And as big as Cyborg versus Carano was, and dude, it was big. I mean, it was really big. You needed Rousey versus Tate won under the Strikeforce banner not long after that, which if you forgot, that fight was just a constant reversals and change of position on the ground and just like, will she get the armbar? And oh my God, this Tate is crazy, you know, and they're both hot chicks and they're going nuts.

But then, Luke, you needed UFC buying in and making this Rousey-Carmouche thing as big and giant as it was. I think that the good news, again, is that this first fight was so great, so commercially viable, and so disputed in the end that they may make up, these two fighters alone, if they can get a rematch that's even bigger and then, you know, if they can get a trilogy, they can do a great job on their own building that momentum. But in terms of the larger spirit of your question of, like, who else, who's next, there are promoters who have who have dug in deep Eddie Hearn has a a fair amount of of promising women's fighters you know

under his matchroom sports stable and has been featuring them you know really kind of for this moment for us to go okay these two women were incredible what else you got he's got a few of those you know they're trying to make this big Clarissa Shields-Savannah Marshall fight. You know, they had Jessica McCaskill on the broadcast. They're really trying to show you, and let's give ESPN a top-ranked credit with Michaela Mayer, and now Ginny Fuse, who was a U.S. Olympian and just made her debut on that last Mayer card. You know, you're starting to create more. I think there's less political and, you know, promotional and network

things in the way of the best females fighting the best females. Luke, it seems to be that there's this, there's this cooperative effort right now within boxing to allow women's boxing to have a big moment without impeding it that I don't think I've ever seen before or ever imagined seeing the fact that ESPN and top rank were willing to delay their main event, which you could argue was on paper, at least just as good, if not better, it didn't play out that way. The women's fight ended up being way, you know, much more exciting and sort of producing topics to speak about. It doesn't take away from Shakur Stevenson's performance, but, um um but like everyone worked together for this moment to be as big as it was right like jake paul coming in

as the promoter like everybody made it work i can't tell you how many curmudgeons that hate everything about boxing are going damn those women were great and i want to see it again you're going to need momentum but you're going gonna need everybody going okay i've got a you know promising women's fighter you've got one too across the street let's make that fight happen luke um there's no reason why we shouldn't but boxing has always been a game where you got to prove you're viable not that you deserve it that you viably you know commercially deserve it they just did and i still almost cannot believe that this was a main event in the big room at Madison Square Garden and that it sold out. What would be the criticism of this fight?

I honestly don't know. The promoters did their job. The fighters did their job. The fans did their job. Everyone did their job. And it was home run. Checkmark after checkmark after checkmark. They all can't be that.

But on that night saturday it was as special as they come it was a completely redefined i think what it meant for the average boxing fan to enjoy women's boxing it really did and i think you know we we have pivoted out although there still seems to be a few but like here's what i'm trying to say they used to just as you mentioned mia say john last episode who episode, who was a, you know, legitimate boxer, but posed in Playboy and they used that to market her. I feel like we're, you know, we're finally getting out of that rather than like, you know, it's like you wanted to find a women's boxer who could sell. And sometimes that meant, you know, they're cute, you know, it didn't matter if they can fight. We're not thinking about

that type of mindset for the most part anymore. And I think that was ultimately what made women's MMA was that fact that, yes, you did have somebody like a Rousey who was cute and a good talker and a good backstory. But when you put them in there, they fought. And that's what's going to win it in the end. And this group right now across the board, across all weight divisions, this group of five, six, seven, how many you think there are of truly elite women's boxers right now? They're the real deal. They're willing to go out there and perform and execute and compete. So you don't need the gimmicks. You just need great fights. I think that door is open now. I think, you know, it's going to take some more time, but I think that door is open. Luke, that door has not only been shut closed, like, you know, we've been building up barriers in front of it.

Like, don't't we don't need that now we want that because because women's boxing deserves it it's it's a long time coming but i can't believe we're here i can't believe that fight was that good i can't believe msg was sold out i can't believe twitter was on fire i don't believe what i just saw also we should maybe have like a bit of a moment to say something. I think I think is pretty true, which is not every part of the world and not even every part of the this country. But in general, there does appear to be across both genders, a growing appetite for women's sports. And I'll give you some examples.

Obviously, this would be one, the fact they're able to do what they were able to do. But the WNBA has never been more popular. And over in Europe, I know you don't care about this, but it just sort of serves the argument, BC. You're beginning to see, I think in Barcelona, they had 90,000 tickets sold for a women's soccer game over there. 90,000. I mean, even for a place that's as soccer-obsessed as Europe,

and Spain in particular, that's a crazy, crazy number. And so what you're beginning to see is I think more relaxed attitudes about, well, I'm not going to watch that. Well, yeah, I'm going to give it a chance. Again, all the other pieces that have to be in place here, but there does appear to be men saying, Hey, you know what? These women can perform in ways that I previously had suggested was not entertaining. Maybe now those attitudes are becoming, I don't know what the word you want to use, more progressive, more enlightened, whatever it may be. And if you're a

boxing promoter, BC, you should be looking at that. And again, we've got to be honest about the motivations of boxing promoters. But if those attitudes are changing and you can actually bring in women into the fold to as your audience not just middle your participants but now your audience you can only grow the pie of what kind of available market is there as well long-term play i understand but just reading the

tea leaves here a smart boxing promoter like eddie hearn and some others will see are going to be able to sort of tap into this groundswell of interest and turn it into real money but turn it into real boxing as well well and you need that next class right whether it be like the next olympic class or those young female pros right now to get ready quickly and get elite quickly because all of these names that have been around for a little bit i mean look you know katie taylor's been famous ever since she turned pro, but there's very few Katie Taylors. You know, Serrano had to toil behind the scenes. Now that all of these primetime players are here,

we need that next generation to make fights against them. So it's going to take time, Luke, but you could not have asked for a better kickoff. And I can't believe you slipped the word pie in talking about women's boxing. Get out of here with that shit. Just stop it. Pie? Pie, yeah.

Keep it going. What's wrong with the word pie pie yeah keep it going what's wrong with the word pie 3.14 it's fantastic you know it all 5 9 2 7 repeating um all right so let's go to point number five then and then we'll close it here for our top five uh topics boy shaker stevenson i mean oscar valdez tried but he didn't really do shit shaker stevenson completely outclassed him now he didn't get the stoppage I thought might have happened, but he chewed him up, basically, with the exception of a couple of moments here or there

from pillar to post, especially late in this fight. Valdez had nothing for him. BC, he didn't get the stoppage. So, was this the real kind of arrival moment of Shakur Stevenson as not just a very good boxer, not just a champion that can unify titles, but the next big thing in the sport. Was this the breakout moment that his supporters had anticipated? Good enough, right? Would you have loved some resounding stoppage? Yes, but let's put a little respect on formerly unbeaten Oscar Valdez's name. I saw a lot of

people going, man, what a shitty performance by Oscar Valdez. Do you guys realize how great Shakur Stevenson is? I hope this performance woke people up. And for anyone saying again, Luke, I said this on the post-show Saturday, we still don't know what this guy's got for a backbone and chin, you know, ability to get off the canvas and switch, you know, and switch the momentum of a fight. But he's so sublime offensively that we may not find that moment for a very long time. And it's going to be so fun to watch. If he was doing this as a boring, backward-pedaling defensive boxer, you could enjoy the craft but criticize.

But even without a stoppage here, Luke, you saw him. He stood right in that pocket. And his ability to use that lead hand, I know he got warned a lot for probing and using the hand to sort of stick it in Valdez's face. But he can do whatever he wants at all times and still avoid getting pieced up by a very capable guy in Valdez. I know he used to be a brawler, but he's got quick hands. He's got craft.

There were some things he was doing that were very smart to try to mix things up, lead with the double right hand, anything to try to break the momentum here. And the momentum broke him, Luke. I mean, if you didn't already have a hipster pick like I did, having him in the top 10 pound for pound before this, then after this performance, if he's not, you know, five, six, seven right there, then I don't think you know shit about boxing. I don't think you know what you're watching because this guy has it. Okay. I don't know what it'll be commercially. I think, you know, he's a funny guy. He's got a personality, whatever, but that's not even the thing, Luke. He has it in the ring in ways at this age that so few boxers ever have. Again, it's blasphemous to say, damn, that kid's the next Floyd Mayweather.

But again, there's a reason why we don't say that a lot, because we don't see a lot of next great Floyd Mayweathers. And he might be that. There's a little Pernell Whitaker in him. There's a little pretty boy Floyd in him. There's a lot of Shakur Stevenson in him. And Luke, dude, tell me I'm wrong. This is a special, technical, exciting fighter. Not going to blow guys away. Not going to one punch knock out you, but you're also not going to touch him. And he's going to stand right in front of you and he's going to light you the hell up, dude. Like, I don't know, whoever your favorites are from 130 to 140, maybe even 147 in the next few years, they're all unnoticed. guy's coming i don't think anyone's going to want to go out of their way to fight him on the highest level i mean what what

else do you need to see this is this is the the real thing right here this is a a future pound for pound king who's coming the hell on yeah i mean i tweeted this on friday or on the fight night excuse me bc and i stand by it it's like whatever you want to say he lacks in power because you know he towards the end of that fight he was letting some power shots go but early on there were a little bit few and far between but okay let's say that there's an issue with it fine he makes up for it with literally everything else everything else a boxer could do, he can do. He can catch and shoot. He can parry.

He can pivot. He can switch stance. He can bully. He can back up. He can do all of it. His movement is extraordinary. BC, his balance. His balance is out of control,

especially even when I'm not just talking about maintaining an upright posture with footwork and then pivoting to do that, although he can do too but when he has to get what he has to shift weight and then pivot and then move he's never stumbling he's never tripping he's never leaning and having to catch himself he's always exactly where he needs to be his assessment of range and distance and shot selection is unbelievable he He knows exactly what the assignment is. He can do it all. He's unbelievable.

He is so sharp. And he does remind me of Floyd BC. But I would say, granted, whatever you want to make about the power, fine. But number one, he's only 24, right? So he has time to develop some of that as he gets into like 28, 30. And then on top of that, what i would say bc is for as much as the floyd comparisons i think are fair i would still say and this is this is less true if you compare him to pretty boy floyd versus money but the point i'm trying to make is dude he's an

offensive act offensively active fighter he was pumping the jab relentlessly whether to the body doubling it up hooking outside it wasn't like he was taking long rounds off to show you his defense the the offense was there he's a lot like Errol Spence in that sense where like once once the power drill starts going it just drills all the way through now again how much you want to say about what kind of damage was there look at Oscar Valdez's face and dude listen to Oscar Valdez at the end of that fight. You had, who was it? Bernardo Osuna was up there asking him, hey, what adjustments were happening? What can you say?

He's like, man, I don't know what to say. The dude can just do everything. What do you want me to say? Like, he's just fucking amazing. Like, he had no real response other than that guy was just better and there wasn't anything I could do about it. For 24 years old to have that kind of ability

and the sharpness, the detail, the refinement, holy shit, folks. This is true of every fighter. Only Father Time and mistakes are going to get him. And if you think about Shakur Stevenson, Father Time is a long way off from getting him. And the mistakes, he doesn't make a whole lot of them,

folks. He makes almost exclusively good decisions with extremely well-rounded ability bc i don't know what's going to happen if he moves up with the power and everything else it is a it is a worthwhile discussion to have but in terms of boxing craft who is on his level i do not know very very few it's a great point and it's like you know it was the same thing of when we would watch this is where the floyd comparisons are at like shakur stevenson does a lot that's flashy that you can go damn look at those combinations the darting in and out but a lot of it is so subtle as you mentioned so you

can miss that like when we'd watch floyd do the same thing against an on charging robert guerrero in that pay-per-view and you're just sort of like man guerrero sucks why can't he do anything here and it's like you don't realize how much somebody can master this sport on this level until you watch it like that. Oscar Valdez is a very, very, very good fighter. And I mean, Luke, he was, you know, I did have people tweeting at me going, you got me to watch this fight. But man, this fight sucks.

Valdez sucks. No, Shakur is really that great. So, you know, Floyd had to adjust his style to almost exclusively defensively defensive and pot shotting at the higher weight classes but a lot of that luke was really because of the the hand issues and the problems that he's had if shakur doesn't end up with that same type of problems yes he's going to have to be creative when he climbs weight specifically when he gets up in 40 and 47 against these legit punchers. But he's showing you right now that he has ways of just owning the distance and space in front of

him and just, you know, being the maestro. I mean, this is next, next level for a guy who had a great amateur career, silver medal in the Olympics and a guy, you know, who bringing in Kay Caroma now as his co-trainer. And if you don't know that name, you know, he's a youngish guy who's had such great experience in the U S amateur level, molding so many great fighters who came through there. Um, I know, you know, Shakur still have his grandfather in his corner, but like, he's got the right minds, you know, he's aligned with, with team Bud Crawford and Bo Mac and all those guys. Um, uh, big fights to come Luke. And I think he's going to be at lightweight sooner than later, considering we're finally going to get some clarity there with Kambosis and Haney fighting.

But I don't know about you, Luke. When I look at the next 18 months and you say, okay, Shakur's 24. He's got two titles, not 130. He's probably going to have a mandatory or two to deal with. But who's the next big fight I should be getting fired up for? Dude, with the exception of Spence and Crawford, which is its own thing and we deserve it and we've been waiting,

and possibly with the exception of Tyson Fury fighting for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship, which is a different kind of event, circle your calendar, have to see it. Shakur Stevenson versus Vasily Lomachenko might be the best fight you can make in boxing from a critical standpoint from a crossroad standpoint of of the next young big

thing against the current 34 year old wizard who still got it on the palm for pound level i know lomachenko is tied up with the conflict in ukraine right now and he turned down the chance to fight cambosis for all the belts at, but he can still make 130 with ease. Dude, if top rank, which promotes both fighters, starts to build the groundwork for this, I mean, Luke, that's one of those fights where when you hear it's announced, you can't stand up.

You can't come out from behind the desk because you look like Conor McGregor at the Floyd weigh-ins. You know what I'm saying? You know where I'm going with this, Luke? I don't, actually. You'll be rock hard with emotion oh you'll have a phoner okay luke sorry i was actually thinking like is there something else other than dick and balls that bc could potentially be talking about i mean do i just speak into a vacuum sometimes i do luke because i repeat a lot of things but luke

i mean does that fight do anything for yeah of course of course of course I mean that would be that's like too good to be true you know you know what I mean like too good to be true that I could even see that happening but but I this is where I want to go the Lomachenko fight if they can make it would be incredible let's assume for a second that they can't make it for whatever reason he wants to go back to Teofimo Lopez or who the hell knows who else could Shakur Stevenson fight that you could care about maybe it's a more pedestrian name but perhaps more likely let me look at the rankings at 130 um you know obviously the easy answer is if he decides to move up to lightweight sooner than later then you're talking about everybody there you're

talking about the potential of super fights with the Gervonta tank Davis with, you know, the winner of the Davis at one 30 impossible. Yeah. Devante Davis is lingering basically between one 30, one 40. I don't think Gervonta is going to make one 30 ever again.

I think that Leo Santa Cruz one was the last one, but the idea of doing this at one 35, you know, great, harder to make than the others it's probably more realistic if not lomachenko than the next big fight would be trying to hook up and fight the winner of devin haney of cambosis haney has left you know matchroom sport into zone i believe he's now aligned with espn through this multi-fight deal that he signed

through co-promoters bob arum and Lou DiBella to fight Cambosis you know essentially twice but you know how boxing works is you see a great fight and then typically you got to wait around for some mandatories Luke if someone plans on you know keeping those belts because they attempt to put some meritocracy into this broken system but as I look at the 130 pound rankings I mean is there someone I'd love to see him against not really really not really there's a bunch of you know leo santa cruz is still there it's not an easy fight to make chris colbert was just too talented for him yeah yeah i mean would you like to see him against robson can say so who has that really strong amateur background from brazil who gave it you know to oscar valdez there. There's some fighters that you could get interested in,

but the big names, the big money, Luke. It's Loma. It's 135. So there we go. And he's too good for anybody else. That'll be interesting as hell. So phenomenal, phenomenal win by him. Okay, BC, that is it for our top five

and for us asking each other questions. Now it's time for the viewers to ask us. It's time for DMs from dogs. Hee-haw. Hee-haw. And, of course, we always put out a post on Instagram, Instagram.com slash Morning Combat or Morning Crime on Instagram. We put out a post on Sunday asking for these.

People fill them up. The producers pick them. Here we go. Yeah, bring your A-game, Vance, all right? Let's go. At O'Reilly7402 oh oh oh o'reilly is there too much hate excuse me is there too much made of multi-weight division champions in boxing as the weight gap between divisions is relatively small this is from a non-boxing enthusiast what do you

make when someone says i'm an eight division champion it's like yeah but it's like they're like two pounds apart yes there is the boxing title, is a joke. Not only are there 17 weight divisions, which is something that I just don't want to see in sports. I mean, I would, you know, do I want to go back to the original eight? Well, I'd love to, but no one's going to do that. No one's going to go back to what, like, you know, Bantamweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight, heavyweight. We're not going back to, you know, the original six or eight or whatever. Some sort of middle ground would be great, but not only does boxing, and look, this is, again, I don't want to be, I don't want to be dark and cynical here because I want to welcome everybody to the boxing island that came over for

the trip, right? You know, I want to say, yeah, it looks like this all the time, right? We've got 17 weight divisions. We also have four recognized champions in terms of the four sanctioning bodies per division sometimes that becomes five when the lineal mythical ring magazine belt is around and then luke as you already know within that four system sanctioning regulation system you got the people like the wba and the WBC floating out multiple champions per division. So there are situations where this is a lot of bullshit. Again, Adrian Broner is the best face of this. If he never fights again, Luke, he goes down as a four-division champion.

But how this system works is the sanctioning bodies are constantly stripping guys of titles and putting titles up for know for vacancy against two guys in the rankings and you'll notice why does one sanctioning body rank this guy i've never heard of number one but the other three don't have them ranked at all right so yeah there's a lot of bullshit in this game that's why we do care about things like lineal champion because you know it kind of cuts through the bullshit but also we're seeing a a turn up of late in terms of let's unify and let's become undisputed it was so hard to get this five ten years ago because people are unwilling there's a willingness now and i've

said it before and i've said it again there's a new generation of fighters that are coming that are separate from the mayweather pacquiao generation that seem to want the damn smoke. You're seeing Gervonta Davis like kind of publicly break up with Floyd Mayweather. Now, again, I don't know what that means, Luke, if he's going to, you know, go to another network or another promoter or just stay put and not work with Floyd. And I don't know, but the point is you're seeing fighters want to take control of their own destiny and say, okay, I've made some money, but I don't want to just keep making money. I to make my name i want to make glory i want to make history so um you have to pick and choose within this i almost like what belts matter to you and i know that's hard from the outside looking in sometimes it's hard if

you're on the inside following boxing week to week week to week because there's a lot of shit in this game luke but luckily you have people like us who can help you tell you don't step on that shit pile but yes unwrap that unwrap that one it could be worth it for you i'll say this i'll just add to it like obviously there are too many belts and too many weight classes but part of the claims like oh we how do we solve weight cutting in mma it's like you could add some more weight classes fellas you could put a 165 in there change welterweight to 175 i go to 185 and then you get how many more let me finish let me finish i'm just making an argument about if you really

cared about weight cutting adding weight classes is a solution or not a solution is part of a broader solution to that problem now of course the obvious response is but then you have to market these and it waters everything down and it makes it okay i understand i'm merely pointing out that there is a central tension between athlete health and safety and what is marketable and what is possible with making money for promoters and there's going to be trade-offs in either direction so while i gather that boxing has too many of them there is a very easy argument to make that mma has too few if what you really care about is health and safety as it relates to weight cutting conditions

now we have eight men's divisions in the ufc right now that is in some ways perfect you know well what about that gap between 50 perfect perfect for what the market it is not perfect for health and safety that is not true okay what about that gap between 55 and 70? Yeah, it's big. I would almost rather redefine the gap between all eight weight classes rather than add a ninth, tenth. Because if you're adding a ninth and tenth, Luke, what's going to stop you from getting to 17? I'm not on the crazier end of this argument. My only change, and I do mean this, my only change would be adding 165 and then adjusting welterweight to 175, because I actually think you get a lot of good fighters worldwide in that little narrow space.

So it would have a big effect. I'm not in favor of adding 195 or whatever the fuck that part. I'm not again. I'm not in favor of. I'm just pointing out. You have to recognize there is tension between number of weight classes and what's promotable as a feature of monetary concerns and people make trade-offs in either direction there yeah and now there's an 18th weight class by the way in boxing bridger weight that gap yeah which is i mean that's just

fucking heavyweight ridiculous yeah bullshit so luke i mean you know what women's mma in the ufc has four divisions and to be fair they have problems populating three of those on a regular basis right so i don't know dude i don't want anymore yeah ish yeah i mean look i'm telling you i'm the boxing guy telling you i would give anything to go back to the glory days of eight divisions imagine if boxing had eight male champions. You'd always know who's the champion. There wouldn't be a watered-down effort, right? We wouldn't have four champions.

That's fine, but if guys missed weight or had terrible weight cuts, you'd have to look in the mirror about who's responsible. Then they've got to go up or down, Luke. It's the deal. There has to be some kind of a sweet spot between them where you don't have bridger weights yeah that's been so obviously this fucking alchemy that these promoters are trying to come up with on the other hand the argument that we've got enough to reasonably solve the problem also

falls pretty short at least on the mma side of things i don't know luke i i think eight you you would find in in retrospect in hindsight i know you're saying we have to give a little to get a little right yeah eight is is perfection nice it really think about it if you're a ufc champion there's still an element to that of of immortality you don't always make the hall of fame in in theory or even the the physical hall of fame usually it depends on your political relationship with with the current UFC bosses in that regard. But you get my point yet in boxing, you know, somebody, you know, even when it's a regional belt, it's still announced on TV as the championship of the world. Like it's bullshit. So it's sort of, look, it's like the, you know, high school athletics where it's like, you know,

I'm the class S long jump champion. Okay, that means you're the long jump champion of the smaller schools in my state of Connecticut. It doesn't mean you're the state open champion. You're going to tell everybody for the rest of your life, man, I was state champion in the fucking javelin, bro. No, you weren't. You probably had the 10th best

distance in the whole small state that you compete in. You ain't shit, bro. You ain't getting late with that either trophies whore nobody cares about your javelin background like at all in fact turn the javelin on your no i'm just kidding just kidding all right well we can move along though yeah uh at riggins 32 bc is a good question how many edibles did chris manix consume before watching taylor versus serr. That's a fair point. You know, we try to give the judges a benefit of the doubt when they're scoring because they're not watching Twitter, they're not talking to each other.

They don't even have an add-up of what their score is. They're going round by round. And I've scored while broadcasting before. I try to give them a benefit of the doubt and say, he's reacting to what he sees, he's not a professional judge. The problem is, Luke, the on-screen scoring becomes law when you're

watching it and you're not scoring at home. It becomes like... And it's not. And it's subjectable. But it's funny. I tweeted out at some point after the eighth round. I think I had it like four rounds to four. What a great fight. And people are like, man, you're so stupid. Can't you see? Everybody's got Serrano winning well yeah it's because you know Chris

Maddox preferred I had it's so stupid because I had not not not that you are stupid but like that claim is so dumb because if I tweeted that Serrano was doing well especially like before round five and she had her moments even before round five uh I had people like my my mentions were filled with like Irishish homers being like what are you talking about katie is like yeah katie could close her eyes and win this she's fucking beating the balls off of her i'm like it's pretty competitive you could go a lot of different directions so there were homers in either way it does create a group think having an on-air unofficial score but the ones who do it great and it's not a knock on chris and you know

we're all dude you everyone maligns me for my scorecards here and there sometimes you just you're you're a you know you you know, you're judging something. You're judging who you'd rather be, who you thought had the better round, but it just can't be gospel. It can't be like, because the network said it, it's true. Again, the only people that matter in the scoring, not my scorecard, not Chris's, it's the three judges. But sometimes, yes, it does.

It does litter the way it's, you know, I don I don't think that that announce crew was really picking up on everything Katie Taylor was doing. And sometimes, Luke, the group think is within just the announce team. You know, you hear somebody say something, you go, yeah, you're right. She is doing well. And maybe you're missing it. I don't know. I'll say this.

I prefer when the person doing the unofficial ringside scoring is only doing that. Now, there's a bit of a difference. Like, Big John can do it sometimes, obviously, because he's got a background in that whole officiating world, so he can kind of double duty. But Harold Letterman was never part of the commentary crew when HBO was doing it.

It's like, let's go to unofficial scorecard for Letterman. Okay, Jim. And he would read off whatever he had. Okay, Jim. Four rounds to three. Eris, Landy, Lara. Jim, I got to tell you something. I can't believe this guy.

Yeah, so that's how he would do it, but that's all he would do. That's all he would do. When you're asking guys to double duty like that, they're just going to get lost in whatever editorial vision they have, and it's difficult. So I do like Chris, but his scorecard was pretty wild.

All right, from AAA1017, or 1017, now that King Kong Romanov is undefeated, BC, with five straight UFC wins, he is a fucking beast. Do you think he deserves a top 10 guy next? How is the answer to this not yes? I do, yeah. How is it not yes? Look, they nailed

on the broadcast one thing about him despite his size and his moldovian toughness luke is that dude he goes after it on the ground and he appears to be next level when you're able to take a guy i don't you know sherman's not a world beater but when you're able to take him down you know seconds into the fight and then it looks like a schoolyard fight with one guy just slowly sitting on the other's chest and pounding him. Dude, that's, this guy's sick, Luke. This guy's, he's sick with it. This guy's coming, yeah.

I'm excited about it. All right, so how about this? Any of these sound good to me. Now, some of these guys might have fights, you gotta forgive me, but around that level, you've got Rosenstreich, Tybura, Dawkus, Pavlovich, and Abdur-Rakimov.

That's eight to 12. Any of those sound interesting to you? Well, he called out your boy, Luke. Who? Augusto Sakai. Oh, he did? Yeah. Augusto Sakai, okay, he's right after Abdur-Rakimov.

He's sitting at 13. That wouldn't be bad either, but it's a little bit of a slower play. He's really the litmus test for these guys, right? Because if you're robotic and you've got holes augusto sakai is technical and big enough to find those but if you're you know any level of dynamic you know striking or finishing ability you're gonna you're gonna take care of augusto augie you're gonna take care of good old augie i had a fraternity brother named augie he was cool yeah he one time got so drunk he shit in his shoe and then walked in it. I don't doubt that, Luke.

I bet he needed those three Greek letters to make him feel like a man where the rest of us just walked around on our own palm. Just two. Alright, from underscore Josh Herbold. Okay. Now that Bisping and Rockhold are

buddies, BC, what fighters with a rivalry do you just wish to see bury the hatchet and be pals? Man, I don't give a fuck if they're friends or foes. Looks like I don't want to be friends with any of these motherfuckers. I hate them all. No, I mean, look, the most... Would it warm your heart if John and DC had a turnaround?

Would that warm your heart? Because I don't think Conor and Habib will ever have that moment. Maybe as like... No, I'm like the wrong guy for this question because I don't think Connor and Habib will ever, we'll ever have that moment. Maybe as like, no, like no, this, I'm like the wrong guy for this question. Cause I don't care.

Okay. I'll entertain it. Maybe someday Habib and Connor can have a, like we're both in our sixties showing up at public events and posing with each other. And you know, like, Hey bro,

we went through the wars together. Maybe, probably not. I think if John and DC started being like bros in dc like sticking up for him on broadcast that could be that could be interesting theater to see a play out look i know again i know you don't care what would have to happen in john's life for dc to like not that dc is relentlessly critical there are times when he'll defend him but like the way you're talking about like where your pals do john would have to have a mate like do he keeps getting in trouble we keep forgetting about this because it hasn't happened in the last like few months or something. But for

the last two years, he's gotten in major trouble both years. What's to say that this year will be any different? I don't know. I certainly don't wish that upon him. But like, it's hard to imagine that scenario unless there's just major reformation taking place, which I guess we'll have to see. John's been undergoing a long december luke and there's uh there is reason to believe though that maybe this year will be better than the last you know what i'm saying counting crows i mean i can't remember no they don't they don't okay look they really don't in fact the first album is a top 590s album you missed it it's basically like modern day van morrison spanish dancing

and while the second one's good and the double live album that has half acoustic half big band is good don't sleep on that third studio album luke did you miss it dude i mean i just adam duritz's 1992 dreadlocks just made me want to punch him in the face the one with mrs miss potter's lullaby that that album you don't remember that one luke that i just want to go back to the point that this dude had dreadlocks in 1992 like a fucking barista in aurora colorado and it was majorly tilting okay well hopefully you know i'd like to see some old old rivalry i mean like look dude seriously if connor and nate became boys that'd be interesting. If Jake Shields and laptops ever got back together, Luke, that'd be cool.

And War Machine and women. That'd probably be all the reunions I'm looking for, Luke. No, I'm not looking for that reunion. I think his, no. All right, from underscore highlights 480. Which UFC 274 bout are you guys looking forward to the most BC if I may go first on this one very quickly I'm gonna say Chandler Ferguson Chandler Ferguson I mean obviously the main events are incredible but if we're looking for like a bit of a different one uh Chandler one and two in the UFC a win here would be important but a loss here

would be kind of it would say something about his proper placement among the very best lightweights in the world conversely for Ferguson a loss here would continue at the damage from the Ferguson fight that he hasn't been the same sense by contrast a win you know I would consider that pretty spectacular to beat a Michael Chandler who is still this good even this late in his career that would be a huge get back moment for him so this is going to tell us like who's got a future here who doesn't I'm scared of this fight I know it's going to be all action but dude Tony's in a bad way right now I'm afraid that this goes very badly I get your optimism and hope that it could be fun and that Tony wins it could be resurrecting but I have fears there Luke I think the main event is among

you know it's not a great pick to say Oliver Gaethje yet at the same time it's the right pick it is among the best fights you can make in the sport luke the the prospect of high skilled violence and the ability to end the fight on both sides at any point can't freaking wait and dude you know i love like when history comes back around again dude we're sleeping rose carlos and the rematch is great fight dude this is a really, the rematch is a great fight, dude. This is a really good fight. It is a good fight. Dude, this whole card,

let me pull it up here for just a second. The whole card is pretty good. And to remind folks, we are going to have a lot of coverage coming up for this in Morning Combat in studio, including a post-fight show. But you also have Shogun versus St. Preux. Fine fight, but I'm not dying to see it.

Nobody wants that fight, Luke. Yeah, Cerrone versus Lozon. This is a bit of a last of the Mohicans kind of fight for these guys from a different generation. You do have Macy Chiasson taking on Norma Dumont, which is a bit of a get-back fight. How about this one? Brandon Royville taking on Matt Schnell. Love that.

Tracy Cortez is back against Melissa Gatto. Let's see. And then you got francisco trinaldo taking on danny roberts so there's a few of these up and down the card that are that are pretty decent um but that main that main card is is pretty good you don't have this fear for tony like this is a really really bad idea and this is bad matchmaking and he's 38 riding a three fight violent losing streak against elite fighters and chandler last time i checked it's still both elite and violent this doesn't scare you at all this is a very scary one he could lose this one in a way

where there's really no coming back from it at all but but i have buried fighters before i want to be very careful about like oh this guy's done i mean it's a when you say someone's done man i really feel like you got to say that when the evidence is is strong, not kind of strong, not like a very strong. The difference between you and me is I'm not afraid to piss a fighter off, first of all. Oh, yes, is that my problem? I don't piss off enough fighters? Second of all, I'm not afraid that the anger

that they formed for me to end up leading to resurgence for them. So at the end of the day, Luke, they may be cursing me out, but they should be thanking me. Yeah, duly noted. Okay, with that out of the way, BC, it's time for more of your bullshit.

All right, all right. What I do, Luke, every Sunday is I get with Gaff Pierre and I scour the globe for the highs and lows, the good, the bad, the ugly, the in-between. From combat sports and beyond, these are meant to make you laugh. It's called Have You Seen This Shit?

Have You Seen This Shit? This is a good one, Luke, but the last two times I've said that, it's failed miserably. So, you know, we'll see how you react. By the way, do you still have that gift Tony Ferguson gave you? Is it in your office right now? It's somewhere in my cabinet over here, yes. Yeah, it was a weird

moment you know i was a little i don't want to say jealous i've known tony for a long time and um yeah i haven't talked to him a long recently i asked him to do a bunch of interviews he said yes and then they never materialized so i just haven't kept up with him but uh for a while there we had a i i did all of his remember how it used to be like guys would go to ultimate fighter and then they would do like journals for the major websites i was the guy who did that for him at tough 13 at mma fighting so we developed a bit of a relationship but um yeah i haven't talked to him in a while did you talk latin with him with him or is that too personal um i don't know i don't remember all the things we've discussed all right hey look let's start with this bare knknuckle bonanza.

BKFC weigh-in for the light heavyweight title bout over this weekend between champion Lorenzo Hunt and he's still fighting Joe Riggs. And look at Hunt, Luke. Why is Joe Riggs still fighting? Jesus. Take the tomato that he's chewing and stuff it right in the face of Joe Riggs. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

So, Luke,ke dude my grandfather used to chew on a lemon and i thought that was like you know the weirdest thing i've ever seen have you ever seen somebody openly eat a tomato like that so one time back when i was in college i used to visit my friend i had a buddy who went to college in new york city so i would go and visit him i would take the Peter Pan bus oh Jesus so I one time was in the I was this is a true story I was in the lounge like the

like the fucking Peter Pan lounge waiting for the bus to come I mean I'm broke as fuck I'm like 19 and I saw a person take an orange and eat it like an apple like skin and all like the whole fucking thing yeah and I was like dude i've never seen that before and i've never seen it since but i saw it at the bus stop i could tell

you that dude hang around on connecticut highways after those first casinos opened up in uh in the middle of nowhere in connecticut and the buses would be running from you know boston to there new york to there you know the good news with those buses luke and there's a few different chains is you can go anywhere you want for 99 cents, but you may not live through the ride. Those are the bottom. Good news. The ride was cheap.

Bad news. I had my organ sold after I was stabbed and then pulled into a hotel room. It's the bottom of the transportation food chain. And that's me saying, a guy who's been on the New York City subway many times, and I'll say those buses can be the bottom,ke uh let's keep it going ufc fight night luke here's rob font's face before the start of the card all right hey not not bad right you know good looking

guy right you know is that what you're looking at that is what i'm looking at here's his face though luke uh man we should we should probably talk what i'm looking at here's his face though luke uh man we should we should probably talk to him more often right here's the face of him afterward to quote mike goldberg luke so you want to be an mma fighter good god wow actually i don't think it's mike goldberg it was really dana white um do you really want to be a fucking fighter and then everyone else kind of repeated it afterwards it was right then goldberg fighter then goldberg would repeat that at the end of violent fights in the early days yes this is what i mean about go back to his face real quick this is what i mean like dude rob fawn is a very experienced fighter this was a main event you know the question about when you pull the plug on

something like this is very difficult but dude his is that face better or worse than eric's and lubin's i guess it's slightly better because the swelling is somewhat more isolated but dude that's pretty fucking bad man that's almost it's almost fade or bigfoot silva levels and i know you were there for it luke a sad night yeah that was a really low moment in my career i've had a lot of low moments uh when i think back on it the low moments stand out to me more than the high moments i don't know what that says about my brain but low t moments that's for sure a wholesome alert here luke here's marlon chito vera after his victory we saw him in the cage with his family they came back for the photo shoot i watched a pre-fight video dude he's a killer beast of a dad dude like this guy's fantastic yeah he's awesome man and this is a

great moment and uh it's hard to explain man if there's a bunch of 20 year old dudes who like oh i never want to have kids i get it dude i'm not i am no way want to tell you how to live your life but now that i have one it's just they're the most yeah they're a lot of work obviously but they're the most amount of fun i just i cannot tell you how soul uh i don't know enriching satisfying it is to have them in your life and that And that's got to be a great moment for Chito. So congrats to Chito. And I know his daughter has special needs, and he's been driving for it. He's been all over it, doing everything he can to help her.

Dude, Chito's a hell of a guy. Let's go to Alexander Romanoff. Here's him dropping Chase Sherman on his damn head, Luke. This was part of the just kicked his ass off. Do you know how strong I mean obviously there's a lot of technique you can see he gets his hips deeply under the hips and he has the great angle on the takedown for this to make it kind of an easy but look at the arch on that throw and then the turnover my lord dude that is and he looks over look him watch it look him look

over his left side like that see that when he does it dude Dude, that is, he is, Romanov is special, bro. He might be, how do you say it? If he's coming on, he's coming or whatever the fuck it is. But that dude's coming, bro. He's coming, please. Yeah. He's jizzing. Dizon from MSG, Luke Taylor.

I told you this. We had a guy in my Marine Corps unit. I think I've told you this. We had a guy in my Marine Corps unit whose last name was Cummings. And I used to call him jizzings everywhere we went. I'd be like, hey, Corpor him jizzings everywhere we went i'd be like hey corporal jizzings get over here and he couldn't fight you because you were a a reserve sergeant correct uh he could have if he wanted to i mean did you guys have an outlet for that where like oh yeah dude guys would fist

fight all the time i'm not gonna say it was like prison or something like that because that's a little crazy but like dude if two guys especially if they were like similar or identical rank, but if it was far apart, like a sergeant and like a gunnery sergeant, no. But let's say you had two staff sergeants, right? So those are two guys who've probably been in maybe six to eight years, something like that, depending, you know, guys can get promoted faster or slower. A veteran at that point, you know, so someone's been in the game for a while. I've seen it where two staff sergeants had a dispute. We'd be at 29 Palms out in the desert, and they'd be like, yo, they're going to go handle it,

play watch so that no one else sees it. And they would fucking fist fight for a while, dude. And then it would just be whoever won, and that would be what it was. Yes, dude, that happens frequently in the military, yes. All right. A lot of Irish people upset, Luke, that I called Croke Park a soccer stadium. What was it, a football stadium?

That's where they hurl, Luke, okay? Hurling's a cool game. It's a cool game. We don't play it here, but it's a cool game. Okay, it's a sports stadium. Lighten up, Ireland. Yeah, lighten up, Francis, please. Let's go to the Garden here, Luke.

Here is promoters Eddie Hearn and Jake Paul watching the final 30 seconds of round 10 between serrano taylor i think they were all of us in this case except we weren't wearing a uh gun holster yeah dude what the fuck is jake paul wearing and could that phone in your pocket be bigger i mean what are we doing here that could be a phone earth he could just be happy to be there but um, that's not a phone or that's a tablet. And it's like, dude, why are you wearing like a photographer's slash archer's slash armorer's fucking sling here? It's like a 1970s police officer sling that you'd wear under your coat with a gun in it

in New York City and a neo-noir crime film, Luke. That's what he's wearing. Look, he's the trendsetter, not us. We're old bitches. But did you see the... Yeah, now we suck, but did you hear him get booed in the garden? Yeah, did you see the back and forths

with him and Eddie all week on camera in which Hearn was like, you're average. You're just an average fighter. And Jake really took that personal, Luke, to the point. Did you see when they slid Jake Paul into the announce booth

for one of the undercard fights? He did it like deadpan. He didn't do like the shtick. He like pretended to be an actual boxing analyst and he was actually pretty good. So I wonder if he took it personal, Luke, that everybody's like, you ain't a real fighter. I think even Katie Taylor tweeted that. Dude, Hearn said to his face, if you ever fight somebody good, you're going to get chinned. He said it straight up.

I give Hearn, dude, I give Jake respect for promoting that fight and promoting amanda serrano the way he did you have to give him credit but i give credit for her and just telling him straight to his face what other people want like yo bro you're you are what you are you fight anybody good you're gonna have real devastating consequences indeed luke well here's the final 30 seconds we mentioned that taylor and serrano going at it in the center of the ring in round 10 that that the promoters were watching that all of us were watching they just bit down Luke and just oh god what a fight they're literally on the logo you just can't believe that it went this way I mean and dude it wasn't sloppy or reckless this was a highly skilled action fight it was great it really was across the board uh Luke make of Serrano's claim, by the way, that she was the smaller of the two naturally,

and so the power punching wasn't there as much as it was for Taylor? There's something to that. There is, except for the fact that she's got so many knockouts compared to Katie Taylor. Now, you can say, well, some of that came from being in the lower weight classes, but look, her power seemed to be the difference. If you're going to make an argument that serrano won that fight a lot of your argument has to be built upon what she did in those middle rounds when she's knocking taylor around i mean she's

the bigger puncher at the end of the day she's taller and longer again i think she wins a rematch but we'll see uh luke there were plenty other notables that flew in for this here's meatball molly watching from uh ringside as the action heated up and i'm told that she doesn't actually know this guy sitting next to her luke there you go there you go i'm sure she met up with listen if you see a bald man you are obligated to play the bongos on his head that's just how that's just the rules of drunk sports and luke the the ir Irish showed up as we predicted. Here you can watch and hear

the aftermath outside MSG. What is that? 6th Avenue? 7th and 8th. 7th and 9th? This is 7th Avenue right here. No, that's 8th.

Excuse me, because that's the old post office on that side. I'm sorry. I'm an 8th Irish. I can't fucking remember. Let me look this up. So I'm able to celebrate this with them. I do want to remind you. We could turn this off.

Thanks, Kev. That whether it was 6th or 8th, Luke, the same black line that was drawn on me, it was drawn on you, dude. All right? And now it's drawing me in. Why are you doing bullshit wallflower stuff? All right, yeah. I really don't think it's bullshit.

I think it's the fabric of how I was made, Luke. Let's keep it going. Also on the DAZN undercard, did you see this? Comane. Holy shit. Liam Beefy Smith turning back the clock at 154 and stopping Jesse Vargas

in an all-out war. Look, they're calling this career saving. This was a hell of a fight. Wasn't Smith, I don't know if he was expected to do exactly what he did, but wasn't he expected to win?

I don't know who was the betting favorite. They're both in their 30s on the second half slide, but Smith was the fresher fighter. If you don't know who was the betting favorite. They're both in their 30s on the second half slide, but Smith was the fresher fighter. If you don't know him, former 154 champion fought Canelo at Cowboy Stadium. He's the brother of Callum

Smith. There's four Smith fighting brothers. What are the other guys' names? Paul Smith? Paul Smith. Callum Smith. There's another Smith in there somewhere. Yeah, Luke. A lot of Smiths.

A lot of Smiths. Luke, also on this undercard, unbeaten Australian featherweight Sky Nicholson improved to 3-0 thanks in part to this final round knockdown. Luke, this is another one of Eddie Hearn's Women of the Future, and she's getting a lot of attention. Look at these left hands here. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh!

Okay, just 26, I believe. She's 3-0 from Australia, as I mentioned. Somebody to watch. Also, Luke, your thoughts on the walkout attire worn by Franchon Cruz-Dizern, who became women's boxing's first undisputed super middleweight champion with her win over... I thought her post-fight comments were much better. Are you going to play those or can I spoil them?

You're damn right I will, Luke. But your thoughts on this. What are those, Luke? What are we doing here? Bro, I don't know, but it's different, so I'm about it. The fight was a brawl. It was fun to watch. But here is that infamous now post-fight

interview. We didn't hear that right now, but the audience did. That's how I feel like after MK. Alright, I gotta go wash my ass. I mean, look, swamp ass is a real thing, Luke. Anyone that grew up in high

humidity areas knows that. Okay. Let's go to top-ranked boxing from Las Vegas. Nico Ali Walsh, the grandson of the greatest. Dude, they're teaching this kid how to punch. This was early in this fight. It's over. Yeah.

Hit him with the one, two, not a direct one, two, but the two punch combo. You know, it was, it was just two fights ago that we were talking about that. This kid's going to get knocked out eventually. Cause he doesn't move his head. Luke, he's starting under full-time trader Richard Sloan, who's that famous boxing artist that does all those paintings. They're training him up nice here. That's a nice finish, man.

Mm-hmm. Sure is. And Luke, Shakur Stevenson not only hugely victorious in the ring, unifying 130-pound titles, but he interrupted his own post-fight interview afterwards to propose to his baby mama luke what a double win here i know you hate this i know i absolutely detest this it's like hey are you a stranger i need you to be a participant in the important moments in my life and i don't give a fuck if you have a choice about it luke she said yes it's a wholesome moment okay all right i'm

getting a real-time dead wrong here from Mikey Mormyle. He says, Adam reached out and said, so you want to be an ultimate fighter, not an MMA fighter, is the famous quote, Luke. From Goldberg, though. I'm pretty sure what Dana said was, do you want to be a fucking fighter? Yes. I'm almost certain that's what he said. Double check that, please.

But I believe that that is correct. Now, to your point, they may have gotten a little bit sanitized and changed over time. Yeah, Goldberg will do that to you. He'll sanitize shit, Luke. WWE live event in Newcastle, England. Check out Bobby Lashley getting thrown from this ring, which collapsed. This is not a gimmick here. This was a shoot.

Oh, shit. Damn. Them ropes will snap, Luke, if you stretch them far enough right he was like my clothes during the pandemic yeah he did walk away he is okay he's back at it that dude in his what late 40s now just jacked his shit i mean just can't believe he got that jack just eating salmon and yogurt and asparagus. Unbelievable. They don't use PEDs in WWE. No, no. They would never do something like that.

Hey, how about some more wholesome shit? I'm in a good mood today, Luke. You know I love cats. What do you think about this cat's ability to take care of himself while his owners are gone? Bro, cats are the shit. People hate on cats. Cats are fucking awesome, man. Shouts to Moco in El Cielo, Angelito. But in all seriousness, bro, the cats are the fucking awesome man yeah shouts to moco in in el cielo angelito but in all

seriousness bro like the cats are the best man and my daughter loved my cat my daughter doesn't get size for barbus and lola which are my two dogs but she she loved moco man so that cat is like cat is like a cat looks like puss in boots or as my daughter calls him gato con botas i like that um i've got reggie and zo Reggie and Zoe and the other one. Emma. Yes, Luke. I love cats. That's great.

Luke, I mentioned that PFL card Thursday night when 6'8 heavyweight Henen Fededa had a big finish win in the first round. What I didn't show you was this backflip, dude. This guy's 6'8, bro. I'm telling you, this guy might be a problem. Oh. This dude is the size

of Tyson Fury and he can do that? Yeah. This guy's like, he looks pretty legit. Mikey's sliding back in here, Luke, saying Dana's quote was, do you want to be a fucking fighter? That's my question. That was Dana's quote. So good thing that we put our entire staff to

work to get to the bottom of this Goldberg quote, Luke. That's not even a Goldberg quote. All right, let's go to college baseball. Here's the University of Texas. Watch the pitcher here who gave up the home run. Oh, I saw this, dude. He runs over. Oh, God.

In Texas, that's just how they greet each other. Dude, the pitchers are allowed to conceal and carry, Luke. I know. they greet each other dude they the pitchers are allowed to conceal and carry luke that's i mean i know be glad he didn't just peel a fucking couple of rugers uh ruger uh jesus christ i'm fucking up my own joke here but be glad he didn't fucking shoot you from the uh the mound there yeah all right luke it's time we get sloppy drunk here let's go out to the golf course let's watch this hefty fella try to tee off after a few too many uh after a few too many uh did he record a pre-game preview with chuck mendenhall yes yes this is the outtakes from that all right you got to put the ball on the tee bro okay bro i have i have been this drunk where you lean over and it's and it's

you know it's 50 50 whether you're going to stand back up yeah i mean definitely bc definitely a sport this game definitely oh yeah i mean i've dropped a deuce in the porta pot outside of hole one many times at hot brook golf course and i had a friend this is true uh how do i say this in a way that is a little bit more um fair i had a friend uh have a wonderful lady encounter on the greens once playing golf. Yeah. Oh, at night or during the day? At night, yeah.

Oh, yeah. It was known in my town, Luke, that if you needed a soft landing, you could go to the greens on the golf course. Yeah. He had a soft landing, all right. Hopefully it wasn't the only thing soft, Luke. Or I don't know. Maybe that's what she said.

You are beyond disgusting. I want you to know that. Let's keep the drunk clips flowing. Here's a balcony fight, Luke, that gone wrong, I think. I mean, can you explain what's happening here? Is this Johnny Depp and Amber Heard? Oh my god!

Is this Michael Jackson holding blanket over the balcony? No, it's not. Wow, Luke. They bounced a little bit. Show that one more time. I need details on this. I need to know. Is this a felony? Did someone die here, Luke?

Is this manslaughter? Show it one more time. Here we go. Yeah, marriage is definitely worth it, folks. My favorite quote of Luke from all time in this segment is, if your girlfriend hasn't ever ripped the door off of the hinges of your front, are you really in a relationship? You know what I mean?

Yes, that's true. That's true. Luke, let's go over to one championship Muay Thai. This is from two weeks ago. We mentioned it. Five knockdowns in 90 seconds as Liam Harrison took on Muay Thai PK. That was a brutal knockdown head kick. So what?

We got boxing rules here in Muang Thai, Luke? You count after you go down? Yeah, they counted out. That's one. Two. Oh, the fight's over. Just end it. Just end it.

He's in trouble. He is in trouble. I will say, that's a pretty decent bounce back, though. Yeah. He's conditioned. Yeah, and he gets pushed and he shows some resistance to the. Oh, and here comes Liam Harrison. He's back.

I'm told this is the greatest 90 seconds of your life if you're an MMA fan, Luke. I don't know about that, though. Yeah, I wouldn't say that. Oh. Oh. Okay, there's three. He's like, what? What, bro?

The fuck you talking about? Okay, up to three. Oh, put it on him, Liam. Yeah. You ever seen this dude, Liam, hit pads? He hits pads like the pads hurt his children or something. Yeah, yeah. So there's four.

Alright, who's going down for the fifth here? Liam wins, just to spoil it for you. Thanks, I'm glad we're sitting through this. So painstakingly, there we go. Oh, Jesus. Oh no, it's vicious here. Yeah, look at that. Okay, you don't see five knockdowns every day.

It didn't move me, though, Luke. It didn't change my life. It was probably better in real time. Yeah, all right, let's go over the hardwood here. Luke, you mentioned her early. Phoenix native Tracy Cortez of Brian Ortega, Let's Buy a House Together fame, helping the Suns mascot, the famous gorilla,

complete this dunk. Oh, snap. That's great. That's pretty fun. You been watching the NBA playoffs at all? Little. Little bit here and there, Luke. The Celtics got Giannis'd yesterday, but we'll see what happens there.

He's a tough guy to beat. Let's go out to this white guy on the hardwood. I bet this guy can't even dunk a donut, Luke, but let's see what happens on the mini hoop. Here comes Luke Thomas. No. And, yes, Luke's claiming dunking. Boy, that motherfucker jumps hamburger high.

I mean, you've got to be shitting me. Oh, yeah. All right, let's go to the real basketball court. This is not Valdosta high, but check out the reaction of the gym to this shot in this dunk, Luke. Oh. Oh, shit. Oh, God. Right. That's some rookie year shack shit right there.

I love that. Now, do you brag about the state of your dunk or are you alarmed by the disrepair of your gym? Which one is it? I think you brag. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. He didn't break the backboard. You know what I mean?

That would have been cooler. I think you brag about the disrepair of your gym is what you do and make the taxpayers pay for that shit, Luke. Let's go over to rate that tat. Here's Napoli winger Matteo Politano's back, Luke. That is excellent. Is that better than Spence? Yes.

Okay. I mean, there's still, you know, it's not perfect. There's a little bit of, you know, you could do some, you could do a little bit of nitpicking, but as a general rule, this is excellent. Very good. Luke, you and I are always trying to come up with MK gimmicks that we can film. Luke, this shit's calling you, okay? This went out yesterday on IG.

Season two of The Apprentice won championship edition. Luke, now casting, offering a $250,000 annual job as Chachri's new assistant, if you win this. I'll sit down. I'd be like, listen, I want the money, but just so we're clear, this is all fraud, right? We're just going to commit fraud, or how's this going to go? A couple more here, Luke.

After watching this, I think there's a new rule in life. Don't prank a Latina, because as Brendan taught us, they're spicy. Or you can. You can. You do so at your own fucking peril. us, there's, or you can, you can, you do so at your own fucking. Yeah. Let's zoom in here at this. So he had the old lady sticker finger in this tomato.

Luke, wait, wait. How do you know this is, how do you know this is Latin women? I think it's pretty obvious. And then he makes her think that it's actually his, her asshole, Luke, his asshole. Sorry. It's pretty obvious. And then he makes her think that it's actually his, her asshole,

Luke, his asshole. Sorry. It's his ass. She's about to get the chancla and whoop this dude. Yeah. There we go. Yeah.

I mean, are you telling me they don't have around Luke? Oh God. Wow. Dude, you think, ask me what objects in the house have been thrown at me. There'd be very few.

I could cross off the list. Like has my wife ever thrown the couch at me well that's asking a bit much chairs for an example sure sure all right uh let's go to the soccer pitch luke here's a set play i think they call this two for the price of one oh there's one that'll leave a mark oh god that's two Yeah. All right, here's the game plan. We're going to block this ball with our face, especially off rebounds. Oh, that chick came running after it, too. One more for you, Luke.

We've got to play the sound here. This is some college football team and a college class. I don't know the setting, but let's just watch Chub Rock here win the internet. Oh! No way! No way! but let's just watch chub rock here win win the internet no way water luke I think it's water, Luke.

As in water week. Put that video back up. You don't have to play it, but just at least put the thumbnail for the video back up or whatever. I know they're in a classroom, but I'm going to guess this is not Caltech. No, no. This is at best Auburn and probably not that. First of all is this is like at best auburn and probably first of all

why is that man in a diaper but second of all so he's crushing water cans i think but then he does the flip on the bottle at the end as like the walk-off luke it's yeah the bottle flip is the least impressive trick anyone's ever tried on anything can we zoom in and watch this one more time we don't need the sound, but here we go, Luke. Oh, they're water bottles that he's just drinking and crushing. I mean, he's dominating them, Luke. It'd be cooler if it's vodka. I like how there's not a single lesson plan

on any of the various chalkboards in the back. That's a big win there for that yeah this was not carnegie mellon this was probably the connecticut school of bedpan technology you know this segment can be hit or miss luke most of this was a miss but that's the shit of the week i'm glad you saw it okay uh and we do have odds and ends but that'll be for a bit of a later moment uh so there you go bc fun show bc we should remind everyone youtube.com slash morning combat ultra we now have a clips page shorts clips the whole nine yards that'll be up there good thing we don't have a lower third for it but there you go you can see all

of our various places you can catch us on social media morning combat at gmail.com for wednesday show uh for friday show for everything in between if you want to reach the show that's the place to go showtime.com is the label that the place to go. Showtime.com is the label that pays. You can go to Showtime.com. We have a 30-day free trial. Morningcombat.store for everything else. And BC, we've got those interviews. You spoke to Chandler. You spoke

to Pena. I spoke to Rose. Those are already up. And then the Kayla interview is going to be up at 3. Do we have any other interviews? Don't talk about some stuff that we may or may not be doing later in the week, but anything like remote that you're going to be doing. No, but we're going to be doing some stuff later in the week that's going to be awesome.

It is going to be fucking awesome. You think we'll ever publish that? Two things, okay? One, the other high court that we filmed with Chuck Mendenhall. And two, that free throw competition we had during our Billy Madison, you know, decathlon of, yeah. So the Billy Madison thing, I think, is dead forever. They may turn that into B-roll at some point, but I would not expect that to see the light of day.

It's great. But the other high court, it will, I think the other high court will eventually have a use yes i think that will get brought out for sure okay okay also bc i want to make sure i note that uh real madrid won la liga over the weekend the 35th championship that they've claimed in that league which makes them the most dominant team in terms of total league wins in all of European history. So given your deep connection to Spain and Madrid, I would not call you. It is merely one of the tourists who fell in love with the country.

I recognize that these are, these are quite tenuous, but call you a bandwagon jumper at all. It'd be like, if you are under the impression that any criticism of my fandom, you trying to police, it means anything. I strongly encourage you to keep going

because you know where i come from though you can't talk trash about a team that you're not day one on so it's like a you know foreigner landing in new york and buying a yankees hat at the airport and going this is my team now are they any good yes sir they win all the damn time okay great it's my team now you know well i mean that's a little bit simplistic because i didn't pick them from winning i picked spain as a country that I just fell in love with and then Madrid in particular and then from there it landed into that but if you would like to rearrange the order of truth to make it more in line with a joke you can make you're allowed to do that but it doesn't actually change the reality anyway they won La Liga so specter of your own backstory you'd be back in the Indian national soccer team a lot

more often maybe even i do i go to dc united games all the time but i'm not i'm not like dude they play in a different league and they're not related and it's not like i'm rooting for a different team in the same league they don't even play in the same fucking continent like it doesn't it's not what does that nation though have to do to to to win your love the nation that created you the oh you mean like India? Yeah, I mean, you know. They got good wrestlers.

They have a good wrestling team. You're like, I got the D.C. flag right here, but don't ask where I was born, because I'm not going to tell you. Because I wasn't born there. That's true. All right, 4BC, 4CBS Sports for Showtime, for Malka and everyone in between. Remember, we're going to be in studio later this week,

and until then, may all of your gains be loyal.